Purple toes and a Green Desk

Hey everybody. Yogurl and I's week started out a little rocky, but it got way better. Early in the week I injured both of my big toes playing basketball. Just the large toes somehow, not the other ones. They throbbed pretty good for the rest of the day, but by the next morning they only hurt when Yogurl would accidentally step on them. Then at the end of the week I found out that promotions to sergeant are closed for November for my MOS and that I lost the meritorious sergeant board again. I guess I was the runner-up again, which means I get nothing. Sweet deal. Since I missed my motorcycle safety course to go to the board, I now have to decide if I want to go stay the night to try to crash a motorcycle class on base this week. If I don't, then I won't be able to get into a class until late December probably.
Our laptop has been giving us some problems lately. When you move it around or adjust the angle of the screen, it tends to shut off. We were thinking that we will probably go ahead and buy a desktop instead of getting a laptop again. So we thought that sometime soon we should start looking for computer desks. Well, as we were getting home from the temple on Saturday, we saw a computer desk and hutch for sale for $25, right at the entrance to our apartment complex. Our next door neighbor was selling it. So, we bought it. Once we got it into the apartment, Yogurl realized just how much she hated the color. It seems that already it's getting less repulsive, and we have plans to sand it down and repaint it. It'll be a great deal once we've fixed it to fit in better.

Brandon's Visit

Hey everybody! Yogurl got her haircut this week! Here she is with her beautiful new haircut. We had a pretty okay week this week. On Tuesday morning I went and picked up my orders to the motorcycle safety course on base. I signed up about a month and a half ago, but this was the first available class. Then Tuesday afternoon work calls me and tells me that there is a meritorious sergeant board going on the next day. What a raw deal. I mean, it's great that they want me to get promoted, but how crummy that it is the same time as the course I've been waiting so long for. As far as giving me last minute notice, well that's just how things usually go at work. So I went in to the safety course guys and told them I couldn't make it, which didn't make them too happy. When I told them it was for a promotion board, they said they could still get me through the course as long as I showed up by noon. I didn't think there would be a problem with that since the board started with a PFT at 0630. Wrong. Later that evening, around 1800, I found out that the last part of the board was scheduled for 1330 and probably would run until 1430. So, that's that. Anyway, I won, but it's nothing to celebrate over yet. I won the same board last quarter, and I didn't end up getting promoted. Hopefully things will work out better this time.
Our weekend turned out great, though. My brother and his wife came and brought their adorable little boy, Brandon. He is so cute. Fun things this weekend included my brother eating sushi for the first time. He actually handled it really well. He claims that being forced to eat tomatoes is worse than being forced to eat sushi. Maybe with some more sushi experience, he'll learn to love it. This picture is him enjoying the sushi.
We all went hiking in Torrey Pines state reserve. It is just north of San Diego, and it is absolutely wonderful. We hiked on a trail that led down through some cliffs to the beach. It was really fun. We sure enjoyed having them here and hope they come back soon.

Hollywood, Here We Come!

That's right, Hollywood. It's true when they say that if you go there once, you never have to go again. I don't actually know if anybody says that, but they should, because it's true. We had a blast in LA, but we really did everything I think we wanted to do there in one day. It was a busy day though! First we went to Westwood Village, which is right next to UCLA. It was a really nice neighborhood with really great frat houses. The main reason we went there was for Stan's Donuts. They are delicious. We got a peanut butter banana donut and as pictured below, a peanut butter Reese's pocket donut. Yumm, yumm. Then we went to a really popular place called the Griddle cafe. Yogurl had the French toast which was made with chocolate bread and stuffed with chocolate chips and then covered with cocoa powder and whipped cream. It was so rich, I could hardly eat it. Boy oh boy was it good.
We didn't just eat, though that would have been fun. After brunch, we headed down to Grauman's Chinese Theater. Now Yogurl had never heard of this place before coming to California, so just in case her sisters haven't heard about it either, I'll explain. It is the most famous movie theater on Earth. That pretty much sums it up. While we were looking at the footprints, Yogurl got excited about that chump Gregory Peck's little spot. So I got a picture with my favorite movie star, too. Yeah, Sophia Loren. What a hottie. I mean... ummm... what a great actress.
After seeing everything in Hollywood, we drove to Beverly Hills so we could watch rich people. No better place than Rodeo Drive. We saw this store there named Bijan's which is apparently the most expensive store in the entire world. Men have to make appointments to go shopping there, and it isn't uncommon for a man to spend $100,000 on a single trip. Meanwhile, no more than 500 feet away was a public park with a dozen or so homeless people. It was unreal.
Our big treat came next. We went to the La Brea Tar pits! It was actually super cool, as nerdy as that sounds. The best part was that Yogurl and I got in free since I'm in the military. It's nice to feel appreciated. We learned a lot about the animals that used to live in California and about the tar pits, which actually should be called asphalt pits.
But the journey didn't end there. We went to downtown LA, where we saw all sorts of cool stuff. Really beautiful buildings and artwork, the world's shortest railroad, and some sweet water fountains. Check out this video of Yogurl acting as reporter.
We ended the day with a trip to Olvera street, which was surprisingly empty today. We ate some yummy authentic Mexican food and went home. All in all, it was a really great trip.