Montana pics!

Not much time to tell stories, but a good time was had by all. Baby Ben is VERY cute and good natured and babbles almost constantly. We hiked, floated, fished, saw bears (my car was my cage), and bonded with the fam.

Today is unpacking from Montana and re-packing for Hawaii. Life is rough.

Smell ya later!

I'm leaving for Montana tomorrow for the week. Stories and pictures to follow!

A young woman just got very upset with me, and it wasn't my fault.

I was driving back to work from my lunch break. I'm in a left hand only lane (marked "ME"). She's to my right, also in a left hand only lane (marked HER)

After turning, her only choice of lanes is Z (which goes straight), while I get my choice of W or X (both left hand turn lanes), or Y (straight). Y takes me to work. I take this lane every morning.

  
   w x y z
  |<|<|^|^|
  | | | | |
  | | | | |
  \ | | | |
   \ _  | | 
      \ | | 
      | | |
------/ | | 
ME      / |
-------/  /
HER      /
--------/

This charming young woman, though, starts out in HER lane, and thinks somehow that she's supposed to end up in X. Note that a path between Z and X lanes requires crossing through Y. Which is where I am.

So while we're turning, I hear a horn blare, and look to my right, and see that she's almost hit me because she's turning into my lane. I kind of gesture that THAT lane is her lane, and THIS lane is my lane, and keep going. She cuts in behind me, then passes me on my left to get to X. I come up along side her in Y and glance over, and she is full on screaming at me and enthusiastically flipping me off. Flipping me off so HARD that she's actually leaning forward, as if getting her finger closer to me will magnify it's effect.

If I had ANY doubt as to who was right or wrong in this situation, I'd give her the benefit of the doubt. However, I've driven this same goddamn route for the last seven years, and I can claim with 100% sureness that I am right, and she was wrong. Yet she's getting pissed at me? The injustice of it all is astounding.

I understand that people are going to make mistakes. But there's something really distressing about someone making a mistake and then blaming ME for it when they are so CLEARLY wrong. And not just blaming, but really verbally assaulting me. When I see people getting really mad, I get sort of a weird unsettled feeling in my stomach. If it's directed at me (justly or not), it makes that feeling all the worse. I'm just an Adman... no need to get all angry.

I wish there was some way that I could explain my position or defend myself, but it's too late. The best I can hope for is that she drives the same intersection again (seems likely), and realizes her mistake, and apologizes to me from afar (probably not as likely, but let's just pretend).

So, apology accepted. I feel better.

In other news, I had a good weekend. Friday night, Diana and I took my pops out for sushi after work. We hit up the little place in the Del Mar plaza. It was good to see him, and we powered through a ton of sushi, which was all really good.

Saturday, Diana and I were pumped to try out our new snorks and masks, so we joined up with Iwan and S'martin and went to La Jolla Cove. The visibility was really poor, but we swam for a bit and saw some fish and had some fun. The new equipment worked well, so we're ready for Hawaii. Afterwards, we met up with Eryn for some seafood (always fun after seeing live seafood), and saw "March of the Penguins". My joke is that it was the best damn penguin movie I've ever seen. It was pretty good. Perhaps a little sappy and contrived, but edutaining nonetheless. My favorite part was the Baditude got so annoyed by the two year old sitting behind him that he actually stormed out of the theater and walked home. That's good stuff. I really detest seeing movies with the General Public. That's a rant for a different day, though.

While he was still in his seat, Baditude said that he could get me into the Comicon for free (which turned out to be a lie). However, that didn't stop us from dominating said Con all day Sunday. It was fun to see the sights and watch the peeps, and as usual, Eryn is a lot of fun to hang out with and talk to. I'm glad he's my boy.

That's about it for now. Diana and I have been watching the HBO production of "Angels in America", which is pretty good, but reminds me of the musical in "Team America" ("Aids, aids, aids, aids, AIDS!"). We also bought the new Harry Potter book, and have a commitment to read it together, and have worked out how to get around the pesky "falling asleep" problem when one person is reading to t'other.

And our new camera came today! Can't wait to try it out!

Smell ya later, blog.

I love stuff like this. I forwarded this on to most of my readers already, so this is really more of a post for Future Adam to see what Past Adam (currently Now Adam) thought was funny.

'Cause I'm pro-active like that.

