Monday, November 05, 2007

I has a new blog site

Go to danielwomack.wordpress.com for all future (and past) blog entries. It's just far easier to use. I'll keep this one active but I'm not going to be updating it anymore so you might as well just give up looking at it and change your link in your favorites to danielwomack.wordpress.com.

In the future I plan to get a domain name that's easier to remember. Don't any of you go buying up danielwomack.com for an easy pay off because I'll simply just choose another name.

Thursday, November 01, 2007

It's that time of the month!

Some of you may not know but Victoria and I have this little podcast called Uncast. Now I warn you, it's not for everyone. I know some of you would rather not hear us curse or talk about sex or anything dirty, vile or violent but for the rest of you who haven't checked it out at all, didn't know about it or haven't been able to yet...take a little time RIGHT NOW and listen to an episode. You can start at The Beginning and move up, you can start at the most recent or even in the middle like episode 25.

NOW when you're done there AND FOR THE REST OF YOU, please at least support us by going to Podcast Alley and voting for us. They'll send you an email. You click on the link in that email and your vote counts. Fail to do any of them and the vote won't count, we'll be sad. You don't want us to be sad do you? THEN GO VOTE FOR US!!! There are over 35,500 podcasts listed on Podcast Alley. We started at the bottom.

In September we were 205th and in October we were 61st. We'd like to continue that exponential climb to the top 10 if possible. The more of you that listen and the more that vote, the more possible that is. IF YOU LIKE IT TELL YOUR FRIENDS! They might like it. Even if they don't they might spread the word at least and that's good enough. More people need to know what a podcast is and what great podcasts are out there. Check out the side bar on this blog. A few are listed there.

The counts change on the 1st of every month. Being on the front page means more potential listeners. More listeners means potential future moneys but most of all we just love people and the more people who listen, the more will like us and that's always a good thing. So go go go!

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Oceanaire Restaurant

It's always great to have a few connections.

So Victoria's parents book their cruises through a couple of friends who just so happen to have a good number of connections around the city. SO, they were invited by these friends out to The Oceanaire Seafood Room. The executive chef here is Brian Malarkey, also seen on Top Chef. Along with his sous chefs, Sean Langlois and Tyler Thrasher this has got to be the best seafood meal I've had EVER. Now I haven't been to Alaska, Maryland or New England so forgive the ignorance but San Diego is known for a good deal of seafood and this has not only won awards for the best seafood restaurant in San Diego but Brian won the 2007 award for Best Chef in San Diego so that's not too shabby.

We got reservations for 5:30 and I can say the only negative thing about the restaurant (and I don't know that it's the restaurants fault) is the valet driver wasn't available until 5:30. If he could maybe come out 30 minutes earlier that'd be great. Still, when we got there the place was nearly empty and by the time we left around 7:30 there wasn't a seat to be had in either the main room, oyster bar or main bar. PLUS there was a line of people waiting to get in.

This is no cheap restaurant either. The menu changes every night based on what fresh meats they got in that morning. Entrees ranged from the fried fisherman's platter of $24.95 to the Tuna for $45. Mind you the entrees are just what they describe and nothing else. Want a side of veges, fries, hash browns, etc? Those are extra. The bill for a salad, 3 appetizers, a side, 4 entrees and 3 drinks was $260 after tip. Not cheap but not OH MY GOD expensive either.

Tonight, for me, it was the "Dover" Sole stuffed with shrimp, crab and brie and topped with a lemon blanc beurre. Don't know what all that meant except I know my tummy loved it. My appetizer was the escargots which was the best I've ever had. We had a BLT salad which was simply bacon, tomato and lettuce with a spicy peppercorn bacon ranch, or at least I think that's what it was. Either way it was easily the best salad I've had in a long time. Add to that their wonderful crab cakes and a side of The Oceanaire Hash Browns and it was heaven on a table. The hash browns easily could've fed 10 and were just a bit spicy. They went perfectly with the fish and my God I've got to come here every night but I just can't do it.

So there it is. The Oceanaire Seafood Room may have just surpassed The Prado as my favorite place to eat. Especially after the mediocre service I got at The Prado last time. It wasn't bad but if you've been to enough restaurants in this price range you come to expect a certain level of service. This was something I'd expect at a Claimjumper or Chilis. However the service at the Oceanaire definitely met the level I might expect for a place as expensive as it was. Excellence all around. Now just get that valet out a little sooner and you might have yourself a lifetime customer.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

FIRE!

