Weekend Update - November 2nd

Molly the Stylist and Natalie the Receptionist
I went to see Molly the Stylist on Friday for my regular haircutting. I had thought about bringing my camera and taking a photo of Molly and Natalie. At the last minute, I decided not too since they would probably be dressed up.

I was right. When I got there, Molly was finishing up with Kiley’s hair. She was placing rubber snakes in her hair. Kiley is the esthetician at the salon and I guess she was planning to go as Medusa.

Natalie came as a female Elvis with the white jump suit, big hair wig and dark sun glasses. I had never seen Natalie dress like this in the almost two years that I have been going to the salon.

Molly looked particularly stunning on Friday. She was dressed up as Spiderwoman. Molly was wearing a black tee shirt, short black skirt, high black boots and black fishnet stockings. She was extremely attractive with a semi-permed hair style. She wore a big black spider on her head to complete the overall image.

Getting back to me, Molly said that I have very nice white hair.

At one time in my life having white hair would have been a bad thing. Now, I can accept white hair. It is far better than no hair which is often a common result for cancer patients or going bald with old age.

I am getting used to Molly now and letting her try things with my hair. I now allow her to give me a purple rinse without a second thought. She puts hair spray on my hair and this is something that I have allowed before. I should add that Molly doesn’t put a lot of hair spray on my head.

At the end of the season, I felt good about my hair and sad for Molly. She put a lot of effort into making my hair the best it could be. Molly’s styling efforts lasted until I got outside of the salon. The salon is in Long Beach on the beach, across the street from the sand actually.

I got hit with a strong blast of wind as I stepped out to walk to the Prelude. That was the last of my hair looking nice.

Utah Football
From the Associated Press via ESPN.com.

No. 10 Utes keep BCS bowl hopes intact

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Louie Sakoda kicked two field goals and No. 10 Utah scored its only touchdown off a little trickery to keep its BCS bowl hopes intact with a 13-10 win over New Mexico on Saturday night.

Utah (9-0, 5-0 MWC) struggled on offense as the Utes came into the game averaging a conference best 39 points. The defense made up for it with key stops. The last two stopped Lobo drives at midfield, one on downs with 3:46 left in the game and the other as time ran out.

New Mexico (4-6, 2-4 MWC) gave the heavily favored Utes all they could handle and stayed within upset range late into the game behind a 10-yard touchdown run by Rodney Ferguson and a 38-yard field goal by James Aho.

Sakoda remained perfect on the season making a 43 and 38-yard field goals. He has yet to miss this season (14-for-14) from inside 47 yards.

The Utes got their only touchdown when quarterback Brian Johnson threw a short pass to wide receiver Jereme Brooks, who then lateraled to Brent Casteel to complete the 7-yard scoring play with 3:23 left in the third quarter.

New Mexico came right back with a 9-play, 80-yard drive, with Ferguson and quarterback Brad Gruner taking turns finding holes in Utah's front line. Ferguson scored on the final play of the third quarter after the Lobos caught a break.

Ferguson fumbled at the Utah 10 and Ute cornerback Sean Smith recovered it. But the officials reversed the initial call, ruling the Lobo halfback was down before the ball came loose.

Utah lost a chance to gain some breathing room when Lobo defensive back DeAndre Wright intercepted a Johnson pass in the end zone on the Utes' ensuing drive. Wright got inside position on wide receiver Freddie Brown to kill an impressive Utah drive that started on the Utes' 5-yard and included three plays of 20 yards or more.

Utah is 9-0 for only the second time in school history. The other was the 2004 team that beat Pittsburgh in the Fiesta Bowl and finished 12-0.

New Mexico's defense repeatedly blitzed Johnson and it kept the Utes offense off stride most of the night. Sakoda's 38-yarder as time expired gave Utah a 6-3 lead at halftime, the fewest points the Utes have scored in the first half this season.

Aho's field goal finished off New Mexico's only sustained drive in the first half as the Lobos drove from their 19 to the Utah 21.

Fast Facts

• Utah improved to 9-0 for the second time in school history (went 12-0 in 2004) despite struggling against a New Mexico team that entered the game 4-5.
• The Utes turned the ball over twice but win their 10th straight game dating back to last season. They're now 17-1 in their last 18.
• The loss snapped New Mexico's three-game home win streak.
• Brian Johnson started at QB for the Utes, giving him his 22nd career win as a starter, surpassing Alex Smith for the most in school history.
-- ESPN research

La Mirada Theater
I went to the La Mirada Theater last night and saw the relatively new musical Happy Days. It is based on the television show, Happy Days. This run is the beginning of a national tour that will end up on Broadway at some point.

It helps if you are familiar with the television series so you will understand more of the humor. Although some of the attempts at humor seemed to die, like the jokes about Canadians. I had expected better humor. I guess that I remember the television show and forget about the laugh track that went with the show.

The play is based on a book by Gerry Marshall with words and lyrics by Paul Williams. I forgot who was responsible for the choreography. I could look her name up but I decided that I didn’t want to expend the energy.

Overall, I did not enjoy the performance at all. It lacked the stepped up look and feel of a performance that was headed off to bigger and more important stages. Some of the routines looked a little ragged and under rehearsed.

Maybe I am unfairly comparing the cast to the United States Marine Corps Silent Drill Team, the ones you see in many of the Marine Corps commercials. I couldn’t feel much pride or élan in the way the cast performed on the stage.

The production company manager told the audience the play had been in two small theaters before coming to La Mirada. The production company manager seemed more concerned with his own life and drama in it than the quality of the performance. I think the cast needed more seasoning.

Final full and fair disclosure.

I walked out at intermission so the second act could have been much better than the first act.

I should explain why I walked out. I will walk out on a crummy performance. This performance was weak but not in the crummy category.

I walked out because the sound was too loud and it was hurting my ears. Granted, I sit in the fifth row; but I should not be placed in a situation where I was on the verge of tears from the excessive noise. Perhaps this was the result of a sound technician who did not know what to do or the poor audio design of the theater.

In the end, it didn’t matter what the cause was because the final result was the same. I walked out. Obviously, I cannot recommend the play to anyone.

Visitors
We had another good month for visitors. There were 1,931 visitors to the blog in the month. I expect that next month will be down quite a bit because of the removal of the Aiko Tanaka photos.

The traffic balance has remained about 50% domestic and 50% foreign. I think this may change slightly in the near future.

Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf
I went to the Coffee Bean on Friday after my time with Molly. My favorite barista wasn’t working but her replacement did a creditable job on my mocha ice blended drink.

Last weekend, I made a pot of coffee with the India Elkhill Reserve coffee from Coffee Bean. This was the first time that I have used this blend so I was not satisfied with the results. The coffee tasted weaker than what I would like to drink. I added more ground coffee into the drip and the result was much better for me.

Other Events That Altered or Illuminated My Time
I started to come down with a sinus cold last week. I rummaged around my flat and finally found some out of date Tylenol Sinus medicine. I took a couple of tablets and that seemed to knock the sinus cold out. I could feel the pressure draining away.

Perfectomundo.

I was planning on visiting my friend Gloria’s ice cream and frozen yogurt store this weekend. After thinking about it, I decided that I ought to take a pass for now because of all of the candy I have consumed from Halloween. Her ice cream is too rich and tasty. I don’t need that much more sugar in my system right now.


That was my weekend. I hope your weekend was fun.


Be well and stay happy.