The Lost Chronicles, Part 2: Minneappolis-St. Paul International without the shame

Austin, MN, August 18-21

My last big outing for the summer was a jaunt up to good ol' Minnesota for my cousin's wedding (on Dad's side). This was actually my second cousin to get married this season, the first being on my mom's side (got hitched to a former panel organizer for Otakon w007!) Instead of leaving together, my dad left a week beforehand to hang out with his brothers. I originally thought my mother, brother, and myself would leave on the day before the wedding, but we were gonna shotgunnit up North the morning of the wedding day. Since the ceremony was around five or so, we had to leave at about 6am... granted no contest to the 4am wakeup run to LAX, but that's not something I like to do very often. The flight was relatively uneventful, and we arrived at the Minneapolis-St. Paul terminal on schedule. The fun part came next--driving the rental car from the airport to my grandma's house in Austin. Thank God I brought my good ol' TomTom GPS (available in a BestBuy near you! *pander*pander*) so the trip was pretty smooth despite the heavy rain. On an eerie note, this was about two weeks after the I-35 bridge collapsed in Minneapolis-St. Paul. Apparently, my cousin that was getting married usually commuted across the bridge every day. That day, August 1, she, for whatever miraculous reason, decided to avoid traffic and dodge the bridge entirely--inadvertently averting the entire catastrophe.

Aaaaaaaaanyway, I managed to get Mom and Bro back to Grandma's house safely and on time, and sure enough Dad was waiting there ready to throw us into our monkey suits. Funny thing, since the cathedral was literally a block away (small town, Austin.) The service was marvelous--Dad and his brothers sang the hymnals and various arrangements with live piano and trumpet accompaniment with a harmonious sound that filled the cathedral. It was great seeing the family together again, especially since we're all partiers--couldn't wait until the reception ;3 After the service, Brian, the father of the bride, got Shane to ride shotgun with him in his old convertible. The weather was far from perfect for having the top down, but that didn't stop him. I rode with Mom and Dad, and I got some great video of the guys passing us, hair and suits whipping in the wind. They beat us to the country club, of course. The reception was the usual -- bunch of family, scattered around the room in different groups, intermingling, drinking, and a DJ that would play "Celebrate!" without fail. Though, I will admit, it was good times. This was the first chance I had to drink with my relatives, so I tried capitalizing on that. I didn't have too many drinks (one can only drink so much when your parents are there too), but I enjoyed every single one I could with my cousins. After a bit of encouragement, my brother and I finally jumped onto the dance floor and made asses of ourselves, like everyone else. Good times, good times.

The rest of our stay in Minnesota was pretty much "meh." The rain that saw our arrival didn't want to quit, so there really wasn't much else to do. Come to think of it, if there isn't a big family thing going on, then nothing else really is either. Small towns kinda have that affect, and my cousins would agree. Luckily, our cousin Kevin helped Shane and me keep our sanity. We finally got a chance to see The Simpsons Movie at the local mall, which was nice. The high point (after the wedding) was the following Monday, when we ventured over to his house. I failed to mention earlier that our grandmother's house doesn't have the internet at all. Shane and I basically slept constantly and went to bed early because there wasn't any good excuse to stay up late. Kevin's place had a high-speed connection, so what did we all do? Download and install StarCraft, duke it out over the LAN, and watch ATHF:MFFT and 23. We didn't get back to Grandma's place until around 9pm or so, but we had our fill. Homeword bound, we got to bed early in preparation for leaving the next morning. I couldn't sleep--little surprise. I ventured over to the satellite TV and had myself a good perusing around for anything interesting. Much to my amusement, I stumbled across a QVC erotic novelties channel. Yeah, that's right: over-the-phone sex toy shopping from the convenience of your own home! They had everything: the phone numbers, the prices, various phallic objects of every color, shape, and size all waiting for you, and it was only a phone call away. They even had two cute young women holding them up and commenting on how squishy or soft the vibrators were, and how they would make a "great gift." My God, this world still manages to surprise me.

