New Kitchen... OK refreshed is more like it!

So I have finally started on some of the projects around the house and the first to be tackled was the kitchen. So dark, dated and absolutely nasty! But what to you expect from something that was designed and built in the 70s... guess that does not say much about me, eh?

Now I still have one item that needs to be replaced or refresh for the time being and that is the lights, oh how I loathe them!

But take a look for yourself...



Cleaning up also make the place look better, but the before pictures are from the weekend I moved in.



This is only a temporary fix til I have the money to truly update my kitchen... I still hope that is sooner than later, but at least now I am not repulsed by the site of it.

"...Prehaps it should have been Rule of Wrist?"

Alright... enough already! Yes I have not posted in a while; some would say I am lazy... This goes out to all my fellow Saint fans.

In the past few weeks I have heard or read 'rule of thumb' several times and it just made me giggle inside thinking of the scene in Boondock Saints. In the movie, the phrase was said to have originated from when a man could be his wife with a stick no bigger than his thumb. Settle down PC fruitcakes, this is not the origin. And watch the movie for the reason I giggle. In all seriousness, I decided to do a little research on the term of my endearment.

Definition ‘A useful principle having wide application but not intended to be strictly accurate or reliable in every situation.’ The origin is also listed here.

Quotes ‘People are basically honest. And they're even more honest when you watch them.’ - Alan C. "Ace" Greenberg
‘Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys’ - P.J. O'Rourke

Every Rule of Thumb in one place a fun and interesting website, example: On fence posts in open country, red-tailed hawks space themselves every 1.5 miles.

Well there is more out there on the www than I needed to see; I could go on and on about what you find when researching the web and how much time is wasted going to site that only resemble what your looking for. I did stumble across this one gem I have to post here:
From http://www.5ives.com/

Five Rules of Thumb
1. The stupider your ringtone, the longer it will take you to answer your phone.
2. The twin miracles of childbirth and pet ownership render you unable to share one photo of anything.
3. If your vanity license plate makes any reference to the make of your vehicle, the people you work with despise you.
4. Ph.D.s who ask to be called “Doctor” should be prepared to refer to every college graduate as “Bachelor.”
5. If you own more than one Enya record you might as well buy all of them and make a little fort.

I seem to have lost focus on the post, but if you have not seen the Boondock Saints, check it out.

In nomine Patri, Et Fili, Spiritus Sancti.

Stimulus Payment Info

My cousin sent me this and I concur

"This year, taxpayers will receive an Economic Stimulus Payment. This is a very exciting new program that I will explain using the Q and A format:

Q. What is an Economic Stimulus Payment?
A. It is money that the federal government will send to taxpayers.

Q. Where will the government get this money?
A. From taxpayers.

Q. So the government is giving me back my own money?
A. Only a smidgen.

Q. What is the purpose of this payment?
A. The plan is that you will use the money to purchase a high-definition TV set, thus stimulating the economy.

Q But isn't that stimulating the economy of China ?
A. Shut up.


Below is some helpful advice on how to best help the US economy by spending your stimulus check wisely:

If you spend that money at Wal-Mart, all the money will go to China.
If you spend it on gasoline it will go to the Arabs.
If you purchase a computer it will go to India.
If you purchase fruit and vegetables it will go to Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala (unless you buy organic).
If you buy a car it will go to Japan.
If you purchase useless crap it will go to Taiwan.

And none of it will help the American economy. We need to keep that money here in America. You can keep the money in America by spending it at yard sales, going to a baseball game, or spend it on prostitutes, beer and wine (domestic ONLY), or tattoos, since those are the only businesses still in the US.

Panoramic View

I just downloaded the latest Windows Live Photo Gallery which has an auto panoramic stitcher... VERY COOL!

The blog shrunk the pic on upload, much better when viewed in full!

Happy New Year!

Yeah yeah, I know it is a bit late, but I have not talked to a few of you in a while... nor posted.

