We are still on track for moving in on the 12th!  We're just waiting to get some final papers from the bank to the escrow company.  I've been working non-stop for this place down on Wilshire.  I worked longer hours this week, so I can cut out at noon on Friday to head down to the Siebers' for Easter.  What's new?  Too much.  We went to the Damah Film Festival Awards Night and saw some great shorts.  Two couples from NY that we knew from the Haven are moving out here in the next couple of months.  We went and saw a taping of Norm McDonald's sketch show pilot for Comedy Central.  Next week we're going to go to a taping of the new sitcom "Stacked" with Pamela Anderson, because Tony is doing a guest spot, and he got us on some list.  I've priced out all of the components of my new desk that Scott Coones is going to build for me.  I'm getting two pieces of glass for the desktop and having them sandblasted.  In my head, it's a sweet desk; let's hope it turns out that way.  We got a chair at Z Gallerie that matches our couch.  All we have left to buy for our new place is a dryer and a flat-screen TV, if we can afford it.  Jamie did her first official key position for the agency Zenobia.  She was the food stylist on a Johnson's brats shoot.  It was kind of rough, because the people in charge didn't provide near enough brats for Jamie to cook, and only had two tiny prop grills for her to cook on, but it was a great learning experience and very cool that the agency booked her for it.  There should be more than that after a 2 week gap, but stories about me sitting in front of the computer programming aren't too interesting.

Jamie and I have been blessed with a ton of work of late.  When last I blogged, we were just finishing up Jamie's Irvine gig.  That next week, she started on another project that is with the same people and the same client that she did her first project for.  She's almost been doing this for a year!  This time, she's hired buddies Clinton and Scott Coones to work on it, too.  I also started last week on a new on-site contract with a company called Zentropy Partners.  It's a pretty cool company that offices out of a great building on Wilshire.  I'll be going in there until the end of April.  Hopefully, by then, I will have won another contract that Mark and I are going to work together on.  It's hard to tell what the chances are of getting the contract, though.

On the home front, I called Chatelaine a couple days ago, and the rain has not pushed back our move-in date yet.  Fourteen more days until the first people close and then we'll know for sure.  We bought ourselves a washing machine on Sunday.  (It won't be delivered until after we move in.)  We found a great Maytag machine on clearance at Best Buy, so we snapped it up.  I've designed a desk for my office, and the aforementioned Scott Coones is going to build it for me.  We've priced the wood materials, but I've still got to price the glass top I want.  It's going to be LOADS cheaper than the one that inspired it at Alan Desk ($3,400).  Jamie and I were picked to be in our builder's magazine.  Jamie was interviewed on the phone the other day, and they are going to take pictures of us out there next week.  On another home-related issue, though not our home, my brother Paul and his wife Christen finally sold their old home, just in time to avoid the sinister two-house-payment scenario.

I would like to announce for Clinton's sake, since there's something wrong with his blog, that he will be doing stand-up Thursday night at 424 again in Beverly Hills.  Let me know if you need info on how to get there.

Well, the good news is that I got a new computer.  Starting a couple months ago, I had noticed that there were some strange glitches with certain non-essential files on my hard drive.  It was annoying, so I started moving all of my non-system and non-program files on to my other hard drive.  This seemed to make the problem go away.  But then, last week, I noticed that the computer was getting slower and slower, and I knew it was just a matter of time before the thing blew out.  However, I was just going to wait it out, because I had planned to get a new computer after we moved int our new place in March.  But then that got postponed, and it got to where it took me an hour to do 5 minutes worth of work.  So, Tuesday night at 8:30 I headed to Best Buy to buy me a new computer.  Fortunately, I'd been doing a lot of research on this while helping Clinton look for his new computer.  And fortunately, Best Buy had the computer in stock.  Unfortunately, the number of people asking questions heavily outnumbered those who were there to answer them.  So, it took me 45 minutes to point to the computer I wanted, for them to pull it down off the high shelf right next to me, and to finally check out.

The next day, I had a client meeting in Vista (two hours away), and my computer needed to be up and running with all of my files and programs loaded.  So, I set to to work setting everything up, and finished the essential stuff by 6:00 a.m.  After a quick hour nap, I was up and out the door, and Clinton took me to Enterprise for me to pick up a car.  (Jamie's been working on a project down on Rodeo Drive all week.)  Here's something that I hadn't realized: Rain means no cars at rental car places.  Apparently, the cars that people have been renting, they have been wrecking, so the rental cars are in the shop.  Plus, people have been wrecking their own cars in the rain, so they need to rent one.  Anyway, I had to wait 45 minutes or so for a car, but I was really too tired to care much, and getting upset wouldn't get me a car any faster.  I made the drive, had the meeting, then drove back, except that the drive back took 4 hours because of traffic.  Boy, I slept well that night.

