Category Archives: Video

Snow, Beer, and Parties

Posted on January 24, 2012 | Leave a comment

I’m back from the Paw’s Up Resort in Montana, where I spent half a week for a sales conference in the snow. I know what you’re thinking. Why would you go to where it’s cold during the winter instead of some tropical island? I worried about that every day before I left for the trip, and the whole time until I arrived.

De-icing the plane in Seattle. Apparently the flights before us and after us never made it out.

Dining.

Bison Chili.

By the time we arrived, about half a foot of snow had fallen.

Snow flakes actually look like the crafts we cut from paper!

Our cabin.

Megan Fox stayed here before us, and she built this snowman. It grew a Marge Simpson style hairdo with all the snow.

Hot tub time machine! Really though. Hot tubs are totally awesome in the snow.

White everywhere.

Afternoon activities.

It was only after we asked the staff to get us a snow shovel that we realized there was a sign that said not to build jumps.

Killer icicles.

We even got to throw hatches and knives, while drinking beer!

Another afternoon’s activities.

The snow stopped and the sun came out, but only after 48 hours and over three feet of snow.

Here I am, enjoying a snow bath.

Waiting at the Seattle airport to go home. I just lucked out on the way home too. Planes didn’t get in or out after my flights again.

Saw this when I looked out the window in LA. Ghost plane!

After waking up at 3AM to get home, I was happy to arrive in LA, but there was no rest for the weary. Michelle and I had three engagements to get to that day.

Happy birthday, Delphi! Babies love me because I look like a cartoon.

Next on the list was my cousin’s housewarming. He had a live band and a DJ. What a way to show the neighbors you’re not going to wreck the neighborhood!

Last but not least we headed to Congregation Ale House in Pasadena for a birthday party. It’s been a long time, but after trying so many Montana brews, I could not bring myself to drink a beer. I know, the beer guy couldn’t drink beer. Weird, huh?

It was good to see everyone after being away so long, but I am still recovering. I have seen enough snow to last me a lifetime.

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Posted in Photo, Play, Travel, Video, Work

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Thanksgiving

Posted on November 28, 2011 | 1 Comment

Here is the reason we went up to San Jose for Thanksgiving. This is my niece, Myla, who just turned one not too long ago. Her upper teeth are probably due out soon so she likes to chew on her tongue.

Myla with her mom and the bunny we got for her.

Here Michelle is telling her the importance of online web presence.

Kids like me, and I think it’s because I look like a cartoon.

We made her play with the bunny every chance we got so it would become her favorite, and then we would become her favorite. Muahahahha!

Myla plays like a little boy. She doesn’t like to sit still and only has one speed, extreme. I was fascinated by the fact that she can mimic just about any sound you make. She can pop her lips, click her tongue, and do whatever that thing is called in the video.

Now that we’re done looking at my adorable niece, let’s talk about family and food.

People ask whether spending time with my niece makes me want to have kids any sooner. Playing with kids is pretty fun, but part of the fun is being able to say, “She pooped. Playtime timeout. Someone take care of this.” What you don’t see in all these pictures is all the hard work the parents put into raising Myla. You also don’t see the loads of stuff they have just to accomplish that task. Hard work is hard. As I am having a difficult time taking care of myself most of the time, I don’t think pushing up kids is a great idea.

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Posted in Food, Photo, Play, Travel, Video

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Howl at the Moon

Posted on October 26, 2011 | Leave a comment

Not wanting to be the old couple, after we gorged ourselves on pastries and pasta, we decided stay up and head to Howl at the Moon. This bar actually exists in a few cities, including Hollywood. If it’s half as fun as the one in Boston, I’d be happy to go.

The concept is simple. It’s a dueling piano bar that takes requests from the audience, but at least in the Boston location they had six different musicians that night. They play many a lot more than just the piano and they switch up. There was a drum set, an electric guitar, bass, acoustic guitar, a keytar, and they even pulled out a flute during one of the songs.

You can see they are pretty talented. Here they are performing Nicki Minaj’s Super Bass.

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Posted in Music, Photo, Play, Travel, Video

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And then I went to Michigan

Posted on October 19, 2011 | Leave a comment

The reason we went to Chicago in the first place was because I had work in Michigan like I do almsot every year. I bid Michelle farewell and drove three hours west into the heart of Michigan.

At least the beds were comfy. Have you ever tried a Sleep Number Bed? It’s interesting. It sort of reminds me of a hospital bed but without having to have your butt showing out the back of your gown.

This is what I did for two days. It was school all over again.

It wasn’t all work though. 1964, The Beatles tribute band!

You can see that they’re pretty good. Ringo actually drums like Ringo and Paul is actually left handed.

There was one very bright spot to my visit to Michigan though. I found out that Bell’s Brewery is twenty miles outside of where I visit, and they have a second brand that resides in the city of Kalamazoo, MI where I stay every time I’m out there. Here I am with a taster. I think the tasting board is Lake Michigan or one of the other Great Lakes.

