Weekend Update - February 25th

Weekend Update
I managed to get rid of the old sofa bed – convertible sofa that had broken. I went online and found a company called Got Junk, booked a pickup, and then waited for the truck and workers to arrive. They showed up on time and removed the sofa bed in about fifteen minutes including paperwork and incredibly slow elevator in my building.

I did some useful and productive things today [Saturday]. I polished my shoes for tonight and I also polished my new shoes as well. I will have to give the new shoes a regular spit shine but that will have to wait until the next weekend.

I had an epic night’s sleep on Thursday and again on Friday. I managed to pull down eight solid hours of uninterrupted sleep. That was wonderful. I did not do so well on Saturday but that was probably because of the Douguary Dinner and my very full stomach.

Douguary Dinner
We had the usual and traditional Douguary Dinner last night at Morton’s in Santa Ana. We, Doug and I, like to go there for two reasons; for me, lots of free parking and for Doug, a good valet parking service.

Our table of ten was like the red carpet at a Hollywood movie premiere with the flash bulbs going off about every ten seconds. Everyone seemed to own digital cameras and brought them along with them. I was not to be left; besides, someone had to take photos for the blog.


That is me at the end of the table and Amy is the one who is giving me a hug.

The dinner was excellent but then that is what you expect from Morton’s. Amy the Server and our Favorite Server was our server at dinner. Because we were a large group, she had another server assist with our meal.

The meal was significant for many reasons. Doug tried and liked the wine I picked out for the meal. The wine was a Pinot Noir from Northern Napa Valley in California. It was excellent and I assume that everyone liked it since we went through three bottles during the course of dinner.

Amy made a production out of the dessert for Doug’s birthday. She had a procession of servers bring out the Godiva Chocolate Cakes. Doug’s had some candles and he got two scoops of ice cream to go with the cake.

Doug agreed with my suggestion that we consider inviting Vivian to the next Douguary Dinner since she works in the film industry and she is very attractive. You can never have too many attractive women at your table.

I will write more about the dinner tomorrow to fill up the post Weekend Update let down.

Visitors
This was a good week for visitors to the blog. We had visitors from the United Kingdom [3], Canada [7], Philippines [3], Thailand [2], Australia, China [6], Singapore [3], Ireland, Japan [4], Romania, Netherlands, Texas, Taiwan, Brazil, Cote D’Ivorie, Italy, Kuwait, Switzerland, and France [3].

Last week was the first time, in my memory, that we had a visitor from the Cote D’Ivorie.

We had three curious visitors last week. One stayed for ten and two stayed eleven minutes each.

We had two visitors who were more interested in looking around I think. One viewed ten pages in four minutes and one viewed six pages in one minute. That last one must have been a speed reader.

So far this month, the viewership has been strong. I know we will not exceed January’s totals because this month has three fewer days and I was not blogging as much as I usually do and did in January. I will post the monthly totals for February on Thursday night.

Vivuary and Vivian’s Woman of the Moment
February, as many of you know, is also called Douguary for the month long celebration of all things Doug. And many of you know that Vivian is a good friend and former co-worker.

I had sent Vivian a cartoon about Microsoft on Friday afternoon to cheer up. Vivian, like many of us, tends to slow down on Friday afternoons. Vivian laughed at the cartoon and sent me an email thank you for the cartoon and for having Doug give her a call. Vivian works for a company that finances films and it is always looking for more sources of films to finance. Doug is doing two internships at film production companies that are based at the Sony Pictures lot in Culver City.

Hollywood is about relationships and putting deals together. I hope Vivian can put deal together out of Doug’s phone call.

Anyway and more to the point, Vivian wished me a fun weekend. I responded and said that this was the traditional Douguary Dinner Weekend. That was when I learned that Douguary is also Vivuary.

Vivian said that I should make Vivian Hsu a Woman of the Moment in honor of Vivuary. Vivian had found Vivian Hsu while she was out searching Amazon.com for all things Vivian. I will have Vivian Hsu be the next Woman of the Moment.


I should remember and invite Vivian to the next Douguary Dinner in 2008. She would fit in perfectly since she is in the film industry and everyone else who will be there is in the film industry in one form or another. That is a good reason.

The best reason to invite Vivian is that Vivian is very attractive. You can never have too many very attractive women at your table at dinner.

School Teaching and the End of the Term
This is the end of the term at school. I spent part of Friday afternoon and evening printing out late homework and class project assignments. Saturday, I read and then graded the papers and homework assignments. This was one of those “it has to be done” jobs. I also worked on my lesson plans for two make-up classes.

On Thursday, I was in the instructors’ lounge between classes when I and another teacher were talking about the weather and where we went to school. I discovered that another teacher who joined our discussion got her Master’s of Business Administration degree at the University of Utah.

Go Utes!

She and I talked about Salt Lake City and life there. We do seem to have something in common. I have not met too many people who have gone to the University of Utah while I have been in Southern California.

Coins
I had a bunch of coins, mostly pennies, which were lying around the place when I decided to cash them for the folding paper kind of money. I had no idea how much I had in loose coins but the bag I used to carry them certainly was on the heavy side. It turns out that I had just over USD$22.00 in coins.

I had to pay a fee to get the coins counted in by the machine. I figure that paying the fee was worth it because I have no idea when I would have converted the coins into folding bills.

El Gringo
I was going to go to El Gringo for a late lunch or early dinner today. I decided to pass on El Gringo because I was still filling full from last night’s dinner at Morton’s with Doug and his friends. I guess I will have to wait until next Sunday to see Jess the Server.

Furniture Shopping
I had also planned to go furniture shopping today. That did not happen.

I felt a little loggy and bloated after the night before. I can visit a couple of local stores during the week and see if they have what I am looking for in the way of a bed and bookcase. I also think I will have a better time of shopping without the weekend crowds. I would like to get the bed and bookcase ordered by the weekend so I can have the weekend free for my haircut from the new stylist and what ever else develops for me.

Woman of the Moment
Here we have Mandy Lynn from Long Island, New York. She will be with us for another week and part of the second week. Then, I will put up Vivian’s Woman of the Moment Vivian Hsu.





These photos belong together and not spread out over two days.

DAE JO YOUNG
I missed Saturday’s DAE JO YOUNG because of the Douguary Dinner. We arrived at about 6:00 and then left just before 9:00 PM. I will try to catch it tonight before I go to bed.

BAD LUCK BRIDE
Maybe I will stick around and watch some of it tonight.


That was my weekend gentle readers. I hope your weekend was as fun filled as mine.

Be well and stay happy.