Knowgonzalo

By request, here is a shot of my shelter from the traffic, noise and people of Los Angeles. The Extended Stay America is located in La Mirada, CA. It's about 20 min from downtown Los Angeles (50 minutes with traffic). My room is cozy, I'll get a picture of that next month. I'm in room 224!!! The best room ever. Not. But it does have a nice bed, cool fridge, 20" TV and a alright bathroom. The hotel has no amenities. It's just a hotel with rooms, laundry and parking. Did you know people actually move in here!? There are families living in these tiny studio's. I don't get why they would waste the money on these hotel rooms, but eh, they don't seem to mind. The exact address is 14775 Firestone Blvd, Room 224, La Mirada, CA 90638. Phone number: (714) 670-8579, Fax: (714) 670-8361

It seems someone up there loves me. Ever since I have been without my beloved TiVo and have been forced into watching regular cable TV, my television viewing experience has not been the same. But the TV Gods have been smiling on me recently. Some of my favorite movies have been appearing on TNT, TBS and Showtime (the only movie cable channel I have). First it was "National Lampoon's Vacation," then it was "Starship Troopers," then "The Shawshank Redemption," and now "The Fugitive"! One of my first favorite movies. "The Fugitive" has everything a great classic movie should have: action, suspense, powerful performances, memorable characters, great directing, a great story and the best part is that it's filmed in Chicago!! Apart from showing some not so nice sides of Chicago, "The Fugitive" shows you the historic town of Pullman and some great skyline shots. Ah Chicago, how I miss you.

The picture you see is of a statue in Huntington Beach. It really caught my eye. Everything in Huntington Beach catches your eye. You have girls walking around in bathing suits, people playing beach volleyball, surfers surfing and dogs are barking. A very cool beach town. Did you know it's known as Surf City USA? Slowly and surely I see why California is a popular living destination. If you live away from Los Angeles, it isn't that bad. One thing that surprised me about Huntington Beach is the amount of Corporate Stores/restaurants they have. What I always liked about Beach Towns was their ability to not fall into the corporate world. Beach towns are usually filled with Mom and Pop shops/ restaurants and grocery stores. Huntington Beach had a Baskin Robins, a Cold Stone Creamery, Subway, Taco Bell and an IHOP!!! A freaking International House of Pancakes on the beach! Welcome to the world of brands and trademarks.

You know what would be really cool? If I can complete my Baseball goals of California. My baseball goals of California are to catch a Dodgers game, an Angels game and possibly a Padres game. I don't know what it is, but I am really excited about the Major League Baseball season this year. When I get back to Chicago, I hope to catch a Cubs game from the bleachers and watch the White Sox win their division. But in the meantime, the baseball teams of California will have to hold me over. So far, they have done a GREAT job. I caught my first Home Opener game ever! It was a game I knew I had to catch: the L.A. Dogers versus the S.F. Giants. I didn't officially get tickets till an hour before game time, but I'm glad I was determined to find tickets. I paid $40 bucks and got a seat behind Home Plate in the Reserve Section. The view was incredible (I didn't take the camera, sorry.) and I fell in love with the Dodgers. But this pleasant event didn't start off so pleasant. You see, Dodger Stadium is situated above a hill overlooking the Highway. There is only one way to get there: by driving up. And there is only one way to leave: by driving down. Then you add all the cars, buses and SUV's doing the same and you have yourself a nice little traffic jam. The best way to picture it is by thinking of an Ant Hill and then picturing all the ants making their way up the hill. Very, VERY crowded. The game started at 1:10pm and I got to the start of the hill by 1:00pm. I did not sit in my seat until 2pm! I was going crazy in that cargo van of ours. Plus, what added to my sour mood was that I was listening to the game on the radio and guess what? The Dodgers allowed 5 runs in the 1st inning!! The 1st inning!! The game was shaping up to be a major let down, and I was debating if I should just turn around and forget about the game (why sit through all this traffic for terrible baseball?). Fortunately, I reasoned with myself and sat it out. Thank you Gonzalo. I had a blast watching the Dodgers rally runs and they did end up winning at the bottom of the 9th with a 3 run RBI by Milton Bradley (Got Milt?). I feasted on a Dodger Dog and had some Galric Fries (which I never knew existed till I came upon Dodger Stadium, they're pretty good, but don't try to kiss anybody afterwards ;-) And all through out the game, "Giants Suck" chants were heard loud and clear. What I added to the game? the Hee-Seop Choi chants from his days on the Cubs. It goes like this: "Heee-Seop CHOOOOOIIIIII" An obscure chant, for a little known player.

