"To days of inspiration,
 Playing hookey making something
 Out of nothing, the need
 To express -
 To communicate,
 To going against the grain
 Going insane
 Going mad"
    La Vie Boheme

Happy Halloween!

For someone who has seen as many movies and listened to as much music as I have its still pretty astounding when you finally watch or listen to something that people have been referencing for most of your life and you never knew what they were talking about. Personal examples of this include Clerks, Planet of The Apes, and since I listened to the original broadway soundtrack yesterday: RENT.

I confess: I liked it a great deal. I hope it comes to Seattle sometime so that I can add that oh-so-crucial visual component. :-)

Anyway, it appears that Halloween is usally a pretty big even here at Microsoft. They didn't do anything last year in the post 9/11 paranoia, but this year they've take all the furniture out of the Atrium outside my office and hung up bedsheets with storefronts from Diagon Alley: Gringots, Flourish & Blott's, Olivanders, Fortesque's Ice Cream, Quality Quidditch Supplies, etc.

I guess come 3 O'Clock this place will be crawling with children. We're supposed to put a sign on our door if we want trick or treaters to come by. I'm putting out a big box of (in my opinion) quality candy, but no sign. I remember being a kid: its all about the candy. The kid doesn't want to go through the "Oh and what are you supposed to be? ... That's so cute!" dance any more than I do.

Mmm... candy. :-)

My assortment:

• Snickers
• Tootsie Pops
• Blow Pops
• Milk Duds
• Reese's Bites
• Twizzlers

"But hell doesn't always look like hell. On a good day it can look a lot like L.A."
    David Duchovny, Playing God

So I need to explain how I got from the Burbank Airport to Hollywood...

After Michael and Ava's wedding I left Cleveland for Burbank via Dallas. With me so far? Good. On the flight from Cleveland to Dallas I was sitting next to this really friendly woman from Tuscon, AZ anmed Sabrina. She was an accountant, and was reassuring me that my sister isn't entering a career that will turn her into a teacher from The Wonder Years. She was also an Access user so we had wonderful conversation the entire flight.

My flight from Dallas to Burbank found me next to another young woman. A "practitioner of holistic medicine" from L.A. named Tavi. Now all I really know about people from L.A. is what I've seen in movies like L.A. Story and Clueless so I was hoping Tavi could help me dispell som stereotypes. It didn't start well. I had a terrible cold, and shortly after sitting down Tavi produced a small brown bottle, and explained that these were "trace minerals" and would help me get well. Trying to be open minded about the holistic medicine thing I tried them. (Side note: I told this story to Lisa later that night, and at this point she stops me and says: "You let her put something in your DRINK?" I guess it wasn't such a bright move when you get right down to it).

Anyway, we discussed (argued) about medicine and the nations healthcare problems (hi dad!). When that got old we started talking about California. Tavi gave me a ton of great suggestions of fun things to do in Hollywood that I would have no time to do, but how was I to know?

As the plane was landing Tavi asked me how I was getting to Hollywood. I said I was taking a cab, and she offered to give me a ride. Apparently her dog was staying with a friend of hers in Hollywood. Now I hesitated here... she was a bit eccentric, but seemed genuinely friendly and not threatening. So I said OK.

At the (very small) Burbank airport we gathered our bags and then went to get her car out of long term Valet parking. We waited as a string of Lincoln Navigators, BMW Z3s, and various other expensive cars came by. Her car was a beat-up Toyota P.O.S. The speedometer didn't work, the internal lights didn't work, the heater didn't work, and my door didn't open from the inside.

We headed out from the airport driving through what I beleive is known as 'The Valley'. After about twenty minutes Tavi tells me she has no idea where she is. Great. I have officially become Cher from Clueless lost in The Valley.

We pull into a 7-11 to get some directions, but instead Tavi winds up buying about $10.00 worth of really bad food and drink (holistic medicine WHAT?). We get back in the car and suddenly Tave delcares that she recognized a street abouta mile back. We eventually find a highway, and she hands me a map (in shinkwrap) and a flashlight. I figure out where we are, and Tavi declares that we are going the wrong way.

