In-N-Out. That's What A Bumper Sticker is All About.

I was recently reminded of the following story.

I'm sure many of you are familiar with the hamburger chain "In-N-Out" which is quite popular in the Southwestern US. During the 80s, you could go to one of the restaurants and pick up a free bumper sticker with "IN-N-OUT BURGER" boldly proclaimed in white letters on a bright red background. It quickly became fashionable to cut out the letters "B" and "R" in the word "BURGER" and slap the revised sticker on your car. Suggesting something much more than a simple fast-food meal.

In 1984, I got my drivers license and my parents handed me the keys to our 1975 Datsun 710 station wagon. I quickly proceeded to cover the back bumper in all sorts of obnoxious stickers, but I hadn't yet gotten around to putting the "In-N-Out Urge" on the car. However, a crafty buddy of mine decided we could do better. He got a few of the bumper stickers, some scissors and some tape, and custom-made a sticker just for my car:

IN-N-OUT BURRITO

Talk about suggestive!

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of his handiwork, but he did such an awesome job! You had to get real close to it to see that it was a hack.

Soon after, In-N-Out revised their bumper stickers and substituted a cartoon picture of a burger for the word "Burger". Oh well. It was fun while it lasted.

MIA

Well, I'm obviously not posting on my blog very much. I'm not going to take down this blog, but I'm finding that social networking/microblogging sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and Posterous are a better fit for me right now. Feel free to check me out there.

New Mexico Repeals Death Penalty

Kudos to Governor Bill Richardson and the people of New Mexico for repealing their State's death penalty.

While I do concur that some crimes are so heinous that the criminals who commit them no longer deserve to walk freely among us, I do not agree with the death penalty. However, should society really be responsible for the care and feeding of those who are sentenced to spend the rest of their lives in prison for the most horrible of crimes? That money could be better spent on those who are capable of being rehabilitated. As archaic as it may sound, perhaps the idea of a prison colony is not a bad one. Transport the scum far away from civilization and let them fend for themselves. Kind of like the movie Escape From New York.

Traffic

President Obama is currently in Los Angeles. While it's great to have the President in town, it always causes major havoc in the West L.A./Century City area because the Secret Service likes to use Santa Monica Blvd. as the primary way to get the Presidential Motorcade on and off the 405 Freeway. This necessitates the closing of Santa Monica Blvd., which is a major traffic artery in the West L.A. area. And wouldn't you know that my office is on Santa Monica Blvd., just a block east of the 405.

The morning, the President's helicopter landed in Cheviot Park, which is a few miles from the 405 entrance. Because of this, a good portion of Santa Monica Blvd. was closed which added about an extra hour to my morning commute as I tried to find alternate ways around the closures. Instead of just complaining about it, I emailed The White House and recommended that they use Veteran's Park as a landing site for Marine One. Veteran's Park is a large park in West L.A. which is part of the Veteran's Administration. Since the park is on Federal land, I would assume that it would be much easier to secure than Cheviot Park (which is in a residential area). Also, Veteran's Park is right next to the 405 Freeway, which would mean fewer street closures to get the Motorcade to and from the Freeway.

I'll report back if I get a response to my suggestion.

Hope

Love this!

Trader Joes

Sara LOVES shopping at Trader Joe's. So, she'll probably really appreciate this little fan-created commercial for the grocery store.

Valentine's Weekend

Big Thunder Trail
Originally uploaded by brassplayer

Sara and I cashed in our Disney Rewards Points and booked a weekend getaway to the Disneyland Hotel. While my family stayed there once when I was young, Sara had never stayed there, so this was a nice little treat for the two of us.

Our room was in the Wonder Tower, the one with all the waterfalls. It was a short stay, but we really enjoyed ourselves at the Disneyland Resort.

Click here for a few more pictures of our trip.