Jan 09 2012

Microsoft Keynote At CES

After some on-and-off viewing of press videos during the day from CES, which opens to the public tomorrow, I watched the live, online keynote address by Steve Ballmer. Except for maybe a few minutes of the Xbox 360 presentation (which I don’t play or even own), I would have to say that it was one of the most underwhelming and at times even embarrassing keynotes I have ever seen. From host Ryan Seacrest’s lack of interest and Ballmer’s boisterous, used-car-salesman, carnival-barking, sweaty-pits style (does anyone else think he looks Peter Boyle in Young Frankenstein?), to the boring Windows 8 and companion hardware demonstrations, there was nothing that kept my interest or nothing that hasn’t already been shown. Bing was heavily promoted but Office Cloud, IE9 and Skype were only mentioned in passing. Not sure why they thought a Sesame Street demo with a kid for a room full of geeky nerds looking for tech details was a good idea. Even the two TWiT commentators, both die-hard Windows users, kept shaking their heads and snickering. This is of course only my opinion, but this was an embarrassing performance for Microsoft at their final CES appearance.

Jan 08 2012

Christmas Dinner At Last!

Finally had our Christmas dinner with all the local family members together in one place. We had meat for protein, potatoes for starch, rice for carbs, salad for iron and beans for gas. After a delightful rendition of “Oh Holy Night” in eight part butt harmony, we all sat down for a game of “Apples to Apples.” Part of that last sentence was a lie. There was only seven of us. We actually had a fun and civilized time. Oh, and we finally had some really good cupcakes. Our 2011 Christmas can now finally be put to rest. Unless my other brother and his son show up. We would then officially have a choir of the keisters with wind instruments.


Jan 08 2012

Calendars Added To The Fold

Thanks to a generous Christmas gift card for Amazon.com from my brother I ordered SIX MORE CALENDARS! Only two more to go and my training will be complete. Can I get a monthly hallelujah from the yearly congregation?

Jan 07 2012

Gaming At Billata’s

My mom, Kimi my niece and I drove over to my sister Beata’s house this afternoon for an hour of fun and frolic, post-Christmas style, with her, Bill and Aidan. We snacked on assorted nuts and orange slices while playing “Apples to Apples” with no real interest in who would win, but more as to just having a good time. The game tends to promote silliness. Only thing missing was the other half of our family. And maybe some cupcakes.

( g a m e   p i c s )

Jan 07 2012

Christmas for Kimi

My niece, Kimi, came over today for a much belated Christmas lunch/present opening. The midday meal d’jour was spaghetti with garlic bread. Doesn’t that just scream Christmas? This past holiday season has probably been the most disjointed one that I have ever “celebrated.” And it’s not over yet. Tomorrow will be one more lunch with my nephew. Maybe we’ll have rolled tacos! Viva Navidad!

Jan 06 2012

Post Lunch Ferry Landing Stroll

After enjoying lunch at the Burger Lounge, I drove over to the Coronado Ferry Landing to do a bit of solo strolling and picture taking. Even though I’ve taken many shots from here before, I never give a up a chance to take some more. It is hands down the best place to get shots of the San Diego skyline.


Jan 06 2012

Lounging On Burgers

Met my friends Sylvia, Mary and her husband Dave at the Burger Lounge in Coronado. Heard good things about the joint. It was quite small and cramped but the food was very good. They did get a little bit of the order wrong, but it wasn’t worth mentioning. The food might be worth going back for but I would say that the shoebox-size ordering and eating areas make it difficult to want to return. And don’t get me started on the parking. Did I mention that the food was good? Afterwards we stopped off at the Dolce Vita Candy Company but only Dave bought some teeth rotters.

Jan 05 2012

Belated Mini Christmas

Had a sort of belated mini Christmas this evening with my mom and my sister, who brought over Taco Bell for dinner, which made my mom really happy. It’s her favorite Mexican restaurant. After dinner we sat down and opened a few presents. I received a few calendars which almost immediately found places in my room. This coming Saturday we’ll have our final belated Christmas, just with a few more family members. This was just an all around odd holiday season.

( x m a s y   p i c s )

Jan 05 2012

First SeaWorld Visit Of The New Year

Took my mom walking at SeaWorld today for our first of hopefully many visits to come. We ran into some friends, Paul and Shirley, that we made from back in the Terrific Tuesdays days. My mom was hoping to run into them to find out how Shirley’s hip-replacement surgery went. My God, when did my blog become “old person chat?”

A n y w a y . . . we walked around once, stopping at the turtles (seeing some fake baby ones in fake sand) and the sea stars where we got to see a rare, six-pointed star.  Also got to see more of the construction going on for the new Manta coaster. Took my mom up the Skytower since she said she’d never been on it before. From the top we got fantastic views of the surrounding area and of the Manta coaster being installed.


Jan 04 2012

RIP Richard

Just received word that my friend, Richard Alf, who I went to see yesterday in a care facility, died today. He was one of the original group of comic book fans that Shel Dorf had brought together to create the San Diego Comic Convention. Judging by the outpouring of support from friends around the world, I wish I had spent more time getting to know him better.

Here we are at Shel Dorf’s funeral back on November 4th of 2009.

Jan 04 2012

New Mahjong High Score

After doing my citizenry dutieship with the SOPA petition, I gifted myself the opportunity to play the wonderful (and free) Moonlight Mahjong 3D game and came away achieving a new high score with the proud ranking of Gazelle.  Tonight I have impressed myself, but it will not last for tomorrow reality, the lion to my gazelle, shall be paying me a predatory return visit.

Jan 04 2012

Did My Part To Stop SOPA And PIPA

As much as I hate what politics has turned into, world-wide, not just in the US, I created an account on the White House website to be able to sign one specific petition asking President Obama to veto SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act), PIPA (Protect IP Act) or any other Internet censoring laws that Congress might ignorantly try to pass. Plenty of other, more intelligent people than I have already written a plethora of reasons why these are such dangerous and foolhardy bills, so I won’t go into details here. This is a life and death battle between Internet users and ignorant politicians.

Jan 04 2012

Cockchafer

Did me some weed-pullin’ today and came across this little critter (and two more just like it) curled up in the dirt under a pot that was sittin’ on the lawn. I’m bettin’ that this is what the skunks and opossums come diggin’ for at night. It’s officially known as a White Curl Grub, Scarab Beetle Larva or Lawn Beetle Larva, but it’s also known as a Cockchafer. Would love to hear the story behind that moniker. Or maybe not.

Jan 03 2012

Coffee and Calendars

After visiting Richard, I drove over to University Town Center (where I noticed some major demolition of the old Robinson’s department store going on) to perk up my sullen mood by picking up as many half-price calendars that I could find from my list. It was a good haul, scoring seven of them. Sat down for a decaf caramel macchiato from Starbucks before heading across the street to the Bookstar at Costa Verde Shopping Center where I added one more find to my 2012 collection.

Jan 03 2012

My Last Time With Richard

Went to see my friend Richard again today, for his final day at the rehab center. His friends Paul Sammon and Mike Towry were there again as well and Earl, who Richard will be staying with starting tomorrow, also came by to talk to the hospice representatives. I’m fairly certain that this will have been the final time that I see Richard, but at least this time he was occasionally lucent enough so I could actually speak to him even though he had great difficulty with replying.

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