All Good Things.....

Childhood friend/all around great guy Thao got married today.

Wedding was awesome, everyone was gorgeous, and I'm stoked for Thao but it feels a tad bittersweet.

Confession. I looked up to Thao immensely when I was younger. We had similar interests and did a bunch of cool shit together. And there was a time where I thought Thao and I would tag team through all of life's big moments together, since we had done so many things at that point (which included but is not limited to):

-Beating Myst on his computer. Epic.
-Meeting Jean Claude Van Damme at our very first San Diego Comic-Con.
-Jim Lee signing at Mile High Comics.
-Goldeneye marathons for the Nintendo 64 (Only goddamn cheats (and convicted rapists it seems) play as Oddjob btw).
-The stinky horse plant at the Huntington Museum.
-Watching his "Powered by Thao" Celica almost explode in the high school parking lot.

I can go on and on, but suffice to say I felt like the William Riker to his Jean-Luc Picard. So it surprised me one day when I found out that he started dating this girl.

"Huh? Really? Well we'll see how long that lasts....."

You can tell I was supportive since the relationship's infancy. Time went on and I had learned that he and Leslie were ENGAGED.

"No way....really? What? They're what?!"

And as ecstatic I was for him, it signaled the inevitable demise of that childhood ideal. Thao had found that end-all be-all partner to navigate through life's big moments with. The Dana Scully to his Fox Mulder. And as much as Riker and Picard made a great team, Scully and Mulder are ultimately the better match.

So congrats and nothing but the best wishes to them. Thao and Leslie are a wonderful team, perfect partners, and I'm certain together they'll solve life's big mysteries together.

At least, that's what I want to believe.

Portland

Recently took a trip to beautiful Portland Oregon. Here's a video....

Here's a lovely shot of Jenny walking around the Pittock Mansion gardens.

Top 3 things about Portland:

Powell's City of Books - The biggest book store I've ever seen, great selection, great prices.
Ground Kontrol Arcade/Bar - Pinball Mecca for Portland's disciples. Beer and bar food to boot? Sold. A great selection of games with machines that are very well maintained. Why doesn't this exist in So Cal instead of places like Dave n Busters? Absurd.
Food Carts - Legit food, Portland doesn't fuck around when it comes to eats.

Bottom 3 things about Portland:

Portland Underground Walking Tour - Ending up being mostly a history of racism tour. Important lessons but a major bummer.
Vagrancy - There's a thin line between hippie and homeless in Portland. Random folks kept asking us for twenty bucks. At least they think big.
Art Walk - Maybe we came at a bad time but the Art Walk was less than impressive. I was more impressed with the novelty velvet paintings than everything we saw at the chic galleries.

Hawaiian Getaway Slideshow

Good Morning from Turtle Bay