As you can see, they’re known for their stouts, and they are good at them. Their Two Hearted IPA and dry hopped lager Quinannan Falls are great beers too.

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Posted in Photo, Travel, Video, Work

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Home Brewing is a Learning Process

Posted on July 13, 2011 | 1 Comment

Today I learned what a blow off tube does and why you should have one. I opened my pantry, curious to see if my stout was still fermenting. Boy was it ever! My airlock was filled with a mixture of beer and vodka, and that same mixture was all over the lid of the primary fermenter. Fortunately it stayed on the lid, because it was a mess. Think of root beer float foam, but thicker and stickier. Fortunately I have random crap I take from our warehouse at work and a spare airlock. After some quick sanitizing, I made this.

The tubing is just small enough to squeeze into the airlock tube. Dump the other end into some sanitized water, and crisis averted.

I know video if beer fermenting is boring, this thing is bubbling like mad right now! That pretty much means it’s making booze!

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Posted in Photo, Video

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Today I am a man.

Posted on June 14, 2011 | 2 Comments

Today was a very special day. It was the day I got my first set of power tools. Drill/driver, circular saw, reciprocating saw, and flashlight. It comes with two battery packs, and a cool bag that makes me feel like a professional thief.

I can no longer tell Michelle I can’t do things around the house because I don’t have the proper tools. Now I have to tell her that I just don’t know how to use the tools.

To top off the power tool man status, this is our closet. Michelle is pushing for it to be a shoe closet. I’m winning this battle.

Now for all you people that get as excited as me about home brew, here is a video of my beer bubbling as it ferments. I’m working on my second batch of IPA. This round I was encouraged to add a whole lot more hops during the brewing process. According to Michelle, our closet now smells like lychee. This should be quite the tasty brew.

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Posted in Photo, Things to Buy, Video

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Girl Talk

Posted on March 22, 2011 | Leave a comment

Last night (and actually into the wee hours of this morning) we got a chance to check out Girl Talk at the Palladium with our friends. If you don’t know who Girl Talk is, I suggest you check the website here. The album is free. I will wait. Do it now.

Ready? Let’s do this blog post! We thought we would be smart and skip some of the opening acts by showing up an hour late, but it didn’t work out so well. Junk Culture was still playing, and they were terrible. You hear men, Junk Culture from Oxford, Mississippi? You suck!

We were hoping Max Tundra would not be the same. Oh my god, this guy did not disappoint. Check out this video of another performance I found online. It’s pretty much the same thing. I so want to book this guy for Michelle’s 30th birthday, or maybe I will just sneak him into my friend’s condo and surprise him.

Then came the main event…

GIRL TALK! GIRL TALK! GIRL TALK! Wasn’t that a board game in the 80′s?

Rocking out to the music in a sea of dancing fools.

It’s so beautiful I want to cry.

I apologize for the sound on this. The S95, while it takes great photos does not handle lots of bass well at all. I tried to turn the bass way down and the treble way up before I compressed it, but it still sounds quite muddled. This is Lean Back mashed up with Guns N’ Roses’ Paradise City.

Those are some huge balls.

Happy New Year!

Near the end of the concert, we got hot and tired so we went upstairs. We were in that crowd. What are we…young?

When it comes down to it, Girl Talk is a guy (yes a guy) that has a great ear for mashing up music. While he looks like a guy in his pajamas on stage that presses a play button, that music still translates very well into sheer energy in concert. It was so great to be in that kind of environment again. It’s been a long time since the days of regular concert going. It makes me feel young again. The old man in me wonders how much of my hearing I lost last night.

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Posted in Music, Photo, Play, Video

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The Birth of Castillo Blanco

Posted on December 30, 2010 | Leave a comment

Remember when I wrote about how I was home brewing with my buddy Raaj? Well, our first batch of beer is complete. Check out the label I created for our first round of beer.

It smells like beer. Well not to Michelle.

It looks like beer. It tastes like beer. We have beer!

I’m really happy that our beer turned out to be…beer. I was really afraid we were going to have some skunky concoction that we were going to have to dump or use to polish chrome. We’ve only had a small taste thus far, but we can put it to the test this new year’s eve and see if it does what it’s supposed to do. Get me drunk.

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Posted in Photo, Video

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Hot Wheels at LACMA?

Posted on November 23, 2010 | Leave a comment

There is a possibility that this is coming to LACMA in the near future? I need to see this. This is way better than the LA Auto Show.

Via [LACMA]

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Third installment of Family Guy Star Wars movies.

Posted on November 19, 2010 | Leave a comment

The Family Guy crew has done such a great job with the first two of the series. I can’t wait to see this third one. I hope they never make Episodes 1-3 though. They’re too terrible to spoof.

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Posted in Geek, Video

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