Birthday Wishlist

I get asked by family every year, so here it is…
Here it is, Tuesday, September 13th and I’ve spent all of my spending money for the month. This new album from Switchfoot Nothing is Sound should already be in my iTunes folder so that I can be listening to it, but alas, I have blown my spending money. I got Switchfoot’s first album a long time ago… oh, I think its fair to say I got Legend of Chin before it was official released. I saw them at Spirit West Coast, I saw them play with Five Iron Frenzy, and I saw them at the DFW airport leaving the bathroom. I also saw them play at Six Flags. It is safe to say that I enjoy their music… however, I’m going to have to wait until October 1st to get this one unless someone wants to get this for me for my birthday. I’d also like to get an album from House of Heroes. So if your wondering, “Randy, why would I get you something for your birthday?” The answer is don’t. This is a list for family and a few friends who have too much spending money 😉 iTunes gift cards are nifty if you want something fast and easy for my birthday present. I’d also like the Herbie Hancock CD that is currently being sold only at Starbucks. I dont’ want their coffee, just this CD.

Oh, and a tablesaw and router would be nice. No, not a computer network router, a wood manipulating router. Those are so expensive though that I think I’ll be selling my liver to buy the things 😉

Crocs is Shoes

Abby has these foamy shoes called Crocs (Crocs on Amazon – for picture purposes, I don’t expect you to be buying these 😉 ). She loves them and she actually gets comments on them at times. I write that to say this: last night we were eating dinner at P.F. Changs and a man was seated at the table next to us. He had a serious looking contraption attached to his left knee. I believe the reason was that his left calf and foot were missing as they had been amputated. His other foot was wearing a Croc shoe.

Abby, not seeing the missing foot (because it was missing, not that she didn’t notice it was missing) saw the other foot wearing the croc and said, “He’s missing a croc.” I love my daughter!

Girls of the Gap

Playboy is looking for more women to be turned into cheap eye-candy. I’m pretty certain that someone at the Gap is willing to throw of their inhibitions, and clothes, and be photographed so that guys can look at them naked, and then once they’ve seen that, a few will see them in person (while hopefully they’re wearing some clothes) and then harras and hound them so as to make them feel awkward. Ahh, but getting a discount on jeans is not enough for some people, they want to show off what their mom and dad gave them so that their mom and dad can be utterly embarrassed. Yeah, that’ll be good for all sorts of morale at the threads retailer… “Why buy our clothes, obviously our employees aren’t wearing them.” You’re fired.

Ascending Mount Grays

Grays and Torreys Labeled
Last week I wrote about hiking up to the peaks of Mount Grays and Torreys. I didn’t make Torreys peak. About 100 yards/meters from the peak I got a leg cramp. The down side of this was that I knew my legs had just about had it. The up side was that it was approximately 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celcius) – I couldn’t feel my leg well enough for it to hurt (I was wearing shorts). I stretched out my calf and then finished the hike to the top. I met my party at the top and then told them that I was heading back down. It was really windy and cold at the peak so I cut out and headed back down to the car. I figured I might have to wait an extra hour or so before they got back given that I was leaving early.

My right knee started to hurt and so I found myself walking slowly. About 2/3 of the way down I turned around to see Laban running down towards me. I immediately realized something was wrong because you don’t run down a 14,000 foot mountain. Of course I was the one that was wrong, he, Brian and Jim had run down from the top because, “It was easier than walking.” Color me a wimp buy I didn’t have the stamina or the leg for continued running so they all walked with me limping along to keep up with their well honed bodies.

It was lots of fun and I’ve uploaded some pictures of the trip to my Flickr account. Enjoy 🙂

Everybody’s Doing It

I’ll be attempting to hike up Mounts Grays and Torreys tomorrow. I’m really looking forward to the exercise, but I’m also looking forward to the fellowship. Hiking up is slow and has little talking but the downward hike is faster and because you’re gaining oxygen you really are able to feel better and talk more.

This will officially be the highest I’ve ever been while walking on terra firma. I’ll have to see what can be done to go to Mt. Elbert some time in the future since it is several hundred feet taller. I’m planning on bringing some food, water, a camera, a tripod and a change of clothes in case we run into bigfoot. Apparently there will be lots of people there because these are the two easiest mountains and there is just a saddleback between them.

Maybe Mount Whitney when I turn 30 🙂

Me, Richard Simmons and the Raelians

Richard Simmons, being a brilliant think tank all in one man, being able to personally contribute to the weight loss of more people throughout more decades than the originator of any eating disorder, said the following brilliant quote last night: “New Orleans is the Venice, Italy of the world.” [cite]
Brilliant. There’s no other word for it.

My buddy Trint asked, “Oh good grief. When is Richard Simmons going to die?” And that’s when it hit me: he’s not going to. He’s the first Raelian clone. He will forever be dancing to the oldies, even when they’re the oldies of Brian Wilson, 50 Cent and Coldplay. Indy bands that are yet to be signed to major labels or have their tracks given away on iTunes will be danced to before this man stops being cloned. Bipeds will be talking about the ancient instruments called ‘Guitars’ and he’ll be slapping people in airports, dealing meals and swooshing his afro about as he kicks, spins and clones himself into oblivian. Richard Simmons is a clone.

I, however, am avoiding being cloned. What? With my zany sense of humor, crazy/obscure jokes and off the wall one liners I’d probably throw the universe out of alignment and we’d all go crashing into the sun. Then we’d really be sweating to the oldies 😉

thanks to Robin for turning me on to the Richy Simmy quote.

Holy Freaking Cow: iPod Nano

With a color display that is 1.5 inches (3.81 centimeters) wide the new iPod Nano is amazing. It can store 2 or 4 giggabytes of data [depending on the model you choose]. It also replaces the sexy iPod Minis. Therefore you can probably go out and buy a mini for less (less mini?) than $199.00 now, the refurb store on Apple’s site is showing them currently at $179.00. You can also store and view images on the nano, which rocks, well, actually, the music rocks, the images viewing is handy for people who like thumbnails. Jessica even wants one, which made me chuckle 🙂