I went to the movies tonight to see Prometheus. I've been excited

about this one. It was good. I can't wait for it to come out on Blu-ray

so I can watch it again and maybe pick up on a few more things.

The photo above shows my IMAX 3D glasses, my ticket stub, and yes,

that piece of paper was attached to a coupon for ten dollars off my ticket. I got the

coupon when I bought Alien on Blu-ray. So my grand total for seeing

this movie in IMAX 3D was..... TWO FREAKIN DOLLARS.
A rockin good deal says I.

Oh, and in the lower left hand corner is a container with salt in it. I bring it

to season my popcorn to suit my taste buds. I am a nerd like that. There is also

a Kenner Queen Alien toy (not accurate at all) that I bought a few weeks ago.

Anyway, there was a fun time had by all (me).

Several years ago I visited San Francisco with some friends. Early

one morning there was a ruckus (I think I should get extra points for using the word

ruckus in a sentence) across the way from the hotel we were staying at.

The dark window you see there was the site of an early morning fire.

I believe this was about eight floors up.

San Francisco is a beautiful city (politics aside), but this photo makes the place

look really depressing.

I really like this hybrid fence.

You can speculate on the reasons for it till the cows come home.

And I'm bettin that there are cows around here somewhere.

My jury duty was completed today. I don't know if others

would find it interesting and cool, and I don't know if I would

find it to be interesting and cool every time, but this time around

was just awesome. I found it to be a wonderful experience.

I've been in jury pools many times over many years, and I've been

questioned as a perspective juror more than once, but this was the

first time I had actually been chosen as a juror for a (criminal) trial.

I took the above photo with my iPod as I was sitting in the hallway

waiting to be called back into the courtroom.

The other day I spotted this cool little Bart Simpson

playing air guitar. He was just kind of sitting there by

himself and was only a few dollars so I brought him home.

The date on him says 1999 and he's made of that solid

hard/soft plastic stuff.

I can hear him saying, "C'mon Homer! Drums man, drums!"

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On Tuesday, March 20 of this year I had posted a photo of

a waterfall running down some steps at Balboa Park in

San Diego, California. Well, it's so warm here today I

decided to try and cool off a little by putting that photograph into

motion. It's a very short video, all my videos are short. But

I am liking the fantasy of walking barefoot in that water.

About a year ago I was lucky enough to attend a performance

at a very small venue given by Debbie Reynolds. It was totally fantastic.

She really is a superstar (in most circles). She sang and reminisced about

her acting days with the likes of Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire and Donald O'Connor.

She more than once (with humor) talked about her less than desirable marriage to

Eddie Fisher. After the performance I was able to meet with her and she

autographed a program to me.

And as she put it, for the younger folks who don't have a clue as to who Debbie

Reynolds is, she is Princess Leia's real mom.

To me, always a welcome sight. Added bonus points for cleanliness,

a rare occurrence I admit. But as the saying goes, never pass up a

chance to use the restroom. These were in a parking lot that was used

for a wine tasting event (that I did not attend, just passing through).

Just on the off chance you don't know who my

favorite Captain is.

And yeah, my room was pretty warm. Probably made that

way by me thinking about who my favorite Captain is.

A few years ago as I was driving down the freeway, the car

in front of me kicked up a big chunk of steel of some kind

and my car's windshield was the (un)lucky recipient of the

impact. The whole interior of the car was sprayed with glass

and I must have closed my eyes at just the right time because

how I didn't get any glass in them is beyond me.

Well, today I feel even more fortunate to be writing this because

on my way home from jury duty I had a run in with a 10 foot tall

 aluminum ladder. It was lying flat and  lengthwise in the middle

 of the lane making it very difficult to determine just what was in my path.

 I hit it full on. My car went airborne, then landed and started to fishtail.

I was able to recover and was just shaken up a bit. Quite a bit.

Our mechanic's first impression is that the car will be declared totalled.

I am a good driver. This was unavoidable.

It's been a long day.

