Insignifica

dental work

Someday, the dental work will be finished...

Until then, readers, you get a recap. Today was the fitting/"Delivery" (finally) of the crown on top near the front. Last time it wasn't long enough, but it seemed to fit just fine this time. It still feels a little "new", but I'm sure it'll all adjust nicely.

The bulk of the work, however, was again on my lower back teeth (30 and 31) on the right side. While the main work on them was done last time, they needed to fit them for a crown, which usually isn't an extensive process. However my gums were still inflamed so they used the crown lengthening machine (mini soldering iron) to, uh, burn off some gum. If that wasn't bad enough, I have some sort of super-nerve, which refuses to numb. I got five Doses of anesthetic (one with the long needle and one directly into the tooth), and the nerve still reacted painfully to cold and hot (the little air and water gun they use to clean it made me jump). Eventually, after taking 3 impressions, they got it right, put new temporaries on (that are less likely to make my gums hurt) and they'll be ready to deliver them in two weeks.

After that, the wisdom teeth are the last major project for a while, which is good - dentistry, even with insurance, ain't cheap. Better than losing them all, however.

new ram, ourmedia.org

Man alive, if I don't get over this cold soon, I'm going to be pissed. It decided to return this weekend (the symptoms are the same, I'm assuming it's the same cold and not a new one), and while it's certainly manageable, It's just not going away. Talking with family on Sunday, however, leads me to believe this is normal for this illness. Bastard.

The new computer is up and running with 512MB more ram. It was hanging a little before (with it's 128 megs), so Chris and I disabled all non-microsoft services and took everything out of the startup. It STILL was running at about 120megs in the page file. Is XP normally that bloated? The additional 512 has definately helped, and made it perfectly usable. I imported email from Outlook Express on the old machine to Thunderbird on the new one, and after some initial problems (some folders didn't load), I've moved all my mail. It'll take me a while to get used to Thunderbird, and to teach it all about my filters, but I like that I've moved away from Outlook. The next projects are to move over my document files, organize my photos (that's quite a job) and install software. So far, so good though.

Speaking of photos, I'm thinking of uploading a good chunk of my collection to ourmedia.org. Has anyone used their service?

weekend wrapup, easter

Happy Monday!

We had a great weekend, other than a minor relapse of my cold. We held the Bad Ass Strat-o-matic league championships, and congratulations to the DC Dragons on their win. They had the best league record, and played well all season.

Saturday night I had planned a BBQ, but there was only one "yes" RSVP by Thursday. I was going to cancel when my friend Apryl said she could come, and that she'd be bringing at least one friend. Then a few others said they might make it, my brother ended up coming with a friend, and in the end 12-14 people had shown up. Spent a great night BBQing, playing poker, and enjoying our new Barzebo. A great night!

Sunday I hung out with Chris in the early part of the day, then went to my mom's for an Easter dinner. Good food, friends and family, and a relaxing evening afterward. I even got up early this morning, went to Frys (after finding they were closed yesterday) and got some RAM for my new computer, so I can actually start using it. What a great weekend!

The Aristocrats

When it comes to town (and since we live in the greater Los Angeles area, I'm sure we will), please join me in viewing a screening of The Aristocrats, a Paul Provenza and Penn Jillette film about the world's dirtiest joke that you've probably never heard. It looks awesome.

Shonen Knife

I'm going to see Shonen Knife tonight at the Galaxy Theatre in Santa Ana tonight - should be a fun show. If you're into old school pop-punk by Japanese women, you gotta check them out.

Whoppers

You know, if anyone out there is ever interested in getting me the gift of delicious candy, I love Whoppers malted milk balls.

Update! Amazon (and now my wishlist) has Whoppers!

new computer!

It's been a while (almost three years!) but I finally got a new computer:

I had some extra money after my inexpensive vacation and good tax returns, and while my current laptop was plenty fast enough for me, I was beginning to miss the ability to expand it with new drives, new memory, etc. that didn't have to be specific to the machine. Not only that, but I had a lot of old parts (like my video capture card) that were just sitting unused. While I've been less than thrilled about shopping at Fry's recently, the price was good, the computer was in stock, and so far it seems like a really good machine. My old extra hard drive integrated with no problems, and my video capture card is mostly working (and working just fine for what I need it for).

I'm in the midst of transferring files, settings, and software to the new machine, and I'll probably start using it full time soon. I'll still be using my laptop for Strato scoring (my fantasy baseball league), working out of the house (or downstairs in my home), and for road trips. Because all my personal files are on the laptop, I've often worried that if it was lost or stolen, I could be in trouble. Now it'll be just files, and the really important stuff will be kept at home.

