Party Monkey

This is my pet Party Monkey, named Pip.



I got him in a very cute store. I haven't spent much time training him, but he has done well on his own.

For instance, he likes to play the billiards


And he can play the heck out of the guitar


But I am sincerely impressed with his abilities on the sewing machine


Unfortunately he has quite a bit of time alone and sometimes he gets into stuff he shouldn't be....

Hiding From The World Today

I don't feel like talking to people, shopping for anything, getting stuff done....I am just hiding from everyone today. But the good news is, we're having an excellent dinner because I've been home all day babysitting the meat!!

London Bridge Fell Down

Could you imagine the St. Louis arch being taken apart and shipped to another country? And being replaced with another arch? And then not knowing really where the original arch went?

Whenever I travel, I am sure to tell everyone I meet that I am from Lake Havasu City, Arizona, also known as "The American Home to the London Bridge." I'm surprised at the number of people who have heard about the London Bridge being relocated to the desert. But then I met a gentleman from London this weekend who didn't know the Bridge was in Arizona. Wow.

So I explained to him, "In the 1960's, our City's founder looked for something to serve as a tourist attraction for his new community. So he went to London and bought the London Bridge, since it was falling apart and scheduled to be replaced by the Thames Bridge. Each stone was shipped over, numbered, and the Bridge was reassembled. The blast marks from the German military during WWII are still visible, and the light poles on the top of the bridge are made from WWII canons."

He said something like, "Wow. I didn't know that."

And people say that AMERICANS are the oblivious ones!

The Catalina Wine Mixer

If you've seen the Stepbrothers movie with Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly, then you know what I'm talking about. We went to a helicopter convention in Anaheim, California, and the whole time I was there all I could think about was the Catalina Wine Mixer from that movie.

I can't really say I know the purpose of the convention, besides the opportunity for lots of super rich people to get together and "one-up" each other. Maybe that's it, I dunno.
We checked in at 10am, and didn't get done till closing time at 5pm. That's a lot of walking. And schmoozing. And ass kissing.

Steve was mostly excited about seeing his old helicopter buddies, who were there working.
Personally, I think he was nervous.


After walking thru acres of aviation displays, heart pounding, Steve found his good buddy Brian.

"Hey. What's up."



"Not much. What's up with you?"



After a little bit of re-aquaintance time, the boys were hugging and laughing.



And we saw lots of helicopters:



Our one celebrity moment was actually several moments. Don Laughlin and his girlfriend chilled with us for a little while. She seemed like she wanted to hang out more, but Don wanted to see the rest of the show. Don started a little town back in the 70's in southern Nevada, it is called Laughlin. It has grown to a city of about 40,000 residents and of course since it's Nevada it's like a small Las Vegas. Lots of casinos. Don offered to pose with me for a photo. I was surprised at that, him being a man of about 85 years old!!!!



He and Steve spoke briefly, but neither of them seemed to have anything in common (as you MIGHT be able to tell from this photo)



At the end of the day we struggled for the energy to get us thru the huge parking lot. I had to take a moment to photograph our proximity to Disneyland. It was across the street:

Seriously, I'm Not Kidding

Been away from the computer since Friday, because we had a trip to California. Steve's boss bought a very custom vehicle and the History Channel wanted to see it. They got quite a bit of footage.
Here's what it looks like. This is Steve's boss (beard) and the builder, Rodney Rucker



The big silver car was getting all the attention and dang it I JUST WOULD NOT HAVE THAT!!!! NO!!! So I dressed like a Western-style hooker and waltzed around.



There was plenty of press there, besides the film crew, and one gal from a Southern California automotive enthusiast magazine was subconciously working her magic on Rodney. We watched the flower blossom into a full bloom.....



Aaaaah, yes, Cupid's arrow....



You would really need to know Rodney a little to really appreciate. He is such a sweet, unassuming guy. To see him making his move was like watching a birds and bees video.

The whole day was an adventure, with the car show, the parade with the film crew, and then a tour of Steve's boss's 100 year old house that has been converted to his company's office.