In The Land Of Sand

After waiting for several weeks my parents and i had finally gotten our visas to go to Saudi. Originally just my parents wanted to go by themselves and about a month before they were scheduled to leave my mom was like,"hey, why doesn't lazy son come with us?".

It was such a mess getting our visas. My dad couldn't schedule a flight for me to leave on the same day as them, so he got the next flight available which was the day after. Since he wanted us to all fly together he went ahead and moved his and my mom's scheduled flgihts to that day as well, which costed like a million bones. The next dilemma that occured was that our visas did not get processed in time so we had to move the flights back another week costing another million bones. Lemon.

As i have said before my mom is nortorious for packing unbelievable amounts of food when she travels. British Airways weight quota for suitcases is still 70 lbs/32 kg. Since my dad and i travel pretty light we let my mom use one of each of our two suitcases to pack stuff. She had four suitcases, a total of 280 lbs of storage...and she still asked me if could pack a few things in my own suitcase because she didn't have any room...ridiculous. The items in her bags ranged from surgary cereal and rice noodles to 20lb pieces of frozen prime rib. What a nut.

After doing all the fun checking in and stuff, i finally felt like i could relax when i found my seat at the the bulk head next to the exit...until i realized not even four feet from, there was a couple with what looked like a 2 yr old and another baby that looked just a few months old. Of course if one of them was quiet the other was freaking out and crying...seems like there is always a crying baby when i travel overseas.

Since the drinks are free on the flight i told myself i was going to ridiculously drunk to numb the pain that was from the tag team of the two cry babies...but all i had was a little bottle of wine. i spent most of the flight watching The Kite Runner, which was pretty good, and The Water Horse. The water horse movie was pretty lame, it was basically Free Willy but with scottish people and a plesiosaur instead of an orcinus orca.

From the flight from UK to Bahrain i slept most of the time. At least as much as i could since i was sitting next to my dad this time and his snores were shaking my chair.

My oldest sister was suppose to meet us at the Airport but she wasn't there when we got out of customs. We waited for about 15 minutes before my dad went an purchased a phone card to call her. But for some reason he couldn't get the card to work, and when he did get a hold of her the phone was busy...so about 45 minutes of waiting around we finally met up with my sister and her driver she had hired. If you didn't know already, women are not allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia...what a wonderful law.

After all the bags were stuck in the mini van we all decided to get something to eat at Senor Pacos. Its pretty much a tradition we go to this place whenever we are in Bahrain. Of course none of us knew how to get there. My dad thought he knew...but he didn't. We went around circles for like 30 minutes. Cheri was trying to talk us into going to another mexican place that she likes better, because its cleaner, the food is better, and the music is more professional...Cheri please, i don't care if Senor Pacos only serves poop on a stick...i'm going there to get a frozen margarita and a free hat. Actually i was kind of curious about the other mexican restuarant...maybe i'll hit that up when i leave.

Didn't get into Dhahran until 10 something...i was welcomed by my sister's three cats. She only had one cat before...but then realized her cat, Saudi, could die any day now so she got another cat, Sushi. She then 'cat sat' or something and ended up keeping her, Siagon, too. In my book you just have to be single and have more than 2 cats to be considered a crazy cat lady.

i took some pictures but i'm kind of too lazy to upload them on this unfamiliar computer and crop them and all that fun stuff right now. But maybe later i'll add some photos to this post since my writing is less than entertaining. Peace peace in the middle east.

Here is the stall i used in the philly airport...not sure why i took a picture, i was kind of tempted to write on the wall, because everyone else was doing it.
In London Heathrow Airport i grabbed me a sandwich. It said it came with a salad, those few green leaves is their 'salad'.My dad's meal look a lot fancier. Some scrambled eggs with salmon, pretty sure i've never seen that combo before.
At least i had a beer with my meal. It was technically morning, but its 5pm somewhere...

Last Day in L.A.

Well today was the last day. Packed my bags and got ready to check out. i decided to take another look at this "spa". Since i couldn't even see the water the night before. Yeah...good thing i didn't jump in that junx.
you can barely see the bottom of that thing that resembles a swamp. Good thing i didn't have an open wound on my finger i'd probably have an infection. i'm surprised i didn't get pulled into the water by Swamp Thing last night. It doesn't even take that much maintenance to keep a hot tub clean. My fish pond i built for my eagle project looked cleaner than that.

