Looking Back: The Christmas Party

I've got a big ole' backlog of things I could post about!!! I was planning on sitting down and posting about our actual Christmas, but scrolling back through the pictures, I came across some of these, and did a course correction!!! Maybe I'll get to that one eventually, but until then, here's what I've got!!!

Last year, the company had their 'Holiday Party' at one of my favorite buildings, the Westin Bonaventure!!! They had Christmas lights strung up around the tops of the cylinders, very festive!!!

It had been raining, the start of what has shaped up to be a very wet winter, and it was chilly outside.

Got to see a lot of my friends who are still in the warehouse, and a lot of the office crew. It's always nice to see the people I haven't seen in a while!!!

Of course, you can't go to the Bonaventure and not take the epic elevators for a spin!!! The ballroom floor, where the party was being held, doesn't have any elevator stops, so we had to go down a level to catch them.

In the name of security, these days you have to have a room key to get higher than the first few floors. As luck would have it, we caught a ride with someone who did!!! Took it all the way to the top, and got to see the lights up close!!!

On the way out, we went by a wall that had several of the movies that had been filmed there featured.

Good times!!!

Interior Design

Welcome to the day after Christmas post!!! What a Christmas it was!!! I don't think I've posted about it here, but around the time we were swapping engines, my mom ended up having to go into the hospital. From around the time my father died, she had been having quite a bit of pain in her hip. Turned out to be pseudogout, and she had surgery for it. While she was in a rehab place, her implanted defibulator went off, and after that they didn't want her going home unless there was someone else there. I asked my first born if he thought he could handle it, and he's been living with her ever since!!! She says he takes very good care of her, and he's always cooking something fancy up. Anyway, we'd had Thanksgiving at her house, and that was overwhelming for her, so she wanted to come to our house for Christmas. My sister and her son also came, as well as my wife's uncle. Said uncle and I were out on the back patio when my mom and firstborn showed up, and we were heading down to give her a hand up to the house, as the street is sloped, and then there's the stairs. While we were on the way down, she got out of the car, and promptly fell over!!! Got her up, cleaned off the pine needles and detrius, and got her an ice pack. Apparently, she's doing much better today. Later on in the afternoon, the cat attacked my nephew and sister!!! My first born ended up getting a long scratch down the length of his arm while breaking up the attack, then, appalled at the state of the cabinet under the sink while my wife searched for gauze, re-organized that!!!

But back to Christmas and the topic at hand for this post. The younger had been mentioning that he'd like to get a New California Republic flag from the Fallout game series. I picked up on that, and had one thing to get for him for Christmas. We hung it in his room that very day.

And, while on the topic of hanging things up, at the same time I went ahead and hung up this tapestry he'd come across back before his last birthday, which we got for him back then. I knew I had a box of screw in hooks, but I couldn't locate where they'd gotten off to!!! Bought another box, and a week or two later, I came across some loops with clips on 'em, which I thought would work out good for hanging it. That was a long time coming!!! I'd actually written it down on a list of things to do after I got off work, along with painting the front steps that I recently had replaced, just a couple of weeks ago.

I was trying to get a picture with them in it, but they were showing up as white when I tried. Last year for Christmas we'd gotten him an LED rope light that you can adjust the color by remote with. Orange is his favorite color, so that's the color he almost always has it on. Originally, we'd stuck it to the celieng with the enclosed adhesive squares, but that lasted less than a week. That's where the first box of hooks came in, screwed several in, and have the rope swagged around the room with them. It makes the tapestry look pretty nice!!!

One of his friends had visited, and noting that his room is the only one with the wood paneled walls, that it's like a man cave!!! Got manny in there, too!!!

I'm Dreaming of a Hillbilly Christmas

The day after Thanksgiving I set up the outdoor Christmas decorations. Previous years, I've had Christmas lights, starting soon after we'd moved in with strings of incandescant lights. I bought a few strings, and later found some true vintage ones that came with the house. In the last 5 or 6 years, I replaced those with LED lights. The last couple of years, I hadn't been able to find them, since the firstborn moved into the basement and moved a lot of stuff around. Last year I picked up a laser pattern projector for a very reasonable price. It's a great little device, easy to set up and makes a good look.

Right before Thanksgiving, one of my co-workers had their Christmas tree set up in the background in one of our video meetings. It got a little attention, and got me to thinking... I've got my workspace set up in the corner, one of the best seats in the house, with windows to my left and behind me. I could do some decoraton behind myself, some lights or garland or possibly a wreath, but there's no way I could set up a Christmas tree. Or is there??? The wheels began to turn...

