Vice City

Me encanto Miami! I was having dinner at a Greek restuarant and the music was so loud I thought I was in a club. Or maybe that's because all the people were dancing on the tables. Hey, I'm eating here! For a second I thought I was back in Club 37, outside the student dorms in Bratislava. I've missed the craziness.

Oh, Rummy..

Turkeyday 2006

November 21, 2006

Dear Mr. Drake:

"I would like to welcome you to the Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Office of the Chief Operating Officer, Procurement and Grants Office, Acquisition & Assistance Branch, Atlanta, Georgia..."

ABOUT TIME! My first day will be Dec 11. I'll in-process and then proceed directly to the Christmas party for a drink or three.

Off to Miami for a few days, Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Gobble, Gobble...

Sounds Like A State Dept Warning..

..."According to University officials, the best way to stay safe in Columbus this Saturday is approaching Ohio State fans like you would a herd of wildebeest: If you're around them, you'd better stay still. If not, you could be in for a stampede. "Stay low-key; don't draw unnecessary attention to yourself," read an e-mail from the administration to the student body.That's just part of an effort by officials in both Columbus and Ann Arbor to curb tension between unruly fans at Saturday's highly emotional showdown between Michigan and Ohio State.Dean of Students Sue Eklund, Michigan Student Assembly President Nicole Stallings and Alumni Association President Steve Grafton e-mailed students Monday to warn them of the perils that Wolverine fans who make the trip to Columbus face. It advised students to travel in packs, cover up maize-and-blue clothing and leave cars with Michigan license plates at home. Last on the list was an unexplained request to stay off High Street, the main thoroughfare of OSU's campus."

--Michigan Daily

Buckeyes. What a bunch of thugs. Check the photo above (Thanks bro). Agh. Just stay in Ann Arbor, Wolverines:) Tomorrow's the big game day! Go Blue! RIP, Bo. The timing of some deaths are so strange.

The Grand "Stinkin" Canyon

Don't know why I put "stinkin" in the title, but what the hell, perhaps for the Mike Hudsons out there. If anybody wants to hear him and my main man GAINES, be sure to check out their radio show. Hope to meet up with you boys b4 time runs out on my time in California.



Anyway, the roadtrip to the Grand Canyon was...A SUCCESS! We finally reached at around 10pm Friday night and guess what was greeting us as we made our way into the hotel parking lot?? ELK! I was so surprised to see ELK! For a second, the Michigan ghetto redneck in me wanted to grab for my 12 gauge sawed-off party-pump shotgun and have some elk-burgers for a midnight snack..esp now with the SEASON SHOT, ammo with flavor (thank you, NPR!)!



Elk burgers aside, let me tell you one thing, if you're planning on watching a breath-taking sunrise over the Canyon in November...be prepared for some cold! 29F and we nearly froze to death. Holy geez, I have been in SoCal too long. Thank god we stole some sweatswirts from Reith during last year's Thanksgiving, I really have to buck up the winter wardrobe in anticipation for my move to Atlanta! Below you can see Jam and I minutes before we ran into our car to thaw out.



Speaking of which, For those of you who care, today I started my new job in a different department here in LA. Upon entering my new office, I promptly asked to meet my new boss and told him I was leaving for Atlanta! Ha! Def. the strangest day of work since I've started this thing called work. So it's official: it's been confirmed from the CDC themselves, Dec. 11 will be my first work day! Now, it's going to be interesting to see what the new department has me doing for the next few weeks. Any rumors about "scanning projects" will be heavily frowned upon and met with copious amounts of "sick leave".

Yesterday, we extended the roadtrip by driving down Highway 17 and into Tempe, Arizona, home of the Sun Devils, home of Arizona State University, Alma Matar of one Digs Leonard. After strolling through town (I must admit, it's a great place although the school doesn't even begin to compare with my former university, the University of Michigan), I walked into the university store, the one where they sell all the ASU gear (shirts, keychains, shot-glasses, ASU heroin spoons, etc), and guess what I encountered...in the land of yellow and burgundy, deep within ASU terrority, a man who is making a living off of pushing that ASU garbage is DECKED, HEAD TO TOE, in University of Michigan gear. After I asked him for his picture, I told him, "It's okay, we can't all go to Michigan, the world needs shirt sellers, too." FYI: HUGE GAME THIS WEEKEND. OSU VS MICHIGAN. Yes, Ms. Hu, I can believe someone typed this into wikipedia. Football is a religion in those parts. That being said, Go Blue!



POS, eat it! A true ASU fan, wishing he could have made it into a "real" school:)

Griffith Observatory: Open!

