No pictures for this post. We didn't do a lot for fathers day this year. Amber had to work and summer school started on Monday so she couldn't come down. This year Crystal proved that the best presents don't require a lot of money, just thoughtfulness. She burned me a music CD. That doesn't sound like much does it? Especially if you consider that I already have most of the songs she burned on the disk. However, I think you will change your mind after you read the letter that came with the CD.
To Dad
From Crystal
This is a mix CD of songs that remind me of you. Many of them are songs that you would sing to in the car. Take Me to the River, Money for Nothing, Lullaby, Jewel, etc. Then, of course, there is Diamond on the Soles of Her Shoes.
Some of them are songs that have men with deep voices singing, which makes me think of you for some reason. What a Wonderful World is one of those. Also, I remember it played on the radio one day and after the song was over you said very seriously that you thought that that song is one of the best songs of all time. I always think of you saying that when I hear the song.
Some just have lyrics that remind me of you. Dancing on Daddies Shoes is one of those because of how you’ll often just randomly dance with me. The Killers songs Daddy’s Eyes wouldn’t make me think of you if it weren’t for the line “You know you got your daddy’s eyes.” I have blue eyes like you. The Pink Floyd song Nobody Home makes me think of you because of a memory I have of you pointing out the lyric “I’ve got a strong urge to fly, but I got nowhere to fly to” and saying what a great line that is. I remember I didn’t notice the line when listening to the song, but thinking it was a beautiful lyric after you pointed it out. Now I can’t hear that part of the song without noticing it. The Paul Simon song Father and Daughter makes me think of you because for one, pretty much all Paul Simon songs do, and secondly because of the content of the song. It’s a song about how much a father loves his daughter and how he’ll do anything to protect her. I’m so lucky to have the sort of dad that I can think of when I listen to that song. I don’t even have the words to say how much I appreciate and love you for that.
I should have just handed the letter to Tania so she could read it herself. I tried to read it out loud but could only get about half way throught it.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Dan's Birthday Present
As usual, it took me a few weeks to getting around to writing this post. For Dan’s birthday Jenna decided that Alex and their boys would take Dan to an Angel game. They asked if I wanted to tag along, so how could I say no?
I’m not sure why she thought baseball would be fun. Neither Dan, Alex, nor either of her boys likes baseball. Of all the professional sports to choose from, I think baseball is the most boring. I would even pick soccer over a baseball game, but it is always fun to hang out with the boys so why not? It won't be long before they are too old to want to hang out with their uncle. The Angeles were playing the San Diego Padres which are always good games to attend becuase a lot of Padres fans come up to watch the game. Having a lot of fans from the opposing team at the staduim makes the home team fans cheer even more.
The seats were great. I’ve sat in many different locations at a ball game; high, low and in between. But every time I have been close to the grass I have always been near the in-field. We sat in row K just inside the foul pole in left field. A lot of balls are hit out in left field, so while you are not close in to the pitches and base running it was fun to watch the balls flying in the air towards us and see the left fielder run them down.
It also didn’t hurt that the Angeles rocked them 9 to 2. A lot of action and lot of home runs... I just got a new phone and played around with the vedio camera. I was kind of tricky to figure it out so the this video isn't very good but I thought I would add it any way. I want to try to have more videos on the blog in the future.
I’m not sure why she thought baseball would be fun. Neither Dan, Alex, nor either of her boys likes baseball. Of all the professional sports to choose from, I think baseball is the most boring. I would even pick soccer over a baseball game, but it is always fun to hang out with the boys so why not? It won't be long before they are too old to want to hang out with their uncle. The Angeles were playing the San Diego Padres which are always good games to attend becuase a lot of Padres fans come up to watch the game. Having a lot of fans from the opposing team at the staduim makes the home team fans cheer even more. The seats were great. I’ve sat in many different locations at a ball game; high, low and in between. But every time I have been close to the grass I have always been near the in-field. We sat in row K just inside the foul pole in left field. A lot of balls are hit out in left field, so while you are not close in to the pitches and base running it was fun to watch the balls flying in the air towards us and see the left fielder run them down.It also didn’t hurt that the Angeles rocked them 9 to 2. A lot of action and lot of home runs... I just got a new phone and played around with the vedio camera. I was kind of tricky to figure it out so the this video isn't very good but I thought I would add it any way. I want to try to have more videos on the blog in the future.
What do you know, baseball isn’t always a bore. Here's Alex explaining the in's and out's of the game to Bren.
So what did the girls do while the boys where at the ball game? What else? They took Barbara out for a pedicure for her birthday.
Look at those relaxed, beautiful feet.
A fun day for all.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Weekend Up Date
Tania and I went to the Dance Camera West Dance Film Festival on Saturday night in downtown LA. They have events occurring all month. Friday was the opening night and Saturday night they had a viewing of short movies (4 – 10 minutes). People submitted shorts that were suppose to be outstanding examples of dance on screen. There were two showings, one at 6:00 PM and one at 8:00 PM. It was only $10 so we went to both.
It took place at the REDCAT which is connected the Disney Theater in downtown LA. We decided to get there a little early and walk around, enjoy the architecture and get something to eat before the show.
The Disney Theatre is one of the coolest buildings in LA.
