Going to Staples

Me and Christie were curious to see what the big hoopla was about over at Staples Center for the anticipated Michael Jackson memorial service. Here are some pictures from the event:

There were 3 posters completely covered with autographs and they were setting up others when we left

Here I am signing my message to MJ.

Here is a piece of art painted by a fan in front of us in line. It took her more than 20 hours to complete. Very impressive

Large screens throughout the LA Live area flashed images of Michael throughout the evening

In the end, Michael led a very filled life, but at the same time a very sad one. His musical genius can not be denied, but his personal life is still to be questioned. Still I think that we all can remember the time when he was still considered "cool" and not the freak or punchline he was later in life. It really must be hard to be a King.

That was good food!

So yeah.....that food from the LA county fair was so good, that I decided that I should probably leave it up for about 9 months or so, in order for everyone who wanted to read about it do so....

Okay not really, my desktop computer just got pretty bad, to the point that it was taking me over 5 minutes to upload a single picture. it was beyond time consuming and left me filled with rage. I told myself that I would start this whole process again once I finally got a new computer, and thanks to my desktop deciding that it no longer liked to work anymore, I went out and bought myself a new laptop last week!! Whoot whoot! To try out how long it takes, lets put up some new random pictures.Casa Bonita in Denver! - I went in December! Would have been a great blog posting

John, Tim, Pierre Jean Pierre St Pierre, Me, Tyler - Once of us is French

Charles, John, Tyler, Tim, and Me at Elway's steakhouse. The man can throw a ball and grill a steak with the best of them!

Tyler explaining that anyone who orders a Zima at the Coors brewery needs to go over there

I finally made it for a game......the results of the game are not important...

I think its obvious that the Lakers won this year thanks to Me and Mac channeling the inner Vlade Divac (yes we both have Vlade jerseys on in the picture)

Here I am taking batting practice at Dodger Stadium. Although I'm not currently playing I can assure you I did not use any banned performance enhancers, nor any fertility drugs.

When you are driving home at 1:30 in the morning and you see the Oscar Mayer wiener dog car, you have to take a picture, its the law

It took many years, but I finally got to meet 1 of the sports stars I followed the most growing up.

Okay, well so far so good, I'm pleased with how the pictures uploaded. So I am announcing that the blog is being reborn! Hopefully I can update it more frequently, as well as perhaps finding time to change the layout. That may take a little more time though. Anyway, thanks to you how came back to read this blog. There will be more, perhaps even tomorrow! Also, I said I would do 2 things once I got a computer, update this blog and.....

Health Food?

Last weekend I was able to make my first trip to a fair. That's right, despite being pretty white, I've never been to a county or state fair. Some say this is sad, some say this is extremely sad. Anyway, from what I had been told you'd find a lot of slack jawed yokels, carnies, and fried food. After going there I can assure you that you'll find exactly those 3 things!

I didn't take any pictures of the mullet crowd, or the carnies trying to trick you into playing their fixed games. I did however take pictures of a few of the interesting food items i consumed.

The picture above is the lunch that Christie, Eric, Jenn and I indulged in. In case you are wondering we had, a slab of bbq ribs, a polish sausage, a bbq beef sandwich, 2 orders of beer battered cheese fries, and one order of regular fries (not shown the 3 beers we had to wash it down).

If you guessed the picture above is a corn dog with sugar on it, you'd be half right. It is sugar, but the friend thing on the stick is actually a snickers bar. Mmm deep fried snickers bars are quite tasty.

Have you ever had chocolate covered bacon before? Yeah, I didn't think so. I will say that despite thinking the two flavors could never go together, I, as well as the other three found it to be way better expected. The mixture of salty with sweet makes a good treat. I wouldn't attempt to make it part of my normal diet of course though....or should I?

I know I forgot to put random facts on my last 2 blogs, so here are 3 facts for you now!

1. One seven-letter word that contains ten other words without any of the letters being rearranged is therein. In includes the, there, he, in, rein, her, here, ere, therein, and herein.

2. A duffle bag is so called because the thick wool originally used to make the bags came from the Belgium town of Duffel.

3. President Kennedy's wife, Jacqueline, had the recipe for daiquiris pinned to the wall of the White house kitchen. It was the couple's favorite drink.

Any Clue?

So I woke up this morning with this bruise on my leg

I have no idea how I did this. You would assume that something this big would obviously be caused by something painful or memorable right? Well I guess not. It is a pretty cool purple/red/brown color though.

