Month: January 2010

  • Cheesy Food Porn and a Daring Rescue

      
    A week of rare stormy weather was capped off by a beautiful sunny weekend full of friends, flowers and food (porn).  Picasa tells me I took 224 photos this week.  Here are a few of them:


    More storm photos here and here


    Before & After


    It ain’t Jesus, (Cheesus?) but Ebay anyone??  Make me an offer I can’t refuse and I’ll sell you my Cheenis


    A surprise mid week lunch visit from the family!


    This sunset was like a painting!


    Nothing like Grandma’s spaghetti on a rainy day!


    This was the cloud that spawned hail and downpours downtown as you can see


    January showers bring…January flowers


    The rain cleared away the smog and left snow capped mountains over Hollywood


    Owen with downtown Los Angeles as a backdrop


    Shopping at The Grove with Owen


    Hooray for Hollywood!


    Sunset tonight from my roof


    To prove the clouds weren’t Photoshopped, here’s a short video of the last storm

    I’ve been dog-sitting for Buster & Roxy all week.  I have them until Thursday, when I leave for the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.  The poor dogs had cabin fever this week with all the rain, but they got cured of that really quickly after seeing this riveting rescue of a dog trapped in the swollen Los Angeles River this week:

     
    The dog’s owners still haven’t been found.  Maybe I should adopt him and get Chazz a playmate?’
    This was really quite an amazing thing to watch.  The poor dog was so scared and the firefighter was so brave.

  • When Eli Met Elvis

    My friend An and his wife and 16 month old baby Eli, visited The Hotel Careyfornia this past weekend, and needless to say, I couldn’t take enough photos of this adorable little munchkin:

    The last time I saw An was at his wedding a long time ago, as this photo will attest:

    We went to Palms Thai and Eli got to meet Thai Elvis and woo a little girl:


    He’s been singing since 1957!


    I think Eli better get used to this reaction from girls!

    The rest of the weekend consisted of a Golden Globes party (I won the pool again) and Din Tai Fung (again) and Avatar (again) with Kazaf.  It seems I’m a creature of habit.


    I told his parents that it would be tantamount to child abuse if they didn’t leave him in Hollywood with me.  Think of how famous I could make him!!


    I dare you not to say “Awwwwww”!


    Best of the rest…


    The 101 freeway was empty yesterday morning at 9 as I snapped this shot from my sunroof


    The clouds rolling in over the San Gabriel mountains.  We’re having an El Niño week, so rain is expected


    If you live in LA, check out www.fallenfruit.org/, it shows where all the free fruit is for the picking!


    Before going into Avatar for the second time


    What’s he pointing at?  LOL


    I wish I could specialize in photos of fathers holding babies!


    Nothing better than leftover dumplings!

    I had an all day management summit for work today with the other vice presidents.  We ordered sandwiches from Domino’s as it was raining pretty hard at lunch time.  I love their website.  It tracks your order right down to who makes it checks it and delivers it! 


    Thanks Pedro and Jose!  LOL

  • Dangerous, Delusional and Doltish

    The recent revelations about Sarah Palin in the book “Game Change” have left me giddy and completely unbothered by her recent appointment as Fox News’ newest pinhead.  Let’s face it, even McCain’s own campaign had doubts that someone as vapid and crazy (“It was God’s plan…“) as Caribou Barbie should ever hold the highest office in the land and even hatched a plan to give her a mostly ceremonial role should they win.  So keep prattling on Sarah…and show us all how dangerous, delusional and doltish you really are!  To wit:

    “John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin may have been a bold stroke that narrowed what would otherwise have been a blowout defeat. But it was also, as the authors depict it, an act of extreme recklessness, a seat-of-the-pants improvisation that allowed for almost no serious vetting of someone who knew diddly-squat about the world we live in and who would have been a heartbeat from the presidency.