The Lost Chronicles, Part 1: Pennsylvania closed due to AIDS

Wow, it's been awhile since I last updated--consider it a testament to my ensemble of bad habits resembling faux-ADD. I also blame DELL, really -- I was on a roll with the blog, but when I got to Pennsylvania, some power problems I'd been having with my laptop finally manifested themselves into something coherent and my AC adapter and battery were toast. That, and I also got an early case of the "con crud" and was temporarily bed-ridden for half of the first day of the con. Anyways, here's the first part of my travels after the wonderland of California:

ANTHROCON, PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, July 5th-8th

For those of you who don't know what Anthrocon is, good--get out while you still can. It's an annual convention held in Pittsburgh, PA in celebration(?) of the furry fandom. If you're still confused, think Disney's animated Robin Hood movie from way back when. People have different reactions to furries (most negative), but there are a million different kinds, some who don't deserve the heat they get. For the most part, though, it's hard not to make fun of alot of them. It's like any anime convention, really: you see all the different strata of nerd and geek there, from the serious to the casual, from the cosplayer to the gamer. I'd always wanted to go to Anthrocon since I was a Freshman in high school (shameful, I know), and since I was single, I figured I might as well go before I have any relationship to damage.

I literally left for PA the second I got back from California. Dustin's mom picked us up from BWI, dropped me off at my dorm, I grabbed my car, got my friends, and left. I was kinda annoyed, but not from traveling; the two guys comin' with me decided that it was a good idea to bring almost all of their possessions to the convention. I'm surprised I didn't facepalm through my head. In retrospect, if the hadn't, then they wouldn't have brought one of the things that kept me sane those four days. After cramming everything into my Explorer, we hit the road. I got full use out of my TomTom GPS as we headed up through Central Maryland. We were starving by the time we hit Western Maryland, and ended up stopping in Frostburg at a Pizza Hut for a quick bite to eat. Some how, what was going to be a routine stop for food turned into a little adventure itself. The staff at the store that night were a real trip, and we ended up just chatting and having fun. One of the waitresses popped out of no-where with some plush animals from behind the counter and we got caught up in a plushie war. No one was spared, but it was a blast! I wonder how they're doing now... they were a fun bunch.

When we finally got into Pittsburgh, it was pretty late in the evening. The con was supposed to start officially on Friday, but of course everyone was there on Thursday getting all geared up. I parked in a crappy parking garage not too far way from the hotel, and we dragged some of our stuff several blocks to the venue. I was amazed: the hotel was very nice, and I felt a little better about staying there. According to my friend, we had to wait for the guy who we were staying with in the hotel, so we all took a seat in the lobby. There were already people walking around with ears and tails, a few fursuiters here-and-there, just chilling on the sofas and enjoying free wi-fi. For some reason, I didn't feel nearly as phased by all of this as I thought I would. The costumes I'd seen so far weren't at all disturbing, so I was somewhat impressed. My friend caught sight of the guy we'd be staying with, and we started moving up to the room. Now, I failed to mention two things: one, I had no idea about the sleeping arrangements--I was only told we had a place to stay; two, we were staying with a good... five other people? Never--NEVER--let a friend arrange for a room and not tell you any of the details. Luckily, everyone was at the convention for different events, so it was never all 8 of us in the room at once. THANK GOD.

We spent most of the night wandering around, chatting, hanging out with the other con-goers in the lobby and checking out The Zoo, where alot of artists hung out. We ended up talking with 2 the Ranting Gryphon, who I would describe best as Lewis Black + Howard Sturn, but a furry (check out his webpage or Podcast... good stuff). Confusing, yes, but damn he's frickin' hilarious. All of us just stood around exchanging stories and experiences, and it felt like a pretty close-knit group even though we were all basically strangers to one another. I didn't get to sleep until around 6am or so the next morning... on the floor no less. I got something resembling a cold (the "con crud" so I've been told) and thanked God profusely when everyone left the room. I jumped into one of the beds and slept until around 2 or 3 in the afternoon and updated the blog. I didn't do much else, since my charger and battery stopped working, so I was forced to go and check out the convention.

I don't remember the sequence of events at the convention so much as the events themselves. I remember checking out the zoo a couple times to see if I recognized any artists. Of course I was scared stiff half the time, like when a kid sees Goofy at Disneyland or something. Although I consider myself somewhat of an artist, I consider the others to be far better than me, and I get nervous because of that XD. I managed to get by this feeling thanks to a few friends from UMD that I saw at the convention, as well as my little book. I got this great book made out of bamboo and leaves from this new-age store near College Park, and I wandered around Artist's Alley asking some of my fav's to doodle/autograph the book. I got quite a few great sketches, and might try doing the same next time I go to an anime convention. It was a great conversation piece when talking to the artists, and I even got to invite one of my favorites to come play Halo 2 with me. Oh, and FURRY MASTER CHIEF (heresy never felt so good).

