The buzz the last few weeks has been what is now the most profitable movie in history. What cost something like $15k to make has made millions at the box office. Not since the Blair Witch Project has an independent horror film had so much buzz surrounding it.
I saw this movie on Halloween night. I’m not going to include spoilers because I don’t want to ruin any buzz surrounding the movie. But, what did I think? Let me first say that I saw Blair Witch and thought it was very boring, got me dizzy, I didn’t even think it was that scary, and I don’t even remember what happened in the movie until my friend told me again. This movie? Similar to Blair Witch, a handheld camera is used to film the entire movie. However, I did not get dizzy in any way during this film. Scariness? I would say so. The movie is scary, in my opinion, in that it makes you think and wonder if that kind of stuff can really happen. Makes you scared to think about that stuff happening in your own home. I thought it was kind of freaky when I got home that night, putting those thoughts in my head. I don’t know why, but I don’t do horror as well as I used to. Is it because I think too much now? Regardless, I watched tv for maybe a half hour before tiring out and hitting the sack.
Anyway, what’s the bottomline? I thought the movie was worth watching. It starts off a little slow, but definitely builds up. I don’t want to overhype it, or you might think its just stupid if you watch it. But, you have to understand that this movie was made for less money than most movie executives make in like a week. The movie is scary, but not really in the way that movie horrors often work nowadays in that all of a sudden the camera pans to the face of the killer, who the victim can’t see only because the camera doesn’t show him a second before. I don’t think the faint of heart should watch this movie alone!
I thought that all men knew what I am about to say, but apparently not and so now I will have to talk about it. Isn’t it common knowledge that when a man is doing his business in front of the urinal, you not talk to him, don’t even look at him? There are only a few instances where talking should be allowed at all.
One, you and your friend are walking to the bathroom together and are having a conversation. When you both get to the urinal, your conversation is still going on, so you guys continue talking while whizzing. If you were not talking before getting to the urinal, then you have no need to start doing so while you guys are there!
Two, you go to the urinal, see that your friend or someone you know pretty well is next to you. You can say a quick hi, or how was your weekend with the sole expectation being that he will answer that question in a word or two like “Fine” or “It was good.” But that is it.
And you know what? That’s it! There should be no other reason for guys to be talking while at the urinal. And I bring this up why you ask? I was at work the other day doing my business when a coworker goes to the urinal next to me. He says hi, I look over to see who it is, I say hi back, and then turn my head back forward again. But, that was not the end of it. He then goes off talking about work and asking me this and that, and I’m like WTF!? Obviously I wasn’t a dick about it, even though I probably had every right to be! I just tried helping him out, although I know I didn’t do a very good job. What do you expect though? Its not like I had a computer in front of me and I could look up the stuff he was asking for!?
So, what’s the lesson to be learned here guys? Firstly, do not talk in front of the urinal unless you fall into the 2 situations I pointed out above. And, if you MUST, for some strange, odd, stupid, dumb, whatever reason have to go against these 2 rules, please, please, please talk about something social or leisurely and not business related. At least with the former, I might forgive your breaking of etiquette because you are just that friendly in any situation whatsoever. With the latter, I guarantee that unless you write my paycheck, you will not be getting my best answers.
So, my friend from elementary school is having a baby, his first one. Those that know him know that he is funny, and very creative. Why do I mention this? Because he started a new blog and I am just giving a shout out. I blogrolled him, so be sure to check it out. Mother is only 7 weeks, so you have at least 7.5 more months of his entertaining posts! They are all very funny, and also very baby related so those who are expecting for the first time might even find it useful as he sometimes posts links that give advice or prove to be educational.
HOWEVER, seeing as how he is funnier and more creative than I am, if you go, please make sure that you come back here! 
Last Saturday night was my friend’s bachelor party. Prior to dinner, we all went to K1 Speed in Torrance for some fun kart racing. For those that do not know, these are electric powered karts that race on an indoor track. These karts go pretty fast, and unlike those go karts you go on when you do amusement parks, you actually have to use strategy and stuff here. It might be the closest you can ever see how sports like Nascar are, I suppose.
We each purchased a 45 dollar package which included a 14 lap qualifying race and then then 16 lap final race. The first qualifying race determines the order in which you start the final race. That is, if you get 1st place in the qualifying race, you will start off the final race in the lead position. At the end of this final race, there is a small little medal presentation where 1st, 2nd, and 3rd get a medal each and stand on a podium where pictures can be taken.
