Adventures in Truss

Disco Diver?

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 16:21:10 GMT

Is that water in my wetsuit?
A beautiful day diving in Laguna Beach ended with Doug and the gang taking a shot of me here. I'm thinking of being a Disco Diver for Halloween.

Leviathan 99

Mon, 04 May 2009 16:41:11 GMT

Saw a star-studded production of Ray Bradbury's Leviathan 99 yesterday in Beverly Hills. The performance was absolutely magical. I couldn't believe the amount of collective acting talent that was up on that stage. Sean Astin (Rudy, Lord of the Rings, et al) as the narrator and lead character HAD to carry the story on his shoulders... and he did. Both he and William Shatner transcended their celeb-status and sucked you into the story. They made you forget who they were... which is quite a feat for actors up on stage pretending to put on a RADIO PRODUCTION (i.e., reading into a microphone with a script in their hands)! So very well done.

William SHATNER, Sean ASTIN, Norman LLOYD, Samantha EGGAR, Richard HERD, Walter KOENIG, and H.M. WYNANT. Also John HARLAN, Robert LEGIONAIRE and Sky McDOUGALL.

The event was truly something special, something different, something that I and my friends (Rod Roddenberry and his fiance, Heidi) were truly blessed to be able to watch.

The FOLEY guy (on stage with the actors) was amazing! It was all done in one take. No re-dos!

Some celebs were in attendance (in addition to those on the stage). A casual glance around revealed Leonard Maltin (critic), Tom Bergeron (Dancing with the Stars host), my own buddy, Rod, :-) and other screen writers and Beverly Hills (or nearby) residents.

Ray Bradbury and Norman Corwin gave intro speeches before the play began. Norman, at 99, was wonderfully engaging and funny. It was nice to see Ray speaking in such a strong voice. They made an already-special event that more meaningful.

This is definitely name dropping, but upon finishing our meal later on at a nearby swank restaurant, we were told that our entire tab had been picked up by Walter Koenig (Ensign Checkov in the original 1960s Star Trek series). Nice.

Don't hate me for this next one, but Rod invited me to a sneak preview of the new Star Trek film on the nearby Paramount Studios lot later that evening. Paramount showed it specifically for Rod and 500 of his closest friends. Everyone was stoked needless to say. The movie rocked (hard) in that most excellent, well-appointed theater and I look forward to seeing it again at Catalina Island next weekend on a dive trip with Rod, his crew, and my scuba group from Meetup.com.

Winter in San Diego

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 04:37:08 GMT

I hosted an IMAX movie night followed by a happy hour at a local watering hole. These are two of my friends who went (and scuba proteges), Chris and Ginni.

Holy crap, what a beautiful weekend in San Diego it was! 85 degrees at the beach and not a cloud in the sky. In February yet. I didn't even dive. I just hung on the sand and boardwalk and pretended to be a beach bum.
It's gonna be a good summer I think.

Obama-mania

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 02:42:15 GMT

I didn't vote for him, but that doesn't stop me from getting behind Obama and giving him my support and hope: Hope that he fulfills the promises, hope that the people he's surrounded himself with serve faithfully, and hope that the decisions he makes in the coming months prove beneficial for this country.

I once again marvel at the peaceful transfer of power that occurs here every four (or eight)years and am heartened that things may yet be made right with the economy and other issues.

I read a transcript of his address shortly after he made it and thought it extremely articulate, realistic, and inspiring. Nicely done.

A historic day that I'm pleased to bear witness to.

Dad is hunting again in his favorite forest

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 18:32:10 GMT

I'm not on here much as it's blocked at my new job, but wanted to tell those of you who've been keeping good thoughts for my Dad that he passed on Sunday morning. I'm in New York now helping with the arrangements.

Here is Dad's info (local paper): http://www.legacy.com/RecordOnline/Obituaries.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonID=122267903

There is a message board there also at: http://www.legacy.com/RecordOnline/GB/GuestbookView.aspx?PersonId=122267903 where you can leave a few words if you'd like.

Deepest thanks to all who've voiced/written words of support over the last 2 1/2 years while my Dad has been in the hospital/nursing home. Very, very appreciated.

Bill

Ah, the Christmas Season

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 01:03:39 GMT

I love Christmas. Unabashedly and with great emotion. I'm sure the feeling harkens back to my time as a small child growing up in New York, but no matter. Hope, love, giving, and re-recognizing people who are important to you. That's what's important.

