First (and Probably Last) ManiPedi

I got my first manicure/pedicure. Chances are, it will also be my last. I'll get to why in a minute. But first, the background.


I don't recommend Star Nails & Spa. (06/2007)

Last Christmas, Tim got me a gift card for a manicure/pedicure, because I don't exactly have the softest of feet. It was good at Star Nails & Spa at the Irvine Marketplace (I list ther website as a warning, not a recommendation). After sitting in my desk for months, I decided to do it before Hawaii since I wanted to have nice-looking feet for the trip.

The gift card is worth $27, the price of a manicure and pedicure. On top of that I had a coupon for $2 off. While there, I also got a $10 eyebrow wax (want to leave the unibrow on the mainland). At this rate, I'm looking at $8 extra, plus tip.

The brow wax went fine, and then they started the manicure/pedicure. First of all, I was amused that the stereotype about the manicurists talking amongst themselves in Vietnamese while you sit there (totally true, I laughed to myself).

Then the scam began.

"You want hot lotion treatment for your hands? Only three dollars extra." In for a penny, in for a pound, I thought. Why not? Now I'm looking at $11 extra, plus tip.

"You want hot lotion treatment for your feet? Only three dollars more." Well, if you're going to do the hands, you might as well do the feet, right? Head calculation: $14 extra, plus tip.

"You want me to take off callouses with pumice stone? Five dollars extra." Well since that was the reason I went in to begin with, I reluctantly said, "Okay, but nothing else extra." So I'm thinking $19 extra, plus tip.

So at the end, when they gave me my total it was $30. I asked how it got to be $30, when it should only be $19. She said the prices quoted were per hand or and per foot.

Well I guess I must have had "Sucker" written on my forehead. By the time you add it all up, including the gift card Tim gave me, we're looking at nearly $60. It kind of reminded me of all the vendors I dealt with when traveling through Mexico. Everyone is out to rip you off, it seems.

I did ask to see a breakdown of the prices, but she pretended she didn't understand what I was asking for. So I brought out two twenties. She went to the back to get change (I noticed she didn't get it from the register, which made me wonder if in addition to ripping me off, she was also ripping off the store).

Oh well. It's sad for the nail industry really. The actual manicure/pedicure experience wasn't bad. I would have gone again if they hadn't nickeled and dimed me the whole way through it. Needless to say I won't be going back.

Pop Six Squish Uh-Uh Cicero Lipshitz

As members of Goldstar Events, we often get these offers to see shows for half price. So when the opportunity to get half-price tickets to see Chicago at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, we figured why not? We don't normally love touring shows, but for $20 a piece, it's hard to go wrong.


We got half-price tix to see Chicago again. (06/27/07)

We've each seen the show separately before. Tim often reminds me of when he saw this show on Broadway about 10 years ago with Marilu Henner, Bebe Neuworth and Joel Grey (he knows I turn green with envy).

I saw it a year or so later at the Mandalay Bay in Vegas about 10 years ago, with Marilu Henner, Ben Vereen and the guy who did the voice of Pumbaa in the Lion King.

This version was not bad. The only celebrity it had was Tom Wopat (Luke Duke himself). He was actually the least exciting person in the cast. In the end, it was the Kander & Ebb score and Fosse-inspired choreography that made it worthwhile.

VNV Nation at the Wiltern

We went to see VNV Nation at the Wiltern with Jon and Amy. We started off with dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant, El Conquistador, then made our way over to the Wiltern.


The Wiltern. (06/23/07)

I actually love the Wiltern. It's the perfect sized venue. Not too big. Not too small. I've seen a few shows there before, including Joan Baez, Nanci Griffith and Indigo Girls.

It was my first time at the Wiltern since they took out the seats downstairs and made it standing room only (there are still seats upstairs). We were on the floor.


VNV Nation at the Wiltern. (06/23/07)

We weren't all that impressed with the opening acts, but VNV did a great show.

Elliott Yamin & Other Idols in Anaheim

We went to see Elliott Yamin at House of Blues Anaheim. Elliott Yamin, if you remember, was the third-place contestant on American Idol Season 5 (the season where Taylor Hicks won ... unfortnately). Went with Tim, Amy and Jon, and Amy's sister and mother, Ashley and Kathy. After dinner there, we got into position for the show.


Elliott Yamin at House of Blues Anaheim. (06/21/07)

Opening act was Josh Hoge. He wasn't bad. I liked it best when he sang in his high voice.

Later (much later, it seemed) Elliott came out. He was okay, but it wasn't nearly as exciting as it was watching him on American Idol itself. Back then, he was one of our favorites. But that excitement just didn't extend to his live performance, however.


Josh Hoge was opening act for Elliott. (06/21/07)

Oh yeah. We had some celebrity sightings in the audience. Do you recognize any of them?


These 4 Idol finalists were in the audience. (06/21/07)

Brandon Rogers ... who cares? Phil Stacey, I didn't care too much about either, but at least he's recognizable. But I was excited to see Chris Richardson and thrilled to see Jordin Sparks. That was cool.

