Is it even worth asking why?

Last Friday, in a little town in Connecticut, lives were altered forever. Many lives. As early reports began to surface about the massacre that had occured, celebrities and regular folk took to Twitter and Facebook to write about it; to condemn the horror, and offer their thoughts and prayers to the families of those involved. The prevailing question was, of course, "why?". What would possess a 20-year old man to shoot his mother four times in the head with a rifle, and then take her guns to the school at which she worked and open fire?

I guess the question I would ask is, "does it really MATTER why?".

Mental illness? Probably.

Pure evil? Maybe.

A combination of both? Sure, that's possible.

But who cares?

THIS HAS TO STOP. AND IT HAS TO STOP NOW.

I was going to write about this on the weekend, but decided to wait a few days to clear my head, and to give myself time to gather more information about the subject in order to have a more informed opinion. The thing is, though, I don't know any more about it than what I wrote above. I don't know any more about it because I haven't tried to learn any more about it. It's just too sickening. It's just too horrible.

Most of the stories I have heard or read on the subject were about the reactions to the incident, rather than the incident itself. The NFL held a moment of silence before each game. Chris Johnson, a running back for the Tennessee Titans, wrote the name of all 26 victims on his cleats before his game on Monday Night Football. New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz, who has been alerted to the fact that one of the victims, 6-year old Jack Pinto, was a huge fan and would be buried in Cruz's jersey, wrote "RIP Jack Pinto" on his shoes and called the family to offer his condolences. President Obama was visibly shaken when addressing the nation on the tragedy. There are lots of stories like this. Everyone has had a similar reaction. How could you not?

I was sitting in a hospital bed, IV in my arm, waiting for a procedure when I grabbed my phone and heard about the tragedy. The unit was particularly quiet that day, so I called a couple of the nurses over and told them what I had just read. It didn't seem particularly real at the time, to any of us. Sadly, it does now.

I don't have kids. As most people who know me are well aware, I am not even particularly fond of kids. But you don't have to have children to be affected by something like this. I was 6 years old once. I went to elementary school and had friends. I remember what mid-December was like when I was young. Sometimes snowy, more often not, but it was always close to Xmas and that was the best time of the year. Good food, lots of time with friends and family, visits to see Santa, and presents under the tree!! Now, for the families of 26 people, this time of year will always be associated with pain, loss, and death.

Imagine what December 25th will be like for the parents of those children. The house filled with half-eaten advent calendars, stocking hung for, and presents tagged for, children who's names now only fill the obituary columns. I cannot even begin to comprehend the pain. I hope I never can.

Why does this continue to happen in the United States, and nowhere else in the civilized world? Is it because of the gun laws? Is it possible that the founding fathers didn't comprenhend of automatic (or semi-automatic) assault rifles when they authored the 2nd amendment? It took about 15 seconds to load one round back then. So let's compromise; let's make muskets legal and all other guns illegal. Go ahead, gangbangers, try to shoot up an LA neighborhood with a bunch of muskets. School shootings? Good luck. You'll get off one shot (assuming you pre-load the gun) before you get trampled. Better make it count.

Have you noticed how quiet the NRA has been since this shooting? They took down their Facebook page, and just about an hour ago, 4 days after the shooting, finally broke their silence. They are, and let me make sure I quote this accurately, "shocked" by the shooting. Thanks, NRA, we were all really worried about your reaction.

If you are a member of the NRA, or a supporter of that organization, YOU are the problem. Yes, YOU. Former leader Charlton Heston was famously quoted as saying that you could take his gun only "from my cold dead hand". OK, I'm fine with that. Shoot anyone who is in favor of the current US gun laws. Better them, than another classroom full of children.

Ridiculous? Perhaps. But what is it going to take? Is one classroom of first graders not enough? Does someone have to shoot up an entire elementary school and kill everyone inside before action is taken? Two schools? Three? What is the number of dead? If not 26, what is the number? 45? 100? 150? At some point, it's going to happen. Isn't it time now? Isn't this enough?

President Obama, this is your chance. You are a second term President, you cannot be re-elected. You have nothing to lose, and thousands of lives to gain (and not to mention, being the President who finally got some gun control legislation passed will be a legacy that nobody can ever take away). It won't be easy to get the Republican congress on board, of course, but this is the time. Why does there seem to be a little more outrage this time than the last time? Or the time before that? Or the time before that? Is it because this occured 11 days before Xmas? Is it because the victims were younger than the traditional victims in this kind of crime? Maybe. But whatever it is, it's time to act. It's time to get the guns, President Obama, and it's time to get them all. I hate to politicize something so awful, but there is a palpable sense of disgust in the world right now, and it's time to use that to get something done.

If you are on Facebook, you've seen the numbers. Last year (well, one year, I'm not sure it was actually last year, but it doesn't really matter), handguns killed 10,728 people in the United States.

They killed 263 people, combined, in Germany, Japan, Canada, Great Britain, Switzerland, Israel, and Sweden.

The time has come. Take the guns. Take them all. Of course this won't STOP crime, of course it won't STOP gun deaths. But it will sure as Hell lessen them greatly. Imagine if all it would do was cut them in half (and it's certain to do better than that). That's over 5000 people a year who live to see another day. Over 5000 families who don't have to bury their loved ones. Many of those people will contribute something significant to society, if they haven't already.

The time has come.

I am not particularly religious, but sometimes it just helps to believe in God, even if it's not a permanent or strong belief. This is one of those times.

God bless the victims of this terrible tragedy, and their families. God bless all of the other children in the United States, and all over the world, who get up each morning and go to school, just to learn and have fun with their friends. And God bless everyone who has had enough of this senseless violence.

The time has come.

The Boss rules.

I mentioned this in a Facebook post but it bears repeating. At the tender age of 43, I don't really know how many concerts I have seen in my life. Hundreds, for sure. In just the last 18 months, I have literally been witness to a who's-who lineup of rock and pop:

The Eagles
Aerosmith
KISS
Britney Spears
Steve Miller
Kings of Leon
Peter Frampton
Katy Perry
Drive-by Truckers
Roger Daltry
Bryan Adams
Elton John
Collective Soul
Guns N Roses
Steve Winwood (once solo, once with Eric Clapton)

That's a pretty decent 18 months. There is no question, despite that wealth of talent, that I saw the best two shows of my life on back to back nights. Nothing will likely EVER be able to live up with Sunday's love-in with Paul McCartney. Last night, however, Bruce Springsteen came pretty damn close.

It took about 45 seconds to realize that Springsteen meant business. By the third song, Hungry Heart, he was out in the crowd, and in fact, returned to the stage BY CROWD SURFING atop a sea of outstretched arms.

Songs ranged from the classics (Born to Run, Dancing in the Dark) to the obscure (Red Headed Woman, which I have been told has been played in concert exactly TWICE since 1990), the old (Spirit of the Night, from his '73 debut) to the new (several tracks from his new album, Wrecking Ball). Oh, and let's not forget Santa Claus is Coming to Town. It wouldn't be a Springsteen concert without having a fan dressed as ol' Saint Nick pulled up onstage to sing along to a Xmas classic.

I had a pretty good excuse for having not had seen Paul McCartney before now; the last time he played here was 5 years before I was born. I have no such excuse for Springsteen, as he has been here many times. Not sure what kept me from going in the past; but after last night's show, I feel like a fucking moron. I will never miss another Springsteen show, you can take that to the bank.

The ultimate showman, Bruce spent as much time in the crowd (and I mean IN THE CROWD) as he did on stage; once taking a lady's coonskin cap (seriously, who wears a coonskin cap anyway???) and wearing it for the rest of the song, then passing it along to another fan in the front row. He pulled a young girl up on stage to help him sing one song (and she did very well) and during the encore, he helped an 80 year old lady up on stage to dance with him. Throw in Santa Claus and that's a lot of time spent directly interacting with fans (not to mention that he actually fell off the boards into the crowd at one point).

If I was amazed at the amount of energy the 70 year old McCartney had, the amazement was surpassed last night as Bruce, only 7 years McCartney's junior, put on a high-octane, full-on, ass kicking rock n' roll show, the likes I've never before witnessed.

Only one word can really sum it all up, and it's one we heard a lot from the crowd last night:

Bruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuce

Sir Paul McCartney

 

EPIC.

Best.
Show.
Ever.

There aren't really any words to describe the event that Tracey and I attended last night. Although our seats were just OK (I generally wouldn't sit that far back for anyone, but an exception is made for music Royalty), it was the best concert going experience of my life, by far.

McCartney created instant highlights with nods to John Lennon ("Here Today") and George Harrison ("Something", which started on ukulele and finished with a perfect electric rendition of this Beatles classic). He was polite and appreciative of the raucous Vancouver crowd (and I wouldn't use the term "raucous" to describe many crowds in Vancouver) and seemed to be genuinely moved by the constant standing ovations he was so rightfully given. I have never seen a performer, particularly one of such legendary status, seem so down-to-earth on stage.

He brought the house down, almost literally, during "Live and Let Die", with pyro and fireworks bouncing off the roof of BC Place. See for yourself.

http://s37.photobucket.com/albums/e75/deanengemoen/

The underappreciated Beatles masterpiece "A Day in the Life" actually brought a tear to my eye, and that isn't something I can ever remember happening at any concert.

