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!!!

Positive Charge

It's been a long while since I had been to a concert, but I took care of that last week!!! The last time I'd been, it was Brian Fallon, the frontman for The Gaslight Anthem, who had been on hiatus for a while. Well, they got back together and put out an album at the beginning of the year, and have been touring in support of it!!!

It was at the Greek Theater in Griffith Park, probably one of the closest venues to my house. I like it, especially in the evening in the warm months. The parking, not so much for the most part. I had a few times when I've gotten tickets from my work, and they have included a parking pass, which makes it better, but otherwise they stack park you on the grass. I took the younger, it was the first concert he's been to.

I figured there would be an opening act, but I didn't look into it any. Turns out there were two!!! First up was Dirty Nil, from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, a factoid they mentioned a few times. It was a trio, and they sounded pretty good, nice rocking tunes, and they looked the part. Truth be told, both opening acts sounded better than a LOT of the stuff they play on the radio these days!!!

Second was Joyce Manor. Didn't mention, I got tickets on the side terrace, in the second row from the front, directly opposite where I was when I saw Counting Crows there. The old lady who was ushering that area said they are great seats, in her opinion better than the opposite side!!! Anyway, those seats have 4 seats in the row. We had the row to ourselves for Dirty Nil, but a couple showed up for Joyce Manor. The girl, Mary, had heard of them before and knew a lot of the songs. Mary was the kind of person you want around when you're at a concert!!! Joyce Manor sounds very punk, the singer mentioned they had gotten rid of all their CD's except The Offspring and another group in their teens (but kept a cassette of another group) but they didn't sound very Offspring, actually reminded me a bit of Rancid. One of their songs was called “Catalina Fight Song”, and you know I like Catalina!!!

Before The Gaslight Anthem came out, they brought down the lights, and started playing “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” over the PA, then pulled that down and went right into “45”. When it would get to the part of the chorus where it goes “Whoah-Oh-Oh”, they brought up the lights on the audience, who would sing along and pump their fists. Good start!!!

After that they went into “Handwritten”, then “The Patient Ferris Wheel” (which, as it turns out, was the first that the boy recognized!!! Thought he knew 'em better than that!!!)

Following those, they broke out a couple from their latest album, “Little Fires” and “Weatherman”, then back to some classic stuff for the next three, then, “since we're in L.A.”, they covered the Chili Peppers' “Soul to Squeeze”, a pretty close to the album version.

I took the close up of Brian Fallon to get a picture of the bass drum head, I have no idea who that's supposed to be a picture of!!!

The complete setlist was as follows:

1. 45

2. Handwritten

3. The Patient Ferris Wheel

4. Little fires

5. Weatherman

6. Film Noir

7. Bring it On

8. Here's Looking at You, Kid

9. Soul to Squeeze (Red Hot Chili Peppers Cover)

10. Positive Charge

11. Even Cowgirls Get the Blues

12. Miles Davis and the Cool

13. Keepsake

14. American Slang

15. Mulholland Drive

16. Autumn

17. Michigan 1975

18. Mae

19. Great Expectations

20. The 59 Sound 

I thought it was a great show, just about all you could hope for!!! The boy enjoyed it as well. Sure, there's always a few songs you wish they had included (for the record, both times I've seen Brian Fallon now, the cover songs he's done haven't been ones that I particularly care for!!!) but they played a lot of my highly ranked songs, and some of the good ones off the new album (could have also gone for the title track of the new album, “History Books”)!!!