We had a pretty good scare the last couple days with fires in the San Diego area. You may have heard we've become Rancho Hell West.

I don't want to bore you with too many details. Those in the area have already heard enough but for those not in the area, a fire started in Witch Creek between Ramona and Julian (Witch Fire) Sunday afternoon and around the same time there was a fire in Tecate up to Barrett Junction dubbed the (Harris Fire). Both fires headed in a westerly direction.

We watched these fires closely on the news as we watched Game 7 of the ALCS. As the fire crept through Ramona we started talking about what we'd take if we had to evacuate. At about 2am Monday morning, the fire was still 7-8 miles off so I felt pretty safe. I woke up at 5am to advisory evacuation warnings for our area. So we filled our suitcases with clothes, grabbed my main desktop computer, some hygenic products, my camera bag, mixer, microphones, laptop and all our important papers. We filled the car to the point where there's no way we're going to fit anything more in there without blocking sightlines. Lastly we grabbed the cat, some food and treats and toys and we put her in the carrier and took off at about 6:30am.

I realized when I turned the car on that my car was nearly empty on gas but I felt I could make it to Black Mountain Road without going empty. Then I hit traffic on Bernardo Center Drive heading south so I had to pull a U-Turn and hit the Chevron station on Rancho Penasquitos Dr. Then we headed south on I-15 to Chula Vista. Victoria's in-laws live on the west end of the city so we felt safe.

The Witch fire burned through Ramona and forked. The NW fork went towards San Pasqual and the SW fork went towards Poway and Scripps Ranch. That NW fork followed south of Escondido and along the northern and western rims of Lake Hodges. The SW fork hit the NE corner of Espola Road and then split again with one fork going along Rancho Bernardo Road and the other heading south on Espola Road.

The Rancho Bernardo fork burned through northern RB within 2 miles of our apartment and NW 4S Ranch meeting up with that NW fork and heading west to Rancho Santa Fe. It burned Fairfield Ranch and The Bridges at Rancho Santa Fe and headed towards Del Mar.

The Poway fork hit some homes in Poway and I hear it hit Carmel Mtn Ranch but I haven't heard any real news there so I'm not sure if our apartment is safe or not. I did hear this morning that the fires there have settled down a bit so hopefully it won't flare up again.

At the moment we're at my in-laws house in Chula Vista west of the 805 and east of I-5. The fires that hit near our apartment seem to be either settled down or well west of us so I'm crossing my fingers that we escaped and our apartment is still there and just fine.

If you pray, pray for us. If not, any kind thoughts or words would be helpful. We're not asking for any more than that until we learn about our apartment. Thanks for all the kind words and offers already.

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Missing The West Wing

CJ Does "The Jackal"

Bartlet picks apart Biblical Quotes

Take Your Legislative Agenda...

Butterball Hotline

and since we're on the net...here's the lemonlyman.com scene

Monday, October 01, 2007

PNME & Brother Love

Now normally I might just leave it there. I mean it's been two weeks since I've posted a blog but really "if you're in, no explanation is necessary and if you're not, no explanation will suffice." Those words of wisdom coming from my buddy Butch Rosser. Except I'm not just using these words to explain Keith and The Girl. I'm using them to explain Brother Love and his KATG/BroLo army this weekend.

OK the best I can do is to do this from memory. A lot went down and I wasn't there for all of it. I'm pretty sure I'm forgetting more than I'm remembering but really with the amount of stuff I'm about to shove down your throat you might just begin to understand the severity of the situation and why words simply will not suffice.

Friday we (we being Butch, Victoria and I) headed up to Ontario for the 2007 Portable & New Media Expo. I'll hold back my criticisms (and there are many) because I got a free pass instead of buying into the seminars. For this alone all I can say is the hall exhibits were rather scarce. This is a growing media though so that's allowed I think.

We spoke to a few folks at Odeo who promised a re-launch of the site to come in Decemberish 2007. There was talk of taking the site in a new direction and build it using feedback from podcasters and listeners with the emphasis on building a "community". Looking forward to seeing just how that comes about. This was the beginning of Butch as our sort of unofficial marketing/business/PR man.

