Tony's Treehouse Blog

Tony goes to the Beach

The last time I saw the Pacific was at night with Suz somewhere in downtown San Diego. The view was partially interrupted by Coronado Island. It was more of a harbor view. Then when Chelsea and I had lunch, I could see a sliver of the ocean through the windows. I haven't gotten a full on look at the Pacific since I left Santa Barbara this summer and while I was there, I tried to soak up as much of it as possible. Today I got my a look at the Pacific from one of my favorite spots in LA. Kim and I went to Marina Del Rey in search of this spot, and for the life of me I don't know what the name is!! Pretty much Venice beach terminates here, and the MDR harbor is to your back. At the spot is a man-made peninsula you can walk out on, and be surrounded by ocean on 3 sides. It's a helluva thing! However today, there were gail force winds, whipping up sand and debris (the word of the day thanks to Kim), and causes all kinds of rough surf. I was in heaven, but Kim wussed out!

Afterwards we went to 3rd Street Promenade, which I haven't seen easily in about 3 years. The promenade itself hasn't really changed, but the surrounding area is way different. We ate at Yankee Doodles sports bar, one of the spots folks from my old company used to visit. The pool table hostess looked like she spent waaaaay too much time at the tanning salon. Here's a tip, when you're skin is the same color as your Coach purse due to tanning, it's time to layoff the tanning.

Then we went to see Derailed. How many more rappers are gonna try their hands at acting?!!?! Thus far Mos Def is the most successful and versatile of the bunch, but that doesn't mean spitting hot fire translates to a good onscreen performance!! Anyway, I really liked Derailed, it has a seriously evil Old Testament eye-for-an-eye ending that came out of nowhere! Oh daddy like. Oh yea, I could have gone for some more Jennifer Aniston frontal nudity too.

Black Friday

Black Friday the shopping orgy taking place across the country is happening as I write this. Shoppers everywhere are clamouring that last doll, that last sweater, and engaging in a sanity-suspended free forall shopping melee. Why do people shop today, knowing damned well what it's going to be like?? The only way I would end up in a store today to do any sort of shopping, would be the grocery store. Even then such a trip would be a carefully orchestrated Special Ops type mission to get in and get out as fast as possible. Milk - check. Cereal sighted, preparing for extraction. Resistance is being encountered by the bread aisle.

There's nothing else to report. I'm in Glendale trying to keep myself sane.

Happy Thanksgiving!

My first Turkey-Day back in CA!

Interview #2

Today was my 2nd interview, following up the phone interview which took place back on the East Coast. This place was really cool! Talk about your typical California IT development shop - very laid back, almost everyone in jeans, and a seriously intense atmosphere in the building. I felt it went well.

Afterwards, I did a quick clothing change in the parking lot of a movie theater. Met up with a friend and her son and had a deceptively big burger. The burger was big on bread and lettuce, not so much on actual hamburger! Anyway, suit off - running gear on! Reminds me how woefully ill-equipped I am when it comes to clothes. I am true fashion fugitive. Almost half of my wardrobe is comprised of heavy sweaters and other winter gear. Almost half of the remaining stuff is devoted to working out. So when it comes to going out or business casual (appropriate for CA weather), I am quite frankly SOL. This is where having female friends better come in handy, as I know diddly squat about buying clothes.

Then headed up to hang out with Nicki. We had sushi and talked. The latter half of that statement is siginificant because in all the years I've known this woman, I don't think we've had an interaction via phone, email, or in person that was longer than 12 lines.

Interview #1

The orginanization I interviewed with today was definitely not a small company. Still it didn't have the impersonal feel of some of the other corporate juggernaunts I've worked for. The vibe was really cool.

So there was stuff going on before and after that interview that was pretty cool. Before, I had lunch with a friend of mine from Santa Barbara who had moved further south. I kept smiling like an idiot because out in the parking lot was a bunch of palm trees, and further back was the Pacific ocean! So, so damned cool!

