Not much to explain on this group of pictures. There was a Halloween party. Some people wore costumes, others did not. Some pumpkins were carved. Fun was had by all.

Enjoy the pictures!

The look of the night

No dress but still a princess

The costume was the hat... oh wait...

A nice table spread

Casual Russian Boat Enthusiast

Continuing the tradition of mass pumpkin genocide

Cowboys like to hurt pumpkins

Since becoming an adult (or at least voting age), I’ve become increasingly interested in things that I wish I had the opportunity to be involved in as a kid. Growing up, I loved science fiction films, video games, comic books, and so on but had no money to partake in these things to the degree that most of my school friends could. I’m not saying I was completely deprived but I definitely had limited options.

Half stories, big worlds

My only true unadulterated experience to comics as a kid were a handful of comics from the random corner store (I probably owned a total of about 12 comics throughout my entire childhood). Much more than actual comics, I got to partake in the world through a handful of comic-based 90′s cartoons like X-Men, Spiderman, and Iron Man. I LOVED those cartoons.  I wanted so much to be a part of the world I knew existed in the pages of comics, but we just didn’t have the money. I never got to finish a comic story arch. I never saw the beginning or ending of a series.

As far as video games went, I inherited an old NES and a handful of games from a deceased relative (not really the optimum way to obtain a video game system, I think).  I loved video games every bit as much as those comic-based Saturday morning cartoons.  But I was always a bit jealous of being so far behind the curve of most of my friends. When I got my NES, most of my school friends had had SNES and Sega Genesis for years and many were getting Playstations. In fact, that often worked out of my advantage since many friends thought of the NES as “that cool old system” and would trade me their Sega Genesis for my NES for the odd weekend.

My exposure to Sci-Fi films, like video games, was usually out-dated and generally involved films that had been out for years or two star or less movies broadcast on television on the weekends. I didn’t care, I loved them anyway. I loved the stories and ideas so much that the bad acting and cheesy effects didn’t matter at all. The Last Starfighter was wish fulfillment, Star Trek was a refuge, Star Wars a fantastic adventure.  It was a chance to think of something so much bigger than myself and be a part of a world that I could only see a glimpse of.

Come on an adventure with me

I think that’s what I loved most as a child about all these things – comics, video games, films – there were worlds both on the paper and on the screen that I could be a part of as well as a whole world of other people just like me that really existed on this planet that I could commiserate with while sitting there watching Saturday morning cartoons. The idea of being a part of a community, even if it was based around something possibly completely ridiculous, has always appealed to me. The concept of Trekkers is not surprising to me, even if I’ve never found myself dressed as a Klingon. The existence of rabid Star Wars fans is no shock. They all just love being a part of a world that instantly gives them connection to others and to something beyond the mundane of everyday life.

Too cool for school

It wasn’t until late high school or early college that I even learned about Comic Conventions or the idea of cosplay (where people will dress up at these conventions as their favorite geek world characters from films, games, etc.). I thought it was silly. At first, I probably scoffed. But inside I thought that was probably one of the coolest things I’d ever heard of. It wasn’t cool to be a nerd or geek when I grew up the way it seems to be now and I desperately wanted to fit in for most of my childhood so dressing up as a video game character definitely wasn’t on the agenda. It’s funny how things can flip around though. At this point in my life now, I simply don’t care to fit in. Fitting in is so boring. I haven’t had the chance to attend a Comic Convention yet but if I did I wouldn’t be opposed to dressing up. I just realistically wouldn’t dress up because I’m lazy, not because of fear of being “uncool”.

Life is too short

Much of my childhood was spent being jealous of what others had or what I didn’t but looking back I had a lot. I might not have had the latest gadgets or coolest toys, but I did get to see into these giant worlds of imagination. I was forced to fill in the details myself, to make the most of what I had and run with it. Didn’t get to see the ending? Oh well, make up your own. Can’t get that new game? Too bad. Go draw what you think the story might be. Some of my all time best friends were met because we struck up a conversation about video games we didn’t have or films we had never seen (but really wanted to).

