R.I.P. Bronson

They bring smiles to our faces, tears to our eyes, and sometimes both at the same time. Losing a loved one is devastating, but we have all been left with a special gift - our memories. They are often the only things we have left after that special someone is gone. Though at times they may be painful to think about, with them, our loved ones remain a part of us forever.

L.A. Fans... the best?

I'll make this a quick post about something that happened today.

I watched 2 games earlier today... the Dodgers in Florida, and the Lakers hosting Houston.

As I watched them, I noticed something very different between the fans in Florida and the Laker fans here at home.

First of all, pitching for the Dodgers today was the young Clayton Kershaw.



He was flirting with history with going for his first no-hitter in his young career. He ended up pitching 7 innings, 1 hit, 4 walks, and 9 strikeouts. As he was walking to the Dodger dugout after Joe Torre took him out, something happened that you hardly see in the opposing team's home stadium. The crowd in Florida stood up and cheered for Kershaw.

Nice!

Then, I started watching the Laker game. I'm not a fan of the Lakers, but it was game 7 of this playoff series against the Houston Rockets.

Even before the game started, I was embarrassed to be a Los Angeles fan (of any sports team).

During the National Anthem, the crowd "boo-ed" when the lyrics came to "And the rockets' red glare..."

Really? You're going to boo during the National Anthem simply because one word in the song is the opposing teams name? Wow.. that's really sad.

Last I remember, the song doesn't represent the Houston Rockets.

Terminator: Salvation

There is a new 4 minute video clip for the upcoming film Terminator: Salvation on Apple's Movie Trailers website. Keep in mind that his is NOT 4 consecutive minutes taken directly from the movie. It is just bits and peices from the entire movie.

Even though I included the video here, I highly recommend watching it in High Quality Quicktime!

Enjoy!

More on Manny.

Within hours of the big news about Manny Ramirez being suspended for using performance enhancing drugs, all kinds of stuff are now being thrown out there.

First of all, this from Manny..

"Recently I saw a physician for a personal health issue. He gave me a medication, not a steroid, which he thought was OK to give me. Unfortunately, the medication was banned under our drug policy. Under the policy that mistake is now my responsibility."

Maybe he has a valid point. Maybe his physician wasn't aware of what's legal and what's not. Allyssa Milano asked, "Maybe players should only see MLB staffed and approved doctors who are aware of the banned substance list." That wouldn't be a bad idea at all, really. The thing is, though, MLB does provide a number of resources to determine whether or not a drug is allowed to be prescribed without any issues.

Just 3 hours ago, this came out on Yahoo Sports...

LOS ANGELES – A source close to Manny Ramirez(notes) said Thursday that the illegal substance for which the Los Angeles Dodgers slugger tested positive was not “an agent customarily used for performance enhancing.”

At least not on the baseball diamond. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the drug was prescribed to address Ramirez’s erectile dysfunction.

However, two sources said the substance Ramirez tested positive for a gonadotropin. Major League baseball’s list of banned substances includes the gonadotropins LH (luteinizing hormone) and HCG (human chorionic gonadotropin), which are most commonly used by women as fertility drugs. They also can be used to trigger testosterone production. Testosterone is depleted by steroid use, and low testosterone can cause erectile dysfunction.

More from ESPN



It's very unfortunate to have this shocker come out when it did, especially after a great day we had in breaking the record.

Even though Manny did liven up the team, I'm not too worried about it. We have a great core of young players who have improved considerably. We we'll be fine for the next 50 games to come.

Like Tommy Lasorda to his 1988 team after Jay Howell was suspended, "Are we going to let one man determine the fate of this ballclub? We have to win with or without him, but we can not allow one man to determine the fate of our ballclub."

I agree. We have a lot of talent, and we will be fine.

Manny suspended for 50 games

From the Official Dodgers website,

LOS ANGELES -- Major League Baseball suspended Dodgers outfielder Manny Ramirez for 50 games on Thursday for use of performance enhancing drugs.

Major League Baseball made an official announcement shortly after noon ET.

Ramirez, who turns 37 on May 30, will begin the suspension with Thursday night's Dodgers-Nationals game. He would be eligible to return around July 3, depending on rainouts.

Wow.. I don't know what to think of this. I honestly never thought that Manny could do something like this. It just goes to show you just NEVER know.

I don't think I am too worried about it, though. We have a really good lineup with Andre Ethier, Matt Kemp, and the newcomer Orlando Hudson. With Manny's suspension, that allows Xavier Paul to com up from Triple A. He did really well in spring training.

Tis a good birthday

Indeed.

My roommate and his mom baked me a chocolate cake Saturday, which was delicious!


Then my good friends took me paintballing. Afterwards, dinner with my sister.

Dodgers are on a very hot streak winning 13-0 at home to start the season... breaking a record held by the Detroit Tigers back in 1911 when they went 12-0.

But the main purpose for this post... Kina Grannis gave me a birthday shout out on her latets video blog. Woot!

She's so awesome!

And if you want to know who Kina is... here's her latest video.



Thanks to Kina, and my friend and fellow bloger. You know who you are. :D

Birthday Weekend

So I turned ... well, let's just say I had a birthday this past weekend. It was on Saturday to be exact.

Several weeks ago, I had an awesome day planned. I signed myself up for the free Disneyland admission on the day of your birthday. One of the main reasons I did that was so I can invite the girl I had met recently. I was really looking forward to enjoying the day with her.

Turns out, it did not work out between us, and I was a bit upset that I was no longer going to be going with her to Disneyland.

After a while, I did not care so much about it anymore. I realized why it did not work out, and I was ok with it. I realized that... even though she DID make me happy when I was with her, I didn't NEED her to be happy.

A couple of other plans came up, however. My sister invited me to Dave and Buster's for dinner, drinking, and of course, gaming. Before that, though, my very good friends invited me to something I have never done before.

Paintball.

I had a blast. At first, I felt somewhat awkward because I saw everyone there decked out in full camouflage clothing. I obviously did not have any of it. I've never been, so why would I? I simply wore black jeans, and a dark gray long sleeve. I felt so out of place. Can you spot me in the picture to the right?

If you're wondering if I got hit... I did. 3 times. I was a lil nervous at first about getting hit, as I thought it was going to hurt. It really doesn't. Once you take the first one, you know how it'll feel and aren't so worried anymore after that.

The first time I got hit, I was crouching, and I took a shot on my left hip area. It didn't hurt at all, really. The 2nd time was o the back side of my left ribs. It under the vest. I honestly don't remember getting hit on my right calf. Like I said, once you take the first one, all the ones after are nothing.

Don't ask me to pull some Johnny Knoxville stuff though.

We were done just after sunset, so I called my sister to postpone Dave and Buster's until next Saturday. That way, my friends can also go and it'll be a huge group type deal. She just took me to dinner at Applebee's, which was awesome! I ordered the steak and BBQ chicken and Mashed taters plate. Soo damn good.

Dinner itself was also really fun. They had the Dodger game on TV there, and everyone in the restaurant was cheering along, including our waitress, which was a lil cutie by the way.

So that was my birthday. Even though I did not go to "The Happiest Place on Earth," I was still happy to be with the people that care about me.

Thank you.

Something...

I want to post about something, but sadly, I haven't had any real motivation to do anything. I haven't had any real thoughts about anything, nor have I gone anywhere to really talk about. I'm not sure why.

Oh, I know why.

I'm boring.

One thing that I have really neglected is my photography. That also falls under the going anywhere category though. When I was going out, "she" wouldn't let me take any pictures of her, which would have been amazing since her and I went to the Santa Monica Pier a couple of times.

Who is her? No one anymore.

The only thing I've really been doing is picking up where I left off with my running. I am starting off slow again, with some light work out at home. I've been at it for 2 days straight now, and will do so again tomorrow. I think the problem is that I let time in between take place, and therefor get lazy. Maybe if I do something everyday, alternating between running and working out, I'll stay on a consistent schedule.

Anyone want to buy me a gym membership?

Dodger Stadium Fireworks

How beautiful...

Angels' Adenhart killed in accident

Taken from Los Angeles Angels' website...

Just hours after pitching six shutout innings in his season debut, promising Angels hurler Nick Adenhart was involved in an automobile accident and died from his injuries at UCI Medical Center early Thursday morning.

Rookie right-hander dies in three-car hit-and-run crash

ORANGE, Calif. -- On one of the saddest mornings in Angels history, a groundskeeper on the field in Angel Stadium smoothed the pitching rubber on which Nick Adenhart stood 13 hours before.

In a conference room on the third floor of the park, Adenhart's No. 34 uniform was draped over a table atop the dais. On its left sleeve, a "Preston" patch commemorating the recent passing of Angels exec Preston Gomez.

There will soon be another patch on those uniforms, in memory of Adenhart, the victim of a tragic hit-and-run accident in Fullerton, Calif., in the wee minutes of Thursday.

The sudden and shocking development moved the Angels to cancel Thursday's night game, the finale of a four-game series with Oakland. Makeup plans will be announced later.

