Little Andy banged his big toe in the door today, and the toenail was hanging by a thread. He was crying at dinner, so I told him that when the nail fell off, he should put it under his pillow and the “Toe Fairy” would come overnight. His parents immediately shot me a “what the hell does the Toe Fairy bring!?” look! Andy instantly stopped crying and started laughing! As we said goodbye from the car, he was still talking about the Toe Fairy as the following video will attest:
“Bye Blog Weaders”
So the question is, what do you think the Toe Fairy should leave under Andy’s pillow??
That’s what I get for taking an 8 year old to see Star Trek. “Are you out of your Vulcan mind?”, is Tommy’s new catchphrase. The movie was great! We both enjoyed it immensely. I’m down here with the the boys this weekend, while their parents attend the Dave Matthews and Jason Mraz concert in Las Vegas. Originally we were all going to go to Vegas together, but Lisa and Joel haven’t had a weekend alone since before Andy was born. So they’ll drive back tomorrow afternoon and we’ll have a nice Mother’s Day barbecue at Jenn’s. After the movie today, we went to Cole’s Little League game where Tommy proceeded to entertain and shock the crowd with his latest phraseology (not everyone knew he was saying “Vulcan”, and when said quickly it sounds like another word!). Since I know nothing about baseball, I took Andy to the playground and we scouted for rattlesnakes from the safety of the slide. He had his first visit from the tooth fairy last night, as you can surmise from his new toothless smile. It make the way he says “Caaaaweee” even cuter!
This “Trekkie” group had set up a display in the theater lobby. We walked up to the table and they all said, “Hi, we’re geeks!”. They weren’t lying! Tommy’s 8, and he’s had more girlfriends than all of them!
All he wants for Christmas is his two front teeth!
Who knew that Tyra Banks could be this good!? There was so much to enjoy about Levi’s appearance. His white trash, drug dealing mom, his creepy sister with his name tattooed on her wrist, and poor old Levi himself; too dumb to be outwitted by a vapid model! As much of an ignorant redneck as this kid is, you have to give him credit. I’ve always felt sorry for him. Thrust into the national spotlight against his will, all because he was poking the governor’s daughter (in her own house, with her mother’s knowledge, I might add…”Mom’s are pretty smart.” he told Tyra. Well some of them are Levi!). And now Sarah Palin has the nerve to tell People magazine that Bristol will continue to preach abstinence??!! Are you fucking kidding me!!?? Remember just a few months ago when Sarah Palin was throwing Levi into the middle of the campaign? One day he was smoking a bong in his hockey jersey and underwear in Alaska, and the next he was awkwardly shaking John McCain’s hand on a tarmac in Ohio. Just keep issuing these types of statements to glossy magazines Sarah. They show what an evil hypocrite you really are. Oh, and good luck getting your sister in law off the burglary charges too. Just keep making news and talking to the media, and hopefully we won’t ever see your loathsome face in the Lower 48 again, and you will nevermore set foot on a national political stage.
And now for the flowers and baseball!
OK, maybe it wasn’t all that spring like…it actually felt like Chicago!
Tony (generasianx) was nice enough to invite Albert (owbert) and me to a showing of “The Secret Life of Bees” on Sunday night. After the movie, there was a panel discussion with the director, Gina Prince Bythewood, and one of the stars of the movie, Dakota Fanning. (They were also joined by Dr. Barbara Rico, an English professor from Loyola Marymount who discussed some of the central literary & multicultural themes in the movie.) Dakota Fanning, who’s not even 15 yet, blew us all away. She is a remarkably poised young woman, seemingly unaffected by the spotlight and the falseness that permeates this town. Her performance in the movie was riveting. She kept pace with her fellow actresses Queen Latifah and Jennifer Hudson. Quite frankly, I’m surprised the movie didn’t get more buzz (pun intended). Roger Ebert writes:
There is such a thing as feeling superior to your emotions, but I trust mine. If I sense the beginnings of a teardrop in my eye during a movie, that is evidence more tangible than all the mighty weight of Film Theory. “The immediate experience,” one of the wisest of critics called it. That’s what you have to acknowledge. I watched the movie, abandoned history and plausibility, and just plain fell for it. If it had been a bad movie, it would have been ripe for vivisection. But it is not a bad movie.