Life is far too short to be concerned with what everyone else has or is doing. My love of art and drawing grew out of the need, the compelling, to be a part of these fanciful worlds that I only peripherally got to experience and for that I am eternally grateful. Go and partake, and if you can’t partake then make it yourself. There are never too many good stories in this world.

I’m not the biggest sports fan – at least as far as watching sports on television goes. Generally, I can care absolutely less about which teams is doing well this season or who even won the Super Bowl. In fact, I used to go to Magic Mountain ever Super Sunday because there were so few people there (Goliath four times in a row FTW!) – though the only reason I publicly out that little gem is because other people have caught on to that fact and it’s now just as busy as ever.

Tur-ri-bull, just tur-ri-bull.

The last time I actually really truly cared about whether a professional sports team won or lost was when I was in junior high school living in Arizona, watching the Phoenix Suns, led by Charles Barkley, almost but not quite beat the Chicago Bulls – those jerks. I watched every game that season. After the Game 6 loss, I just turned off the television and remember thinking “And… I’m done with that, thank you.”

Anyway, so with all that comes in the FIFA World Cup. My wife, Melissa, wanted so desperately to get excited about it this year – to invite people over, to watch as many games as possible. I thought “I’m open to that” but then every time we’d be watching a game, I’d simply gravitate back to my office to work or to my iPhone to play Angry Birds (damn that addiction!).

It’s amazing to think that so many people would be simultaneously, around the world, getting together to participate in something (watching the World Cup has always seemed participative in some capacity rather than simply passive). Wars have been post-poned or completely averted because of football (soccer, futbol, whatever).

To watch the final game, we went over to a friends house and got to partake in a World Cup game the way you’re meant to – with friends and various snacks. it was a lot of fun, I got a few cool photos, and we watched the whole thing on a ridiculously tiny screen (which didn’t really seem to detract from the fun).

Time for some pictures!

Make shift "television"

I'm not sure who Christoph was rooting for based on this picture

Don't worry. I'm totally not writing bad words on you.

Big smiles! Or else.

Coco the Dog enjoyed the game but thought Netherlands played a bit dirty

This is the final installment of the ‘Summer Road Trip 2009 – The Follow-up’ posts.

After the wedding in Idaho and hanging out with random friends in Portland, OR we headed back on down to California but before leaving Oregon we spent one more night with our lovely friends – the Torson Family! We didn’t have a whole lot of time this time around (plus we were getting kind of pooped from being on the road) but I did get to see some incredible artwork of Brent’s that he had done over the years (most of it was stashed away in their garage). He should seriously work for ILM or some similar company.

While we were there, Leanne insisted we do a little impromptu photo session in the backyard since the lighting was so good (the sun was setting) and I got some great shots of the adorable Torson children – Jaden, Elianna, Lissette, and Brielle. Hope you enjoy!

Welp, that’s all I got for you guys. After Oregon we head back down to California and stayed with friends in Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay Area again but didn’t take many pictures by then (I was fairly over taking pictures at that point).  I did take more pictures then what I showed on these few blog posts though and a lot of them have been posted to my Flickr account so if you’ve got a hunger for more pics from our summer road trip, then go here.

After the wedding in Idaho, we drove to Portland to visit some friends. We had zero plans ahead of time at this point. We hadn’t even planned where we’d sleep while in town, which is not normal for us. It was a fun adventure. Being pretty worn out at this point we ended up stopping for a night in the town Hood River. It was very hot and humid (for what we’re used to) and we pretty much just got some food, ice cream, and then we to bed. I’d love to go back to Hood River at some point in the future though! It seemed like a cool lil’ town.

On the Way from Boise to Portland

Once in Portland, we got connected with some friends. Walking around Portland would have been a lot more fun if it weren’t for the fact that there was a massive heat wave and it was well over 100 degrees. A lot of our time there was spent looking for places that had air conditioning, quite frankly.  So we went to the movies to see 500 Days of Summer, which was a great film. And we went to the Portland Museum, which I thought was so cool! There was an exhibit on M.C. Escher and I LOVE his earlier lesser know stuff. It was very inspirational.  Oh, and there was a cool exhibit on body art which was pretty interesting (though I have no tattoos).

