The Wedge, Newport Beach; 09.05.11

The boys and I went to Huntington Dog Beach today for some beach fun.  Since our dinner plans are cancelled, we decided to stay in the OC and check out "The Wedge", which is a popular surfing spot in Newport Beach.  B used to go here all the time during his high school days.

'The Wedge" is at the end of East Ocean Boulevard, at the end of Balboa Peninsula.  Take the 405 South, and get on 55 South, and take it all the way until it changes to Newport Boulevard/Balboa Boulevard.  There's tons of street parking, there are benches to watch the boats/yachts go by the water.  The surrounding houses are smaller, cottage-style houses perfect for marina/beach living, save a few Tuscan-inspired behemoths you see lined up along PCH in Huntington Beach.  

The surf spot itself reminds me of Sandy Beach,  which is a perfect spot for body surfers who can get decent wave within a few feet of the shore.  Such is the case today, since all of them were just bodysurfing today.  We saw at least three dophins about a 100 yards away swimming too.  It was a great way to spend a holiday. 

When we got home, Tico smells funky, for a day of sand, water and dog hair so I hosed him down in the front yard.  Considering we just gave him a bath last week, this is a big deal, since we try to only bathe him every other month if anything, so he does not lose his furs' 'natural oils'.  But we had to do it.  My car, on the other hand, was also just washed two weeks ago, and it is now stinky and also full of dog hair.  

Owning a dog is not easy.  Owning a large, long-haired, shedding dog is harder.  If we don't sweep on a daily basis, our living room floors will be layered with clouds of gray doggie hair.  We're lucky to have floor laminate, which, besides tile floors, is the most dog-friendly.  Carpets are terrible, and wood floors are too pretty and can be easily scuffed with sharp paws.  

We have a faux leather sofa and loveseat, and we don't plan to replace it until Tico gets older or we start having kids.  Then Tico can have the old couches all to himself.  We still dog-proof the house when we leave, like keeping cords and shoes away, food out of reach, etc.  He's stopped eating and chewing shoes, cords and furniture, but it's always good to be careful.  

It will be very interesting though, to see how we will be traveling with the dog hopefully, a baby in the next year or two.  It already takes a lot of logistics planning whenever we go away with Tico, so to go away with a kid and a dog will be very interesting.

We shall see.  In the meantime, there's more time for the three of us to have some QT at the beach/park/restaurants on our own for now.  And today at Huntington Dog Beach and The Wedge is one of those days.  

"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".