Last day of 2004, can't pass up the chance to make a last posting for 2004.

Work has been pretty good all week...Monday I had a bit of a fuck up, but no one seemed to care (except for me). Tuesday I was on fire...I discovered that a program I was about to air was not the right one...so within 4 minutes I was able to track down where the correct one was, get it, load it, and get it automated to air (this shouldn't have been as big an accomplishment as I make it out to be...I shouldn't have left it until 4 minutes before air before finding out it was wrong...I should have check it much earlier). Also caught a timing error on Tuesday and managed to save things before they went to air wrong. I was working alone to boot...so all in all Tuesday was a good day.

Tuesday was also good cause I hung out with Mel before work. We're not defining any sort of relationship at this point and that's good with me. She's coming out to our family New Year's dinner tomorrow night, so she's gonna meet the whole family. Big step...but don't read too much into it. It is what it is. I'm content with things where they're at right now.

What a beautiful day...Bruce said it was gonna rain (and it still could...we're coastal ya know), but right now there's nothing but sun.

Gonna go climbing with Melinda this afternoon. Haven't been on the wall in a few weeks...we'll see how much strength I've lost.

Well, good-bye 2004! It's been fun! 'twas a good year for Planman.

Christmas is over! New Years is closing in. Hopefully once all this holiday stuff is over, things will get back to normal...whatever normal is these days.

Had a good Christmas. Grandparents were over, all at Mom and Dad's place. I spent 3 nights out there...on the couch. Comfy couch, but still not the best for sleeping on. We did "assigned gifting" this year, so each person only needed to get one person a present...something nice...rather than getting everyone something ok, but maybe not extremely thoughtful. It worked well and I think we'll do it again.

I went to church on Christmas Eve. I don't like church. I get tired when I'm in church. I do it to appease my mom and grandparents. It's the least I can do. They sang a lot of songs in church. I don't like singing in church (not that I sing much anywhere). Oh well, I don't have to go for another year.

Turkey dinner was good. Gord's almost inlaws came down and joined us. I think they had a good time. We played Scattergories as usual...it's always fun after a big dinner. Grandpa and played this King's Cribbage game a few times over the weekend...it's a different take on cribbage and it's quite good. I always beat him, but I lost by 3 points to my mom last night. I let my guard down and I got burned!

Went for a drive yesterday, everyone piled into Mom and Dad's Dodge...I love driving that truck! So much torque! So throaty a diesel growl! It's great fun!

I've got to get into a better habit of posting things when I think of them, rather than waiting...cause I forget some good things (or what I think were good things).

I went and saw Timmy while he was in Vancouver for a couple hours last Thursday. Good to see him, but a long day of travelling just to see him for a short time. He brought me back a boomerang...what a nice guy!

VI Christmas party was on Saturday. Fun times were had by all I believe. Myself and another guy were the DJs, we kept the floor a rockin'. I built up my credibility and popularity with a double shot of AC/DC - Shook me followed tightly by Thunderstruck. Played a lot of requests and it worked out well...except that my songs kept skipping slightly (double beats, slight jumps ahead in time). I was playing off my computer, using Rol's hard drive for music and a couple of winamps for playback. I think the computer was maxing out the CPU, especially when searching for music, and that's what caused the interuptions. People noticed, and sighed their complaints, but luckily they kept on dancing and I wasn't booed off the platform.

After a brief recovery period on Sunday (open bar, but I didn't get hammered), I hung out with Mel for the evening...dinner, then we saw National Treasure. Typical Bruckheimer flick, but for what it was, it was ok. Had a good night with her.

My back hurts. It's hurt since Sunday. I think it's cause I was leaning over my computer on Saturday night. It seems a little better today, but I should go to a chiropractor.

Hmmm, this is turning out to be something of a boring post, but I just don't have anything else to say.

Have I ever mentioned how much I hate when I suck up at work? Well, guess what? I still do!! Arghhh!!!

I bought these Holland Toast things at the grocery store today. They're like dried bread crackers (sorta like Melba Toast). They're good, I just had a couple, but man they're crumbly. Very light and sorta sweet, but I got crumbs everywhere now. Messy!

I should go to bed.

