The Japanese Garden in Van Nuys

I love Japanese style gardens. They are serene, tranquil, and incredibly beautiful. I started to visit all of the local gardens here in Southern California, which there are surprisingly very many of them. This most recent one I visited had to of been the best so far.

The best feature of this place is its size. The lady working at the gift shop mentioned it was at least 13 acres big!. Every other garden I've been up to now seem to be really tiny, like the Earl Burns Miller Japanese Garden in Long Beach. The one in Van Nuys is HUGE as you can see in the map below.

First up was the administration building above. Not only is it very futuristic looking, I recognized it immediately as a building used in the movie Bio-Dome. It's also one of the most interesting buildings I've ever seen.

Once you start the garden, It is a big loop that goes around a decent sized lake. There is a decent amount of wildlife that have taken up residence in the lake such as geese and ducks in addition to other birds and little tiny fish in the water.

For those that enjoy the annual festivities in Japan, there are even several cherry trees surrounding the lake that are just starting to bloom. I would imagine when they are full of flowers, that it would look down right amazing.

The plantlife at the garden looked like it could easily rival many arboretums. On the map they were handing out, there were several legends naming the different plants and trees and then showing their location on the map.

What is a Japanese Garden without its tea house? I would love to participate in at least one tea ceremony, but I might save that for when I hit the islands next year. It looks like an excellent location to hold a wedding.

Now in the interest of full disclosure, The Japanese Garden is actually part of a waste water treatment plant, which is next door. Most of the time if you are walking through the park, you wouldn't notice anything, including the smell, until you get to that side. There was even a cool little walk way that took you to an outlook so you could see what goes on over there.

This garden is definitely the best Japanese garden I've visited up to now. I believe, much more than the garden in Golden Gate Park even. If you love seeing these places, I couldn't recommend this place more. Thanks for stopping by!

One last little note, I'd like to throw a shout out to Susie. Thanks for the post card from the good side of the great white north and I hope you enjoy the beers!.

On the Road Again

Dang, since my mandate to start taking vacations started fourteen months ago, I've been on four separate trips. I thought New York was going to be the only place on the books, once in January and again in September, but now I get to go on a road trip up Highway 101 to visit San Francisco in just two short weeks! If this keeps up, this year will turn out way better than last.

The hard part now is to find inexpensive hotels to stay at. that wont break the bank and hope that I won't get killed in the process. Any recommendations on the sights? I will be hitting up Japantown for sure. and hopefully a decent amount of breweries as well.

What I've been working on

This last trip to New York, I wanted to make an exclusive picture trip since last time I decided to live it up instead of taking many pictures. I've been on a kick recently where I've been wanting to sell my photos and this trip was a way to get more for that cause.

Ever since I've been back, I've been having a hard time. I'm working my way towards moving to the east coast with my goal being that I will tough it out for one year. I unintentionally timed my trip in between two polar vortexes and somehow seemed to miss the shit weather I was meaning to find.

Instead, I got what you see in the picture above. The meaning of my trip turned out to be a dud! Thankfully it didn't ultimately end up being a dud, but I was looking forward to seeing snow. It's the northeast for christ sake! It should be colder than 35 degrees Fahrenheit, am i right?

While I am sitting here and bitching, my trip didn't come one bit close to being a dud in reality. I was able to see some of the best city-scapes in the world. I had some incredible food, and I was able to talk to some incredible people. What more could you as for from any vacation?

The food in New York is probably the most diverse of any place I've visited. Even in Los Angeles! Check out some of the food I ate.

Handi Restaurant, 113 Lexington Ave, NY

Rare Burger topped with brie on an onion bun
The Counter (Build it yourself Burger Joint), Times Square

Minca Ramen, The best meal (and the first) I had the whole trip.
536 E 5th St, East Village, Manhattan

The biggest God Damn Pizza Ever!!
Koronet Pizza, 2848 Broadway, Upper West Side

All in all, I can honestly say that I had the time of my life. The only bummer is that I was only there for four days. Thankfully, I will be going back in September for a full week at least. More or less a 9 day stay, and that sounds OK.

If any of you want to go on a trip to somewhere diverse, that has as many activities that are free as there is paid, New York is where it's at. You can experience the best and worst parts of America here. I can't wait to come back myself. Let me know if you would like some reccomendations. I have many for food and even more for beer.

