Damien Rice 9

Go buy this today - you will not be disappointed.

Side note: The artwork on this CD is really cool so I would suggest buying it at retail vs. downloading it online. :)

Not So Much...

Yeah, I don't really think that I look like these people. Do you?!

For Your Consideration

For Your Consideration

I'm counting down the days until this little jem arrives in theatres.

Break Out The Vino

This post is coming a bit late but here are some fun photos from Wine Down Main Street in Franklin, TN. It's always a blast walking around with friends, perusing shops, and sipping on various wines.
We were all enjoying our wine until we discovered this lady and her table full of liquor. Then it all went downhill. I think this might have been the hot apple pie shot, an amarula shot (so, so good) and of course my glass of wine:

They say a photo is worth a thousand words and I'd have to agree:
The night ended with us all going back to the house, smoking cigars and singing karaoke. A fun night was had by all. Next up? Feile Franklin in March. I think that should give us all enough time to recover....

Halloween Snap Shots

Halloween was a success again this year...here are some more photos:

The second party I went to was John & Carol's annual Halloween throwdown. Here are the highlights:

We drank - a lot. (mmm..pumpkin shots!)
We smoked cigars: We sang metal karaoke: We covered our heads with newspaper for The Rocky Horror Picture Show: And this is one of my favorite shots. The morning after - all of the liquor bottles on one side of the stove and the aspirin bottle on the opposite side. Then on Halloween night I headed to East Nashville to celebrate with another group of friends:

Smurfette & the Green Lantern:
The Pirate and the Mime:

I must admit, the Smurfette costume was a success. However, if one more person starts singing the theme song to me or asks me how Papa Smurf is in bed - I'm gonna punch'em. One other thing, I was told by several men that Smurfette was their first crush - I never would have guess that one.

Next year I vow to come up with a costume that does not require paint. It was fun while it lasted but I'm over it.

Happy Halloween!

Two Halloween Parties down - one to go!

Party #1 - Dead Bride
Party #2: Smurfette

Judging from these photos - I would say that blondes have more fun!

More photos to come soon...

Hawaii - The Rest of the Story (short version)

In an effort to save time, I'm going to give you the bullet points on the rest of the Hawaii trip.

Jenny and I tried to act as if we were both fine and healthy - even going out for dinner & drinks at Tiki's on Waikiki. A Jamaican lady selling jewelry did a photo shoot for us (no lie) with the Tiki statue.

And we were given the standard Orchids to decorate our hair....

That night (along with all the others) I was in bed by 9pm only to wake at 1.30 with the realization that I could not fly to Maui the next day due to pressure in my head/ears. I called my boss and cried. It was embarrassing and after he realized that I was not in jail he was sympathetic. Though I'm sure I'm going to be teased forever about getting "sick" in Hawaii...

Jenny was also feeling ill so first thing on Wednesday morning we made a trip to 'Doctors On Call'. This is me checking in:

Jenny had bad serious sinus problems (dang VOG!) and I was apparently worse off. They gave me a shot and over $100 worth of prescriptions. I spent the next couple of days trying to rest but it obviously did not work. When it came time for me to fly home I felt as though my head was going to explode then I spent all weekend in bed.

But alas, we survived everything (including almost drowning from laughing so hard when we crashed jumping into the swimming pool) and we made it home safe and sound. We made some great memories and managed to have an amazing time despite everything that happened.

I can hardly wait to see what happens on our trip back to Hawaii in March...

Hawaii - The first 12 hours

So I'm sitting on my flight from The OC to Honolulu and I hear this announcement:

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We've just been informed that there has been a 6.8 magnitude earthquake off the island of Kona. At this point, we are going to continue on with the flight but be advised that some of the aftershocks have affected the island of Oahu. We'll keep you posted as we get more information."

This is how my trip to Hawaii started out last Sunday. My friend Jenny and I were so excited about our trip. I was going to work during the day and then we were going to hang out at night. Little did I know that this was just the beginning of the "best worst" trip ever!