This is a side entrance to the Spreckels Organ Pavilion in

Balboa Park in San Diego, California. The Pavilion was built

in I think 1914 and it is just beautiful. It was built expressly for a large pipe

organ that is the center piece of the Pavilion. There have been free

Sunday concerts here featuring the organ music since 1917.

There are photos on the Internet of this place when men were wearing

top hats and women were wearing bustles. This is another one of those

places that you just have to visit when in San Diego. I will eventually post

photos of the main pavilion and stage.

Oh yes, and the name Spreckels is the sugar Spreckels you have probably heard

of. The organ was donated by the family in 1914.

Just another parking lot picture I took recently.

I spend a lot of time in parking lots, I guess.

It's getting to be that time again. Time to plant your vegetables, if you

do that sort of thing. I have in the past, but I just have no time for a personal
garden these days. I took the above photo when we were buying irrigation
parts for our property earlier this week.

And like I wrote, a few years ago I had a crop of tomatoes that just kept

coming and coming and coming. I had tomatoes coming out of my ears

and they were really good. For some reason, the green tomato worms

(ghastly, those things) were absent from my crop.

The above photo shows a couple of those tomatoes and
 also a few onions I grew.

Hello Big Choice. I want you.

I want to step up to you and hold you in my hands

and move you and I want to surrender what little I have in

the hope that you will reward me.

"You will never have me."

Dang nabbit.

Oh look! Some carefree folks took advantage of our

beautiful weather and had themselves a parking lot picnic!

And that's just plain AWESOME!

I like to take pictures of... "unusual" things.

I was sitting in the passenger seat of our car the other day when the

driver of the SUV parked on my side loaded up her car and kid, then

drove away after purposefully leaving her shopping cart right there just
inches from my door. It was then impossible for me to get out of the car.
And yes, she knew I was there.

Unusual?

This is an American flag that my son made when he was

in maybe the first or second grade. I can't remember exactly

which. All I know is that I fell in love with it and had to frame it.

It be one of me most prized treasures says I.

This is apropos of my post today (apropos, $5 word that) because

I have been busy the last few days doing my civic duty by serving on

a jury. And it looks like this may be going on for the next week to two weeks.

I am a reluctant proud to do my duty American. You may relate.

So if my posts slow down a bit, that thar be the reason.

When I was (much) younger some friends and I had

a couple of rabbits. Their names were Pico and Sepulveda.

If you know the Los Angeles area, or if you ever listened

to Dr. Demento on KMET (ta-weedle-dee), this means something

to you.

All I remember about these two rabbits is that they were kind of mean.

Or maybe I'm just too sensitive. Heh heh.

Just movin' on down the highway on

a sunny June day...

A couple of Frank Sinatra tickets that went unused.

I had seen him at the Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles

(back when it was still outdoors)  the previous night (or

thereabouts) and like an idiot, I just didn't go back for

this show. I am still full of regret that I passed on this one.

I took this picture when I was in high school. I was in a photography

class and on this day the instructor said, "Today is still life day. Go

out and take some pictures." So I got into my car, drove over to

Marina Del Rey (California) and took some pictures. I am not a good

photographer, but I was pretty good at following instructions, especially

when they involved leaving class.

Skip this one if bugs, bug you.

They do me. This kind of makes my skin crawl.

It's a centipede that was found by the fireplace in a

bedroom here. It was dead, but not too many days before,

a live one was spotted in the bathroom.

This one is 2.5 inches long.

I never, EVER walk barefoot in this house.

Not upstairs. Not downstairs.

Happy Memorial Day.

Support and honor our Armed Forces.

The photo is another from the Memorial Day parade

I've attended in the past.

Yesterday I wrote of the Memorial Day parade that I used

to attend with my family. Today I have another picture from

that parade. I cannot remember the branch of law enforcement

that this woman is with, but one thing is for certain:

She is badass (and yes, awesome).

This is another scan from a film photograph I took.

I used to go to this parade held on the Saturday before Memorial Day.

It was small town and just about anybody could be in it. All you had

to do was sign up, I think. We used to have an outdoor pancake breakfast

then take our chairs over to the curb and watch the parade. It was a lot of fun.