I have some video of the panel discussion if anyone’s interested, I’ll post it on YouTube. If you haven’t seen this movie, it’s worth watching. If you don’t like it, I’ll pay you double.
BFF’s!, Carey & Dakota. She reminds me a lot of Jodie Foster
The two big hits with the kids on Christmas morning, were Spike the Dinosaur and Lucky the Puppy who responds to a multitude of spoken commands, as this video will attest:
Our Christmas was better than little Bobby’s: (See warning below.)
Warning:Adult Language. Don’t watch this with kids around!
After the presents and a yummy Christmas lunch, I headed home to meet Claudio & Chazz for a movie. We saw Valkyrie and both really enjoyed it. Here are a few Christmas pictures. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. Peace!
As a followup to Bachelor Blues & Puppy Love, Claudio found some year old shrimp in the freezer today while making breakfast. It reminded me of an old Christmas classic by George Michael & Wham:
Last night we went to see Slumdog Millionaire at the Arclight. We were sitting behind Ron Howard (Opie), and the theater was packed. I like seeing movies at the Arclight (despite the $15 ticket price), because it caters to an industry crowd that really appreciates good film making. When the movie was over it got a standing ovation, and then someone suggested a minute of silence for the victims of the terrorist attacks in India. Since the movie was set in Mumbai, it was an appropriate gesture and quite touching. This was honestly the best movie I’ve seen all year. (We’re going to see “Milk” tomorrow though, which also got a 93 on Rotten Tomatoes. I’ve heard excellent things about it too, and it’s obviously another timely topic in light of what’s going on with Prop. 8.) Seriously though, go see Slumdog Millionaire. If you don’t like it, I will pay you double!! Honest The world needs a movie like this right now. It’s amazing.
I hope all you statesiders had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Here are some pictures from feast. I’m going to slip into a turkey coma now. Good night!
…In daylights, in sunsets in midnights, in cups of coffee. In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife. In 22,600,800 minutes…how do you measure 43 years of life? How about love?
Thanks to everyone who sent me birthday wishes this weekend. I kind of know what Albert & David mean now about Facebook, but it’s still nice that people take the time to actually send me birthday greetings!
My Aunt & Uncle and cousins had a party for me today in Orange County. I had a great time and got lots of swag, LOL.
Kevin & Tommy butting heads
This is what happens when Cody doesn’t listen to his favorite cousin!!
Actually, he had a very bad
skateboarding accident Wednesday and broke his collar bone. It was
really nice of him to show up for my party. He was in a lot of pain.
Poor little guy. I’m pretty sure he won’t be hanging on to the back of
a moped while skateboarding any more though! I’m really glad he’s
going to be OK. This was after he got home from the hospital. See how much higher his right shoulder is?
This card was hilarious. It’s from the Republican side of the family! On the front was Barack Obama saying, “Obviously you’ve had a lot of
experience with birthdays…”, and inside it said, “But who needs
experience.”
I’m getting tired of blogging about my car, but yesterday I went to have a SMOG inspection as it’s required after 6 years (that corrupt industry is a whole other blog topic for another time). My car failed the electrical test. The guy at the testing station asked me if the car had recently been serviced or if the battery had been removed. Of course I told him yes. What I learned was that it takes about a week of driving to get the electrical system in sync to pass the California test. I payed $50 for nothing. I wish Honda of Hollywood would have told me that. Then, on the way home, the gas gauge suddenly showed “empty” when it had been nearly full the day before (and I’d only driven ten miles!). So I went back to Honda of Hollywood. They put it up on a lift and determined there was no leak, and the gauge just must have been stuck from the accident. Grrrrrr! Not how I wanted to spend my Saturday morning. So here’s the letter I’m going to send to the president of Honda of Hollywood. What do you think?
Dear Mr. Robertson,
My name is Carey _______, and I’m the person who owns the 2002 Honda Accord your body shop took 4 months to repair. First, let me start by saying that Peter, in your body shop, was always courteous and professional to me, but that did not make up for the fact that this damage:
took nearly four months (to the day) to fix. It’s clear to everyone involved (including people I spoke to at Honda of Hollywood) that this car should have been totaled, and I must question the integrity of your business to embark on fixing a car that should have been in the junk heap in March when the accident occurred.
