Comics:The Theory of Bucky

Today's Get Fuzzy is another classic comic in the realm of theorectical rants. This comic provides more proof of the similarity between the Buckster with my own life. For just the other day I was drafting an equation for chicken velocity on my white board, while drinking a Sauvignon Blanc.

Oktober Fest

Oktober Fest almost past by me this year with little celebration, fortunately I was able to drag three awesome friends to this years event. John, Regina and Sharon J. headed over to Torrance Friday night to sample the German Beers, eat some awesome German Sausages and of course chicken dance til our tails feathers fell out. The evening started a little rocky as we got there about an hour early and were directed over to the market to kill time. There we bought sausages, cheese, french bread and some beer. Sitting just outside the market we ate our makeshift dinner and made friends with the eventual ballon blowing up contest winner. During the evening we tried to convince another friend to come join us but he claimed a 7 hour drive to San Francisco the next day prevented him from attending. All in all it was a great night of Oom Pa Pa listening, people watching and beer drinking.

Family: Airports are our life

My family travels a lot. By a lot I mean everyone has their own frequent flyer numbers on various airlines and we all have our personal favorite ways to get in, out and through various airports. I though possess an ability to defy knowing exactly where I am once I arrive. You see as the Coe family one of us(name withheld to protect the guilty) likes to plan out all combinations of possibilities. Another of us, namely me the instigator , likes to mess with that process as much as possible. So Saturday morning I'm flying in for a great family friends wedding reception. Of course you must know there exists a free shuttle to the hotel where I will be staying with said family. Off the plane I come bag in tow headed towards baggage claim to meet my beloved family who has driven to the airport to pick me up personally. I walk by baggage claim looking for the clan.....left.....right.....left......right. No sign. Ok time to call the cell. Thinking they are late, not uncommon for this group, I call and reach mom. The conversation goes something like this:
Son: "So I'm here. Where are you guys?"
Mom:" We're waiting outside the main terminal.....where are you?"
Son: Gazes around now....looking for a clue. "I'm standing next to the ET14 exit door." I start walking towards the information booth knowing how the rest of this conversation will go. I find out I'm in the East terminal while my beloved family is in the main terminal.
Mom:"Your in the wrong terminal. You need to get on the airport shuttle and come over to this terminal. We'll stay put you come find us."
Son: Well most of you know what I'm thinking. Sure I'm in the wrong terminal. I mean I obviously pulled the stop rope on the plane to soon to signal the driver to pull over to the East Terminal...yeah that's what I did. My Bad! "Sure let me find that shuttle and come right over"
Click.
Son: Thinks..this is crazy you guys need to come find me. Dials moms cellphone....of course no one answers. Why would they I mean we just talked less than a minute ago, what more could one in my situation possible have to say! Dials brothers cellphone.
Son: "Dude you guys need to come find me, or maybe I'll just get on the shuttle to the hotel. I'm in the East terminal by door ET14"
Brother:"You bought a GT?" - Thanks sprint for that awesome signal!
Son:"I'M BY EXIT ET14.....ET14 like Extra - Terrestrial" - people now staring at this crazy ponytail having, shorts wearing man yelling into his cellphone. Of course over the speaker phone.
Brother:" Ok yeah GT14.... on our way."
Son:"Dude ET14!"
Brother: "yeah man ET14, as in Echo"
Son: "Correct Echo" click.
Another 10-15 minutes pass and family pulls up to ET14.

Now the thing that make this soooo funny ( for some definition of that word) is that fact that this happens a lot to me and my family. There was the Minneapolis airport scene with my brother much the same just substitute ET14 with Blue4 and main terminal with Green4. Then there was again the Minneapolis scene with father and great fishing friend Pappy. Pappy goes into the airport to find me. We do not cross paths. I come outside to the truck where Dad is...." Where is Pappy", Dad "Inside looking for you", Son "Ok I'll go back in", Pappy comes out to the truck "Where is Skeeter", Dad "Inside looking for you".....repeat..... you get the picture.

Family: God puts them in your life because their the only ones who can handle your stupidity and laugh with you at it later. I guess I could also define friends that way too. I mean most of my close ones anyway.

Coffee: Last of the Australian

It had been such a good week too! Well this morning I awoke to find that I was down to my last brew of Australian coffee Lindsay had brought back from a shoot. Maloberti's North Queensland Gold Coffee-light roast is another fine coffee from Australian. The plantation opted for a ecological production. They have not used pesticides as natural predators took care of any pests. They sun-dry the beans after carefully fermenting and washing them. But alas this mornings will be the final cup. To all those in Internetland I say it is better to have sipped and tasting life then never to have drank at all. Or maybe something like, having drank the last drop from my love I watched as the last bit of steam dissipates into the cool morning air.

USC Game: Trojans win Trojans win!!!!

I have three little words for you: Second half team. That's right baby! That's been my mantra to all the naysayers who call or comment during a USC game about the fact that USC is behind at that very instant. I sit calmly drinking my Guinness with no worries knowing my Trojans will deliver. And boy did they deliver today! Today I saw quite possibly the best college football game ever! I mean I was at the Missouri-Colorado infamous fifth down game but today I was on the other side, the winning side of a classic battle on the grid-iron. There will be many write-ups I'm sure but for now I'll link over to SI for their take on the final action. In the words of Pete Carroll "Damn it's good to be a Trojan!" Fight on!!

