Crazy Stupid Love and more...

While I lie here with my foot up, it's the perfect time to tell you about some movies I saw before I became lame.

When we got home from work on Friday, we finally got around to watching The Lincoln Lawyer on pay-per-view. I didn’t see it in the theater because I’m not too big of a Matthew McConaughey fan. I was also afraid that it was going to be too violent – I wasn’t up for that. As it turns out, there was some violence but not too bad. It also turns out that this was a pretty good movie about a sleazy lawyer who comes around through some interesting circumstances. It was worth watching – rent it.

Yesterday, we actually went to the theater to see Crazy Stupid Love. The trailers for it really drew me in and for once, I wasn’t disappointed. Steve Carrell was wonderful playing a man whose wife blindsides him by asking for a divorce. It was painful, sad but also charming and even funny. The entire cast was wonderful. I really rooted for the main characters to work out their problems. It wasn’t a perfect movie – there was one cheesy scene toward the end that I would have left out, but other than that I really enjoyed it. I absolutely recommend this one.

Last but not least, we saw The Town on HBO last night. This was an intense movie that Ben Affleck wrote, directed and starred in…very intense, but very good. “The Town” is Boston and the story centers around a group of bank robbers. It has some scary car chases and gunfire and some blood and violence. If you can get past that part, it’s a good story that is well-acted. Absolutely do rent this one, too.

Since I'm not going anywhere anytime soon, I'm sure I will have plenty of time to watch some more movies. Stay tuned - what else am I going to do....

She did it!

Congratulations to my amazing daughter Mandi for finishing her first Half Marathon! She is a very physically active and health conscious young woman who has been training for this run for quite awhile now. I marvel at her determination.

I wish I had been with her at the beginning of the race to take a "before" picture, but she was up and out of the house about 4:30 this morning. Her wave took off from the Embarcadero at about 6:15 am. I have to admit that I was still in bed at that time.

We probably should have left the house a bit earlier to give us more time to get to the finish line. When we finally got to Golden Gate Park, we had just minutes to get to the finish line by the time Mandi estimated that she would be crossing. Ron parked the van and we began to hustle over to where we thought the finish line would be for the Half. Ron was carrying a small cooler containing champagne and orange juice (for the requisite victory mimosas) and I carried a basket with champagne flutes and my camera. I was hurrying across the grass to get to the sidewalk when I stepped in a hole....down I went!

I tell you that I saw stars! Ron helped me up but I wasn't going anywhere at that moment. He set the cooler down so that I could sit on it. I gave him the camera and sent him ahead. Luckily, I didn't slow him down too much and he got there in time. Almost all the photos taken today were taken by him. Bravo, Ron!

Eventually, the pain subsided enough for me to hobble over to offer my congratulations as well. I feel foolish for falling and for not being there to see my girl accomplish her goal. We did take her for a big breakfast at Pier 39, but her appetite wasn't too good.

As I write this post, Mandi is curled up in her bed getting some well deserved rest. I am lying in bed with my foot elevated and on ice. Cheese and Rice!! I guess I'd better learn to slow down.

A rough week...

Wow. Usually when Friday rolls around, I am always ready for the weekend. This week I felt like I was crawling towards the finish line. It was an awful week and I'm just grateful it's over. Except that it's not really over, is it?

I am disillusioned, dismayed, disheartened and disgusted with our government - all of it! Earlier this week, Gov. Brown vetoed AB 96 - a bill that would have provided funds for a revised adult day health care in California. Low income seniors are being abandoned by the state of California. I can't begin to imagine how this is going to change their lives and our program. I have included this link to this article because it explains it far better than I can - http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/site/node/9195 . I can't believe how short-sighted the governor is. Then on the national level, what is going on in DC right now is frightening. I won't even pretend that I understand anything about the debt ceiling and how it relates to the country being unable to pay the bills; I just know that it's bad. What is going on in the world?

Aside from this, I also had to deal with a couple losses at work. A co-worker and friend has left us and gone on to a great new job. We are all happy for her, but she left a hole and the energy was certainly different at the program this week. Then unexpectedly, a beloved participant in our program passed away. You would think that after working with disabled adults and frail elderly participants for the last 17 years I would be used to such losses, but it really doesn't get any easier. It is comforting to know that our program helps people and makes a big difference in their lives, but it is still difficult to lose them.

I need a fresh start. I'm going to spend the weekend with my girls and maybe see a couple of movies. Mandi is running a half marathon in San Francisco tomorrow and we are going to be at the finish line to cheer for her. Hopefully, all this will give me a fresh perspective. In the meantime, I hope the politicians in Washington get things sorted out.

