OK, Now Get Off My Back...

I know that it has been a while since I've updated, and to those of you who read this frequently, I apologize. I'm currently sitting in Rohan's basement with the man himself playing some "Kingdom Hearts II." It's about 15 minutes to 3AM, but I am anything but tired. I have to go to Wheelock tomorrow, attend my cousin Sophia's High School graduation, and possible go on a pub crawl with Ro and Jon afterwards. I need/want to do everything, and it will be a challenge to get it all done.

Yesterday was Stephanie's birthday, so I am wishing a (albeit belated) FANTASTIC 20TH BIRTHDAY!

Rohan has been kind enough to DVR all of the episodes of FETCH! With Ruff Ruffman on his television so I can catch them; I don't get home until about after 5:50PM from Wheelock so I miss a lot of it. I thought I missed the season premier, but it turns out that the one he recorded for me was a repeat of the premier. And I have to say, after seeing it, I'm very excited to see where it goes, especially with the Blossom plot line (Blossom is the new intern for Ruff; she happens to be a cat: let the hilarity ensue).

I finally caught an episode of National Bingo Night online at ABC.com. Basically, one contestant plays a "mini-game" type of challenge (such as guessing whether the next ball will be odd or even, or red or black) and tries to complete her task (collecting 500 "miles," or going around the world) before one of the 200 studio audience players gets BINGO. Watchers at home can go online and print bingo cards to play along at home and win as well. My opinion on the game? It's alright. I wouldn't say that it's fantastic; I mean, how much fun is it to watch BINGO being played if you're not playing it yourself? Not much fun. I give props to the show for coming up with "amusing" ways for the lone contestant to play with the Bingo balls, though I will say that some of the games are harder to win than others; I guess it's a luck of the draw kind of thing. I believe there are 4 more new episodes left, but it remains to be seen if it will be renewed for another season.


I am working on a radio game show podcast that I would like to produce for the summer. I am still working on the way it would work, but I know that I would want three panelists (which would end up being my friends) and I would want to make at least 3 or 4 of them this summer. If you are interested in learning more or even participating, please let me know. I'm also looking for someone who knows a little bit about making a podcast.

I've been feeling a bit on the stressed side during the past few days. I hope it will be relived as the week goes along.

And now it's time for me to head out. I'm sure you'll hear from me in the future. But please forgive me if you don't hear anything for the next few days. I'll try as hard as I can to update, but I've got a busy week ahead of me.

That said, I'm ready to take on the rest of the week. BRING IT ON!

Shorts & Sweets

So lets see...

Yesterday I spent my night with Megan and her friend Caralie, who I met for the first time. She's a very nice and funny person, and the two of them share a very colorful history.

What was only intended to be a simple dinner outing turned into a overnight fiesta: Wii and a few drinks. A whole lot of fun, capped of with passing out on a huge bed. Add two dogs to the mix, one of which is a huge attention hog, and you've got yourself a crazy night. Crazy, but a lot of fun.

What else?

I've been super busy with work and such, and consequentially, I have not been talking to many people as often. Some of them understand, while others seem to not be enjoying this "status" as much. I'm trying to be understanding, but sometimes I wonder if people understand where I'm coming from. A couple of days ago, I didn't want to get in contact with anyone; I just wanted time to myself.

From The Weekend...

The Pub Crawl on Boylston Street by Hynes was fun. I went to a total of 5 bars: Dillion's, Foggy Goggle, Lir, Pour House, and Whiskey's. My favorite drink was the Bailey's and Milk. I had one drink at each place except for one, and I was proud of myself when we all called it a night and I was very coherent. In fact, I was the most sober of the group that was left. I am excited to hang out with Seaver as he is one of my closest friends.

Speaking of drinks:

Divya and I went to this new restaurant/bar called "The Beehive" which is located right by the Boston Center for the Arts. It's got this great atmosphere and I would go there again real soon.

I'm going to watch a NOVA episode on the Cuttlefish and fall asleep.

Opportunity's Knocking... Anyone Home?

