Happiest Place on Earth
Last Saturday my good friend Erik Hiller got married to his fiancee Kim (you'll remember them from such albums as "Arcadia Beach Roadie 2007"). The wedding took place in sunny Los Angeles, California so Debbie and I used it as an excuse to see the sights in SoCal. We did Disneyland the first day, then made a circle around LA County by hitting the Griffith Observatory, Hollywood Blvd, Santa Monica, and as much of the PCH as we could stand in rush hour. Finally Saturday was the wedding itself. If you're interested in pictures, go ahead and take a look.
Disneyland was great fun as usual and especially fun since it was Debbie's first trip there. We were a little disappointed at first to see the park was only open from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm (about 3 hours shorter than most days) but when we got to the park and saw the 20 minute lines were were more than happy to have picked that day! Seriously, the longest line we waited in was the Finding Nemo submarine (which was better than expected but doesn't crack my Top 5 rides or anything) and that was no more than 25 minutes. The downside was that we did not get to see the fireworks or Fantasia but getting to ride every ride we wanted to in about 10 hours was worth it! In the future we will continue to aim for the after-Spring Break/before-Summer Break window. We even had time to visit California Adventure and were glad we did. The Hollywood Tower of Terror was a little bit hyped but was nicely polished and offered a great view of the parks (for about 2 seconds while you're screaming for your life). Soarin' over California, on the other hand, was AMAZING. I did not think it would be that convincing but it may have been my favorite ride of the whole day. Just phenomenal.
The next day was nice to get out and see more of the city and a few landmarks, although Hollywood got a big thumbs-down from Debbie. Vendors getting in your face and crazy people dressed as funny characters...Debbie and I were both pretty uncomfortable. The Griffith Observatory is a nice place to spend a few hours, especially if you're a science geek. It's got a great view of the city and the Hollywood sign as well. Another great view is from the top of the Ferris Wheel on the Santa Monica pier! It was a little freaky but I'm glad we did it.
Finally the wedding was Saturday and was another amazing view of the city. Probably the best venue I could possibly think of for a wedding. It was great to be able to be at Tiny's wedding and to finally get our crew back together for a day. And if that wasn't enough, we spotted an amazing look-alike at the wedding. We were all pretty certain this was the guy from Season 2 of 24 and Lost's Christian Sheppard, but it turned out to just be a friend of the bride. You can't disagree, though, the resemblance is uncanny.
It was a great trip. Debbie and I got to see a lot of the city we had never seen before and had a really fun time. We also walked away with a few key travel tips that I will share with you now. First, when given the option, fly JetBlue. 36 channels of DirectTV, live Sirius XM radio, extra leg room, no fees for one checked bag, and the cheapest tickets I can find. I was blown away by this airline. Second, when given an option, I'll rent through Enterprise. Again, the cheapest I could find and they upgraded us to a Focus for free! Third, if you are hungry at Disneyland and don't like seafood, go to the Carnation Cafe on Main Street. Good food, reasonable prices, short wait-times, and a very friendly staff. And lastly, Embassy Suites offers UNLIMITED BACON EVERY MORNING. Yeah, they have other stuff too (pancakes, eggs, cereal, toast, etc) but the bacon overshadowed all.
Congratulations to Erik and Kim, we're very happy for you. And thanks for giving us a reason to visit LA! We hope to be back soon.
As it Turns Out, the Revolution Was Heavily Telivised
It's Monday, November 3rd, 2008 and it's been a pretty lame weekend. If it weren't enough that my Ducks lost, my fantasy basketball team lost, and I lost the costume contest at Friday's Halloween party, we're facing what is now a pretty inevitable defeat tomorrow at the hands of Barrack Obama's flock. Oh, and when I say "we", I mean conservative Americans, Capitalists, and tax payers (other groups I can think of that are facing defeat are soldiers and unborn babies, of which I am neither). So I don't expect things to get any better very soon.
Roughly half of all taxpayers may at this point disagree with my previous list of Tuesday's losers, but I would ask them to think about their current situation. As I type this, millions of employees around the country are getting emails from their CEO and sitting through meetings with their District Manager with a focus on cutting costs. They have keywords in them, like "hiring freeze" and even "layoffs". Over the past few days I've begun to wonder how these companies are going to find another 5% in their budget for taxes on anything over $250,000. I'm trying to figure out how raising their taxes is good for middle class America but I can't. In the poll I did among three of my liberal friends on the issue, one told me that companies wouldn't lay off employees to cut costs (which is not true, cutting man hours is the first thing GameStop did when they needed to make the earnings look good, and several companies have already been letting go of parts of their workforce), another said he didn't believe Obama's plan was going to get enacted but he was voting for Obama for social reasons, and another just said "Yeah, things will be different", which was a little frightening. None of these are adequate answers for me and I'd love to hear a good one if there are any truly progressive Americans out there with a response.
