33 more inches

Well we had about 18 inches left from the last storm and then we got 33 inches more!

This view is off the living room.

Here is a view...

from the front door looking at the sidewalk and driveway.

And one more...

Here is a view from the driveway looking at the front sidewalk/front door.

Well THAT was fun!

Major blizzard, no power for six hours, not much firewood. Fun, fun, fun! We already have more snow total than last week's storm, pictures to come in the am!

Merry Christmas

Here's a Gingerbread House that Skip made from scratch!

More videos

Here are some videos of:

Our animals playing including Blossom...

The 48 inches of snow we got this week...

The gingerbread house that Skip made...

I'm home!

The trip wasn't too fun, but my rented Jeep Grand Cherokee made it very comfortable. Where has Sirrius been all my life? If only I had my camera with me to take pictures of the beautiful snow covered Rockies.

48 Inches!

While Denver's official total was less than 21 inches, we got 48 here at the house.

Check it out! That is snow without the drifts.

More snow

Here's the roof...

Blossom and Skip

Check out the two of them playing (and my feet) here. I'm off to shovel snow! I hope you all are having wonderful holidays.

The long way home

So you may have heard of the little snow Denver got (more than 44 inches at my house). My plane home is supposed to leave Burbank in less than four hours, but well that's not happening. In fact, if I wanted to fly, I wouldn't be getting home until at least Tuesday night. So I'm driving. Through the Rockies. I returned my rental car and got a 4-wheel drive (Jeep Grand Cherokee with Sirrius!). I do not like driving (just ask Skip) but here I am.

Some observations....

There were a LOT of people going to Vegas on a Thursday afternoon. What's up with that?
I passed a town called Zzyzx. Seriously.
There's supposed to be a snow storm in the Rockies late today, so I'm hurrying to beat that.

I have pictures to post from the snow. I'll get those up when I get home. Happy (late) Winter Solstice!

Will I get home?

Snow count at the house yesterday at noon - 4 to 6 inches. Current total - 40 inches. It's still snowing! Will I be able to get home tomorrow? Will asthmatic Skippy be able to shovel enough of the driveway to even attempt it? Who knows! All I know is that he's taking pictures and sending them soon.

Christmas? What Christmas?

It was 83 degrees here today, the hottest temp in the country. It really doesn't matter how many Christmas trees/decorations/etc. they have here, it's hard to get in the Christmas spirit with this kind of weather.

Blossom and Skip

Hopefully I won't go overboard with Blossom entries...

Let's see. She's 13 weeks old and she knows fetch, scratches on the door when she has to go out and even took a nap in her cage yesterday all by herself! It's hard being away during the week...

And...

she starts doggie school tonight!

Wiimote attacks!

You may have heard about the various TVs being destroyed by Wiimotes, hands getting caught in ceiling fans by overzealous Wiisports tennis players, etc. Here is one of the funniest articles I have seen on the subject...

Guilty Song Pleasure

Have you ever heard Soul Kiss by Olivia Newton-John? I seem to have to listen to it every time I warm up and stretch at the gym. Don't listen to it, you'll be hooked!

Blossom!

Skippy has been wanting a puppy for a long long time so we finally got one.

Introducing.... Blossom!

Blossom was 16 weeks old when we got her last Saturday. She's very well behaved most of the time and desperately wants to be friends with the other animals. We'll see if that happens!

Wii update

I got three Wii games yesterday (Red Steel, Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz and Rayman Raving Rabbids. I had seen a post on the internet that some GameStops were selling 3rd party Wii games early and I had to mention that fact to the sales clerk. One short call and he sold away. The only other games I want are Trauma Center: Second Opinion (sold out) and Legend of Zelda (1st party). Since Amazon won't return my email on if or when they are shipping my preordered Wii, Skippy and I are planning our two-store attack for Sunday morning.

If I had known PS3s were going for so much on EBay I would have gotten us to preorder a couple. One went on Ebay yesterday for $10,000.

I have learned something...

about myself this week. The lonelier I get from being away from home so much, the more I eat. At least I'm still doing great workouts at the gym.

It's all just so exciting...

So I'm 37 years old and I still like video games. A lot. Granted not as much as I used to, but certain kinds are still a lot of fun. This week brings two new systems and a necessary accessory.

The Playstation 3 doesn't interest me in the slightest. I don't know why but I have always had a bias against Sony in the games market. Never had a Sony console, never wanted one. I did get to play a racing game on Playstation 3 at Target and it was actually quite amazing. But no thanks.

