I'm off to Scottsdale in a few hours for a good friend's bachelor party weekend. The timing couldn't be better after having seen The Hangover, which is absolutely hilarious. I don't think we'll be slipping any roofies into our Jagermeister, though. I'll Tweet and try to send some pics of the debauchery as it happens on my Twitter page, so if you're one of my good friends who is missing this weekend...well, shame on you, but at least you can track our action a little.
http://twitter.com/ccmccandless
Have a great weekend, everyone. I know I will!
Showing posts with label Arizona. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Arizona. Show all posts
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Monday, January 05, 2009
28 awesome things from 2008
There are always tons of "best of" lists right around New Year's Day. Here is one more. Instead of a Top 10, or a Top 100, or anything so rigid and structured, here are just 28 things from 2008 that were awesome. They are not comprehensive, and they are not in any order. But they are awesome.
- Season four of Lost, especially on Blu-Ray.
- The 2008 World Champion Boston Celtics.
- The Dark Knight, especially Heath Ledger's brilliant performance.
- Season three of Dexter.
- Metallica: Death Magnetic and LIVE at Alltel Arena.
- Dustin Pedroia: Sun Devil, Red Sock, and AL MVP.
- Iron Man.
- Tropic Thunder.
- The Robert Downey Jr. resurgence in general.
- Rock Band 2.
- My second straight Chatham Bluefish Diamond Mind baseball championship.
- Scream Queens on VH1.
- Terra Naomi's acoustic hair band covers.
- The fact that a new GNR album actually came out, and it's good.
- Friday Night Lights, and the fact that it is still on TV at all.
- Survivor and The Amazing Race still being fairly entertaining.
- Pretty much everything AJ McC does, including his hilarious exploding vocabulary.
- Sierra Mist Free Cranberry Splash. Try some with vodka and thank me later.
- ZaZa pizza in Little Rock. The huge high heat woodburning oven is the key.
- The fact that a new movie theatre (with an Imax screen) opened right down the street, even if I don't get to go there as often as I'd like.
- That a guy who kind of rocks won American Idol.
- The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly.
- Tina Fey, both on 30 Rock and SNL.
- Van Halen LIVE at Alltel Arena.
- Catching my first Red Sox game in way too long, with a rooftop table under the Budwesier sign.
- Two Vegas trips, an AZ fire up, and a Cape Cod vacation (with the Boston trip in the middle of it).
- Lots of cool shows on the Food Network. Seriously.
- WiiFit.
- 18-1. Still pisses me off.
- The ASU football season. An entirely different kind of letdown.
- The Sox losing game 7 of the ALCS when they clearly could have been champs again if just a couple of guys stayed healthy.
- Watching shitty teams flounder in the 2008 NFL playoffs while the superior Patriots sit at home. Sickening.
- The economy, including our old house still being on the market.
- The disgusting New York Yankees offseason spending spree.
- Heroes. Season one started great, and since then it's been pretty bad. And yet, I continue to watch.
- The complete tabloidization of the American media. Didn't CNN used to be a respected news outlet? Now they are People magazine with some news thrown in. Go ahead, check the website right now. What's on there? A video of Harrison Ford getting his chest waxed, apparently. And network news shows are just as bad. I cannot do it. I basically hate the news, now. I really do. Thankfully technology exists that lets me consume only what I want, for the most part. Okay. Rant over. I hope everyone has a great 2009.
Sunday, May 21, 2006
AZ wrap-up
So where were we? Ahh yes...Kyoto. It's a Japanese hibachi restaurant in Scottsdale, but we certainly don't go there for the food. The place has become a Loop institution because of the atmosphere and the sake bombers. For the uninformed (or, more likely, the mature), doing a sake bomber consists of pouring yourself a shot of warm sake, dropping it into a small glass of Japanese beer, and downing it. Repeat several times for a guaranteed good time.
So there we were at Kyoto. We actually had a reservation that they immediately honored this time around, so there was no need to impersonate the Oakland A's pitching staff (a story from not too long ago that most of you have heard). It was a rare Thursday evening Kyoto appearance, and the weeknight call seemed like it might affect our mojo. "Let's take it easy tonight," said my friend Erik, who had early meetings the next morning...and then he sauntered up to the bar and ordered five sake bomber set-ups. Easy, indeed.
