I had a couple of cigars last night. I saw "A Beautiful Mind" the other night and enjoyed the movie. Something that bothered me though was one of the songs from the score sounds like the music for Nine Inch Nails "The Frail", but it would appear that someone else is taking credit for it. I'll investigate later. Right now I'm headed to Flagstaff. Woo Whoo!
I tried to see Lord of the Rings last night and it was sold out. I did get to smoke part of a cigar though and had some good Mexican food at Charros.
Tonight is Dieselboy @ Freedom. Should be good.
Listening to the Nine Inch Nails album "The Fragile" made me late for work this morning. It was worth it. For some reason it was sounding especially powerful... maybe it's the anticipation of the NIN concert DVD coming out in January.
So I got back from New Orleans on Saturday and I've been busy since. I'm working on writing a page about the trip, but until then I did get to update the cigar page.
Last night I smoked a Hoyo de Monterrey Excalibur "Prensado Oscuro". Good cigar.
Wow, things have been busy. I had my Japanese final yesterday (which I did pretty well on I might add) and I'm leaving for New Orleans some time soon. When I get back I'll finally have a life from Sunday to Saturday as opposed to my Thursday to Saturday life I had when I had class.
I did get a chance to see two movies over the weekend: "Ocean's 11" and "Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust". Both were pretty good. "Ocean's 11" was pretty damn entertaining and the entire cast (except Julia Roberts) did a great job. "Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust" was a very good looking movie, but I didn't completely care for the story because a lot of it reminded me of the original (which I love). I know a couple of people who thought it was better than the original though. If you like anime, check it out.
Anyway, I won't be updating things for a while, but hopefully I'll have a new travel page completed when I start updating again.
This weekend was pretty good. Friday night I went to "Silence" and saw Skwert vs Noah and Ethereal vs Louder. That kicked ass. The venue was different, but pretty good, and the vibe was great. I'm looking forward to Teknoslut's/Be A Kid Productions's "Simon Says Dance 2" in March. This one promises to have a killer line up and be another quality event.
Saturday I went to the Tempe Arts Festival. There wasn't anything there that just jumped out and grabbed me. That was a little disappointing, but it's at least a good excuse to get out and walk around. I did get to smoke a Punch Grand Cru. The cigar went from pretty damn good to crappy in a very short time. That was also disappointing.
Sunday was my aunt's birthday dinner. I was busy barbecuing Mexican style skirt steak and andouille sausage. We also had bbq chicken, refried beans with bacon, and potato salad. One of the best things we had was these uncooked tortilla's my mom got from Cost Co. There's nothing like eating a tortilla that's been cooked a mere moment before you actually eat it. It was also nice to see the family on something other than a national holiday.
If you've been around any web geeks in the last year, then you've probably heard about "IT". Well, today "IT" was unveiled. (If you've never heard of "IT", read the article anyway. "IT"'s interesting.)
Things have been pretty busy at work lately. Couple that with the fact that Japanese class has been wrapping up so we have a lot of tests to take, and a lot of studying to do and you can see why I haven't written anything lately. (I'm signed up for Japanese 102 so I get to repeat this process in January.) Something to keep you occupied in the meantime is this article: Teen Girls More Likely to Be Cyber-Schizoid. I always knew that teen girls were sort of crazy and maybe this is proof.
Teknoslut and Be a Kid Productions are throwing a party on Friday to benefit a New York charity. The details can be found on the Teknoslut site [link removed because it's now a porn site].
This was a pretty good weekend for food, and a bad weekend for djs. I'll start with the good stuff.
Bombay Grill in downtown Phoenix makes some killer Indian food. I'm not a big fan of Indian cuisine, but I enjoyed their food, and I'll definitely be back. The curry chicken and karahi lamb were both very good and the garlic naan was outstanding. I'll have to go back and see what else is good. (They also had belly dancing the night we were there. It was very entertaining, but didn't affect my review in case you were wondering.)
The other day I was in the mood for a good steak, but the place I wanted to go was closed. I knew the Red Lobster at Alma School and Rt. 60 was open and they know how to cook fish. I took a chance that they would also know how to cook a steak. I ordered a New York Strip steak and I was impressed. It was very juicy and it didn't require any additional seasoning. It was extremely satisfying.
Too bad the djs weren't as good as the restaurants. I saw Pete "Supermix" Salaz and Terry Mullan @ Freedom. Pete "Supermix" Salaz has been around the Phoenix house scene for a while so I expected something good from him, but all he played was boring, repetitive house music. I'd never heard of Terry Mullan so I didn't expect much, but he turned out to be boring too. Eventually his set took a dreamy, trancy turn (even though it was still house) and I had to leave. Bah.
Last night was pretty good. I had done a lot of studying for my kanji test and none of it seemed to sink in. I was pretty worried about it come class time. I really thought I was going to bomb my kanji test, but after taking the test, I think I got an "A". Whoo hoo!
After class I headed to Freedom to see Z-trip. It was a good show and it gave me a chance to try a new cigar with some friends. (I tried an Acid cigar for the first time. That was an experience.)
