lulu

  • Scary Times & Simpler Times

     


    I took this photo of the Irvine Spectrum out the car window going 65 mph. on the way to dinner.  (Here’s another, two moths later.)

    “There is indeed something mesmerizing about Palin, with her manic beaming and fulsome confidence in her own charm. The force of her personality managed to slightly obscure the insulting emptiness of her answers last night. It’s worth reading the transcript of the encounter, where it becomes clearer how bizarre much of what she said was. Here, for example, is how she responded to Biden’s comments about how the middle class has been short-changed during the Bush administration, and how McCain will continue Bush’s policies:

    Say it ain’t so, Joe, there you go again pointing backwards again. You preferenced [sic] your whole comment with the Bush administration. Now doggone it, let’s look ahead and tell Americans what we have to plan to do for them in the future. You mentioned education, and I’m glad you did. I know education you are passionate about with your wife being a teacher for 30 years, and god bless her. Her reward is in heaven, right? … My brother, who I think is the best schoolteacher in the year, and here’s a shout-out to all those third graders at Gladys Wood Elementary School, you get extra credit for watching the debate.”  Read more…

     I listened to the debate on the radio on the way to my aunt and uncle’s house for dinner last night.  As they’re both in their 80′s, I enjoy visiting with them and hearing about the old days.  Their memories of life back then are remarkably crisp.  (I can’t even remember what I had for dinner two nights ago.)  As the sun set behind the Orange Curtain, I listened to Caribou Barbie (The Spruce Moose) hem and haw her way though the debate like a (more) retarded Barney Fife in drag, and wondered what she was wearing and how she looked.  No, she wasn’t dressed as Wonder Woman (as my straight male Republican friends like to imagine).  As it turns out, she departed from her maverick political style (brightly colored pumps, pricey Valentino jackets, and the alleged use of a tanning bed and tattooed lipliner) and wore an understated, somber black suit. But the governor still managed to weave in some personal pizzazz with a folksy half french braid (the other half was a mish mash of bangs and God knows what else).  And folksy, as it turned out, was also her debate strategy.

    I can only hope that straight men in America tire of her shrill, whiny cackle before election day, because she proved once again how scary it would be if she were even close to the White House.  Even my aunt remarked how absurd she sounded, and my aunt is no Obama fan.  My uncle said that because of Palin, he was leaning towards Obama.  These are people who voted for Franklin Roosevelt.  They’ve seen this country through good times and bad.  I never thought though, in a million years, that my uncle would ever even consider voting for Obama.  Maybe there is a God??  Maybe he will win this election? (Obama, not God…on second thought, are they different?  LOL.)  At any rate, it’s more fodder for the brilliant Tina Fey!

    If you’re like me, you’ve been getting scads of email all week about politics.  I’m glad so many people are engaged in this political drama.  And for every crazy Palin email I get, I also get some ridiculous Obama Muslim emails as well. 

    Bassam even wrote a whole expose on Sarah Palin’s glasses!  LOL

    Palin’s Glasses
    1 message


    From: Bassam Thu, Oct 2, 2008 at 10:53 PM
    To: Carey Anthony

    So I discovered something interesting about Palin. Looking at some of her pictures on the web, it appears that he eyeglasses have pretty much no prescription. I think she just started wearing glasses so that she looks more professional. This is easy to see if you look at the pictures. If you look at a picture in which the edge of the face appears, examine the line of that edge inside the lens are and just outside it, there should be “break” in that line. See for example the picture of Paul McCartney in glasses.  Now any amount of prescription, no matter how slight, will cause a little break in the face edge lines.  None of the Sarah Palin pics I was able to find on the web have any breaks in the lines.  So the lenses on her glasses have no correction power. This is how eyeglasses model’s pictures (the ones you see at the optometrists) are usually taken, because it looks better on the models. They are totally cosmetic and not medical.  My guess is that she started wearing glasses at some point her political life so she can look more professional, but the glasses she is wearing are purely cosmetic.  Don’t you think this is blog worthy? :)

    Some other email offerings from the week:


    David Letterman: Top Ten “Things Overheard At Palin Debate Camp”

    10. “Let’s practice your bewildered silence.”

    9. “Can you try saying ‘yes’ instead of ‘you betcha’?”

    8. “Hey, I can see Mexico from here!”

    7. “Maybe we’ll get lucky and there won’t be any questions about Iraq, taxes or healthcare.”

    6. “We’re screwed!”

    5. “Can I just use that lipstick-pit bull thing again?”

    4. “We have to wrap it up for the day — McCain eats dinner at 4:30.”

    3. “Can we get Congress to bail us out of this debate?”

    2. “John Edwards wants to know if you’d like some private tutoring in his van.”

    1. “Any way we can just get Tina Fey to do it?”