"Friends with Benefits"

Really busy weekend ahead of us, so I was surprised that Ron wanted to take time to see a movie after work and after a farewell get together for Audrey. :( But he did, so we went. And he picked the movie.

This movie is all about what the title implies. Mind you, I have never considered myself a prude, but this was too much. I prefer my romantic comedies to be more romantic and less crass. I am usually satisfied by a passionate kissing scene when the two main characters realize they can't live without each other. There were a few traditional scenes but mostly this was a romantic comedy for a different generation. I guess I'm just feeling nostalgic for movies like Sleepless in Seattle, While You Were Sleeping, or even The Notebook. This wasn't anything like those classics.

My advice about this one - if you are a fan of Justin Timberlake or Mila Kunis you might like to see this movie. They do have chemistry together. For me this was just mediocre although Ron liked it. If you have to see it, wait for the DVD.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

If you let a 4 ½ year old choose the movie you are going to see, you deserve what you get. We let Viliamu choose and so we ended up sitting through 2 hours and 37 minutes of ridiculous sci-fi nonsense. I’m not saying that I don’t like science fiction movies – I LOVE good ones. I’m not saying that the special effects weren’t interesting – they were. I’m not saying that I didn’t chuckle when Sentinel Prime (voiced by Leonard Nimoy) said “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.” I did. Unfortunately, these things were not compelling enough to excite me or to keep the same 4 ½ year old from asking if the movie was over soon when we were just an hour into it.

It could be that I don’t appreciate these movies because I’m not a young boy who plays with these toys. Well, even a boy who loves these toys couldn’t make through the entire film. Wild Thing fell asleep with about 30 minutes left to go. Even the lure of 3D images couldn’t keep him awake.

This movie has been in the theaters since July 1^st and it’s made boat loads of $, so what do I know? I haven’t read any reviews of this movie so I don’t know what anyone else thinks about it. I will just tell you that unless you are a big fan of the previous movies, you should absolutely save your money and go see something else instead. Maybe we will “help” WT choose a better movie next time…like Cars 2 or Winnie the Pooh…

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

After seeing the final installment of the Harry Potter series last night, I felt nostalgic and looked around for these photos. These photos were taken July 11, 2007 before we went to the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Mandi and Beckie both dressed as Hermoine. I subsequently called them the "Hot Hermoines." Weren't they cute?
It was the summer after their freshman year at UCSB and they weren't too grown up to dress up and go to the movies with their mom. I went as a generic witch. Our friend Daniel made us all wands and he went as Harry Potter. We met up with more friends of theirs when we got to the theater. It was great fun!

I have to admit that I just wasn't up to going to the midnight showing this time around - it had been an exhausting week at work and I needed my sleep! Ron wanted to wait until Saturday (today) to see the movie but I was too excited to wait. So after work yesterday, we bought our tickets, went to dinner and then waited in line for an hour. As we were standing in the l - o - n - g line outside the theater a woman drove by and asked what were all the lines for. Really?!? We were finally let into the theater and the long wait was over.

Amazing, exciting, thrilling and sad are just a few of the words I would use to describe the final chapter of the Harry Potter series. It is true that once again many things in the book had to be left out because there was no way to fit it all in. Some people might be upset about what was left out but I think the screenwriter did an excellent job adapting the book into a very good movie. It was exactly what I was expecting and a proper ending to 10 years of great story-telling and fun movies. I recently watched all the HP movies again to prepare to see the final film and I'm so glad that I did. I so appreciate how much the actors have improved and grown up. The magic effects are wonderful. It's sad that this is the end of the series, but we have the books and movies forever and will be able to go back and visit Hogwarts whenever we want.

The bottom line here - I give this movie 2 thumbs up, 4 stars, 4 hats, and a full bucket of popcorn. However, I really think you have to have at least seen the other movies to get the full enjoyment out of it. If you haven't read the books, you really should, too. And here is where I will thank my nephew Trevor for handing me his copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone back in 1998 when he was just 8 years old. He told me to read it because I would really like it. I did read it and I was hooked! Fantastic!

So, good-bye Harry, Hermoine, Ron, Dumbledore, Hagrid, and Snape. I will miss you all, but I promise to come back and visit whenever I can.

The down side of commuting with your husband...

There are all kinds of benefits to driving into work together every day...