The Wii, on the other hand, has me much more excited than it really should, considering my age Skip and I finally got to play ExciteTruck last weekend (fun, but not enough depth to buy). Yesterday I was in a mall that had a huge kiosk with five different systems for use. Four were devoted to different Wii Sports games (it comes free with the system, Tennis, Boxing, Bowling, Baseball) and the last one was for the new Legend of Zelda game. Now I have never played a Zelda game ever but I can't wait to have this one. It used the Wiimote and the numchuck and was just so easy to pick up and play. I played more than 10 games of tennis. Tennis is amazing fun and I can't wait to start refining my shots so they go exactly where I want. I was lucky enough to get a preorder in with Amazon (I'm not crazy enough to wait in these long lines) but god only knows when Amazon will actually ship.

So the necessary accessory is the new Microsoft HD-Drive for XBOX 360. I wish the Wii just came with DVD playback (it will, but not until late 2007). Why do you need that, you ask? Well I only have two component slots on my TV and they are currently used by the XBOX 360 and the DVD Player. The HD-Drive hooked up to the 360 will free up a component slot for the Wii. Boring but true.

In other news, my Mom is coming for a 10 day visit tomorrow. How fun!

Emmit Smith won Dancing With The Stars. I don't watch it but my Mom loves it. I don't understand how Mario I've-Never-Had-Any-Dance-Training-Even-Though-I-Danced-Professionally-On-Kids-Incorporated Lopez wasn't disqualified. More power to them and thanks to Tucker Carlson for perpetuating the stereotype that Republicans have a stick where they shouldn't and can't dance to save their life. Oh, and who was the Republican a-hole that sent out a HUGE mailing to his support base telling people to vote for Sara Evans because she represented his kind of values. So much for it being about how you dance.

Kylie Minogue is back performing after her breast cancer fight. Please, please, please come to America to perform.

Who knew Carol Channing was a homophobe?

She sure has made enough money off of us. Ugh.

Here's the story.

Workin on my fitness

I don't know why, but there's a line from Fergie's new song "Fergalicious" that just makes me smile every time I can't hear it. I just can't get it out of my head. It's a good thing though because I think it's the only thing keeping that god-awful song "Smack That" from moving in and irritating me to death.

"I be up in the gym just workin' on my fitness!"

Jennifer and Matthew and Malibu and Santa Monica and The Nightmare Before Christmas!

I don't tend to do too much sightseeing when I travel (especially in congested areas). Being at the gym (workin' on my fitness ) at 5 am tends to make me tired after work. But on Halloween I decided it was time to see Santa Monica. OK, OK, I was told that one of the biggest Banana Republic stores was in Santa Monica. Whatever, I was off. To get from Calabasas to Santa Monica means driving through a canyon which is a very pretty drive. Kind of like home but with more vegetation. I had never been to Malibu (a city along the way) and was surprised at how small it was. The houses reminded me of home also, with the majority of houses having great views because of their placement on the hills.

When I saw the Malibu sign that stated there were 13,000 residents, I was very excited and hoped to see Jennifer Aniston. OK I'm not that gullible but I can dream. I didn't see her but I did see Matthew McConahay walking along the beach talking on his cell phone.

Santa Monica itself is very pretty although you pretty much have to park in a public garage as all the spaces I could find were 15 minutes only. The BR store was 2 floors, very huge, very nice but I have never seen such snotty staff in a BR store before. Blech. I then trotted over to the Third Street Promenade, a blocks long outdoor mall. With an Apple Store! And four movie theatres in four blocks! And many, many sushi restaurants. I will definitely go back before I leave.

I was getting money from an ATM and this woman walked up and asked what the service fee was to use the ATM. Well I ddin't know so I said "I don't know." She asked me again and I repeated my answer. She said, "You don't see it on there?" And I didn't, I hadn't gotten to the screen yet and said, "No." So she swore at me and walked off. My polite self informed her (in a very loud voice) that I wasn't her slave and she wheeled back and said "I just wanted you to be neighborly." Well I would have loved to but even by this point I hadn't gotten to the screen that tells you the fee. I wanted to put on my best retarded voice and say "I DON'T KNOW!" Instead I just said "I don't know" and she stormed off. As soon as she did the service fee came up. $2.00. Just like I figured.

Then I came to one of the theatres that was playing The Nightmare Before Christmas in 3D. Well it was Halloween so what choice did I have? For some reason I confused 3D with IMAX so I sat in the back row so I wouldn't get a headache. It was a lot of fun, no one under 25 I would say.

Driving back I took another way, Topanga Canyon. It's evidently very steep with deep drop offs and a lot of people won't drive it. The dark made it easy for me but it is windey! Like almost making you nauseous windey.

A great Halloween.

Why do I always miss it?

I'm home for the little snows, but I'm always away for the big ones. Yesterday we had 20 inches. Here is our deck.

