He's Turned the Corner

There really is something to that phrase "over the hill". I mention this because on thinking back on Matt's birthday party, I noticed how the older people get the more they really do revert to children in many ways. Infants even. What got this whole train of thought careening down the tracks was that I realized 10pm was pretty early for a birthday part to end. So early bed times led me to notice soft foods, lack of hair (scalp located at least), poor motor skills (automobile- and physiology-wise), diapers, and... well things just snowballed form there. You get the picture. Clearly I'm not the first person to think of this, but I always thought it was a little silly until I gave it some thought.

Matt's party was at Bolsa Chica State Beach. Everyone showed up that evening for the bonfire, but the hardcore group of real friends showed up early that morning. And by that, of course, I mean Matt's surfing buddies. Not me. I was sleeping. But I did show up around lunchtime and Matt and I spent the afternoon playing cornhole, and he even got me out on some waves. It was gnarly, brah. (not really, but I had fun)

The evening was spent, eating, cornholing, and burning a small forest's worth of wood. (Who put Matt in charge of the fire?) Anyway, happy birthday, Matt, good times. (You probably won't read this until the morning, since you're probably in bed already. It's 9:30.)

Pics here, natch.

had to cut the board wax out of my chest hair later

beth told matt he could have cookies before dinner

this didn't suck

OK, That Actually Kinda Makes Sense Now

I was reading about some movie that was being made recently, and the blurb mentioned that the script is based on a children's graphic novel. Up to that point I had always thought about the term "graphic novel" in a not quite accurate way. I had always associated the "graphic" part with gore or violence. I guess this was because when I first started hearing about them I was young enough to still be reading comic books. And the comics I read were pretty tame. But this new "graphic novel" genre was dark and violent and complex. So it made sense to me at the time that it couldn't be called a "comic book" (it wasn't comical after all), hence the new term "graphic novel". And ever since that time I had always took a less literal meaning to the graphic descriptor. So imagine yourself in this frame of refernce and what would you think when you heard there were graphic novels for children. Some of my thoughts:

"What is this world coming to? Parents are pushing children to read novels? And they are graphic?! Filled with sex and violence?!"

I felt pretty dumb a couple seconds later when I figured out what "graphic novel" meant... only 20 years late. I feel a little better about this world now.

Duane Is In the Building

Well, it seems Southern California is slowly, ever so slowly, warming to my excellent taste. Matt and I hopped over to Richmond Street Bar & Grill for dinner tonight, and it seems I will no longer need to keep a jar of peanut butter in my glove compartment. After bringing in my own peanut butter for many burgers and fielding many inquiries, the staff has decided to keep their own stock. Not only that, but they are even featuring it as the special many Fridays. While it's not quite the word famous Duane Purvis All-American Burger at the world famous Triple XXX family restaurant, it is the best burger in town. Ironically on the way over tonight Matt said everyone at the Grill likely thought I was a big jerk for bringing my own peanut butter in. Turns out the reason it's available now is some of the staff tried it and loved it. So suck on that, Matt.

peanut butter burger w/ bacon, yum

matt finally had a burger and, you guessed it, it's the
"ham dog", burger + hot dog, he wanted me to post
this for erik

Squattin' and Cornholin'

Saturday I kept Jeff company while he staked out a fire pit at Dockweiler for his daughter's birthday party. My original plan was to go camping, but then Jeff mentioned last week at lunch that he had to be at the beach all day reserving the party spot. And since he made this pathetic, sad face when he said so, I had no choice but to cancel my plans and keep him company at the beach. (Not really. My lack of planning resulted in a couple hours of futile research on a camping spot Thursday night. Besides everywhere I was looking called for a "drizzly" weekend, and I'm a big weenie.)

Actually hanging out at the beach all day is too bad a way to spend your Saturday, I suppose. I guess me complaining about that is a bit akin to Hawaiians complaining about the weather. Liiiight winds!!! You complete me, Triumph. Indeed, I had a really good time, and, unlike Jeff, I got to leave when the teenagers showed up. (No offense, Allie.) We got to sit around talking about nerd stuff, and even got Rinaldi's delivered to the beach. Most of our order anyway. But the highlight and main activity of the day was, of course, practicing our cornhole skills. Check it out:

Cornholin' from Ryan Tuttle on Vimeo.

Sure, it's not quite a masterpiece as this:



...but I still think it's cool. I'll be lugging the boards along again this weekend to Matt's birthday bonfire. We'll see if anyone there can beat me. Pics.

my morning

jeff "splitting" wood; yes, that's the knife that cut my
thumb open; jeff walked away unscathed

cornhole and bikinis; it really
doesn't get much better

You Don't Know Jack

...but I didn't either. At least any more than the stats I gave you all before. But now I do. A little. Matt and I brought some dinner (Pinkie's brisket) over to the Mellquist bunker (Texas) Tuesday night. Normally I get my fill of Erik during the work day, but he's been slacking off recently. Tolerating Erik was a fair price to meet Jack, though (you all know how I love holding newborns!).

Erik and Emily look to be doing swell - aside from a newfound propensity for discussing poop and making me altogether uncomfortable (OK, maybe that second one isn't new). And Jack is doing great aside for that squinty left eye, but I'm told that will get better. More pics here.

