Bdub's Blog

Shame On This Bastard

2009-04-15T22:23:00.000-07:00

Me and E were watching the Blazers/Nuggests game tonight and saw said bastard above. April 3rd was our three year anniversay and two months prior my buddy scored tickets to the Lakers/Rockets game and invited me to go along. Turns out the night of the game fell on was the same night as me and E's anniversary. So what did I do? I manned-up and spent the day with my lady and took her out to dinner, that's what! So again, shame on you sir, in your Gred Oden jersey! How can you leave your woman at home to go watch an awesome regular season NBA game with playoff intensity? (This post is worth 500 brownie points)

Jim Hill's Natural

2009-03-28T18:41:00.000-07:00

What is up with Jim Hill's natural? I remember that same natural when I was in 5th grade. This brother hasn't changed hair styles once in twenty-some-odd years. No flat top, no fade, no S-curl, no jheri curl, no finger wave, no corn rows, no relaxer, no process, no gumby-fro, no fro-hawk, no dreadlocks, no nothing, just the same ol' natural. It must really work for him. More power to ya, bruh.

NYC Is Gettin' Soft, Son!

2009-02-05T23:21:00.000-08:00

I hate Boston fans, but they get props for calling out the Knicks fans at Madison Square Garden tonight. I'm not sure what to make of them chanting MVP MVP for Kobe earlier this week. It's one thing to show a player love and applaud after a dominitating performance but MVP at MSG? I don't know what to attribute that to. Maybe the real fans are being priced out? Maybe the fans in attendance are not basketball fans and are just there to see a "show"? Whatever it is, they're gettin' soft son, and you would not see that happen in Beantown, no matter how bad their team is.

Laker Thoughts

2009-01-16T21:29:00.000-08:00

Editor's note: I'm not a Laker fan, per se, but I watch their games more than any other team. I was born and raised a Laker fan but got more into college bball during the Post-Magic Johnson era. That's when I got on JKidd's jock, and the rest is history. Since his dismantling at the hands of Chris Paul in the 2008 NBA Playoffs, he's pretty much not been the same player; he's in the twilight of his career and my fire that used to burn for him is flickering out. Right now I am pretty much in NBA limbo, and it's not a bad place to be. I watch all the teams and players and have no rooting interest really. Since the Lakers are always on, and they display a good brand of basketball (as opposed to their arena-mate) I tend to watch more of their games, and since I have no emotional attachment/investment in this team I think that I am a pretty objective critic; I'm not blinded by the purple and gold like my boys out here. So I would like to start a section in my blog called Laker Thoughts.

Lamar Odom has to be the worst finisher I have ever seen. I wonder if they keep a stat for blown AND1s. I bet he leads the league in that department. He can never finish. Pathetic.

Lamar is also the wost traffic-passer I have ever seen. He'll wait until the absolute worst time to dump off the ball to a teammate that isn't looking for it.

My Food Network Fave Five

2009-01-12T20:13:00.000-08:00

Editor's note: I know it's seems kinda odd to make a random post like this seeing as how I haven't blogged for quite sometime. I've lost all of my blogging momentum. I felt I should blog about the lack of me blogging but instead of blogging about that, I'll tell you. Facebook killed my blogging time. I had a captive audience I couldn't resist and I couldn't overcome the OCD of me updating my status with nonsensical shit. It was a quick fix. All the funny things I wanted to blog about were suddenly quenched with a quick quip to my peoples on Facebook. Yeah, I got a temporary high from it, but deep down it wasn't satisfying. So, my tens of readers, I am back! Now, to get reacquainted with the home keys. ASDF....

I love to cook. I love food. I love the Food Network. It's must-see-TV everyday for me. The men in my family have always cooked, so that part seems natural. My dad cooked because he HAD to. It was just him and I and we had to eat, so he did what great any father would do, cook for his son. I don't think he particularly enjoyed it, but he did what needed to be done. Somehow out of that, I grew to love cooking.

I remember being super excited when we got a blender and a food processor one year. I didn't know what the hell to do with them, but I was hyped and I really wanted them. Back then information wasn't as accessible as it is now (I mean, there were cooking shows on PBS, but they weren't that educational), so there was a lot of half-ass trial and error cooking going on. I'd try to make pancake batter in a blender; tried to make milk shakes in the food processor; I'd shred cheese that would end up going bad. I think the only thing I made well were sliced potato rounds. All I had to do was push the potato down the chute, then throw the slices in hot oil.

I then hit the mother load, we got the sandwich snack maker. I think it was called the super snacker. Whatever the hell it was called, I was in food-gadget heaven. I had seen it on the infomercials and couldn't wait to get my hands on one. I was making grilled cheese sandwiches, turkey and cheese sandwiches, garlic spaghetti pockets, tuna melts, hard ass brownies, you name it. This little vessel was the canvas I needed to tap into my budding culinary genius. Had I known then what I know now, I would have used non-stick spray before each use. That thing was a bitch to clean. And one time I left it out, and came home from school and god damn ants were crawling in it! And I killed the ants with bug spray and accidentally got it on the non-stick surface.. and I scrubbed it.. and was paranoid too cook with it for fear of residual bug spray... and I finally tried to cook with it once, and then the g'damn bread stuck... oh, man, that still pisses me off. And it's been 18 years. I eventually boxed back up, took it back down to The Broadway in Downey and pulled the ol' switcharoo. Man, that was a tangent.

So I love to cook, that's the point I am trying to make. I love it, and I am very passionate about it. I don't know why I don't blog about it more when I am scratching around for material.

Way back when I first moved out on my own, I was only equipped with the recipes my dad made. It was more than a solid enough foundation to get going. I made his salmon croquettes, pasta, potatoes, and other standard fare.

Once settled in, I would always end up on Food Network while channel surfing. One of the first shows I watched was Taste with David Rosengarten. From what I remember he talked about a lot of booze and did food sometimes. I remember the beer episode, and I really remember the tequila episode. He sampled each tequila he talked about and by minute 25 of the 30 minute show there was some mild slurring and stammering going on. That amused me to no end. So I was sold on him.

Then I watched Good Eats shortly after it aired and I was HOOKED. Mr. Wizard meets Chef Boyar-mf'in-dee! It was informative, educational, and it really lit a fire underneath me to cook.

Which brings us to now. With Alton Brown as my yoda, I've come pretty far in my culinary Jedi training. By no means am I a chef, but I know enough to buckle a few knees.

I was reading Fightin' Mad Mary's blog about a Contessa recipe she made. As I was commenting on her blog, I started going off on a tangent about Contessa. Then I thought, this is some shit I should be blogging about... and the fire was back, baybee!! Since everyone is doing lists nowadays, I give you my Food Network Fave Five:

1) Alton Brown, Good Eats

My Lord and savior in the kitchen. No one person (outside of pops) has influenced my cooking as he has. I've sucked everything up like a sponge, sensei. From your science, to your gadgets, everything I do in the kitchen is rooted or derived from something you have taught me.

