Surf's up

The third day of our meeting concluded early and we got a tour of the B-1 CNMS lab, which was neat stuff. Then we went up to Venice Beach and saw many strange things. Even stranger than Hollywood if you can believe that. We took a walk up and down the shops along the beach and strolled on the beach itself for a bit, going right up to the water. We were going to go to the Santa Monica pier, but opted for Redondo Beach, where we ate at the Bluewater Grill, which is right on the marina. We called it an early night because we have to get up early for our flight out tomorrow morning.


Enjoy this Venice Beach sunset.

The second day of our meeting didn’t start until the afternoon because of a scheduling conflict with our meeting hosts (Boeing). So in the morning we drove down the Pacific Coast Highway to see Seal Beach and the Queen Mary cruise liner in Long Beach. After the meeting, one of the coolest parts of the trip was a tour we were given of one of Boeing’s Data Centers and then a tour of C-17 production line. That is a big plane. And the process to make one is very neat.

For the evening we went down to Newport Beach, visited the Hard Rock Cafe down there and had a very tasty dinner at the Cheesecake Factory.

Out with the stars...

Today was the first day of our three-day meeting with Boeing. That went well, but won't get much into that stuff here.

Afterwards we went to Hollywood. On the way there we drove down Sunset Blvd through Beverly Hills. We actually saw some Beverly Hills Cops. Hollywood was a trip. Lots of freaky people. After we parked, as we walked around, we saw lots of stars on the walk of fame and visited to the Chinese Theater. We saw Bob Hope’s star and his hand prints and they were adorned with flowers in honor of his recent passing. Of course we went to Hollywood and Vine, and, later, in just driving around we ended up on Mullholland Drive. Because we spent so much time being touristy, we just had dinner at a “Great Steak” in Hollywood. Only some bulbs in the sign were out, so you could say we ate "Gre ak" (Greek). And anyway it wasn't that great.

Now that we're here...

Rewarding ourselves for such a tedious trip, we went to Universal Studios. We didn't have a whole lot of time since the traveling took so much longer than expected, so we went straight there from LAX as going to our hotel would have killed more time. In the little time we had, after checking out Universal CityWalk, we did the Studio Tour, the Mummy exhibit, the Terminator show, and the Waterworld show. Most of all that was pretty darn cool. On the Studio Tour we got to see the set and some cast/crew of "The Cat in the Hat" that they are filming now for next summer. Since we got our tickets for free from the hotel, it was all very "value added" (as opposed to spending the $47 list price to get in for just a few hours). We also checked out the Hollywood Hard Rock Cafe, which is on the CityWalk, and then went to an Outback Steakhouse for dinner (we didn't have time for creativity, we were starving).

Will we EVER get there?

I left the house this morning much later than desired, so I got to the airport just over an hour early instead of 90-120 minutes. Security also seem slower than “normal” (even though we have that brand new terminal in OKC). But no sooner than I sat down did the airline announce that our plane was delayed by mechanical issues. They announced new departure times, but made two or three additional announcements afterward that pushed our departure time back far enough to impact my connection in DFW. So I had to get my Dallas to LA flight changed. Turns out that I got one of the last seats on the new flight, so the rest of my group got put on a seperate flight. On the good side (probably the only redeeming aspect of the traveling out to CA), I got to fly First Class on that otherwise fully booked flight. Once I got to LAX, I had to wait for the rest of my group for over an hour since they had a later flight out of Dallas.

Wasn't I just there?

Even though I was just in California a couple of weeks ago for a class, I'm heading back this morning (to Long Beach this time, not San Diego) for a business meeting with Boeing. This a group trip in that four government reps are visiting Boeing concerning some IT efforts, and I get to go as a technical advisor.

We had a birthday in the family today, so we went to the (rather large) gathering and did the visiting thing before taking the girls to their mothers. They'll be spending the week there.

Girls went with their mom for the afternoon, so I took the car in for regular service and went to Lake Hefner for a lap around the trail on the bike. I pushed a little too hard and lost my lunch. Literally.

And now for something completely stupid....

Getting your ATM card eaten by the ATM machine.

Yes, that's right, I am a stupid fool. You heard it here folks, straight from the source.