I got a flat tire on my bike yesterday. It went completely flat while I was at work, but I decided not to replace the tube while at work. Intead I pumped up the tire with the hole in it, with the hope that I could make it home without losing all the air. Ya, no. I got maybe 1km before I had to pump it up again, then I only made it another .5km before I realised this wasn't going to work. So, under the shelter of the entrance to a cafe, I removed my rear wheel and replaced the tube. It's really not that difficult, and it didn't take too long (maybe half an hour...probably less, I wasn't timing). So ya, that was fun last night.

Just got back from a little road trip with Tree to go visit Court & Chris in Westbank. Left on friday, missed the 11am ferry and had to wait for 2 hours for the next one. Ugh. Got to the mainland and it seemed to take forever to get out onto the Trans Canada...traffic, road work, etc. Filled up gas at the Whatcom Rd PetroCan just outside of Abbotsford...always the cheapest gas there. Drove on darkness to Westbank, we made it in 5 hours (from the ferry). The roads were pretty good, except for a bit of compact snow/slush on 97C, and some VERY dense fog on the east side of the Pennask summit...we couldn't see more than 10 feet in front of the vehicle. I passed some cars that were going too slow for me and managed the fog at about 80km/h. I scared Tree and in hindsight maybe it wasn't the smartest thing to do, but I'm not known for my brilliance. Either way, we made it without incident, and I led the pack of vehicles behind us (they all seemed comfortable following me) to safety. It was the densest fog I'd ever been in (I think...maybe just cause I didn't know the road).

So we arrived at Court & Chris'. The fact that Tree was coming was a surprise, and she surprised Court good. We went to a Christmas party for the ESL school Court will be teaching at in the new year. Played some good games, participated in the gift exchange (Court had thoughfully brought gifts for Tree and I...what a girl!) and I ended up with five bucks! There were a couple cuties at the party, this one chick, Alitta, was quite cute. Young though...not that that matters. I got to talk to her a bit during one of the games we were playing.

Spent the rest of the night chatting with Court back at their place. Saturday turned out to be a lovely day. We went for a walk by the lake with their dog, Sitka (a beautiful Siberian Husky). vegged most of the rest of the day, just chatting/visiting. Went to this Living Nativity thing at one of the churches. It was well done, well produced, but a little preachy religious (even Court & Chris, who are devout Christians, were a little annoyed with it from that aspect). Had some dinner at a good Thai restaurant, then went to see Ocean's 12. The movie was good, I think I preferred #11 though. Some of the characters didn't seem quite the same...like the actors were acting them differently. Maybe it was on purpose. Overall it was enjoyable.

Sunday we had to leave a decent time to catch the 5pm ferry. Tree took forever to get ready, but it didn't matter cause we made the ferry in 4 hours (instead of the 5 it took us to get there). The weather was great and I was able to travel the highways at full speed the whole way. Filled up again at Whatcom Rd (had a little top up in Westbank to ensure we got there).

And that was the little weekend excursion. Fun times and good to see Court & Chris (and Court's family...although I never did get to have a beer with the Rev like I was supposed to).

Time to come home...here's what I did on Friday, the last day of my trip down south.

Got up at a decent hour, had to catch a train down to Anaheim at 9:20. Sara drove me to the station and I got my ticket, then there was still some time, so I took her out for breakfast. Had a bagel with cream cheese, smoked salmon, onion, and capers...I love that combination. Caught the train and picked me a seat on the upper level. It was a fairly comfy, easy going ride. Took almost 4 hours from Santa Barbara to Anaheim...but part of that was about a 40 minute stop at the LA Union Station where they re-stocked the cafe car. The guy running the cafeteria seemed pretty funny...he'd come on the PA system every once in a while to let people know what he had available...throwing in little descriptions here and there. He also came on a couple times saying he was running out of change and was pleading with us for our quarters, dimes and nickels...he'd gladly buy them off us. I didn't have much change, so I didn't bother, but apparently a lot of people did and he came on later to thank them.