This was the 2nd time that I have participated at K1. Here is what I re-learned while going through it again over the weekend. It takes a lot more skill than just driving a car. While I was driving, it took me forever, if I was ever able to, pass someone up on the track. I don’t know if its because there are so many turns or the track is too narrow or what, but there is definitely skill involved in passing up others. The only reason I was able to pass someone up in the qualifying race was because he took one wide turn and I was able to get by. Is that skill on my part or his mistake? After the 2 races, I was pretty tired. Its pretty intense driving around in these little karts. I was really gripping that steering wheel tight and its pretty draining. I don’t know how Nascar racers go through 500 laps. I don’t think I could of done another race, well, actually I could have, but I would of been way more tired. My friend got motion sickness, so I guess these little things go pretty fast. I’m not sure the actual MPH though, but they do seem like they have a nice little kick. Also, if you wear glasses, and cannot see without them, then you either want to put in contacts, or not race at all. With the little band you have to wear over your head and then a huge helmet over that, wearing your glasses is pretty much impossible.
So, how did I do? In the qualifying lap, I ended up in 7th place. Thus, I started the final race in the 7th position. And then in the final lap, at the very beginning, places 4 through 6th got into a crash and so I passed them up. It was a huge crash that caused everyone to stop. When we restarted, position 3′s car didn’t start right away so I passed him up and then for all 16 laps I was pretty much all by myself. I was not near 1st or 2nd and the people behind me were not all that close so I pretty much was by myself in 3rd place the whole time. I have no idea what was happening to everyone else as I was solo. And thus, I finished in 3rd place! Who got first? The bachelor of course! Funny how things like that happen sometimes, huh?
As I wrote about yesterday, we held my friend’s bachelor party. After K1, we all went to dinner at Flemings Steakhouse in El Segundo. I had never been before, but after seeing what they had online and noting its location to K1, we all went to dinner here.
What did I think? The ambiance is pretty similar to other high end steak places that I have been to, like Ruth’s Chris or Morton’s. Basically, you can choose whatever your main dish will be, and all sides are a la carte. The sides are fairly similar as well, with things like mashed potatoes, asparagus, sauteed mushrooms, spinach, etc. I ended up ordering the bone in ribeye, cooked medium well. This was exactly the same way I had my ribeye (not bone in though) cooked at Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steakhouse in Vegas, which I posted about earlier and absolutely loved and raved about! This one? It was good, but not worth the price.
When I first bit into the steak at Del Frisco’s, I was like damn, this is good. It was tasty, juicy, and maybe the best steak I’ve had at a restaurant. Now, maybe I’m being unfair and comparing the Fleming’s steak to this, but for the price being paid, the two should be comparable! And frankly, its not. Don’t get me wrong. The steak is not bad, and will be better than anything you get at like Sizzler’s or something. But, if we are going to go to a dinner that costs everyone close to $100 per person, I’m expecting to be amazed. And I wasn’t.
So, I brought my car in for a 120k mile service a couple weeks ago. While there, they called me and told me that I needed to change the back brakes and rotors, gave me an expensive price, and I said no. They said they’d lower the price, but it was still too high so I said no. They then said that they would do some other service, which I don’t even think I needed all that much, but it wasn’t a lot so I said sure. Paid the money, and left. Thought nothing of it.
Now, my tires have a slow leak, and so every weekend when I get up, I go fill 2 of them up. They are both on the driver side. The one on the front has the cap of the valve stem screwed up so that I can’t screw it on, but rather push it on. So, I go to fill my tires, and what do I notice? The tire with this busted cap is still on the driver front side. And the driver rear tire is also low on air, so none of my tires were rotated!
Now, honestly, I’d never pay for a tire rotation. But, I looked at my 120k mile service receipt and saw that included in the price, where everything was itemized, they charged me 20 bucks for a tire rotation. Had I known from the beginning, I’d of just told them not to do it and save myself the 20 bucks. Oh well. But, they did charge me, and to make matters worse, they didn’t even perform the service!
I filled the air in my tires, and I really wasn’t upset at all. Just kind of chuckled. I went back inside, and I actually wrote them a letter. Haha. I’ve never done that before, but what the heck. Just explained my story and told them how I’d never go there again because I can’t really trust that they will do what they say they will do. I actually had called there earlier in the week for an estimate on how much it would be to replace my struts, but you can be sure I won’t be taking it there.
Anyway, the owner of the place called me last night. He just said he was sorry and that they normally have a checklist that they only check off after they perform the task so he doesn’t know how this happened other than to say it was a mistake. He said he was upset and immediately after reading it he got all his workers together to talk to them. He asked me to bring my car in and they would rotate my tires, but I told him that I already had them done (for free I might add). I was then offered a free oil change the next time I bring my car there, and I just thanked him. Like I said, I really wasn’t mad. I was more curious than anything else since I’d never written a letter like that before.