2) Giada DeLaurentis, Everyday Italian

Yes, she's attractive, but that's not why I watch. It took me months to convince my girlfriend of that. Yes, she has a plunging neck line and yes her mammaries would heave to and fro as she whisked eggs, but aside from all that, she could cook like a mf'er. Her pasta dishes are cheap and easy to make. Win win. Her recipes are on our plates once or twice a week. She's the reason I bought a hand-grater and now put PARMEGINO RRREGIANO on everything. And I mean everything, veggies, chili, eggs, pizza, funnel cake, cereal, my toothbrush... everything!

3) Ina Garten, Barefoot Contessa

Oh, Ina, you're so fancy in your big luxurious West Hampton home; going out to your garden for basil, thyme, and chives. The fancy wine and cheese store. The fancy table setting and centerpieces. For 30 minutes, I can be a middle-aged white woman frolicking through The Hamptons entertaining my fancy friends. And then there's Jeffrey, the man you love to cook for. Erika's my Jeffrey. Just come back in 30 minutes when dinner is ready, honey. Ina was on the fence for the Food Network Fave Five for a minute. I wasn't cooking any of her recipes, but she was so whimsical and delightful that I just couldn't turn away from this nice lady. Then I found her niche; she loves to entertain, as do I. She always has great recipes on appetizers and desserts. I've tried a bunch of the appetizers and they were all great. Especially her roasted shrimp cocktail. It was so g'damn good I made it four times in an 8 day span. As I commented on Mary's blog, I'm scared to know what the mercury levels in our blood are right now. Honey, I won't mention how you destroyed the shrimp George Costanza style:

Whoops!

4) Tyler Florence - Tyler's Ultimate

The new guy (relative to my list) on the block. I know he's been around since the early days of The Food Network, but I absolutely have no memory of him. I used to see him in the Applebee's commercials hyping up his specials on there. That didn't help his cause. Erika and I ate at Applebee's in Cincinnati for the first time (none around here, thank god) and I was absolutey appalled by how bad it tasted. Eating good in the neighborhood, my ass! They should say "eating ass in the neighborhood". Sounds much better and much more accurate. Back to Tyler... I recently added "Chefography" to my DVR and one of the episodes was about the network itself. It really took me back to some old shows I would watch in the early days of the network. They showed clips of their early chefs; a much thinner Mario Battali, Bobby Flay (more on him later), and Tyler Florence. For some reason seeing those guys before they were successful trying to teach people how to cook was endearing. So I decided to give Tyler's show a chance, and WOW, great stuff! I've already saved a few of his recipes that I plan on cooking within the next week. Pretty good for only having watched a handful on episodes.

5) Bobby Flay - Boy Meets Grill

I've always known who he was, some dude with a grill. When I did see his show, I didn't really care for him. Then I would start to see more of him as I started to watch more Iron Chef America, and one thing stood out: he would get his ass kicked a lot. How could this fool possibly call himself an Iron Chef batting .500? Mario Bitali is the straight-up ass kicker on that show. He's Michael Jordan in an apron and Crocs. So Bobby wasn't winning any points there. Then after watching said Food Network documentary, I started to see him in a different light. He was a pretty likable guy and it was funny seeing him on the network in the early days. Congrats, Bobby, you gets the 5 spot. Now If I could only make one of your recipes...

Honorable Mention

Emeril Lagasse - The Essence of Emeril

I used to love The Essence of Emeril back in the day. I watched him before I ever saw Good Eats. Then he got a studio audience and a band and people would explode with applause and whooping everytime he added garlic. What?!

Rachael Ray - 30 Minute Meals

I'm not a RR-hater like a lot of people. I know she's a cook and not a chef. I DVR'd her show for about two months until I realized I didn't make anything she cooked and I was just watching her to see how many items she could carry at once while she was prepping to cook. It was like watching a human Jenga. Fascinating!

Ingrid Hoffman - Simply Delicioso

Ingrid was on my DVR list too. About the same time as RR. In that time I made HALF of one recipe. Her jalapeno avocado dip that we now eat with our taquitos instead of guacamole. I like her show more for the sultry South Beach soundtrack that underscored her cutaway scenes. I would immedietly jump up and start to salsa and cumbia for Erika who was amused at my lack of ritmo. Bad dancing and one half of one recipe. Sorry, mami, you gotta bounce.

Paula Deen - Whatever-Show-She's-On

Oh boy. She's bawdy and funny and loves to use a shitload of butter on everything. But is it too much for a cooking show? I don't know yet. Part of me wants to watch, but for all of the wrong reasons. I'd love play a drinking game with her show with "y'all" being the drink-word. I'm still on the fence with this one. Her Iron Chef America appearance doesn't help her cause. She was yapping the whole time and taunting the other team. It was funny, but a little over the top. Erika couldn't watch. Stay turned.

Feedback From Katie Couric's Sarah Palin Interview

2008-09-25T22:54:00.000-07:00

Not surprising at all that Sarah Palin's interview went over as well as a fart during Sunday mass. Even GOP observers have chimed in on how nauseated they were! Sometimes you just can't polish up a turd, no matter how hard you try. Here's some of my favorite excerpts from the article in New York Magazine.

The mood over Sarah Palin is changing. Her political naysayers used to delight in her floundering her way through interviews (okay, that one interview with Charlie Gibson). They enjoyed pointing out her lack of credentials. But her interview with Katie Couric over the past two nights has elicited a different response — like cringing. No longer is there joy in Palin's struggles. Watching her has become like watching one of those hopeless singers trying out for American Idol: First you laugh. Then you laugh some more. Maybe after that you laugh a little bit more. And as the talentless contestant soldiers on, despite the judges' derision, it hits you that this person, despite their best efforts, doesn't even realize that they don't have what it takes. And that makes you kind of sad.

Steve Benen tries to watch the interview from "the perspective of an earnest Republican observer, who cares about the country, and who takes policy issues seriously." The conclusion is that, regardless of how Palin got here, "reasonable people should agree that the Republican vice presidential nominee is way out of her depth, and has no business seeking national office."

Earnest Republican observer Ross Douthat can't link to video of the interview because it's "too painful," but seems to admit he was wrong in his earlier advocacy for Palin. Of course, it's always possible that it's all "just effing brilliant rope-a-dope for the Biden debate."

Another earnest Republican observer, Kathleen Parker, thinks that Palin has been revealed as someone "Who Is Clearly Out Of Her League." Because Palin is a woman, "we are reluctant to say what is painfully true." But it is true: "If BS were currency, Palin could bail out Wall Street herself."

Michael Crowley says the "real story" may be "percolating fear at McCain HQ that Palin's stock may be headed the way of Lehman Brothers." Why else did McCain do an interview with CBS on the same day as Palin unless to overshadow her?

Alex Koppelman and Mark Schone write that the interview "was memorable for how badly Palin performed." As her voice shook, Palin "was once again Miss South Carolina Teen USA."

