Happy 2005 world! I'm back from Cali, and nothing was stolen! Yes!

My trip to California became a whirlwind trip of Las Vegas, Palm Springs, Mt Wilson, and San Diego. Vegas was incredible. Unbelievable! I'm currently accepting applications for future roadtrips/planetrips down there in the summer. My sister's family and I stayed at Excalibur, which is a freaking castle. By day - looking at simply incredible sights with the kids. By night, dodging propositions from the strip's sultry ladies. I ate an awesome hotdog made of hamburger w/ nacho cheese at 3:00am, then walked all around the strip with my free drink. You can do that there! I also touched a $6,000 sweater. It was probably the softest thing I've ever touched... I think it was made out of... angel feathers! Nothing impressed me more than the Paris and Venetian hotels/casinos... unbelievable. The inside looks like you're outside! Paris was all in French! There's a friggin' canal in the middle of the Venetian! I could write a whole entry on those places. Whoa Blossom, Whoa.

The rest stays in Vegas.

Christmas was really nice for me, since I got to spend it w/ my sister's Guatamalan family (it's my family too but still feels fresh) which was roughly 30 people. My nieces are great too - I taught some circus moves to my oldest niece, who is 8, and that girl is starting to stand on her head like a pro.

I shared a great moment with the kids while helping them color their Christmas reindeer. I told them how, in first grade, my ruthless elementary teacher told me I wasn't very good at coloring.

"Really? Your teacher said that?"
"Yeah, can you believe it?"
"I think you color really good Uncle Michael!"
"Thanks, well I've gotten better since then."
"And it's so hard to color with a pen! I think that looks really good."

Those little girls made me believe I can color again.

Sandy Eggos was fun too - I got to see Andrea and EBNY, along with the family Andrea, which is always nice. Hot tub, zoo, giant pandas, and I got to rent a really sweet car - a new, firey red Monte Carlo. I've never driven a red car before - it really does change your attitude and similarly make your insurance go up. There was also a crazy storm the last day I was there which was just weird.

I also got food poisoning right before I came home. It wasn't scallops of doom this time - instead, breakfast burritos from a Burbank McDonald's at 4:00am. I've gotta stop eating at that time of night. Anyway, it really knocked me out, but luckily I was finally feeling good again just in time to completely intoxicate myself for 2005.

You know what sucks? Tsunamis. I'm really bummed out about what happened to our friends in the east. I donated some money to OxFam, for what it's worth, and am psyched to see that so many big companies (Amazon, Microsoft, Bill + Melinda Gates, etc) are donating so kindly to the cause.

Some randomness... it looks like Garhan was in the news. Commodore just got purchased by yet another company, too. Those guys need to step up.

Garden State was such a good movie. I think I just might own it today, Mr. Television Voice.

To fulfill another mike.karikas.com wish, here is the excellent inquiry Andrea and EBNY found outside of a church. I think that's what happened - is that right?