Blackout Day

Geez. I tried to do an audio post in the midst of our blackout today, but apparently it didn't work.

When I was on my way back to work after lunch I figured something strange was going on because all of the traffic lights were off--chaos. Then I got back to work and, sure enough, no power.

It's amazing how dependant we are on technology. For a couple of hours there was very little that I could do. Then when the power finally came back on again it took forever for our server to come back online. My computer kept giving me this message that looked kind of like this.

I guess that's just about enough excitement for one day. Wish me luck in the Amazing Race pool. I need to catch up!

-chc

Happy Easter!

I hope everyone is having a fantastic Easter! Here is a little something to help get you in the spirit.

The Dancing Bunny

-chc

Why is it raining in here?

I finally went to the dentist to have my teeth cleaned today. I know, I know--sounds exciting, right? Well it actually did turn out to be kind of unusual.

First of all let me say that I miss all the good people at Dr. Piche's office. It's a little difficult to trust your teeth to complete strangers I think. My new dentist did a fine job, but it just isn't the same. Know what I mean?

For example, I walked in today and they wanted to take an x-ray again. Now that would have been fine, except they just took one about seven months ago. I suppose I'm also still a little scarred because last time they almost forgot to put the lead vest on me. Seriously, I had to remind them about it. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot." No, you did forget and I reminded you because I want to keep the extra radiation out of my body....

Fast forward to today. Everything went fine and the nice technician was placing her tools back where they belong. Suddenly I noticed that my shirt felt a little wet. Okay, a lot wet. It turned out that that little water-spraying implement had been left on and was sending out a stream of water directly at my chest. Then she moved the whole table so that the water started spraying on my pants. Luckily everything dried out before I got back to work. We wouldn't want people wondering what's wrong with me...

-chc

Visitors for the Weekend

There was a time last summer when a bunch of friends/family came out here to visit week after week. I'm hoping that happens again this year, because it's always a blast to have visitors.

This week was one of those times when lots of people were in and out of the apartment. First my good friend Sara from ACE stopped by when she was in town for a conference.


Then my roommate had some people in for the weekend as well. Good times all around.

-chc

I's the B'y

Happy belated St. Patty's Day!

To help celebrate the day, lets take a little walk down memory lane. Let's go back--way back, to a time when Dad was the Lord Mayor. Steve was still young enough to be in preschool. Can you guess the year?


Don't mess with the Shillelagh!


Even though it's March, Steve is still acting out scenes from Mr. Boogedy. It's the super-duper, super-natural---Third eye!

So--St. Patrick's Day was okay this year. We went to Timmy Nolan's, but it was really crowded and they weren't even playing Irish music. Geez. Where is Song of the Lakes when you need them?

-chc

The problem here is that we haven't solved the problem. And it's been an ongoing problem...

This seemed like an appropriate quote for today since I'm finally posting the pictures of my car. I'm still pretty happy with the paint job itself, but those guys sure didn't do much else right. I can't remember if I mentioned that a piece of trim fell off less than a week after it was painted. This on top of the fact that they put the Mercedes symbol on upside down (see picture).

Oh, and a word to the wise. When that little battery light comes on in your dashboard, take the car in right away. Don't wait until your car doesn't start anymore. Not that this has ever happened to me. Okay, it did--This morning actually. It's a good thing that I woke up early so that I had time to jump-start my car and take it in before work. I needed to get a new alternator, just as I was dreading. Luckily I get a company discount from this mechanic so it wasn't that bad. He even reattached my trim for free!

I'm really hoping to be done with car trouble for a little while. Enjoy the pictures.


A front view of the new paint job.


I still need to get this fixed...


Finally I can open my door again!

-chc

Happy 10,000!

Sometimes I check the stats for holden-corbett.com because, well, I get bored easily.

I'm pleased to announce that my site feed has been requested over 10,000 times! This means there must be at least ten of you out there reading, and that makes me happy.

Come back again soon. I appreciate your patronage...

-chc

ps. Happy Pi Day.

The Accomplice

This was another very full weekend for me. On Friday I went to see Accomplice with some friends from work at the Colony in Burbank. It was an interesting play and a fairly nice theatre. Who would have guessed it is right there behind IKEA?

It is one of those self-referential scripts--a play within a play within a play within a play. Honestly, it's enough to make you dizzy. I recommend it though. After that we went to CPK for dessert and closed the place down. The wait staff seemed in a hurry to kick us out and go home, but I can't blame them...

Saturday was movie night for YAM. We watched The Gospel of John, which came out at the same time as The Passion but didn't' get much press. I thought it was good, and very true to the gospel--a good thing to watch during Lent.

The rest of the weekend was gone before I knew it. I managed to call a few people I haven't talked with in a while. There are still many on the list though. Ryan-you need to stop getting called to the ER when I'm talking to you!

Have a good week everyone!

-CHC

To Denmark and Back Again

I just came back from an awesome weekend in Solvang. It's a nice little town with flavor unlike anything in the LA area. For one thing, they have grass---and trees! We're not talking about little LA-style patches of grass. They have honest to goodness rolling hills out there!

The town itself was nice but kind of touristy. Someone in our group commented that Solvang's main street feels like a visit to Disneyland, and I tend to agree. Still, it was a nice change of pace.

I think this pavilion is next to Germany at Epcot Center...


The pastries were great, even if all the stores close at 5pm.

Other highlights from Saturday included getting lost in the woods for three hours (we weren't really lost...we just couldn't find the place we were looking for...) and playing NBA Live 2005 into the early morning hours. It's amazing how much those games have changed since my time. Remember when you had one thumb pad and two buttons? I'm afraid those days are gone.



The highlight of the weekend, though, was the retreat on Sunday. The CORE team from our youth group was asked to give this retreat, and they were outstanding. They took a bunch of teens that didn't even want to be there and brought them to life. By the end of the day everyone could feel the difference. So to any CORE team members and sponsors in the audience, I just want to day again that you guys are the best!

-chc

Road Trip Anyone?

It's been a crazy day. I feel like I did a week's worth of work in just a few hours--Then another week of work in the following hour. I need to get out of the city for a while. You know what that means! Road trip time!

Okay maybe not, but I am going to Solvang this weekend. In a few hours I'll be heading up there with the YUT CORE team from St. Finbar to lead a confirmation retreat. We'll be driving all the way up tomorrow and then back again on Sunday after the retreat. I'm guessing it'll be about a 3-4 hour drive--almost enough time to get through Return of the King Extended Edition!

Maybe I'll post some pictures from the road, but probably not. You never know.

-chc