PVision

Lonely Blog

2011-05-30T09:22:00.000-07:00

Poor abandoned blog, how I loved you so. Perhaps I will love you again some day...

Steve & Bill

2010-07-01T14:52:00.000-07:00

iPad + Humor = Truth

2010-05-28T09:40:00.000-07:00

I kind of want to try this. Kind of...

iPad + Velcro from Jesse Rosten on Vimeo.

(Thanks Jims!)

Future Week

2010-05-15T22:26:00.000-07:00

This week was all about The Future. It started off on Monday when my sweet sweet iPad arrived. By Tuesday I had it all loaded up with apps and ready to rock, and by Wednesday I’d effectively replaced my trusty clipboard with my new handheld window into the digital world. It is fully integrated into my workflow and I am loving it.

Today we topped off my week of Future Living with a trip to the JPL’s Open House. At first we were scared of the Disney-Land-Length lines at pretty much every exhibit, but after taking a tour of the extensive NASA campus we dove right in.

We warmed up with a video that gave us a bit of history about the Jet Propulsion Lab, then we moved on to learn about planets, moons and the satellites that study them. We also got to talk to a bunch of super smart people. One was an engineer, another a self described “lowly” programmer and one dude who was a chemical biologist who worked with lasers. Or something. The part about Lasers is definitely true.

We got to see all sorts of cool space-related things like rovers:

And Big Robots:

And Small Robots:

And Laboratories:

And tons of Loopy Signs:

And, of course:

The highlight of the day came at the end, and required the longest wait. After an hourish in the hot hot Pasadena sunshine we got to check out the clean room where the next Mars Rover was being assembled. Its set to launch from Cape Canaveral in November 2011.

Clean Rooms are cool.

Good & Bad

2010-05-06T23:29:00.001-07:00

The Good: My iPad has shipped! Huzzah!

The Bad: It won't be here until the middle of next week. Boo.

The Other Bad: I'm still at work. Boo Urns.

More Bullets

2010-04-27T23:46:00.000-07:00

Still busy – more bullets!

• Blokus has finally come out on the iPhone. Sadly its $4.99, but I bought it anyway. There is some online play, but I haven’t time to F around with it much yet.

• Keri’s computer has been acting up of late. I had the day off today, so I hit up the genius bar to get some advice. As feared, her hard drive was on a downward spiral toward failure and needed to be replaced. Turns out this could be a DIY project – nice! After a few hours making a bootable backup with Super Duper!, I hit up Fry’s and bought a remarkably inexpensive replacement drive (640 gigs!). After a few screwdriver turns (and another few hours of data transfer) her computer was as good as new (and bigger than ever).

• Today we had some folks come by the house to give us quotes on various things. One dude is going to remove the frame of our carport and do some stucco patching. Another dude might paint our house, and yet another dude will likely inject poison into the earth to kill off the subterranean termites that are have apparently been living there for years. Yup, home ownership is awesome.

• Last week I had to go to NYC for work. It was a super short trip filled with in flight Wifi, tons of pizza and some good old Dunkin’ Donuts. One morning I walked over to the 5th Ave Apple Store and got my first up close and personal visit with an iPad. The interaction was brief, but left a lasting impression. I had big plans to hold out until the next generation, but shortly after my NY encounter I pre-ordered the mid level 3G model. It ships by May 7th. Yum! Now I just have to find the perfect case for it...

Flying Internets

2010-04-17T17:39:00.000-07:00

I'm on a plane right now right here:

Sweet sweet in-flight wifi. Thanks Virgin!

Phish 3D !?!

2010-03-25T16:30:00.000-07:00

PHISH 3D - IN THEATERS APRIL 30TH from Phish on Vimeo.

Mmmm.... humor. Opens 4/30. Advance screenings on 4/20.

More Stuff

2010-03-21T23:21:00.000-07:00

Bullets are my current way of life. So it goes.

• Work is about to get crazy-pants. I say “about to get,” but really I mean “has been.” We haven’t officially started filming, but have already been shooting for two weeks, including a last minute, all cast, multi-crew out of town trip that included an arena sporting event and a private plane. Let me just say this: Private Planes are a pain in my ass.

• Babies are everywhere! Two weekends ago Erin/Mike and James/Stina each gave birth to their own new babies. Good times and dirty diapers to be had from here on out. Mozel Tovs all around and big welcome to little Lily and Jasper.

• This weekend Keri and I got down and dirty with some destructive home projects. We tore out our the nappy roofs from our back patio and car port. The bones of each structure still remain, but those will be dispatched soon enough. No doubt there will be much love for the East Side Bulky Trash drop off in the coming weeks (Red Thunder, I’m looking at you).

• There is a Native American (or something) philosophy about absorbing the power of your enemy by eating his heart. I apply this to poultry when butchering a rotisserie chicken. While chopping, I enjoy eating the innards. Mostly I find them tasty, but I often mumble something about eating the heart of my enemy. The other day, while I was mid-butcher (and mid-mumble), Keri giggled and asked me if the chicken was my enemy. HUMOR. If I ever write a book, that is so going to be its title.
My Enemy: The Chicken

Swear To God

2010-03-02T15:57:00.000-08:00

Something reminded me of this Mr. Show segment today, and through the beauty of the internets I can share it with the world:

Stuff of Late

2010-03-01T23:31:00.000-08:00

Blah, blah, busy. Blah, blah, neglected blog. Blah, blah, bullets! Hooray!

• Mr. Skunk - A few weeks back we were doing a little yard work when Keri yelped in surprise. It seems a skunk had wandered into the back and disrupted her limb lopping session. The poor guy was not having a good day, and while he wasn’t spraying his business, he wasn’t leaving when I yelled and/or threw decorative rocks at him. Keri called animal control and they amazingly arrived within the hour. As the surly guy went in back to ready his fire arm, the chatty fella explained that they’d take the body away with them unless Mr. Skunk “did the dirty” – then he'd be our problem.

• iPad – Ah yes, the future has arrived. Again. And I want to NOT want it. But I DO want it. I want to rub my fingers all over its big touch screen. That does sound dirty, but I’m ok with that.

• Heart Breaker - We’re staffing up for a new project at work. The past few weeks have been a blur of meetings and hiring of a lot of folks. The flip side, of course, is I’ve had to not hire a lot of folks. Long ago I decided to not have emotions, so I’m free to break hearts and crush dreams all day long.

• Themed Menus - Lately there have been office-wide catered lunches every Friday. I’m vaguely involved in the ordering process, so we usually end up with excessive leftovers (“Better safe than F’d” – that’s what I say). We all stock up on some food before heading home, which leads to multi-meal themed menus all weekend long. So far we’ve enjoyed two types of Mexican, some Koo Koo Roo chicken, and a Mediterranean feast. Last week was BBQ, but Keri and I had to opt out after just one meal – two ribs each put us over the edge!

• More Moe - Friday I hit up Moe at the Nokia Theater. After overpaying for parking I had to wander around the Nokia/Staples complex to find the venue. I knew I was in the right place when the blazer/high heel crowed thinned and the sandals and dreadlocks began. I haven’t seen the boys in a few years and I felt a bit out of the loop when I didn’t know most of the songs in the first set. But the boys sounded great, and the Nokia has a sweet sound system, so really I couldn’t go wrong. I bailed after 1.5 sets, but by then I had gotten my boogie sufficiently on.