An interesting post script, the time noted above where I saw Counting Crows there, I had one of Janices' famous starter issues. Nothing like that while we were there this time, but the very next evening Kutcher had a no start issue, like the battery was almost completely dead. Put it on the boost function of a large charger, and nothing. Ran said large charger for about 15 minutes, and boosted it again, and still nothing. Called for roadside assistance, and the guy came out with a portable booster, and that fired it right up... but it died the moment he took it off. Boosted it again, and it fired right up, and as long as I had it revved up some, it worked, but as soon as I let off, it died again. The guy concurred that it sounded like the battery had a sudden failure, likely a dead cell. I've still got most of a year of warranty on it, but this was also right at the time that all the AutoZones are closing for the night. I let it go, and the next afternoon after work (this was the last week of our once-a-month in office for 3 days, starting is September it'll be every week in office for 3 days... I wasn't going to be out late, then have to get up at 4 AM to go in, so I took that day off, leaving only 1 day I had to go in for the win!!!) I yanked the battery out and took it to the AutoZone. The guy checks it, and it shows 100% charged and good battery. Huh, maybe it had something to do with that crusty looking positive terminal, which didn't want to even come undone when it was on the battery, and looked like it was developing a crack near the bolt when I got it twisted off!!! Bought a couple new terminals, wire brushed the heck out of the contacts and wires, and all was good!!!

I need a spark, I need a positive charge indeed!!!

Kutcher Swallows a Water Heater

Welcome to the season of blogging very much!!!

On Monday afternoon my wife was doing the dishes, and she says, “Why isn't the water warming up??” Huh. I've heard this kind of thing before...

Down to the basement I go, and sure enough, it's wet on the floor around the water heater. Not a lot, I've seen worse, but bad enough to put out the pilot light. I tried re firing it, and it came on for a moment, but wouldn't stay going. Back upstairs, I dig through my warranty file, thinking it was a while ago, but not that long. Thought I had a 10 year warranty, but that was wishful thinking, it was only 6. Now, when did I buy it??? Here's where there's a practical application for blogging!!!

When I first did the math in my head, I'd thought it was just about 7 months out of warranty, but it's actually 2 years and 7 months. Shopped around that night and ordered the same brand, but with a 12 year warranty. Not making that mistake again!!! Or rather, I'm paying the extra $300 to get one with twice the warranty. I'd also broke loose the water inlet and outlet pipes, and ran a hose out to the street and started it draining.

I don't think I've made mention recently, but I'm back on the weekend shift for a little more than a year now. When I'd started doing this shift, it was 4 hours on Saturdays, and Tuesday through Friday for 9 hours a day. Once again, they bump your pay some for doing the weekend shift, but in my current role, it's a good amount more than when I was filling. Found out after I'd started, when the company has a paid holiday and it falls on a day you have as your day off... they give you your day off. No extra, no you get to take a different day off. I voiced my view on it and was told, “Oh, it all evens out!” SO, for Memorial Day, Labor Day, and both Christmas and New Years I got boned. When the time came around this year, I had a couple of requests. First, can I get a different day off, either Tuesday or Wednesday, and is it possible to start my Saturday shift later. I had been starting on Saturday afternoons at 3:00, and it put a time crimp in the afternoons sometimes, I asked to start later, up to 6:00 PM, and they came through with starting at 5:00, and so far (2 weekends thus far) I've liked it fine. And, long story short, now I have Tuesdays off!!!

The younger and I got in the wife's Matrix and headed over to pick up the new water heater. Took a bunch of rope, being unsure how it would fit. Slid the front seats all the way forward, and it slid right in , and the hatch closed without issue!!! If Scruffy can do it, then so can the Kutch!!! (None of us ever call it Kutcher, it's always the Toyota or the Matrix) Will It Fit: Matrix Edition part II!!! Driving back was a challenge, though, I was so far forward I couldn't really move my right foot over to the brake, so I was 2-footing it!!!

The younger and I were able to move it around fairly easily, the hardest part was the 4 steps from the street to the foot of the house. The box had instructions to cut along a dotted line around an inch up from the bottom, so that's what I did, and from there was able to roll it on the edge of the base pretty easy. The removal of the old one was easier this time, too, it seemed to have drained most every drop by having the hose attached to the drain all night. None of the fittings fought me, and about the hardest thing was locating a roll of Teflon pipe sealing tape!!! I know I had more that I'd bought from my work, but I found a roll that may have come with our house, so over 25 years old, but it worked just fine!!!