I have just gotten home from a pub crawl from Boylston Street by Hynes with Seaver and his girlfriend Morgan and a few others. I had a blast (and I'll talk about probably in the next post). But first, some other news.

I took in 6 people from FETCH! With Ruff Ruffman, and it couldn't have gone any better. I introduced myself to them, and they asked me if i watched the show. Now, anyone who knows me knows that I would not miss a show like that. In fact I have watched all 20 episodes of the 1st season (so I know my FETCH stuff). The TOMB show itself was great; we all enjoyed ourselves greatly. After the show, I showed them how some of the stuff worked (which they really wanted to know about). But the biggest highlight was when I told them (and proved to them) how much I loved the show and I couldn't wait to see the 2nd season (premier on May 28th) to see where they take the show. I guess I impressed them because I got the contact info from two of the producers. I am going to email them to say thanks for coming to the TOMB and stuff like that. I am so thankful I got the opportunity to do something like that. Here's The Season Two Sneak Peek Video:



I saw Shrek The Third this weekend as well. I had a good time; I found the movie funny to watch, as I thought I would. So no complaints about that.

A group of us went to the Wheel Of Fortune "Wheelmobile" that was located at Suffolk Downs, a horse racing park. Of the 5 of us that went (Me, Steph T., Steph M., Brittany, and Collette), 2 of us (Steph T. & Collette) got their names called to play onstage. This meant that they got their picture taken and played on stage with 4 other players, a host who may have had a bit too much crack (but nevertheless was energetic), and a Vanna wannabe who reminded me of a bartender I once saw at a God-Awful bar once. The game board itself was a bunch of panels that on one side had the green "Wheel Of Fortune" logo and on the other side was essentially a piece of white board. There was also a place to put the category of the puzzle and a used letter board. They played a "Speed-Up Round" like they do in the real game before the bonus round. 1 letter can be called out per turn, and if it appeared in the puzzle, you got 3 seconds to try to solve it. If they thought you are a good candidate for a contestant, then they would send you a letter or an email telling you that you made it to callbacks (location to be in Boston). Do well there, and you're on the show. The most important thing is this:

Just because you made it on stage DOES NOT mean you get a callback. Just because you solved the puzzle DOES NOT mean you get a callback. But not making it on stage at the Wheelmobile DOES NOT mean you don't get a callback. They take all of the applications that were not randomly chosen and take them back to LA and a few of them get chosen for the callbacks.

That said, I would be surprised if neither Collette nor Stephanie got a callback. They were hilarious. To sum up Collette's performance: Doug & June. And for Stephanie: BFF's Forever. (Side note, neither of them solved their puzzle.)

In other game show stuff, before the movie, we played two rounds of Jeopardy! using my console. The first game went well, but the second game's finale was very surprising...

With a pretty good lead, Sam & Brittany were ahead going into "Final Jeopardy!," with Noah & Martha (or as we would later call her, Apple Bottoms) not too far behind, and Collette a little behind them. The category was "All About Animals." The final clue was: "Scientists gave the name "Draculin" to an anticoagulant found in the saliva of this kind of bat." Now, mind you, we were playing with the "Kids" cartridge, so the questions during the game were fairly easy; this one was no exception. So when the 30 seconds were up, I had a fairly good idea of who was gonna win. Collette was first to reveal his answer, as he was in 3rd place. His answer: "What is Vampire Spit?" I felt really bad, I really did, but I could not accept his answer, and therefore had to mark him wrong. In his defense, he claims he read the question wrong and thought it was asking for the anticoagulant or something (yeah, whatever man... :) ) He had wagered everything, bringing him to $0. Noah & Apple Bottoms, uh I mean Martha, wrote "What is the Vampire Bat?," which is the correct response. They wagered everything as well, doubling their score, but keeping Sam & Brittany within reach. So they revealed their response: "Vampire Bat." When I host Jeopardy! I make sure I say the following at the beginning of the 1st game we play:

In "Single Jeopardy!," if you do not form your response in the form of a question, you get a warning/bit of leeway. Anytime after that round, a response in anything other than the form of a question is judged as incorrect.