Rod Dreher is "well and truly embarrassed" for Palin. She's "a good woman who might well be a great governor of Alaska," but this was a "train wreck."

Congrats, Mrs. Palin, you've become Sanjaya. This should end well.

Palin: The Katie Couric Interview

2008-09-24T22:46:00.000-07:00

Warning, this interview could result in a drop of your IQ points. Reader discretion is advised.

Katic Couric interviews Sarah Palin. Remember folks, these examples are all firsthand media accounts; there's no hearsay, propaganda, or venomous/anonymous YouTube clips. Ignorance is scary, incompetence is deadly.

(CBS) When CBS News anchor Katie Couric sat down for an exclusive interview with vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin Wednesday, she focused on the economy - but also addressed reports that the lobbying firm of Sen. John McCain's campaign manager received payments from the controversial mortgage giant Freddie Mac until last month. Couric asked for her reaction to that.

The second part of the exclusive interview, on foreign policy, will air on the CBS Evening News tonight. Here's a preview, where Palin talks about Afghanistan.

Sarah Palin: My understanding is that Rick Davis recused himself from the dealings of the firm. I don't know how long ago, a year or two ago that he's not benefiting from that. And you know, I was - I would hope that's not the case.

Katie Couric: But he still has a stake in the company so isn't that a conflict of interest?

Palin: Again, my understanding is that he recused himself from the dealings with Freddie and Fannie, any lobbying efforts on his part there. And I would hope that's the case because, as John McCain has been saying, and as I've on a much more local level been also rallying against is the undue influence of lobbyists in public policy decisions being made.

Next, Couric asked about the $700 billion government bailout of bad debt - and whether she supports it.

Palin: I'm all about the position that America is in and that we have to look at a $700 billion bailout. And as Sen. McCain has said unless this nearly trillion dollar bailout is what it may end up to be, unless there are amendments in Paulson's proposal, really I don't believe that Americans are going to support this and we will not support this. The interesting thing in the last couple of days that I have seen is that Americans are waiting to see what John McCain will do on this proposal. They're not waiting to see what Barack Obama is going to do. Is he going to do this and see what way the political wind's blowing? They're waiting to see if John McCain will be able to see these amendments implemented in Paulson's proposal.

Couric: Why do you say that? Why are they waiting for John McCain and not Barack Obama?

Palin: He's got the track record of the leadership qualities and the pragmatism that's needed at a crisis time like this.

Couric: But polls have shown that Sen. Obama has actually gotten a boost as a result of this latest crisis, with more people feeling that he can handle the situation better than John McCain.

Palin: I'm not looking at poll numbers. What I think Americans at the end of the day are going to be able to go back and look at track records and see who's more apt to be talking about solutions and wishing for and hoping for solutions for some opportunity to change, and who's actually done it?

Couric: If this doesn't pass, do you think there's a risk of another Great Depression?

Palin: Unfortunately, that is the road that America may find itself on. Not necessarily this, as it's been proposed, has to pass or we're going to find ourselves in another Great Depression. But, there has got to be action - bipartisan effort - Congress not pointing fingers at one another but finding the solution to this, taking action, and being serious about the reforms on Wall Street that are needed.

Couric: Would you support a moratorium on foreclosures to help average Americans keep their homes?

Palin: That's something that John McCain and I have both been discussing - whether that ... is part of the solution or not. You know, it's going to be a multi-faceted solution that has to be found here.

Couric: So you haven't decided whether you'll support it or not?

Palin: I have not.

Couric: What are the pros and cons of it do you think?

Palin: Oh, well, some decisions that have been made poorly should not be rewarded, of course.

Couric: By consumers, you're saying?

Palin: Consumers - and those who were predator lenders also. That's, you know, that has to be considered also. But again, it's got to be a comprehensive, long-term solution found ... for this problem that America is facing today. As I say, we are getting into crisis mode here.

Couric: You've said, quote, "John McCain will reform the way Wall Street does business." Other than supporting stricter regulations of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac two years ago, can you give us any more example of his leading the charge for more oversight?

Palin: I think that the example that you just cited, with his warnings two years ago about Fannie and Freddie - that, that's paramount. That's more than a heck of a lot of other senators and representatives did for us.

Couric: But he's been in Congress for 26 years. He's been chairman of the powerful Commerce Committee. And he has almost always sided with less regulation, not more.

Palin: He's also known as the maverick though, taking shots from his own party, and certainly taking shots from the other party. Trying to get people to understand what he's been talking about - the need to reform government.

Couric: But can you give me any other concrete examples? Because I know you've said Barack Obama is a lot of talk and no action. Can you give me any other examples in his 26 years of John McCain truly taking a stand on this?

Palin: I can give you examples of things that John McCain has done, that has shown his foresight, his pragmatism, and his leadership abilities. And that is what America needs today.

Couric: I'm just going to ask you one more time - not to belabor the point. Specific examples in his 26 years of pushing for more regulation.

Palin: I'll try to find you some and I'll bring them to you.

Tina Fey On Sarah Palin

2008-09-17T22:32:00.000-07:00

This isn't getting old anytime soon. Palin is becoming an endless source of unintentional (and scary) comedy, so you know there's plenty more to come! The irony is that most of the stuff is unfiltered and straight from the ~~horse's~~ elephant's mouth. Need I put up the clip of her interview with Charles Gibson?

In Their Own Words: What the GOP REALLY Think Of Sarah Palin

2008-09-11T18:51:00.000-07:00

Warning: This clip may induce vomiting.

More Sarah Palin Love

2008-09-11T17:35:00.000-07:00

I used to always tease my boys Matt and Woo about their secret man-crush on Matt Damon because of their love for ~~Goodwill Hunting~~ Good Will Hunting (Thanks for the correction, Matt!), Rounders, and all things Matt Damon. But now, after watching this... it... it stirred something within me. Move over, guys, cause I feel a crush coming on. This was an incredible verbal roundhouse to the head.

'Nuff Said!

2008-09-04T21:16:00.000-07:00

Sarah Palin one month ago on CNBC:

Damn It Feels Good To Be A Gangsta

2008-09-04T18:29:00.001-07:00

Okay, not really, but it felt pretty good to be a dickhead.

Today I return from my lunch to find someone's gas-guzzling SUV in my executive parking spot, so I did what any hot-headed, vindictive American would do... I blocked their ass in. That's my BMW 7 Series below... cloaked as a '96 Accord.

The couple returned to their car but OOPS they can't get out. Better go find the renta-cop.

The renta-cop finds someone in my building to track me down to move my car, then she's off on her merry way.

But I was in no rush to move my car.

So I decided to arm wrestle Mike.

And shoot a little office hoop.

I went back to my desk to look at an email or three, then I decided I was done being a dick.

I wasn't an ass when I walked up to their car, I said "ahHA, you were the ones!". They were very apologetic so I didn't give them a hard time. They didn't see the sign that was posted because they backed in. I could have had them towed, but that would have been too quick, and I didn't want anyone to lose any of their hard-earned caysh uncessarily.. just their time, hehehe.