Let's Talk Hotels

So by now you travel a lot. When I'm at the same place for a while, I like to stay at the same hotel for consistency. Last time I was in LA I was at the Radisson. I have the highest status there now, so I've been working on my Hilton points, which necessitated my staying at a Hilton property this time. With my Silver status (so far) I get an upgraded room, fridge, etc., it's pretty nice. In California I tend to wake up on my own about 4 am, go to the gym and get to work by 7. Back at the hotel by 7 this doesn't leave me much time in the room itself. I have my little patterns going (iron everything the first night I'm there, keep things in certain places, etc.) So last night I'm in the room for about an hour and I look over near the microwave to where I keep my Blackberry charger (plugged in) and my hair trimmer (this short, short haircut needs a lot of maintenance). Well imagine my suprise to find both of them gone. Skip will tell you I'm the forgetful type, but I know where my stuff is in a hotel room. I had already been there four days. So I do a quick inventory of the room and also find out that my suitcase has been moved from a corner of the room to the middle of the floor. Ummm.... So I didn't find anything else missing. I searched in every nook and cranny of the room to make sure I wasn't crazy but didn't find the missing items.

I then went to the front desk to report stolen items. The guy didn't know what to do in this instance. He finally finds a report for me to fill out and I ask him the $10,000 question. I'm supposed to stay there at least four more weeks. If the person/people who clean my room find out I've filed a report, how will my stuff possibly be safe? He doesn't have an answer for me at all. So I decide to wait until the morning to figure out what to do.

In the morning I put the suitcase on the bed, open it up and there are my two missing items, all by their lonesome in the suitcase. Anyone who has ever watched me pack knows that the charger goes in my laptop bag and the hair trimmer goes in my toiletries bag, I would never just throw them in the suitcase like that. So what's up? The only thing I can think of is related to tips. I usually leave one tip ($20 for the week) on my last morning. Since this was on my last night maybe this was their way of scaring me into tipping them? Well I was goint to tip anyways, but it certainly worked and now I feel much less safe in hotel rooms.

Rush Limbaugh is a big fat douche...

for saying that Michael J. Fox is "moving all around and shaking and it's purely an act". Perhaps Rushie is running low on his meds.

I know, I'm harsh.

I think I met one of Deb's "friends"

My friend Deb has a great blog and has written how service people really annoy her. Well one of them came out to California just to help me yesterday.

I was at Best Buy yesterday to pick up a video game, and when I got to the register I put the game, my Rewards Zone card and a coupon on the counter. All three were separated, you couldn't miss them. This guy is talking very intently to another employee and I was thinking "he should be paying attention to me" but I didn't want to seem rude so I didn't say anything.

So he scans my Reward Zone card, hands it back to me and as soon as I have put it back in my wallet asks me "Do you have a Reward Zone card?." Being the smart-ass I am, I said "Do you mean the one you just handed back to me?" At this point the other employee (a woman) wisely ceases their conversation and slinks away. After saying, "oh", he tells me my total. So I (with a great amount of patience) pick up the coupon that was right in front of him and make SURE he can now see it.

OK!

BTW, my new (repeat) job is pretty good. I'm working on the same application as I did last time, same office, same view, same people so it's very familiar. This week is milk-everyone-for-United-Way-money which means bake sales/doughnut sales/bagel sales/hot dog sales/ice cream sales/raffles, etc. galore. Since they give money to organizations that discriminate I have never given a dime to the United Way and luckily I can't eat any of that (yummy) stuff now anyways!

Only ONE MORE DAY until my favorite sushi in the world. What time is it? 4:43 am? Must be time to go to the gym!

Where have you been?

Well the good news is that I've actually been home since August 10! The assignments I've had since then have been remote. Remote work is great because it's much easier to concentrate and focus on work (and it's fun to take Gaston (the dog) out for a walk at lunch!)

My Mom came to visit a few weeks ago, we had a lot of fun. She and Skip did things like the casinos during the day and we all did things at night after I was done with work.

Last weekend Skip and I were in Vegas. He got a free trip through work. I had to work part of the time we were there but it was still fun. We stayed at Red Rock Casino Resort and Spa. Amazingly beautiful but the service was pretty awful.

We saw Phantom - The Las Vegas Spectacular, a 90 minute version of the Broadway show. With as many Broadway shows as I've seen, I've never actually seen Phantom. I enjoyed it a lot. A woman a few rows back had the biggest boobs I have ever seen. They were as big as a kid's head, seriously, they were just insane.

So tomorrow I leave for another five week stint in Los Angeles. I've been to this client before, they are very nice, so I'm looking forward to it. I'm especially looking forward to having my favorite Sushi in the whole world, Kabuki Sushi!

