I had a crazy animal week including seeing some rare birds. We have over 100 black widows in my front yard right now. I stopped counting at 80 that I'd killed. Never seen anything like it. There have also been serious beetle and moth infestations all over San Diego. Here's some photos all from this last week.
Well, I've planned my Spring Vacation, and I have to say I'm very excited. The missus and I are renting this for a week:
First, we will be going to Disneyland for her Birthday. That night we will go stay with her Aunt and Uncle to sample their extensive Scotch Collection. Then we leave the next morning for an 8 hour ride out to Bisbee, Arizona to stay at The Shady Dell in this 1947 Airporter Bus that has been converted to a Polynesian Palace.
It's a trailer park with all the trailers being from the 40s and 50s. Check out the link above.
From there we head up to the Grand Canyon which neither of us have seen before. Then stay the night in Flagstaff, AZ which is supposed to be beautiful. Then we're off to Southern Utah into the red rock country which is one of my favorite parts of these here states. For the last day of the journey, we come home through Vegas.
Anyone else traveled these parts? Anything I shouldn't miss while I'm out there?
It was 70-some degrees yeterday, and my red Jesus candle overflowed. I like the effect. It can be recreated by burning the candle 1/3 of the way down, filling with water, and leaving it out in the sun.
Here's mine from the Carving Party in my hood last night. Anyone else feel like sharing?
My intention with this one was the Dude, but it unfortunately needs the description. I don't think it conveys the dude on it's own. Maybe I'll try again. I like it regardless.
Last weekend I happened upon an RC drift car race. I never knew this existed. I love cars, driving, racing, and drifting. Somehow I knew this was going to be my next hobby. So... here's my new car I bought used yesterday as my annual irrational birthday purchase. My car isn't set up for drifting yet, it still needs some home-made tires, a lcokable rear differential, and some suspension tuning. The car is all wheel drive and does in the 40-45 mph range. I heard the speed record for a 1:10 scale car is 130mph.
I'd recommend turning the crappy music off if you choose to watch this example of the sport. Anyone else find any of this appealing, or am I geeking out by myself here? There must be some Initial D fans among you.
This Wednesday the 20th through Monday the 25th. I will be staying with Ben and Kim. I don't have any plans at this point except to have fun. If anyone feels like helping me do this or knows of fun things to do while I'm out there, let me know.
I know this happens all the time, but this one is bugging the hell out of me. I spent my awkward adolescence in a very conservative place called Coronado, which is a small Island off of downtown San Diego. Coronado has the reputation of having bored cops with nothing better to do than pester people they don't like, and also as a place to send cops that need to cool off a little. I got 4 tickets in the 2 years that I drove there. I've had 1 ticket in the 8 years since then.
Yesterday, an off-duty cop from Coronado was in San Diego (out of his jurisdiction) and took it upon himself to follow San Diego starting linebacker Steve Foley 20 minutes home due to driving 90 on the freeway. The officer was out of uniform and in his own vehicle. He tried to pull Foley over a few times. Would you pull over for an unmarked car, especially if you were a bit of a celebrity? When they finally reached Foley's house, the officer said that Foley reached for his waistband, so the cop shot him 6 times. The few articles I can find on it, spin it towards the officer's side, which may be a possibility, but from what I know about Coronado cops, I'm extremely skeptical.
I spent two years doing all the photo developing for the San Diego Crime Lab. Police shootings go on all the time, and are very seldomly reported. I saw a 13 year old kid with 26 bullets in him. There was a legendary homeless man here that was shot because he had a stick that looked like a gun.
Does this happen in your neck of the woods, or is it just a southern California thing?
I had an intentionally rude phone call at work... I can't believe people still do this in the age of caller ID. Anywho.... here's the number: 6 1 9 7 2 9 1 1 4 8
I would encourage any type of malicious intentions, late night tomfoolery, or drunken man on man affection be taken out here. Maybe there is some way we can compile a list of these for reference when the urge strikes. Maybe one already exists.