They are trying to revive down town LA. I don’t how you revive a place that was never vived in the first place, but down town LA sucks compared to New York, Chicago or San Francisco. It was early Saturday night and the place was completely dead. Half of the restaurants and most of the shops were closed. The first restaurant we found had appetizers starting at $22. I didn’t even bother looking at the rest of the menu. The second place featured an 8 course meal for $185 – we kept right on walking. We eventually found a California Pizza Kitchen a few blocks away. There were only about four or five other parties there besides us when we showed up, but it started filling up a little by the time we left.
These types of things (Dance Film Festival) always attract the cool, hip crowd – guys with hats, most of which matched their jackets which didn’t match their pants and were always jeans with holes in them. I think I was the only guy there wearing socks. Everyone was overly excited to see one another – greetings were done with a lot of screams and hugs. (omygod! Look who’s here! EECKKKK!)
The fun part of the event was that you got to vote for your favorite film. The bad part was that half of them were completely lame. Someone needed to inform the committee that chose the films that just because a film is weird, and has quirky shots put to music does not make it a dance film. A lot of the films had no dancing at all but the ones I hated the most were the ones with no absolutely no plot or purpose -- trying too hard to be artsy usually ends up being just stupid. However, with film festivals you gotta expect a certain amount of junk, that’s what you signed up for. For that matter, half of the “real” movies I go to these days are junk so why would this any different? At least they were only a few minutes long and not 2 ½ hours of junk.
A handful of films were very enjoyable. But the best part of going to this event is that after wanting to go for years and years (but able to because she worked weekends) Tania finally got to go this film festival and now realizes that this was not something that should have been on her list in the first place… I won’t have to go again.
Then just to keep theme going, on Sunday we went to the Thousand Oaks Art Walk. I happened to notice this was happening on my way to the gym in the morning. (yep I am able to do some short swim sessions). Artist from all around bring in their wares for view and sale. Paintings of all type, ceramics, glass blown art, jewelry and a few music booths for entertainment. The weather was perfect; cloudy with a slight breeze, not too hot, not too cold.
Tania’s primary goal was to find someone who offered classes on glass blowing. She wants to learn how to make glass beads. Her latest hobby is jewelry making and she also wants to learn how to make glass beads because they are expensive. She found a few people who provided lessons and was able to find someone who had just the type of class she was looking for.
Art shows like this are always fun because the artists are usually there and after sitting all day long dealing with looky-lou’s they are bored out of their minds and don’t mind talking to you about their work. Tania’s favorite question to the jewelry artist was “How did you do this?” Some were reluctant to divulge their secrets but most were very nice.
All-in-all, a pretty nice weekend.
They are trying to revive down town LA. I don’t how you revive a place that was never vived in the first place, but down town LA sucks compared to New York, Chicago or San Francisco. It was early Saturday night and the place was completely dead. Half of the restaurants and most of the shops were closed. The first restaurant we found had appetizers starting at $22. I didn’t even bother looking at the rest of the menu. The second place featured an 8 course meal for $185 – we kept right on walking. We eventually found a California Pizza Kitchen a few blocks away. There were only about four or five other parties there besides us when we showed up, but it started filling up a little by the time we left.
These types of things (Dance Film Festival) always attract the cool, hip crowd – guys with hats, most of which matched their jackets which didn’t match their pants and were always jeans with holes in them. I think I was the only guy there wearing socks. Everyone was overly excited to see one another – greetings were done with a lot of screams and hugs. (omygod! Look who’s here! EECKKKK!)
The fun part of the event was that you got to vote for your favorite film. The bad part was that half of them were completely lame. Someone needed to inform the committee that chose the films that just because a film is weird, and has quirky shots put to music does not make it a dance film. A lot of the films had no dancing at all but the ones I hated the most were the ones with no absolutely no plot or purpose -- trying too hard to be artsy usually ends up being just stupid. However, with film festivals you gotta expect a certain amount of junk, that’s what you signed up for. For that matter, half of the “real” movies I go to these days are junk so why would this any different? At least they were only a few minutes long and not 2 ½ hours of junk.
A handful of films were very enjoyable. But the best part of going to this event is that after wanting to go for years and years (but able to because she worked weekends) Tania finally got to go this film festival and now realizes that this was not something that should have been on her list in the first place… I won’t have to go again.
Then just to keep theme going, on Sunday we went to the Thousand Oaks Art Walk. I happened to notice this was happening on my way to the gym in the morning. (yep I am able to do some short swim sessions). Artist from all around bring in their wares for view and sale. Paintings of all type, ceramics, glass blown art, jewelry and a few music booths for entertainment. The weather was perfect; cloudy with a slight breeze, not too hot, not too cold.
Tania’s primary goal was to find someone who offered classes on glass blowing. She wants to learn how to make glass beads. Her latest hobby is jewelry making and she also wants to learn how to make glass beads because they are expensive. She found a few people who provided lessons and was able to find someone who had just the type of class she was looking for.
Art shows like this are always fun because the artists are usually there and after sitting all day long dealing with looky-lou’s they are bored out of their minds and don’t mind talking to you about their work. Tania’s favorite question to the jewelry artist was “How did you do this?” Some were reluctant to divulge their secrets but most were very nice.All-in-all, a pretty nice weekend.
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