I went to see the new Cirque du Soleil show "Corteo" in San Francisco with Row, her father and Stepmother on new years eve. It was beautiful, as is expected from the Cirque. Go see it if you have a chance.



















As well here are some pictures of the New Year's fireworks over San Francisco bay.

I had post Christmas ennui, I needed to be cheered up so I went to a few antique shops here in Alameda. I found a few things that made me smile:


These are the most hideous/fabulous lamps I have ever seen. The remind me of 70's superheroes.

















I also found this totally awesome guide to being a valley girl. Furr Shurr!

Lets just say every fucking thing that could go wrong on my return trip to California did.

They couldn't print me a receipt for my rental car (they are supposedly mailing it to me),

My plane was delayed by an hour leaving Seattle,

I had to sit next to an approximately 7 year old boy that made farting noises the whole flight,

and to top it off, while I was waiting for my luggage, a stranger whispered in my ear that I had toilet paper sticking out of the back of my pants!

Welcome Home!

But here is the thing that made up for everything; When I got off the plane and was on the way to get my luggage, I heard an announcement over the intercom:

"Paging Mr. Ben Dover, paging Mr. Ben Dover, Mr. Ben Dover please pick up the white courtesy phone."

Oh, and I was back in love with the world again!

This is my last weekend in the Seattle area so I decided to do a few things I had not gotten to do so far here.

Saturday, Mhairi (my co-worker from the UK) and I went into Seattle to go to the Aquarium. We wanted to see the new baby Sea otter. It was one of the cutest things I have ever seen. The rest of the aquarium was a lot of fun as well.

Here are the pictures:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mayitaazul/sets/1610643/


On Sunday we drove about 2 and half hours out into the mountains to Leavenworth, Wa. It is a little town in the middle of nowhere that in the 60's was doing very badly and decided to give itself a facelift. It totally remade itself into a copy of a Bavarian village. We had a great time shopping and walking around in the snow. It was really cold, but that didn't stop us from having a fun day out.

and here are the pictures:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mayitaazul/sets/1610581/


So, it is back to work tomorrow and my last week here. I will miss this area, but I am ready to go home. See you all soon!

I think we are all friends here.

So, I'd like to make a confession:

I am driving an SUV and I like it.

I am probably going to go to environmentalist hell just for saying it, but there it is, out in the open.

Forgive me.

Ok, I feel so much better now.

Today I had the day off and decided to go out to a botanical garden in the near by town of Bellevue. I know that most people wouldn't think of going to a garden in winter, but it actually was very beautiful. There were an abundance of winter berries and evergreen plants as well as a lot of birds and squirrels.

Here are some pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mayitaazul/sets/1505178/

After the garden I went into Seattle and went to Pioneer Square to go on the Underground Tour. It was a lot of fun, the whole tour is underground (of course) on the old street level. There were a lot of fun and interesting stories about the founding and past of Seattle. It was a real behind the scenes look at the city. I would highly recommend it to anyone visiting Seattle.

Here are some pictures of Pioneer Square and the tour:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mayitaazul/sets/1505240/

After the tour I did some shopping and had dinner at the underground cafe of the Elliott Bay Bookstore. This is a great bookstore with a little of everything and a great friendly atmosphere.

Back to the grind tomorrow...Oh well, I had fun today.

This past Monday I drove out to Snoqualmie Falls. I got lost getting there so it took me about an hour and a half to get there (and only 40 minutes to get back) but it was a nice drive. The falls are really beautiful but it was colder than a witch's tit out there! I swear I got a minor case of frost bite. I am leaving my scarf, hat and gloves in the car from now on just in case. Here are some pictures of the falls.
















On a whiter, fluffier, even colder note, it has finally started to snow here in Renton. It started to snow in other areas yesterday. Today it was mostly snow that turned to rain as it fell, but there is rumor of a heavier fall tonight or tomorrow. I went this afternoon and traded in my Chevy Impala for a Ford Exlporer. It makes my feel safer and if I decide to trek out to the wilderness at any point I want to be prepared. I will keep you updated!

Those of you that know me well know I like a good challenge. So, I decided about a month ago that I would teach myself German. Ok, I know it is almost impossible to teach yourself a language if you don't have anyone to talk to and you are learning it through German TV shows and music. But all I can say is...I am having a great time.

In my quest I have bought German language CDS, dictionaries and verb conjugation books, but the most helpful things I have bought so far are a variety of German phrase books. They give me a great overview of the language as well as giving me actual phrases to practice. To be honest I don't know if I am saying the phrases right, but at least it makes me feel like I am accomplishing something.