Couldn't wait to leave the hotel after seeing that. The next stop for us was the Breeze Restaurant at the Century Park Plaza. We were meeting a banker that has been doing stuff for my dad for four years but they have never met. They guy was like in his 60's and was a real character. Had no intention of retiring because he wouldn't know what to do with himself. He gets into work at like 7 am but still finds time during the work day to golf and hop on his 34 foot sail boat. Ugh i need a job so can do fun stuff. For breakfast i got the Crab Cake Benedict. It had spinach on it too, which i wasn't crazy about. i like spinach but just didn't taste good with the egg and crab cake...or maybe it was just bad spinach, i'll never know. The banker got some omelette. There was half a tomato on his plate as garnish, he quickly asked the server to remove it. He couldn't stand looking at it. i had one too so i hid it behind one of my crab cakes. What is up with those crazy people that can't stand tomatoes?! Its like they watched Attack of the Killer Tomatoes at too young of an age or something...

Well that was an entertaining breakfast. On the way back to the car rental place, i saw it...finally. The stupid Bridge movie theater. There is on in Philly, but every time i have searched for movie times for that theater i somehow end up at this theater's website. Its not even that great of a theater. They have assigned seating, who thought assigned seating was a good idea at a theater? On two occasions i have gone to see a movie and when i found my seat, the seat assignment was printed twice and i had to go back to the desk and get another seat assigned to me...ugh, i despise you bridge. Can't fool me into liking you with your cool up decor and modern art work.
Before returning the rental car we had to fill up the tank or else we'd get charged a million dollars for it. The gas prices in California are pretty high, silly crazy gas to decrease emissions...At the pump they had some crazy nozzle. You can't just put it in the car and bounce and let it pump itself. You have to hold it there and maker sure its air tight. At least thats what my dad said. Got to the airport and did the fun security dance before reaching the gate. i saw a guy with a Mac Book Air. i didn't think people actually bought those, they're kind of limited for the price. After seeing that a choir from Kenya started busting out some songs at a gate near by. They all had matching black t-shirts and black cowboy hats. That was pretty entertaining, i took some video too but i'll have to put that up later after compressing it and all that fun stuff later.

There were probably 30 people max on the flight to Phoenix. i quickly grabbed the seat next to the exit. There is no seat in front of you so you're able to stretch out. It was nice, but of course the time when i get a good seat the flight is only one hour long. Ugh, well at least i got to sit there for a little bit.

Arriving in Phoenix, Arizona we were pretty hungry and decided to get some Chinese food. They guy at the register looked like he was from Kenya, and the guy making the food looked like he was Mexican...After noticing that i wasn't expecting any authentic Chinese food, plus i ordered the "Thai Chicken". It came in a cool styrofoam container, if i was a container i'd want to be this one.
i'm a sucker for buying shot glasses, so once i passed the gift store i had to go in to see if they had any fun shot glasses, and of course they did. While buying the shot glasses they had some lollipops on the counter. $3.60 for the sucker! What's up with that? Oh, i see...after a closer look they have scorpions in them. i haven't had scorpions since, well...never. i almost bought one, but decided not too.

i went back to the gate and sat and listened to my iPod. After a little bit of sitting i had to go to the bathroom. On the way back from the bathroom i passed that gift store again, i had 10 bones in my pocket and before i knew it i was walking out of that gift shop with two scorpion lollipops. One Strawberry flavored and the other Blueberry. The girl that ringed me up asked if i was really going to eat them, PSH! Um yeah! I'm not afraid of a little scorpion! And i'm sure its just that much more delicious aging in a sugary prison on a stick.
Well, not quite sure when i'm going to bite into these delectable treats...maybe on my ski trip this weekend i'll try one...probably the blueberry one, i like the color blue. Now i'm ready to board the plane to Philly.

Arrived into Philly around midnight and didn't get home until 12:40 pm. Overall it was a fun trip and i'm glad i went. i'll have to visit SoCal again and hit up all those crazy places i didn't get a chance to.

No Oinkster? Pink's!

