Ok, a few things worth mentioning here....

1.  Why did I post that song (I hope the link works)?  Because as of Friday, I am the proud owner of a commuter  bike.  Whether or not there will be a basket on it, remains to be seen.  It's still newsworthy.  I haven't owned a bicycle since high school.  I think I can count on two hands the number of times I've BEEN on a bicycle since high school.  But... gas is approaching $4/gallon, and I just can't endorse that kind of spending.  Particularly since I really need more (and am ridiculously lazy about ) exercise, and I only live 6 relatively flat miles from my office.  So I'm going green, at least for the summer and at least 2 days a week.  My bike is sweet.  Here's a pic:


2.  My new user icon.  Because HELLOO?? Final Four, baby!!! I'm not going to rub it in, because I know that there are some NCAA fans on here.  One of whom will tell me that his is a football school, not a basketball school, and the other of whom will just stare sheepishly at the floor after losing in the first round (I had you til sweet 16).  But for the first time in history, the final four is the four best ranked teams in the country, and once again mine is one of them.  This marks our 3rd trip to the final four in as many years.  The last time we were a #1 seed was the last time we took the tourney.  So... now that you all don't have a team in, show some support... say it with me now ... GO BRUINS!!

3.  A small request from an occasional drunk.  If you get a text message from me, and it's after 9pm PST... a) i'm sorry, in advance, and b) please reply with a message reminding me that I'm drunk texting and I should immediately give my phone to the nearest friend who will keep me from further messaging.  Because I can't seem to stop it.  And its dangerous.  ... Cut to me drunk texting this guy I'm interested in, but who lives in another state, and sending 3 different incarnations of "I miss you"... Oh.  That is bad news.  Damn.  Someone please stop me.  I need an intervention.

4.  I am now sharing a room with AJ and Denisse in NYC.  Can someone please allow me use of their bathroom if necessary?

Anything else?  Ummm.... nope don't think so. Happy almost bday to Damian.  Happy almost bday party to Jamie.  Can't wait to see you all.

 ... Otherwise known as "My Night at the 2008 Oscars"

So, for as much as you all mock kickball, every once in a while it has its perks. Last Sunday night was one of those times, because yes... little ol me went to the Oscars.

A little background - My friend Kevin (captain of an opposing team) works for the Academy of Motion Pictures. His primary project for the last 3 months has been to staff the Oscars. There are far more posts than there are people, so he recruited some of his more responsible (ha!) friends to be ticket takers, and basically that's where I came in. Me and about 10 other friends were recruited to take entry tickets to the Governor's Ball, which is on the premises and directly follows the show. Anyone at the show who attended the ball would go through the 11 of us. As you can imagine, that included some pretty big names. Here's the play by play.

6pm - Arrival at the Kodak theater. The show has just begun. Pretty much all of Hollywood Blvd is blocked off, but I have special credentials and, while my car is checked twice by bomb squad, I pass straight through, turning left just before reaching the now-empty red carpet.

6:30 - We're informed that we don't have to be at our posts until 7:30, but our credentials allow us access to the press room, which is a series of conference/meeting/banquet rooms in the Renaissance hotel. The food spread is insane - these guys get hooked up. We can watch live feed from the show, but better still we can see the presenters and winners come off stage, get their photos taken, and start their interviews. Here I saw Anne Hathaway, Steve Carrell, Brad Bird, Alan Arkin, and Tilda Swinton.


8:00 - At post. 4 of the groups are posted at the 4th floor escalators, where most of the 1500 ball attendees will enter. One guy gets posted at the exit to the hotel pool area, which is the supersecret exit from the Big 7 winners room, and he's only expected to get about 20 people through (including entourage). My partner and I are positioned in what is rumored to be the sucky spot - an exit nobody is supposed to use except for some production staff that may be exiting from the cheap seats, and the infirmed (who are using an elevator-accessible exit because of wheelchairs or etc.). We're supposed to get like 50 people max. For the sucky post we get a bit of a bonus though - we're inside the theater - out of the cold, on carpet (yay, heels!), and we can see live feed of the show (no audio).

8:30 - 10pm - Ticket Taking. We have a security detail that will stop anyone who tries to bully past us, but the only person who does is Gil Cates, the show producer. Took about 5 minutes to get him to follow the rules, but that was our only real incident. We got about 200 people through our door, and here's where it gets good. Someone somewhere told someone that there was a 5th floor supersecret exit, which VIPs felt entitled to use. So, I'm propping the door open (because it's really heavy for the old people to push through) stamping hands with a reentry stamp (the invisible amusement park blacklight type). At a little lull, I pop back all the way inside, and about 30 yards away I see a dress that I recognize from E! Red Carpet. I look up, and on this girl's right arm... headed our way.... OH MY GOD IT'S CLOONEY!!!!!

Ok, so here I am, thinking the biggest celeb I'm gonna see all night is the 98 year old art director who got the lifetime achievement award, and instead I'm about to touch George Clooney's hand. My partner instructs me not to freak out. I go back to my post, and all of a sudden there he is. "Can I have your hand?" I say. He gives it to me, looks at his hand, and says "There's nothing there." "It's invisible. We don't want to distract from your pretty outfit" I say (that's been my "schtick" all night). "Well, now I'm radioactive!" he says. I then made some RIDICULOUS comment about him glowing, and an even MORE ridiculous comment to his girlfriend about how she was already glowing. DUH!

