All I Want Is More [Reel Big Fish}

Recently, the sushi place we go to closed down. i know, you're thinking PREGNANT WOMEN CANT HAVE SUSHI!!!!!! well, they can, but only certain things. that's not the point. we've been going to this place since we moved out here, and we love it, and we love the little owner lady, and we love the rest of the staff, and we're sad.

It's not their fault - the guy who owned the property they were in decided that defaulting on his loan was awesome, and so the bank foreclosed. they were "working" with the tenants to try to find them new storefronts, secure loans, etc. but those quotation marks were included for sarcasm, because they were doing sh*t all to help the business that were there. Then CVS, in it's infinite wisdom, decided that the grocery store on the opposite corner and the Walgreen's 1 block away didn't have enough competition, so they bought the property on the cheap and decided that any and all deals the businesses had made with the bank were null and void (which is their right) and they gave the tenants 2 weeks to move out.

So, our sushi place has been on the lookout for new digs, but they haven't had any luck. they took the names and email addresses of any customers who wanted to stay in the loop, and they've also started a facebook page. i hope they find something, cause they were awesome. I offered my design services once they find a place, to try and get some deals on materials, etc. and certainly to help lay the new space out. not sure if they'll take me up on it - they've done fine for 25 years (not always sushi, but still the same family) so i think they'll be okay, but i hope they ask me to help, cause that would be awesome, and something sweet for my portfolio. and, they're really nice people. since there is a near moratorium on going out to sushi right now, it was really the best time, but they better get something figured out, because KTO has requested sushi as her first meal post-baby.



ps - this marks my 100th post. who knew.

Sitting Waiting Wishing [Jack Johnson]

As a kid, I never understood my dad's reluctance to come home and play computer games with me. When i hit college and he finally embraced email, I couldn't get why he wouldn't come home and respond to things i sent him. His stock response was:

"i sit at a computer all day, why do I want to do it at home?"

This just baffled me - how could you not want to? The internet is awesome, and even if you're not internetting it up, there's always something to sort/organize/delete on the computer. He's a lot like me in that way. So the fact the he didn't want to be at the computer was entirely foreign and nonsensical.

However, the older I get, the more I finally see where he was coming from. I've even used his classic line a few times. It's not that I don't want to post blog entries, catch up with people via email, look at all the cute cat pictures with funny captions, or even sort/organize/delete various things on my hard drive. I just find that I have other things I need/want to do - tv, video games, reading, sleep. Also laundry, dishes, yardwork, home repairs. Oh, and this time of year, taxes. Maybe if I could spend time doing fun computer things I'd be more inclined to forgo those other items, but lately it's been researching vacuums, how to repair plumbing (that's a fun story), etc.

The problem is, I spend my "free" time on these things, and by the time I'm ready for fun, I'm fed up with sitting in the office with a meowing cat at my feet. And then things like blogs posts, emails and cat pictures get lost. I really do want to get back at this blog - i can't promise anything, but I'm thinking 1 or 2 posts a week for now, and well see how it goes. I mean, after all, i do have to spend some computer time sorting/organizing/deleting stuff.

I Feel The Earth Move [Carole King]

I've told some of you that new, improved content will be coming, and I mean it. But tonight, have this.

The Earth is Amazing. NASA proves it with their Astronomy Picture Of the Day website. Today's picture is actually a video. Watch it.

It Is A Crime [Sade]

here's an interesting link to a in interactive website depicting the time that crime happens in various US cities. You can seek out specific crimes, and the page will rearrange according to frequency.

time for crime

Paper Walls [Marc Cohn]

are you kidding me? this is crazyness. can you imagine the time it took to do this? I kinda want one for my house.

some french lady cuts things out of paper

Say My Name [Destiny's Child]

So the other day I sent an email to my father-in-law, giving him some info on a memory card adapter for his phone. I was unsure how to start the email, so I went to my standard fallback, which is Mr. Last Initial. He responded to my email with his normal brevity, and signed off with his first name. Now, I'm sure at some point in time he told me to call him by his first name. I dont remember it happening, but it must have happened. I know I have done it a few times, but mostly I get by without having to call him anything - it's just "hey" and "howdy" and "sir" the like. Same with the mother-in-law. it's either Mrs. Last Name, or it's "ma'am" It's not that I'm uncomfortable with calling them by their first names. Okay, actually it is. Also, I don't know that I feel right calling them mom and dad. Now I have no problem saying things like "happy mother's day" and "happy father's day" Strange. I talked to KTO about it, and she told me I was being silly - which i already knew.

We talked about how the "Call me XX" conversation would have went, and how we could both hear/imagine him saying it. Then she said that he probably even made a lame joke like "call me X, or call me Dad, just don't call me late to dinner" - and i said that i couldn't imagine him saying that. it's something i use, but i don't picture him using it. so that brought us to the topic of how I'm similar to her dad in some ways. We call this the Fat Father Syndrome - which was taken from this (the source starts at 2.35, but the rest of it is worth watching, too):



Now sometimes they (whoever they are) say that guys marry their mothers and girls marry their fathers. I know without a doubt that KTO is nothing like my mother, except they are both super awesome at making peanut butter sandwiches with a smooth, even peanut butter spread, and the same goes for their cake frosting skills. other than that, nothing. But did KTO marry her father? We both make up answers to things, we both use some of the same not-quite-swears (god bless america being a favorite) we both have randomly and unnecessarily short tempers at times. Maybe she really does have FFS.


