DU

This weekend was pretty eventful. It all started with Sara's Birthday Party on Friday, right after work. Originally she was going to have a 'Cuddle Party' but then had to back out of it cause each of the 20 girls invited wanted to 'Cuddle' with DanO. (You can read all about her side of the story at her blog) (but its still in dispute whether or not she/they were serious about going). So we/they went for Sushi instead; followed by a lovely gathering at Greenfield. We had Birthday Pie. We played the Wii. We socialized and ate food. It was the usual grand ol time.

One thing about the Wii that I've started NOT liking is that it has this 'Wii Fitness Test' and for some reason Sara and the crew think its the greatest thing to have me do this fitness test where the results will tell me how old I should be. I played it a few days ago and after playing three different Wii sports, it told me that I was 66 years old. Now, thats simply not correct. So on Friday night Sara had me do this again. They had me do it without any warm up time at all either.

So, On Saturday morning (after my pancake breakfast) I get an email from my Credit card company telling me that they suspended my account due to suspicious activity. Well, I was annoyed because of all the weird stuff with my bank as of late. I figured it was another phishing scheme, but I thought I'd still check it out. So I tried to log on to my bank account; but it wouldn't work! Again, another point of frustration. After two more tries, I broke down and just called the company. They immediately told me that my account had been suspended, it was a legitimate email, and there was suspicious activity on my account, namely Someone in Barcelona went on a shopping spree with my Credit Card number. The Indian on the phone read back the last 10 purchased I made with my card, which were all lunch time purchases made here in Westwood Village. So obviously I was unable to make a quick trip to Spain in less than 24 hours myself (the time between lunch-time purchases here in Westwood). It took a few more minutes, but they fixed the whole thing, so now tonight I'll go back through, just to make sure all purchases are legit. A worthwhile hassle. So the Moral of the story is to check your Credit Card Bills, and to be super-extra careful when traveling in Italy or Spain.

I also spent most of the morning Fighting the Battle of my life. Don't worry friends. The world is indeed a safer place now that I have been roaming the countryside with my magical powers and legendary weaponry fighting, talking, hacking, and bulldozing my way to success. I have found a way to barter with local merchants to the point of me trading large amounts of produce and precious stones and quickly earning large amounts of gold. The gold allows me to buy huge fancy expensive weapons that can cut through magical armor of evil-doers very easily. I just bought a sword who's name escapes me at the moment, but Its something like 'Avo's Starscreamer'. Not to be confused with 'Avo's Tear', which is its younger brother. So by Saturday Afternoon I was able to expose the Mayor of Bowerstone as a fraud, set an innocent prisoner free, Defend the village of 'Knothole Glade', and buy two houses in different cities. Its quite an accomplishment.

On Saturday night I was out walking around town and I coincidentally ran into Cheryl. Neither of us were doing anything, so we decided to hang out. But we also hung out with some Married friends of ours. We went to one of the many Thai Food places on Westwood Blvd. for dinner. Later, we played board games with Steve and Britt late into the night. It was fun. One of the games was a 'boys vs. girls' game where it would test our knowledge of the opposite sex. Wow, there's a lot I don't know about both guys and girls stuff. Luckily I was partnered with Steve and he took care of answering most of the questions, as I just sat there looking pretty. But as soon as I get a free minute, I'm going to start brushing up on my sports trivia... (ya, right.)

Then on Sunday night we were able to talk Jeff into making Pineapple Upside-Down Cake. Wow, was it good. Good Job by Master Chef Jeff again. It was a lovely short evening, almost every single girl who came brought their knitting/crocheting/sewing gear with so It was like a girl party, but ESPN was on the TV so we got our testosterone fill from that, so it all balanced out.... for the most part. So the night was short (at Jeff's) because I had promised to pick Kristen up from the airport at 10:30. Then it was Southwest, so there was of course a delay. Then it is LAX, so there were naturally other delays. So I finally picked her up from the terminal by 12am. I was going to give her grief about it (just to be funny) but then I quickly remembered that I owed her numerous Airport favors, something like 20 trips to the airport or so, and a few of which were at painfully early hours, so I had no room to complain, so I did it happily with a smile on my face.

Lunch was sponsored by Jose Bernstein.

I'm listening to The Pointer Sisters right now.

Daily Update

It was a rough day. My lunch break was cut super short. No time left to sit and draw, or look through magazines, or go to best buy, or just to loiter. It was cut short cause I was a little late getting to work. And when I say 'a little' I actually mean a lot. I woke up at 11am. Ya, thats right, 11am. and Yes, They want us there by 9am. I don't know if I'm allowed to blame my alarm clock, or myself. I don't think I've been ready to run out the door so quickly in my life, thats for sure. Then on the other hand, I didn't think the streets would be so busy at that hour. The overcast weather made it seem like it was still 8 or 9am. Therefore it must have been the weather's fault that I slept late! I that that weather. One day I'll get it! I'll start this weekend by lighting a pile of tires on fire. That will show it who's boss.