I got.....something!

So I was listening to the radio last week, where they were discussing the website Somethingstore.com. Basically you send the site 10 dollars and they send you back....well something. It could be something good....something bad, something for a girl, something for a boy, something cool...well you get the point. Naturally I was on board immediately.

I found that you could purchase up to 5 things at a time, which was tempting but I decided to go for just 2 things thinking that it shows that I was committed to the site, and not just there for 1 cheap thing! So after just 5 days (the site said 7, way to go usps!) I finally received my package of two items....here is what I got:

Here I am opening the packages, notice how thrilled my mom looks! She obviously senses that I'm going to get one of the big prizes the website has sent out, like an ipod, a gps, or electric razor!

Okay, so the first thing was not quite what I expected, its a pouch made of zippers. This was actually the same thing that the guy on the radio had gotten...I guess they have a surplus or something. I gave it to my sister, who I'm sure is excited to have it and move onto item #2!

Item #2 - The Solar Powered Rainbow Maker. Its this little gadget that you stick to a window. The sun powers the wheels inside to spin and shoot a rainbow into a crystal that will illuminate your room! In my case this will be put on my co-worker's window.

So yep...that's what I got. Awesome huh? I bet everyone is now heading over to the SomethingStore right now! My only question, is how long do I wait to buy again??!?

Yes I know I'm not good at this...

Thank you all for reminding me every so often that I need to blog more. I guess It lets me know that people actually check in every so often.

About 2 months ago I purchased a Western Digital portable 160 gb hard drive. The main reason for this purchase was that I was tired of having all my pictures take up space and slow down my desktop computer. Long term wise I hope to be able to scan all my old pictures that I took as a kid with film and put them on my new hard drive as well, but that is going to take a bit of time. I am also attempting to give a title to every photo...its a very tedious process. Here are 10 random pictures I came across while sorting for your enjoyment.

Me, Wally and John getting drunk at Pat O'Briens in New Orleans

Me (a lot thinner) Joe and John, who pretty much look the same

Wally singing to Lisa during a night of Karaoke, Joe and Christine laugh in the background

Me and Johnney being "extra cool" with our collars popped

Tim, Matt, Me and Luke during a hockey weekend in Vegas

Mac's 28th Birthday party, doing shots of Crown Royal

Me and Christie cheering some beer at Josh and Jenny's wedding in Seattle

Joe, Tom Arnold, Me, John and Mac at a Yankees/Angels game

Toby and Me at the 5th District farewell party

My old office, back when work was more fun.

So yeah, that's just a small sample of the random things I've been finding while going through years of pictures from a few different cameras. As always I will really try to blog more often. Sorry for the long delays.

Random piece of useless knowledge: Houdini actually trained his pet dog to escape from a miniature set of handcuffs.

Baseball 08

Yeah I know the season is a week old so a preview of the upcoming season might be a little late, but who cares, right? Rather than pick who is going to win each division I thought I'd make 20 predictions and then at the end of the year see how I did.

1. The AL Cy Young Winner will not win 20 games

2. Ryan Howard will hit 50 home runs

3. By the All-Star Break Evan Longoria, Clayton Kershaw and Jay Bruce will be in the majors.

4. Both BJ Upton and Justin Upton will be 25-25 players

5. Ichiro will not be the AL Batting Champion

6. The Marlins will have a game where less than 2500 "fans" show up

7. The Giants will not win 68 games this year

8. The Mets will not have to worry about a collapse this year as they won't be heading towards the playoffs.

9. The Cubs will not win the world series this year either (100 year anniversary of their last championship)

10. Kansas City will not finish last in the AL Central.

11. the Dodgers will not have anyone hit 30 home runs.

12. The Rays (formerly Devil) will win more than 70 games for only the 2nd time in team history.

13. The Red Sox pitching staff will lose another arm for the year.

14. The Yankees will not make Joba Chamberlain a starter this year.

15. Kosuke Fukudome will hit 25 homers and steal 15 bases.

16. Rick Ankiel will hit more than 35 home runs and make the All-Star team

17. The A's will win at least 7 more games after the All-Star break, than before

18. The Rangers will not have a pitcher win 12 games.

19. The best 1-2 combo in the NL will not be Webb-Haren

20. The Dodgers will trade one of their outfielders for pitching before the deadline.

Now for a random baseball story. Twenty years ago the Dodgers won the World Series and me and my brother were given a Commemorative Trashcan with the team roster. I remember us discussing who would get to keep it, and we decided when the Dodgers won their next title we'd get another trashcan and then we'd each have one. Needless to say we haven't gotten a new one, in fact I still use it:

Great condition, huh?