It actually was a fairly reserved evening as far as Kyoto nights go. The majority of the rest of the weekend was spent at the AVP beach volleyball tournament, as Erik's company, Crocs, recently became the title sponsor. Now this was quite a set-up. Crocs had a double-wide makeshift luxury box looking over the court, complete with food, drinks, and couches. We had a blast hanging out the entire weekend watching Olympic gold medalists Misty May and Kerri Walsh decimate their competition. I think Beth got a little tired of my temporary crush on Walsh, but come on, she's a 6'3" Amazon goddess who also happens to be really cute.
The Arizona trip concluded with a stay at the Hyatt Gainey Ranch for Beth's Jackson-Lewis legal conference. Great resort, with beautiful grounds, a bunch of different swimming pools, and tons of other luxurious amenities. There was even a casino night event, and despite our success at the tables we came up empty in the raffle, crushing our hopes of winning the iPod nano on display. All in all it was a wonderful trip, but we were definitely ready to sleep in our own bed back home.
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
A Red Sticker?!?
Beth and I quickly boarded our plane for the flight from Dallas to Phoenix, situated in adjoining middle and window seats. Despite not having the exit row, I thought that sitting by the window with my bum knee on the window side would afford me enough room to be somewhat comfortable.
I was wrong.
Things started badly and got progressively worse. The seats were tiny--the smallest that I've been on in a big plane in a long, long time. And wasn't American the airline that recently made a big deal about adding room to all of their coach seats? If so, then all I can say is, umm..."liars." But since we boarded so close to take-off time, I figured that at least we'd be in the air and on our way soon.
Once again, me, all kinds of wrong. First we're informed that one of the air conditioners is broken. This, while we're sitting in the full plane, on the runway, in Dallas, on a 90 degree day. Awesome. So they get to work doing whatever it is that they do...which doesn't exactly involve fixing said air conditioner. They mess around for a while...and a while longer...and a while longer. Some other minor problem comes up, and they mess around with that. We've gone from ready to go, to half an hour on the ground, to an hour, to an hour and a half and counting, and then we get held up by the red sticker. Or, more accurately, the absence of one.
Apparently, when mechanics work on anything on an airplane, they have to mark the area in question with a red sticker. "It's just like something you'd get at Office Max," the pilot explains, trying to placate us after what has now been two hours in our broken-AC sweaty death box. "Well, the sticker is gone. Either it blew off or...we lost it. So...if we find it right away...maybe it just fell off on the ground...then we can take off any minute now. If not, then it will take a little while longer."
I assume he managed to get all of this out with a straight face. A red sticker?!? Nice to know that airlines are using such high tech repair indicators in this post 9/11 climate.
Anyway, eventually, thankfully, we got off the tarmac and into the air. The flight itself was fairly uneventful, aside from the shooting pains in my knee. Upon landing, we see that our bags immediately arrived at the baggage claim at the same time we did. Good karma after the bad flight, maybe. So we grabbed them, hopped onto a shuttle, and quickly picked up our rental car and made our way down to our hotel in Chandler right across the street from the mall. Dinner with the Bladers at The Cheesecake Factory was exactly what we needed--specifically, a couple of Malibu Coladas each.
On Thursday, Beth went in to do her teaching for work and I happily hung out at the hotel. Read the paper, caught a little sun at the pool, and perused the mall for a little bit, including checking out the newest made-up breed of dog at the pet store. Has anyone ever heard of a "Valley Bulldog?" I certainly hadn't until I saw this British Bulldog-Boxer mix. Very cool mutt. The relaxing day was just what I needed after the travel nightmare that came before it. It seemed like things would continue that way, with a nice, mellow Thursday evening, until I spoke to Shaw B.
"We're going to Kyoto tonight," he said...
I was wrong.
Things started badly and got progressively worse. The seats were tiny--the smallest that I've been on in a big plane in a long, long time. And wasn't American the airline that recently made a big deal about adding room to all of their coach seats? If so, then all I can say is, umm..."liars." But since we boarded so close to take-off time, I figured that at least we'd be in the air and on our way soon.
