:: Life on Planet Dan-E ::
Thoughts, observations, and introspections from an
:: Saturday, November 30, 2002 ::
Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers (all six of you)! I hope you had a good one and ended up eating way too much.
:: Friday, November 22, 2002 ::
I started off my Thanksgiving by going on a nice like hike up in the local mountains. It wasn't at all planned that way, starting with fact that I unexpectedly woke up at 8:00 in the morning (I was up until 4:00am the night before). My original plan was to see if I could somehow manage to stay in bed until 5:30pm or so, eat dinner, and then return to bed. As it was, my attempts to go back to sleep proved futile, despite my best effort (Dark Side of the Moon just doesn't do it anymore). So around 8:30, I got up, took peak outside and saw that it was quite a lovely day and it was then I decided right then that I really needed to go on a hike.
Where to go. Well, I had about eight hours to work with and my first thought was Joshua Tree but I quickly nixed that since it would take at least two hours just to get there. I remembered a friend of mine telling about some nice hiking trails up in the Santa Monica Mountains so I spent about five minutes looking up her e-mail so I could get directions, info, etc. In case you guys have never been there, you should know that the Santa Monica Mtns are nowhere near Santa Monica. You have to travel a good 30 miles north from the point where the 10 freeway hits PCH.
I finally left the house around 10:00. Traffic was mercifully light (though left-lane stragglers were in abundance, those bastards) and the weather was typical SoCal (warm, sunny, few clouds) which made for a great drive up PCH. I was rather surprised how many people made a trip out to the beach that day as there was more cars parked along the street and the lots for more filled than your typical late November afternoon. An added bonus was the side street I had to take to get to the trail. It's a very narrow, windy, mountainous road with a lot of hairpins and the occasional sweeping, decreasing-radius turns, which was a great opportunity to test out the grip of my new tires. I hadn't driven like that since my last car and I have to say, it was almost as fun as the hike itself.
The trail is called "Mishe Mokwa" and it's a series a smaller trails that all connect together into a circuitous route about six miles long. It was quite overgrown with a lot of shrubs and branches in the trail so it evoked the feeling of walking through an untamed forest - if that forest happened to have clearly marked trail. It took me through the mountains and treated me to some very spectacular views. I was worried initially about the hike testing my level of fitness since the map I picked up at the ranger station said that portions of the trail would be "moderate to strenuous" but as it turns out I'm in better shape than I thought. That or the trail wasn't nearly as hard as they made it out to be. Most likely the latter. Still, I walked at a brisk pace so I did work up a good sweat. I wasn't straining but four liters of water through my system wasn't enough to keep my calves from cramping. I just sweat too much. Then again, it made the peak of the trip much more enjoyable since I had to work up to it somewhat. The highest point was Sandstone Peak (elevation 3,111'). It offered 360' views from the coast all the way out to the Valley. And I have to tell you, from that angle, the Valley doesn't seem like the seedy, porn-capital-of-the-world cesspool it is. But seriously, thanks to all the winds from the week before, the view was unobstructed all the way around and as a result, quite breathtaking. I stayed up at the peak for about 20 minutes to take in the view. I would have stayed up a little longer since I brought along a book to read but unfortunately, there were other people who hiked up to that spot and I really wanted to be alone.
I worked my way back down to my car and cleaned myself up while taking in the view of the sunset. I would have liked to see it all the way down but that was still a good hour away and I wanted to get home in time for dinner. Since I'm rarely out here, I decided on a different route home. Actually, I headed north on PCH for a few miles just to see where it would take me. If you go far enough there comes a point on this highway when last bits of beachside property disappear completely and the only thing between you and the ocean is a thin strip of rocky beaches. *This" is what drving down PCH is about. After a few miles I headed back after hitting a landmark called Bass Rock since the only thing beyond that of any real interest is Santa Barbra. Well, that and a military missle testing facility and I'm guessing they don't take too kindly to strangers drifting in asking for a tour of the place. I drove until I hit Point Dume where I stopped at a gas station to get a drink but instead of taking PCH the rest of the way back, I cut across the mountains via Kanan Road, which eventually hit the 101 freeway. Kanan was a nice drive as well. It didn't have any sharp turns but it's a great, relaxing drive through the hills (literally too, as it takes you through a couple of tunnels). Freeway traffic was light and the rest of the drive home was uneventful. I need to do this more often because there are some days (weeks even) when a guy just needs to go on a hike.
