The Official Site for the Lackluster Goings-On of Michael Kaiser
Posts tagged food
One If By Land, Two If By Sea
Jul 7th
And apparently it was two, at least according to NATIONAL TREASURE, which I watched again last night. Man The Girl loves that movie. Good thing her next husband, Nick Cage, is getting weirder looking in his old age, or I’d be worried.
(So how does everyone else format their titles? Online-wise, I’ve generally done the ALL CAPS THING, but maybe that’s garish and italic would be easier on the eyes, or bold perhaps, or maybe both? Thoughts? Maybe it depends on what kind of title I’m typing about. Maybe I should look it up in that fancy formatting and grammer book I have floating around somewheres. )
Went to a “party” that turned out to be more of a get-together in Santa Cruz with in-laws for The 4th. Swam, ate a ridiculous amount of food. Like a TON. And that was apparently just appetizer because after I couldn’t eat any more, they brought out the actual food. Gah. But it was good and I didn’t have to eat again for 48 hours, so it worked out. Went home while it was still daylight and crashed early. Or tried to anyway, as I ended up tossing and turning on the couch until about 4am. Didn’t see any fireworks, but that was fine, I’ve seen them before and still had the “joy” of hearing them all night. Otherwise, uneventful weekend spent with The Girl and no kid, which was nice. Not that The Kid isn’t nice too, but the mini-vacation felt good.
Listening to the Michael Jackson funeral in the background. Someone’s talking nice things about him, not sure who. Funny how the press and famous people have been about trashing the “child molesting freak” for the last decade or so, but now that he’s dead, it’s all about how awesome he is again. I bet he faked his death and is living on Celebrity Island or something. Good for him. Man he was big when I was kid. I forgot how big. I used to break dance at lunch in grade school. THAT’S how big he was. I have a scar on my thumb from the time I really stupidly tried to cut the fingers off a pair of cotton gloves with a kitchen knife. THAT’S how big he was. It’s a trip to see all the old footage and videos and stuff, seeing back in the day. My uncle was asking a car full of us a couple days after he died whether he was really that big or not (not out of sarcasm or pessemism or anything, he honestly didn’t know) and I got to thinking…um…YES! I had forgetting how YES he was, but yeah he was everywhere. He was the King. Oh well. R.I.P. Michael.
Someone just sang his favorite song SMILE, (I’m betting the format of a song title should be different from a movie title?) which of course is a great song, but I had no clue it was written by Charlie Chaplin. Please someone revoke my Useless Geek Trivia Knower license.
Let’s Dance!
Jun 29th
God, I almost skipped another month! What is the point of this thing anymore? Stupid Twitter and Facebook! I need to challenge myself to write daily or weekly or something, or come up with something column-like to write about. Or not care and do what I’ve been doing. Hmm, that sounds easier!
I have been riding my bike to work lately because we have decided to be a single-car family, in addition to being a single-income family. My car was sounding horrible and wasn’t worth the price it would probably have cost to fix it, so I donated it to Cars For Kids and got a tax write-off (theoretically). I was only really using my car to get to work and back anyway, so using my brand new bike that I bought years ago and never used seems just as easier. I can’t say it’s much exercise, since the distance from home to work isn’t that far, but it does feel nice to get the blood flowing a bit after sitting at a desk all day. Maybe I should get a motorcycle or something. Oh wait, those cost money, huh?
In-laws are in town, and the families went to watch The Kid perform at the San Jose Center for Performing Arts with her dance class. Three hours of show for about three minutes of Kid time, but it was pretty cool, if not a bit long in the tooth. Those kids are really talented though, and a lot of them could easily go on to dance professionally in theater…or as strippers or something. (Man! they sexy those kids up young. Gah.) Over 100+ people watching the show, and no nervousness from The Kid, so that was impressive. I’d have been hawking up a liver backstage. She’s either too young to know better or she’s destined for stardom. Time will tell. Afterward, early dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Need I say more?
I don’t think I accomplished any of my to-do list I wrote about last entry, so that’s consistent of me. Working on the garage again today though. Good thing it’s hot outside!
