Friday I spent another wonderful morning at the DMV. I had my oil changed Thursday night and Amy had told me to get a smog check. I wasn\u2019t able to get my plates on Friday because I didn\u2019t get the smog check done. I should really start listening when Amy tells me things…this has to be the 8th time I\u2019ve ignored her advice and felt stupid for it later. I made an appointment at the DMV this time (for next time) so I don\u2019t have to wait three hours again.<\/p>\n
Friday night Amy and I went to the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica. We ate dinner at a Greek place on the sidewalk and discovered that she was allergic to every single soup that they had (we both ordered the \u201cgyro and soup special\u201d). Then we went out onto the pier. It was sort of like New Jersey\u2019s Coney Island with little rollercoasters and ferris wheels right there on the pier. The best part though was going out on the lower (further out) deck of the end of the pier to watch the sun set. This is the only benefit I\u2019ve seen of having smog around, it doesn\u2019t hurt your eyes to look directly into the sun and watch it go down. Eventually it disappeared in the hills north of Venice Beach. The Pacific water seems much greener than the Atlantic. <\/p>\n
The plan for this morning was that I would meet Amy at her Honda dealership (she had here 30k mile check-up) and we\u2019d go to National Sports Bar (or something like that) to watch the OSU game because it is only on \u201cESPN Regional Plus\u201d\u2026which only satellite users get. Well, we got to the place about fifteen minutes before the game started and found out the place had closed down a long time ago. Then we proceeded to \u201cClancy\u2019s Sports Bar\u201d across town. A woman on the phone at Clancy\u2019s had assured me the night before that they would be showing the OSU game. Clancy\u2019s had a sign that said they didn\u2019t open till 10am. We decided to try this chain sports bar in Pasadena called Moose McGillidullicuddywhatevers because it was on this: http:\/\/osula.usinter.net\/html\/viewing_sites.html<\/a><\/p>\n Apparently whoever maintains that site is full of it, because the Moose place didn\u2019t open till 11:30. So, needless to say, I missed (ALL OF) an OSU game for the first time in a long time, or perhaps\u2026ever. We went back to my apartment so Amy could watch the US Open, and I could try to find the game broadcast online. It wasn\u2019t (for free), but after much hassle I did find a radio station broadcasting (the audio feed of) it.<\/p>\n After lunch we went over to Amy\u2019s mother\u2019s house and I washed 3000 miles of dirt and grease and bugs and bird shit and nastiness off of my car. We stayed there for dinner, and then went out to an Asian restaurant called Maxim with Amy\u2019s friend Marie, and her brother (also named) Andrew. The place was ok; we were all pretty full so we just got drinks. I had a Lychee shaved ice drink that was pretty good.<\/p>\n I\u2019m starting to learn the freeways and learn how to get around out here now.<\/p>\n