Now, I appreciate that he called, but regardless I don’t know if I really see myself going there again. Yes, mistakes happen, I’ll grant that. But, honestly, I’d never of noticed that my tires were not rotated if my tire was not marked in some way. Makes me wonder if this is something they’ve overlooked before because its impossible to catch unless your tires are marked in some way. There are tons of places I can take my car so I probably would feel comfortable trying out another place. I probably need to replace my struts eventually, so will once again have to go calling around some time in the near future.
You ever hear that George Carlin joke about how he tells you to think how stupid the average person is, then realize half of them are stupider than that. I cracked up when I first heard it, but you know what, its so freaking true. Yes, there are smart, wise, intelligent human beings out there. I wouldn’t have a computer to blog with if that were not the case. But, after working with many different types of people over the years, after meeting many kinds of people, after reading and watching various news stories, there are so many people out there that are freaking dumb.
I don’t know if its because of the advent of the 24 hour “news” channels, or because of political parties, or even religion, but people have lost the ability to think. They just hear something, think it sounds ok or worse yet don’t even think about it at all, and then that becomes their opinion. Just because your “news” anchor says something, or someone in the same religion as rants about a topic, or someone in your political group expresses an opinion does not mean that it is true, right, correct, etc. That is what I hate most about political parties and religions. People within them have either lost the ability or choose not to think anymore.
I could care less if you think abortion is right or wrong, or that gay marriage should be allowed for all or banned outright. But, give me a reason why that is the case!! Because my religion says it is! No, that is not a reason at all. Not even close. How many people out there even question their political or religious leaders anymore? What’s worse is that this people are sheep, don’t be different and follow the group type thinking is encouraged. Why is it that a Democrat who is against abortion is quickly ostracized by leaders of his party? How many Republicans or Christians support gay marriage? Its kind of pathetic that during elections, a Republican will vote for a Republican and a Democrat will vote for a Democrat. They don’t vote for a person based on what they stand for, they just vote for the party he is affiliated with. I don’t even think these people watch or read the “news” or listen to debates. They just put the checkmark by the person that shares his political party. This is not the freaking Olympics people. For that, its okay to cheer for someone just because he is on Team USA!
Now, you will also notice that I put news in quotes throughout this. For the most part, all the “news” channels have realized this for years and they no longer even try to hide that fact anymore. They are all opinion shows now, catering to the political affiliation that watches them. I’m sure you all heard the other day when Sean Hannity falsified his “news” story to make it seem like a crowd supporting his right-winged gathering was much larger than it really was. Yeah, that’s really fair and balanced isn’t it Foxnews? The sad thing is, that’s what our “news” has come to. For every “news” story that Foxnews airs that calls Obama a socialist, there is an equal number on MSNBC painting Obama as a man that can do no wrong. Isn’t this the definition of propaganda, and not news???
Its kind of sad because its become a vicious cycle that can see no end. If these networks stopped airing their opinionated stories and actually played news stories, their ratings would decline because the public no longer has the ability to think and have an opinion on a topic without the “news” man telling them what to think. But, if they don’t ever stop airing these opinions, how is the public ever going to learn the real truth on their own? Yes, its just not possible because in all things, humans can be smart, but people are like sheep, and are dumb.
I was eating lunch outside my work, sitting at the tables, reading my book. I do this pretty much every day if its not too cold or windy. Anyway, I get a call while in the middle from my mom. I say hello, and she sounds a bit worried, proceeding to say how she can’t find Bambi, our little maltese. In the morning, I had taken her out of my bed, where she sleeps, and put her on my mom’s bed before heading out, so I know she was there when I left for work.
My mom took her outside thereafter to go to the bathroom, then let her back in the house. This was early in the morning. She called me at 12:30 when she couldn’t find her. I told her to look outside and still no. I went back to my desk and started packing up as I was going to go home and help look. My heart was pounding, and there was no way I’d be able to work anyway. I get a call before I’m about to leave and my mom tells me that someone left a message on the machine saying she has our dog!
I called the lady, but she wasn’t home and left a message. Even though she left us a message, I was relieved but still slightly worried as she was still not actually home safe yet. The lady called me back a couple hours later, and the first thing she asked me was to describe my dog. Good for her! She then related to me how she saw her while driving home, and she actually almost ran Bambi over with her car. She stopped the car, called to her, and Bambi went up to her and she brought her home and called us.
I don’t know how she got out, but I suspect someone left the front door open, maybe my brother when he was going to work. I can’t even describe how worried and scared I was about her being lost. It makes me wonder what kind of a parent I will be. Will I be overbearing and overprotective because I worry so much? Scary to think, but I guess you just don’t know until it happens. I’m just thankful that my little baby is back home. When I got home from work, I hugged and held her for a good 5 minutes. May sound silly, but what most dog owners do not understand, she is not just a dog, she is family.
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