Hopped off the train in Anaheim (at Angels Stadium), sort of knowing where I was, but not exactly knowing how to get to the airport. I had plenty of time to figure it out, so I went into the train station and grabbed a Bus Book for thr Orange County Transit Authority. Looking over the maps and routes, I determined that I would need to take 2 buses to get to my destination. Being in at the edge of the stadium parking lot, but not near a road, I just started walking to one of the roads I could see...hoping to get my bearings. Turns out the road I walked to was the one I needed to catch the 57 bus on...perfect! The bus came along a few minutes later and I hopped on, it cost $1. It took quite a while to get to where I had to catch the second bus...it's just huge down there. I got off at the right intersection (some of the buses, including the one I was on, have an LED display as well as a recored voice, stating which stop the bus is approaching, and what connections can be made from that stop...quite a good system, and something I wasn't expecting). So I had about 20 minutes until the 76 bus came along, and there was an In & Out Burger on the opposite corner. How could I pass this up? In & Out Burger...The Dude and Walter go to one in The Big Lebowski...I had to go. I walk in and the menu is amazing (in this day and age)...here are the choices: Double Double (double patty, double cheese burger), Cheeseburger, Hamburger, French Fries. That's it...plus drinks. There's combo's available for each of the burgers, so I got a Double Double combo. I had to wolf it down pretty quick, and I didn't finish my fries, but it was good. Not overly greasy...but it is fast food. I like it!

Headed out and saw the 76 bus waiting at the stop kitty corner to where I was. I waited for the lights before crossing the streets (8 lanes of road in a not so familiar city...I wasn't gonna risk anything) and I managed to make it to the bus before he left. Got going down the road and started questioning whether I was on the right bus. Pulled out my Bus Book and had a look...realized that, yes I did want to be on the 76, but going in the opposite direction! I got off at the next stop and crossed the street to wait for an eastbound 76...which wasn't too long. They don't print their route maps with north always up...they print them so that the bulk of the route is a straight line up and down the page...hence the source of my mistake and confusion. So I got on the eastbound 76 and eventually passed by the In & Out Burger again...damn, I could have had a more relaxing meal and finished it all...oh well. This bus took a while too, but it did get me right to the airport, so it's all good.

Once at the airport I still had a few hours to kill before my flight...but I had hoped to possibly catch an earlier flight so I went to the check in desk. Well, turns out there is an earlier flight, but it was leaving very soon and was full. To top it off, my flight was cancelled (remember Monday?) and they had put me on the next flight, an hour and a half later. Ugh. So now I had about 4+ hours to kill. The airport was exactly near anything exciting, and I didn't feel like taking a bus any further. So I walked...I walked out into this business area that was full of large buildings, a few fancy restaurants, but no shops or activites. I was sort of looking for a book store so I could pick up some reading material, but nothing...I was going to have to settle for the newstand at the airport.

I got back to the airport, still had a couple hours to kill. Bought a book, a stupid psychology book, at the newstand...why I bought this book I can't really explain. There was plenty of other decent looking books...but no, I buy the one book that goes right over my head...I'm fuckin weird. Anyways, I try to read the book. Watch some kids running around. Buy a McFlurry. Plane is late...big surprise. Finally board the plane 2 hours after I was supposed to leave originally. Caught some zzzzzz's on the flight cause I knew I'd have a good drive ahead of me. Got into SeaTac around 11pm, caught the shuttle back to the parking lot and got my car...good system they have at SeaTac Park. Got on the road and headed north up I5. Passed by Seattle...lovely city at night...I didn't realize I5 went right beside the city. Kept an eye open for a Jack in the Box...I couldn't go to the States and not eat at Jack in the Box! Finally found a 24 hour one in Everett...so got off the Interstate, got me a Sourdough Chicken Club combo (supposed to get a reindeer Jack ball, but they didn't put it in the bag...damnit!) and got back on the freeway. The interstate was an easy, nice drive. It's rough around the city, but north of Seattle it's in nice shape and can be travelled at a good clip. Got to the border around 2am, no trouble passing back into the homeland. Arrived at Grandparent's home in Burnaby at 2:30...all was good. Bed.

Spent Saturday with the Grandparents...went to the mall and then out to dinner at The Boathouse...very nice steak, crab, and prawn dinner. Came home to the island on Sunday.