Before getting up late, I was also forced to stay up late. I had borrowed a DVD from Plewe. The 3rd Pirates of the Carribean. Turns out its a three hour movie. They usually don't last that long. I had decided to watch it last night after running to Hop Woo for Dinner. Hop Woo is kind of far away for my liking, so they are added to the 'Their fault' list. My stomach and I consulted for a little bit, and we made the decision to go there for dinner after working a little later than normal. So I guess it was 'Works' fault after all. So it doesn't matter if I was late to work, cause Work kept me late the night before. OK, now I don't feel so bad.

Danny in my office is going to some Golf tournament tomorrow. He's talking it up as if its the coolest Rock-Concert in the world. Oh... I just heard him say, 'wicked' into the phone as a response to someone else comment. Now he's laughing like a frenchman. Oh, the fun continues.

Lunch was sponsored by Marvin's. It was a bit better from last time. They only have one guy working there it seems. He's decent, unlike those other flagrants. Todays Cheeseburger was the first time I've tasted pickles on their burgers.

I'm listening to Marcy Playground right now. Its a little weird. Its been a super long time since I've dawned these sounds on my ears.

Daily Update

So yesterday I turned my Bulk email inbox back on. Before then 'Bulk/potentially Spam Emails simply went straight to oblivion. But after turning it back on, I'm getting an annoying 3-4 trashy emails an hour. And when I say 'Trashy' I mean stuff I don't want to see. Not necessarily Smut, but ad's too. Every time I open my account I see that someone has taken the time out of their day to write me a lovely note, so I click on it to find out more, and notice that its just weird crap in Polish, or Yugoslavian, or something. So this morning I notice that I had received an email from my own address, but advertising a frivolous online pharmacy. I was in shock. I shouldn't have received something from my account that I did not send! I emailed my dad and asked him his assessment of the situation. He assured me that it was nothing. But still worried I still changed my passwords to... something else. You thought I was about tell you didn't you :) Not so my friends. I don't know who's listening. But I will tell you that my password was changed to something more complicated. Namely a 30 digit series of non-sequential numbers, un-repeating letters, and a plethora of random meaningful symbols. I also have put in a request with my email provider for longer passwords. I have used every single significant letter/number/symbol that I would remember, and then combined them. My ideal password would be 58 characters long. You know, for maximum difficulty/secrecy.

Collins, my desk neighbor, and I were talking earlier about nerdy stuff like spamming people, and emailing. He's a pretty smart kid. And to top it all off, he sends us all funny emails during the day. He used to test video games for a job. How cool is that?!

I spend a good amount of time Fighting the battle of my life last night. The world is a little safer this day because of the late night hard work that I've done. Rest in peace friends.

I'm listening to Harry Connick Jr. right now. Its a little weird, I know. But otherwise I've listened to Every single Guns N Roses song ever released today.

Lunch was sponsored by Papa Johns BBQ Chicken and Bacon Pizza, Kristen's Brownies, the Color Gray, and the number 5.

Daily UPdate

Today at work I was showing my Gingerbread Castle pictures to Collins and Susan. Collins was super duper impressed. Susan thought I was just that much more immature than before. I responded by telling her that 'She was immature and childish'. She then asked me my age. I informed her that it was none of her business, and not relevant to the conversation. She then rolled her eyes and then went back to her own business.

The roof is leaking in my office again. Yes, that means its raining again, and has been for at least 15 minutes.

I'm feeling better today. It was made obvious to me when I found myself sleeping in and being late for work, just like usual.

Last night something Bad/Good happened. I had ordered a new video game via this thing called the internet, and it arrived last night. I rushed to my computer as I strapped my Nerdy hat on. (is it possible to say 'I rash to...' instead of 'I rushed to...'?) I installed, and then started the intro for The Battle Of My Life, that is about to come in the following weeks. Don't worry, you'll hear all about it.

I was torn away from that by American Idol and then Biggest Looser. Those shows' are great. They both make me feel good about myself for all the wrong reasons. At the same time Cheryl was making cookies. It was great.

Lunch was sponsored by Marvin's again. I'm so jealous of Jill who can have Crown Burgers anytime she wants.

I'm listening to the cars rush through the rain, and water dropplets pound against the bottom of one of many trash cans that we have laying around our office. Yes, the roof leaks in an Architects office. Its not our fault though, its the landlords. Every time it rains, we complain, and then they send a bunch of weaselly hicks to slap some tar around up on the roof, but miss all the holes every time.

Jims Gingerbread Castle!

Behold, the great accomplishment of the year, the one and only Gingerbread Castle Galore!

This is the front of my Gingerbread Castle.
You can see the Peanut path leading up to the front Pretzel/licorice draw bridge, welcoming the inhabitants home. The trees in the front yard are made from Carmely Popcorn balls, Fluffy Rice crispy treat balls, and a chocolate drop covered sugar-cone. Oh look, some of the trees are getting ripe, the M&M fruit is starting to drop! Never fear, there are teams of small gingerbread men ready for the harvest. Hey are more noticeable on top of the Castle, behind the Chocolate wafer crenelation.