After the interview, Suz and I went to this restaurant in Balboa park for mojitos and appetizers. Their mojitos were different from Cuba Libre, but still pretty good nonetheless. We had a lot of catching up to do, and it feels like I was babbling...haha! The plan was for me to crash at her place and then head out in the morning for my 2nd interview. Going to sleep, I couldn't help thinking I'm going to snore and annoy her. Even though she's sleeping in her bed, and I'm on the couch, she would hear and get irked. Hopefully she wasn't too annoyed.

Road Trip - DONE!!

2700 miles later I am DONE with the latest installment of the cross country saga. I swear if I EVER have to do that again, I'll totally rethink that shit! The car would need to be shipped or something! Still, the trip honestly went quickly, as planned, and with no drama. All my prayers were answered. I got in here, stayed up long enough check in with people, shower and retwist my hair. Then I passed out. I slept hard. The loudness of my snoring is usually attributed to how tired I am, and this night I probably broke some sound barriers and caused a nuisance in the neighborhood.

It occurs to me, each time I've done this trip, I've gone a different route and seen the country at different times of the year.

Family Fun!

My cousins who live in TN (I'm not even gonna try to spell that out) are so freaking cool! On my way out of Virginia, I noticed a sign that said "Knoxville 128 Miles". And I was thinking, Knoxville is in some state that matters....hmmm...TN! So I call Donna up and ask her if the freeway I was on meant anything to her and low and behold it did! She was actually on the very freeway heading back home! So I made a quick deviation and hung out with my cousins. I stayed with them Friday and Saturday night, which set me back a little bit but totally worth it. The only sucky part was I was near Memphis and didn't get to have any BBQ!!! Grr!!!!

Best line in rap: "Is that your ass or is your momma half reindeer" mwhaha!!

Weekend of Work

This weekend was a really good weekend. What did I do? Well, along with a few other friends we did a bit of work. And it really was a great thing. Friday I went over to Nils' and helped work on his truck and his wife's minivan. By the time, he, Hugo and I were done the van was the recipient of a new/old CD player. Then Nils' truck got a bit of additional thump with the addition of a pair of 10" subs. The truck sounds a lot more balanced now. The subs need to go into a smaller enclosure to really tighten up the bass.

Saturday, I slept in and headed back over there to help out installing new carpet in the van. More to the point, I watched Hugo make quick work of installing the carpet! The man is vicious with a carpet knife. After Nils got all of the seats out, the old carpet and padding was ripped out. Many many stains, smells, and various samples that would boggle any CSI lab left the van...haha!

Asaunta came down on Saturday too and interestingly enough ended up spending Saturday night with Niika and her friends. haha!! She ended up having an impromptu Girl's Night, while we stayed in and made short work of about half of Halo 2 in one sitting. There has GOT to be a way to connect a keyboard and mouse to a game console! FPS are so much easier with a keyboard and mouse.

The coupe de grace of the weekend was watching the movie Crash. This movie was incredible! I couldn't predict ANY of the plot twists, dialogue or themes in the movie. This movie isn't for the feint of heart either. If you are:
a) offended by racial stereotypes
b) think race relations in this country are fine
c) believe race relations are could be bettered if people simply 'got over it'
d) not openminded
e) think race problems can be attributed to just 1 or 2 groups
- then you NEED to watch this movie. By interlocking the lives of these disparate individuals, in the culturally diverse and charged city of LA, forces the viewer to really look at racial matters.

The Art of Conversation

There's The Art of War, a book I cannot recommend enough for anyone to read. You don't need to be a West Point or Annapolis student to pick that one up. There's The Art of Noise, who did one of my all time favorite songs, Moments In Love. Everywhere, there is the art of something or another. Which makes me wonder, why the fuck is there an art to so much? Is there an art to art too?