I suppose that's all for now. Perhaps I'll do this more regularly, and less bullet-like. Who's to say...

Two Quick Things

2010-02-09T17:56:00.000-08:00

Thing 1:

Earlier today I emailed myself a link to a google map search I was doing so I could have easy iPhone access to that intel. Turns out I accidentally emailed it to my blogger email address and it went right up on the blog! Humor! Thanks to Jesse and Evan for giving me shit about it.

Thing 2:
Keri just IMed me a link to some fun/scary LA times picts of The Southland 'Getting Pounded by Storms.' I didn't have to scroll through many until I found my favorite:

Friday Bullets

2010-01-22T09:58:00.000-08:00

• When I got back from my weekend abroad I made a harsher-than-normal discovery when cleaning the litter box. It seems one of the little bastards decided that when the litter box is full the tub is a fine alternative. And so one Peed. Right there in the tub. This is not nearly as funny as it sounds (and it doesn’t even sound very funny).

• Wednesday on my way to work there was a bit of Rain Induced Traffic. Eventually when I reached the cones and flares I saw the problem. There was a Lazy-Boy-Sized boulder sitting in the road … with a crumpled Blue Bumper beneath it.

• This week I noticed this dude hanging in the back of our office. He’s made out of recycled Mac Parts and I enjoy him.

Bay Visit

2010-01-19T09:43:00.000-08:00

This weekend I took a trip up north for my first East Bay Adventure. I was based out of the sweet new Krudden Castle for the weekend, and between house projects and food/social outings we kept our selves pretty busy. We made sure to sample some of the restaurants in their new neighborhood, starting with a nearby sushi place. The food was tasty, but the highlight for me was being able to choose my own sake cup:

I also tried a nearby Latte Vendor, who’s beverages were both a tasty and good looking:

In addition to a killer brunch we had some deliciously spicy Indian food with Dan T, and Zaq had us over for breakfast. We were able to hang with his family, eat a delicious scramble and sip mimosas while taking in the insanely beautiful view out his window:

I was glad to get in some QT with the SF peeps and explore a new part of the Bay Area. I look forward to a repeat visit after Jimmy Junior arrives on the scene!

The F'ing Cats

2010-01-12T09:19:00.000-08:00

My Neighbor feeds the local stray cats. There’s a bunch of them, and they love the vats of chicken and rice he puts out. Mostly they stay in his yard, but also enjoy our yard for napping and pooping. They like to do both in the shade, but definitely prefer pooping under our kitchen windows. And/or in every flower bed. We shoo them away, but they keep coming back.

We’re now starting to see a new generation of strays. The first leader was and old dude with one eye. We called him, um, Old One Eye. He would just stare at me while I yelled and threw shit at him, only leaving when he was good and ready. He’s moved on to the big litter box in the sky, but his younger doppelganger is around, and he seems to be the new King.

Last week Son Of One-Eye was lounging on the porch when Keri got home. A few nights later he was just sitting at the front door, meowing. I made ant-cat noises at him while he stared at me and meowed, eventually running away. A few days later he was back again, making a racket. I looked out the window to get a visual on my verbal target, and noticed he was not alone. He brought a friend over over and was having his way her right on our front lawn. Horny little bastard.

Stains on the porch indicated that this was not their first affair, so we called an organization of Volunteer Cat Weirdos. Ultimately they would trap, neuter and release the strays, but first we needed to confirm that our Neighbor does not own The Cats. This is less simple than one would expect. See, our Elderly Asian Neighbor only speaks his native language of (_______). He is very nice, and we wave and grunt greetings to each other, but the communication gap is large. Keri tried broaching the subject of Cat Owership on Saturday Morning. Words were spoken, and there was some pointing, but in the end everyone left confused. This discussion was re-ignited Saturday evening, this time it ending when we Neighbor Dude handed Keri a large bag of freshly picked lemons. Not quite the resolution we were hoping for, but the Journey continues…

Animation Test

2010-01-05T10:33:00.000-08:00

Theoretically I want to screw around with some more stop-motion projects in the future. Keri got me some magnety goodness for Christmas and I last night I did a little test to try one out. Here's the result:

Magnet Man Beta from pvision on Vimeo.

Pre-Holiday Stuff

2009-12-23T22:39:00.000-08:00

I'm sure there are all sorts of blog-worthy items trapped in the half written posts on my desktop, but the computer is packed up for tomorrow's flight to Boston, so I'll just spew some stuff memory:

- Zeeker (the cat) gave Cailin (the baby) a quick and gentle lick/nibble the night they first met. It was funny and horrifying all at the same time.

- Go see Avatar. Seriously. So good. 3D Goodness. I think I'm going to try it again but go IMAX.

- Shout out to the Dalton Baby who recently arrived, and the Krudden Baby who continues to develop.

It seemed like I had more to say, but really that's all the iPhone typing I can handle. Happy Holidays and all that business.

Collini out.

Two Internet Items

2009-12-15T13:54:00.000-08:00

Here's two little items from the Internets:

- Gawker has a decent Guide to Facebook Privacy. Seems the FB has been repeatedly revising their privacy/security settings. They're making them more customizable slash confusing, so hit this up if you want some tips on making sure your private business stays, um, private.

- Keri told me about this a long time ago, but today I finally started watching the Weeds University of Andy webisodes on the Showtime website. I find Andy hilarious, and if you do too then check these puppies out.

Blog Day Two, Electric Boogaloo

2009-12-11T15:41:00.001-08:00

In late 2005, on the prowl for a creative outlet and inspired by Keri’s Blog, I started a blog of my own. One year later I "created" a holiday – Blog Day - a time to reflect and comment upon the year’s happenings. After that first Blog Day in 2006 laziness got the best of me. Each December 9th I would hit snooze on the iCal reminder that popped up, eventually blowing it off all together.

Since my last (slash first) Blog Day Post I have experienced many things. Most notable, of course, is that I am now a Married Man. Keri and I put a lot of time into planning our wedding, and everything turned out better than we hoped. And, I’m happy to report, Marriage really is Bliss. We’re at the beginning of an exciting new Life Chapter, and I’m eager to see where our path leads.

We also bought a house, which was exhilarating and scary all at the same time. I love home ownership, but there is always something that needs doing. And everything costs way more than I would have expected. But we found a house we like in a decent neighborhood, so we’re happy. We might not be there for the rest of our lives, but we’ll definitely be content for many years to come.

I have thankfully remained consistently employed. Work took me to Hawaii for three months, and back and forth to the OC on a fairly regular basis. I upgraded from an iBook to a MacBook, then again to a Macbook Pro. I discovered my love of making Time Lapse Videos and abandoned my Blackberry for my sweet sweet iPhone. And lets not forget all of the Live Music I've been able to see.

And now here we are, at the end of my fourth year as a blogger. It still holds a special place in my heart, but my zeal for posting has definitely waned. And I doubt I’ll ever match the volume of posts that I had that first year (235), but I suspect I’ll continue blogging for a long time. Oh blog, I heart you.