My flight landed in Honolulu at noon and we were informed that the entire island of Oahu was without power. That's right - the ENTIRE island. Have you ever been in an airport that didn't have electricity? It was kind of odd. Luckily we were one of the first flights in and we were able to get the stairs so that we could get off the plane quickly. Next was the walk across the tarmac and into the dark and hot terminal. It was the strangest feeling of being cut off from the rest of the world. We were in the midst of a major disaster and had no means of connecting to the news. When I finally made it down to the baggage claim area it was chaos. The airline employees had to carry our bags in one at a time and line them up in a row for us to claim. It took forever but luckily everyone was patient. Here is what the baggage claim area looked like:

Next task was to pick up the rental car. With the computer systems down the attendants had to write out everything on carbon copy paper. No problems and I headed out to the hotel. It was almost surreal driving down the streets and seeing everything closed down. Since there wasn't electricity, the stoplights weren't working. It's amazing how reckless people can drive and how many people don't treat intersections as a 4 way stop when the lights are out.

Luckily when I got to the hotel I was able to check in. Room 856...the infamous 856! The room was awful and its safe to say that we will not be staying there again. The computers & elevators were working on a backup generator but there was no power in the rooms so I got a GLOWSTICK. Yup, the bright green kind that kids walk around with on Halloween. Exciting, huh?

Jenny finally arrived around 5 but all remaining flights into and out of Honolulu had been cancelled. While I was circling the airport to get her the power had come back on and people were clapping, whistling and cheering. She was lucky enough to get her bag from the carousel and didn't have to go through the same ordeal that I had been through.

So we headed back to the hotel and on the way I got screamed at by a traffic cop. This is what happened - he was waving the people in the left turn lane to go and dropped his arm down to his side and it looked like he was waving me forward. No so. I realized my error and stopped but it was too late. The dude flipped out and came charging towards the car. When I rolled down my window he started shouting at me and I couldn't even get a word out. Instead we just had to sit there listening to him chew me out and then when he was finished he made us sit and wait at the intersection for 5 minutes. No lie - he was a total ass.

So Jenny & I get back to the hotel and we decide that we needed to find some food for dinner. The only restaurant in Waikiki that was open had a 2 & 1/2 hour wait for a salad bar. Not willing to wait around for that long we decided to head out to see what else we could find. We hit up a couple of other places with no luck and then we found Harry's Market. The place was sold out of food but we were able to pick up some water & candles and our new friend Harry hooked us up with pop cans for candle holders. Then we found a gift store where they were letting people in one at a time to buy supplies. The stores were lit by employees carrying flashlights and everything was bought on a cash only basis. We were able to get some crackers, cheese (that was on ice), wine, sunchips and pop tarts. It was the most random snack crap that you could imagine but it was better than nothing. I had a great photo of the candlelight/glowstick dinner but for some reason it won't let me load it...

By this point it was after 10pm and much to our surprise the power came on. Everyone was on their balconies and we all clapped, cheered, whistled, etc for the power. It makes you realize how much you take it for granted when you don't have it. It also makes you realize that there is absolutely nothing to do on Oahu when you have no power...

I later found out from one of my accounts that this was the worst power outage in the history of Oahu. Why does that not surprise me? I've now made history...

Well, that's the first day - I have so much more to tell but must get some rest before an early morning flight tomorrow. More coming soon....

Shake It Like An Earthquake

For anyone who may be curious - I am still alive.

I survived Sundays 6.6 earthquake on the island of Kona. The impact of the quake and the aftershocks hit the island of Oahu hard but we are safe. We are in a state that has been declared a statewide emergency . We are under flood and landslide warnings. We are having one heck of an adventure.

Many stories to come....stay tuned!

I Am One In A Million

So about a month ago I discovered some broken spokes on my bike. How this happens, I have no clue. What I do know is that the cost to repair a spoke is obscene. A spoke costs $0.75 but the labor to replace the spoke is $35. Insane...

