"Chicken Feet For the Soul"; 07.24.11

@ Yoshinoya by USC after the mixer

Hooters' owl getting down!

B's old co-worker Scott called Thursday because his company has a booth at the Annual LA Mixer, and he has extra tickets for us.  Scott, knowing B sells Herbalife, thought he would appreciate the networking opportunities B can get out of tonight.  So we drove to the Shrine Auditorium by USC.  This place is not for dogs.  There were chambers of commerce for the local cities such as Carson, Huntington Park, even Beverly Hills.  The Camarillo shopping outlet were there, and there's restaurants, sign and advertising companies, etc. 

The ones that stuck to me are the free seminar for Futures, and a Latino Business Community networking event that's coming up next month.  B and I may go to both.  One for me to learn futures trading, and one for him to network in his sales demographic because of our home's location.  The free food are Hooter's wings, a Mexican, Peruvian restaurant, and someone that made couscous with raspberries. 

Couscous.  Food so nice, they named it twice. 

His old coworkers were very happy to see B, and lamented on his weight loss.  I am so proud of him. 

Sales is a hard gig, and as much as B loves people and selling, I am glad that his career at his lab company is going well.  But after business hours, we can concentrate on the Herbalife business on the side, and make the most of this opportunity that B is SO EXTREMELY EXCITED about, and I am very happy for him.  He's lost close to 30 pounds, and he's got a pretty good client base so far.  They are also making great progress.  Some lost 14 pounds, some are losing a few pounds here and there by eating healthier, but to date, B is his own success story.  He's excited to expand a little bit more.  So networking events such as these are crucial to B's business.

Chicken feet!  Good to eat!  I've had B try chicken feet 3 years ago, so I figured we'd do it again Friday night.  So off we went to CBS Seafood in Chinatown.  I have purchased a $25 gift certificate from Restaurant.com for $3, so we got a good deal.  But with a minimum order of $50, we need to bring friends here next time, since $50 buys a T-O-N of food here.  We ate like a pig, including duck, which I am happy B let me eat in front of him, because he would not touch it with a 10-foot pole.  Since it's all indoors, no doggies are allowed in this place.

B and I hardly go out to eat, but when we do, I try to find something through restaurant.com.  Unlike Groupon or Living Social, Restaurant.com does not require you to purchase something up front, except for the $2-$3 of the $25 gift certificates.  And it does not expire.  So the flexibilty is there for you to go whenever you want. 

This weekend is all about B's birthday week.  Saturday, we met up with D, Mike, Mai, Melissa and Nunu to celebrate B's day @ C & O Trattoria, one of B's favorite Italian restaurant because of those addictive garlic and their 8pm "That's Amore!" sing-along.  This place is not dog-friendly, albeit the semi-enclosed outdoor patio thing. 

Exhausted!

The lab to the right loved Tico

What a pretty dog! So sad...

Pretty husky!

Sunday, we took Tico to the Redondo Beach Dog Park for a nice run.  The weather changed off and on throughout the day, so I did not want to take a chance in driving 45 minutes away to Huntington Beach just to find out it will be overcast when we get there.  I saw a couple of "lost dog" signs posted in the park.  Poor dogs.  They were very cute too.  This is why I don't let Tico get out of my sight.  For other people's protection since he's a larger dog that most, and for my own benefit too.  I would go crazy if we lose him.

Picante cream sauce with seafood - so good!

We went out again with Frank and Josie and visited Inka Wasi, a peruvian place that is a lower scale offering from the same owner of El Pollo Inka.  I got this Mariscos Picante that is just heavenly yummy with this spicy cream sauce.  B got a Chaufa, their version of fried rice.  The seasoning is just nothing that I've had.  Frank and Josie enjoyed their Lomo Saltado a lot.  I found them online via Restaurant.com, and got their $25 off coupon again.  It's in Peninsula Center in Palos Verdes, off of Silver Spur and Hawthorne, in a mall, and across from La Salsa, so parking is free.  To get there, you take the Anaheim exit off of the 110 South, and left on Palos Verdes North, left on Crenshaw, and right on Silver Spur.  They have a patio area, and it's a you pay as you order type thing, much like La Salsa.  They do have a patio area, so there's a spot for you to dine with your dog on the other side of the fence, if not; the open food court is just right outside the door.   

I love the weekends.  It's a time to relax, and a time to enjoy spending time with friends, family, and of course, the boys.  As much as the boys drive me crazy and I make them insane, we love hanging out together.  Some parts of the weekend we did some yard\chore\errands, but the rest of the weekend was spent easy-breezy.

Easy like Sunday morning.