 This was more than a concert, this was a chance for music fans from this city (and from any other city if they made the trek) to say "thank you" to arguably the greatest songwriter in history. Let's face it, at the age of 70, it's not all that likely he'll be back to our city. This was our one chance to see him live, and he sounded incredible. Much better than he sounded at the Olympics where it seemed as if his age might be finally getting to him. Not a single hint of that last night, apart from perhaps one or two less-than-perfect notes during the opening number. And kudos to the engineers who did yeoman's work on the new sound system at the refurbished BC Place. Other concerts I had seen there were near disasters; but the sound last night was crisp and clear.

Despite the fact that the radio-station-sponsored rumour of an appearance by Bruce Springsteen did not materialize, I doubt there was a single person who went home last night disappointed. After nearly three hours of classic after classic, and two encores (including one featuring the Delta RCMP marching band providing the bagpipes and percussion), there was no room for disappointment.

Mr. Springsteen has a lot to live up to at his show at Rogers Arena tonight. This won't be an easy concert to top.

From the moment that McCartney opened with Magical Mystery Tour, to the final number, the closing Abbey Road medley (Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End), the show lived up to the considerable hype. And it left McCartney's last words hanging there for all, as an echo of the Beatles' masterful swansong.

"And in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make".

Amen, sir.

Oh what a crazy week (or 10 days) it's been.....

Most of you know by now, I won a World Series of Poker Circuit event. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's a series of poker tournaments run by the World Series of Poker, all over North America. It's related to the WSOP that you see on TV (where the winner gets around $8M), but on a much smaller scale, and as I said, it takes place all over North America, not just in Vegas which is where the actual WSOP takes place every year. This was the first time the WSOP had come to Canada, so I decided to play in one event. It was the only event I could actually play in, as I already had plans on the days that the previous events took place, and I was heading to Vegas on the same day that the "Main Event (with a $1675 buy-in)" started....so this was my only chance. Buy-in for this event was $580.

What an amazing feeling.

My win is a testament to what aggressive poker can do. I made it through the first day, in fact I was 5th in chips, without any cards to speak of. I had KK twice, and one of those I lost with (to QJ, if you can believe that; luckily that player was all-in without a ton of chips so I wasn't badly hurt by that), and I won a moderately big pot with 77 after turning a full house, but that's it. I just kept raising and re-raising with nothing, hoping my opponents wouldn't have much, and I guess they never did.

One hand I remember was 4-betting a very aggressive player with J4 offsuit. He folded, as I expected (and prayed). I had to accumulate some chips somehow, and since I couldn't get any decent hands, I had to manufacture pots. It's a solid strategy, but eventually one of your opponents is going to pick up a big hand and then you are screwed, so it's not generally a strategy that wins tournaments. It got me to day 2, at the very least.

Since it was around Midnight, I didn't want to drive home to Chilliwack so I stayed at River Rock. Took a sleeping pill to ensure I got a good rest but it didn't work, I only got about 5 hours sleep.

There were 41 players left in the tournament, and the top 36 got "in the money". Although I wasn't guaranteed to be in the money, I had enough chips that it was pretty unlikely I wouldn't make it, so I decided to phone the airlines and see if they had any First Class seats available for an upgrade. I figured at worst, I'd make enough money to cover the upgrade. They did, so I paid the extra $250 to upgrade my flight down. First Class rules, as I 'm sure any of you who have ever flown First Class would agree.

Day 2 began with me getting more good hands in the first 20 minutes than I did the entire 12 hours of day 1. Nothing huge, but reasonable hands, enough that I could continue to be aggressive and win a bunch of smaller pots. After the first half hour or so, the cards went back to crap, so I had to keep stealing as much as I could. Not long after we started, they announced that there were only 36 players left and we were in the money! This was the biggest cash I'd ever had in any live tournament so that was exciting, and I still had high hopes of going much higher. Not much exciting happened for a while; I kept stealing and re-stealing pots, without any cards. Then the following hand came up:

I raised from early position with A8o. Only the big blind called the raise. The flop came K42 with two diamonds. I had the Ace of diamonds. The big blind bet out about the size of the pot. Generally this means he has something, but not a big hand....I put him on a weak King (something like KT or maybe K9), and decided to put him to the test. I had about $250,000 chips, and he had about half of that. I thought about it for a minute, and raised "all-in". I figured he would fold hands like KT, K9, or medium pocket pairs, as I was representing a big hand like AA or AK (and I had raised pre-flop so they were certainly possible). Also, if he did call, I still had a couple of emergency backdoor "outs" to a flush or wheel. He thought about it for quite a while, and then made a very nice call with KQ. The turn card was a 5, giving me a wheel draw, but I still could only win the pot with a 3 or an Ace, just 7 cards in the deck would do it, but a beautiful Ace on the river sent him packing and built my chip stack up to a nice above average stack. Sometimes you have to "come from behind" to win tournaments, and I don't mind the play I made, as he was pretty close to folding the best hand (which was obviously my intent).

Not much else happened of any note until we were down to the final 4. I just kept raising and re-raising with nothing (hey, my opponents didn't know I had lousy cards) and picking up pots, staying alive and slowing building my chip stack. The guy to my immediate left, who was a big cash game player playing in his first big tourney, was the chip leader. As money at a poker tourney tends to go clockwise, you definitely do NOT want to have the biggest stack at the table directly on your left...but there wasn't much I could do about it. Eventually he lost a few pots and I was suddenly chip leader, and I eliminated him when I was in the small blind with 99, and he had AhJh, and all the chips went in. When the flop came Q99, I felt that maybe this was my tournament to win. Ironically, despite flopping quads, he wasn't drawing dead, as the Queen was the Qh, so he actually could have made a Royal Flush and beat me, but that didn't happen and he left in fourth place. I was now the chip leader, up against an older Asian gentleman named Carson who had been short stacked for hours, and a young Asian woman named Lily, who was down to only 8 big blinds earlier in the tournament but had stayed around and was actually the chip leader until I had won that last hand. Her game was excellent, and I had a great deal of respect for her. After we had moved some chips around a bit, the big hand of the tournament came up:

I am in the SB with AK, Lily was in the big blind. Carson had folded the button, so I raised to about $100K. She re-raised me to about $250. I re-raised to $400K, and she quickly moved all-in. As I had put about 30% of my stack in at that point, I couldn't possibly fold AK at this point, even though it was clear she must have had a pair....and she did, JJ. Still, the flop brought an Ace and a King, and that was the end for her, as I had her just slightly outchipped at that point. It turns out that she also cashed in the main event a couple days later, so she is definitely a player to watch.

The heads up battle for the title, and the ring, was no battle at all, as I held a 10-1 chip lead. It lasted all of two hands, before I picked up JJ and Carson had Ad9d. He actually flopped a flush draw, but it didn't come and I was the winner!!! What a feeling! The WSOP representative took my picture and did an interview with me, and I even got my picture taken with one of those huge cheques that Happy Gilmore loved so much :-)

Pretty cool experience. Since the boss (wife) has approved, I will be going to Vegas in mid-February to play in a WSOP Circuit event at Caesar's Palace. Not sure exactly which events I will play at this point, but I'm going to win another one. Count on it.

I was off to Vegas the next day, and I didn't play a lot of poker; the only tournament I played in was a $300 buy-in "Deep Stack" at the Venetian. I played the best I could, but again had very few hands. Ironically, the hand that knocked me out was one of the few good hands I actually had. I raised pre-flop with AK, and the flop was KcJc8h......my lone opponent, who was in the big blind, held 88, so that was that. She actually made quads on the turn. I only had about 20 big blinds at that point so I clearly couldn't fold a hand that big, but I was drawing nearly dead. I still beat a lot of people, finishing 89th (out of 262), but that was not close to making the money. My buddy Sanjay also played in the tournament and busted out (TWICE) before I did, though, so I should have had a "last longer" bet with him!!! He would have had to pay me twice :-)

That's all for now, hope you enjoyed the updates. I sure did! :-)

Pocket Kings Burger

I got this recipe off a website of a winery called "Aces", it was originally called the "Seven Deuce" burger, after their red wine blend of the same name.

http://www.aceswine.ca/the-wines

It intrigued me but I decided to make a bunch of changes and improve upon the recipe....I made so many changes to it that I am comfortable changing the name of the recipe. I've chosen "Pocket Kings" after their high-end red blend, which is simply fabulous, and will pair brilliantly with this burger.

MAIN INGREDIENTS

1 lb. extra lean ground beef
1/4 cup mushrooms (wild Morel mushrooms or basic button mushrooms work fine)
Handful of mixed greens
1/4 large sweet onion
3 tablespoons balsamic vineagar
1/8 cup fresh chopped dill
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 clove fresh garlic
butter
slices of strong cheese (extra old cheddar is the best, havarti works too)
Hamburger buns (artisan crusty buns or fresh Calabrese buns are also excellent)

BURGER SEASONING MIX

1/8 cup fresh chopped dill
1 teaspoon fennel seed
1 teaspoon paprika
1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
2 cloves fresh garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon salt (or more, to taste)

1. Thinly slice sweet onion; in bowl, combine onion with vinegar, honey, maple syrup and fresh dill. Let stand 1-2 hours.

2. Combine burger seasoning ingredients in a bowl and mix into ground beef. Form into 4 patties.

3. Saute mushrooms in pan with butter and garlic until lightly browned.

4. Grill burgers. Add cheese to burgers near completion of cooking.

5. Prepare bun (grill it if you like that, rub with a little butter and garlic)

6. Place some of the marinated sweet onion on the bottom bun, then the burger, mushrooms, greens, and top of the bun.

Enjoy!!

