Wednesday, October 26, 2005

The Succubus

Ever seen the episode of South Park entitled "The Succubus"? It's the one where Chef meets a woman who sucks the life out of him and nearly gets her to marry him. Kinda hits home when it almost happens to you... My exgf was a huge South Park fan, but she didn't like that episode. Now I know why!

Roadtrip!

Tomorrow morning I am heading to California for a few days... Woo Hoo!! One of my best friends is having a Halloween Party on Saturday night, and his parties are not to be missed! I was going to fly out there, but I waited too long to buy my ticket, and well, the price went way up. So, for what it would cost for a ticket at this point, I can drive out there and bring back several cases of wine. Good call huh? It's been a while since I have had real sushi, the California Rolls from Albertson'sjust aren't doing it for me... Tomorrow the drive will take me as far as SLC, where I will stay the night at another good friend's house, then on Friday I will make the long trek out through the nothing known as Nevada. Ooooh! The Nothing is out there! Sounds like something from out of the movie The Never Ending Story. Hmmm... The Nevada Never Ending Story.... Don't let the nothing in Battle Mountain or Lovelock get you. Lovelock... I have stayed there twice. Once a long time ago on a roadtrip back this way from San Jose, and last winter when I moved back here. Both times at the place with the Casino, Sturgeon's I think it's called... If a Nothing could dwell anywhere, it would be there!

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Things that go THUMP in the night!

The other night, I had just gone to bed. Will, the younger of my two cats had decided that he wanted to stay out all night, which was completely fine with Berries, the other cat. Berries barely tolerates Will, and he won't come near the bed when Will is on it. But with Will outside for the night, Berries comes down off of the cat perch to play. When he's cold, he will burrow under the covers and snuggle up with you. He's the only cat that I have ever known who will willingly subject himself to being under a blanket without going nuts and clawing his way out! So Berries gets under the covers and crawls out just far enough so that his head is poking out and resting on the pillow. He's purring loud and I soon fall asleep. I have a huge headboard with mirrors and drawers and a shelf at about the Five Foot level, and of course, the boys like to jump up there. What seems like an hour or so later, I am jarred back to counsciousness by a giant THUMP on the bed. Berries decided to take a dive off of the head board and wake me up. Scared the crap out of me! He thought that it was funny, I can imagine the thoughts going through his feline mind - Stupid human, night is for playtime!

Saturday, October 15, 2005

Things that make you wonder…

This morning, I was helping my Dad change oil on an airplane. This client of my Dad’s owns several cool airplanes. Anyway, this fella is a very successful business man, and he owns a few retail businesses though out the region. A few months ago at one of his establishments, a loyal patron cashed a two party check for about a hundred bucks. No big deal. Now, cashing a two party check is completely legal, bear this in mind. One day, his office gets a call from the DHS. Yes, the DHS, better known as the Department of Homeland Security. Seems as though they had gotten wind of one of his businesses cashing a two party check somewhere in the middle of Wyoming and they didn’t like it. Huh? Don’t these people have real problems to worry about? Aren’t there bigger issues at hand in this country? This actually scares the hell out of me that they are so concerned with something like this in Wyoming. I don’t give a flying f&$% what anyone says, terrorists will never strike in Wyoming, or Montana, or Idaho, and the thought of them following up something so trivial and meaningless here really scares me. What is getting by while they are wasting energy on this? Oh, gee, we’re sorry, but the high rise span of the San Mateo bridge was just blown up because our people were too busy looking into suspicious completely legal two party check cashing in Wyoming. On top of all of this, they wanted him to write them an admission of guilt. He told them what they could do with themselves. As would have I…

Saturday, October 08, 2005

Finally Fixed...

This afternoon, I finally replaced the front bumper on my car. A little over a year ago, my exgirlfriend was driving it and hit a parked car at Taco Bell. She was more than likely driving like an idiot, anyway, the collision tore a hole in the bumper... Most people never noticed it, but I sure as hell did...

