Mexi-yucky

For the third year, I rode the 50-miles between Rosarito and Ensenada in Mexico. It is one of my most favorite rides and it always a great time! Here are some of my pictures.

The place we stayed in came highly recommended but turned out to be highly, and disgustingly disappointing. This is the shot under the bed I slept on. Dead moths everywhere. Yuck.

We took our time getting to the start line. We were a half hour late...but whatevs. We took 1st through 6th place anyway. We are hardcore...as you can see.

The bathroom door was see through. We made it not see through.

Finally, in the third year, I got a picture of this massive JC (the large statue on the hill behind me).

Aside from the see-through door, the next best part of our trip was our fireworks extravaganza! This is my first time lighting off bottle rockets. It pretty much rocked. Note to novices: don't try to fuse several bottle rockets together, it doesn't work so well and it is very scary.

These are our boys, Luke, Erik and John. They protected us from the banditos.

This was the view from the place we stayed. The inside was gross, but the outside was beautiful. From our window, we watched the ocean and on race morning, we even saw two dolphins making their way around. They even treated us to some jumping out of the water. It was so great!

My celebrity romance

My former roommate, Allison Martin, now Hansen, who used lived with me here in Los Angeles sent the following to me in an email with the Subject: It could have been you...

He acts like a child. She always makes him the bad guy. After less than a year of marriage, this is what it's come down to for Gary Coleman and Shannon Price.

While the 40-year-old Diff'rent Strokes star and his 22-year-old bride of eight months aren't getting a divorce, they will be airing this and other marital laundry on TV's Divorce Court, the Associated Press reports.

"If he doesn't get his way, he throws a temper tantrum like a 5-year-old does," Price complains, according to a transcript of the show obtained by the AP. "He like stomps the floor and yells, 'Meehhhh,' and starts throwing stuff around. He bashes his head in the wall, too."

Coleman counters that "the male is always the bad guy," but acknowledges he does have his demons.

"It's not her fault," he says. "I always feel like I have the weight of the world on my shoulders every day I get up. … There are days I don't even want to get up." – Mike Fleeman

Yup. It could have been me.

In 2002, I was working on a production shoot for Bette Midler's Tour. It was a one-day shoot in Hollywood and we had a very small crew. We were shooting in Judge Judy's courtroom, Bette Midler was present and as well, Gary Coleman was cast as the bailiff. By the way, before the shoot, we were explicitly told not to say, "Whachyu talkin' 'bout, Willis," to Gary. I was super bummed.

In the course of the day, I rubbed elbows with everyone on set and all of the crew and of course, with Bette and Gary. I can't remember what it was I was doing, but somehow, I found myself alone in the make-up room with Gary and in the course of our conversation, he asked for my phone number, which I gave to him. Why I gave it to him, I do not know, but to this day, I do not regret it.

Back in 2002, we still had land lines and answering machines. I can't tell you what a treat it was for my roommates and I to come home to messages from Gary, most of which exceeded the 2-minute limit on our machine. He talked about different things, but he mostly rambled on about how he couldn't leave his phone number because if he had to change his phone number one more time because of all the harassing phone calls he would likely receive from fans, he would blah, blah, blah. We loved crowding around the machine and re-playing the messages over and over again.

It was over the course of two months that he would call and leave messages and give the same explanation. He never really figured out that no one was home during the day...doy. But, finally, one miraculous day, he had apparently grown enough trust in my answering maching to leave his number, though very reluctantly...of which he explained in detail.

I eventually called him back one evening, but since I choose not to go on dates that start at 10 pm, I never actually went out with nor did anything with him. Ever since then, he's always held a small, very small, place in my heart.

My one celebrity romance. Ask him and he might deny it, believe me or do not, but I will say this, of all the people I could lie about, uh, why would I choose Gary Coleman? Though, it kind of does make for a better story! I know, I get all the good ones...I still have his number in my phone for anyone who wants it!

Single life...sigh...

This is for the married folk out there and for the single folk who can commiserate...

