Junk in the trunk

These two 55 gal barrels look pretty cozy in there

Depleting the sea

Is hard work

Genuine 24k brass

I guess 35 more years and I can have a tree that's more genuine 24k brass than genuine green.

Why you should read "The Count of Monte Cristo"

If you didn't read it in high school then you probably should. If you did, you might want to read it again, its a great book. I had a long flight to get through and since I had never read it and had Amazon's Kindle software installed on the ipad, it was a good time to read it. Besides most of the classics are free on Kindle and I wasn't about to pay real money for something like "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo." I'm not all that interested in reading about Jesse James latest girlfriend anyway. By the way, Kindle software is pretty neat, it syncs your purchases across your devices and stores your bookmarks in the cloud so you can pick right up no matter what you are using. I read the book across an ipad, an ipod touch, on my Blackberry and on my Macbook Pro.

Anyway there are so many reasons to read the book. Here are the reasons in bullet points:

- adventure
- treasure
- injustice
- psychedelic drug use
- incest
- murder
- escape
- high society intrigue
- duels
- cosplay
- metamorphosis
- teenage lesbians
- baby killing
- hamsuploism
- revolution
- I'm on a boat!
- providence
- revenge

Now that I think of it, why were we allowed to read this book in high school? There are so many characters and interconnections too that you need facebook to keep track of them. "Edmond Dantes posted on Mercedes' Wall: Hey babe, see you in a bit, I got a letter to deliver, love you!"

Since I liked the book so much, I inquired about the movie adaptations. Unfortunately they all suck. My cousin Harry tells me the best so far is the mini series starring Gerard Depardieu. I think James Franco and his mustache should play The Count of Monte Cristo in a movie remake. Except it should be like 10 hours long, or made into a mini series. I'll also be satisfied with Korean Drama adaptation.

So anyway go read it. Not on my account, Alexadre Dumas' black daddy says so.

Next up on kindle, Anna Karenina or George Bush - How I hateth the Kanye? I think I'll save the $9.99 and read the classic.

unicorn meat

Assasinated some wood today

Henry

Patching leaky garage roof.

Pasco 4637

If like me you enjoy a little all you can eat Korean BBQ now and again, then you'll want to invest in one of these. A 6" bell force cup plunger with 19" handle. I'll even teach you the technique to its usage which was taught to me by a man of the trade.

Opening night

West Side Story at the Pantages, go jets!

Shopping

Some black Friday bounty

Cafe du monde

Donut shop. All the workors are vietnamese or cambodian. Just like LA.

Shinny Lights

Really expensive storage device from a company called Panasas.

Mother's

One of the daughters hooked me up with free coke with my fried shrimp po boy.

Jugglers

Apparently HP has a professional juggler. This guy does it on the side though for Panasas.

100 dudes in a room

Must be a talk for system admins.

Oysters and pork belly

Water cooling

A water cooled IBM blue gene. Looks like a truck radiator.

Supercomputing 10 in New Orleans

Apparently full of guys in straight jackets on 6 ft unicycles. Brocade booth.

Chocolatey

Some local beer

False religion

Fugitives!

A couple of curious ones trying to leave the farm.

Happy Holloween!

Pumpkins

worms and composting

Today I set up my worm composter. I went to a tutorial setup by LADPW at one of their county centers and picked up a worm composting bin and some worms. You can get more info about it here: http://www.smartgardening.com

Here are about a half pound of red worms, native to some rain forest.

Here's a couple of them. I think i'll name them Kobe and the Lakers.

Here's their first meal, some banana peels!

Beasty Rider

I saw this on a scooter at work. Motorcycle dog seat!

Buy it here: http://www.beastriders.com/products/beastriders/

So good they had to stop making it

This stuff worked like magic. If I had a break out I would wash my face with some face wash, dry off, apply the pad on, let the solution dry and put on a face moisturizer and in a week or two I would have clear skin again. The secret ingredient is 2.5% benzoyl peroxide. Use it before going to sleep instead of in mornings because your skin will darken if exposed to sunlight. Also always moisturize afterwards since it tends to dry the skin otherwise. It worked so well they had to stop making the stuff since I didn't see it on store shelves anymore and some googling confirmed that it indeed had been discontinued. It's either that or it causes some crazy cancer in people, or maybe we're now at war with the country that supplies 100% of the world's benzoyl peroxide. Now they sell pads with salicylic acid which are pretty weak.