Work has been a pain in the ass lately. Something important broke and I've been trying to fix it the last two days. I didn't fix it. The first day I couldn't figure out what the problem was. On the second day I thought I knew what it was, but then realized that I still didn't know. I recommended they call a consultant we use who has a ton of experience to take a look at it. I feel much better with that off my shoulders.
"When girls come up to me that I just don't know.
At least I think I don't, but I can never be quite sure.
They give me a date, a time and place, and how I was all up in their face.
...
Then they ask why I didn't call. They claim I said I loved them all.
I try to find my mind but you know I just can't trace the face.
They call me a dog and I say it just ain't so.
2000 brain cells ago."
-Basehead "2000 BC"
I ordered a t-shirt from J-List.com and they sent me the wrong shirt. It was actually a pretty cool t-shirt they sent me so I decided to keep it even though it wasn't what I ordered. I emailed them Saturday explaining what happened, that I would be keeping the t-shirt, and that in the future I would actually like to receive what I order. They wrote me back Sunday apologizing and gave me half price on my next t-shirt. Not bad. It was definitely more of a response than I expected.
Early in the night I smoked the Grande de Espana cigar. I was really looking forward to it. I thought it might turn out to be the cheapest cigar I could enjoy. You can read the about the details or just know that it wasn't very good.
I wasn't really in the mood to go out last night. I haven't finished the book I'm reading, and that's enough for me to want to stay home. That book is part of what kept me home on Thursday night. Since I knew that was going to be the case for Friday night too, I bought my ticket for Pete Tong in advance. That put me in a position to either stay home and waste the $15 I paid for the ticket or go see Pete Tong and possibly have a really good time.
I chose to use my ticket. It was actually a pretty hard choice. I got to Freedom at about 11:30. When I got in RC Lair was on playing hard house. It wasn't too bad, but it didn't make me want to run to the dance floor immediately.
When Pete Tong came on, I was hoping for something a little more enticing. You can read the details on the Electronic Music Shows page under "Disappointing Shows".
After I left Freedom I checked out the underground party thrown by Zak of Be A Kid productions and Noah of Teknoslut productions. The party didn't get busted, but by the time I got there, they were shutting it down. That's where I should have been instead of Freedom. (Well, now I know for next time.) After they packed everything up we went to Denny's, where Zak took care of breakfast for everyone. Nice (and thanks Zak).
Tonight Iron Chef USA will be debuting at 9PM on UPN (channel 45 in Phoenix). I'm not sure what to make of the show. I haven't even seen the commercials for it. I can't imagine it will be nearly as fun as the real Iron Chef show. Part of the fun of the original Iron Chef is that Asian cuisine is still a mystery to us, and Iron Chef reveals it with all the style and flair of a kung fu movie. (Notice that there are a lot of people who love kung fu movies, but you don't see very many American kung fu movies, and the ones you see usually suck.) It's the dubbing, the culture shock, and the pageantry that make the show great. Will the pageantry appear campy, or will it just appear silly without the dubbing? Are we going to see octopus as a theme ingredient and watch the chefs pick up live octopus and chop their heads off in the sink on Iron Chef USA? I doubt it.
The one ray of hope I have for the show is that William Shatner plays the role of Chairman Kaga. Kaga was a strange and flamboyant character, who just added to the campy atmosphere of the show, that I think William Shatner will be perfect for. (Other actors I would think suitable for the part are Adam West [from the Batman tv series] or Christopher Walken.) Of course there won't be the dub of the bad English accent when the theme ingredient is explained, but I'm sure William Shatner will add this own form of cheese to it. ("Ahhh. If. My. Memory. Serves. Me. Correctly...") Here's to hoping everything works out well.
"You know it. You show it.
And the time has come to shoot you down. What a sound.
When the day is done and it all works out...
I love to do it and you know you always had it coming."
-The Stones Roses "Shoot You Down (Soul Hooligan remix)"
One of the best recent fashion trends (make that probably the only good recent fashion trend) I've seen is when women wear pants that are low at the hip and you can see their thong just peeking over the top.
Just thought I would share.
I haven't really been going to shows this month and I've been neglecting my music section too. Well that's going to change starting now. Today I've added some songs to the Electronic Music Songs page and I should be going to Freedom tomorrow for Breakbeat Coalition. Oh yeah, Pete Tong is on Friday.
I'll keep this short. I bought a couple of new cigars and smoked another Bahia Gold Maduro to see if I ended up with the same results as Saturday. I also saw "Startup.com" which was a very interesting movie, especially considering the fact that I almost went that route with a couple of friends. (Too bad we could never write our business plan, vc funding dried up because of the internet bust, and the business was on the wrong edge of legality. I would have loved to help operate a multimillion dollar company, even if it did fail.)
Today I saw "The One". That was a really entertaining movie. At times the action reminded me of "Mortal Kombat" the video game or "The Matrix" kicked up a couple of notches. The story definitely bore a resemblance to "Highlander", but as far as martial arts movies go it was very original with outstanding special effects. Good stuff.