    So….after a delicious spaghetti dinner, my aunt dragged out the photo albums from “simpler times”.  I took photos of the photos, and they came out pretty good!


    Aunty LuLu back in the day


    Aunty LuLu and Aunty Gee Gee


    L to R:  Aunty LuLu being held by my Grandma (Nonna/Nona) and Aunty Gee Gee, Nona, LuLu and Geeg, my Grandpa’s (Nonno/Nono) mother.


    Nona and Nono, Nono, Nono holding Aunty LuLu, Nono with the wooden toys he made.


    My Great Grandpa and Great Grandma on Nona’s side.


    Nono in WWI

  • How Do You Measure 43 Years In A Life?

         

    …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!

    Voicemail You’ll Love
    Share this …

    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 hospitalSee how much higher his right shoulder is?


    Me & my cousins


    Andy attack!


    No fair!


    Say cheese!


    The newest addition to the Hotel Careyfornia.


    Hand embroidered towels!


    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.”


    Lisa, trying my new foot massager


    My gorgeous cousins


    My wacky cousins!


    Uncle Georgie & Aunty LuLu


    When I got home, I got this from Claudio & Ryan!  I love the wrapping paper!!


    My swag


    All of my cards had lottery tickets in them!


    And I won $8 and a free ticket! 


    Best of the rest!

  • Friday Photoblog

    Update:  I got my car back (again).  Next week will be the 5 month anniversary of the accident.  Here’s hoping that I won’t be paying any more visits to the Honda of Hollywood Body Shop.  Turns out, it was the key.  It needed a new microchip.  It also finally passed the electrical portion of the smog test.  I drove down to Irvine yesterday, and it drove fine.  I also went to have a delicious spaghetti dinner with my aunt and uncle:

    Thank you to Darron at Honda of Hollywood for doing the right thing, and to Peter for being a nice guy throughout this whole thing.  It’s a good thing I got the car back when I did, because Claudio and Ryan came back from Brazil on Wednesday and took their car back:


    I took this with my cell phone.  They look pretty good for just having gotten off a 20 hour flight!  At lunch, we were sitting next to these two drunk Korean girls who were drinking Champagne (at noon on a Wednesday) and talking about how the “chinks” and “gooks” stole the Olympics from the Americans. (??WTF??) We couldn’t believe our ears.  I actually took a video of them secretly with my phone, but it’s too vile to post.  They were trashed, racist bitches. 

    Then Lisa and Joel came back from Hawaii the same day, and I headed back to the airport with their car!  Before that, Vivek and I went to Indian Sweet & Spices, and saw this on the way there:


    Only in Hollywood.  LOL.

    So now the dogs are gone, and I miss them a lot.  How could you not love a face like this:

    Have a good weekend everyone.  Here are the rest of the photos from the last couple of days!


    A taste of home!


    Weird 80′s style Indian supermarket.


    Shadow took a liking to this famous producer named Julian at the dog park.

  • Bend It Like LuLu!

    My Aunt turns 81 next week, so Dar and I took her and my Uncle out for dinner last night.  All I can say is that I hope I look and feel half as good as they do when I’m 81.  At one point, after we got home, she programmed her VCR to tape “Lost” so she could watch it after I left (the finale was great by the way).  I don’t know many 80 year olds who can program a VCR, let alone download and print pictures from a digital camera, which she does all the time. 


    Uncle Georgie, Aunty LuLu, me and Darlene


    My aunt and uncle have been married 59 years on June 11th

    Dar went to the LA Galaxy game and shot some pretty good pictures of David Beckham which I turned into these collages:


    Move over Posh!


    Happy Birthday Aunty LuLu! 

  • Hot Chicks and Melted Rabbits

    While the rest of our family back in the Midwest hunted for frozen Easter eggs in the snow, Southern California basked in 100 degree plus temperatures!  It was so hot, my bunny melted!

    The kids had fun though and Jennifer cooked an amazing meal.  Thanks Jenn!

     
    Easter 2008, Cole, Tressa, Andy & Tommy….compared to:


    Easter 2005, Tressa, Cole Tommy and…


    Andy (with Great Grandma in 2005)


    Hey kids, I was just in a car accident!  Some things never change


    Tommy & his favorite cousin


    Yes, it was over 100 in the sun!

    And here are the best of the rest:

    Andy stole the show all day as this video will attest:

  • From 16 to 80 – These are the Moments…

    Today we celebrated 2 milestones.  My uncle’s 80th birthday and my cousin’s 16th birthday!  Both pretty important numbers as birthdays are concerned.  I gave my uncle a card that was for a 40th birthday, but I wrote “times two (x 2)” in front of the 40.  My rationale was that I hope I look half as good as my uncle when I’m 80!

