when i got the new car it was plastered all over with stickers for the place i bought it from. there was a sticker on the back of the trunk, and a big huge ad for their website on my back windshield. quite tacky. i was wondering how to get them off, and then my dad told me this strange way to do it: use a blow dryer! sounds strange, but i just heated up each letter for about five seconds, and they just peeled off without a problem! i would have never thought of that. just another reason why dads are so helpful...
car salon
when i got the new car it was plastered all over with stickers for the place i bought it from. there was a sticker on the back of the trunk, and a big huge ad for their website on my back windshield. quite tacky. i was wondering how to get them off, and then my dad told me this strange way to do it: use a blow dryer! sounds strange, but i just heated up each letter for about five seconds, and they just peeled off without a problem! i would have never thought of that. just another reason why dads are so helpful...
the new ride
my car finally gave up on me. it went kaput. i had been warned, but it was still a sad thing to witness. fair thee well, dear car, you will be missed.what now? i didnt want to be pestering people to drive me here and there forever, so i figured i must step up and buy a new one. so i did! diana came over and we went looking. it didnt take long before we came across the one that caught my eye. after a couple test drives and a few calls home, i made the plunge and bought a new car: a 2004 grand prix gt! and oh, baby, it is beautiful!!! im not a car guy, but i know what i like. ive always been partial to the grand prixs, i loved their old look, and i love the new look even more. and now i am the proud owner of one. it had really low miles and all the extras: leather interior, 6 cd changer, sunroof, heated seats, and a bunch more. the price was right (and by right i mean too expensive), so we took it and gave it a new home. it has been a lot of fun to drive, and i feel totally awesome driving around in it.
falling apart
yeesh, what a week! my car started acting up a bit over the past month or two. it would slide a bit when it would shift, and the temperature gauge on the engine was creeping up a bit too high. i figured it might be a good idea to bring it in and have someone look at it. i figured 'no problem, its probably just a clog in the coolant system and maybe it just needs a tune up'. boy was i wrong! i go in to hear what the prognosis is, and it turns out my car needs a new transmission and a new intake manifold. i can expect to pay a small sum of $3000! now, i know im not a car guy; i know some of the car stuff can get me a bit confused, but there is one thing i know: $3000 is a lot of money!!! i ask the mechanic (who is a friend i trust) what i should do- do i spend the money and fix it, or just call it dead? his advice was to just walk away from it and look for a different car. awesome. i was hoping i could spend a ton of money on replacing something i own!
then, about three day later my hot water heater starts acting up. i turn up the temp a bit for a warmer shower and it starts bubbling over! water starts pouring out of its release valve sputtering and stammering. i shut off the water and fear the worst. i call home to ask dad what to do, but hes not real keen on plumbing (hes a wiz at everything else, just not plumbing) so he just suggests that i call a repair guy. i do. its a bunch cheaper to wait until monday for him to come, so i schedule a time. i spend most of the rest of the day trying to figure out how im going to take a shower the next morning for work. after a few hours i turn the heat back down on the tank and turn the water back on. it seemed to have corrected itself for now, so i breath a bit easier. by morning i feel confident enough to take a shower, all but a very quick one, and get ready for work. i dont hear any water coming down the release valve. i figure it might have just been a fluke and i dont need to worry about it (you know, ignore it and it will go away). i cancel the plumber and hope for the best.that was a week ago and its been running fine ever since. i wish i could say the same for my car...
poolhall junkies
one saturday night diana and i went to go visit grand rapids. we met up with the aaron and jeffry lee. we went out to eat at ruby tuesdays (i love their salad bar!) and then decided it was the kind of night that is best spent at a pool hall.we arrived and got a table. we grabbed sticks, and went at it. as the night went on we took turns being on each others team. no matter the roster, we were fairly evenly matched: we all sucked! it was an awesome time, in no small part based on the fact that we got to hear 'banditos' by the refreshments...
the guys really had a great time, and diana got to spent some more quality time with my friends. she says she actually likes hanging out with them!
play time
after returning from california i headed up to visit my family. one of the afternoons i was there, my nephew jackson was sitting at the kitchen table and wanted to play with me. i was totally in for it, so we headed up into my old closet and grabbed my bag of toys. first thing on the agenda: transformers!!! now, i dont mean the new transformers that came out as a tie in with the movie, i mean the original transformers from the 80s! we pulled them out and i got to show jackson how to transform them from vehicle to robot and back. he was loving it, and i must admit, so was i...(more pics)
the new look
what do you think of the new look? i spent some time rooting around the layout section of the site, and messed with the html code, and figured out how to fix this place up a bit. i though a few changes were in order, so i updated the title graphic and mixed up some of the colors.hope you like it! oh, and dont forget to check out the other contents of the 'poke it with a stick' family listed at the right.
the 'scottish king' page is my personal favorite...