[If you've ever seen the documentry "American Movie: The Making of Northwestern" then you might recognize Mark Borchardt (the subject of the documentry) in a cameo playing the orderly who faints. It's good to see that guy still in movies, even if it's just a minor role.]
I love when the weather cools down in Phoenix. It means it's art festival time! There's nothing like strolling around the city streets, looking at all the different booths trying to find something special, cool, or unique. You never know what you're going to see. What you're going to find. What little bit of something you never knew existed half an hour earlier that touches you now.
This weekend the fall arts festival season kicked off with the Fountain Hills Festival of Arts & Crafts. (I was made aware of the time/date of the festival by a postcard from Dennis Barloga, a travel photographer that I purchased a couple of travel pictures from last year. Being on his mailing list is handy in that it reminds me when these things start again.) I always enjoy the Fountain Hills festival because I can usually find something I like at a reasonable price there. Yesterday was no exception.
I saw a booth by a travel photographer, Locke Heemstra, who actually had some black and white travel photos. I had to stop and take stock. In his inventory I found a picture of Paris that bore a striking resemblance to the street our hotel was on in Vienna. Considering it wishful thinking, I asked Erin what the photo looked like and she said Vienna so I knew it wasn't just me. It was only a 5" x 7" photo in an 8" x 10" matte, so it was extremely affordable and it seemed like it could fit in my office with one of those frames that you prop up. (My office is really only a cubicle, so I don't have walls to hang pictures on so it has to fit in a leaning frame to be useful.) Needless to say, I bought the picture.
Another item that tempted me with purchase was in a booth of Arizona metal sculptor Adam Homan. He had a lot of cool looking, whimsical sculptures, but one piece stood out to me. It was a gargoyle smoking a cigar. It was a sort of large, steel, not quite expensive, but far from cheap sculpture, and I wasn't sure what I would do with it so I wandered off. I did come back again before I left to take one final look at it. I had decided that if I got it, I could put it in the living room right next to the couch. (It may sound weird to put a 3" tall steel gargoyle in your living room, but it would actually look good in my living room.) Well, the mind was willing, but the pocketbook was weak. Buying a metal sculpture (that I don't need) isn't a good way to save up money for Japan. At the same time the gargoyle looked so cool smoking a cigar. I at least grabbed the guy's business card so if things change, I might be able to find him again.
There was one last booth that I found extremely interesting. They were selling wood boards that had mostly abstract designs carved into them that were then made into jigsaw puzzles. (It might not sound that cool, but I'll try my best to explain.) At first I didn't even give their booth a second look because they just looked typical wood type "things". (Flat pieces of wood with inlay. Sort of like those laminated wood cutting boards that you always see at art fairs.) I was about to pass them up when Erin pointed out their coolness. I looked closely at an inlay piece and it turns out it was composed of little jigsaw puzzle pieces. Pretty novel idea. They took a normally static object and turned it into an interactive little puzzle. I really liked the idea. So the first couple were kind of cool, but there were better ones inside. One of the coolest was a board with three dimensional interlocking wooden clockwork gears that were made up of different types of wood and cut into jigsaw pieces. In the back were all sorts of cool carvings made up of different types of wood that were laminated together with the different layers being different jigsaw puzzles. I was tempted to buy one of the layered carvings, but I didn't really have any place to show it off. It would be a nice thing to have in my office, but at the price I couldn't afford the possibility of someone stealing it. I don't know what I was thinking, but I didn't get the name of person in case I ever wanted to find him again.
One good thing about art festivals that has nothing to do with art; the equivalent of fair food! You can get all sorts of food at art fairs that you don't normally see. Like kettle corn, roasted corn, funnel cakes, or any number of things. We had a lunch of fresh lemonade and teriyaki beef sticks. Good stuff.
It was a good time, but after you've seen it all it's time to go. So we went back to Erin's for a cigar. (It was a good day and called for a good cigar.) I got my Bahia Gold Maduro and settled down for a smoke. It was a pretty good cigar. Before I started smoking it the dogs noticed a cat on Erin's patio wall. She had to put them back inside because they were freaking the cat out. She was a black cat with large yellow eyes, and you could see her eyes almost popping out of her head as she was watching Sis watch her. (Sis would just want to play with her, but you can't blame a cat for being paranoid concerning a dog. Besides, Shadow definitely didn't want to play with her.) After the dogs were put away the cat relaxed. Erin went to pet her and it turns out she was friendly. Very friendly. Before you knew it the cat was on the wall, walking between me and Erin as we scratched her. She didn't have a collar on and she looked pretty young, so we couldn't tell if she had a home. I guess she at least has a place to eat now. Erin fed her some tuna. We'll see if the cat eventually decides that cohabiting with a couple of dogs isn't such a bad idea. I think Shadow would accept her. Eventually. (Erin decided that the cat needed a name that we could call her by. After shooting down several of my suggestions she finally decided one sounded pretty good. "Yum." So now her name's Yum or Yummy or something like that.)
