Let's Go Fly a Kite

Due to Southern California's recent "weather", we decided to go try and fly kites. The wind wasn't very constant, so the kites flew for only a few minutes at a time. Cooper seemed to do the best, but I think it was more the wind than anything else. The picture above is courtesy of Skyler and features my ever-so-popular "fancy pants". Enjoy

34-31

Today Mike and I went on a small fishing expedition up Azusa Canyon on the San Gabriel River. The morning started off with a 5:30 a.m. wake up call from Mike, which was just a little bit before my alarm clock was going to do that. I met up with him at 6 and we drove up the canyon. The San Gabriel is also known as The Cholo River. We were greeted by the "lovely" graffiti and garbage throughout our trip. There were a few R.I.P.'s, which I'm sure the dead cholos appreciated. Other than the shame of seeing nature being destroyed, the fishing trip was a success. We didn't wear waders, because it was going to get hot and the water wasn't going to be too cold anyways. Besides, I was wearing an ankle brace and it would have just stretched out my waders. The water was really refreshing throughout the day. We landed 65 fish between us and I didn't fall in. Mike unfortunately can't make the same claim. I think next time I will require him to wear a life vest, just in case. For anyone who has fallen in while fishing, you know what it feels like to do the dance on the slippery rocks and try your best to somehow not hit the water or the rocks. It just doesn't work out and you end up drenched and bruised. However, for the person watching this all occur, the look on the wet-in-the-near-future person's face as this is all occurring can bring a tremendous amount of joy. That was the case this morning. After making sure I wasn't going to have to dive in, and that Mike wasn't hurt I had a good chuckle. We got out of the water a little bit before noon and got to make the walk back to the car with the rocks and sand in our shoes. We also happened upon a dead rattle snake. I know it was dead, because I hit it with a rock. My brother Jed taught me that you must always throw a rock at a rattle snake to make sure it is dead. For some reason I am really accurate when it comes to doing this. So, to sum up the day, we caught over 10 fish an hour, we only came across a couple of people (none of which were fishing), we didn't get bitten by any rattlesnakes, and Mike didn't drown. It was an enjoyable time. Below is a video of one of Mike's monster catches. As a side note, June 7th marks the first of 2 "free fishing days" in California this year. You can fish that day without purchasing a license. I'm taking the young men out, and encourage anyone else to take advantage of the day as well.

p.s. I was the one who caught 34.

Does Anybody Else Remember This Guy?

On Mother's Day I was mistakenly remembering him as "The Unknown Stripper". After doing a bit of research, it turns out he was actually "The Unknown Comic". However, I did correctly remember him from The Gong Show. So, I wasn't really wrong, which keeps my track record of being right at 99.9%. Good for me! Here is some more about The Unknown Comic.

I would definitely like to see a comeback.

Speaking of old things, a post on Bean's Blog (Strongly Worded Letter) inspired me to finally get a new library card. Here is a link to the post. He mentioned the film The Red Balloon (a.ka. Le Ballon Rouge). Here is a brief clip to refresh your memory.

I immediately remembered it, and wanted to share it with our kids. Since I remembered watching it in school, I assumed they would have it at the local library. After checking their catalog, I found they had a couple of copies on VHS. It required that I obtain a library card for the first time in over a decade, but after filling out a form and speaking in a whisper I had the film in my possession. It really is a good view. I'm surprised some band hasn't reenacted it for a music video. The kids sat watching a movie without any dialog for the full duration. It was filmed in the 1950's. The main character was 6-years-old at the time, and the majority of the other characters were about that same age. I kept thinking that they should shoot it again with the original cast (at least the ones that are still alive). Anybody have their phone numbers?

Beware-a-thon

As our kids grow, we learn new lessons along the way. Here is a recent example: Skyler's school had a jog-a-thon to raise money for who knows what. Skyler made some phone calls and solicited donations. You were able to either donate an amount per lap or one flat amount. The day before the actual event I reviewed her donation list. I saw that everyone had decided to donate a flat amount. To motivate Skyler to still try and do her best, I decided to donate per lap. I asked Sara how big the track was that they were going to run around. She wasn't sure, but didn't think Skyler was going to do many laps. I mistakenly imagined a large track, where a lap would be a quarter-mile. So, I sat Skyler down and explained to her that I was going to donate $1 per lap that she ran, and to give her even more inspiration I would give her $1 to keep for herself for each lap. Fast forward to the next morning. I was able to skip work and go cheer her on. The moment I got close enough to see the school kids I knew I was in big trouble. It was definitely not a quarter-mile track. In my estimation it was more like a tenth of a mile track. I didn't notice a time limit on the flyer, but found out that they would be "jogging" for over 45 minutes. I say "jogging", because there were a lot of kids not moving very fast. To Skyler's credit, she jogged most of the time (except for the water breaks she took). When all was said and done Skyler had done 29 laps! I wonder how many other parents fall for this sham. I had mixed emotions during the whole ordeal. I was proud of Skyler, because she really did a good job of running, but I couldn't help thinking about how much money she was costing me. Now, not only did I have to cough up 29 bucks to the school, but I was also out my monthly allowance to Skyler. I've learned my lesson.

