The World of Scott Mindeaux

Brothers & Sisters is back for Round 2

The Season Premiere of Brothers & Sisters is taking place. It is one year later since they came on screen last year and I have missed them over the summer.

Just like last season, I usually don’t give a review of the episode…I pluck my favorite quotes from the episode.

While in the park with her kids, Sarah is standing around with a bunch of other moms. Her son comes up and says he’s thirsty. Sarah hands him a fruit juice box and starts to hand one to the daughter of one of the other moms…

The daughter’s mom chimes in, “Oooh sorry, we don’t do processed foods. No offense, I know you work…”

Holly and Nora are standing at Williams grave paying their respects. Nora asks Holly to attend Kitty’s birthday party and to see Rebecca, Holly’s daughter.

“Oh I don’t want to impose” says Holly and Nora responds “Holly, you being here at my husband’s grave site, that’s an imposition… you sharing a taco with your daughter I can live with…”

Kitty to Sarah “It’s true what that say, Tequila makes everything better…”

Date #3

Friday night was my third date with Doug. After stressing all day about where to go we finally decided to head to downtown Huntington Beach. I read a blog in the OC Register about a new restaurant called Izakaya Zero. Izakaya is a type of Japanese tavern that serves “little plates” of food with lots of sake and drinks. Think of it as Japanese Tapas!

Earlier in the day I had thought of taking Doug to LA and show him The Grove. He had not been there before and thought it would be nice to walk around and stop by the Apple Store (our favorite store!). Then I thought maybe Long Beach and then maybe stay local and go to the Spectrum (again, for the Apple store). Doug’s parents were visiting from Northern California on Saturday, so we thought to stay local!Doug picked me up and we drove up to Huntington Beach. He had just made a mix CD and listed to Britney’s Gimme More along with some other tunes.

We got to Izakaya Zero and it was crowded! Based on the blog entry on Thursday, it said they were suffering from nearby construction and the place was empty. This Friday night it was packed! Seems the review in the OC Register brought the patrons in. However, it seems that the surge in business may have been testing. This is probably the first time the staff was tested in a full house experience.
Doug and I decided to start with drinks. I ordered a club soda with a twist of lime and he ordered a Kirin. After our drinks arrived I decided to try the Yoku-jito and Japanes Mojito. Made with limes and mint, there was also a hint of ginger.

We ordered 4 plates to eat. First we ordered a Zero Roll and Huntington Beach roll. I can’t remember what was in the rolls but I have to tell you that it was some of the best rolls I have had in a LONG time. We both enjoyed it. In Doug’s words – it was amazing! In addition to the rolls, we ordered Albacore Tataki and a plate of Tempura. The tempura was perfect, not oily and the vegetables were crisp and flavorful. The Albacore Tataki is seared albacore topped with roasted herbs and vegetable sauce. A small pile of microgreens was served on top. I LUVED that dish.The over atmosphere was very trendy and contemporary. There was a good beat going on all night. Almost everyone in the place seems to be enjoying themselves and the vibe was good. Overall it was a good night, but the service was a bit slow. Our second roll didn’t arrive until 15 minutes after we finished eating the first three plates.

Score? 3.99 out of 5

After dinner we drove down PCH down to Newport. We parked on Balboa Blvd and walked down to the water. It was low tide and the waves were coming in softly. It was very peaceful, it was a bit cool and there was a nice breeze. We walked for a bit along the shore towards the Newport Pier. We stopped at a lifeguard station and climbed on up and sat on the station looking out to the water and listening to the water. It was so nice just sitting there with Doug. I put my arm around him and he pulled in close. (awwww….)

After some time at the water, we headed back towards home. I decided to show him where Fashion Island was and how to get back to Irvine the back way via the Newport Back Bay. When we got back, we hung out and did more cuddling. (more awww….)

Doug’s parents are visiting him for the first time since he moved to SoCal. They were flying in today at 11am and so Doug had to head home. I won’t see Doug until Monday night when we see each other for Episode 2 of Heroes.

I had a great time last nite and look forward to seeing him on Monday…

Weird Day at Work Today

It was a wierd day today. Today was cloudy and a bit gloomy. Today is Jaimie’s last day at work at Ignite. She will be moving to AMO, coincidentally a client of ours as well. Jaimie was the third person I met on my first day at Ignite. She was my “office mate” of 1 day and then she moved to the space next to me. We had the corner area and we always knew how to have fun in that corner. I will miss Jaime very much. Luckily, she will be nearby and we’ll have lunch together soon.

On another sad note, we also saw the departure of two employees. We had a an all-staff meeting and the partners talked with all of us.