A Cartoonist on Cyborgery

2009-12-10T11:16:00.000-08:00

A while back Jimmy K suggested a book by Scott Adams. He's the guy who writes the Dilbert comics, but this was not a Dilbert book. In fact, I don't really even like Dilbert. Its fine, I suppose, but I never found it that entertaining. This book, however, made me cackle out loud a number of times, and inspired me to start following Scott's Blog. It is sometimes hilarious, sometimes less so, occasionally thought provoking and usually humorous. Plus he's a nerd, and often expounds about technology in the future, which I enjoy.

I found today's blog entry about our inevitable future as cyborgs particularly entertaining, and maybe you will too.

House Stuff

2009-12-07T18:26:00.000-08:00

There's a new post on the more-neglected-than-this-blog House Blog. Check it out for some info on our latest goings on in the home improvement world. It also includes this video, that I'll post here as well for you lazy folks:

The Garage from pvision on Vimeo.

Nerdy Electric

2009-12-04T11:45:00.000-08:00

Once upon a time at I was buying some cables an industrial electronics store when I came across the most amazing thing - wall plates for your video cables. I shouldn't have been shocked that such a thing existed, but I was - both shocked and thrilled. Useless to me, of course, but I still loved them.

Today while perusing the internets I learned of a similar, but far more useful, item that is coming out next year:

Pre-Orders are now being accepted. Yum!

November Stuff

2009-11-30T07:22:00.000-08:00

The past couple of weeks have been a hair on the busy side. First we got some work done on our foundation, which led right into replacing our back steps. All of that housework is totally un-glamorous, but it nice to cross some projects off the list.

It took way too long, but we finally met the Baby Incinta. We’ve been enjoying the online updates, but they just don’t do that kid justice. Cute-ness incarnate, and I only made her cry once. There’s also been a lot of general baby-business going on. Everywhere we turn there are friends who have just had, are about to have or will some day soon be having a baby. It seems people are all about the procreation these days.

Next up we headed off to NY to spend Thanksgiving week with Keri’s family. I watched other people bake pies, and we took a trip into the city. I entertained a 2 year old with a train set, and got to tell his Dad when there was an “oopsie” in his pant leg. We gorged ourselves all week long on gourmet burgers, bagels, New York pizza and – of course – plenty of turkey & pie.

We got back in LA just in time to celebrate Keri’s birthday. We caught Cirque du Soleil’s Kooza just before it heads off to another city. It was a solid 2.5 hours of the amazing kind of entertainment you expect from Cirque. Our favorite by far was the Wheel of Death. I would try to explain it, but really you should just take a peek at it here. And yes, it is as badass as it sounds.

Costume Options

2009-11-07T09:29:00.000-08:00

Leading up to the festival Phish had a website dedicated to fueling speculation on which album they'd play as their Musical Costume during their Halloween Set. The site would scroll through 99 Album covers of potential selections, eliminating a few each day. The suspense ended the day of the show when the chosen album was announced in a playbill given out at the concert arena entrance. Said playbill also contained some entertaining bios of the band:

Just before the Halloween Set began a video celebrating all the possible choices played over the huge stage adjacent HD monitors. Its entertaining if you've got a few minutes:

Eclectic Method Goes Phish from Eclectic Method on Vimeo.

The Holiday

2009-11-06T11:31:00.000-08:00

A few months back my brother and I were pondering hitting up the Phish Halloween Festival. We waffled back and forth for a few days and ultimately said “fuck it” and bought tickets. 40,000 people, 3 days, 1 polo field. Good times!

We went with the lazy-hippie’s Travel Package which included a room at a luxury resort and a 24hr shuttle to/from the venue. We expected to have some logistical hiccups along the way – especially with the shuttles – but surprisingly, there were none.

The event was so well organized it made me a little jealous. There were vendors and port-o-potties as far as the eye could see, and rarely a line for anything. The grounds were covered in cushy grass, which was gentle on the feet for the three days of dancing. We skipped both the Internet Café and the music listening/mixing tent, but we did enjoy all the various art installations (especially the fire-related ones!).

And then there was the music. Phish played 8 sets over the course of three days, all of which were fantastic. In addition to six “regular” sets there was an acoustic set and, of course, the Halloween set. After much online debate and speculation, the boys chose the Exile on Main Street by the Rolling Stones as their musical costume. With the addition of a horn section and backup singers they really did the album justice.

All in all it was an amazing experience – the Festival of a Lifetime. Here’s a small sampling of some of the sights:

The Holiday from pvision on Vimeo.

Babies and Zombies

2009-10-04T14:35:00.000-07:00

Last night at the Eagle Rock Music Festival I saved a child's life. A mom turned away from her stroller and it started to roll away. My super-hero-like reflexes kicked in and I calmly saved that baby from rolling down the street into the rambunctious crowd. Yep, saved that baby's life - BAM, just like that. This afternoon I'm gearing up to go see Zombieland by playing a video game where I hunt the undead.

From Baby Saver to Zombie Slayer in just a few short hours. Sometimes that's just how I roll.

Guac Off

2009-10-02T23:45:00.000-07:00

I love The Guacamole. A number of years back I started making my own, inspired by one of Dalton’s recipes. It’s surprisingly simple, and, if I do say so myself, so so delicious. When I have to bring something to a party/event there’s no debate – Guac is my standby. You might say it’s my thing.

For a few weeks at work we’ve been kicking around the idea of an avocado-based event and today it finally came together: The Guac Off. We had 5 entries into a blind taste test. Tennille even made little score cards.

There was a variety of textures and flavors, from the traditional to the nouveau, from the slightly bland to the excessively salty – something for everyone. Around 6pm all entries were ready for tasting and the crowd descended. A non-voting and (allegedly) unbiased observer tallied the votes (on an excel sheet!) and the winner was announced…

… sadly I only came in second. I was beat out by a young punk. But his Guacamole was pretty tasty.

Sweet Sweet Internet

2009-09-27T16:53:00.000-07:00

So I was chatting with my brother, who used to be a big Netflix fan. See, he'd get the discs, copy them, and send them back. Now he's a torrent man:

Brother: I'm downloading Lost right now.
Me: Oh yeah? What season?
Brother: All of it!

Ah, the internet.

Dude

2009-09-19T13:31:00.000-07:00

The Starbucks Guy and I just uttered "Thanks Dude" in exact syncronicity.

Wedded Bliss

2009-09-15T23:43:00.001-07:00

I finally got off my ass and did something with the time lapse from the Wedding. I find it amusing:

Wedded Bliss from pvision on Vimeo.

Hollywood Adventures

2009-09-07T23:18:00.000-07:00

This weekend I enjoyed two Hollywood Flavored activities. Saturday night we headed over to the Barnsdale Art Park for the first (allegedly of many) Movie Nights. Silverlake Wine held a beer tasting, and there were some vendors selling fancy hot dogs, some Indian snacks and ice cream tasties. The weather was beautiful and the sunset on the city looked amazing.

They showed Swingers, which will always hold a special place in my heart. Even after so many years I still chuckled at the LA jokes (818? 310.), and enjoyed seeing the East Side locations on the Big Screen.

The next day we got-up-and-went over to Runyan to enjoy the barely smokey air where I got a few fun post-apocalypse pictures:

Station Fire

2009-08-31T14:23:00.001-07:00

I didn't make this, but I wish I did:

Time Lapse Test: Station Fire from Eric Spiegelman on Vimeo.