I'm obsessed with the new Cheddar Jalapeno Cheetos. I don't drink soda, I rarely buy junk food, and generally eat pretty well. Until now. When I find some of these at a store I will buy three packages. I don't know what it is about these flourescent spicy cheese puffs that makes me go crazy. It must be something similar to the Colonel, with his wee beady eyes, that puts a secret ingredient in his chicken that makes you crave it fortnightly. Am I alone here?
This was one of the best shows I have been to in a long time. A bit on the artsy side. Excellent visuals and great, great music. If these guys come through town, I would recommend seeing them. Great show for stoners. Here's a YSI: the books
About a year and a half ago, Costco discontinued the socks I've been buying for the last 20 years. Nothing fancy, just an all cotton white crew sock. They've since replaced the all cotton with some sort of advanced technology poly-something-or-other material. They make my feet sweat, and I can't stand them. Furthermore, they also discontinued my favorite brand of no-show socks. These steadfast little puppies fit exactly under the line of my low top chucks, and never fell down. Gold toe was the brand. I've been searching high and low for suitable replacements, but to no avail. Anyone out there have socks in either of these categories they are happy with? This last weekend, I found a few pairs of the brand new cotton jobbies while cleaning out my mom's old house. Jackpot. But the end is in sight. All my other pairs are soon going to be more holes than socks. Anyone?
I don't earn much and I don't spend much, and to a certain extent I fell like I live pretty well. I rent a nice house, have too many vehicles and most of the toys I want. I don't have any aspirations to be rich or have a family. To what do I attribute this small scale success? Burritos. I don't fully expect people outside of California to understand this. I have had mexican food in other areas, and I feel sorry for the people who consider it to be mexican food. In San Diego there are more taquerias than all the fast food joints together. As an aside, did you know that there are 51 radio shacks to every 49 McDonalds in the US? That figure was from a few years ago. Anywho... so there are a lot of taco shops here. A burrito here costs on average about $3.50. After years of looking for the better burritos at the better prices, I've worked that number down to about $3. One burrito is filling, satisfying, and fairly complete in the nutritional sense. I usually have a paid lunch at the scooter shop. Considering that we as humans and americans consume far more calories than needed, I figure I can live on one burrito a day. This works out to $3 a day in food costs. It also saves me a lot of time by not grocery shopping or cooking. This leaves me more time to spend doing inane things like write about burritos. Now we have the base for my economic plan. Whenever I am considering a large purchase, I have a tangible basis to equate the cost to. A $100 purchase on something not necessarily needed is easy to make, especially when I know I can put it on my credit card. $100 divided by $3 is 33.3 burritos. That's enough to live for a month! How about financing a $17,000 car? After the financing charges, that works out to be about $22,000. I opted for the extremely reliable used mazda for $3500. That saved $18,500 which equates to 6166 burritos on which I could live for almost 17 years. Maybe I'm just crazy for burritos.
Here's a song list from a CD comp I made recently of essential garage classics. Nothing pro, just for the enjoyment of my friends. Some are staples of the genre, and others are personal favs, mostly from the 60's. I consume new music too quickly, so I like to share when I come across something I enjoy. More than a few of these came from the "Nuggets" compilations. I haven't gotten into the later garage revivals yet, as I like to go through these things chronologically. If you are interested in things like this, let me know, and I will post other lists in the future. Any of you other heads out there have this same music disease? What have you been into lately? Smooches... -Max
The Barracudas - Not Fade Away
Beau Brummels - Just a Little
The Count Five - Psychotic reaction
The Electric Prunes - Get me to the World on Time
The Eyes - I'm Rowed Out
The Gories - I Got Eyes for You
The Groupies - Primitive
The Hombres - Let it all Hang Out
Josef K - Fun N' Frenzy
The Knaves - Leave Me Alone
The Monks - Complication
The Moving Sidewalks - You Make Me Shake
Music Machine - Talk Talk
The Nerves - Hanging on the Telephone
The Outcasts - I'm in Pittsburgh
The Plague - Big City
The Plague - Go Away
The Seeds - It's a Hard Life
The Seeds - Pushing Too Hard
Shadows of Knight - Gloria
The Sonics - The Witch
The Standells - Dirty Water
The Yardbirds - Baby Please Don't Go