 I took this picture quite a few years ago with a film camera and this is

a scan so the quality is not that good. But the subject matter is a cowgirl

and cowgirls are awesome. So there ya go.

The clouds were beautiful at around 5 PM today.

It's too bad our flag was not up the pole.

...another from my Gene Autry Museum of Western Heritage visit.

This is William H. Bonney who was born William Henry McCarty, Jr.

but known to most folks as Billy the Kid. Legend says William killed 21 men

before he himself was gunned down by Sheriff Pat Garrett at the age of 21. But

his kills were likely closer to 4 to 9.

This guy doesn't look a whole lot like the photos I've seen of Billy (he looks more
like James Coburn to me), but that is supposed to be his actual rifle which I
 believe is a Winchester 73' which was his favorite model.

If I could say just one thing to this guy it would be,

"I just want to tell you that you're sitting in my seat."

When I came home from the movies last night I

spotted this cantaloupe that had been placed in this

bowl and the first thing I thought was, "Man, that

looks like something that a facehugger is gonna pop out of."

I know... People who relate everything to movies

bug me too. But what can I say? I suppose it is my

lot in life for the time being.

I've been waiting for it, and tonight I am going to see

The Avengers with the ever so.... ever so.... Robert Downey Jr.

It is playing in 2D, 3D and IMAX 3D. I think I will play

the middle and see it in 3D.

Pictured above is a toy Iron Man who says things like,

"I am IRON MAN!", "Iron Man armor, combat ready! *sound effect*"

and "I am played by Robert Downey Jr. and my main directive is to

ensure the safety, happiness and *ahem*... well being of Lizzy Tex Borden."

What a kooky toy.

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I did go see The Avengers tonight and it was pretty good.
LOTS of action. LOTS.
Iron Man/Tony Stark is of course my favorite character. Iron Man
is bad ass. And cool. And ever so... ever so... Well, just ever so. But
I suppose we've covered that ground already. You can have your
Thor and your Captain America. It's nights like this that
I wish my name were Pepper.

I will be for sure picking this up when it comes out on Blu-ray.

I went to see some movie at a Regal Theater, I can't remember which movie

it was but they had this advertisement for Alice in Wonderland with Johnny Depp

up in the hallway. I couldn't wait to see the movie and when it came out and

I did, I was a little underwhelmed. I did buy the movie and need to watch it

again. The wall art is pretty awsome.

I always like the dormouse in Alice

movies. He is really weird and is high or something.

I have this wooden frame that I use for different pictures.

Whenever the mood strikes me, I change the photo in it.

The last photo was an 8x10 from the movie Tombstone.

This time around it is a photo of the entrance to Camp Crystal

Lake, AKA Camp Blood from, you guessed it, Friday the 13th.

Camp Crystal Lake is an actual camp in New Jersey for the

Boy Scouts of America. It is called Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco.

From what I understand, the camp doesn't exactly embrace the fact

that Friday the 13th was filmed there, but it doesn't seem to bother

them that much either.  It is private property and fans should not

attempt to tresspass in an effort to visit the

hallowed (to some of us) ground.

I don't have the time or the money and at this point in my

life I am not responsible enough to have the little doggie that

I would really like to have. That and the coyotes around here would

have them for brunch. So instead I have pets from Ross, The 99 Cent

Store and Michael's. My dog on the left is Buddy (cause he's my buddy).

The little dog is B.J. for Buddy Jr, and the turtles have no names but the

littlest one is so cute you can just eat him up. But figuratively only, not eat him

up like in Cannibal Holocaust.

For those of you who wonder what an old school Spyderco

Tri-Angle Sharpmaker looks like (and I know there are a LOT

of you), this is it. I bought this one at a gun show way before it was

an old school Spyderco Tri-Angle Sharpmaker. It came with the

(not very comprehensive) instruction manual that I think is not
included with the newer models, although I could be wrong about that.
I use more than one method of sharpening and I am far from great at it.
But I get edges that work for me. I am not a hardcore knife sharpener.

The knife is of course a Ka-Bar U.S.M.C. fighting/utility knife. A
rock-n-roller to be certain.