It doesn't take a genius to see that "Vampire Bat" is clearly not a question. So, sadly but diligently, I had to rule the response incorrect. Since they were behind at that point, there was no way for them, giving Noah & Martha the win.

What did I learn? Never assume you know how things will end up. That and read everything carefully. And listen to instructions.

I want this week to be a good one; better than the last week in terms of consistency. A few things have been annoying me and I hope things change soon, because I don't know how much longer I will be willing to deal with it. Just a thought.

Ok, it's time for a little resting before work. This will be an intense week, so I've got to be ready for it.

Let's Do It.

And Now, A Mood Swing Set

I haven't talked too much about game shows on this blog recently. So I'll quickly mention that tomorrow (Friday) is ABC's premier of National Bingo Night. I don't have too much information about the game; in fact, I won't be able to see the episode because I will be working at TOMB that night (which will be my last Friday for the summer). Maybe someone can tape it or something and I can catch it at a later date.

To make up for this, I have the lucky privilege of taking in a private show of two people. Two people who happen to be Producers of the WGBH/PBS show FETCH! With Ruff Ruffman, a kids reality game show that is taped locally. I am really excited to do this, mainly because anyone who knows me knows that I have wanted to work on this show from the beginning. I was a religious fan of show; I watch all 20 episodes of their first season. The Producers are coming to scope out the place to see if they want to feature it in the show. This could be a great opportunity for me to maybe learn more about the show and process and maybe get an "in" somewhere in 'GBH.

Last night, Rohan, Frenchy, Jon, and I baked a cake. Why? Because Ro wanted to and we had no objections to doing so. It was a chocolate cake that actually came out pretty nice. We played a round of golf (which I schooled them in), and as the night went on, we had some cake and hung out and played video games. I ended up sleeping over, as did Jon, but I did not leave till 3:30PM. Sufficed to say, I did not arrive at Wheelock at the time that I had planned to.

The four of us (including Simeon) have been hanging out a lot lately, and will continue to do so during the entire summer. It's what we do. I'm sure that we will all have some crazy adventures this summer.

Kayte and I have been talking since she has left. Things have been ok, but I don't know how things will transpire as the summer goes along. I also know that she reads this blog. That said, I'm fairly confident that things will be good. She is psyched to go to England, and she should be rightfully so. She gets to go hang out with a great friend of hers.

Justin's birthday is on Friday, and he is down here in Boston for the week. I hung out with him and Rayna and Gabby yesterday. We watched Boondock Saints, which is one of my favorite movies. He lives on Martha's Vineyard, which I have been to a few times. I will be visiting him hopefully sometime this summer.

Turns out, there are a lot of places that I would live to visit this summer, but I know that I don't have the time or funds to do so. I have decided to try to shoot for two locations this summer. I won't say where the potential places are, for fear of shameless promotions and "Please, Stad, come visit me!" by the people who live there.

I am determined to make this a summer of growth. I am 21 years old now, but I still have a lot of growing to do. I am determined to make some needed changes in my life. I know, a bit random, but it's just something that I have been thinking about recently. I've been a bit on the sad side lately. Don't know exactly why; I've been trying to pinpoint the actual reason for a little bit of time, but I can't seem to figure it out. There was even one point when I felt like I was maybe going to cry. Thankfully, I did not cry (don't know why "thankfully" as I don't have a problem with people expressing their feelings by crying). Some of my friends have been asking me if everything is ok, and like I always do, I say "Yeah, everything is cool." As you can tell, I don't share my feelings out loud too often to too many people.

I've been listening to a ton of R&B music in the last few weeks. It happens to be one of my favorite genres of music. I also like to drive late at night, when virtually nobody is on the roads. I find it relaxing. Very relaxing and soothing. Unfortunately, I don't have a car, so I don't get to do that often. I would go late night walking, but I don't trust my streets, mainly because half of the street lights don't work. But I went on a late night drive session during this week. Just to drive, listen to music, occasionally sing along, and to think and reflect. Jon came along with me, and we had a great talk about a plethora of things. And by "plethora," I mean "two or three subjects tops." No matter what they were. It was just something I needed.