I bit the bullet and took my bike in for repairs and was pleasantly surprised when I found that the tires were under warranty therefore replaced for free. Sweet!

The reason for the broken spokes? Defective. That's right, I was told that 1 million bicycles were sent out with defective spokes and I just happened to buy one of them. Guess this is proof that I really am "one in a million"!

Now if I could only turn that luck around and use it towards winning the lotto.....

"The Ozzy" ... Too Hot To Handle

It was another busy weekend is So Cal. On Friday night it was drinks, dinner and good conversation at a local Peruvian restaurant. It was my first time trying this kind of food and it was good but odd to have rice and potatoes at the same time. As for the drinks, they went down far too easily...

Saturday was another new experience. I headed up to LA with every intention of checking out The Brewery Art Walk but those plans were soon thrown out the window. Instead, we went for a totally random tour of LA.

First off, I was introduced to Pink's on La Brea in LA.

Pink's is a family run hot dog stand that has been in the same location since 1939. It's become a local favorite and people stand in line for hours waiting to get one of their famous dogs. (Think Pancake Pantry for you folks in Nashville) We got lucky and found the line "reasonably short" and only had to wait about 45 minutes. I was thankful for the wait because it gave me time to figure out what the heck I was going to order. Everything on the menu had some weird twist to it - mayonnaise & bacon or horshradish & guacamole...you get the idea. Most of them are also named after celebrities that frequent the restaurant.

I was urged to try something out of the norm so I went for the "Ozzy Osbourne Dog". The description is enough to churn your stomach - check it out: Spicy Polish dog, nacho cheese, American cheese, grilled onions, guacamole & chopped tomatoes. Obviously I didn't realize what I was getting myself into when this picture was taken.

When they said "spicy" I think they really meant to say "hell fire". Not quite what I was expecting. I am a total wuss and gave up about half way through. The whole experience was pretty hilarious.

Next we headed over to the La Brea Tar Pits. It was too dark for any photos but we got to see (and smell) the bubbling tar. It certainly looks interesting and I think I'll go back and check out the museum when I get a chance.

We then headed over to the Farmers Market - which was closing down - so we walked over to The Grove. Barnes n' Nobles was the only store open so we browsed the books & I hit up the music section. I forget how expensive their CD's are...yikes! I've been searching for the Amelie soundtrack so instead of paying $19 for it I decided to run by Amoeba Music. Unfortunately, it had gotten a bit too late and we arrived just in time to see them close the doors. Bummer.

It was a fun night but after the drive back to the OC it was nearly 2am and my tummy ached. It was a fun and totally random night but I think it's safe to say that "The Ozzy" and I will never meet again....

Autumn In Minnesota

Aside from the whole lost luggage issue on my trip home, I had an amazing time. The trees were in the process of changing colors and it was simply gorgeous.



The weekend was jam packed and on one of our trips out we hit up the apple orchards. I love going to the orchards because it brings back great memories from when I was a kid. We picked up a bunch of apples (yumm!), some apple cider & these pumpkins. Believe it or not, we carved these ourselves! Pretty impressive, huh?

On Saturday night we had a bunch of family members over to play games and I kicked butt playing NERTZ. We had a blast and I think that half of that was due to watching my dad get frustrated when he couldn't win.

A very nice treat was when my mom surprised me with a 1 hour massage. She knows what a fan I am of a good massage and it was just what I needed to really get relaxed.

I also spent a lot of time just enjoying the fall colors. On one of my trips out on the quad I ran across a field that was covered with bright yellow wildflowers. Thankfully, I took the time to stop and just watch in amazement the beauty of a million wildflowers dancing in the breeze.

Here is one last fall photo for you of a little park that is near my grandmothers nursing home. Seriously, how cute is that?!

US Air - How I Hate Thee

Let me count the ways...

