Kalos Calling

Last month, just a little before the younger's birthday, Pokemon GO was doing a live event near us, at the Rose Bowl. The GO Tour Kalos. Right around this time last year they'd had one, and I had been thinking of going, but by the time I looked into getting tickets, it was sold out. Since it was near the boy's birthday, I figured this would make another good present for him (and me)!!!

They had three areas, the City Center, the Coastal Research Laboratory, and Mountain Manor. This was the City Center, it had a fountain with water flowing out of the middle of a Pokeball.

There was some theming like that, and cut outs of team leaders set up around the area, but mostly the attractions were in game.

It had been raining that week, so some of the areas were a bit muddy, but it was mostly clear on that day. A really nice day to be out!!! Started out chilly (there was snow up on Mount Wilson) but warmed up as the day went on.

Most of the play area was on the surrounding golf course.

A couple of screen shots of the play area, the first showing the actual stadium...

And another on the golf course, on the other side of the river. You can see, there are a lot of gyms and stops, several of them for the event.

Did I mention the river??? It's the northern portion of the Arroyo Seco!!! Just a little north of there is the Devil's Gate reservoir, one of these days I'd like to check it out. You might be able to hike to it from where we were, but there were other activities afoot!!! I had an Ampharos as my buddy at the time, because it mega evolves, and having it as your buddy gives you more mega energy. It was a poffin day!!!

There's the cabin they had for the Mountain Manor area. When we were first there, there was a big line to go in. We had no clue what was going to be in there, so we weren't eager to get in a big line.

Later on the line was considerably shorter, and we checked it out. It was cool, but nothing that great.

The Coastal Research area had white boards and a computer terminal set up, as well as the three team color cylinders shown in an earlier picture.

Eggs in incubators, and shown on the white board here is something they were rolling out, link charges. They're used in mega raids, but I don't quite understand how they work...

And there's my Ampharos next to what appears to be a mossy lure module, it appears to be much larger than I'd pictured in person!!!

They had several things they rolled out that day, one of them was the super mega raids. You've got to have something mega evolved to get through the shields to defeat them, and the 'mon you catch after has a fourth level of mega evolution that you can achieve. We only did one super mega raid for a Gardevoir, which I didn't have the required amount of mega energy for it yet. I took this screen shot of the waiting queue for it, with 796 participants!!! It wasn't hard to do with that many, but they rolled out the Dragonite mega evolution afterwards, and we were unable to defeat the super mega raid with our normal wrecking crew of 4.

Another of the debuts on this day was the shiny Honedge. We did several raids (the pass we bought came with several passes, I'm not sure exactly how many, but we ran through them all!!!) and both got our shinies. Also pictured, one of the other things they've added recently is backgrounds (that only show in your own game, so...) and for the event, you could get some with the Los Angeles skyline as a background!!! Looks great!!!

Another one that we did a few raids of was the Yveltal, and the first one I got a shiny!!!

Caught in the wild was a shiny Pancham, and since it's kind of that color, I've renamed it Tancham!!!

Two mega evolutions were also debuted, one of them was the Malamar. I had a shiny Inkay already, but during one of the raids I caught a shiny Malamar.

The other mega evolution released was for Victreebel, another one that I already had a shiny of. I think I got another.

Another wild catch, a shiny Skiddo!!! Don't see many of the non shiny ones even, so this is pretty cool!!!

Another thing they were doing for the event, there were various stops with different trims of Furfrou that you usually can't get in our area. While you're near them, you can get the trims. I had two shiny Furfrous, and while we were there I caught two more!!! I was able to trim all the shinies with trims not normally available. One of the tasks that came with the ticket was to visit all the various trim stops, in a specific order. Hadn't picked up on that at first, so we ended up doing a little more walking than we would have!!! I applied the Kabuki trim to the first shiny Furfrou I'd caught!!!

A Look Back Recap

Here's some of what has happened recently!!!

Years ago, the boys had been sledding down into the canyon. A few weeks ago I was out doing some yard work, and a trio of neighborhood kids showed up with a sled of their own and did some of their own sledding!!! Nice to see area kids still getting up to outdoor hijinks!!! I didn't take a follow up picture of the unceremonious dismount...