It's been a trying year, but one, ultimately, steeped in successes and growth.

Writer's Block: Legends of Rock

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 00:48:27 GMT

The US Festival in California in the mid eighties. A ton of fun on a large, even grand, scale.

There are a few concerts that go down in musical history—Altamont, Woodstock, Live Aid, the Hannah Montana Best of Both Worlds tour—as legendary experiences. What live show stands as legend in your own experience?

View 500 Answers

Odd goings on

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 00:51:28 GMT

Drove three hours South, across the border, to La Bufadora, Mexico. Far enough away from all the horrid crap that's happening in the border towns lately. I was there for diving, but all my pics are on the surface. Weird, huh?

The tourist strip at La Bufadora, Mexico.
Two bucks for a 32 oz. beer. Not bad. I woulda rather been with a bunch of gals who dive and drink beer... but it just ain't all that common.

Craggy coastline view from La Bufadora, Mexico.
Good views from the coastline. Better views underwater.

Rattle Snake shot at Gordo's Cantina.
Apparently it's a rite of passage to partake in a rattle snake shot at Gordo's Cantina at la Bufadora. I had already done this once a couple years ago, but was foolish enough to not have it documented or witnessed, thus I was obligated to do another one. The quirky, eccentric bartender simply added to the overall atmosphere of the run-down joint.

Yes, those are real rattle snakes in the bottom of the tequila. jars

The bartender ladles out a big shot.
Three bucks for a three or four oz shot. Best bargain in town.

Where the rattle snake shots get their name from.
As you're about to do the shot, the gap-toothed bartender holds up the tequila-pickled rattle snake, waggles it's head, and talks to you as if it's the snake admonishing you not to drink it's guts. Nice.

That's not a look of pleasure on my face.
There were... bits of things in the shot.

Can anyone tell me what this is?

Two more pics

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 23:17:58 GMT

Oh yes, there were costumes aplenty at the Con. I don't go to the Con Masquerade or relate to the people who spend all year getting a costume ready so they can cavort on stage for five minutes dressed as an anime character... BUT I can appreciate the artistry. The costumes on the convention hall floor ran the gamut from professional to just shy of kindegarden effort.

Clone Wars promo actor
I liked her skin color.

Predator costume looked cool

San Diego Con Followup

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 23:06:10 GMT

Well, my new job and various activities have precluded me from posting my promised follow-up to the Con. I'll simply put a few pictures below and provide a few more thoughts.

The Watchmen will be THE movie to watch in 2009. Based on the acclaimed graphic novel by Allan Moore, the movie will blow all that came before it outta the water (with the possible exception of the Dark Knight... what a movie that was).

Can someone tell me what is up with this upcoming vampire event called Twilight? Apparently it's based on a hugely popular book series (popular with young teenage girls, that is). When the principle actors came out on stage the audience went absolutely nuts. I was looking around going "WTF" for about five minutes. Bella and Edward. Feh.

Crowd at the Con 2008
Lots of people waiting to get into the hall.

What the hell is this guy angry about?
Musta been having a bad day.

Iron Man's nemesis

J. frakes and Marina Sirtis of Star Trek the Next Generation fame
Signing autographs.

Owl ship from the upcoming movie, Watchmen
Who watches the Watchmen?

Owl ship from Watchmen
Inside shot of the mockup. Very detailed layout.

The slave girls wanted to tie me up.
Nice.

The Con hit it's cap of 125,000 people again. It's pretty much a madhouse down on the convention floor... and it's not much better in the halls where the most popular panels and events go on. I suppose, in order to keep growing the event, they may have to do something about it in a few years, but all I know is that the synergy of San Diego's close proximity to Hollywood and with SD being the spiritual home of Con, well it just wouldn't be the same if they moved it.

Stand out quotes from the weekend

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 03:16:14 GMT

A few pics and deeper (relatively speaking) thoughts on Comic Con International in a few days. But for now, just two quotes from two kickass sneak previews I was privileged to see:

1. They premiered the entire first season episode of Heroes (season three) two months early.

Scene- The evil Sylar has just completely scalped the hot, invulnerable cheerleader, Claire, and is finger-caressing the lobes of her brain as she lay on the floor:

Cheerleader (fearfully)- Are you going to eat my brain?
Sylar (closeup of him whispering into her ear with exposed brain in frame)- "Eat your brain? Claire, that's just disgusting."

