/mike

Every time I go to service, it's becoming increasingly clear to me that I'm not the Christian I thought I was; I'm a spiritual infant, a Christian novice, a double A minor leaguer. I had thought I was somewhere in the middle of the pack, but for various reasons, I've had to take a hard look at myself lately. I've also been noticing all that is possible through the lives of others. Combine those two and I'm quickly compelled to tell myself to face facts. Part of the issue for my stunted growth is that I'm not very good at obedience. I can hardly follow through with my own values when they conflict with my impulses. I'm like a dieter who knows how to eat right but can't help but go the buffet and stuff himself. There's a bit of embarrassment that goes along with this sort of realization. I have to shake my head at the times I gave myself more credit than was actually warranted. Mostly, I'm excited to think of all that's in front of me, even though I'm simultaneously intimidated at all that the present requires in order to get there.

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The weekend has been great. On Saturday, Matt, Cindy and I went to Little Tokyo for some shopping and tasty treats.

What was I thinking? My current favorite actor has to be James Franco.

Oh man, another ex-dodger comes to the halos. I don't know about this acquisition though. I have every confidence that Scioscia will bring out the best possible, but isn't Raul a head case? Time will tell, I suppose.

It just goes to show how desperately the Angels need to fill up their roster.

Mike Scioscia's handling of Jose Guillen's childish tirade confirms again what everyone already knows. The guy runs a tight clubhouse.

When Jose blamed the pitchers for not protecting him, Mike immediately took over the situation. He takes pressure off the pitchers by saying that it's HIS policy not to hit batters on purpose, even in retaliation. He then holds a clubhouse meeting (sans media) and Guillen comes out apologizing.

The question of whether or not Scioscia's policy is right is debatable (so far I'm still ambivalent). But everyone knows, managing a professional athletes is at least 70% people skills and 30% strategy. I mean, we all know that triangle isn't what makes Phil, it's his masterful zen manipulation of people.

Horrid relief pitching, combined with poor defense, has got this Angel fan frustrated. Sometimes, the team doesn't look very comfortable with each other; this is hardly surprising considering half the starting lineup is filled with minor leaguers (albeit good minor leaguers), playing out of position.

I keep telling myself that this is a good time to go through adversity. There is plenty of season left.

Yay. Lovin life in the studio tonight. Take a look at my many "rooms".

bedroom
office
library
kitchen
bathroom

Thanks to lablogs, who introduced me to A Visit to Old Los Angeles and Environs. I haven't had a chance to look through all of it yet, but what I've seen is quite nice.

My new apartment has an internet signal? This is so lucky that I'm sure it can't last. But who cares... so far so good!

Yesterday, my class instructor said "the majority of inter-workplace conflict stems from generational differences". The Boomers don't get Gen-Xers, much less the cultural norms within Gen-Y.

Is this true? If I were forced to categorize people, I tend to use religious, political, and ethnic terms, not generational. If anything, it will be an interesting idea for me to look into.

Someone did once tell me that I don't belong to my generation... or something like that.

I've decided to rent a studio apartment in pasadena! If any of you are ever near old town or paseo, give me a call.

My budding dvd collection comprises of a number of gifts, Angel highlights, and LOTR movies. Since Return of the King is coming out in a week or so, I've taken to watching Fellowship and Two Towers again.

I was doing some cleaning with Two Towers playing in the background, when my Dad came in to chat. He eventually got sucked into the movie and stayed for both disks (3 hours!). He especially liked it when I told him that Tolkien was a good Catholic. He said, "No wonder I feel like there's something about this movie that I like."

A while back, Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder filled the favorite actor/actress spots in my heart.

While they have both moved onto bigger and better things (pirating and stealing), my interest in both slowly waned, starting around Edward Scissorhands.

So who are my new favorites? No one has completely caught my eye, but my fill in candidates are now Daniel Day-Lewis and Kate Winslet.

Who are your favorites?

Something our pastor said this past Sunday got me thinking differently about the Abu Ghraib situation. My first impression was that it's an isolated incident. From my perspective, it certainly doesn't discredit the war in Iraq, nor the overall courage of our servicemen and women... but now, I'm beginning to think that the nature of the abuse does tell us something... about our American culture in general.

