Things done in San Diego

- Went to Mission Beach

- Jogged with Chris, now he’s a hurting puppy

- Got knocked around by waves, and had lots of salt water in my sinus

- Played Frisbee

- got a mild sunburn

- Ate at the Bare Back Grill

- tried a Mimosa, it wasn’t very tasty

- ate a Tandoori chicken sandwich; very tasty

- played Jenga with the gang

- Ate at the Sushi Deli 2

- Quail shooter

- hot sake

- Uni that wasn’t awesome

- scallops that WERE awesome

- enough sushi to fill me up for only $20!

- an hour-long wait to get in the door

- Matt got complimented on his manners by our waitress

- Stayed at Layfayette Suites

- got upgraded to a Presidential suite because they gave our room away

- swam in hotel pool, which was a seriously nice pool

- dragged chris into the pool in a most un-safe manner

- watched Chris’ dreams of having a nice continental breakfast evaporate

- totally slept in until 8:30 one day

- Chris lost his car keys in Matt’s backseat, making us stay longer than expected at the hotel, and made it so we had to walk to breakfast.

- Ate breakfast at The Mission

- Had to wait in line, but it moved SUPER fast

- Good iced coffee

- Rockin’ yellow cornmeal pancakes with blueberries. And I don’t even really like pancakes very much!

- Unbelievable rosemary crispy potatoes

- Saw some nice cars

- A Qvale Mangusta, one of only 258 produced for the USA

- A Ferrari 360 Modena Spider

- A Ferrari F430 Spider

- What I’m pretty sure was a Lamborghini Urraco

- Went to Balboa Park

- Saw the Ansel Adams exhibit in the Museum of Photographic Arts

- Went to the Timken Museum of Art, saw awesome Russian religious paintings

- Went through the Body Worlds exhibit at the Natural History Museum. A little freaky, but pretty neat.

- Watched a guy play the didgeridoo

- Watched a kid with those roller shoes hit a bump while going to fast. He totally biffed it. It was funny and sad all at the same time.

 

So yeah, that sums up San Diego. Good times were had, it was good to see Matt and Jen, good to hang out with Chris and Shayla. Now I just have to start hitting the gym again to make up for all the food I ate! :)

That summer heat

We drive through El Centro. The car has one of those fancy thermometers, which tells us that we are well into triple digits outside. One hundred eleven degrees, one twelve, one thirteen. It’s the summer that has yet to make it to Prescott.

 

I roll the window down and stick my head out into the inferno. At seventy five miles per hour the hot air hits me like a brick. Sweat instantly begins to seep out of my pores. It dries as soon as it forms.

 

We speed past plots of farm land for miles. Some green with crops, some brown and barren. Each with a distinct smell. Some have tractors working the fields, others have sprinklers. Most are devoid of humanity during this hour. Who wants to work in the heat?

 

I smile at the cars that we pass, and their occupants look at me as they would a crazy person. My friends also look at me like I’m crazy for wanting to soak in this heat. It’s okay though, they know me well enough to not ask questions. They’re used to my eccentricities.

 

After ten or fifteen minutes I finally drag myself back into the climate-controlled interior. Chris laughs as he tells me my face is bright red, and my hair is all blown over to one side. A quick look in the mirror confirms this fact.

 

All I can do is smile. Hello summer.

Pic of the day

Back from San Diego. Had a blast. Didn’t take a camera, so the pic is an oldie.

 

From the banks of the Santa Maria River, near Bagdad:

A little friday fun

World’s worst alarm clock, but guaranteed to wake you up:

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Weekend away

Heading to San Diego this weekend to see Matt, and hopefully go to the beach. Haven’t decided if I’m taking a camera or not yet, but I’m looking forward to the trip regardless.

Pic of the day

Galloping into the future. It’s all an illusion. I delude myself into thoughts of movement.

A decorative fence at a ranch.

Breakdown

Almost two months after Uncle Paul died and I finally broke down. Mom asked me to make a few copies of his memorial DVD. Just a picture slideshow with musical background. Something I’ve watched plenty of times already with mom, and at the funeral.

 

After making a copy I tested to make sure that it would play correctly, and as I sat there watching my uncle’s smiling face in every photo I lost my shit.  I sat and replayed that DVD for an hour and cried like a school girl. I’ll never get to see that smile again, never get to hear his laugh. His guitar sits silently awaiting somebody else’s hands to make the music now.

 

I miss you Uncle Paul.

Pic of the day

Home is where the heart is, but where do we store our hearts? Do we keep them in houses and apartments? In a certain city or a certain country? Where is home?

