Day 3 - Glacier Bay...

Now that I learned how to read, I knew today we would be entering Glacier Bay. Glacier Bay is one of the most photographed area's in the world. Since you are loyal and faithful followers, I will save you the money of travelling to Alaska and you can see it right here:


The awesome part of this is the salt water in the bay cuts into the glacier. The glacier then breaks off and falls into the bay. This glacier is massive! When pieces breaks off it sounds like thunder and then you can see the glacier fall into the ocean. This is known as 'calving'.

I got a small piece on video but you can hardly tell. I think Eric got a better one on video so I will have to wait for him to give me a copy.

We travelled pretty slow in Glacier Bay so to pass the time, Aya and I hung out at the kiddie center where we dominated the horse-y rides:

For the most part we just kicked back on our patio decks and watched pieces of the glacier float by...while Dawn gave Jack bunny ears.

Day 2 - So much for reading...

Travelling with a child is very stressful. More bags, extra clothes, snacks, strollers, etc. Luckily Jack did better than last year on the plane. Jack doesn't understand when we have to turn off electronic devices so 30 minutes into the flight and 30 minutes at the end of the flight he gets loud and whiney.

In any case we made it to the boat without any problems. However, with all the stuff I mentioned earlier, it made our cabin room quite full. Thus, coupon books, magazines, information that the boat provided all got thrown into a drawer. Sounds reasonable, right?

Nope. Every night the steward put out info on what to expect the next day. Where did the day 2 highlights go?? In the drawer. I thought day 2 was only at sea with nothing to see. I had no idea we would be cruising past some of the best scenery of the trip.

Plus, who schedules the best scenery at 6:30 am?? Normally we are up at that time but we disregarded Jack's schedule. Stayed up late and slept in...until 9:30ish. After we ran into my Aunt, Uncle and Sister who all saw...College Fjord!

I had to take Dawn's word for it and here are her pics:


Needless to say, Day 2 was a complete bust for us. The only thing Aya and I saw that day was the buffet line!

Back from Alaska...

We just came back from our first cruise, a 7 day trip to Alaska. We flew from LAX to Alaska,

a 5 1/2 hour flight. Then we took a 2 hour bus ride to Whittier, Alaska. From there we verified that we were on the cruise and aboard we went!

The cruise was better than I thought. There was always things to do on the boat...and if you couldn't find anything to do you could always E-A-T. Man, there was a ton of things to eat and it is all F-R-E-E...so you just take a bite of everything...and before you know it...food C-O-M-A.

I was afraid I would be super bored at sea. I was more afraid I would get sea sick but I was fine. Only one day I thought the boat was rocking...but for the most part we had calm seas and "sunny" weather. Apparently it has either been cloudy, foggy or raining since July 2nd, so we brought in the sunshine!

Vacation...

Man how times flies. I was on our small patio doing some gardening when JT found his old blow up pool car in the gardening box.



A year ago we were in Maui and JT was having a blast driving/floating around in his car in the pool. As you can see this year, no pool....but we are in Alaska right now on a cruise! We are back tomorrow and if I am not too tired Alaska pics next week!

Hans 40ths Birthday - Turtle Racing Part III

This was after the Turtle Races about 3-4 drinks AFTER I should have stopped drinking and gone home. I wish I had a story or something to say...these are just random pics on my camera, so I must have taken the pics...I just don't recall.

Jenny getting a "cheap feel" by grabbing Oscar's butt!

Oscar and his harem:


Hans and some girl I am naming Lily:

I remember we called this dude science guy but I dunno why. He is Lily's boss...I think. If not we were drinking with his g/f!

Our waitress to had endure Han's theory about the 4 different types of....nope...that is G14. If you weren't there you too bad. If you were there...I bet you wish you weren't there to hear Han's 4 different types!

Happy 40th!!!

Hans 40ths Birthday - Turtle Racing Part II

So what is Turtle Racing? Here it is:


You place Turtles in a box in the center of the ring. When the top is removed the turtles 'race' to the edge of the circle. The first turtle to exit the ring is declared the winner!

Here are some things we didn't know:

1. You can bring your own turtle.
2. If you don't own your own turtle, you can rent one.
3. A female customer has to grab your turtle from the tank and put it into the box in the center of the ring.
4. When placing the turtle in the ring, they like the girl to do it all 'sexy' like or else you get boo'ed.
5. I think they said no pointing at the turtles...but at this point I was no longer paying attention.

So, we rented our turtle and named our turtle, HANZO for the race. Some how Jenny got roped into being our Turtle model!


I think this is when Jenny heard us "boo-ing"....oops, I meant "cheering"! And by "us" that is Jeff, Hans and the other dudes in the picture but not me.

My EYES...My EYES!!! This was not the view that I wanted to see but apparently the guys next to me didn't mind. I told them Jenny was single but Jenny and Judy left after our race.

Needless to say our turtle did not win. In fact, all the turtle's looked alike so I couldn't even tell which turtle was ours. I just cheered until the announcer named the winning turtle. Good times.

Hans 40ths Birthday - Turtle Racing Part I

Happy Belated 40th Birthday to Hans!! So I asked what Hans wanted to do for his 40th birthday and he told me that he has never been to the Turtle Races at Brennans Irish Pub. I had never been as well so we headed out there to see and experience Turtle racing.