It Runs In the Family

Several weeks ago, Mom and I were talking about my photos and things, and she brought up that Grandpa Wood dabbled in photography. I hadn't heard that before, but Mom was able to root around and find a couple of his pictures. She actually took photos of the pictures, but the camera flash didn't do so well with the glossy prints. (Thanks anyway, Ma. It actually gave them an artsy look.) I told Mom I'd really like to see more of them sometime, and a couple weeks ago I received an envelope from Grandma Timmons with some photos enclosed, including the two Mom snapped photos of before. Anyway, I scanned them in, and here they are. Pretty cool, huh? Grandma says she has a bunch more she hopes to go through when she retires (do it already!), and that would be cool to do. Thanks, Grandma and Mom!

self portrait

december, 1963

Wasn't That the Girl's Name On Boy Meets World?

Like I said, I've been getting caught up around here from being away for a week, but the clouds were just to super duper neat-o for me to stay inside Saturday. I think what really convinced me was having lunch with Jeff. Like a sucker, he had to work, so I figured the least I could do was rub it in his face. Literally. The least I could do. To be fair, he probably deserves it for throwing cats.

Anyway, took a drive up to Topanga (see?) Canyon State Park for a hike to Parker Mesa Overlook. It was a really nice hike. Six miles round trip with a lot of up and down so I could get a nice lather worked up in and out.

The overlook is melt-your-face beautiful with a panoramic view from downtown to the bay to the hills of Malibu. Actually, the view all the way up is pretty incredible.

trail ends here

looking the other direction

I even got to see some wildlife. Three deer on the way in, and four on the way out. And a scorpion to add an element of danger (not really). The only bad part was the two young ladies that showed up at the overlook a few minutes after me gossiping about which boy is the hottest. Puh-lease. Annoying.

I also got my first chance to use my new intervalometer for this time lapse video. I think I got pretty lucky. I didn't think the clouds were moving anywhere near fast enough. This is about 900 shots at one second intervals.

Topanga Canyon Time Lapse from Ryan Tuttle on Vimeo.

The rest of the gallery (including some pretty cool panos) is here.

Schmellquist Mellquist

Congratulations to Erik and Emily. Jack David Mellquist arrived Wednesday night at 6:35pm. For the ladies, the stats are: 7 lb, 14oz and 19 in. Stats. Sheesh. Welcome to the real world, Jack. Start pulling your weight. Should be easy right now since you're not even double digits... then again your skeleton hasn't fully formed, so...

Nice work, Em.

Erik finally being useful.

Silver Lining

"...to whoever or whatever decided
that this world
and all our lives
would be such a good idea
nice work.
especially on that sun into the ocean thing
-todd snider
liner notes to The Devil You Know

I was in a bit of a sour mood all last week. Partly because I was tired and playing catching after being gone the entire week before. It didn't help returning back to LA with gloomy weather. But it cleared up later in the week, and we got some sweet fluffy clouds for the weekend. Everything is better with blue skies and fluffy clouds. I'm good now. Took these on a bike ride after work Friday. It didn't suck.

Ballgame, Beach, and Burgers With the McIntosh's

It's been a while, but thing have been a little busy here (and there) the last week and a half or so. I was gone on business all last week (more on that another time), but before I left (on the red eye the night of Memorial Day) I met Jenny and Dave in San Diego. Dave was in town for a conference last week, and Jenny came along for a few days. I'm still a little tired from the trip so this will be a little shorter than usual - I think.

On the way down to meet them I stopped by and visited with my friends The Waterman's (Ryan, Julie, and Ben) in nearby Point Loma. I worked with Julie one summer in college, and their wedding was one of the first things I did after moving to LA. They've been offering for me to come down and visit for years now, and like the idiot I am, I failed to do so. I say idiot because San Diego is gorgeous. The weather is nicer than LA, and their sky is better by leaps and bounds. No smog. Fluffy clouds. All things I like. Not to mention they formerly lived on Coronado Island, one of the more unique places in San Diego, if not southern California. But their new place in Point Loma is very cool as well. It's an old Italian villa with lots of character. I love it. Good to see the Waterman's as well to catch up, Home Depot, and BBQ.

Casa Bella

From Point Loma to downtown should have only taken 20 minutes, but thanks to some awful directions and the closure of many streets, it took, well, just a little while longer. I made it over to Jenny and Dave in time for the ballgame but not for batting practice. I'm not sure if the Cubs made it for batting practice either because they couldn't hit anything. Ooooooohh... Cubs burn! Sorry Dave, thanks for the ticket though, guys! The game was pretty fun. Good crowd. Nice seats. Beatiful sky overhead. Stone IPA at the concessions. And Dave got his 5 for $5.

Petco Park (not a dog park)

Sunday, Jenny and Dave wanted to go to the zoo, but they were kind enough to tool around with me instead since I wasn't super pumped about a zoo trip. Even though it's supposed to be awesome. Again, wandering without much of a map, we ended up in La Jolla Cove which is one of the premiere beaches in SoCal. It did not dissapoint. Really cool place. I'd write more about it, but I'm tired, and this is already longer than I thought it would be. (I write slow.)

La Jolla Cove

The last stop of the weekend was Hodad's in Ocean Beach. I had been alerted to a CNN.com article on America's five best burgers and this was on the list (along with XXX's own Duane Purvis All-American Burger). It was a (huge) excellent burger, but the unique thing about Hodad's is the bacon patty. It was a little more than I could swallow, but a really good burger nonetheless. Maybe go for thie single next time. Definitely worth the trip if you're close. Or even reasonably close.

Hodad's

More pics here.