In the interest of sharing the wealth I would like to share with you what I have learned from my various phrase book that might be helpful if you ever travel to a German speaking country.

Fertig? (Ready?)

First, it is important to be VERY honest about your identity to everyone you meet:














Second, it is important to know what topics of conversation to avoid, here are my suggestions of things NOT to talk about:


















If, however, you end up engaged in a conversation about these topics, here are some suggestions of phrases to use during the ensuing argument:
















If you manage to make it out of the argument without getting your ass kicked, you might even make a friend. Then you and said friend can go out and party it up a little, or a lot, if the following phrases are any indication:




















































On one of these exciting nights out you will invariably meet other human beings. Maybe one of these people will be interested in you in more that a "friendly" way.

Some of these people you will not be interested in:
















Now, telling people that you are an accountant will definitely scare off all but the most hardy of suitors, but if that does not work here are a few alternatives that should do the trick:

Ich bin ein teufelsanbeter (devil worshiper)
Ich bin ein terrorist (just what is looks like)
Ich bin ein republikaner (republican)

On the other hand, you might like someone and want to make your intentions known:













which leads to:













Which leads to:

NOTE: The following phrases should be MEMORIZED before they are needed. It would be extremely distracting to have to find and look up the phrase "Fuck Me Harder" while engaged in the actual act.

















This will lead to the need for the following phrases:













Oh, yes, how many times have I said "That was weird" after sex? Too many times, my friends, too many times.

Here are some additions phrases that should get you through almost any social situation:


At the hairdresser:













At the dentist:













And finally at the park (hopefully accompanied by a baby or child)













So there you go, all you need to know to travel the world!

Good luck with that....

Here are a couple odds and ends that I have been collecting.

Enjoy!

Here is a book I found that is a lot of fun. I have been having a great time reading it.

















And yes, it is a book about bastards throughout history.


And here is a great dedication in a little park in my home town of Alameda, CA.
Oh, if only I had friends that loved me this much...
(if you can't read it well, it says; "In Memory of My Dumb Friends")

Rob Thomas
Paramount Theater

We almost didn't go to this show, which is a huge thing for us since we love concerts. We were both SO exhausted from traveling, work and the NIN concert the night before that we almost decided to skip this one. We actually flipped a coin. Heads we go, tails we stay home. Flip. Heads. So off we go.

We had a bitch of a time finding parking since the theater is in downtown Oakland. But we finally found a spot and headed to the theater. We had purposely headed out late since the opening act was Anna Nalick and neither Tina or I like her.

Believe it or not I had not been to the Paramount theater before, I know, a theater that I had not been to? Yeah, I was surprised too. This a great place with an old fashioned charm. It is beautifully restored and done in the art deco style.

I am really glad we decided to go. Rob Thomas was really on that night and played a really rocking set. He played all his new stuff with some Matchbox Twenty songs thrown in for good measure. His band was great and he was as cute and charming as ever. We even got see two ladies almost throw down in our ails during the show...Not what you expect with this crowd...How exciting! :)

Fun stuff and I went home even more tired, but happy.

Nine Inch Nails
Queens of the Stone Age
Oakland Arena


We were supposed to see NIN on September 29th but it was postponed until November 19th because the drummer was having heart problems, so I was very excited to finally be seeing them. We had seem an abbreviated show of theirs at Coachella and I had really liked it. I had not been a huge fan before then, I had know their main hits but did only owned one CD. After seeing them live I went out a bought everything I could get my hands on and have been listening to them ever since.

Tina came and got my about 7:30 and we headed out to the arena which is only a few miles from my house. When we got there we started looking for the special "Spiral" entrance for fan club members. After a few false starts we found it at the side of the Arena. We got our tickets at will call and headed in. I am really glad I remembered my ear plugs, this was an especially loud show. QOTSA were already playing. I am not a huge fan of this band and it didn't help that live them kind of played like a jam band and would play the same song for 15 minutes with instrumental parts for about 10 of those minutes. Not my style at all. We did have a good time looking at all the people and reading all the t-shirts. It was like band t-shirt heaven.

Finally NIN came on. All I can say is it was a fantastic show. Very straight ahead, little on theatrics and big on the rock! They had a cool stage set and a curtain that would go down in front of them at a point in the middle of the concert when they were playing some of their slower songs. It was almost see through so you could still see the outline of the band but see the images that were projected onto the screen. It was really cool. They played about 5 songs like that with images of flocks of animals and people flowing into images of was and destruction. It got the message home without saying a word. I was very impressed. Trent was also much more animated during this show than I remembered him being at Coachella. He danced and moved around the stage a lot more. That was great to see. Trent didn't talk much, which is what I expected. There were only a few thank yous, fuck yeas and he did thank us for coming back and apologized for the concert delay.