Lobster Day

2009-08-23T20:57:00.000-07:00

Today, during a run-of-the-mill trip to the local Target, Keri and I found unexpected pleasures. First we stumbled upon the newish Farmer’s Market in the parking lot of the Eagle Rock Mall. There were a fine variety of vendors, though many were more clothes/art/chachki than actual farm good. And they had a band! Not a good one, but a band none the less.

While wandering the aisles of Target we were reminded of our half-baked plan to eat some lobsters. Now was the time for action! We headed to the lower level of the mall to investigate the Asian Fish market we’d heard of but never seen. The name Seafood City is a bit misleading – that place is a full on grocery store chock-full o’ Filipino goodness. They had all sorts of crazy things I’d never heard of (and have no idea how to cook with). And, of course, their seafood selection was fucking serious:

We snatched up 4 of the liveliest lobsters they had and headed home to boil some water.

I apologized to each little duder as I plunged them head first into the afterlife, and just 8 hot minutes later they were ready.

I haven’t had lobster in a long-ass time, and this is by far my favorite way to do it; at home, digging in with your hands. None of this “tail-only” shit they do in restaurants – give me the whole thing so I can tear it apart with my bare hands, like the hunter (slash fisherman) I am.

In review, buttery and delicious. Let them eat lobster!

Mexicatessen

2009-08-22T18:57:00.000-07:00

Keri and I have a standing disagreement about the Taco Spot; I think they're tasty, she does not. I admit, they can't compare to Yuca's, but its better than Taco Bell, and aside from the various local taco trucks (which I am still scared of), they are by far the closest burrito joint around.

Enter The Mexicatessen. They've had "coming soon" signs up for months now - we were starting to wonder if they were another casualty of the tanking economy. But finally, just a few weeks ago, CaCao Mexicatessen opened its doors.

We checked it out today for lunch and were definitely impressed. The space itself looks good - they put a lot of effort into the decor and there is a surprising number of seats (both in and out) for such a tiny little shop. In addition to the hot food, they sell all sorts of groceries and candy from Mexico. Our orders were pretty straight forward: Keri got some tacos, and I got burrito:

Tacos = Delicious (1 x carne asada, 1 x carnitas)

Burrito = Tasty (carne asada + tangy salad)

Its an order-at-the-counter and they bring-it-to-your-table kind of joint. The "order number" signs looked like they were form a cool mexican deck of cards. Or something. We were number 1; aww yeah. You can tell its early in their restaurant life because everyone was super friendly, and they were prompt with our ice water and chips/salsa, but they brought Keri's tacos before my burrito. Like, 10 minutes before. Which, in the end - who cares, but they could work on their timing a bit. That's really my only complaint - the food was delicious, and everyone on the east side should give them a try. Go for the carnitas - it was by far the superior meat.

Bad Bottles

2009-08-14T19:02:00.000-07:00

This is some scary shit right here:

Lube Job

2009-08-14T12:48:00.001-07:00

I need an oil change. The internet led me here:

www.davesquicklube.com

How could I resist?

The Oink

2009-08-09T20:46:00.000-07:00

Keri just sent me this:

So good.

So Far

2009-08-05T09:55:00.000-07:00

There's been a lot of news about Iran of late, what with the rigged elections, riots and such. Every time I hear Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's name I start hearing this song in my head. There's some humor going on here:

Veuillez installer Flash Player pour lire la vidéo

Saturday Night Live - Iran' so far sélectionné dans Humour et Parodie / Doublage

"And I raaaaaaan... ran so far away..."

Wedded Bliss

2009-08-01T12:02:00.000-07:00

A year and change ago I bought a beautiful ring. A few months after that I got down on one knee and proposed - she even said yes! Soon we were knee deep in lists, spreadsheets and piles of stationary. It all culminated two weeks ago with a great weekend in Big Sur. Thanks to our many Helper Monkies, everything went according to plan and the people had a good time (at least, that’s what the photobooth pictures suggest).

After the wedding we headed north to Whistler for some much needed relaxation. Between lounging on our balcony and taking naps we were able to fit in some hiking, biking and lots of sushi. We took a zip-line tour of the mountain and even hiked up a glacier (complete with crampons).

Sadly we’re starting to immerse ourselves back into reality, and work is rearing its ugly head. On Monday I’ll be back in the office, doing my part to make TV Magic. I’m sure it will be good to get back into the swing of things, but right now I really wish we were still sitting here:

Thanks again to everyone who helped us make our Wedding everything we hoped it could be.

Kabosh

2009-05-23T07:29:00.000-07:00

Me: Sorry to be the Kabosher, but...

Keri: No you are not. You love your role as the Kabosher!

(She might be right).

Tickets Be Gone

2009-05-22T22:08:00.000-07:00

A while back Phish had a lottery for their Summer Tour tickets. Due to the large volume of eager, tech savvy hippies, I came up with a plan to increase my chances for tickets. Though there was only a few shows I actually wanted to attend, I tried for the whole tour, figuring I could always trade crappy tickets for good ones. It seemed like a solid plan.

I applied for the tickets and then sort of forgot about them as life churned forward. A few weeks later my brother forwarded me an email – the lottery denied him; no tickets. A few hours later I too got an email from Phish; I got tickets… to every show on the tour.

Every. Single. Show.

It was bitter-sweet victory since I already knew I couldn’t attend any. I’d already committed to an east coast Dead Tour with my Brother, followed by a mini West Coast Dead Tour all the while working on a new project and, more importantly, planning the Wedding. And, of course, all of the Phish shows are in the month leading up to our Wedding. No Phish for me.

The tickets arrived this week and it made me a little sad. They’ll all go to good Hippie Homes, but they’re just so pretty I hate to give them up. And the tickets themselves are sweet. A throw back to the way the Grateful Dead mail order tickets used to be. Not just an ugly computer printout, but a mini work of art. Right there in your hand. Getting you into the show.

Busy & Birds

2009-05-17T19:47:00.000-07:00

Things have been a little nutty of late. First there was the East Coast Dead Tour right before Lee & Dawn came to town. There was McCarthy’s Vegas Adventure followed quickly by the McKeller Wedding (mozeltov!). Next Jimmy flew down and we hit the Dead Show at the Forum. Zaq surprised me in LA right before we all drove back to SF to see The Dead at Shoreline. During all of this I’ve been ramping up for a new show and, of course, working on wedding goodies. And there’s only 62 days left until that big event. Holy crapahoi, that is soon!

In other news, our house is now the proud owner of 3 birds nests. I was on a “Top of the Food Chain” kick the other day and went outside on a search and destroy mission. Keri warned me that there would be eggs, but I didn’t care – I had big plans to reclaim my territory. Turns out my ladder didn’t quite get me to the desired height, but I was able to take a photo of the eggs I was too much of a chicken (heh) to smash:

Also, they shit all over our house. Not cool, birds. Not fucking cool.