Another day in L.A. Soon got dressed and headed out to find a place to eat. My dad wanted to go to The Oinkster since i talked it up so much from what i've read. We headed out of the room and jumped in our sweet Chrysler Pacifica.
We were actually going to eat at The Oinkster the night before but they close at 9 pm and it was already 8:20...and we decided to get some burgers instead. What we should have done was call to see when they actually open. We got to The Oinkster at 9am and to our dismay it was closed. Doesn't open until 11 am....lemon.
Hmm, well i guess i'll just hit the next place on my list, Pink's! i know, only the fanciest of places make it on my list to eat at. Pink's was established in 1939 and they say they have 21 different hot dogs. Though looking at the menu i only saw 20. From the looks of the place it looked promising, like L.A.'s version of Pat's or Geno's in Philly. Plus, you can't mess up a hot dog. They're always delicious.
So many choices, took me a while to decide. i ended up getting the Polish Pastrami-Swiss Cheese dog and the Bacon Chili Cheese Dog. The polish was massive, it was pretty much the equivalent to three hot dogs. And the bacon chili cheese dog was amazing, there was enough bacon on to thin out my blood and give me a nose bleed...My dad decided to go nuts and get the Guadalajara Dog. i know i butchered that the first time i said it. It has relish, onions, tomato, and sour cream on it...Sour Cream on a hot dog?! i'd eat it. Of course it was kind of whimpy compared to the awesome-ness of the Polish and Bacon Chili dog i had, so my dad soon ordered another Bacon Chili Cheese Dog after finishing his crazy Guadalalalallalaljara.
Good thing we had to go somewhere, i could have stayed there all day eating hot dogs. After lunch we headed south east to French Valley Airport to meet some crazy guy with some machine he's making. Something with silly putty and plasma arcs, not really sure what that was all about i still had those hot dogs on the brain.

Though this guy did say he did some business with In-N-Out Burger, had a hot air balloon made for them and said that the original family that started the joint were celebrating something and all the family including first cousins and junx boarded a plane and it crashed and they all died...and In-N-Out Burger was then left to people that weren't exactly ready to be the owners...not sure how true that is, i don't care enough to check on how accurate that is.

On the way back i saw a sign for fast food chain. Carl's Jr. What is that all about? They stole the star from Hardee's! i don't even understand that, i don't care if its a "sister chain". Can't steal Hardee's smiling star! i don't even know the difference of the two places, their menus look the same. But i had no intention to eat at this Carl's Jr., their logo only says "Charbroiled Burgers" not "Charbroiled THICK Burgers" like Hardee's.
Took us about 2 hours to get back to the Los Angeles area from the airport. What is the deal with their freeways? They have a special lane for carpoolers but i saw a motorcycle go down the lane every 5 minutes...how do they fit under the category of a carpool?

When we finally got back to the city we decided to head back to Eagle Rock and try The Oinkster one more time. There are only 2 things i wanted from this place, and that was the Oinkster Pastrami and a Ube Shake. i was denied the Ube Shake, they ran out of ube!! What's up with that?! The one time i make it down The Oinkster and there is no ube for an Ube Shake...lemon!

Fortunately it was happy hour and instead of the shake i got a pitcher of Widmer Hefeweizen and a cup of Oinksterade. The beer tasted amazing with the Oinkster Pastrami sandwich. My dad ordered the BBQ pulled pork and we both shared a half. The pulled pork was just alright, but i would choose the pastrami over the pulled pork any day.

Pastrami on the right...pork on the left...The Oinkster was everything i thought it would be and i was happy. Just really wish i could have had the purple yam milkshake. Oh well, i guess i'll just have to go out there again sometime. i didn't even to do any of the touristy stuff on Hollywood blvd.

After dinner we jumped in the Pacifica and headed back to the Comfort Inn. It was only 7:30 and even though my dad is known for falling asleep i thought i would be alright not making sure he was alert every minute. Going down some crazy freeway, 101 i think, i got distracted by a store called the Halloween Club...the second i look at it the car veers off to the right and i am then lifted up and the car is riding the barrier...along with that was a bunch of scraping noises...my dad fell asleep, but after that quickly woke up. i would have offered to drive but i wasn't listed as one of the drivers.

We arrived back at the Comfort Inn around 8pm. i grabbed my backpack and then checked out the car. Somehow, there was no damage to the car. Not even a scratch, the wheel must of caught the barrier before any other part of the car could be damaged...you got lucky dad.

