Tallahassee or Bust! Day 1: The Road Dog, Hits the Road!

OK... first things first... had a horrible nights sleep.  I got to the hotel that shall be nameless, tired and sweaty and there is someone "Blazing Up" in the parking lot in his car. Not even really trying to hide it, you could smell it and hear him coughing... all I wanted to do is get to the room, change, head to the gym and then grab a little something something to eat for dinner... The choice for "Day - 0"... Taco Bell. Normally not too bad, its food I get it, but what a mistake based on tonight! (That's what they call foreshadowing)

I rolled around and tried to sleep but kept thinking about the "Crypt Keeper" Keith Morrison's report many years ago about what's actually on your sheets... something I KNOW I have to get over. After waking up at 2:30am I finally got back to some sleep.

Day 1, started out a little late... but that's a "Teenager-Thang" according to my lovely daughter Sage. I had so many high hopes that on our drive down to LAX for her trip, Daddy and daughter would bond! We'd talk and have a grand old time, but another "Teenager-Thang" is the need to sleep pretty much ALL of the time. Which she did...

I'm not allowed to show pictures of her sleeping any more, although I think it's really cute, so I'm only able to show her hands, but trust me... she was out like a light!  From Santa Maria to LAX... Nada, Nothing, Hello!!!

The drive to LAX was spectacular near Santa Barbara as usual and THAT I will miss about California.

Once we arrived at the airport and I was able to wake her up, m-daughter did allow one last pic before she headed off for her Christmas vacation.

Back on the road, you have plenty of time to yourself and it's OK. I have books on CD, Podcasts from NPR, including "Pop Culture Happy Hour" one of my favorites! Pandora streaming from the speakers and occasional calls to and from friends and family along the way.  But just outside of Palm Springs as I started to head for the Arizona border, I realized that turning everything off and having just the wind blowing is special.

That time alone in the car, with your thoughts, can't be duplicated. Call it "Wander Lust" or whatever, but there is something in me that has that sense of adventure. Tallahassee and the new job will challenge me like no other adventure before and I'm looking forward to that... even doing it all alone.

Once I got off the road and rolled into Phoenix for my stop for the night, I was a little nervous at first rolling up to, "The Clarendon Hotel."

I used KAYAK to book it and it's not in the hippest part of town, but it is an old school hip  
hotel that I WOULD recommend to anyone coming through town. I has kind of a hip, retro, Rat-Pack kind of a feel to it. 

After I checked in, hit the gym, showered, I went to the hotel restaurant, "Gallo Blanco Café." Now remember that foreshadowing earlier???


Well I had a slow roasted, locally sourced pork taco and a Carne Asada Burrito with "real" beans and rice... not a bean like "Aco Ell" filling from the night before. The food was spot on and delicious.

So all in all, "Day - 1" turned out to be pretty good... Let's see if we can make it two for two!










Coda: Don't ask me why, but I decided I would take a picture of the soap/lotion layout in each hotel I stay in on the way.  Trying to see if it says anything about the place, the comfort, the hospitality if you will. This could be crazy, but if you've got a take on the pictures... post a comment!

Day - 0... Casa Grande Inn














Day - 1... The Clarendon Hotel

Tallahassee or Bust! Day 0... "Twas The Night Before The Trip"

It's the first night of the big trip, "Tallahassee of Bust!"  I was able to do a decent job cleaning up the apartment, but I think it's all a scam, they're going to go in and clean up again so I probably am going to lose a little of my deposit, but that's life... that's what people say.

So with no place to stay, I'm chilling at the "Casa Grande Inn" in Pismo Beach. Tomorrow, very early I have to pick up m-daughter Sage and drive her to LAX, so she can fly back East to spend Christmas with my family.

It's her normal routine: Fly to Maryland, hang out with my Mother, Brother, Sister in Law and my niece and nephew. Then she heads up to Boston to hang with my Dad and his wife and they go skiing in Vermont for New Years.  Usually I get to see her on her way back and we spend out Christmas together, but this year... because of the job change and drive, I'll be missing out on that.

Tonight... the plan is simple: Go work out a little, get some food, hop in the shower and try to get some rest before the big drive begins!