Into that third-floor room, media members, club officials and Fullerton police and fire department officers filed in with long faces and vacant eyes. They were there to discuss the 12:24 a.m. accident that took three lives and left a fourth in critical condition, and to reminisce about an exceptional 22-year-old.

Read more here.

It's an awful start for the Angels' season. Earlier in the year, they lost an Exec. Preston Gomez, and now this horrible accident takes a promising Angels rookie. The worst part of this accident is that it shouldn't have happened. The driver arrested was under the influence, and was driving with a suspended license for having previous DUI's in the past. He shouldn't have been behind the wheel at all.


It's horrible to think that many people like this jerk Andrew Thomas Gallo are out there. Felony drunk driving, vehicular manslaughter, and maybe murder charges. We'll find out what his outcome will be tomorrow.

MLB '09

I am so glad that Opening Day for the new MLB season is here. Not only because I simply love baseball, but the Dodgers look to have a great year this season. They have one of the most potent lineups in the NL west, with the return of Manny Ramirez and Casey Blake, and young guns Matt Kemp, and Andre Ethier, and Russell Martin.






2009 NL West Division Champs. :D

Edit: Instead of making a new post, I just thought I'd post this picture I found here.

For those who don't know baseball, it means Blue Jays from Toronto... but yeah... heh.

Running update...

It's been a while since I posted about my running. It's been a while that I actually ran.

Quite honestly, I need to be more consistent. I always tell myself that I'm going to start doing something, and yet I just turn around and do something to mess that up.

Today for example. After I got home from work this morning, I started with a salad and mixed fruit yogurt. Good, yah? Well, sure, until then later on I started drinking countless cups of coffee. Probably because I felt like staying up all night. I wasn't sleepy at all.

I ended up going to sleep regardless of all the coffee I had, and woke up at 3pm. I decided to go for a run... bad idea. Not the actual running, but going after drinking so much coffee just before. I felt dehydrated. My throat was burning, and I couldn't even keep a consistent pace. I decided not to do the same route I normally do. I cut it short because I didn't feel good at all.

After my run, I was going to work out. I waned to test my shoulder out again since it started feeling very weird a couple weeks ago. I was doing push ups and it started feeling like it wanted to break. It didn't, but it hasn't felt right ever since. The past couple of days, it's been feeling fine, which is why I wanted to test it out today. I think I'll give it a couple of more days before I do anything.

There is something else I've been wanting to pick up again. I used to go to the batting cages 3 times a week when I worked in Inglewood. There were some cages near by and I'd go for lunch. Hopefully my shoulder allows me to go a couple rounds.

House

How awesome is this picture?

Citizen of the week

Florida Woman Calls 911 After McDonald's Runs Out of McNuggets

A Florida woman called 911 three times after she paid for a 10-piece Chicken McNuggets at a McDonald's but the fast-food restaurant ran out of them and refused to give her a refund.

Latreasa L. Goodman, 27, made the calls after she tried to get her money back from a Fort Pierce McDonald's and the cashier told her all sales were final. Police released the 911 tapes.

"This is an emergency. If I would have known they didn't have McNuggets, I wouldn't have given my money, and now she wants to give me a McDouble, but I don't want one," police quoted her as saying. "This is an emergency."

The cashier suggested she choose something else off the menu of equal value to the McNuggets, and offered the restaurant's cheeseburger called the McDouble.

"She's trying to force me to eat something off the menu and I don't want it," Goodman told 911.

The first dispatcher, a woman, asks if there's a manager there, but listens to Goodman's complaints and says she's sending someone.

The second, male dispatcher tells her he's aware of the incident and "we've got an officer coming out there to talk to you."

Police say Goodman was cited on a misuse of 911 charge. A current phone listing for Goodman couldn't be found.

A McDonald's spokesman said Goodman should have been given a refund, and she's being sent a gift card for a free meal.

Click here to listen to the first call.
Click here to to listen to the second call.
Click here to listen to the third call.

Terminator: Salvation

At first I was a little skeptical about this film when I first heard about it. Then I heard Christian Bale was in it, and thought it might have been good. After seeing this trailer... wow... I really want to see it now. It seems to be a lot different from what the third film was.

Check it out...

Men around the world... Rejoice!

From US Magazine...

"The relationship had run its course," an insider tells Us exclusively. "It's completely amicable, and they are remaining friends."

Now, is that good news, or what?

Taliban Hideout No More

A 500 pound bomb gets dropped on a Taliban hideout in Afghanistan. A good start on spring cleaning.

military.com

Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen

I can't wait!

American Idol, Group 1

It's been a while since I last posted. So I thought I'd write a little something about tonight's American Idol.