    It’s amazing how fast the kids are growing.  Look at Kyle, Cody, Kevin, Kenny and Emily in these photos starting just 5 years ago when I first moved to LA:


    2002


    2003


    2004


    2005


    2006


    2007


    2008

    Meanwhile, I’m just getting greyer and fatter.  LOL.  Here are a few more pics from the party.  Have a good week everyone!

  • Long Day!  Ben & Missy were in town, but I only got to spend an hour tonight with them.  Will hopefully see them for brunch tomorrow.  I took the kids to see Enchanted tonight.  They loved it.  I have to admit, so did I.  Afterwards we went to a cookie exchange, and had a spaghetti dinner too.  It’s 2 AM and I’m still full.  I goofed around with a few of these pictures just for effect.  I’m just going to post these because I’m exhausted.  Nighty night!

  • It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

    Had my normal Thursday night dinner with the family tonight.  Dar & I went to Lisa’s and I took some pictures of the kids with the Christmas decorations.  It’s harder to get into the Christmas spirit when it’s 80° outside (26° C), but Lisa & Joel’s beautiful yard helped.  After that, I went over to Aunty LuLu and Uncle George’s for cherry pie!  Their tree was beautiful too, and we dug out the old pictures from the 30′s and 40′s and they told me lots of stories, which I always love.  I’ll be off for a few days, so I hope everyone has a nice weekend.  Ho Ho Ho.


    I told Andy & Tommy that I was sending these pictures to Santa, and if he thought that they looked handsome, he just might visit their house first on Christmas Eve.


    Lisa and I in our dunce cap!


    Aunty LuLu is my Dad’s 2nd oldest sister


    That’s my Aunt in the second row with the pom poms on her shirt.  circa: 1934


    That’s my Dad, center picture on the right, and last picture on the left, with his twin sister, my Aunty PeeWee


    This is my Aunty GeeGee, my Dad’s oldest sister around 1940.  Yes, I have an Aunty LuLu, PeeWee and GeeGee   Long story!


    Lots of pictures of my Uncle George in the Navy during WWII

    If you want to see or download the rest of the pictures click here
    Din Tai Fung tonight!!!  Yeah
    See you guys next week!
     

     

  • SmugMugging for the Camera


    As previously mentioned, and as evident from my lack of updates, I’ve been super busy this week with work and getting ready for my vacation.  I had dinner with Dar & Lisa & Joel & the boys last night.  Nana picked up Tressa too and a good time was had by all!






    Note the gum under the table, LOL Yuck





    I bought my aunt one of those digital frames for her birthday, and I asked my Dad to scan some old pictures of my aunt and uncle from the 40′s:


    That’s Dad in the plaid shirt on the left




    Wasn’t my Uncle quite the stud?



    One of my goals this weekend was to get all of my photos and music backed up onto both my external hard drive and my new laptop.  It’s something I’ve been putting off for a while, but it went surprisingly well.  I copied 7087 songs and 14,476 photos.  I used my internal network and it was pretty quick.  The iTunes transfer gave me no problems at all and was really quick.  I still have some issues with the Exif data on my pictures, so Picasa is a bit screwed up datewise (any ideas??). 



    Speaking of photos, I’m not as enamored with Flickr as I thought I would be.  When Yahoo forced me to make the change, Picasa Web wasn’t an option, so I chose Flickr.  I ran across Smugmug recently though, and it looks pretty cool.  The more I learned about it, the more it seemed like my kind of company.  To wit:

    Most Internet companies dream of selling to bigger ones, and getting rich.
    We don’t.
    We dream of an independent company devoted to nothing but your priceless photos.
    A company that backs up your photos to three data centers across the U.S.
    A profitable, debt-free company.
    That earns your fanatical loyalty.
    We’re living that dream.
    24 employees. 350,000 paying customers. 205,000,000 photos.
    We’ll always be smaller than the photo-sharing divisions of giant companies.
    Which is a very good thing.
    Our story.

    Carey Anthony

    SmugMug Question
    3 messages
    From: Carey AnthonyThu, Nov 15, 2007 at 12:39 AM
    To: Smugmug Help
    I stumbled across your site after reading a blog.  I must say that I’m extremely impressed.  The opportunities that seem to exist for using your site to embed my own slideshows and photos into my blog, seem quite promising.  I also appreciate your customer service philosophy which seems quite fresh.  Two questions:

    1) Do you outsource any of your jobs to foreign countries?
    2) If I were to make the switch, do you offer a way to grab all of my photos from Flickr, Kodak Gallery and Picasa?

    Thanks

    Carey

    From: Robin MacAskill [SmugMug]Thu, Nov 15, 2007 at 3:02 AM
    To: Carey Anthony
    Hi Carey,

    Thanks for writing.

