Welcome Back Kotter

Okay.......so it's been a little while, and it looks like I've got a little bit of housekeeping to take care of. Quick aside, is it really all that bad to end sentences with prepositions? Please, let your thoughts be known. Otherwise, without further ado:

• Marin - please turn in your Friends of San Diego card. I can't believe you're not backing the Pads!? It's not about being right, it's about our illustrious town. Remember the fever of the NLCS when they busted through the impenetrable? Only to be swept by the horrible Yankees? (Yankees: I'll never be impressed by a team who just buys the best players with a wallet that dwarfs the second most expensive team in the league.)
• Liquid Spirit - great to see you in the comments section. Now resurrect your blog from the ashes so we can retire off your ad revenue.
• I'm back from the Santos wedding in Maui. I thought I would blog about the trip, but I think I'll put that off just a bit longer....
• Surf Fest XII is tomorrow, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday (Monday? Ball.). Surf is flat and I have no costume........nothing new there.
• Had my 36th birthday. Had a blast, bought a new Taylor Made r7 driver, and got a $50 gift card to iTunes. Send in your suggestions for must have albums.

I just spell checked this entry, and the spell checker had a problem with the word "blog." Huh?

Aramis Ramirez

What's that? I can't hear you.....I think Aramis just blasted one into the seats at Wrigley off my favorite run-producer, ex-Giant B. Tomko. Anyhow, that puts our powerful Padres .5 games back of the NL West leading Dodgers. Tomorrow night it's Fat Man v. Maddux, and I'll be there!

Inexcusable

Unless I'm in the 'boys' room at a Junior High School, I really shouldn't ever go into a stall and look down at the toilet to find some guy's warm piss all over the seat. But it happens more than you'd think. Why is this?

I think we all, at one time or another (and then this marks the last time), have tried to thread the needle of the toilet seat with our urine laser. Still, what's the real payoff here anyway? If you should happen to not splatter your liquid waste all over the seat, yippee! You're just where you'd have been had you lifted the seat. And of course, we all know that it's actually impossible to not get some part of the stream on the seat. Ever stood next to a waterfall? Case closed.

But let's get back to where this post started: I all-to-often walk into a men's stall to.....well, um...you know (read: drop a deuce), and the toilet seat is down and there is piss all over it. Not to scold or reprimand; not to harangue or otherwise accost the previous visitor, I just want to see who this guy is. I mean, who is he? Really?

Why, first of all, is he peeing standing up in the sit-down crapper? For this example, I am excluding any restroom where this is the only choice, or has limited standing urinals. So why is he afraid to stand with the other boys, and just take care of his business. As an aside, I am always amused by the guys who basically shove their parts into and up against the inside of the urinal, so that no one can see them (because in secret, we are all in there to see each other's dodes).

Moving on, if a man wants to pee standing up in his own personal box, with the door locked, so be it. Why can't he lift the seat though. Kick it up with your shoe if you're a germaphobe whose neuroses drive you to believe that you're actually avoiding germs by not touching the seat. And then leave it up if you want. I don't care. I just don't like having to wipe up another man's piss. Call me crazy, I've just never been into it.

Laterz....

Well, it's almost time. Time to board a jet plane bound for the middle of the Pacific. Time to wander around the tippy-top of an underwater mountain, and just look around for my next place to nap. Time to unwind. Time to play a little golf. Time to get away from work, the phone, the beat up alley, the crazy drivers of LA, (I just realized that the list of LA negatives is long and cliche), so I guess I'll just end it with: time for a litte "ME time."

To all my co-workers - it's been nice knowing you.
To my friends and family back in the States - come visit or else I guess I'll see you at Christmas.

The Shack

Radio Shack has always been a pretty spooky store for me. Anytime I've been in there, I'm immediately hit with the thought: "How do they stay in business?" Unless you need something random, they're prices aren't good. Anyhow, I caught this headline and it didn't do much for improving my perception.