THE HUBSTER

Hey Peeps-

So, I've been putting off blogging for a couple of days because I wanted to take some pictures, but I keep forgetting my camera . . . ah well.

I imagine that the cold weather makes excercising a bit more difficult sis-remember to walk between the cold! Remember how good it makes you feel! You're awesome. There you have it.

Careful with the guttersniping! Truly awesome projects going on at the homefront, an it's a miracle that they haven't resulted in trips to the ER! If there is a beaten to be taken in Durango, I hope that the garden is the only thing injured!

So the auditions have been trickling in . . . had a callback yesterday for a non-union casino commercial in Fresno. Weather I book it or not, it was nice to get a callback! I've been really happy with this commercial agency (Coast to Coast)-they've been sending me out pretty regularly, and I feel like I've had very little to show for it! But callbacks are a great thing-it means I've made the final 5 or so out of possibly hundreds of submissions. We'll see. I'm also starting to get into some casting offices repeat times-the more, the merrier!

I've got two shorts still in production-this Friday and Saturday I'll be finishing "The story of John Slade"-a 16mm student production in which I play the murderer John Slade, and hopefully by next week we'll finish shooting "The NBA", in which I play a secret agent deep under cover. The first week of October, I'll be playing Bob in "Bodiless Bob"-a very much alive and excitable head that lives in the freezer of a couple of hapless roommates. In november, I've got a small role in another short playing the Principal of a school that's making budget cuts.

You never know with these things . . . by this point, I'm starting to get some tape back . . . you'll remember the Caveman shoot from last month? I leave you for now with the finished product . . . love you all, and enjoy!

http://www.vimeo.com/6721897

Guttersnipes

Hi Team. Rained HARD again last evening and the gutter above the garage door DID NOT leak! First time in years. Everyday for a week I ascended that tower of scaffolding, hung off of it with one arm so that I could reach and applied more goop to the gutter. And every night it rained. And each morning I was greeted by a steady plopping....a drip,drip dripping not unlike Poe's Raven. Or was it The Monkey's Paw? You get the idea.
While I was atop tall metal structures, dodging lightening bolts, Dad was rehearsing Oliver Gambel's outdoor wedding.You are sorely missed Cody. Colin Day's here w/his missus from Evanston. More on that post-nuptials today.
Noah needs to give us a shout-out. He and CiCi cleared another hurdle yesterday in the immigration process. Successful personal interview. Noah, you guys might be creating earning potential for yourselves. Walking others thru the process. Good job you guys!!

Oh geez...now I am gonna be late for work. Good concert, El? Re exercise....just focus on how good you feel, right? Doin' great.
More later. lovelovelovelovelove and miss you all xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Workout routine: Week 2 winding down

Hello fam damly! Short update from me. I worked out 3 times this week so far (Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday) and I'm going to try to squeeze in a workout after work, before heading down to Denver for the Jonathan Coulton concert. I hope I am able to, I always feel so good after working out, and judging by my yawns this morning, I think it has a very good effect on my energy levels.

Despite 4-times-a-week workouts for the last 2 weeks, I seem to be gaining weight rather than losing it. I know that muscle weighs more than fat, and I know I'm doing a good job, but it's still slightly discouraging.

Well, that's it for now! Talk to you all soon!

Like sand through an hourglass . . .

Elly . . . you are a machine. Keep up the good work. It's so nice to get your updates! I'm thrilled to hear about Brandon's success . . . with health care reform dominating the news, it's an exciting time for technology in that industry!

The fiercing and roaring cat adventures are exciting too. Question: when your mighty hunter brings you a mousegerbil, how do you prepare it? Do you serve mousegerbil with a white or red wine? Perhaps smeared with a bit of pesto?

Bummer to hear about Marge and the committee. Having moved so many times over the past decade, I haven't really ever gotten to know a neighborhood like the one at home, and our neighbors across the street have always, well . . . been there. Dad-way to honor the passing of a bit of history that will never be studied . . . a kind and fitting tribute to a neighborhood footnote. With any luck, one of the new neighbors will take up the charge of overzealous christmas decorating. And of course, as with all things, the final chapter of the Crestview Committee opens the door for a new group of neighborhood tribal elders. Who in the area is brave enough to take up the banner? To boldly sit as both judge and jury over the opinions of the goings-on of a mountain town community? Hmm . . .