---------------------
If WWII Was Played Online
*Hitler[AoE] has joined the game.*
*Eisenhower has joined the game.*
*paTTon has joined the game.*
*Churchill has joined the game.*
*benny-tow has joined the game.*
*T0J0 has joined the game.*
*Roosevelt has joined the game.*
*Stalin has joined the game.*
*deGaulle has joined the game.*
Roosevelt: hey sup
T0J0: y0
Stalin: hi
Churchill: hi
Hitler[AoE]: cool, i start with panzer tanks!
paTTon: lol more like panzy tanks
T0JO: lol
Roosevelt: o this fockin sucks i got a depression!
benny-tow: haha america sux
Stalin: hey hitler you dont fight me i dont fight u, cool?
Hitler[AoE]; sure whatever
Stalin: cool
deGaulle: **** Hitler rushed some1 help
Hitler[AoE]: lol byebye frenchy
Roosevelt: i dont got crap to help, sry
Churchill: wtf the luftwaffle is attacking me
Roosevelt: get antiair guns
Churchill: i cant afford them
benny-tow: u n00bs know what team talk is?
paTTon: stfu
Roosevelt: o yah hit the navajo button guys
deGaulle: eisenhower ur worthless come help me quick
Eisenhower: i cant do **** til rosevelt gives me an army
paTTon: yah hurry the fock up
Churchill: d00d im gettin pounded
deGaulle: this is fockin weak u guys suck
*deGaulle has left the game.*
Roosevelt: im gonna attack the axis k?
benny-tow: with what? ur wheelchair?
benny-tow: lol did u mess up ur legs AND ur head?
Hitler[AoE]: ROFLMAO
T0J0: lol o no america im comin 4 u
Roosevelt: wtf! thats bullsh1t u fags im gunna kick ur asses
T0JO: not without ur harbors u wont! lol
Roosevelt: u little biotch ill get u
Hitler[AoE]: wtf
Hitler[AoE]: america hax, u had depression and now u got a huge fockin army
Hitler[AoE]: thats bullsh1t u hacker
Churchill: lol no more france for u hitler
Hitler[AoE]: tojo help me!
T0J0: wtf u want me to do, im on the other side of the world retard
Hitler[AoE]: fine ill clear you a path
Stalin: WTF u arsshoel! WE HAD A FoCKIN TRUCE
Hitler[AoE]: i changed my mind lol
benny-tow: haha
benny-tow: hey ur losing ur guys in africa im gonna need help in italy soon sum1
T0J0: o **** i cant help u i got my hands full
Hitler[AoE]: im 2 busy 2 help
Roosevelt: yah thats right biznitch im comin for ya
Stalin: church help me
Churchill: like u helped me before? sure ill just sit here
Stalin: dont be an arss
Churchill: dont be a commie. oops too late
Eisenhower: LOL
benny-tow: hahahh oh sh1t help
Hitler: o man ur focked
paTTon: oh what now biotch
Roosevelt: whos the cripple now lol
*benny-tow has been eliminated.*
benny-tow: lame
Roosevelt: gj patton
paTTon: thnx
Hitler[AoE]: WTF eisenhower hax hes killing all my sh1t
Hitler[AoE]: quit u hacker so u dont ruin my record
Eisenhower: Nuts!
benny~tow: wtf that mean?
Eisenhower: meant to say nutsack lol finger slipped
paTTon: coming to get u hitler u paper hanging hun cocksocker
Stalin: rofl
T0J0: HAHAHHAA
Hitler[AoE]: u guys are fockin gay
Hitler[AoE]: ur never getting in my city
*Hitler[AoE] has been eliminated.*
benny~tow: OMG u noob you killed yourself
Eisenhower: ROFLOLOLOL
Stalin: OMG LMAO!
Hitler[AoE]: WTF i didnt click there omg this game blows
*Hitler[AoE] has left the game*
paTTon: hahahhah
T0J0: WTF my teammates are n00bs
benny~tow: shut up noob
Roosevelt: haha wut a moron
paTTon: wtf am i gunna do now?
Eisenhower: yah me too
T0J0: why dont u attack me o thats right u dont got no ships lololol
Eisenhower: fock u
paTTon: lemme go thru ur base commie
Stalin: go to hell lol
paTTon: fock this sh1t im goin afk
Eisenhower: yah this is gay
*Roosevelt has left the game.*
Hitler[AoE]: wtf?
Eisenhower: sh1t now we need some1 to join
*tru_m4n has joined the game.*
tru_m4n: hi all
T0J0: hey
Stalin: sup
Churchill: hi
tru_m4n: OMG OMG OMG i got all his stuff!
tru_m4n: NUKES! HOLY **** I GOT NUKES
Stalin: d00d gimmie some plz
tru_m4n: no way i only got like a couple
Stalin: omg dont be gay gimmie nuculer secrets
T0J0: wtf is nukes?
T0J0: holy shitholyshithoylshti!!!111
*T0J0 has been eliminated.*
*The Allied team has won the game!*
Eisenhower: awesome!
Churchill: gg noobs no re
T0J0: thats bullshit u fockin suck
*T0J0 has left the game.*
*Eisenhower has left the game.*
Stalin: next game im not going to be on ur team, u guys didnt help me for ****
Churchill: wutever, we didnt need ur help neway dumbarss
tru_m4n: l8r all
benny~tow: bye
Churchill: l8r
Stalin: fock u all
tru_m4n: shut up commie lol
*tru_m4n has left the game.*
benny~tow: lololol u commie
Churchill: ROFL
Churchill: bye commie
*Churchill has left the game.*
*benny~tow has left the game.*
Stalin: i hate u all fags
*Stalin has left the game.*
paTTon: lol no1 is left
paTTon: weeeee i got a jeep
*paTTon has been eliminated.*
paTTon: o sh1t!
*paTTon has left the game.*