When I had gotten up on Tuesday (actually before I got out of bed) I had the thought that I should take the aerators off the kitchen and bathroom sinks, since having the water off gets a bunch of air in the lines, and it seems to knock a lot of crud loose when it comes back on. Didn't do it, and the bathroom one ended up nearly plugged. It didn't come off easy, but I flowed good once I got it off and cleaned out... but it kind of ovaled from the removal, and it seems like it's leaking down the inside now. Might be able to get it fixed up, but I'll probably be installing a new faucet soon.

Fixed It!!!

We've been doing a lot of going back and forth to the vet's with Sidney's leg.

I'd thought they wouldn't take a follow up X-ray until his 4 week follow up, I know I'd heard that anyway. But on one of the many trips, my wife got them to send these X-rays!!! Nice though, apparently after 4 weeks, he'll no longer have to have his leg wrapped!!!

Every week they want to check up on his progress, so that's what some of the back and forth has been, just taking him over to get checked out. They sedate him, check him, and re wrap the legs, so it's one trip to drop him off, then pick him up a couple hours (minimum) later, so two trips each time. Twice they've failed to wrap his other foot well enough, and he's kicked the splint off, resulting in follow up trips the next day.

So there's the repair!!! They put a rod down the length of the bone, and screwed a plate on the outside. Design notes from a tooling designer, I think they should have radiused the edges of the plate, and I think it should have been moved up a little, it looks like of all the screws they put in, only 2 made it into the unbroken upper part of the bone, and short ones at that. Not sure, but it looks like the longer ones may be poking through the far side. Hope that isn't an issue.

Hadn't mentioned that I never knew that the bony elbow portion of a cat's leg is actually a portion of the leg bone that runs long!!!

And there he is, being his friendly self!!! Still has the licks and nibbles for us, and reaches out from his cage for us. Just trying to get a picture, and he comes right up into the camera!!!

My wife and my cat now both have titanium bone reenforcements!!! For this post I added a new label that I could go back and add to several other posts!!! What is the cost of all of this?? If I hadn't recently bought the Sky, it would be more than I've ever spent on any of my cars!!!

The Mid Year Vacation

Last November for our anniversary my wife and I had gone to Palm Springs. It was a good time, and I was feeling like going again. I had some vacation time in the middle of last month, so that's where we went!!!

We were big fans of Monster Shakes the last time we were there, so that was the first place we went after we got to our hotel!!! We'd stopped for dinner on the drive in, not at Whalburger's this time. This time we both got a shake instead of splitting one, and the boy had Dole Whip, as they have an amazing array of flavors on tap there. Wife got a cinnamon toast crunch shake, and I got a cookie monster shake.

Looks like the boy is eyeing my shake!!!

After a restful morning the next day, we had lunch, then again went to the Aerial Tram, which was a good move, this time of year it was over 100⁰ down in the city, and up in the San Jacinto Wilderness, it was in the 70's.

Did I mention??? I'd taken this week off for my wife's birthday!!! Once we got up to the top and the visitor's center, we hit the gift shop, and found a nice bag for her birthday.

We headed out the back, which leads to several trails. We headed just a little ways down, and it was apparent it was going to be too steep for my wife. We headed back, and asked if she'd be OK waiting while we headed out for a hike.

Just a little ways into the hike, spotted a hummingbird at a bush. Pulled up my camera, and he came straight up to eye level, and hovered there!!!

Nice little stream flowing through the area...

And this crazy red fungus!!!

There's a lot of Jeffery pines in the area. Thing about Jeffery pines, they smell like butterscotch!!!

We came to one of the areas that overlook the Palm Springs basin, and there was a tree leaning over precipitously.

Walked a ways down, and found out that one tree had toppled into another, which also toppled, and was into the third tree!!!

On the way back, we stopped at a hotel restraunt just a few down from where we were staying called The Reef. The food wasn't anything special, but the theming was great!!!

Speaking of great, the place we stayed was an amazing room!!! It had your own carport, a huge living room with a fireplace, a good sized fully equipped kitchen, a seperate bedroom, two bathrooms, and a little patio with a gas grill. There were a couple of pools and a hot tub, which we took a little swim and soak in in the evening.

