Shocking

Last night was the exciting end of the Bachelorette. Tamara has been waiting for this for months. I think this show is pretty lame. Reality TV? Where they end up in a fantasy suite? Wait, what? I was making fun of the show relentlessly so I did a bit of research to get data to support my stance since that's what I do. I was shocked, SHOCKED, to learn that of the 13

seasons of the Bachelor not one has gotten married. On the last season the dude picked one girl, then dropped her for the second one. Apparently they're still together. But she was the second choice. That's real love. Of the five seasons of the Bachelorette one has gotten married and the one that just ended which Tamara says has a real chance of lasting. So in 18 seasons why have one success with one more possible. That's a terrible track record. Tamara has a

better record of setting people up one on one. Imagine if she got twenty five chances with each person.

I'm not going to go into the reality complaints about being spending a week in spain, then hawaii, and then who knows where else. Fantasy suites, rose ceremonies-it all sounds very reality based. But I think there's one lesson to learn from these shows. The batting average for the bachelorette, 1-3 out of five depending on the accounting, is clearly way better than the bachelor, 0-13 no discussion. It's possible that the bachelorette is on the same PEDs Manny and Papi were on in 2003 and those numbers are inflated, but those results won't be leaked for some time. Anyway, what we see is that women chasing men never goes anywhere. Who though that sending 25 women to fight over a dude and throw themselves at his feet would result in him being committed to any of them? The only effort he put in was in sorting through the psychos. The bachelorette has enjoyed some success because it forces the dudes to work for the girl, which is how it's supposed to be. When one finally gets her, he'll value her more because he's put so much into it as opposed to the bachelor who thinks women are easy (which judging by the 13 seasons-there are lots of them out there). Though the show has virtually no redeeming qualities, there is something to be learned from this.

UPDATE: Anderson Cooper was also shocked

Little David's Sports Birthday

Many of you have heard me talk about little David. He is our neighbors kid and he just love this little bundle energy. Today was his 3rd birthday so we had to celebrate with a sports theme. David already knows all about his sports and is dang good. Cassie (David's mom) asked me to help with cupcakes and I knew just what I wanted to do....sports cupcakes and of course my favorite chocolate footballs (I also made those for our Super Bowl party). So Cassie made the cupcakes and we decorated them like basketballs and baseballs. I think that they turned out adorable don't you?

Jury Duty

I'm currently sitting around waiting to find out if two of our fellow Angelinos want to plea out and make a deal or go to trial and face jurors who want nothing more than to be done as soon as possible. It's riveting sitting around imagining the justice system at work just a few rooms away. I think jury duty could be great, but I've never been utilized. I have, however, spent several days sitting in poorly ventilated bland rooms listening to private conversations and seeing diseases passed around one uncovered sneeze at a time. I thought about taking the Liz Lemon approach but I couldn't do it with a straight face. Maybe I need to take my civic duties more seriously, like Pauly Shore.

So at my last job we probably spent more time arguing about font, grammar, spelling, and formatting instead of actual content of our presentations. While it was painful at times, I learned a really valuable lesson. When given a sheet, card, etc. I can spot mistakes within twelve seconds. I was reminded of that today. There was a farmer's market outside jury duty and I bought some streusel from Daphne. While eating I looked at the sticker listing the ingredients and the first thing I noticed was that 'dairy' was spelled 'diary'. It really ruins things. One guy gave me a business card and his address was mispelled-first thing I noticed. A friend sent me a pitchbook to look over and ten seconds in I see his email address in a footnote is wrong. In the business world it's called detail oriented but it usually turns into being critical. It's easy to be critical. Most of the time there is plenty of criticism and no ideas for improvement, which is the hard
part. But people love being critical without having to be responsible for the criticisms-hence the love affair with anonymous postings. I'm trying to retrain myself to only use it in work situations, but it's proving difficult. So, to make up for it I'm giving Daphne a shoutout and letting you know the original streusel is really good.

Big Weekends

Last weekend Tamara's brother Rob and his wife Hailey came and visited us. Apparently it was the first time Rob has visited Tamara EVER so it was a big deal and we had to come through. I came up with a tour of Holllywood to start out. Fortunately, I found the most amazing breakfast place, The Griddle Cafe. For anybody living in LA, it would be a mistake to not go here. They don't list prices, but everything is around $10. The portions are ginormous and it was super good. We also only waited about fifteen min. I really can't overstate how good it was.

We then went on our Hollywood tour. We saw Michael Jackson's star with all the accompanying weeping, wailing, and the selling of counterfeit memorabilia. Anything to make a buck. We also visited the Harley store.

We then took off to the beach. Venice is always a trip. It's not unlike Coney Island-great people watching, unique food, and lots of public entertainment. While Venice doesn't have amusement park or carnies, we do have muscle beach, ropes to climb, and the actual beach is way better. And by way better I mean I don't feel dirty when I get out like at Coney. They also both have freak shows. We rented bikes, went to the pier and then stopped at the Venice Harley store.

Before we took off to dinner, we visited the Santa Monica Harley store. I hope you're seeing a theme here. We then had dinner up in the hills before heading to Diddy Riese. Overall it was a great weekend.

For the fourth, we first headed down to Manhattan for some surfing with Tamara's co-worker, Sabrina. Manhattan is pretty sweet. Houses right up on the beach. Not too crowded. I definitely recommend checking it out.

Next we headed up to the Halls. As some of you may know, there hasn't been TV in the Hall home since '92. Jason just graduated so they (and by they, I mean Mom) had DirectTV installed. It's taking some getting used to. I showed Dr. Hall the hot dog eating contest which he had heard of, but never seen. Like it did for me, it really changed his life. Dr. Hall hooked us up with massages which we really appreciated. I jumped in the pool while Tamara laid out. Grandi and Al came over while we bbqed. The food was great and even though it's not that far away it feels like being on a vacation.

If you are interested in viewing pictures from the whole weekend, click here.