• We are saving gas
• We get to use the car pool lane
• We get to talk to each other on the ride to and from work
• I can work on my laptop while Ron drives
• I don't have to drive after along day at work
• I can even take a nap in the car if I'm exhausted

However, it's not all wonderful...at the moment it's 9:30 pm and do you want to know where I am? I am sitting in Ron's office while he finishes a big project at work. Any sign of him being finished yet? No, of course not. I dare not complain, though. I guess I owe him for all the Wednesdays that he had to wait around for me to be finished with my night class.

So, if you happen to see me tomorrow with bags under my eyes, you'll know why...it's the commuting...

Larry Crowne

I spent 8 hours in the garage today sorting and cleaning and I'm still not finished! It will probably take me another 8 hours tomorrow to finish up. Ron took pity on me and asked me out to dinner and a movie. Neither one of us was interested in Transformers so we went to see Larry Crowne instead.

This was a pleasant little movie. No big drama, car chases or controversy. Just a small film about life and relationships. Tom Hanks is my favorite male actor and Julia is one of my favorites as well. They have good onscreen chemistry, and seem to be real friends off the screen. Even though I enjoyed it, I don't necessarily recommend that you run out and seen it in the theater. This is definitely one you can wait for on dvd.

Looking forward to Harry Potter next weekend!

Disney by the numbers

Rather than give you a day to day journal on our recent trip to the Magic Kingdom with Wild Thing (WT) I thought I would just list a few stats – you’ll get the general gist of our trip.

Left the Bay Area at 5:15 pm on Friday, July 1^st.

# of times WT asked “Are we there yet?” – 11 (at least)

Harry Potter movies watched on the way there – 3 –Sorcerer’s Stone, Chamber of Secrets, Prisoner of Azkaban

# of times he subsequently yelled – “Expecto Patronum!” – 10 (at least)

Arrived in Santa Barbara to have dinner with Mandi at CPK at 10:15.

Arrived at Residence Inn in Camarillo at midnight.

# of times he threw up at the hotel in Camarillo – 1 (at 5:45 am)

# of times he threw up in the car – 2

# of baths he had before we left Camarillo – 2

Arrived at the Paradise Pier Hotel at 10 am, checked in, parked the car and headed for California Adventure Park.

Temp on Day 1 - 88 degrees

Temp on Day 2 - 96 degrees

Tally of times on these rides over 2 days:

“Mike & Sulley to the Rescue” – 5

Ariel’s Undersea Adventure - 4

Astro Blasters – 3

Toy Story Mania – 2

Star Tours – 2

Carousels – 2

Jungle Cruise - 1

Tiki Room - 1

Bumper cars – 1

Splash Mountain – 1

Raiders of the Lost Ark – 0 (a smidge too short)

Pirates of the Caribbean – 0 (too scary and he refused)

Space Mountain – 0 (refused)

Matterhorn – 0 (refused)

# of fireworks displays watched - 2

# of times we hopped between Disneyland and California adventure over 2 days - 6

# of times WT rode on Ron's shoulders - 3 (poor Buddy!)

Bottles of water purchased and drunk – 8

# of meltdowns – 3

# of naps taken – 2 (1 each day)

# of characters we photographed with WT – 6 (Mickey, Pluto, Stitch, Woody, Buzz, Green Army Men)

# of gift shops we stopped in for “prizes” – 12

# of “prizes” purchased for WT – 3 (Lego Green Army Men, set of Star Wars Action Figures, Light up Bubble Gun)

Current cost of meals at Disney - $11 per person no matter what or where you eat - to which Ron says "I finally understand why Walt made Mickey's fingers so fat - he can't possibly take a single bill from your wallet, he can't help but grab a bunch!"

Left Anaheim at 11 am and arrived in Santa Barbara before 1 pm. Watched 4^th of July parade, went to Goleta Beach.

Temp at beach 74 degrees

# of SPF Sunblock – 50

# of hours at beach – 5

# of Star Wars action figures lost at sea – 1 (bye R2D2!)

# of precious sticks found at beach – 2 (yes, we brought them home)

# of times we “buried” WT in the sand – 1 ½

Left Santa Barbara at 11 am and arrived back in Bay Area at 4:15 pm.

Harry Potter movies watched on the way home – 3 (Goblet of Fire, Order of the Phoenix, Half-Blood Prince)

# of suitcases, bags taken – 9

# of miles travelled – 802

# of photos taken – 198

We love everything about Disney and experiencing it through the eyes of a 4 1/2 year old was wonderful The hotel was lovely and the Disney employees do everything they can to make you happy. The parks are clean and safe. It was a great trip all in all, but the best part happened right after we picked him up and told him where we were going. He said “Man, I love hanging out with you guys!” Those are the moments that make it all worth it.