To give you an idea of what life is like for Singles in the church, here is a little glimpse into the array of activities I could have enjoyed recently:

- FHE: Book of Mormon Charades
- Ward Date Night
- Pajama Prom
- Green Jello Night
- Wardstock (Woodstock and if we will all recount what Woodstock was all about...)

That's what we, as near 30-year-olds are up to these days. Just thought I would make it known...

Lasik rocks.

Last November I got Lasik surgery and have never seen better! Of course, there were a few side effects the first couple of months after which included:

- the first night was tough and painful, but the next morning I was pain-free
- very minimal dry eye
- halos and rings during night time driving
- light sensitivity

It all wore off within a few months and I haven't seen better. It's the best thing I've done to myself.

In the last few days there has been a lot of hoop-la over the surgery and as one having had the surgery, I want to offer up my small opinion:

- 95% of people are completely satisfied post-op
- all surgical procedures have complications, and I agree, 5% is a number worthy of further investigation, but like I said, complications do arise in any procedure
- with any surgical procedure, there are risks
- lasik is not for everyone and the patient and the doctor should make an educated decision together as to whether or not the surgery is appropriate

I don't see the harm in the FDA looking into lasik and doing more research on long-term effects/potential consequences and patient eligibilty for the procedure, as it would likely be beneficial. But, I think lasik is getting a lot of unneccessary heat.

My favorite complaint was from a CNN online article. It made me laugh. Doy, dude. The decision was yours:

"Colin Dorrian was a college student when he was told he wasn't a good LASIK candidate, but went ahead anyway -- and his father, Gerald, described six years of eye pain and blurred vision before reading his son's suicide note to a Food and Drug Administration panel: "I can't and won't continue facing this horror.""

Um, you were told you were not a good candidate. Are you that surprised that you are having complications?

I have had great satisfaction with my lasik (which I got at quite the bargain) and I know lots of people who have had equal success. I only encourage people to do their research, know the risks, find a good doctor and take care of your eyes after the surgery is done.

Camping has never been more enjoyable! AND I can open my eyes in the water when I swim (before that, my contacts would have floated away)!

Roommate Benefits

My roommate plays the piano and every once in a while, she'll sit down and play in the apartment.

The few times I can get her to play when I'm home, I'll just chill in my luv sac while she plays pretty music. It's always a treat and it's usually on a Sunday. It's nice... It's only a snippet, but it's a nice snippet.

Separated at birth

Just an observation:

Elliott Yamin

and

Mr. Tumnus from "The Chronicles of Narnia"

I hope they find each other.

Puppies, not Mariah!

Today I watched the boringest show ever. Well, I Tivo'd through what I am guessing was the most boringest show ever.

Ever since the man-mom was on Oprah, I have had the show "season-passed" and I haven't bothered to take it off my hit list. Today, Oprah's guest was Mariah Carey and although I didn't really watch any of the show, even fast-forwarding through it bored me to near anger.

The information blurb on my DVR said that Oprah would be doing an update on a previous episode involving puppies, which was the only reason I even bothered zipping through the episode. Talk about a waste of my precious time! No puppies and too much of boring Mariah!

I couldn't even hear what they were saying and I was so not intrigued! Can you think of a more uninteresting celebrity than Mariah Carey? I challenge you. Please offer your suggestions. (Actually, I think I would add Ryan Seacrest to the list, though, not too long ago, I wanted to marry him...)

The focus of the show was two-fold: Mariah's new album and Mariah's weight-loss.

Mariah's new album is titled: "E=MC2" Well, that's a catchy title. I wonder how long she's been waiting to use that one? That must have come to her in epiphany form while she was putting on her leg warmers.

As for her weight-loss, I really can't give her too much credit. Yes, losing weight is very difficult and takes a lot of self-discipline. But anyone that has a cook and a live-in trainer with the added pressure of being in the spotlight, will lose weight, and a lot of it. Mariah was patting herself on the back just a bit too graciously.

I really do not know why I am ripping on Mariah. If she were a nice person and not so much of a diva, I probably wouldn't have much material to go on and no emotion to spur much of a platform. But, the fact that she thinks she's better than puppies is just an outrage to me. I don't stand for people like that.