I was in such a hurry last evening to be somewhere that when the machine gave me my money, I grabbed it and drove off. Well, I realized right away what I had done, hit the brakes, and backed up, but it was too late. Those machines don't leave your card hanging out there very long for someone to take (a good thing I realize). So I called the bank to find out if I could get it back. Nope. Since it was not my bank they say the policy is to destroy them. I guess you only get your card back from your own bank. So now I have to go through the terribly inconvenient process of getting a new card and having my various scheduled charges changed to the new check card. Ugh.

Sometimes my own idiocy amazes even me.


The whole ordeal was pretty mentally anguishing. Maybe I can get together a class action law suit and sue the banking industry for not having a less anguishing process to recover one's own ATM card.

Time to dry off

After last night's pool party and today's normal summer camp swim day (every Monday and Friday) you might think the girls were tired of swimming. But no... they got to swim this evening as well. We went to a friend's house for a get together and the girls got to swimming yet again. But they'll have plenty of time to dry off. They'll be spending next week with mommy and I don't think there are any swimming plans on the agenda.

Trouble averted... at a high cost

Getting ready for my trip to Long Beach, California next week (business meeting), I was gathering my various documents (itiniary, maps, etc) when I realized I was never sent my final itiniary. So I called my office to find out where it was, only to learn my plane ticket was never ordered. Well, it's a good thing I freakin' called! I can only imagine the blogging I would have to do had I shown up at the airport on Monday WITHOUT the reservations/ticket I thought I had.

It turns out that a couple of weeks ago when I sent in my travel request and received my draft itiniary, a charge number was never generated to purchase the plane tickets. Someone at the office was supposed to take care of that but didn't so my ticket was never authorized or bought. So... instead of getting my ticket for ~$475, I now have the ever popular $1200 variant. I feel so violated. I don't even get a comfy first class seat to sooth my sore rear. You would think I'd get non-coach seating for that price.

I shouldn't ever gripe at my sister again for paying $3000+ per month for her Greenwhich Village (NYC) apartment. At least she gets like 800 square feet for a whole month, compared to my maybe three square feet for three hours.

Birthday season begins...

Last year between August and October, we had a stretch of 10 weeks where we attended 8 birthday parties. And there were two that we couldn't attend during that timeframe. Aparently almost all the kids my children know were born in the same two plus month period.

So tonight we had a pool party. We've already got plans for a party in the first week of August, and then Shelby's in the last week of August. There's at least two more that I already know are coming as well. And school hasn't even started yet. I feel a record setting birthday season coming on.

The girls and I went to a RedHawks game this evening for dollar hot dog night. We had dogs and watched the game in the stands for five innings, then we went to the grass/picnic area and the kids played in the grass with the other kids while I watched the game from center field-ish. Funny, though, that the Umps would let the Nashville Sounds play out there all by themselves. You think they would call the game or something. Oh that's right, the RedHawks WERE out there, but they were just standing around. With that 12-0 score, I had forgotten if the home team showed up, but when I think real hard, I do remember a decent but unavailing defensive play or two.

Attention Family... Shelby's Birthday in 1 Month

Consider this fair warning. The present plan is to have a family birthday on Saturday, 23 August, probably at Santa Fe on I-240. The "kids only" birthday will probably follow the week after on the 30th at Perfect Swing in Norman.

Keep an eye on the Calendar for details that will be firming up soon.

Today we had to attend a wedding reception for the previously noted wedding we went to in Las Vegas in mid-June. It was for the girls' aunt and was at their grandmothers, which is where they were already staying while I was away for business. So I went to pick them up and we stayed for the reception. The girls had a really good time and even did some leftover fireworks from the 4th.

Back from CA

Just got back from San Diego. Good trip, and my Project Management class went well.

Meat Lover's Dream

I had dinner tonight at a place in downtown San Diego called Rei Do Gado. My gosh that was some good eating. It's a Brazilian place.

It all started when, in class, we were fed a "west coast lunch" (aka Chef Salad), which is just not enough for a meat and potatos boy like me. So, as a co-worker and I discussed our plight, he told me about a cool Brazilian place in Dallas that is basically all you can eat meat. Well, after class, he did some checking, and it turned out there was one of these places in San Diego, so we hit it. It's $26 a plate, but it's all you can eat everything. There's a VERY well stocked salad bar, and there are wait staff that walk around with skewers of meat and they stop off at each table to offer you meat of varying types. Personally, I had bacon-wrapped filet mignon (my favorite of the evening), top sirloin, flank steak, ham, cheese-topped chicken, a dinner plate sized helping from the salad bar, and a very excellent slice of cheescake. I think that was all the meat I had, but I may have lost track there was so much of it. And I didn't even try everything that was offered as I was getting full.