So, the night couldn't have gotten any better from there, but there was a lot of icing on the cake. Jon Stewart came through and asked me to stamp him on the inside of his palm. Ruby Dee came through and was totally disoriented by my instructions for her to turn right. Cate Blanchett took the special exit because she was afraid of getting her baby belly bumped. We also had Sissy Spacek, Dixie Carter and Hal Holbrook, Regis Philbin, that old guy referenced above, Quincy Jones and his 25 year old date (dude's a PIMP) and Paul Dano (the preacher in There Will Be Blood, also the silent brother in Little Miss Sunshine).

When we were finally relieved of our duties, we were told that we were invited for food and drinks IN the Governor's Ball itself, but we had to wait until 11:30 for all the stars to leave. So, we took a seat on a bench on the 4th floor by the escalators, and - if it wasn't for Clooney - this would have been the best part of the whole night. EVERYBODY had to go down this set of escalators to get to their car, limo, or valet. It was like being on the Anti-Red Carpet - everyone going home. Jesus, pretty much you name them, I saw them, but here's just a few: The Cohen Bros, Jason Reitman, Wolfgang Puck, Josh Brolin & Diane Lane, Daniel Day Lewis, Viggo Mortenson, Amy Adams, John Travolta & Kelly Preston, Javier Bardem, ...I can't even remember them all. Ask me, and I'll tell you. Unless they left the party super early, I caught them.

11:30 - we get to go to the party. As we walk in, we get gold-dusted chocolate oscars.

To the right is the Good Morning America couches, now empty. To the left is an open bar, and an amazing asian seafood spread, including the most (and best!) sashimi I have ever seen. Hard not to gorge on all of it. When we finally get inside, we're seated at tables that were previously hosting (presumably) superstars. I could have been sitting in Johnny Depp's chair for all I know. 
 
The food is amazing, kobe beef sliders, caviar, tuna tartar, filet mignon, mac& cheese with truffles. Jesus. I think I didn't get home until about 2am.

Ok, well anyway. Best Night Ever. And I am running away with George Clooney. Here's a picture of us together at the party, talking to one of the Cohen's.

Oh, and for anyone who cares, this was my dress:

It has been 5 days since Jamie posted to his journal. 

Tell me again how it is that these two are married and I'm still single?


 

(Copyright strausmouse ) 

Hey look - I figured out how to use the little linky thingy.

So, I got the privelege of being the first friend of family to see little Hannah last night.  When I arrived, she was all of 9 hours old, but strausmouse  will be happy to know that most of the uterus has been washed off of her.  Did anyone notice in the pics that Andy sent that in pic #2 she looks like Gollum?  She doesn't really look quite so alien in person, although I'm certain Andy and Mandy will still be calling her "My Precious."

Because the stats have not been forthcoming from the proud parents, here you go (this is mosly just for the female half of vickyandnorm  and for rmstraus , because only girls really care about this stuff)... 

Hannah Riley Owens
Born 9/13/07 at 9:27 AM
5 pounds, 15 oz, 18"
More brown hair on her head than her dad has.

She has a round face like Andy, but it looks like her eyes might be shaped more like Mandys. Aside from that, it's pretty hard to tell who she looks like.  She didn't make a peep in the whole hour I was there, although she was in and out of awake-ness the whole time.  Mom, however, was EXHAUSTED.

Will prob go visit again sometime this weekend, will take a real camera and send more pix.   Mandy & Hannah get to go home from the hospital on Monday.  Mandy's brother Darren is here visiting from London, and her aunt from Florida arrives tomorrow.   Andy's mom is, well, exactly how you'd imagine Andy's mom to be under the circumstances.

Dear Diary,
If Andy had a blog, it would look like this:

Today my teeny tiny wife popped out a baby that is 10% of her normal body weight.  I guess I can no longer be the big annoying kid in the house.  I tried to tell all my friends about the birth, but I am bad with specifics.  Orrrrr, I'm just evil.  Bwahahaha... all they know is that the little person (the baby) is alive and female and somewhere in the neighborhood of 6 pounds.  Suckers.

Of course, I could be in for some trouble, because the 60-record email train that will ensue is just gonna clog my Q Phone.  Whatever that is.

Congrats to Andy and Mandy on their little bundle of joy.  It's sad that she'll never know the ecstasy that is Bacon.  I can't wait to be "Auntie Lisa".

Ok, so I don't blog.  This is a well established fact.  And my laptop battery is ridiculously low right now, so this will be a quick entry.  I'm sure that you'll agree it was necessary, though.

I've been on a kick of trying new things.  To that end, I decided a few weeks ago I might want to try going to temple.  Not to worry, I am in no danger of becoming SuperJew like Mr. Frowens.  But it was entertaining, inspiring, and aside from all the God and deliverance from Egypt crap, surprisingly applicable to my own life.

Then, in probably the best "turn my night on its ear" decision I could have made, I joined my two friends named Kevin at the Midnight Movie at the Nuart in West LA.  You know, the one where they show Rocky Horror.  Friday nights is a rotating feature.  This week:  The Lollipop Girls in Hard Candy.  This 1976 movie, in addition to the Lollipop Girls, starred John "Johnny Wad" Holmes  and was filmed in 70mm 3D.  Yes, that's right Eric, I went to see 70's 3D XXX porn.  In a theater.  With two guy friends.  You can google the film - it was too surreal to explain.

Let the comments begin....  You can thank me later.