... I do.
I'm just not. In the meantime, you can follow me on Twitter.
Random thoughts...
Some advice for job applicants: don't fudge your resume when applying for a different job within your company. There are too many people without jobs for you to throw yours away.
Pet peeve: Bloated, 11-page packets full of typos explaining the difference between appropriate and inappropriate tasks for a summer intern. Appropriate task for a summer intern: proofreading HR paperwork.
This is Week 2 of early morning rising for rewriting the mammoth 250 page script. It's rough, both the script and the rising.
Sheldogg and I have committed to another Weekend Update segment at the next Grace Cafe on March 28th. I hear we've got some great music acts lined up, too, plus free Starbucks. So come check it out if you're in SoCal. If you're a musician or performance artist, we're always looking for new acts.
My wife has left me for the life of a pirate until Friday. She gets to sleep on a "tall ship," order around the junior high mongrels ("Quit texting and swab the decks!") and then sail around for a few hours tomorrow. I will miss her as I assemble Ikea furniture and start our taxes, and I'm jealous.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Friday, February 13, 2009
Down Home
Spring Creek links and brisket, baked beans, potato salad, mac and cheese, green beans and the best roll you'll ever put in your mouth -- accompanied by Shiner Bock and a frosty mug. Oh, heck yes.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Finally... sort of
This morning around 1:00AM PST, I finally finished a script that (I'm ashamed to say) has been in the works in one form or another since August of 2004. It started as a book. One hundred pages of prose later, I jumped formats and had several faltering starts and stops. It languished. I set it aside and wrote a letter to myself to deter me from ever trying to salvage it. I did not heed my advice.
I feel like I've given birth, and the child is ugly and fat. 249 pages fat, in fact. And I use the "sort of" qualifier in the title of this post because it's not really finished. There are a couple of sections that I sort of... put off. I'll come back to that, I told myself, and threw in a place holder or a "bad version."
But I felt that pushing through to FADE OUT deserved an acknowledgment. So here it is. Now to deliver the afterbirth of those rotten spots I skipped.
Once those are complete, I'll print it, which in itself will eradicate a small grove of trees, give it hours of sleepless attention, be proud where it succeeds, gently mold it where it fails, slam my head into walls when I don't know what to do with it anymore, and most importantly, cut it in half -- which, I suppose, is where the parenting metaphor terminates.
So, welcome to the world, you long-gestating-yet-half-baked, fat, ugly, gap-toothed creature. It's nice to finally see you... sort of.
I feel like I've given birth, and the child is ugly and fat. 249 pages fat, in fact. And I use the "sort of" qualifier in the title of this post because it's not really finished. There are a couple of sections that I sort of... put off. I'll come back to that, I told myself, and threw in a place holder or a "bad version."
But I felt that pushing through to FADE OUT deserved an acknowledgment. So here it is. Now to deliver the afterbirth of those rotten spots I skipped.
Once those are complete, I'll print it, which in itself will eradicate a small grove of trees, give it hours of sleepless attention, be proud where it succeeds, gently mold it where it fails, slam my head into walls when I don't know what to do with it anymore, and most importantly, cut it in half -- which, I suppose, is where the parenting metaphor terminates.
So, welcome to the world, you long-gestating-yet-half-baked, fat, ugly, gap-toothed creature. It's nice to finally see you... sort of.
Monday, January 05, 2009
Holiday Break 2008
I haven't had a two week holiday break in several years, but thanks to a rotten economy and an employer who opted to give employees more time off rather than a lavish party or gifts, I got one with the help of a little vacation time.
We spent Christmas Week in the Bay Area with my wife's family and had a relaxing time (aside from fighting traffic both ways on the 5 freeway). We played cards, exchanged gifts, played Wii and I went fishing twice (once in the pouring rain on Christmas morning) and managed to catch nothing.
My family flew out for New Year's Week, and it was a sprint of activities, but that was a good thing.
Here's the run down on those pleasantly packed four days.
Tuesday - Picked my folks and brother from LAX and had lunch at Islands. Hooray for endless fries. My wife pulled off a spectacular surprise birthday party for me at a Texas BBQ joint in Pasadena that night. Great friends and good food.
Wednesday - We exchanged Christmas gifts with my family, went shopping for clothes worn bycelebrities extras at It's a Wrap in Burbank, had fish tacos at Rubio's and celebrated New Year's with friends from church.
Thursday - Up and at 'em pre-5am for the Rose Parade, which didn't disappoint a first-timer. We headed home for ham, black-eyed peas and cornbread and to watch USC stomp Penn State. That night we drove up to Griffith Observatory along with what seemed like everyone else in LA to check out the view, the museum and the telescopes. Nerdiest docents in LA, but I suppose that is a compliment -- plus, they have laser pointers that could bring down the Death Star. By this point, I was ready to drop. But we hadn't had dinner, so we steamed the tamales we ordered from Alambres on San Fernando, and finished the meal with warm churros, vanilla ice cream and a thick Mexican hot chocolate for dipping.
Friday - Shivered through the tour of the Rose Parade floats in Pasadena before thawing over Souplantation soup and dropping the fam at LAX. Settled in for leftover ham and queso while watching West Wing episodes on my new BluRay player (wow).
Happy New Year to everyone. I hope you have health and peace in 2009.
We spent Christmas Week in the Bay Area with my wife's family and had a relaxing time (aside from fighting traffic both ways on the 5 freeway). We played cards, exchanged gifts, played Wii and I went fishing twice (once in the pouring rain on Christmas morning) and managed to catch nothing.