The movie Sideways is on, and it has me thinking about the art of conversation. A lot of this movie revolves around these four people and their mutual love of wine. However, looking at this movie has me thinking about the art of conversation. Thus another cliche is given further life! Anyway, what is the art of conversation? I think broadly defined its the ability to initiate, maintain, and carry on a conversation without dominating or dumbing it down. Whew, lemme take a breath there. Think about all conversations where one person was dominating the conversation with innane bullshit. Or conversations with people where you felt like pulling teeth! Content of the conversation is irrelevant. Great conversation can be about anything! Which begs the question, is the good conversation based on the participants or the content. Or in some cases the amount of alcohol consumed? haha!

Am I a good conversationalist? Yes, I can be. At other times, I utterly suck at it. Still at other times, I just like to sit back and watch the drama unfold.

Introducing Alecia

Let me present my newest baby cousin, Alecia.

Wedding Crasher

Tonight I crashed a wedding of a guy I barely knew from back in California. He used to go to a church I'd frequent. I feel sort of bad because it really wasn't my idea to go. Weddings should be about celebrating that kick ass day with a bunch of people you care about, rather than have random people show up to eat your $45 per plate food. I almost didn't go, but very happy that I did go. I ran into a bunch of people I haven't seen in dog years - literally. Oz, my boy from way back who can pull women in a convent. Ed, crazy cat from the days when I had the body to model, to match my ego. Kim, a first order nut, who remembers way too much about me given the amount of time that has passed!! Makes me wonder, what kinda tid bits I gave up back then, that I don't remember!

The other remarkable thing about tonight that I found odd was the HUGE pagentry that was this wedding. I mean, ABC/NBC/or CBS could not have put on a bigger spectacle. Which I don't really get. Shouldn't weddings be really personal affairs? This wedding was HUGE! Something like 20 people in the bridal party, another 10-15 ushers, and count 'em TWO wedding coordinators! Our table was LITERALLY the last to be served. We had a pregnant lady at our table, bout ready to have a fit. My blood sugar was dropping by the minute, and anybody who's been around me when this happens I get cranky. Unashamedly cranky. The crankiness then turns to quiet because I don't have the energy or patience to make conversation.

A couple of things struck me about this wedding. First it seemed like almost everyone in the wedding party was being plugged for one thing or another. Everyone was introduced with an accompanying mini-bio. Um, ok. The other thing that struck me was, this was the first wedding I've been to where the bride and groom, didn't mingle with the guests. Almost every wedding I've gone to, the bride and groom made it a point of leaving their table and talking it up with the people attending; thanking them for coming, are you enjoying yourself, etc. The whole affair seemed rather, um, impersonal.

Been thinking about my own wedding...who would be in it...who would be invited...head count...kinda food...what kinda reception...the ceremony. One thing for certain: the ceremony isn't going to go for 2 hours+! Oh yea, there will be dancing! Lots of dancing!

Kindness for Weakness

This entry is inspired by a conversation I had, technically yesterday on Thursday. During the conversation someone relayed some gossip that was being spouted about me. (Dammit people, keep my name out your mouth!!) The gossip was about a situation that occured 2 years ago, and apperantly the person in question is still haunted by this incident. The incident started as a totally incredible meeting of a woman, who is friend of my friend's wife. This lead to a kick ass idyllic date. And from there things went absolutely downhill - as if shoved by the hand of God himself! Long story short a lot of juvenile qualities emerged about this woman: trifling, manipulative, game player and vindictive. Since I am way too old for this shit I bounced. Before all these lame traits reared their ugly heads and I left, we had a great date. Prior to my bouncing I was a total gentleman: brought flowers on the first date, open doors, gave her my undivided attention, didn't hover or make the ill-fated ill-timed move. After the date is when things turned to shit.

Two years later, she's saying how I am not a gentleman. What a crock! By her definition of gentleman she means I should have stuck through her trial by fire - this is really close to home. And since I didn't stick through her tests and tantrums, I'm not a gentleman. Did the definition of gentleman change over the years or something? I mean it is 2005, things are changing socially at quite a clip. So may be along the way, self-respect was removed from the definition of a gentleman.