All I can say is that I really wish we had one of those in OKC. It was well worth the price once the quantity and variety are factored in. Highly recommended for meat lovers like myself.

Sometimes Waiting Pays Off

Today was all about waiting.

I left the house this morning for the airport, on the way to San Diego for a business trip, and had to wait in the security line at Will Rogers (as expected). This was followed by waiting for my flight to board, then leave. Then there's the waiting forever to get off the plane to make my connection, which I also had to wait for afterall. Finally I arrive in San Diego thinking the wait is over, but wait! I don't have my suitcase yet. So I wait for my suitcase in the baggage claim area. And wait. And wait.... So now I'm done? No! Now I have to wait (quite some time) for the rental car shuttle, followed by the wait while the rental car shuttle waits for more people so THEY don't have to wait. And then there's the wait while we make the long trek to the strangely off-airport airport car rental. Quite to my surprise the wait in line for a rental car was non-existent, and the wait to acquire a rental car was quite tolerable. Was this a new trend? It would seem so as I got a hotel room right away, after driving from the rental car facility to my hotel largely without incident or traffic.

So I relaxed in my hotel room for a bit, and since my business was not until tomorrow, I headed to a San Diego Padres ballgame. And just when I thought the waiting was in my rearviewmirror, I encountered the ultimate embodiment of waiting. Traffic. But not just any traffic. Southern California traffic. Fully equiped with highway onramp traffic signals. Ugh. That was some serious waiting. But that wasn't the end of it mind you. It was followed by waiting in line for stadium parking. Soon thereafter there was ticket booth line waiting.

Just when I thought the waiting could reach its most bleak moment. As I was waiting in the very long line for a ticket, someone yelled out from the sidewalk "one ticket for anyone by themselves". I turned around, looked at the guy, and then turned back around. The little voice inside my head told me to keep quiet, stay in line, keep waiting, buy my ticket the right way like everyone else. By waiting in line.

After another ten minutes of waiting in line, and having moved maybe -- MAYBE -- two steps, and having realized that the game had started already... the same guy came back around and repeated his claim of a single ticket. Not wanting to make the same mistake twice and WAIT FURTHER, I turned around and asked, "how much?" To which he replied, "just take it." So I did, with glee, pleased that I could then just walk into the stadium and be done with my day of waiting.

But wait there's more!

I was hungry. It was dinner time. I planned to get some hot dogs at the park, but the lines were SO long. There were tens of thousands of people at Qualcomm Park, and I think half of them were in line to get food. I jumped from line to line to line before settlling on one I thought had an improved likelihood for grubbage. But no, in this place of non-quickness even the seemingly short lines took forever.

Just then I realized where my seat was, thanks to my free ticket... "Field Level" it says. Suddenly I have no further grounds for wait-driven despair. For what I had been given -- a $27 value -- made all the days waiting purposeful and with merit. Had I not waited all those times, would I have been in the right place at the right time to have received that ticket? Probably not.

When I got to my seat, it was 12 rows from the field. Wow. And it was a great game. What a really cool end to long long day. And all I had to do was wait around.

Stadium pics have been posted to the Picasa album.

Off to San Diego

So I'm off to San Diego, California this morning. Just for a few days for business. I will be taking a class at corporate headquarters. Not a whole lot of time to play, but I will be catching a ballgame while there, that's for sure.

T2.5

Saw T3 this evening. It was good and way action packed. But not "James Cameron Great", if you know what I mean. They crammed so much action, (really cool) effects, and humor into a sub-two-hour movie that it left plot-holes behind. You start wondering, "how did they get there?" when you will probably find out in the four-hour directors cut. And the ending... ugh. I might not have seen it at all if I knew about the ending. A little anti-climatic. For a Terminator flick. Overall, I think the director did a good job, but it's quite apparent that Mr. Cameron was not at the helm. I mean, Cameron CREATED the Terminator franchise, and I went digging for signs of him on the official site. He's nowhere to be found. Not only did he not write or direct, but he didn't produce or executive produce the thing. He's as hard to find as the SkyNet core (you'll know what that means after you see the film). A shame, really a shame. This would have been a great movie with Cameron leading the charge.