Last night I saw "O Brother, Where Art Thou?". It was an another odd movie by the Coen brothers (the two who brought you "Fargo"). It was a strange movie, but it was also a lot of fun. If you could get through that movie without singing one of the songs, then you probably hated it. I kept singing "I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow" so you know I loved it.
Last night was what Tuesday night should have been. I had an excellent dinner from one of my favorite Thai restaurants, Bangkok Express, and a pretty good cigar. It was the sort of thing they make beer commercials out of.
It would appear that I haven't had a lot to add to "Recent News" lately. It makes me wonder if it's part of a natural cycle or if it's my usual short attention span starting to change focuses on me.
Maybe I'm just being lazy. I've got plenty of pages that I would like to create, and a couple that still need to be completed, but I'm obviously not doing them. It used to be that I wouldn't do things because I was busy with work and school, but today I've just been slacking. I haven't been doing much work, and I don't have to do any school work right now. I guess I'll force myself to either work on my site or just do work.
Maybe in another five minutes.
The ad killer script works much better for Netscape now, regardless of your connection speed. Maybe tomorrow I'll do the same thing for IE.
"You could stay here. Make your home here. Hide away here. I could wrap you up in cotton wool."
-Lamb "Cotton Wool"
So sometimes things don't go as planned. I know that, accept that, but I never quite get used to it. I had my chapter exam last night and didn't do very well. It wasn't because I didn't understand what I needed to do or how to do it, but I didn't know enough of the vocabulary. My bad.
Today I was hoping to make myself feel a little better about it by making a good dinner (a steak with some good sides) and enjoy a good cigar. Well, while the sides were very tasty and the steak was cooked close to perfection, my marinade wasn't as tasty as I had hoped it would be. It happens. (Experiment with anything and be prepared for disappointment.) I figured I might fare better with the cigar. After dinner I noticed that my makeshift humidor (a large opaque mason jar) has taken on a rather strong, and not altogether pleasant, tobacco/cedar scent. I felt that I should pick one of the two cigars I suspected of having caused the strong smell. The H. Upmann 2000 "Grand Robusto" wouldn't have been my first choice to smoke, but it was going to have to go. You can read about the details on the cigars page, but the summary version is that it wasn't a bad cigar. It also wasn't a very good satisfying cigar either. Oh well.
Incidentally, I just watched Scientific American Frontier and this show was about foreign species and past blunders trying to fight them and how they're working on better strategies these days. Most of the biological controls that people tried to use in the past weren't very well thought out, and ended up having unintended negative outcomes.
At least I haven't contributed to the extinction of a species or the destruction of an ecosystem. Now that has to feel lousy.
On a completely different note, I made up my own version of the Iron Chef Drinking Game. If you've ever watched Iron Chef you might find the rules amusing, even if you don't drink.
I didn't do much this weekend. I've got a chapter test for my Japanese class tomorrow, so I've had to study for that, plus combined with the fact that I haven't been in town the last two weekends and my apartment needed a serious cleaning, made it real easy to stay home. (I hate living in a dirty apartment.)
Here's what I managed to do: homework, reading (started "The Great Book of Amber" by Roger Zelazny), housework, saw a movie ("From Hell" [it was ok]), purchased two cigars when I haven't smoked the ones I already have yet, purchased two cds (Various Artists "Xen Cuts" [Ninja Tune kicks ass], and Roots Manuva "Run Come Save Me" [it's ok]), eat homemade seafood gumbo and paid bills.
Things I wished I did this weekend: take pictures of the structure I mentioned on 10/31, smoked a cigar with a friend of mine, studied more, and maybe saw Deep Dish.
I did a little fine tuning of the script and it definitely works better in Netscape than IE. Oh well. If Microsoft made the information I'm looking for easier to find then it would work equally well in IE and Netscape.
Ok, after quite a bit of searching I found what I was looking for from Microsoft. It now kicks butt in both browsers.
Noah spun a pretty good set last night. It wasn't his technically best set, but it was a lot of fun. (Of course he's never had someone trying to tell him what to do before either. Some people need to learn to let the dj do their job.) Anyway, the set started out clubby, but it went through house and breaks too. One of the best parts was when it went from Basement Jaxx's "Where's Your Head At?" to Prodigy's "Smack My Bitch Up". Of course my favorite part was when PMT's "Gyromancer (False Prophet mix)" was playing.
I was feeling a little lethargic today so I wasn't sure what I wanted to do for lunch. I was trying to think of someplace to eat lunch when I realized that lunch wasn't that important. What I wanted to do was to sit out in the sun, smoke a cigar, and relax. I picked up a quick meal from Carls Jr. and gulped it down so I would have more time to enjoy my cigar. I picked the Ben Hur "Invictos #1" since I didn't have a lot of time and it was the smallest cigar I have. You can read what I thought about the "Invictos #1" on the cigars page.
My apartment has really nice landscaping so I was hoping to find a nice sunny spot to sit and enjoy myself. I walked around smoking my cigar, but all of the benches were in heavy shade so I was looking around for anything sunny. I found a spot on the handrail of a bridge that crosses over a small pond. I sat there in the sun (basking like a lizard), smoking a cigar, listening to the gurgle of the fountain, watching koi, and letting my mind wander. (Unfortunately my mind wandered to "How am I going to describe this cigar?" and "This is a pretty cool experience. I should write about it." Oh well, I guess I do find doing this site relaxing.) I did that for about 30 minutes, but it definitely did the trick for me.