On the way back, we stopped off at the Cabazon Dinosaurs.

They're featured in one of the Fallout games, so my son had to see them!!!

My wife wanted to go to The Cheesecake Factory for her birthday, so naturally that's what we did!!!

Happy Get Day

One year ago today was the day Sidney came into our lives. He's a beloved animal companion member of the family.

Sad that he's got a busted leg for the big day, but he's on the mend it appears, and seems like he's doing well. The follow up to the previous post, I took him to a veterinary surgical center a week ago on my day off. I'd had a dentist appointment that day, and had been hoping to get him scheduled for surgery and be back in time for that. It didn't work out like that, it was pretty far on in the day by the time they examined him. They said he was a little dehydrated and had a little fever, so they would like to keep him until Wednesday to get him stabilized, then do the surgery on Wednesday. I was fine with that, as he's not the best patient.

They said to come pick him up on Thursday, the 4th of July, in the morning. OK, we'll do that. Our plan had been to go down to my mom's and eat and swim, but my wife was concerned about leaving Sid alone, so she stayed home, and we went to Long Beach. A couple of the younger's friends came down, too. My wife's car had the change oil light on, and I did that on her flat driveway with all lifting equipment right there in the garage.

They put a rod and a plate on the break. Don't know if they're going to do X-rays when he has his check up this week, but I'd like to see them!!! When we got him back, he had another splint on his leg. It didn't last.

The surgery center said to come back on Friday and they'd put another on. I didn't think it would take, either, (and I was working that day, so my wife and the younger did it) but what they did this time was to splint the leg, then wrap the other hind leg so he can't kick it off!!! It's worked out good, and he's not complaining at all!!! The other thing the vet said to do is try and find a large cage and confine him. We were able to borrow a cage from some friends, and he likes it fine!!! They say 10 weeks for the recovery. Wow.

So, in addition to the medical update, here's a few pictures from the past year. Firstly, the first two pictures feature the half shaved cat butt. Love the way his pattern goes to the skin!!!

The younger mentioned that we now have enough splints to put one on each leg!!! A few of the other pictures are a little blurry, but I just love the one of him on top of the claw post (one of his favorite spots to sit) reaching out his paw. Sleeping in a pizza box.

And the one time he found Mochi's catnip sardine behind the couch!!!

Ouch

Yesterday my wife was up getting ready while I was still in bed, resting, maybe a little snoozing when I hear a ruckus. Cat howling noises, and my wife loudly talking to the boy. What the heck???

Turns out the boy was up on the counter (he knows he's not supposed to be up there) and when he went to jump down, one of the drawers was just a little open. His back foot went in, and there he went. I don't know if he was hanging by his leg or what, but my wife got all clawed up on her hands.

He's favoring his leg, hopping around 3 legged. We manage to get him in his carrier, and off to the vet's we go. We had to wait quite a while, but they'd put us in an exam room. We let him out, and he was exploring the room. They had a little container of treats, and he had a few of those. He didn't seem that bad, other than favoring his leg.

When the doctor finally makes it in, they say they are going to give him some pain killer and sedate him to take X-rays and see what's going on. I had to get home for work, and they say they'll call.

The first two X-rays it looks broken, but not terrible. (I like the way his tail X-ray looks!!!) The third... yeah it looks bad.

We arrive back at the vets, they bring his carrier out, and have us waiting for he pain meds, when the boy lets out some shrieks and howls for a few moments. My wife thought it was because someone had brought a dog in. We get set up and take him home, let him out of the carrier, and lo and behold, he's gotten the splint off!!!

Packed him back up, and took him back. They apologize, and say they'll sedate him again and re splint him. Give them a couple hours. This has been a long day, so I head home and lay back. They give me a call, and I head back, pick him up and bring him home again. Let him out of the carrier, and he hobbles out dragging his leg, obviously none too pleased with the splint. He relaxes for a couple minutes, then flips out again and kicks the splint off his leg. Back in the carrier, and start heading back. My wife calls, and they say don't bother. The doctor says some cats just will not tolerate a splint, and it's really looking like he's one!!! Put him in a room where he won't jump up on stuff, with his food and a litter box they say. I make some room in the laundry room and set him up. He's still limping and 3-legging, but mostly he's got a pretty good attitude about it.