What kept me sane during the entire convention was Halo 2. Since my friends packed everything, they brought their projector and my Xbox as well, which turned out to be the best idea ever. I set up random games of Halo 2 at various times in different locations around the convention--anywhere that could support a projector. The first night I tried this I set up near the rave (the raves were amazing, btw -- the DJ's they had playing spun out some incredible mixes) and attracted a few players. The next day that I tried it, I set up the Xbox near the zoo and ended up attracting a decent crowd. We switched off the best player every two games, which worked out nicely. Met a few decent people this way, though there were of course a few odd-ones. The highlight of my con experience was when I got one of my favorite artists, Meesh, to play Halo 2 with me. He was pretty good, but some of the other players trounced us. I spent the remainder playing with this other artist and another fur, and I annoyed the hell out of him with a shotgun-punch combo. I almost felt kinda bad... almost.

The convention was, overall, an amusing experience. I didn't feel as shocked or out-of-place as I thought I would, and made a few spiffy friends during my stay. There were some foam boards set up near the Zoo for anyone to post messages, but a fair number of doodles and jokes got posted there... along with a grilled cheese sandwich. It was like I was walking through the internet the entire time I stayed there... though I was surprised to see less disturbing than amusing things at the con. Would I go again? I'm not entirely sure... probably not. But do I regret going? My autograph from Rob Paulson, Pinky, from Pinky and the Brian, says not at all.

Homeward bound

I couldn't sleep. I mean, I slept, but only for about 2-and-a-half hours. My cell phone said 3:30am, and my body refused to rest any longer. Since we were supposed to get up at 4:00am anyway, I stayed up and worked on my computer for a little bit. Katie's parents didn't come down to get us until 4:30am, and they were completely surprised to see me awake. I wandered around, checking if I had everything while Dustin and Katie were still getting up. They both kept falling back asleep, refusing to get up until necessary.

We finally managed to get up and out, taking some food with us for the flight. When we got to the airport at around 5:00am, there were long lines at the luggage checks and security stations. This was a large change from the seemingly barren airport we experienced when we flew in--though baggage claim areas are usually less-populated anyway. An announcement floated over the PA system, mentioning a security breach that called for tighter security procedures. The lines were long, but there wasn't much different when going through the metal detectors. We still got through security quickly, so when we lined up at our gate we had a good hour-and-a-half to kill. Dustin spread out on the floor with Katie and I watched some Paranoia Agent on my iPod.

We eventually boarded the plane, hoping that our forward position in the C-grouping would give us some advantage while picking seats. There were no three seats adjacent one-another, but I managed to get a seat right behind Dustin and Katie. I tried sleeping on the flight, but it proved immensely unsuccessful. Though I was incredibly tired, I could not get to sleep for more than an hour at a time. Giving up, I took out my iPod again and tried watching Flight of Dragons. When that ended I tried occupying myself looking at the magazines they had, only occasionally bugging Dustin and Katie. While flying over the Grand Canyon, Katie managed to get a great picture using the digital camera. I'm glad that I was awake for that.

I can't decide whether I was bored or if time went quickly. On final approach I noticed that Dustin and Katie were playing Solitaire on both of their computers. I whipped out my iPod and, with its last little bit of battery power, started playing Solitaire with the iPod between them. Katie chuckled and I tried playing a few games, but sooner than expected we arrived at BWI. Dustin's mom picked us up and took us back to College Park. Dustin spent the entire stay in California without his usual extra sweetened Lipton iced tea, so we went straight to McDonald's and he ordered a large cup of it, eagerly drinking it immediately. We got to the Grand House of Funk, thanked Dustin's mother, and I transfered my luggage to my car. I stepped in to say hi to the crew, and to say goodbye to Dustin and Katie. With that, I went back to my car and drove over to the Commons at UMD for a quick shower and pick up my passengers for the next journey.

