Not sure if you’ve heard about this yet or not, but Dunkin Donuts pulled an ad featuring Rachael Ray because the American people thought she looked Arabian. At first they we’re going to leave the ad running but they got too much pressure about it they felt it best to pull it. I’m sorry but, I think Americans have lost touch with reality and truly are living in a state of paranoia. The Bush Administration has done a brilliant job of playing on the fears of Americans so much that an ad has to be pulled cause a scarf makes you feel threatened? A DAMN SCARF!?!?!?!? Next we’re going to cower in fear when we see a hat in a movie that will reminds us of the old U.S.S.R. even though that’s no longer around. You can read all about this bullshit all over the net. It’s just getting ridiculous that something someone is wearing in a donut ad brings out our worst fears.

Did our Grandfathers, and all military personal for that matter, give their lives for us to live in fear? How do you think they would feel if they got to see us now? It’s quite sad that in 8 years we went from being the most powerful nation to being a bunch of weak minded citizens. I can’t wait till we have someone in the White House to right the wrong of the past 8 years.

So last week we got a lot of cool stuff in the mail delivered to the house. Most of which I posted in my last blog. The one thing we got that everyone in the house is loving is the Wii Fit. If you haven’t heard about the Wii Fit it’s a new “game” for the Wii. It comes with a balance board that tests both your weight and you balance skills. You may think, “What’s the fun in that?” and I’ll tell you. It measures your BMI (Body Mass Index) and allows you to set goals for yourself to loose weight and such. It knows your age and height, you have to enter those in the first time you play, and figures out what you need to work on. It’s kinda weird having a game tell you that your balance sucks and you’re overweight, but you start to consider it a challenge to prove the game wrong.

For those of you who know me you know I’m overweight and have been since I can’t remember. I’ve not really done much physical activity since I got out of high school 10 years ago. Over the last week I’ve “worked out” for 45min to an hour every night and I’m starting to feel way better. I’ve noticed my legs hurting less while standing all day at work cause I’m more aware of my center of balance and correct myself when I notice I’m slouching or standing on one leg. You wouldn’t think you would break a sweat from playing a video game, but it’s pretty easy to do when your running in place, doing step aerobics and other stuff that forces you to get off your ass and move around. It makes it fun to check your progress every day and makes it feel less like working out as it makes you focus on the games you’re playing. Since there are 3 of us playing the game ever day we like to try and beat each others scores so it’s competitive as well.

I’ve wanted to go to the gym for some time and ride a bike to get back in shape to play hockey again, but I don’t want to pay a bunch of money to go look like a fool in front of everyone. Know what I mean? The Wii Fit is perfect. I can get my heart rate up, work those muscles and work on my posture all at the same time while in the comfort of my home. It’s quite nice. I knew the Wii would be one of the best gaming systems ever and the Wii Fit is one of those reasons.

Yes, I feel every vote should be counted, but when you make a NO PARTICIPATING AND NO CAMPAIGNING PLEDGE, you stand by your word. Our president should not make a decision only to change it when it benefits them. By doing so you mislead the people and get us into such things as war or depression which we are all to familiar with right now. We’ve had 8 yeas of this practice in the White House already, let’s not go for another 4 years. I have no problem with Clinton staying in the race till the end, just stop putting lies into the heads of the people. Run a true campaign, one that ALL Americans can believe in not just the uninformed ones.

Read this to see what I’m talking about.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/5/22/0226/35614/632/520082

So today has turned out to be a damn good one so far. Since the early 90′s I’ve been a fan of hockey and more importantly the Los Angeles Kings. I guess it was in my blood cause my mom was a big hockey fan herself back when San Diego had the Gulls in the old WHL, before there was the NHL there were like 4 different leagues and when the NHL expanded from the original 6 teams became the main league that players tried to play in, and she even helped run the booster club for the team. We had been watching Kings hockey on TV a few years after Gretzky was traded to LA. So when the IHL started to expand a bit the Gulls returned to the Sports Arena. Our family knowing we were big hockey fans got our mom some tickets to a game for her birthday I think it was. It was a truly amazing gift that started what looks to be a lifetime passion of hockey for not just Jordan and I, but also passed it on to our younger brothers Steven and Patrick. Never would of thought a family that grew up in Southern California would be die hard hockey fans huh?

In 95 the Gulls were moved to Long Beach, but a new version of the Gulls joined the WCHL. The sad thing about this team was they were the best sporting team in San Diego yet no one really went to games and the team eventually folded. I still think San Diego is a good hockey town and we need a new team. We’ll NEVER have a NHL team due to the fact we don’t have an arena worthy enough of a NHL team and with how hard it was to get Petco and the troubles the Chargers are having the citizens of San Diego will never let a new arena be built. Because of this problem the Kings have and always will be my home team. Yeah I could go see more games in Anaheim, but I don’t like the Ducks much.

Like I posted before, for the last 10 years the Kings have held a pre-season game at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Last year was the first year we decided to make the trip out for the game. Out of all the times we’ve been to Vegas I think we all can say that was by far the best trip. When they announced when this years Frozen Fury was going to be held we knew we had to go again. I found out about a month ago that one of our reps at Lou’s is a huge Kings fan as well. She and I got talking and one day she sent me over a pre-sale code for FF tickets that only season ticket holders got. Sweet, we get tickets before anyone else. A few days later I get the promotional code from her for the hotel rooms. Jordan went ahead and purchased the tickets to the game and also reserved the room for the weekend. Thanks to the folks over at the letsgokings.com message board I got a link to pick up one of the older Kings jerseys for only $69 from hockeygiant.com. Normally they go for $250 but you can find deals for an even $200. These are the same ones the players wear on the ice. So to get one for $69 was a steal and I had to jump on it.