Remember when I said I was going to try to view the entire season? Well I guess I missed a few shows already (last week), but I'm back on it. Tonight was the first "live" show.

They are changing formats a little bit, as oppose to how they have been doing it in the previous seasons. I don't know what the previous format is since I haven't seen it before. This time, they are separating the entire 36 contestants into 3 groups, and each group while have a night devoted to them to perform. The top 3 of each group will advance.

One of the most surprising performances for me was Tatiana Del Toro. If you remember from the auditions, she's the Puerto Rican who the insanely annoying laughter. It's ear piercing. She's also a drama queen.



Wow that's horrible.

Anyway, she decided to sing Whitney Houston's "Saving All My Love." I thought this would be a very hard song to pull off since Whitney had an amazing voice in her prime. Well, to my surprise, she pulled it off... and quite nicely. I enjoyed it and I thought she did a great job singing it. She even received a standing ovation from the crowd.

One of my favorites of them all is Anoop Desai. He chose to sing Monica's "Angel Of Mine". I think he did a great job with this. R&B seems to fit his vocals.

I think the one the performance that won everyone over was Danny Gokey. He lost his wife a month before his first audition to congenital heart disease. His song was Mariah Carey's "Hero". I'm not a fan of Mariah, but she does have a great voice. I honestly didn' think he would pull this one off, but I was wrong. He sounded great, and everyone went crazy for him.

I guess those are my top 3 to advance. We'll see wha the voting will turn out with.

One of the hotties that most people are gooing over is Casey Carlson. She chose "Everything Little Thing She Does is Magic" by The Police.

Nope.com

It was bad. I loved her audition, but The Police is not who she should be singing.

Why can't Ryan Seacrest just come out... and say it? Yeah... you know what I mean.

He was sitting next to Tatiana, who I'll admit is a hottie, when she placed her hand on his shoulder and gently rubbed it. He freaked out and looked at her.

Later in the show, when Danny just finished his song, Ryan came up to him and grabbed his arm, and started rubbing Danny's bicep.

Yep, he did that.

Remember when Ryan tried to hi-five a blind guy? Yep, he did that too.

Safe in a coffee shop?

Would you ever think that it's safe to just hang out at a coffee shop? Maybe relax for a few minutes from the hectic city life?

You really would think it's safe, right?

Wrong.

Police today sought two masked gunmen who opened fire inside a coffee shop, killing at least one man and wounding six other people, several of them critically.

Really? A coffee shop? Report says they didn't even try robbing the place either.

Blah...

One dead, six wounded in San Gabriel cafe shooting

Taking Chance

I just saw a trailer the HBO movie Taking Chance, a film that I really want to see. It seems to be a very emotional and dramatic movie, as it's based on a true story. I'm a sap when it comes to these kind of films, which is why I'm really wanting to see it. What I like about this movie is that that this is a type of story that really isn't told much.

Based on real-life events, Lt. Col. Michael Strobl (Kevin Bacon), a volunteer military escort officer, accompanies the body of 19-year-old Marine Chance Phelps back to his hometown of Dubois, Wyoming.

It's on HBO February 21st, 2009.

Hot Girl debate

Ok, peeps... time to vote!

Flo from Progressive

Special Agent E. Surance from eSurance

Riding the clouds.

Jason: holy shit what an awesome pic
Jerry: I took it.
Jason: yeah yeah
Jason: lol

Pranks

Today was actually quite an amusing day at work.

You'd think someone would learn their lessons about leaving their cell phone or their keys out in the open for anyone to grab.

My pal Mario took Midget's keys this morning that were on his own desk, so Mario grabbed Robert and they both went on a little joyride.

Isn't it a little early for the Yard House?

Nokia Theater, too.

Might as well stop by the Staples Center.

...and in the Circle of Honor?

Against Downtown L.A.

You'd think by now he'll know better than to leave his stuff all over the place. I can almost gurantee you, though, this isn't the end.

Muahahaha.

What's for lunch?

I am so hungry, but I have absolutely no clue as to what I want to have for lunch. I've been asking friends who are online, and those on my BlackBerry, but none have said something with atleast 2 votes.

So far, I have...

-Chicken Teriyaki Bowl
-Chimichanga (I have no idea where to get that from.)
-Carl's Jr.
-Pastrami
-King Taco
-In N Out
-Subway

If nothing comes up in 10 minutes, I'm just going to go to the closest place.

Update:

So I ended up going to Carl's Jr.



I haven't had it in such a long time that I didn't know they are using new fries now. Fresh Cut or something like that. I liked the fries from before though, but oh well.