We have aluminum awinings over the windows, and we have a fairly campy and hideous pink artifical tree. A few years back, we replaced pinky with a white one to work with the color wheel that was also in the basement that came with the house. It's fairly lightweight. I took some bailing wire and wrapped it around the upper part of the tree, and suspended it from the awining, just over my left shoulder while I'm working. The second picture, you can see some of the laser projections on the house.

I also bought another string of lights, solar powered LED with a remote, that I used on the tree, as well as about half of the awning along the front. I set the solar panel up on a board under the air conditiong unit for now. I may just keep the lights on the awinings permanent, and if I do, I'll make up a better mount. I'm not sure if I will, the remote doesn't work very well.

When we have our morninig huddle, it's still dark out, so I can turn the lights on for it. It shows up nice in the afternoons on the video, too. My co-workers have voiced their approvoal, and I'm pleased with the way it came out. From the outside of the house, though, I have a feeling it may look more than a little bizzare to passerby!!!

Yule Do Over

Remember two years back when the company had the Christmas Party at Universal Studios??? Apparently, it was so well received that it was deemed worthy of doing it again!!! Two years back, I took the day off so we could spend some time at the park before the party started. This year, when they were distributing the tickets, they tell me, "Oh, you do the Saturday shift, right??? This year, for your crew, we're giving out the wristbands, and instead of passes for that day, here's a pair that are good until the end of the year!!!" Cool!!!

So, after I got off work that day, came home and got changed, then my wife and I headed over there. It was a good time again, tasty English style foods, and all the butterbeer you can drink!!! Two years back, when we were on the way out, I grabbed a bottle of the pumpkin juice drink they had there, and brought it home for the younger. He liked it, and asked us to try and get some more. Got two!!!

So, most of the year since the announcement, the younger has been bemoaning that he's never even been to Harry Potter land. Since I had separate wristbands and passes, a plan forms...

I took the Thursday before Christmas off, and the boy and I went!!! It was a good time, and while we were there, we both played Pokemon Go a good amount!!! At the time I had a Bulbasaur as my buddy, and there he is!!! He caught a shiny Charmander, so that was cool. We, and several others, did a 5-star raid, and got a Virizion, my highest one.

The first thing we did was hit the Harry Potter ride. We used the single rider line, and the wait wasn't too bad at all. Got some butterbeer afterwards, and found out that all the butterbeer I'd gotten for free was pretty expensive if you were to pay for it!!!

Went to the Simpson's area, and got a shot of Homer and Marge from behind from inside the shop we were in. Surprise, they were out of "Bort" license plates!!!

We headed down to the lower lot, the only area with anything approximating a proper roller coaster, the mummy coaster. Just as we got to the entrance, out of it comes the mummy himself, flanked by two very tall acolytes or priests-priestesses!!! The female one stopped by my boy and was petting his head!!! Then we posed for a picture with them all.

Also down in that area are the Jurassic Park ride, and the Transformers ride. They have recently redone the Jurassic Park ride, but it's one of those where you will likely get wet, and being on the chilly side, we had no interest in doing that!!!

We had never been on the Transformers ride, though, so we went over to check that out. Single rider line again, with a very short wait time. and it's a pretty good ride. However, close to the end of the ride, it broke down. It wasn't that long of a break down, but I did get a chance to take a couple of pictures!!!

On the way out, they gave us a couple of passes to go on the ride again in compensation. We went over and went through the Jurassic Park gift shop, then doubled back and went on the Transformers ride again, before heading back up.

The plan was to go on the tram tour, but we had just missed the last one for the day, so we went on the Simpsons ride, which had the longest wait of any of the rides we went on!!!

We'd gone to the Waterworld stunt show earlier on in the day, always entertaining.

I like the way the arch lines up with my head in this shot!!!

Headed back to Harry Potter land, where they were now restricting people going into the area. Not long after they had their Holiday display light show, projected on Hogwart's.

We had noticed the flare of fire coming out of the chimney before, and finally figured out that there's a spot where you can use your fancy new wand to cause it to do so. Went on the Harry Potter ride one more time, and the boy bought himself a good looking Hufflepuff watch.