So a few weeks ago, Q had a Grey Cup party and a few friends came over. Polly, who is now a project manager at her work, was talking about how they needed to hire a programmer or two. When Q, and Rol asked what the pay would be, and Polly replied with $40K, they scoffed at it. Scoffed at $40K!? Now, I knew they were making more money than I...they have degrees in Computer Science and are skilled at what they do...in an industry that is in fairly high demand (I think). I am but a lowly Master Control Operator in a medium market TV station, but I do ok on my salary (which is less than $40K). There's a lot of money out there...it'd be nice to be able to scoff @ a job worth $40K. One day I will find my calling and be able to demand a handsome sum for it.

Back to SoCal.

Thursday was spent in Santa Barbara. It was American Thanksgiving. Sara drove me down to the water and we walked along the coast for a bit. You could see the oil rigs out on the horizon...I didn't know they had off-shore oil drilling there. We were going to be going to this aquaintance of Sara's for Thanksgiving dinner...some other travel nurses were going to be there, and it was just gonna be a casual afternoon dinner before they all had to work. So we stopped at the grocery store to get some stuff to bring (I offered to chip in for it, but Sara wouldn't take my money). We headed south for a bit on 101 until we got to Carpinteria...sort of an outlying town, about 15 minutes away. We couldn't find the right house. We had gotten bad directions...right street, wrong address. Sara doesn't have a cell phone, so she got on the pay phone at the end of the street...except she only knew one person's number...and she doesn't answer if she doesn't recognize the number. Finally Sara got through and we found out where to go. The dinner was nice...the hosts, Christine & Seth, were a young (as in my age or younger) couple and Seth barbecued up some Salmon very nicely. Sara's friend, Yolanda, was making quesadillas which were awesome. There was salad and bread and cheese, it was all good. One person brought their dog...a big guy who liked to dig through the garbage and chew on shoes. The weather was nice, and I was warm enough, but they had the heater on in the apartment, which I thought was weird...but then those Californians (or even just temporary Californians) seem to get colder than I.

We left around 4:30 cause Sara had to work. She was getting ready to go to work and I was just planning on staying in at her place for the evening, but then she got called off work and we got to hang out for my last night there. So the wine came out, we watched The Sweetest Thing (I love Christina Applegate), ate some more bread and cheese, then watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (which was very good...that Charlie Kauffman is a great writer). Bed.

Is it just me, or is DVD marketing getting way out of hand? They seem to be releasing everything on DVD these days...old crappy TV shows, new crappy TV shows, concert performances from bands no one has heard of, video anthologies, and of course every movie ever made. The different editions too...wtf? I hate when I buy a DVD, only to find out that there was a Special Edition (or a Collector's Edition, Ultimate Edition, Super Extra Special Happy Bonus Life History of the Director Edition) available (or coming out later). You know when you see Golden Girls on the DVD shelf at A&B Sound, that the money grubbers have gone too far.

Regardless, let's recap Wednesday on my trip last week:

Got up at a decent hour again so we could hit the park first thing. After our complimentary doughnuts and coffee/hot chocolate from the motel, we mosied over to the main entrance only to stand in line. See, today we planned on going to California Adventure for the majority, but the gates for this park don't open until 9:30 (as opposed to 8:30 for Disneyland). We thought it was 9 that they opened, so when we realized it was 9:30, it didn't seem worth it to go over to Disneyland for a short bit, so we waited. Once they let you in at 9:30, the only thing open was Soaring over California (my favourite ride...) as the rest of the park was closed off until 10am. So we soared again...slightly better seats this time, but still not overly impressed.

After soaring, the rest of the park was open. We played the Fast Pass game right and rode the Sun Wheel, swings, Mulholland Drive mini coaster, and Maliboomer (which Sara did not like at all...it shoots you upwards very quickly) while waiting for our time on the California Screamin' roller coaster. Once it was our time, we hopped in the front of the line and screamed our way around the track. It's a fairly fast coaster and is pretty good...better than any over in the Disneyland park. We Fast Passed the coaster again and while we waited we went over to the Grizzly River Run (as well as some walk around Trail Challenge thing which was somewhat dull). Grizzly River was good...Sara bought a poncho cause she didn't want to get wet...I didn't care if I got wet, it was nice day out (I did put my camera in a plastic bag though). Back to California Screamin', this time I held my camera in front of me and recorded myself throughout the ride...it turned out pretty good (although I looked into the lens too many times).

