Month: November 2005

Cloudy Arrival

The clouds were ominious when we arrived. Dark, swift clouds contrasted deeply with a bright sunset. We arrived at Honolulu to be greeted by an American Airlines staffer with lei. We had no idea that our super discount package included it. We were totally dazed – the 12 hour flight made those butt-in-seat miles really do a number to the tail bones, and there was a Hawaiian couple with 2 young kids that were bobbing around the whole trip. It was a good thing that we swapped seats with them. The movie was “Must Love Dogs”, which wasn’t that hot either.

The compact car that we got was a full sized Impala, which was more than enough car for what we wanted. We checked in and got upgraded to an ocean view room on the 23rd floor – which was nice and quiet, but I knew this going in that an ocean-view room doesn’t really mean much in the dark.

We were starving when we arrived, so we went to the sushi buffet known as Todai. The air conditioning wasn’t working, but it just meant that they got the fish out there much faster (their chilling tables were working). Really really good – we were stuffed.

Hit the mandatory ABC store to get supplies, and then passed out.

Middle of the Week

So, Tuesday night:

On CBS, I watched “NCIS” – the “JAG” spinoff. There’s something about this show that I can’t help liking. Actor Mark Harmon – well, geez, you could never go wrong with Mark Harmon (that his Secret Service character was killed off so badly yet valiantly on “West Wing” was really sad). Actor Michael Weatherly (playing Special Agent DiNozzo) is a cutie (well, his character on “Dark Angel” was a cutie until the show got tiresome). And, the cast has a nice chemistry – one feels that they like working with each other and it makes their group of characters feel like a family too. It’s not a bad show, but if I have to keep seeing ex-JAG actors show up, geez, now that’ll be annoying.

On FOX, The Return of Dr. House! House deals with Dr. Sebastian, a sanctimonious self-righteous doc who is trying to end TB in Africa, only to develop TB himself and something heart condition. House, of course, can’t avoid being an annoying S.O.B. Actor Ron Livingston playing the rival doctor (who’s a lousy patient – no surprise, whoever heard of a doctor who’s a good patient? House himself sucked as a patient) – well, he’s a cutie of an actor… Well, all fun. Dr. Foreman got himself (and thus House) into trouble, and Dr. Chase may never go very far with Dr. Cameron, who’s a sucker for older, attractive male doctors who are asses. 😉

Star Wars III DVD is coming — I still get a kick out of the clip in that commercial of Obi Wan Kenobi yelling in anguish, “You were the Chosen One!!” in the final fight scene with Anakin Skywalker. (and, yeah, Ewan McGregor’s another cutie…)

The passing of Michael Piller, the executive producer of much Star Trek: The Next Generation, (co-creator of) Deep Space Nine, and an exec-producer of Voyager.

LAX

We make it to Los Angeles in a relatively good shape. We made back the 20 minutes that we lost leaving late from JFK, and the landing was pretty soft. However, my tail bone is just killing me. We’re hungry, but the only two food choices at the terminal are Burger King and Chili’s. P- decides that the answer is to ask the See’s Candies lady, who recommends the Chili’s hands down.

The wait for tables was really too much – we were able to squeeze in at the bar. P- got a chicken breast dish that she thought was going to be a wrap, but was actually on a roll. I got the Phily Cheese Steak, which was actually quite good, except the guy sitting to my left, who was obviously inebriated, coughed into my dish. At least I had finished the sandwich ahead of time.

Onward to Honolulu….