I don't know what has come over me, but I've just been on the depressed side. There are some friends of mine who I used to talk to almost every week that now I rarely speak to now. It makes me really sad. So I've been trying to get back into contact with them. The list is not very large, but it's not about quantity, it's about the quality. And the truth is that I really miss them so much. They pop into my head every so often: when I surf Facebook, when I read past emails, stuff like that. They are some of the people who have shaped who I am.

I better end this before I write something really depressing. Plus I have to go to work in about 5 hours anyway; Wheelock's Graduation is happening and I've got to be at my best.

Much Love To All.

Quick Trip Clips

The following is a quick rundown of things that occurred between the Blu Monkey and my return to Boston:

• Choose Your Own Adventure (YouTube): Testers: Dan has been working on a CYOA for YouTube about a Video Game tester, and on Sunday he got his group of actors and a director and began filming the first episode. I appear in about 5 seconds of it in the beginning. It was a fairly good time, but most of the people working on it were a few years older than I was, which made me feel a little awkward. Nevertheless, it was a good time and I think it will come out well. When the video is posted, I'll make a link to it. Make sure that when you watch it, you vote on what should happen next by writing a comment... UPDATE: Here is the link. If you can't make a comment on YouTube, you can make one here on my blog about what should happen next (I'm sure Dan won't mind)
  
• Super Paper Mario: Both of Dan's roommates are video game testers, so there are a lot of systems lying around. I just happen to see a copy of "Super Paper Mario" sitting there, so I started playing it, and now I am hooked. Of course, I did not finish it before I left. But now I wanna Wii more than ever.
• The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson: Earlier in the week, I scored tickets to the Late Late Show (partially because I was disappointed that I could not see TPIR). I arrived there well before the time they said to and I checked in. I was there alone because Dan had to work, so I sat on the bench waiting. This small group of elderly ladies came and sat next to me. Then one of them began talking to me about how she and her friends came from a cruise ship that was docked here in L.A., which I found very cool. They asked me what I do and why I was there, and I told them about how I wanted to see TPIR and how I wanted to be a game show host. That sparked a discussion about the game shows of the past and how much we loved them. I walked into the studio hallways with the crowd. As I did, I met a British couple who were traveling around the world. They had already been to Japan, Fiji, and Australia. Since I had no one to sit with, they offered to sit with me. They were so nice and had very interesting stories.
  
  Anywho, the taping would last a bit longer than usual because they were taping for future shows. If I remember correctly:
  
• Ne-Yo was a guest (and musical guest)
  
• Larry the Cable Guy was a guest
• The guy who beat Oscar De La Hoya in that fight on Saturday was a guest
• A girl from One Tree Hill was a guest
• and Bright Eyes was a musical guest

Craig is a nice guy, and he interacted with the audience a bit, but unlike when i went to The Colbert Report, he did not take questions from the audience, which I would have liked to see. All in all, an enjoyable way to spend my Monday afternoon/evening.

• Host Your Own JEOPARDY!: It's just like it sounds. It's basically a home version complete with wireless buzzers, a nice scoreboard, and you can even make your own questions and save them on cartridges. It'll help me practice my hosting skills. Plus my friends will love playing it.
  
• The Return Flights: I had a flight that left at 7:30AM. Of course, I get there at about 6:45AM, cutting it real close. I got to the counter and I had to check a bag, but apparently I was a bit late, so there was a chance that my baggage would not make it to my flight. It actually made all the way back home on both of my flights (So Take THAT, Midwest!). AND, on my way to the gate, I bumped into the couple I met at The Late Late show; they were on their way to Cancun. It was a very nice surprise and I wished them a safe trip around the world.