It's so cool to see one of my favorite movies on Showtime right now: "The Shawshank Redemption." Check it out, it's a good way to spend 2.5 hours. Some memorable quotes from the movie: "Either get busy living or get busy dying." & "hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies."

This is how it works: I only have the computer every other day. Our company only provided us with one iBook for two people, and my partner did not bring her labtop thinking we would each get one. (I was under the impression we would both get an iBook too, but that's in the past now). Thanks to this set up, I have nothing to do on the days with no iBook. Alright, I do have stuff to do. I just don't have access to the computer. So on those computerless nights I'm stuck with myself. (I know, I feel bad for me too) But actually, it turns out alright. I have picked up an old habit: Comic Books. Usually I would only read about what's going on in the Comic Book Universe through "Wizard." (a monthly magazine that covers Comic books) But thanks to "Astonishing X-Men," I have become an avid comic book reader again and not only do I read "Astonishing X-Men" on a monthly basis ( I can't wait for issue 10) but I have also picked up "The New Avengers" and "Countdown to Infinite Crisis". I mention these books because they are phenomenal reads and suggest to them to everyone over the age of 12. The art work is great and the stories are suspensful and intriguing. I am having so much fun reading the adventures of Wolverine, Batman, Superman, Spriderman, Capt. America, Iron Man, Cyclops and the ever so lovely Spiderwoman. Don't think of me as a comic dork (okay, maybe I'm a little dorky), just think of me as a man who enjoys reading good stories and gazing at beautiful art. And if you read one of these books too, I'm sure you would have a blast too!!

And now, a Ron Burgundy moment...
"I'm very important. I have many leather-bound books and my apartment smells of rich mahogany."

Before we went out tonight, I was watching "Starship Troopers" on Showtime. The movie came out in '97 and it is one of the coolest sci-fi/army/action movies...a must see. But, the movie was cut short by our plans for the evening. We made plans to go to this local party in Anaheim for this girl I met through work. It was her birthday and she was having a party. "Cool" I thought, we get to check out the local house party scene. So I was excited. What happened between the time of 9:30pm and 11:10pm has to be one of the most eye opening nights for me. I mean, eye opening in the sense that I was standing at this party, mostly attended by High School Seniors, and I kept thinking to myself "is this what kids do now a days for fun?" I'm only 23 years old and I felt like an old geezer from the 50's. I felt like a square. I couldn't believe what was going on at this party. Kids now a days. One of the strangest party activities that went down: there was a "crew" of guys that brought NOS gas tanks and were selling balloons so you can get high of the gas. HAHA. It was so crazy. Here you are at this high school party and there are these kids sucking the air out of the balloons. I'm so behind with the times. At my next party, I'll make sure to have some NOS Gas tanks and sell balloons (1 balloon for $3 or 5 balloons for $5). The party was cut short by the Police. They must have been the coolest cops I have ever come across on a Saturday night. They did not care that kids were smoking up, they didn't care there was underage drinking, they didn't seem to mind all the balloons, the only thing they cared about was turning the loud music off and kicking everyone out. After dropping off a couple of girls home, we made our way back to our hotel. Laughing all the way back, "Did we really just see them pass around balloons?" At the end, I wish I could of at least caught the ending of "Starship Troopers." ("I expect the best and I give the best. Here's the beer. Here's the entertainment. Now have fun. That's an order.")