So in the past month or so I have had this interesting thing happening with my eyes. I have a lazy left eye that has always been “turned off” and as a result has very poor vision since it never was used and did not develop. Last month for some reason, my brain decided to start processing imagery from this lazy eye. The result is I see in front of me as I always have and now I also see to the far left as well…it is a whole new experience. The sucky part is the images on the far left are a bit blurry as my eyes are totally different. My glasses do correct my left eye to the best possible, but it is still pretty sucky vision.

So today I went to see a specialist in this lazy eye thing and he did a lot of “hmmms” and “uh huhs” and then asked me to come back Monday afternoon to see a colleage of his. Did not seem to be alarmsing as anything life threatening, was just interested. I hope I don’t become a science experiment and hopefully will get some answer after the second visit!

I do find the surround vision intersting, but would prefer to be back to normal. Perhaps I will need to wear a pirate patch, agggrrrrhhh!

The title says it all. What could be better than learning the history of whiskey and tasting various whiskey? I volunteered at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural history today for the Natural History of Food series event as a whiskey pourer. Never done that before, it was fun. The hard part was measuring out just the tasting amount. The food was excellent as well and there were even some games of throwing heavy objects around. Whiskey was good, but I am definitely still a tequila fan.

Me and my bottle. Thanks Meridith for the photo.

Tonight, my Dad took me out to see Foreigner, a truely classic rock band at the Chumash Casino. If you tune into KTYD, you are bound to hear at least two of theirs songs at any moment in town. Such hits as Urgent, Hot Blooded, Jukebox Hero….yeah you know the good shit. Big hair was flying around and so was the crowd. We sat in the “rowdy” section at the back and had the cougar crew all around. At times I felt as if I was in a SNL sketch…I would hear quotes from the people around me, such as: “Oh, he so looked at me”, “Wow, his playing is dreamy”, “Mmm, mmmm, that hair is flowing nicely tonight”. Overall it was a fun concert and it is pretty amazing how many Foreigner songs you actuall hear every day!

I took a photo below, but turned out pretty crappy as I just had my cell phone camera.

My Dad and I took a trip down to what was once an Old West movie set town in Agoura Hills today called Paramount Ranch. It is about 76 miles from Santa Barbara and off of Kanan Rd. Quite a few classic old western movies have been filmed there including: “The Streets of Laredo” and “Gunsmoke”. Parmount Ranch was primarily used from 1920 - 1940 and still often used for tv series/commercials. The National Park Service took over Paramount Ranch in 1980 and reduced the actual movie set town quite a bit, but at least the land is preserved.

Paramount Ranch is not super popular as we were the only ones there but there was this really nice older volunteer that gave us a tour. He is there every Saturday from 9 - 2 and has a wealth of information including the game of guess which movie this set was shot in. He also has bucket loads of photos showing how one set can be changed for different movie needs. The only odd thing about him was he had this tiny dish of water on the ground and there were no dogs around. Perhaps it was for the lizards or squirrels.

Parmount Ranch Movie Sets, Click to View More

Tonight was our annual summer social event at work. Instead of the normal style of a picnic, our great staff reps put together something a bit different that many have never done before, a sunset cruise on Santa Barbara’s own Land Shark. It was a very fun adventure. Got picked up out front of the Museum and then headed down to the harbor where the vehicle drove right in. On the journey down, got many waves from random spectators…people can’t help but notice this giant boat vehicle heading down the street. Had some nature of sea lions in the harbor. After the sunset cruise, headed back up State street to the Museum. We had a two hour tour and did not end up on an uncharted island.

Heading to the Land Share, Click to View More

The last Nights! of the season at SBMA was awesome, ended with a bang as it should. The two nice features of the event were that it started at 7 PM instead of 5:30 and the entire plaza was used as an outdoor club with KCRW sponsored DJ Jason Bentley. Sauza was the alcohol sponsor for some good margaritas (not nearly as good as mine, but whateva). The crowd had a great time and there was a good vibe overall.

Video of Projection Effects:

The Gang (minus Chuck, taking photo):

Tim, Patricia, Myself, and Amy - Click to View More

OK, if you are in Vegas…you absolutely must see the Cirque du Soleil Beatles LOVE show at the Mirage. The entire show from entrance to exit is amazing. I knew it was going to be great when we got to the theater as the entrance way was fun and all the ushers were dressed in costume. Great Beatles music is also playing in the background to get you in the mood. Once inside, there are ladders moving around and projections. Then the show starts and they raise the bar so high you wonder how the rest of the show will go. Lets just say they kept setting the bar higher and higher during the show and ended it perfectly. The stage changes constantly with different set items flying in from top and bottom. Everybody in the audience was totally into it (young and old) and the show ended with imagery of the Beatles projected on hanging sheets.

We had the lower price tickets in the balcony, but they were perfect as you could see the entire stage. During one scene the whole stage level seats are covered with fabric…and it looks like a giant cloud floating. I still wonder what the audience saw under the fabric…hmmmmmm.

Entrance to LOVE, Click to See More

While in Vegas, I had to get this drink at Kahunaville. It is ridiculous and bubbles while smoking.

So here I am in Las Vegas again, a short month after the last trip. This time I am here with my buddy Amy from SBMNH for the Las Vegas Souvenir & Resort Gift Show. I know, what is an IT Manager doing at a gift show? Figured what the heck, might be fun to do something different. As a bonus to the trip, Tammy (another good friend) flew in from AZ to surprise Amy who has not seen her in about five years!

So here we all are in Vegas exploring souvenirs. To my surprise, the Fun Expo is also in the same convention center and it is a blast over there. Everything from carnival games, latest video games, bowling, video walls, etc. The highlight of the day was playing this new NASCAR video game where you sit in this roll cage type of car thing and compete with the other players (each has their own car). That was super fun until it caught on fire today. I guess it used too much electrity and caused an electrical fire in the floor of the convention hall, Ooooops!

Tonight we are all going to go see the Cirque du Soleil Beatles LOVE show at the Mirage. I am really looking forward to the show as I have wanted to see it forever! Then Friday is the long drive back home, another adventure ending.

Tammy, Myself, and Amy - Click to View More

On Labor Day, I decided that BBQ food sounded like a good idea. My buddy Chuck got a new VW Rabbit and wanted to go for a drive so off to San Luis Obispo we went. Drive was easy, parking was a bitch. I totally forgot change and lots of metered parking. Mo’s BBQ was damn good. They must be pretty popular as there are signs everywhere that you must order before grabbing a table. Wonder if there was ever a fight? BBQ fights can get messy I would imagine.

I went for the combo plate to try a bit of everything and that included bbq chicken, pork, and ribs. The ribs were awesome and they have about six different bbq sauces. They also have great cornbread muffins.

The highlight of the whole Mo’s experience has to be their order numbers. You order at the register and then sit down so they can bring you your food. You must see to believe…