It's been over four years since we had anything more than a long weekend. Where would we go that would be worth the long wait? I don't know, but I hear that
Hula dancers
Are
Wild
And
Ideally,
In the buff.
Leaving tomorrow morning for two week. Yeah.
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Potential
It will probably be crap. Everything ends up being.
But there's potential here:
http://uk.promotions.yahoo.com/transformers/
But there's potential here:
http://uk.promotions.yahoo.com/transformers/
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Sick is me
Though wool hats make everything better. It's the pompom.
Also of interest are the tea with milk and cookies. Maybe I could get used to this.
Also of interest are the tea with milk and cookies. Maybe I could get used to this.
Monday, December 04, 2006
I still can't come up with anything funny to say with "balls" in it
Has it been a year already? I must have, because it's time to post pictures of the last ever Company annual ball.
People didn't feel like tuxedos this year, and Macy's has great deals on suits, which we really should start owning, being grown-ups and all, so we went to buy fancy ball clothes. I actually had to pick a suit for myself, a thoroughly terrifying experience for someone of my taste and experience in such matters. Luckily, the Macy's guy was very helpful and quite used to people whose only instructions are "I don't want to look like my grandfather." I did pick the shirt color by myself.
The result, I think you'll agree, was worth it.
Although the official photographer was right when he said "It's OK if you want to hold her, but if the camera sees your fingers, you're grabbing her." Live and learn.
Marina looks gorgeous in her new dress, but we're here to talk about me, right?
Oh, speaking of "gorgeous". Laarni wanted to know how to say it in Hebrew. But there's no direct translation, right? And the meaning she was looking for was "a very beautiful women", so we taught her to say "kusit". And when she learned to pronounce it, we explained what it means. Ex-Catholic girls are so much fun.
It's freezing out here. When do we see some drinks?
Beyond the switch from tuxedos to suits, it was exactly the same party. Same place, same food, same inspiring speeches, even the same band. None of it was really bad, though
Everybody was so pretty! I don't normally like events where my Joker shirt is inappropriate, but it's worth it once a year.
Right, everybody, look cool! David, can you do drunk?
OK, take two, for everybody who didn't have time to make a cool face. Nobody's blocking Orly now, so can someone raise their arm or something? Thanks, Derek, that's perfect. I can hardly see her. Ready? 3...2...1... LOOK COOL. David, just try not to pass out.
The organizers of the party put canes and beads and various pimpy items on the tables, including this hat, whihc would cover your entire face if you didn't hold it up.
Ziv and Raffi and that other guy.
Ziv and Raffi, sans other guy.
Nothing funny comes to mind. I guess you guys just look cute.
No, David, we can't tell you've been drinking. Not at all.
I know, I know. I made my tie to short and I forgot to buy a black belt to go with the suit. It's my first time in a suit, so give me a fucking break.
Look how well I made the tie knot! Fifth try ever.
Da lay-deez.
Most of the people stayed in The City for the night. We who have to get up early in the morning to study drove back home. Good thing we did, cause the next morning I woke up all sick and feverish. I knew I shouldn't have danced without getting drunk first. It's unnatural.
People didn't feel like tuxedos this year, and Macy's has great deals on suits, which we really should start owning, being grown-ups and all, so we went to buy fancy ball clothes. I actually had to pick a suit for myself, a thoroughly terrifying experience for someone of my taste and experience in such matters. Luckily, the Macy's guy was very helpful and quite used to people whose only instructions are "I don't want to look like my grandfather." I did pick the shirt color by myself.
The result, I think you'll agree, was worth it.
Although the official photographer was right when he said "It's OK if you want to hold her, but if the camera sees your fingers, you're grabbing her." Live and learn.
Marina looks gorgeous in her new dress, but we're here to talk about me, right?
Oh, speaking of "gorgeous". Laarni wanted to know how to say it in Hebrew. But there's no direct translation, right? And the meaning she was looking for was "a very beautiful women", so we taught her to say "kusit". And when she learned to pronounce it, we explained what it means. Ex-Catholic girls are so much fun.
It's freezing out here. When do we see some drinks?
Beyond the switch from tuxedos to suits, it was exactly the same party. Same place, same food, same inspiring speeches, even the same band. None of it was really bad, though
Everybody was so pretty! I don't normally like events where my Joker shirt is inappropriate, but it's worth it once a year.
Right, everybody, look cool! David, can you do drunk?