Jason & Jarrod's Pool Party

Our friends Jason and Jarrod hosted a delightful summer pool party. It was held at the house where Jason is currently residing. It's one of those Hollywod Hills homes which has an amazing view of the valley.


Just some of the yummy treats Jason and Jarrod had for us. (06/16/07)

We had a great time. There were maybe 20-25 people there altogether, most of which we were meeting for the first time. We especially enjoyed meeting Jarrod's family (everyone from his siblings, his mom and dad, even his grandparents). They were a blast!


Jarrod and his family. (06/16/07)

The weather was just perfect for a pool party, too. Not a cloud in the sky. And the food! That was amazing too.


Tim dries off with the San Fernando Valley in the background. (06/16/07)

What a fun afternoon. Thanks for inviting us guys!

That's Strike Two, Kelly

Okay, you know I'm a huge Kelly Clarkson fan. But for right now, I'm a little ticked off. Why? I just found out that she canceled her summer tour (the one I already had tickets to).


Kelly the last time I saw her. (08/01/06)

Apparently they didn't sell enough tickets. This is the second time Kelly has canceled a show I've had tickets for. The first time, she was sick, so I guess I can't blame her for that. But this latest news just irritates me. Oh well, at least I got a refund on my credit card (minus the Ticketmaster convenience fee, of course, which is the most annoying thing ever).

Pics of Miguel Angel

Remember last week when I wrote about having a new baby brother? Well I finally got my first look at him today when my dad sent pictures. It only took nine days (I'll have a word with you later about finally getting a digital camera, Dad). But isn't little Miguel Angel cute?


New family addition Miguel Angel. (06/07)

He resembles my other brother John Paul (now 3) when he was the same age. Just thought I'd share one of the pics with you.

Look What the Mailman Delivered

Look what came in today's mail. A letter from British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who steps down as Prime Minister in exactly two weeks.


A quick missive from 10 Downing Street. (06/13/07)

The letter says simply:

Thank you for taking the time to write. It has been an enormous honour to serve as Prime Minister for the last decade. I appreciate your kind words. — Tony Blair

Toy Story Mania On Its Way

We went to Disneyland with our friends Jon and Amy today. Technically, we went to Disney's California Adventure, since we were avoiding the big crowds at Disneyland proper, since it was a blue-carpet, celebrity-filled media day for the new ride, Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, which opens to the public tomorrow.


Toy Story Mania under construction. (06/10/07)

Well, we didn't get to ride the new Nemo ride, however we did manage to get some pics of another upcoming attraction, Toy Story Midway Mania. This is the first new ride at Disney's California Adventure since the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror debuted in 2004. The picture was taken from inside the Sun Wheel.

I Admit It ... I Love Where's George.

Okay, I'm coming out of the closet. Again. This time I'm announcing to the world that I love Where's George. Until now, that has been a closely guarded secret because it's kind of geeky.


Yes, I'm a Where's George geek. (06/07)

As you may or may not know, Where's George is an online game of sorts where people stamp or write "Where's George" on their paper money (any denomination will do, it doesn't only have to be $1 bills), spend it as you normally would, and then see if someone re-enters it later.


My Where's George hits by state. Click pic for a larger view. (06/07/07)

I started doing it last January. It took almost three weeks before I got my first hit, but eventually it happened. And today I achieved another milestone: I got my 50th hit! To date, my bills have re-surfaced in five different states, and 14 counties. (The colors on the map indicate the frequency of hits, with red being 25 or more, blue being less than 2 hits, and gray being 0 hits.)

In California, I have hits in nine out of 58 counties. Only 49 to go until I achieve California State County bingo. (A "bingo," by the way, is when you complete a series, whether it be State County Bingo, 50-State Bingo, etc.


My Where's George hits by county. Click pic for a larger view. (06/07/07)

The only bingos I've completed thus far is "Federal Reserve Bank Bingo" which is when you have hits from all 12 Federal Reserve Banks. (I just completed that the other day).

So the next time you see a bill that says "Where's George" ... go to the website and enter it. You will have made someone's day.

Divine Revelation or Strange Coincidence?

Hand to God, this is a 100% true story! Tim, who out of the two of us is the earlier riser (if you can believe it), got me out of bed with these strange words: "There's a duck in our pool!"


A sign of things to come? (06/06/07)

Now we've seen many things in our pool. Crickets. Bees. Birds bathing. Even avocados that fell from the neighbor's tree. But never in the nearly six years we've lived here have we seen a duck! Tim even pulled out the camera to document this rare sighting.


Our Ducks take it home. (06/06/07) AP Photo/Chris Carlson

Fade out. Fade in. It's approximately 12 hours later. And guess who wins the Stanley Cup in Game Five out of Seven? You guessed it. Our hometown team: The Anaheim Ducks.

Divine revelation or strange coincidence? You decide.

