Fun - and busy - week

Well Aaron, AKA Double-A, AKA the Kid, AKA Tim (if he starts acting like a hermit) has become one with the house. Dad left on Monday and it's much quieter around here. Now well see if the kid has a voice of his own.

Last Saturday was oil change time on the car. Took a walk down Santa Monica Blvd. to check out the shops and antique stores plus visit Golden Apple comics and Babeland. Sunday was dinner at cousin Lisa's with Winnie and Vickie(?) visiting. Lovely as always. Good chat with Felicia about "Acting" that was very educational. She's coming down soon to go to Roscoe's with us. Maybe she can give some pointers to the Kid. Monday was an ultimately futile trip to the DMV to register the car and get a DL and spent much of the day getting an oil leak fixed at changers. Tuesday, Emily's significant other, Alex Aronoff came in town for a conference with his BBYO. We met up at Universal CityWalk for dinner and drinks. Much like Dallas' West End but more commercial and pointless. Chatted about our women and the future and how the two were inexplicably intertwined. Very nice to hang out with him. Wednesday was a special screening at Nickelodeon for their Random Cartoons program with some of the creators. Met an old friend of the Klinglers named Enrique May who did storyboards with Norma on Pinky and the Brain. Small world. Thursday, Ross Cox came in town! Had a quick jaunt to L.A. for his RingToons project and we hooked up at The Roosevelt Hotel. Dinner and drinks at the hotel lounge and the Tropicana Bar. Stayed up chatting about how to fix Cartoon Network until 1am. Mostly involved plans to oust Mike Lazzo via a 40 story window. If Ross gets Lazzo's job I can have Ross' job. We shook on it. Friday was a quiet evening at home for once. i think i watched Simpsons all night. Saturday Greg had to work and Dad and the Kid had errands so I made my way over to the Page Museum AKA The La Brea Tar Pits and LACMA. Snuck into the Page with a group and wandered the halls full of reclaimed bones from the surrounding area like Pit 91. There was one wall full of wolf skulls. You'd think the idea would have sunk in to stay away from the pits or maybe it was a Prehistoric graveyard. Saber-toothed tigers, a Mammoth, and American Lion, Birds, Sloths, etc. No Dinosaurs. They were extinct 65 million years before the residents of the Pits. LACMA hosted the Magritte exhitbit which i didn't see cuz i didnt have $30. Should go eventually. Saw their Japanese exhibit and the Picasso Minotaurachry(?) and some of their permanent collection. will post pics someday. Sunday, Greg moved his computer out of the Kid's room so it's all rentable now. Monday i trolled through Pasadena for rental properties. Houses out their remind me of Daniella's area in Ft. Worth. Craftsman style, hardwood floors, cozy, no zoning laws about multifamily dwellings on a single residence lot. cute but kinda tight. If/when we move I hope to find a standalone house. how picky.

Post Christmas anticipations

Back in L.A. on Monday. Christmas was great, the kids were fun, Bren was wonderful and it was even harder to leave this time. Over too quickly even for 10 days. Crammed in as much family time as possible with the Sherrod Family Xmas Party, Dinner at the parents, a spa day for Bren, lots of cuddle time and kiddie wrangling, yard work, a night out with Evan, and a champagne toast on New Years. We discussed plans for the future to move or not to move and ended up back where we started. If the idea is to save money and get out of debt, then the answer is to stay the way we are and commute every other month or so. If the idea is to be together as a family then we should move and stay in debt forever. The kids tend to swing the vote to moving but the future leans toward less debt. Back-and-Forth-Back-and-Forth. Bleh.

I got plenty of good geeky things for Xmas even though I shouldn't have. The car was my present. Bren found the All-Star patch for my jersey and was all sneaky about it. Plus a Stars lisence plate cover and MN Wild bumper sticker. Also some DVDs like Boondocks, Simpsons 8, Robot Chicken, Animaniacs and Pirates 2 then found The Animation Show at Target this week so my cartoon jones has been sated for awhile, plus Simpsons 9 is waiting for me when I go back in February. Woo Hoo!

Rafe and I got Greg a brand-new cast iron skillet. I signed the note: Merry Christmas from your Bitches, Chris & Rafe. He was rolling. Greg got me a sun roof visor for the Honda so I can get some character into the Ferret. I want to get some color on the outside like striping or paint the door mouldings an electric blue. Cheapest would be to mask it off myself and Krylon it. Should check into that. A new steering wheel cover might be nice too.

Rafe made it back to the East Coast and spent Christmas in Connecticut. Rather picturesque if he didn't have the prospect of unfulfilled dreams. There but for the grace of God, go I if I ever leave here. Three months in and already got my hand slapped. If I had something to work on I'd probably be pretty docile. New sequence coming today I hope. Tired of surfing the same dozen websites.

Rumor has it the new roomie is to be arriving soon. A kid Rafe knows is trying out the dream and coming to live with US. Hope we don't scare him off. MWUHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA.