The Terrible Catsafterme

I knew that it would behoove me to bring along a large wad of cash to the Hollywood Show held at the Burbank Mariott Hotel and Convention Center on Saturday, April 24, and Sunday, April 25, 2010. The collector and celebrity show in Burbank must certainly be one of the largest in the country. The one on this date was the fifth one I’ve attended over the past five years (seventh total) and I must say that it was the best show I’ve seen to date. I usually pontificate on the greediness of the some of the celebrities, but I’m going to spare you that this time. After all, no matter if there were a few putzes in the mix, I came away happy…albeit much poorer. Read the rest of this entry »

After a week of laundry, packing, and cleaning as I prepared for my house guest who would return with me, I was ready to hop on that plane Friday morning, April 23, 2010, and head to California for the second time this year. The last time I had planned to get to Dad’s house before an early flight, I had botched the alarm clock and caused all sorts of panic – but this time, I arrived bright and early around 5:30am, made it to the airport with time to spare, and was taking off at 6:40, sitting next to a smelly individual on the way. Read the rest of this entry »

The previous day had been an exhausting one at California Adventure, but that didn’t stop Jimmy and I from waking up at the butt crack of dawn and getting ready for another full day of excitement on Friday, July 17, 2009. We left his house in San Pedro at about 8:15am and headed back to Disneyland to meet David, where he parked his car and then rode with us. Our ultimate destination of the day was San Diego, a city that I had visited twice without ever really ‘seeing’. We also decided to stop in San Juan Capistrano on the way down to see the famous Jewel of the Missions located there. Read the rest of this entry »

Wednesday, July 15, 2009, was a mostly leisurely day in southern California – at least relative to the weekend we had spent in Vegas and the upcoming final three days of my California trip. I even slept in a little bit and let Bob go down and grab his continental breakfast in the Culver Hotel before I followed. We posed for our pictures hanging out the windows of the famous hotel seen in several silent Laurel and Hardy films (detailed more here) and then headed out to see the Holy Cross Cemetery elsewhere in Culver City. Read the rest of this entry »

It was about 8:30am on the morning of Tuesday, July 14, 2009, when Bob and I checked out of room 2467 of the Paris Las Vegas hotel. We had had a great two days there, but it was time to work our way back to Los Angeles to continue with my California adventure. We crossed over the border and had made it halfway toward our L.A. destination when we stopped for brunch in Barstow at an eatery known as Quigley’s. Bob had the monte cristo and I went for the breakfast border burrito. We sat near a ‘biddy brigade’ that Bob ended up knowing. Read the rest of this entry »