Once again, me, all kinds of wrong. First we're informed that one of the air conditioners is broken. This, while we're sitting in the full plane, on the runway, in Dallas, on a 90 degree day. Awesome. So they get to work doing whatever it is that they do...which doesn't exactly involve fixing said air conditioner. They mess around for a while...and a while longer...and a while longer. Some other minor problem comes up, and they mess around with that. We've gone from ready to go, to half an hour on the ground, to an hour, to an hour and a half and counting, and then we get held up by the red sticker. Or, more accurately, the absence of one.
Apparently, when mechanics work on anything on an airplane, they have to mark the area in question with a red sticker. "It's just like something you'd get at Office Max," the pilot explains, trying to placate us after what has now been two hours in our broken-AC sweaty death box. "Well, the sticker is gone. Either it blew off or...we lost it. So...if we find it right away...maybe it just fell off on the ground...then we can take off any minute now. If not, then it will take a little while longer."
I assume he managed to get all of this out with a straight face. A red sticker?!? Nice to know that airlines are using such high tech repair indicators in this post 9/11 climate.
Anyway, eventually, thankfully, we got off the tarmac and into the air. The flight itself was fairly uneventful, aside from the shooting pains in my knee. Upon landing, we see that our bags immediately arrived at the baggage claim at the same time we did. Good karma after the bad flight, maybe. So we grabbed them, hopped onto a shuttle, and quickly picked up our rental car and made our way down to our hotel in Chandler right across the street from the mall. Dinner with the Bladers at The Cheesecake Factory was exactly what we needed--specifically, a couple of Malibu Coladas each.
On Thursday, Beth went in to do her teaching for work and I happily hung out at the hotel. Read the paper, caught a little sun at the pool, and perused the mall for a little bit, including checking out the newest made-up breed of dog at the pet store. Has anyone ever heard of a "Valley Bulldog?" I certainly hadn't until I saw this British Bulldog-Boxer mix. Very cool mutt. The relaxing day was just what I needed after the travel nightmare that came before it. It seemed like things would continue that way, with a nice, mellow Thursday evening, until I spoke to Shaw B.
"We're going to Kyoto tonight," he said...
Sunday, April 24, 2005
We're moved in
The movers arrived shortly after 8:30 AM on Saturday and got down to the business of unloading all of our stuff. It was a four man crew--Steve and George from our Arizona team and Curtis and Leon, a couple of local guys on this end. They were all great--very accomodating about putting anything anywhere we asked them to. We also received the lovely news that they found a rat in our garage in Chandler and a black widow spider inside my guitar amp...which Beth is now ready to throw away just on principle. The DirecTV installer here also found a huge, dead rat in an air duct of some sort outside so clearly we're having an exterminator come before we get too settled in.
But the house looks much better now that we've gotten some stuff inside. Beth's grandmother, Na'Nan, was kind enough to buy some nice rugs for the house, which we sorely needed since the whole place has hardwood floors. There's a really nice one in the dining room and a handful of cheaper ones in the living room, master bedroom, and office. And my Mom has a nice rug that she's going to bring down for use in the guest bedroom. Mom will be heading down here on Monday and that will be huge, as she is an unpacking and decorating savant. So that will be nice.
But the best news is simply that I got to sleep in my own bed last night, I have internet access at home again, and the dish and TV are set up, including a new TiVo for the main system that holds up to 70 hours of programming, meaning that the old 30 hour TiVo can go in the bedroom. Given my current condition, 70 hours is probably about what I watch in a week. I was even able to get everything up and running before the first round of the NFL Draft ended. I saw that ASU QB Andrew Walter went to Oakland in the third round, which I know will make my friend Brandon Bown happy.
Anyway, we're in the house. There is a ton of unpacking that needs to be done and I'm going to try to help as much as I can, but I know that it will be a gradual process. I'll try to post some pictures at some point. I hope all of you are having a great weekend.
