Dana and I bought a Weber grill the other day at Target. Today I opened the box to assemble it and grill up some chicken, and inside the box were several Blu-Ray movies! Kill Bill 2, the Ultimate Matrix Collection boxed set, season four of Battlestar Galactica, and two copies of Goodfellas! All are brand new with the plastic wrap on them. The grill seemed to be packaged normally, not like it was previously opened. This is so weird.
I found some great airfare tickets for a roundtrip flight from Denver to LAX, so I took a week and flew "home" to visit my friends and family... and to get a little bit of work done.
Unfortunately, Dana wasn't able to accompany me, since she has a normal job (elementary school teacher) that requires her to actually be present, while my job can be done from just about anywhere, even on an airplane. "Web developer" for the win.
The plan was to fly in early Saturday morning, Oct.3, just in time for the Granada Hills Street Faire, and return on Friday, Oct. 10. Since the return flight was scheduled to arrive around noon at Denver International Airport, Dana wouldn't be available to pick me up at the airport, resulting in the need to drive and leave a car at the airport parking lot... or so it seemed. I'm not the type to pay $15/day for the cheapest parking at D.I.A. I figured out that it was cheaper for me to stay at the Airport Courtyard Marriott on Friday night, use the free Marriott shuttle service to get to the airport for my 6am flight, and leave my car in their free parking spot for the entire week. I'm so crafty at times.
The flight was a breeze, about two hours long. I learned that it takes less than 10 minutes for a plane to fly from DIA to the Continental Divide (Rocky Mountains). Seriously, I recorded it.
They served some airplane-shaped graham crackers, which they called "Plane Cookies" - of which I joked with the flight attendant that there was nothing "plain" about them. That quip earned me an extra bag of Plane Cookies. Score!
It would be an understatement for me to say that I was excited to arrive in L.A. I had been counting down the days. To make it even better, my dad was picking me up at the airport. Other than Dana, my dad is the closest person in the world to me. All my bags were carry-ons so I was able to run directly from the gate to the curb and see him there. We had a nice chat on the drive back to Granada Hills, catching up on what I've been missing since the move. I managed to avoid the giant Station wildfire, which was refreshing. It was just really cool to catch up with Dad. What a great start to the week!
We went over to the Street Faire, and I saw my mom there volunteering at the GHNNC booth as always. There was a big crowd around, but she stopped in the middle of her outreach discussion and gave me a big welcome hug. It was great. I really felt at home.
I spent several hours at the Street Faire, taking photos for the GHNNC and GHSNC websites. If you are interested, you can see the photos here or here.
That night (Sat.) I went to my best bud Steve's birthday party. His birthday was actually two weeks earlier, but I think he scheduled the party later so I could be there. That's how cool he is.
The next day I visited Grace Community Church and saw some friends and familiar faces. Turns out, Compelled is no more. Now it's a part of Crossroads and known as the 101. I wish them all the best.
That afternoon, my grandparents, uncle, and future aunt visited. We watched some baseball playoff games on TV and caught up over dinner. I really missed them and it was a treat to see them all.
Later that night, I went over to Steve's house and played multiple games of Cities and Knights of Catan. Though I can not verify this, rest assured I destroyed Stevo in every game we played that night.
Here's Stevo, right before getting annhilated in Catan :-)
I spent Monday working with my dad at the shop, doing some basic maintenance on the server and workstations there. Boring updates, cleaning out viruses, the usual.
Tuesday was one of those days that could best be described as perfect. I had lunch with my parents at the new Bob's Big Boy in Northridge (the Big Boy combo is just as good as it was when I was young and Bob's was a common family outing.)
That night, I went to the Universal Amphitheater to see PEARL JAM! My favorite band throughout my teen years, and I finally had the opportunity to see them live. They were incredible! Ben Harper opened for them, and now I know why so many people have been raving about him to me lately. If you want to see one of the most gifted young guitarists around today, catch a Ben Harper concert. It will blow you away. Pearl Jam followed his act up with a set of at least 30 songs. I kept waiting for them to play Alive, when the final song of their encore, Chris Cornell and Jerry Cantrell walk out on the stage (Temple of the Dog re-united) and they jammed to Alive. I recorded it, but the mic on the iPhone wasn't built to handle that much awesomeness. So try to ignore the buzzing if you can. Check out Eddie Vedder running and jumping off the monitor at the end.
Here's someone else's video of the same song in case you are interested.
I rested a little on Wednesday, stayed home with family that night. That's it. Nothing else to say about Wednesday.
Thursday I worked again at the shop. Dana sent me a text message with a photo of SNOW at our home in the Springs! It's gonna be a long winter this year.
That night my parents took me to Staples Center for a Kings game! (Best parents ever!) The Kings stomped all over the Minnesota Wild, continuing my streak to 9 straight wins when I am there.
The next day, Dad and I stopped for lunch at Tito's Tacos on our way to LAX. Mmmmm.
It was a bittersweet farewell. I was excited to get back home to Dana, but I really wanted to stay longer with my family. And wouldn't you know it? My Southwest flight was delayed several hours. They even had to bring a plane from Burbank to LAX for us. I really COULD have spent more time with family.
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