Day 7 without a car in LA

If you've been following "The Life of Coe", which I'm sure has you on the edge of your seat, you know that today is the 7th day after the death of my beloved Mercury Topaz. The Brown Taxi, as some friends called her, might actually be recovering. See folks my theory is that the Topaz just came down with a little cold and needed some time off. I've given her a nice seven day rest and I'm pretty sure she has let loose of all fluids she is going to... gosh I hope so my garage floor is a toxic waste dump (but the colors are pretty... ah pretty colors... reminds me of fall back in Missouri). Focus man, ok, so I've been cycling back and forth to work. While this picture (from a triathlon) is not exactly how I look on my morning commute it does capture the facial expression of me approaching a stoplight that has just turned yellow. Fun Fact, cars accelerate faster than my legs can pedal. In a car the yellow light means step on it, on a bike it means pedal like hell. Currently my record remains tied at zero for intersection collisions on the bike or in the car.. though that lady this morning tried her best, better luck next time Soccer mom-talking on your cell phone-not looking out for cyclist-SUV driving commie. Ok maybe I went to far with the commie thing I understand they have pretty strict requirements for joining. Happy Friday!

Comics: Keep me smiling

I love comics. I read them everyday. For those that love comics but hate the hassle of clicking through websites to find them someone created dailystrips. This nifty little program will fetch your favorite comics and place them all on one webpage.

So this morning I'm reading my comics page and sipping a nice cup of espresso forte when I come across "Get Fuzzy" .... always a hit with me. Some people at work have associated me with Bucky and I think they are completely correct. Especially after reading today's strip.

Family: This explains it all.....well, ok some of it!

For those that know me you may have realized by now that I can be a bit sarcastic. One friend had for my description on his homepage that my "sarcasm knows no end".... which is true. Some have wondered where this might come from, enter in my mother and father. Now dad has always been, as my friend Sharon J says, a TWM (tricky white man). There are stories about my father which I will share at another time, but this mornings post will reveal mom's playful side. I've been using this great little quote from the comic strip Zits that was published on Oct 6th. I liked it so much I added it to my out-going signature on my emails. The quote simply states:

"I'm trying to think of a word that's no-er than no."

So the story begins like this..... I awoke this morning, sat down to a nice peaceful breakfast, sipped on a great cup of Costa Rican Coffee and was reading my daily regimen of web pages. I decided to check some email and saw that my mother had replied to an email that really needed no response. Opening the email thinking to myself what could she possibly have to add to this topic. I've taken the liberty to cut and paste her email below for your reading pleasure (I mean I looked and found no copyright symbol or wording so I think I'm legal).

On Tue, 11 Oct 2005, Gwendolyn Coe wrote:
>
> Words that are no-er than no:
>
> Possibly (in Chinese this means Absolutely Not)
>
> and
>
> No-est
>
> Looks like it might be a slow day---I'll be thinking of some more.
> Love,
> Mom

Isn't she precious! Always trying to help out her little man. Needless to say I was shaking my head smiling from ear to ear. Chalk one up for mother.

Yoga: Damn that hurt

So since I started doing triathlons my hamstrings have become very....well let's just say tight. The gym I belong to has a Yoga class that I talked Lindsay into taking with me. Ok guys listen closely...you must take a yoga class at least once in your life. It's almost a rite of passage or something. Slim, young, and very flexible girls doing things that usually you only see in books. I mean my goodness. Anyway, I caught quite a few of them checking out the Coeman, sure usually they were laughing at my "downward dog" but hey they were looking and smiling so at least were entertained. Make sure and look for future yoga posts, because I'll be at the next class.

A word to yoga going women....wearing a thong that is visible in the downward dog pose is just plain mean and cruel...Shame on you!

RIP Topaz

Well so it finally happened. Many knew this day would come, in fact most everyone asked when I would put-her-down. I mean everything dies right? But why now, she was so, well, not young... and why when there was so much gas left in her tank. My car (the Brown Taxi) has passed on. She served me well. It was an ugly end though. She leaked body fluids everywhere. I mean the constant care was a lot of work. Putting in 3-4 quarts of oil every few weeks.....sniff sniff..... there is still fresh oil dripping out of her onto the garage floor as I type... I'm sorry I don't think I can post anymore on this tonight... it just hurts too much.

Coffee: Australian

Man this is becoming a rough week. First my cell phone is dying (ok technically it's already been dead for a year but I keep giving it CPR(cellular phone resuscitation) and somehow it survives for another week. Then this morning I finished off a package of Australian coffee Lindsay brought back from her latest shoot. Contented Koala is a blend of Australian and Papua New Guinea beans that has been ground to a texture resembling talc. It has a pleasant taste, nothing exciting , very smooth with a clean finish. I'm sure Lindsay picked this brand because the label has the cutest picture of a "contented" koala in a tree. Much like wine sometimes you just get lucky doing this and this was one of those times. It still saddens me to know that I've finished off two packages of fine coffee this week. Oh well, I guess it is time to travel somewhere and find more coffee!

Coffee: Last of the Cuban

So for this mornings coffee pleasure I reached for some cuban coffee my mother had brought back from her latest trip. It was disturbing how light the bag felt in my hand and even more so when I looked inside the red foil wrapper. There was just enough left for a single carafe. I fired up the stove and waited for that strong bold taste. Umm, I sit here sipping a fine cup of brew deciding if I will go into work this morning or just wait and have breakfast with Lindsay. If anyone out there is headed to an exotic land or even just around the corner to a nice local shop, feel free to pick up a pound for me (whole bean please).