Fun fact. When I was last at this client (August 25th) I weighed 30 more pounds than I do now. I can't wait to see their faces when I walk in!

And here's one...

of my angel Lucy.

And just for fun...

Here are Deb and Sarah together!

Before Ruth gives me more grief...

here's another post.

I LOVE The Office. I saw the first season from Netflix a few months ago and finished Season 2 last night. Tonight's season premiere was hilarious. Even though it's a fairly large cast, I like that you can tell exactly what each person is about even if you only watch one episode.

Critics seem to have panned Jericho, but Skip and I like it a lot.

But best of all so far is Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. Oh my gosh it's amazing. It's written by Aaron Sorkin, the same guy who wrote The West Wing.

So the best thing about being home for a while (6 weeks so far) is that it's much easier to stick to my diet and exercise routine. I'm down almost 25 pounds this year so far, it's nice to fit into my old clothes again!

We're supposed to have snow tomorrow or Saturday. Just thought you'd like to know. I think we just skipped right over Fall.

My Mom is coming to visit for a week to coincide with Skippy's birthday (October 1st) so we've been doing a lot of projects around the house to get ready. One thing we have wanted to do is get some pictures for the downstairs living room. Last winter I took some pictures of the house and surrounding area after it snowed. So I fired up iPhoto on my Mac, and sent away for some 16 by 20s from Kodak. I had the pictures in less than 48 hours and they looked amazing. I highly recommend it.

More pictures...

Another project we worked on was to print out a bunch of 4 by 6s and 5 by 7s and frame them. Here's one of Sha Sha that is now in the front hallway...

Who's that girl?

Ok, young woman. It's my friend Deb. Used to be my boss, now she has six bosses, ages 0 to 11 (?).

I know what you are thinking but no, she is not currently working as a professional model. Should she? But of course. Why isn't she? Well if a certain hairy ape I know would stop knocking her up, then she could get back on track! Love ya!

So who is she?

Well that is my good friend Sarah! Very intelligent but sometimes I think she has too much of the funny juice. For instance, this picture is from Skip's 40th Birthday party, but Sarah dressed up as a vampiress! Hmm, I don't know. Good thing she's pretty and funny and smart and a great friend.

Here's what I'm liking...

I love me some Rosie O'Donnell. I hadn't seen more than 15 minutes of The View before this week but I had, however, watched a lot of her old talk show. Well she is just as funny now and brings a great energy to the show. I've gotten a season pass to The View now, love it, love it, love it.

In a new interview in Esquire, Brad Pitt said:

"Angie and I will consider tying the knot when everyone else in the country who wants to be married is legally able."

As if I didn't love them enough already.

Jody Watley has a new album, The Makeover. She's always wonderful but this album is great. She does an incredible remake of Diana Ross' Love Hangover. I also like The Makeover Superstar and Beautiful Life.

I really liked having the last two weeks off. I've worked pretty much constantly since February so this was good. But the fun is over. I start a new job tomorrow morning (yes, Saturday) that lasts until mid-October and I already have a previous client that wants me back after that.

Snow!

Yes, snow. On August 28th. Skip was in Winter Park, Colorado yesterday for work and saw it snowing.

And to add insult to injury, we went out to dinner with friends last night and had I wore jeans and a leather jacket!

Currently (at 7:05 am) it is 47 degrees and too cold to even have the windows open.

On a brighter note, here is our freaky Sha-Sha lounging under a new rug this morning.

Randoms...

Have you seen Transamerica? It is a wonderful movie. Felicity Huffman won Best Actress at the Golden Globes and certainly deserved the Oscar but didn't win it. There is a great commentary on the DVD where Felicity talks about what it took to find her character, the voice, etc.

Skip and I have been making our way through Strangers With Candy. I liked it right away, it took Skip a few episodes to get into it. We're on the last season now and are very sad that it's ending. I will now watch anything with Amy Sedaris in it.

Finally!

So here's the deal about going to the gym and eating right...

I have found out a few things about myself this year. One is that I need structure. The other is that I would rather be at the gym at 3 am than at 6 pm. So when I was working assignments in California earlier this year where I had to be at work at 7 am, it was no problem with a 24 Hour Fitness nearby but meant I pretty much didn't go to the gym at all when there wasn't. Now I'm on an assignment (until next year, most likely) where I don't have to be at work until 8:30 or 9 so I have plenty of time to go to the gym in the morning, especially since I've been waking up (on my own) at 4:30 am or so. The eating right part always just falls in place when I'm working out regularly. Best of all, the gym I go to now in NJ has a nice pool and I love to swim.