For the full set of pictures from my trip to the greatest city on earth, Click Here!

Is Your Bag Too Full?

I thought I would send along this little tip I picked up earlier last year. With the whole gas price on flux, airlines are starting to gauge big time when it comes to carrying bags on the plane. It seems wholey reasonable to only come with a carry on when the temperature warms up. Well, how do you save bucks with your luggage in the wintertime or other times when you need a full suitcase? Flying JetBlue, or other carriers that allow up to one bag free is only part of the solution. The real deal is to use the extra space inside your shoes. I'm taking some snow boots in my bag tomorrow, and they are both completely filled to the brim with some chonies and my socks.

Now that I think about it, it keeps prying eyes away from your underwear as well.

Hope that I helped you out

Now i'm off to the airport :-)

Cold Weather Navigator? I Wish!

On Wednesday evening, I will be jumping on a plane to make my return to my false home town, New York City. In anticipation of my return, I've been diligently keeping track of what the weather is like. I unintentional booked a non-refundable room, and any delay could screw me out of a hundred bucks on the low end. As I keep looking at the weather, I'm noticing a trend that I'm not too sure I am thrilled about, the temperature rising.

Out here in sunny California, bad weather is almost a mute subject. I think we only got about 10-20 days last year that had rain, on the high end. It's very depressing for somebody like me who is always looking for change. I think I might riot if I don't see a single flake of snow while I'm walking the streets of Manhattan. I bought film for my camera just to capture the wondrous climate. and I better see some bad weather Dammit!!

On the other hand, if I don't have to use either my snow pants or my boots, I'll return em and be more well off by about $60.


In other news, I'm planning to go to my first hockey game while on my trip. I'm going to travel to the majestic city of Newark, NJ to watch the Jersey Devils take on the Philadelphia Fliers. Beer and Sports, It's what's for dinner.

Planning Your Trips

This a concept I finally grasped this past November. Here are some of the tips that worked for me and hopefully they will be of some assistance to you.

I love to visit cities that trend on the more expensive. That doesn't mean you have to pay an arm and a leg to visit. Here are some tips I wish I would have followed before most of my recent trips.


1. Buy your plane ticket early

I'm going to New York at the beginning of January. I was mostly on the fence until about a month and a half to two months out I had seen an advertisement on JetBlue's Facebook site for 20% off any flights within a certain date range. I ended up getting tickets for $135 after tax each way. Talk about a jackpot! Many airlines seem to have these outstanding flash sales. I've since seen similar deals from Virgin America and Southwest. Like your airlines and hotels and you might see an enticing enticing deal as well

The other issue with buying your ticket early has to do with rising costs when your planned trip date is approaching. Prices tend to get higher and it will make you kick yourself in the foot for missing the rates that would give you more dough to spend on fun activities. Start checking the airline sites around Tuesday and avoid buying on the weekend. I ended up riding the train cross country because I was too late in booking a flight. I ended up eating an extra 40 buckaroos. In my language, 5-8 beers I could have had.


2. Read the fine print on the travel booking sites

Boy did I learn my lesson from this one. It only took twice. I booked my room on Priceline and it gave me a price that I thought looked VERY appealing, and there was a blurb underneath stating "Tax Not Included". That is a confusing statement, don't you think? It was for me and I took it at face value as the site would pay for that. Kinda dumb, I know. When I was entering my info on the site, I also didn't see a place to add my AAA discount too either. My best recommendation is to call the hotel up and ask if they can offer the price on the travel site. It's a 50/50 chance especially in summertime.If so than make sure you ask for any additional discounts such as AAA. I easily would have saved an extra 10% by doing so.


3. Just because it's expensive doesn't mean you can't do anything for free

New York is an expensive town. Even so, there are a zillion activities you can do for free. Many art galleries including MOMA and Guggenheim offer free days, Friday and Saturday respectively. There might be a line, but who cares. a couple of other free places to visit are the 911 Memorial, the High Line, Central Park or Flushing Meadows where the Worlds Fair was held. You just need to be creative. Just fyi one excellent place to visit in Chicago is Millennium Park, where the Giant Bean resides.