Birdy Flossin'

2008-08-05T22:37:00.001-07:00

This is our new baby, Quincy Love. He's 4 months old. Please, don't try this at home.

A Day At The Beach

2008-08-05T22:16:00.001-07:00

My girlfriend has been trying to get me to go to the beach the last two summers or so. According to her my people aren't fond of the beach and this is why I don't want to go. I'm not gonna subscribe to any broad generalizations but I will tell you that I really don't care for the beach all that much and when I do go I don't see many of us there. So there you have it.

After a lot of pressing by her I finally acquiesced; my one condition was we had to find a comfortable beach chair. Well, my friends, mission accomplished! I give you one of the baddest assedest beach chairs I've ever sat in, the Kelysus Convertible Canopy Chair:

I know, I know.. Bdub, where can I get one? How can I be down? Well, my friend, take your behind to your local neighborhood Targét and pick one up!

Here are some pics of it in action:

It's like a stroller for a grown ass man!! I loves it! Give me a good book and a cool breeze, and I'll sit anywhere for any period of time in that sumbitch! In fact, I think I'll go sit on the sidewalk in front of my apartment right now. Yes, I will look like a damn fool but I'll be one cold chillin'(taking you back to the 90s) fool!

Memo To Paula Deen

2008-07-31T17:41:00.000-07:00

Stop referring to the meat you're cooking as "him". The kitchen is no place for the personification of flesh. I realize it was once alive, thank you very much.

I love to cook. Currently I am "interviewing" other chefs on FoodNetwork to add to my DVR. Right now Alton Brown and Good Eats are number one. He is my lord and savior when it comes to the culinary arena. My cooking and kitchen are heavily influenced by him. Number two on the list is Everyday Italian with Giada De Laurentiis. Not only is she easy on the eyes, but she can cook like nobody's business. She's taught me that presentation is key when serving food. I've made around ten of her recipes, and tomorrow I will debut her Polenta Crusted Shrimp. So Alton and Giada are locked in for good.

I thought I needed to mix it up a little, so I started watching other shows on FoodNetwork to see what would stick. Rachel Ray used to be on the list until I figured out I was just watching her for the unintentional comedy. I'm not gonna hate on her like other people do because she not "a real chef", it was just nothing she made moved or inspired me to get in the kitchen. I just liked to watch her balance all of her ingredients in her arms while she prepped to cook and when she laughed at her own jokes. So Rachel didn't stick.

Next was Ingrid Hoffman and Simply Delicioso. Her show was about cooking with a latin flair, but there were too many hard to find ingredients, and her dishes weren't all that appetizing. The only thing I took from her show was a jalapeno avocado dip that my girlfriend is crazy for. Other than that the soundtrack to her show was very good. It was some type of afro-cuban salsa or something, but not enough to keep her on the team. Adios, Ingrid.

Ina Garten and Barefoot Contessa is in my rotation now. I'm still on the fence about her. She makes okay dishes but for the most part they seem complicated. And her Hamptons foo-fooness gets on my nerves. "Let me go out to my garden here in East Hampton, and pick some herbs from my herb garden". So the jury is still out.

That brings us to Ms. Deen. Her dishes look really good and simple and she says y'all a awful lot. In fact I may add her to my DVR list just based on that fact alone. You could have a drinking game with your friends taking a sip everytime she says y'all. She's not in my rotation yet; I'm still in the process of doing a background check. Hopefully her referring to the veal as him won't count too much against her. Stay tuned, y'all!!

Forgive Me, Father, For I Have Sinned

2008-07-30T21:34:00.000-07:00

I watched a lot of the Nascar race this past weekend; and my pops was watching with me to boot! During this sports vacuum that we're currently in, we were in search of something with competition, so I flipped the channel to ESPN for the Brickyard 400. Nascar is very palatable in HD and surround sound. Like I've said in the past, I'd watch a dog lick his balls if it were shown in HD, so I'm a bit of an HD whore/snob.

I know more about Nascar than I am willing to admit. This is mostly through osmosis from watching countless episodes of Sportcenter, PTI and listening to Jim Rome's radio show and watching Rome is Burning. Nascar drivers regularly appear on these shows, so I am always aware of the storylines and standings.

Sunday was the perfect storm of nothing to do, so me and pops toggled from Women's tennis and Nascar for the afternoon. I IM'd my boy Woo to confess my activities during the afternoon and he was less than sympathetic:

[20:00] Me: i watched Nascar today.. me and my pops...
[20:00] Me: we watched a pretty good chunk
[20:01] Me: is that rock bottom?
[20:01] Woo: nascar!
[20:01] Woo: wtf
[20:01] Woo: thats like supporting racism
[20:01] Me: hahahaha
[20:02] Me: aside from the blatant redneckery.... it's watchable sometimes....
[20:02] Me: i learned a lot from osmosis... just from watching sportscenter
[20:02] Woo: thats besides the point
[20:03] Woo: burning crosses would prolly be fun but i don't do it

As you can tell he has my back but I stand by my point; if you filter out all of the blatant redneckery, it can be somewhat entertaining. One of my favorite story lines is the non-good-ol-boys (read: blue state drivers) whooping-up on the good ol boys and their redneck fan bases (read: red state drivers and fans). That's very amusing to see.

I told one of my boys at work who is a HUGE Nascar fan. He suggested I go see it in person. Insert sound of tires coming to a screeching halt. Um, not so fast, Mikey, I'm cool watching it right where I am, but thanks. Coming up this weekend, the Pennsylvania 500 at the Poconos!! Yeeeee haaaaaaaaaw!!!

Oh, football, how I long for thee. :-(

The Dog Days Of Summer...

2008-07-06T18:57:00.000-07:00

...are in full effect. There is absolutely nothing on the tele. I suppose now would a be a good week to reintroduce myself to the gym. Hey, how are ya?! Long time no see, my friend, how ya been?!. The Bronx Flu has finally removed it's foot from my behind, so I guess now I have more time to blog and workout.

I am currently coming down from the NBA high that I was on. It's comparable to rock bottom. The conclusion of the NBA Finals was like going cold turkey.

In the midst of trying to find something constructive to do to fill the void, I decided to post about shows I am finding to watch to bridge the gap in between the NBA season and the start of the NFL Season (and the network premiere season).

The first is called The Factory on Spike. It's pretty funny. Or at least I think it's pretty funny. I don't know if it's funny because there's nothing on, or if it's funny on its own merits. It makes me laugh, so I guess that's all that matters.

It's a raunchier, guy's version of The Office. So it'll do. Check it out.