And the Defilers red glare, Big Shootahs everywhere

Happy 4th of July! We spent most of the day lazing around again--the sky was overcast for the first time since we arrived the week before. Katie's parents did get us up and going to Fry's for a sale and the potential for 25-cent hot dogs and soda. There was an Independence Day sale on SD cards and other lovely gadgets, but the hot dogs were MIA. We tried going to Costco to pick up some food for dinner, but the place was completely closed. Conceding defeat, Katie's father made some chimichangas, corn dogs, and pizza. I was kinda hoping for something a little more appropriate for the festivities, so when I found out Katie was going to Vons to pick up ice-cream, I tagged along. While we were out, Dustin, Charlie, and Zach started up a game of Warhammer 40k outside around the train set. Fireworks blasting in the distance echoed all over the valley, adding another dimension to the game--Dustin loved every minute of it. Katie and I got back with steak and Polish sausage and fired up the grill. As the coals warmed up, I ventured up to the roof, taking my DV camcorder with me in hopes of filming some of the fireworks. The camera turned on for a second and immediately died; the battery ran out somehow while it was still in the case (the switch was probably turned when shifting around). I paused to enjoy the view, then returned inside, cursing my camera.

The 40k game went on for quite awhile, stopping only for a moment when the steaks finished cooking. I brought my laptop out to play music while I cooked the meat, but I went ahead and left it on to add to the atmosphere. Katie and I chatted a little bit when Dustin and the guys went back to their game. We walked over every now and then to check on their progress--Dustin's Tau were making Charlie's Orcs suffer, while Zach kept bombarding the Tau forces. We stayed up until around 1:00am, despite having to wake up at 4:00am for our flight out. However, I was still in no hurry to go to bed... it was nice just sitting around and enjoying the warm night air while celebratory explosions thumped in the distance. I wasn't quite ready to go home yet, but I have a feeling I'll definitely be returning to California some day.

One shall stand, ten shall fall

Our stay in California started winding down. We've been spending most of our time chilling out at the house now, playing games or installing software. Nothing much was said, though we were all thinking the same thing, as though in telepathic conversation: Whaddaya wanna do? I dunno, whaddayou wanna do? While sitting outside and enjoying the air, I saw a shadow walk over me. I raised an eyebrow at this, since my chair was up against a wall and there was no way someone could be behind me. I looked up and saw Katie standing on the wooden overhang above the patio. She waved at me as she walked around, checking that everything would be alright for the 4th of July. We were hoping to sit on the roof and watch fireworks shoot up over the horizon that night. Out of curiosity I went upstairs to check things out, and she showed me the best point of entry to the roof and whatnot. I didn't try it out yet--I was leaving that for the next night. In the mean time, I had an idea for something we could do.

My cousin John moved out to California from Oregon some years ago to pursue a career in film-making. Since I was out here, I thought it'd be cool to hang out with him, so I gave him a call a few days prior and tried to work something out. I went ahead and dropped him a line one more time since time was running short--both for the day and the trip. He mentioned before that he might have plans on Tuesday, but they fell through, so we decided it was time to meet up and hopefully figure out something fun to do. John live sin Orange, CA, so it took a while to get here in afternoon traffic. When he got to the house, I introduced him to Dustin and Katie, along with Katie's family, and we stepped out to the back patio and played catch-up. After chatting for a bit, Dustin and Katie stepped out back with us and we began discussing plans for the evening. We figured that trips into downtown LA or Hollywood were a little ambitious, but maybe a trip to the mall at Redondo beach would be good. Thinking a bit further, we found out that John liked Lucky Strike, the bowling lounge Dustin, Katie, and me had experienced the night before. Since John hadn't seen Transformers yet and we had no problem seeing it again, we decided on going to Del Amo mall once again for a bit of bowling, drinking, and Transformers. It took us a little longer than expected to leave the house, however--it turned out that my cousin had never played Guitar Hero before, so Katie let him have a shot at Guitar Hero II. He got the hang of it very quickly (he's always had a musical gift) and became hooked. John, Katie, and Dustin took turns at the game for a while before we set out for the mall. I think we all had Trogdor stuck in our heads even when we got to the mall.