So I was heading back to work in a good mood when I was turning onto the freeway. (This particular freeway on ramp has two right turn lanes and I hate getting in the outside lane because I'm always paranoid that the person on the inside lane will forget there's an outside right turn lane and come swooping into my lane.) Well, I had no choice but to use the outside lane this time and sure enough the lady next to me veered into my lane almost hitting me. I honked to remind her there's someone in the lane and she proceeded to flip me off. So much for my good mood.
Actually, I refuse to let oblivious bastards ruin my day so I'm still in a good mood. : )
Now I've got a new and improved ad killer. Basically it works for IE now and it's easier for me to maintain. I'll see how well things work over a dial-up connection and adjust the timing of it so the ad disappears quicker, but still works on crappy connections.
Just a reminder, Noah's spinning @ Polly Esthers from 9 to 11.
Saturday I saw a structure that would be perfect to photograph. When we went to pick up one of the guys for the trip, we passed an apartment complex that had a structure built about 15 feet above part of the parking lot. It looked like a basketball or tennis court. I just looked at it and I was amazed because I've never seen anything like that before. There it was sitting on large concrete columns with cars parked beneath it. It would be beautiful and solemn and utterly interesting in black and white. I need to schedule a time to take its picture. (I'm glad that I've finally found a subject since I have 5 rolls of film left from the photography class I dropped.)
"I'm drunk... and right now I'm so in love with you."
-Nine Inch Nails "The Only Time"
So, back to the LA story. We left the club fairly early; about 2ish. I danced for two hours straight and didn't have any energy left for the rest of the night. It's really too bad that clubs usually don't serve food.
We drove through downtown on the way back to the hotel and all I have say is damn there must be a lot of Koreans in downtown LA. More than half the signs we passed were written in Korean.
We got up the next day, but they didn't want to head back to Phoenix immediately. That's good because the last two times I've been to LA, it's been "Go to LA. Take care of business. Leave."
The guys decided the beach would be a good place to go so we drove around until we found one. We ended up in a residential area of Manhattan Beach. Very nice place. This part of Manhattan Beach was on the side of a hill and because of the limited space all the houses were multilevel, trying to snatch views of the ocean just above the neighbor in front of them. The best thing about the area was the landscaping though. People had quite an assortment of plants growing in the limited niches people had for yards. It was very lush for a place that didn't have one speck of topsoil.
Well, I've got to get going... I have an oral exam tonight and Noah's spinning @ Polly Esthers so no more updating for me tonight. I've written all of the interesting stuff I could remember about the LA trip anyway. (There really isn't any explaining the accident. We were driving down the freeway and it just happened right in front of us.)
Night.
I haven't had any time to write today, but I have found some music videos. The link to them is in the big yellow box under Distraction.
Watashi wa chotto nihongo o hanashimasu. = I speak a little Japanese.
Watashi no nihongo wa chotto hen desu. = My Japanese is a little strange.
Second, I did a little editing of yesterday's post. Nothing major though.
I'll finish up the LA story later today. Right now I should actually be doing some work.
Heh. You may not notice it, but I do. No more ads for me. (That took about ten minutes worth of work.)
We left for LA on Saturday with one car, four guys, tickets to Giant Haunted Hotel (featuring Judge Jules, DJ Icey, and Tall Paul), too much luggage to fit in the trunk because the speaker box was taking up almost all of the trunk space, and a ton of cds. Needless to say, it was nonstop music the entire time. (Did I mention that LA is a six hour trip from Phoenix?) It actually wasn't too bad. The music was diverse enough not to annoy. (House, drum and bass, break beat, whatever.)
We got to LA and found our hotel without incident. The hotel was in Hollywood, right next to a pawn shop and just down the street from a strip club. Basically, it wasn't the best looking neighborhood. That wasn't so bad, but the parking lot had three rows for parking, when two rows are what you would have normally seen in a parking lot that size. It made parking a real pain in the ass.
We got to the location where the event was, The Park Plaza, and there was a huge line of people waiting to get in. Two of us got our tickets through Ticketmaster, while the other two got theirs from Groove tickets. Ticketmaster charged a $9 fee for a $35 ticket (bastards), but we didn't have to wait in line. We walked right in while the other two guys had to stand there.
We started out by looking around at the different stages. The hotel was really cool looking. The three ballrooms they were using for stages were all designed in some grand 1940's style or something. The acoustics weren't the best though. Sol was in one of the rooms and Mark Tabberner was in another. Both of them were playing good stuff. Sol's style was a little more my tastes, but Mark Tabberner was in the room Judge Jules was going to be playing in so that's where we stayed.
Right before Judge Jules came on Mark Tabberner trainwrecked pretty badly. At first the songs were just a little out of sync, then completely out of sync, and finally he just took the first record off. How embarrassing. (Of course that doesn't stop me from telling the story.) Judge Jules played a good set. You can read about that on the show reviews page.