NYC - Day 7

2008-06-26T18:42:00.000-07:00

Editor's note: This day 7 post is being put up almost a week after it went down. My attempt to blog everyday during my vacation was successful for the most part; it was very doable early in the trip when we were on Long Island because there was so much downtime (read: zero nightlife). As the trip progressed into Manhattan our downtime significantly diminished and it became harder and harder to blog in the evenings as we were starting to burn the candle at both ends and the nights became a little longer. I banged out a couple of posts in the city in a cloud of fatigue and sometimes inebriation. I intended to blog the final two days upon my return to LA but I brought back a nasty little cold. I know things are supposed to be "harder" on the east coast... but even the damn colds??!! Jesuscristo, I am still wrestling with this mf'er that I've since dubbed The Bronx Flu (since that's where I was when I picked it up). Anyhoo, on with day 7. Enjoy!

I thought we did a lot of walking in day 5, but it was nothing compared to the ground we covered today. Since it was our last full day, we wanted to get up and out as soon as possible, so we decided to forgo breakfast and head directly down to lower Manhattan, an area of the city we hadn't covered yet. The subway let us out at our destination and we decided to walk the Brooklyn Bridge first.

We're going dooooooowntooooooooon

Ya better have a pass when you cross that bridge, welcome to Brooklyn!! Put ya lighters up!

The view of lower Manhattan

The Statue of Liberty in the background

We only ended up walking halfway across the bridge. It was time to head back to our next destination, Ground Zero. On the way there we saw this memorial:

I was fortunate enough to visit the WTC my last trip to NYC in 1998. I was only in town for a minute, but that was the must see site for me. No Empire State, no Lady Liberty, I longed only to see the twin towers. The view from the bottom:

A young Bdub looking up at the towers

The view from the top:

The view looking uptown

A young Bdub atop the observation deck of the WTC

We finally arrive at ground zero. The construction workers were oblivious to the onlookers that gathered around in silence. It's still very surreal and somber.

Whew, okay, that was chilling. Time to head uptown. We saw one more WTC memorial on Church Street our way out:

Alex was serving as our ghetto-GPS, and she instructed us to head north on Hudson St. This would take us through Tribeca back to Greenwich Village where we were on day 5. Little did we now it would feel like a 3 hour, 3 hundred mile journey. At this point we had already walked roughly 2.2 miles. Remember, we're from LA. This was, as Mike Tyson would say, Ludacrisp! Note that we had yet to eat. We wanted to dine in a cafe or restaurant. That means we had to exit the tourist areas with all the fast food dives. We wanted more local flavor. So off we go!

Someone's badass apt in Tribeca

E running on fumes. Just one more mile to go!!

Finally we reach the village, we can eat!! Our first meal comes at 3:45PM local time. Total distance walked, 4 miles. Mmmmmm, sustenance.

The Hudson Diner

4 miles was nothing, son, what?!?!

After mowing down our grub, our ghetto-GPS instructed us to take the 2-train uptown to 96th street. We were to meet her at her place of employment, head to the grocery store, then head to her and Curtis' apartment in Riverdale (da Bronx, son) for dinner and some dranks.

The view of Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, across the Hudson River

Alex and the magic bullet guacamole

Vrrooom vrrooom!!

We taste.....

Oh muh-goodness, it's so good!

Alex, E and Kani

I didn't get any pics of the spread that Alex and Curtis prepared because I was so hungry that I dropped my camera and immediately started shoving fish tacos down my throat.

After dinner and a margarita or NINE, Curtis, who's a shutterbug, brought out all his fancy flashes, camera lights, cameras. He wanted to snap some pics of his drunken house guests at play. Click on the pic to advance to the next.

After our impromptu photo shoot, we grabbed our belongings (I grabbed this nasty ass cold) and we took a taxi back to our hotel in midtown. NYC was officially a wrap!! We can't wait to go back. Until then, IT'S-UP-TO-YOU, NEW YORK, NEEEEEEEEEEEW YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NYC - Day 6

2008-06-22T09:09:00.000-07:00

After all of the ripping and running yesterday, we wanted day 6 to be a lot more chill. So we woke up and headed out for a little "breakfast".

NYC hot dogs, the breakfast of champions

After grubbing on the 'dogs, we headed up Central Park West. One of the things on my NYC to do list was to go to The Dakota, the building where John Lennon lived and was killed by punk ass Mark David Chapman. Granted, I was only 6 when it happened, but I'm a fan of all things Lennon post-Beatles. I really vibe with hippy-Lennon.

The entrance where Lennon was gunned down

Looking up at The Dakota

We continued to take in The Dakota for a few more moments as I explained the death of John Lennon to my girlfriend (who was -2 when it happened!).Then we crossed the street and headed over to Strawberry Fields, the memorial to John Lennon at Central Park.

All we are saying....

.... is give peace a chance.

Imagine all the people...

...living life in peeeeeeeace

Now it's time for a leisurely stroll through Central Park, and we couldn't have picked a better day to do so.

Statue of Daniel Webster of Webster's dictionary fame. What, no love for Merriam?

Time for a snack from the world's slowest crepe chef. Up until this point I was snagging a hot dog every other block. Not one of my best eating days in NYC.

mmmm, raspberry/gnutella

We decided to grab a bike cab (?) to take us back to Central Park South, near our hotel.

We were charged $30 for a ride that lasted less that 15 mins. Stupid tourists. Whatever.

'Twas now time to head back to our hotel to get ready for our big night on the town with my NYC peeps. The first stop, Latin Quarters in midtown.

On the way there we saw a fender-bender. I was awe-struck that there aren't more accidents on the streets of NYC since everyone is driving like a bat out of hell, so when I finally came across one, it screamed Kodak moment. It's amazing that a cab wasn't involved in this one.

The funny thing about NYC is that there are so many g'damn people and if they all waited for the weekend to go out no one would have a good time because you would just end up crowd-surfing the all night. So shit here pops off every night of the week. People were lining up outside of Latin Quarters at 6pm!! You'll never see a happy hour in LA like this. Ever.

Warming up

Once inside, it was time for the salsa king to cut loose!! OK, I'm just kidding. I'm what you call a living room salsa dancer. My game wasn't ready for the big time. Eventhough I've been professionally trained in the discipline of salsa dancing (read: a 4 week course) I wasn't ready to strut my stuff in front of all the nuyoricans. So I opted to drink and catch-up with my buddies from high school while E danced the night away with people better equipped to dance salsa in our group.

About to set it off...

My buddy Greg and his new euro-trash look

The Downey boys reunited

Zaire, E, and Greg

Gimme some sugah, Greg

The fellas

Remember that time when we were 13 and you ran the wrong way with the football??

E and Herve

We camped out at LQ's for a bit, and this it was off to The W Hotel which was right across the street.

The W Midtown

E and Curtis

We chilled there for a drinky-drink then hopped in a limo to the OTHER W Hotel in Times Square.

E and Z

Pimpin' ain't easy

The W Times Square

Gimme some sugah, Z. What can I say, I love my boys.

Great times.

Here are some more pics of day 6. Click on the pic to advance to the next.

Time to call it a night, detox, and rest up for our last day!

NYC - Day 5

2008-06-18T12:34:00.000-07:00

Today is the day E has been waiting for since we planned this trip, the Sex and the City tour!