Friday afternoon Iwan and I golfed after work at Lomas. We didn’t finish a full 18, but I think I played pretty well. I remember making a long putt or two, which is always fun.

Saturday afternoon I headed over to Baditude's pad with Norm and Iwan to check out his new MAME machine. For those not in the know, MAME is an arcade emulator -- a PC program that takes raw data grabbed from arcade machine ROM chips and recreates the game on your computer. Since it's using the original data, you get the EXACT same game as in the coin-op machines of yore. It's awesome. Particularly enterprising folks have even built big stand-up arcade machines (called "cabinets"), complete with a panel for joysticks and buttons, and a TV or monitor, with a PC tucked inside driving the whole thing. One of Eryn's workboys built one a while ago, and sold it to Eryn.

It rocks.

We got there around 3pm, and kicked things off with a little Gauntlet. Gauntlet is good, but when you're not pumping quarters into the thing, and hitpoints are "free", any challenge is removed from the game, and it becomes a little tedious. We played some Track 'n Field, which is a really solid game with good replay value. Norm and I played Rampart while Eryn and Iwan got food. That's a fun two-player game. At some point Norm left, and we played some three player games, like Dungeons and Dragons, and Final Fight (which we beat). Iwan and Eryn busted out some Burger Time. The three of us played a good bit of Dragon's Lair, which I'd like to devote some more attention to. We also rotated through old school Super Mario Bros, which I never played much of as a kid.

All in all, it was a great time. I was a kid in a candy store, but at the same time was a little dissapointed in the lack of replay-ability of some games. When "lives" or "health" comes for free, it changes the perspective of the player, sometimes ruining the game. Dragon's Lair was also particularly fun to toy with. I remember back in the day that game cost at least $.50 (and sometimes $1) to play. You get 5 lives in that game, and you can seriously go through all of them in about 30 seconds. However, the game does have a certain progression that, with trial-and-error, you can get further and further than last time, so there's a certain addictive quality to it.

So, good times. I'm looking forward to spending some more quality time with it (er, with Eryn...)

In other news, Diana and I did some relatively serious thinking about my sabbatical, which I'm eligible for this summer, but we'll use next summer. We started with a map of the world, which is always a good place to start. The combination of me wanting to re-visit Vienna (where we lived for 6 months when I was a lad), Discostup being in Germany, potentially Eryn and Iwan in Germany (any news on that, guys?), and Diana's sister in Norway or Sweden, we figured that was enough motivation to concentrate our thoughts on Europe (second on my list was Tahiti/New Zealand/Japan, I think). Current thoughts include visiting all of the above, as well as some relaxing countryside in Austria and/or Italy, as well as a cruise in the Mediterranean (either France/Italy/Greece or Italy/Greece/Turkey, most likely). It's all very preliminary at this point, but it's fun to think about.

Last night my softball team had a double header. In both games, we came back in the last inning from being down to tying the first game, and winning the second against a very strong team. In the second game, I played really well. I had a nice diving catch, and threw someone out at third from right field, as well as getting a TON of fly balls in my direction. It was a hard-fought game, and just one that you feel really emotionally drained after winning. Good times.

That's about it for me. Latest Netflix: Prime Suspect (yet another British crime drama, which we're enjoying). We also got sucked into Farenheit 9/11 which was on cable, which is a pretty crazy movie. It's certainly thought-provoking, but also smacks of wacky conspiracy theory. Hard to know what's true and what's stretched a little.

Out.