 

Well, apparently everybody keeps their heart in Prescott. Whew, glad that was an easy answer. :)

If you like savant piano players

check out this post on Boing Boing, with links to 5 video segments about Derek Paravicini.

And we lamented the price of the beer.

While at the Elks Saturday evening I had the opportunity to meet somebody I’ve been following for a while. Not following in that creepy-stalker kind of way, so much as in that ‘Hi, My name is Tom and I’m an internet junkie’ kind of way.

 

I saw her setting up a small rack full of artsy-looking cards. She looked familiar, the art looked familiar.

 

“Hi, are you Melanie?” I asked. It was at this point that I got a look that said I seemed kind of creepy, so I quickly introduced myself. Surely enough it was Melanie Banayat a.k.a. MiliGirl. We chatted it up while waiting for the concert to start and I had a blast getting to know the gal behind all that great paint.

 

We talked about the economy, about the lifestyle of an artist, about the gouging we both received when purchasing a beer from the theatre’s bar (srsly? $6 for one can of beer?!). We compared notes on which bands we liked, the importance of a man’s hat to his identity, and Prescott’s eclectic population.

 

At the end of the night I walked away with a cool card, and a new friend. A pleasure to meet you Melanie! And yeah, that random $3 in your box? Wonder no more. :)

Rock the Arts!

Saturday night I attended the ‘Rock the Arts!’ concert, which was held in the historic Elks Opera House downtown. Sooo glad that I did!

 

The show was supposed to start at 7:00PM, but due to some technical difficulties with the sound setup it didn’t get up and running until eightish. They started off with Chloe Stuff, a local piano player with a voice that reminded me of Jewel only lower and louder. Quite enjoyable.

 

Following her was a band called ‘Good with Grenades’, a threesome of young guys who tried very hard to get the crowd going, but didn’t quite seem to manage it. I’m not sure if it was the music or just the bad sound setup, but I couldn’t get into this band. I don’t think they were thrilled with the setup, and had to keep asking for changes from the sound guy… mid-song.

 

Next up was Angie Raess, and a band made up of local talent and craigslist respondees. WOW! After the first couple songs these guys really hit their stride and totally rocked the place! I was super impressed.

 

Unfortunately I had to leave after Angie was done playing. Sis was in town and I wanted to hang out, so I missed Telescope. Total bummer.

 

Thankfully this concert was competing with Tsunami on the Square a block away, and so there wasn’t a ton of people there. I like a little space. :)

 

Also, the not-quite-done renovation of the Elks theatre really added to the ambiance. The spots of missing sound-baffling, the grungy look to some of the walls, and the old creaky seats provided a perfect environment for this concert.

 

All-in-all it was a great time!

OMG

Childish geeky humor.

 

Me Gusta:

Pic of the day

It’s that time of the year again. Prescott Frontier Days:

Ambivalent bumper stickers

Yeah, these are my style.

 

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Pic of the day

Sending off signals to outer space. Unsure whether I hope for a response or not.

Satellite dish with dramatic skies this morning.

The moment I said it

beautiful:

The Moment I Said It - Imogen Heap

Let the geekiness flow forth

On this fine Thursday morning:

Finally, that ‘moved in’ feeling

Well I finally feel moved in.

What was the missing link that finally changed? Art. I wanted some art hanging on the walls, but I wanted it to be MY art.

 

Which means that I had to save up for a month to be able to afford art. But at last I have prints. I sent Rich eight photos to get printed, and last week he busted them out for me.

Eight 16x12 canvas reproductions, which honestly? Turned out unbelievably! I don’t know what kind of fancy magic Rich’s printer is making, but I think the prints look better than the digital files. I can’t say enough about Rich’s services. Not only is he great to deal with, but the results speak for themselves. I also got a color print (not shown) done on some new fancy paper of his, which looks awesome as well. No one trick pony here. Thanks a million Rich!

 

I don’t know why having things hanging on the wall makes it feel more like home, but sure enough it now feels like my space. I’m lovin it!

 

The prints:

Balboa Park Tree

Downtown Walkway

A feather falls

Dream

The Road Less Traveled

Oldschool Tow Truck

Contemplation

Little Flowers

 

and the one color print I got was Soft Water.

Pic of the day

A friend. You can stand next to them, uttering not a word and still know what is going through their mind. A conversation without language.

My four-legged friend, stopping for a breather on our way up a hillside.

Jay Z’s anti auto-tune song, remixed using auto-tune.

Jay-Z apparently doesn’t like auto-tune.

 

So of course, somebody remixed his song, using auto-tune

 

Funny.

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