Here I am! Rock you like a Hurricane!

I didn't post about it, but we survived an earthquake this week. It started with a low rumble...like Charlie Weis running a 100 yard dash. After :03, he was joined by 20 of his best friends. Ten seconds into it I felt like I was swaying, kind of like a sea sick feeling. Finally, I looked up and sure enough the lights are swaying...it was an Earthquake. This isn't supposed to happen in New York City (Newww Yawwwk Citttteee!??).

But now we are facing a different natural disaster, and this one is a real b*tch. Her name is Irene and she is not happy about MTV's recent programming schedule (Jersey Shore for those that don't get that joke.). We went up to the Hampton's on Thursday evening to do a little fire pit maintenance (post coming soon). By Friday morning all local stores were out of C & D batteries, duct tape and plywood.

 We were able to secure all of the essentials though: water, mini axe, Memorial candles, matches, neon duct tape (better for hurricanes than the silver kind), goldfish, and of course the obligatory Pork & Beans.

By Friday night it was evident New York City was in Irene's eyesight and guess who left the windows open in our apartment?!! This girl.
We left the Hamptons around 11am this morning and drove back to the city (hurricanes do wonders for NYC traffic). We arrived to find most businesses closed. But, if there is one place you can count on being open during the Ireneapocolypse, its the UGA game watch bar, the Village Pourhouse. They were open until 10pm so we spent the majority of the evening there. Its currently 10:45pm and the rain has finally started to fall steadily. Wind will pick up every once in a while, but nothing crazy yet. Just in case we get the worst of it, we have our hatches battened.

Rooftop as of 3pm, bring it on Irene.

I'll update as the night goes on. We are charging our electrical items, have plenty of water, food and booze. As long as the windows don't blow we'll survive to work on Monday...

Update 11:45pm: Still steady rain and only mild wind. So far I have to say I'm a bit disappointed it hasn't been more exciting. All the radars look like the heavy rain is to the West of us, but the Eye may still be heading towards the city.

Cowboys & Indians...and Aliens? The Premiere!

From all of the other activities we did during our trip to San Diego, one would have thought we were just there just 'because'. The whole reason we went is because our friend Jen has a kicka** job. Her client, Universal, gave her 4 tickets to the red carpet world premiere of Cowboys & Aliens, starring Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford and Olivia Wilde. Making it all the more fun, San Diego hosts Comic Con that same weekend. (For those that don't know, Comic Con is a huge convention for sci-fi, comic/graphic novel, or general Geekdom fans. Folks dress up in costumes, go hear their favorite author on a panel, or in our case attend a world premiere. So, we dressed up in our best red carpet attire and made our way downtown.

The red carpet as we rolled up

As you can see from the photo above, we got to walk on a bit of the red carpet, however the real Red Carpet was reserved for celebrities only. So, we snuck over to the side to watch the famous folks roll in and snap a few photos.

Ron Howard

Becky's Boyfriend from Roseanne...or Leonard from Big Bang Theory

We have an Olivia Wilde sighting!!

Heath & Jen on the Red Carpet

KerrBarr on the Red Carpet

Once we fulfilled our press duties, we went into the theater. They handed out waters, Cokes and big boxes of popcorn for everyone in attendance. Jon Favreau (the Director, also in  Swingers) got up on stage and presented the cast and we kept our eyes open for additional celebrity appearances.

Seth Green and Charlie Day. Danny DeVito was just over from them

Bald guy wayyyy down there is the Dean from Community, and that's Joel McHale's arm just in front of him.

 Finally, around 8pm the lights went down and the movie came on. I actually really enjoyed the flick and would give it 3 out of 4 stars. However, I must have been swayed by the atmosphere, because all of the official reviews that have come out since would beg to differ with me. There were about 3k fans that got to sit in the first five rows of the theater, so it was quite a sympathetic crowd. The story itself is obviously not very plausible (what do you mean there weren't aliens in the Wild West!) but I'll give anything with Oliva Wilde, James Bond & Hans Solo in it a shot.
Once the movie was over, the red carpet was magically transformed and the after party began...

One of the alien ships from the movie over the red carpet

We found him!

Group Shot!

You would think after eating, surfing, a trip to the Zoo and to Sea World we would all be tired by now. But, no! Not this group. Our San Diego adventure was only part complete, our next mission was to get into a private Girl Talk show. For those that don't know Girl Talk is a DJ (of sorts) that mixes every song you ever loved into one long continuous rip. He seriously puts on the best shows, its non-stop music and dancing (and a lot of sweating). As I'm sure you will see for yourself shortly. We made the trek from the Civic Center to the club and thanks to several slick moves (being dressed to impress didn't hurt) we soon found ourselves among 200 people in our very own Girl Talk show!

One day I, too, will make a leaf blower that blows toilet paper

Girl Talk

Insanity

But we did not settle for simply attending the show...no, we had to see the star!

Creeping up on Girl Talk

Finally, for good measure...one last group picture:

Lougle!!!!!

We came, we toured, we conquered. San Diego (and Coronado Island) has been crossed off of our Travel List. It was one of the most memorable trips we have ever been on. Awesome weekend with tons of stories, memories, and celebrity sightings (Reggie Bush & Allessandra Ambrosio were on our flight home).  A big shout out to Heath and Jen for inviting us along with them!

Cowboys & Indians...and Aliens? Part 2

Outside of surfing, eating and of course the premiere itself, our other adventure in San Diego involved animals. Lots and lots of animals. Anyone that has met Heath knows he is a rather poised bloke. Don't get me wrong, he loves his fair share of BBQ, bourbon and belly laughs, but I am constantly amazed at what he finds entertaining. Case in point? He got an absolute kick out of the Shamu Show at Sea World. A 3 ton killer whale that waves on command and helps tell corny jokes, he loved it. He also enjoyed the swords, Jen on the other hand didn't enjoy the swords so much and would rather stick with the turtles. Barry and I liked the penguins.



Saturday's animal adventure was even better - the San Diego Zoo. If you've never been, I highly suggest you go. It is so well done - the environment, the animals, the atmosphere, everything. However, a word to the wise get there when it opens and hit the pandas and polar bears first.



Through our visits to Sea World & the Zoo, there was one animal that eluded us. The famed, Lil' Sebastian.



So, without further ado, possibly the best thing to potentially ever happen to anyone, anywhere, in the history of the universe. I present to you, Lil' Sebastian:

Well Done!