This is a brilliant, flavorful burger....keep in mind it may not necessarily go with your "normal" burger accompaniments (in other words, keep the mustard and ketchup to yourselves). Mayonnaise goes fine with it.

As I said, this pairs brilliantly with a bottle of Aces Pocket Kings ($35) red wine; if you want a cheaper, but excellent alternative, their Seven-Deuce Red ($20ish) is also very good. If you are a wine afficianado, you'll want to try the Kings.

Mozza Stuffed Hamburgers

Full credit for this recipe goes to Chef Dez (http://www.chefdez.com/), this recipe comes right out of one of his cookbooks and I didn't change a thing, except for some minor options that I will present at the bottom. It's a damn good burger.

1 kg extra lean ground beef
8 crushed garlic cloves
1 egg
2/3 cup cornflake crumbs
1/2 cup minced onion
1/2 cup sundried tomatoes, oil packed, drained and chopped
1/4 cup berry jam (raspberry/strawberry/blueberry work fine, even grape jelly)
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon dried basil
2 teaspoons sambal oelek (chinese chili paste, in the Asian section of your market)
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon pepper
100g mozzerella cheese, cut into 8 small chunks

1. Mix all the ingredients together (except for the cheese) in a large bowl
2. Portion into 8 equal sized balls
3. Flatten each ball into your hand and enxase a chunk of mozzerella in the middle by shaping it into a large patty, wrapping the meat around the cheese

I know what you are saying....JAM in a hamburger? Shut up and taste it. Trust me.

**with the cheese in the middle of the patty, the burger will be quite thick (if you flatten it down too much, the cheese will fall out). If you like your burgers thick, go for it. Personally, I leave the cheese out, flatten the patties down into thinner burgers, and place a slice of the cheese on top when they are almost done being grilled. Either way, you will have an excellent burger.

Want a variation?

Add 1 cup of fresh blueberries to the mix, and prepare as normal. This recipe, cleverly called "Mozza stuffed blueberry hamburgers" was in his second cookbook. It's just as yummy as the original, with a "gourmet" flair.

Jam AND blueberries in a hamburger? Dean, you have clearly lost your mind. That's what you are all saying. Didn't your mothers tell you not to knock something until you've tried it?? Listen to your mothers, people.

Makes eight medium sized hamburgers.

Got turkey leftovers? Try this recipe

This is a fabulous recipe that will use up lots of your turkey leftovers and everyone will love it.

I adapted this from a recipe in a Weight Watchers cookbook, hence the fat free ingredients. If you don't worry about fat and calories, by all means you can change to regular ingredients.

This works perfectly fine with deli turkey meat, but it is even better with "real" turkey breast right off the bone!

Cheesy Turkey Tacos

1 cup shredded cooked turkey breast
2 tablespoons diced jalapeno pepper
4 teaspoons fat-free mayonnaise
2-3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro (to taste)
1 teaspoon grated lime zest
juice from 1 lime
1 cup shredded lettuce
1 cup yellow or red cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered
1/4 cup reduced-fat old/extra old cheddar cheese
1/4 cup monterey jack cheese
4 (6-inch) tortillas (flour, corn, whole wheat)

Any kind of lettuce will be fine. I prefer the crispiness of iceberg but if you prefer another kind, go for it.

1. Combine the turkey, jalapeno, mayonnaise, cilantro, lime zest and juice in a medium bowl.

2. Set a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the tortillas, one at a time, and cook until crispy and brown in spots, about 1 minute on each side.

3. Top each tortilla with 1/4 cup of the turkey mixture. Top with 1/4 cup of the lettues, about 1/4 cup of the tomatoes, and 2 tablespoons of the cheese. Fold into a taco shape or roll into burrito shape if you prefer.

Servings: 2 (2 tacos per serving)

For those of you who may be on the Weight Watchers plan, this recipe is 10 PointsPlus per serving.

Enjoy!

California Trip, Day 15....the drive home

Not too much exciting happened on the drive home, but one thing I thought readers might find amusing. We became part of a parade.

I kid you not. During lunch in a little nowhere town called Anderson, California, we couldn't get out of the Taco Bell parking lot because there was a parade for the local high school football team, that went right in front of the ONLY exit from the parking lot. So, we could sit there and wait (year right), or we could turn into the parade, which is what we did.

Fucking Americans will throw a parade for anything. Seriously, folks, it was 2 PM on a Friday, maybe the kids should be in school learning how to flip burgers or something? Sheesh.

We got home around 3 AM, after driving the entire way from California to Chilliwack. My wife is amazing, she drove it all except for about 3 hours. So good to be home, and not to have had to waste a night in a crappy motel.

That's about it, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed the ride. I hope I was able to provide a chuckle or two along the way.

There may be blogs from 2 Vegas trips that happen in the next few months (early November, late January), but the next confirmed blog sighting is just 5 months away, as we return to Orlando for 2 weeks in another one of our timeshare resorts.

Engemoen OUT!

California Trip, Day 14

8:00 AM - Well that could qualify as sleeping in, I guess. Tracey is still asleep, natch, so I head down to the fitness room for a little workout. While I'm down there I smell pancakes. I had forgotten there was a pancake breakfast this morning between 8:30 and 9, so after my workout I partake in some yummy pancakes.

9:16 AM - Back up to the room and Tracey is up, so I make her breakfast while she starts to get ready. We've done a good job this trip of eating all the groceries we bought, so we won't have much to take home (and we wouldn't have any room for it anyway!) or throw away. We do have two bottles of wine to drink tonight, though.....I guess we'll just have to take one for the team and drink them both. Ah, the hardships of being on vacation.

10:15 AM - Doing the last load of laundry as Tracey finishes getting ready. We have booked a Caravan Safari Tour for 1 PM at the Safari Park....so in just a few hours, we'll be feeding rhinos and giraffes! We've done this tour a few times before and it never disappoints. We are particularly excited about the pictures we should get this time as this is the first time we've been down here with our skookum new camera and lenses.

12:15 PM - We get to the park and notice they have special parking for hybrids! Of course the unfortunate part is that we didn't notice it until we had driven by it and parked in the normal spot. Way to go, Tracey.

1:00 PM - After checking out a few smaller exhibits, we check in for our 1 PM tour. The tour vehicles hold up to 16 people, and generally they are sold out or close to it.

NOT TODAY!! IT'S A FREAKING PRIVATE TOUR!!! Unreal. we are the only two that booked this particular tour, so we get the whole vehicle to ourselves. Our tour guide and driver are fantastic and of course we get to do whatever we want. We get to feed about a half dozen giraffes and one very large (and very friendly) rhino. What an absolutely incredible experience. As if this vacation could get any better........it just did.

4:30 PM - After the tour which ran about a half hour long because we were having so much fun, the park is closing soon so we hop in the car and head back to the resort, to pack and prepare for leaving tomorrow. We also head down to the pool for one last swim. While we are there, a family with about 20 kids decides that the "ADULT ONLY" pool rules don't apply to them, and they all sit around the fire pit roasting marshmallows for chrissake. Good thing we were leaving anyway. Just to pay them back, I went and peed in the kids pool. OK not really but it was tempting.

8:00 PM - We are packed and I have got most of the stuff already in the car so we can be wheels up at 5 AM tomorrow on the drive home. We have truly had a special vacation, and this resort has been great. In terms of amenities, they don't have many, but if you aren't concerned about being able to get a drink while you are swimming, it's a terrific resort. The staff treated us with such hospitality, starting from the moment we arrived when they greeted us at the front desk with champagne. Everyone from maintenance to the cleaning staff to the staff manning the activities desk had a warm greeting and smile, and you can't put a price on that.

California Trip, Day 13

9:01 AM - Is it possible? Has my "sleep-in mojo" returned? I lost it so long ago I had forgotten what it was like to wake up and see the clock starting with a NINE.

10:15 AM - Tracey has never misplaced her mojo, but it's late enough that I now feel comfortable waking her up. After she is finished throwing large heavy objects at me, we have breakfast and discuss what to do on our last "non-scheduled" day of the trip.

12:00 PM - Tracey heads down to the pool while I actually doze off for another hour or so. A sleep in AND a nap? I must be on vacation.

Or sick.

Better be the former.

While at the pool, someone comes in with an "In and Out" burger. Oh great. Of course, Tracey has to ask him where he got that, and I now know what we are doing for lunch.

2:05 PM - Off to lunch. Tracey gets an In-N-Out burger, and I have a couple of grilled cheese sandwiches. I win. Those are the most overrated burgers on the planet.

4:00 PM - Tracey and I crack open a bottle of Dreaming Tree Crush, a 75/25% blend of Merlot and Zinfindel. It's a 2010, and it definitely needed to sit for a few years. Much too young, it has a bit of that bitter taste that Merlots can have until they ripen.

Dreaming Tree is the winery started by Dave Matthews, Tracey's favorite singer, so she was very excited to try it....but I think if she answered truthfully, she would agree with me that it's not a great bottle of wine. Apparently Matthews is a VERY dedicated winemaker so it might be worth keeping an eye on for the future once the winery has had a few more years to mature.

5:00 PM - Back down to the pool and hot tub for a little more R and R. It's crazy busy down there right now...there must be at least FIVE other guests!!! I'll have to talk to them about some crowd control.

Seriously, the best part about the time we've had in this resort is the complete lack of other guests. We have had the pool to ourselves more often than not.