I didn't notice a lot of well known podcasters but then I really didn't look that well. We didn't pay much attention to the exhibitors even. Totally blew off the hall so whatever criticisms I'd have of it really is my fault but then we weren't really there looking to buy into anything but perhaps it would have helped PRwise if we'd at least talked to a few people.

We headed out to In-N-Out at 3pm to meet up with Dawn & Drew and hang for a bit. I hung with them last year when they threw a big bash and since they were only here because Podshow kinda asked them to, they weren't throwing any parties and being the sweet people they are, I wanted to be sure to see them and say hi before they headed back to Wisconsin. So we hugged, said hi, chatted for a few moments and then sat down to separately enjoy our meals.

At 4pm we headed back over to the Convention Center for the awards show. We walked into Hall B and promptly walked into Erichour. Then we saw all the KATG stickers, bumper stickers, buttons and Brother Love stickers. THEN...we saw then man...the myth...the legend. Brother Love himself in the flesh. Now in all seriousness I'd seen him last year but didn't really know who he was. This last year through KATG and his first album, I've gotten a good feel for him and some of what he's about. This weekend I'd get more.

So we hugged and introduced ourselves to Brother Love (or Larry as he is sometimes known) and to a few of the other KATG contingency that was there. Victoria and Butch put KATG stickers on their foreheads and got a bit of media attention for it. It will be interesting to see where that video ends up. We sort of hung around, got to know each other a little (more like feeling each other out) and waited for the awards ceremony to start which it promptly did.

About 5 or 6 shows in they called us up for KATG winning Best Mature Podcast. So Brother Love brought us all up to join him on stage and accept the award. Brother Love said the prayer from the stage (each KATG episode starts with a prayer) and then he handed the mic to Butch and Butch rocked the house with a GREAT speech. Short and to the point.

So we ran back to the table all excited but still on edge. You see Keith and The Girl were also nominated for the People's Choice Award for Best Podcast overall. This was the BIG ONE. This was not only won by Keith and The Girl but while they tried to play it off like it was close, we all know it was a landslide victory.

So we scream and run up to the stage like an army on the attack. Brother Love accepted the award, the prizes and we all headed back to the table full engulfed in joy and pride for our favorite podcasters (no not Victoria and I) Keith and Chemda. All of a sudden the table was alive with people buying BroLo's CD, grabbing schwag and asking about Keith and the Girl. It was GREAT.

After the awards, we headed over to the Marriott for the first of what would be THREE major parties this weekend. There in back of the pool area was a large podcasters party. There were drinks, music and so many people it was damn near impossible to fit us into the small area. We hung out for a while before Victoria, Butch and I headed out to my Aunt Bonnie's for dinner. We were sad to leave Vudell there but she was having a good time talking to Jaspar and we promised to be back later that evening.

We head over to Alta Loma and enjoyed a wonderful dinner with family. On the way, due to some peer pressure, I decided to slam a KATG sticker onto my forehead as well. Victoria and Butch had a war going to see who could keep theirs on the longest. The casserole, rice, muffins and cake were spectacular as all of Bonnie's food tends to be. Let's just say I've known her all my life and I don't ever remember having a bad meal at her house. The conversation was slightly awkward what with the stickers on our heads but we made due. At 7:45 we made a hasty retreat so as to make it out to the next round of get togethers. We hastily said our good byes and headed back out to Ontario.

First we headed back to our hotel room to collect ourselves, change and check the KATG forums to see what was going on. Then I get a text from Vudell that says BroLo secured a side room at the bar in the Marriott where we were to be the pre-show and after-show for Keith and The Girl. When we get there, Marina is there to greet us and show us in. When I walk in the sight was unreal. There's a long room with a long table and tons of chairs. There's a laptop at either end with cameras and Vudell's laptop is the microphone for the room and everyone can hear us.

So we sit down and set up our laptop and I quickly begin to get frustrated at the difficulty that is getting internet connection at the Marriott and moreso in the side room at their bar. What's making it worse is that both of the other laptops seem to be working just fine. To appease the frustrations but mostly just to get us all in a proper mood, a bucket of Miller Lite and Coors Lite is brought in. I don't mean a regular bucket. I mean a LARGE like 50 gallon tub full of like 48 bottles of beer. Then comes the waitress asking what we want. 20 minutes later there are like 3 plates each of chicken wings, buffalo wings, nachos and other assortments of foods. It's freaking awesome.