Back in December the younger and I had gone down and visited my mom around Christmas. My sister and her youngest son also came down, and we all met up at the John's Incredible Pizza near where my mom lives. My wife wasn't feeling well, we'd all been off and on sick during that time. My cough came back and hung on for a month or so after, but when we were all feeling better, I wanted to go visit my mom again. Surrogate came along, as well. Haven't made mention, but the restaurant Stacked that we'd been to a few times didn't survive the stupid times, but while we've been in the area my mom lives, I've searched restaurants in the area, and turns out not far away there's another Stacked!!! Naturally, that's where we went!!!

They've done away with the “order on an Ipad” gimmick, but you can still craft your burger to order. I've mentioned that I'll almost always make one with sauteed onions and bleu cheese, and there was a burger close to that already on the menu, for less than I could have one built for, including bacon. I had to specify sauteed onions instead of the raw it came with, and added garlic aioli, and it came out great!!! I also like the building better, as well, it has the same look as the one we used to go to, but the windows towards the street are able to completely roll up for a fresh air dining experience, and the weather couldn't have been more perfect!!! Photos came up with a look back collage of our visit, and Halloween 2015!!!

I did a whole post that was mostly about how the driver's side headlight on Kutcher has always given me trouble. At that time, I had gotten a socket that was touted as high temperature. Back in January, it happened again!!! I found out that there were some places that make ceramic sockets, so I ordered one, and got it going again. Not long after that, the headlight bulb itself burned out!!! Bought a replacement bulb, and took care of it yet again... for now (Jinx!!!)

Oh yeah, there's a shot of the new battery...

A friend of mine had bought his car with LED headlight bulbs installed, and a little after I'd replaced the socket, then the bulb on Kutcher, one of his had burnt out. He asked me if I could help him out with it, and I bought him a new set of bulbs and helped him install them. His high beam bulbs were still conventional halogen bulbs, and the set I bought had replacements for both, so I told him my tax for helping him was I got to keep the bulbs that still worked. Shortly after that, the driving light on the driver's side of Kutcher went out again. The lens has a small hole cracked through it, and it had rained, and I theorize that when it rains, cold water will splash on the hot bulb and break it. Anyway, the one low beam LED bulb I'd removed matched the driving light bulb, so it's now in there!!! Of course, it has kind of a bluish cast, while all the other three lights have the yellowish halogen cast, so it's an odd one out. One of these days, I'll get those yellow driving lights installed!!!

My wife had suggested going back to Pie 'N Burger again. Apparently, it is now our just after Valentine's Day tradition!!! They've got a lot of items with chili on it on the menu, and we hadn't tried it last time, so this time I upped my fries to chili cheese fries. It was OK, but I wouldn't recommend them for their chili!!!

We split a slice of peach crumble pie for dessert. Go there for the pie!!!

I had mentioned that one of the pumps at the local Arco had caught on fire last year. They still haven't replaced the pump, or done much with the awnings. They've got the pump boxed off, and it's been tagged up,

I had made mention that the new phone holder in Kutcher had some issue rotating out of the proper position, and I'd put in on the forward part of the center console, with the arm pretty much straight up, and that had done the trick. A few weeks ago, the suction cup came off, and I'd stuck it back. It didn't stay, so I pulled it out, gave it a good cleaning, and it held for a week, then was falling off again. Time to go to the drawing board... I took the arm portion from the previous one (it has the same ball mount for the holder part) and made up a piece of plastic with a little portion that came out, that I could mount to one of the bolts holding the center console down. It worked, but it was close to the emergency brake handle so you had to pull it up with a finger or two, and the phone was almost laying flat.

It kind of worked, but really not acceptable. I bent up a steel angle that would mount to two of the center console bolts, and used the same plastic base to mount it to the upright. Fairly solid, and a lot closer to where it should be!!! I may take it back to the drawing board again, and rotate the base a little farther back. Shouldn't be difficult.

Had the younger's birthday get together last weekend. It was pretty cool, we went on a short neighborhood walk, they played on the swing across the street, and played a little basketball (horse). I didn't get many pictures, and most of the outdoor ones didn't come out good because it was dark out. Here he is in a shirt my wife got him, after he opened the cologne I got him. He's said for years that he'd like to get cologne that smells of petrichor, the smell after it rains, and I found some!!!