Here are some pics to check out... One is Powell, and the other is from my teambuilding event... Someday I'll be better at HTML to present these a little better.

Picasa

If you have a digital camera and have EVER taken pictures and uploaded them onto your computer, download Picasa from Google NOW.

It is free photo management software. It allows you to easily view your pictures, as well as make adjustments (the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button does it all automatically!). It's great. I love it.

Thanks to Norm for pointing me in the right direction!

Good ol' 4th of July...

Most of my celebrating this weekend was done on the 3rd of July, at a little get-together at Gabe's new pad. It was nice to go up there and see them, and others who I haven't seen in a while. We played wiffle-ball (my team school'ed 'em). Watched little Lando toddle around and play with his toy before he left the party early with his grandparents. BBQ'd. I ate a lot. Drinks were consumed, and drinking games were eventually started. Diana and I played a round or two (to the delight, I think, of the Redlands crew). Some people were staying and spending the night, but a little group of us left before things got too out of hand. All in all, a really fun evening.

Diana and I had the actual 4th to ourselves. We didn’t feel like hanging out at the beach in the crowds, or fighting traffic, so we hit up the movies and saw "Batman Begins". When the lights went down, I thought to myself "Oh man, here we go", meaning "another Batman movie, which has big potential to be really crappy." But, I'd heard nothing but good things from coworkers and friends, so figured there was a chance. And they were right! I loved it! I was super-stoked during the entire thing. It was dark, and intelligent, and made sense. It wasn't damn Jim Carrey and Arnold being silly comic book "villians", but a really smart look into the murky psychological origins of Batman. Christian Bale was solid. Liam Neeson was awesome. Morgan Freeman is my bff. Michael Caine was great. Katie Holmes was as bug-eyed as ever. It's rare that I leave a movie theater really satisfied, and in this case, I was. Go see it.

After the movie, I wanted to try to make it to the beach. Eryn left a message saying he was at a beach that I'd never heard of (surprisingly, I only stick to one or two usual beaches!), and we couldn't get in touch. And besides, the beach seemed like a long way from our comfy couch. We ended up going to Home Depot and picking up some new track lighting, and replacing our old crappy lights with some nice new halogen jobbies. We need to get some more lights, but that's easy. I wasn't familiar with track lighting, and how modular it is. I like modularity. I like doing house-projects with Diana, as well. We always have a lot of fun putting stuff together and making things look a bit nicer. She has a silly side that I'm not sure a lot of people get to see, but she never fails to crack me up.

We went to dinner at the Pacific Grill something-or-other, in Solana Beach, right near the CPK. I had salmon in some sort of pineapple glaze, and it was really, really good. From there, we walked down towards the fairgrounds and watched the fireworks. I really wanted to get close, so we walked down 101 towards the bridge, and sat on the east side of the street, with the lagoon below us and the fairgrounds right across from us. I love feeling the fireworks as much as seeing them, and because we were so close, they'd fill up the sky over us, and a second later boom in our chests. It was great. The finale was orgamsic. As we were walking away, I said "It would be funny if they launched up a few more, just to mess with people", and just at that moment, they did just that. Ha.

That night, I finished Cryptonomicon (my second time reading it). I enjoyed it the first time, but actually more the second time, when I could follow the plot a little closer. Really solid book, if you're a little more technically minded than your neighbor.

So there you go, Weekend a la Adman. Good times.

Yesterday, my workboys and I had a little teambuilding adventure. We did a little sailing race on 30 foot sailboats in the harbor. Each boat had a captain to teach us stuff and keep things safe. It was pretty fun. The coolest part for me was watching an aircraft carrier come into the harbor, directly at us, circled by a little gunboat with a big .50 caliber machine gun on the front. The carrier was really an amazing sight from that close.

I was wearing a visor. Unfortunately, I can't wear a visor anymore, because as a consequence, I sunburned my scalp. The combination of losing my hair (I prefer to think of it as gaining more forehead) and having a short haircut leaves my delicate scalp to fend for itself. So, from now on, it's hats for me. What's going to be really gross is when I start peeling in a few days. Gross.

Last evening, Diana and I hit up the fair. We watched a hypnotist that we'd seen before. He was fun, but his show was exactly the same as the last two years. We saw some art and photography and animals, and ate some good, greasy, overpriced food.

This weekend is the 4th. We have some plans with my parents tomorrow evening, with some friends on Sunday, and Monday is wide open. I assume some peeps will get together for fireworks and stuff. Let's hear it for 3 day weekends!

And since you all (well, Norm) has been clamoring for it, here is my most recent chess game. Schooled him.