Liam Neesom has another action movie available on Netflicks and Redbox.
This one starts with the plot piece that a notable scientist that he plays attends a conference in Germany. He leaves his suitcase at the airport. When attempting to retrieve the suitcase he gets in a severe accident in the cab. He is in a coma for a couple of days. When he awakes he tries to resume his role. He finds that someone else has taken his identity at the conference and when he attends, he is treated like an intruder.
He is helped along the way by the cab driver that rescues him from the river. There is a contingent that is chasing Liam. The audience is not sure why until the end.
It comes across as a big time action movie in the genre with Fast and Furious. There is armed combat, there is a very decent car chase or two and then there is the classic underplayed skill of Liam.
If you are an action movie lover.. this is the one for the summer! They have it for rent now.. how convenient.
: ) Pat
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Movie The Adjustment Bureau
Matt Damon stars in what the promos say is a sci fi movie. Its pretty down to earth for that classification.
Its really a Romantic movie. It should appeal to a wider range of audience than the either genre.
Matt meets his true love in a rather unusual place. Then "runs" into her by accident the next day. Matt meets the man that is in charge of his destiny. This man burns the card with her number on it. He is not supposed to be with her.
Love prevails and through the years they make contact and each time they know they are the ones for each other.
The sci fi part involves doors (just like monster Inc) and a team out to make it work according to plan. There is a lot of Borne Identity chasing through New York City.
Its a good movie for the summer and is available through Net flicks or Red box now.
: ) Pat
Its really a Romantic movie. It should appeal to a wider range of audience than the either genre.
Matt meets his true love in a rather unusual place. Then "runs" into her by accident the next day. Matt meets the man that is in charge of his destiny. This man burns the card with her number on it. He is not supposed to be with her.
Love prevails and through the years they make contact and each time they know they are the ones for each other.
The sci fi part involves doors (just like monster Inc) and a team out to make it work according to plan. There is a lot of Borne Identity chasing through New York City.
Its a good movie for the summer and is available through Net flicks or Red box now.
: ) Pat
Thursday, July 28, 2011
The family from Kuwait
Our LA escape hotel was in the LAX class. We hotwired and got a nice price on an "older" Holiday Inn.
Next to the Holiday Inn and with easy walking distance of many large hotels is the only Mc Donald's in the area. Housed in a tight two level building it had a constant single posted drive through that intersected with the alley on Cieniga Blvd.
Sue wanted a small hamburger and a parfait for dinner. I walked over and encountered the United Nations of LAX. There were Russian families with kids. There were French couples and German couples and a large extended family of people from Kuwait, as I was later to discover.
One of them tapped me on the shoulder and asked me if they should go to San Francisco the next day. The wanted to know the major attractions. They made it clear they were not "museum types." The younger couple had a baby. He was the driver. He was interested in theme parks. The older couple, about my age were interested in shopping and fishing.
The driver was interested in talking about the world. He wanted to know if there was a way to save their receipts from California and trade them in for a refund of the taxes that they had paid. I was not aware of this program. Apparently in Texas there is such a program. I know from experience in Italy there is a way to get the taxes back at the airport.
The driver wanted to know why we paid so much for gas. He claimed that in Kuwait they pay about 1 dollar a gallon for gas.. the older man said that that was for a liter... he thought that gas was cheaper than the oil that it came from. I said that the king was trying to buy them off so that they would not want freedom similar to Saudi Arabia. Oh you know about Saudis? They retorted. Yes. That was the end of that part of the conversation.
They are encouraged to have more children. The government gives bonuses to people that have kids. Some families the Kuwaits said have as many as 20 kids.
When asked why they were here. They said that they were visiting their daughter who was a student in Tempe Arizona. They understood heat and dessert.
The next day we stopped at the gas station at the foot of the hill in Grapevine. The Kuwait family came out of their cars to head in. They all recognized me and came over to shake my hand again. They were headed to San Francisco. Cool.
I need a rebate from the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce!
: ) Pat
Next to the Holiday Inn and with easy walking distance of many large hotels is the only Mc Donald's in the area. Housed in a tight two level building it had a constant single posted drive through that intersected with the alley on Cieniga Blvd.
Sue wanted a small hamburger and a parfait for dinner. I walked over and encountered the United Nations of LAX. There were Russian families with kids. There were French couples and German couples and a large extended family of people from Kuwait, as I was later to discover.
One of them tapped me on the shoulder and asked me if they should go to San Francisco the next day. The wanted to know the major attractions. They made it clear they were not "museum types." The younger couple had a baby. He was the driver. He was interested in theme parks. The older couple, about my age were interested in shopping and fishing.
The driver was interested in talking about the world. He wanted to know if there was a way to save their receipts from California and trade them in for a refund of the taxes that they had paid. I was not aware of this program. Apparently in Texas there is such a program. I know from experience in Italy there is a way to get the taxes back at the airport.
The driver wanted to know why we paid so much for gas. He claimed that in Kuwait they pay about 1 dollar a gallon for gas.. the older man said that that was for a liter... he thought that gas was cheaper than the oil that it came from. I said that the king was trying to buy them off so that they would not want freedom similar to Saudi Arabia. Oh you know about Saudis? They retorted. Yes. That was the end of that part of the conversation.
They are encouraged to have more children. The government gives bonuses to people that have kids. Some families the Kuwaits said have as many as 20 kids.
When asked why they were here. They said that they were visiting their daughter who was a student in Tempe Arizona. They understood heat and dessert.
The next day we stopped at the gas station at the foot of the hill in Grapevine. The Kuwait family came out of their cars to head in. They all recognized me and came over to shake my hand again. They were headed to San Francisco. Cool.
I need a rebate from the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce!
: ) Pat
Interstate and wannabees
There is a reason that money from the stimulus had to go to infrastructure. After a 300+ one way trip on two of California's massive North South roads its clear that we are behind in the maintenance and support for our roadway infrastructure.
I did not know that there was such a disparity between the two major roads that connect northern California with southern California.
Going down to LA Sue and I drove over to pick up the girls at the Bart station in Dublin. We whistled down interstate 5 avoiding a couple of crazy drivers but the folks driving the big trucks were predictable and scooting right along. There was a patch near Bakersfield that was under sever repair. With this exception the road was smooth and the drive was clean.
Coming back was a different story. The road over the grapevine was reduced to two lanes for cars. The trucks have effectively claimed the two right side lanes for themselves and those trucks that are loaded vs those that are empty. The empty ones are the ones to be careful about when you drive the 99. They seem to think that they can pass at will and cut in and out of the passenger side doing a clean 74 miles an hour. This does not work. They are restricted to 55 if they are pulling a box behind them. Most of them are.
Linzi is convinced that the best route is I5. It carries a 30 mile penalty for us. In the long run the extra time may well be worth it.
Pat
I did not know that there was such a disparity between the two major roads that connect northern California with southern California.
Going down to LA Sue and I drove over to pick up the girls at the Bart station in Dublin. We whistled down interstate 5 avoiding a couple of crazy drivers but the folks driving the big trucks were predictable and scooting right along. There was a patch near Bakersfield that was under sever repair. With this exception the road was smooth and the drive was clean.
Coming back was a different story. The road over the grapevine was reduced to two lanes for cars. The trucks have effectively claimed the two right side lanes for themselves and those trucks that are loaded vs those that are empty. The empty ones are the ones to be careful about when you drive the 99. They seem to think that they can pass at will and cut in and out of the passenger side doing a clean 74 miles an hour. This does not work. They are restricted to 55 if they are pulling a box behind them. Most of them are.
Linzi is convinced that the best route is I5. It carries a 30 mile penalty for us. In the long run the extra time may well be worth it.
Pat
Friday, July 22, 2011
Hot Footing
Three weeks ago I was canning quarts of apricot halves.
Its an interesting project as syrup is made something less than 2 cups of water to one cup of sugar,boiled down to a simple syrup with a couple of frozen myers lemon juice ice cubes thrown in.
The apricots are picked from the tree and sliced in half, pitted and packed into quart jars. The warm syrup is poured over the paced apricots and bubbles are released by sliding a chop stick down the side of the jar. More syrup is added so that the 1/2 inch of head room is maintained at the top. The jars are loaded into a pot with boiling water where they cook and seal for 30 minutes under roiling boiling water.
This year I was using left over lids from previous years. As one batch of apricots were completed, I noticed that there was a wrinkle in the seal and two jars were less full than when I started.
To do the next batch the water in which the leaky quarts leaked into had to be replaced and the pot washed.
I took the jars out of the hot water and threw the hot water from the pot on the ground, to slow down the growth of the weeds in the back yard. The water did not totally clear my feet and the top of my shoe bore the result of the accident.
I quickly ran inside, stripped off the shoe and the sock and soaked my foot in water for about 45 minutes. It was really painful. I had Sue drive me over to the Urgent care and our family doc. looked it over.
He was happy to see that the second degree burns were not all the way through the meat of my foot. My big toe got the brunt of the injury.