So nothing to earth shattering tonight... not sure there will be lots of Earth shattering events to blog about, but I made the commitment and those who know me, know when I say I'm going to do something... I get er done!

Day Zero in the books... Ciao Ciao!

Another Way to Stay Motivated

Here is a link to a cool article that not only works for business but filmmakers too! 

Let's see if we can actually start using some of the suggestions!

http://email.buzzfeed.com/wf/click?upn=YGDHVfIXVGy2-2FKZ9BX8q1Gfpr5Tj3fwtLQS-2BD5Qwtv60NCgjoeGPmfnSNQwp4-2BIXaxISMfQfey30fJOQBFRyDcY3HYEyDG7Uqh1BkYx8wrFxd9uEz6AfpvqJzasQCFpKTuueYPfFci-2FIOWw7SdNkTQ-3D-3D_DEjsOHtAgPmXeN-2BwVg-2FZcm02KUXglsAEcpOoaIZg06DGRt-2FYw-2BSI3heIxBRBlAxnDdknGiXgkMONNVvuzoDfLSlY8JfLKWkaXD3m2yzX8Rsx8no2Dwbo8WS-2BxWr743pud5A2buGzwTXy2zqBVctoFThoi6SMjyF1-2BUL3l14hOjF-2BD18MBESKidx-2BoTol39zJQLKZ6fgps-2BV6kiIez7EI-2Bw-3D-3D

Sometimes When You Can't Sleep the Best Thing to do is Go to the Beach!

So I wasn't able to sleep, so rather than lay in bed trying to count sheep... Come on do people even really do that? I got up and headed to the beach to start my day.

There is something about the ocean that fills my soul. At home I sleep with a sound machine and usually sleep with Eire the ocean or the wind... TMI???

Today, I just substituted the machine for the actual, living, breathing ocean and it felt great! Now truth be told I didn't sleep, that's still an issue and no doubt I will hit a wall a little later today, but at least for a little bit... That moment in time, it felt good... Healthy... Somewhat spiritual to be there.

I wonder what the rest of the day will hold...

Geek Flirting: 101

OK... full disclosure... I am a bit of a "Star Wars Geek." (The original three, not the crap that came after) I love the movies, it framed a part of my life and certainly who I am today.  I've often wondered what it might be like to date a self confessed "Star Wars Geek" as well.  She no doubt would think the Princess Leia Slave outfit from "Return of the Jedi"

might be the appropriate costume for a night of adult fun and frolicking, but for me it is and will always be Leia in the white dress, laying on the hard black bed in the prison when Luke comes to rescue her...

Cinnabon hair, lounging provocatively... yep... I'd hit that faster than Han could get the Millennium Falcon into Hyper Space!  But I digress from the purpose of this post.

So I'm in one of my mobile offices today, doing some work for Triple Sticks Productions and I over hear the couple to my left, in the picture above and this guy is driving hard to the hole. They were both suppose to be studying something, but the conversation drifted to her first puppy she ever got, to video games and the flaws in PS2 when it comes to online gaming, to the history of Star Wars characters, starting from the NEW Episode one, moving forward.

My Jedi Knight wanna be friend started to lay out the history of the Sith's.  He was impressing her with his total knowledge and trust me she was interested in his mastery of a history that... well... really isn't REAL history!  Nonetheless he was pouring it on... even to the point after they walked out, they stood at her car for about another half hour chatting, no doubt debating whether or not Han or Greedo shot first in the Cantina.

The funniest thing about this whole virginal, flirt-session... at one point he said and I quote, "I really am not good at calculus, I wish I could master in Star Wars history and teach a class in that." Now before I could catch the phlegm that was coming up from me nearly laughing out laugh, the future Leia fantasy doppelganger hopeful fired back at blaster strength, "I would TOTALLY take that class if you taught it!"

And there you go...the beginning of a Sci-Fi, Erotic, Relationship that if both of them can actually brush knees against each other as they play video games sitting on his parents couch in the basement, might actually get physical.

Maybe I've been single too long... maybe my moves are no longer Jedi worthy and are laying dormant waiting for someone to spark my interest and fire them up like Luke did for Obi Wan... but I just had to smile at my two friends from a table a Far, Far, Away.