I spent all day Thursday copying over the rest of my files, then stayed up late again Thursday night, cleaning and reorganizing my desk and the area around it, that some might call an 'office'.  My old computer is now turned off, but has power and network attachments, in case I need to power it up and retrieve some file I forgot.  Once we move, it is destined to become a test server.  I'll blog again with my first impressions of my new computer.

My name is Pete.  Welcome to my blog.  July has been quite busy.  It all started when Jason came out from the east coast back on July 2nd.  He came to visit his girlfriend out here, and Clinton took advantage of his presence to shoot a video.  We all met up at the Siebers (including Doug and Jeff and Lindsay) and started shooting.  Clinton rented a Panasonic DVX-100, which is an awesome camera that Mark can tell you all about.  I called Mark and got a plethora of operational advice.  We shot a few scenes and learned how to use the camera as we went along.  It really is amazing how good this camera makes our production values seem.  Anywho, we shot for awhile then went to a restaurant who tried to overcharge us by $100.  Took several go rounds with the owner to straighten that out.  We shot some more the next day, then on the 4th, most of us went to the Padres game at Petco Park followed by a cookout at the Wonders hosted by Jamie's cousin Aaron.  What a fantastic day!  There was a jerk at the park during fireworks, but we weren't going to let him spoil our day.

The following week, my sister and her family came out to visit for a few days.  They stayed down in Anaheim, which was pretty central to all the activities we had planned.  We met them at Downtown Disney for dinner at the Rainforest Cafe.  The next morning we headed down to Carlsbad to go to Legoland.  We had a good time, in spite of the fact that the rides were definitely aimed at young kids.  Afterwards, we met up with the Siebers at Ruby's on the pier in Oceanside.  That was a very enjoyable experience, and I recommend it to those visiting the area.  On Saturday, the Theodores met us out at the construction site to check out our new digs.  The kids couldn't go inside and for some reason had the hardest time figuring out that we didn't actually live there yet.  The finish date has been pushed to mid-February, but hopefully they'll finish early.  We then introduced the Theodores to In-N-Out, which is really near our new place.  That night we ate at CPK at Hollywood & Highland where I'm sure we saw Robert Downey, Jr.  We just missed Hillary Duff at her premiere of The Cinderella Story.  My niece, Lauren, was anxious to try to catch a glimpse of her.  The kids spent the night with us that night to give Grace and Steve a much-needed break.  The next morning we took the kids down to the La Brea tar pits where you can actually watch them excavating some fossils amidst the tar-y ground.

After the Theodores left, we had a couple of days to catch up on work and housecleaning and such.  But then on Tuesday, we drove back down to Laguna Beach to see the Pageant of the Masters, where they recreate life-size works of art.  It really is amazing how they can make the 3-dimensional live people look like they are a part of the 2-dimensional painting.  We had a couple more days of normalcy before the Siebers came up this weekend for their anniversary.  We saw The Clearing and Napoleon Dynamite with them.  Yes, I did enjoy ND for the 3rd time.

Amongst all of this, I actually did get some work done.  I'm finishing up my first big project with my newest client, and I meet with the producers of CSI this week to discuss my next big project.  Jamie got booked yesterday for a 16-day straight job starting today.  She'll be quite busy, but the pay is good, and she's getting to work for a new stylist, so her experience and connections are growing by leaps and bounds.  OK, exhale.

I hate it when I go for more than a week without blogging.  Alas, I've been pretty busy this past week working on a project for a new client out in Santa Clarita.  It's a pretty cool company that provides IT infrastructure to film and television productions.

I'm happy to say that I finally completed Everything Or Nothing, the latest PS2 Bond game.  I raked in my last platinum during my last break.  I don't what I'm going to do on my breaks now.

Last night we had Guacamole Wednesday at Clinton's.  It wasn't the same as Taco Tuesday somehow, but it will have to do.  Clinton has rehearsal on Tuesday nights for a pilot that he's been selected for that shoots in September.  Pretty cool, but it would be cooler if it weren't on Tuesday.

We saw Judge Reinhold at church on Sunday.  He's been in tons of stuff, but I remembered him only as the close talker on Seinfeld.  Coincidentally, that episode was on last night at Guacamole Wednesday.

In Hollywood, connections are what it is all about.  Of course, I would argue that connections are what everything is all about, even beyond the social and financial to the spiritual, but that's another blog for another time.  Anyway, Jamie has expanded her connections this week.  Through a referral from the stylist that she has been working for, she has now been connected to an agency that handles projects for many prominent sylists in LA and elsewhere.  It's too early to tell what fruit this connection will bear, but they sound eager to book Jamie, so here's to hoping!

A lot of stuff is happening with Jamie's work these days.  She's going to be leaving Quiksilver at the end of April.  I'm not sure if she will ever blog again, so I'll be filling you in if she doesn't.

Well, it looks like my temporary project in El Segundo is winding down. I'll probably put in another week or two of work via the Volt temp agency. The good news is that after that, the VP told me that she wants to hire me on a contract basis to continue to work for them. Not only will I get to work from home most of the time, but I get a pay raise from what the temp agency was paying. In addition, it looks like I may have a job interview with a company out in Santa Monica next week. It's hard to tell if it's even a job I'd be interested in, but it's worth checking out.