:: Miscellaneous Ramblings by Dan-E at 6:53 AM [+] ::
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First bit of news I heard today was the tail end of something regarding people dying in riots during the Miss World Pageant out in Nigeria. Now maybe I've been out of touch but have women really become this catty? You'd think it'd stop at hair pulling and scratching; at worse maybe gouging out some girl's eyeball with a nail but come on, is the crown really worth rioting and killing over? Come on now ladies, eat some chocolate or something but you really need to relax a little.
:: Wednesday, November 20, 2002 ::
Call me out of line but I'm guessing that the beauty pageant's search for relevance in this new millenium has come to a screeching halt.
:: Miscellaneous Ramblings by Dan-E at 7:20 PM [+] ::
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It must be a slow news day. There's been news on several murders occurring within a short time period, updates on the ever-fragile Middle East situation, further confrontations with Iraq, and yet what does Eyewitness News at 6:00 lead off the broadcast with? A story of Michael Jackson dangling his kid over a balcony. As if somehow Jacko behaving oddly is newsworthy? It amuses me that it even preceded a car-chase story. Go figure.
:: Miscellaneous Ramblings by Dan-E at 9:26 PM [+] ::
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Anyone who knows me knows I love eating and people who really know me know I love good barbecue. I ate at a BBQ house this weekend called Johnny Reb's, one of my favorite restaurants. It's one of those cool places that has sawdust on the floors, offers free peanuts, and allows you to discard the shells on the floor. I went with a friend who not only likes hearty food, but also possesses a unique and impressive ability to put away large amounts of food into her somewhat diminutive frame. (Not only that, she insisted on buying despite the fact that it's been over a month since my birthday. How's that for cool friends?) We started off with their onion rings, which were nice and crispy without being overly greasy. I ordered the Roadhouse Combo with the BBQ beef brisket and the beef ribs while my dining buddy had the baby back ribs and chicken. Everything was excellent. I normally don't order dessert but we split a pecan pie, which was quite heavenly. Which is saying something since this is the first time I've ever described anything as heavenly. All in all, a great way to end a great weekend.
:: Thursday, November 14, 2002 ::
:: Miscellaneous Ramblings by Dan-E at 7:21 PM [+] ::
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I can't believe it's been over a week since I last posted anything on my blog. I also can't believe I'm posting something at 5:40 in the morning. I finally manage to go to bed at a decent hour and it ends with me waking up in the middle of the night unable to fall back asleep. There is something really wrong with me. I haven't had any caffeine all week. In fact, the only tie I have caffeine these days is on Sundays ('cuz like, falling asleep in church is a sin. Even worse, it's embarrassing). Oh well.
:: Thursday, November 07, 2002 ::
So it seems the lovely J. Lo is getting married again, this time to Ben Affleck. Good for her. I have her down for 11 months in my office pool. No, but seriously. It's easy for me to see Ben's attraction towards her. Think about it. His best known relationship to date has been with Gwenyth Paltrow, a talented actress with a moderate ability to sing, but known to repressed, WASP-y, spoiled, demanding, and is constantly displaying diva-like behavior. While Jennifer Lopez is also a talented actress with a moderate ability to sing, she instead is a fiery Latina, who is known to be spoiled, demanding, and constantly displaying diva-like behavior. There was a time a few years back when I liked Miss Lopez as an actress (partly due to her great a&$) but ever since someone made the mistake of telling her she could sing (as well as her hookup with Puff Daddy; which by the way, made me realize I didn't have what it takes to date her being as it I'm not nearly rich enough, pretentious enough, and sorely lacking in the ability to make a living on the backs of other musician's creativity) my appreciation of her has waned somehwat.. Listen to me. Writing all this down as if I'm some renowned entertainment columnist. But hey, it is my blog. My advice to Ben: stay in shape so you'll look good for your second wedding
:: Miscellaneous Ramblings by Dan-E at 9:04 AM [+] ::
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Not to get all nostalgic on you readers but it was great for me to see Walter Mondale come out of retirement back into the political arena for one last electoral beat-down. Seriously now, what was he thinking? My last memory of him - and a rather vague memory at that - was back in 1984 when he ran against Reagan and got beaten like a narc at a Snoop Dogg concert. I was completely ignorant of politics back then (not unlike now) but I knew enough to know that it looked bad for the Democrats because when I went to bed that night Reagan had 197 electoral votes and Mondale had 2. Now, that's only 2 more than I had and I wasn't even old enough to run. Ever since then, he's been a non-presense to the public limelight and really, can one blame him? He spends several million on a presidential campaign and some 10 year old almost ties him.