What would I like to see next? A cross-over sequel. Terminatrix. I know, they use this reference in T3 with regard to the (female) T-X. But I mean a cross-over Terminator-Matrix movie. Now THAT would rock. There are already so many parallels anyway. The humans unplug only to find out that SkyNet IS the Matrix. No more agents in the Matrix, T-Xs everywhere! What do you say WB? Summer 2006? Let the steam blow off from Reloaded and Revolutions. And then get back to work. You have lots to do.

Took the girls to their mom's today as she is taking them to their grandmother's for a week. Then my little brother (13) and I went bike riding around Lake Hefner. Only one lap, as he was way beat by the ten mile experience. His bike is a BMX so it only has one gear, which I can't imagine using for that kind of trek (though I know I'd gone quite far as a kid on a BMX). When I asked him what hurt he said "everything." So, I think he's going to sleep real good tonight.

Fairly long day. We were supposed to see an early showing of Finding Nemo, but we didn't get to the vicinity of the theater until about ten minutes after showtime. So we went to the next thing on the list... scooter shopping.

Darby had been bugging me for a scooter for quite a while so I let her use piggy-bank birthday money to buy one. Then, of course, Shelby had to have one as well. So hers was an early birthday present since her birthday is a month and a half away.

Then, of course, since the girls got to get goodies, daddy wanted one too. I'd been hearing "Calling All Angels" on the radio for weeks and was eager to get the latest Train album, but put it off. However, this morning I saw the video and that just put me over the edge. So, after scooter shopping we went to Best Buy to pick up the new Train CD. So far, VERY cool. If you dig Train, that is. I mean, it's not for everybody.

Then I needed a haircut so we tried to squeeze that in before the next Showing of Finding Nemo, but the line was just too long. So we went to lunch at Chick-Fil-A instead. That worked out better anyway. So we went to see Finding Nemo finally after lunch and that was pretty good. Although I think I laughed more at some of the trailers.

After Finding Nemo I got that haircut. Turned out to be a good thing we waited as I was able to walk right in and sit down and get it done.

So then we went scooter riding at the park. We swung by the house so I could get my roller blades (they're usually already in the car but had been taken out for space reasons before our recent trip) to keep up with the kids. I'm not sure how long we did that but I don't think the girls realized that scooter riding for any measurable amount of time or distance is more work and more tiring than bike riding. Shelby's tiny little body puttered out really fast, and she was suddenly wishing we didn't open the box (meaning, she wished she had answered differently when asked if she wanted to open the scooter when we got it or wait until her birthday).

Tired as everyone became, we went by the grandparents for dinner and to visit. Like I said, kind of a long day.

ID 03 Pics

Posted a few pics from our Independence Day activities on the Events page of the Album.

Happy Birthday USA

The kids and I went to a close friend's house, where there were several other kids, and the kids swam pretty much all day, followed by barbecue hot dogs until dark. Then we did quite a few fireworks. The girls got to make me extremely nervous with their less-than-careful handling of sparklers. I think the girls had a pretty good time overall.


I would like to remind folks that may be reading not only to remember that, while today is the 227th anniversary of our our Declaration of Independence, the first shots of independence were fired more than a year before on April 19th, 1775, and that we were not suddenly free and independent by declaration. The war was not won until the fighting was over more than five years later on October 19th, 1781 at the Battle of Yorktown, and not officially concluded until September 3rd, 1783, with the signing of the Treaty of Paris. More than 25,000 Americans gave their lives giving birth to this nation. Please remember the struggle for freedom as well as the declaration of it. Thanks.

Buck-Dog Fever

It was dollar hot dog night at The Brick (Bricktown Ballpark), so the girls and I went to the game to have hot dogs for dinner while watching a ballgame. Doesn't get a whole lot better than low-cost dinner and live baseball entertainment. And the Redhawks kicked some serious butt winning 8-4 thanks to a whopping homer and some crucial defensive plays to stop the opposing rallies.