Today, as I’m relaxing on my day of and getting ready to go see the new Indiana Jones film tonight my new jersey gets delivered by FedEx. After over 10 years of wanting one I finally got one!! If that wasn’t good enough as Jordan and I are eating lunch in the living room the mail gets dropped off. Jordan opens an envelope up and what’s inside??? FROZEN FURY 11 TICKETS!!!! September can’t get here fast enough. This time we’ll have Jase and Geri along for the trip so expect to see a bunch of photos.

So the second day of our trip i wake up around 7 in the morning. I’m not too bummed cause i always wake up early on the weekends cause i got to be to work and all. I got up and turned on the TV but nothing was on. I tried to play Wii but for some reason the games were all choppy and couldn’t play. About that time Melissa and the “wee bitches” got up and joined me in the living room. Melissa started working on breakfast for the day which was eggs in a basket. It’s crazy, I never realized our friends were such good cooks and it turns out both Jase and Melissa know their way around the kitchen. Just about the time Melissa put the stuff in the over to cook everyone else started waking up. We were super surprised to see that no one was hung over from the day before. That’s crazy cause we all had quite a bit to drink.

As we were sitting down to eat we got heard a noise out front of the house and Elvia went to see what it was. Duh, it was Spencer and Erica. We finished up breakfast as they unloaded their car and took a tour of the house. Spencer brought over Mario Cart for the Wii to play. That game is bad ass and all the boys were in the living room playing while the gals were making a few Bloody Marys and were laying outside getting tan. After a short time of the Wii it was time to hit the pool. It was warming up and got to a point where it didn’t feel like you were in water at all due to the temp of the water and the air being the same. Was so damn beautiful. Hanging out in the pool and doing some serious relaxing takes a lot out of you so it was time for lunch. Spencer cooked up some wicked steaks and Elvia, Jase and myself made up some veggie kabobs to throw on the grill outside. This is the life, sitting around with great friends in a killer house, eating good food, having some tasty drinks and relaxing more than anyone ever gets to relax.

As the day winded down and the sun faded off into the western sky it was time for the hot tub again. We all jumped in and started to wind down a bit. You don’t realize it but it’s a lot of work to get that much relaxing in to a few days. The crazy thing about this evening was the wind. Was like we were going to get blown away. With all the palm trees in the closed country club behind the house it sounded like huge waves hitting the back fence of the property. I wanted to lay outside and see the stars that night but it was just too cold to do that. As we’re getting ready to head inside for the night we see these huge “30″ balloons come into the living room followed by a cake. Erica made this really good liquor cake. I forget what was in it but the topping had booze in it as well. One of the best cakes I’ve ever had. I don’t think we got a photo of it with Jordan’s camera but i know someone did. It was about 10 or so in the evening and i passed out once again. I guess i got all hostile while i was asleep cause the next morning everyone was telling me about it. hahaha

I’ll have a recap of the 3rd day soon.

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This weekend was Jordan’s birthday. He turned 30 so we decided to do something really cool. We rented a house out in Palm Springs for the weekend and invited Melissa, Jase, Geri, Spencer, and Erica to join in the fun with us. I’ve never been to Palm Springs myself but Jordan and Elvia had and they had nothing but good things to say. Jase and Geri had used this site to find a place in Portland before so Elvia checked it out for this trip. I think she picked the best house in Palm Springs. It was a pretty big 3 bedroom 3 bath house that is total retro and what comes to mind when you think of the town. We showed up at around 1pm on Friday the 2nd and within a hour Jase and Geri showed up as well. We hung out in utter amazement for a while and next thing you know Melissa arrives with the “wee bitches” as we call em. haha. Everything was perfect except for the fact the hot tub was less than hot. We called the owners of the house and they told us how to turn it on and we thought we were good to go. A few hours pass buy, some drinks had been poured and bathing suits had been put on. Check the hot tub again and still super cold. We’re getting all pissed cause we can’t use the hot tub and then Jase walks off to the side of the house. Jordan and i followed em over and there he was looking at the controls for the pool system. Pushes a couple of buttons then all of a sudden something sounds like a bomb is going to go off and we wait to see what happens. I run over and check the hot tub again and what do you know, hot water is starting to come in. Hell yeah, we were in business.

Jase runs off again to start on the dinner for the evening. He’s a pro when it comes to being in the kitchen cause the meal he made up was like it was from a 5 star restaurant. He had nice potatoes, a tomato salad and the most amazing filet mignon I have ever had. To top it off he picked the best beer to go with it. I forget the name of the beer but when you have a master cook who also knows the perfect beer to match it’s an amazing time, let me tell you. We all sit back and relax and enjoy the meal we just had and everything is working out to be the start of what looks to be one hell of a weekend. As we’re in the hot tub a little later we see Melissa and Elvia walking back and forth through the house. I wonder what they are doing and sure enough, as soon as we get out of the hot tub there is some freshly made Crème brûlée. How the hell can this get any better?? Amazing house, amazing food and best of all, the best group of people I’m honored to know. I pass out early on the couch and I dream about the wonderful day.

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