Things mostly quieted down since my last post. I was able to hit at least one audition a day last week, but the well has dried a bit this week. I have booked a couple of more student projects. I sure wish landing a commercial was as easy as landing these student gigs. Again, I'm trying to build up my reel . . . it's a calling card out here. I've got some good stuff on it right now, but I'm always looking for more options. Hence, the student films. Of the last two, one is a thriller, the other, a spoof comedy. Despite my years defending cavemen, I still need some good comedy on my reel. By the end of the month, I will have shot 6 "shorts" so far. One of them is complete, but seeing as how most of them are also projects for school, I should have the footage for most of them by the end of the semester (the new year?)

It's cooled off a bit here in Cali, and the ever-present mushroom cloud from the station fire has all but died off. Football season begins today (I know you've been counting down the days Elly!), and so I'm planning on taking the next five or six months off. More to come soon!

Love

BBQ and Workout Routine

Hello Fam! Small news post today.

First off, my tooth-related New Month Resolution is holding up under pressure. Haven't missed any days in the Month of September so far. My teeth are singing, and that's awesome.

The New Month Resolution regarding working out hasn't been so easy to uphold. First day of workout was last Friday; Saturday I had to Wii Fit instead of going to the gym and while that's good, it's not AS good. Sunday I had a nice 70-minute bike ride, which definitely counted, Monday we cleaned for 5 hours and I called that a workout. Tuesday I didn't do anything physical because I had the infusion and then D&D... and BBQ, but let me get to that in a sec.

But Wednesday... ah Wednesday. I had made (tentative?) plans with Shad to work out that evening, but I know that Shad can be flakey so I was planning on working out that morning. However, I didn't get myself out of bed in time for that. Happily, Shad was as good as his word and showed up at about 6:30 for our workout, only to find out that his cat had peed on his workout bag!!! Ugh!!! But the in-unit washer/dryer to the rescue... a mere hour and a half later his clothes were washed, dried, unstinky and ready to go, so we headed over to the rec center. The machine that I used was a wee bit broken (crossramp couldn't be raised/lowered), but it was a great workout anyway. Afterwards, we staggered back home and watched Branden play video games for a while, then had dinner together. All in all, a very fun night.

This morning, I got up at 7:15 (should have been out the door by then, but better late than never) and headed over to the rec center again. Sadly, I had to use the broken elliptical machine again (but I had reported it to the manager the night before, so it should be getting fixed today or tomorrow), but again, a very good workout. Home again for an AWESOME shower (that's the best thing about working out--the subsequent shower feels SO good), breakfast, and off to work, and here I am!

I'm hoping to start my workouts earlier, about 6:30, in hopes of Sarah joining me, and Joe and Branden if they don't have to leave for work super-early. However, I'm happy to be doing them at all at this point.

Okay, so BBQ. We bought an awesome gas grill before Branden got sick, and we finally put it together on Monday. We decided to host a BBQ on Tuesday before D&D since B & I had the day off; so we grilled up some burgers, brats, and veggie burgers. Carlie brought corn on the cob and Rachel brought grapes and strawberries, and we had ourselves a bit of a feast. Overall, a roaring success!!! I am VERY happy with our grill. The grill bits are removeable porcelain-covered steel with a removeable grease trap, so it was relatively easy to clean in the sink with a scrubby. So much fun!

I believe it was that night that Squish caught a mouse-thing out on the patio. It didn't look like a pet store mouse, more like a mouse-sized gerbil; it had a short furry tail rather than a long pink tail. But I think that might be what wild mice look like. Anyway, he's getting to be quite the rodent-killer. However, with every rodent-kill he scores, he goes out and tries to pick fights with bigger cats.

I had decided that the way he interacts with strange cats was natural territory-marking and that if he could establish his territory with a given cat, he may then be able to be playmates with the cat. So, my new policy had been, only if there are two cats yowling at each other (meaning that the other cat yowls back) would I go out and break it up. The second cat yowling would mean that the second cat did not accept Squish's assertion of territory and was willing to fight about it; staying quiet means they don't want to contest it. Last night, while I was out working out, apparently Squish tried to pick a fight with an "enormous" black cat, and that cat was having none of his posturing. Branden broke it up, whew.

So... anyway. That's about it for now. I love you guys!