We all grabbed a bite to eat at the eatery, and I stayed as far away from Mexican Express as I could. While eating, Dustin pulled a Jurassic Park quote, and soon he and John were quoting the movie ver batum until we decided to go. Lucky Strike was next on the schedule; we managed to surprise the bouncer again, and after seeing Dustin's Maryland ID and John's Oregon ID, as he took mine he sarcastically said, "...And Kansas." While waiting for our lane arrangements, John noticed a contest notification on the counter. Apparently, a red bowling pin would drop in a random position every time the pins reset. If the red pin is in the first, front center position and someone gets a strike, then they win a free game for up to 16 people. We reasoned that, should anyone win, then the coupon would go to John, since he actually lives in California and has a Lucky Strike near him. After a few minutes we managed to get a lane and ordered a few drinks. Katie mentioned a drink a few nights before called a "Surfer on Acid," which the bartender that evening happened to know. I ordered the concoction and everyone placed their respective requests before starting the game. When we started, I actually managed a strike on the first try, which blew me away. Sure enough, it'd be my only strike the entire night, but for Dustin it was a different story. he managed a couple strikes, but then started bowling gutter balls for almost three rounds. When it was his turn again, the red pin came up center. I went ahead and grabbed a bus-boy nearby to act as witness, just in case. Dustin picked up the ball, saying, "You know I'm not going to make this..." He stepped forward, let the ball roll and made it. Wait, he made it?! We started cheering and he dropped to his knees in surprise. We went ahead to the front desk and John filled out the coupon, as we had agreed upon earlier. After that, we were very excited during the rest of the game, the magic of the moment lingering for quite a while. Upon finishing our drinks and our game, we got a table near the bar and ordered a few more. I had another two Surfers on Acid, enjoying the cinnamony-coconut taste. We talked about video games for a little bit, a bit about movies, and then at quarter-to-eleven decided to line up for the movie theater across the lounge.

When we got to the AMC theater, our hearts sank. The line for Transformers wrapped around the side of the cineplex, past the escalators, and around the balcony. It was technically opening day for the movie, and everyone who saw the pre-release (like us) told everyone to go watch it, so no big surprise. Not long after we got in line, however, a worker at the theater came over and told everyone to get into three lines based on the theater the movie showed in. The lines were shorter, but we still managed to get the a spot at the end. We stood around, talking about WoW and whatnot, and finally the line started moving. When we got inside, we had the same problem as the night before, in that there were plenty of seats but not enough adjacent seats for our group. We ended up splitting up in groups of two, with Dustin and Katie in lower seats and John and me in higher seats. During the previews, the silly trivia and advertisement slides were still on, so they mixed with the footage on screen. They were actually kinda funny, though--everyone started booing until they showed the title for I Am Legend and in the corner was a giant magnifying glass with the words "The Plot Thickens" plastered over the screen--then we started laughing. The lights suddenly turned on when the movie actually started, so we started raising a ruckus again until the lights turned off. Once the movie was underway, everything went smoothly. It was just as good the second time, though I was a little sleepy from the drinks and because it was a little late. We had another lively audience, giving the movie that great accent of applause. After the movie, we spent the entire walk back to the car praising the movie and discussing the state of modern computer animation. I'm glad we decided to go out that night.

Bah weep granah weep ninny bong

Today was a pretty relaxing day. Actually, it was nerd-tastic: we spent most of the time lazing around the house while Dustin worked on his Java project, Katie laid back and read, and I spent most of my time agonizing over trying to get Linux on my iPod. Why in the world would i want to do that? It's because then I could play Doom on my iPod. The idea sounded great at the time, but the iPodLinux support wiki gave out bad installers and none of the forums were of any help. Putting the nightmare aside for a moment, I gave grilling another shot. We still had a bunch of uncooked steaks left over from the other day, so I threw some fresh coals on the grill and tried lighting them up. I didn't let the lighter-fluid soak, though, so I basically kept having to relighting the grill and the lighter-fluid ran out. This proving just as annoying as the iPod thing, I left frustrated and took a shower while the coals (hopefully) started warming up. By the time I got back, Katie had managed to find some more fuel, soaked the coals, and got the sucker lit. After a few minutes I threw the steaks on and grilled 'em up--they weren't half bad. Normally at this point I'd be wondering what we're doing, why we're not out exploring the great bounty California has to offer, but I didn't care--we were going to watch the new Transformers movie that night at 8:00pm, and that's all we needed.

The movie was showing at Del Amo mall, the sixth largest mall in the United States according to Wikipedia. Inded, the shopping center was enormous, stretching across several blocks with sky-walks over a few roads. Unlike the Mall of America, which has about four levels and an amusement park, Del Amo has about two floors, including an outdoor section, and simply expands out over Torrance. The mall was pretty nice, especially the outdoor part of the mall, sporting contemporary architecture and a neat glowing-fountain. Signs everywhere denoted new attractions under construction, as well as proclaiming Del Amo mall "fashion central." Unfortunately, they took this statement too seriously: looking at the mall directory, a good third of the mall's stores were clothing oriented, and had only three electronics stores. What're three geeks to do? Well, the movie was going to be starting in a little over an hour, so we went ahead and grabbed some food. We each grabbed something from different establishments in the eatery and sat down together. I was in the mood for Mexican food, so I went to Mexican Express... but after seeing them microwave it in front of me, I was even less sure about the quality of my meal. After I made a few unflattering comments about the food, Dustin made a valid point: "Think of what Mexican food basically is--now put 'express' at the end of it." Oh well, at least we had fun with the salsa they gave me.