I am a romantic at heart and do hope they decide to go for it... they at least had the strength to share their love and take a chance in public... maybe that will lead to more.  So with that, Dynamic Duo... yes I'm aware I'm switching up mythology here for a second... I wish you luck!  Go forward and concur! Do it for all of those geeks stuck online having some kind of relationship with the computer and some person on the other end of your Internet line you think ACTUALLY IS someone that looks like the picture they sent you.  Be bold... kiss each other in real life and not virtually!  And God forbid, please be more Leia and Han rather than Luke and Leia... that's really creepy and incestuous.

May a wedding in the near future and the Force Be with You!

Skyfall Delivers... But....

OK... full disclosure... I LOVE the James Bond franchise.  In my opinion... the best Bonds in order: Connery, Craig, Brosnan, everyone else! That being the case, I'm coughing up the money whenever a film comes out because you really have to see Bond on the big screen and in this new film, "Skyfall" delivers... almost to a tee.

First, you know the formula, so you know what to expect and you just want it done well each time and in this film, they did it well again.  From the opening set up sequence to titles to the overall plot and a good bad guy.  There is also a respect given in this film to the new and future to the past and honoring the Bond franchise which I respect and appreciate.

The film looks great, the sound track is spot on, especially Adele's theme song which will rank up there with some of the great all-time Bond themes.  Daniel Craig looks great, some times a little too flawed for my liking, but I understand why they've tried to make him a little more human.  And while there are a lot of very beautiful woman, call me sexist... Bond still isn't macking on them the way Connery use to back in the day.  A little more sex is OK for me.

The biggest issue I have with this film is I believe it needed to be tightened a bit. Like a bridesmaid wearing spanks at a wedding, I want this bad boy to look, feel and be a little smoother.  I think you could probably chop out about 30 minutes from this film and make it flow a little better.

Oh and this film is totally gadget-light!  Come on guys, there is one really cool car, but that's a blast from the past and has been done already.  We need more and more gadgets!

All in all, you're not going to be disappointed if you're a Bond person when you go see this.  If you're not a Bond person, this is a good entry level film although some of the inside nods to previous Bond films might go over your head, but won't detract from the film.

Catch the film before it heads out of the theaters... you'll thank yourself afterwards!

Back To Where It Started #Netflix

Call it loyalty... call it being "Old School"... call it anything you want, but after spending some time giving #Netflix online some love, I'm heading back to the "OG" Netflix.

Now, there are many reasons for this move and the important thing is to know, I'm not abandoning the Blockbuster killer, just shifting back to the traditional DVD by mail.

I did enjoy being able to just turn on my Blu Ray DVD player, click the online settings and watch a movie.  I even loved the $7.99 a month price.  But here's the deal... I'm a filmmaker and for me, the DVD extra's are almost as valuable as the film itself.  I want to know as much as I can about the "process" of making that film, no matter what it is.  I've even seen really bad movies, but loved the extras because at least I was able to get into the filmmakers heads a little to get an idea of what they were shooting for.  Yes it will cost me a little extra, basically a "Grande Extra Hot Mocha" once a month, but at around $11 bucks a month, it is far superior than going to the movies unfortunately and that pains me to say that.
I LOVE... LOVE... seeing a movie in the theaters, but around where I'm living right now, a matinee is $8.25 without popcorn which as ANYONE knows is THE essential part of going to a movie!  When you throw that in and the bottled water that I sneak in underneath my jacket, but still had to pay a dollar for outside of the theater, you're probably close to $15-$18 bucks!  And don't get me started if for some reason you bring a date to the movie... I digress.

Now the other reason why I went back... one of my films, "Dog Me: Potluck" is available on #Netflix, but only through the traditional DVD form.  Getting a film onto Netflix was HUGE and something I am very proud of.  Not just for me, but for ALL of the people who worked so hard on that film.  So to send a little love, I periodically drop it into my cue and rent the film... and still laugh... just to let those at Netflix even though we're a small film, it's important to have them on the site.

So that's my little rant and philosophy on why I switched back.  I'm not going to advocate for anyone else making the change, but if you are an "OG" like me... slide "Dog Me: Potluck" into your cue and show it some love and know it was made with tons of love and a huge accomplishment for everyone involved.

Ciao Bella!