This used to be round! And that blotch of red near the top of this picture is from when I had my wisdom teeth pulled and I bled into the trashcan.

Anyway, I'm letting Paul know that should the Dodgers win, I will be more than happy to personally deliver this trashcan to his apartment when I get new one! I can't wait!

Random piece of useless knowledge: Armadillos can be housebroken

Striving for Perfection

When I strive for perfection it doesn't always have to do with bowling. Case in point my latest quest, to get a perfect 0 score on Microsoft Hearts. This was the closest I have come in a long time, 1 bad hand. I believe in the one hand I messed up on I was trying for the "Shooting the Moon" also known as collecting all the penalty cards. Will I get this perfect game first or my bowling perfect game?

Random fact: In the United States 40 people are sent to the hospital every minute for dog bites!

Happy Birthday LRH!

I'm not sure about you guys, but in order to celebrate the great leader's birthday I decided to go to one of his numerous centers. I even got my picture taken there!

Awesome huh!

I think my thetans are at an all time low right now which is great. And I am feeling more and more "in the state of clear" than ever before! Truly I am on the right path now!

Coolest Toy?

What's the coolest toy ever?

Mr. Potato Head of course!

For you keeping track at home I have Darth Tater and Original Mr. Potato Head Outside their box. The bottom row has Optimus Mash, Spud Trooper, Artoo-Potatoo, and Spider Spud. The middle row has Yam Solo, Princess Tater and Darth Mash. The top row has Luke Frywalker and Spuda Fett.

I was able to get the 5 in black boxes this past week at Disneyland. It totally made the trip worth it. I know there is an Indiana Jones Tater coming soon. I wonder what other ones PlaySkool will think up?

True Blue, True Dodger Blue...

So with the boring nfl season over, that means that we are all just a few weeks away from the start of major league baseball! whoooooo! I decided that I wanted to get ready for the season by taking a tour of Dodger Stadium. It's one of those things I've been meaning to do for a while, but never got around to it.

Being that today is a holiday (Lincoln's Birthday) I wasn't sure if the stadium would be open, given that everyone I know had the day off. Amazingly, I was in luck and the tours were still going. I woke up too late for the 10 am tour, but was right on time for the 11:30 one. Here is my trip report:

The firs thing our tour guide showed us was the unique position where you can look out and see 3 different parts of Los Angeles:

The City Skyline

The Hollywood Sign/Santa Monica Beach - when not smoggy

The Snow Capped Mountains

From here we got in the elevators. Did you know that Dodger Stadium has 9 levels? Level 8 is Dodger Jail and First Aid Center. So I guess that is where you go if you beat someone up, or if you got beat up. We went to a room on that floor where we watched a video on the history of the Dodgers.

Next up we went over to the Press Box/Suite Levels. The Suites I learned go for $4000-$7000 (per game) depending on where its located, the day of the game, and the opponent. So a suite at the far end on a Tuesday afternoon vs. the Nationals is cheaper than a Saturday night game vs. the Giants. At the press box we all sat down with a placard to show which media group usually sits in that location (ESPN, Fox Sports, KFWB, etc). I didn't get anything that exciting:

Next up we went down to the clubhouse level, where you can sit for just $465 per game. It is also where the players from both teams come in and out of so you have a chance of seeing them as well as sharing a drink at the martini bar (which many players do, usually only after a win though). When you get out of the elevator there is a wall of the more than 1600 players that have worn a Dodgers uniform at some point in the team's history.

Our tour guide was able to point out some of the more popular Dodgers like these:

Naturally, being the kind of Dodger fan that I am, I wanted to find those names that truly represent the team that pisses me off year after year. Ah yes, here they are:

Ah....crap. My tour guide saw that I was taking pictures of these players names and he thought I genuinely liked Carlos. Darryl I admit, but more when he was on the mets and not doing crack in the open. When he did it and no one knew he was cooler.

Next we proceeded into the Clubhouse area where they have a bar, tables and lots of memorabilia. Our tour guide tells us that we should be happy we came for a Dodger Stadium tour rather than one for the Giants, because this way we get to see Championship Trophies....see what he did there?

Here is the 1988 World Series Trophy. Look at this team and you'll be amazed they made the playoffs, let alone win a World Series.

Here is Home Plate taken from Ebbets Field when the Dodgers left Brooklyn for Los Angeles.

Vin Scully has been with the Dodgers for 58 years! Here are 2 of his many Emmy Awards.

In 1984, Dodger Stadium hosted events for the Olympics. Other events that the stadium has hosted include: Concert by the Rolling Stones, a visit from Pope John Paul II, and even an exhibition basketball game. They may have hosted some other concert too, not sure who though...

Back to the tour. In order to get to the stadium we pass through the Clubhouse walkway at the end is the locker room, and then a stairway to the field. In the walkway are all the retired Dodger Jerseys, followed by this:

Dodger president Jamie McCourt had this empty frame put up in order to motivate players to try to get their number up there. By last year's showing, it's totally working!

The field...up close.

The Dugout...up close!

Here are the only seats that have covers on them right now at the stadium. Hmm I wonder whose they are?

On the way back to the elevators we passed the Umpire's Dressing Room. Notice the bottom left part of the sign....oh those Dodgers! They bring the funny!

After that we went back to the Top of the Stadium, coincidentally where the big gift shop is, and it was open despite the of-fseason!

That concludes my tour around Dodger Stadium, it was a fun way to kill a couple of hours and get ready for the upcoming season. Our guide told us that this was the year, so I think I'll go to Las Vegas next weekend and put some money on them. I mean, who knows the team more than the tour guide?

Piece of random information: There are 1943 names listed in the closing credits to The Matrix Reloaded.

A Rivalry Renewed!

If you ask most people what the best rivalry is in college sports, you'd probably get the typical Michigan vs. Ohio St. or USC vs. UCLA, well I think I found one to add to that list. The University of California, Riverside Highlanders and the California State University, Long Beach 49ers!

I attended UCR for 4 years, and not one time during my years as a student did I actually attend a sporting event for the university, odd I know, but it wasn't what the kids were doing.

About 2 weeks ago I checked the yahoo sports page for the UCR Basketball Team and found that they were playing Long Beach on January 19th. Having no plans I called Long Beach State alum John and asked if he was willing to put school pride on the line and drive out to Riverside to watch the game. Naturally he said yes and the rivalry game was on!

Here are some random pictures from the game and the day out in the Riverside area:

Three games of bowling:

In UCR's defense the lanes were more for straight bowlers and those who throw a hook have a hard time. That said, did LBST really have to do the dirty bird?

For those who love food, or for those who went to UCR and remember the awesome food we used to have, I give to you the Carne Asada Fries....mmm carne asada fries..mmmmm

Okay now for the reason you are all reading this blog, to see who won the game....

The Highlanders...

or the 49ers?

The action was slow and tedious in the first half, but picked up at the end giving UCR a slight lead at the half:
34-33 UCR with the lead at the half!

Once the second half started, Long Beach seemed to take control of the game, and with approximately 4 minutes remaining they had a commanding 7 point lead, thus bringing down the spirits of the 250 - 300 people in attendance at the Recreation Center. About this time LBST had a brain lapse and put 6 players on the court for an inbound following a time-out. That lead to a two shot technical foul and some momentum for the home team! Down the stretch it seemed to be foul after foul, luckily UCR had some clutch shooters:

Amazingly UCR was able to come from behind and shock their Big West Rival! The crowd went crazy and the LBST fans were left to try to figure out how they just lost the game:

U-C-R! U-C-R! U-C-R!

All and all it was a fun game and a fun day. Now if only we can keep winning through the Big West Tournament and get to the Show! Oh and Cal Poly Pomona.....watch out!!

Random Piece of Knowledge: President Andrew Jackson's pet parrot had to be removed from his funeral in 1845 because it was swearing.

Still lazy apparently

Sorry, all my readers, I get so lazy. Okay, playing guitar hero III a little to much I guess, whatever, don't judge me.

Because of my lack of blogging I will treat you to 3 random facts:

1. Virginia Woolf wrote all her books standing up.

2. At latitude 60 degrees, you can see all the way around the world

3. A can of spam is opened every four seconds.

I know you are all amazed!