Back in the Simpson's area, there's Luigi's Pizzeria, and the boy was interested in getting a slice. They have good sized slices, but they were almost $10 for a slice!!! I averred that for less than that, we could get a whole pizza. He made mention of that garlic knots pizza, so we ordered that on the way home to cap off the day. Here I am in the shirt I'd worn all day, one of my recent acquisitions, that depicts an alien eating pizza!!!

Wild Snorlax Hunt

A great many things have happened. There were a couple of trips to Universal Studios, Christmas, Gravy day, and a radiator. I'm going to go with this, though.

In the middle of November, my younger boy wanted me to sign up for Pokemon Go, so he could friend me for one of his achievements. OK, I can do that. I don't know how much I'll do beyond that.

Well, I did, and I've taken to it some!!! Here I am, after I'd taken over my first local gym, and my Tauros was shown over it.

And there I am, after I'd defeated a Team Rocket Grunt. Yes, digital blackface. I like the look. Oh yeah, I've swapped out my original hat for a winter time beanie.

And there the boy and I are, getting ready to do a raid.

Last Friday, we were down at my parents house to celebrate Christmas with the extended family. My nephew was there, and he was asking my son if he was going to call his companion Pokemon "Little Catnip", so I renamed mine "Lil Irv"!!! There he is!!! I looked around, and saw there was going to be a raid going on at the park near there, and asked my son if he wanted to go. Just before we left, he looked around and saw there was a Snorlax at the Pokestop along the San Gabriel River bike path behind my parents' house. He really wants to get a Snorlax, as well as a shiny Evee.

OK, we'll try and get over there and get us some Snorlax action!!! We drove over to a far corner of the park, then walked past the golf course, across the river to the bike path, down to where another river joins, and across a bridge and down some from there.

It was quite a bit farther than I'd remembered!!! I'd guess we probably went at least a mile and a half one way. As a youngster, I'd used to ride my bike down there with my friends, and I related some of the stories as we made our way.

It was really getting to be the Golden Hour as we were working our way down, and we got some great pictures!!!

Of course, by the time we got there, there was no Snorlax to be seen. Oh well, we got to spend some time together, take some pictures, and do some father-son bonding!!!

Never got to do the raid, either. Ah well. Good times!!!

Season-Spanner

Here's my latest card artwork progression!!!

For the Halloween season, I'd had a card with an eyeball flying across the board, trailing the severed optic nerve with a few droplets of blood, which I've used for two or three seasons so far. It was time for something new. I've also got one I've used for several years of Jack Skellington in his Santa suit holding up a present, with the caption "This year, Christmas will be OURS!!!" that I've used for Christmas. Thought I'd do another one, this time with Jack and Sally.

It came out pretty good!!! I added in the brambles along the bottom of the moon, and more landscape detail, as well as a few clouds. Of course, I'd been searching web images to try and get it right, and I'd come across one that was the moon, with a couple clouds forming Jack's face. That was my original plan, emulate that style, only with Jack and Sally in the foreground.

I stopped short of doing that, but of course, it's always an option to update it later!!!

I figure I can use it from Halloween to Christmas!!!

More Car Stuff

Here's a couple of the things I've been up to. Finally made some progress on getting a bit more black paint on Scruffy. After I got my gravy (a new record amount!) I went to Home Depot for some interior paint and spray black paint.

I was mostly wanting to get the hood painted, as it was the only panel of a completely different color. There were a few scratches to fill. While I was at it, I did the front bumper and the passenger side fender. I guess the front bumper had some different color, too, where scrapes had been painted over by the previous owner. The first round came out fairly terrible, I got a lot of runs. Lord help me, I'm just not that good at spray painting! The bumper and fender came out pretty good, but the hood didn't get the satin look. Looks like straight flat black. Still better than it was. You can see I had the trim over the window on that side off for painting, but I cracked the plastic on the next one back. I epoxied it back together, and it still needs to be sanded.

Onto Jade, I bought my wife a new stereo for her for Christmas. Tried to get the same one that I'd gotten for Scruffy, but apparently it's no longer available. Had to go up several model numbers, and it seems very similar. A few minor moves of the buttons and a smooth knob are all I can see that's different.

For the first time, I got a plug in wiring harness adapter. I was able to do all my soldering and shrink tubing at the kitchen table, a real plus this time of year with it getting dark so early. Worked flawlessly! All in all, the installation went fairly smoothly.

She loves being able to play music from her phone through it, and the customizable lighting! Purple, of course!

And finally, something my wife got for me for Christmas, new floor mats for Scruffy! They're cut to size, and I think they may be the best I've ever gotten! A few cuts, and they fit right in and lay nice and flat, and stay put!