It would have been an awesome night if we could have got in to see DJ Icey (who was scheduled at the same time as Judge Jules). I don't know what exactly the problem was, but I do know we couldn't get in to see him. That sucked since people have told me how good DJ Icey is, and I also wanted to see Tall Paul (who was scheduled in the same room after him).
Oh well, there's nothing I can do about it now. I just don't know if I'll ever go to another event put on by Giant.
I've got to get some sleep, so I'll just save the rest of this story for tomorrow. (I'll probably edit this too. It's late and I don't really know what I've been typing.)
Crap, it's almost tomorrow already.
I think I'm going to make it a goal to get rid of that Geocities ad banner on the right hand of the screen. The ads used to be pretty unintrusive, but now they're getting obnoxiously large. (I actually do have a way to get rid of the banner now, but I'd prefer a more elegant solution. One that's harder for Geocities to notice.)
In reference to my 10/23 post; maybe people aren't seeing "la Chupacabra", but instead seeing giant flying squirrels. I should check scary squirrel world and see if they've picked up on this possible new skwerl conspiracy.
Something odd as of late. When I go through the drive-thru without ordering a drink, the person taking my order sounds incredulous. Like I'm trying to pull a fast one on them or something. Or maybe they think I'm going to change on my mind on the long drive to the pick up window. I think the most likely explanation is corporate drive-thru training suggests that if the person placing the order doesn't order a drink, try peer pressure. (It's worked pretty well for cigarette companies.) "Come on man, order a drink. Everyone else is doing it." Bah! No corporate jedi mind tricks are going to work on me! They're going to have to try a different strategy with me. Perhaps if they had a scantily clad woman suggesting I order a soda might be more effective?
I'm such a crack head for my web site. I could have been rollerblading, but I was updating stuff on my site instead.
Saturday night there were some teens crossing the street in front of the Jeep we were in. One of the teens was ahead of the rest of the group and moving rather quickly. He had a fast, smooth gliding motion that made me think he was on a skateboard. Well, he hopped up onto the curb, and I expected to see a skateboard, but he didn't have one. I looked a little harder thinking that he might be wearing rollerblades or maybe had his skateboard in front of him (where I couldn't see from my angle), but he didn't. It was very strange since I swear it didn't look like he was running across the crosswalk (which is a bouncy motion).
After lunch on Sunday we were in the parking lot getting ready to leave when Erin says, "Did you see that kid just fall?" Of course not being very observant I didn't see it. Erin said he was going down the lane and fell off his bike. She started the car and I was looking for the kid's bike. I saw the bike, and the back wheel was still spinning, but I didn't see the kid get up. I was getting worried because I didn't see the kid get up so I asked Erin to drive in the direction of the bike so we could see if the kid was ok. When we both looked at the bike, the kid wasn't anywhere to be seen. I started looking around to see if the kid ran off or if there was a ditch next to the lane where the kid might have fallen in, but there was nothing there but a bike.
I don't think either of these events are significant, but they are just very slightly strange. Erin jokingly told me that aliens were responsible. She said the aliens abducted the one guys skateboard and the kid that fell off the bike. I argued that if my skateboard magically disappeared, that I would notice it and start looking for it. Erin said that abduction beam causes memory loss. The guy just simply forgot that he had a skateboard. I also wanted to know what in the world aliens wanted with a skateboard. Erin thinks they were aiming for the guy and missed him as he was hopping onto the curb and hit his skateboard instead. Likely story.
There was one other strange thing that's happened on one of these Flagstaff trips before. I was looking down the freeway and I saw something crawl into the highway median (which was full of dead scrub grass). It had brown fur and back legs like a rabbit, but it was much larger than any rabbit I've ever seen. This was about the size of a 60 pound dog! I didn't get a good look at the head (since that was the first part to disappear into the shrubbery), but it didn't look like it had rabbit ears either. I thought it might be a giant kangaroo rat, but it didn't have a kangaroo rat tail so I wasn't sure what to make of it. (Of course 60 pound kangaroo rats don't exist as far as I know, but we do have normal size kangaroo rats and a nuclear power plant around here somewhere so you never know). I asked Erin what she thought it was, but even though the thing was on her side of the rode, she completely missed it. (It's scary when the person driving doesn't see something that was right in front of them.) Anyway, after listening to my description of it she claimed it was "la Chupacabra" (or "the goat-sucker" in English). I didn't think that was correct since it didn't look scary at all. Every account I've ever heard of "la Chupacabra" said that it's very scary looking. Besides, it didn't even have wings. Erin never heard that "la Chupacabra" had wings and insisted that it just runs really fast and jumps really high so I probably saw one of the infamous little buggers. I still don't believe it. If you read this account you'll see that they're supposed to have wings. Notice that they describe them as "3-foot rats with wings and enormous teeth" so it's possible that a 60 pound rabbit looks very similar since it's a rodent too. I didn't see the teeth on this thing, but rabbits do have huge teeth. Rabbits don't have wings though, but I'm sure a huge rabbit would have a mean vertical jump and it would seem like they're flying at you from the sky even though they're only jumping at you. Of course "la Chupacabra" is supposed to suck the blood from animals, and the only place I've ever heard of vampire rabbits is on Monty Python's "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" so it's probably pretty safe to say I didn't see a chupacabra. Of course I've never heard about the existance of giant rabbits or kangaroo rats either so who knows.