We left for the mall's theater shortly afterwards, hoping to get decent seats. There were lines gathering outside for the 9:00pm and 10:00pm showing of Transformers--ours already went inside. We ran into the theater and found ourselves in an interesting situation: there were plenty of seats, but they were scattered about everywhere. It was next to impossible to find three adjacent seats where one of them wasn't being saved. Luckily, we managed to find some in the back right corner of the theater with a good view of the screen. When the movie started, everyone was glued to their seats. We had one of those audiences that woulud yell and cheer when something great happened--sometimes it makes a movie difficult to watch, but this just galvanized the awesomeness of the experience. The theater roared with applause when the title showed, and erupted whenever one of the robots transformed. I was afraid that the movie would be one of those fans-only flicks that wouldn't appeal to anyone but those familiar with the franchise. I was completely wrong. Transformers was an all-around great movie, and at no point did I ever wonder what time it was, or how long the movie was going on for. The movie's momentum refused to stop until the credits finished rolling. By the time it let out, everyone basked in the afterglow of a communal nerdgasm. I mean, Transformers wasn't better than sex, but it beats the hell out of masturbation.

The rest of the night floated down in a gentle deneumont. Dustin, Katie, and I visited a bowling alley and lounge adjacent the theater to wait for Charlie, who hit the 10:00pm showing. I thought the alley was like any other I've been to, but there were bouncers at the door checking I.D.'s. Once inside, I noted the low lighting, live music, trendy couches and groups of club-goers among the lanes. Basking in the cool ambiance, we each got a drink and some chicken tenders, saying very little, simply because there was nothing that needed to be said (we had expended the phrase "Transformers is AWESOME") . After drinks and whatnot, Katie and I managed to convince Dustin to come and explore the area neighboring the mall. Unfortunately, there was no such thing as night life in Torrance, so we headed back to Del Amo and enjoyed the cool night air together.

Would you like Fry's with that iPhone?

When I said I was burned out on Friday night, that was an understatement. Pete, Dustin, and I technically got back to Katie's at 4:00am on Sunday morning. I had pretty much fallen asleep in the car, then stumbled blindly into the house and made straight for the couch. Dustin and I managed to get up sometime around 10:00 or 10:30am, but neither of us were truly awake. Some Katie-made bacon helped us a little bit, and then her father came around and offered to take us on a trip to the Apple Store to see the iPhone and then to Fry's electronics. Despite our haziness, Dustin and I gave no protest.

What can I say about the iPhone? It's incredibly spiffy. The multi-touch technology that Apple incorporates reminds me of a couple demo videos I once saw when the technology was still under development. And now, here, I had it in my hands for a good fifteen minutes. The GUI was smooth, as always with Apple, and it rotated based on the screen's orientation. Sometimes it got a little out of hand, however--the window would flip when you didn't want it to, or it wouldn't rotate when you wanted it. The touch keypad was a bit of a nuisance, but the backspace key was strategically located so corrections are quick and simple. Web browsing was a blast, especially scrolling with fingers and controlling magnification by either pinching or spreading your fingers. Flash was not yet enabled on the phone, but it might be soon. While I was having fun with the iPhone, Katie used the camera on another demo iPhone to snag a picture of me.

When we finished playing with the phones, we went across the parking lot to Fry's Electronics. Katie called it, "A toy store for adults," and how right she was. It had everything you could ever want from any electronics store, from computers and games to tools and component parts. Each store has a theme, as well--the one we went to in Manhattan beach was jungle themed. We danced around the aisles for a bit, taking in all the shiny objects. To pay me back for the EDC tickets, Dustin told me to find something in the store that was around the ticket price and he'd get it for me. I ended up getting a nice Motorola bluetooth headset and couldn't wait to play with it when we got back home. We grabbed a bite to eat at Weinerschnitzel, a hotdog-themed fast food restaurant with chili on everything, and then relaxed at the house for the rest of the day.