3 Day Weekend... Woo WhooooO!!

You Gotta Comment?

Over the past few weeks, Ive occationally gotten people that leave mean comments on my poll question comment board. Things like "Thorpe is a loser", ect. Then when i edit the comment or delete it they actually have the nerve to write back on there upset about it. Well to them I only write back, screw you. If you dont like me or my site, DO NOT VISIT IT. Nobody makes you. Yet, they seem to keep coming back. And I do know its the same people each time. My domain stats tell me what ISP they come from. So either they have an obession with me... or just the need for attention. This is about the extent of attention they will get. So, if you really have a problem with me, or my website... leave me a private message on my Guest Book. Or do yourself a favor and just stop visiting, its making you look like the loser.

... On the Plus side

Had a men's league soccer game last night at Inwood. We were playing the first place team in the first round of the playoffs. Now, my team has had a dismal season and we're pretty much ready to get this one over with so we can start a new one. So we didn't have big expectations. Well, at half time they are only winning 1-0. Not bad. Im starting to think we have a chance. I thought too soon. Before i know it we're down 4-0, and things are looking about what we expected them to. Then, comes this "plus" side i spoke of. I steal the ball from their defender at midfield and evade another defender which leaves me on the far right side of the field, about 15 yards from the goal. I wind up and hit a perfect shot to the far upper corner of the goal. I even surprised myself on that one! Ok, we're still down 4-1. Minutes later, our goalie Josh for some reason take off up the field with the ball. I move with him expecting the pass but he's set on getting a shot off. He takes his shot from the yellow line and it hits just wide left of the goal. Their keeper comes out but misses the rebound. I didn't. A quick one touch shot off my right foot and it's 4-2. We're all getting tired because we have only one sub on the bench. The other team had 4 or 5 at least and it was showing! A couple minutes after that second goal, I get the ball again very close to their net. My shot goes wide but my teammate Bay is there to try and rebound it in. His shot hits a defender and arc's up over the goalie's head back to the center. I outjumped my defender and headed it home for my 3rd goal of the night! They ended up scoring one more on us to make it 5-3 final. But we started to make a comeback, and it had been a while since i'd tallied 3 goals in a game. I guess that's my plus side.

The Scoop

Ok, now that I have more time to write and divulge the details of my trip... here it goes:

Friday:

My plane leaves DFW at 8:30am and arrives at Long Beach airport at 9:20 local time. Although the flight was 2.5 hours, the time difference only sets me back one hour in flight. Nice. My buddy Dan meets me at the gate and we head off to get some breakfast. We stop at a pier in Redondo Beach at eat at the "Redondo Beach Coffee Shop". While I stuff my face with a plate of 4 huge pancakes, Dan goes on to tell me about a scene from the new Fox TV show "OC" which was recently shot in the very coffee shop where we were eating at. Very interesting. From there it was off to his apartment to change clothes, unpack and relax for a bit. About an hour later, I was playing soccer with a group of guys from his office. Every monday and friday they get together on their lunch break and play soccer. That was a lot of fun! After soccer, it was back to his place to get cleaned up and chill for a bit longer. From there it was off to Hollywood! We saw a movie at the famous Mannes Chinese Theater, saw the sidewalk of stars and walked all over Hollywood Blvd and Vine. There were some VERY interesting people to be seen. Around 9pm, Dan and I headed down to Hermosa Beach, to a place called Paradise Sushi. The place was run by an amusing little Japanese guy, that insisted that Dan drink shots of Saki with him. Apparently, Dan and the guys are regulars there and normally drink saki with him. Anyhow, the sushi was excellent and it was a fun time.

Saturday:

Saturday started out very relaxing. Dan, his roomate Dustin and myself packed up our gear and headed down to the beach. Since he lives within walking distance of the beach, it was no big trip. The water was a little chilly but was very refreshing. Body surfing was a blast and I had forgotten how fun it was to crash thru the large surf waves. We chilled on the beach, sunbathing and taking pictures for a couple hours. Then Dan and I headed back to his place, got cleaned up and headed for Venice Beach. Now, those of you who have never been to Venice Beach have to at least know its a freak show! Ive never seen so many bums running so many money making scams for cash. If they worked half as hard at a real job as they do with these scams, they'd be very well off. So we walked around there for a couple hours taking pictures, then it was off to Santa Monica. Once there we grabbed an early dinner at Hooters. Mmmmm... wings. Then took a walk down to the amusment park pier. We were walking out onto the pier looking out over the beach when i noticed people were still swimming even when it was almost totally pitch black out. Right as I thought that, a beach patrol truck rolled up and yelled at them over the loud speaker, "You had 14 hours of daylight to swim. Get out!!". I thought that was pretty funny. After returning from Santa Monica, Dan and I headed over to one of his co-workers places to hang out at a poker night party. By the time we got back to his place, i was beat!

Sunday:

Sunday was our trip down to San Diego to visit our Navy friend and former college buddy, Zach. We arrived at his place and chatted awhile about his time spent on a destroyer during the recent Gulf War. Then it was off to the Naval ship yards and Port. It was cool to see the large war ships pulled into dock. And we also got to see the recently retired USS Constalation in port. This huge aircraft carrier made all other boats look tiny! Zach gave us a tour of San Diego, which I must say is one of the cleanest cities I saw in California. It also wasnt as crowded as the others. Around 7:30, it was time to head north back up to L.A. What we did not count on is a 3 hour, solid traffic jam the entire way! Not till we hit the toll road did we move more than 20 mph. It was a long, tiring trip to say the least. But at least I returned with a camera full of pictures.