[It appears that chupacabra are starting to invade Belize. The descriptions provided by the kids who saw one sounds very similar to a giant rabbit, but you'll notice that they say it has wings! Erin is so wrong. Something else worth noting, Belizeans seem pretty amused by the whole chupacabra phenomena. I guess after enough dealing with the wrath of nature in the form of hurricanes, a vampire rabbit isn't too scary.]
We had a very good lunch at Collins Pub, ordering two items that are tried and true. The fish and chips and the sausage plate. The fish and chips have very good real battered fish and homemade chips. (Even though you get two large pieces of fish I would prefer three.) The sausage plate has three very tasty grilled sausages (italian, bratwurst, and kielbasa), and potatoes. The standout of the sausages was the spicy italian that had a real kick. (The German brat is also an excellent sausage by all standards.)
We went and saw the movie "Bandits" afterwards. It was pretty entertaining. Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thorton, and Cate Blanchett all did a good job. The ending was corny, but it was that kind of movie so it wasn't a real surprise.
The night ended with dinner at Asian Gourmet. I was a bit leery of Chinese
food at a restaurant connected to a motel, but we went to Little Thai Kitchen
and they were closed so we had to find someplace and Chinese did sound good...
Asian Gourmet is probably the best Chinese food in Flagstaff! We ordered a
wide variety of dishes to put the restaurant through it's paces, and everything
we ordered was very good. We started with spicy crab puffs, which had a
pleasant heat to them, but the heat didn't overpower the crab flavor. I also
ordered pot stickers, which are one of the hardest items for any chinese
restaurant to make well. (Up until now only two restaurants have proved
themselves worthy of even having pot stickers on their menu.) Although these
pot stickers were a little doughy, the filling was excellent and the sauce
was very good too. (The doughy problem could be fixed by chopping the top off
the pot sticker.) Definitely worth reordering. For entrees we order beef chow
fun [dry] and walnut shrimp. The beef chow fun had an excellent pan fried flavor
that most Chinese restaurants seem to miss, and the walnut shrimp were very
finely battered and cooked perfectly. The biggest disappointment was that the
chinese donuts on the dessert menu weren't available that night. Just amazing.
(My favorite restaurants for the dishes named above: House of C-Fu in Tempe for the best crab puffs and a very good chow fun, Best Hong Kong Dining in Mesa for very good chow fun, Yang Dynasty in Phoenix for the best pot stickers, and finally, Lin Chinese Dining in Mesa for walnut shrimp.)
We took a very scenic drive back from Flagstaff through Oak Creek Canyon and Payson. The leaves on the trees in Oak Creek were turning, and the Payson drive had a lot more pine trees than just driving down I-17.
While we were in Payson we had to stop and get lunch. (We were both hungry and about to kill each other.) We stopped at an italian place we'd never seen before called Cucina Paradiso. I tried their caprese salad which was fresh homemade mozzarella cheese, tomatoes, fresh basil, and olive oil. It was ok. I keep expecting more flavor from fresh mozzarella cheese, but I think I confuse it with bufala mozzarella. Anyway, the entrees were anything but disappointing. We had one of the day's lunch specials, which was chicken stuffed with ricotta and spinach, on top of penne pasta in a creamy tomato sauce. It was very tasty. We also had one of their panini. It was on fresh baked focaccia bread with lettuce, tomato, roasted red peppers, prosciutto, provolone, grilled chicken breast, mayonnaise and italian dressing. That was definitely one of the best sandwiches I've ever had. I hope to have dinner there someday in the near future.
Saturday I smoked an Ashton Aged Maduro "No. 40" which is very similar to my favorite cigar of all time. (I just need to remember which Ashton Aged Maduro my favorite of all time is. I'm pretty sure it's a "No. 20", but I can't be sure.) Tonight I had a Cabanas "Robusto Maduro". That was a very pleasant surprise. You can read about both of them on the cigars page.
It may not seem like a high number, but up until last year, I didn't know anyone. Now friends and family are finding themselves jobless. I wish I had something else to add, but when people you know start worrying about how they're going to live and how they're going to take care of their bills, it puts me at a loss for words. I'm not even sure how to help (other than helping them find another job).
I played racquetball for the first time in about four months last night. Well, my calves, shoulder, and my right forearm are really sore. It'll be a couple of days before I rollerblade again. It does feel good to be physical again though.
Takai desu = It is tall/expensive
Takakatta desu = It was tall/expensive
Guy 2: "You just go for a smoke afterwards and she'll be asleep by the time you get back."
Guy 1: "Well it looks like I'll have to take up smoking."
Girl 1: "Yeah, or sex."