In short, my trip to Los Angeles was productive and fun. I loved every minute of it and I cannot wait to get back. A big thanks to Dan for providing me with a place to stay and fun things to do (even though he was working most of the time). Also a big "1UP" to all the people I talked to about furthering my career; I'll be keeping in touch with all of you in the near future. And A big thanks to everyone who has been reading my blog and calling me and stuff during the last week. It was uplifting to hear from you all.

So, that's basically it. I'll post all of the photos I took during my trip on a Facebook Album so you can take a look at that. And I'm still determined to see TPIR within the next month (crossing my fingers). Jeopardy! Tournaments this summer as well, so look out for those. And I'll be continuing to make and test out my games, so keep reading this blog for any and most updates on that subject; this summer is going to be rockin'!

I Wanna Dance The Night Away

Saturday night was Cinco De Mayo (well, actually ALL DAY and night was Cinco De Mayo), so it was decided that we go to a bar and celebrate.

The Blu Monkey is located in Hollywood on Hollywood Boulevard. HOLLYWOOD! And it is a very nice place. Dan and I meet up with Thadd Williams, who is a recent grad of Emerson College and worked at the TOMB with us. It has a very chill and relax feel to it. Thadd bought me a belated birthday shot of tequila. It was considerably large for a shot, but I drank it all, but after that I had no more alcohol for the rest of the night.

Oh. Before all of this, Dan needed his ID. Long story short, he had lost his license a few months ago and was using his passport as his ID. Then, I guess, he lost it a few days before I came to L.A. So now he has no ID. Well, without an ID he cannot get into the club. So it seemed that he was a little down, which is understandable. He decided to make a stop at his job on the way to the Blu Monkey to see if his passport was there. We searched for about 5 to 10 minutes and found nothing. I had to go to the bathroom, so I went down the hallway while Dan continued to search. I came back and grabbed the mail that was scattered on the floor, and quickly glanced at the envelopes. There happened to be one from The Registry Of Motor Vehicles and it also was pretty small. I shoved it in front of Dan's face. When he opened it, his face lit up. We jumped up and down for about 20 seconds and then returned to the car.

Back at the club, I met some of Dan's friends (who were very cool) and we sat and talked for a bit. The music was very chilled and I talked to the DJ about where he got his music. Then some sweet dancing music came on, and when that happens...

I JUST GOTTA DANCE!!!!

So I did. And apparently, I can attract some ladies to the dance floor. I wont get into it too much, but going to the Blu Monkey was one of the biggest highlights of the trip. Hands down.

I have a few photos:






I should consider doing this once a month or something... Anyway, Dan makes a good person to go out with, and I would totally do it again. But now to a completely different topic...

Weekend Warriors

I know that I have been behind on updating, but that’s mainly because I’ve been so busy doing things here in L.A.

For example, I recently met with a man named John, who is in the game show business, for lunch. I got his number from Marc, who told me that this man was in my position about a year and a half ago. I called him on the phone, and he gave me a lot of advice. Then I asked him if we could meet for lunch. He agreed, and that’s what I did on Friday. He was a nice guy, with some very interesting stories about his journey to where he is now. I won’t go into it too much, but it was interesting to see how his situation and my situation were similar. It was a great time, and he told me to keep in touch with him.

Also during the weekend, Dan took me to Venice beach. It is a very beautiful and diverse place to be. There are so many people and so much to do (not to mention A LOT of sand). As we walked along the beach, we passed by a group of women who had signs reading “Free Hugs.” We almost passed them, but something compelled us to give in and get a free hug. It was cool, I guess.

There was also a man with a very wild get-up, with a cup filled with a little change and a sign, singing the following “Jingle Bells Jingle Bells, Help Me Get Drunk Tonight.” That was it. It was very interesting. And a little amusing.

Dan and I went to Santa Monica Pier as well. Lot's of people, and a DDR machine which we played (and which seemed to kick my ass; I don't like those metal pads for some reason). Dan is also working on a Choose Your Own Adventure mini-series about video game testers, and since we were at an arcade, we had to take some photos. My favorite one was the photo that I posted in the last update.