6:45 PM - Back to the room to finish off the wine and have dinner.....a crazy complicated dinner of ham and Kraft Dinner. Not exactly the gourmet food that we've come accustomed to on this trip but a nice change of pace actually.

California Trip, Day 12

7:55 AM - A fairly decent sleep in, but I notice that Tracey isn't in bed; apparently she had another lousy sleep so ended up on the couch for a few hours so as to not keep me up. Probably wouldn't have mattered, I was dead to the world.

8:00 AM - I hear Tracey's alarm go off and she's up to begin "the process". We have a big day ahead of us today, which is our eighth wedding anniversary!

10:00 AM - We are off, right on schedule, to Universal Studios. Just planning a short day here, a few hours, to hit the biggest attractions. It's not particulaly busy today so we are able to tackle The Mummy, Jurassic Park and the Simpsons Ride in about an hour and a half; and have lunch, as well.

2:15 PM - Leaving the park on the way back to DCA for the last time this trip. We are very excited for our dinner plans at the brand new flagship restaurant of the park, Carthay Circle Restaurant.

3:15 PM - We arrive at the park and have to park in the regular parking area.....I admit to feeling a little dirty getting on the tram with all the scumba.....er......"regular people".......but that's what happens when you aren't staying at a Disney hotel (anymore). I will have to deal.

Into the park and am once again overwhelmed with how fantastic the new entrance to this park has become. It is truly like being transported back in time. Everything that was wrong with DCA, the lack of identity, has been fixed, and this park has become nearly as special as the one across the courtyard.

We hit Soarin' over California again, our last ride of the trip, snap a few pictures and then head into the restaurant for dinner.

5:30 PM - We walk into the Carthay Circle Restaurant.

Wow.

All I can say is.....go. This has instantly become the "must do" place to eat at this resort. We order two appetizers: Biscuits filled with cheese, bacon and jalapeno, as well as their special soup, which was roasted corn and vegetables in a tomato broth. Both were absolutely wonderful. The soup was so good I was actually tempted to cancel my entree and have more soup.

I'm glad I didn't do that.

For my main course, I ordered quail, stuffed with peaches. Because, when you think quail, you automatically think peaches, right??

Well, if I didn't before, I do now. Mouthwateringly delicious. Just the right contrast of sweet with the roasted bird. Unreal.

Tracey has a pork pot roast, which was absolutely the most tender pork either of us have ever seen. Another fantastic dish.

Add to that a terrific bottle of Gewurtztraminer, and that was a fantastic dinner! And quite reasonable too, $125 including tip (with my 15% discount). Not bad at all. Will definitely be back!

After dinner a little more shopping, and then it's time to depart.

7:50 PM - It's always easy to tell when the Happiest Place on Earth becomes the saddest.....this trip, it was 7:50 PM on Tuesday, as we left the park (and the Disneyland resort) for the last time. Tracey remarks that this might have been our best Disney trip ever, and it's hard to argue with her.

9:10 PM - Back at the resort and both of us are heading to bed, it was a great (but long) day and we are both tired. Tomorrow is our last "resort" day, and we are planning a little trip to the beach and not much else!

If this trip was over and we were coming home tomorrow, I know that we would both be completely satisfied....but it's far from over, after tomorrow's very relaxing day, we have a fantastic day at the Safari Park for Thursday!

California Trip, Day 11

9:15 AM - Well the first night in the resort didn't go so well, as Tracey couldn't sleep which pretty much meant that I couldn't sleep either. I ended up spending the bulk of the night on the couch, which, admittedly, is pretty comfortable. If I need to spend the rest of the week there, I'll be fine.

9:30 AM - Tracey is still sleeping so I think I will make some breakfast and relax for a while. Today is our first "we have no plans except to do nothing" day of this trip, which will means Tracey will be at the pool for 14 hours or so. I will probably hit up the fitness centre and see if I can work off at least one of the high number of high-caloric meals I have consumed on this trip.

10:30 AM - Tracey is up and we have breakfast, then chill out in the room for a while. The sun isn't out yet, it's covered by haze (or smog), so we are holding off on the pooling until it shows up.

We've had time to look around the resort and there really isn't much here, at least not as much as we generally find at these resorts. There is no doubt what the star of this resort is; it's the ocean, just 100 or so metres away, and the beaches that come along with it. Being born and raised in North Van, and having spent a good deal of my childhood at Ambleside Beach in West Van, the ocean isn't as big a deal to me as it would be to someone from the middle of the country. Still, it is a breathtaking view, no doubt about it. Here is a pic of last night's sunset, taken from our patio.

There are no restaurants, lounges or bars here. No food or drink of any kind, in fact, unless you count the fact that they have a Philly Cheesestake machine downstairs. I am not making that up. You can get a Philly Cheesestake from a vending machine. I just threw up in my mouth a little bit typing that.

12:30 PM - The sun has arrived, and I head down for a workout and then meet Tracey at the pool. Can't complain about being able to sit in a hot tub and stare at the ocean. Pretty sweet.

2:00 PM - Tracey is still hanging out at the pool while I head out to get some lunch/dinner at Pick Up Stix, a Chinese take-out restaurant we saw near Ralph's supermarket yesterday. When I get to the room, she has just arrived and we chow down on some quite tasty Chinese food. MMMM Kung Pao Shrimp.

3:45 PM - A little blog update while I also upload some nice pics Tracey took of the resort yesterday. Going to watch a little TV and relax a bit before heading back to the pool in a while.

5:15 PM - Back down to the pool while the sun is still up. It really is a beautiful pool, and there is hardly anyone there (actually, there are hardly any guests in the resort at all, it seems....which is really good for us, not so much for the resort!!!) so we have the pool to ourselves. For a while, anyway, until an older German lady decides to make us her new best friends. First in the pool, then in the hot tub, where Tracey and I were trying to have a private conversation. Apparently she has a friend who is so organized that she has separate bathrooms for number one and number two. That conversation actually happened. You can't make this shit up.

So, being the prick that I am, I left the hot tub and left my lovely wife to get more of this lady's life story.

I really don't like to be rude to people, she's just trying to be friendly, but c'mon....... when you see a couple sitting in the hot tub having a quiet conversation, perhaps it's not the best time to barge in and talk about your friend and her bathroom situation?!? I'm just sayin'.

6:55 PM - Back to the room after witnessing another beautiful sunset. Going to pop some popcorn and watch TV....and crack open a bottle of red wine that Tracey is really excited about.

California Trip, Day 10

God it's been TEN days already!?!?

7:15 AM - Up at a reasonable hour and had a very good sleep. Room is a pretty comfortable "transition" option in between the high end hotels/resorts we are in the rest of the trip.

8:15 AM - Tracey is up and dressed and we head down to the free continental breakfast that comes with the room. It's pretty standard but we did get a couple of waffles along with all the expected goodies.

9:15 AM - Uploading the blog while Tracey gets ready to head out to the Zoo. Looking forward to getting some great pictures today and also very much looking forward to getting to our resort and doing some laundry as I have just run out of clean clothes!

We have bought so much stuff that we are probably going to have to leave a piece of luggage behind and combine all the clothes into Tracey's luggage and squeeze all the souvenirs into the car in some other fashion. It's going to be a bit of a challenge but I think we can do it. Well we HAVE to do it, somehow!

11:00 AM - We arrive at the San Diego Zoo and the first thing Tracey says is "where did all the food and wine go?!??!?". Oh, that would have been nice, I would love to have some more time to sample all that food and wine! It's hot and humid today so I'm guessing we'll only have 3-4 hours here today before we get exhausted. The first thing I see is a dragonfly the size of a buzzard. Some little kid catches it in his hat, just for fun. I was hoping the little brat would have put the hat on and we could have seen how the dragonfly reacted to THAT, and I'm sure it wouldn't have been good!

Lots of great animals to see today but the animals are as hot as we are, so many of them are inactive or out of view completely. Almost all the bears are asleep...ALMOST. Check out the polar bears:

Just sitting there, right up against the glass, chewing on a carrot, seemingly oblivious to all the people just inches away.

And how about some panda bears??

Seriously, how cute is THAT?? Just sitting down, chilling, having a beer. OK it's bamboo, not a beer, but beer is funnier.

2:07 PM - Yup, 3 hours was about our limit, as we are completely spent. Luckily we've seen just about everything we wanted to see anyway, so we are heading to the resort, hoping to be able to check in early and get settled. We have the resort for the week, but we are actually expecting to stay only 5 nights and get home a tad early, so Tracey has a couple days to relax before going back to work. That's not 100% decided yet but we are going to get all our other activities done early in the week so that we have the option.

2:45 PM - We arrive at the resort in Carlsbad. This is my first visit to Carlsbad, and wow does it even look beautiful! We are within spitting distance to the beach and ocean from our room, which has a wonderful view of same. Our room is nice, although it's one of the smaller ones we have stayed in. We knew that, of course, as this is a very high-end resort town and this resort is very expensive (in other words, very high "trading points" for us to trade our weeks in Mexico for this resort).

There is one noticeable problem in our room, there are no laundry facilities!!! I cannot BELIEVE I booked a resort without in-suite laundry, but after checking the resort details on the website, there is no mention of it....so I blew it. Oh well, there is a guest laundry room about 10 feet from our room so it's not that big a deal, but it's not like me to miss such an important detail. Tracey immediately wants me dead.

3:15 PM - Off to Ralph's to pick up some groceries for the week.

