Amanda and I flew back into LAX Christmas night... well, I shouldn't say just "Christmas night", the 25th was also the first day of Hanukah. Either way, it was nice to step off the plane and feel the rush of warm California night air coming through the open spaces in the "little arm thing that connects to the plane's door"... I forgot what they were called.

But as good as the weather might have felt, it didn't take long for me to miss my family. What in the world they are doing back in Michigan freezing their butts off in single-digit temperatures is beyond me... but it was nice to be around them.

Amanda and I decided, before we left for Michigan, that next year we probably won't wait until December to visit - instead we'll fly back at random times during the year. Or, more importantly, whenever Spirit emails us great deals on tickets. This way we aren't limited to one visit a year. Which just isn't enough time to do everything we want to do, and to see everyone we want to see.

Unfortunately, during my last day in Michigan, my throat started to feel dry and soar - about half way during the flight home I could feel a full on cold coming. If it wasn't for a steady diet of 'cold & sinus' medicine, I'd be completely miserable. But thanks to modern medicine... I'm only 70% miserable.


I can't write long - right now I'm at the apartment, but we have to head back to over to Van Nuys soon - Amanda and I are house & dog sitting for her "Uncle" until the 1st. And for some reason their internet isn't working more than three hours a day. But before I go - here is a handful of random pics' I took with my camera phone while away... sorry, I don't have time to explain each one. Enjoy.

The flight out of LAX went smoothly - except for the "five minutes" we needed to wait for out gate to clear up before taking off, which turned out to be closer to 35 minutes.

Currently it's a toasty 21 degrees, I'm hanging out with Nick, my brother, in our lil' sisters room - watching a strange episode of the x-files about some kind of "human torch" nanny-guy. Which reminds me, earlier today, I watched 'House of D' with my Dad - it was a film written and directed by David Duchovny, unfortunately the studios refused to put it in a nationwide release. But the good news is that 'Too fast, too furious' was there to fill the gap... that was extreme sarcasm incase anyone missed it.

My time here in Michigan has, as always, flown by. Already it's the 21st and Amanda and I fly out xmas night. I have a ton of pictures I'd like to post, pictures of our flight, of the snow, of Dlyan and Mandy... but my cell phone hasn't worked a minutes since I've been in town.

I have yet to go car-sledding. Which is sad. Hopefully, before I leave, I'll find a way to go... I look forward to it all year round - it's the only thing all this snow and ice is good for. Okay, it's 2 in the morning - past my bedtime.

I should have brought this up a week ago - but I've been a little slow at posting the last few days. Tonight, around 10, Amanda and I are flying out of LAX for Michigan for two weeks.

According to my computer - it's currently 57 degrees in North Hollywood... I just drove to the check-cashing place around the block with the windows down and wearing shorts, a t-shirt and flip flops, it was nice - unfortunately it's 27 degrees in Onsted. Which I suppose is a heat wave compared to the 5 degrees it dropped to the other day. The good news: I think I look better when wearing 'layers'.


I'm also very, very excited about the fact that I will no longer be subjected to hours upon hours (while at work) of the shittiest, over-done, most-exploited Christmas music... by Christina Aguilera and some asshole who thought 'Jingles Bells' needed some electric guitar behind it. I miss Morrissey.

But, back to xmas, aside from the bitter cold and chapped lips, I'm looking forward to Michigan - hanging out with family, car-sledding (which I will be posting pics of... and if all goes to plan, maybe some video also), real food. Not that I've been eating fake or fast food - it's just our apartment has been a bit empty the last week and a half, but who wants to go grocery shopping when you're about to leave for two weeks? So - I've been eating 6 min pasta for breakfast and left over ham for dinner.

Okay - if you'll excuse me, I need to get to packing.

This is "so two months ago". But seeing as how I couldn't really edit on my computer for the last four... I did however, imported the little footage I took while in San Diego during Amanda's birthday and then, without cutting it up or adding music, because I couldn't, exported it. The only probably then was, the internet didn't work to well on that computer either... so I couldn't get the entire clip to upload before the connection timed out.

But now that the mac mini has arrived - you can finally see this very boring, cut and dry birthday clip. Enjoy.

It's tiny, it's quiet, it's here. It was also the easiest new computer to set up I've ever seen... I took it out of the box, turned it on, it asked me if I wanted to plug my old Mac into my new one with a firewire cable - so I did... and two hours later, it had transferred everything I asked it to over, organized it, pulled in all my settings, everything. It was creepy easy.

And the best part of all - when I opened Final Cut and started pulling in raw video... it didn't even hesitate - no more freezing up, no more flat out crashing my computer, nothing. I'm so excited - is that a little dorky?

