If you go onto imdb.com, my dad doesn't have the largest page. It isn't because a lack of trying, but it's just that most of his work has gone as uncredited. Not too many people know that he created the radars in Top Gun or added special effects to the last episode of Cheers. And of course, with all the Simpsons gear around the house, you know how much of a big part he was with the show.
Anyways, last Saturday, we were flipping through the channels and my dad told me to hold it on one of our non-premium channels. "Repo Man" was starting and he wanted me to watch the opening. He started to tell me how they had little time and my dad had to put together a title sequence with no money. My dad, as resourceful as he was, went to the nearest AAA and grabbed a bunch of maps because he was a member. He worked through the night and by the next morning they had their opening.
The next morning we flipped open the LA Magazine in the sunday section and they had an article about the fifty greatest movie title sequences in the history of film. You can guess what was one of the films, but the man who got the credit was someone my dad never met.
We made our annual trip(I can call it that because it's our second time now) up the coast to visit her family for Christmas. We went up the coast this time to stay at the Vintage Inn in Yountville for the 2nd time. We made sure not to miss the champagne brunch, where I rediscovered corn beef. We also were able to get reservations this time at Bouchon, which I Yelped about here.
Gold Beach, Oregon
We divided the trip by staying up in Crescent City one night which was memorable only because my back is still hurting from the Travelodge. Irregardless, it's a beautiful drive. One that has to be done in the summer though to take advantage of more sunlight.
You know whos
Christmas was fun again, but the highlight was some of the stories Barb's grandmother told us. The best was how she moved from Oklahoma to Illinois as a little girl in the 1920's. Oh yeah, by stagecoach!! Who'd thought they were still around?
There' no business like snow business in the Siskiyous
The part we were most worried about was the drive back down. We thought we were going to be going through a snow storm so much that Barb bought chains. Luckily, we were able to make it through the Siskiyou's quickly enough that we even had time to stop by the North Face Outlet in Berkeley. That was Barb's doing.
Mt. Shasta, possibly on fire?
We spent our last two days of vacation with Dave and Helen in Cambria. Our place was right on the ocean and was beautiful. The meals which I have yet to yelp about were really good both in Cambria and Paso Robles. The only bummer was wine tasting because I had a slight cold and it felt like only 20% of my taste buds were functioning. But since it affected everything, I could tell the difference between the good and bad and I think we found our white wine for the wedding.
Sunset at Cambria
And finally, if you're on the 101 driving through San Luis Obispo, we had to stop at Firestone's for the tri-tip on the way back.
Alright, straight to the details. I originally planned for this to happen two weeks earlier up in Berkeley, but the small problem was I didn't have the ring yet. It arrived this last Friday, so I had to plan quickly, especially since Barb was on call until Tuesday.
My plan was to do the "popping" at the Stand on a Sunday night. Yes, it's a hamburger place, but we love their patio and it's a great place to end the week with Jazz from the Nathan Duncan Trio. I had gotten an email that this was their last performance of the season, so it had to be tonight, even with the cold winds blowing.
We went with my parents because I really wanted them to witness it. Of course, my mom has been prepping since the ring arrived so she's been on red alert with a camera ever since. I played it cool throughout dinner, but I had meant to call Barb's sister Grace first, so I was looking to slip away. Sure enough she called Barb before I could get out of my chair. While they were talking about thanksgiving, I motioned to Barb that we were ready to leave. So while we were walking out, I asked Barb if I could talk to Grace. We stopped and I asked her if I had her blessing in marrying her sister. While I was talking to Grace, Barb was tearing up, but she still didn't get that I was going to propose to her. Then I told Grace if she would mind if I proposed to Barbara now. Grace said yes and I went down on one knee and Barb said yes. To be honest, I had no idea what was going on around me at the time. The band was playing and people were dancing, but they were in just as much shock as Barbara. After they finished playing their song, they called us over and we had a few words with the band and the audience. Strangely enough, the next song they played was "moon river", which was prominently being played the night before while watching Breakfast at Tiffany's.
There was a gentlemen there that was video taping the band's set, so once I get the video I'll upload it, but below is a video of them playing this venue at an earlier time.
