back from big bear. back into the sprawl. at least it's a pleasantly warm, slightly breezy and completely sunny sprawl.

drove up late friday nite to meet friends at the cabin. soon as i got there, we broke out the snacks and fired up 'tommy boy.' chilly out, snow on the ground, and i was with a bunch of my close friends at this huge cabin (thanks mike!) watching one of the best movies ever...

managed to get up saturday around 6:40am and be on the slopes at snow summit at 7... never seen a place with such good snow so empty! on my first 3-4 runs, i was the only person on the slopes... and for the next three hours, had some of the best boarding i've had in a long time.. i was ready to leave by 11:30, having been down the mountain more than 20 times. even got $12 towards my next ticket for leaving so early...

spent the rest of the weekend sitting and resting and reading and conversing and eating... just a nice break. and i was surprised, once again, by just how clean the air is up there. went to the traditional la montana's for dinner, and went to bed with a quiet fire toying in the fireplace saturday nite.

back into town on sunday afternoon, went to an APU UC concert (university choir i was in during my time at APU) in ventura and met with some good college friends afterwards for some food. and i was in college all over again. love that.

and i love it that i saw another friend of mine from high school during dinner that i hadn't seen in something like 6 years. which put me in high school all over again...

more experiences, more memories, and more things to be thankful for.

by no means am i buddist, but this is an enormous travesty of human 'progression.'

now confirmed.

"The much-decried deed has been done. The Taliban has destroyed two ancient giant Buddha statues carved into a cliff in Bamiyan, UNESCO has confirmed. Calling it a "crime against culture," UNESCO's director general today confirmed Afghanistan's Taliban rulers had destroyed two giant 5th-century statues of Buddha."

narrow-minded maniacal ineptitude such as this makes me question how humanity has made it to the 21st century... and i don't expect it to get better from here on out.

it's not every day that the company name you work for is accused of child porn.

good ol' saatchi...

welp, the sun's out and southern california has returned to its normal over-rated existance. time to wash the car (rather, get the car washed..), put away those jackets (which aren't really jackets; just stylish, trendy and overpriced 'windbreakers') and pull out the lawn chair out from the closet and put it back into the living room again.

and time to get ready for big bear. got a cabin and heading up with some friends for the weekend. looking forward to some boarding, cold nights that really are cold, and being away from urban sprawl for a bit. yeah, that's it. urban sprawl. all over.

oh, and that's a shot of hong kong over there. and there's me, trying to read a sign that's in cantonese. and some random guy on the phone behind me. that looks a little wierd. i'm not to sure how i feel about that. seems a little suspicious. anyway, nate wanted to get shots of cool toyota cars in hong kong, so we took a picture of this cool mini-van. and then we looked closer and noticed it was a mazda.

anyway, another great weekend. full of friends, dancing (well, i can sorta move around with the beat most of the time. it's a guy thing...), and ending with a trip out to The Biersch for a friends birthday. no, it's not an addiction. he suggested it. i promise. but i won't tell you how many times i've been there already this year...

oh, and i hope you don't have any nasdaq stocks right now. and if, by chance, you do, don't go and see how un-good they're doing.

uhh...

ok, so not even a month ago (scroll down to FEB 8 below), i flew on this airline, at this airport in this city.. though i was on a 777, those gates in the background of those shots look mighty familiar.

(shudder)

see that picture below? yeah, i put that up here almost a week ago. yeah, that's a Thai Airlines logo you can just about make out (dark) on the plane's tail there.. (though that plane is in one piece...)

time seemed to be in my favor. however, for some reason, i honestly feel a bit... i dunno... awkward....

someone remind me not to become thailand's prime minister at any point in my life...