OK, take two, for everybody who didn't have time to make a cool face. Nobody's blocking Orly now, so can someone raise their arm or something? Thanks, Derek, that's perfect. I can hardly see her. Ready? 3...2...1... LOOK COOL. David, just try not to pass out.
The organizers of the party put canes and beads and various pimpy items on the tables, including this hat, whihc would cover your entire face if you didn't hold it up.
Ziv and Raffi and that other guy.
Ziv and Raffi, sans other guy.
Nothing funny comes to mind. I guess you guys just look cute.
No, David, we can't tell you've been drinking. Not at all.
I know, I know. I made my tie to short and I forgot to buy a black belt to go with the suit. It's my first time in a suit, so give me a fucking break.
Look how well I made the tie knot! Fifth try ever.
Da lay-deez.
Most of the people stayed in The City for the night. We who have to get up early in the morning to study drove back home. Good thing we did, cause the next morning I woke up all sick and feverish. I knew I shouldn't have danced without getting drunk first. It's unnatural.
Sunday, November 26, 2006
And the moon rose over an open field (Arizona day liu)
Short day today, but I have to warn you, there's gonna be a picture or two in this post.
Temperatures dropped to freezing on my last camping night. Maybe even a bit below freezing. I was sleeping in the Jeep again (People have asked, so I'll clarify - there was plenty of room to stretch in there. Next time I'm not even bringing a tent), and at some point I had to start the engine and let the heating work for 15 minutes before I could go back to sleep. That cold.
But nothing a hot cup of tea and waking up to desert views couldn't fix.
One last, very nicely composed, if you don't mind my saying, goodbye to Catalina State Park.
And it's plane time!
I originally left the area in a hurry, so I would have time for Monument Valley, but MV turned out to be way too far, so I suddenly had time to go back to the Pima Air & Space Museum, where they took the best corpses from plane graveyard, added some original Air Force loaners, and let us geeks run around freely.
It starts small, with the tiniest jet in the world. It will be familiar to fans of the movie Octopussy (are there such people anywhere?) and to people who owned the Acroject flight simulator on the Commodore 64 (which would be me).
Ah, 1985 graphics... This is the first time I see this in color, BTW.
My parents actually have slides of this thing flying in their basement. The slides are in their basement, not the flying.
It gets warmer with this B-26.
And moves STRAIGHT to the main attraction! An F-14. Right there. With me. For real. And my pants suddenly feel tight.
This is the first F-14 ever produced, which is very symbolic, with the last F-14 making its last flight a few weeks ago.
Prowler.
The Black Bird of Sexiness.
Classics: Beautifully restored B-24 and B-29, complete with dummies in flight suits manning the guns. Awesome, as in awe-inspiring.
Another meeting that's been a long time coming. With trembling hands, iDoc finally feels up the A-10 Thunderbolt II.
Interestingly I wasn't the only nut in that place. A guy was taking (what appeared to be) his grandson through the museum, explaining how this here A-10 was built around that big in the front. He could have been reading it from the sign next to the plane, but I sensed his insanity from as far as the F-4. He proved me right when he paused in mid-explanation and suddenly asked me "I can't remember. Is that gun 30 or 36 milimeters?" What the hell kind of a question is that? Of course it's 30mm, idiot. 30mm depleted uranium projectiles, specially designed for the Avenger, which you will only find on the A-10. Everybody knows that.
But how did he know I would know the answer? Was it because I was licking the gun at the time?
I never noticed the Starlifter had such an artsy tail.
He hey! Remember watching Bailey's Bird three times a year in the early 80's?
Oh, you missed growing up in Israel in the 80's? You didn't miss much. Anyway, Baily's Bird was a show about this guy (Bailey), living in some shithole in South-East Asia with his plane and his pansy blond son, and every episode he would get into a new adventure with his plane, which was an Albatross, just like this plane. And there were always smugglers of some sort, wanting to smuggle their smuggables on Baily's Bird. But he wouldn't let them. Cause he's Bailey. I also seem to recall a hot blond doctor, but I'm no longer sure. It was that age when planes were more interesting than women. I'll let you know when it ends. Was he Australian?
Update: Got it! After giving up hope of ever finding any real Bailey's Bird material on the net, it turns out that nothing is too old or too obscure for Google. Check it out! Pansy kid and everything. And an episode list!
Update2: Yes its Australian. And the show was known as Flugboot 121 in Germany. Silly Germans. Anyway.
Where did all the cool planes of the 60's go, huh?