I love to collect period law enforcement badges and here

is one that I bought quite a few years ago at a gun show.

I was told by the maker that he made the badges for the

movie "Wyatt Earp" and I am inclined to believe him. These

are professional grade badges from front to back. This is a scan

of the badge, not a photograph.

I have several other badges that may make their way to

 my home here at one time or another.

Today was dental day and after an hour and forty five

minutes of work I was out of it. So tonight I just decided to

lay in bed (AKA Tex Cinema) and watch a few movies. On

tonight's bill was the Blu-ray of Apocalypse (my all time

favorite movie) Now (not the redux) and then Halloween 5 (pictured above).

I was pretty much dozing off during both movies but I did manage

to see the majority of each of them. Now, if the headache would

just take a hike joy would ensue. Only two more dental visits scheduled

for this time around. Hoo-RAH!

Birds do it. Bees do it. And apparently, according to this

exterminator, rodents and bugs do it. And that's good to know.

In other news of the day, I had my follow up dental appointment

today. Here are my souvenirs. The folded up paper on the left

is a quote for the work that I need done to keep my choppers in

semi-fine condition. The details printed on that sheet caused me

to shed a few discreet (I hope) tears in the office. A rare event.

I really do take care of my teeth, every day. I am in the throes

of not experiencing a fortuitous run of good luck

The start of this emergency treatment begins tomorrow.

An interesting bridge on Interstate 15 between Temecula

and San Diego, California. I don't know anything about it.

They are out this year. Folks are coming across them

left and right. My mom took this picture with her camera

 a week or two ago. You have to remain really vigilant even

walking around the house.

Here's a San Diego Zoo Wild Animal Park maintenance

truck driving into an entrance from the street. Pretty low

tech over here. But like I've written before, this place is

super-excellent. I would however stay away from the

cheetah petting. I guess I'm just paranoid that way.

While everybody else is all about "Fifty Shades of Grey" these days,

I was busy chasing down this rumored very erotic movie called "The Bellboy".

I finally found a copy at Barnes & Noble. Pretty embarrassing though because

B & N uses these stupid clear bags and it's like, "Oh great. Now the world sees

me walking around with soft porn."

This is the Indian Store in Julian, California. It's kind

of tucked away in back of some other structures. I wish

I could tell you more about it, but it was closed the day we

were there. However, there was a cowboy hat in the window

that I would have really been interested in, used I'm sure.

But seeing as this is a tourist town, if the hat was worth $80, they

were a'chargin $150. It would have been nice to find out though.

I might post a picture of that there chapeau.

I don't know what these things are called, so I'll just call it

a guy in a bucket thing. With all the crazy people in the world,

with all of the road rage etc., you couldn't pay me enough money

to get up in one of those things like that guy. One squirrely character

driving like a bad actor and life as you know it is over.

Anyway, I'm just sayin.....

Hush, little baby, don't say a word,  Mama's going to buy you a mockingbird.
If that mockingbird won't sing, Mama's going to buy you a diamond ring.
If that diamond ring turns brass, Mama's gonna give you a cut off hand, a cleaver,
another cut off hand, an elephant, a cut off foot and an Easter bunny
with a Ty witch in a plastic bag.

Actually, skip the bird and the diamonds. All I have is that last stuff.

Camping and a market. I hope the market is open 24 hours.
I've been camping and let me tell ya, sometimes you wake
up in your tent in the middle of the night and your stomach
is screaming DORITOS.

When I was a kid and we would go out to eat, no matter where,

there were occasions when my dad's eyes would look at me sternly and I

would know what they were saying: "Lizzy, this is not a play place."

We kids did not have restaurants like this back then. I sure wish we did.

I would have said, "But daddy.." and pointed at the freakin sign.

Of course... then I'd of been in real trouble.

If you open a pizza place and name it World's

Best Pizza, you are asking for a world of trouble (if you ask

me). You know how the public is these days? If your pizza is

not the world's best pizza, and a whole LOT of people are going

to think it's not, you're gonna be in for some long days.