Ooh, and have you seen the latest Carl's Jr. commercials? The one with Tamara Brown?

::drool::

She's so hawt!

Soundwave

I just found a new toy that appears to be Soundwave over at Empire Online from the upcoming Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen film.



Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Soundwave a boom box in the cartoons? I know Frenzy was a boombox in the first film, so maybe Soundwave could have been an MP3 player.

Job cuts.

It's getting insane the number of companies that are announcing job cuts during this recession. The economy is extremely bad, right not, and there is no way to know how long it'll take for it to bounce back.

The largest job cut announcement was just this past Monday, which was said to be 65,925 total.

Among those companies in the announcement were...

-Caterpilla (20,000)
-Pfizer (19,000)
-Sprint Nextel (8,000)
-Home Depot (7,000)
-Philips Electronics (6,000)

Just to name a few.

As of yesterday, 138,252 total jobs have been eliminated. We're still in January. 337,625 since November 1st, 2008.

Simply scary.

Seether - Careless Whisper

I am so excited!

One of my favorite bands, Seether, recently did a cover of George Michael's "Careless Whisper".

The first instant I heard it, I was a little uneasy about the guitar intro, but once the Verse and the Chorus came in, I was hooked!

Seether enjoy covering other songs, and they once again did a great job with this recent one. I've been playing it all day.

I managed to get the song.

Here it is.

What do you think?

For those who forgot what the original sounds like...

Cat sings Superman Theme

I don't know if this is real or not, but it's quite amusing to listen to.

A New Era

Today is the first full day that Barack Obama is President of the United States. Congratulations.


I was watching the Presidential Inauguration yesterday. It almost felt surreal. I am not sure why, exactly. I do know that I was excited to finally have him in office.

I also realized something yesterday that... well, might seem weird.

I am glad to finally have Bush out of office, but looking past his bad policies, and the mistake's he's made, he didn't seem like a bad guy. I know you're thinking, "What?"
Yeah, I'm serious. As a President, he sucked. We all know that. But as a person, he just seemed like a genuine nice person.

I started thinking about that when Obama and Bush were together yesterday during the Inauguration, just prior to Bush leaving on the helicopter to Edward's AFB. It's common courtesy to shake hands with the person you are transferring power to, but there was more than just that between the new and former President's.

I don't know, maybe I am just going crazy here, but that's what I think. I can tell you one thing I'll miss about the guy. His awesome speeches.

Kevin and Bean made a little tribute to Bush and his verbal skills. Enjoy.

Goodbye to Bush.

American Idol 8

So it begins... a new season of American Idol.

Normally I don't watch it beyond the bad auditions, but I think I'm going to try to watch this season until the end. Why? I don't know. I guess I want to experience what all the fuss is about.

Personally, I think the show is too big for it's own good now. Some great artists have come out from it, like Kelly Clarkson, and Chris Daughtry being some of my favorites, but where the hell are all the winners? The only one that really did make it big was Clarkson after she won season 1, but where is Ruben Studdard? And that old grey haired dude... making Ford commercials? Fail.

Still early to tell how big David Cook from last season will get, but I hope he has a good career ahead of him.

I wish I had Tivo or DVR... I can definately do without Ryan Gaycrest.

So it begins...

Kelly Clarkson - A Moment Like This

Daughtry - What About Now

1st run...

Today was my first run for the year. I was a little iffy about running what I was used to before, but to my surprise, I was content with what I did this morning.

I decided to do the same route I normally do, which is 1.5 miles. Normally before after a break from running, I would make the route shorter. Not this time, I decided I should do the entire 1.5 mile trek. Even if I had to stop and walk for a bit.

As I made it home, I felt good about running the route non-stop. I didn't think I'd be able to, but I was. I didn't bother looking at how long I did it, because I knew it wasn't going to be as fast as before, so that really wasn't an issue. Just the fact that I did not stop to walk was good enough.

I'm going to put more effort into keeping a consistent schedule. I'm hoping by the end of the month, I can move up to 2 miles, up on Wilson's track.

Week 1

There goes the first week of 2009.

I've been doing a lot of thinking about what is in store for me this year, and what I need to do. I already have some things in mind that I need to do, but there are so many more than I need to get going on to make happen.

As far as how the week itself went, I didn't really do much. I spent most of the time playing Call Of Duty 5: World at War. Great game.

My lil brother's friend contacted me about what type of bass he should get. He's only 13, so a starter kit is best for him at the moment.

I recommended this for him...


Dean Edge 09 Bass and Amp Pack - $199.99

Speaking of which, I was looking through his pictures and found something amusing...



I'm just sayin'...