Starting a business in Kaaahlifornia and other forms of torture.

Click here to listen

This week's podcast is a little different. We have a guest on, Jimmy, who tells us about his experiences of trying to start a business in California; one that unfortunately requires local and State government involvement and approval....this is where it gets a little sticky. It's quite a disturbing podcast in it's implications, but this is a no holds barred podcast, so don't say we didn't warn you. Heavy, but interesting listening. We salute every business person like Jimmy who is trying to start something and make a difference, while also coming up against the immovable object that is political incompetence/ignorance/corruption.


There isn't much more to say for once. Listen and let us know what you think.


BMSMA.


G&S

Right turn Clyde, Cloud computing malarkey, and 'there was much rejoicing...yeh'.

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Fiiiinally we got Jason on the podcast after months of invites.....he's a busy boy. We are secretly/quietly joined by Jason's wife....who, despite being usually chatty, this time opted out to sit quietly and not join in....but we managed to get her photo, and sat with Simon's dog for proof...but all incognito of course.

With Jason we revisit some old times with; some work and some banding fun experiences we had. We expose the vocal capabilities of Greg (mainly Karaoke). We geek out for a while, and talk about Jason's current work and how he's making a living from the 'Cloud Computing' consulting....plus what the hell is cloud computing. Jason tells us a little about his company that is helping to deploy cloud computing applications, "Forcebrain". 
Greg and I talk briefly about a local restaurant we visited with Karen the previous week, "Sent Sovi". OMG it was good. We had a full blown 7 course tasting course and had to waddle back to the car to get home. Greg and I then recount one of our more memorable road trips. We did this one a few years back to visit Jason when he lived up in Portland Oregon....all on backcountry roads: to Crater Lake, Mount St Helens, and Lava tubes, who's name we can't remember now. We play an odd video from rathergood.com as Jason was the person who introduced us to this rather strange web site. This is it. http://www.rathergood.com/axolotl. 
We head outside and Jason tells us how he proposed to Carmela and why being romantic doesn't always work out as planned. Jason and Greg give us a "What The Hell Just Happened" moment when they both (separately) met a lady-boys/transgenders (One in LA and one in Bangkok), and how they had a close shave but escaped unharmed. Jason tells us of his close encounter with a probable/possible terrorist shortly after 911, and how the FBI took no interest in him, despite being told about his strange behavior, and then about his close encounter with contraband art out of Iraq....all the time with Bae Jiao panting (and her collar jingling) in the background. Really, it was my dog panting, not us. We finally get one word out of Carmela. "Hi". 


We close with "Jurassic Shift" by Ozric Tentacles.

The World Cup, Karen, Balty, a bit of Egypt...plus more on Jack Norworth.

Click here to listen.

We had a great time this week with our guest, and long time friend Karen.

Of course, we talk about the World Cup. We headed over to the Duke of Edinburgh Pub to watch the final and joined a crowd in there. It was standing room only, but fortunately we got their very early to grab a table. Ashok joined Karen, Greg and Simon and we had a great few hours, supporting both teams along the way. We chatted about Paul the octopus that has predicted the correct outcome for 8 games in a row. That can't be chance!

Earlier in the week we joined Karen up in her local stomping grounds of San Francisco and we had dinner at the House of Prime Rib on Van Ness. Fun was had by all, and boy those prime ribs were good, as were the Yorkshire puddings! Apparently, the alcohol was pretty enticing too.

Karen joined us today to talk about her blog, http://baltazarfishegyptdiaries.blogspot.com. She's an aspiring children's author and she also talks about the trials of trying to find an agent and be published. The blog is linked to the main character of her current work in progress, Baltazar Fish. The blog is being written in the first person, and is set as a prequel to the novel. We discuss Egypt a little, as Karen's travels there inspired her book.

Earlier in the week, Greg, Simon and a friend, also called Simon watched Monty Python's Holy Grail, so there are a smattering of quotes from the movie in this week's podcast.

We then go over some of the recent news articles. Our favorite was a crocodile on the loose in Frankfurt. As Greg said: "The more you know, the less you care."

Before closing we go back to the previous week's story of the Jack Norworth memorial stonebeing placed at his burial sight. This project was undertaken by 2 friends, JP Myers and Chris Epting, both guests on the show. The event to put the new stone in place was on July 11th, 2010 and photos were taken. There are some articles and photos about and from the event.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=106832&id=118727941506682

http://picasaweb.google.com/fultonavenue/July11th2010NorworthMemorialMarker#

http://dailyme.com/story/2010071100002916/seventh-inning-special-belting-102-year-old-hit.html

Post Podcast recording we headed over to one of the more incredible local restaurants, Sent Sovi. We indulged. Boy did we ever. We laughed ourselves silly and ate like royalty for the evening. Worth every penny! We'll talk about this a little more on next week's podcast.

BMSMA.

G&S

The World Cup, Karen, Balty, a bit of Egypt...plus more on Jack Norworth.

Click here to listen.

We had a great time this week with our guest, and long time friend Karen.

