Why did the Chicken cross the road?

And the answer is...........

So I could eat its feet.

Yes that's right, I ate a chicken's foot today. Very weird. A bunch of us went to a Dim Sum restaurant today in Chinatown. The food was great, and then a strange bowl of food was placed on our table. Rico started eating one and they looked very interesting. So i picked it up and was informed that it was a chicken's foot, fried and marinated for our eating pleasure.

I can honestly say it was the strangest feeling thing that I have ever eaten. There is the little digit bones inside the skin and you have to suck the meat off the bones, yeah gross I know.

But hey, at least I tried them.

God Bless

Thank you Luisa!

So I went to the Dodger game last night, Dodger stadium is a great stadium. I bought a block of 10 tickets for the game, and to get rid of them I e-mailed my department. So i got people to buy them. But then, someone backed out right at the last second. So i was screwed out of $33 bucks. enter Luisa, she kindly bought the final three tickets and came with some of her friends.

So Nina, Barbara, CLo, Christina and I went to the Dodger game, where by the way beers are &10 bucks, that is ridiculous by the way. They were playing the Giants and won 2-0, slow game but still fun to be at Dodger Stadium.

So I would like to thank Luisa for bailing me out and buying the rest of those tickets.

God Bless

Damn Earthquake!

So, of course while the kid form Minnesota is in Los Angeles, the biggest earthquake in 15 years has to hit downtown. It was a 5.8 on the Richter scale, centered in Chino Hills which is east of Los Angeles. I was at our Off-site printing facility where we print the main newspaper, and it was pretty scary. Stuff started falling from the ceiling, and let me tell you, it is nothing like you will experience in your life. I am hoping we don't feel any after shocks, or the bad thing would be this is just the pre-cursor to the real quake, NO GOOD!

The LA Times building was evacuated along with the building I was in. When we were on our way back to the building, everyone was out in the streets on their cell phones. It was tough to get a phone call in because the towers were so backed up.

So on a lighter note, I get to go to the dodger game tonight with some people from work. I am hoping it doesn't get canceled cause of the quake so we'll see.

I will be back in MN in less then two weeks, good thing, no more earthquakes.

God Bless

Wii would like to Play!

The gang at the Standard Friday Night


This past weekend Maggie came to visit again and we packed a lot into our weekend. We went to Hollywood and the Chinese Theater. Then we took Mulholland Drive to Beverly Hills and tooled around there for awhile looking for houses of Maggie's favorite actress, Jean Harlow. From there we took Sunset boulevard to the Pacific Coast Highway up to Malibu where we had dinner by the beach. It was a long day but a great day.

On Sunday, we went to the Hollywood Bowl for a Feist concert, first of all the venue is amazing and the concert was awesome. The only bad thing is they have a noise curfew at around 10:30 so they have to cut the shows short which is no good. You can bring your own booze and food into the bowl which is great and you can save a lot of money that way.

So we have been saving up for a long time at work for a Wii, and finally on Monday Jim and I went to Best Buy and bought one and aerosmith Guitar Hero. A Wii is definitely my next big purchase because those things are the cat's ass. Wii tennis is my new favorite game and it is so much fun to play.

At work I am hard to work on the Vance Stickell application form and student brochure which I am the editor and designer of. It has been tough getting all of the information from the interns but we are very close o completing both pieces. It is the 20th anniversary of the internship next year so I thought it would be cool to do a piece on one of the first interns from 1989. To say the least, this guy is a baller and has worked for all the big agencies out east. He now owns his own agency, The Republik, and they have some pretty sweet clients like Smirnoff Ice and Nestea. Check out their website for more work, Therepublik.net.

I only have a few weeks left out here in LA so I am hoping to fit as much into these last weeks as I can. The X games are coming up and The Times has a suite at the Staples Center where they have the Moto X and vert ramp comps. I am trying to convince my boss to hook a brother up with some tickets which would be very nice.

I hope all is well back in MN and thanks again for all your thoughts and prayers.

God Bless

Shout Out!

I have to give a shout out to one of the senior art directors in the office, Jim. First off he has a cabin where I vacation every year in MN which is cool, also he kindly enough brought in a coffee maker so I dont have to buy Starbucks everyday. He has helped me out a lot with my Stickell Brochure project and has answered any questions I have. He also turned me on to Dry roasted Edamame, which is delicious, even though is soy beans, which makes TOFU which we all know is gross.