The Dead

2009-04-23T23:30:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week I got back from my Batchelor Dead Show Junket (Part I). My brother and I hit up 3 east coast Dead Shows – Albany, Worcester, Worcester – and they all were fantastic. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but we were both a little bit blown away. Not only did everyone play exceptionally well, but they played well together. And Warren Haynes fit right in. They clearly put some effort in, and were mixing up the songs they were playing (busting out some old tunes they haven’t played since the 60s), and changing the way they played them. Sometimes they’d add extended intros, take turns singing verses or even do a little vocal harmonizing. They’d been doing some practicing and it showed.

Every night we got killer set lists - here are a few highlights:

Albany: Casey Jones, Into The Mystic, Sugaree, Throwin’ Stones, E: Not Fade
Worcester 1: China/Rider, Dancin’, Terrapin, Saturday, E: Johnny B Good
Worcester 2: Good Mornin’ Little School Girl, Good Lovin’, Scarlet/Fire Satisfaction, Uncle John’s Band, Wheel, Lovelight, E: Sampson

In addition to the music, one of the joys of a Dead Show is the hippie circus swirling around the venue. We saw hippies young and old. We met some hippies from Canada, had some sleazy guy ask to sleep on our floor, and saw two girls blow chunks. We saw cops helping hippies safely cross the street, and saw cops blatantly ignoring nitrous tanks in the street. We bought grilled cheeses from dudes in a truck and beers from dudes with coolers on skateboards. Even in these tough times the micro economy of tour thrives.

The humor highlight of the trip came when we overheard a bartender on the phone calling for an ambulance: “Some hippie fell and hit his head…” Classic.

Good times were had back east, and I'm looking forward to the shows in LA and SF (aka, The Junket Part II).

The Pouch

2009-04-16T06:36:00.001-07:00

I like to keep my Petty Cash on this fancyish pouch that has a huge lock on the zipper. Sure, some one could still steal it, but they'd have to work real hard to break the lock and/or cut through the thoretically reinforced pouch material. Um, wrong.

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It Begins

2009-04-14T20:01:00.001-07:00

Our first two RSVPs arrived today. Crazy talk! The wedding has seemed so far away for so long that it's a bit strange when real things start happening.

2 down, 78 to go.

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Ramping Up

2009-04-13T00:04:00.000-07:00

It’s been a busy couple of weeks, which are leading into a busy few months:

Work
Last week I was filming at a training camp for Action Sports with current and future X Gamers. There wasn’t much prep time, and there were many an obstacle. Working with kids was the biggest, but it turns out that child labor laws made our work days surprisingly reasonable. The rain held off until the very end and all went well. Here’s some of the bad assery that I saw first hand:

Dead Shows
I’m going to a bunch. Marc and I are going on an East Coast Mini Tour next weekend, and then Jimmy and I will hit up an LA/SF double header in May. Warren Haynes will play the part of Jerry Garcia and good times will be had. I’m hoping for a St. Stephen or two.

Weddings
The McKeller Wedding is rapidly approaching. Before the big event there's a trip to Vegas so we can get McCarthy properly liquored to honor the end of his single-hood. And of course, our own Wedding is only 97 days away. Double Digits! Holy Crap!

Animation Goodness

2009-03-27T16:06:00.000-07:00

I love to F around with my technology and make some mini-movies. Jimmy K knows this, and passed along this impressive work, which is totally the kind of stuff I would do if I could draw/paint/something.

Overheard Humor

2009-03-26T13:48:00.001-07:00

I just heard a guy at work talking on the phone referencing his daughter... we'll call her Judy...

"Hey! I told Judy this too, but she might not remember because she's 10..."

Truth = Humor.

McCarthy said this was confusing and not funny, and I believe him. Sorry, I don't' have time to make it coherent. Just believe me that it was funny. At least to me.

The Early Years of Hulu

2009-03-13T21:42:00.000-07:00

I just further embraced my love for the Hulu by signing up for an account. When you're "signed in" you can add shows to your queue, which is much easier than remembering things. They require most of the typical info, including your DOB. Oddly their pull down menu for Year starts at 1870. I put today as my birthday:

I'd be 139 years old, which seems old. Unless you're some kind of Alien. Oh wait...

Nuts, Music & Humor

2009-03-08T14:14:00.000-07:00

NUTS:
Last night, in honor of my Nut Area Surgery, Brian gave me a can of mixed nuts. Humor.

MUSIC:
Tonight is the 3rd of Phish's "reunion" shows in Hampton Virginia. LivePhish.com is allowing fans to download each show the next morning for free, which is pretty sweet. My brother informed me of this yesterday and ever since its been a Jam Fest around our house. Good F'ing times. The boys sound gooood too. Almost like they've been practicing or something. Keri just asked me "Sooo.... how much more phish do we need to listen to?" Humor.

Getting Better

2009-03-04T21:32:00.001-08:00

On the mend and all that. Thanks to Evan for the Get Well Wishes:

All Cut Up

2009-03-02T20:19:00.001-08:00

Good times in the Hospital today. There was some waiting, some tests, more waiting then a big chunk of time that is just gone. I'm back at home now, which is nice. The pain isn't too bad, but I'm sure the pills and the lying down are helping with that. Now it's time to bond with Tivo, play some xBox and shuffle around the house like an old man.

Under The Knife

2009-03-01T20:56:00.000-08:00

A while back I had some pain. Nut pain, to be precise. It wasn’t sharp, but a mild pain with constant discomfort. I hit up the Doctor, and it turns out I have a Hernia. After pondering the various unpleasant things that could go wrong down south, I was pretty relieved to find out it was a Hernia. The Doc sent me to a Surgeon to take care of my business. About fourteen seconds into his rubber gloved examination of my Junk the Duder told me I had not one, but two Hernias. Huzzah! Snake Eyes!

Tomorrow they’re going to make little slits in my stomach and stick a camera & some tools inside. Thankfully I’ll be unconscious while they poke around and affix little plastic screens to my muscle wall. After 4-6 weeks the rough, rough edges of said screens will force scar tissue to hold that shit down and make it part of my person. And that should keep my intestines where they belong, on the inside.

Onward…

Two Things on Thursday

2009-02-26T09:23:00.000-08:00

Thing A: I was going to make a mildly big deal about my 500th post... but my last post was #500 and I didn't do diddly. So there that is. Yay!

Thing B: This morning I stopped by my formerly-secret-Startbucks. It was one of the 600 or so to shut its doors and it recently re-opened as something new. I'd been curious, so this morning decided to scratch that itch. It is now a Dazbog Coffee, which is apparently a chain. Amusingly, one of the baristas from the Starbucks still works there. I accidentally ordered a "Venti" instead of a "Large" but she not only forgave me, but gave my my repeat customer discount. Nice.

Chuck. It Might Suck.

2009-02-23T21:55:00.000-08:00

Around the time of the Superbowl I recorded a 3D episode of Chuck. I still haven’t gotten any 3D glasses, and my Tivo has recorded a bunch more episodes. I’m about half way through my first episode and its pretty stupid, but a few things have amused me:

• One of my favorite Cake songs is in their opening credits, which made me both Happy and Sad.
• Buster is in it! Huzzah!
• This episode was guest starring Andy Richter (yay) and Jenny McCarthy (boo/hunh).