THEY are called echizen kurage and they sound like monsters from the trashier reaches of Japanese science fiction.

They are 6ft wide and weigh 450lb (200kg), with countless poisonous tentacles, they have drifted across the void to terrorise the people of Japan. Vast armadas of the slimy horrors have cut off the country’s food supply. As soon as one is killed more appear to take its place.

Finally, the quarrelsome governments of the region are banding together to unite against the enemy.

Echizen kurage is not an extraterrestrial invader, but a giant jellyfish that is devastating the livelihoods of fishermen in the Sea of Japan. Nomura’s jellyfish, as it is known in English, is the biggest creature of its kind off Japan and for reasons that remain mysterious its numbers have surged in the past few months. Read more...

Yesterday, my Mac mini was scheduled to be dropped off, and yesterday, I just happened to have the whole day off. With the exception of a short walk around the block while listening to the 'majority report'... I didn't leave the house.

But I waited... and waited... heard footsteps coming up the back stairs, got excited, and realized it was just my neighbors... waited some more. Fell asleep on the couch with the cat, got a call from my Dad, checked the FedEx tracking info, waited some more. And finally gave up.

I found out this morning, after my info finally refreshed, that due to a unreadable barcode my package was put on hold for a day. Which wasn't good - since myself, Billy and Amanda all had to work this morning. They came by around noon - no one was hear to sign for it, and now, since it's ground, I can't get it until Monday... where I open again. That damn barcode has messed everything all up.

Just felt like venting.

On Wikipedia's current events page - two things happened recently that I thought were very note-worthy. I'd like to hear what people think about them... although, that's not very likely to happen since this isn't a post titled: "What's up with Tom & Katie".

Anyways. The first story was: South Africa has become the fifth country in the world where same-sex marriages are recognized, after Canada, Spain, the Netherlands, and Belgium. The Constitutional Court declared that current marriage laws are unconstitutional and must be changed within a year.

I found the line "current marriage laws are unconstitutional" very interesting. Because here, in the US, we've somehow found a way around the mindset that banning two people who love each-other from marrying based on their gender is not a restriction of a person's rights. It's been very carefully packaged as "protecting the sanctity of marriage" and not "butting into a gay person's personal love life".


Secondly: The US Military has been covertly paying to run news stories written by US Military "information operations" troops. The stories, usually praising the work of the U.S. and Iraqi troops and denouncing insurgents, have been translated into Arabic and published in many Baghdad newspapers.

I think that in both these news stories lies the same problem - "how does gay marriage and US propaganda in Iraq have anything to do with the other?" Wording. Just as it is absolutely necessary for anti-gay organizations and individuals to keep the wording "protecting marriage" in the argument... It is just as necessary for US propaganda to drive-home the linking of "insurgents" and "terrorist". The two have to be one in order for their message to stick.


According to answers dot com - an insurgency is an armed rebellion by any irregular armed force that rises up against an established authority, government, or administration. Those carrying out an insurgency are “insurgents”. Insurgents conduct sabotage and harassment. Insurgents usually are in opposition to a civil authority or government primarily in the hope of improving their condition.

That last line is really the only thing that counts. We've had two... almost three years to get the Iraqi people running water and electricity... to get oil production back on track. All of these things are still far below pre-occupation levels.

Their water is polluted... there is little to no electricity/ air-conditioning in 130+ temperatures... it's estimated that unemployment is around 60%... it's a mess.

And it's not that we just haven't applied the financial support that is needed to get these necessities up and running - that's not the case at all, the money is gone, pissed away on no-bid contracts and security for companies that haven't even lifted a finger. It's gotten so bad that Bush has actually started a website asking for personal donations.

First posted at Project Pedal...

"Sold to the not-entirely-highest-bidder". After weeks of posting my Canon GL2 on craig's list every two days, literally every two days - I had a little iCal-reminder pop up to remind me - someone finally emailed me and was serious. I must have gotten over 30 emails from people who said they "seriously" wanted the camera - and then would never return my emails.

I'm a little sad to see her go.


It just so happens that today is also the day my new computer is shipping from Apple - it is a drawn-out and complicated epic of why and how it took as long as it did for me to get it, but that's a story for a different time and place. The important part is - I have about four months worth of editing to catch up on.

Which sounds like a lot, and it is, but I'm taking two weeks off of work to fly to Michigan for the holidays and I'm packing my computer with me. I'm hoping to visit family and friends by day and edit by night... I might not get any sleep - but that's half the fun, isn't it?