in conclusion
wow, we sure had an amazing time visiting adam. we saw the sights, enjoyed the culture, partook in the atmosphere that is california. i kept putting off the visit to see adam for many years, but am very thankful that i finally got the opportunity to finally do it. and was ecstatic that jeffry lee and aaron wanted to come too!most of the stories have been included here, but certainly not all. some were omitted accidentally, others on purpose. i cant give away all our secrets, can i?
i hope you have enjoyed the past 60+ posts on the trip. mostly they were written for me so that i can return to them and remember all the fantastic times we had. i seem to have a few more random photos left, so ill throw some of them here, for posterity sake.
the long goodbye
we were sad to go, but knew we had lived up every possible moment we could while we were there.
sleepy time
wiskey bend
after a couple hours in the blue room, we knew it was time to move on. our next destination: wiskey bend. as far as 'hole in the wall' places go, this was the hole-iest. for being in california, it sure felt like we were back in michigan kicking it at the pump house.we must have arrived just in time because when we got there there were some really special gals belting it out as best they could singing karaoke. i was fairly sure i hadnt had enough to step up their myself, so there was no way i was joining them. fortunately the karaoke machine was put away about twenty minutes after we got there, so we were able to enjoy our time there in relative peace...
blue room
dukes
malibu
the sign
while we were in the mall we stopped at a smoke shop because we decided we would celebrate the end of our vacation with cigars. as we were walking in i noticed an old woman sitting at a table coughing uncontrollably. didnt think anything of it as we walked in, well, until i caught a wiff of something strong... the woman behind the counter of the little cigar shop asked 'do you smell marijuana?' we kinda did. i peeked back outside at the woman coughing, now she had a couple cops standing in front of her and i overheard her saying 'what? i didnt do anything wrong...' yikes. the woman behind the counter admitted 'wow, i just sold her papers a couple minutes ago...'
manns chinese
just a little bit down the street from the kodak theater is the famed manns chinese theater. it is a functional theater that is very impressive on the inside, which we didnt see. i figured even though it may be amazing to see, it still wasnt going to be worth watching 'drillbit taylor' for.the outside of the theater was very impressive, and really cool to be in this place that i had seen so many times in pictures and on screen. the exterior was awesome, with its chinese theme and giant animal statues, but the place definitely needed some work done to repair and repaint some of the wear it has had.
the best part of the theater is the cement out front. this is the place where people put their foot prints and hand prints into the wet cement. we saw many different names and people, among them were john wayne, will smith, the cast of star trek, and even steven seagal (which i took a picture of, just for my dad...). oh, and across the street i found a really cool name on the walk of fame.
kodak theater
cliffys
adam had heard about this place called 'cliftons'. he had heard that it was kind of strange, set up like a cafeteria, but was supposedly cool. so we figured we would give it a try. wow, were we in for a treat! this place was amazing! when we first got in there we were blown away by the ridiculous decor. it looked like really a really cheesy outdoor scene, complete with animatronic animals and all. we got our food from the cafeteria line and found a seat. we werent quite sure what to make of the place. was this for real or was it meant to be a joke? we were by far the youngest people in there, the average age was probably about 65, at the youngest... we were convinced that most of these people were probably regulars and had been going there since the nixon administration.the true magnitude of the place sunk in when we wandered up to the third floor. it was filled with all kinds of photos of the place from when it was first built and newspaper clippings from that time explaining what it was all about. it was truly amazing! it had been around since 1931, and was quite the popular place to be! at the time the idea of a cafeteria was brand new- exciting and modern! but to see some of the pictures of stars coming to dine there, the neon lights that used to adorn its exterior, and the good things they were able to do in the community at the time all really showed us how cool of a place this must have been. you know, before there was an inch of dust on all the decorations... check out its website, it is really interesting.
downtown
sleeper
hard work
on the way home adam needed to stop by his work and take care of a few things, so we tagged along with him to check out the place. his boss was there as well working, so we met him and took the grand tour of the place. it was really cool, they had some awesome computers and editing equipment. we got to see a clip of a show that was a work-in-progress. the sound was amazing! adam took us up to see his work space and also the stage where they film some internet stuff.man, that looks like a fun job.
wine time
(more pics)
farmers market
we couldnt decide what to do next, so we wandered around the farmers market and stopped to have a drink. we sat down and had a great time talking about craig and laughing once again at some of the jokes he told. everyone agreed that it was funnier and much more fun than they had expected.while we were there we talked with a woman who had just been on 'the price is right' earlier that day and had won $10,000! adam was so excited that he felt in necessary to give her a hug and get his picture taken with her. yes, he is a rather odd duck.
