WIN!

This entry is going to be very similar to the last one. And here's a spoiler: the next entry is going to be very similar as well. But that's okay! We're all having a good time here right?

So I've seen the Star Trek three times now. Most recently at the drive in. Drive-in is a good time, particularly in the summer.

I'm still not sick of this movie. What does that say about me? At least I don't wear the uniform, like the guy that was next to me at a stoplight on the way home. Also seen on the way home:

What is this building? An adult daycare center.

Saturday I went to a sports and Cash was there. We walked around a little bit and it occurred to me: he's very small. I guess three year olds tend to be smaller than the folks in my own peer group, so there's nothing unusual about that at all. It's just very striking.

Early in the game he entertained us with some songs and told us about his buddy the Bee mascot. But near the end he totally lost his mind. I probably shouldn't have bought him that beer.

I just wanted him to think I was cool! Just kidding of course I didn't buy him a beer. No, he was just a little hyper as kids can be sometimes. Here's the thing, and people with kids will know what I'm talking about: no matter how cute and intelligent and sweet they may be, it's important to remember that children are wild animals. Let your guard down and next thing you know they'll be acting like they have no bones or eating floor-pizza or stealing your glasses.

Anyway, great to see Jared and Erin and Cash again. Those three are tops in my book.

The game ended early so me and Terrance and Lee went to sample another of the city's burgers.

This place used to be a bar. I don't think you can tell from the picture but the sign brags that it has been there for "50" years (the quotation marks are theirs, not mine). One time I drove by it with my dad and he mentioned that he'd often come to town and get in fights there.

I think it's fighting days are over though because they don't even serve beer anymore and instead offer only mediocre burgers. Actually they were almost good but there was just something missing. Juiciness I think.

I twittered about this, after the Busy Bee we watched Major League. I really love that movie. The end when (SPOILER!) Wild Thing comes into the game to get the last out is one of my favorite sports moments. It's right up there with the Miracle on Ice and Stockton's Three Pointer.

The fans celebrate on the field, and this poor guy can't get anyone to give him five.


Sunday night I went to a Neko Case concert and saw this great parking job.

Neko didn't want anyone taking pictures, so as far as I'm concerned it didn't even happen.

"It did happen I saw it happen don't tell me it didn't happen!"

Okay fine! It happened. It was a great show. I really liked it. Thanks to Anna Ng for reminding me about it and facilitating my entrance.

It's been raining for days here in the valley. I like it. Makes for the kind of pictures I like to take, like this one of the ancestral manor.

Went back to the Bees game on Tuesday and the heavens just didn't want it to happen.

I've never seen the field get tarped before. Not in person anyway. Luckily for TR he was prepared with a rain slicker.

Man, that is a big-ass tarp.

I wondered what they were going to do with all the water that gathered atop the tarp, then they busted out the sqweegees that looked like giant Mach 3 razors.

Nice job spilling water all over the dirt guys.

The game started two hours late but it ended up being a lovely night and a great game.

This guy. The Superfan. He knows what's up.

Check him out. He sustained this the entire game.

Untitled from Bryton Sampson on Vimeo.

Satisfying night.


While we're talking baseball, what is going on here?

isn't that kinda weird?

Remember that picture of the zombie cat? Maybe Cash would like to see it.

Uh-oh. He doesn't seem as interested in it as I thought he'd be.

Luckily Erin, who lives with Cash and along with Jared co-raises him, explained the process of decomposition in very clinical way so I think overall this was a valuable experience for little Cash.

Those three invited me over for breakfast Memorial Day morning. Great breakfast and great company of course.

That paper cone has a lot of uses.

At first he was using it as a bird beak ("I saw a bird with a white beak once. Isn't that kinda weird?") but then I convinced him it was an invisible snow-cone and he thought that was pretty hilarious. Unfortunately I stole the whole "invisible ____ " schtick from lolcats. I hope he doesn't find out and think I'm a hack.

While I was cleaning eggs off our porch (we got egged!) I noticed that the neighbor's flag was dragging in the street. I said aloud "Shouldn't someone probably pick that up?" and then a breeze came along and lifted it up. Finally after all these years we have proof that God blesses America. That's a relief!

Eventually I went to fix it though.


The reason I'm posting these pictures is because well, I want to show you all that I'm just as heroic as those Iwo Jima guys.

Hey can we talk about my birthday? It was two weeks ago but we're backed up here at Microsuede HQ. I went to a Bees game and almost all my favorite people were there. I had an awesome time. Probably the best birthday in years.

This poor third basemen, Travis Metcalf, was hassled by us (mostly Scotty and Danny since their voices carry the best) all night.


The heckling got so creative that their were a few moments where Metcalf had to cover his face with his glove to keep from laughing. I'd love to repeat some of the stuff here but I just don't think it will translate. I did update his wikipedia page during the game and it's still up there. I hope he checked it like we suggested.