Every day for the last three weeks my right foot has had to be doused with poly and wrapped with gauze and a miracle material called coban.
It is a stretchy rolled bandage material exerts pressure on the wound but does not stick to the wound, It only sticks to itself. It is very common in vet practices too. Every third day I go back to the dr and he looks it over and checks to see how the burn is heeling.
After three weeks the other parts of my foot are okay and new skin has formed. The big toe is still slowly healing but seems to be progressing too.
Coban can be had for about 2 dollars a roll on Ebay if you buy a case. A generic version at our Walgreen store is nearly double that cost.
This issue has not slowed down the canning process. I am a whole lot more cautious arond the hot water now.
Yesterday I canned 7 pints of white peach pie filling.
Today 2 quarts of sliced white peaches were peeled and sliced and bagged for the freezer.
Love to All
Pat
Its an interesting project as syrup is made something less than 2 cups of water to one cup of sugar,boiled down to a simple syrup with a couple of frozen myers lemon juice ice cubes thrown in.
The apricots are picked from the tree and sliced in half, pitted and packed into quart jars. The warm syrup is poured over the paced apricots and bubbles are released by sliding a chop stick down the side of the jar. More syrup is added so that the 1/2 inch of head room is maintained at the top. The jars are loaded into a pot with boiling water where they cook and seal for 30 minutes under roiling boiling water.
This year I was using left over lids from previous years. As one batch of apricots were completed, I noticed that there was a wrinkle in the seal and two jars were less full than when I started.
To do the next batch the water in which the leaky quarts leaked into had to be replaced and the pot washed.
I took the jars out of the hot water and threw the hot water from the pot on the ground, to slow down the growth of the weeds in the back yard. The water did not totally clear my feet and the top of my shoe bore the result of the accident.
I quickly ran inside, stripped off the shoe and the sock and soaked my foot in water for about 45 minutes. It was really painful. I had Sue drive me over to the Urgent care and our family doc. looked it over.
He was happy to see that the second degree burns were not all the way through the meat of my foot. My big toe got the brunt of the injury.
Every day for the last three weeks my right foot has had to be doused with poly and wrapped with gauze and a miracle material called coban.
It is a stretchy rolled bandage material exerts pressure on the wound but does not stick to the wound, It only sticks to itself. It is very common in vet practices too. Every third day I go back to the dr and he looks it over and checks to see how the burn is heeling.
After three weeks the other parts of my foot are okay and new skin has formed. The big toe is still slowly healing but seems to be progressing too.
Coban can be had for about 2 dollars a roll on Ebay if you buy a case. A generic version at our Walgreen store is nearly double that cost.
This issue has not slowed down the canning process. I am a whole lot more cautious arond the hot water now.
Yesterday I canned 7 pints of white peach pie filling.
Today 2 quarts of sliced white peaches were peeled and sliced and bagged for the freezer.
Love to All
Pat
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Memories of Past 4th of Julys
When I was growing up we never bought fireworks and set them off from the family front yard. We had a little experience with sparklers and snake fireworks but no roman candles or whistling petes. Most of the time we were traveling across county and camping along the way.
I think that my parents felt that they were a huge waste of money and likely a danger to the block or the place we happened to be on the 4th.
On the rare occasion that we were home on the 4th we went to gigantic public 4th of july events. One of my earliest memories was the trip to the San Jose State Stadium for fireworks. At that time it was more than just overhead mortors.
The San Jose Cavilers drum and bugle corps were dressed in full regalia and played a couple of songs. The politicians all had a go at the mike. They all had a 10 minute speech in their back pockets. There were extensive stationary fireworks on the field level of the stadium. Niagara falls and spinning tops that lit up American flags in Roman Candles.
As young kids we had fun running through shrubs on the hill. We used to go together with another family. They always had kids our ages so it was a great chance to get out and enjoy the park part of the stadium and marvel at its huge arches on its perimeter.
We always were there early so there was plenty of time to socialize before it got dark and the bombs exploded over our heads. Blankets and coolers full of peanut butter and jam sandwiches were always on hand. The San Jose Mercury sponsored the event.
San Jose was the preferred venue. There was always one sponsored by the San Francisco Chronicle out of Chrissy Field. Often the fog came in and many of the exploding peonies were not visible.
Then there were basically only peony or chrysanthemum shapes in the sky. Now there are rockets the spew flames all the way up into the sky and circles of explosions among others. Shells can be crafted with delayed charges to make many different shapes.