Look at this Hustler, with that huge double drop-off fuel tank. That is the most pimped out fighter plane ever.
Crouching under a B-52G. Holly shit.
What are doing tonight, Brain? Same thing we do every night, Pinky. Try to take over the world. Isn't it, like, the spitting image?
A Hercules, converted to carry moon rocket engines.
I got this F-111 aligned so perfectly, you can see right down that tube.
Turns out this isn't a Nord.
But this is, of course, a Harrier.
That's me, setting the tripod up on a bench. Muy artistico.
And that's me, hugging the F-14 goodbye. I can't believe they decommissioned it for that butt-ugly F/A-18. Feh.
After a few intimate minutes with the F-14, I looked up and noticed there was nobody left in the museum - it was closing time. But time for one last shot.
It was supposed to be a tiny me in the middle of the museum, but I couldn't get far enough before the timer took the picture, so here's a cool me with the sun behind me. Just like my hero, Josey Wales.
And that was it. My flight left at 8am, and I couldn't camp and get up early enough to pack my gear and drive to the airport, so I had to spend the night in the airport Best Western. How bourgeoisie. After a tearful 5am goodbye from Pedro, my loayl mule, I headed back to reality.
Temperatures dropped to freezing on my last camping night. Maybe even a bit below freezing. I was sleeping in the Jeep again (People have asked, so I'll clarify - there was plenty of room to stretch in there. Next time I'm not even bringing a tent), and at some point I had to start the engine and let the heating work for 15 minutes before I could go back to sleep. That cold.
But nothing a hot cup of tea and waking up to desert views couldn't fix.
One last, very nicely composed, if you don't mind my saying, goodbye to Catalina State Park.
And it's plane time!
I originally left the area in a hurry, so I would have time for Monument Valley, but MV turned out to be way too far, so I suddenly had time to go back to the Pima Air & Space Museum, where they took the best corpses from plane graveyard, added some original Air Force loaners, and let us geeks run around freely.
It starts small, with the tiniest jet in the world. It will be familiar to fans of the movie Octopussy (are there such people anywhere?) and to people who owned the Acroject flight simulator on the Commodore 64 (which would be me).
Ah, 1985 graphics... This is the first time I see this in color, BTW.
My parents actually have slides of this thing flying in their basement. The slides are in their basement, not the flying.
It gets warmer with this B-26.
And moves STRAIGHT to the main attraction! An F-14. Right there. With me. For real. And my pants suddenly feel tight.
This is the first F-14 ever produced, which is very symbolic, with the last F-14 making its last flight a few weeks ago.
Prowler.
The Black Bird of Sexiness.
Classics: Beautifully restored B-24 and B-29, complete with dummies in flight suits manning the guns. Awesome, as in awe-inspiring.
Another meeting that's been a long time coming. With trembling hands, iDoc finally feels up the A-10 Thunderbolt II.
Interestingly I wasn't the only nut in that place. A guy was taking (what appeared to be) his grandson through the museum, explaining how this here A-10 was built around that big in the front. He could have been reading it from the sign next to the plane, but I sensed his insanity from as far as the F-4. He proved me right when he paused in mid-explanation and suddenly asked me "I can't remember. Is that gun 30 or 36 milimeters?" What the hell kind of a question is that? Of course it's 30mm, idiot. 30mm depleted uranium projectiles, specially designed for the Avenger, which you will only find on the A-10. Everybody knows that.
But how did he know I would know the answer? Was it because I was licking the gun at the time?
I never noticed the Starlifter had such an artsy tail.
He hey! Remember watching Bailey's Bird three times a year in the early 80's?
Oh, you missed growing up in Israel in the 80's? You didn't miss much. Anyway, Baily's Bird was a show about this guy (Bailey), living in some shithole in South-East Asia with his plane and his pansy blond son, and every episode he would get into a new adventure with his plane, which was an Albatross, just like this plane. And there were always smugglers of some sort, wanting to smuggle their smuggables on Baily's Bird. But he wouldn't let them. Cause he's Bailey. I also seem to recall a hot blond doctor, but I'm no longer sure. It was that age when planes were more interesting than women. I'll let you know when it ends. Was he Australian?
Update: Got it! After giving up hope of ever finding any real Bailey's Bird material on the net, it turns out that nothing is too old or too obscure for Google. Check it out! Pansy kid and everything. And an episode list!
Update2: Yes its Australian. And the show was known as Flugboot 121 in Germany. Silly Germans. Anyway.
