Accuweather.com is saying that today’s high is 108°, but it feels like 110°.

Some clouds from Rita made it to Austin. 

I was reading a story at my friend Jack’ site about famous people that he has either met or been in close proximity to, and it got me thinking about the famous people I have seen first-person. This list is just random sightings, no organized events.

Jim Kelly (Buffalo Bills QB): LAX; I was coming back from Hawaii and there were many football players on the same plane with me, returning to the mainland after participating in the Pro-bowl. He was about 8-feet tall.

James Worthy (Laker star): Furaibo Japanese Restaurant, West L.A.; “Big-Game James” was eating by himself at the sushi bar, while my friend Mike, Mariko, and I drank Sapporo.

Henry Winkler (The Fonz): Paramount Studios; saw him in the commisary when I was visiting my bro, who worked there. He was about 5-feet tall.

Christopher Knight (Peter Brady): Hermosa Beach; I saw him eating pizza with a couple other people at a little pizzeria.

Tom Foley (Politician, US Ambassador to Japan): Tokyo; I was at the entrance to the US Embassy going to get some documents, when a black cadillac with police escort drives up. Out steps Mr. Foley. He was about 8-feet tall.

Bill Walton (Boston Celtics great): Bahamas; We were checking out the casino at a resort in the Bahamas, when Bill Walton stumbled by with some hot, young lady. He could hardly walk, not because he was drunk or anything, but because his knees are totally shot. He was about 9-feet tall.

Danny DeVito (Actor): LAX; while waiting for a flight, Danny DeVito walked by, pulling his carry-on luggage like a regular traveler. He was about 3-feet tall.

Tracy Austin (Tennis star): Front yard of my parents’ house; Tracy Austin used to have friends who lived down the street from us, and one Halloween they were trick-or-treating and ran across our lawn. She didn’t see a low-hanging tree limb, and smacked it with her forehead. I actually can’t remember if I was there, or if my parents just related the story to me cuz I was out getting candy.

Honorable mention: THS (Torrance High School); My high school was where they filmed “Beverly Hills 90210”, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)”, and the 80’s teen movie “Wild Life”.

Rita is on her way, and here in Austin, people have been buying water and canned food. The weather people said that winds could get up to 50-60mph, with heavy rain. Most of our stuff is in storage, so I had to make a stop at the supermarket and home depot this morning to pick up flashlights, matches and candles. Austin is terrible about losing power, even in heavy rain. And the stove in our apartment is electric, which sucks. Our apartment is in a part of town that is on high ground, so and kind of flooding shouldn’t affect us. Austin should be ok, but people are starting to get fidgety. Gas lines were really long already (Mariko and I both filled up already), and there is no more water at the stores. But we should be fine!

This game for the Nintendo DS looks very cool. It’s kind of like a Myst-type adventure game, and I really love the artwork. I hope the soundtrack is good. I find that I like games that play like reading a book. I would love to play a game that is a combination of Detective Story ebook and Choose Your Own Adventure book. The gameplay wouldn’t need to be anything special or complex, but the story would have to be good and lengthy, like novel-sized. Trace Memory has been described as “book-like”, although some have said that it is too short. Hopefully there will be more games like it. You can check out more images from Trace Memory at IGN, and here are some cool wallpapers from the Japanese site, where the game is called “Another Code: Two Memories”. And here’s a link to a really cool “trailer” movie.

OK, this is my dream bike. A Honda CB400SS… available in Japan, but not in the U.S. Bummer… It’s got the classic style, but with updated components. If only they sold this in the States, it would be so cool. I love the white tank with rust-colored graphics. The blue and silver color scheme is nice too.



Check out the cool wallpapers they have at the Japanese Honda site.

So, I have been having tons of fun restoring my C70 these days, and still love it, but I have my eyes on a new (old) bike… a Honda CB350. These were apparently very popular in the early 70’s, and tons of them were sold here in the States. I see ads for them every so often, prices ranging from “free” to $1,500 for a close-to-perfect specimen. I am interested in a “runs, but needs some work” condition model. The motorcycle itself is not really a sought-after classic, but I like the look of it, and it’s small, light. Plus, parts are readily available on ebay, with more availability and cheaper than C70 parts.

One of the things about the C70 is that, although it goes up to 40mph, it takes it’s own sweet time to get up to speed. I guess that’s the trade-off, however, for being so economical (over 100mpg). But being rather slow makes it more dangerous, even for neighborhood riding. The bigger bike is safer, since it can pull away from tailgating cars more easily. With the C70, once you hit 40, that’s pretty much it. The CB350, from what I have read. has enough power and zip to accelerate faster than most traffic. (How’s that for rationalizing)

My thinking at this point is that I need to get fix the C70 to as good a condition as I can, then sell it to fund my CB350 project. It’s funny, but a nice C70 sells for pretty good money. I think I would be able to get $1,000 for it. By my estimate, I have put a grand total of $500 into it, including buying the bike itself.

At any rate, to do more restoration on the C70, I need to wait until we are in the new house, so I can unpack all my tools and C70 parts. Plus, we will have a 2 1/2-car garage, which means more room!!! So, this project will have to wait until 2006. In the meantime, I still have some things I can do to the C70, like work on some electrical issues.

I’ve been eating a lot of Chipotle lately, because both me any my office-mate Chris really like the food there. I always get the carnitas burrito, and vary the salsa they put on it. It’s so good! The other day, we went there for lunch, and we got our lunches for free! The owner of the Chipotle (on Parmer and Metric) told Chris to pick a number between one and ten. Chris said, “Five” and the owner said that our burritos were on the house. How cool was that?

Apparently I am the last person to know, but here is a pic of the Nintendo Revolution, and it’s cool controller. The controller’s got motion sensors in it, so you can use it as a pointer, or a sword, or a baseball bat, etc. Apparently in one of the demos, it was used as a dentist’s drill. The Revolution is going to be able to play all the previous Nintendo games, too, which is very very very cool!!! Here’s an article all about the new controller and game console. There are more pics of the controllers there, too!