A few weeks ago, they did another rocket launch from Vandenberg, and somehow it left this crazy looking contrail!!!

A few weeks ago we'd gone to Goodwill again, I forget what even for, but I found another shirt!!! It was the sale of the day tag, and my size, and in an underrepresented color!!! Interesting, the DeLorean pictured is unmodified!!! I took the picture here with the cam in my computer, possibly the first time I've ever used it for a picture!!!

I had seen this new Mountain Dew flavor, Baja Cabo Citrus, a few weeks before, but didn't buy it. When I was getting supplies for the boy's birthday, I picked some up. It's pretty good, the flavor makes me think it's heavily tangerine.

How I Spent My Birthday

I've mentioned before, back when I started at my job they used to give you your birthday off, or a day near it. It was only a few years in that they did away with that, but gave us an extra day off. I've kept the tradition!!!

One of my favorite things to do, that I don't actually do very often, is to go to the beach. My younger as well enjoys it, and recently he's gone with some of his friends.

Here's a place that I've known of for just about most of my life, the beaches of Alamitos Bay in Long Beach. My dad would take his boats down there and launch them near Marine Stadium for whatever excursion we embarked upon, and I had an Aqua Cat catamaran that we would put in the back of my parents' station wagon or truck, disassembled, and set up on the shore of the beaches nearest the isthmus between it and the beach of Long Beach harbor. Also had been to Mother's Beach, just down from Marine Stadium, a few times.

I generally prefer an actual ocean facing beach with surf. This area is blocked by the breakwater of Long Beach harbor, and is even further back than that, so there's nearly no surf. The area his friend likes is called Horny Corner. I've heard that it was originally Hornay Corner, after Belmont Shores developer Thomas Hornay. Who knows, but you know a name like that is going to stick!!!

Another thing I'm not a fan of is the parking situation in the area. Belmont Shores is notoriously bad for parking, but on a weekday we were able to find street parking with no problem. We set up on the beach, then mostly soaked in the water for most of the time we were there!!! When we were getting ready to depart, we discussed how we were going to do it. The boy was thinking he could stay with the stuff, and we could take turns going to the showers a short way down and changing in the restrooms. I said we could just take the whole bag and both change, then get our beach chairs on the way back. We changed, then headed back on the sidewalk to keep from sanding up our shoes, made it most of the way back to the car, and remembered we'd forgotten to get the chairs!!! For the record, I saw nothing that made me especially horny at Horny Corner.

Afterwards we got some lunch at Taco Bell, where I had just heard they have a $7 Luxe Cravings box with a chalupa, double decker taco supreme, and 7-layer beefy burrito, plus chips and cheese and a drink. A lot of food for a little money!!!

In addition to all that, a few days previous we got together for a celebration at my mom's house. My sister's birthday and mine are only a couple weeks apart, so we nearly always anymore observe them both on the same day. Sometimes barbecue, sometimes out to eat, this time pizzas and sides, as well as some soak time in her pool. I had mentioned German Black Forest cake, and my wife found a recipe for Black Forest brownies!!! They were a big hit!!!

Bold and Brash

A few months ago while we were out for a walk, the younger and I came across one of those interesting "trash man, take this or if anyone wants any of this *almost too good to throw out" piles. I stopped down to inspect if there was anything I wanted, and the boy spotted this artwork. He laughed, but I had no idea what it was, so he explained. It was a painting that Squidward had done on an episode of Spongebob. It had been raining earlier, and it was a little warped. He took it, and when we got it home I placed it under a couple of cinder blocks to straighten it out.

Fast forward a while, and I discovered it just before his birthday. Mom had several other things she had gotten for him that was going in a gift bag, so I had her wrap it in some tissue and include it. I think all his friends got it, too, and I had them re-enact the scene!!!

The whole thing is pretty good (except for them starting before the video was rolling) but my favorite part may be his friend in the background!!!

Legen - Wait for It - Dary!!!

