I'm going to write today what I intended to write last Sunday from the Siebers' residence, because the fact that I was at their house on a Sunday underscored the key point underlying the point that I was planning on making.  In other words, I was at their house and not at church.  I miss having a church like ubc.  This is a lament, not a whine, I promise.  I grew up going to church, albeit not always willingly.  Oftentimes, I wouldn't want to go, and my mom would force me to go, so I'd put on shorts to rebel.  She would tell me that I couldn't go to church in shorts.  I agreed with her, and suggested that I stay home.  So, she reluctantly let me wear shorts, and I gained some kind of victory there.  It's funny that I did this, because when I look back, I loved going to church as a kid.  I got to see all my friends and play in the gym and win at Bible drill.  By the time we got into the eighth grade, Mark and I and others were already starting to emerge as leaders among our church peers, and I was certainly super-involved.  Then came college, and I needed a break from church.  This break lasted until the second semester of my sophomore year, when I started going to ubc.  Over the years, I got pretty involved there, too.  I loved to get there early (most mornings) and to stay late.  Now, here's the key, I made my non-church plans around my church plans.  I wouldn't go out of town for the weekend, unless I could be back by Sunday morning.  I once drove non-stop by myself from Florida to make it back just in time for church (I almost died that morning by sleeping at the wheel).  And this is what I miss...Having something in a church that I am committed to enough to put it ahead of other things, not just out of obligation, but because I look forward to it.

Well, we went to Bel Air Presbyterian last night, and we really liked it.  Granted, it was different from their normal service, but I got a good initial vibe, which has me rooting for the church the next time we go.  Here's hoping...

Jamie and I went with Tiffany (Tawny's sister) to the ArcLight yesterday to go see The Human Stain.  We arrived with one minute until showtime.  I can positively say “one minute”, because the sign at the box office said, “starting in one minute”.  The lines were long, a rarity at the ArcLight, so by the time we actually got to the register “The Human Stain” was “Now Showing”.  I asked for three tickets as Tiffany handed me cash for hers, and I was going to purchase all of the tickets with my card as usual.  They were having some problem with their system, so they asked for a different card.  Same problem.  So, the manager says, “Do you have any cash, and maybe we can help you out with the rest?”  I had enough for one ticket, and this because Tiffany had just given me the cash.  So, we got three tickets for the price of one.  The ArcLight has raised the bar once again.  As for the movie, it was quite a heavy movie with some wonderful performances, but it's one of those that I can't recommend, because there's no way of telling how others will respond to it.

I know, three posts in one day...I guess I'm catching up.  I don't know if this is making the news anywhere else in the country, but I read this article on MSNBC, then heard the story on the radio on my way to El Segundo.  For those who don't like to click on links or don't want to read the whole story, here's the gist:  Some LA city employee saw two VCRs used for dubbing, one labeled “master”, the other labeled “slave”.  Naturally, he was offended by these inanimate objects and immediately reported them to the county’s Office of Affirmative Action Compliance.  Obviously, he was concerned for the “slave” VCR, and wanted it freed from its bondage to its “master”, or as the “slave” VCR called it, “boss”.  Or maybe he was offended because of the years he spent as a slave, oh wait, we haven't had slavery in this country for almost 150 years, so unless he is also the oldest man alive, that's not the case.  I wonder, would this have been reported if the “master” VCR were black plastic and the “slave” VCR were white plastic?  As a result, they are now going to label the VCRs with “primary” and “secondary”.  Hopefully, someone will report this injustice to the EEOC or the Office of Ridiculous Complaints Compliance, and we will not rest until they are both labeled identically, perhaps just “VCR”.  Of course, the other 23 letters of the alphabet will then have to file a complaint.  Well, whatever happens, its just important that we continue to apply the most offensive context we can possibly imagine to every combination of letters that we come across until our language is completely bland and words can't hurt us any more.

OK, so I'm gearing up for a skydive some time soon.  I have a question for those that have done it before.  Is temperature a factor?  I mean, should I do it now, or should I wait until the spring and warmer weather?

