Newcott Blog

The mantle is finished. Put two coats of paint on this morning after a surf down at Trail 6 in San O. Check it out: Before, AFTER. Not bad considering I bought the wood for about 25 bucks. The pre-made ones are about $200. Up close mine looks a little homemade, but most people will never know. Plus this guy is solid wood. Not that hollow particle board stuff. One day I’m going to sell this ultra-deluxe, lounge condo for $1 Million. Yeah right.

At least I am becoming quite the carpenter. I would like to build a sofa, but Bronwen nixed that idea real quick. Probably a good idea.

Off to a pool party. BRONNY COMES HOME TONIGHT!!!

The Chief just turned 200,000. Barreling into work, all the digits rolled over. I was in Baby Blue at 100K. I was in Blew Cheeze at 100K. Today the Chief at 200K. Don’t know why that’s a big deal.

The jellyfish sting on my arm is now a small, bumpy, itchy rash. Just a little annoying.

Still working on the mantle. It’s 85% there. Just needs another layer of caulk and another layer of paint. Just got my new all-in-one printer. It’s so good. Decided on the Canon PIXMA MP780 – mainly because Canon ink cartridges are notoriously cheap, the quality is as good as ink jets get, it has a fax modem, scanner feeder, and duplexer for double sided printing/copying. It’s a little big, but we’ll deal.

Went down to the beach yesterday afternoon. I love being able to pick up my board after work and get in a quick surf before dinner. It’s definitely in my top 5 luxuries. I don’t know how long I’ll be able to live within 2 miles of the beach, but I could do this forever. The surf was all blown out, but the water was so warm and the sun still high in the sky, I decided to get in and paddle around. I love it when the water is warm enough to trunk it. Only hit one jelly fish this time. Stung my arm a little. Lots of kite surfers blowing by. No waves for me, but it was nice to get wet.

Speaking of my top 5 luxuries, here they are:
1. a night in a nice, stylish hotel (any W will do)
2. long, leisurely breakfast, including coffee and a paper
3. a day with nothing scheduled (during which I might do all of these)
4. afternoon surf, in 72 degree water, with constant, glassy, rolling waves
5. sleeping in

I’ve been eating at Chipotle every day since Bronwen left. That’s not an exaggeration. I get the same thing every time: two carnitas soft tacos with everything and an iced tea. Only thing that would make it better is a basket of chips with guac. Maybe next time.

Bronwen’s away at poetry camp. It’s more of a writer’s conference — I just call it poetry camp — up in Squaw Valley on Lake Tahoe. She’s there for a week working on new poems and hearing lectures by poets. It’s only been 3 days and the house is starting to get messy. My clothes are everywhere.

Went to a friend’s farewell from the OC party. They’re cashing out of their townhouse in the OC and taking the proceeds to start a phat new life up in Courdelene, Idaho.

I also setup some new shows on my TiVo: The Andy Milonakis Show, Hogan Knows Best, Celebrity Fit Club, Surreal Life. Andy Milonakis is hilarious. Hogan is a beast of a dad. Celebrity Fit Club has Gary Busey who is hilarious. I laughed out loud last night while I caught up on the lastest trash tv.

Bronwen says:
working on a poem
Bronwen says:
this is the hardest one yet
Bronwen says:
and the most compass-less
Bronwen says:
meaning I have no sense of it
Bronwen says:
of its goodness or not
Bronwen says:
and so, i keep on pecking at it, adjusting its shape
. . . Bronwen says:
i love you sweet one
Bronwen says:
goodnight
Bronwen says:
*
Bronwen says:
I hope to see you in my dreams
Bronwen says:
try to see me too
Bronwen says:
maybe we can go for a walk somewhere in the sky together
Bronwen says:
i love that idea
Bronwen says:
meet me here in the piney mountains
Bronwen says:
the dry sun air

It’s Friday. Best day of the week if you ask me. No plans. Just time to chill and do some relaxin. Maybe surf in the morning. Go to Polly’s for a coffee, hot cinnamon roll, sit at the counter, read the paper at a leisurely pace. Rent a few movies. Seal the fireplace. Good times ahead.

Thought I had an 8:00 am meeting — that’s why I’m here early. Turns out someone moved it last night. Bronwen and I woke up this morning and grilled burgers on the grill. Don’t ask why — just seemed like we had some good meat so we shouldn’t let it go to waste. So, I woke up before 7:00 am and fired up the grill. Neighbors must have been confused. Those were some tasty burgers.