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video from S3E3 of the cartoon Home Movies, one of the funniest shows to ever be shown. check it out if you don't know.

Fast Car [Tracy Chapman]

So today, as a special mother's day treat to myself, I went to the theater and saw Fast 5. That's right, I said it. I paid money to see the 5th installment in the Fast and Furious franchise. And I'm not emabarassed to admit it.

As a movie goes, it was okay. not terrible, not great. As a movie about fast and/or furious driving, it was slightly less than great.

If I were to rank the franchise in terms of overall movieness, it would go 1, 4, 2, 5, 3.
If I were to rank them in terms of fast and/or furious driving, it would go 1, 2, 4, 3, 5.

The thing about fast driving movies - the FF franchise, or the Italian Job, or pretty much anything with Jason Statham in it - is that when the movie is over, and for the next 3 or 4 days, I tend to drive faster/more aggressively than normal. This doesn't happen with other types of movies - i don't think I can beat people up after fighting movies, I don't think I can hunt and kill humanoid aliens with infrared vision and creepy faces, I don't think I can pull off bank heists (actually, I do).

The driving thing happens because it's actually something I can do well. I don't really think that I can drive like they (the stuntmen) do, but I can drive confidently, and I know how to handle my little 4 cylinder import. Being that this "driving bug" falls upon me after movies, I sometimes think that I need to get a big old clunker of a car for my next vehicle, just to keep me from zipping around like a jerk. but then I think, where's the fun in that?

And since my little car is almost ready to retire, I've spent some time tonight looking for a new car to race around in.

Neighbors [Gnarls Barkley]

it's weird, living in an apartment again. the noise of people living above/below/beside me. the noise of people coming and going at all hours - apartment doors, car doors, drunken stumbling back home. the smells in the hallways - body odor, food, smoking, pot.

it's also odd not really knowing your neighbors. sure, i guess i could introduce myself, but i'm not really here to make friends. i recognize some people because we keep the same hours, but i dont know names. there's the chinese smoking lady, the duck lady, the hard rock smoker, the taxi drivers, and the 80 year old lady with pigtails. about 3 weeks ago i came back to the apartment mid-day, and there was a guy on the balcony of the apartment next door to mine. now, he didnt know i was his neighbor, but after tonight i'm not so sure he was my neigbor. i just took trash to the garbage chute, and passed a guy and girl going into the apartment next door. the same stuff has been on the patio since i moved in, so either:

1.) it's a 2 bedroom apt, which i'm not sure it is.
2.) she lives there and this guy is a new boyfriend.
3.) he lives there and the guy i saw before was his friend.

whatever the case may be, it makes me want to know more about who is next door.

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also, when taking the trash out - there was a vase full of not-yet-dead flowers in the trash, and flower petals all over the place. makes me wonder what happened.

Head Games [Foreigner]

i was talking to my brother, wishing him a happy birthday - 'cause it's his birthday - and we got on the topic of games (video and otherwise). normally, when we talk, we end up at movies and music and games. this time we were discussing fun time eating games you find online - flash based games and the like. he pointed me to a few, and i remembered this site, where you can spend hours trying to get things right - so i'll link it here for anyone who wants to give it a go:

www.eyemaze.com - grow games

this might be the easiest one to start with - they can get really complicated. the premise is this: click on icons to make things happen. after you click something, anything and everything in the level will "grow" your goal is to "grow" each item to the max level. in this first example, you are sick. you need to get better. do you start with fire? with the medicine? with the lady? you decide. after you chose your first item, things happen. after each subsequent choice, things happen. can you grow everything to the max?

if you look on the left side of the screen, the games go in order. above the mini grow games are the regular one - the shovel one is first, the block guy is second, and so on. i really like grow tower (second from top in the grow list) and galves adventure (the one with the baby in the Jobs category)

have fun, and good luck.

Make Em Laugh [Donald O'Connor]

my dear wife found this, and it makes me laugh. it also makes me think i need to move to britain. or at least watch the BBC more.

it's a collection of nature videos/clips that have been voiced over by english comedians, resulting in hilarity. sorta like nat geo being given the mst3k treatment by a bunch of brits.

enjoy - if you need me, i'll be here in dallas playing nighttime, daytime.

We Built This City [Starship]

Stop what you are doing and go to this guy's blog:

mike doyle snap

This is the coolest thing i've seen/heard all week. Thank you random ramblings on the internet. not one, but two, awesome, AWESOME abandoned buildings built with Legos. I need to stop playing my PS3 and do something like this instead.

Bone 2 Pick [Angie Stone]

So i have to address this - it's bothered me for like a million years. At one point in Bust a Move, Young MC says:

"Your best friend Harry has a brother Larry
In five days from now he's gonna marry
He's hopin' you can make it there if you can
'Cause in the ceremony you'll be the best man...."

The way i hear it, your best friend's brother is getting married, and wants you to be his best man. Why cant his brother do it? And, if you're the best bet Larry has, his brother Harry must be a real number - i mean, the wedding is 5 days out and you haven't even RSVP'd. Some friend you are.

I guess you could assume that the wedding in question is Harry's and the part about having a brother named Larry was incidental - maybe Young MC just needed something to rhyme better. "Your best friend Harry is getting married in 5 days, and also has a brother named Larry" just doesn't work as well. It still doesn't explain the relationship between the two brothers, or why you're such a crappy friend. Seriously - 5 days and you cant even verify if you're going to be there? whichever brother is getting married needs to be able to make alternative plans, you jerk.

I still think that for whatever reason, your best friends brother picked you - and you're failing miserable.