More to come...

The Happy Day After 512 Day Random Post

Yesterday, of course, was 512 day. In honor, here's my latest 512 shirt!!!

I've had the concept of Mystery 512 for a long, long time, with the idea to have it on a shirt. It was something of a time consuming process the last time I made up a 512 shirt. I recently heard of StickerMule, where they print stickers and T-shirts from your design. I took a little time in Paint Shop Pro and made up the design, pretty much freehand, so the proportions aren't exact, but it came out good enough. Of course, as with anything you are having made, the more you buy the cheaper the unit price, so I bought four!!! Gave one to the boy. I'm very pleased with the results!!!

Haven't posted about Sidney the Kidney in a while, maybe since we got him!!! He's awesome, a real people cat, and a welcome member to the family. His love language is licks, but don't be too flattered if he gives you licks, here he is being a weirdo licking my son's dumbbell!!!

The boy has been doing workouts regularly for several months now. During the stupid times, I packed on several pounds, and outgrew several of my T-shirts. I picked up a couple of Sky T-shirts, one that has a yellow Redline on a black background, the other has a basic profile drawing on a yellow shirt.

This type of thing probably doesn't help, but we went back to the Charley's Phillies I'd mentioned before, and actually got a picture of the cheesesteak this time!!!

At the beginning of April I took a week off and had a little vacation. We headed down to Carlsbad with no particular plan on what we would do once we got there. Stayed at a place that looked like nothing but a concrete block from the outside, but it had some really great rooms inside!!! Very spacious!!! We soaked in the hot tub and swam in the pool. They had outside barbecues and a fireplace that I would have liked to have enjoyed a little, but that didn't happen.

Ended up going to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, and it was pretty excellent. As we were leaving we were looking around for somewhere to have dinner. Came across Seoul Cord Dog & Fried Chicken, and I've gotta try that!!! We got corn dogs with crunchy sweet rice puffs all over the outside, and sausage and cheese stick on the inside. Wow!!!

There was a boba place on the other side (it was in a pretty decent mall) and I got myself a honeydew drink that was really good as well. Afterwards, my son wanted the same thing, so I got another, and of course my credit card company questioned the double charge for the same amount!!!

Last week was my in office week. Had two real nice weather days where I was able to drive the Sky with the top down. Third day I had to take the Matrix to do the “Will It Fit: Matrix Edition” featuring several pieces of 8-foot 2 x 4's!!! I feel like I could have gone up to 9 feet, or even 10 feet if it was up to the corner of the windshield.

One of the posts I've been meaning to do, but haven't (naturally), is an overview of the work I've done on the cars of late. Sometime at the end of last year I took the Sky to my tint shop and had the limo tint removed from the front windows, and replaced with a barely there tint. Came out great and makes it much better driving with the top up, especially at night. I'd had my wife following to give me a ride back while it was being worked on, but by the time she arrived they were pretty close to having the job done. I asked if they could get the Matrix done as well (it came with limo tint on the front windows as well, and I've been wanting to get it taken care of since we got it). Ended up waiting until the Sky was done, and left the Matrix there to get the same level of tint. I like it much better as well.

Well, for a 512 day wrap up, we were driving in the Matrix in the Fast Track lanes, moving right along, and here come the fuzz!!! Pulled me over for speeding, but after checking my license and registration, came back and just tagged me for an equipment violation for the front windows having tint on them!!! Thanks, officer!!! Now I've got to get the tint removed and signed off on, then more than likely put back on. I'm fine with that!!!

Here's your one picture of a giraffe from the Safari Park, looking a little derpy.

I had to go take a look at this, also at the corn dog mall!!! They put you in a harness and you get to grab your prize. We didn't do it. According to the sign, we all exceed the weight limit.

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!!!