The M.C. Escher Exhibit was Awesome!

This would have been a lot more enjoyable at less than 107 degrees

Over 100 degrees out and this guy is wearing jeans and a black shirt

I thought this road sign was kind of funny

I don't even drink coffee...

I think it was around this point we just wanted to find air conditioning

Carpets

A lot of Portland seemed to look like this

Tricky tricky, Mr. Building

Food carts are popular in Portland, apparently

Our friends Chad and Liza Hughes were gracious enough to offer their home to us, so we got to crash at their place while we were in town.It worked out really well. We even got to go out with them to a nearby Lebanese place, which was fantastic! I wish I could remember the name of that place at the moment. It was so much food and I liked it quite a bit.

As a way to escape the heat during out stay, Melissa and I ended up taking a trip to Tillamook which is near the coast and home of the Tillamook Cheese factory. Funny enough, one of our friends from Santa Barbara, Camille, happened to be in Oregon while we were and so we ended up spending quite a bit of time with her and her mom and brother while we were in Portland. We even got to go to Tillamook with them.  Melissa and I really enjoyed the Oregon coast. Neither of us are big fans of crowded, hot southern California beaches but we love the kinds of beaches in Oregon – with tide pools, fewer people, and big rocky cliffs. I could care less about surfing so that’s not a concern (sorry surfer friends!). Plus, I was convinced that the Goonies couldn’t have been filmed that far away. It was beautiful out and the temperature was about 20-30 degrees less (at least) than what it was in Portland.

This seemed... unsanitory

Sometimes I wish I was a Goonie

Visiting Tillamook

We enjoyed this beach quite a bit

That fisherman did NOT like that dog.

Oregon Beach Stud

I wish I could fly

Melissa enjoying the coast

"Hey Bill" "Hey John"

"You suck, Bill" "Bite me, John"

Hey you guuuuyyyyyssss!

Stay tuned for Part 4 (it’s the last one) of our Summer Road Trip 2009.

Next up from our Summer Road Trip 2009 are some pictures from Melissa’s cousin’s wedding. It was a beautiful wedding up in Eagle, ID (just outside of Boise) and was, essentially, the initial reason for the road trip. The couple, Sarah and George, looked great and it was a fun wedding but I only took a few images since I knew so few people and I didn’t want to be the weird guy with a big fancy camera taking pictures of strangers (I’ll leave that job to my professional photographer friends). Here is a small handful of images I managed to get.

The McDonald Sisters

A sweet moment

Feeding the horses

I’m going to tell you a secret about this post. I cheated. I completely utterly cheated. I never bothered following up with this post when I should have because I took so many darn photos during the trip and I just never had the time to work on all of them. I finally got them edited but it had been so long that I resorted to cheating. I’m back dating this blog post as if nothing happened. So if you’re reading this years from now (weirdo) then know that the few faithful readers of this blog had to wait about a year for these pictures. There, I confessed. Now on to the photos!

Oh, wait, context… Ok, Melissa (my wife) and I went on a road trip from where we live – Santa Barbara, CA – to a bunch of places including Sacramento, Bend (OR), Boise (ID), and Portland (OR). This blog post is just an attempt to show some highlights from our journey. With that out of the way, photos…

For this first part of the follow-up I’m just showing some pictures I took while we were visiting our good friends the Torsons in the Bend, OR area. They have such adorable kids and live in a very beautiful place (that is in the middle of freaking nowhere). We didn’t get a lot of time with them since we had so many stops on our trip and had to get to Melissa’s cousin’s wedding a few days later but we did have a day to go hiking at nearby Smith Rock. Before we got to hiking, we stopped by Leanne’s dad’s home (he lives right near Smith Rock) and I thought his property was pretty interesting (hence all the pictures). I guess his business is in antiques and his property is covered in all kinds of random old items. It was a photo gold mine!