But the house looks much better now that we've gotten some stuff inside. Beth's grandmother, Na'Nan, was kind enough to buy some nice rugs for the house, which we sorely needed since the whole place has hardwood floors. There's a really nice one in the dining room and a handful of cheaper ones in the living room, master bedroom, and office. And my Mom has a nice rug that she's going to bring down for use in the guest bedroom. Mom will be heading down here on Monday and that will be huge, as she is an unpacking and decorating savant. So that will be nice.
But the best news is simply that I got to sleep in my own bed last night, I have internet access at home again, and the dish and TV are set up, including a new TiVo for the main system that holds up to 70 hours of programming, meaning that the old 30 hour TiVo can go in the bedroom. Given my current condition, 70 hours is probably about what I watch in a week. I was even able to get everything up and running before the first round of the NFL Draft ended. I saw that ASU QB Andrew Walter went to Oakland in the third round, which I know will make my friend Brandon Bown happy.
Anyway, we're in the house. There is a ton of unpacking that needs to be done and I'm going to try to help as much as I can, but I know that it will be a gradual process. I'll try to post some pictures at some point. I hope all of you are having a great weekend.
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Checking in from Fort Worth
We left on Tuesday afternoon shortly after 4:30 PM with no hassles. I'm a little bummed that I didn't really get to say goodbye to a couple of people before blowing out of town but that's just the way it had to be. I was very sad as we pulled out of Chandler...I love Arizona and of everywhere I've lived, it's really the place where I feel most comfortable and feel most like "the real me." I could definitely see coming back here to live some day, and I'll most certainly be back to visit. Is it March 2006 yet?
Tuesday was a short night, as we were both tired. We stopped at a janky hotel in Wilcox (I think?), near the Arizona/New Mexico state border. Chalk up night number two in a row of crappy sleep for me. Meanwhile, my driver was up and getting ready by 5:20 AM. He's an early riser. Me...not so much. But he's driving so we're definitely working on his schedule, so we were in the car and on the road by 5:45 AM. The highlight of the morning was definitely the McGriddle sandwich that I scarfed for breakfast. How have I not had one of these before? Absurd. I could practically feel my arteries hardening but it hit the spot.
Through the day, we burned through seven CDs of the audiobook to Ian McEwen's novel "Saturday," about a day in the life of a London neurosurgeon. It's a little dry but well written and entertaining enough. I napped off and on throughout and clearly I didn't miss much. I think that the author went on for a good ten minutes with an in-depth description of the protagonist's fish stew recipe. We saved the last two discs for tomorrow and I'm eager to see how it ends.
I thought that we'd end up stopping early in Abilene but Dad was feeling good and wanted to get to the eastern side of Dallas tonight so that we wouldn't have to deal with AM rush hour traffic there tomorrow. But we ended up calling an audible after a fresh-faced Texas Highway Patrol officer pulled us over, informing us that one of the lights on the tow dolly was out. Honestly, the guy looked about 12. But he let us go with a warning and we decided not to push our luck so we're set up at a Courtesy Inn here in Fort Worth...and with internet access for the first time since we left. Beautiful!
We should arrive in Little Rock tomorrow morning, based on Dad's insane schedule. He's hell bent on getting back to Memphis in time for a good dinner with some good wine with Mom, and man, does he deserve it. He's been absolutely awesome about everything. Me? It looks like happy hour with the Hillises in Little Rock!
Tuesday was a short night, as we were both tired. We stopped at a janky hotel in Wilcox (I think?), near the Arizona/New Mexico state border. Chalk up night number two in a row of crappy sleep for me. Meanwhile, my driver was up and getting ready by 5:20 AM. He's an early riser. Me...not so much. But he's driving so we're definitely working on his schedule, so we were in the car and on the road by 5:45 AM. The highlight of the morning was definitely the McGriddle sandwich that I scarfed for breakfast. How have I not had one of these before? Absurd. I could practically feel my arteries hardening but it hit the spot.
Through the day, we burned through seven CDs of the audiobook to Ian McEwen's novel "Saturday," about a day in the life of a London neurosurgeon. It's a little dry but well written and entertaining enough. I napped off and on throughout and clearly I didn't miss much. I think that the author went on for a good ten minutes with an in-depth description of the protagonist's fish stew recipe. We saved the last two discs for tomorrow and I'm eager to see how it ends.