I left there exhausted, my back and knees were killing me from standing on the cement on floor, but I was so happy to finally see this band in a full concert.

I have been in the Seattle area working, and I will be here until the end of December. I had my first day off and decided to go to the wharf and to Pike's market. I had a nice day, excluding the part where I got lost in downtown Seattle. I went to Ye olde curiosity shop on the wharf which mostly has crappy souvenirs, but does have a weird little section at the back with real shrunken heads, two modern mummies (mummified by natural causes) and a fine selection of other animal and human freakage. I bought some very fun mummy and shrunken head floaty pens and took a few pictures. I then hiked up the hill to Pike's market. This is a very nice market with every imaginable food stuff and lots of crafty stuff to buy. I bought some amazing pears and raspberries that tasted like the were grown in the summer. I then went out of the market to the street and bought handmade cheese and fresh bread to make a proper feast. I decided to go home at this point so hiked back down the hill to my car and drove the 20 minutes back to my hotel.


Here are some pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mayitaazul/sets/1442624/

I went to my first Sharks game in two years tonight. I was so happy that hockey was back on after the last season being cancelled. When I lived in San Jose my friend Lita and I would go to up to 10 games a season, so I have been missing my Sharks.

The Sharks were playing the Minnesota Wild. The Sharks lost 3-1. Bummer. But I had a great time with my friend Lita and got out a lot of aggression yelling at the teams and cheering on the fights. We also had our great seats again (about 20 rows up from the penalty box on the lower level) So even though they lost I left the arena very happy.

GO SHARKS!

Here are some photos I took at the game:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mayitaazul/sets/1442487/

October 28 2005
Hot Hot Heat
Weezer
Foo Fighters

I have been a fan of the Foo Fighters for a long time now and have seen them twice, but only at festivals where they only played for a limited amount of time, so I was thrilled to hear that they were touring and would be literally right around the corner from where I live, at the Oakland Arena. I was also totally stoked to have floor tickets. I was less thrilled that they were on a double bill with Weezer. Don't get me wrong there are a few songs on each of their albums that I like, but as a whole they just don't do it for me. But I was willing to give them a chance to see the Foo Fighters.

First up were the Hot Hot Heat. We had seen them twice before as well at the same festivals that we had seen FF. They are always a lot of fun and have really catchy tunes. But the best part of this band is the lead singer's absolutely spectacular white man fro...Fabulous!

Ok, I will admit it....I actually enjoyed Weezer. I ain't going out and buying all their CD's or anything, but I did enjoy their live show and actually knew a lot more of their songs then I thought I did. But the best part of show was the last song when six strippers came out on stage and danced in their underwear with each letter of weezer's name across their chests. It was hilarious to see these buff naked men dancing in front of possibly the nerdyist band ever. Pure genius.

The Foo Fighters were even better than I remember. One thing I really love about this band is that they seem totally tireless. They almost never stopped playing for the full time they are on stage. They pretty much only stopped to change instruments, to let Dave and Taylor change places for a song and for Dave's hilarious rambling. In referring to the strippers he said the words "hot cock" about 20 times. You can never here those words too much. He also told the crowd that the best part of being in your thirties is that you can hold your Jeagermeister and have finally learned how to eat pussy. Oh my! I just felt sorry for anyone that had brought their teenagers to the concert thinking; "This band will be safe, they don't swear too much in their music." He also made the whole crowd say "Hi Mrs. Grohl!" to his wife who was sitting in the back of the floor seating area. They played all their oldies but goodies as well as songs off their new double album. They had a great stage set and made the show a lot of fun.

We had a great time, enjoyed all the music and it only took three days for me to be able to hear again!

While I was in Albany this last week I asked around for things to do in the afternoon after I was done at the clinic. A couple of people told me to go to Saratoga Springs, about 30 minutes away. That is were the famous race track is and they said it was a "quaint" town with "cute" shops. So, off I went. The drive was pretty, the trees are just starting to change but when I got to Saratoga Springs I realized that my idea or quaint and cute and different than most peoples. The town was nice but really yuppified. The main street was filled with Banana Republic and Eddie Bauer type stores. Not my style, I was expecting antique and coffee shops and the like. But the town did have a nice little historic park that I wandered around in and was nearly stampeded by ducks in when I went to take their picture.