    1)  We don’t outsource jobs to foreign countries.  However, we’re a
    family-owned company, and we do work with individuals in other
    countries.  You could possibly receive a reply to an inquiry from
    someone in a country other than the U.S.  It would be an individual
    working directly with us and in constant contact with us during working
    hours.

    2)  Here’s a way to grab your photos from flickr.
    http://smugglr.smugmug.com/
        Here’s a way to upload directly from Picasa.
    http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=71187
        Here’s a list of all our various applications.  I”m not sure how
    adventurous you are, so I thought I’d let you take a look.
    http://smugmug.jot.com/WikiHome/SmugMugHacksAndApps

    I hope this helps! If you have other questions or concerns, please do
    holler back at us.
    All the best,
    -Robin

    From: Carey AnthonyThu, Nov 15, 2007 at 8:45 AM
    To: “Robin MacAskill [SmugMug]“
    Excellent!!!!
    I’m sold.
    I’ll be giving your trial a “try”.
    Thanks for the speedy response and the awesome tools. (and even a 50% off offer!)
    If this works out, I will definitely promote your service.  I find myself writing about poor customer service far too often.  It will be a nice change of pace.

    Thank you,

    Carey


    If they do what they claim, then it will be worth the $39.95 a year.  I still have a few questions though (like the ability for friends & family to download full size or comparable photos, like in Picasa Web.

    I also need to learn a bit more about their widgets (which look excellent), but so far it seems like a great site.  Does anyone have any feedback on SmugMug?  Also, if you’re interested, here’s a 50% off coupon from their website for all “Flickr refugees“.

    I also found yet another music networking site called SeeqPod.  Since imeem seems to be caving to the DMCA (just like Xanga is by the way…beware if you have copyrighted music or video uploaded to Xanga…they’re cracking down, and will shut your site down with just two violations!).  Seeqpod has an interesting business model though.  I’ll have to see how this pans out.  Here’s a classic from The Killers:

     

  • Italian, Thai & Green Gas

     

    Last night my cousin and I went to my aunt and uncle’s house for a delicious spaghetti dinner.  My uncle told stories of the war, which I always find fascinating and we had a really nice time:

    IMG_1593(2)

    Jonathan flew in from DC this weekend so went to dinner at Naraya.  The food was great, and the company even better.  Sumaytee Kaemchit treated us like honored guests and a good time was had by all.

    IMG_1596

    IMG_1597

    IMG_1598

    On the way home I stopped for gas at the coolest looking gas station I’ve ever seen:

    IMG_1604

    Americans always complain about the price of gas, but at $2.90 a gallon, it’s about the cheapest in the world.

    IMG_1605

    That’s my silver Honda

    IMG_1606

    The station is owned by British Petroleum, and according to their website, it’s a whole new kind of gas station.  The gas was actually cheaper than at the last place I  bought gas.  If you live in Los Angeles, check it out!

    bp-logo 


    About the station

    bpstation
     

    At the corner of Olympic and Robertson in Los Angeles, you’ll find a new kind of gas station. It isn’t like an ordinary gas station.

    We started with the typical, everyday station on that corner and renovated it in an eco-friendly way — a little greener in its design and materials and in its use of water and energy.

    It’s not a prototype “station of the future.” It’s a station for today that’s a little better, a living lab where we can try out ideas for other stations and where people can find ideas they might want to bring into their own lives. It’s a kind of a conversation between BP and people who come into the station, a conversation about how we can both move up a notch on the greencurve.

    This idea grew out of BP’s commitment to balancing society’s need for energy with a responsible approach to the environment. It reflects our belief that small steps in the right direction can make a difference.

     
    This is a unique gas station, a little better for the environment than a typical station. And yet, still not as green as might be possible with today’s technology. Not as green as we hope to make it in the future.

    Water
    From the rain to the drain, this station requires less water, wastes less water and pollutes less than a typical gas station. Click to see some of the ways.

    The Facility
    This station was built by “upcycling” an old, not-so-green gas station. The new design incorporates a lot of unusual features that reduce its environmental impact and allow us to operate a gas station here in a much more sustainable way. Some of these features could be added to other stations and other kinds of businesses. Click to find out more about them.

    Materials
    Recyclable, recycled, sustainable and non-toxic materials were used to build this station, including even the reuse of scrap materials from the construction job itself. Click to get more details about some of them.

    Lighting
    The generation of electricity is the biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions, and more efficient lighting is one of the easiest ways to save electricity. Click to see some of the ways it’s been done here.

     
    Did you know that just one compact fluorescent bulb in every U.S. home would save enough energy to light more than 2.5 million homes for a year and prevent as much greenhouse gas as taking up 800,000 cars on the road?