So after about an hour we find Hollywood. The hotel was AMAZING! In the same complex as Gruman's Chinese Theater (where they do all the premieres). As we're getting to the hotel Tavi asks if I'd like a driving tour of the area. Seeing as I've already missed all the stuff that was happening that night I say sure.

The tour was quite informative. Tave pointed out all the clubs (and offered to get me on 'The List', whatever the hell that is). She showed me the Denny's where all the pimps used to work, the Beverly Hills Police Dept. (quite an amazing building), and the hotel that was used in Pretty Woman. Its where the president stays apparently.

We picked up her dog (Bogey) and then headed back to the strip. Finally around 11:50pm Tavi drops me off in front of the Hotel Renissance Hollywood. It was pretty funny: several bellboy/porter types with nothing else to do come help me out of Tavi's toyota, which was good because I couldn't open my door from the inside :-)

The night ended on a high note. I got to my bedroom and discovered my room had a name: The Alta Vista. Exhausted I just wanted to find the bed. So I opened the door, didn't see the bed, walked down a hall didn't see a bed, went around the corner, didn't see the bed, went around ANOTHER corner, and finally found the bed. I put down my shit and opened the curtains... on over fifty feet of floor to ceiling windows. Very cool.

"Sometimes the lights are all shining on me
 Other times I can barely see
 Lately it occurs to me
 What a long, strange trip its been."
    The Greatful Dead, Truckin'

Wow... where has the time gone. I actually have a bunch of notes about things I need to blog on, but I can't seem to find the time or the motivation to write about them. :-)

However, I need to write about last night while its still fresh in my mind. Lisa took me to this little club called the Pampas Room. I know that a lot of the swing dancers go there on Fridays, but I never got up the guts. Apprently every Friday and Saturday they have live entertainment: a jazz singer named BB White. Last night was a benefit for BB (she's fighting breast cancer), and it was incredible! The club is really swanky, the drinks are expensive, the dance floor is tiny, but it was still a blast.

All sorts of AMAZING people came out to perform: jazz musicians, jazz vocalists, swing dancers, and (my personal favorite) some professional tango dancers from Argentina. Their names were Ava and Patricio, and lemme tell you... she kicks high. ;-) Then there were some random people who just happen to be their who also got up and performed. There was a magician from the Czech republic named Vas Luv(Sp?) who was pretty funny. A great time.

This weekend Lisa's taking me to a halloween party with a bunch of her co-workers. I guess I should leave the lawyer jokes at home. The theme is come as your favorite villian or fish. (Don't ask). I think I'll go as Kenneth Lay.

Have a lovely weekend.

"Hey mister can you tell me
 Where a man might find a bed
 He just grinned, and shook my hand
 'No' was all he said."
    The Band, The Weight

Drew Carey is full of crap. Cleveland Sucks. Mostly because they are very against you actually getting any sleep there. They have this thing called the "bed tax". There is a 7% state, 4%city, and 3% county bed tax. 14% BED TAX?!? #$&! Whatever, so I checked into my room late Friday night, learned about the insane bed tax (and the $15.00 per night they were charging for parking), but was frankly to tired to care. Got to my room put the Do Not Disturb sign on the door and passed out.

The next morning I got a phone call at 9:00am. I didn't really understand what the person said, but I gathered it was a housekeeper and that she needed me to come to the door. So I put on some pants and went out to see what the trouble was. She needed me to sign a form saying I didn't want my room cleaned BECAUSE I had put the do not disturb sign on the door.... W___ T__ F___!!!? Cleveland sucks.

That being said...

Michael and Ava's wedding was the best wedding I have ever been to in my life. The ceremony was held in the (Former) reformed hungarian church that Ava attended while growing up. The ceremony was beautiful, but fun. It really reflected both of them, and the recepetion was a BLAST! Seeing all the friends I had worked with in Raleigh was more than enough reason for me to have made the trip, but it was honestly a really great party. Proof that its OK to wait until after 40 to get married. (That $5.00 is MINE, Guido!)