This whole situation would almost be comical if it weren’t for the fact that I am currently facing out of pocket rental bills of over $1500 for an accident that was not my fault. In addition, I have had to take several hours off work to rent, return and re-rent cars in the four months you were supposedly fixing my car.
I have been a Honda customer for over 20 years. I have used Honda of Hollywood exclusively to service my car since I moved to California six years ago. I am mortified by the way this situation has been handled, and have documented it extensively in the public domain on my blog. In fact, if you Google “Honda of Hollywood Customer Service” my blog is the #1 hit. I have saved every voice mail your shop ever left me. Many of them repeat the same untruths week after week. (I lost count how many times the car was going “across the street to have the engine put back in”.)
Sadly, now that I have the car back my problems persist. Yesterday morning I took my car to get a smog inspection as my vehicle registration required after six years. The car failed the electrical portion of the test, apparently because the battery had been removed for so long. Your employees knew that I needed to get a smog inspection, and no one informed me of the fact that I had to “drive around for a week to get the electrical system in synch.” After wasting $50 on that test, I realized that my gas gauge that had been nearly full an hour before, was now empty. I drove back to Honda of Hollywood (for the third time in three days), and they proceeded to put my car up on a lift to check for a gas leak. They had me stand under the car (a clearly posted OSHA violation) to tell me they couldn’t find a leak, and that the gauge had probably just been stuck. (I won’t even go into the fact that you had my car for four month as apparently ran the tank empty not replenishing it before you gave it back to me! When I had my accident in March, gas was practically $1 cheaper a gallon than it is today. Classy!)
When I walked across the street to talk to a Sales Representative about trading it in for a new car, they looked at me like I was crazy. The bottom line is that you collected nearly $14,000 from the insurance company and after four months I still have a loose driver’s seat, a stuck gas gauge and who knows what other problems. I suppose I’m going to have to consult with an attorney, as well as the Better Business Bureau, but I want to give you the opportunity to make this right. I know that you are a respected leader in the Hollywood business community. I also know that a few honestly well tagged Google hits can drive business away from any company in the 21st Century. I hope that you will do the right thing here and correct this egregious wrong. I await your reply.
Sincerely,
Carey ______
On to happier things… Here are some photos from this weekend:
Pad Thai lunch with Parvesh & Bhavin
Tressa and I by the orange tree with the sun in our eyes.
I don’t feel well today. I’ve had the chills all day. I get hot and then cold and then hot again. In fact I’m sitting here with the ceiling fan going and a heater at my feet! I really hope I’m not getting the flu. I’m flying to Portland Wednesday and we’re renting a house at Cannon Beach for a few days. I can’t get sick!!
Pehaps my last entry should have been called “One of Those Weeks”. Continuing my streak of bad luck this week (I didn’t even mention in the previous post that my camera broke again…long sandy story), the rental car had a flat tire when I left work today! Since Enterprise was closed already, I called AAA. (No, I don’t change flat tires. That’s what AAA is for!) Lisa’s husband graciously offered to come, but AAA got there in less than 15 minutes which was great. It could have been better though… As he was changing the tire, I texted Lisa:
Talk about your flat tires!
On a brighter note, I went to two birthday parties yesterday! The first was for my friend Luciana’s 2 year old daughter Amanda. Luci lives in São Paulo, Brazil and we’ve been friends since 1991. The last time I saw her, was the night of my attack in 2002. It was so wonderful to see her and her husband Mateus under much better circumstances! I had not met her children, Amanda and Lucas, and even though they didn’t speak English (and my Portuguese is limited), we became fast friends!
From one pizza party at noon to another at 4:00, LOL. Cole & Tressa’s party was at the pool, and a good time was had by all. The shark cake was a big hit!
Doing the limbo.
This was a $200 cake that Jennifer got for free when a friend of the baker’s called to say they had an extra cake!! The “sand” was brown sugar and the shells were white chocolate.
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