"Much Ado About Nothing",HBDB; 07.17.11

Shakespeare by the Sea is one of my favorite LA summertime events.  I look forward to it every time.  The group provides free plays at public parks all around LA.  I started getting into it about 5 years ago.  So far, I have seen "Othello", "Midsummer Night's Dream", "Twelfth Night", "Julius Caesar", and Friday night, we have seen "King Lear".  They are also doing Much Ado About Nothing", but I've already seen it last year by another group.  We may still check it out, but we'll see.  Friday night they had it at Polliwog Park, a dog-friendly park in the city of Manhattan Beach.  It's a large, 18-acre park with gazebos, a basketball court, a pool, a disc golf course, a botanical garden, an ampitheatre (where the play took place), and a huge pond.  The address is 1601 Manhattan Beach Blvd., just take the Rosecrans exit off of the 405 freeway, and make a left on Aviation, and left on Manhattan Beach Blvd.  SBTS is an outdoor event, so dogs are allowed.  Just be sure that they are trained to sit still and be quiet for other's enjoyment consideration.  Being a young dog, we can't fully depend on Tico to do just that for the entire show, so we leave him home for these things for the time being.

Shakespeare by the Sea, or SBTS, take donations.  Their actors get paid through these donations, and their program declared that it cost about $7K for each night that they perform, and they will be performing 41 times this summer all over LA.  Their main place is at Point Fermin in San Pedro, but I've seen them perform in Torrance, South Pasadena, and of course, Manhattan Beach.  They also perform down to Laguna Niguel, Altadena, and Whittier, among the 20+ places they go to.       

Friday, I put together what I can find around the kitchen; 4 Guilliano's bread rolls with ham cold cut, and leftover Genoa salami from Guilliano's, and mayo, mustard and spinach for fillers.  I also made a rotini pasta with leftover italian sausage with leftover sundried-tomato cream sauce.  And with a white merlot I purchased from Sutter's Winery in Temecula, as well as a bunch of apricot slices, we had a nice spread to enjoy the play with.  The park has a public restroom a few yards to the right of the ampitheatre.  Parking is all over, we found one just across the street from the park.

B in the red shirt!

We have a case of the lazy Saturdays.  It's carmaggedon weekend, where the 405, one of LA's busiest freeways are going to be shut down, between the 10 and the 101 freeways.  This is a major LA artery; so it will not be pretty to get stuck from the after effect of getting this freeway shut down.  Some of our friends found this as a great excuse to get out of town and take a mini-vacation, but alas, we don't gots no money.  So the boys and I just did some minor yardwork around the house for the most part on Saturday.  Tico was exhausted hanging out in the backyard helping us clean up.



But it's "Office Space" night at the Outdoor Cinema Food Fest (OCFF).  This time, they held it at Grand Hope Park in Downtown LA, right next to FIDM, the fashion school.  While OCFF is dog-friendly, Grand Hope Park is not.  There are ample street parking, but we managed to get a flat parking for $5 a block north of the park.  Porta-potties are not my favorite restroom things, but you gots to do what you gots to do.  B went all out tonight and brought real wine glasses, forks, plates, brought the chicken pasta with the 20-pound-heavy casserole dish, and we even had greens with anchovies and olive oil for sides.  We found a great spot behind the lawn area, and set up our dishes on the cement divider, propped up our chairs, and we were good to go.  I was counting on at least a reliable dessert truck, but no bueno.  They had Buttermilk Truck, which did have the red velvet pancake bites for $5 that did satisfy my sweet tooth craving.  We did not have time to buy wine and got a Heineken instead, but I just realized that the Ralph's and Panini Cafe are just across the street from this place.  Since you can eat al fresco, food trucks, are dog-friendly.  Where they are currently located at, is another story.      

Heineken on a wine glass - so klassy!

Downtown LA Skyline

Grand Hope Park's Clock Tower

Milton and Lumbergh!

Where's my slinging frisbee?

Since the traffic did not turn out as bad as we thought Saturday, the next day we ran out to Huntington Beach Dog Beach for some fun in the sun once again.  Tico was entertained with his frisbee, and the other dogs wanted to play with him and his 'ball'.  B is still weary about Tico always getting into people's water, blankets, and area; so we always want to keep an eye out on Tico every single time.  

"Ticomom, we need to talk about your TPS reports"

"Dude, not interested in 40 subscriptions to Cat Fancy Magazine"

We also stopped by Five Guys burger, since it's in the way.  We have one at a mall closer to our house, but we hardly go there for shopping, so this is fairly convenient for us.  Five Guys does great marketing, and in due time, it will surpass In-N-Out, if not already done so, in popularity in SoCal.  The place has an outdoor patio to tie your dog to the other side of the fence. 