Hope Christmas and the rest of the holidays treated you all well. My Christmas was good; spent Christmas eve at my Aunt Deb's house. In the morning headed over the parents for breakfast with Rick, Gina and the kids; as usual my mom spent too much, of course she said the same as me. In the afternoon we did the traditional Ready-Hagemann party at Dick and Cheryl's, little White Elephant exchange, some laughs, Lakers game and of course the food. GOOD TIMES!

That weekend Ryan, James, Rick and I headed down to San Diego for the Chargers vs. Broncos Game. We scored on the seats and had an awesome time.


I had taken the week off between Christmas and New Years, but then decided I need to go hangout with my Aunt Judy and get some snowboarding in. I took my Goddaughter Lauren so she could take lessons and have some fun too. She did pretty good for her first time.

As you can see the weather was perfect and the conditions excellent for not have any new snow in a week.

Well had some incredible views to. On the way down the mountain to head back to my aunt's house we sat above the fog bank that entombs the valley floor. You usually only see this when flying, but even then you do not get the mountain top islands!

Spent New Years Eve at my cousin Cheyenne's house with her her kids, her boyfriend, her sister Sierra (and family) and their mom. Did not last very long... say about 2 minutes after midnight.

Now it is back to the grind... did everyone else's first week of this year seem a bit crazy?

Sandstone Peak, Santa Monica Mtns

Saturday I went out for a hike and decided to try a new trail with my brothers dog Todd. Using my new handheld GPS I headed down Hwy 1 and up into the mountains to Sandstone Peak.

The Peak, Mt Allen, is at 3111 feet and offers awesome morning views. You could see at least 5 of the Channel Islands, all this and it's December!

Taken on top of Mt Allen, Anacapa and Santa Cruz Islands in the backgroud.


Just some great views and I can not wait to come back up here, but for now I am trying to load up my GPS with as many waypoints and tracks as possible. So no repeats for a while.

Mishe Mokwa Trail sits in the valley created by Boney Mountain and Sandstone Peak; one of the unique views is Balance Rock.

Get out and enjoy our bounties!

Hong Kong, Part Doh!

I was not stateside for Thanksgiving, spent the long holiday in Hong Kong finishing up a project started two weeks ago. But don't feel bad for me (which I know you don't ;-) ) I was luckly enough to get out and about on this short trip.

Spent a bit of time at this place... the hot tub on the 76th floor of the W hotel. Nice view of Hong Kong island and very nice on the sore muscles.

Work uses a local IT vendor for onsite support of a mutual customer, they took me out to dinner Friday night. We ended up driving just north of the city to Sai Kung.

Outside the restaurants are all these aquariums with the catch of the day; crab, cuttlefish, clams, some type of shrimp that looks more like a lobster, and some de-lic-ious scallops was on our menu.

Not sure if these were for dinner.

Best part of this trip was going for a hike to Lantau Peak; start on the right on the road and ended up at the buddah statue and monastery.

Lantau Peak is the highest point on Lantau Island, adjacent to the airport, top left corner of the picture.

This is a view of Lantau Peak, far left, from near the road I started on. I was told this was a tough hike but it showed me some spectacular views.

The Hong Kong area had hundred of miles of trails, well made and well maintained. Allong the way are covered picnic areas and benches trail side to take in the view.

At 3075 feet is the top were a temporary shelter was built years ago for any unfortunate soul; luckly it was a gorgous day for me.

It was so steep coming down the backside; some steps were up to knee high on me.

Near the end of this section of the trail was a dedication called 'The Wisdom Path'; large split logs that had inscriptions of a ancient text (not ancient itself).

The last part of my hike brought me to the Tian Tan Buddah statue and the Po Lin Monastary.

This is the best picture I got of the buddah... the lighting when I was up underneath it did not lead to many interesting shots except for this one.

As you can see this buddah is telling me to stop and then flipping me the bird. What?

The whole area around the monastary was called Ngong Ping and had a gondola from the top down to a station near the airport. The views were awesome and gave me a few monments to look back on the trip.

Back to the rat race!