4. Talk to the guy/lady sitting next to you

Talking about the Giant Bean. When I rode the train to New York last summer, my first train ended in Chicago and the next one I had to wait several hours to board. I talked with my seat mate the entire trip, and he just happened to be from Chicago. So I asked him where some fun places to see and where to eat. He walked me down to Millennium Park which completely blew my mind that somebody would go that far out of their way for me. He also gave me recommendation for a place to eat, but I ended up having to skip out on that and find a nice burger joint instead. The point is, if you strike up a conversation, you never know what kind of connections the people around you might have. Just don't be annoying about it.


5. Choose the off season for lower rates

I'm planning on possibly an extended stay in a region far different than any I have experienced to date. I've only seen the region at its best, and now I'm about to see it at its worst. What are the benefits of this? Nobody wants to stay in a drab dreary snowy place. That correlates to awesome plane ticket prices and killer hotel rates at hotels that would normally be 2-4 times as high in the summertime. It might even make some activities cheaper as well because nobody wants to leave their warm house for the "extreme" cold. Just make sure you pack accordingly for wherever you might be planning.




As with anything else that you might potentially spend thousands of dollars on, do your research, leave your itinerary somewhat loose, and plan for your trip. You will enjoy your trip much better, and everybody will be jealous that you are going on more trips than they are. Don't be cheap, be frugal. It's worth your time.

My Unhealthy Story and What I Need to do

As we get older, the majority of people start to think about their bodies and how we can keep ourselves from wasting away. I didn't start until 2 years ago when I finished up a 7 year bender. More specifically the last Monday of July was my wake up call.

I remember the night fairly well. I was getting ready to watch Monday Night Raw and it had been a few weeks removed since my favorite wrestler, CM Punk, won the title and "Walked out" on the company. When you are as big of a pro wrestling fan as I am, you watch for special moments that just give you the chills. You get these moments with any kind of entertainment. Well.... on this night, there happened to be one of these moments, and I missed it because I was drunker than a son bitch. It was so bad, I woke up still drunk and had to text my boss that I wouldn't be in because I was physically incapable of calling in.

In this case Irony took over. My favorite wrestler just happens to be a straight edge and I missed his triumphant return because I felt the want to pour massive amounts of alcohol down every pore and opening in my body. Do you know how it feels to be witnessing History and to blow a spectacular chance at viewing it by being plastered? Thankfully, YouTube has come to my rescue and given me back that feeling. Its the same feeling I get When I watched Chris Jericho make his first entrance to Monday Night Raw, Every time I rode Mission To Mars at Disneyland as a kid, or even my first steps in the city I love (and hope to reside in some day).

Shortly after missing that moment, my cat and I moved into a home with a different family. But this one wasn't used to seeing high quantities of alcohol move as if we were in the brewery itself. After a bit of shame, mostly from myself but received from everybody else, I gave up the nectar of the gods for roughly one year. Though I wasn't eating healthy, I lost 20+ pounds and I felt pretty damn good. I got a little cocky and changed around my drinking habits from 1-2 24 oz bombers a week to 3-4 a week and onto now where I drink anywhere between two 12 oz beers a day to going out to the bar a couple times a week and/or drinking three to four twelve oz bottles a day. I'm starting to get tired of it.

So, in the interest of getting healthy again, and wanting to be flexible like martial artists, I'm trying to turn my way around with a couple different exercises that I will be taking one day at a time and then working them into longer stretches. Also, I'm going to be keeping a daily weight count and time count for the days I walk. I timed myself the other day and walked 5 miles in an hour and a half.

Here are my keys to success

1. Limit the alcohol intake to the weekends only. Its ok if I have some during the week, some days you just need a beer and it can't be helped.
2. take up some exercising that will promote being flexible, I just started DDP Yoga
3. walking at least twice a week
4. Focusing on my task at hand. Learning Python and Ruby so I can increase the opportunities available now and in the near future when I take off from this area.
5. Make my lunch and take it to work. I spent $1.50 for a shitload of noodles and a pork steak. two of my favorite foods. I probably should make a spinach, romaine lettuce carrots and broccoli salad with as minor an amount of dressing I can stand. The real key is to stick it in a plastic bin and shake the bejesus out of it so the dressing covers the greens more thoroughly and evenly.
6. One day at a time. Rushing has no use with this.

Now for some comments from you. What are you doing to increase your healthiness? and how do you keep yourself from falling back into your vices or bad habits?