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!
Last night I showed Tressa and her little friend this photo I took of Zach Efron on the red carpet of the American Idol finale a while back, and this was their reaction…
Then, I proceeded to “cast” Tressa in High School Musical 3, opposite Zach’s character Troy. LOL. Personally, I think I make a better prom date for Troy than Gabriellaor Tressa! What do you think?
My morning didn’t start out well. I was driving down Jeronimo Road going 58 in a 40 and sure enough a motorcycle cop got me. It was my own damn fault. There’s nothing worse than seeing this in your rear view mirror. It ruins your whole day! I hate driving with a passion. I’ve been pretty good with my tickets (for the past year) up until today. Damn.
I’m dogsitting for Buster & Roxy this week, so today Lisa surprised me by bringing Andy over for lunch. (He’s feeling much better by the way, thanks to everyone who asked!)
What a difference two weeks can make!! Lisa took both of these photos.
I’ve been trying to lose some weight by not eating after 8:00 PM on weeknights for the past 3 weeks. It’s been going pretty well. However, when I got here last night I walked in the kitchen and found this:
I have to go to the hardware store to get a padlock for this cupboard now!
Then Jennifer called me tonight and asked me to meet her and Tressa & Lisa S. for Taco Tuesday at Tortilla Flats. It was a gorgeous night on the lake and a good time was had by all. On a side note, Lisa’s husband Gary is getting out of the hospital today after 8 weeks and a horrible ordeal that included maggots and lots of chemotherapy. (Did you know they still use maggots in hospitals for wound care? I saw the pictures tonight and it was amazingly disgusting, but it really works!) Keep him and their entire family in your thoughts.
Tressa playing “Spore” on my new iPod Touch.
Jennifer, trying not to look jealous of my iPod Touch.
I used to sing this song in 2nd grade. In fact, my Dad has reel to reel tapes of me singing this in 1972. Here’s the modern, overly dramatic version that I sang for Tressa. I didn’t realize until the end that the table next to us had joined in on the action. LOL.
…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.”
It’s actually 4 AM (despite the 8:08 time shown below that I started this post!) and Vivek and I are sitting here on the couch blogging from separate laptops and watching Project Runway. Before that, we watched the opening ceremonies which were really impressive. Especially the gymnasts!
Beijing is off to a good start! Yesterday I had dinner with Dar, Jenn & Tressa, and I also took the dogs to the dog park. There was a woman there who looked vaguely like Kate Walsh from Grey’s Anatomy (without makeup). She was actually really nice and took a picture of me with the dogs. Still not sure if it was her, but several people insisted it was. At any rate, Oreo & Shadow are really getting acclimated to the Hollywood lifestyle. They may not want to go back to Orange County when their family returns from Hawaii!
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.
We had the first part of Cole’s (Andy & Tommy’s favorite cousin ) two part birthday extravaganza tonight with all his little friends. Part two will be Sunday. Tomorrow, my college friend Luci is coming from Brazil for her 2 year old’s birthday party! Lots of kids and parties…my kinds of weekend! I have to wake up early and drive to Newport Beach, so I’ll just post these pictures (more here) now and wish everyone a nice weekend!
The world needs a movie like this right now. It’s amazing. 
Last night I showed Tressa and her little friend this photo I took of 
I’ve been pretty good with my tickets (for the past year) up until today. Damn.
Carey, if you were born to Sarah Palin, your name would be:
) two part birthday extravaganza tonight with all his little friends. Part two will be Sunday. Tomorrow, my college friend Luci is coming from Brazil for her 2 year old’s birthday party! Lots of kids and parties…my kinds of weekend! I have to wake up early and drive to Newport Beach, so I’ll just post these pictures (
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