This is the other side of the front.
Its a little more quiet and mysterious than the other side. The Chocolate Wafer Cookies are the perfect shingle for the roof. It must have snowed recently cause Sugary icing is slathered about, with a sprinkling of coconut flakes all over. The front of the main building is decorated with fine lacy licorice ropes, welded to the facade with a hefty amount of icing. The roof peaks are accented with a variety of flavored Candy Canes Caps, as well as Spicy Gum Drops. The Peppermint Swirl on the very top acts as the Castle's Coat of Arms for all to see.

This is the back from the Mysterious side.
There is activity in the back yard here, just outside of the wall. Oh look, you can see a family of Teddy-Grahm Polar Bears playing in front of their Marshmallow Igloo, which is right in front of their Peeps style Christmas Tree. Its hidden in front of the Skittle-Stone wall of the lower portion of the house. Wow, you can just see the joy on those Bears faces.

And here is the other corner of the back courtyard, completing our counter-clockwise tour of the Castle. The Marshmallow tower is right in the front. Its fruity shingles are constructed from Fruit-Striped sticks of Gum, and supported by Candy Cane beams. The Pez brick gatehouse is Covered in an assortment of Necco Wafer Shingles. And no Gatehouse would be complete without its 'Snicker-Nutcracker' guards nesseled on each side of the Gatehouse. Wow, I wouldn't want to mess with those fellas! It rests just off to the lower left side, while the Candy Cane lamp posts highlight the right side of the courtyard.

I hope you've enjoyed our 'Counter-Clockwise' tour. Its been lovely being your tour guide. Come back later for more exciting and dramatic images. (Don't worry, more detailed photos coming soon.)

Daily Update

Its another European Day. I woke up early again this morning. I know why, its cause Is went to bed early. I'm not used to sleeping for more than 6 hours a night. I'm also not used to going without fighting the battle of my life, but I've had to rest from it in the last day or so in order to recover.

Last night Sara was brilliant enough to plan a celebratory MLK BBQ at her place. It was great for people like Chris and me who sometimes look for reasons not to go to FHE. They had Hot Dogs, Hamburgers, BBQ chicken, some sort of salad (I didn't try it, cause who eats 'Salad' at a BBQ?!), and the best Baked Beans that I've ever eaten. I mean it was GOOD. Trisha kept eating the rest of the Hot Dogs that I had started. I don't know why, but apparently they taste better after I (or someone else) prepares them. A bit later we busted out the Wii and 'Sported' the night away. Sara had me do some Wii fitness test and my results said that I was 66 years old according to how well I did at the Wii sports. I now hate the Wii for offending me like that in public. It was fun though. I'm glad she had that event, cause if she hadn't I would have gone home and gone straight to bed.

Jeff and Josh showed up only 90 minutes late, and wondered where all the food was. They had been at Home Depot getting materials for their Man-Boxes. They have been inspired by me and are going to make them from scratch from fancy expensive woods.

Lunch was sponsored by In N Out.

I'm listening to Jesus The Christ right now. (And to water dripping into buckets that we have right next to my desk.)

Daily Update

I woke up to a wonderful European Morning. I lost my car for a few minutes as well. Turns out I parked under the building. As I was walking back to my car, I remember telling myself that I'd forget where it was, cause I seldom park under the building.

So on Friday right after work, a bunch of us went to see '27 dresses' at the Fox lot. It was much better than I though. There were a few guys there too. I think most were 'pressured' into it, besides us of course.

On Saturday my Pancake breakfast was at Jeff's. He and Josh were wanting to come over and eat from my pancakes, which isn't a big problem, its just that I wouldn't have been able to do a single thing the rest of the day cause they never would have left my place. So I volunteered his place. They were only ok. Jeff has 'his' recipe that he has to follow, but I'm still a fan of the Costco mix. After that I ran home to clean my room and apartment, and to Fight the Battle of my Life. Don't worry the world is a safer place.

Later in the afternoon we went back to the Fox Lot to watch Enchanted and Golden Compass. Enchanted was entertaining, but I thought the Golden compass was really good. I was happily surprised; and also surprised that it didn't do that good in the theater. I'm going to have to write a letter to Warner Bros. to ask them to make the other two in the series. Its kind of ridiculous that all the right wing Conservitive Christian groups would complain about it so much without even seeing it first. I didn't notice any religion in it at all. Jeff was the only person who had a problem with it, and thats cause it 'wasn't realistic'. (I should have told him it was a 'fantasy' type film. In between the movies we visited Jeff's Archive.

I was super tired all through church, and actually was trying to sleep, but couldn't. Ryan had me talk Jeff into making Cookies right after church. Ryan doesn't think he has enough clout to convince him to do it anymore, so he got me to.

I kind of feel under the weather. I'm sure there's something great that I've forgotten; so I, like usual, will have to fill you in later. In case I remember that is.

Lunch was sponsored by The Corner Bakery.

I'm listening to Bruce Springsteen right now.