Of course, we talk about the World Cup. We headed over to the Duke of Edinburgh Pub to watch the final and joined a crowd in there. It was standing room only, but fortunately we got their very early to grab a table. Ashok joined Karen, Greg and Simon and we had a great few hours, supporting both teams along the way. We chatted about Paul the octopus that has predicted the correct outcome for 8 games in a row. That can't be chance!

Earlier in the week we joined Karen up in her local stomping grounds of San Francisco and we had dinner at the House of Prime Rib on Van Ness. Fun was had by all, and boy those prime ribs were good, as were the Yorkshire puddings! Apparently, the alcohol was pretty enticing too.

Karen joined us today to talk about her blog, http://baltazarfishegyptdiaries.blogspot.com. She's an aspiring children's author and she also talks about the trials of trying to find an agent and be published. The blog is linked to the main character of her current work in progress, Baltazar Fish. The blog is being written in the first person, and is set as a prequel to the novel. We discuss Egypt a little, as Karen's travels there inspired her book.

Earlier in the week, Greg, Simon and a friend, also called Simon watched Monty Python's Holy Grail, so there are a smattering of quotes from the movie in this week's podcast.

We then go over some of the recent news articles. Our favorite was a crocodile on the loose in Frankfurt. As Greg said: "The more you know, the less you care."

Before closing we go back to the previous week's story of the Jack Norworth memorial stonebeing placed at his burial sight. This project was undertaken by 2 friends, JP Myers and Chris Epting, both guests on the show. The event to put the new stone in place was on July 11th, 2010 and photos were taken. There are some article and photos about and from the event.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=106832&id=118727941506682

http://picasaweb.google.com/fultonavenue/July11th2010NorworthMemorialMarker#

http://dailyme.com/story/2010071100002916/seventh-inning-special-belting-102-year-old-hit.html

Post Podcast recording we headed over to one of the more incredible local restaurants, Sent Sovi. We indulged. Boy did we ever. We laughed ourselves silly and ate like royalty for the evening. Worth every penny! We'll talk about this a little more on next week's podcast.

BMSMA.

G&S

Taken to the Ball Game

Click Here to Listen

This week is quite special! We have JP Myers on the show to tell us about the campaign to get Jack Norworth's memorial marker updated and spruced up. Who's he? He's the guy who wrote the lyrics to "Take Me Out To The Ball Game," the famous baseball song sung at every game. (Jack also wrote "Shine On Harvest Moon," and here's a clip of it from a classic Laurel & Hardy film from 1939.) 

JP Myers & Jack Norworth, respectively.

But you already knew that.

When JP learned from Chris Epting (at Chris's book-signing event for his publication Los Angeles's Historic Ballparks) that Mr Norworth was laid to rest in nearby Anaheim, JP began to organize a campaign to make a difference. JP tells us all about it, what happened, who got involved, and what's going on. It's an amazing story!


Chris Epting himself has a new book out, Hello, It's Me: Dispatches from A Pop Culture Junkie, which is superb, so we talk about that a little, too.

 Greg (R) with Chris Epting (L)

 

After this we divert into some unusual subjects and for some reason end up talking about the Addams Family (we stray here because the actress who played Morticia, Carolyn Jones, is buried in the same cemetery as Mr Norworth, the Melrose Abbey Memorial Park Cemetery).

Greg (for some reason known only to him) ends up emulating an odd Cary Grant type voice (this clip is fun because Cary Grant's character is telling off Goldman Sachs) while we discuss various local steakhouses, Alexander's in particular, where they have a $1,500 steak!* Talk about instant depreciation! We tend to go for the less ethereal $50 steaks, and they're yummie.

* REGRETFUL RECANTATION CORNER: Greg may have remembered that ri-DONK-ulous steak price from a few years back. From a current glance of Alexander's dinner menu, the priciest thing on there right now looks like a trio of New York steaks at $155. Mere pocket change, blargh!



Simon recounts learning about various national behavior traits during his time as a tour leader back in the 90's and how people from different nations definitely do have characteristics (for better and worse) when in a foreign land en masse and how funny it is to see sometimes.


We are now on Skype...obviously since last week's AND this week's guests joined us via that delightful technology. Our address is, imaginatively enough, "whatthehelljusthappened" if you so desire to contact us and be on the show. We also heard from a listener from the UK, Simon P, a Facebook friend. 

That's the end of the bulk of the show...but wait, order now and we'll throw in this for free:


We also tease you with information about a podcast we pre-recorded just 2 days prior, during a flight to Coalinga to visit Harris Ranch, and the perils associated with lots of cows and a heat inversion, (hey, you're learning stuff here!) We're using newfangled technology to record in the plane now, so you'll enjoy a much better sound: just our voices without the throbbing drone of the engine. It's not studio quality, but it's a damn sight better than our first attempt! That podcast will be released shortly.

We're also hoping to take another flight on July 5th, up along the California coastline, to Shelter Cove, and will record another podcast there too....for later release. It's going to be spectacularrrrrrrrrr. 


We just thought it would be fun to tell you about all our upcoming podcasts, including future guest Jason and the glorious return of "Pam". July is going to be a busy month it seems.


Enjoy....we did!


BMSMA.


S&G