One Night In Bangkok

Let's Get Ready to Rumble!

I recently helped a client through a tricky legal issue.  What I didn't know was that the client is a Hollywood producer and is in the movie "biz."  My client was helping to promote an MMA event at the Commerce Casino in Commerce, California on Friday night and he invited me to come as his VIP guest.

I could get used to the VIP treatment...

Now, I know that Commerce is a long way from Bangkok, Thailand, but MMA (or mixed martial arts) fighters practice a variety of fighting disciplines, including Brazilian jiu-jitsu, American wrestling, boxing, kickboxing, taekwondo (from Korea), and Muay Thai fighting (from Bangkok, Thailand).

Truth be told, I really never watch this stuff on television (despite having a lot of friends in my church ward/congregation who gather to watch on pay-per-view), and I'd never actually been to a live fight.  This was my first.

As a VIP guest, I got a personal escort to my seat and access to the free bar.  Of course, the bar wasn't much of a perk since the only thing I ended up drinking was Coke--but at least that was free!

The event was BadBeat 10 and I had great seats on the front row.  I made friends with a young guy sitting next to me on the front row of the roped off VIP section.  He was super helpful and showed me things to watch for in the fighters.  Only later did I learn that he was "in the biz" and was a successful actor as well.  The fact that he didn't trade on his celebrity only made me like him more.

"A Witness to the Ultimate Test of Cerebral Fitness"

Ace Marrero of Body of Proof and General Hospital

He was Ace Marrero and he provided some "ace" commentary on the finer points of MMA strategies and techniques.  Thanks to Ace, I know that there is more involved to the sport than just beating the crap out of another fighter.

The final fight was pretty intense--the challenger beat the champ, but neither fighter left the cage unscathed.  I'm glad that my natural sports are limited to basketball and litigation.  I wouldn't want to have to make my living in the cage.

Here's a photo essay of some of the remaining pics from my One Night in Bangkok (which is a great song, by the way--see the video here):

"One Night in Bangkok and the Tough Guys Tumble"

First match of the night...the fighter on the left is praying after KO'ing the fighter on the right

"You See One Crowded Polluted Stinking [Casino]..."

Checking in at the VIP table

"I Get My Kicks Above The Waistline, Sunshine"

You really can't get much closer than this
#nozoom

"The Creme de la Creme of the [MMA] World"

Celebrity Lineup...many of these are soap actors that only someone like @TheMostess would know!  ;-)
If you look closely, you can see the villain from Karate Kid 3 (Sean Kanan)--he too was really nice in real life

"One Night In Bangkok and the World's Your Oyster"

Can't believe they let me hold the title belt #ihavenodesiretotryandwinit

I'm a little bummed that the cage was locked...

"One Night in Bangkok Makes a Hard Man Humble"

One of the best parts was meeting actor Danny Trejo.  He was so nice and was willing to pose for several pictures.  I have since learned a couple of things about him.

• He apparently starred for a couple of seasons in "Breaking Bad" as a character named "Tortuga" (Tortuga means "Turtle" in Spanish).  He must have been a bad guy--and he didn't make it.  But he apparently went out in a very memorable way.  I haven't seen a single show in the series, but I know some people swear by the show.

• He spent time in some of California's worst prisons before he got into acting (in and out of jail for 11 years).  On his first acting job, he was cast as a prison convict.  The director was trying to give him some direction and here is how Danny describes the conversation: 
• "It was the funniest thing I'd ever heard. I'd been in Soledad, San Quentin, Folsom, Vacaville, Susanville, Sierra--and here's a guy asking, "Can you act like a convict?" I remember I said. "I'll give it a shot".

• Danny doesn't drink and neither does anyone in his entourage.  That was kind of cool.

The Entourage (and I look like a giant standing next to all these Hollywood types!)

Danny Trejo and Me
#moneyshot

Snorkeling With The Sharks

Note the Hapari Boardshorts

My brother and I decided to celebrate the 4th by going snorkeling down at La Jolla Cove and La Jolla Shores.  It's been years since I'd been there, but it was amazing.  The water was warm and refreshing and visibility was pretty decent.  We saw scores of garibaldi, dozens of barracuda, leopard sharks, a school of soupfin sharks, sea lions, and even a cool looking Pacific Coast jelly fish.

Heading Out...Note how I've mastered diving hand signals even though I'm not scuba certified!