    “In the days leading up to an interview with ABC News’ Charlie Gibson, aides were worried with Ms. Palin’s grasp of facts. She couldn’t explain why North and South Korea were separate nations and she did not know what the Federal Reserve did. She also said she believed Saddam Hussein attacked the United States on Sept. 11, 2001.”

    Where’d they find her? Well, on the Internet, as it happens. “McCain’s campaign manager, Rick Davis, spotted Sarah Palin while searching the Internet for possible female vice presidential candidates.” More from CBS News:

    “Her foreign policy tutors are literally taking her through, ‘This is World War I, this is World War II, this is the Korean War. This is the how the Cold War worked.’ Steve Schmidt had gone to them and said, ‘She knows nothing,’” Heilemann told Cooper. “A week later, after the convention was over, she still didn’t really understand why there was a North Korea and a South Korea. She was still regularly saying that Saddam Hussein had been behind 9/11. And, literally, the next day her son was about to ship off to Iraq. And when they asked her who her son was going to fight, she couldn’t explain that.”"

    “A debacle of historic and epic proportions”

    Now, speaking of doltish, American Idol begins tonight, LOL.  As I did last year and the year before, I will continue to post photos when I see these new faux celebrities about town or attend tapings.  (They’re staying at a hotel close to me now, but aside from Todrick Hall and JB Ahfua (frontrunners for my money), I don’t have a lot of information yet.)  It should be interesting to see how Ellen works out, and since this is Simon’s last season, we’ll probably be talking about the X-Factor this time next year.  Say what you will about Idol but at its best, the show extols the American Dream.  At its worst, it brings out the schadenfruede in all of us.

    Each year I think it might be the end of the show’s popularity, and each year brings a new  Sanjaya, Danny Noriega, Jason Castro or Adam Lambert.  Anyway, I’m sure I’ll be attending a show or two this year, and will run in to these wannabe celebrities all over town.  So stay tuned if you’re so inclined.  Hit it Ryan:


    Finally, a week of spectacular weather and sunsets, was capped off at the Getty Museum over the weekend, where Ryan, Lorenzo, Adam and I enjoyed a sunset for the ages after coming out of the Rembrandt exhibit.  Take a look at the photos and video:

  • Dumplings, Dogs and Drag Queens

    I’ve been trying to get to Din Tai Fung with Lexi & Rita for over a year now, and we finally made it.  We ordered way too much, but the leftovers are always great!  I just wish it was closer!


    Watching the dumpling makers

    Keeping with the food theme, here’s Chazz staring up at my dinner the other night with his laser eyes:

    The sunsets seem to be getting prettier each night, and they look so good with Chazz in the foreground:  It’s been in the high 70′s (25°) all week here and we’ve had some spectacular colors in the sky!


    Sunset on Sunset (Blvd.)


    Looking west on Sunset Blvd. at the top of my street

    The kids went to Disneyland today for Dar’s retirement party and Andy fell asleep in the car on the way home and never woke up:


    Chazz standing guard
    Tommy and Mommy did homework, while Joel went for Chinese takeout and the dogs played:


    Learning multiplication


    I cropped out the bunny ears, LOL


    Chazz & Oreo II


    Best of the rest…including an encounter with fashionista Bobby Trendy (thus the drag queen in the title, though as you’ll see in the photos, he was dressed way down…not in his usual glam!) a visit with Roscoe & Arielle and yet more sunsets, dogs and kids (but I’ll spare you the Sarah Palin this time!)

    And finally, it’s nice to know when your words inspire someone.  This was a great way to start the new year.  I’m glad I was able to help you Kevin.  Keep up the good work!

  • Dolphins, Home Depot and Condoleezza Rice

    After ringing in the New Year in grand style, we took the weekend to relax a bit.  Home Depot has this great kid’s workshop the first Saturday of every month, so Cathy & I took Patrick.  I wasn’t much help building, but as always I took the photos.  The sunset was spectacular on Saturday and on Sunday I drove the six hours home to get here in time for Ryan’s birthday party.  Lorenzo & Adam flew in from DC, and we all celebrated at Palms Thai.  I’m currently curled up on the couch with Chazz, eating popcorn and relaxing for the first time since before Christmas.  Here are some of my favorite photos and two videos from the past few days.  Have a great week everyone!  Happy New Year.