There was stuff like this EVERYWHERE

View looking out of the "Love It" Ranch

Elianna Torson with Oregon Mountains in the Background

Wild Bunny Friend!

I thought this was cool...

A small part of Smith Rock

That bit to the right. Yeah, that went higher. Way higher.

Baby Close-up!

We love the Torson family

Jaden is a Jedi.

Don't slip!

That baby loves berries.

** Note: Newest updates of the trip will be added to the top of this one post. Follow along with us on our summer road trip! **
—–
8/3/09 10:35am

Annnnd we are back! We got back to Goleta last night all safe and sound. We even had a chance for a mini Burn Notice marathon (I love that tv show) to catch up on the episodes we’d missed while we gone.

Ended up with Less Miles on the Rental Car than I Expected

——

8/1/09 11:25am

About to head to the Bay Area for one last visit. Having dinner tonight with some friends and hopefully get to see some family. We head back down to Goleta tomorrow morning. Hopefully all our stuff isn’t covered in a layer of dust.

—–

7/31/09 10:05am

Records were broken in Portland while we were there. Temperture records, I mean. It was over 100 degrees while there. Our friends that live there were adamant that those kinds of tempertures are not… ordinary.

Regardless of the out of ordinary heat, Melissa and I still had a blast up there.

On the way from Boise, we did end up stopping for a night over at Hood River and had a nice dinner and some ice cream. It was nice to have quiet night to just the two of us.

The next morning we drove into Portland and met several friends in Powell’s City of Books (after getting lost and driving back and forth over a half dozen freakin’ bridges).

Powell’s is very impressive. It’s like the Louvre of bookstores – you can spend days just in each sub-section. We went to lunch from there with Camille, Stephen, Melody, and Liza at some little place whose name escapes me right now.

While in Portland we got to explore a bit, go to the Portland Art Museum to see the M.C. Escher exhibit (which was awesome), escape the heat a bit by seeing 500 Days of Summer, eat an incredible dinner at a Lebanese place (go sampler feast!), and stay with the very generous Chad and Liza Hughes (who had air conditioning).

One day while in that area, we took a trip to Tillimook (which is right near the coast) and went to the Tillamook Cheese Factory. My favorite part was the fact the it was at least 20 degrees cooler than Portland. The coast was nice too .

Yesterday we drove from Portland back down to Sacramento and now we are just hanging out in Rocklin where Ross and Crystal are house sitting for relatives. Only a couple of days left in our trip. I think I’m ready for my own bed again.

——

7/26/09 2:50pm

Okay… some quick back tracking.

Our days have been fairly packed for the last several days so I haven’t been able to update here.

After we hung with friends in the Sacramento area we travelled up to Bend, OR (more specifically Redmond just north of Bend). We stayed with the Torsons and they were very gracious and generous. Their kids are all getting so big! Jaden just turned nine and showed us several of his new toys when we got there (Brent, his dad, showed us some his sweet toys while we were there too ).

On our one full day there – Thursday – we went hiking up Smith Rock. It was beautiful but kicked my out of shape butt. Even the kids were outpacing me. I even almost called it quits about 5/6 of the way up. But I pushed through and got to see the great view from the top (plus I couldn’t not do it if even Leanne made it to the top without any problems all while carrying a freakin’ baby). The reward for a successful hike was ice cream! Go
Team!

On Friday we set out from Redmond, Oregon for Boise, Idaho. The drive was … uneventful. No, seriously. Do not drive this path unless you are a farmer or logger. Eh… I *guess* it wasn’t that bad (but just barely).

We barely got into Boise in time for the rehearsal dinner (we had just enough time to check in to our hotel, frantically shower, dress, and drive over). Dinner was at Cool Hand Lukes and it was delicious.

Saturday morning was mostly just filled up with card games in the Hilton lobby (where several of Melissa’s family were staying). And, of course, the afternoon and evening was the wedding. The wedding went well and the couple seem very happy. Don’t really know what else to say about that. Um… there was a candy bar with all blue candy?

