Filed under: Chico
Today was my nephew and my cousin’s birthday. My cousin called me at like 12:30 in the morning last night because his friends took him out down in LA. He called me this morning with the typical drunkness except he woke up naked because he puked on his clothes. Too funny.
For my nephew, I drove down to Roseville to our local waterpark , Sunsplash. I haven’t been there before. But it wasn’t too pack considering how hot it was today. It was a great time playing with all my nephews. Peyton cracked me up because I would go on the little slides (he’s 3) with him and build him up to the big slide. Then we would go down the big slide, he would freak out, and we would have to start all over on the little slides and build back up. I would go on the bigger slides with Bryar and Connor–my other two nephs. We would run up the stairs, down the slide, and back up the stairs again. We found a slide that no one seemed to know how to go get to… so we just kept going on that one because there was no wait for it. It’s just so crazy how fast the sun takes the energy out of you. We left around 4:30 and I headed back to Chico. I was so tired. I got home and crashed. I got up and made a quick dinner and went and worked out. Normally, I don’t work out this late. However, because of the adventure down to Roseville and my upcoming week, I needed to do it.
I was riding my bike through Bidwell Park (aka The Park) going to the gym when I almost got ran over by a car. Now, I admit that I am not the best biker in the town. I rarely stop at stop signs. I ride down the wrong way on one way streets. I ride my bike across intersections. When I get hit, and I say when because I know it will happen, it will probably be my fault. Still, the park is for bikes and people not cars. I don’t understand why our city still allows cars to be in the park. It’s so stupid. The park is flanked by two roads that run parallel to the park with plenty of side ride parking. The park is also less than a mile wide. The argument behind letting cars drive is so people don’t have to haul things into the park for barbecues and for the handicap. Well I can’t argue about handicap people without sounding like a dick, so I’m going to leave that one alone. But for people that need to barbecue… go screw yourself. First, you should be barbecuing in such a heavily wooded area as Bidwell Park. One dumb ass not paying attention and it will probably set half of Chico on fire. Secondly, The Park isn’t the only park we have in Chico. We have SO many parks where you can BBQ… go there. Not only do people drive in the park, they FLY through the park like it’s a highway. My suggestion is that if you don’t have a handicap sticker (begrudgingly)… no cars in the park. There is absolutely no reason for cars to be in the park… get some exercise….
Filed under: Uncategorized
I recently added an American flag outside the front of my house. Some of my conservative friends found this a bit odd. I guess considering my political views (which are pretty moderate) that they were surprised I would fly a flag outside of my house. I don’t know when the American flag became the exclusive privilege of the conservative people of our country. Regardless of our views, we are all still Americans. We all share the same laws and common goals. Although we may differ on how we intend on getting there, what unites us as a country is our differences. Without people constantly questioning and challenging each other, our country could easily become a government of unilateral minds.
People try to hide their agendas behind the American flag. Politicians find its okay to blast a group of immigrants for trying to make a better life for themselves or condemn companies that “pollute” as long as they have the tiny little American flag lapel pin attached to their misguided logic. People wave the American flag when the oppose two people getting married. I don’t understand where people’s patriotism is called into question when they are trying to pursue happiness. It’s part of our foundation of a country.
Personally, I’m a huge advocate for state rights. I believe that the state should be able to have more control to help the people they serve. Sadly, I live in California that it has made it most difficult to govern. But I’m not going to drive down to Sacramento and wave the California flag in the face of our legislators. I am going to use productive ways to garner support.
So all I ask is that we Americans stop using our flag to divide people. Instead, let’s use it to united us under common goals and brother and sisterhood. This is a great nation because of our freedoms and we should cherish and respect each individual for their contributions to our society.
Filed under: Uncategorized
I’ve been preoccupied with a visitors, summer activities, and a new cell phone to write lately. So this is going to be a mix of all of the above. Hopefully, this will get me caught up.
Visitors
I was lucky enough to get a phone call/facebook message from my friends Denna and her, her husband, and their son–Prince Tristan, were going to come up to visit on Thursday. It was great to have them up because they were the few friends that I had when I lived in Manteca. They came up on Thursday morning and I met them at the Hamilton City launch point on the Sacramento River. They just recently purchased a canoe and wanted to float down the river. It was great because it was just the right amount of time to be on the river. We came back into town and it was already quite warm. So Prince Tristan went down for his nap and I introduced Justin and Deanna to V for Vendetta while Denna and I had a facebook conversation about drinking at 1:30 in the afternoon. Prince Tristan woke up and we went to lunch at Tres and then walked over to the park for Tristan to play in Caper Acres and playing in one mile. It was so hot, it was nice just to put my feet in the water and cool off. We came back and watched Meet the Robinsons like five times. I love that movie, especially the end because I love the fact of people finding the family they really deserve. Denna and I went to the market to get some strawberries for dinner and headed back. Jennifer and her roommate came over and had dinner with us. It was fun conversation and a way to cheer up Jen’s roomie from her gloom. I busted out Apples to Apples and we had a great night of lobbying and wine. Then Jen’s roommate Kandi decided it was a good night to go to the bars at like 12:30. I so just wanted to go to sleep, but I knew she was going to be a handful and it wouldn’t be fair to send Jen down there by herself. So I went downtown on a Thursday night during the summer. In Chico, that equals to deader than dead. But we still were there until 2a. We took a taxi back and I think I finally made it to bed around 3a. At about 6a I could hear my houseguests up and moving and decided that I could sleep later. I got up and made some bacon and waffles and then they headed back to Stockton. I cleaned and moped the house and went back to bed. I puttered around, went to the gym, and then had dinner with my friend Jake and his wife. What I learned is that time does heal things and I actually really like his wife now. We got a rough start earlier in life, but I’m glad that she married Jake. She probably had it all along, but I wasn’t paying attention.
Summer Activities
My friend Kim invited me to go see Coldplay with her on Tuesday. It’s ironic that the band is called Coldplay because it was sooo hot. I couldn’t wait for the sun to go down finally. Coldplay came on stage and started their set. Now Coldplay’s music isn’t the type of music you are on you are your feet constantly during the performance. Instead, they rocked it, but also played in the stands–even up in the cheap seat grass seats. When the heat settled down the concert was fantastic. As we were leaving, they even gave us a CD with all of the concert music on it. It was great to rock out to on the way home. I always wanted to learn how to play the piano. Maybe I should start thinking about it soon.
Cell Phone
I have been planning on getting a new cell phone when my contract ended. I really wanted an iphone because everyone else had one and they loved it. However, there were just somethings about the iphone that didn’t do it for me–mainly not having a keyboard. Enter the Palm Pre. I was researching how much it would cost me to buy from Sprint and use with Verizon. But I found that Sprint was 50 dollars cheaper a month than what I was paying now… so I decided to make the switch. Verizon did nothing wrong. But I got home and got the cool new phone and no way to sync all my information. I spent four hours trying and playing with it until I finally figured it out at 11:30 tonight and all is well. But figuring out a new cell phone is just a pain. It takes so much getting used to figure out what and how everything goes.
But that should catch me up for now…