Pesto,Pesto,Pesto

Hi fambly--Anybody have any basil recipes? Out of freezer space and I'm told it doesn't dry well. We are loving it!! And hopefully our co-workers do too because we reek of garlic 24/7 and have green herbs stuck in our teeth. We're having problems being taken seriously....????

So, while I was admiring an absolutely picture-perfect spider web attached to our house, an enormous, hairy, orange striped arachnid sidled into view (frothing at the pincers). I got an old, stubby, long-handled broom---it was at gutter height--and smashed that beast like I was hitting it out of the park. Vaporized. An exact replica of the web now spans the underside of the deck around the pine tree. Fair enough...and far enough. This one I will simply observe.

Skating rink scheduled to open Oct. 1st. Hopefully my "private" sessions will remain under the radar so I can continue my training at supersonic speeds. The beauty of self-delusion....I ordered a new sharpening stone off the internet (!). I"m pretty sure it'll make me go even faster.

Soliciting blockbuster home delivery suggestions. Finished 5 seasons of "The Wire". "Mad Men" has a very long wait. Frost/Nixon and Body of Lies were good.

Thanks for resurrecting the blog and writing on it. We love and miss you guys. That's an understatement. xoxoxoxo Peace-Out

The Committee Is Adjourned

Marge died last week. Sometimes cruelly referred to as "hunchie", she was the last of the group of neighbors who regularly convened on the porch across the street, holding court on the state of the neighborhood. A meaner bunch would be hard to assemble. When we first moved in they took it upon themselves to actively oppose mom's day care license, the sound of children playing obviously being something to be avoided at all costs. The original group was comprised of Marge, her husband, her sister who lived next door, and the sister's husband, Nick. Occasionally Kay (our next door neighbor) would join them, injecting some much-needed positive energy to the group. Kay always liked us, and perhaps that was our ticket. Over the years we wore them out little by little, until they accepted us. Never overly friendly, but we did manage to come to reasonably comfortable terms. Then they began to fade away. First it was Harvey, Marge's husband, who left. Too mean even for The Committee, he moved to Aztec, never to be seen again. Apparently still alive, too mean to die. Then it was Helen, Marge's sister, who died. Her husband Nick started having trouble seeing (macular degeneration), and he stopped driving. When Kay died last year, The Committee had dwindled to Marge and Nick, and Nick began to drift. Nick was moved to private care when his alzheimers got to the point where he wasn't safe living by himself. And then it was just Marge. By this time she was about 18 inches tall and hooked up to oxygen full time, but she still got out there on the porch every day. The family set her up with one last over the top light display at Christmas, which for all of the joking over the years I will definitely miss. And now she's gone. And so the hood is in transition. A single guy named Mike lives in Kay's house now. Ever since he moved in there has been a 2 block long Winnebago parked in the driveway for sale. As un-green a vehicle as there is in the world, my guess is that it will be there for years to come. Their back lawn has not been mowed since he moved in (see, I could be on The Committee too), and two elementary school kids live there every other week. Not much communication, but no problems either. By this time next year there will be entirely new occupants of the houses across the street- maybe they'll feel us watching them. We will undoubtedly be less judgmental, but not entirely so. Not sure where I'm going with all this, but change is in the air. Fall is upon us, days shorter, colder at night. Mom and I are hoping for a couple more weeks of warm days to bring our last couple dozen tomatoes to ripeness. We've been eating our garden extensively, squash, zuccini, tomato and onion sautee being in the center of our plates every night. We're going to Utica for a week on October 10. The last time I was there was our New York trip as a family 11 years ago. Too long. I've always enjoyed Utica- fond memories of my girlfriend's family and home. I intend to relax, not think about anything legal, and hopefully see U. Rick and Aunt Sue for a day or two while out there. Hopefully the unbeatable Colorado Rockies will be roaring through the playoffs at the time and some bragging can be accomplished. I've been missing our brave and fearless children and their mates, my layers of pride too deep to describe. Life here is good- not flashy but good. I had a 3 week jury trial in August, the most different thing at work for quite a while. Unfortunately it was in Pagosa, so I was away more than usual, but other than that it was fun, interesting and professionally challenging. Now I'm back to tearing apart families and spending other people's money, the usual ebb and flow of human unhappiness. Boring it is not, however, for which I am grateful. Okay guys, I'm babbling- it's time to go. I love you all so much- stay in touch. dad