I flew into Minneapolis/St. Paul on Friday night but instead of coming with me; my bag went to Kansas City. When I realized that my bag was not coming down the belt I went to file a claim for delayed luggage. After all, a bag that looks like this is not hard to miss:

So I asked for money to buy a toothbrush, etc. but my request was denied. Instead I got this:

I nearly laughed in her face and asked her if she was joking when she laid it on the counter. To my dismay she was not kidding and sent me on my way. I was told that they do not issue money for clothes until the second day of a lost bag. Even then you only get a $25 allowance - do these people realize how unrealistic that is? Trying to suppress my anger, I left confident that I would get my bag the next day.

On Saturday I called the claims 800 number and discovered that the agent who filed my claim has messed up all of my contact information - wrong cell number, home number and address of where I was staying in Minnesota. The agent on the phone and I updated everything and I was asked to call back because they didn't know where the bag was - seriously - it could be anywhere in the U.S.

So on my second call I get a hold of an agent who told me that the bag arrived from Kansas City and that someone ("we don't know who" were the exact words) would deliver my bag by 9pm. No such luck. I called back at 9.30 and was assured that another company picked it up and it was on the way and was guaranteed to arrive by midnight. Again, no bag. I'm pissed and I'm tired of wearing my moms clothes (I had NO time to shop).

On Sunday morning I was able to contact someone at the airport. The agent explains that they had the bag and that it had never gone out for delivery the prior day. At this point I am furious. The company that the agent on the phone told me about DOES NOT EXIST and he flat out LIED to me. What the hell!?! The cherry on top was the fact there was NO record of my previous phone calls from Saturday. Argh...

When it was all said and done I got my bag on Sunday night (just in time for me to fly home basically). Not to mention that when the bag finally arrived it was filthy. It was worse than my previous suitcase that had seen foreign countries and nearly all of the United States. I understand that bags get dirty but this was just ridiculous.

So, US Air will be getting an unpleasant letter from me this week...

I failed to mention that I had used a travel voucher from a previous flight that they screwed up on. They cancelled my flight to LAX and left me stranded in Phoenix for a night.

Way to go US Air/America West - you're currently at 100% error rate. Congratulations!

Delightfully Tacky - The Madonna Inn

Every once in awhile I get to stay in some pretty unique places including this one: The Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo, CA. Unfortunately, I failed to get a good shot of the outside of the hotel so you'll have to click on the link to see it in all of it's glory!

Each room in this unique hotel has a different theme: golf, caves, waterfalls, flowers, etc. Anything you could imagine probably exists in some distorted fashion at this hotel. My room for the night was the Floral Fantasy Suite and it certainly lived up to its name. Check it out:

Gotta love the red leather arm chair:


And then there is the restroom (note the floor tiles):

The entire night I wasn't really sure how to feel about my surroundings. I found it humorous but slightly disturbing at the same time. I mean, who really designs stuff like this!?

To get a feel for the other rooms that are available; check out some of these links: The Buffalo Room, The Caveman Room, and The Love Nest . Each room has a personality of its own and each one delightfully tacky.

Before I checked out I was told that I had to see the most famous part of the hotel: the "world famous" rock waterfall urinal . Check it out:

In my opinion; you can dress it up however you want to but it still smells like a urinal!

One interesting thing that I've just discovered is that The Madonna Inn was liked as the #10 Quirkiest Hotels in the world by tripadvisor.com. Of the ten hotels listed, only 2 of them were located in the United States. Guess I know how to pick'em!

Crazy Man 1, 2 & 3 - All In A Friday Night

This weekend was jam packed! So of course I have a story or two to tell...