Here are some pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mayitaazul/sets/1205688/

My friend Row and I went for a little day trip out to wine country this weekend. First we went to Santa Rosa to a jem show and bought pretty shiny things and then we made our way to Sonoma to do some wine tasting and to enjoy the day. It was beautiful day and we had a great time. The first winery we went to had a free horse drawn tour that took us around the winery and explained their wine making process. We were on the tour with the most obnoxious group of people I have ever seen. They talked over the tour guide, made stupid jokes and were obviously drunk. But we managed to have fun anyway. We then went to another winery and did some tasting and then we headed off to the Mayo tasting room were they have an absolutely fabulous food/wine pairing. I was in heaven. Each bite sized meal had a wine that complimented it perfectly. It is truly amazing how the wine changed the taste of the food into a completely different experience. I was a little tipsy after the wine tasting so we went to get a coffee and then drove over the mountain to Napa and on to home. We had a great day and I will definitely be back to do the food/wine tasting again.

Here are some pictures from our day out:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mayitaazul/sets/1205117/

I have been traveling to Albany NY for business.
Here are some sets of photos I have taken so far.

Here are some pictures of Chicago from the Air and from inside the airport(the toilet changed the seat cover automatically, except it hardly ever worked):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mayitaazul/sets/1127235/

Here are some pictures of downtown Albany and the Hudson river:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mayitaazul/sets/1127220/

Here are some nature pics:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mayitaazul/sets/1127229/

And finally here are some fun "memory bricks" that line the pedestrian bridge from downtown to the Hudson River:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mayitaazul/sets/1127203/

Enjoy!

I have the flu.

I went to Walgreens to get some drugs.

What I found is the worlds most evil cold medicine.

Be afraid, be very afraid....

The Crystal Method
Ruby Skye

I was totally exhausted from having just flown in that afternoon from New York and I considered not even going to this show. ( I had actually fallen asleep in the shower while getting ready for the show) But I am glad I decided to go after all.

Ruby Skye in an ultra cool club in San Francisco that caters to the dance music crowd. It is housed in an old theater that retains a lot of its old features but at the same time is a completely modern club. It was a great light system and good acoustics. There is a downstairs dance floor with two bars and the stage and an upstaires balcony area with another bar and the VIP section. They also have go-go dancers and my favorite, a girl that dances with a hoola-hoop that lights up. All I could think was that this place would totally rock if you were on ecstasy! We stayed mostly upstairs since you could see the stage better from up there and the fact that the downstairs was a bit (ok, more than a bit) of a meat market.

We got there at about 11pm and got some drinks before heading upstairs. There was a DJ playing that just OK, but we were anxious for the professionals to show how it should be done.

At about 12:30 The Crystal Method came on. Now, this was a DJ gig not them playing music off their CDs. I think some people were confused on this point and were a little disappointed. The guy next to us kept saying "that's not them...it doesn't sound like them." I tried to explain that it was a DJ gig, but I don't think he was convinced. I just had this vision of him marching downstairs and demanding his money back because he thought it wasn't The Crystal Method.

All I can say about these guys are 1) they are nerds, but who else besides nerds would stand behind turntables for probably 15 hours a day perfecting beats? 2) these guys are not two of the best DJs in the world for no reason! They had fantastic mixes and wall (and ass) shaking beats. I had to keep reminding myself that it was all live because it sounded so flawless. Someone might say; why pay to see a DJ..Aren't all DJs the same? Oh no, my friend, they are not. The first DJ of the night was a two year old's birthday clown to Crystal Methods Cirque-du-Soleil. Oh, Yeah...that different!

We left at 2:30 or so and it took us nearly an hour to get out of the city, but I was home by 3:30 and in bed by 4 am, a mere 22 hours after I had gotten up the day before...and it was well worth it!

Aqualung
The Great American Music Hall

Or as we now call it after realizing how much the inside of this place looks like the theater in the Muppet Show: The Great American Muppet Hall.

Every time I have seen this group it is slightly different. I have seen incarnations from just Matt Hales at an electric piano to a five piece band (once even with his wife singing) so it is definitely never the same show twice with these guys even if you are hearing the same songs (which I never get tired of by the way) This is a band on the low key side of the spectrum as far as music is concerned. Not that they are low key as people, there is always a lot of energy and Matt Hales is one of the funniest musicians I have ever seen. I think it also helps that he usually plays with his brother (Ben) so there is always good natured teasing between them. This show was the full band variety with Matt actually playing guitar in addition to the piano, which I had not seen before. In addition to all their great songs they ended the set with a totally kick ass rendition of Queen's Somebody to Love! Oh yeah!