4:30 PM - Back to the resort to get some laundry done, unpack and unwind a bit. Throw on some football and notice that Tracey and I did NOT have a good football day today...see what happens when we aren't around to watch the games? Our teams desert us. Now we definitely have to be home for next Sunday's games!!

6:10 PM - Finally completly unpacked, and a couple loads of laundry in. Clean clothes for tomorrow :-)  Going to go check out the other amenities at this resort, including the "adult only" pool (NO KIDS!! WOO-HOO!!!!).

7:30 PM - Sitting on our patio having dinner, about 150 yards from the ocean. Doesn't get too much better than that!

8:00 PM - Off to the pool/hot tub for a little more relaxation (I'm about as relaxed as I can stand at this point), and then back to the room to crack a bottle of Ice Wine and celebrate our first night at the resort. Another terrific day!!

California Trip, Day 9

7:00 AM - I'm up and go to the door to get our bill and make sure that everything looks hunky dory. It does, so no need to riot. Tracey is still asleep so I'm trying to be quiet but that's not all that easy.

8:05 AM - She's up!!!!!! There is some whining about the time, of course, but not as much as usual. We've pre-ordered breakfast to come to our room between 9-9:30 so we are going to try to finish up the packing and get ready so we can get a jump on things after breakfast.

8:30 AM - Tried to log into my work Email address and it's disabled; so now it's OFFICIAL that I don't have to go back to work when I get home, except for one day to sign some termination papers. I still get paid until the end of my contract, October 30th, so for the next six weeks I get to realize a dream; getting paid to do NOTHING.

8:45 AM - Breakfast actually arrives early; no big deal, we are hungry so that works out well. We take it out to our patio to eat it while enjoying the silent tranquility of Downtown Disney in the morning. AH, what a beautiful way to eat breakfast.

10:30 AM - Called the bell to come and get our bags. We came in with 6, are leaving with 9. That's gonna be a problem on the drive home I suspect.....for now, we are able to squeeze everything in the car.

Oh, did I mention I got sunburned to a crisp the other day? Two days later and my chest and stomach are still lobster red. I NEVER burn. Luckily it's more irritating than painful at this point but still, I'll have to stay out of the sun for a few more days.

12:00 PM - Arrive at SeaWorld. This is a great park, and the best thing about it is that you can see everything you want in a few hours, and then go do something else.

2:45 PM - We're done, and heading to our hotel. Tonight is our "transitional" night, staying at a La Quinta Inn in San Diego, just a few minutes away from SeaWorld and the San Diego Zoo.

4:30 PM - Had pizza delivered for dinner, as we are heading out to a charity event tonight called the San Diego Zoo Food and Wine Event. We know there will be food there but we're not sure how much so we don't want to be hungry all night.

7:30 PM - At the San Diego Zoo for the event. OMG it is SOOOOO much bigger and better than we imagined!! There must be 200 food and wine vendors here. So much food/wine/beer/spirits that you couldn't possibly sample it all even if you stayed all night! Also got a picture with Tonight Show legend Joan Embry, and got to feed a porcupine! Also got pictures with a hedgehog, holding an armadillo and a couple of snakes. What an absolutely FANTASTIC evening!!

10:30 PM - Back at the hotel for the evening, going to try to get a nice sleep as tomorrow we are heading back to the Zoo for the day, and then checking into the resort in Carlsbad in the evening. This has been a great vacation so far but I'm freaking exhausted!!!

California Trip, Day 8

7:30 AM - I'm up and on my way to the lineup to get into DCA early again. Tracey joins me shortly thereafter and we're off to take another bite out of Radiator Springs Racers. That is a FANTASTIC ride! The Disney Imagineers have outdone themselves on that one.

We walk over to Toy Story Midway Mania and I see something I have never seen before; the wait time sign actually says "ZERO" minutes wait. ZERO!

And they were right, we walk right onto the ride! This is the same ride that had a wait time of 180 minutes when we were here at Xmas time. I prefer zero.

Regrettably, Tracey strips me of the title of "Toy Story Champion". I'm sure there was cheating involved, or at least some bribery.

We also get another ride on Screamin', and a few other smaller rides, before leaving the park for breakfast.

10:00 AM - Back to La Brea Bakery for another terrific breakfast. We chose this for breakfast again as it is right near the entrance to the parks and we are heading over to Disneyland to knock a few more things off our list.

One of my Disney "to do" lists is to get pictures with all of the Princesses. Don't laugh, it's not as easy as you think. When was the last time you saw Pocahontas hanging around? Yeah, I didn't think so. She remains my Princess "White Whale". I've literally NEVER seen her in any of the parks, but I know she exists. I'm also missing the following:

Tiana (she is here, hoping to get her before we leave this trip)
Rapunzel (apparently here also, but have never seen her)
Mulan (never seen her here, but can get her in March in Orlando, she hangs around the China Pavilion at EPCOT)

We did knock one more off the list today, however, as the newest entry into the club, Merida from Brave, has her own meet-and-greet spot in the park across from It's A Small World.

Notice that over our shoulders we are about to be attacked by bears. I swear there are more critters here than in Yellowstone.

1:40 PM - Updating the blog and about to lay down for a little nappy-poo before tonight's festivities begin.

4:00 PM - Never did fall asleep, but Tracey did, so at least one of us will be rested for tonight.

5:00 PM - Uploading a bunch of pictures from the camera to my computer, and just now realizing how slow the Wi-Fi here is. Taking forever to upload a few pics. We have also done the bulk of our packing, as tonight is our last night here! Tomorrow we are off to San Diego for one night and then to our resort in Carlsbad for the balance of the trip.

5:30 PM - Dinner at Catal in Downtown Disney, a Spanish/Mediterranean restaurant. Excellent food and a very nice table overlooking Downtown Disney. I decided to try an expensive glass of scotch after dinner just to see if I liked it. Not so much. I think I'll stick to wine.

7:00 PM - Off to DCA to get some pictures of the new Cars Land at night. It is spectacular! It evokes images of the Las Vegas strip. Disney has hit a home run here, IMO.

8:30 PM - Back to the room to finish up our packing and get a good sleep. Tomorrow morning we have to check out and head to San Diego. Can't believe how fast six days in this hotel has flown by!!!

9:30 PM - The fireworks start and we get to view them from our hotel room again. It's pretty special to watch the fireworks show from bed!!!

California Trip, Day 7

7:20 AM - Up and at 'em.......but the wife gets to sleep in today, so I'm off on my own. I have breakfast and take the Monorail into Disneyland to catch a couple of rides that the wife isn't so crazy about (Star Tours being front and centre on that list). I do that and then head out to do a little shopping at World of Disney and then head back up to the room. By this time Tracey is already at the pool; I swear that woman could spend all day down there. Every day.

11:30 AM - I go down to the pool to join her. It's another gorgeous, hot day in Southern California. Ho-hum. After a little swimming and hot tubbing (and lunch), I head back up to the room to have a little nap before we head out for the evening.

1:15 PM - When I get back to the room, the housekeeping staff is just finishing up our room. I resist the urge to have sex with the Portugese cleaning lady.

Seinfeld fans are laughing now, the rest of you probably just said "huh? What did he just say????".

1:45 PM - After a small stop at Haagen Dazs (don't tell the wife, she will not be happy that I am out-Dazsing her 3 to 2) and a walk up to Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen to peruse the lunch menu for tomorrow, I'm back up to the room to try to sleep for an hour or so.

3:30 PM - Up and ready for dinner. The nap was good, but I'm missing that "super nap" so far this trip. You know the kind of nap I mean....when you lay down for an hour and it turns into 4. I suspect I may not get that until next week when we go to the resort. Oh the horror.

4:10 PM - Early dinner reservations at Wine Country Trattoria in DCA. After trying a wine flight of 3 Italian wines, we end up with a bottle of Napa Valley Pinot Noir. The Italian wines weren't that impressive; particularly the Chianti, which was really weak. Apparently Chianti isn't the same without some fava beans and the liver of a census taker.

As an added bonus, we are seated at a table right along the parade route, and we get a bird's eye view of the Pixar Play Parade as we finish our dessert. And by dessert, I mean the World's Largest Piece of Tiramisu. Tracey only eats about half of it, and considering how much she loves tiramisu, that should tell you how big that thing was.

OH.....and do you remember a couple days ago when I mentioned that Tracey went on a ride at Knott's Berry Farm that took her 301 feet in the air? Check this out:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/19/knotts-berry-farm-windseeker-stranded_n_1898952.html

This is the same ride. Two days later, people were stranded 300 feet in the air for 4 hours. I cannot possibly imagine how ballistic I would have gone if I were on the ground watching my wonderful wife sit 300 feet in the air for 4 hours. Existing technology wouldn't be able to measure how crazy I would have become.

5:30 PM - We are done with dinner and head back to the room to watch the Giants on Thursday Night Football, only to realize that we can't GET the game in our room, as it is only shown on the NFL Network. So, we head up to the ESPN Zone to watch the game and have a libation or two. Or three.

8:15 PM - The Giants are clobbering the Panthers so no need to stay and see the end of the game. We are back in the room, time to relax and enjoy the evening. We only have one more FULL day here before we have to check out of the hotel, so tomorrow is going to be a big day!! Tracey is going to have to get up early again. She can do it, I have faith in her!!!! YAY Tracey!!!

California Trip, Day 6

7:20 AM - This is the latest I've slept in a long time. Hoping this is the beginning of a new trend.