Now we’re driving from Boise to Portland and we starting to get a bit tuckered out, I think. We don’t have any specific plans in Portland other than to meet with some friends tomorrow, so we may just get a hotel room in Hood River and rest up and check out that area and just drive into Portland tomorrow morning.

All in all, this trip is going really well. Okay, I think Melissa might need a driving break. Time for a driver swap!

——-

7/25/09 10:35am

Currently playing cards in the Hilton lobby in Boise with some of Melissa’s family. We’re just hanging out until we need to get ready for the wedding tonight. I’ll add some details about our time in Oregon if I get a chance later.

Playing cards in hotel lobby

——

7/21/09 9:41pm

Had lunch with Eric from Vision Launchers today at some dive Mexican place in Sacramento. I ordered the “super burrito” and there was definitely nothing super about it. It was nice talking with Eric in person since we usually talk via the intertubes (being a 7 hour plus driving distance away and all).

After lunch, Melissa and I headed up to the Folsom area to explore and I really liked it. I think it might be my new favorite area near Sac. We checked out the lake briefly and even explored rinky dink Sutter St (which I would describe as “rustic” and possibly “boring” but my wife seemed to really enjoy it.

Folsom Lake

For dinner, we headed back to Davis and treated our friends Ross and Crystal to thai food at Thai Nakorn. Good service and the food was tasty.

We head out for Oregon tomorrow morning and I can’t wait!

——

7/20/09 4:21pm

Just had a really late lunch at the Mr. Pickles in Rocklin, CA. The Gaylord Focker was delicious (never thought I’d type that). Wife and I like this area though it sure is hot. We’ve been driving around and just exploring and I thank God that we have functional A/C.

Our friends’ cat Finn still isn’t doing so well and apparently also probably has some bits of plastic in his belly (such a bummer). Now Ross and Crystal have to decide on surgery for the poor lil’ guy (from the sounds of it, it’s freaking expensive). Hopefully, he makes it through the week (I am sure that Ross and Crystal welcome your prayers if you feel so led).

——-

7/18/09 6:16pm

Fun times in Woodland… if you’re not a cat.

Turns out that our friends’ cat swallowed a piece from a toy and the poor guy started vomiting blood just before our arrival (just what you wanted to read about).

We show up and the cat vomits even more blood (everyone is a critic) and now we’re at the small animal clinic at UC Davis. The vet says there is a metal piece possibly now in his colon and Ross and Crystal are in the other room with the vet discussing (expensive) options.

A Very Sad Cat Named Finn

Where all the cool kids hang out on Saturday…with very sad cats

——-

7/18/09 3:50pm

The Walnut Creek leg of our trip has ended. We got to hang out with Jessica and Lewis and they were nice enough to cook us dinner last night. Afterward we went for gelato – which was only a short walk away. I got mojito flavor!

We also got to see my lil’ sis Marissa when we first got into town after her shift at the Ross in Walnut Creek. We spent a good amount of time catching up in the parking lot of all places (nothing says intimate catch up time like a Ross parking lot).

We didn’t get to see my uncle Pete like I’d hoped but we did get to treat Marissa to a nice breakfast at the Country Waffles in Concord.

On the way to Sacramento we stopped to visit my mom and sister Analisa in Vallejo, which was nice. Now we’ve arrived to the Sacramento area – specifically Woodland. We’re staying with our good friends Ross and Crystal. Hopefully I can get some cool pictures and videos recorded while we are here.

Don’t turn that dial!

——

7/16/09 1:30ish

Our road trip to Boise is now underway. We are currently outside of San Jose on our way to our first stop, Walnut Creek, to visit our friend Jessica. While in town we will also be visiting some of my family who live in the Bay Area.

Below are a few pictures and video from the very beginning of our trip.

We could not figure out how to embed the video from the iPhone so here is a link in the mean time.

Vid #1

Stay tuned for more pictures and videos as we go along on our trip.

About to leave for our road trip

The transportation

——–

Sometimes you just have to get away. In a car. With beef jerky.