2. Who doesn't love the X-Men? An amazingly ripped Hugh Jackman came out on stage to premiere a few minutes of footage of the MUCH anticipated movie, Wolverine. Gambit, Blob, Deadpool... oh my!

Scene- Wolverine and Sabre Tooth are beating the living shit out of each other. They square off yet again to catch their breath and Sabre Tooth taunts with something like, "How are ya gonna hurt me?" Wolvie replies:

Wolverine- "I'm gonna cut your god damned head off and see how that works." (Cue the crowd of 6,500 people going nuts.)

Too, too good. More in a few!

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 20:35:19 GMT

It was only a matter of time.

I teach scuba diving (part time) for the largest single scuba store in Southern California. It was only a matter of time before I got someone famous/semi-famous as a student.

Raymond Feist wrote THE single greatest fantasy novel ever (if you don't count the Hobbit, maybe even if you do). Faerie Tale is everything that an outstanding fantasy novel should be: Gripping, otherworldly, exciting, compelling, and a hell-of-a-ride. (Not to mention the butt-load of other great fantasy-sci-fi books he's written.) I was hoping to see him one day at a Comic-Con since I know he lives right here in San Diego.

The wait is over. He is on my list of Open Water Students for a class I'm convening this Friday. He is bringing his family.

This will be an absolute joy.

A New Image

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 20:30:45 GMT

In celebration of getting a new job I've decided to grow my hair out and leave behind the illusion that I was going thin on top.

Myself and Nella (g/f to my good buddy, Ousama).

Fireworks, Bar-b-q, and

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 19:42:04 GMT

Happy Birthday, Amer-ee-ca!

Take THAT, King George!

:-)

Dir-ir-ir-irty

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 23:30:03 GMT

Ran in the Camp Pendelton, California 10K Mud Run again on Saturday. Our group had 70 runners out of a field of 4,000. Always a fantastic event.

I've not yet gotten to the point that I can do the whole course without walking a bit, but am improving, albeit not as fast as I had hoped. There's a 2-mile stretch of hell (AKA a continuous hill) that has become my enemy. I must beat my enemy on the next run!

Fun stuff!

Pics courtesy of the beautiful Joanne.

Stan Winston

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 06:06:56 GMT

If you know me at all (or if you've read this blog for very long) you know that I idolize stop-motion special effects pioneer Ray Harryhausen.

One of the next generation creature pioneers, Stan Winston, died much too soon at 62 this past week. Cancer, wouldn't you know.

Aliens, Terminator, Predator, T-Rex, Edward Scissorhands, Iron Man... his creatures have become part of Hollywood iconography.

I'm really, really sorry to see this guy go before his time.

Yeah, cancer sucks alright.

Frisbee Violence

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 20:13:54 GMT

Who knew Ultimate Frisbee was such a violent sport? I was at Two Harbors, Catalina (California) a few weeks ago for a dive weekend. We had EXCELLENT conditions and 100’ vis on one of the days. Sharks, rays, eels, and everything else you’d expect on a Catalina trip.

Anyway, that Sunday, after the dives were over, I organised an Ultimate Frisbee game. A guy ON MY OWN TEAM, who was behind me, WINGS the frisbee in a pathetic attempt to advance it upfield. I say "pathetic" because instead of the frisbee going upfield, it traveled straight at the back of my head. An instant before it reaches my head, I turn around to see what’s going on. BAM, right into my eye. Looked like I’d been in the prize fight of the century. Nice.

Oh yeah, Wilson, the over-sized buffalo, came walking by our cabins. Made for a cool end to an already interesting trip.

Squid getting their groove on

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 17:52:58 GMT

"There is nothing wrong with enjoying looking at the surface of the ocean itself, except that when you finally see what goes on underwater, you realize that you've been missing the whole point of it. Staying on the surface all the time is like going to the circus and staring at the outside of the tent."

-Dave Barry

I went out diving on Saturday for the first time in two months. The squid were running and it was a sight to see. Although not as massive as in years past, the thousands of squid milling about, mating, laying eggs in the sand, and finally expiring made one truly appreciate the circle of life (to borrow a much-overused phrase).

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 22:09:31 GMT

I moved back into my house late yesterday afternoon. County officials hadn't yet made an official announcement that it was permitted to do so, but I decided to take a ride anyway and survey the area.

Lots of ash and soot, but no houses in my immediate area got hit. As little as a mile away, yes, a few houses were burned to the ground, but my neighborhood escaped unharmed.

That's the unpredictability and chance nature of wildfires.