8:00 AM - Out the door, headed down to La Brea Bakery for a nice breakfast before the tour. I have pancakes and Tracey has a croissant sandwich and both are outstanding. The food here is always excellent, I highly recommend you try it next time you are down here and looking for a light meal.

9:15 AM - Our tour guide comes and gathers us, and we head inside to prepare for our "A Walk In Walt's Disneyland Footsteps Tour". This is a new (revamped) tour, only 2 weeks old. We've never taken a guided tour before, and I thought this would be a nice one to try. This was one of the surprises I had for Tracey, although she has known about it for a few days.

The tour is very nice and features many tidbits of information. As a Disney-phile, I knew most of it, but there were some things that even I didn't know. Our tour guide was very knowledgable on all things Walt Disney.

Two particularly nice features to this tour. First, we got to go into the lobby of Club 33, the ultra-exclusive members-only restaurant which used to have a 10+ year waiting list, but now they have actually CLOSED the waiting list. Eating here is definitely on any Disney fan's bucket list, but it's likely that getting to go into the lobby is as close as we'll get since we don't know any members.

This is Tracey, in the Club 33 elevator. Very cool.

Normally that would have been worth the price of the tour alone, but it got SO much better. I'm actually getting goosebumps just typing this.

Recognize this place? No, of course you don't, because very few have ever seen it.

This is Walt Disney's private apartment, above the fire hall on Main Street. Many Disneyland Cast Members have never even been in here.

Many of the knick knacks you see here are originals, used by Walt and his wife Lillian.

This was one of the most surreal experiences of my life.

12:30 PM - After the tour (and lunch that was included) was over, we head across the courtyard to DCA to check out the new entrance, which has been totally redone to look like Buena Vista Street when Walt arrived in California in the 1920's. It looks exactly as I imagined it would. The characters are dressed in 20's garb, and the entertaiment brings you right back to that era. Disney has done a fantastic job with the re-imagining of this park.

We walk into one of the art studios and find a beautiful new piece of artwork that we buy. It's a painting of Walt and Mickey, in the 1920's. It's really breathtaking. Now if only we can find a way to get it into the car and get it home!

2:30 PM - Up to the room to update the blog and rest for an hour or so before heading back to the park. We have dinner reservations at Ariel's Grotto tonight. The food is always great...and princesses as a little added bonus :-)

4:15 PM - Rested and ready to go back to DCA. We wander around a bit, get pictures with Donald Duck in a funny little red and white sweater, and then check in for dinner. As usual the food is great here, and we get visited by four princesses; the only drawback to this place is that it's almost always the same four: Belle, Cinderella, Aurora and Snow White. It would be nice to see some of the other, lesser seen princesses....but I guess if that's the only thing I can complain about, I should probably shut my pie hole.

After Aurora has come and gone from the table, I ask Tracey if "Cindy" is the next one to come, and she remarks that it's funny that I feel like I'm on a first name basis with her. Honey, considering how often we come and how much money we spend here, I should have her cell phone number by now.

Oh, and Tracey wanted me to point out that she got ID'd when she ordered sangria.

7:00 PM - Dinner is over and we wander through the boardwalk, do a little shopping, and head back towards the room. I decide to go on the Grizzly River Rapids one more time since we are on our way back to the room anyway and I don't care if I get soaked; good thing, since I DO get pretty wet. This is a great ride at the best of times but it's even better when it is dark and you can't always see what is coming. Despite getting drenched, I am still the dryest one getting off my boat. We got hit pretty hard with water this time. The young kids on the boat with me looked like they had just showered with their clothes on.

7:40 PM - Back up to the room to upload all of today's pictures, update the blog and go to bed. Today was an incredible day and it's going to be nice to get up whenever we want tomorrow as we have no breakfast plans.

California Trip, Day 5

6:59 AM - Alert the media, I almost slept in until 7AM! Wow.

7:00 AM - I'm not alone this time, as Tracey's alarm wakes her up too. We are off to Disney's California Adventure park this morning. The park opens at 10 for the general public, 9 for us; we want to be in line by 8:30 so we can get to Cars Land before everyone else gets there too.

8:00 AM - We are out of sunscreen so I head down to the store to get some. They have SPF 10, 15, and 70. SPF 70? I think that's called mayonnaise. Nothing better on a burger than some SPF 70.

9:00 AM - They open the gates for the Hotel guests and away we go! We go directly to Cars Land (as does everyone else), and head straight for the "E Ticket" ride, Radiator Springs Racers. It only takes us about 10 minutes to get onto the ride, and it is FANTASTIC!! We also hit the other two rides in Cars Land, plus Toy Story Midway Mania, |Screamin', Soarin', and Grizzly River Rapids, all by 11 AM!!! We're done with what we wanted to do in the park already, so we are heading out of the park now to hit lunch.\

Oh, and just for the record, I beat Tracey like a rented mule at the Toy Story game. Back on top, baby!!!

11:15 AM - We head up to Tortilla Jo's in Downtown Disney for a mexican lunch. Very tasty. After lunch we go up to the Lego store to take some pictures. Now, I'm not really a "lego guy", it doesn't mean much to me, but the things they have built from Lego are UNREAL! Check out these:

Beauty and the Beast.

And some chick in a yellow dress.

Not impressive enough for you? How about this bad boy on top of the roof:

That thing's made of LEGO, man. LEGO. Jesus I can't even imagine how long it would take to put something like that together.


12:30 PM - Back up to the room to rest a little. Tracey is heading down to the pool, I think I may have a nap and then join her.

1:00 PM - Decided to go to the pool before the nap; actually "pools" would be more accurate, there are 3 seperate pools, each with their own hot tub. It's a very beautiful area with the most comfortable chairs I have ever experienced at any pool area. It's so hot out that the pools actually seem quite cool. I keep going from the pool to the chairs......it's hot, it's cold, it's hot, it's cold..... I feel like a McDLT.

4:45: After a short nap, it's time to head out for our dinner reservation at the Blue Bayou.

5:40: Dinner at the Blue Bayou is always a "must do" every trip, and tonight is no exception. Tracey has short ribs, I opt for the Surf N Turf, and dinner is excellent as always. After dinner we have some pictures taken, take another ride on POTC, and head back to the room. Oh, and more shopping. Thank goodness we had SO much room in our suitcases for all the stuff we are buying. Believe me, that last sentence reeked of sarcasm. By the time we fit all this stuff back into the car to drive home, I'm going to have to ride on the roof.

And of course, we had to stop at Haagen Dazs for some more ice cream. I decided to shake it up a bit and try the Dulce Dazzler instead of my usual Mint Chip Dazzler. Sometimes a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.

8:50 PM - Bedtime, another big day tomorrow, as we are taking a guided tour, a first for us!

California Trip, Day 4

6:45 AM - I'm up, as usual, at an unGodly hour......so I head out to let the wifey sleep a little more. What a different experience it is walking around the grounds before much opens. The hustle and bustle of Downtown Disney is replaced by a calmness that you rarely find here; it's quite tranquil and relaxing. Walking by the pool I notice a gardener planting some new flowers, and workers inside the pool gates scrubbing down the pool deck, in anticipation of another hot, and therefore busy, pool day.

8:15 AM - Back up into the room and Tracey is awake and up, starting "the process" as she calls it. We have breakfast reservations at 10AM and we should just be able to make it :-)

9:45 AM - Down to the Storyteller's Cafe for our Breakfast with Chip N Dale breakfast buffet. It's a character breakfast but we come to this one for the food. It's what a breakfast buffet should be. We've all been to breakfast buffets where the waffles and pancakes sit under a heat lamp and get crunchy? No problem here, as they bring you pancakes and "Mickey" waffles to order so they are always fresh. The characters are always critters; chipmunks, baboons, bears and gorillas. I've said it before and I'll say it again; this restaurant has a varmint problem.

10:30 AM - Done with breakfast and off to Disneyland! After our last trip here, between Xmas and New Year's, where we shared the park with most of the free world, today's lineups are a very pleasant change. Tracey says to me "I can deal with these crowds!". Amen, sister. Amen.

It's busy, sort of.....Disneyland is ALWAYS busy, but there are no crowds to push through, no long lineups to deal with. We get through Pirates of the Caribbean, the Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Mountain, Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters, and get pictures with Jack Skellington and Sally in about an hour and a half!

We get Fastpasses for Space Mountain, which has also been "Halloween-ed" and renamed "Ghost Galaxy" which is a new thing...at least, it's new to us. We do some shopping and then head back for the ride, which isn't much different than the regular Space Mountain except that there is a really ugly creature trying to get you while you are on the ride.

2:30 PM - Off to the Big Thunder BBQ for lunch. They bring us absurd amounts of chicken and cow, beans, coleslaw and cornbread. It's all you can eat, but we don't go too crazy and try not to make complete pigs of ourselves. Not sure if we succeeded or not.

4:50 PM - Done with the park today. A little more shopping and back to the room to relax for a few minutes before Monday Night Football.

5:00 PM - Down to the lounge, and we get seats at the bar so we can watch the football game while enjoying a drink or two (or six). Game is not going particularly well, so we leave at halftime to get a different kind of treat.....

7:30 PM - Haagen Daaz, bitches!!! Tracey gets some ice cream and I get a Mint Chip Dazzler, the first of about 8 of those sonsofbitches that I plan on having this trip. MMMMMMM that is some seriously good shite.