Our Blog's Top 5 Most Viewed Photos

Last September, we started using Flickr to host our blog photos instead of Google's Hello (the Flickr interface is easier to use). But one major difference of using Flickr is that all our posted photos are now searchable via Flickr's search engine. It's not a big deal since these photos are all on a public blog anyway.

Well we just stumbled across a Flickr feature that ranks our photos according to the number of times someone has clicked on each photo. And the results were quite interesting! So here, we re-cap the Top 5 of our 200 most viewed blog photos:



The damage. (12/15/06)

Number 5: The damage to Tim's Envoy after the fender bender.
This one makes no sense until you see the related photo that appears as #3. This photo appeared in the blog entry about Tim's fender bender. My theory on this is that people find photo #3 through keyword searches, but can't escape the temptation to click on the next photo to see the damage. 44 views at the time of this posting.



It would have been a nice show. (12/06)

Number 4: The ticket for the canceled Julie Andrews tribute.
This one is surprising. It's from the blog entry last December discussing the Julie Andrews tribute concert that was canceled. Our only guess as to why this is the fourth most popular photo has to do with the keyword tags. It probably turns up every time someone searches Flickr for "Julie Andrews," although it's doubtful that it ranks very high. 45 views at the time of this posting.



The yellow Ford hit the blue Camry into Tim's Envoy. (12/15/06)

Number 3: The overall view of the fender bender.
Again, it's from the blog entry about Tim's fender bender. This could be popular for a number of reasons. One, it mentions three different types of cars. So if you do a search for "Camry" this one will eventually show up (although you may have to scroll for a while to find it). Two, maybe people are hoping to see some blood and guts. But fortunately it was only a minor scrape. 60 views at the time of this posting.



The Blue Bayou restaurant at Disneyland. (11/19/06)

Number 2: The sign from Disneyland's Blue Bayou.
This is from the blog entry about our lunch at the Blue Bayou restaurant in Disneyland. This one I can understand a little because Disneyland fans are simply crazy (and I include myself in that assessment). It's a very popular restaurant. It's virtually impossible to get in without advance reservations. 88 views at the time of this posting.



Dominatrix Diva. (09/23/06)

Number 1: Dominatrix Diva.
This photo, from Tim's superhero-themed birthday party, is our number one by a big margin. I wonder why? Could it be all the perverts doing photo searches for the word "Dominatrix"? Need we explain more? Congratulations Sabrina on being our most popular photo subject! 120 views at the time of this posting.

New Baby Brother

Tim and I are big brothers yet again. At 4:42 this morning, my stepmom Malena gave birth to a healthy baby boy, Miguel Angel. All is well with both baby and mother, and am told they will be coming home on Tuesday.


We gave out bubble-gum cigars upon hearing the news. (06/04/07)

I don’t have any pictures yet since no one in my family has a digital camera other than me (my Dad’s camera uses this strange technology called film and negatives). They don’t even have one on their phones. Seriously! But as soon as I get one, I’ll post it. In the meantime, you’ll have to settle for a picture of the bubble gum cigars I gave out today at work.


This statue of St. Michael Archangel can be found at the Fontaine Saint-Michel in Paris.

Incidentally, the name “Miguel Angel” is the Spanish version of Michaelangelo. My brother isn’t named after the artist, however, but rather St. Michael the Archangel, who is commonly depicted in art as conquering Satan. Pretty cool, huh?

Google Street View — Loves It!

I've been hearing a lot about this whole debate over the new Street View feature that Google launched last week. If you haven't heard, the new Street View functionality in Google Maps allows you to navigate street-level imagery, even the front of people's houses.


Our old place in San Francisco.

Some have claimed that it's an invasion of privacy. Well I don't know about that. Apparently all the images were taken from public streets. As far as I know, there is no inalienable right to prevent someone from taking a picture of your house from a public street. Besides, it's really a cool feature!

One of the first thigs I looked up was the old San Francisco apartment I used to live in back when I was going to college in the early 90s. I lived there with a pile of other people, including frequent Blog guest stars, Tom & Christine, as well as blog readers Ginger and Melissa.


The big bay window on the right was my old bedroom.

It was a great location, just across the street from the Golden Gate Park panhandle. It was close enough to the Haight/Ashbury district ("The Haight" we simply called it) to take advantage of what the neighborhood had to offer, yet was far enough away that you didn’t have panhandlers outside your door 24/7.


This is what I saw when I looked out the window.

Despite a great location, the building itself had many issues. Built in 1910, the plumbing and electrical were far from ideal. I think we had, at most, two electrical outlets in each room (many extension cords had to be used). And don’t’ even get me started on the ventilation! One look at the moldy ceiling above the shower said it all.


Just outside the house, facing West.

At first I lived in a tiny little room just under the stairs, but when one of the other roommates moved out, I took his spot in the front bedroom. That big bay window looked right into my bedroom (it was the ideal place to watch the annual Bay to Breakers marathon, which went directly in front of the house).

Ah the memories. Thanks Google for making the Street View available!