Went for an evening surf yesterday. The red tide from last week is gone. Red tide, unlike the movie — having no resemblance at all to the movie, is a real phenomenon in which the water turns red and cloudy. Something to do with coral, algae, bacteria, and symbiosis. So, it’s nice the red tide is gone, but it’s been replaces with giant red jellyfish. The water is really warm now — about as warm as it gets in SoCal, maybe 72 degrees, which feels warm right after you get in. I like to trunk it on warm days. After about five minutes, I realized I’m the only one in trunks. Then I realized why — there are TONS of red jellyfish everywhere — and I realize that light burning feeling on my ankle and arm are stings. I notice I’ve been paddling right through them. I figure a few more minutes in the water couldn’t be much worse. Caught a couple fun rides, stayed up all the way to the beach, and got out after a short 15 mins. Bronwen was walking on the beach, so I went to meet her and showed her the jellyfish, and from the shore, we saw hundreds of jellyfish in every wave. They were washing up on shore and looked like blood-red globs of jelly. I wonder if they are red from last week’s tide.

Liquid Nails rules. I’m in the middle of building a mantle around my fireplace. Just learned you can stick tiles to drywall without any kind of backerboard or thinset. Just get a tube of Liquid Nails adhesive and pop it in your caulking gun. Grouting is still a pain though.

On the couch watching Bronwen’s home videos from 1988. They’re on BetaMax. This player from eBay isn’t so sweet. Time to see if I can find another one that isn’t a piece of junk. Could also be the 20-year-old tapes.

I’m 27. I’m just coming to terms with that. And here I am watching my 28 year old wife as an 8 year old girl. Woah. That’s 20 years ago. Can’t believe we used to be little people and have voices that are totally unrecognizable. We had no idea what we were doing. It’s so funny.

Now that I’m back in The OC, I had to kick off my weekend with something big. The OC Fair. We did everything — all the big rides, funnel cake, grilled corn on the cob, smoked turkey legs as big as your face, BBQ pulled pork, saw the baby animals. It’s amazing how quickly you can drop 100 bones on an afternoon at the fair. Lots of crazy looking folks from Cali end up at the fair — bunch of 909′ers too (AKA: dirt people). Later we saw Molly Jenson play at the Gypsie Den. Of course we bought her album.

Saturday, went to the beach and tried to catch some of the monstrous swell — didn’t do to well. Just paddled against the current, wiped out a couple of times, paddled back in. The lifeguards must have thought I looked ridiculous. Also bought a new dishwasher. Got an open box version at BestBuy and saved about 50 bucks. It’s pretty quiet and cleans well. I installed it — no leaks, but there’s a little gap around the edges. Need to figure that out and level it off a little.

Sunday, had some friends over for a cookout. My grill rocks. It is so sweet — cooks evenly, has 4 burners, plus side burner. Char-Broil from Home Depot. Not too expensive, but looks like one of the 1K models. Also, though I have yet to get HOA approval, the Yarden is a delightful place to chill (pics1 - i’ll post some more). Afternoons, setting sunlight, margarita, friends, music. Got some plastic adarondack (how do you spell that?) chairs that are perfect.

Now it’s back to work. Need to catch up on the ton of stuff I couldn’t get to last week while I was traveling. Blast!

Another fine morning in Chi-town (pronounced shy-town). Didn’t have to be in meetings until noon, so went for a big downtown walk. Walked up Michigan Ave, from my hotel, to the art museum along the water. Summer mornings seem beautiful here. Not too hot, with a breeze off the great late. Saw little kids and moms in their bathing suits and water shoes playing in a huge public fountain. Walked back under the L and across the river. Steak dinner tonight at the Chop House.

I need the unlimited data package on my cellphone so I can email photos to this blog and have them post automatically.

Have a big August and September planned. Bro’s wedding, buddies’ weddings, Outer Banks trip. The thought of all that travelling makes me tired.

Bruthas and Sistas — Bronwen and I are back. Here are some pics: thailand pics. I recommend that city to anyone. Stuff is really cheap there. Getting there is the only expensive part.

I’m in Chicago today, doing some market research for my company. Fun being behind the glass, watching strangers how they feel about our products. Voyeristic. Chicago is a nice, sunny, humid, 85.

Of course, if you don’t already know, here is a directory to the albums in my photo blog: newcott’s photo blog. I try to update it often. And thanks to my boy oozy, I’ve got gigs and gigs of photo-quality pics online.