The Disney folks in Disneyland are good at displaying the great variety of overhead fireworks. There nightly displays in the summer are usually more then any local entity can produce for a once in a year celebration. There themes are cool and the music that goes with them are top notch.
Our local celebrations have some memorable moments. The local displays are usually in two places. Atwater CA, about 7 miles north of here has a local display that used the football field bleachers to get people in. They have often had their "Miss Atwater" beauty contest at the same time. There is usually a local garage band that puts out a credible entertainment package while people wait for it to get dark. One year the whole country was celebrating the anniversary of the statue of liberty in New York city. Green foam crowns were for sale and Linzi talked me into getting her one. One year it was "Tall Ships from Around the World" that America celebrated. There is difficulty getting the support for these shows now. So many people find a spot where they can see most of the shots into the sky and cheap skate on some one else's contribution. Local governments do not have the money any more for many firework displays and the local businesses are facing the same budget tightening.
Our home cats are completely upset about the in street shows. They have no instinct to sudden noise like fireworks,
My sister Kelly, living in an unincorporated area of San Jose got pretty freaked out about the number of illegal fireworks being fired in her neighborhood that had serious boom to them. Who do you call? The Santa Clara sheriff?
Its a total night mere for one of my daughters who gets very upset at the sound that comes from a popped balloon, At Disneyland we always try to get her into a store before the fireworks are displayed in the night air.
My wish to you is that if you love to be near fireworks enjoy them but be safe. If you cannot handle them.. hide under the covers.. this wacky season will soon be over.
Merced's estimated temp for the 4th is supposed to be 107. That will cut down on a lot of outdoor picnics and barbeques.
Pat
I think that my parents felt that they were a huge waste of money and likely a danger to the block or the place we happened to be on the 4th.
On the rare occasion that we were home on the 4th we went to gigantic public 4th of july events. One of my earliest memories was the trip to the San Jose State Stadium for fireworks. At that time it was more than just overhead mortors.
The San Jose Cavilers drum and bugle corps were dressed in full regalia and played a couple of songs. The politicians all had a go at the mike. They all had a 10 minute speech in their back pockets. There were extensive stationary fireworks on the field level of the stadium. Niagara falls and spinning tops that lit up American flags in Roman Candles.
As young kids we had fun running through shrubs on the hill. We used to go together with another family. They always had kids our ages so it was a great chance to get out and enjoy the park part of the stadium and marvel at its huge arches on its perimeter.
We always were there early so there was plenty of time to socialize before it got dark and the bombs exploded over our heads. Blankets and coolers full of peanut butter and jam sandwiches were always on hand. The San Jose Mercury sponsored the event.
San Jose was the preferred venue. There was always one sponsored by the San Francisco Chronicle out of Chrissy Field. Often the fog came in and many of the exploding peonies were not visible.
Then there were basically only peony or chrysanthemum shapes in the sky. Now there are rockets the spew flames all the way up into the sky and circles of explosions among others. Shells can be crafted with delayed charges to make many different shapes.
The Disney folks in Disneyland are good at displaying the great variety of overhead fireworks. There nightly displays in the summer are usually more then any local entity can produce for a once in a year celebration. There themes are cool and the music that goes with them are top notch.
Our local celebrations have some memorable moments. The local displays are usually in two places. Atwater CA, about 7 miles north of here has a local display that used the football field bleachers to get people in. They have often had their "Miss Atwater" beauty contest at the same time. There is usually a local garage band that puts out a credible entertainment package while people wait for it to get dark. One year the whole country was celebrating the anniversary of the statue of liberty in New York city. Green foam crowns were for sale and Linzi talked me into getting her one. One year it was "Tall Ships from Around the World" that America celebrated. There is difficulty getting the support for these shows now. So many people find a spot where they can see most of the shots into the sky and cheap skate on some one else's contribution. Local governments do not have the money any more for many firework displays and the local businesses are facing the same budget tightening.
Our home cats are completely upset about the in street shows. They have no instinct to sudden noise like fireworks,
My sister Kelly, living in an unincorporated area of San Jose got pretty freaked out about the number of illegal fireworks being fired in her neighborhood that had serious boom to them. Who do you call? The Santa Clara sheriff?
Its a total night mere for one of my daughters who gets very upset at the sound that comes from a popped balloon, At Disneyland we always try to get her into a store before the fireworks are displayed in the night air.
My wish to you is that if you love to be near fireworks enjoy them but be safe. If you cannot handle them.. hide under the covers.. this wacky season will soon be over.
Merced's estimated temp for the 4th is supposed to be 107. That will cut down on a lot of outdoor picnics and barbeques.
Pat
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