Monday morning I had to go to Culver City to do some banking for LACOS, and since I drove all the way out there, I figured I'd spend the afternoon on the beach. I discovered a few things to greatly improve my volleyball serve while practicing that, and it was a bit hard to find wifi to work with my new netbook, but I found a few areas where it pulled it in a bit, so that was nice.
I wonder how the self checkout machine knows these are apples? I didn't scan them or type in the product. Unless it somehow got lucky and scanned one of the barcodes.
They converted some of the carpool lanes to FasTrak toll lanes, so you can pay a fee in a few areas to take the less-congested lanes. They sell the receivers in some grocery stores, but none of those are near me, so I just went to the customer service center.
You can set it depending on what type of user you are, although that's a bit of a pain to remember to switch. I don't think I'll use it that much here because there are so few areas that have it. Also, it costs $3 a month if you don't use it 4+ times a month, but I figure if the roads are bad and I use it once to see an extra patient, it'll be worth it. Plus, I can use it in the FasTrak lanes up in San Francisco, where it saves a ton of time.
Aw, that's nice, the opticians at work got me a cake.
So I bought them lotto tickets. Although if they win, they have to give me half.
Laker's game, lot of people at the Staples Center.
Neat buildings.
Pretty green hills and valleys.
They have a nice view.
I went to Medieval Times on Tuesday.
The head knight.
A woman with a falcon.
It came right above our heads.
Time for meat.
The knights.
Getting rings.
If they succeeded, they got some roses from the princess.
And threw them to women in the audience.
Jousting.
They brought a net down to protect the attendees.
Our knight was the black and white one.
Unfortunately, he died first. After that, who do we cheer for? They tried to get us to cheer for the other knights on our side of the arena, but it just wasn't the same.
Another fight.
And another. There were lots of sparks flying off the swords.
Fighting on horses.
The overall winner went into the crowd with the princess and gave a sash to one girl.
A bad guy comes.
The last battle.
Afro esquire?
Wednesday night we went to Dave & Busters for my birthday.
We played a claw game and decided this bear was the best positioned.
We actually got it in the air, but it moved a foot and then dropped.
That's not fair. Once you have it in the air it shouldn't get weaker. Oh well, it's closer.
So we tried again. And again it moved it a bit and then dropped.
So one more time and we got it.
It was a little smelly, though, so I ran it out to the car instead of carrying it around.
Four-player Pac-Man.
I got first by almost double on this game.
We had a lot of fun with this one. You moved the guy back and forth while jumping on platforms that shot you upwards.
David got almost to the end, but there are a lot of enemies and black holes right there, so not quite.
Four-player air hockey.
A video.
Basketball.
An Ice Age game where you have to hit the nuts, which creates a crack that goes into the middle and hits a point determining how many tickets you get.
Jackpot!
So many tickets.
Into the store looking for goodies. This is interesting.
Matching ties.
Aw, he got me a fiber optic lamp; I've always wanted one of these.
Afterwards we went to Five0Four Bar in Hollywood. On Wednesday nights they play 80s movies and music, in this case Cocktail.
Lots of frozen drinks.
Beer pong.
Neat paintings at the Mexican restaurant next door.
I spent a good three minutes trying to figure out this place. Six you of 460? What's that? Finally my passenger mentioned it was just a standard issued-plate.
Another plate that looks like it might mean something with "the" in there, but again, just a state plate.
Crazy guy standing in the street, blocking traffic.
Pretty plants in the side of the building.
Saturday morning was beach volleyball with LABV. It always gets super crowded and hard to find parking, so it's annoying that people park like this. I guess they could have difficulty walking, but I didn't see a handicapped sticker, and even if you have a problem, there are other places to park where you don't have to take up two spaces.
Apple with some hits.
Good dig.
Great facial expression.
Mel-v going up for a hit.
Eyes on the ball.
Peach.
And another good dig.
A hit and a block.
Her ponytail is fun.
David going up.
Waiting for the hit.
Aw, Apple brought a cake for my birthday.
Amazing donuts.
Big dive.
Just keep hitting it and it'll go over eventually.
Not quite gonna get it even with a big reach, but David is ready behind him.
George having fun.
Diving for it.
And another.
A lot of power going into that hit.
Getting up.
Saturday night we went to Dames & Games to watch UFC 158. This could be a bit of a confusing street split, so they had a sign pointing the way.
It used to be the Spearmint Rhino, a strip club. They added a bunch of TVs and call it a topless sports bar now. We got a good spot: we could see the TVs and the women.
Although honestly, the women were pretty boring. They kind of laid around and moved on the stage, but that was about it. No pole acrobatics or anything. Although if you paid them they'd come out and sit with you. The two guys next to us had hundreds of dollars in $1 bills, so we were able to watch the gals flirt with them for free. There was a $10 cover because of the fight, but there was also a free buffet, so those kind of cancelled each other out. And GSP beat Nick Diaz in the fight, so that was nice.
Raiders are pirates, is plate says RAR. Not quite as good as ARR, but not bad.
This could be the Hebrew for Jesus, Yeshua, or "Yeah sure." Or both or something else.
I actually see a fair number of Texas plates. It's probably one of the most common non-California plates.
On the other hand, South Dakota plates are very rare. I can't think of another one I've seen.
Aw, I have to pay to open the next level. Maybe later.