Where did all the cool planes of the 60's go, huh?
Look at this Hustler, with that huge double drop-off fuel tank. That is the most pimped out fighter plane ever.
Crouching under a B-52G. Holly shit.
What are doing tonight, Brain? Same thing we do every night, Pinky. Try to take over the world. Isn't it, like, the spitting image?
A Hercules, converted to carry moon rocket engines.
I got this F-111 aligned so perfectly, you can see right down that tube.
Turns out this isn't a Nord.
But this is, of course, a Harrier.
That's me, setting the tripod up on a bench. Muy artistico.
And that's me, hugging the F-14 goodbye. I can't believe they decommissioned it for that butt-ugly F/A-18. Feh.
After a few intimate minutes with the F-14, I looked up and noticed there was nobody left in the museum - it was closing time. But time for one last shot.
It was supposed to be a tiny me in the middle of the museum, but I couldn't get far enough before the timer took the picture, so here's a cool me with the sun behind me. Just like my hero, Josey Wales.
And that was it. My flight left at 8am, and I couldn't camp and get up early enough to pack my gear and drive to the airport, so I had to spend the night in the airport Best Western. How bourgeoisie. After a tearful 5am goodbye from Pedro, my loayl mule, I headed back to reality.
Friday, November 24, 2006
Reality bites (Arizona day funf)
What's that you say? You wish I had more panoramas from yesterday? Well. I guess this is your lucky day!
(Click for the seriously large versions)
The sunset that never stops.
Newspaper rock.
The oh-so colored desert.
Having lost some of my celebratory mood, so I decided to skip a few stops, take it easy, and drive back to the Phoenix area a day earlier than planned.
Through that wonderful redness.
Arizona is full places with great Western names. I even drove across a Dead Skunk Creek.
Stopped some Alpine Pizza in Flagstaff. Like the guy said (this works better with a heavy Russian accent): Flagstaff is a premium place to spend the afternoon in. I walked around for an hour or two, bought Marina a pretty wool hat, and, you know, chilled. This was the only city street I saw on this trip
Further down South. When you start getting off the plateau, you go through a brief forest period. Awesome.
30 minutes later, you're back in the Southern desert.
Quick stop at Montezuma Castle. The Spanish Conquistadors used to think the Montezuma, the Aztec king, stayed here for a while. Nowdays, white man say Montezuma never come this North. White man say, this just village of stinking farmers. iDoc say, is impressive anyway.
You can't actually go up there though, so let's head South and get some mileage before our last
And then it was three hours of driving back to Catalina State Park, listening to Neil Gaiman reading Fragile Things, his new short story collection. I cannot say enough about how this book is right for me. Let me tell you, reflective mood + driving alone through the night + Neil reading "Other People" = a whole new type of chill down the spine. And The Problem of Susan... Neil calls it "disturbing and annoying", and it is exactly that. If you've read The Last Battle, this story is just for you.
Close to the end now. Can you feel it?
(Click for the seriously large versions)
The sunset that never stops.
Newspaper rock.
The oh-so colored desert.
Having lost some of my celebratory mood, so I decided to skip a few stops, take it easy, and drive back to the Phoenix area a day earlier than planned.
Through that wonderful redness.
Arizona is full places with great Western names. I even drove across a Dead Skunk Creek.
Stopped some Alpine Pizza in Flagstaff. Like the guy said (this works better with a heavy Russian accent): Flagstaff is a premium place to spend the afternoon in. I walked around for an hour or two, bought Marina a pretty wool hat, and, you know, chilled. This was the only city street I saw on this trip
Further down South. When you start getting off the plateau, you go through a brief forest period. Awesome.
30 minutes later, you're back in the Southern desert.
Quick stop at Montezuma Castle. The Spanish Conquistadors used to think the Montezuma, the Aztec king, stayed here for a while. Nowdays, white man say Montezuma never come this North. White man say, this just village of stinking farmers. iDoc say, is impressive anyway.
You can't actually go up there though, so let's head South and get some mileage before our last
SUNSET MADNESS!!!
And then it was three hours of driving back to Catalina State Park, listening to Neil Gaiman reading Fragile Things, his new short story collection. I cannot say enough about how this book is right for me. Let me tell you, reflective mood + driving alone through the night + Neil reading "Other People" = a whole new type of chill down the spine. And The Problem of Susan... Neil calls it "disturbing and annoying", and it is exactly that. If you've read The Last Battle, this story is just for you.
Close to the end now. Can you feel it?
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