Slow and Steady Loses the Race
May 5th
WOW, I think I skipped an entire month. Perhaps Twitter is ruining my blogging enthusiasm. So much easier to write a one sentence thought rather than construct entire paragraphs. Da horror!
So what have I done? A bunch of stuff. In-Laws came and went again. (They still think I hate their visits, but I really do like it because somehow I end up watching way more of the TV I want when they’re here. Not sure why it works out that way, but I am not going to question it.) Went to Seattle on business. Been there once before, and like last trip, ate at the Space Needle and did not have time to hit the Experience Music Project nor the Sci-Fi Museum and Hall of Fame. Must visit that city when not working someday. (I managed to peak inside the Sci-Fi Museum when it was closed and saw a huge Gort in the lobby. Coool!)
But inbetween all that I did something worth doing, for once. As I may or may not have stated before, a buddy of mine and I agreed to run a 5K, 10K and 1/2 Marathon by September of this year. We set this goal last September, giving us a year to do it, so of course we’re just getting started now, because lazy is our M.O. We settled on the Mission City 5K Run for Fun held at Great America. It was their first year doing this, and it was pretty cool. You run through the park, which was nice, but then the last half of it involved circling around many a parking lot, which wasn’t as nice, but by then I was so tired I didn’t really care about the ambiance. The cool thing is they close the park down for the runners to enjoy after the event, and the price of admission is included in the race price, which was all of $20, so that’s about as cheap as Great America gets. Of course, I didn’t have time to stick around and enjoy the park, but perhaps next year I can drag the family with me and make a day of it.
I can’t say I trained for this very hard. I knew about for a month and started running at the gym a week prior. (See M.O. above.) It hurt, but I did better than I thought. I only stopped once, about half way through it, for about a minute. Legs hurting me didn’t stop me, a mild asthma attack didn’t stop me, feeling the contents of my stomach crawling up my neck stopped me pretty quick. There were children present, I didn’t want to scar any of them for life. After a brief catching of breath and a quick shot from my inhaler (I know ladies, could I be more sexy?) I finished fairly strong. That is to say I finished #338 out of 560, so not strong strong, but winning wasn’t the goal at all, just completing. Considering how little I trained, I’m fairly happy with my 12 minute mile average.
Time: 37.23. Beat that losers! (Sooo sad…)
Next stop is the 10K. No plans yet on which one, but I don’ t think I can get away with no training this time, so I signed up at Snaps Fitness, which is a 24/7 gym literally right across the street from my house. If I can’t make that work, well…that would be sad.
Event of the Year
Mar 18th
Went to my father-in-law’s 50th birthday last weekend. It was in Lake Havasu, and normally we drive there (and by “normally” I mean the one time I’ve gone before) but this time we decided to fly cheap on Allegiant Air. Cheaper than driving? I think ultimately not. Faster than driving? Two hour delay spells not. Easier than driving? I’ll go with yes, though it’s a toss up whether being bottled up in a car or bottled up in a terminal is better, but at least you can stretch your legs in a terminal.
The party was fun. It was a James Bond theme, so everyone dressed up, and there were little gambling tables outside and I had printed a bunch of Connery movie posters that were taped up everywhere. I think Bond posters might be the coolest movie posters every made. Bond or anything painted by Drew Struzan, can’t decide which. Learned how to play craps, and won second place, which meant I came out with $20 more than I put in. I don’t know why I’m wasting so much time with the 9 to 5 when I could be out on the road making a fortune.
The next day we toured a bit of Lake Havasu and had brunch at a place called The Turtle Beach Bar. Great view of the lake and decent food. Spring Break was just getting started, so lots of kids running around in their bathing suits, but I won’t talk about that because my wife reads this journal.
On the way home we took a wrong turn and missed our flight, so ending up driving the rental all the way home. So now flying was definitely more expensive than driving, as of course our tickets were not refundable or transferable. Oh well.