I'm very happy how the evening unfolded and am very fortunate to have someone as special as Barbara to spend the rest of my life with.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
this was my second annual, bi-annual Cal-UCLA football trip with the Campbells. Because of Barb's tight schedule, we caught the earliest flight we could saturday morning from Virgin America which turned out being the right way to start the day. With video games, tv, and music in front of you, we didn't want to get off the plane once we had Flight of the Concords queued.
After a convenient BART ride to Berkeley the Campbells picked us up where we headed for a quick crepe before landing ourselves at Raleigh's. I was bewildered by James's amazement that he'd never been in a beer garden. Really? Come to think of it, we're devoid of them here in LA. Maybe that's a sign for a career change for me.
We just missed kickoff, but were pretty amazed to see the stadium near full. It wasn't too inspiring of a game. Cal's offense had trouble finding it's rhythm which was fortunate because the Bruin's was far worse. The highlight of the game might be the highlight of the year or a lifetime. While the Cal Band was having reliably good show, out of nowhere they pulled out a recreation of "The Play". If you watch the video, it's not a little girl screaming, it's me hyperventilating.
The Bears pulled away in the fourth quarter, which was encouraging because this is the first time in years Tedford dropped his conservative play calling. Oh yeah, Coach Neuheisel is a douche. With sixty four seconds left in the game, why do you use your final time out playing defense on a first down to prolong the game down by twenty one points? Is it worth an extra play where someone might get hurt? UCLA deserves better.
After, we made a B-line to the best pizza in the world(Zachary's) and damn the hour wait. It's worth it. After dealing with a surplus of pizza and a 4am wake up call. It was time to call it a night.
For breakfast the next morning, Nikki found La Note on Yelp, which was the highest rated spot for morning meals in Berkeley. Everything was fantastic. Why didn't I ever eat at this place when I lived up there? Oh yeah, I could only afford Taco Bell.
Lastly we hit up the infamous North Face Outlet. When Campbell parked in the one hour zone, I told him you're going to have to move your car later. I wasn't joking. I've been there twice with Barbara and have shown restrain before. But I felt like I had been neglecting myself too long. I got a couple shorts and shirts, but I ventured into running shoes, which at $32 was an amazing deal. I'm not going to say how much I spent, but today the stock market went up 10%. Not a coincidence.
I'll have to admit, I wasn't a big fan of Don Rickles until this year. I'm not a big fan of humor that attacks people, but that all changed when we watched an HBO special about his life, "Mr. Warmth". The first thing you take is that he's an icon of the great days of Vegas with Sinatra, Martin and the rest of the gang. Next, I didn't know that he's great, great friends with Bob Newhart, who's a polar opposite of him and one of my all time favorites. And lastly, I learned greatly to respect that he performs with no safety net and he disciminates everyone equally.
While Agoura Hills doesn't sound like the Mecca of comedy, it was the only place he was playing in the state the whole year. I bought tickets back in February. The amazing thing is that as an eighty two year old, he's as sharp up there as he's ever been. What's even more impressive about that is most of his comedy comes from the people he sees in the audience and made up on the spot. His show was one of the most special I've been too and if you have the chance to see him, do it fast.
Barb and I got to get out earlier in September for a brief getaway up to San Luis Obispo. It's normally a 3 1/2 hour drive, but rather than having Barb nap in the passenger seat, I decided to get a taste of it the only way I could. By taking a train. It might have taken longer than driving, but it was so much worth it. Not just because it let me relax, but it's easy to work on a book or crossword.
We chose San Luis Obispo because: a)I love eating at Apple Farm and have never stayed there. b)Apple Farm has a package that included a county tour that included wine tastings. c)I spent a summer in SLO and have loved it ever since.
Green Acres Lavender Farm
After arriving in SLO we headed straight for Apple Farm. Little did we know that we'd be able to smell Firestone grill from a couple blocks off of our path. Their Tri-tip sandwich has received legendary status, so we thought we'd hit an early lunch. I'm one to believe that nothing ever lives up to that type of hype, but this sandwich exceeds it. From now on, I will only take the 101 to the Bay Area instead of the I-5 just to get that sandwich.