Yule '17

Many days pass away, as always busy as can be at this time of year. Here's a little recap!!!

Started the month off with the company Christmas party. Since the year we had it under the shuttle at the Science Center, it's been the tradition to have every other year at some sort of destination. This year was at Harry Potter land in Universal Studios!!!

That was a lot of fun, first time I've been to Universal out here since they put in Harry Potter, and a lot of other stuff. I'm pretty sure it was 2008 last time I was there. Only time I'd been on the Harry Potter ride was last time we were in Florida, and it was real soon after it had opened, and it was a zoo!!! Don't know if I ever posted about that, we had been staying at the Nickelodeon resort, and had been to one of the two Universal parks there the day before. My wife and the younger boy wanted to take a day off and just stay at the hotel that day, so only the firstborn and I went to that park. Besides the ridiculous crowds in that area, a couple things I remember were the Jurassic Park themed area with water cannons shaped like velociraptor heads, and some indoor area where a bunch of foreign kids laid down for their siesta. But I digress.

My wife doesn't get around walking for any length of time so well these days, so we rented her a wheelchair after we'd walked the half mile or so down City Walk to get in the park. Asked them about returning it after hours, you know, like when the rest of the park is closed and it's just the company party until late. "Oh, no problem, we'll have someone there" they said. You can guess how that went. I wandered deep into the bowels of that area, and when we finally got someone over there, they had issues getting the register back open.

I went on the Harry Potter ride, which was pretty much a walk on with such a reduced amount of people there. Got up to the first projection dome, and the ride broke down!!! Started back up a couple minutes later, but the video for that part didn't go, so we were shaking around and the audio was going, but no visual. On the way out, they directed us to a short cut if we wanted to go again. Three of the four of us who'd been on with me (all bin fillers!!!) did it.

Since I've got a troll living in my basement now, a lot of the stuff down there has been moved around. I'd seen these before, but never set them up. Vintage Christmas decorations, Santa and his reindeer!!! Well, 8 of 9 anyway.

This year I strung my lights to a pole, something I'd done years ago, again, simulating a Christmas tree. I also finally got rid of all the old incandescent Christmas lights I had knocking around which I haven't used in probably 5 years or more, replaced by LED lights. Oh yea, there's a vintage color wheel down there I'd been seeing the box for for years, finally dragged it out and replaced the heat lamp with an LED bulb, and picked up a white tree to change from the super campy pink tree we've been using for years, and used it with the wheel. It's different, kinda nice for a change. That, as well as Christmas morning, I've got on my DSLR card, I'll unload at some point.

Then there was the annual announcement of the profit sharing (480%, very good, and word is next year should be good, too) goody day, and profit sharing distribution day. Should I say here that, with that very generous profit sharing, this is my first year breaking six figures??? Might as well, I don't think hardly anyone reads this. Comment if you do!!!

Just like the end of last year, I'm hearing a lot of people complaining about what a terrible year 2017 has been. I don't get it. Worst I can say about it was I had a few people I know passed.

On Christmas Eve we went to John's Incredible Pizza. They were having a deal, and it was as empty as I've ever seen it!!! They had this cheese bread which was basically pizza crust with cheese. My childhood friend Sean had been sensitive to tomato sauce, claimed it was too spicy for him, so he'd always order pizza with no sauce. In fact, around a week before I heard about his death, my younger was saying how he was one of the most sensitive to spicy food people, and I regaled him with tales of Sean and his sauceless pizzas. At the celebration for Sean, one of the guys who spoke of how he'd order pizza, so on into his forties he was still having it that way!!! Of course, I had to have a slice of their "cheese bread" in his memory.

Last Saturday, Alt 98.7 was doing a meet and greet at a T-Mobil store over on Whittier Boulevard, with Ravey from The Woody Show meeting the plebs. It was 2 till 4, and I am out of work at 3:30 on Saturdays, and it's about halfway between work and home, so I was able to go over and visit. I like all the guys on the show, but after meeting and getting to talk to Ravey in person for a bit, I like her even better now!!! She's cool. Never made a post on it this year, but we'd gone to the Renaissance Faire on the same day she did. Never saw her there, but on the way in the station had a booth set up. They set us up with a couple shirts, that's where I got the sweet #ALLIN shirt in the picture. It's super soft material, too.

The very next day, at John's Incredible, got to meet and take a picture with Incredibear!!!