The Kid was sick the last couple days. I think The Girl is going to get in trouble for missing Monday. I missed Tuesday, but the company survived, even though I hear it was touch and go for a while.
My Wittle Blogs All Growed Up!
Feb 20th
Eh, not really, as I’m still the writer, but I did change the theme to something less geek-tastic. I guess I’d rather brand myself these days, rather than Paramount properties, especially when I’m not feeling said properties lately, anyway. Why plug something that hasn’t excited me for some time, eh? Besides, this way I don’t have to pay LiveJournal for the pleasure of customizing my theme and allowing me mucho userpics. Wastes of money in these trying economic times must go. Just ask the news, they’ll tell you!
Well it’s February already, and I almost didn’t post. Whoops! The in-laws were staying at our place for a while. They worked on our place while we were at work. Part of me feels guilty that they didn’t just relax, part of me is happy that there was less laundry and the crown molding got painted. Hey, I didn’t ask them to work, so I guess I’m guilt free!
My birthday came and went. I don’t feel different, except maybe more lethargic, but that’s lack of exercise more than lack of youth. My parents and uncle came over and The Girl cooked everyone a great dinner, then we showed off wedding pictures for the umpteen time. (We should have had a wedding pictures viewing party or something.) On Valentine’s Day, both sets of parents, myself, The Girl and my sister’s family went to a fancy grill across the street from my house. Good food, good booze, a nice time was had by all. Maybe next year The Girl and I will do the more romantic route with just the two of us, but the goal this year was to be thrifty and sociable.
Got money back on taxes this year, so w00t! But daddy needs a new car, so boo. Seems like this is going to be the year of money issues, but then we’re not alone on that front. Just ask the news, they’ll tell you! My goal this year is to be smarter and tighter with the wallet, but then I say that every year, so what do I know?
The Girl is thinking about going to wedding planning school, or whatever it’s called. Apparently planning one wedding created a junky and now she wants to do it all the time, only with other people’s money, so that’s good. I’m thinking about going back to school too, but per usual, am torn as to what I would like to accomplish.
I think I might be abusing the comma.
Jaws Was Never My Scene
Oct 20th
I’m having a hard time massaging my brain into remember what I did this weekend. Seemed like it went fast, though it was fairly uneventful. I’m tired this morning all the same.
We had The Kid this weekend. Friday we stayed home and talked about how we were going to start saving money. Saturday we went out and spent a lot of money at Mervyn’s, Target, Trader Joe’s and on a gym membership. Then we went to a birthday party in Salinas for about 40 minutes (a kid birthday party, with face painting, a jump house, trampoline, etc. – so 40 minutes was fine by me) and then met The Girl’s BFF for dinner out Outback.
Sunday we spent more money at Black Bear for breakfast and then went to Santa Cruz to pick up The Girl’s wedding shoes, which were finally delivered. They fit tight so they told her to walk around with them at home with heavy socks on, so that should be entertaining.
Then we returned home and decided to test out The Kid’s new bike (which we got for free via The Girl’s work – woot!) and so I busted out all our bikes and inflated the tires and installed training wheels for the first time, which went fairly well, despite my limited ability to use tools and install things.
It went fairly well, though The Kid of course rides very slow and crashed a lot. Her bikes keep getting taller but the training wheels stay the same width, so are less and less affective, especially when she leans too far to the left or right, which she does often.
I saw some dad riding around with his kid in tow on one of these trailer bikes earlier in the weekend, so maybe I’ll get one of those, and then we can all ride faster and further. Or maybe she should lose the training wheels altogether, though I’m not sure at what age that is supposed to happen, and besides which, I think I’ll let her dad be the one who runs back and forth down the street with her issuing false promises of “I won’t let go, trust me!”
So today we work out. EEP!
Two Rings To Rule Them All
Oct 13th
The Girl and I went to San Francisco and hit up Giraux’s again, to get both my ring and her wedding band. No pictures because we had to order the right size, but I think they looked great. Once again, went a bit over budget, but I have to look at this thing the rest of my life, so I might as well be happy with it. Going to be weird to wear jewelry all the time. I have a feeling I’m going to be playing with my finger habitually for a good while.