When we got the room, i felt kind of bummed out because my dad was already in bed asleep by 8:30 pm...we could be out partying! i guess i was kind of tired too. But i wasn't about to go to sleep anytime soon. i took a look at the Comfort Inn brochure and saw that they had a "spa". By "spa" they really mean a lame hot tub that is outside with no lighting. It was fenced in and i could barely make out where the gate was to get in. i looked at the hot tub, and it just looked weird...something was off. i stuck my finger in it and it was freezing! What kind of hot tub is this?! i really wanted a hot tub too, i messed with some switches in the corner and i think it was just on a timer. But i still got a funky vibe from the hot tub so i decided to spend the rest of the night in the room.

Lazy Son Goes West

My Dad had some people to visit out west. He didn't feel like going by himself so he asked me to go along to keep him company. Plus it was a good chance to try out some places to eat at. Got my bags packed and was ready to leave at 9 am, the time my dad said he wanted to leave...45 minutes later he finally read to head out the door.

The first stop was the Philadelphia International Airport. After parking the car and taking the shuttle, we then went through the ridiculous security check. As i read the new rules...you have to put all your liquids in 3 oz containers and then put those in a 1 gallon zip-lock bag, and then put them in a tray to go through the x ray...

And there is no limit to how many 3 oz bottles i can have? Pretty sure with all the extra security, it wouldn't prevent another terrorist attack from happening...oh well, i guess it doesn't really matter...i'm just glad my pants stayed up while my belt was going through the x ray machine.

We had an hour to burn so we decided to get something to eat. My dad ordered a reuben. His most favorite sandwich of all time. But when his order was finally done, it didn't even look like a reuben sandwich...instead of rye bread they used some kind of pita, instead of sauerkraut they used coleslaw, and there wasn't even 1000 Island dressing it it...i'm no reuben expert, but that's no reuben. i ordered the philly cheese steak, i knew better than to order one in an airport but i was really craving one. It wasn't amazing but it looked way better than that sorry excuse for a reuben.
Not sure why i took this photo, i just thought it was weird seeing a guy in his mid 30's wearing birkenstocks and carrying a Vans backpack with a carabiner and some climbing rope attached to it...there was this other crazy looking guy that was texting a bunch and looked like he was 50. His glasses looked like they were mangled by a bear...
i believe this was my first time flying Southwest...i would have remembered this crazy seating system where i get to sit wherever i want. It was nice though, i got to get a window seat. i love the window seat. Just because i'm able to rest my head on the window and pass out. Then the flight doesn't seem as long. What i can't stand is sitting in the middle seat next to two crazy people...makes me want to punch babies, god forbid there are babies around when that happens...Anyway, Chicago here i come!

It was a pretty short flight, around 3 hours and on the way through the airport i was this nice sign to welcome me. Pretty sure John Street never welcomed me to Philadelphia...bastard.
Heading out of Chicago, i had wonderful Golf to watch. Mostly it was Tiger Woods on the screen because he's so great and wearing his red shirt since it was as Sunday. Ugh, i can't stand watching golf...could have really used that tv remote watch...

Leaving cold miserable Chicagoland...The next declicious thing to eat was the Southwest Snack box. i didn't receive one on the first flight because it was so short...the only thing i ate was the Handi-Snacks. Can't pass up crackers and weird goo that tastes like cheese.

To wash it all down i had a small glass of water...when reading the napkin i could really hear the "Ding"...crazy how that works...

The flight to Los Angeles was packed...so many people going to SoCal. But it wasn't too bad, i managed to sleep most of the way. The flight attendants are nuts on Southwest, the airline lets them say anything they want as long as they explain the emergency procedures. Pretty sure i would say some ridiculous stuff over the intercom if i had the chance..

When we arrived at the LAX airport, and had gotten the rental car...it was time to get some dinner. We decided to hit up the In-N-Out...Everyone says you have to go to one when in California. It better be good...
i manged to get directions to an In-N-Out that was really no where close to our hotel. Turned out there was one 2 miles away on the same street when we headed to the room. While deciding to what to get, i decided to go big. i ordered the Double-Double with onions.
i'll have to say i was pretty disappointed with it. i know they make a big deal about how fresh everything is but it just wasn't as good as what i was expecting. Also my patties were red in the middle, i guess that's how they roll at the In-N-Out...

i didn't want to just judge In-N-Out on one Double-Double burger so i got two cheese burgers to go to eat at the hotel room. i know, i'm fat.
i only managed to eat one of them, and threw the other burger in the mini-fridge...i'm not a fan of their sponge dough either. Hopefully the next place i eat will be better. i spent the rest of the night watching all the Hollywood stars party it up after the Oscars...lemon, i wish i could have gone to those parties.