Only one problem with the machine: it's loud, mostly the processor fan. Any suggestions?

vacation roundup

The girlfriend and I had a great vacation last week - we left for San Francisco on Sunday, got there, relaxed a bit, and hung out with her friend Mariah. They're very close friends but distance has kept them from seeing each other, so it was great hanging out with her, going to the Stinking Rose, and walking around Chinatown. The next day we continued our San Francisco tour at Alcatraz, which has a great tour and amazing views of the bay. Then we went to lunch with Alex and Helen and their daughter, afterward realizing that we're trying to leave San Francisco at 4:30PM. Instead of going 101/85/17, which would have taken several hours in rush hour, we took the 1 (Pacific Coast Highway) from the Golden Gate Bridge all the way to Santa Cruz. While it's 20 or so miles longer, we ran into zero traffic, and had a great ocean view the whole time. I highly recommend it.

During Monday afternoon in San Francisco, I began to come down with a cold, which stuck with us the whole trip (and still today). It didn't put too much a hamper in our plans, though. We had a marathon two days in Santa Cruz, seeing Colleen, Tori, and Scott (that was a surprise), and several other friends at a bar downtown. We went dancing there, and a good time was had by all. Also had a great time reconnecting with Tori - she and I have gotten much closer since leaving school. Behold the power of blogs!

We did miss a few people in Santa Cruz, most notably Garrett and Teresa (who I didn't have plans with, but would have liked to have seen if we had more time). we also ate well (hitting both our favorite restaurants), and spent some time on campus. It's growing and changing, but it always has been, and I think it looks good.

All along the trip we'd been lucky in terms of hotels. We stayed at a Ramada in San Francisco, near North Beach (on Lombard street), and it was a great deal for being in a nice area with free internet access and free parking. In Santa Cruz we returned to the Guesthouse Inn on Ocean, which we like because it's near downtown, quiet, and also has free internet access. We hadn't picked a place to stay in Monterey, instead planning on just finding a place when we got there. A tourist publication gave several suggestions, and a Howard Johnson location about a mile from downtown worked just fine. Free internet access, very quiet area, and the biggest room of the three, all for $45 a night. Four nights in three towns (all tourist locations) ran us less than $300 - very hard to beat that.

Though we were sick, Monterey was a good time. We spent time downtown, on Cannery Row, and at the Aquarium, which was awesome. I was imagining somewhere more like Sea World, but it reminded me much more of an interactive museum, with beautiful fishtanks, touch tanks, and amazing displays. If you're in the area, get down there. I've got a free ticket if you'd like one, too.

All in all, an amazing trip, with amazing friends and amazing meals. The weather was fantastic (that was luck - it is March, after all), and while we were sick some of the time, it wasn't that bad. It'll certainly be hard to top.

nick on TPIR

If you're somewhere where you can watch The Price Is Right today (Monday), look for the guy in the military uniform - that's Nick, a friend of mine from high school. Game show pride!

Nick's also selling his Mustang - if you're interested, leave a comment, and Nick will check it out.

Back from vacation

Back from vacation, and had a great time! More updates coming soon.

Happy pi day!

Happy pi day, one and all!

friday, barzebo, trip

Happy Friday, one and all!

It's another amazing day out there, and today's the last day before my first week-long vacation since leaving school. Except for being a bit hazy the day is perfect - around 72F, sunny and clear, and a very light breeze blowing. The weather's looking to hold for most of my trip up north, too, meaning we'll be able to get in most, if not all, of what we've got planned.

If you haven't done your taxes yet, may I highly recommend getting your refund directly deposited into your bank account. I had my state refund just 3 days after getting my paperwork signed, and my federal refund came in today, less than a week and a half later. It's a great system if you're getting money back.

We finally purchased some backyard furniture, now we just have to put it together. Pictures to come, but the name alone should amaze you and brighten up your day: Barzebo. Like I needed another excuse for a party...

Speaking of parties, the 5th annual Charity birthday Mikestravaganza is coming up Saturday, April 16. More details to come...

Have a great weekend, and look forward to some updates from the road. Cheers!

ten things I've done that you haven't

I post very few "list 10 things that..." type memes, but this one was more interesting than most. Borrowed from Joel, The object is to list ten things that you have done that you don’t think your regular readers have done. Let's see...

