and wants more – an exclusive interview

me: still alive?

Karisa: i am!!!

me: good! congrats!

Karisa: thanks! 🙂 it was really hard
the ocean was awful. i got stuck in it for awhile
they had to pull a lot of people out! but i made it in
had a really good bike, slow run though
but it was great practice for the la tri!
i am tired though! woke up at like 3:30a.m.

me: i was just going to bed then!

Karisa: as people should at that time. people should not get up then!

me: what were the lengths of this mini tri?

Karisa: 1/4 mi swim, 20mi bike, 3.1 mi run

me: amazing

Karisa: haha- not really. eye opening though
my poor friend kim got a flat tire!

me: that’ll teach her for being poor! only the rich should tri

Karisa: ha ha 😉 i can’t wait to do another one so i know what to do correctly

me: ok im bloigging this cuz youre obvs delirous

Karisa: hahah- huh? why so? the la tri is LONGER
that is going to be nutso: 1mi swim, 22mi bike, 6.2 mi run
i hav e alot of work to do! i can do much better than what i did today
i ate/drank too much and got too nauseous for the run
have to balance that out better
it was funny- they wrote our age on our leg for some reason for the race
so you could see how old the people you passed/passed you were

me: wtf!? just to rub it in?

Karisa: haha- i know!
well- it was to make sure you were in the right ‘wave’
we went out in waves. i was wave 7. i passed a 77 year old dude though!!!
which is so great! can you imagine? 77!!!he was so rad

me: damn gramps!

which means it’s a sweet ass time to Ask Tony, yo

but of course they couldnt.

im bummed the cubs werent able to play yesterday cuz they woulda won.
im bummed i wasnt able to go to the fancy hollywood party, but i had to work.
but at least it was interesting work and part of it involved writing on our olympic blog.
im bummed the cougar doesnt understand the difference between dating and being married
im also bummed she cut her hair because for some ridiculous reason it looks hot that way
im bummed its friday already cuz i want to go to vegas and im not really ready
im bummed big brother is poop this summer
im bummed the new randy newman record seems like a sleepwalk
im bummed i get so tired so quickly nowadays because it makes me feel olde
im bummed its 100 degrees in vegas this weekend cuz thats sorta hot even for me
im bummed im not in first place in any of my fantasy leagues
im bummed i dont feel like doing a pineapple express review for you (go see it now)
im bummed your summer intern isnt as great as ours. look at this story bro wrote yesterday
im bummed artie is in rehab cuz that means he hit rock bottom while on vacation
im bummed i havent gotten my bike fixed yet
im bummed i might not be able to go to vegas cuz what if i hafta work this weekend
im bummed theres not a hot tub in this mansion
im bummed the latest teen doesnt have esp so she could drive over with some ice cream
im bummed that i have actually very little to be bummed about because that means that very little in here was true.

photo by tama leaver via flickr

hi tony, why are you all dressed up?

guess.

hell if i know. getting married?

ha!

it’s christmas?

close?

omg!

what?

you’re selling me to buy the cubs?

dude, it’s your birthday!

it is?

it is!

wow! how old am i?

i’ll give you seven guesses.

get out.

yep.

damn!

totally! busblog, happy birthday. without you Lord only knows what id be doing right now. odds are i wouldnt be working at the LA Times running all their blogs.

i wouldnta been written about in newspapers around the world, i wouldnta been the subject of tv interviews in the US including G4TV (.avi), and interviewed by the French equivalent of 60 Minutes called Envoyé Spécial. not to mention interviewed by the New York Times and quoted pretty heavily in the Washington Post. although my favorite was when the LA Times in 2003 first noticed this little thing.

no way would i have helped coin the phrase “Blook” with help of Jeff Jarvis. or would i have been in the position to write the first two blooks: “Blook” (2002) and “How to Blog” (2004). nor would that word have been runner up for the Oxford Word of the Year in 2006 and i bet Lulu probably wouldnt have an award called the “Blooker Prize” where the winner of the best blook of the year gets ten grand(!).

without the busblog theres no way i woulda gotten an ipod for free, no way would i have been interviewed by LAist and then hired by them to blog for a living, and without the busblog theres no way i woulda gotten a car solely from the donations of the readers here and the subsequent road trip around the country (and canada).

no way would the dutch government have sent me to amsterdam to blog about it if not for you, the busblog.

no way would i know all the cool kids in canada if not for the busblog

and no way would i have been able to say to the readers, hey give me money, and then received enough in less than a month to fly to aruba and back if not for this lil bloggy

no way would anna kournikova, mariah carey, clipper girl, clipper girl’s cousin, and the wide variety of young women way out of my league have flown to hollywood to meet me, see me, and ravish my out-of-shape bod, if not for the busblog

but most of all theres no way i would have been as happy as ive been over these last seven years if it wasnt for the crappy job i had on wilshire boulevard which led to me discovering ev williams little creation which allowed me to fantasize about the superhero life that turned out in many ways to become reality.

all under the guise of nothing in here is true.

thank you busblog for making reality so much better than fiction.

happy blogday.

photo by mermaniac via flickr

Hi Tony. Hope all is well with you. Are you back from camping? Did you all have a great time? Did everyone come?

I don’t know why I ask all of these questions because you will answer with few words!!

Did you see the Cubs last night? I got stuck at work until 8:30 P.M. because of the HORRIBLE storm. I think I heard there were over 50K strikes of lightening.

Tornado sirens sounded in Itasca though it was hard to hear them. The lights went out a couple of times. But I couldn’t get to my car because it was raining so hard. I should have taken a picture of where we had to stand. If there had been a tornado, the big metal water pumps that we were standing near would have killed us.

Love ya.
Mom

+ + + +

Hi Mom,

yes im back from camping. yes it was fun. almost everyone came. of the missing were Linda and her little daughter, chris, james, and a few others. but we accounted for most of the lake. it was super fun.

i did see the Cubs game. it was on ESPN and thanks to the rain delay i was able to see the lightening strike on the friendly confines shortly after getting home.

why do you live out there, again?

the next time im back home i will crank up the volume of the Itasca sirens. someone seems like slackers out there. maybe the ones in medinah would be louder.

xoxoxo
tony

did the rock star provoke the violence?
did the bouncer have just cause to beat his employer?
did the rocker have the right to hit the bouncer?
did the rocker not know that the bouncer was helping?
are drugs, ultimately, to blame?
is this proof that we cant all get along?
how did grohl know so quickly that kurdt was in need?
is that courtney in the pit trying to kill her man?
is this proof that stage diving with a guitar isnt a good idea?
whats the song?

ate raw fish with me

the restaurant: kanpai
location: westchester, just north of LAX
the occasion: love of friendship, love of sushi

heres a review a reader wrote on the Times’ Calendar section a little while back:

Rave:

Get to know Peter, the head waiter. He is a sushi fanatic, and he will take care of you – I have never been disappointed by something he recommended. The quality of the fish is as high as any restaurant around. The non-sushi dishes are pretty good, but if you go to Kanpai and don’t eat the sushi, you’re wasting your time. This is not family-friendly Japanese food, but quality sushi for the purists out there. I highly recommend it, but make sure you have plenty of time to wait for the bill.

i couldnt agree more about Peter. bro knows everything. is very patient, will have the sushi chefs make your order the way you want. and will even remember you if you have a tiny habit of coming in with two knockouts.

i also made a buffoon of myself to the ladies. but thats nothing new.