People, just because someone is nice, does nice, speaks nicely, and treats you with deference does NOT make them weak. On the contrary it seems the person tripping all over their own ego and/or insecurities because they think have some how attained power over a nice person because they are nice to them, is actually the person weak in that equation. Why is this the case? Why do people mistake kindness for weakness? Have we grown so cynical as a people, displays of respect actually lessen the person? Furthermore, a nice person should not be obligated to prove their worth. Trust is earned, sincerity is eventually discerned, and at the end of it all, we hope to interact with some cool people. That's my philos at least.

I can be a nice person. I can also be a total and complete ass repelete with collosal fuck-ups in my history. But I will not be a doormat for someone who mistakes my kindness for weakness.

Free Therapy

Tonight I spent some time over at Hugo's shop getting stuff set up in anticipation for my drive back to California. We swapped out the speaker box in my trunk to a smaller more efficient box so I can pack my trunk with more stuff. And we fixed it so I can hook my MP3 player up, bypassing the undependable RF modulator. Since I'm making this trip by myself this time, I need to make sure stuff is right so I'm not talking to myself in my car for 3 days! This time I'm hauling ass cross-country. I may actually stop and check out the grand canyon this time.

After hanging out with Hugo at the shop I noticed I had about an hour and change before the YMCA closed. I high tailed it back to my apartment did a quick change and headed to the Y for some cardio. It is very true, working out can be free therapy because while I was on the elliptical some stuff came to mind; some stuff that made me happy and a lot of stuff that just PISSED me off. And I took my frustrations out on that poor machine. I started out averaging about 5.2-5.5MPH, then those aggravating thoughts popped into my head about about 20 minutes later. I was hitting about 6.7-7.2MPH and my heart rate popping over 170BPM. Which is not good for prolonged periods of times for me. It was worth it getting my ass to the gym, so so worth it.

Gym Do's and Don'ts

I am pretty sure within the history of the Treehouse I have written about the gawd awful attire that makes it way into the gym. Let me preface what I'm about to say with this: I may be a little of a hater. haha!

Ok, you've worked your ass off, you're toned, lean and perky - good for you!! But when did the gym become the venue to show off the skimpiest, smallest, and revealing stuff available at the nearest Abercrombie and Fitch store? Need I mention that I fucking hate that store? Anyway, tonight I got myself an eyeful. First let me start off with this moment I witnessed...this pudgy girl is on the mat laying back perpetrating to do crunches - WHILE ON HER CELL!!! Is that call so important that it couldn't wait the 7 minutes it would have taken her to wrap up her workout and walk out the gym?!!? Thus the first Don't:
1) Do not engage in lengthy banal assinine conversations in the gym!! You don't look cool people!! And no matter how 'soft' you think you're talking, the gym is NOT that big. Your conversation really is being overheard and it is really annoying.

So I'm on the treadmill, and next to me this girl jumps the treadmill and starts to trot like a friggin' gazelle...

Hell her trotting inspires me to kick my game up some. About 15 minutes into her workout, she proceeds to STRIP down to her short shorts and sports bra while still AT the treadmill!! In the mirror I could see the old guy behind her almost having a heart attack as this woman bent over on the treadmill. And cometh the second don't:
2) Do not engage in clothing changes while IN the gym!

This leads to the attire part of this post. People, men and women alike, when choosing your workout clothes use some common sense:
3) Do not wear clothes that reveal what's beneath!
4) Ladies, camel toe is a real and tacky phenomenom: think twice about those extra tight shorts and pants ESPECIALLY if you're going to be doing leg excercises.
5) Fellas, moose knuckle is even more disgusting than camel toe! Keep your speedos for the pool if ever!

The main 'Do' here is:
1) Take a look in the mirror and if you have a shred of doubt about what you are wearing: take the hint and wear something else!!

As a guy I do experience a fair bit of cognitive dissonance when I see these women at the gym. The little shorts are indeed hot. The tight this and that sure provide a great motivation to get my ass in shape. However, like most things there is CONTEXT to be considered. The gym is a bad context for that stuff, unless the intention is to be showing off your ass.