California Part 2

Tuesday, May 17
I met Josh for breakfast at Chez Nous, on Riverside Drive. They have really yummy breakfasts there. Josh and I had a good time catching up. He was going to Star Wars Wednesday whereas I was seeing it Thursday. After Josh, I have a bit of a blank on what I did. I ended up meeting Annie for lunch for more Mexican food. Yum. She and I talked a bit about the triathlon this year, training, my life in Vermont and guys. I went to the storage unit again to finish packing up the crap. I took it to Staples to have them ship through UPS. I had two boxes of clothes, shoes and one of framed pictures. The people at Staples were really unorganized and unprepared for shipping services, though they advertise they do that. It took me two hours there because I had to help them pack my pictures. I got insurance on them because I feared they would crack in shipping. I met up with Doug and had a good time hanging out with him.

Wednesday, May 18
I met up with Wendy Lane and Lucy for brunch at Marie Callendar’s in Marina del Rey. We were there for about three hours! It was great seeing them. Wendy is still doing catering and acting gigs now and then. Lucy is a barista at a car dealership part time and also getting acting gigs now and then. Though I spent most of the time filling them in on my life in Vermont, we had a great time chatting. I then drove over to my company’s offices in Manhattan Beach. Yes, they have offices in Manhattan Beach, so why am I not working there? The cost of living is quite a bit higher in CA than VT. On my salary, I would have to get a supplemental job or two to be able to afford living in CA. Also there isn’t much space in the Manhattan Beach office. Plus, the big enchilada and his fiancé live in LA about half of the time, Vermont the other half. This also happened to be the week they were also having a big sales meeting with all the sales dudes to make plans. I was curious to see the office. Though the view of the ocean is great, it is a really small office. We have about 30 people in the Vermont office, and I don’t see that we would all fit in Manhattan Beach. (I can’t imagine what they pay a month for office space. Sheesh!) I met one of the sales guys I have only spoken with on the phone. That was good. I had plans of working from the office, but as with the whole week, that didn’t happen. There wasn’t a computer available or Internet connection available. I headed back to the Valley in the early afternoon, after stopping by Jamba Juice. Yum. This whole trip is about food places I can’t get in Vermont. Have you noticed? I got to Doug’s house and got ready for dinner. I had planned on people meeting me at Zach’s Italian restaurant on Cahuenga/Ventura Blvd. They have really great food. I love their garlic rolls. I had a nice turn out – Phoebe, David, Michael, VeAnn, Doug, Steve K., Stacie, Bryan, Kirk and Jen. More people I really wanted to see but didn’t have time to have a one-to-one time with during the trip. It was fun and festive. Afterwards Michael and VeAnn joined us at Doug’s for the spa. Sweet! Such a SoCal thing to do.

Thursday, May 19 SITH DAY
The morning has totally escaped me, other than Carrie and family showing up earlier than expected. They had spent the four previous days between Disneyland and San Diego. We chatted for a bit and we sent Carrie’s family on their way. Doug, Carrie and I met up with Steve S., Pete, Sondi and Lee at the Arclight theater in Hollywood. (Note - Arclight theater is one of the best theaters to see a movie in Southern California. Not to be a theater snob, but ut is important to me to see certain movies in certain theaters because of sound or screen quality. I know, I know. People in places other than SoCal don't really care about movies. But I do.) More people I missed and was glad to see. Sondi is one of the only chicks I know who loves Star Wars as much as I do. I know that’s one of the things that attracted her to Pete. They have a little girl, Hazel, who is about two now. We met another friend of Doug’s and went into the big dome to see Star Wars, Episode III - Revenge of the Sith. It was MUCH better than the first two, but not as good as 4, 5 and even 6 (Ewoks excepted.) George, George, George. What are you thinking? At least some things were wrapped up to pull in Episode 4, but there was some pretty crappy dialogue. Hayden did a MUCH better job in this one than in the last one. (And he looked pretty hot, for an evil dude.) I liked what they did with Darth Vader. Nice and violent. How appropriate. I was pleasantly surprised that there was no Jar Jar and the goofiness was kept to a minimum. A little too much of Yoda. Good special effects. After the movie, Carrie had a headache, so we didn’t tour Hollywood. We drove up to Ventura and stayed with my mom (dad still out of town) and brother. We had a mini-birthday celebration and went to more Mexican food. Carrie had never had fajitas, so she tried them there. More yummy food. I love Californian Mexican food. Sigh. After dinner and the mini-birthday, Carrie and I played a Zombie game Bob had given me. In the morning, we went to the beach to the Channel Islands Center. I could have stayed there forever. I love the beach. That is one of the top five things I miss most about California. I am glad to be close to Champlain Lake, but it isn’t the same. Being at the beach, sand in my toes, wind in my hair with the sound of the waves crashing upon the shore is as perfect as it can get for me. (Having a stud/surfer dude by my side would have made it even better….) Carrie and I had lunch with mom in the Marina Harbor Village and then we hit the road for LA. We didn’t have much time to see Hollywood because we had stayed in Ventura too long. But Carrie did get to see the gaudy shops, stars on Hollywood Blvd., and the hand/feet prints. We headed to Santa Monica through Beverly Hills, so Carrie could see Rodeo Drive. We met up with her family at about 8:30 for a really, really late dinner at PF Chang’s on 3rd Street Promenade. I love that place too. In Burlington, there is a place that is rather similar, called Church Street. Dinner was fun. Carrie’s family hadn’t ever had the chicken in lettuce as well as a couple of other items. We had a really nice dinner and I passed them back Carrie. I headed up to Ventura again to spend Saturday with my mom. I think I got in at about 11:30 and crawled into bed. So much running around all week left me really tired.