Lets start with Friday night when I got a flat tire. Just my luck! So I'm in the alley behind my house emptying out my trunk so that the guy from AAA could get to the spare (more to come on this later). All of the sudden, Crazy Man #1 walks into the alley and decides to start up a conversation with me. Here are some of the highlights:

• He had just come from Brad Nowell's (Sublime) gravesite where he poured out baccardi, burned a joint, and snubbed out a cigarette on his tombstone - all in remberance of him. Not to mention, he cussed him out for "leaving us too early". I got the full play by play reenactment of this. Including him singing a Sublime song and playing air guitar. Amazing!
• He then invited me to Tommy's house on 17th Street. Since I didn't know him he thought that I might know Jimmy over on 14th. Negative...but that shouldn't stop me from heading over to Tommy's for a "kick ass" house party.
• So then he introduces himself (I can't remember his name) but when I said Nicole he immediately started calling me "Niki". We are suddenly best friends...
• He leaves and then not even two minutes later runs back around the corner and I hear "Hey Niki! Wanna go shoot some pool across the street". Me: "Nah, I'm about to head out." Crazy Man says: "I'm not trying to pick you up, Niki. I got a girl down in Laguna - I just wanna shoot some pool". Me: "No worries but my friend and I are about to take off. See ya later." I wave goodbye and pray that crazy man doesn't break into my house.

So my friend and I come around to the front of my house and we see a guy sitting on the steps smoking a cigarette. I should mention that the man looked very similar to this:

I'm totally freaked out at this point because we just left Crazy Guy #1 only to encounter Crazy Guy #2 who is actually in my front yard! So I say hello and asked if he knew Keith (my neighbor). He says yes and then explains that he is just there to lift some weights and then he's going to leave. I should mention that my neighbor brought home a weight bench & set of weights about two weeks ago and my front yard now resembles a prison yard. He said that the weights are his attempt to get in shape because he's going through a mid-life crisis...no lie. I shake my head and say goodbye to Crazy Man #2.

After my friend and I get back to my place I decide to call AAA to have them change the tire. I could have done it myself but I've paid for AAA for 5 years and never used it so why not try it now? Enter Crazy Man #3 (from Mandic Motors - insert your own joke here). "Yon" was his name and the moment he steps out of the truck I realize that he is RIPPED! It takes him well over an hour to change one tire. By the time that he finished I was pissed because I could have changed it in 15 minutes and I'm not even the professional! Friday night ends and I am exhausted....

So Saturday rolls around and I spent the entire morning running errands - 2 new tires (argh!), oil changes, etc. It's amazing how much there is to do when you are gone for nearly two weeks! At around 2pm I headed to the beach to meet some friends for a volleyball tournament, cook out and campfire at night. So much fun! After the fire, I headed up to Hermosa Beach to visit David who was in town visiting from TN. It was a fun night as we headed downtown and hung out with his brother, sister-in-law & a couple of their friends. Much, much later that night (or morning) Dave and I got to meet an "enchanting" dog. Bet you can't say that you've met one of those....

Sunday was spent napping/relaxing at home and getting ready for the end of the month.

Hmm...I wonder what adventures will be in store for me this week!?

The Great Alaskan....

I think that this is hands down the best name for a strip joint that I have ever seen. Check it out:

In case you are wondering, this place really does exist and no I did not go inside to check it out.

Ayyyy, Matey!

Happy "Talk Like A Pirate Day" everyone!

Random, I know, but I ran across it on the internet and thought I would spread the word!


In honor of Talk Like A Pirate Day, I found the top 10 pick up lines for the fellas to use on this special occasion (courtesy of TLAPD website):

10 . Avast, me proud beauty! Wanna know why my Roger is so Jolly?
9. Have ya ever met a man with a real yardarm?
8. Come on up and see me urchins.
7. Yes, that is a hornpipe in my pocket and I am happy to see you.
6. I'd love to drop anchor in your lagoon.
5. Pardon me, but would ya mind if fired me cannon through your porthole?
4. How'd you like to scrape the barnacles off of me rudder?
3. Ya know, darlinÂ’, IÂ’m 97 percent chum free.
2. Well blow me down?
And the number one pickup line for use on International Talk Like a Pirate Day is Â…
1. Prepare to be boarded.

Suck It Up! Boba Tea Co.

Quite the catch line, isn't it?

