Los Angeles Kings vs. Detroit Red Wings

Eddy and I went to go see the Kings play the Red Wings Monday night. It's the first Kings game I've ever been to. It was a great game! We sat in the Premiere section which gave us an amazing view of the rink. Check it out!

But first, the story about how I got my camera in. Yes, I was successful for the 3rd time this year. (1st was the Green Day concert where cameras weren't even allowed, 2nd was the WTA Tour Tennis Tournament where they took my camera bag and when I took my camera out last minute) This time, I wanted to get my telephoto lens in (I thought it was made primarily of plastic and glass). I went through the metal detector gates, first giving them my keys and cell phone. They say watches and jewelry are okay. When I went through, the buzzer went off and they had to reinspect me with the metal detector wand. The wand buzzed when it passed over my telephoto lens. They sent us back out to put the lens back in our car. Eddy did not let me give up just yet. We went through another entrance and tried again. This time, I gave Eddy my watch and belt, thinking it might help. Went through the metal detector gates...CLEAR!

And boy was it worth it! I got some great shots with the telephoto lens. Check them out:

You can see the hockey stick bend!

The referees had to decide if the goal counted when it appeared that the Red Wings scored in their own goal. They didn't count it.

Joe Corvo of the Kings took a penalty shot. He shoots...

He scores!

And of course it wouldn't be hockey if there wasn't a fight.

Good times.

For all 41 pictures, click here.

(I recommend viewing as a slideshow and setting the time for 2 seconds.)

It's time for Christmas Lights.

In case you were thinking of going all out this year with the Christmas decorations, just remember that there's always someone who'll outdo you.

Case in point. (Click here) WMV, 4.83MB

A great Thanksgiving weekend.

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving weekend. Ours was great. (Thanks for asking.) The miracle was that Joanne had the entire weekend off from work! Here's a recap:

On Thanksgiving day, we had dinner at the Miyaji's house. Glenn made us some fried turkey...it was our first experience, as well as his. We had that along with some crab legs, amazing appetizers, and sushi.

On Friday, our friend Gene came in from Japan. We went to go do some after Thanksgiving shopping with him. He bought a new iPod and a portable DVD player. Who would've thought someone from Japan would come here to buy electronics?

Later that night, our friends came over and we just hung out and played 90s Trivial Pursuit.

The next morning, we got up early and began preparing the food for our Saturday Thanksgiving. Joanne and mom did the turkey preparation. Buster helped, too.

We had 16 people enjoying the Thanksgiving meal. We ran out of table space, but everything worked out alright. The food was excellent and we were all stuffed afterward.

The TV show Lost was played throughout the entire day and through the night. Gene insisted on seeing as much as he could, so by 4am we completed Disc #5 of 6. (and we finished Disc #6 the next morning)

Jacob had a good time, but got a little tired at the end. Later on, we busted out the old Rebound game, too. What a great game...

The girls played Pounce and Joanne was awarded 'Steel Thumbs' for her achievement in beating Steph. Congratulations.

On Sunday, we went to The Grove in Hollywood with Eddy, Steph, and Alan. It was nicely decorated for Christmas, complete with a huge Christmas tree. We rode on the trolley, too! (that was THE highlight of the evening)

And now, back to work!

For all 36 pictures, click here.

Happy Thanksgiving !

Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving! Here's a little animation for all of you. (Click here)

Farewell, Aztek.

As you all know, the Pontiac Aztek has changed the automotive industry since its debut in 2001. Just yesterday I noticed that the Aztek has been removed from the Pontiac lineup. It's a sad day. I feel it deserves a moment of silence.

I have often marveled at the existence of this mechanical creation. How does a car company create such an awful monstrosity when there were probably hundreds of people responsible for its design? I wonder how the designer felt when he discovered that the resell value of the Aztek after 5 years was only 16%, the lowest of all cars on the market.



Well, the departure of the Aztek also marks the departure of the deployable rear tent. By far the most outstanding accessory for the Aztek, the tent has proven that it was not just a car, but a home.



I'm glad that I had the chance to drive this spectacular vehicle while I was out in Colorado.

It was an adventure I'll never forget.

Steel Thumbs

If you didn't already know...my sister dominates when it comes to text-messaging on her phone. That's what we call her. Steel Thumbs. Feel free to join in. Anyway, thought it was relevant when I ran across this article.


Some girl won $5000 because she entered the following text in 2 minutes, 23 seconds:

The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human.

Lame. Without too much effort, I typed that in to my phone in 2 minutes, 45 seconds. I am unimpressed. Of course, the world record is apparently 43 seconds. That's pretty damn impressive. I'm just sayin'...my sister could've sent that girl packin'.

Time yourself. Don't use predictive text entry (if you know what that means) and type in the two sentences. I opened the little clock in the bottom right hand corner of the screen to time myself.

Our 200th post !

We started this weblog on June 1st and we've already made 200 posts! That's more than one entry per day! I thought this would be an appropriate time to finally get around to posting the remaining pictures from our trip to Japan. Here are some of our favorites for the last half of our trip:

Kintai-kyo ('kyo' means bridge) in Iwakuni. Iwakuni Castle on the mountain to the right.

View of the torii gateway in Miyajima from the Itsukushima Shrine.

Peace Memorial in Hiroshima with view of the A-Bomb Dome in the background.

Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion) in Kyoto.

Ninomaru Palace in Nijo Castle.

Octopus waiting to be purchased at Ichiba Fish Market.

Mt. Fuji over Motosuko ('ko' means lake)

Shiraito-no-taki (White thread waterfalls) in Yamanishi.

Gyuusashi (made from the finest Kobe beef). Yum.

Joanne tying her not-so-good luck fortune. Sad.

Friendly little bug at the train station.

Riding the fire engine at Tokyo Disney Sea at about 1 mph.

On the Tokyo Bay Cruise to Odaiba.

We had a great trip. If you want to plow through the full set of 213 pictures, have at it. Hey, it used to be 1400 of 'em!

Chicken Little

On Friday night, we went to go see Chicken Little in Digital 3-D at El Capitan. It was pretty good (I had low expectations). The 3-D part of the movie was really well done. And the best part was that we got 3-D glasses!

Since we saw it at El Capitan (in VIP seating...thanks Glenn), we saw their special Pre-Show with Chicken Little dancing on stage.



Afterward, we went to grab a bite at Mel's Drive-In across the street from the theater. Old school. Had some burgers and watched their overhead TVs. They had the Laker game AND Episode III playing!

Thanks again, Glenn, for setting up the event!