So, I bet some of you are saying, "Man, that Pete used to deluge us with information. It was like a firehose of words aimed right at my eyeballs. But now, it's more like a regular hose, that was used last week, and only the lukewarm water that has been sitting in it since then trickles out when you pick it up and runs down your leg." Well, that's true and beautifully put, but there's a reason apart from laziness and sickness. I'm still working on site at that temp job in El Segundo. My guess is that I'll be out there for at least another couple weeks. So, I work there for eight hours (7:30-3:30) with no lunch break, I spend at least an hour and a half in the car commuting, then when I get home, I get straight to work on my freelance project. I should be finishing that up pretty soon, and I've got a couple more lined up. Anyway, by the time I quit working around 10:30 or 11:00, I'm too tired to communicate with you ingrat--, er fine people. Hopefully, after I finish out in El Segundo, I'll have enough work to do at home, that I won't have to go out on site any where, but who knows?

By the way, for those of you who are itching to have one these here for yourself but don't have the option to host it yourself, you can get a free one at <a href="http://www.blogspot.com/">http://www.blogspot.com/</a>.

Here's that business card I was talking about...<p><img src="images/Thumbbusinesscard.jpg" border=1>

I feel kind of bad blogging from work, but I've done everything I can do until I get a call back from someone, so I figured I should make some use of my time, rather than just sitting here staring at my phone. What have I been doing? Well, the person who set up this software didn't really seem to know what they were doing, so I'm going through and reconfiguring what's there. The software is called Soffront, and it's not a bad little product, unless someone goes in and messes with things they don't know about. Apart from that, I am generating reports for the sales team that keep track of who is doing what. The trip to work went fairly quickly today. I think there was an accident on the 405 just north of where I get on it, so traffic was pretty light. Mark sent me his text editor, which was very helpful in solving some problems here at work today.

By the way, I have taken some pictures of our new place, and as soon as I can get them on to my computer, I'll make them available. I might even do it here, if someone were kind enough to offer their thumbnail generator and method for putting pics on their blog. (inconspicuous whistle) I created some business cards last night for Flatland Media. I figure I should have something to give to people that I come into contact with.

I may have just moved into the realm of 3 meals a day. I haven't been a regular breakfast eater since my mom used to make an Eggo for me in the mornings. The only way I could even stomach that was because I wasn't even really awake yet. Working out of the house, I tend to sleep later and go to bed later, so I usually just wait till lunch to eat. Years of that practice have made the thought of food before 10:30 am give me a queasy feeling. But having to get up at 6:30 and drive 30 minutes to work, I figure I could do with a bit more energy in the mornings, so I'm eating some kind of cereal bar. You know the one from the commercial that has the milk in the bar as well. Well, I think by 'milk', they mean 'marshmallow', but I'm not complaining. For my second meal, I had a sausage and pepperoni lean pocket and two strawberry shortcake fruit newtons. Was it delicious? Yes. Am I bored right now? Yes.

It seems like just yesterday that I last blogged. Unfortunately, the clear display of the dates on this blog give me away. Well, at least the reason is good news. I posted my resume on monster.com earlier this week. The next day I got several responses, including one from a company that specializes in temp jobs for computer professionals, Volt. They had found an opportunity that seemed to match with my resume. We talked a couple times that day, and then the next day, Thursday, I started a 2-3 week project in El Segundo! The only down side is that I have to commute, and Jamie has to take the bus or walk to work when I'm gone with the car. The commute can be as short as 20 minutes with no traffic, but it has taken me as long as an hour and a half to get home. I tell you, if someone is going to invent an alternative to our highway system, they'll probably be sitting on the Santa Monica Freeway when they come up with it. The job is at Menemsha Companies, a general contractor that does a lot of Starbuck's work. They need me, because they bought an ASP-based Customer Relationship Management software package, and they need it customized for their company. The work is right up my alley, and I enjoy it, except that I have to use Notepad to write the code in, which slows me down a little bit.

On another note, Jamie and I qualified for Wawanesa insurance, which is about the cheapest auto insurance I've ever seen, but it is apparently hard to qualify. The only thing we have to do to finish up the process is get California driver's licenses. So, very soon, we will become official residents.

Great news! Jamie officially got a job today! She'll be working at the Tony Hawk store in The Grove. Since, it's related to Quiksilver, she's getting to start out as supervisor at the same rate she was making in NYC! For those of you who aren't down with Tony Hawk, he's just about the best darned skateboarder of all time. So, this store is more geared towards skating than surfing. Jamie's going to have to learn how to put together skate boards, and maybe even have to learn how to ride them. I'll be selling tickets to watch that spectacle. She goes in tomorrow to fill out paperwork and starts working on Saturday. Until then, she'll be feverishly trying to finish the new Harry Potter book.