Monday:

Monday was really just a day to relax. We slept in and then got up to play more soccer with his coworkers. Of course while in town, Dan needed my services to fix his PC. (Note to Dan, get a new computer. Yours has had it.) Then the evening was spent with Dan, Dustin and Jason back at Paradise Sushi. More fun times and good sushi! We got home about 11 and all headed off to bed since it was a work day for them and I had an early flight.

Tuesday:

Alas my final day was here. I was up and off the couch by 7am and by 7:30 we were headed to the airport. I had forgotten how thorough the security had become. They had take off my shoes and my belt for a search. Then they swabbed my laptop for explosives and checked out my digital camera. The 2.5 hour flight home was uneventful but tiring. I got home, took a nap then headed off to my Tuesday night soccer game. We lost by a goal. What an anti climatic ending to my great trip. Oh well.

Im Back!!!!

You may (or may not) have noticed that I had not updated Thorpeland or my blog in a few days. That was because I was out visiting sunny California and my friend Dan. The trip was GREAT!! I am preparing the pictures I will soon be uploading to the site for all to see. So stay tuned and check back over the next couple days!

Techie Time

Okay, for those of you who have no interest in internet tech talk... leave now. (waiting...) Alright, they are gone. So the rest of you who have stayed to read on must be somewhat curious about what I have to say this week! Ok here's the situation: you have an program such as a web server, ftp server, chat app, web cam, VOIP app and you need a static IP address but your stupid ISP wants to nail you another $10 to $20 a month per IP. Pay it? Yeah right. There are services out there on the far reaches of this here internet that offer you the ability to bind your DHCP address to a domain name for all humans and non-humans to use. What this means is you just give out your domain name and let the program do the rest. No need to worry about a constantly changing IP address. And best of all... its FREE. Yup, the four letter word we all love. Two sites to check out off hand are www.selfhost.com and www.no-ip.com. Both offer free sign up and use. The selfhost site even offers a list of "freeware" to make use of your new found static life. So, if you know what your doing this can open up an all new world for home pc usefulness. Be sure to check it out!
On a similar note, craig and I tested these services recently while doing some online gaming. At the same time we got to test another great program called Haxial Netfone. If you need a cross platform voice, in-game program be sure to give www.haxial.com a look. The program is called Netfone, so you have to dig around in their downloads for it. The program works great for Mac and PC's. You can use it as a regular netphone or as background program to talk to your teamates during multiplayer matches. When used in combination with the selfhost or No-IP sites, all who call you only need to know your domain name, not an ever changing IP address. So let DNS do the walking!

A Special Drink

So last Friday, my friend Craig and I are having lunch at a local Chili's restaraunt. When asked what we would like to drink, we both requested water. The waitor brings back our waters and we continue are discussion as we beging to drink. Suddenly I look up at Craig while he's talking and there is a piece of tortilla chip sticking out of his lips. He quickly notices this too and looks at his glass in confusion. What he finds is a glass of water filled with floating, broken tortilla chips. I asked him how he ordered such a special drink?? I just wish I had my camera with me when he was talking to me with chips stuck to his mouth. A pretty hilarious site. We told the waitor and he quickly brought craig another water. I could just hear his tip dropping.

Check out

Be sure to check out www.dustinhall.com. He's an awesome buddy of mine. His site is under construction, so this may motivate him to fix it up. Stay cool dustin!!!

Close to Riches

Ok, maybe not. I bought 4 tickets to saturday's lottery drawing. I did not win. Surprised? Not really. Although it was a paltry $4 Million, I think I could have still had some fun. Someone finally won the $47 Million drawing, last Wednesday. That's the one I really wanted to win. It really is depressing when you buy your ticket and find out you didn't even match one of the 6 numbers.
This past weekend turned out to be pretty fun. Friday night, Valerie and I went and saw American Pie 3. One word, Hilarious! If you want to laugh your butt off until tears are coming out of your eyes, go see this movie. If you are easily offended, a prude, a lame-O, a bible beater or anyone else who does not like crude humor... don't see the movie, you wont like it. Sunday Me, Valerie and Jimmy headed out to the lake to get in at least one day of jetskiing. As we arrived at the lake, the sky's were dark with storm clouds and the wind was wiping up the water. I thought, well we're out here might as well ride! So we set off. We rode out to Party Cove. It was fairly empty. About 6 or 7 boats only. It was a beating riding out there. We had to ride into the wind, hitting every wave head on. But on the way back was something special. We were riding in the direction of the wind and waves. I have NEVER seen waves and swells this large on a lake before!! My jetski would dip down in one swell and jimmy's jetski would disapear out of my view. Then the slightest bit of throttle would send me air born as i came out of the swell. Then I noticed the large waves rolling towards shore. These waves had white caps that crested about 4 to 6 feet high and would crash over as they rolled towards the shore. I quickly found if i rode head on into one, then cut the jetski sharp and gunned the throttle, I could bank off the top of the wave and ride it like a surfer would. It was an incredible feeling to have the jetski being lifted up and carried by these large waves!! During all of this, we were being hit in the face by so much water spray we could barely see the next wave coming. In fact, Jimmy almost went over his handle bars! He jumped one wave and the spray blinded him. When he hit the water there was already another large wave coming. He slammed into it and it threw him forward. Luckily he regained control and stayed up.

Oh Glorious Friday!

Well the week just sped by and it's now Friday. Nothing too eventfull this week. Online action has been going strong with Craig hosting regular Ghost Recon missions and multiplayer firefights. If you have this game and want to get in on the action, email me for details (server IP, ect.). Weekend plans are still wide open. It's looking like Valerie and I are going to see the new American Pie 3 movie tonight. Should be funny.