Jim is the kind of Art Director that if you were starting a business you would want him on your team because he has tons of experience and he knows hot to motivate his team.

Thanks Jim

While you Were Out.....

This past weekend I ventured to Ashley, ND for my older sister Mary's wedding. This was one of the funnest weddings I have ever been to in one of the smallest towns I had ever been to. I think the population was around 600 and there was 1 bar, restaurant, gas station and a 9 hole country club. It was a great town to have the wedding in though because the small town atmosphere was awesome and only in a small town will the sheriff be at the dance and drive the drunk people home after so they don't have to walk.

About two hours after we left Minneapolis for ND, a big storm went through Lakeville and we had two big trees go down. So returning to MN last night, our yard was a mess. One of the trees was blocking the sidewalk and the other was covering our whole back yard. Needless to say, my dad's chainsaw will be working overtime this week.

My projects are moving along smoothly to this point.
http://creativegroup.latimes.com/custom_publishing/index.html

Check out this link, it is an interactive version of the Custom Publishing Microsite to date, not everything is up yet, but this is what we have so far.

I am dragging a little bit today because i got in last night at 1 am so I will be consuming probably about 70 gallons of coffee to keep me going, but luckily when I was back in MN I bought some Caribou Coffee beans so I dont have to drink crappy Starbucks.

God Bless

"Around the Horn"

Wow it has been awhile since i have updated.

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July. I went to one of the sons of the people im living with's house for fireworks and a pool party.

So I am a big fan of ESPN as many of you know and if you have ever seen the show "around the horn" they have columnists from around the nation talking about current events. Bill Plaschke is a member of this show and works for the LA Times so I asked one of my bosses to set up a meeting with him. I didn't know if he would want to or not or how receptive he would be to the idea. I was very happy when my boss forwarded me this email from him that she received.

"Hey donna...I was an intern once, I know what it's like....I'll be in next wednesday and thursday.....we can have a cup of coffee downstairs if he'd like, around 11 a.m., after my TV show...heck, he can come over and watch me film it if you can spare him from 10 to 11...."

Very nice, so I will be in his studio with him when he films tomorrow's show, which airs in MN at 4:00pm on ESPN. I think I am going to buy his book and have him sign it, I know kinda cheezy but its a good book and it will be cool to have it signed.

Work is very busy, one of the ladies in our office, Cindy, has been out for two days and I have been filling in for her. I know appreciate the work she does more then ever because she works with a program honestly from 1990 and does a lot to make sure the paper runs smoothly. So I am very glad that she will be returning tomorrow and I wont have to do that again.

I will be returning home tomorrow night to MN for my sisters wedding in North Dakota. It will be nice to get a few days off and spend time with my family and girlfriend.

Thank you all for your support and prayers and I look forward to seeing you all when I return for good to MN in early August.

God Bless

Life and "Corporate Re-structuring"

I don't know if any of you have ever seen the HBO Miniseries "Band of Brothers" but I was walking to the city council building last night and they were filming something in the front courtyard. I was on the phone but looking in the shoot for someone I recognized and sitting 15 feet away from me was the actor who played Dick Winters in Band of Brothers, Damian Lewis, filming his current TV series "Life". Im a big fan of Band of Brothers so it was cool to see one of the main actors.

I was in San Diego this weekend with my girlfriend Maggie, checking out some Museums and great restaurants. San Diego is a really cool city and I recommend it for a vacation spot.

So on Friday i experienced something that I definitely did not think I would experience while at the Times. We went through a little "Corporate Re-structuring". We have our weekly floor meeting on Friday's and we were on our way to the room when my boss, our Creative Director, Maria, told me I did not have to go and it wasn't for freelancers or interns. It was kinda weird because I have gone to that meeting every week since I have been here.

So when they get back, I learn that 6 people, including Maria, got laid off from the company. It was very interesting the rest of the day seeing them move out their offices and looking at the new organization chart and seeing where everyone now landed in the scheme of things.

It was something I am glad I experienced because it's a reality of the corporate world, but I would not wish it on anyone and I was sad to see everyone go.

God Bless