Last week I found myself in Albuquerque and as always, I had to find something that had a local feel to it. Enter Boba Tea Company. It came highly recommended by a guy that I knew so I figured it was safe. Apparently, Boba Tea Co. is local to the city and offers a unique drink of boba tea. What is boba tea, you ask? Here is the description he gave me: it is tea with balls of tapioca in the bottom of the cup that you suck up through a big straw. Pretty accurate, if you ask me.

Here is what a normal glass of Passion Black Tea w/Boba looks like:


The tea by itself was good. The balls on the other hand took a while to get used to. Check 'em out:

Not only did it feel like you were sucking up a gummy bear through a straw the size of your pinky; but they had kind of a gross aftertaste. I guess that I ordered the wrong drink beacuse it wasn't very good. Guess I'll have to try it again on the next trip...gulp!

My First CA Wildfire

My favorite part of the drive on I-5 North is going by Pyramid Lake. Unfortunately, on my drive earlier this week I saw that a wildfire had broken out in the forest surrounding the lake. Check it out:

Shortly after taking this photo I came around to the back side of the mountain that was completely engulfed with wildfire and smoke. I counted 4 helicopters circling the skies and saw numerous fire trucks en route to the blaze.

One odd thing I noticed is that they have a sign up when you enter the forest saying "Chance of wildfire is "HIGH" today". Ya think?!

Hawaiian Hostels & Broken Showers

One of the great perks of my job is that I get paid to go to Hawaii. That's right - they PAY ME to go to one of the most beautiful places on earth and I love it. The following story is something that could only happen to me ... enjoy.

This past fall I went to Hawaii for work but extended my stay for a few days of vacation. Unwilling to pay $200 a night for a hotel; I decided to check into the local hostel. For the first night I was booked in the dorms. It looks just like it sounds, one room with 2 bunk beds and a bathroom in it. There were three other people already checked into the room but they weren't there so I took this as an opportunity to take a nice, hot shower. It had been a long day and I was exhausted, sunburned and I smelled like sunscreen.

The shower looked a bit sketchy but I wasn't worried because, after all, what could happen? So I jumped in wearing nothing but my flip flops and cranked on the hot water. I waited for a moment but it wasn't hot so I give it another turn. Still cold. I look at it a bit closer and think that maybe the pipe coming from the wall is spinning so I decided to hold that steady and turn the nozzle one last time. Big mistake...

The nozzle (including the pipe that I was holding) comes flying out of the wall and a constant jet stream of water is shooting out of the wall where the nozzle once was. Now, when I say a "jet stream" I am not kidding. Water is shooting out so hard that it is hitting the back wall of the shower! My first reaction was just to laugh because seriously, who else would this happen to!?

So after I died laughing, I decided that I should try to fix this thing. My first approach was to shove the pipe and nozzle back into the wall but of course that didn't work. I only managed to spray water everywhere. Next, I decided to shut off water to the toilet and sink - after all maye I would get lucky and they are somehow connected to the shower. No such luck. When all plans failed I decided to go for help.

I threw on my clothes and frantically bust out of the bathroom only to run into my new roommates. Mind you, I am seeing/meeting them for the first time ever. They happened to be a French girl (bi-lingual) and two French Canadian guys (who spoke zero English). I quickly tried to explain to her that the shower is broken and not to go in the bathroom. She, in turn, is trying to translate to the guys and it suddenly becomes a big fat lost in translation mess. Could this get any worse?

The lady working the counter (a college student from England) said she would come help me. Thinking that it was just a drip from the faucet she opened the door to the bathroom and proceeded to die laughing. She said "there is no way in Hell that i can fix this" and left to get some "real" help. The "real help" ended up being another college kid - who was doubling as the maintenance guy for the week while the real manager was on another island.

Long story short, the kid turned off so many water pipes that it messed up water pressure to the hostel. In all, 15 people came to my aid but none could fix the broken shower nor turn off the water so they ended up calling a real plumber who shut off the water supply to the entire hostel for the next 2 hours.

At the time, I was so embarrassed but I must admit that it was quite the ice breaker. We all ended up sitting around drinking beer and exchanging embarrassing stories for the rest of the night.

Ahh, the memories....