A large (6+ foot) soupfin shark

The sharks weren't as scary as I would have thought.  I spotted a young (2-3 foot) leopard shark and swam along him for a bit.  Then a bit later, my brother and I came across a school of soupfin sharks.  They were swimming probably about 10-15 feet below us and they kept on coming and coming from out of the slightly murky depths.  I counted at least 6--all 6+ feet in length.  My brother thinks that there may have been at least 10.  Here's a quick video which an idea of what it was like.

These barracuda looked like mini missiles in the water.  There were too many to count.

These sea lions were quick and unpredictable in the water.  Fortunately, they didn't seem too concerned with us around.  That was a good thing because I was actually more nervous around the sea lions than I was around the sharks.  They were fun to watch and I kept hoping that we'd see a sea lion catch a fish--but it was not to be.

A sea lion swims amidst the garibaldi.

We also saw a bat ray gliding along.

Heading for home...

(Great job to my brother for all of these cool pics!)

Ax Men

Do you remember that chainsaw that my dad was fixing with my kids?  Well, he finished and ever since he has been itching to put it through its paces.  He found a couple of trees that fell over in a recent storm and got permission to cut them up.  He wanted me to bring the boys down so that they could help on a mini-logging expedition.

Rip Van Winkle

Unfortunately, the boys are out of town, but since I couldn't go with them, I had a little time on my hands. I really think that my dad was looking at this as his birthday present to himself.  He was so excited for this.  I had to run home for a bit this morning and he actually called me twice to see where I was because he couldn't wait to get started.

We loaded up his truck with both chainsaws and headed for the trees. Fortunately, it wasn't that far away.  We got there and went to investigate.  There were about 3 eucalyptus trees that had fallen over.  The biggest surprise was finding some dude asleep in the bushes.

I'm glad that he woke up as we walked up the hill because he would have woken up for sure once we fired up the chainsaws!

Working with the chain saws was actually fun.  I'm proud to report that the chainsaw my dad fixed (I certainly can't take any credit for it!) worked just fine.  When it ran out of gas, we switched to the new chainsaw.  That chainsaw was bigger, heavier, and had more power.  It went through those trees like a hot knife through butter!

The tricky part was the footing.  We were cutting on a steep slope and the ground underneath was slippery from  the accumulated leaves and undergrowth.  Fortunately, we managed to cut up the trees without losing any fingers or toes!

Always wear ear and eye protection with power tools!

Timber!

Just to prove I actually did some of the work!

Probably the most fun was being able to chuck the logs down the hill.  It felt a little bit like bowling!  The worst part was stacking them in the truck.  It was a pretty strenuous workout!  And it only proved the old adage: "When you cut your own wood, it warms you twice."

Before

After  :-)

All done and ready to roll!

Five Things That Scared Me Today on Halloween

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
Somehow I forgot to record this classic tonight to watch with the kids...Dang it!

Today is the big day.  I can't believe that we finally made it.  And as one (or maybe three) wise blogger(s) said, I can't wait for it to end!  After donning my costume for Pumpkinman, the ward "trunk-or-treat", and now Halloween, I'm ready to retire it.

Waldo is ready to retire!

One thing that I did notice and made me happy was that my kids seemed really unselfish this year.  Last night at the Trunk-or-Treat, S. was passing out his candy to everyone that he could find and he was genuinely happy about it.  Tonight, E. came home early from trick-or-treating and was so excited to hand out candy to the neighborhood kids who came to trick-or-treat.

And finally, as I walked to my car tonight in some other neighborhood, some random kids came up to me and were really excited to give me some Halloween candy.  Bless their little hearts!  Anyway, seeing such unselfish, good-hearted acts of kindness and generosity made my holiday this year.

But it wouldn't be Halloween without a few scary surprises, so here are my top five things that scared me today:


#5 - M. (My son) - Yes, he is the cutest little baby pumpkin that you've ever seen.  He also managed to slime me pretty good before I could even get out of bed this morning.  Then he was leaking as I left for the office.  Sure, it could have been much worse, but it was a heck of a way to start off the day!  I'll never know how one cute little guy can have so much liquid inside!

#4 - Driving - I had to drive around a little tonight to try and find (and keep up) with my kids as they made the rounds trick or treating.  There were kids everywhere!  And they didn't seem to care that I was driving or not.  And they certainly were not following their parents to look both ways before they crossed the street.  Heck, they were strolling right down the middle of the street!  This was definitely a night that called for both hands on the steering wheel and both eyes on the road!

I want candy!