So we listen to the show (kind of) and watch the cams in Paltalk as one by one girls start to flip their tops up. Now I missed most of this but the ones I caught were quite fine indeed. Then comes this girl...Daddys_Cheeky_lil_girl. Things get crazy here as she oils up, sheds the clothes, enjoys herself and all for our enjoyment. We notice after a while that it's a video but she's still in the chat room talking so we know that while this video is going on, it is indeed her and she turns off the video a few times to prove that the body and face in the videos are her. Half the fun of this was the video and half was watching BroLo go from one side of the table to the other trying to keep up with whichever cam was the most up to date (non-delayed or non-frozen).

The show ended fairly quickly and then we partied as the aftershow, just chatting with people online for about 3 hours before cutting out and heading home. Well...we had a hotel room and well, Vudell had drunk about 4-5 beers and it was her first time drinking. There were a couple of offers to her to stay. We trusted that BroLo wouldn't take advantage but he left a little early too so that option disappeared. Then there was another guy and he had been hitting on her all day.

We gave her the option of staying with us instead and let her decide for herself. We were very happy when she chose us. So she comes back and we have a little rum and record a bit (didn't turn out so well) and then we went to bed. Victoria and I took our pants off and lay in one bed while Vudell and Butch took off theirs and lay in the other. Nothing intimate happened between any four of us and this i know because shortly after we layed down Butch began to snore and it didn't stop all night long.

In the morning we gathered ourselves and headed out. On the way out we run into Chris Marquardt of Tips From the Top Floor and say hello before heading home to San Diego. Victoria was planning to host a birthday party for a friend that night so we worked together to clean the house and get Butch and I back up to Ontario for the Expo Concert that night. Brother Love was slated to play a couple songs but only ended up playing one song.

Still, for as good as the other artists were, once BroLo hit the stage it was like the room had been asleep. As Michael said, it was "the cumshot and the kiss all in one. They had to shut it down after that song." With that one song he put more energy into the room than everyone else before combined. He was definitely the closer and I hope they'll give him more time next year.
Still as the closer (who can follow Brother Love?) but maybe this time like 5-6 songs instead of 1.

After the concert we all hung out and headed to the Libsyn party over at the Doubletree hotel. Someone had rented out the King Suite and filled it with about a thousand people. Seriously it may not have been that much but it was literally shoulder to shoulder and every few seconds someone asking you if they can get by. We walked up and decided to take the rear entrance. Butch hops the fence fine, Brother Love next, then Vudell, Eric, his girl, Michael, and me last. I fail on my first attempt so I back up and think "all eyes are looking to see if this fat tub of lard can make it over the fence." So I run, jump and literally tumble over the fencing. My leg feels like I tore a patch of skin off and the other will surely carry a nasty bruise.

So we walk through to the main part of the party and someone runs up to hand me my cell phone. Thank god I put KATG on my wallpaper or I'd be talking about how I lost my phone. We stand there and talk a bit about BroLo's upcoming birthday (which was literally a couple hours away). Butch runs to grab some pizza for myself, hisself and BroLo. Then the sickness comes. I'd been feeling it for a while and even had a personal moment in the bathroom before BroLo's performance but I'd been trying to play the rock star and party through it. All of a sudden it hit me like a ton of bricks and I felt like I was about to faint.

I walk out the front door of the suite and out into the night air. After a few moments and a check on the leg (no marks at all) I start to feel a bit better so I head back in and play the wallflower role for a bit before the hotel security comes in and breaks up the party. So we all head out and we hear about a party at the Marriott. I head out to the car and promise to meet them there but I was feeling terrible so I call Victoria, talk a bit and head over to the Marriott parking lot where I kinda crash until Butch walks up to the car and we head home.

It was good to sleep in my own bed but I hear later there was porn on a TV, a moterboating by BroLo for his birthday which was instigated by Butch and later there was a little enjoyment of the greenery. Nick Starr gained a lot of enemies by hitting on Vudell in front of everyone and Butch damn near knocked him out.

