Archive for February, 2006

No-bachelor-bachelor-party?

Tuesday, February 21st, 2006

The time had come. We’d been building it up for months. Friday Feb. 17th was to be Oozy’s bachelor party. The plans were made. Airplane tickets were purchased. House in Baja had been rented. All we needed was the bachelor and a few friends from DC. But it would not happen — at least not as planned, and definitely without The Ooze. They were delayed all day in BWI airport waiting on American Airlines to fix their broken plane. No weather delays. Just a broken plane. Around 6:00 pm their time, AA canceled the flight. Tired and discouraged, the groom-to-be and two of our other best buds decided to call it quits. Oozy’s bachelor party would not happen — at least not as planned.

Jump to the West coast — Costa Mesa, CA to be exact. Nick (Big D.) Pomponi had arrived from NYC. Kyle (Carin’s Brother) Larson had arrived from Colorado. Bowis was fresh out of LA. I had the cars gassed-up and loaded down. We would do the trip on our own. And even though there was no bachelor, this would be the best bachelor party ever. We would do it for the honor of the Ooze.

I have a ton of stories to tell. Here are some highlights:

- after waiting all day and finally getting going, the Chief decided to die 5 miles out. The gas pedal stopped working while we were in the #3 lane. With traffic cruising past us at 70 mph, the steering wheel locked-up and I couldn’t get us to the shoulder. By the time it was unstuck we were going 10 mph and were in the median. Kyle and I fixed my simple-as-dirt-car by reattaching a metal rod that connects the gas pedal to the engine throttle. We were off again.
- the house we stayed in is epic and has the best location ever in Las Gaviotas. We met some cougars in the hottub.
- we ate breakfast every day at a place called Raul’s. It is run by a guy named Nick or something. He’s huge — probably 350 lbs, and about 50 years old. We called him Fat Raul. No matter what you order, you get the special with sausage.
- we spent all day collecting left over food to feed to the scrappy, homeless dogs that roam the streets down there. we’d drive around looking for them and then toss them huge pieces of rotten sausage. They love it.
- ATVing on the dunes, Nick got stuck in the dirt for 20 mins, and Bowis flipped his ATV. When we returned them, Bowis’ was dripping gas all over the place. we got out of there pronto.
- found the ultimate Bitch Dog.
- Homemade fireworks in Rosarito are powerful. almost blew bowis’ face off. We had to go to a Mexican hospital to get him fixed up.
- Bowis will spend all night swinging around a hot poker and yelling about how awesome some wood is.
- Carin’s brother is a party animal, and he looks exactly like Carin. Papas and Beer will never be the same. Expect him to live in Mexico and work at Fat Raul’s by next Spring.

Ooze, I wish you could have made it. For one reason or another, it didn’t happen. We’ll have to try this again next year. Many Pics Here.

Gallery Update

Tuesday, February 21st, 2006

I’ve added some long-overdue pictures to the gallery:

- Christmas in DC 2005
- New Years 2006 Trip to Lake Arrowhead
- Trip to NYC, January 2006
- Nana in Cali and a babyshower for Bronwen, January 2006

Weekend Perfection

Monday, February 13th, 2006

It was a long week. Starting Super Bowl Sunday, I was at our annual corporate sales meeting in Dana Point. Bad news is, it started in the middle of the Super Bowl, lasted all week, and meetings went from 7:00 am to 10:00 pm. Good news is, it was at the Ritz on the beach, Bronwen stayed with me the whole time, and I learned a ton. Bronwen treated it like a writing retreat — morning walks on the beach, Egyptian cotton sheets, 50 inch plasma tvs in every room, long uninterrupted poetry writing sessions.

Exhausted from the week, our weekend was just about perfect. Friday night, we helped out with a junior high event at church. Saturday, we slept in, ate a lazy breakfast, went for a sunset walk around Balboa and ate dinner with the Powells. Sunday, woke up early and went to the Pasadena swap meet, painted the master bathroom, took a 2 hour nap, went for a surf at sunset, had a dinner party with some friends. How much will my life change once Silas arrives?

Next week, Ooze’s bachelor party in Mexico. Oh my word.