Dan and I went to the Tar Pits as well. Now, normally I would expect that this would be less-than-exciting. However, add the time constraints of 24, and you’ve got yourself a hair-splitting good time. We parked across the street in a parking lot where every 15 minutes you are charged $2. So that game plan was to spend NO MORE than 15 minutes at the tar pits. 16 or more minutes, and we would have a $4 fiasco.

We quickly parked the car and ran across the street to the Tar Pits. It was a cool place to visit, although it did smell of tar (duh). Running around the perimeter of the pits, we snapped some photos, all the while keeping the time in mind. Then he needed a drink. Dan had to get a drink. He needed a Sprite. Of course, they were all out at the vending machine. We lost about 2 minutes there. We raced back to the car, pulled up to the booth, and gave out ticket to the vendor. And what was the verdict:



You can't see it very well, but the display says "$2.00." We did it. We saved the tar pits. Take THAT, Jack Bauer.

I was gonna talk about the bar, but that will constitute a separate post. Sorry, guys. But trust me, it will be worth it. Till then, help that man have a Merry Christmas and help him get drunk tonight...

Did We Really Just Do That?

A few days ago, I decided to go on a trip to find GSN. There were actually two locations, both of which I found. The picture that I took is from the one located at Culver City. I didn't actually get to go inside, but it was cool to find it.

To find the GSN buildings, I had to park in the street (naturally). So I parked at a meter and did my search. When I came back to the car, I noticed that I just so happened to park in front of a Playboy building. Did not do it on purpose, I just found it kinda funny, so I took a picture of it.

Many hours later, Dan and I drove to Hollywood for the premier of Spiderman 3 (not like a super premier or something, just to a regular old movie theater, but it was a nice theater). Beforehand, we stopped to go take a stroll around and see some sights. So we parked in a garage. We got out of the car and we were making our way to the elevator, when he asked "Where are my keys?" I replied "I thought you had them." Then we heard a rumbling noise. Dan asked "Is the car still on?"

Did you ever have one of those moments where you realized that you just did one of the most dumbest things ever and now there's not much you can do about it? Well, we had one of those. Yeah, we tried opening the doors, but they lock from the outside for some reason. Thankfully, Dan is a subscriber to AAA, and they came in about 10 minutes, which was exciting. The man first took a look at the situation and said "Well, we're gonna have to break the window" to which we said "No way!" Thankfully, he was joking. He went to his car and pulled out two items: A rubber wedge and a piece of metal that resembled a coat hanger that was bent in 5 places. He wedged a small opening between the window and the door and stuck the metal wire through it. He moved it around a little bit, all the while I was wondering ehat he was trying to accomplish. Then I saw one of the wire ends pop out on the interior of the car. He then pushed the window button to roll down the window, stuck his hand through it, and opened the door. All of this in a period of about 3 minutes. It was amazing. I could not believe it. He was so chill and calm about it. Not to mention funny the entire time.

We made it to the movie, and we didn't get out until near 3AM. It was a good movie, although some people had some problems with it. I pretty much passed out when we got back.

(BTW: Comments are now activated on the last post. I don't know why they were not on when I posted the blog, but they are up now, so comment away.)


I know that I am one day behind, but work with me. The next post will cover TWO days instead of one. So here are some pictures (again another preview to tomorrow's post) to tide you over and tease you until I blog again:

You Wanna Talk? Let's Talk...

I just returned from seeing Spiderman 3 at a 12:20AM showing. It was a fun time, but the coolest/funniest stuff happened before the movie, which I will get to the next post. But here's the stuff from yesterday...

Yesterday, Dan picked me up and took me to his work. I met his co-workers from Lean Forward Media. It's a very small office, but they have a lot of stuff there, mainly the "Choose Your Own Adventure" DVDs that they make.

I walked around, and I took a stroll to Television City, where they tape a lot of shows including The Price Is Right. Tickets have been sold out for the rest of the month, so I was not able to attend a taping. But it wa cool to see the audience members come out of the studio with their price tag name tags. I will try again soon.