My family flew out for New Year's Week, and it was a sprint of activities, but that was a good thing.
Here's the run down on those pleasantly packed four days.
Tuesday - Picked my folks and brother from LAX and had lunch at Islands. Hooray for endless fries. My wife pulled off a spectacular surprise birthday party for me at a Texas BBQ joint in Pasadena that night. Great friends and good food.
Wednesday - We exchanged Christmas gifts with my family, went shopping for clothes worn by
Thursday - Up and at 'em pre-5am for the Rose Parade, which didn't disappoint a first-timer. We headed home for ham, black-eyed peas and cornbread and to watch USC stomp Penn State. That night we drove up to Griffith Observatory along with what seemed like everyone else in LA to check out the view, the museum and the telescopes. Nerdiest docents in LA, but I suppose that is a compliment -- plus, they have laser pointers that could bring down the Death Star. By this point, I was ready to drop. But we hadn't had dinner, so we steamed the tamales we ordered from Alambres on San Fernando, and finished the meal with warm churros, vanilla ice cream and a thick Mexican hot chocolate for dipping.
Friday - Shivered through the tour of the Rose Parade floats in Pasadena before thawing over Souplantation soup and dropping the fam at LAX. Settled in for leftover ham and queso while watching West Wing episodes on my new BluRay player (wow).
Happy New Year to everyone. I hope you have health and peace in 2009.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Monday, November 10, 2008
"Readers Are Leaders"
As I've gotten older, I've had a harder time finishing books. I'm not sure if my attention span is dwindling, or if maybe it's due to my habit of starting a dozen projects at once and finishing hardly any of them.
But this weekend, I finished two books.
Friday night, I wrapped up Wild at Heart by John Eldredge. This is a short little book that packed a punch. It's a difficult book to summarize, but I guess the easiest way to describe it is that it's a book about the journey into manhood and the battles that accompany it. As far as nonficition Christian books go, I found this one especially impactful. I've heard that some guys love it and some guys think it's the dumbest book ever. I think it depends on your history. I safely fall into the former category.
Yesterday, I finished Daniel DeFoe's Robinson Crusoe. I've wanted to read this book since I was a kid. I've wondered over it since the moment I heard Thomas Hill's Koreander mention the title in his bookshop in "The Neverending Story." I picked it up on the bargain classics stand at B&N and started reading it a few months ago when I heard about the TV series on NBC. I really enjoyed this book. It's been a long time since I've read a book written in another century. The world may shrink and technologies change, but men (and women) remain the same. I also watched the first episode of the series last night. It was fairly annoying in all the predictable TV ways.
Books I'm still "reading":
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell - If I'm gonna do it, I'll probably need to hit the reset button. It's been a while.
The Blue Latitudes - There's still hope here of finishing. It's light, undemanding reading that occasionally I can pick up and not feel like I'm utterly lost.
unChristian - I've enjoyed this book, and I'm not far from finishing. I need to pick it back up.
The Irresistible Revolution - I'm not sure I can honestly say I started this one, not with any real commitment anyway. I do want to pick it back up.
The Audacity of Hope - I read the intro a while back, but didn't make an attempt beyond that. I might give it another shot before January 20th.
Dreams of Terror and Death: The Dream Cycle of H.P. Lovecraft - Collection of short stories that I don't feel guilty about at all by not reading cover to cover in a short frame.
But this weekend, I finished two books.
Friday night, I wrapped up Wild at Heart by John Eldredge. This is a short little book that packed a punch. It's a difficult book to summarize, but I guess the easiest way to describe it is that it's a book about the journey into manhood and the battles that accompany it. As far as nonficition Christian books go, I found this one especially impactful. I've heard that some guys love it and some guys think it's the dumbest book ever. I think it depends on your history. I safely fall into the former category.
Yesterday, I finished Daniel DeFoe's Robinson Crusoe. I've wanted to read this book since I was a kid. I've wondered over it since the moment I heard Thomas Hill's Koreander mention the title in his bookshop in "The Neverending Story." I picked it up on the bargain classics stand at B&N and started reading it a few months ago when I heard about the TV series on NBC. I really enjoyed this book. It's been a long time since I've read a book written in another century. The world may shrink and technologies change, but men (and women) remain the same. I also watched the first episode of the series last night. It was fairly annoying in all the predictable TV ways.
Books I'm still "reading":
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell - If I'm gonna do it, I'll probably need to hit the reset button. It's been a while.
The Blue Latitudes - There's still hope here of finishing. It's light, undemanding reading that occasionally I can pick up and not feel like I'm utterly lost.
unChristian - I've enjoyed this book, and I'm not far from finishing. I need to pick it back up.
The Irresistible Revolution - I'm not sure I can honestly say I started this one, not with any real commitment anyway. I do want to pick it back up.
The Audacity of Hope - I read the intro a while back, but didn't make an attempt beyond that. I might give it another shot before January 20th.
Dreams of Terror and Death: The Dream Cycle of H.P. Lovecraft - Collection of short stories that I don't feel guilty about at all by not reading cover to cover in a short frame.
Friday, October 17, 2008
'Dinosaur graveyard' found in southeast Utah - Los Angeles Times
'Dinosaur graveyard' found in southeast Utah - Los Angeles Times
Pencil in a trip to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County in 2011. The museum is a cool place that I enjoyed spending time in when I was at USC. It's exciting to see an awesome exhibit like this heading its way.
Pencil in a trip to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County in 2011. The museum is a cool place that I enjoyed spending time in when I was at USC. It's exciting to see an awesome exhibit like this heading its way.
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