Pres Bush and Govenor Arnold were in San Diego today along with most congressmen and other officials.

The major fires are burning down, but there are still large fire fronts in various parts of the county. This one surpassed all records and is still going. I'm doing a volunteer gig for the emergency hotline on Sat and more if they still need help.

Whew.

Damned Fires (plural)

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 21:35:08 GMT

I had to evacuate my house at 11 am this morning when I got a reverse 911 call from the police deptartment. Thick smoke all over Escondido and houses burning only a couple miles away. At least I was able to pile some of my stuff into my SUV before I left. The only notice some people got was the creeping flames, fed by 65 mph Santa Anna winds, nipping at their door.

I'm fine and working at Camp Pendelton right now (right by the sea) and will figure out where I'm sleeping later. Say a prayer for everyone who's lost houses and been displaced by this disaster in San Diego county. Twice within 5 years. I can't remember the last time, before 2003, when San Diego got it so bad.

They're already saying it's worse than the fires of 2003...

Bill needs a scoche of help!

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 00:42:12 GMT

Is that how you spell "scoche"? Haha!

This is my charity effort for this year. Even ten bucks would be awesome. This is the foundation that I'm doing volunteer work with to create artificial reefs here in San Diego. In addition they (the San Diego Oceans Foundation) guard and preserve all aspects of the marine environment.

Please help just a bit? Go here, it's quick and easy!

San Diego Oceans Foundation Dive-A-Thon

Thanks in advance!

Bill

A real train wreck

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 18:19:12 GMT

Remember the Trailer Trash (caps intended) couple from my last post?

As revenge upon my landlord and friend, Abby, the husband chose to call Abby's boyfriend of five years and tell him Abby was cheating on him.

He extraplolated out a few recent innocent visits to the house by friends of hers (from the days when she owned the bar), and created a whole "cheating scenario" lie that he wove for Abby's boyfriend. Just enough truth to make it look damning.

Why Abby's boyfriend was so quick to believe the story I won't go into, but suffice to say the whole household is in an uproar.

Abby is running away from the situation for two months to stay with her girlfriend in Seattle. She looks like she's going to have a nervous breakdown.

The husband of Abby's niece, Chad, has already received part of his karmic payback... his car has been stolen.

As for me, I've had a little bit of soap opera drama in my life as well, but think I'll lock down that post so prying eyes won't see. Tomorrow perhaps.

But I dove all weekend... and that can't be bad, right?

Wed, 15 Aug 2007 16:49:46 GMT

My landlord's 33 year-old niece from Taiwan came for a visit a while back.

She never left. A real user. Never worked, never payed rent, never helped around the house.

Take.

She found some sloppy guy in a bar to swoon over her, though she barely spoke a lick of English, and they got married. Somehow he/they convinced my good-hearted landlord to let them both stay there for a pittance.

Then they had a baby. Prematurely. Just shy of four pounds at birth. The niece had massive hemorrhaging.

Did I mention the niece smoked two packs a day for the entirety of her pregnancy? (Despite protestations from everyone around her... including her doctors.)

Real trailer trash. (Do they have trailer parks in Taiwan?)

My landlord would rather bitch about them to me than tell them they have to get their shit together and find a home they can call their own... as any self-respecting new couple would do. She says something about her obligation to her sister (the niece's mother).

Just last week the camel's back was broken by the final straw. I walked into the garage at 5:30 am to get my dive gear together for a day at the beach. There is the niece, in her nightgown, going through my landlords file cabinet containing important papers. Rifling though them, papers pulled out and laying on the floor, like she was some sort of private detective searching out corporate secrets.

Damn did she jump ten feet when I walked in. The look on her face: Priceless.

My landlord went beserk when I told her of this transgression and the family is now living in an apartment far away.

About damn time.

Funny quote

Mon, 13 Aug 2007 18:41:58 GMT

I remember being born, actually, so I have total recall from the moment of birth on — which makes me a goddamn good writer, don't you think?

-Ray Bradbury

The Quest for Bigger and Better

Mon, 06 Aug 2007 20:13:31 GMT

When I was a teen, back in the heady days of Tony Alva, Dogtown, and the like, I lived on Skateboarding magazines. I was pretty damned good, though the nearest Skate Park was 38 miles away. I survived on freestyle and homemade ramps that my friends and I would make.

Never in our wildest dreams did we consider being able to do something like the following. Is that skateboarding... or ski jumping?

(Warning there is a horrific fall involved here... but he survives.)