7:55 PM - Back to the room to watch the rest of the football game and get a good night's sleep, tomorrow we are going to take advantage of "early entry" to get into DCA before the riff raff (in other words, the general public) and try to see as much of Cars Land as we can before the crowds hit.

California Trip, Day 3

9:00 AM - Up and down to the Amber Waves restaurant in the hotel for our breakfast buffet, which came with the package we bought (room, park tickets, breakfast). Pretty average buffet, at best. Food quality was OK, but very little selection. It's the kind of buffet you'd expect at a 3 star Vegas hotel. Not that impressed.

10:00 AM - At the park gates just at the park opens. Not many guests, not too huge a surprise, but even fewer than I expected. We are able to hit all the rides we are interested in, including an extreme coaster called the "Boomerang", in about an hour and a half!

One of the rides that Tracey went on was this monstrosity:

Yeah, my wife is up there, 301 feet in the air. That takes guts. I peed my pants just uploading that picture to my blog.

11:30 AM - Packed the luggage into the car and off to the Grand Californian!

11:45 AM - Arrive at the Hotel and are greeted by a very friendly valet guy who takes our luggage and the car. Into the lineup to check in, and while Tracey is waiting I'm off to the lounge to see what NFL games they have on the TV's. I notice the Giants game is on so we will go there after we check in, assuming our room isn't ready yet (and check in isn't actually until 4 PM so I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't ready yet). We get through the line very quickly and are quickly told that they have us booked in a "Premium Pool View room". Um, POOL VIEW?? Who the F**K wants to watch a bunch of people swim from their hotel room? I booked a Premium view of Downtown Disney, which we are told is not available. This might be the first epic fail we have ever experienced at any Disney hotel or park, ever.

We make it pretty clear we are not happy, and the young girl checking us in is obviously concerned.... it's not HER fault they screwed up our reservation. She goes to the back room a couple of times to see what they can do for us, and she comes back to tell us that she is really sorry, but the best they can do is to move us to a "Premium Theme Park View" room. Well, that's not what we booked, but whatever.... maybe we'll have a nice view and maybe even get to watch World of Colour from our room. We reluctantly agree, although we did ask her to make sure her supervisor knew we were not happy with this development.

The room isn't ready, of course, so we head to the lounge to watch the Giants/Buccaneers game. We have a couple of drinks and chat up the friendly bartenders as we are waiting, and get a nice surprise when the Giants come from way behind to win the game!

1:15 PM - Off to the ESPN Zone in Downtown Disney to see if we can get a table to watch the 1PM NFL game between Pittsburgh and NY Jets. It's a zoo, no surprise, and we'd have a better chance of finding a 3-legged ballerina than a table inside right now, but they can quickly seat us outside if we don't mind the heat. It's much cooler today than yesterday, it's about 33 degrees, so that is tolerable. We have another cocktail or two and a very nice lunch while watching the Steelers demolish the Jets. Good day for football so far!!

Tracey's lunch was so big she packed half of it up to go, so she's set for dinner tonight too!

3:15 PM - Still no text message from the resort about our room so we do a little shopping in Downtown Disney and then the gift shop inside the hotel, before sitting down in the hotel lobby to wait for the text that gives us the room number. We already have the key cards to the room so we just need to know the number and that the room is clean.

4:00 PM - Text comes in sending us up to the room. After a long walk from the elevator, we get into our room and notice this is the view we are paying big bucks for:




So yeah, that's a bunch of trees, the monorail track....and if you look way, way in the background, you might find the top of a couple of the highest rides.

HMM. That's a Premium View??? I'd hate to think what you get if you stay in a "Standard View" room. Maybe your eyes get poked out by Dwarves while you sleep?

Anyway, I'm not the kind to complain a lot, but this is something worth complaining about; Tracey calls the desk to complain and a girl says she will look into it and get back to us. It only takes a couple minutes for her to call back and tell us she has a room for us with the view that we wanted! I retract the "epic fail" comment, Disney!

4:10 PM - The girl arrives at our room with our new keys and walks us to the new room. She waits while we check out the view to make sure we are happy with it, and we are, so she takes her leave and Tracey and I spend about 20 minutes high-fiving. Now THAT is how to take care of customers!!

5:00 PM - Hanging out in the room this evening to watch the 49ers/Lions game on TV. Since Tracey already has her dinner, I guess I'm on my own. Looking across the way I see "Haagen Daaz". Ice cream for dinner? Hey why not, I'm on vacation!!!!

7:48 PM - We decided to get some room service, nothing heavy, but a nice dinner to put a cap on a great day. Still watching football, and we will just relax in the room and watch the fireworks when they start a little later.

Oh, and here is the view from our current room:

A small improvement over the other room! This is the kind of atmosphere I don't mind paying extra for. It is an especially spectacular view in the Christmas season, when all the trees get decorated with lights.

There is an excellent violinist serenading us from right beneath our room. This is such a beautiful room! What a huge difference in our trip the move from the other room is going to make.

9:30 PM - The fireworks begin and we couldn't have a better view! Who needs to fight the crowds on Main Street? Not us, we get to watch them from the comfort of our patio, and by turning on the "fireworks audio" channel on the TV, we get to hear the show as well.

10:00 PM - Show is over and we are settling into bed. Tomorrow is going to be a big day as we hit the parks for the first time this trip.

California Trip, Day 2

8:05 AM - I'm already up and showered, and I decide it's time to poke the bear and get going. I know she's awake, I've heard the tossing and turning.

She complains a little bit about the time.....then it gets even worse when she looks at her cell phone and notices that it's actually only 7:40 AM! Obviously the time in this room was incorrect. So....

7:40 AM - After a bit more kvetching, she's up and the process begins.

1:00 PM - The process ends and we're ready to go. OK, kidding, it wasn't that long.....

9:00 AM - We are in the car, heading down the highway on our way to Knott's Berry Farm, our stop for the evening. After getting gas and eating breakfast at McDonald's (more gas), we are off again. It takes very little time until I'm asleep again.

12:30 PM - I wake to find we are stopped, getting gas again, only a couple hours from our destination. One major irritant from this trip, due to a fairly large (I'm told) fraud scheme that happened down here, everyone putting a credit card into the gas pumps has to enter their zip code, so we can't use our credit cards at the pump down here....we have to go into the station every time.

1:30 PM - Well according to our GPS we are only 45 minutes from our destination. According to the accident on the LA freeway in front of us, 45 minutes is actually 2 hours. Well at least we are ahead of schedule so no big deal.

3:30 PM - We arrive at Knott's Berry Farm and check into the hotel. We get a perfectly nice room, the hotel seems very comfortable. Never stayed here before but thought we'd give it a shot for the first night. All seems good so far.

3:55 PM - Finally got a chance to update the blog and we are off to Mrs. Knott's Chicken Restaurant for a copius amount of bird!!! MMMMMMM

4:25 PM - After a very modest wait, we get seated for our chicken dinner. Every time I've been to this restaurant, I've left satisfied and dying for more chicken.

Not this time.

It was good, but not great. Chicken was a little dry. Biscuits were terrible (Tracey liked them more than I did). Other accompaniments were fine, nothing special.

Can't complain about the portion size or price, though. We got two chicken dinners (three HUGE pieces of white meat), mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, salad, soup, biscuits, and choice of ice cream or pie (or in my case, pie AND ice cream), 2 soft drinks and one glass of wine, including tax and tip, for $60. This may explain the obesiety problem in this country.

Tracey and I are, no exaggeration, the second smallest people in this restaurant. Seated right next to us are two young, fit people (wow do they look out of place).....why are they fit? They ordered one dinner between the two of them! That was smart, if we come back here I'll try to remember that. It's way too much food for one person.

6:03 PM - Have I mentioned how hot it is here? It is 40 degrees right now, and it's after 6 PM!!! Jesus.

6:10 PM - Updated the blog and headed down to the pool to relax and unwind a little. Tomorrow we head into the park for a few hours and then off to our home for the next 6 nights, the Grand Californian Resort!

7:00 PM - Well the pool is perfectly nice, but it was basically Tracey and I, and about 150 kids. Oh, and one very nice lady who decided to spark up a cigarette WHILE SITTING IN THE POOL. Jesus. Stay classy, Buena Park.

I mean, I don't blame the 7 year olds for not knowing that the hot tub is not the same as a swimming pool and perhaps it's not a good idea to run and jump into it...but where the F are the parents???

7:28 PM - Up in the room to relax a bit, read Email, and watch some TV. We want to be up early to have breakfast and be at the park entrance when the park opens at 10.

California Trip, Day 1

5:01 AM - Car is packed and we are off! One minute behind schedule. I blame Tracey for that because....well, because she has boobs, ergo she is to blame for any delays. Pretty simple. I am driving the first shift.

5:20 AM - At the Sumas border crossing and we are delighted to hear that they are going to search our car. I guess they had nothing else to do. This is the first time I can recall ever being searched at any border. Not too huge a deal, except that the guards screw up the perfect car-packing job I had done so we end up having to pull over and re-do it.

Good news for future trips, as we discover that they have now instituted a dedicated "NEXUS" lane at this border crossing! That is very exciting as we both have Nexus. It's not open at this time of the morning but it's not like it would have mattered, there were zero other cars there anyway.

7:30 AM - Well, two and a half hours of driving is about my limit, and it's time for breakfast anyway, so I pull off the I-5 and find an IHOP. We encouter our first Spaniard of the trip. Don't have to go far over the US/Canada border to start encountering the locals :-)

We finish breakfast around 8 AM....