Last night, I finally put an end to the Harry Potter series. I’ve been working on them off and on (mostly on) since 2007, so it only took me two years to read seven books. Very sad. An extremely enjoyable adventure that I am more than happy to be done with, because I can’t wait to read something else now that doesn’t have a character named “Potter” in it. It’s been a while! But exhaustion aside, it really was a pretty good series, especially after it got past the first few books and started getting serious about all-out-war. It was a nice transition from boy to man, and I’m glad Rowling wasn’t afraid to kill very important people along the way. I have some objections to the last book, but I’m not sure if they’re legit problems or just fanboy reactions as to “how I would have done things” even though it’s not my book. Probably the latter, and the fact that I’m still thinking about means it was impactful, one way or the other. So two thumbs up for Harry Potter, as if the entire rest of the world didn’t already know that.
Speaking of “two thumbs up,” I also managed to watch between chapters the two and a half hour epic There Will Be Blood. Well uh…I liked it but again, much like No Country For Old Men, it kinda went nowhere and close to three hours is a long time to invest in something that goes nowhere. That said, I give TWBB a much higher mark than NCFOM, and found this review by Roger Ebert interesting, specifically this passage:
“There Will Be Blood” is the kind of film that is easily called great. I am not sure of its greatness. It was filmed in the same area of Texas used by “No Country for Old Men,” and that is a great film, and a perfect one. But “There Will Be Blood” is not perfect, and in its imperfections (its unbending characters, its lack of women or any reflection of ordinary society, its ending, its relentlessness) we may see its reach exceeding its grasp. Which is not a dishonorable thing.
So…NCFOM is a perfect film, but TWBB isn’t, and one of the reasons is the ending? I’m sorry Roger, I like you and junk, but that’s insanity. NCFOM HAS NO ENDING! NOTHING HAPPENS! You sit there for three hours mesmerized by performances and waiting for the big payoff and everyone just walks away to do their own thing. The protagonists death is so inconsequential and random I didn’t even know he was dead for fifteen minutes! The bad guy gets away, the good guy never comes close to catching him, never even meets him; Woody Harrelson shows up to give us hope and is gone ten minutes later. Neither film is perfect for me, but I enjoyed TWBB much more, and even if the ending is somewhat random, at least the squirmy jerkboy gets what’s been coming to him, and that’s satisfying. Okay, venting done. Perhaps I should stick to chick flicks. They always end nice.
I haven’t had soda today, I brought food from home instead of buying something, and I flossed this morning. Go me.
Party Like a Princess
Oct 7th
The engagment photo shoot went off without a hitch. (That comes in December – get it? Nevermind!) The photographer gave us some pointers up front, and told us if it feels unnatural it probably looks good, so I’m thinking the majority of the pictures will look good, because man did those poses feel unnatural! I’ll post ‘em when I get ‘em.
The Girl’s mom and nieces have been in town. I see why some people like going to work. Oh not that they are horrible or that I didn’t have a great time with them this weekend, but just as a place to decompress and hear myself think, work has a reason to be appreciated now beside the paycheck.
Saturday we went to the Roaring Camp Railroads in Santa Cruz. Never heard of it and it was pretty fun. The Kid has been bugging us about going on a train for months now, for some reason, so it was cool to watch her get it out of her system. Her new goal professionally is to be a cook, train driver and princess. Sounds like she’s going to be busy!
Sunday we spent 4 hours shopping and it felt like 18 years and I got tired.
Monday I went to work, while The Girl took a half day and went on a much longer shopping spree with the family. The Kid got her ears pierced (another thing she’s been bugging us about for months). Then my family and her family and few of her friends met at Johnny Corino’s to celebrate her birthday. Good food, good wine and good times. We met back at our house for some cake and birthday presents and to pass around the tiara, y’know…the usual! It was a fun long day and we all crashed accordingly.
Today is The Girl’s actual birthday. I think the plan is to go to the pumpkin patch.