at the grove
after seeing craig ferguson we walked down to the farmers market and the grove. we wandered up the street of the grove, which is basically a shopping area with the street closed off to pedestrians. aaron had a strong desire to find a hoodie or something, mostly because he was cold! we checked out a few places, and he eventually found a nice green one at gap. while walking around there we had our first real celebrity siting: chris kattan from 'saturday night live' walked buy us with his arms full of bags. not really exciting, but kind of cool...contentment
the look of utter bliss after seeing 'the late late show with craig ferguson'. please note the strange purple shirt. thank you.(more pics)
my time with craig
nbc tours
monday i popped out of bed unable to focus- i was too excited, for today is the day that i meet get to see craig ferguson LIVE!!! i attempted to calm myself and act normal, which for the most part worked, but i know i got on jeffry lees nerves after a while...we drove adam to work (that way we could use his car for the day) and then came back and got ready for the day. we stopped by 'franks' for breakfast, but it was inexplicably closed. so we settled for subway.
our plan was to try and keep me as distracted as possible before it was craig time, so we headed over to nbc studios to take a little tour. the tour wasnt really anything special, granted, it would have been if i were a fan of the soap opera 'one life to live', but fortunately, i am not. we didnt even get to go check out the jay leno studio because our guide was too late and they needed to do rehearsals. now, im not saying the tour was bad, its just that my mind was a little preoccupied... (craig!).
after the tour we went back to pick up adam, and then we drove down to the cbs studio and found our line. after a short wait, we were filed in to become an audience member...
clothes, God, and dinner
we arrived home safely, and after a little down time, we headed back out! adam showed us a really cool used clothing store called 'its a wrap', which is a place that gets the clothing from film sets and studios, and then sells them second hand. it was a pretty cool place that has some unique and fun clothing. adam says he shops there regularly, and i certainly believe him. i found a few things: a purple shirt (which i love), a brown shirt (its got snaps!), and a button down long sleeve blue shirt.we then headed out to adams church. it was nice to be able to put an image now with his church so that when he talks about it i know where he means. the church was cool, the sanctuary was actually a round room, so the congregation sits on all three sides. the singing was great and the sermon was good. the most unexpected thing happened there: i saw someone i know!!! renee, who i went to college with, was there that night! we got to take a little time and catch up after the service. it was good to see her, but so strange! who expects to run into someone you know while on vacation?
after church we went out to eat at one of adam and als favorite spots: gordon biersch. it was a really good brewery that had amazingly fresh calamari, and delicious burgers. we hung out there for a couple hours, i finally got to step away and call diana (i was really missing her by this point...), and the rest of the guys turned up their charm with the waitress. we told her it was adams birthday (not technically true, but it was the reason for our visit, so i didnt feel to bad) and she brought us out a cake. a long day, but truly a blast!
running on empty
the next morning we packed up and headed out of there. we made one slight miscalculation and left before getting gas... oops. as we headed back it became apparent that adams car was in dire need of gas, so we stopped. unfortunately, the place we stopped was out of gas. and there was a desert wind so strong it almost blew me over when i got out of the car- which was super cool! a couple miles later we found another gas station that had some left, so we stopped and all got out and enjoyed the wind!(more pics)
flume!
after dinner we walked around a bit and discovered that the place had a water log ride! score! well, we werent going to miss out on that action, so we raced over to the ride and hopped into two logs. it was a really tight squeeze, but we made it work. for some reason they gave us light guns for the ride and we shot at different crazy stuff along the way, cowboy maniquinns and stuffed buzzards and the like. i was in a log with jeffry lee, kelley, and al. our one goal was to out shoot the guys in the other log, which we did soundly! for some reason the ride is called 'adventure canyon log flume' ride, so i took it upon myself to yell 'flume!!!' often as we were floating along. it became my mantra for the rest of the visit...
buffalo bills
we took a seat at the buffet. just as i was coming back from getting round one of food, there was a table a little ways away that just erupted! the couple sitting there got into a huge argument and it was quickly coming to blows. yikes! finally a security guard showed up and took care of it, but it was quite a fun little 'jerry springer' moment to witness...
now, to be honest, the food wasnt that great, but it was cheap and unlimited, so i didnt feel a need to complain. everyone was enjoying themselves chatting and being silly. the rest of the dinner went off without a hitch, well, except for the two chairs that kept following jeffry lee.
preparations
we headed up to als room to prepare for the night ahead. we were pretty excited for the night and started acting pretty goofy. i believe at some point adam was a window gargoyle, jeffry lee became known as an accountant, and something to do with a spanking line...there is another casino in primm called buffalo bills. we were told that the buffet over there was much better than what wiskey pete had to offer, so off we went in search of the perfect dinner selection. on the monorail we broke out into song (which was not an uncommon thing for us through out the whole trip...) and performed a seven part harmony of the much loved classic 'kit kat bar song'. i dont often toot my own horn, but i must admit, we were quite good. and, it would seem, the other people in the monorail with us seemed to agree, as we received a round of applause when we finished.
