A room with a view!

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Antonio and Vincent's in Fullerton California :)
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Los Angeles

Started the day avoiding the parade for the Lakers. One, I don't like the Lakers and two - the crowd was crazy! Kelly had to get out early to avoid the traffic, so we were sans vehicle.....We hung out around the hotel and went to lunch at the downstairs eatery. I had the Sushi pizza for the first and last time. It wasn't very good. Anyway, seems everyone was wearing Lakers gear....

We then went to see Toy Story 3 in 3D. It was really fun. Quite a good ending to the series, although it did leave openings for a fourthquel if they so choose.

Kelly cam home from work and we decided to hit the sites. of course Rodeo drive was on the list. I didn't mind so much as it allowed me to gawk at the cars. Porsche, Mercedes and BMW's are so common as to be boring. The stars are the Ferrari's, Rolls Royce's, Maserati's and Bentley's. Rodeo drive shuts down at 5pm - so get there early if you really want to go in to stores.

So we went to China Theater/Walk of Fame. That's when the day got interesting. We ate dinner at Johnny Rocket's (which is always good). I had a perfect view at the Quizno's across the walkway. Anyway, I could see a customer trying to leave the store - but two employees wouldn't let him - they kept trying to get the bag of Quizno's away from him (like he didn't pay for it or something) He also had tree shoulder bags wrapped around him - but not in a homeless person type way, as in a guy with too much technology (only later did I find out he had a whiny female with him - but I digress). They finally got him out of the store without the Quizno's bag - that is when things got interesting. Bag dude threw a punch at the shorter worker. Clocked him pretty good on the left eye. Well, shorty had a knife! And used it! Cut the puncher dude in the shoulder. The fracas went around the corner and I couldn't see anything anymore - then punching guy back-pedals back the way they came with shorty-knife guy holding a chair. It was like he was keeping a lion away. The whole time whiny girlfriend girl was well, whining. She was annoying. Anyway, by this time security showed up and escorted puncher dude and whiny girl away and started getting statements from the Quizno's people. Al full 20 minutes later - the cops showed up. There was something hinky with puncher guy turned cut dude as he was VERY anxious to get away from any security type persons......So it ended up being dinner AND a show :)

Then we saw Dog The Bounty Hunter going in to the nightclub that was on the next level up. All from the same seats.

All in all, quite an entertaining night! :)

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Off rodeo drive. My kind of truck!
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Better pic of the Ferrari :)
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This is what I came to Rodeo drive to see - Ferrari!

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People camped out fir the Eclipse premier - on Thursday. Today is Monday

Evidently they started last week....
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The Hollywood sign

You can't see it, but the Hollywood sign is there....from our hotel room at the JW Marriott. The lakers parade is today too, so we are hotel bound....I can think of worse places :)
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I am still on California time

So, it's 3:30 am and I am WIDE awake. I new it would catch up and it has. I tried sleeping - really I did. Even moved Sammi out of my spot in the bed. No dice. Instead of watching tv all night (which honestly I get bored of after an hour or two) I went downstairs at 12:30 am and did expense reports. Of all the things in the world I thought would make me tired, it would be expense reports. But alas, it is not to be. So I figured - hey, I haven't blogged in a while, may as well catch up :) Please excuse if I ramble - it is 3:30am...or 12:30am depending on the time zone - either way it's in the am. On the plus side, I have reached Silver status with US Airways - that helps considerably with checking baggage (no fees for 2 bags) and automatic upgrades if they are available. Plus - they are partnered with several airlines, so the Silver status works on them too (United and Continental plus like 15 other more regional airlines) TRAVEL TIP! if you use one or any of those three - pick the one you use the most and ONLY use that frequent flyer program when booking your tickets - that way your points add up faster. had I known that last year, I'd probably be gold status now. Same sort of thing happens on other airlines (Except Southwest - they don't play with others - Air Tran may be the same way)

So - the past five weeks have been a whirlwind of travel to Redondo Beach California. Could have been much much worse - like Podunk Montana (I just made that up - not that I have anything against Montana, it was the first thing that popped in to my brain). I really enjoyed it - would have been better if the girls coulda been with me, but school got in the way. California is really nice - but I have no idea how anyone affords a house out there. A little shack is $400K - and that is way off the beach (yes I did check - the cheapest "on the beach" house is $5 MILLION)

Funny thing is, we are going on vacation NEXT week - anyone wanna guess where? really? California. Yep the state - not the town in Missouri (unfortunately) This time Kelly is going to be working. Originally we figured I would be scheduled to do something, the kids could hang out at the pool and they could do vacation things at night and weekends. But seeing as I am going to be able to join them, we can do vacation things the whole time. Yay!

Ashley has to go to her mother's in Oregon (Springfield/Eugene area) - so she won't be with us. But in case you are thinking "well there is one less female Eric has to deal with", you would be wrong. Rachel's friend Eliza will be coming along for the ride too. She is a cool cat, so not a problem, plus it gives Rachel someone other than Sammi to pester, so it works out :) I am not a details kind of guy (Kelly can attest to this). so I am still a bit fuzzy on the itinerary. I know we start in San Diego, go to LA, back to San Diego, back to LA (where I fly out of to Colorado) then the girls go back to San Diego and fly home. I am sure Disney is in the mix, as is Hollywood and all that stuff. Pretty sure I will have to go back to work to rest from vacation....

Anyway, after vacation, I go to Colorado for five weeks. A continuation of the gig I was doing in California. In case you are wondering, it is a defense contractor that rhymes with Grorthrop Numman that is virtualizing their datacenters. It should save them millions in operating costs. The high altitude of Lafayette Colorado should help me train for the Triathlon I am doing in August. Provided I get off my arse and actually train :)

I am going to drive from Denver to KC/Lake area for the 4th. So be prepared mom and dad - may have some more company than just me :) Hopefully details will get worked out soon - so you have an idea of what to prepare for.......

I think I am going to work on the basement a bit - no hammering as I don't want to wake anyone up. I do need to run wiring and such.....so I should be fine. I just noticed that the dog keeps looking at my with an inquisitive look on his face as if saying "what the hell are you doing up?" He's funny like that.

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That's the ESPN bus at the hotel behind my convertible Mustang rental car :)
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