We got to the bar around 8ish and had to wait until 10ish for the turtle races.

This was the most I drank in quite some time. Ugh...it is a sausage festival in this picture:



Jenny and Hans:

Man if this hasn't been YEARS in the making. I haven't been out drinking with Judy in years...maybe 10-12 years.

Hans with his relatives Tiffany and Jeff:

Welcome back...

Sascha was in town last weekend and for the first time in a long time we were all able to get together for happy hour.

JT with Dan and Payal:



JT with Oscar and Sascha....the gay couple pose:

Oscar and new daddy Stewart:

JT with Payal and Jane:

Oops, I just realized that Jeff and his wife came...but after we took pics so no pics of Jeff and Jennifer. Also, Olu and his wife came...except his wife went into labor so they headed off to the hospital.

Guest Quarters...

Aya went out to Tustin to visit her family. My mother inlaw sold her mansion in Fullerton and moved into business apartments until she finds a house she wants to buy.

When JT got to the new apartments he looked around and then said, "Obachans house....so small." "Where is the old house?"

HAHHAHA!! I told Aya her parents house was a mansion and now JT agrees with me! The patio overlooks the golf course:

JT and Obachan:
JT, Noriko, Su:
See, I am not the only one that makes funny faces or is a bad influence!

Last Day...

Friday was my last day at Universal Music Group. Looking back it was a good engagement. I stayed a little longer than I had hoped but I had a great time. I am going to miss the Friday product meetings where we watched new music video's and artists came in to sing live. UMG was almost like working for the government because everything is so political and things get done so slowly.

In any case, I am off to start my new job on Monday. Unfortunately it will be in Pasadena and Aya and I will not be able to carpool. Aya leaves the house around 5:00 am and I leave around 6:30 am. I can't leave any earlier and Aya can't leave any later so looks like we both have the same long sucky commute.

Normally I bring my lunch to work but for the past 2 weeks I have been going out to lunch and saying my goodbye's. Sophia bought me lunch at Porto's but told me that JT needed to have his own dessert. I promised her pictures in return:

I thought it was just a chocolate bundt cake but it had chocolate mousse inside as well. After a few bites I took it away or else JT wouldn't have slept for days...can you say sugar rush??!!

The Dark Knight...

I guess the 4th time is the charm! Aya has been busy lately so we could never commit on making a movie showtime so we could not buy tickets in advance. Three times we went spur of the moment and three times the shows were all sold out.

I think Aya and I were like the LAST people to see the Dark Knight. So far I felt Iron Man was the best movie of the summer but now I am knocking Iron Man to the #2 position and sticking Batman as the #1 movie. This movie was great!

Yes, I am a Batman fan...so I could be a little biased. Even as a Batman fan when I heard Heath Ledger was the Joker I though "uh-oh" this won't be good. In fact, I flashed back to the Batman with Clooney, Arnold, Tommy Lee Jones...horrible. On the other hand, Aya was all happy that Heath Ledger was picked as Batman.

I gotta say Heath Ledger was GREAT as the Joker. Heath made the movie. I didn't care that Heath died....now I am just sad because he can't reprise his role as the Joker.

This was the first time since the movie HEAT where I rooted for the villain.

Los Doo-yers

Man, it has been a long time coming but I was excited to watch Dodger baseball this weekend. On Friday, I had to be home to watch Manny's first at bat. Even though he grounded out, it was still electric for me to watch him because he has the ability to get a hit at any at bat.

Even though he grounded out in a double play to end the game Friday he came up as the winning run and you at least believed and hoped he would hit a homerun. Normally the Dodger have no power so you never think they will ever hit a homerun!

Yes, I know Manny doesn't play defense...or run out ground balls...pushes around team officials...not a great team mate....but he does H-I-T the ball. At least the Dodgers have him for the next few months in a contract year so I think he won't cause that many problems.

The Dodgers will still be the weakest team in the NL but hopefully they can win the division and once in the playoffs...hey anything can happen, right?!

Online poker...

I like playing poker...but I suck at it. I am impatient, I have a million 'tells', I don't like to bet/lose my money, I have a mild case of A.D.D....oh, did I mention I was impatient?

Well, I discovered online poker is well suited for me. I can play multiple hands at a time. The action is fast because I am playing various hands. No one can see me so my tells aren't obvious. Plus, no one stalls to bluff because there is a time limit when it is your turn. Also you sign up and deposit money so it doesn't 'feel' like real money when you play.

I decided to give it a go and wouldn't you know it...I am decent playing online poker. Unfortunately playing is very addictive. I can play when I want...for as short/long as I want. I even entered a tournament. Out of 350,000 players, I came in 2,014th place.

After about a month of playing and losing...I have decided that while fun, I can think of better ways to spend my money. When does Fantasy Football season start??

What's the G14....

Today I resigned my position from Universal Music Group. I had only planned to come for a year but I ened up staying for 19 months.

It's been a nice little stint but now I am happy to be moving on to something new. I am actually not taking a full time position but I will be an active participant in the company that I started with 4 other friends....www.2finity.com

I will start my first 2finity contract gig in two weeks!! It will be a short 3 month contract. It may go a little longer but actually hoping it finishes on time and then I will be off the rest of 2008. Hopefully I will get a new gig in early 2009....but if I don't I can lounge like a lizard at home!

G14 News....

So today is the big day....check back at 3:30 for details. =)