What we hide under building 230?

I love oysters

Jose Hernandez

Jose Hernandez who flew on sts-128 came to lab to talk about his flight to the international space station. He also talked about his youth working in the fields as a migrant worker from Mexico to Stockton and as a technician at the cape prepping shuttle crews before he himself was selected for a flight.

Very cool, I want to see another launch at the cape!

There were a group of high school kids invited to Jose's talk and they all had one burning question for Jose, "do you drink your own pee?!" Jose said it taste better than tap water and at the end of his slide show, he had a picture of the crew drinking the filtered pee water out of their water pouches during their final meal in orbit. So now I understand why the astronaut corp is so selective. Sure, you must pick the best pilots, mission specialists and scientists. But when it comes to selecting the new class to join the corp, the true question is, "who's filtered pee do you want to drink?"

Organ and Tissue Donation

Ray Cheung wrote an app that links to organ and tissue registries for your state. Its called DonateLives, get it on your iPhone. Here's the direct link to California's:

https://www.donatelifecalifornia.org/register/

The guy who gets my liver can punch the guy who gets my face when he finds out my liver doesn't do too much.

Corn first then Dog

I must be the only future bypass candidate to order the corn dog special today since Joe and Henry at the grill had to toss a couple frozen ones in the fryer.

Bicycling from France to Japan

Taint of steel

This Frenchman rode 5 hours a day from France to Japan.

He must have duct tape holding his taint together too.

Prank time

Oh oh, some unfortunate USC engineering grad student left their backpack unattended.

Best salmon roe

At Sugarfish, no joke

Avocado?

New color scheme, I think they paint hospital interiors this color.

Tomato Sauce or Olive Oil?

How do you like your spacemen, canned in tomato sauce or olive oil? Cause they're packed in there like sardines. Soyuz TMA-18, space capsule. Room for 3. Kind of crazy how small it is.

The church I go to did a pretty cool thing

They donated some supplies in containers, an all too invaluable water truck and sent some volunteers over after the earthquake in Haiti. There is a priest who works down there, Fr. Tom, who has pretty much devoted the last twenty years of his life to bringing education and medicine to impoverished communities. He was a priest on the east coast who went down there for a tour with some students and ended up going back to devout his life to it. Since his headquarters had been destroyed he has since been sleeping by the ruins in a tent. I thought he was rather honest and humble, saying that after all these years going back to Haiti still intimidates and scares the hell out of him. Since the earthquake they have been serving the community, especially serving food and supplies to thousands of elderly since many of the caregivers they relied on were killed by the quake. A lot of times my short attention span gets in the way of absorbing the goings on during the hour I go to mass, but he got my attention that weekend.

Belle and Sebastian at the Palladium

Packed house

Concert Pics

Dodgers!

Took my long lost cousin rafer to see the dodgers, his first game, 2nd to last of the season.

ucla wash state

Found an awesome shortcut to the rose bowl today.

Who wants to be this for holloween

Garlic! The Stinking Rose

At the stinking rose. I can only describe this painting above our table as "the kamasutra garlic position"

Butt crack of dawn

Surf time at Sunset and PCH. Went surfing with Scott K. Haven't been in probably nearly two years after moving to Pasadena.

Wetsuit repairs

Tore my wetsuit the last time I went diving. Hopefully this zipper I put in will hold.

hbrreehbrreehbrrreea

Arnold made loud pipes illegal after 2011.

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/postquery?bill_number=sb_435&sess=CUR

I guess now's the time to get that bike with the 100 decibel muffler.

Jamba

Quick bike ride later, Two for one deal.

Hard keep mat style

Products in yo hair. I like this brand; it doesn't make my face break out like other brands. The styling clay is good too but harder to wash out. Bonus points for the engrish.

Sasha the dog

Just chillin on a perfect night.