But first things first, we had to get some breakfast. That tour is 3.5 hours, so we're gonna need our fuel.

Their turkey bacon was crapalicious!

Mmmmmm, that was below average, off to the tour!

Fellas, you may want to skip the pink zone coming up. It's all gonna be Sex and the City stuff.

The meeting place was at the Pulitzer Fountain outside of the Plaza Hotel where Carrie saw Big and Natasha after their engagement party. We were the first ones there. Once I saw all the other women come out of the woodwork, I knew we were in the right place.

We boarded the bus, and then we were off! Our tour guide Lisa introduced herself. She immediately won me over with the first few F-bombs she dropped, letting us know this was a tour for the grown-ups. Fuck yeah, Lisa!

Lisa, our tour guide

Up first the courthouse where Big and Carrie got married at the end of the movie. Something else climatic happened there I'm pretty sure, but E's out shopping right now and that's all I can remember. That's also a scene in the first Ghostbusters!:

This was the church where Samantha met the attractive priest she dubbed "Friar Fuck":

This is the dog-run where Charlotte's dog got gang-banged by the other dogs:

Next stop was The Pleasure Chest in the West Village where the SATC girls bought their sex toys and where Charlotte picked up The Rabbit:

E's getting a little too cozy with the f*** machine

No need for any of those, honey

Again, I couldn't resist

The holidays are right around the corner

I picked this up for my boy Lloyd

This is the restaurant where Carrie and Miranda ran into Aidan and Steve after their respective break-ups. To add insult to injury they were both with better looking women (in my opinion, hehehe).

This is the park where Steve was shooting hoops and Miranda came down to support him after chewing his ass out a few moments before:

We passed the furniture store that Aidan owned. The real shop owner isn't affiliated with the tour in anyway, but he seems to be a good sport about it. As soon as he saw the bus he flashed a sign that said on one side "Aidan still loves Carrie" and on the other "Big is small". We all got a kick out of it.

The restaurant where Carrie met Aidan's parent for the first time:

Tortilla Flats is the place Carrie went back to grovel at Aidan's feet after cheating on him with Big:

Okay, the next stop was Carrie's brownstone that was used in the show. It's located at 73 Perry Street in Greenwich Village (which is an AMAZING place, by the way). According to Lisa, our tour guide, the woman that owns the brownstone has become so annoyed with tourist and the SATC tour that she is now in litigation with the tourism company. So there were some ground rules we had to follow. We parked around the corner, and we were to QUIETLY walk past the brownstone. No pictures were allowed to be taken because the women video tapes people as they come through. I know, what the hell? We walked past and there is a big chain across the stair that warns against loitering and sitting on the stairs. I could have taken a pic (like I saw one other girl do) but I didn't want to be a dickhead. And for some reason I felt like a douche bag trespassing on this quiet little village street while the locals carried on about their day. You know they have to hate it, so I tried my best not to rock the boat. Our tour guide told us that whatever we do on our own time is our business, but while we were with the group the rules were to be followed. Although she kept repeating the address to us as if encouraging us to come back on our own. Here is a picture of E leaving Perry Street:

Leaving Carrie's street

We found out later that Sarah Jessica Parker lived around the corner from the where we were and she personally selected that brownstone to be on the show because she loved how the brownstones on Perry Street looked.

Greenwich Village seems to be a very controlled environment. They do a lot to set themselves apart from the rest of Manhattan. I guess that's why it's such an exclusive zip code. There are fines for horns being honked, and there are signs on all the trees saying not to let your dog piss on them. Whoa!

We thought this literally meant "no standing" but it really means you can stop in your car for any period of time.

The sign says "Please respect this tree and curb your dog". I took it while walking. I didn't want to stop for a clearer pic. I already felt like a douche bag tourist.

After the walk-by of Carrie's house we stopped at the Magnolia Bakery for cupcakes. A favorite of Carrie's on the show. E liked hers but they were to sweet and not very spongey in my opinion. So I ate half and tossed it. E looked at me like I was swearing in church or something. It was very sacrilege to her to do something like that. Whatever.

Mmmmm, yummy!!!

Mmmmm, shitty!!!

Some more pics from Greenwich Village:

Me texting Stace about the SATC tour.

The final stop on our tour was the bar that Steve and Aidan opened up. Lisa called ahead to the bar and the bartender had cosmos waiting for us, heeeeeeeeey!

Mmmmm, thuper yummy costhmos!!!

The tour dropped us off nowhere near where it picked us up from. No worries, we were up to navigating the streets of NYC back to hour hotel.

And this concludes the Sex and the City portion of the blog.

The tour conventiently let us off in front of the HBO store so we could fork over some more of our hard earned caysh for some more SATC wares. We passed.

I really wanted to see the top of the Empire State Building, so we started footing it downtown. Once we got there we waited in a line to get in. Then there was a security like like at the airport with metal detectors and whatnot. We go through there. Then there was a like to purchase tickets to the observation deck. When we finally get to the cashier I ask how long the wait is before we get to the top and she replied "45 minutes". No mf'in thank you. We do an about-face and head back out to 34th Street. I really want to see the top, but not that bad. So we headed back uptown.

Another funny factoid about NYC that I learned: You do so much walking that you pretty much always have an appetite. I love the fact that you can always eat on the go from the various street vendors. We hit about 3 or 4 hot dog stands during our trek back uptown. By the time you're ready to eat again, you've already burned off the previous snack.

After we left the Empire State Building we made our way to Time Square. This was tourist hell. It reminded me of Hollywood Blvd; dirty and packed with tourists. So we took the requisite tourist pics and looked to move the hell on.

My boy Curtis works for Conde Nast and told me if I was in the area of Time Square to call him up and he'd give us a tour. Conde Nast is a publishing company that produces magazines such as Vogue, Glamour, Vanity Fair, Allure, GQ, The New Yorker, and many many others. So I hit him up and he gave us a tour of their corporate offices.

Each floor is home to a different publication

The view from Curtis' desk. Gawd, I hate him.

Did I mention that I hate Curtis?

The Vanity Fair floor

YES WE CAN!!!!

C'mon, Vogue!!

The Glamour floor

Big ups to Curtis for that tour. Any time he wants a tour of my office overlooking, um, Oxnard Blvd. in Van Nuys, he's more than welcomed to it.

On our way out he recommended a pizza place right off of Times Square. We figured we'd stop in for a slice, but after all that damn walking we were a lot hungrier than we thought and we inhaled a entire pizza in seven minutes.

A little snack before dinner

It was finally time to get a cab back to our hotel. We could go any further on foot. We needed to get back to recharge before dinner.

Three hours had elaped and hour batteries were recharged. We headed out on foot again to BLT Steakhouse on Park Ave. and 57th. It was a lovely walk in the Manhattan evening.