Last Thursday evening, Dan, Nena, Jams and I headed up to the newly restored Griffith Observatory ($93 million)~! If you've ever seen, "Rebel Without A Cause", you'll know the place. It was great to over look the gleaming city from up above (all we could hear were sirens;), and check out the planetarium. It really left you feeling, well, quite insignifcant in the grand scheme of the universe. The film showed that our sun is actually in the "suburbs of the galaxy".

You know, I'm convinced that there's other intelligent life out there, but just that they don't want to contact us because we act like rednecks..fighting all the time, trying to conquer each other, destroying our home, etc etc. Too much of a liability to invite us anywhere:) At any rate, get reservations if you're in the area!!

Christmas Coming Early?

First I get this email from Jams,

"Hey u, I got tickets for us for Borat tonight at 9:20 at 3rd Street Prom, Santa Monica. Just a heads up."

And then I click on CNN and read, "Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is stepping down, sources tell CNN." It's so funny, because today is my last day in this department as well. We're both resigning.

You know, I was driving into work this morning, the sun shining on my face, Brasilian music flowing out my window, and I knew it would be a good day.

House of Blues

I'm such a political nerd. Last night, as always, I watched the entire election on the boob tube. It's a lot easier on the West Coast because we're 3 hours behind all the action, so you can still retire at a somewhat reasonable hour. The guy I most like to watch during elections is Chris Matthews on MSNBC. Besides being pretty much down the middle, he's well versed in American political history and knows the town of DC like the back of his hand. I especially love it when the hour gets late and they all start getting punchy after being on television for so long..you can just tell they love their jobs and politics and wouldn't be anywhere else in the world than in that studio.

At any rate, for the first time in 12 years, the Dems will control the House (Senate still undecided). Apparently, US voters are tired of corruption and being told lies about Iraq, Terrorism, etc..wow, perhaps US voters are beginning to see what people around the world have been saying for years! Unfortunately, I think it'll be too little too late (What the hell can we really do now in Iraq?), but at least it's a step in the right direction! Looking forward to Bush's little speech in 2 hours, or rather Jon Stewart/Steven Colbert's take on Bush's speech in 2 hours:)

Indian Summer?

Now, I know I said I love the fall, but 94F in November is pushin it.

Walking Into Sun..

As soon as I say it, I forget it. Yet, the value of stopping and enjoying a sunset can't be measured with anything in terms of "productivity" or "economics"..so I'll continue to forget it;). Sunday evening was so much better than unwinding with the television or internet. That said, I'm still "Stopping to Smell the Roses" and I don't plan on stopping anytime soon. The autumns in Southern California seem hotter than the summers. It's my favorite season here. The beach crowds have long gone home, the winds have died down and the mountains that are normally concealed by smog, reveal themselves, completely altering the normal Los Angeles scenery.

Russell Peters...

If anyone wants to listen to a funny Indian comedian, check this out. The Chinese accent kills me! BE A MAN. DO THE RIGHT THING. The bit about Indians and Chinese not being able to work together, well! He also has a little bit how in 300 years there will be no more black or white folks...Instead, everyone will be tan because of mixing.

"The world is mixing and there is nothing you can do about it. Eventually we're all gonna be some hybrid mix of Chinese and Indian. It's inevitable. They're the two largest populations in the world. So you can run from us now, but sooner or later, we're gonna hump you."

He also listed some "interesting mixes" he liked to see more of:

Hook up an Italian and a Jamican = Pastafarians
Indian and Jewish =Hinjews
a chick from the Phillipines and guy from Holland=Hollapinos
Cuban and Iceland =Ice Cubes
French and Greek =Freek"

Those are some exotic half-breeds indeed!

The Saltine Challenge

Seeing coworkers placing bets while stuffing their faces with crackers, makes me think I may never leave Govt. Go ahead, see who can eat 6 saltines (no low sodium crackers) in a minute without drinking any water.

The Saltine Challenge. I got 4. Either you'll be coughing on saltine dust or entertaining a doughy ball of cracker in your mouth:) It can't be done!

UPDATE: CHUNKING method proves successful.

Gotta Sport Them Avi's

Daddy Likie

Imagine the days when belly-dancers wooed over Romans. Yeah, that must have been an interesting era.

Fact or Fiction?

Alex Jones' "Terror Storm" (on Google Video here) suggests some pretty "alternative" viewpoints about 9-11 and is yet another "must see" for those of you into this kind of thing. The part about the 7-7 bombings in London was particulary interesting..Long live Google Video and those who continue to ask questions!