After digesting, we checked in at Apple Farm and immediately headed down to their wine reception. The wine was alright, but they included some pastries from their bakery. Damn them! So much good food in a day and it wasn't even dinner yet! We went to our room to recover before heading out for a long walk around the campus to burn off our sins. At the end of the walk, we found a sushi place which offered all-you-can-drink specials. That's ended our run of quality food. When we got back, Apple Farm had chocolate chip cookies waiting for us.
The next morning, we grabbed a rental car and went off on our San Luis Obispo County tour. Our first stop was a lavender farm. I'm really unfamiliar with lavender as a species, and even less with it's many different uses. I didn't pick up all the uses because we were too focused on their pets. It's a bit disturbing when a cat is bullying a dog, but you can't stop watching.
The tour also included a list of wineries with complimentary wine tastings. The first one was JanKris which was decent, but they kept on pouring. And Barbara kept drinking. I reminded her the county had other wineries to go to, so Barbara asked about some of the local's favorites. They sent us to Halter Ranch winery, which didn't turn out to be our favorite. Their wine was on par with the last place, but the lady behind the counter was too "bougie" and she charged me separately for a wine tasting after Barb bought a bottle! It was a nice settling to eat our Apple Farm provided boxed lunches(way better than anything I've brown bagged), but please, steer clear of this place.
We got a little R & R back at Apple Farm before heading out for a stroll downtown. School wasn't in session, so it was nice to walk around because SLO hasn't become commercialized like Santa Barbara. After all our options, we decided to eat again(almost a year to the day) at Novo again. The food's pretty good, but atmosphere of the outdoor patio over the river is worth the price of a meal.
Our short trip was almost over, but we had to have an Apple Farm breakfast to leave this town right. Everything is very good, but the pancakes are the best. I should try to get a job there.
Barbara multi-taking at Apple Farm
The highlight of the train ride back was this 18-year old kid that would try(unsuccessfully) to strike up a conversation with any of the train's single riders. I could hear him keep telling people that he was travelling from San Jose to LA as part of his punk band's tour. I didn't really believe him because where was the rest of his band? The jewel was when he was talking to the girl in front of me and told her that he was in a Dead Kennedy's cover band called "Not the Dead Kennedy's". The girl was unfamiliar with their work, so he played a CD of a couple of their songs. Only he had to preface it with, "this isn't us playing, it's the group we're covering." Classic.
Lastly, we loved our train experience. Strangely, our train had to idle in Moorpark for about twenty minutes because the conductor explained that our train was ahead of schedule and had to wait our turn to go through the single track Santa Susana tunnel. Later that week, the Metrolink accident happened along the same track. Our prayers and thoughts go out to the families of that trajedy.
About roughly three months ago, I went to the pound after I saw a beautiful chow mix online. It turned out that the chow was too big for my parents to possibly handle, but these two sisters caught my eye as well as everyone else's. They had just come in, but they weren't available for adoption or even to be looked out outside of their cage for three days, so we had to wait.
The following wednesday morning we showed up to the pound as soon as they opened. Through some weird processing system, we could look at Zooey, but not Franny for another hour. As soon as we took her out of the cage we knew we wanted her, but we came in mind that we wanted to keep the sisters together, so we waited. About a half hour later, another couple came to claim Zooey, but we didn't want to commit until we got a look at Zooey. After some deliberation, the other couple ceded that we could have Zooey as long as we kept the sisters together. As soon as we were able to meet Franny, we knew that both would be a perfect pair. We went to tell the other couple, but they had already left.
Zooey(the smaller one) is extremely docile around people, but is still aggressive when other dogs or cars go by. She is better at learning commands than Franny, but still needs a lot of work. Franny made a complete 180 change in her personality when she first came to our house. Mind you they were both recovering from being spayed, but Franny was very scared about everything the first day, making me think she was a little mental. As the week wore on, Franny not only started to warm up to everyone, but she became even more playfully active than Zooey and is very friendly as well.