1. Appeared on "Wheel of Fortune" and won money.
2. Vomited in three different counties in three hours (not that I'm proud of that).
3. Appeared on stage in front of several hundred people wearing only clown pants.
4. Dressed as God (Jesus) and the devil on subsequent halloweens.
5. Have a 5-digit Slashdot ID and a 7-digit ICQ UIN.
6. Been in the first two rows to see Weird Al Yankovic - three times.
7. Shared an elevator with an angry Eric Estrada.
8. Had my name in the local newspaper more than 100 times in a year.
9. Performed weddings for three different friends.
10. Sold ice cream to Roger Ebert.

Any matches, readers? Or am I unique in the above?

dentist and norcal trip

Another dentist appointment, and another sore jaw. There very well could be more soreness when the numbness wears off; they had to keep loading me with novocaine because of the close-to-the-nerve-and-bone drilling. They also did a considerably more involved crown lengthening this time, the bloody pit around my teeth was incredible. Hopefully it won't be too bad tonight, and I'll be able to eat some semi-solid foods.

In much more pleasant news, our Northern California trip is coming together nicely. We have plans to meet with friends for just about every mealtime the whole 5 days, plus we're going to see Alcatraz, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and go hiking on the UCSC campus. I'm quite looking forward to it all. We leave Sunday, but I'll have internet access some of those days, so I'll still be in touch, and posting.

beautiful day

Holy mother of nature, I don't think I've ever seen a more beautiful day out in Southern California. Just like when meals taste better when you're hungry or have bene working hard, the warm, cloudless day outside is amazingly blue and bright after the weeks of rain and clouds. The fact that it's going to stay this way for several days is just icing on the cake. Go out and enjoy some sunshine today!

happy friday, nocal trip

Happy Friday, readers!

There are some scattered rain showers out there, but otherwise it's looking like a good weekend. Having folks over for dinner tonight, spending tomorrow either going to Temecula or to the OC Metblog meetup, then going with family tomorrow night to the Stinking Rose in Hollywood. We're also planning on going to their San Francisco location next week on our trip, so it'll be delicious to compare the two.

Speaking of that trip, here are the details: We'll be in leaving for San Francisco on Sunday the 13th, driving down to Santa Cruz monday night and staying there until the 16th, then heading down to Monterey on Wednesday the 16th for one more night before heading home. We're looking forward to good eats, seeing lots of friends, and enjoying a few days off. Our schedule is pretty full, but if you're a friend of mine reading this and want to get togther, email me and we'll see what we can do.

Where I live

This post about Orange County got me to thinking about the places I call home. I've lived in Orange County for 23 of my nearly 27 years, leaving only to attend college. I grew up in the "central" OC (Fountain Valley); a stone's throw to Santa Ana and a very short distance to parts of Westminster, Garden Grove Huntington Beach, and Costa Mesa.

As a child, I went where my parents went, so the stores and restaurants I knew were basically fairly short distances from my home, usually along Harbor Blvd and Edinger Ave. My mom didn't drive so buses got us to Huntington Center Mall pretty easily, or up Harbor to the Disneyland area. But even some nearby places were overlooked by us - we always went to South Coast Plaza via Harbor Blvd and Sunflower St., never down Edinger to Bristol (and through that part of Santa Ana). Plenty of other businesses in that direction missed us too, while others further away, but in a different direction, were our regular haunts.

This trend continued in high school - friends had cars, but we still had our same areas we frequented, and those we totally avoided for no particular reason. Instead of these areas being primarily near our homes, though, there were now places we went that were far away, and we'd do things right near those places, but nothing in between. We'd take the freeway to the Irvine Spectrum, or surface streets to a ball field in Costa Mesa, or to the beach - but we'd rarely stop at any points in the middle. Distance wasn't as important anymore; some locations 12 miles away became regular hangouts, while the greater radius of 12 miles from home was still largely unexplored.

So what's changed now? For several reasons, for much of my time since getting back from college I've lived about 6 miles east of where I grew up. It's still Orange County, and except for having some hills nearby, the stores and chain restaurants are the same. I've re-centered my radius, and most of what I do (of course) is near here. My old home turf is now a satellite location, I'll often go and do a lot of things in that area but stop at few places in between.

There are three points I meant to address here - first, there's a LOT of Orange County I'm missing out on, mostly because I don't know about it. I know about some restaurants near the Brea Mall, but the parts of Anaheim, Fullerton and La Habra between here and there are totally unknown to me. Second, what's in my backyard that I'm missing because I tend to take freeways to some places instead of side streets? What awesome hole-in-the-wall vegetarian restaurant is one block east or west of the streets I take today? Third, why am I so willing to travel 15 miles to Irvine for dinner, but would consider the same trip to Buena Park totally out of my way?

All that leads to one question - where should I go?