This was a fairly mellow weekend for me and the boys.  We did not do much of a chore work, and we entertained ourselves with the usual Netflix' offering of 'Ice Road Truckers', 'Gone With The Wind', and even the latest release 'The Fighter' is on.  Everybody and their cousins went to see 'Harry Potter' this weekend, but B refused to pay $12-$15 a pop to sit and watch movies unless they have decent reviews first.  Which is why we rely on the solid filmmaking of old-time feel-good movies of the 90's and earlier.  For $11-$16 a month with Netflix, it's not a bad deal.

And yes, Netflix is raising its rates.  Didn't you get the memo?   

"60% of the time, it works everytime"; 07.10.11

The boys and I drove to Huntington Beach Dog Beach today to enjoy some sun.  It was low tide, so Tico had a great time getting his frisbee in and out of the water, while I enjoy the latest issue of Travel and Leisure magazine.  This issue features a duck with red curry dish from Bangkok, and a scallop with egg noodle and asparagus dish featured from Hongkong.  Inspiration for future dishes, definitely.  Inspiration for future travels?  I wish.

Since I did not take out my Iphone at the beach for photos, I quickly snapped a pic of Tico going crazy over the bikes on the freeway on our way home.  Those crazy, beady eyes.  Them large teeth.  What wet snout.



Every day the lawnette in progress gets us excited.  This is only week one, and the seeds are very promising.  We were worried, since our friend told us that it was too late in the year to plant seeds, and that a sod would have been a better bet.  So we are very happy this is working out just fine.



B and I are low-risk takers for the most part.  But it is a great time to get into stocks, since like real estate, the stock prices are at it's lowest in the long time.  I get into penny stocks (stocks that have $10 and under prices) that have potential to be more based on its stock price history, its solid financials and the upcoming company projects.  My 'baby' right now is a health stock that is working on a drug that is waiting for its FDA approval in the Fall.  So the interest in the stock right now is getting higher.  There's a likely chance that it will go up double its price, or at the very most, up to 4 times.  With my $300 investment, can make me $600 or more.  Here's hoping.

Herbalife's stock is in the same predicament.  The stock has gone up to over a $100 6 weeks ago, and they split.  I got in at $50+ for 4 stocks, and has now gone up to $60.  I would like for this stock to repeat itself again to go up to $100, and split, and so on; so that my piddly 4 shares will eventually turn to 8 by year's end.  I think it can happen.  At that rate of turning up semi-annually, my $200 will turn to $400, and my $400 to $1600 in year two.  Insert evil laugh here.  Or not.  We shall see.  I'm optimistic.  Herbalife just introduced their new line called Herbalife 24, and they are all over the place with the World Cup/soccer.  So it may not be far from happening.

But if neither of these stocks turn up the way I hoped, I am out $500.  A lesson learned in money management.  So I am crossing all of my 20 digits that the numbers will turn out fine.

The line "60% of the time, it works every time" came from the movie "Anchorman" with Will Ferrel.  This is the one movie of WF's that I can see multiple times.  It's a funny movie, and B mentioned that they copied a bit of the movie "West Side Story" on this film; when WF and his TV crew ran into the rival TV crews for a brawl, gang-style.  I love Christina Applegate in this movie.  And I'm always a big fan of Paul Rudd's since "Clueless".  I liked Steve Carrell in the "Get Smart" remake and "The 40 Year-old Virgin".  And Vince Vaughn is growing on me since I've finally seen his breakout movie "Swingers".  My favorite PG-rated lines of the movie included:

"I don't know how to put this but I'm kind of a big deal".      

"If you like it, you can take it, if you don't, send it right back".

"You stay classy, San Diego"

It's a 100% classic.  Too bad Anchorman 2 is not happening.

Or it may?  We shall see.  It would be nice to see Baxter the dog in action again.  He is, after all, "a wise dog - like a miniature Buddha, covered in hair".  

Soylent Green; Rose Bowl/Dodger Stadium/Hollywood Bowl, 07.09.11

The largest plane just passed us by at the parking lot

B and I hit up 3 'stadiums' this week; the Rose Bowl, the Dodger Stadium, and the Hollywood Bowl.  Suffice to say, this is the most social activities that we have had in one week.  I can't stand being cramped around large crowds for the most part, but summers in LA are not to be beat.  Everyone is out and about to appreciate all of the great summer events that entice people to leave the comfort of their homs.

This past week we have taken Tico to the usual; the Redondo Beach Dog park twice, and the El Segundo dog park, since it's a few miles down the from the Pet Smart store, where we scored his dog food on sale, so our savings went to a monkey plush doll for him. 