    Patrick in his living room


    The first sunset of 2010


    He didn’t get his nailing ability from Uncle Carey


    The Home Depot Kid’s Workshop is a great program, and it’s free!


    Such a good builder!


    No caption necessary!


    4 against 1!  No fair!


    Joaquin feeding me kiwi


    We celebrated New Year’s first with the kids at 8:23, because we forgot to at 8:00.  They didn’t know the difference!


    Except the dog and my weight!


    A rare quiet moment


    I like this photo


    Playing football in the back yard He’s getting better as this old video attests!


    Yesterday during breakfast, a pod of dolphins swam by to say goodbye!


    Wes & Owen


    Near Half Moon Bay, south of San Francisco


    See more from today with the boys, by clicking here.


    Best of the rest…


    What I woke up to on New Year’s Day


    The first sunset of 2010…starring Patrick & Carey

  • 10 Years After Y2K – Flawless

    1/1/10 3:42 AM – Another Update:  The party’s over…I’m the last one up (as I don’t drink)!  All is quiet on New Year’s Day.  The photos are all in the slideshow below, or click the collage.  Oh, and I thought this whole exchange on Facebook was pretty funny:


    12/31/09 2:10 PM – Update:  Here’s the slideshow of photos so far.  Our guests will start arriving at 5 and I’ll be adding pictures as time permits.  Happy New Year!!

    12/31/09 1:47 AM – I’m finally over the Great Christmas Flu Massacre (the count is up to 10 and still climbing!) and today I drove the 390 miles to Tom & Cathy’s house in paradise.  The drive was actually quite pleasant.  No one lit their underwear on fire and I listened to “Fresh Air” and “This American Life” podcasts the whole way.  I took these photos with my cell phone while driving (sorry for the quality) and posted them to Facebook and Twitter along the way (yes, I can do all that and still drive safely.  But when you text me to tell me to pay attention to the road, it’s more distracting!  LOL).  I only stopped once for gas and the trip took just over 6 hours. 


    The last photo is driving over the Bay Bridge in San Francisco

    Little Patrick was waiting for me at the door.  I hadn’t seen him since July in Germany, and he’s growing like a weed.  We ate meatballs and read books before putting him to bed!


    Best buddies!

    This is our 13th annual New Year’s gathering of the GLY Gang.  It’s hard to believe our far flung group of friends started this tradition in Brazil in 1997, and we have celebrated New Year’s together all over the world ever since.  As our GLY family continues to grow with marriages and babies, I’m thankful for such wonderful friends.  We’re especially thinking of Bine this year and sending her all of our love!

    10 years ago, we were all in Mexico.  It was 1999 and the world was waiting to see what would happen at the strike of midnight in the Year 2000.  Many of you are probably too young to remember the dread surrounding Y2K, but 10 years ago, none of us knew if the world would continue to function.  Here’s a (non digital) photo of our group from that year:

    So much has changed since then.  In 1999 I didn’t even own a digital camera.  I had just gotten my first cell phone the year before.  The word “blog” was only 6 months old!  Bill Clinton was president, and George W Bush was still a whole year away from stealing the presidency of the United States.  I wonder how different the world would be today had he never become president?  I doubt we would be worried about underwear bombs!  (By the way, if Rush Limbaugh dies today, I hope someone demands to see the death certificate!  What a tool.)

    In the next few days I’ll be posting photos of our celebration here.  Until then, here’s a slideshow and video to give you an idea of where I’m writing from.  The waves are crashing up into the back yard 20 feet from where I sit right now.  This is the view I will wake up to in the morning!  Happy New Year!