I thought that we'd end up stopping early in Abilene but Dad was feeling good and wanted to get to the eastern side of Dallas tonight so that we wouldn't have to deal with AM rush hour traffic there tomorrow. But we ended up calling an audible after a fresh-faced Texas Highway Patrol officer pulled us over, informing us that one of the lights on the tow dolly was out. Honestly, the guy looked about 12. But he let us go with a warning and we decided not to push our luck so we're set up at a Courtesy Inn here in Fort Worth...and with internet access for the first time since we left. Beautiful!
We should arrive in Little Rock tomorrow morning, based on Dad's insane schedule. He's hell bent on getting back to Memphis in time for a good dinner with some good wine with Mom, and man, does he deserve it. He's been absolutely awesome about everything. Me? It looks like happy hour with the Hillises in Little Rock!
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Moving Out
Things were clearly going too easily yesterday so today we got a few wrinkles thrown at us. Last night, we checked into the Windmill Inn, a little hotel right down the street. Dad went out, picked up some KFC, and everything was grand...and then my right foot started absolutely killing me. It's a weird pain that I've had off and on for a while (before the knee injury), most often after being on my feet at work for a while. So how does it possibly crop up now? Who knows. And like an idiot, I forgot to bring my pain pills with me last night so I just had to deal with it. Throw in the extra-mushy, very small bed and the end result is that I got maybe two or three hours of sleep if I'm lucky.
I came back to the apartment at around 7:30 this morning and the movers arrived shortly after that. Until today they thought that our stuff would be the only load on the truck, meaning that we'd get to unload in Little Rock on Friday or Saturday, which would be perfect. But today they just found out that they need to pick up another load in Glendale tomorrow and then drop it off in Oklahoma before ours, meaning that now our stuff is scheduled to arrive on Monday. It's not a huge deal but it's definitely an inconvenience, as it guarantees that I'm looking at spending the whole weekend at the in-laws' place in Little Rock, plus I have to get someone (probably Dad, again) to help supervise the unloading on Monday. Have I mentioned that I still haven't even seen where I'm going to live, aside from a few digital pictures?
Dad went to uHaul and picked up the tow dolly early this morning with no problems. He got the Focus rigged up very nicely...and then promptly managed to lock the keys inside the car. I think the confusion came through having two sets of Ford keys that look almost identical, or at least that's his story. So now he's off to the dealership to pick up an extra key before we hit the road, which is fine. He needed something to keep him busy today anyway.
If all goes well, it looks like we should be on the road some time this afternoon. I don't know exactly when, or how far we'll get today, or even where we plan to stop for the night. But the move really will have begun.
I came back to the apartment at around 7:30 this morning and the movers arrived shortly after that. Until today they thought that our stuff would be the only load on the truck, meaning that we'd get to unload in Little Rock on Friday or Saturday, which would be perfect. But today they just found out that they need to pick up another load in Glendale tomorrow and then drop it off in Oklahoma before ours, meaning that now our stuff is scheduled to arrive on Monday. It's not a huge deal but it's definitely an inconvenience, as it guarantees that I'm looking at spending the whole weekend at the in-laws' place in Little Rock, plus I have to get someone (probably Dad, again) to help supervise the unloading on Monday. Have I mentioned that I still haven't even seen where I'm going to live, aside from a few digital pictures?
Dad went to uHaul and picked up the tow dolly early this morning with no problems. He got the Focus rigged up very nicely...and then promptly managed to lock the keys inside the car. I think the confusion came through having two sets of Ford keys that look almost identical, or at least that's his story. So now he's off to the dealership to pick up an extra key before we hit the road, which is fine. He needed something to keep him busy today anyway.
If all goes well, it looks like we should be on the road some time this afternoon. I don't know exactly when, or how far we'll get today, or even where we plan to stop for the night. But the move really will have begun.
Monday, April 18, 2005
Packing Day
I had my final visit with Dr. Seipel here in AZ today and he said that the knee looks good and we are cleared to hit the road. And he gave me another nice Vicodin prescription just in case.