I decided to go for a drive tonight, so I synced my iPod up with a couple of new songs that I had downloaded and a couple of new mixes, then hit the road. North out of Cody towards Montana, passing all of the people returning from a day in Billings. Billings... What a wonderful place. What a shithole to be more exact! Before I knew it I was at the junction at Belfry, so I took a left to go see what was shakin' in Red Lodge. Red Lodge may be a happening place in the winter, but it certainly wasn't tonight. I walked down town, passing by a few bars and pubs. I thought about going in and having a beer, but peering inside the scene was the same, a few people at the bar smoking cigarettes. No thanks! I can't wait until either smoking is outlawed in public places like it has been in more civilized places or it becomes legal to shoot someone who is bothering you with their horrid stench of cigarette smoke. Back in the car, back down the road... One of the things that I have really gotten into listening to lately has been score music from movies. There is just something about going 85 mph down the road in the dark while listening to the theme from Raiders of the Lost Ark! A much better time than a smoky bar with no live band, and no interesting people to watch...

Saturday, October 01, 2005

One of those days...

Today was one of those days. One of those days when I wish that I still lived in the Bay Area. Although it was a beautiful day here in Northern Wyoming, I miss days like today out there.

It would have been a perfect day for a drive up the 30 some odd miles of swichbacks from San Jose to the Lick Observatory high atop Mount Hamilton. On a clear day you can see all of the way to San Francisco, some 60-70 miles away as the crow flies.

Or a motorcycle ride... South out of San Jose on Almaden Road through the Almaden Valley on the Beamer (Beamer = 2 wheels, Bimmer = 4 wheels), Uvas Road to the Hecker Pass Highway for a quick stop at the Fortino Winery for some tasting and to pick up another bottle of their Burgundy and Carignon. Bear in mind, motorcycles and drinking don't mix, contrary to what the Harley crowd thinks, so drink, swirl, taste, and spit is a must! From there up over Hecker Pass, hopefully not getting stuck behind a slow moving SUV or Minivan, past Mount Madonna, where stopping for a minute or two to look out over the Pacific Ocean and all of the Strawberry fields in the Watsonville area. Back on the bike and down the road, once again hopefully not stuck behind a slow moving Corvette. Once in Watsonville, a stop by the BMW Shop is a must so that you can get a cup of coffee from their super cool coffee maker, and check out Shawn's Helmet Cam videos. From there up Hwy 1 to Santa Cruz to Hwy 9 through the little mountain towns of Felton, Ben Lomond and Boulder Creek. In Ben Lomond, there is a quaint little grocery store that has the best sandwiches, and a convenient picnic table outside for a short break. Further up the road, take a left at the Hwy 35 Skyline Boulevard intersection. It's always amazing that for all of the traffic that is on Hwy 9, there isn't much on Hwy 35, and despite the 50 mph speed limit, you can easily go 70-75. After coming this far, I'd usually take off at Page Mill road and head down the hill through all of the twisties and past all of the cool estates and houses. Cross under the 280 freeway heading towards Palo Alto, take a right at Alameda del Las Pulgas which turns into the Foothill Expressway as you enter Los Altos. In Los Altos, there is a Starbucks in this cool old shopping center that was built in the late 50's or early 60's but is in excellent condition. A stop at this Starbucks is always a must for a late afternoon cup of coffee. Once back on the road, the Foothill Expressway will take you into Cupertino, where you take a left on Stevens Creek Boulevard and through the old part of Cupertino, cross over the 85 freeway, and take a left into the old shopping center where this really great sushi house called Tsunami Sushi is located to top of a great day of riding...

It's kind of ironic that the motorcycle ride that I just related is an adventure that I went on several times with my ex-girlfriend, and tomorrow marks one year that we were officially broken up. Our relationship was very disfunctional, and it permeated into every aspect of my life. It was a relationship that should have run it's course in a month, but was stretched out to 15 months. I nearly lost my best friend through it, as he saw what she was, did everything he could to save me and he nearly gave up on me on several occasions. Even as bad as it was overall, there were some good times, but those good times now and again can't make up for the bad times that happen the other 99% of the time. I think this is why I have been so happy to not really date anyone in this last year. I needed this year to get back to being myself, find out who I was again, and re-evaluate where I wanted to go in life. That being said... I am now ready to go forward again, continuing the quest to see if there is anyone else out there that sees things the way that I do...

And now... After all that, how did I wind up back in Wyoming?