#3 - Candy - The thought of all that candy in my house makes me nervous.  Heaven knows the last thing that I need to eat more of is candy.  Usually, I'm pretty good, but occasionally I'll go on these binges were I think that Skittles, Almond Joy, and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are actually on the Food Pyramid somewhere!

This promotion gave me a fright tonight...

#2 - Lines - A colleague of mine told me that Chipotle was offering $2 burritos if you showed up in costume.  I really don't know any sane person that would don a costume just to score some free food.  ;-)  Against my better judgment, however, I decided to swing by because I may well be losing my mind since I was already in a costume and I was hungry.

As I drove past the restaurant, however, I could see that the line inside insane and the restaurant was total Thunder Dome as people clamored for their cheap "Boo-ritos."  I decided that a $2 burrito wasn't worth a 2 hour wait in line!  Instead, I pulled into Jack in the Box for some of their tasty tacos (2 for 99 cents!!) and a yummy pumpkin pie shake!

Hurricane Sandy

#1 - The Thought of Halloween Lasting One.More.Day - I heard on the radio today that one of the governors on the East Coast signed an executive order moving Halloween to November 5th this year due to the after-effects of Hurricane Sandy.  Thankfully, we don't have hurricanes here on the Left Coast!  And frankly, I'm glad this [pagan] holiday is over and I don't have to think about candy or costumes or trick-or-treating for another year!

Ward Trunk-Or-Treat

E dressed up as a super cute puppy!

We are officially back in our home ward (local church congregation) now and our ward had its "Trunk-Or-Treat" party tonight.  I met the kids there after work.  In honor of The Mostess, here's a straight photo dump of the night's festivities and the kids' cute costumes.

I love our cute little pumpkin!

I love this picture of E!  :-)

It's Cool to be Kind--to Animals

With Olympic Silver Medalist Gretchen Bleiler and her husband Chris Hotell

Last night, I got a chance to go to an event that was being co-hosted by a client and friend of mine.  The event was a fundraiser benefit for the ASPCA and was at this spectacular house in Bel Air.  Bel Air is this tony neighborhood in Los Angeles in the hills above Westwood (where UCLA's campus is).  It is nestled between Beverly Hills and Brentwood and the Getty Museum is practically around the corner.

It was kind of a long drive, so the first thing that I did when I got there was head for the food.  The ticket that I had to shell out for was not cheap, so I was expecting some decent food at least.  (There was also wine tasting going on, although I didn't bother with that.)  I was not disappointed in the menu.

I took a picture of the menu for all you "Foodies" out there.  I should have taken a picture of the food.  It was that good!  :-)

First up was the salad.  The balsamic vinaigrette was outstanding, as were the beets and pear tomatoes.

Then we had some finger foods.  The mini paninis were extremely tasty.  I thought that the turkey and havarti cheese were outstanding, but my conscience felt much better knowing that it was "cruelty-free" turkey.  Hey, given that it was an ASPCA-event, I was just glad that it wasn't a vegetarian menu--or vegan.  (No word on whether it was GF--sorry Kaari!)

I also liked the mini chicken pot pies as well.  Again, I didn't even know that there was such a thing as "cruelty-free" chicken.  I just know that it tasted good (and I bet it cost more!).

I also got a chance to wander around the house and the grounds a bit.  The swimming pool was so beautiful. It had these fountains shooting up all along the pool and there was a spectacular peek-a-boo view of the beautiful lights of Westwood and Los Angeles.  From "The Hills," the city below really does look like a jewel and worthy of its name ("The City of Angels").

The dessert bar is at the far end of the pool (yes, I had several desserts!)

View from Above...Note the city lights in the background

Anyway, it was fun to be able to visit with my clients and meet/visit with some interesting people (including All-World, Olympic Snowboarder Gretchen Bleiler and her husband).  On my way out, I grabbed a swag bag.  It made me feel a little more like a celebrity!

The Swag Bag Table was a little depleted by the end of the night...

I enjoyed myself and gained a new appreciation for the ASPCA.  Among other things, I was reminded that puppy mills are bad and rescue animals are good!  ;-)

All in all, it was a great night--great people and a great event.  Thanks AKS and the whole S&Co. team for planning and pulling the whole thing off!  You are total pros!

Now if I somehow could have avoided that long drive home!

Ripped From the Headlines

A colleague of mine at the office likes to send out funny stuff via email on a daily basis.  From time to time, some of it actually is funny. I thought that this recent batch of true headlines was worth sharing...Enjoy!

Let's hope the new one does a better job!

Oh, is that how it works?