8:01 AM - I'm out like a light, seconds after Tracey gets back to the highway.

12:15 PM - Off the highway to get some gas and food. Dairy Queen is calling. I have an Ultimate burger, which, for those of you uninitiated in the art of tasty goodness, is a double burger with bacon and cheese. It has been QUITE a while since I have had one of those. Since I am not interested in gaining a ton of weight on this trip, I decide to leave off the lettuce and tomato. No need for those empty calories.

As we sit and eat, I am perusing the Blizzard menu, specifically the column marked "cookies". I see the following:

Oreo
Mint Oreo

OK pretty standard

Oreo Cheesequake

Hmm not totally sure what that is but still seems reasonable....and then there was this little beauty:

Oreo Cookie Jar

WTF? Oreo Cookie JAR??? Does it come with ceramic pieces?? What the heck is that???

Anyway I don't feel like glass with my Blizzard so I indulge in a little Hawaiian number while my wife has a cone. I am informed that they actually offer CHOCOLATE soft serve at these restaurants!! It's a good thing I was not aware of that before I ordered the blizzard as I might have ordered an entire tub to eat in the car during the drive. And in this heat, that would NOT have been pretty.
The highway is under a ton of construction (which it was the last time we drove down here, 3 or so years ago), I wonder if they are ever going to FINISH the paving job??? OK granted it's a pretty damn big highway. Even with the construction delays, we are making good time and don't really run into any big issues.

9:00 PM - We find a very cool little Yaletown-like neighborhood in Sacramento and we pull into the Old Spaghetti Factory for a late dinner.

10:00 PM - After dinner, Tracey selfishly announces that she's had enough driving for the day. I am seriously considering finding a new co-pilot, as her level of dedication is not up to par. She's only been driving for about 13 hours, for chrissake. I guess I have to take over again........

10:40 PM - We check into our spectacular hotel for the evening in Stockton; a little villa known as "Motel 6". I originally figured it was called that because it was one better than your average "5 star" hotel.....however, after seeing our room, I am skeptical of that. Anyway it's a perfectly clean and nice place to sleep for the evening. It's definitely time for bed, I am exhausted after all that driving!!!

Make it six.....

Here we are, six days until our California trip, which we've been waiting for seemingly forever. We haven't been on a trip since our Vegas trip at the end of April...that's like 5 months! Oh the humanity.

We had plane tickets for this trip but when we bought the new car, we decided to trade them in and drive. It's been quite a few years since we've gone on a big road trip and we are really looking forward to taking the new car down the I-5.

Last night we took the suitcases down to the car to figure out exactly what was going to comfortably fit. We will have enough room for a couple large suitcases, which will be fine. Tracey will have to pack a little less than she normally would for a 2.5 week trip, but this will be a good test for my lovely wife. Anyway, during the second week we are staying at a resort in Carlsbad where we will have full laundry services in our room so we'll have no issue with washing our clothes.

Got some exciting things planned! Six nights at the Grand Californian hotel, a night at Knott's Berry Farm which will, of course, be accompanies by lunch at Mrs. Knott's Chicken Restaurant (Best. Fried. Chicken. EVER), an after-hours food and wine event at the San Diego Zoo, and lots, lots more. Even a surprise or two for the wife!!

Stay tuned to this space and follow along as I will blog about the trip (of course!!)

So, we had a nice little Saturday....

...although we never got to Home Depot, let alone Bed, Bath and Beyond. No time.

Anyway, we decided it was time to start the very long process of new car shopping. Both of our cars are over 200km and given how much we drive, we need a very reliable car. I've done a bit of research and we've got 12-14 models at 4-5 different dealerships we want to test drive.

We had to take the CR-V into Honda for some service, there are a couple warning lights that were coming on, and it needs an oil change too. Since we were already there, we decided to start test driving at Honda. We started with the Fit, which really didn't fit (seriously, I'm only 6 feet tall, but I couldn't drive it at all!!!!). Then we tried out the Civic SI, which is an absolutely fantastic car. I had a 1995 Civic SI and it was the second best car I ever owned. What was the best car? More on that in a minute.

I loved the Civic SI enough that I would have bought it on the spot....although the wife put the kaibosh on that.

Next car we test drove was the CR-Z Hybrid. I really didn't know what to expect. I drove it and liked it quite a bit. Tracey drove it and LOVED it. She loved it so much she wanted to buy it then and there. Can you see where this is headed?

For comparison, we next tried out the Insight Hybrid, which is a 4 seater. It was nice, but nothing too special.

We then went back to the dealership and bought the CR-Z. It was time the wife got her way :-)

We actually traded in the CR-V while it was being serviced, so it became Honda's problem while we were negotiating the deal. We definitely saved a bunch of money on that one as the warning lights probably meant the brakes had to be replaced, and we also saved about $1500 on the new tires that it needed.

Here it is:

To answer the question above of what was the best car I ever owned? My first new car, the 1988 Honda CR-X. This car is nearly a carbon copy, except for the obvious fact that it is 24 years newer and has the technology you would expect from a 2012, and it's a hybrid. We expect to save quite a bit on gas.

If there is anything negative about this car, it's that it doesn't have a sunroof. Not available. A few of the cars we had intended to test drive were actually convertibles, so we couldn't have possibly got much further away from a convertible...but it's a fabulous car and we are very pleased with it so far.

Finally I can make phone calls legally while driving. Now if only I could figure out how to text and play Words with Friends hands free I'd really have something.....

Engemoen Four-in-Five Pack Challenge (TM), Epilogue

So after yesterday's round of projectile vomiting, I'm going to pass on yoga today. Instead I'm going to hit the home gym and try to give myself a heck of a workout. This way, if I start to feel lousy again, I can just stop and I'll already be at home. Four yoga classes in 5 days was a long way from my intended 6-in-a-row, but I'll try that again when my schedule permits.

Once work slows down a bit (mid August) I should be able to do all the yoga I can handle, so for now I'll keep going when I can and see how it goes. Thanks for reading and I'll post another update when I start another "Engemoen Challenge".

D

Engemoen Five-In-Six-Pack Challenge (TM), Day 5

Day 5

8:00 AM Class - Bikram Yoga Garrison (90 min)

Teacher - James

It was tough to convince myself to go to class this morning as I wasn't feeling that great. Something interesting happened last night; I got really, really drunk on wine. Now, that's not the first time that's ever happened, but it is the first time it happened on not all that much wine. My body was clearly rebelling against something. Anyway, I managed to drag myself to class, realizing that it was probably not going to be my best effort.

It was one of the best yoga classes I've ever had.

Our bodies are funny aren't they?  My balance, which is abhorrent even for a tubby guy at the best of times, was better than usual. I was able to get almost all the way into standing head to knee pose, and had no trouble getting fully into fixed-firm pose either. I still wasn't feeling great, but I was able to have a terrific class.

Then the fun started. I started to feel a bit nauseous on the way home, and not long after I was home, I puked my guts out. Really, really bad.

After it was over, and I mean almost IMMEDIATELY after it was over, I felt better. I was starving so I had some breakfast, and felt much better.

Oh, I hopped on the scale just before I had breakfast, and I hit another all-time low. If only I could throw up more I'd be so much lighter :-)

Yoga thing, part 4

Well,  I made it halfway.

The "yoga thing" ended today, for two reasons. One, work got in the way of the morning class, and two, I'm an idiot and forgot that they didn't feature an 8 PM class on Fridays. So that ends that.

I will go tomorrow morning and depending on my schedule, I'll see if I can fit in two classes tomorrow so that I still do 6 classes in 6 days, even if it's not 6 days in a row.

Damn.

Day 3 of yoga thing

So it turns out my attempt to trademark the catchy "Engemoen Six Pack Challenge" failed; apparently a distant cousin had a thing with his abs or something way back when......so I'm just going to call it the yoga thing until I come up with a new, improved, catchier title.

Day 3

4:30 PM Class - Westcoast Hot Yoga White Rock (60 min)

Teacher: Mike

My favorite class; 1 hour hot yoga. Today's class took "hot" to a whole new level. Mike actually stopped class for a minute to check the thermostat as even he was finding it ridiculously hot. At least it wasn't my imagination. Before the class even started, I was sweating like the pig that knows he's dinner.

I love the one hour classes for two main reasons: one, I feel like I'm getting a much better workout in these 1-hr classes than I do in 90 minutes of Bikram's; two, even Bikram class is exactly the same, and I like the variety. Every one hour hot class is different from the last one.

My yoga has improved so much since I've been doing it, I'm nowhere near as tired as I was when I first started. I guess that goes without saying (but I said it anyway, so live with it). I'm not sure I'm less tired today than I was when this "yoga thing" started, but it's only been three days....

No knee problems today, although we didn't do the "fixed firm" pose we did one quite similar so that's a good sign. Hopefully it won't bother me when I go back to Bikram tomorrow.

I hit another weight loss milestone this morning, weighing in at under 219 pounds for the first time (OK I was probably under 219 when I was six). I often wonder where it ends; I'm a big guy, I'm never going to be "skinny" or anything close to that, but I am fascinated by the question of exactly how small I will be able to get? At my heaviest, 285 lbs, I was wearing XXXL shirts. Today I am comfortable in size L. I suspect I may get to M, but I can't imagine ever being any smaller than that. Me in a size SMALL? There's just no way. Is there? Doesn't seem feasable.

Halfway there.......before I post tomorrow's blog I have to make a point of coming up with a new catchy title......