"And if you act now I'll throw in a free demon posession with every bio-exorcism. Now, you can't beat that..."
    Beetlegeuse

"YOU are a HUGE NERD!"
    Triumph, The Insult Comic Dog

Its only Tuesday and I've somehow already managed to work over thirty hours this week. Furthermore, the work I've done tonight runs a good chance of getting me arrested for Crimes Against Good Coding Practices. Can you say HACK? I knew you could.

On the lighter side of things, I'm dating a girl who will drive the whole way out to the Eastside in the middle of the night to bring me sugar, caffine, and pleasant conversation. Lisa found out today that she's being assigned to her first murder trial, which is cool because its one more step towards the larger goal of working on death penalty cases. I'm a bit jealous: I wish that all the hours I was pouring into my job were going to amount to something a bit more noble than the eleventh release of Office. Que sera, sera...

'UNITED NATIONS—In an address before the U.N. General Assembly Monday, President Bush called upon the international community to support his "U.S. Does Whatever It Wants" plan, which would permit the U.S. to take any action it wishes anywhere in the world at any time.'
    The Onion

Thank god I moved to the correct Washington. I'm not sure which DC monster is scarier: The Sniper or The W.

Instead I live in a part of the world where a more typical crime is to have one person poison another person's trees in order to improve their view of the mountains. Certainly nothing to consult the U.N. about.

Had a wonderful weekend: spoke to three generations of my family and they're all doing well, got to spend time with the girlfriend (Movie: Red Dragon) and the guy friends (Drinking, Golf), and still had time for Surreal Roommate Antics.

Saturday morning I'm fast asleep when there's a knock at the door. Do I get up? Hell no! But Shannon does. A few minutes later the following conversation occurs:

Me: ZZZzzz...
Shannon: *KNOCK*, 'Hey Scott'
Me: Ungrhuh... whuz?
Shannon: There's a guy here with a dumptruck full of dirt.

(Insert first few notes of Dueling Banjos here)

Me: Ahhoh... huzzah?
Shannon: He wants to know where he should put it.
Me: Uh... Idunnah... Hazabow... Somindafrun, ann-uh.... sumondasigh?
Shannon: That's what I was thinking.
Me: ZZZzzz...

(Later)

Me: ZZZzzz...
Shannon: *KNOCK*, He says he has to dump it all in one place.

(Insert next few notes of Dueling Banjos here)

Me: Urngumff.... *YAWN* front, then?
Shannon: That's what I was thinking.
Me: ZZZzzz...

(Later)

Me: ZZZzzz...
Shannon: *KNOCK*, He says this dirt isn't paid for

(Dueling Banjos in full swing now)

Me: Who ordered it then?
Shannon: Not me.
Me: GRRRR... Lemme get my credit card.
Shannon: No, I got it.
Me: zzzZZZzzz.... DAMNIT!

At this point I get up, pull on my robe, wander out to the living room, and watch this guy dump a huge pile of black dirt into the middle of the patch of brown dirt that is our front yard. I later learned that this was ordered by our landlords who came by to spread it a few hours later. Apparently this bozo wasn't supposed to deliver the dirt until 11:00am. Not the worst way to be woken up on a Saturday morning, bt definitly up there.

"And with tears in our eyes we drove into the sunset to find another place to put the garbage. We didn't find one. Till we came to a side road, and off the side of the side road was a fifteen foot cliff, and at the bottom of the cliff was another pile of garbage. We deicided that one big pile was better than two little piles so rather than bring that one up we decided to throw ours down. Which is what we did."
    Arlo Guthrie, Alice's Restaurant

Its 12:11am on Wednesday. Things are starting to get pretty random. I just took a picture of my dev lead sleeping on the floor of his office. Sometimes I wonder about this whole computer geek thing.

I think Angie's ass called me on her cell again tonight. That's pretty clever for a posterior, don't you think?