Scott: "Hey 23! It's called Your Butt! We all have one!"

Ack mascot attack!


Kids flock to Bumble like ducks to bread. It was madness.

Scott used Bumble as a cup holder.


Danny: "What light through yonder window breaks? It is the East, and Metcalf is the sun!"

After the game Metcalf tipped his hat to us. He's my new favorite player.

Ah, baseball.

Elin made me a cake! Apparently in her family it's tradition to eat cake on birthdays.

That "B" is my personal logo. Terrence designed it. If I ever obtain a lordship it will be on all my banners.

We were going to watch Lost but then Elin got all stabby so the night was called.


thanks everyone!

Days of Thunder part 3: the end of the century

This. This is an atomic blast as seen from the town of Wendover, Utah. Pretty remarkable that I was able to capture it on film last weekend.


You will undoubtedly recall that the first post in this three-part entry began with a video clip of OMD's "Enola Gay." Is it starting to come together for you? Wendover, Utah was home to the airship Enola Gay, the flying fortress responsible for dropping the atomic bomb known as "Little Boy" over Hiroshima, Japan. The historical implications of this cannot be ignored. Arguably ending WWII but leading to the decades long standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union. Killing over 100,000 civilians, but perhaps preventing countless more innocent deaths. The philosophical paradoxes could tie your mind up for weeks.

Those paradoxes were on our minds as we stood and gazed upon the actual ship itself, the Enola Gay.

That guy standing in front of it is a volunteer who insists that the ship must be ready to go in the event of renewed U.S./Japanese hostilities. If you ask me he's a little paranoid, and insists that the worst day of his life was when Ichiro Suzuki broke the single-season hits record. Kind of racist really.

Parts of the airfield are still in use for the high-rollers (ha!) coming in to gamble in West Wendover, but most of it is abandoned now. Despite being all spooky and decrepit, it's actually one of the most well-preserved WWII airbases around.

This is the hanger the Enola Gay rested in while the crew trained. At one point there were over 20,000 personnel at this base.

Recognize this plane?

How about now?

It's one of three planes used in the movie Con Air. The film that gave us Nicholas Cage with a Foghorn Leghorn accent and a Michael Bolton hairdo. This plane is to cinema what the Enola Gay is to warfare.

Scott insisted that he could fly that bucket o' bolts, but I think he was lying.

I think Nathaniel is doing an impression of popular WWII graffito "Kilroy."

My favorite part of this plane is that it finally gave me a place to put all the floor plugs and d-rings I'd been carrying around all day.

I didn't stay too long in there because it was kind of starting to freak me out.

I mean, who knows what could be lurking in that darkness.

Climbed to the top of the old control tower which was a bit unnerving what with the narrow, steep stairway with the see-thru grating. But what a view!

Look how high it is! That tiny blue speck is Lisa.

Nice parking job, idiot.

The old barracks looked friendly and uninteresting.

This truck was hanging around in like Jaws waiting for its prey.

The truck was beaten and broken down. The back doors were open revealing... chips?

Someone had a truck full of chips and decided "I'm just going to park here in the middle of nowhere and let this truck rot here til the end of time." Weird! Maybe it was a heist gone wrong.

We started to get an eerie feeling from the abandoned barracks. Junk everywhere. I named this Mount Tetanus.

The grounds outside one building were strewn with baby socks and childrens' blankets. A peak in the broken window revealed a bad scene at the laundromat.

Things were getting progressively more Stephen Kingy.

As far as I can tell from my research, the base has been completely de-activated since 1969 and declared surplus in 1976. It seems like everyone just up and left, leaving everything behind. Was the base de-activated, or was there a zombie attack? A The Stand-like virus? Who leaves two perfectly good television sets behind?

Coyotes howled in the distant hills and wild dogs barked in the labyrinth of wooden buildings.

One boarded up garbage building had the sound of a television or radio coming from inside.


Do not trespass inside that car! The other one is fair game.

"Beware: Racers, Parts Thieves, and Californicators are not welcome!" I'm none of those things but I still didn't feel very welcome.

Here's a big chain. Probably to keep the planes from running away.

I'd already decided that this was the creepiest place I'd ever been (Nathaniel said second creepiest. Lee wasn't bothered at all. I don't know where Scott or Lisa rank it) when I ran into this.

Why yes, that is a dead mummified zombie cat. What the...? Why is in attack position? How did it die? Why haven't wild animals or flies or weather taken it away? Does it come alive at night?

Here's a close-up. You might find it disturbing so be warned.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/microsuede/3547583325/

That's about it for Wendover. Oh, we also saw a brigade of ghost soldiers. They didn't photograph well but they did wave to Scott.

The end.

Link: the historic wendover airfield needs your support!