For years Charley has been telling us how cool the Atlantis submarine off of Waikiki is, and with the Boy Scout coupon book the price is totally awesome.
So we caught the tender by the Hilton Hawaiian and cruised out to meet the sub
Which was off in the middle of the ocean
Grandpa Gene looking sea worthy though highly charged with static electricity
Zach and Jake plotting their course
Up by the cockpit - note depth gauge at left. We did go a LITTLE deeper. Like down to 105' - way cool.
Saw a spotted eagle ray, some turtles, lots of fish. No sharks though.
An artificial reef down at the bottom. My fish pictures were pretty lame, but a really amazing experience. And now that Jake and I have season passes, one that we'll definitely do again.
There was a time when I would argue with Morgan about the merits of fantasy artists.
Of course we were 13 and knew nothing, but we sure thought we did, and boy would we let the other one know what and idiot they were for their foolish choice.
Was it silly? Absolutely, but I suppose that "Frazetta or Vallejo?" is akin to the evergreen "Paul or John?" or "Beatles/Stones?" or "Flight/Invisibility?" question: a quick seemingly, innocuous binary choice that can actually tell a lot about a person.
Let it be told, I'm a Frazetta (and John, Stones, and Flight, if you must know) and now old Frank is no more. RIP to the guy who created the visuals that I'll never shake out of my head from my Robert E. Howard phase of reading.
Where will the Molly Hatchets of the next century find their album covers? Who will paint the coolest Conan now?
If you are a podcast addict like me and you've already worked yourself through all of the PlanetMoneys, Skeptics Guide to the Universe and both Slate Gabfests (cultural and political) then you need more listening material.
Once it gets rolling it's a great podcast with interviews with archaeologists (duh) but also artists, musicians, economists, and others who provide fascinating views on the given object that is under consideration.
Highly recommended.
Truth be told, I came across it by listening to another podcast, the aforementioned Slate Culture Gabfest.
Ever since being introduced to Speed Scrabble at Cousin Liz's Xmas party I've been proselytizing.
Rules: No Scrabble board required. Put the standard 100 Scrabble tile upside down on the table. Best with 2,3,4 or 5 individuals or teams (if playing with three take out one tile from the 100) Everybody takes 7 tiles face down from common pile. On go each player tries to use their own letters in a legitimate Scrabble style crossword that only they add to. First player to use all their letters calls "Go". Every players takes one more letter from pile. Players may rearrange their letters at any time. First player to call "Done" when all tiles are gone wins.
Extremely addicting.
Fun to add special rules: No 2 letter words (just to win - you can use to call "go" during play) Got to have a 9 letter word Have to have two words that are opposites Got to have a color, etc.
Got back to Honolulu and told my sad AC/DC story to Blair, an Aussie who by old down under habit refers to the boys as "Accadacca".
I told him that in a weird way I was kinda glad that the concert fell through.
Here's my thinking: when the last notes of "For Those About to Rock" faded at the end of the show I'd have a sinking feeling that this would be my last AC/DC show. A part of my life would be officially over.
That was gonna be rough.
Blair summed it up.
(With Aussie accent) "Listen to yourself man! What do you think Angus would want you to do....? He'd want you to ROCK ! Get over it."
So back in October Kim and I took Lily and Jake to Disneyland. Coley noticed that AC/DC was playing in Vegas the night after we got in and so he set to sweet talking (successfully) Kim into letting me go.
So we caught a flight to Vegas in the early afternoon and checked into the MGM Grand where the concert was to be held.
Here's what we found:
Concert canceled. Brain was recovering from throat surgery, so the Vegas concert would be rescheduled for next spring. Sigh.
We've been at it for five years now and we're (which is to say Dave) getting pretty good at quickly putting up the walls and running the juice for the many lights, fog machines, dimmers, lasers (yes really), and more. As a result the Lemmonds' now have more Halloween decorations than X-mas.....buwahahahaha. Old favs are back. Bottomless pit. Black light room. Pictures with the eyes cut out.
But the vortex is new this year. Oh the vortex..must...go... into....the......light. For 2009 we let the neighborhood teenagers do most of the staffing/acting. Last year our three hour marathon of presentations of our take on Young Frankenstein meant that I didn't get to walk around and go trick or treating with the little ones.
Only a few years left of that, whereas we can go on building haunted houses for far longer....
Some strange music experiences over the last few weeks.
Went to a large Asian style supermarket a while ago and I was suddenly an 8th grader again. Planet P. Waitresses. DEVO. And not Whip It....not even Girl You Want. They were playing Through Being Cool? Seemed a little subversive for a commercial environment. Absolutely no mix just the top New Wave hits of 1980-1982.
Had a 20 minute wait for tech support and was listening to the BIZARRE mix on speakerphone while doing other stuff. Elvis. Bob Marley. Sinatra. Dido. Huey Lewis. Radiohead? Granted it was from The Bends, but still. WTF? Who (besides me) would like this mix? I'm actually thinking about just calling to be put on hold.....
Lily and Jake were watching Scooby Doo the other day and I was only partly paying attention...until the chase scene started and the music started up...what? The Ramones? No way!
Fall break has arrived and it's time for SoCal with a little side trip for U. Bump and myself (AC/DC in Vegas !).
Time to clear out pictures from the camera so we take a ton at Disneyland this weekend. Here's some that had been hanging around:
Hanging with the Scholly-Bromwells
North Shore shave ice
Ant's eye view
Lily's little friend Candace
Mini-golf
Skating lesson from U. Jacob
Nike Fun Run:
Finish line in sight! Post race snacks
Squirt Gun Fight ! Locked, cocked
Ready to rock
Target acquired
Attack!
Retreat!
Model geekery:
My first Mustang. I never liked the look of the P-51 but I came around while building this one up. I showed it to Kim when it was about 90% done and she said it looked like a shark....which is cool.
A Corsair for a former Bachelor made on spec. Pappy Boyington's from a photo op in 1943.
A Yak-15 for me w/Italian marble base. Marble was detritus from fine Carrara marble that a sculptor who works at the museum had brought back. Interesting plane - At the close of WWII Russian's took jet engines from captured Me-262's and stuck them on the front of some prop-driven Yak fighters to see what would happen. What happens is that your engine's exhaust melts your tail wheel....replace with all metal tail wheel.