Ignite is very busy right now and we’re just gearing up for a busy 4th quarter.

This week was also stressful about the IT budget. We’ve had almost no notice on getting our budgets together. So had it not been for meeting Doug, I think I would be more stressed than normal. Having him around this week was very calming for me.

I have to go….I have a date tonite!

Did I Have Another Date?

So after last night’s “date” I asked Doug if he wanted to get together again just before he left last nite. He said yes, and I was screaming inside!

So all day today I was in a great mood! I haven’t felt this good in a long time. So tonight it was going to be simple. So I decided to make Orange Chicken with fresh Jasmine rice (Thank god for Trader Joes!)

I bought a bottle of Cabenet and we shared that throughout the evening. We decided to watch a new show on the CW called “Reaper“. Basically, parents of a 21 year old sold his soul to the devil. Now Sam, played by Bret Harrison, has to find people that have escaped hell and bring them back. The Devil is played by Ray Wise.

Interesting show, think its a keeper on the TiVo!

Tonite, there was a bit more cuddling and maybe a bit more! [smile]

Doug is such a nice guy. We talked more tonite and learned more about him. He’s really still getting to know what’s around here in the OC, so I think a future date to show him all around the OC is in order!

Heroes and a Date?

I have met a guy online a few days ago and we have been talking online. I found that we both had alot in common and he was new to The OC. He moved down here from Santa Cruz and he live in Irvine. We’ve had good conversations and we have moved to talking on the phone the last couple of days.

It turns out that he doesn’t have a TV (long story). He is a total Heroes fan!! He was bummed that he was going to miss the Heroes season premiere. So…. I offered for him to come over and watch the show. Oh my God….I have someone coming over to the house. I started cleaning the house on Sunday and all day on Monday I was obsessing.

On Saturday, I told him I was going to Ikea to pick up some things and the topic of Swedish Meatballs came up. He likes them. So….

What did I do? I bought everything to bring the meatballs to him, but at my house. I bought the meatballs, the sauce and even the Lingonberry sauce!! Later that day I bought some baby red potatoes to go with the meal and I added roasted asparagus to the menu (great idea!) – I even had a small dinner roll to go with it. (How sweet was I?) NOTE: the picture here is from the IKEA website, mine had better presentation! [smile]

For lunch on Monday, Tim at work asked me to go to lunch (rare event, but nice). We had some time and went to BestBuy. I saw the DVD set for Season 1 of Heroes. In that set, was the unaired Pilot of Heroes. I thought it would be kewl to watch that prior to the Season Premiere of Heroes.

In the minutes leading up to his arrival I was soooo nervous. I mean…this is a date right? we’re just two buds meeting up to watch some TV right? (Butterflies galore in my stomach).

I opened a bottle of Merlot (Michael Pozzan). Doug shows up and I open the door and greeted to a big smile and a hug! He is so much cuter in person than the cute pics he sent me. I invited him in and offered him a glass of wine. I then gave him the 25 second tour of my little studio!

We sat down and he pulled out his Powerbook so we could hook it up to the TV and watch the DVD. (I didn’t have an S-Video cable for my MacBook Pro). While he did that, I was finishing up the asparagus. I plated dinner and we started to watch the DVD.

I’m not going to go into a full review of the unaired pilot, I only have to say that if they went in the direction of the unaired pilot, the show may not have gotten the following it did. I’m glad Tim Kring decided to change the pilot!

After the pilot, we talked a bit about it and then went on to watch the season 2 premiere. We were having a good time and every time something kewl happened we would look at each other. Little did he know that when he turned away to look back at the TV, I stared for a bit more. It got to be a bit late 11:15 and yet we decided we wanted to watch the premier of Journeyman as well. During the episode, I found myself holding Doug and we were snuggled on the couch watching TV. (Awwww…) It was so nice.

I had a great time and hope he did too. We gave each other a goodnite kiss and he was on his way home. I asked him to IM me when he got home and he did. (Awwww…)

So…he’s coming back tomorrow nite…

Star Trek: New Voyages Continues to Blow Me Away!

Remember the days when I had a podcast? Well back then I often talked about Star Trek: New Voyages. The production of this show has impressed me from the beginning and they have released their 3rd episode entitled: World Enough and Time. The story line involves Hikaru Sulu played by George Takei and John Lim. The episode involves time rifts and alternate timelines and they have done an excellent job in creating a episode worthy of the Star Trek franchise.

They are offering this episode using Flash Streaming technology. I recommend full screen viewing. Even in Flash streaming, the resolution was excellent! Choose the DragonFly option.