I didn't take any pictures inside of the restaurant because I didn't want to look like a tourist amongst the NYC locals. I just wanted to blend in and eat dinner. I had a Rib Eye steak the size of a small farm animal and E had a nice fat filet mignon. BLT Steakhouse immediately jumped into the top 3 steakhouses I've eaten at.

After dinner we could barely walk so we hailed a cab and called it a night.

Here are all the pics from day 6. Click on the pic to advance to the next.

Whew, what a day! I'm looking forward to tomorrow. No agenda, just a nice chill day and a stroll up Central Park West and through Central Park. On to Day 6!!!

NYC - Day 4 - Manhattan

2008-06-16T19:51:00.000-07:00

Start spreading the news...
We left Long Island today...
I want to be a part of it
New York, New York!!!!

Finally after three days in ~~purgatory~~ Long Island we hit the big citay!!! We awoke this morning with much energy and vigor. We were packed, dressed and out the door before you could say fugettaboutit.

We're off to see the wizard!!!

We hopped on the Long Island Railroad. Next stop, Penn Station, bitches!!!

Waiting for that 10:45 train to Penn Station

We scheduled our trip into Manhattan after rush hour for fear of getting trampled by the locals. But even at the later time, the train was still packed, so we waited for the train and the platform to empty before we ascended up the stairs into Penn Station. We had five pieces of luggage in total, and my luggage wasn't nearly as heavy as E's. How can someone so small have so much heavy shit? Go figure.

Move, bitch, get out the way!!!

We can go up now, E

I had no idea that Penn Station what right below Madison Square Garden, so it was cool to see the basketball mecca right when we surfaced.

Madison Square Garden. Site of many a classic NBA game and a classic Jay-Z concert.

Last time I came to NYC my olfactory senses were bombarded with the smells of hot trash. That was my first impression on NYC. This time it wasn't like that. Don't get me wrong, it still kinda stank, but not that bad.

We hailed a cab and we were off to our hotel, 6 Columbus, a really really nice little boutique hotel in Columbus Circle.

In the cab on the way to 6 Columbus

6 Columbus

We had some time before check-in, so we strolled the neighborhood for a bit, and went over to Central Park.

The Time Warner Center. Condos start at $12 mil in you're interested. I feel so poor.

Central Park

Time to go

The front desk contacted me saying our room was ready, so we headed back. The room is really small but super nice. The mini-bar (which we won't be touching) had a Shag Bag. A Shag Bag! It came equipped with two jim-hats, some mints and some lube. That's right, some lube, for those gentlemen lucky enough to venture into brown-town during their say. How thoughtful!

We settled in then headed out for some lunch. Our first Manhattan meal was at Sushi Damo. It was pretty good, but not as good as the sushi I get at Sushi Dan in LA.

The Kirin Ichiban was just as good though! Mmmmmmmm, beer!

Just what the Dr. ordered

After the sushi we had time to walk off the lunch in Manhattan until happy hour:

Mickey Mantle's sports bar on Central Park South

The Mick

The Plaza Hotel, scene for two very poignant scenes from The Way We Were and Sex and the City (season 2 season finale)

The Apple Flagship Store

The gift that keeps on giving: Trump Balls

You're fired!!!!

On 5th Ave

Right before happy hour we met up with my homegirl Alex who works at the Columbia University Teacher's College.

Alex at "work"

I want answers, dammit!! I like playing pretend.

She gave us a quick tour around the campus and showed us some point of interest like:

The front steps of Columbia U. as seen in Spiderman and Hitch

The Seinfeld diner

Then we were off to Moca Bar in Harlem to meet up with my boy Curtis (her man) and my main ninja since the 7th grade, Zaire, who left LA for NYC a few years back. It was a very cool spot. Right when we walked up in the piece Mobb Deep came on. It was like they new I was coming in. It's the reeeeeeal....... hip hop hip hop. We sat around for a bit, chatted, and a drank or four. My drank for the night was the Harlem Iced Tea. That's right, Harlem Iced Tea. It sounds a lot harder than it looks. It looked really fruity. It looked very uh-Harlem Iced Tea, but it was pretty good so I aint trippin'.

Curtis, Alex and me

Curtis, E and me

Alex, me (after some sips), and E

Harlem Iced Tea

Wooo, child, it's so strong!!

Z, Alex, Curtis, E and me

Curtis and Alex

Spank me, mami!!!

After dranks it was time to get some soul food, harlem style, son, what!?! We went to Amy Ruth's. You know I had to try their version of chicken and waffles. The fried chicken was very good but the waffles were not that good at all. Score one for Roscoe's!

Not quite Roscoe's, but close.

One thing that made me chuckle was that Kool-Aid was on the menu. Oh, my peoples, why? And it's two-fitty to boot? Couldn't you buy like thirty-seven packs of kool-aid for that price? No thank you.

$2.50 for some mf'in Kool-Aid? Please.

Here are all the pics from Day 4. Click on the pic to advance to the next:

Anyhoo, Day 4 has a brotha on the ropes. Time to rest up for day 5, the Sex and the City tour!

NYC - Day 3

2008-06-15T22:22:00.000-07:00

Today was the day to take it slow and recover from last night. We were abruptly woken up this morning by the phone in our room. It was one of the bridesmaids telling us that the shuttle that was taking us to our brunch was scheduled to depart the hotel at 11:30, so we had 90 minutes to get ready. The bride later called me to say that she inadvertently planned her wedding brunch for father's day and the place we were gonna go would not be able to accommodate our party on this day. Whoooops! Understandable. The new plans were to eat at her grandmother's house in Jamaica Queens.

An interesting factoid I learned about NYC: an overcast doesn't necessarily mean cool weather. E and I looked out of our hotel window and saw the clouds and immediately thought we better bring a light sweater and long sleeves. WRONG! We get outside and it was humider than a mf'er. Yes, I know humider isn't a word but I don't know how else to describe it. Looks like my cute Sean John track jacket will have to wait for another time!

So day 3 was very chill. We ate at the bride's grandmother's house, looked at old photo albums, sipped on some adult beverages, and reminisced on the days of yore. All in all a very relaxing day.

Here are all the pics from day 3. Click on the image to advance to the next pic.

We head to Manhattan tomorrow!!! Time to rest up!

NYC - Day 2 - The Wedding

2008-06-14T22:31:00.000-07:00

Today we woke up really late. The red-eye was finally catching up to us. E slept like 13 hours. By the time we got dressed and left the room the continental breakfast had long since passed us by. No worries, I thought, we'll just head on over to the deli next door. Alas the deli had a sign posted in the window indicating that it was closed today for some reason. It didn't seem like a regular closure, more like something came up and they had to shut down.

So there we were, sitting in front of the hotel thinking about where to eat. As we were sitting there twiddling our thumbs another couple exits the hotel. "Where are you off to?" I inquire. "The mall." they responded.