Two major elements in the abuse include: sex and humiliation. In my mind, these two subjects are deeply rooted in our American culture. Sex is everywhere. The porn industry is huge, especially here in LA. I see sex increasingly used as a tool for power too, not just in advertising, but also in personal power and intimidation. Humiliation as a cultural phenomenon is even more obvious. Watch Punk'd, talk shows, or reality shows and you'll find that American audiences find humiliation hilarious.

The humiliation factor reminds me of Familee's July 8, 2003 post on humor. "People from Britain preferred puns and wordplay, while many European countries, particularly France, liked surrealism. Americans went for jokes told at someone's expense."

By the way, Epicentre sermons are linked online. Abu Ghraib wasn't the main point or even the best part of last Sunday's (May 9) talk. Check it out! :)

And we're back to vacation pictures.

We went to TJ. It was a disaster. For whatever reason, I made the foolish decision to drive over the border. We wandered aimlessly, constantly in fear of getting in an accident. Nevertheless, I did get some photos: driving, TJ doggie, where am I?, city planning, and dancing guy.

Completely exhausted and with half the day still left, we needed something to relax us. We needed the opposite of TJ, so we went to Coronado Beach: Hotel, Cindy and Hotel, rocks and water, Cindy climbs Rocks, climbing 2, Mike waiting for waves, got one!, and rejuvenate again.

I've finally reconciled with my commute.

I've got myself the entire bible on CD! I almost got the James Earl Jones edition, but instead opted for a NIV Zondervan version which includes multiple voice actors and music.

Oh I despise the Yankees. I really do.

I always get a kick out of reading newspaper slants. And perhaps not coincidentally, I find myself preferring the red side of things again.

Injuries Negate Playoff Feeling: In what was supposed to be a matchup of the American leagues best, the Angels head into the Yankee series without key players. (LA Times)

Trouble finds Angels again: The red-hot Angels never make it easy, but even with all the injuries, this team hasn't lost its confidence. (OC Register)

I haven't been home enough to get more pictures ready to post so I'll instead just comment on this article.

With a title like "The Return of the Planner", it certainly caught my eye. But instead of a discussion on a movement, the article is a profile on D.C.'s Planning Director, Andy Altman.

Still it's a good read. It's true that planning can often be overlooked. Even in my own job, I need to not only impact business positively, but also communicate planning's relevance. It's not always an instant gratification sort of process. This will be especially important for the Port Master Plan Update I'll be working on later this year.

Before we went to the Wild Animal Park, we had a hearty start at The Pancake House. My spinach and cheese omelete (w/ hollandaise sauce) was awesome.

Here are some Park highlights:
"Come and knock on our door..."
Meerkat
Mike running from animals
Cindy by surprise (my favorite pic)
Antelope?
Klingon Bird
Duiker (Cindy's favorite animal)
Duiker and tongue
Gorilla (my favorite animal)
Gorilla 2
Gorilla 3
Gorilla 4
Gorilla 5
foot massage
Cindy hatches

And if anyone didn't already know, don't stare at Gorillas. It is considered aggressive and rude. I wish I knew that before I watched them for 15 minutes. They really were my favorites.

Eating at Cotixan brought back happy memories of huge, tasty fish and pollo asado burritos. Afterwards, we went downtown to see what successful redevelopment is all about. There was the trolley, Horton Plaza, the Gaslamp district and Petco (1 and 2). In fact, taking pictures at the downtown baseball stadium was so fun, we bought tickets for the next day's game.

Our vacation was great! We got back Saturday night. I'm tanned and Cindy thinks she might be a bit sunburn. Our four day stay in San Diego was such a good getaway.

I also was able to put my digicam to use, so I'll be posting our vacation pics as my next few blogs.

We've been on a mexican food kick lately, so after we settled in, I wanted to eat some classic SD fare at Coxitan. On the way there, we accidentally found a great field full of small planes.

Gibbs Flying Service
plane
Cindy and plane
Cindy's happy dance