wandering around
across the highway, by way of the monorail, there is an outlet mall. after a quick visit to the pool, we decided to check it out. along the way we met a man who challenged adam to a burping contest after being dressed down for his poor attempt. we wandered around the stores for a while, at one of the places jeffry lee found a lovely hoodie and was begrudgingly convinced (by me) to buy it. i got a fun little tour of banana republic by amy and was informed of the chances of her wearing any of their clothing (the probability isnt very high...). adam and i performed a little song and dance routine for any onlookers in need of a show. after we were shopped out, we went back to meet up with aaron, who had decided sleep sounded better than browsing the shops.(more pics)
one armed bandits
after we got our room all organized and taken care of, a couple of us headed back down the check things out. im not a big gambler, by any means. last time i was in vegas i spent a grand total of five bucks gambling, but i kind of felt like hitting up one of the slot machines. i grabbed my good luck charm (amy) and found a nice nickel slot. i popped in a dollar and gave it a go.much to my surprise, i actually did pretty well! after about ten minutes of playing (on that same dollar, no less!) i hit a big one and actually won $18.30!!! i immediately cashed out and collected my winnings. i played a few more machines through out the night, but never found success again. oh well.
whiskey petes
we had the honor of staying in the amazing hotel slash casino 'whiskey petes'. truly one of the most magnificent lodging establishments ever created. or not. adam and al had warned us about the shadiness of the place, and the low class joints we were in for, and im happy to say they did not steer us wrong! after a short wait we headed up to our room.
road trip
the trip was very scenic, we drove through the city of la, we even got to drive past san dimas which i particularly enjoyed (it where bill and teds excellent adventure took place! most excellent!), we drove past the famed zzyzx road, we drove through mountains, and even through deserts, including death valley. one thing that i thought was strange and cool was all the abandoned gas stations that littered the highway. it felt like it was something out of a movie. one of the times the alarm went off we pulled into an exit with a gas station only to find it empty and boarded up. we pulled in anyway for our seat shuffle. as we were standing there an couple guys in a beat up truck pulled up and warned us to stay off the land. it was kinda creepy- those guys seemed like they came straight out of 'the hills have eyes'...
we chatted a lot and got to know each other better, al handed out rubber bands, and much music was rocked out to.
wake up
saturday morning came up quick on us. after about 5 hours of sleep we got back up and started getting ready for the big trip out to primm, nevada. as we took turns in the shower we picked up a bit from the party. jeffry lee was on dish duty, adam was in charge of living room clean up, aaron had the important task of watching cartoons, and i took the job of chef- i cooked up a dozen and a half eggs for breakfast, which were rather tasty i must say. once we washed away the groggy feelings, we hit the road!(more pics)
birthday bash
one of the great things about the timing of our trip out to california was that it just so happen to fall on adams birthday! so, needless to say, we celebrated! on friday when we arrived al and floyd picked us up from the bob hope airport and brought us back to adams place. when we got there there were about 10 people hanging out having a great time. adam had invited a ton of his buddies over for his birthday, and these were the ones who were still around at midnight. we missed the big swell of thirty or so people because our flight was late. argh.fortunately, angus was still there, and its always a pleasure to talk with him. we got to ask him a little about his show, 'the oblongs', and what he is currently working on. another party goer was a kid by the name of ren. he and jeffry lee got along real well and had some interesting conversations, to say the least... adam, for some reason, thought it would be a great idea to show off to all his guests the movie 'murder in a mansion'. it is a movie that we made back in middle school, and is rather embarrassing. although, i do a pretty good job of playing a woman...
the gangs all here
flying out
friday afternoon the guys headed over to my place. they arrived a little after 2pm. we packed up and headed over to matts. he then drove us to ohare for out flight out. things went fairly smoothly with tickets and security check. aaron and i almost got ourselves a free mac laptop in the whole process, but missed out (darn you, morals...).the flight out of chicago went well. jeffry lee and i were able to watch a little 'stargate sg1' on my laptop, at least until the battery totally died on us and we never got to see if the team was able to get out of its time bending black hole troubles. i sure hope they made it ok...
we had a layover in denver and raced to the gate so that we would make it onto our next flight. come to find out there was really no reason to rush. it seems that our pilots were still caught up in their last flight, so they hadnt arrived yet... after about a half hour they showed up. ten minutes later we hear over the intercom 'well folks, my copilot was making a safety check of the plane, and noticed a problem with one of the tires. its got some wear on it. i wouldnt say it has a hole in it... (it totally had a hole in it) but we are going to need to change it. its going to be another 40 minutes to take care of that.' argh! oh well, it seems like we are going to arrive an hour or so late. it was no biggy, and it gave me a chance to talk to the guy sitting next to me who really enjoyed swearing. lucky me.
the trip
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