Horray For Hollywood...

After I published my "Magic Mountian" post at my Aunt's, Anna and I left to grand ole Hollywood. We used Mapquest to get to Grauman's Chinese Theater. This is the famous theater where stars leave hand and foot prints in the concrete as well as where movies premier. The new "War of the Worlds" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" debuted there. Since it's an old theater it makes sence that old rehashed movies premiere there.

Grauman's Chinese Theater

On the way we got rerouted due to an award show going on. It was only the ESPY's, so no one, including the stars in attendance, could care any less. We got past the road blocks and saw all of the stars in the sidewalk that we could stand. I will only post a small sample here.

I'm like a white Ray Charles

I didn't have a skirt, but I rolled my shorts up a bit - does that count?

Man! Even his star gets more chicks than me!

If only I had some of Liberace's famous outfits, too!

This picture looks more effective if you picture me with white platform shoes on.

Unfortuantly, I was more well equipted to pose for this picture than Anna.

Just look at those famous Govenator guns she sports!

Ok, we found an "Anna" star, but we never found mine. I feel so jiped.

While walking around we saw the "Hollywood" sign on the hill and the intersection of Hollywood and Vine. We took many pictures of everything. While gawking at the Chinese Theater Anna saw a Mickey Mouse dressed up as a Jedi. We were going to Disneyland the next day so she had Mickey on the mind. She got a pic then the guy wanted to take one with me. I didn't want one so much, but he insisted. When he leaned next to me for the picture he whispered to me, "Hey, I usually pose for tips, is that OK?" I knew it. I should have said, "Hey, I usually don't pay people to take pictures with me, is that OK?" I gave the guy a few bucks.


Then a guy who looked like he was panhandleing asked me if I wanted some free tickets to the Late Late Show. I did, but they were not filming until too late. I also got offered ticked to The Jimmy Kimmel Show. Makes me want to go back.

As we were walking back to our car I could tell that Anna was slightly dissapointed. I'm sure she was expecting some glitz and glitter. There was grease and gutters, though. After all of this, we were definatly ready for Disneyland!

Next stop: Disneyland!

Oh, Oh, Oh, It's Magic Pics...

Just a couple of pics of Magic Mountain for ya.

This is Anna's very first rollercoaster ride. I didn't know at the time that it goes 90mph from one of the tallest rollercoasters in the world and pulls 4G's in the spiral. Way to go Anna!

Anna just ran into his arms. She was dissapointed to find out he was not single. She was even more dissapointed when she found out he was cardboard.

Sorry that's all for now. Keep an eye out for Hollywood pics.

Milestone...

As I was celebrating the 50th anniversary of Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald and their home, I had a milestone of my own.

Over this past week my blog, Menace Of Mesa (formerly and futurely known as Lost In Laie), has had over 10,000 hits since I have been counting it. I did not add the site counter until the blog was about 9 months old.

Thanks to all of you for making this possible. I know that many of you say, "Oh, well all of those hits are from me anyway." I know that if all of you say that, I must be doing pretty well. I guess I could make more and better blogs, but this mediocrity is still exciting enough for me.

When this blog hits it's 50th anniversary, you can say you knew me back when there was only 10,000 hits. Lucky you.

Comming soon: Hollywood and Disneyland pics and stories.

Oh, Oh, Oh, It's Magic, You Know...

I spent the day yesterday at Magic Mountain Six Flags in California. My guest was Anna. This was her first time going on a rollercoaster of any kind. So starting at Magic Mountain was a good start.

We arrived first at "Goliath". I wasn't aware that the ride goes up to 90 miles an hour down hill. Neither was she. She was screaming non stop. I just kept hearing this loud repetitive noise in the distance. For a time I thought that we were being followed by an ambulance. Once we arrive I had to pry Anna's eyes back open. We then went to "Batman: The Ride". The line was so short we literally walked right on to the ride. And I'm glad we did. Any time she saw the ride before she got on she would psyche herself out so much that I had to pick her up and put her on the ride.

When on "The Riddler's Revenge" I had to help her out. On this ride you stand. You have a bicycle style seat under your legs that moves up and down to adjust to your height. Anna is so light that she didn't weigh enough to push the seat down. I had to push her down until they locked the seat. When we were on the ride she made noises that reminded me of MiniMe from Austin Powers when he gets blown into space. If you have seen it, you know what I mean.

We went on a few more easier rides for a while and then watched the new Batman action show. It was not just cheesy, it was horrible. Were all of those action shows this bad when I was a kid? I sure was jipped easily when I was a kid. Anyway, at least they had a reasonably decent looking Batmobile.

After that we used Mapquest to find the way back to my aunt's place in Barstow California. It should have only take about 1 and 1/2 hours but I think it routed us through Spokane because it took a lot longer than that. Right now I am at my aunt's house using her new laptop and eating a good home cooked breakfast getting ready for a day of dropping sweat on star's names down Hollywood Blvd.

If I ever get a chance to post some pics for you I will. Tomorrow: Disneyland!!!

Costly Habits...

Not having as many work hours as expected, I have had to find other things to pass the time. One thing I have started doing is archiving DVD movies. I have acquired some software that makes it possible to record any movie regardless of copyright and encryption restrictions. I have since burned about 150 movies. I feel like I am spending more money on the blank DVDs than the cost of the actual movie.

And as I have mentioned earlier, I have also started to scrapbook my mission. The slow progress is actually starting to pay off. Just the other day a good friend of mine, Beth, sent me a care package. It landed at my feet via my dad just as I was in the thrall of scrapbooking. It was full of great stickers, pictures and sheets. I was happy. Then I realized that I was happy about getting stuff that girls usually clamor for. I was sad.

I think seeing what kind of cool stuff I can get for scrapbooking sunk in. The next day I went shopping. Everybody always told me how expensive this hobby was. I thought they were exaggerating about it. They weren't.

After buying some more much needed plastic sleeves and rich indulgences in stickers and rubb-ons my wallet slipped into my pocket all too easily.

Watching my money ebb away faster than it can come in has helped me decide to finish up with this stuff as fast as possible and move on to something cheaper. I'm leaning toward crack cocaine. It’s far less addictive and will save me hundreds of dollars a week.