So here’s the deal. My wife’s cousin Sarah is getting married on July 25th and we’re going. The only hitch? It’s in Eagle, ID which is just outside of Boise, ID. Melissa, my wife, offered to simply fly up there alone and said I didn’t have to go if work did not allow. But forget that! I know an opportunity when I see one! My suggestion? Road trip.

I just wrapped up several web projects and have been overworked and stressed (about deadlines) so there is nothing like a cramped car and thousands of miles to help improve my spirits.

We’re still trying to piece everything together exactly and we’re leaving tomorrow. We’re about 90% sure the trip will be SB to SF to Sac to Bend, OR to Boise, ID to Portland, OR back to Bend, OR to Sac to SF and back to SB. *see map below

View Summer Road Trip 2009 in a larger map

We’re keeping costs down as much as possible by staying with friends whenever possible. We’ve already got a car rented (I pick it up tonight) and a hotel in Boise while we’re in town for the wedding. Other than that we don’t have a lot planned out. We’re couch hopping up the state of California and Oregon and will probably end up stopping at a hotel here or there if necessary. No idea what will happen.

I went a little over board at the grocery store in anticipation of the trip. There’s a big bag of trail mix in there behind the two bags of jerky. What? Don’t judge me!

So I am still working this all out but I was hoping to share our trip with our friends and family. There will be at least three posts on this blog about the trip – The Prep, The Journey, and The Follow-up. The Journey post will have pics and updates via my iPhone as we go along and The Follow-up will have the nicer pics and probably a more deailed wrap-up.

Stay tuned!

PS
Don’t forget to follow my Twitter feed @alandowling

I heard that Micheal Jackson died today.

It didn’t/doesn’t really strike me on it’s own since he’s always been more of a caricature of someone famous and eccentric in my mind than an actual person.  What did strike me is that it was sudden and out of the blue.  And I heard about it via Twitter several hours before it was on the major news outlets.

Farrah Fawcett died recently too.  And so did Ed Mcmahon.

And I’ve been watching the chaos of what’s been going on in Iran via youtube including the death of Neda, a young woman who was shot and killed on the streets of Tehran while protesting the recent election in Iran.

Today, while trying to avoid thinking of any more death after reading more about Iran, I inadvertently came upon an Iranian indie band named Hypernova.  You can check out several of their songs and videos at their myspace page.

The video below seems to be their major “single” that is being pushed and it’s pretty catchy though there is some language so be forewarned those with sensitive ears.

While watching this video I suddenly flashed to when I first tried watching video on the internet.  It was way back when I was in junior high or so (which I suppose wasn’t THAT long ago relatively speaking but now that I’m 27 it sure seems like a long time ago).  Anyway, the video was choppy and I was lucky to see every 5th frame of a fifteen second clip.  Now I rely on web video entirely (I don’t have cable) and it’s all set up to play on my Xbox 360 in my living room.  I can even watch video on my new phone.  Forget that… I can even RECORD video on my phone and then immediately email it to anyone in my contacts. – I’m finally THAT guy.  I’m now that guy who starts to talk about the past when things were this way or that.

I remember when…

• 56k modems were considered fast
• Betamax players were still sold
• LaserDisc was brand new (as an interesting side note, I’ve been told that UCSB – where I went to college – has one of the largest collections of LaserDisc of any university or college.  Way to pick a winner UCSB!)
• Going to the movies cost $5.00 and $3.50 for matinee.
• A gallon of gas cost less than a buck (sometimes much less).
• All my siblings were either not born yet or were mere toddlers (I’m the oldest by several years).
• 1 Gb was HUGE
• I wanted to be an astronaut, or a doctor, or a lion tamer, or a lawyer, or a roller coaster engineer, or a radio disc jockey.
• I didn’t get paid to design stuff – it was just wasting time back then.
• The internet, facebook, youtube, hulu, myspace, twitter, and cell phones didn’t exist.
• I never thought about death or growing old.
• I would have never made a list like this.

I’d love to read what things other people remember from their childhood that seem random or interesting or funny now.