We went and Fast Passed the Tower of Terror and while waiting we did Grizzly River again. Stood in line for some food, but got annoyed and left. There was this fat family in front of us...the mom was in a "medi-chair" type scooter (probably cause she was too fat to walk around), she was shouting at her kid who was entering their order into the touch screen system that they had setup (which was pretty stupid cause here's this touch screen for people to place their order, yet beside each screen is someone from the restaurant making sure people use it right...why not just take our order?) The kid spent more money than mom had expected him to, but don't worry cause Grandma was there to kick in the extra dough for her share...it was just stoopid and taking way too long and it was somewhat disgusting how fat this family was, so we left. We did the Tower of Terror (no Kelly this time, boo hoo...but the guys we did get were quite good), got our picture with Sleeping Beauty, and then it was getting time to leave. Went back over to Disneyland hoping to get one more ride in, but all the good ones had long lines and Fast Pass times were no good. We ate at the Hungry Bear Cafe...nothing special, then got a couple pictures in front of the Mickey/Walt statue and the castle, then we headed out (after I ducked back into California Adventure to buy a picture frame (and another one as a gift for Sara) from this one shop we'd been in (my only souvenir). Got back to the motel where they'd kindly let us park the vehicle after checking out, got in and started on our drive to Hollywood, 40 miles away. We were on our way to see Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Well, we got on I5 and after a couple miles traffic slowed down. It was about 3:30. It took us over an hour and a half to get 8 miles! The point where traffic cleared up was about 10 feet past the point where 5 cops (3 bikes, 1 car, 1 suburban) had some guy pulled over and were presumably arresting him. Amazing! as best I could tell the traffic had only been slow because people were looky looing at this. We didn't roll into Hollywood until 6:05, almost 3 hours after we left Anaheim. Got to the Kimmel doors at 6:20 and were denied entry by Ms. Security. The doors for Kimmel open at 6, we were 20 minutes after that (with confirmed tickets), so we weren't sure what was going on. Ms Security was no help, she just said they'd already started. Sara felt bad, thought it was her fault. It wasn't, I blamed the traffic. So we looked at a few stars on the Hollywood walk, had some (presumably) homeless guy tell me how insensitive and stupid I was, then we left Hollywood and headed up to Santa Barbara.

In Santa Barbara, Sara called some of her friends and we ended up going out with them to a pub an then a club. While waiting to go out, I checked my email and discovered that the Kimmel people had sent me an email on Tuesday stating that they had moved the record time up to 7PM and the call time for audience members up to 4:15...but as I hadn't been checkin my email I didn't get it and we didn't know to get there early. So it wasn't our fault for being 20 minutes late...Sara felt much better. I wasn't devastated...Kimmel is funny, but he's no Letterman. I am a Letterman fan tried and true...and if I had missed that show, I would have been more upset.

The pub was good, club not really my thing. Then one of her friends got kicked out of the club, for reasons none of us are quite sure of. So we left and went home. Bed.

Before I get to my trip, installment #2, let me just state a few other things that are on my mind.

I watched The Girl Next Door last night. Of course Elisha Cuthbert is a hottie and it was a pleasure watching the movie just for her, but it actually turned out to be a decent movie with a somewhat plausible story...better than many out there anyways. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Timothy Olyphant is great...I love that guy.

Also, I raised the whole gift exchange idea with the family, and they're all on board. Christmas will be different this year...and I think it will be good.

Ok, so Tuesday we got up early (I did, Sara slept right through me getting up and getting ready...I had to jump on her to wake her up) and hit Disneyland soon after the gates opened. We went to the original Disneyland (Magic Kingdom) park first and headed into Tomorrowland. There was no line for Star Tours, so we started there and had a good ride. From there I think we went all the way to the back end and Mickey's ToonTown, rode a couple of lame kiddie rides, then headed back and got in line for the Matterhorn. It was lamer than I remember it as an 11 year old, but still fun. We continued to work our way through the park, hitting some other fairly tame/lame rides in Fantasyland before heading over to Frontierland. Whilst waiting in line for the Snow White ride, I was doing the Tyler Durden laugh (you know, from when Lou pays Tyler and the rest of Fight Club a visit) and this mother standing in line turns to me and says her daughter wants to hang out with me all day cause I was funny. It was cute...but the little girl stayed with her mom.