:: Tuesday, November 05, 2002 ::
:: Miscellaneous Ramblings by Dan-E at 2:47 AM [+] ::
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I hate Yahoo's Fantasy Football. Not just because my team is probably gonna lose two straight weeks and drop to 3-4, but because.... oh who am I kidding. It's because my team is probably gonna lose two straight weeks and drop to 3-4.
:: Sunday, November 03, 2002 ::
At least my other team is doing better. It seems I'm now in sole possesion of first place in my Sandbox Fantasy Football League. Woohoo! The dude I played this weekend was the one who used to be in first and to be honest, I thought I might lose to him. Listening to the sports updates throughout the day wasn't very encouraging, as a lot of my players didn't score TDs. I only scored 70 points total but it was just enough to squeak by. I am now 7-1. Cool :)
:: Miscellaneous Ramblings by Dan-E at 2:41 AM [+] ::
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I kill myself sometimes. I was reading over the previous post and I realized the movie title is wrong. The proper title is "Star Wars: Attack of the Clones." I typed in "Star Wars: When Clones Attack." Which when you think about it, might make an intersting FOX TV special in about 15 or so years. Hehehe. I was going to go back and fix it but decided that some results of my mental lapses are just to funny to keep to myself.
:: Miscellaneous Ramblings by Dan-E at 6:40 AM [+] ::
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I just saw "Star Wars Episode II: When Clones Attack" on the huge IMAX screen up in LA tonight and I gotta tell ya, it was pretty cool. My initial impression of the movie was that it was a great popcorn flick with some great action scenes, but that's about it. As Star Wars film though, it was highly lackluster (how's that for an oxymoron?) in terms of story, but I'll save that rant for another post.
:: Friday, November 01, 2002 ::
Seeing it on IMAX was great because not only is everything magnified, the digital projection system gives every shot beautifully saturated images. There was the AWESOME speaker system that puts you virtually in the middle of the action. So much so that during the climactic lightsaber scene you could almost feel one of them slash you across your chest. The best part about it was that LucasFilm had to edit out about 10-15 minutes worth of material in order to screen it on IMAX so a lot of the scenes from the original cut that were just horrible were left out, thank goodness. I was especially grateful for them cutting the "Sound of Music" scene: Princess Amidala running across a lush green prairie moments before frolicking in the grass with Anakin was just... awkward. And never mind the horrible dialogue. That scene was proof to me that Lucas coming very close to completely losing his sense of reality. I mean really, can you just imagine what the actors' reactions might have been upon reading this scene in the script? "You want us to do what? Who the hell does this s*** anymore?" Well, that's what my reaction would have been, along with numerous exclamations of "who the hell talks like this?!"
Ok, I said I wouldn't rant about the shortcomings of this film since Lucas had the good sense to eliminate the more obvious ones from this particular cut. Still, it could have been so much better from the beginning if Lucas simply had the foresight to hire outside help to fix the more egregious elements of the script and... There I go again. I'm gonna stop now.
:: Miscellaneous Ramblings by Dan-E at 6:12 AM [+] ::
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Well Halloween was pretty fun. It's been a few years since I played dress-up for any type of costume event and tonight's little shindig at TP's gave me a chance to be someone else. Now, me being me, I didn't really "dress up" as much as the other people there. My outfit was The Edge from U2 wearing his Elevation Tour clothes. Not very complicated as all I needed was jeans, long sleeve shirt under a T-shirt and a beanie. I even had the proper goatee so I managed to pull it off. I didn't expect everyone to figure it out but the music fans like Boo, Injoong, and Peter picked it up immediately. It probably helped that I wore a U2 concert T-shirt that had The Edge's image on the front so those who don't listen to real music might catch on to who I was ;)
There were a lot of great costumes there. PK looked great dressed as a knight, and his other half TP was a very non-gay looking Pirate (despite sporting the male-cleavage enhancing drawstring front shirt which, shockingly enough, he owns). We also had an awesome looking Gandalf, a couple of 70's Charlie's Angels (sekshi), the Phantom from Phantom of the Opera (face mask and everything), and even a guy dressed as one of the great pop-culture icons: Jack of Jack in the Box. There was a vote going around to determine at the end of the night which male and female had the best costumes and Gandalf and the blonde Angel won it. They really did have the best outfits.
Boo took some great photos from the party so click here to check them out.
:: Miscellaneous Ramblings by Dan-E at 4:20 AM [+] ::
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