Here's Skyler in action. She used her hair to keep the other kids from getting too close.

Doogie Howser

If you are not familiar with the show How I Met Your Mother, then you won't understand what this is. You also don't have very good taste in T.V. shows. Just an F.Y.I.

Happy Mudders Day

Anyone Interested?

Ima Robot is enough to get me to go, but adding Hot Hot Heat and Hellogoodbye turns it from a want into a need.

Bodie's First Crush

A little over a month ago I saw Donna Martin (a.k.a. Tori Spelling) on Jimmy Kimmel Live. It brought back the memories of when times were good. I am of course referring to the 90210 years. I don't think there are many that will dispute that Beverly Hills 90210 was by far the greatest T.V. show of its time. After seeing Donna, I immediately had a desire to watch some 90210 (Who wouldn't?). However, I recalled that after purchasing and watching Season 1 I was disappointed with what they had done to the music. So, I contemplated perhaps watching a different show that had some similarities to 90210. Of course, nothing would be as good as 90210. There had to be something that could give me at least a little bit of the 90210 joy. After doing some research and narrowing down the candidates I went with Dawson's Creek.
I had viewed a couple of episodes when the show originally aired, but for a reason unknown to me I didn't watch very much of it. I figured that it had some of the good 90210 elements; it was about kids in high school, they acted much older than they were supposed to be, it featured popular music at the time it aired, and there was major potential for bad acting. Thanks to ebay, I acquired Season 1. It has been everything I had hoped for and more! The acting is horrendously entertaining (Katie Holmes is the female equivalent of Keanu Reeves), the music brings back memories, the verbiage is ridiculously and eloquently unbelievable, and the story lines are way over the top. These 15 year olds carry on conversations that you would possibly believe coming from college English majors, but just barely. Dawson's best friend, who happens to be a 15 year old girl, sleeps in his bed frequently without any body's parents thinking twice. There are many other things to be pleased with, but I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't watched it yet. There also is a character named Bodie, who is a black guy living with his pregnant, white girlfriend. Speaking of Bodie, he is a big Dawson's Creek fan too. He has sat with me through the whole first season, which is a huge accomplishment because he doesn't really like sitting with me in general. He seems to like the kids on the show much more than the parents, and voices his displeasure when they focus on the parents. His favorite part of the show is watching Jen (Michelle Williams), a rebellious teen from New York who has been sent to her grandparents' home to straighten out her life.
When Bodie sees her on the screen he gets a huge smile and keeps smiling until she is gone. Luckily for Bodie, our viewing of Jen is not over. Season 2 should be arriving today! I'm sure Sara will be pleasantly surprised (typed with sarcasm).

Free Comics!

Skyler and I decided to take advantage of Free Comic Book Day on Saturday. We went to Comics Factory in Pasadena. It was my first Free Comic Book Day. We were allowed to take over 25 comic books each! We also got a miniature Iron Man figure. They had a very large selection to pick from, and it was a real positive experience. The people working there were very stoked about the event and comic books in general. Skyler enjoyed herself and immediately started reading her comics when we got back in the car. I'm pretty sure we will be there next year.

R.I.P. 2004-2008

Milkshake Strawberry passed away over the weekend. A bowl-side ceremony took place on Saturday. She will be missed, but I had to save her life like every other week, so we knew her death was inevitable.

She was quickly replaced today with another fish that Skyler picked out. His name is Rainbow Milkshake.

Free Comic Book Day!

I'm sure you are all already aware of this, but tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day. The name seems pretty self-explanatory, but what actually occurs depends on the comic book shop you go to. You can check out more details here. I myself was never much of a comic book person, which seems unlikely considering my enjoyment of animation.

Maybe there should be a Mr. Mustachio comic book in the works. He would do battle against the diabolical Dr. Gillette. I'll have to give Stan Lee a call. I can picture it now.