I also went rollerblading last night. I went over two miles. I got pretty tired the last half mile, but it felt pretty good. Maybe this is a start of a regular exercise routine?
"Santa Fe sikh debuts red, white and blue turban" is a cool story about how someone figured out how to show their loyalties, but it seems like this guy was forced to just so the more ignorant population would leave him alone. I hate it when people make rash judgements purely based on looks. The people who were flipping him off because of his turban are lucky that ignorant people aren't forced to wear hats identifying them as idiots.
Today I found out that someone stole Noah's turntables this weekend. People suck. It seems like there's always someone around who can't work for what they want so they have to steal it from someone else. Too bad I don't believe in hell. I'm pretty sure if there was a hell thieves would have a special circle of their own where they could just constantly steal stuff from each other, just to have it stolen from them.
On a positive note, Saturday October 27th in LA is Judge Jules @ Giant! I thought I'd have to go to Europe to see him, but low and behold he shows up within driving distance. It should be a fun time.
I really should be working on my Japanese homework instead of messing with this site.
I finally got to smoke a non-dry La Gloria Cubana "Serie R No. 4". (The first time the cigar was dry and a dry cigar is a foul cigar.) I was disappointed because the first cigar, even dry, hinted at greatness, but there was only crap to be found here. So I wrote about it on the cigar page, but you just read all of the important stuff, so there's no point in reading it.
It's six hours after I wrote the line above about my Japanese homework and I still haven't finished it. Too bad I can't get paid for procrastinating.
Afterwards I went to my cousin's house today for Belize tamales. They aren't like Mexican tamales. These are quite large, with a soft masa center and a piece of chicken. When I say a piece of chicken I mean bone and all (that's how big these things are). Mine had a chicken wing in it, but I was hoping for the drumstick. My cousin also had pork tamales there, which I've never had before. They're just like the chicken ones, except they have about two or three pieces of stewed pork in them. You know I had a take a couple home with me.
Finally, tonight I went over to a friends house and we smoked cigars. I had an Indian Tabac Cameroon Legend. You can read about it on the cigar page.
After class I had to work off some tension so I went out rollerblading. I haven't been rollerblading or to the gym in a while. (Another example of this classes intrusion on my life. I hope being able to speak with all the vocabulary and skill of a first grader is worth it when I'm done.) Well, I went around the block a couple of times without really tiring myself out. I think my stamina is slowly returning.
Tonight I smoked the bundle cigar and it was quite a surprise. Read about it on the cigar page.
Today I stopped and picked up a couple of cigars at the Cigar Warehouse. True to my word I purchased a Padron 1964 Anniversary to enjoy. Untrue to my word I also picked up a Hoyo de Monterrey Excalibur to try. (I just can't help trying out new cigars.) The lady at the Cigar Warehouse was cool, and hooked me up with a cigar from one of the bundles they sell there. I can't wait to try it since I'm always looking for a good, cheap cigar. The reviews will appear on the cigar page after I smoke them.
Updated all sorts of stuff today.
I also added a little bit to my Europe page.
Work and school are still keeping me pretty busy, but I'll still check out Adam Freeland tonight and Bad Boy Bill tomorrow.
I got to smoke my free cigar yesterday. You can read the review on the cigars page. I think I'm done with new cigars for the time being. I think I'll just stick to Ashton's or Pardon Anniversary's for a while.
Anyway, the two cigars that were purchased have been smoked and the reviews are on the cigars page. Hopefully I'll smoke the free cigar soon.
As soon as I get this uploaded I'll head to Freedom to see Aphrodite. Woo hoo!
Things were good in the food department. I tried two new restaurants in Flagstaff this weekend. Salsa Brava was a little Mexican place with really good salsa and food that was ok, but deserves another try. The other restaurant is the Horsemen Lodge. It was very good all the way around. Their salad bar had more items than I would expect, and featured an excellent German potato salad. My New York Strip steak was cooked perfectly and very delicious. (If you like onions I would definitely recommend getting grilled onions with your steak.) The garlic mashed potatoes were a perfect accompaniment. I was very impressed, and I can't wait to try their barbecue some time.
After I finish my Europe page I think I'm going to start on the food section. That should be huge.
Created a page dedicated to cigars.
Read "Ruling could see raves regain their glow." A federal judge decided that glowsticks and pacifiers were not paraphernalia after they were banned from a venue. The venue owner and a couple of rave promoters were forced to make the ban as part of a plea deal after they the government brought them up on charges for running a "crack house." Thankfully a federal judge was able to see that pacifiers and glowsticks do not constitute a crack house, but if this doesn't make you mad about the blatant abuse of government power, I don't know what will.
Anyway, I do know that I saw part of Bad Boy Bill's set, Alien Tom, and Rabbit in the Moon. Bad Boy Bill was as bad as ever. Alien Tom played some very trippy IDM. (I didn't write about Alien Tom because I didn't catch enough of his set to say anything, and I didn't know I was listening to Bad Boy Bill until later.) I did pay attention to Rabbit in the Moon though. (You can't really mistake their show for anyone else.) That was absolutely awesome. You can read about that on the shows page.