While I continue to nurse my wounds from actual skating, I have made some progress in the virtual skating world without a helmet or pads.  I reached 90% on Tony Hawk without any outside aid.  At that point (an A), I decided to do some research.  I could only find hints that helped me get about 2% more.  What's funny is that on the rest of the goals, just knowing that there weren't any hints out there helped me to 'go for the gold'.  So, I'm now at 99%, one goal away from completion.  Hopefully, I can do that before my wounds heal.

Update -- Make that 100%!

Well, not exactly, which brings me to the story of the weekend.  I was originally planning a different blog for today, but that one will have to wait for tomorrow.  Jamie, Clinton, and I spent the weekend at the Siebers, and, as per usual, we took our skateboards with us to have some fun in their driveway.  On Friday, I decided that I wanted to try an 'Ollie', because Pro Skater 4 has inspired me.  Now, I should mention that I don't know how to do an 'Ollie', but I thought I'd guess.  So, I slammed down one end of the board and did some kind of jumping motion, and before I knew it, I was reeling backwards and landing hard on my back side, narrowly avoiding the side of my car with my head.  The most serious part of this injury was a little bit of skin scraped off of my elbow, but not enough to even be red.  Not too bad, but I showed it off for the rest of the day as my first skating injury.  I also decided to wait until I get pads and a helmet before I go down the road of really trying to learn to trick.

Then, comes today.  Clinton comes in and mentions that he had just gone down the street, venturing out of the normal bounds of the driveway.  He mentions that it seemed like it wasn't even as steep as the driveway, but that it was longer, so you build up some speed.  He took Jamie's deck down, but suggested that he thought my Sector 9 would probably have been smoother.  Well, I was ready to do my first run of the day.  I was even wearing my new skate shoes.  So, I grabbed my board and thought I'd try the street as well.  So, I hop on and start to go down.  Very quickly, the board starts to wobble pretty seriously.  This was not a foreign experience for me, because when I was new to the driveway, this happened a fair amount as well.  I don't care for the wobbliness, so when I realized that I wasn't going to be able to rein it in, I figured I should go ahead and bail before matters got worse and I wouldn't be able to choose the manner of my bailing.  So, the plan was to jump off and immediately start running to match by current speed and let the board fly down the hill all by its lonesome.  However, during all of this, I hadn't recognized just how much speed I had built up.  In fact, I soon found out that I was going faster on the board than I am capable of running.  So, after I hit about three strides running, I started to go down.  I'm pretty sure my elbow hit first, as it took the most damage, but I also caught my knee, hip, side of my stomach and shoulder before I completed my roll on to my back.  I remember being surprised that I continued to fall for so long.  Afterwards, we could see that the red in my shirt had actually rubbed off onto the pavement leaving a red stripe 10 feet long.  I got up and kind of checked to make sure that I wasn't so badly injured that I should sit back down or something, and Clinton zooms past me on Jamie's deck.  He thought that he could get down to check on me faster if he rode down, but then realized that if he tried to stop, he was going to be in the same predicament I was, so he continued on to the bottom of the hill.

I'm proud to say that now I have my real first skating injury, considering I bled from six different places.  The good news is that the injury hasn't scared me off from skating, though I am planning on investing in a helmet and some pads before I try too many new things.  One other ironic thing, the shirt that I was wearing is the shirt that I got from Jamie's cousins a year and a half ago that has some skate brand logo on it.  I wore it to ubc one Sunday morning while giving announcements, and mentioned then that I felt like a real poser for wearing a skate shirt, having never skateboarded before.  Perhaps, today was payback, although the shirt bore a fair amount of injury as well.

I'm proud to say that tonight, after Taco Tuesday, I reached the 75% mark on my career for Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4.  The goals I have left to accomplish are remain unfinished for one of two reasons: 1) They are too hard, or 2) I can't figure out what the goal is asking me to do.  Now, I'm fine with not completing 100% of a game, as good as it would feel to see that happen.  The way I see it, I now have a solid C in Tony Hawk Pro Skater.  I'm used to being an A student, so I may have to keep going until I hit 90%.  It sure would help me get there if I could clear up the goal of some of those goals.  Which brings me to the idea of 'cheats'.  I don't like the idea of cheating.  I failed more than one student as a result of cheating.  But, is looking up what I'm supposed to do really cheating?  Your thoughts?  In the meantime, I guess it's back to Gran Turismo for a while.