It's nearing the end now and getting a bit weird/dumb. I’m not sure that I can recommend it, but enjoy some Cake:

The Green Fleet

2009-02-23T10:06:00.001-08:00

Yestarday we celebrated the continued break in the rain with a walk
around The Reservoir. It was cloudy, pleasantly warm and pretty
crowded. Aside from the people, the Priuses (Prii?) were out in force.
Maybe I'd never noticed, or maybe a new shipment came in, but there
were an absurd amount of them on the road. I stopped counting in the
early teens, and that was only halfway through our jaunt. It seems
they love a Prius in Silverlake.

TV Thoughts

2009-02-16T21:28:00.000-08:00

Work was a bit nutty for a while, but now that have slowed down a bit I’ve been able to have some QT with the TV. Here’s some unsolicited opinions:

Flight Of The Conchords: So far so weak. I love the show, but its been decidedly mediocre thus far. The first season had material they’d been refining for years, but this season’s bits have clearly had less time to percolate. And really, I don't need to hear Murry or Mel sing. Please.

Survivor: Its back. Nice. I enjoy Survivor. Especially the tribal councils. One chick seems full on loony-tunes crazy. I’m shocked she even passed the psych evaluation.

The Amazing Race: It is also back. This too, is nice. We’re big Race fans around our house. Sorry Evan. There’s only been 1 episode so far but one dude already made his wife cry. Good work pally.

Friday Night Lights: Dalton suggested and I’m really digging it. Granted, there is a significant layer of meat head (what with the Texas and the Football), but there’s some quality content in there. And I can stream it from Netflix. There’s nothing quite like a marathon of a good show.

The West Wing: Yup, West Wing. Bravo’s got that shit on repeat and we’re loving it. There’s not a bad episode of that show. We’re almost up to the point where Josh and Donna get it on. Aw yeah.

Tivo & Hulu

2009-02-04T22:03:00.000-08:00

We’ve been having some serious Tivo/Cable issues for the past few months. It started with Tivo only recording a portion of a shows and ended with our TV producing nothing more than a grayish-pink screen. I called Tivo and they blamed the cable signal. I called Time Warner and they (repeatedly) sent out well-meaning but clueless technicians. This weekend I solved the problem – turns out our external hard drive had kicked the bucket and was F’ing up the whole system. Huzzah!

During our period of Tivo limbo, we turned to some of our fringe electronics for entertainment. We streamed Netflix on the xBox, and used Boxee to access Hulu TV shows on the Apple TV. It was all very low tech. I thought about those days and smiled when I saw this commercial during the Superbowl. Oh Hulu, you so crazy.

Walk Through The Canyon

2009-01-25T13:26:00.000-08:00

Today we celebrated a break in the rain/clouds with a hike around Runyan Canyon. It was beautiful weather and there were tons of happy dogs around. Good stuff.

Runyan Canyon

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Success!

2009-01-24T10:17:00.000-08:00

Blake just helped me navigate the murky waters of Ticketmaster to successfully purchase Dead Tickets for the LA show this summer. Its at the Forum, no less, so there's really not a bad seat in the house. Funtastic. Tomorrow the San Fran tickets go on sale. I'm suspicious there may be more competition for those tickets, what with all the dirty hippies up there.

Overall I think this morning's hard work deserves a high five.

Picture Pages, Picture Pages

2009-01-20T14:21:00.000-08:00

A This weekend I offloaded a bunch of random photos from my iPhone. Here’s a few:

A Lomo-Esque 4-Up taken directly on the iPhone.

Sometimes I love a little God Humor.

I also love a little Infinity.

And a reflection.

Random Hand-Horns found in a Marshall's.

Jet Blue's sweet new terminal at JFK.

Dirty Dirty Deer.

A Walk With Augitha.

Big Day

2009-01-20T07:40:00.000-08:00

Happy Inauguration Day people!

Make your own poster here.

(Thanks Blake!)

Big Sur

2009-01-10T18:15:00.001-08:00

It's nice here.

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Hippie Rebirth

2009-01-09T22:17:00.000-08:00

This is a big year for The Hippies. Both Phish and The Dead (sans Jerry, of course) will be doing brief summer tours. After years of drought, the musical thirst of many will be quenched again. No longer must they survive on a few meager festivals – now the masses can gorge themselves night after night on tasty jams. They’ll twirl, twirl and twirl some more. Yes, The Hippies will be so pleased.

I hope to be among them at some point, dancing, dancing, dancing in the streets, but my “fluid” work schedule and rapidly approaching wedding will likely interfere. Only time will tell. Regardless of my actual availability, I’ve entered the lottery for Phish tickets, and will do the same for Dead tickets on Tuesday. Huzzah!

PHISH SUMMER TOUR 2009 from Phish on Vimeo.

The 424

2009-01-07T23:17:00.000-08:00

So yes, I don't make it to the West Side so much. This week I realized how out of the loop I really am - they have a whole new area code that I didn't even know existed: The 424. Allegedly its been around since 2006, which is both sad and shocking.

2009

2009-01-06T22:04:00.000-08:00

Its arrived. 2009. Welcome. Here’s some things:

• I’m enjoying the instant gratification of iPhone Blogging. I mostly use Cellspin, which is free but quirky. Blake turned me on to iBlogger, which has a much more slick interface but doesn’t support photos yet, which is lame because I love me a mobile photo.

• With this new year comes new pain. I’m slowly coming to terms with my budding (/thinning) male pattern baldness. Crap. I thought the grey hairs would be the end of it. Thanks Dad.

• I recently discovered Chess With Friends, an online turn based chess app for the iPhone. Reminds me of the days when I was all into Red Hot Pawn. Good fun to be had here. And its free (or was when I downloaded it!).

• I’ve had a bit of down time of late. It was both relaxing and productive, but I’m generally I’m a pretty pro-paycheck kind of guy. Later this week I head back to the office to help make TV Magic for the masses. (Sigh).

Now go out and enjoy that New Year of ours. Aught Nine. The final Aught of our lifetime. No pressure.

Lefty

2009-01-01T11:44:00.000-08:00

This is another of my new friends, Kaibab, who does some amusing tricks. In addition to the standards (sit, stay, down) he slowly plays dead when you point and say "bang". My favorite is his lefty paw shake, known as the Bob Dole. Good fun.

New Buddies

2008-12-27T19:30:00.000-08:00

On this trip to New York I made two new friends: Maggie (the Austrailian Shepard) plays a mean fetch and takes care if all my crumbs. Little Dylan (the child) enjoys licking my camera, climbing into my lap and leading me on walks by the finger.

Tech Lite

2008-12-24T16:27:00.000-08:00

The combination of being between gigs and having (/loving) my iPhone has set me free on, technologically speaking. Typically I would be rocking a pouch bulging with chargers, but not this trip. I won't need to crunch numbers, so the MacBook stayed home. My iPod is a thing of the past, my BBerry is dead to me and my Powershot runs on lithium AAs. BAM. I'm now a one charger kind of guy (and a compact one at that).

Thanks to MobileDisk I can access (and email!) documents stored in my iDisk right from the ol' iPhone. I'm all jacked up with music, podcasts and games. And mobile blogging software, natch. Really it's like I'm living in a sweet sweet future.

If I was a more dedicated media pirate I'd have some feature films on here. I'm looking at you, EA.

Waiting at BUR

2008-12-24T12:01:00.000-08:00

We got to the airport in my customary timeframe - 2 hours before departure. Now we've been delayed by an hour and a half.

