right on bro!

Last night a bunch of us saw my friend off who has successfully passed his first phase of the Marine Corps Officer Candidate School.

I just drank a glass of water, only to find a bug at the bottom of it. Yuck!

Anyway, it was his last night here in L.A. before he went back for six more months of training. So he drove into my hood and we all went to the Rustic for drinks.

Tonight I went to the Kings game. It was pretty sloppy hockey and the Kings looked like they didn’t give a flying fuck, not even enough to please the fans by fighting. Plus, I spent the first 10 minutes of the game waiting in line at the concession stand for a hot dog. But it was fun nevertheless.

Not much on the observation front, I’m pretty tired. So…that’s what I did over the past couple of days. I’m gonna go watch Monday’s episode of CSI: Miami now.

I’m home. This morning at the airport in Islip, the new Transportation Security Administration people refused to let me through security because my name was misspelled on my reservation. It wasn’t a problem flying out last week, but I guess TSA are a lot more on the ball in Islip.

After some wrangling with a US Airways counter representative, they said I would be able to go through only if I was designated as a “selectee” for extra searching. So, I went through the “special” security line, just me and about fifteen Middle Eastern looking (sorry, don’t know the politically correct term) people. I thought they were supposed to be random checks, but anecdotally, it looked kinda fucked up to me. Anyway, I made it to the gate just after they called my name on the PA for final boarding for my flight, so all good.

A word about flying: I love in-flight magazines. They’re so happy. There’s always about their writers finding some sort of Zen moment in the ordinary, or highlighting some unique piece of America that makes me want to visit. This month’s issue of Attache gushed praises for Philadelphia as an emerging white-collar finance & technology center that geographically unites the East Coast, as well as a great place to visit and a nice place to live. Of course, it’s just a writeup - meanwhile, today’s Philadelphia Inquirer had a front-page headline that said, “5 Gunned Down in Philadelphia Over Weekend.” But still - in-flight magazines make you want to try different things in life, even if it’s in kind of a yuppie way. The company I work for should take note of that.

Flying note: The Dell Inspiron 5150 laptop isn’t really a good laptop for traveling. It wouldn’t fit on the airline tray. Maybe if you fly first class it would fit.

When I arrived at LAX, the 81st Street Airport Parking Service picked me up at the airport (thanks), and then we went to El Torito in Marina del Rey for lunch, then I drove home.

It’s hot here in L.A., and traffic was bumper to bumper along the 405 and the 10. I see that gas prices went down to about $2.03 - thanks for taking care of that one when I was away, guys. Keep up the good work.

Dad is home. Things are almost back to normal. I’m headed back home first thing tomorrow morning.

I waxed my parents’ boat this weekend.

Hey, so things are looking better. My dad went through his second surgery, and he seems fine so far. It looks like he’ll be in the hospital for two more days, and then he gets to go home, lay around for a couple of weeks, and then resume his normal life. I’m very relieved. Thanks to everyone that wrote good wishes.

I think I’m going to be here for the next few days to make sure things are cool once my dad goes home, and then jam back to Los Angeles on Sunday if I can get the flight.

Toby, feel free to drive my car, please just keep it in one piece- thanks.

I am in New York. Last Friday, I left work early for an appointment in Hollywood, and then I went to look at eyeglasses after that. After that, as I was driving home, my brother’s girlfriend called to tell me that my dad was in the hospital and about to undergo emergency surgery the next day.

I managed to get on the last flight out of Los Angeles (thanks Toby for giving me a ride to the airport, and 81st street for letting me leave my car there), and I got here on Saturday morning right after my dad went into surgery.

The surgery went OK, but it didn’t completely fix the problem and they’re going to have to do it again today. Needless to say I am nervous as hell about it.

I tried getting on the net from my parents’ house, but my dad’s PC kept crashing so I went to the Best Buy here and bought a wireless card for my laptop, and now I’m at a Starbucks in Setauket, trying to coordinate work for this week and some other projects I’m working on.

I think I will be here for at least a week. After Saturday’s surgery, my dad was supposed to be out of the hospital on Tuesday, but it looks like with today’s surgery he will be out on Thursday. I want to make sure he and my mom will be OK at home so I will probably be here for a couple of days after that.

The hospital looks like the Shinra building from Final Fantasy VII. Everyone there has been real nice. My parents’ friend works there, so that helps.

It’s also really cold here. There was snow on the ground when I got here, but most of it melted away yesterday.

If you pray…please pray for my dad that he makes it through today’s surgery OK. Thanks.

Flight Simulator 2004 just arrived. Guess what I’ll be doing tonight?

Today is Mike’s birthday. Happy birthday Mike!

Overslept this morning, arrived late at work. I slept through both of my alarms. I think I’m due for a good 10-12 hour sleep, the kind where you wake up and you’re like, “Wow! I feel great!” and you clap your hands together like the mentor from Jerry Maguire. But for some reason it hasn’t happened lately.

Went to the Warehouse in Marina del Rey last night for dinner for the aforementioned birthday. The food there is good. I’d go back there again.

I ordered a copy of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 the other day. I haven’t played Flight Simulator since Flight Simulator II back in the 80s. The new one should arrive on Wednesday. Exciting.

Okay, so I redesigned the site really quickly. Enjoy.

I played at the 81st Street Poker Tournament yesterday. It was the first time I’ve ever played Texas Hold’em, much less with 26 other people. So, yesterday afternoon, I played for about 30 minutes on my PC, practiced shuffling cards for about 15 minutes, and off I went.

My goals were a) not to be the first person knocked out of the tournament, and b) to not get knocked out within the first ten minutes. I achieved both - I was the fifth person to get knocked out, and I lasted about an hour and a half. Even managed to win a few hands here and there. However, I got worked when I tried to put someone out of business - went all-in on a full house, then got beat by a full house. Still, I don’t feel too badly about my play.

That shit is totally addictive. I can’t wait to play again.

After that, I hung out and played Halo for awhile, where I kicked everyone’s asses. Yes, that’s right. I am the fucking Master Chief.

Was supposed to go look for new eyeglasses today, but spent all day re-jeetering the site.

Okay, so I didn’t kick everyone’s asses in Halo. Oh look, time to go to dinner…

I had one of those workdays where everything that could possibly go wrong, went wrong. I managed to get most of it cleaned up by the end of the day.

Went to the Pig for dinner. Won’t be going back to the Pig for dinner.

Tonight’s episode of CSI was a semi-return to form, much better than the recent ones, but as good as the first two seasons.

Came home, started working on a loop I created yesterday, ended up creating some half-baked 150bpm bullshit instead.

Managed to slog through work today. Came home and felt remarkably upbeat. Talked to my bro for a little while, watched an episode of CSI on DVD (”Ellie,” which is one of my favorite episodes), and composed a new loop in Cubase that might turn into a song. I feel oddly at peace, more so than I’ve been in a long time.

Speaking of CSI, the next game comes out in two weeks, and the third season on DVD shortly after that. I’m looking forward to getting both.

rightonbro.com is almost one year old. It needs a facelift. I shall start soon. Probably.