Update - I hit 80% today, still no cheat/research.  Have any of you played Pro Skater 4?  How far did you get?

Update Anew - 87% without guidance...how far can he go?!?

This coming weekend is a big weekend for the Siebers and the West Coast Segues.  Friday night, we're going to see Bill Cosby out at the Pechanga casino.  For those of you who have seen him before, you'll know how awesome this show is going to be.  I've been looking forward to it ever since I saw the movie Comedian.  And speaking of Comedian, we are getting to go to Vegas for two days after Christmas, where we will see Jerry Seinfeld perform, followed by Cirque du Soleil's Mystere.  Not immediately followed by.  I mean, Seinfeld's not opening for Mystere.  Anywho, it's going to be a very Vegas Christmas.

I forgot to mention that Jamie and I went to see “love actually” this weekend.  You've probably seen the commercials for it, and you are probably thinking it's a feel-good, family oriented Christmas season story, like I did.  As it turns out, I think it also could have been called “boobs actually”.  I don't want to knock it as a movie, just because it had boobs, but I will knock the marketing of it.  Man, that would have been an uncomfortable movie to be in with a kid or a parent.

So, I slept in today after taking Jamie to work.  When I finally pulled myself out of bed, I knew that in order to stay out of bed, I needed to head directly to the shower.  So, I did.  I was just enjoying the hot water, when I distinctly heard the sound of failing water pressure.  And sure enough, moments later, the water slowed to a trickle.  I waited for a couple minutes, hoping that it would come back on, but alas, nothing.  Fortunately, I wasn't all soaped or shampooed up.  I got out, dried off, and went outside to see if I could find somebody working on the water or something, to let them know that some of us were showering.  There was nobody to be found.  I came back in and tried the water at the kitchen sink.  It came rushing on.  So, the water's back on now, but I'm nervous about getting back in to finish my shower, because what if it shuts off again just as shampoo runs into my eyes?!?  That fear did not keep me from brushing my teeth, who were threatening to leave my mouth if I didn't do something about the breath situation.

Big news everybody!  We've got a new blogger amongst us.  One Brandon Wilson.  Enjoy!

Yesterday was Jamie's day off, and we had heard from Scott Coones that he was in town, so we met up with him and went to Lulu's for lunch.  We recognized the guy at the table next to us as a waiter from the Mexican food restaurant down the street called Marix.  We've eaten there three times, and he's been our waiter all three times.  He was there with another guy, and the waiter seemed to be embarrassed about the fact that they were on a date.  In West Hollywood...embarrassed about being gay.  Dude, maybe you're not gay.  Oops.

Anywho, later that night Tony & Martel came over for dinner.  And just as Jamie was about to serve a wonderful dinner of salmon, pasta, caesar salad and cheesebread, we learn that salmon makes Tony break out in hives.  Oops.

Well, we dealt with the situation and put chicken in Tony's caesar salad to make it a bit heartier.  We watched some TV, so that Tony could see if they were still running promos for his show.  The ratings haven't been what they had hoped for, in spite of the critical acclaim, so he's a bit nervous.  After they left, Jamie and I were doing dishes.  She washed, I dried.  I was drying our big salad bowl, when all of a sudden, it slipped out of my hands, hit the counter, and smashed into a million pieces, while also slicing four cuts into my forearm.  Oops.

Well, Jeff has his excuses, and I have mine.  I've tried to blog several times this week, but I have run into errors when attempting a post.  Which is a shame, because I revealed several internationally important secrets in some of those attempts.  Oh well, perhaps the next time I'm bored, I'll throw those out again.

What was the error, you may ask?  Well, there were two things that happened that confused the issue.  One, my hosting company upgraded to Windows Server 2003, which effectively reset the permissions on my directories, making it impossible to post new blogs.  Two, I tried installing the newest version of dasBlog.  This actually caused no problems but distracted me from the aforementioned problem, which was the true problem.

So, now that I'm back in business, I'll rewrite the brief blog that I can remember from Saturday.  It went something like this:

Well, I finally knew ahead of time about a lunar eclipse and set my alarm to remind me to go look at it.  However, the clouds were too thick in Fallbrook for us to see.  The one time it gets cloudy in California!  Did anybody else get a chance to see it?