A while ago they released daily incense in Pokemon GO. Every day, you get an incense that lasts for 15 minutes, and is most effective while you're walking, and it gives you a summary of what you've caught with it at the end. Most of the Pokemon that spawn are rather pedestrian, but they have introduced the Galarian forms of Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres!!!

These will sometimes appear while using your daily incense. While I've been using the daily incense, I've had probably a dozen or more encounters with these legendary birds, but hadn't caught a one, as they have a near 100% flee rate. My son, however, has gone months without a single sighting!!!

Another even more recent introduction is Master Balls, that have a guaranteed catch, and as it turns out, a rather intricate animation when you use it. Towards the beginning of this month, after I had attained one of these Master Balls, I get a Galarian Moltres while using my daily incense, and used it to catch it. Predictably, it has a most unimpressive rating, but finally got one!!!

A week ago, on my new weekday day off (I'm back on a weekend shift!!!) we're having Birthday get together at my mom's house for my sister and I. After we've eaten and had lush (a few years ago my wife found a recipe of lush, which everyone agrees is better than cake) my younger boy and I decide to go on a walk at the park by the house. As we go, naturally we've got our daily incense going. As we go along, my son has his first Legendary bird encounter, Articuno!!! He's heard a method, where you throw 20 ultra balls, and it'll increase your odds of getting a successful catch. I've tried a few times, and it hasn't helped. He tries, and the first one he throws after the 20 (along with a golden razz) it breaks out, and flees. As expected. He's not especially disappointed, the one he wanted is Zapdos. We proceed on. A couple minutes later, he gets another Articuno!!! We've never heard of two on a single incense, this seems like a glitch, but he tries the 20 baller again, with the same results. A minute later, he gets a third Articuno!!! Certainly unprecedented at this point!!! Again, it flees.

A few minutes later, the unbelievable occurs, he gets his fourth legendary, this time the coveted Zapdos!!! No escape this time, he uses his Master Ball, and he's got his Galarian Zapdos!!!

My son has named several of his favorite 'mons after foods. Naturally, he's named his Zapdos Orange Chicken, because it really looks like one!!! In honor of his Zapdos, we got Panda Express the next day!!!

Birthday Delay

It's been more than a month since the younger's birthday. He was planning on inviting a bunch of friends over, and hanging out, mostly on the back patio. However, it has been one of the wettest winters in recent memory.

Coming up to the date he'd scheduled, it was going to be non stop buckets of rain that weekend. He let everyone know it was scrubbed, to be rescheduled on a future date. Furthermore, my wife had another surgery coming up, just a few days after the actual date.

Prior to the surgery, the hospital, in keeping up with the covid theater, required my wife to get tested, then isolate, along with the rest of the family until she went in. Not wanting the milestone to go unacknowledged, my wife got a cake mix and made up a cake. It's been a while, but I dusted off my decorating skills. He wanted his alter ego, Catnip, on the cake.

I added the medallion around his neck, because it was yellow cake, get it??? I put his new age in his favorite color, and had a lot of orange left, so I added radiation waves. I know, they are traditionally green, but who's to say they're not orange???

We gave him his gifts. I think it was last year we got him the game, 'Binding of Isaac: Four Souls”, and he's already gotten a couple of expansion packs, and we got him another one. Got him the funny cat shirt, also in his favorite color.

He also wanted this nine tailed fox necktie, and my wife found this other cool shirt.

Since there's been a fairly lengthy recovery going on, the reschedule hasn't occurred yet. More birthday to come!!!

Snow More

Here's what is apparently a once every 15 years event!!!

This was a couple of days ago. There was a storm system coming in, a cold one with a lot of moisture.

They were saying up to an inch of rain in an hour, and snow levels down to 1,500 feet.

I was telling the family that there was probably a chance of getting a bit of snow in our area. On Thursday, I was making my lunch, and looked out the window, and almost couldn't wrap my head around what I was seeing, even though I'd predicted it myself!!!

My son and I went out and took some pictures. It was pretty wet, and it may have even been sleet, but it sure looked like snow to me!!!

I was out getting some groceries and my son's birthday feast (Oinkster!!!) today, and got a shot of the low snow levels on the mountains!!!