We had time to kill before we had to get ready for the wedding so we tagged-along with them BACK to the Roosevelt-Something-Or-Other-Mall again. And you know what that meant. We'd be eating at the cursed food court! Once again I find myself swimming in the lake of fire that is food court hell. This time we chose Johnny Rockets, a place I often see but never eat at in LA. So I wolfed down my nasty-ass burger with no tomato and E had a shitty club sandwich. However bad it was it was fuel in the system and enough to hold us over until dinner tonight. Oh, Long Island, how crappy ye eateries are. How I long to feast in Manhattan. Just two more days to go until we hit the big citay.

Mmmmm, Johnny mf'in Rockets!!!!

After the mall it was time to head back to our room to get cute for the wedding. Then we headed down to the lobby to mingle with the rest of the crew until the wedding shuttle came to scoop us up to take us to our final destination, The Coral House.

Smoove B

E in the hot dress I picked out.

On the way to The Coral House

Mark and Trini

Me and Trini

Once there we were ushered into the wedding chapel for the service.

The wedding went off without incident. The standard vows and I-dos. Now it was time to hit the open bar and grub, the real reason I showed up (kidding).

The Bridesmaids

The Groomsmen

The Flower Girl

Shenik and Joe

The first stage was the cocktail reception with appetizers. There were so many appetizers that people were stuffing their faces like it was the dinner. There was roast beef sammiches, pot stickers, fish, shrimp, rice, bread, cornbread, dinner rolls, shrimp cocktail. I'm supposed to chase all that with a prime rib dinner? Sheeeit, I knew that was gonna be a tall order and it was.

I tried to have a tactical approach to the open bar. I wanted one type of drink all night because I didn't want to mix. I had to keep telling myself that moderation was key. I didn't want ghosts from open bar past haunting me. I figured I was on Long Island, so my adult beverage of choice would be the notorious Long Island Iced Tea. A drink that has caused me many a painful morning in the past.

The bartender wasn't f'ing around. As he was filling the hi-ball glass with four different types of spirits, I was wondering when he was gonna add the g'damn coke. With about a half an inch to spare he takes his eye-dropper out and drops in one drop of cola for color. I tasted this sumbitch and it was at least 150 octane. I had to get it back down to 85 octane for me to drink, so I had to mix it with two additional glasses of cola. No joke.

After the cocktail ~~feast~~ reception ended, we went upstairs for the main reception. The wedding party was introduced one couple at a time. Each couple had their own music and little choreographed dance routine to enter on. It was pretty damn cool. I damn near got out there to shake my ass as they were coming in.

Miss B groovin'

NYPD's finest shaking is groove thang

Jackie cutting it up

Cindy striking a pose

Shenik and Joe doing their thang

Once that concluded we were seated to MORE appetizers: pasta, bread, and a Caesar salad. By the time the prime rib came out I was midway through my food coma. All I could muster was two bites. It was a beautiful piece of meat too.

With all this food in our bellies, it was time to cut a rug and work it off. Here are some various shots of the reception:

Me, Kraig, Shenik and Joe

Me and YoYo stepping

Carmi and Trini

I can't help myself sometimes

Here's the slideshow for the entire day. Click on the pic to advance to the next:

On to Day 3!!!!

NYC - Day 1

2008-06-13T18:32:00.001-07:00

Our NYC trip is underway!! It started off with us taking the Van Nuys FlyAway to LAX. My mind was in such a travel-induced/Laker haze that when boarding the bus, we handed our bags to the "Skycap" (which makes no sense since we were at a shuttle loading station) and I forgot to tip him. As we were walking away he belts out "what, no tip??". Whooooops! Number one, homeboy wasn't a real Skycap, and number two, all he did was place our bags under the bus, which I could have done my-damn-self. Moving on.

We flew VirginAmerica non-stop to JFK. They're my new favorite airline to fly. From the mood lighting on the plane, to the touch screen entertainment and food ordering, to the actual power plugs for my laptop, it has everything a chickenshit like myself needs to take their mind off the actual flight.

Welcome to JFK!

After channel surfing on Dish Network, watching a Google map of our actual flight in progress, watching a couple of episodes of 24 Season 4 on my laptop, and a small nap, we arrived in NYC! Now to find out where to go from here.

Okay, where do we go from here...

The first time I came to NYC, I remember being discombobulated by their subway maps. Well, the map below is just of the AirTrain, and it still confused the shit out of me. Maybe I'm stupid. Maybe I am a country-bumpkin from LA like my dad says. I like to think that I'm a fairly bright guy, but I actually had to call the help line in the AirTrain station to figure out where to go. I later found out that other LA peeps who came in after us had the same experience. So you see, I ain't that gosh-dang slow after all! Shooooot!

You are..... where?

After a nap and thorough cleansing, we headed out to explore Garden City, Long Island, which is the first leg of our NYC trip.

So fresh and so clean

Our first stop The Roosevelt-Something-Or-Other Mall. Oooooooooh!!! As soon as the cab gets here... Which took like 35 minutes. So, um... we had some time to kill.

Waiting...

It takes a brave man to post a bad pic of himself.

Waiting...

Once we got to the mall, we needed to fuel our system. The only place to eat was the godforsaken food court which I usually avoid like someone with pink eye, but I had no other choice. We opted for some teppanyaki which was almost impossible to order because I couldn't understand the lady, and to compound a confusing situation we had no order number, so it was very hard to distinguish our "plate" from the others. You can see them all lined up in a row behind me with the "what the fffwhat?" look on my face.

What did she say? Which one is ours??

After we ate, E got her nails did.

Move over, Wolverine!

I was feeling touristy, so I told E to take a picture in front of this placard. I have no idea what it said or what significance it had, it just felt like a Kodak moment.

Kodak Moment

That pretty much wraps up day 1. Pretty chill and inconsequential. Time to try to round up some booze to take the edge off and hit the sack. Off to day 2!

There Can Only Be One.....

2008-06-11T21:57:00.000-07:00

...blogging or watching the NBA Playoffs. As you can gather from the lack of blogging, I chose the latter. 40 games in 40 nights was an absolute roller coaster ride and I'm glad(ashamed?) to say that I tuned in every night. No gym, no blogging, just me and the boys from the Association.

The last 5 months I've burned really hard on bball. Just watching it non-stop and becoming too emotionally invested in the games. Blame the Western Conference for an absolutely fabulous second half of the season where all the teams were within games of each other and the movement in the standings was very fluid. A team could go to bed in 1st place and wake up in 5th.

I was pacing back and forth during games, stretching during halftime and trying to stay warm like I was actually playing. I have never been so consumed with one sport for this long before. And that was just the regular season. The playoffs kicked it up a notch (BAM!) if you can believe it. More gut-wrenching and nail-biting games. Kudos to the NBA for putting an outstanding product on the floor night-in and night-out. A shout also goes out to my girlfriend who put up with my crazy ass during this. This summer is all yours, baby!!

Since the playoffs are winding down now I will be blogging about things I've been sitting on for a while like my buddy Dan's ceiling fan going upside his head, the Donald Sutherland look-a-like, and other random shit I've kept bottled in. So stay tuned, the constipation of my mind is about to be remedied!