Bloggity Blogs Five Returns After Two Month Strike

Whew, June and July were tough months for the Bloggity Blogs 5. Apparently, the staff was the last to find out about the Writers Guild of America strike that ended in February. Unfortunately, that did not stop the staff from taking a hard stance and complaining that their 'pay sucked' and that 'shimmer is a floor wax, not a dessert topping'. And hence, 2 months with no posts. No ridiculous travel stories. No mention of any 2008 national champion basketball team. Not even a single poop and/or fart joke. Tens of thousands of (well, actually, only about 10 total) people mourned. What were they to do without their weekly (uh, more like monthly) dose of wit, sarcasm and general tomfoolery?

Well, bb5 fans, I am happy to report that after hours/weeks/days of union negotiations, the strike is officially over. Muchas gracias to our lawyers and to the vending machine on the 2nd floor of 238 Pine St. I don't think this wouldn't have gotten done if both sides didn't share a mutual love for FunYuns. Delicious, delicous FunYuns.

SO, much has happened in the world of MCA since we last stopped by the bb5. After 6 months of essentially d*cking off at the beginning of 2008, I have been working up a storm in the past couple of months. On the weekends, have been helping my friends develop a business plan for their startup, and during the week have been spending my time in Menlo Park at the WORLD headquarters for Sunset Magazine. Super nice people, mellow culture, good team under me, even have a few cool kids working there. Seriously, what more can you ask for? Free sod for my garden? Oh wait, I GET THAT TOO. Oh wait, I don't have a garden. Only complaint so far is that the commute sucks. Spending 1.5 hours+ on public transport is a great way to................ WASTE 1.5+ hours of every day. It could be worse, but it is definitely eating into my ultimate fighting training time.

And so, on to the major accomplishments of the summer:

1) Got a new drivers license. Successfully convinced the attendant to let me keep this photo even though she said I "looked like a serial killer". Mission accomplished.

2) Joined Facebook. Was shocked to see that so many of my friends are actually ON Facebook. Thought it was just a site where people went to pick up high school girls. Amazed how much time people spend updating me on 'what they are doing every second of every day'. Glad to know that my friend Nick just took a dump...... because 55 minutes ago he was feeling constipated...and that's because 2.5 hours ago he ate a cheeseburger.....and had 3 donuts for breakfast....and....and......and............ oh man, it's all exhausting.

3) Went with Miriam to the 189th best beach in the US, Virginia Beach. Have you been thinking to yourself, "gee, I love the grittiness and violence of East Oakland, but I wish it was closer to the beach"? Well, VB is the place for you. Got smoked out on day 2 thanks to some forest fires down yonder in North Carolina. You know what caused those forest fires, right? Global Warming! Highlight of the trip was showing up to the fireworks show only to figure out that they started 20 minutes earlier than they were supposed to............end result being that we got to see 30 seconds of fireworks. Spent the rest of the night trying not to get mugged.

4) Received my first paycheck of the year! Went out and spent it immediately on a new guitar (Martin), new TV (plasma) and a bunch of new hats and stuff.

5) Joined zipcar. This has changed my life and is the greatest idea ever (besides the IPhone). I may never buy a car again.

6) Had my 'officially in the upper part of my 30s' bday party and decided that my alter personna, the Great Moustachio, should make a grand return. Tried unsuccessfully to get a new friends (Sunset) vs. old friends (Jamba) fight going. Pretended like it was my 21st birthday by staying up until 5am. Thanks to global warming, I was hung over the next day. I hate you Al Gore!

The group post-Dinner at Cha Cha Cha in the Mission


Da boys...
The great Moustachio returns..... If you're white and you know it, throw up some awkward gang signs....
7) Had the fam out to SF for a visit. After years of threatening her, we finally forced my mom to go to a sushi restaurant. She had never tried sushi before and was a total baby about the whole thing - this after years of tormenting me with threats because I wouldn't try nasty vegetables that she cooked. This was actually pretty fun for me.

Bite #1 of Sushi....... look at that pained expression on her face....

Eat your sushi, or you don't get to have dessert!

Happier times at the Giants game.

8) Wrapped up the summer with a 2 week visit from Miriam. We hit up Napa, Fresno, & Monterey and even found time to sing karaoke, eat at my new favorite restaurant Farina (pesto pasta is amazing) and attend a "Kung Fu Hustle" Movie Party. Too much fun.


Overall, a very good summer. Life is good. Peace out peeps.