I missed you Blog

Hello everyone! I know you were all missing out on your fix of stupid posts from yours truly, so here I am back for 2008! First lets catch up on the past couple of weeks that I have been away:

I had originally stopped blogging the day my grandfather passed away cause I didn't really know what exactly to write at that time. Still hard at times, here is his bio: Robert E. Hutchins

Me, my brother and my dad flew back to Massena, New York for the funeral, here are a few shots from our trip:

Here is my grandfather's picture in his Army uniform with his Bronze Star and Purple Heart

Here is the river that runs along the back of my Grandparent's former, and aunt's current house

Cousin Picture: Brad, Peter, Matthew, Paul, Grandma Hutchins, Emily (not present Amy, Stacey, Sally, Kenny, Amanda)

Here I am trying to get my dad to recreate the scene in "A Christmas Story" where the kid gets his tongue stuck to the flag pole.

Not sure if I mentioned this, but it was cold.

Me and my next ride, a sweet snowmobile. These work in sand right?

This got old, very very fast.

I really like this picture cause it was the last time all of us were all together at the same time. Back row: Uncle Rick, Uncle Bruce, Sally, Aunt Judy, Aunt Beth, Uncle Kenny, Mom, Amy, Dad Middle Row: Matthew, Me Bottom Row: Grandpa Stacey, Grandma, Emily, Peter, Paul

Anyway, I thought I'd share a few of the pictures I took while there. It was cool to see everyone again, although the circumstances for us getting together was not fun.

Because I know you are all dying to know what else I have been up to recently, here are a few pictures I have taken to document the last month and a half.

Went to a Clippers game, turns out.....they suck!

Took part in numerous conference calls at work pertaining to California's Health Reform. Guess what everyone? We are all getting health insurance*

Found this peanut in my bag at work, are you aware there are 4 peanuts in that shell! Yeah, this is what i get excited about at work.

Look I am royalty! The fine people of Amazon.com seem to think so at least!

Despite going to Vegas numerous times before, this was the first "Dam" Time I had to visit the Hoover Dam. I gotta say it was "Dam" Exciting and "Dam" big. And yes this lame joke continues to this day.

Here I am rubbing the toes of some "Dam" statue that is supposed to bring good luck. Well I won a nice amount in Vegas, so I guess it worked!

Here is a T-shirt given to me by my friend Peter. Alhambra, for all of you who don't know is from this day on, to be known as "The Bra" - and since you all saw that I was royalty, this is real!

Oh well, all this blogging is now making me tired, and I'm going to read my new book before I go to sleep. Yes it's a Star Wars Book, yes its a Pop-Up Book, and yes the lightsabers are really glowing....Whatever, don't judge me.

Thank you all who came back to my blog after a long blog-hiatus. I will do my very best to blog at least once a week this year, possibly more! As a new feature to my blog, at the end of each post I will give you all a random piece of information that I learned in "The Ultimate Book of Useless Information" so that you can all be as knowledgeable as me on obscure topics!

Here is today's: It only takes 7 pounds of pressure to rip off your ear

* - You will get health insurance if the state votes to increase taxes......little word to the wise, you aren't getting health insurance.

Late Night Posts Are Fun!

So as you can tell by the last few blogs, I am almost forgetting to blog before it hits midnight so thus the material has been less than stellar. I will make up for this tomorrow.........maybe.........we'll see.

Anyway I just wanted to point out how crappy this NCAA Football Season has been. Some will say, oh man it has been so great because of all the upsets. Guess what, upsets really aren't that cool when it comes to the end of the season. Want to know why? Cause it throws off the entire BSC (and yes I know the letters aren't how you are accustomed to there).

With today's Missouri win over Kansas they have now gained the oppurtunity to have their faces kicked in my Oklahoma, trust me its going to happen. That will give us only 2 teams with one loss who are eligible for the championship game, are you ready for the riveting Ohio State vs. West Virginia matchup!?!!?! Can you feel the excitement? First of all, Ohio State has beaten absolutely no one this year, well I mean those games against Youngstown State and Kent State sure were barnburners. Its not their fault that their conference had an off year (looking your way U of M), but challenge yourself with an out of conference game that means something. At least you did next year, where I am guranteeing you will start 0-1.

My new hope is that because OSU will be in the championship game, LSU will get to play USC (once they kick UCLA in the face, and if you saw each of their games this week, you also know this is happening). I would like to no longer refer to it as the rose bowl, but instead, the WHAT IF BOWL. I think it has a nice sound to it.

Anyway, that was my college football rant for the day, stayed tuned for a future NFL rant where I tell you all how tired I am of the Patriots.