I called Marc to see how he was doing and see if he had any leads on stuff I should do. He gave me the number of a man who was in my position about a year and a half ago; trying to get into the game show business. I gave this man a call, and he was so nice and helpful. In fact, I have a lunch meeting on Friday to talk to him more.

Later in the day, Dan took me to a nice restaurant because he had a meeting with a recent college grad who is a Production Assistant with the hit CBS show CSI: Miami (which just happens to be my favorite Monday Show). It was so great to talk to him, and he had some great things to talk to us about. We had a great time, and it was refreshing to see someone who is going for their goal (he wants to be a television writer).

We went back to his place, and I met his roommates. Then I went to bed.



Now, here are some pictures that are clues to what my next post will include:


GSN: Get Thru The Gates...


Oh La La...


What The...?


Whatever Could Be The Matter?

Flight #WTF To Boringtown Now Boarding...

It’s about 5:25AM, and I have arrived at the gate C12 waiting lobby anticipating the start of the boarding of my flight on Midwest Air. To get here was fairly painless, but not without a few stories.

Frisky dropped me off and I walked inside the airport. There were not a lot of people there, so I had the notion that the transition from the Drop Off area to the Waiting Lobby area would be alright. I get my ticket from the desk and make my way down the long corridor to a security stop, where a bunch of female employees, some young, some a little older, were waiting. I get there and I was asked for my ID.

As I was pulling out my driver’s license, one of the older ladies asks me “How old are you?” And I reply “I just turned 21, ma’am.” She says “Really? You sure?” Some other employees chime in: “Yeah, are you?” and “You seem a bit younger to me” and “I thought you were 14 or something.” Sure enough, my ID proves my identity (which is what it’s supposed to do), and they let me through, but now without making some lovely comments about how you and fresh I look. I wish them a great day, and they wish me a happy and safe trip.

I walk down some more and come to the x-ray portion of the check-in. I try to read the signs as carefully as I can as well as follow the examples of some other passengers. I take a bin, remove my coat, iPod, cell phone, wallet, and shoes. I also take out my laptop and place my bags on the conveyor belt. I walked thru the metal detector and pass with flying colors.

However… One of my two bags revealed in the x-ray something “suspicious” and needed confirmation from one of the employees. I ask what the matter was, and he said he just needed to look in my bag. I watch him carefully as he takes his blue latex gloved grubby hands and reaches into my duffel bag. I’m racking my brain, trying to figure out what in the world this “Item of Mystery” could be. And guess what it was:

A Pack Of Index Cards...

That’s right. My pack of index cards. Freakin’ ridiculous. But nevertheless, I pass and continue to the waiting area.

Which leads me to this point. I am currently sitting in a chair near the walkway to the plane, with a nice view of the plane’s nose protruding out of the window. Boarding is at 6AM and takeoff is at 6:20AM. The first stop is Milwaukee, WI. I’ve never been there; in fact I have never been outside of the Eastern Time Zone. This should turn out to be an “interesting” sequence of events.

The “airplane mode” is activated on my phone, so I will not be making or getting any calls, but that does mean I can take “secret” pictures of inside the plane and my antics if need be…


UPDATE:

Here are some pictures from today. The next post will have the details on the event of May 2nd after I touched down. The Jet Lag may be catching up to me...


Milano & I Driving On The Roads



Gas Prices Are $3.33! What The Crap?

LA Bound Insomnia

So in less than 5 hours, I'll be leaving for L.A. and the week will begin. My chances to go to a The Price Is Right taping is slim, as it will only be taping 2 days while I'm there, but I must at least try to go. Right now I'm at Frisky's basement watching TV, washing clothes, and checking to make sure my camera works. Here's a sample of the boredom I've been experiencing...















But at least I know that it works, so there should be no reason why I should not be able to keep you updated on what I'm doing at Los Angeles. I'll be sure to update at least once a day and post some pictures of my trip. Send me comments on stuff that I should do while I am there and I'll do my best to do it for you.

Time to watch more cooking shows on Frisky's Big Screen before I leave...