(Sigh.)

Gooooo winter!

Work Week

2008-12-21T16:44:00.000-08:00

Last week I dragged myself out of my sloth-like vacation/hiatus schedule and picked up a week of work helping out a friend with some last minute shoots. The transition was hard and the first day was by far the toughest. I repeatedly told myself that I should have just passed on the gig all together. By Tuesday I was less cranky about working and by Wednesday I was back in the swing of things. The shoots included a couple of late nights at some (allegedly) hip Hollywood Nightclubs. I’ve only been to a handful of night clubs, and not for many, many years, so the entire experience was rather amusing. Plus we were “VIPs,” and could go wherever we wanted. One club had feeds from their 16 security projected onto a wall of their upstairs office. Unsurprisingly, this was my favorite part.

Death by Gate

2008-12-12T11:11:00.000-08:00

Last week I cleaned out the mechanical housing for our driveway gate. Inside I found this fantastic sign. I don't see us putting it up, but I love that we have it.

The Neighborhood

2008-12-07T23:20:00.000-08:00

This weekend we attended our first neighborhood holiday party. Or so we thought until we showed up and realized it was a birthday party for 2 teenagers. Whoops. Good thing Keri thought cookies were better to bring than the bottle of wine I suggested (although that would have been amusing on its own). Everyone we met was very friendly and they had a huge spread which included a whole roasted pig! Delicious! Though we only make a brief appearance, it was great to get to know some of our neighbors.

Just around the corner from the fiesta is a the home of some people who really know how to get down with the holiday. Its almost like Christmas vomited all over their lawn:

Tech Talk

2008-12-01T00:16:00.000-08:00

Last week technology was both my friend and my enemy:

Enemy:
• My Apple TV did an auto-update and the new software deleted all my media. Not the end of the world, but terribly inconvenient.
• Our Internet went out for 2 days because of the rain. Its back on now and just as mediocre as ever. I may have to re-investigate switching to DSL.

Friend:
• Microsoft recently upgraded the xBox 360's dashboard software. In addition to adding Wii rip-off avatars, they added the ability to stream your Netflix movies. No DVDs, just movies. Limited selection, but as many as you want. Instantly. Kind of amazing.
• Yesterday I performed a minor hack on my Apple TV and installed Boxee. This will allegedly allow me to access media from my network drive, and also give easy access to lots of internet media, like Hulu. So far I’m amused. Last night we streamed an episode of The Amazing Race that our tivo botched. Thanks Internet!
• Blake introduced me to a great iPhone game called Enigmo (iTMS). Holy Addictive, Batman. I couldn’t put it down, and powered through to level 50 in a few days. Evan is also a junkie. Watch out, you might be next.

T-Day ‘08

2008-11-30T11:57:00.000-08:00

We just wrapped up a great Thanksgiving week. My parents flew in to help us celebrate our first Holiday in the new house. Though their trip was quick, we packed it full of goodness. Pre-turkey we hit up Pasadena, The Arclight and saw a sweet sunset in Malibu.

The next day we all pitched in to make the big meal. In addition to the 2 pies, variety of starches and veggies there was, of course, the turkey. We cooked that puppy outside on the grill and it was fantastic. Juicy, delicious and so so easy. Plus the kitchen didn’t get real hot and it freed up the oven to keep the other goodies warm. All in all, a fantastic plan that I can take zero credit for.

Friday we overcame our tryptophan hangovers with a wander around the Venice Canals, checking out the architecture and peeking in the overpriced windows. Next came brunch, complete actress sighting. We tried to follow that up with a trip to the Getty, but after navigating to the overflow parking lot we encountered the hour long line just to get on the mini-bus we’d need to ride before waiting in line for the trolley up to the Museum. Boo. Thankfully we all agreed on a big old PASS.

We capped the visit with a tasty birthday dinner for Keri at our local vegetarian bistro, Fatty’s. Despite the lack of meat, the food was amazing. We shared a few appetizers (including Cajun Nuts) and I had Mac & Cheese (with peas!) for my entree. After dinner our waitress brought over a delicious (yet vegan) desert while they piped a show-tune-y version of Happy Birthday through the stereo system.

Let us know if you’re interested in Turkey and/or Pie leftovers. We’ve got an open door policy.

Stuff

2008-11-23T01:32:00.000-08:00

Laziness breeds bullet points.

•The Seals - During our trip home from Big Sur we stopped to see the Elephant Seals near Hearst Castle. We’d stopped on the way up and were excited for a repeat. You just pull off the highway and they’re all just chillin’ on the beach. Mostly they nap and make fart-snores with their mouth, but sometimes they play fight (then nap) like these duders:

•The Boogers - Last weekend we attended a wedding, along with a number of small children. One such tiny human impressed me with her ingenuity. She had a good time saver worked out – one thumb went in her mouth while the accompanying pinky went up her nose in search of Green Gold. Kind of like the Shocker, but for boogers.

•The Quest - Thursday I increased my slickness rating by smashing our coffee pot in the sink. I then embarked on a 2 hour goose chase that ended with the discovery that I was too cheap to shell $25 for a replacement. Bummer.

Also, congrats to the McKeller’s on their new casa. Good luck with the move, and welcome to the neighborhood!

100K

2008-11-11T11:16:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, on our way back from Big Sur my car hit 100,000 miles. It was a big moment. I almost shed a tear. Almost.

Driving - A Time Lapse

2008-11-06T14:17:00.001-08:00

As I've mentioned before, I love a time lapse. On Monday morning I pointed the camera out the back window of my trusty Subaru before hitting the road back to LA. Here's what came out:

Driving from pvision on Vimeo.

A Week +

2008-11-06T13:53:00.000-08:00

Its been a busy week. It all began last Tuesday with a show at the House of Blues. Tea Leaf Green opened up for Umphrey’s McGee. Good times were had. Tea Leaf was fine, as they usually are, and Umphrey’s kind of rocked it, which I enjoyed. They’re considered a jam band but have an undercurrent of Metal which I thoroughly dig. Plus its funny to see hippies throwing up the Devil Horns and mean it.

Last weekend I hit up the Last Tortugas festival near Yosemite with James/Stina and some other peeps. Now THAT was a good time. It's a tiny little festival at this rustic resort-ey place in the middle of the woods. The hippies were out in force despite the rain and I was pretty psyched to be sleeping in a cabin instead of a tent. That cabin really tied the festival together. There were many highlights, but discovering On The One and Underground Orchestra are high on the list.

Tuesday Keri and I celebrated Voting Day with the 4 block walk to our local polling place, then settled in to watch the coverage on CNN with Blake and Annie (complete with holograms and multi-touch walls). I fully expected to be up all night, anxiously awaiting the verdict. But no, concession speech before 9pm. Nice. Eat it McCain. And your little dog Palin too.

Cheap Cheap

2008-10-30T19:43:00.001-07:00

Under $3/gallon! Shocking.

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MTV's Video Library

2008-10-28T12:54:00.000-07:00

MTV has just published their entire (I think) music video library online. If you've got a few minutes/hours to kill check it out here. Good times.

(Thanks Evan!)

Lunch Items

2008-10-27T16:48:00.000-07:00

Today at lunch, as is often my way, I ran some errands. First I was disturbed to discover that the Costco Snack Bar is closed for renovations. Bummer. No $1.50 hotdog/drink combo for me. Dammit.