Part of Beth's job package includes full service moving, including packing...beautiful! I hate moving, which I know is strange since I manage to do it so much. But I absolutely hate it and it always stresses me out. Well, not this time! The packers are here as I type this and they are great. It's three guys doing a very meticulous and solid job of packing up all of our junk. Two of them will also be driving the truck to Little Rock, and it sounds like right now they plan to leave sometime on Tuesday afternoon or evening, which means that Dad and I will probably be getting on the road at the same time. We're just playing it by ear right now but it looks like everything could get packed today and we might end up at a Chandler hotel for the night. Tomorrow, Dad picks up the tow dolly from uHaul so we can tow the Focus behind Gus. That should work fine.
The Red Sox won their annual Patriots Day game today, which has an early start due to the Boston Marathon. It sure is weird having a game start at 8 AM local time though. I think I went to a Patriots Day game at Fenway against the Blue Jays back in '82 or '83. Okay, clearly I'm rambling now. I'll post another update soon.
Part of Beth's job package includes full service moving, including packing...beautiful! I hate moving, which I know is strange since I manage to do it so much. But I absolutely hate it and it always stresses me out. Well, not this time! The packers are here as I type this and they are great. It's three guys doing a very meticulous and solid job of packing up all of our junk. Two of them will also be driving the truck to Little Rock, and it sounds like right now they plan to leave sometime on Tuesday afternoon or evening, which means that Dad and I will probably be getting on the road at the same time. We're just playing it by ear right now but it looks like everything could get packed today and we might end up at a Chandler hotel for the night. Tomorrow, Dad picks up the tow dolly from uHaul so we can tow the Focus behind Gus. That should work fine.
The Red Sox won their annual Patriots Day game today, which has an early start due to the Boston Marathon. It sure is weird having a game start at 8 AM local time though. I think I went to a Patriots Day game at Fenway against the Blue Jays back in '82 or '83. Okay, clearly I'm rambling now. I'll post another update soon.
Sunday, April 17, 2005
My last weekend in AZ
Next week I'm moving from Chandler, Arizona to Little Rock, Arkansas. I love it in AZ and I really don't want to leave but my wife got a great job opportunity there so we can't pass it up. One of my former co-workers suggested that I start a blog so my friends in Arizona can keep up with me and stay in touch--thanks for the idea, Stephannie! So here it is.
My Dad drove out to help me with the move since I'm still recovering from knee surgery and I can't move around much yet. He drives a Ford Expedition and today was the first day that I sat in the back seat to see how comfortable the upcoming 1,500 mile trip will be...and it wasn't bad. Beth has a Ford Explorer which is pretty roomy but Dad's car, affectionately named Gus, has about eight extra inches of room, and in this case it's a huge difference.
The packers arrive on Monday to pack up everything we own, so that will be interesting. They have said that they pack absolutely everything so we really haven't packed anything at all...not that I could if I wanted to. Which I don't. =) But it will be interesting to see how this whole process goes, considering that all I can do is sit around, watch, and point at stuff.
I'm getting really bored with sitting around doing nothing. I've read probably half a dozen books over the last month and today I watched four, yes, four baseball games on TV. Now, I'm as lazy as anyone and I don't normally mind sitting around doing nothing but this is definitely pushing it. I'm actually looking forward to getting on the road. Although I'm not really sure why.
My Dad drove out to help me with the move since I'm still recovering from knee surgery and I can't move around much yet. He drives a Ford Expedition and today was the first day that I sat in the back seat to see how comfortable the upcoming 1,500 mile trip will be...and it wasn't bad. Beth has a Ford Explorer which is pretty roomy but Dad's car, affectionately named Gus, has about eight extra inches of room, and in this case it's a huge difference.
The packers arrive on Monday to pack up everything we own, so that will be interesting. They have said that they pack absolutely everything so we really haven't packed anything at all...not that I could if I wanted to. Which I don't. =) But it will be interesting to see how this whole process goes, considering that all I can do is sit around, watch, and point at stuff.
I'm getting really bored with sitting around doing nothing. I've read probably half a dozen books over the last month and today I watched four, yes, four baseball games on TV. Now, I'm as lazy as anyone and I don't normally mind sitting around doing nothing but this is definitely pushing it. I'm actually looking forward to getting on the road. Although I'm not really sure why.
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