Going back to the Rose Bowl, Mai and Jason invited us to their house in Lake Balboa for a BBQ Monday afternoon.  Then all 8 of us (including friends John and Nunu, and Jason's parents) drove to the stadium after six.  We watched some bands play, some bike show, and other entertainment before the fireworks took main stage at 9pm.  My co-worker Brenna and her roommate Lindsay joined us just in time.  No dogs were allowed.

Rose Bowl has flea markets (which means food = no dogs allowed, but the Rose Bowl park next door is pet-friendly) on 2nd Sundays of every month.  They also host football and soccer games and concerts.  This is my first time inside the stadium.  I've been to the flea market, and I hiked with a group once around the stadium, but I've never been inside.  It is huge, and seats 90K.  There's a golf course and a large park right behind the stadium too.

This is my main pet peeve about large crowds: the parking.  And for $20, it took us an hour to get in and out of the stadium.  But I do love the idea of going to the Rose Bowl for fireworks, since we got a full view of the fireworks.  For half an hour, the crowd is quiet, the sky is lit up, and the american flag is waving to the right of us.  All is right in the world.    

The following work week was crazy busy for me.  I walked around like a chicken without a head for the most part of the week.  So going to see a Dodger's Baseball game was a treat.  The Dodgers lost that night.  But it's all good.  We got the premium field seats tickets from my bosses, and it came with free premium parking, so that was the fastest time we've ever got in and out of the Dodger's stadium.  Hallelujah.  We once had to park and walk to/from the lot that was right behind the 'Think Blue' sign before.  B's sister Michelle and her husband Jerry joined us that night.  I'm glad that they made it since they drove all the way from Riverside after a full day's work.  Dodger Stadium has annual "Bark in the Park" at end of May, where you can bring your man's best friend.  Make sure they wear the Dodger blues, though. 

Dodger's Stadium is large too, and seats over 50K.  We get there by 110 Freeway, to the Stadium exit.  Parking is usually $10.  B's family has 4 season tickets here so they are here all the time, but B and I rarely have a chance to go since it's used all the time.  Besides, B is a Yankee fan more than anything.  But we try not to rub it in.  After all, I am more an Angels fan myself if anything.

B and I picked up some hot Genoa salami and Italian dry salami at Guilliano's, our favorite deli.  With olives, macaroni salad, provolone and gouda, we got a nice spread.  We also brought a red wine that I purchased in Temecula a few weeks ago called 'Group Therapy', and we shared that with D and Mike at the Hollywood bowl where they were playing the movie "West Side Story".  We were at the benches at the very top, and we got a full view of the stadium of thousands of people like ants just below us - the Hollywood sign a few miles in front of us, a mountain side to the left of us, and the lit up cross on top of the hill to the right of us.   

Wikipedia says it seats 17K.  It looked a lot more.  This summer's calendar include some Rachmaninoff\Beethoven\Tchaikovsky performances, LA Phil's Dudamel, Gladys Knight, Disney's Fantasia, some John Williams, and of course - fireworks.  As far as I know, no dogs are allowed.

Mike and D were here a few weeks ago for the Hall and Oates concert, so they were pros at finding the best parking spot, which was the lot C for $16 across the street, and we just walked in the tunnel to cross, and we were in and out of the parking lot in about 5 minutes.  Sweet.  But to walk to the parking lot, the droves of people inching to get out of the stadium were a lot.  Which made D blurt out 'moo'.  We did feel like cows being herded out.  This always remind me of the movie Soylent Green, so I told B.  He's never heard of the movie before, so it's something that we'd have to Netflix one of these days.

Without giving away the ending, this is a great movie about overpopulation and the absence of natural resources we have in the world at this moment.  People lined up for food and water.  In the film, it is the year 2022; and you see people dressed in gloomy, simple grays and blacks walking around in droves.  They were reminiscing about the world before, when people were young, and the world was better.  There once were beautiful oceans and trees and streams and valleys of green and blue, flowers of various colors, animals of different species roaming around.  Eggs were fresh, "you can buy real meat everywhere", and not the processed 'food' that they are eating.  But, as one person corrected; "people were always rotten.  But the world WAS beautiful".

It definitely is a beautiful world.  LA is no tropical island, but it has enough dosage of culture and food and entertainment diversity that can keep anyone busy and happy.  And with hundreds of dog parks and beaches all over Southern California, it definitely offers a lot to give Tico a wholesome, well-rounded dog's life.  And we don't take that for granted.  Movies the depict the future like 'Soylent Green' reminds me enough to appreciate it every day.