I've sadly had to try and emotionally distance myself from the election in the last couple of weeks. I haven't really been able to, but I've come up with a few soothing ideas for a Conservative like me. For instance, the idea that since he never managed to write a piece of legislature and voted "Present" all those times, I don't think he's really a man of action and will thus not do a lot of good or harm. Then again, he'll sign anything that comes from the liberal Senate and House, and they're not going to sit on their hands for 4 years. Another good thought may be that since we have swung so far to the left as a country, a hard swing back to the right seems inevitable and even possible in as little as two years. In the next election, I can't see anyone that the Democrats will have to point the finger at for what I'm sure will be an even worse economy. Ultimately, though, the thought that makes me sleep at night is the image of a TV show I watched when I was a kid. The mom was in the kitchen making something with baker's chocolate and the 8 year old son at the table behind her was begging for some chocolate. She said he wouldn't like it, but he was persistent to the point where she gave him a chunk. Of course he spit it out as soon as he got a taste of it, which I think is a similar reaction that most of America will have to Obama's presidency. So after 8 years of listening to Oregonians, I've now come to a "Fine, just shut up about it already" attitude.
While it looks like a loss is inevitable, I am glad to say that I did more this election season to get the word out than I ever have. Thanks to everyone who has bought a sticker or put my design on their site. If I measure "success" by how many stickers I sold, I certainly consider the Don't Drink the Kool-Aid campaign a success, although it doesn't look like it will have done enough to get us to a win. Between CafePress and Ebay I managed to sell 783 "Don't Drink the Kool-Aid" bumper stickers, 530 "Change is All You'll Have Left" stickers, and 164 "Barrack Obama: The Second Coming of JC" stickers for a grand total of 1,477 anti-Obama bumper stickers as well as a handful of t-shirts and yard signs. This far exceeded my expectations; I was nervous that I wouldn't sell through my initial order of 500. Thanks again to everyone with a sticker on their car, we are brave souls.
There's not much that can be done at this late stage in the game but I would just urge all people, no matter who you vote for, to pray fervently that God's will be done. I don't pretend to know what that is, but I do know that it's an important time in the country's history and I would much rather leave the decision in God's hand than man's. No matter what happens, we're still in the best country on Earth and it will take a lot more than one President to change that.
Comments
Cam - DId you make much $ selling on cafe press?
Two More for Obama Haters
If you enjoyed my post a few weeks ago you should love this. I've been at it again, combining my wit with mediocre design skills. As the weeks have gone on and more shadiness has been uncovered about Obama's comrades, I've been more and more energized against his bid for President. Hilary is done doing her worst so now it's time for conservatives across the country to voice their opinion. To do my part, I've added two snide options to place on your bumper, bringing the count to three:
"Change is all you'll have left"
"Barack Obama: The second coming of JC"
"Don't drink the kool-aid"I certainly wasn't around for the Carter era, so it may seem strange for me to make that middle one, but after listening to clips from Carter next to clips from Obama, the similarities are undeniable.
I think the new stickers are really aimed at a different audience. These talk more about how bad a President he'll be as opposed to addressing his followers' religious-like devotion. All three messages are appropriate, though. The more I listen to Obama's ideas the less I like them. I have no confidence in him to do any good for the economy and he sounds like he's way over his head when it comes to foreign policy. I still haven't been able to get excited about John McCain, but it's been really easy to get excited about opposing Obama.
I ordered the first bumper sticker from Cafe Press and was really pleased with how it turned out. The image is clear and the sticker itself is a high quality. They're expensive, at about $3.50 per sticker, but it's a small price to pay to let the people around you know that there are still conservatives left in the world. Sometimes I wonder, living in Oregon. In walking around my neighborhood today I saw at least 15 Obama yard signs and exactly zero McCain signs. I also read in the news today that there are four times more Obama products than there are McCain products available at Cafe Press. Hopefully the Anti-Obama message will be something people can get behind. Anyway, I've set up two more shops at Cafe Press so that you can order the new stickers:
Click here to order the "Change" sticker
Click here to order the "Second Coming" sticker
Click here to order the "Kool-Aid" sticker
As always, let me know if you have any feedback.
Comments
Oregon is in the tank for Obama. For one more subversive Obama wear, check out http://www.cafepress.com/javaslinger
Cam, here is one more for ya...
"Yes We Can...But Should We?" I don't know, maybe it needs some work. :)
Both of those are beauties, especially the CHANGE one: it's short, sweet, and to the point.
The No-Go Phone, from AT&T
Well, the holidays have come to a close. I haven't posted anything on the blog in a while; if anyone is interested in pictures from Christmas in Portland or New Years, I put up a lot of shots from both. Also, I uploaded a video from our trip of Richland Center so that everyone can get an idea of where I spent the week before Christmas.
Unfortunately there's still one sour taste in my mouth from Christmas that I haven't quite gotten rid of. Debbie and I got her parents a pair of "Go Phones" from the AT&T store at Bridgeport Village before we left. The sales person was more than happy to sell them to us and was pretty optimistic about them working in Richland Center even after looking at the AT&T service map. She was also certain that we could change the numbers from the Portland area code by calling Customer Service. Unfortunately, we listened to her and found out after opening that it was a 60 mile drive into Madison to get new SIM cards for the phones so we could change the number and then once we got the new SIM cards, there wasn't any service at all in Richland Center. And after talking to the guy at the sales kiosk, the money is glued to the account so I can either sell them or let the $60 in credit rot. Anyway, if anyone needs a pair of Go Phones, you can get a deal on Ebay. If you do decide to go into an AT&T store, I wouldn't recommend this one. They probably also won't tell you that those mail in rebates are for gift cards, not cash. And they expire in 4 months.
Sorry, that was my rant for the week. Hope everyone had as merry a Christmas as we did. And if anyone else got Guitar Hero III for the Wii, let me know and we can rock out online!
