A New Day Has . . . Come!

Doesn't this picture just inspire you to be a better person? Imagine a full two hours of this, including voice, crazy modern dancers in the background, and Celine's own hypnotic dance moves and then you will better understand how I spent my last Saturday night.

For only $87.51 after tax I was able to join Spencer, Allison, and Judson on the back row of the collesium as part of the last year of Celine's historic 5-year indentured servitude to Caesar's Palace. Rene must be so proud. It ended up being a lot of fun. Judd designed some very clever t-shirts for us to wear to the event. The cleverness included such phrases as:

'Celine Dijon: The Canadian Mustard'
'Celine you promised to never let go; I'm so cold!'
'Celine Dion: The Canadian Queen of Rock and Pop'
'A life without Celine is a life not worth living'

The t-shirts evoked all sorts of emotion from tears to laughter (okay mostly laughter) from all of those around us at the theater and on the strip. My favorite response was when people asked us how many times we had been to the show, assuming from our shirts that we attended regularly. While the show itself felt like listening to a Celine Dion best hits album while dropping acid, her voice really was incredible. Her entertaining skills not so much, but I am very glad I went and I still feel it was worth the cost.

All I can say is 'wow'!

Calling all Science Nerds

Okay so my friend C-blake's latest blog entry has me giddy about constellations. In fact I haven't been this giddy since the merit badge counselor at Steiner chose to use my flash light to highlight the constellations we had to memorize. I felt so cool to have such a powerful flashlight. Click Here

Stardust: An enchanted Review

I have seen many movies since my last blog review of Disturbia. However it has been that long since I have seen a movie that has brought out such emotion and energy from my soul that would cause me to write a review. No, Stardust does not star Boy Meets World star Shia Lebeof, but it does feature the ever inspiring Claire Danes, who has not put forth such a riveting performance since Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. Claire stars as Yvaine, a star fallen to earth, sought after by many for her mystical powers. She is being chased by a group of witches seeking to eat her heart for its powers of giving eternal youth, a group of princes who seek a medallion she wears so that they may succeed the throne, and finally by a charming human named Tristan, who has promised the girl he loves that he will bring her a fallen star in return for her hand in marriage.

As you might guess Tristan ends up falling in love with Yvaine while bringing her back to the girl he thought he loved and they live happily ever after. Spoiler Alert! (Am I supposed to say that before or after I give away the movie.)

The movie is really entertaining. Robert Deniro's character is great and there are a lot of funny characters along the way. It is kind of reminiscent of the Princess Bride, in the way that is told like a story and filled with a variety of funny characters. The highlight of the movie is in how Tristan declares his love for Yvaine. There was not a dry eye in the house for that moment. I have taken notes and plan on proposing to my wife with the exact words that Tristan used and giving my fiance a Babylon Candle so that we can live side by side in the heavens for eternity. I hope you get a chance to see the movie and that you will let me know what you thought about it. Cheers!

The Japanese Tea Gardens are soooo Overrated!

Well the Fodor's Northern California book is full of crap. It mentioned multiple times that when visiting San Francisco one must stop by the beautiful Japanese Tea Gardens in Golden Gate Park. Well Fodor's I trusted you and you have now lost that trust. Not only were the tea gardens a waste of time, but that waste of time cost us $4/person. My only consolation is that upon leaving this underwhelming place I was able to inform several other people in line that it would not be worth their $4, and so they bailed. I am glad that I could provide that service. My next trip I might spend a day outside the gardens telling people to turn around. I was that disappointed. To my chagrin most of the pictures we took were of this stupid park. Enjoy the pictures. Beside the tea gardens this trip was a blast. Some highlights in no particular order include:

• Risking my life in a go-cart on the streets of San Francisco (for more info on this please see the following blog entry: Julia's San Fran Blog Entry
• Driving into the back of Lisa's car in said Go-Cart
• Watching Lisa freak out going down a hill and try to stop the Go-Cart with her leg
• Sleeping on the floor of the hotel
• Running 13 miles on Sunday morning from the base of the Bay Bridge to the Base of the Golden Gate Bridge and back.
  
• Finishing my run with those people finishing the San Francisco Marathon and getting free bananas for doing so
• Wakeboarding on the delta in Stockton
• Cheese Cake Factory Brunch - Awesome!
• The BART - I love good public transportation
• Watching the Bush man get in an argument with a couple upset that they were scared and everyone laughed at them. They were most upset that he didn't even apologize. I love the bush man.
• Going to dinner with Zeana
• Huevos Rancheros in Rancho Cucamonga
• BBQ'd peaches that Ruthie stole from her neighbor
• Aerobeds
• Allison not believing that Judd was alone in San Francisco with Lisa
• and many more memories that I can't recall at this time

We ate at the House of Nan King. This place was great. We had to wait for about a half hour to get in and the owner didn't even let us orderour own food, but the food he picked for us was delicious. I recommend it to anyone visiting San Francisco.

These are not cutouts. They are real people who gave us marriage advice in Walgreens.

Watch out ladies. I am in a Japanese Tea Garden.

I think that this picture might make my mantle

I was so mad I had to bite my fingers

Lisa tried to be happy, but inside she was as mad as I am in this picture

It was so boring that we had to take pictures like this

Learning about myself at the San Diego Fair

So about a month and a half back we headed to the world famous San Diego County Fair. What a treat! Here are some highlights:

• Eating myself sick! Some highlights were the bloomin' onion, chicken legs, orange julius, ice cream, home made cinnamon rolls, and krispy cream chicken sandwiches
• Losing about 30 bucks between the 5 of us on stupid fair games. We were given a dumb little stuffed animal for our efforts.
  
• Learning the exact year of the second coming from a crazy evangelist who had a booth there. I wish I remember what year he said it was.
• Having Julia try out the magic curling iron
• Learning all about my personality. There was a crazy old magician with a machine. He reminded me of the crazy guy that lived in Colorado Springs in the Prestige. Anyways this evil machine could tell you your personality by analyzing your signature with your birth date. Here is what mine spit out. It's evil I tell you:

Your first impressions are likely to be correct
You enjoy challenge but avoid conflict
You need a pat on the back occasionally
You like your friendship to be appreciated
People find you honest, conscientious, and trustworthy
You are sometimes jealous and possessive
You have a strong desire for wisdom
Although you have definite ideas, you keep an open mind
You are not as innocent as you would like people to believe
You never hesitate, even when the going is rough
You have the ability to combine the artistic with the practical
You have to learn to see another's viewpoint

Here are some pictures of the events:

Bloomin' Onions!

Chicken Legs!

About the only thing that was free to do there

Trying to win the giant tiger stuffed animal. (Also the only evidence that Adam Buie ever lived down here!)

I love Sanjaya

Ok I really don't love Sanjaya, but I did get to see him in person. Funny story. I was in Phoenix for work a couple of weeks ago. (I almost melted!) I stayed over an extra night to hang out with Tyler and Erika. They were showing me around town and we decided to go get dinner by the hockey stadium. Low and behold it was the same night as the American Idols tour concert. A guy approached us and offered us $80 seats for 20 bucks. Such an offer could simply not be passed up. Here are some of the pictures of that memorable evening:

Celebrating receiving the tickets outside the stadium

Waving the phone with the crowd

Sanjay Live!

I couldn't contain my excitement when Jordin Sparks came out

A Magical Evening