The Wish List

For a little while now, I've been compiling this list of things I want to buy/do once I actually establish a career and settle down somewhere. There's not much on the list yet, but I thought it would be fun to share, especially since I'm on a roll with the blog postings tonight. In no particular order, although number 1 is definitely number 1:

1. GET A PUPPY! A SHAR PEI to be exact!
2. If I end up somewhere like here, where it's always sunny and never rains, I'd like to get a motorcycle.
3. Purchase at least partial season tickets for one of the sports teams in the city that I setlle down into.
4. Two cars once loans are paid off. 1. Infiniti g35 2. Range Rover

That's all for now :)

Spend about a week on Venice Beach...

To quote the great Notorious B.I.G., that's what Kara and I did on her last day here in SoCal. Well, we only spent a day, but it would have been great to spend a week there. Venice Beach is just south of Santa Monica, so much so, that you could see the S.M. pier from the Venice Beach pier. Venice is somewhat similar, although had some differences. There was another little strip just off the beach which contained all kinds of shops and street vendors. In addition to this, there was a mini skate park, an area of walls where graffiti art was allowed with a permit, and other cool things. It was very fun to walk around and take everything in.
Just off the beach, there was an area of canals, for which Venice apparently got named after Venice, Italy. There were some amazing houses right on these canals, and each had its own canoes, paddle boats, and the such to travel the canals with. It was a very cool scene.

The highlight of the day was Venice pier. There were tons of fisherman on the pier. There was a group of younger people fishing. Apparently one of them was growing quite bored, and decided to try to catch pigeons by baiting them with food. He was standing completely still with tongs of crunched up chips laying around him. We sat down and watched him for at least 20 minutes. Nothing happened, but for some reason it was strangely hilarious. There was something about the anticipation of the possibility of him diving after a pigeon with a bucket that really cracked me up.

Keep em' comin...

This past week, Kara and I were up to many misc. activities after I finished work each day. Among them were the Dodgers game, the Getty Center, and Hollywood.

The Dodgers game was pretty fun. The game we went to wasn't the best. It clocked in at a quick 2 hour clip, mainly because there was a major lack of offense. The Dodgers played the White Sox. The stadium is pretty cool. It's a shame that nowadays the quality of a stadium is determined by how new it is and how much money was put into it. With that being said, all the nostalgic of the qualities that I liked of Dodger Stadium, many would probably throw those traits into the "dumpy" category. But little things like the countless numbers of people who bring headsets to listen to the radio broadcast, or the 10 year old boy behind us who had more baseball knowledge than many adult baseball "fans" who I know, really show what kind of faithful and knowledgeable fans this team has.

Hollywood is a dump. Another WI tidbit, walking Hollywood Blvd. is more of less like walking main street in the Dells. Lots of dumpy shops selling touristy t-shirts for like $2, and other junk like that. It's definitely something you need to do once, but unless I have more people visit, I'll probably never do again. It was fun to see stuff like the guy in a life size Jimmy Neutron costume, but that's about where I draw the line. It was so disappointing, that the most amusing portion of the trip was a Chinese restaurant named Kung Pao Kitty. There was something oddly amusing to me about a place whose slogan was "Eat More Kitty" when stereotypes about such taboo things run rampant about Chinese food.

The Getty Center is really cool. It's an art museum up in the hills of LA. You park down at the base of the hills, and take a tram up to the top. I'm not sure of the story behind the place, but it's also very architecturally significant besides all of the art contained inside and outside of the buildings. Unfortunately we got there late on Friday, and only got a bit more than an hour to explore before it closed down. It's something I'm definitely planning on checking out again to be able to fully take in everything it has to offer.

Cambria, cont'd...

The following day, we went to Hearst Castle, which was about 10 minutes away from Cambria. I didn't associate the Hearst in the castle with William Randolph Hearst, who was a large historical figure, and the man behind the castle. Yes, it was an actual castle, and yes, it was in the United States. There was a really cool film we saw in the before getting the tour which filled in all the details of the history, but I won't bore you all.

The castle was amazing. We had a guide, who I didn't listen to much, mainly because I was firing off photos left and right. The castle is huge, and filled with all kinds of artifacts, art, and what not. It looks like something out of old Greece or something. I really can't even explain it well, because it is beyond those words. Among the things contained here, were a theater room, tennis courts, indoor and outdoor swimming pool. And back in the days when Hearst actually lived at the castle, there was even a zoo which contained rare animals like polar bears, lions, and the like.

Weekend Trip

Kara was here visiting for the past week and a half, which provided me even more opportunities to to explore LA as I now had someone else to keep entertained too. We had a great time. Our first weekend consisted of driving up to Cambria, which is about 3.5 hours north of here. We were meeting up with friends who live in SF, for a little couples weekend.

Cambria is a very cute little town. The actual town is just off the ocean, but there's a little strip of very nice hotels that sit right on the ocean. For those of you WI residents, it's a very Door County-ish area with amazing views. We found a nice hotel with a great balcony overlooking the ocean. We spent the night out at dinner, and then indulged in wine and beer on our patio while listening to the waves crash up on the shore.

M-I-C-K-E-Y

Two weeks ago, my roommate won a pack of tickets to Disneyland, and was generous enough to take me as one of her guests. For those of you who I've discussed Disney with before, you know that it's not exactly my cup of tea. I'd much prefer a less sentimental and more thrilling theme park like Six Flags, than to go to Disney where emphasis is placed more on the nostalgia than the rides.

Regardless, it was a very fun, but also long day. The highlight of the day by far was the new Toy Story ride that opened up. We were there one week before it opened, but luckily, included in the tickets my roommate won were wrist bands to get us on the ride before it opened. This is a ride in 3D where you are in a cart with some fake guns. The guns shoot computer generated objects into a movie screen where there are targets. It's a very carnival shooting style themed deal, which keeps your score and everything. It's very hard to explain, but was a blast. I think we went on it like 4 times throughout the day.

It was also apparently the unofficial Ravers day at Disneyland. Little did we know that Ravers didn't really exist anymore, but we were also unaware of the fact that they collect bracelets known as "candy". Then they all trade bracelets and wear them all the way up their arms. It was quite an experience, and a new look into a subculture I was unaware of.
The rest was pretty usual Disney fare. I had always known that Land was smaller than World, which makes sense. However, I wasn't aware of the fact that the parks are more or less exactly the same with many of the same rides. But, it was still fun, and for free couldn't be beat.

I'm Baaaaack

As promised, my schedule is now getting back to normal, and I've now got more time to update the old blog. So now, we'll have to jump in the way back machine and catch up on some of my past activities...