The rest of the daylight was spent in this park...the best rides seem to be located in the vicinity of New Orleans Square, with Indiana Jones being close by in Adventureland, Splash Mountain being on the other side in Critter Country, and Pirates of the Caribbean plus the Haunted Mansion (all done up for Christmas with the characters from The Nightmare Before Christmas...very cool) right in the square. We only stopped to eat once...I had a Chimichanga, Sara had McD's fries. I declared early on that we would not be eating any Churros...they're very good, but very overpriced. Ok, everything is overpriced there, but I had to set my foot down on something.

Before we left we had to check out the parade. It was the Christmas version of the parade and featured all the usual Disney characters in winter/Christmas type situations. It was cute.

Nearing dusk we wandered into the California Adventure Park. We got in line for Soaring over California, which some guy in the line for Splash Mountain had told us was very good. Whilst waiting in line, this kid in front of us was fairly talkative and nice. He started out by just turning to me and saying, "I don't even know what I'm in line for". Later he offered me the remainder of his cotton candy, which I gladly took and thanked him for. He seemed like a good kid and he put a smile on my face (and I think Sara as well).

Soaring over CA was ok, but they could have done a better job on the transitions...I won't get into it, but if you've riden it or do in the future, I think you'll see what I mean. We did a Fast Pass for Tower of Terror and while we had time to wait we saw Muppet Vision 3D, which was quite entertaining. Then the Tower of Terror...the hotel usher, Kelly, was very attractive, and a good actress to boot. The ride was good, but she was the cherry on top (so to speak). We then saw It's Tough to Be a Bug over in Bug's Land, which was very entertaining again and similar, if not the same, to the attraction (most likely of the same name) in Animal Kingdom at Disney World.

We left, got some stuff at the motel (it was getting cold enough to need pants and a jacket) and then went for dinner in Downtown Disney. Sara said it was her treat, and we went to the Rainforest Cafe. Got seated, ordered some drinks, and then realized it was only 10 minutes until the fireworks started. So when the server brought our drinks we told him we weren't ordering and had to go, guzzled the drinks, paid, and ran outta there to try to get down to Disneyland to see the blasting in the sky. We didn't make it too far before they started, so we ended up watching from a distance (with a few obstructions in the way). For the most part we could see them and it was a good display. Then we returned to the Rainforest Cafe and had dinner properly...lettuce wraps followed by a pizza...very good. Bed.

I was away, now I'm back.

So I took a trip to Southern California last week...met up with Sara and went to Disneyland, then checked out her diggs in Santa Barbara, then came home. Here's my recap:

Left on Monday, didn't eat breakfast at home cause I didn't have much in the way of food left in the house, plus I knew I'd be waiting at the Coho terminal for over an hour, so I could go get something downtown. Well, you wait at the Coho, but an hour and a half before the boat leaves, customs comes around and checks you out and once they've done that, you're not allowed to leave the place...so I waited. Had a cinnamon bun on the boat. The ride was nice...very smooth ferry. Got to Port Angeles a little later than I expected...turns out there is customs on that side too, and they saw something that the other guy didn't see, so they had me park the car and get out so they could go through it. I had nothing in it and I wasn't worried, I just wondered why they picked me. After about 20 minutes they let me go and I booted it down to SeaTac. The roads were nice and I owned the road and got there a little later than I expected, but still with plenty of time to catch my flight. SeaTac park worked out well...I parked, the shuttle was there to take me to the airport and the driver, Jim, was nice. Really had to pee. Checked in for my flight, found out it had been cancelled and I had been put on the next one, an hour later. Lovely. Found a washroom...ahhhhhhh! Played the waiting game...had some food (a chicken salad bagel sandwich which was pretty tasty). Flight was 15 minutes late, but it happened and I got to John Wayne in Orange County around 8:30. Sara was there waiting for me. We drove to the motel (the stately Anaheim Super 8) and checked it...then walked down to Downtown Disney (open to the public and full of restaurants and shops)...I sorta led us the wrong way, but we eventually found it...I am decent with navigation, we just didn't have a good map. Could barely find a place open for dinner (it was 10pm) as they were closing up early saying it had been a slow Monday. Finally found the House of Blues was open, so we had a snack and a drink and then headed back to the motel. Sleep.

That was Monday, travel day #1. More to come on the rest of the week in future posts.