So the next day we all wake up on our own times, eat a little, watch some football (Bucs win again and the Chargers are 1-3) and later head out to Ontario again. This time for a meet up with Chris and a few listeners of Tips From the Top Floor at the Yardhouse in Rancho Cucamonga, CA. It was a good time talking about gadgets and enjoying food.

We get a text from Vudell that BroLo and company are at the pool at the Marriott just chillin' so we head over there. We talk and hang for a bit and this was probably my personal favorite moment of the weekend. Just sitting and chatting personally with Larry and Vudell and Butch, Michael, Victoria and Martin. It was surreal hanging with him at the Awards Ceremony, the Concert, the parties and everything but to just sit and chill with him was really cool.

This whole weekend was totally crazy. From meeting everyone for the first time at the Awards to the Friday Live Show to the concert, the parties and ending with Brother Love on his birthday, this was the best weekend I've had in quite some time. To think that Thursday I was actually worried about not having a good time and not finding anything to do this weekend. Bah! I will never doubt again.

Next on the agenda...Uncast 30 recording tomorrow night and then the "Learning To See" Photography Workshop. We'll have Chris here with us all week and will probably record episode 30 with him in the apartment and 31 with him as a guest. Right now it's 3:36 Monday morning and I haven't been asleep since about 10am yesterday morning. I have to go to work in 2 hours and work a full eight hours. Then I get home, take back the rental car, record Uncast 30 and take Butch home. Then when I get home, Chris will be there and dinner will likely be waiting for me. We'll enjoy the night and try to go to bed early. I am really looking forward to Vegas on New Years Eve.

Monday, September 17, 2007

A new and healthy me

A few weeks ago I stepped on the scale and noticed a number I'd never seen before when connected to my weight. There was a 3 at the beginning. I refused to accept it so I stepped on and off it two more times. Both times it registered at 298.6 and I was floored. Last year I started Sparkpeople at 288 and it was the heaviest I'd ever been. Not anymore.

So I took this as a personal challenge. No more fast food. No more soda. No more processed crap and no more high fructose corn syrup.

Things I've already began to replace already:

[B]Breakfast [/B]used to be pop tarts and/or sugary cereals. Today this isn't perfect but I had a Morning Star Veggie Sausage Patty (3g carbs but 2 of that is from fiber), fat-free english muffin, less than a serving of strawberry preserves and less than a serving of Smart Balance. Still looking to improve on this. I think maybe it might be good if I'm going to drink milk to have it here and maybe some fruit like berries should go in place of the preserves and buttery spread.

[B]Lunch[/B] used to be fast food, hot dogs, chips, or left overs from the night before. It could still be left overs but those will be much healthier than they've been in the past. Today I have some broccoli, carrots and a bit of mushrooms mixed with a low-GI thai peanut sauce recipe I found online.

[B]Dinner[/B] for 4-5 times a week used to be fast food or restaurant food of some sort. Disgusts me now that I used to eat that way. If it wasn't that, for a while it was stuff like hot dogs and Mac n Cheese or some other processed quick to fix dinner. NOW Victoria is coming up with great light dinners from cooking light and Low-GI sites and we've cut our portions in half so that dinner is very light.

[B]Snacks[/B] used to be candy, chips, cookies, crackers, etc. but are at the moment replaced with whole grains, nuts, fruits and we're yet again looking to improve on this even further.

I've gone from drinking a quart of soda a day to 10 glasses of water and a glass of milk a day. I've gone from being totally sedentary in lifestyle to doing much more walking, some exercise bike, strength exercises (never emphasizing the same muscle group two days in a row).

Due to just these changes I already feel much more energy than last week or the week before or the week before that. I've lost at least an inch off my waist and 5 pounds in the last 3 weeks. I feel more energy than I have in a long while. I tried eating fast food a few days ago and my body had a terrible reaction to it. Maybe it was just a single bad meal but it sent the message: I can't eat this crap anymore. My end goal is simply to be healthy. Fitness and weight loss will come naturally but overall health is my real goal.

Wish me luck! Those temptations will return. I will hit bumps in the road where it feels like I'm not making any progress. I need to just ride them out and stick to what I know is right.

Speaking of which...I should start doing that in the other parts of my life too. Why wait? Tomorrow may never come.