So Sad.

I’m in the market for some shoes, so I cruised by the Shoe Pavillion near work. Its going out of business and it was a little bit of a madhouse. There were at least 20 people in the checkout line and the store was a wreck. It looked like a gigantic shoe-filled piñata had just exploded everywhere and/or there was recently a shoe-related riot. People go a little crazy for an extra 20% off.

WTF?

When I got back to the office, $5 Footlong in hand, there was an Ice Cream Truck chillin’ in the parking lot. Free Soft Serve on the company! Nice!

Yum.

Old But Funny

2008-10-22T12:42:00.000-07:00

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've seen (or at least heard about) SNL's infamous Sarah Palin Rap. Last weeks' episode was apparently the highest rated in years. Like, 14 years. Odd that some Republican Sponsored Republican Bashing is what's pulling that show out of the dumper. Its no Dick In A Box, but there's some humor to be enjoyed:

(Sorry about the advert!)

Car Service + Valley Walk

2008-10-21T14:40:00.000-07:00

I'm taking road a trip up to Yosemite late next week for a sweet jam band festival. This means that the old Subaru needed to get a little checkup. After I dropped off the car this morning I decided to walk the 2.5 miles to the office. Along the way I tried out a new iPhone app that tracks your journey via GPS and can display photos you take along the way. Fairly amusing. And free. At least it was when I downloaded it...

Auto Shop -> Work

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Fork You

2008-10-19T09:02:00.001-07:00

I knocked this fork off the counter last night. Broke right in two. Stupid fork. Stupid gravity.

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_ & _

2008-10-18T08:11:00.001-07:00

We were just discussing our plans to head to The Depot to buy some hose. I suggested that we should perhaps also buy some bitches.

Slacker Days

2008-10-17T15:10:00.000-07:00

Work is not what I would call "busy" right now. Sometimes this inspires me to be personally productive during work hours. Sometimes I slip into the sloth routine of web surfing and generally being a waste of space. Yesterday was more sloth-y, but at least I documented it:

Desktop from pvision on Vimeo.

MacHeads

2008-10-15T15:27:00.000-07:00

FanBoys unite! The documentary cometh:

Convergence

2008-10-12T22:29:00.000-07:00

Last week I enjoyed the beautiful convergence of great movies and crappy (yet amusing) reality television. It was on Ace of Cakes. I watch it now and then. I like it. They make cakes. And they're funny. I like funny.

I watched them make some crazy cakes inspired by some classic movies:

Movie: Star Wars
Cake: A sweet Millennium Falcon
Occasion: Some Dude's Birthday

Movie: The Big Lebowski
Cake: A gigantic White Russian and equally huge Severed Toe
Occasion: Lebowskifest!

The episode was overflowing with movie quotes and people dressed like The Dude. Good times.

Interesting Adjacent Items x 2

2008-10-10T17:06:00.000-07:00

Here's two things that amuse me, but might have less of an impact on someone like yourself:

• I just watched a solid 10 minutes of the Dodger game in the kitchen. I was having a snack/getting some coffee and got sucked in by the beauty of the wall mounted 62 inch HDTV. I still hate sports, but man do they look good in HD!

• Last night Keri and I were taking an evening stroll in Pasadena and encountered an Owl chillin' on a phone line. It was getting dark, so we couldn't see him too well, but he definitely did that creepy 360 degree head spin thing. Good times.

On Social Networking

2008-10-09T11:19:00.001-07:00

I have an aversion to Social Networking sites. They may be a primary communication method for the younger generations, but I just don't care about most of it. I joined Friendster, but it bored me. I skipped MySpace but joined Facebook and have so far avoided Linked In & Twitter. Blake boycotts the social networks entirely. Today we discussed a bit:

So really by not using the communication tools of the future, are we turning ourselves into the next generation of techno-phobes? Social Network-phobes? "When I was a kid the internet didn't HAVE pictures!"

Time-lapse Bad-assery

2008-10-07T13:05:00.000-07:00

I enjoy making a time-lapse video. It helps that I bought some nifity software so its real easy to do right on my computer, but this dude puts me to shame. Sure, he must have some serious camera gear to get that crazy depth of field, but I can't help feel a bit inferior. Its even better if you click through to Vimeo and watch full screen in HD.

Beached from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.

Phish - March 6•7•8 2009

2008-10-01T11:04:00.000-07:00

This almost makes me wish I lived on the East Coast.

Almost.

iPhone Screengrab

2008-09-30T16:10:00.001-07:00

Just discovered that you can do a screengrab on the iPhone! Mostly useless, but a little bit fun too. At least for me. I'm good like that.

Uploaded by www.cellspin.net

The Great Schlep

2008-09-28T19:31:00.000-07:00

There is humor in truth. And vice-versa.

The Great Schlep from The Great Schlep on Vimeo.

(Thanks Keri!)

Gas Crisis

2008-09-27T12:50:00.000-07:00

My buddy Callahan wrote about the gas shortage they're experiencing in Georgia and nearby states. Kind of wacky. Makes you wish for one of those new fangled electric cars (even if they are real ugly). Now we just need to wait for them to invent the battery that will power them.

Labels For Miles

2008-09-26T13:23:00.001-07:00

It's just me and the office PA left, but there's still many DVD sets to make... At least I've got my sweet sweet iPhone to keep me company during my time of mindless labor. So far I've labeled the wrong side if 4 discs.

Uploaded by www.cellspin.net

More With The Testing

2008-09-24T11:09:00.001-07:00

As life with my iPhone continues, I find myself trying out a lot of applications from the app store. Some are entertaining, and get filed for additional exploration, while others suck right out of the gate and get instantly trashed.

Right now I'm trying some mobile-blogging software. So far so fine. It can apparently upload pictures too. Here's a can of Spam I have from Hawaii. Yum, Hawaiian Spam!

Mobile Blogging Test

2008-09-24T10:51:00.001-07:00

Uploaded by www.cellspin.net

All Growed Up

2008-09-22T11:31:00.000-07:00

Three things have made me feel like a grown up/old person lately:

• Tea Time – This weekend Keri’s Grandmother was in town for a visit. We hit up a few tourist sights and took her to tea in Pasadena. It was both the prim and the proper, and, except for the waiters, I was the only man for miles. The staff got a kick out of my man-presence and made repeated gender jokes, helping me order the manliest tea and the red-meatiest finger sandwiches. It was all delicious and surprisingly filling, despite its dainty exterior.

• Lawnmower Man – I finally got off my ass and hired a gardener. Keri has been doing a great job giving the yard love (and water), which means that the formerly dead grass has been growing uncut for some time. When I left this morning the Yard Duder was just beginning to work his Weed Wacker Magic and I had an unexpected sense of pride/excitement. I look forward to seeing the house all spiffed up.

• Taking Stock – Today I purchased my very first stocks. I’ve been meaning to dabble/learn for some time, and after some recent chatting with Dalton I was finally inspired to take the plunge. Sure, the market is crashing, blah blah blah, but buy low/sell high, right? Or something. I’m investing a nominal amount as a learning/exploratory exercise, so it’ll all be fine in the end no matter what happens.