Casual observances on a smoke filled Sunday night

I'm just getting into it.

… Remember a couple of years ago McDonalds had to scrap the popular Monopoly game due to the game being rigged by those controlling the game pieces. Well I may have evidence of more rigging.

Today, as I went to work I stopped off at the local McDonalds and ordered the Big Mac meal, large sized. When I got to work I pealed off the game pieces, I got Baltic Ave. conjoined together. How does that happen, I thought these were inserted at random, how do I get to of the same piece stuck together?

So now I have four Baltic Ave. pieces, three of Marvin Gardens and St. Charles Place. But it's just my luck.

… Has anyone ever had the "Sword of Damocles" feeling? I'll have to explain this later.

… There was an eerie feeling coming home from work tonight with all the smoke in the air. At this point, there are about a dozen fires in Southern California. While there is no danger where I live, you know other people out there where the fires are taking place are worrying about their houses with every breath you take.

… When the sword drops, I'll let you know.

Random thoughts on a cool night and sleepless Sunday

If Doug Krikorian could write a 70-inch notes column in the Press-Telegram sports section on random thoughts about his favorite restaurant and "The Jackie Robinson of roller derby" then why can't I?

… I spent the last few weeks shredding personal papers from as far back as 1999 and just finished today. I found a lot of things about my past – report cards and class schedules from Long Beach State I never opened, bills obviously – but miscellaneous stuff as well.

I almost forgot that I was a "Who's Who Among Students in American Universities & Colleges". If anyone has the 2000-2001 yearbook, check me out. And, if you can, send me a scan of it since I didn't fall into the scam and buy a book.

I had been shredding a lot of things before and would just stop. I just let things accumulate in storage and never got to it. A couple of weeks ago I bought a small desktop shredder and it stood up to the challenge of shredding two giant shopping bags of papers. It's a recommendation from me and at $15 at Target, a steal. (Not literally of course.)

… When I got home from work tonight I logged in to check my e-mail and on the front page of MSN.com was an article about which jobs were most depressing according to the U.S. Government. It's the same government that brought you "Iraq War II: This time, it's for money."

Eleven percent of personal care workers suffered from depression to lead all industries followed by the food/drink service industry with at 10.3 and in a tie for third health care workers and social workers at 9.6.

Engineers, architects and surveyors had the lowest at 4.3 percent.

Speaking from experience, journalists who work for the Los Angeles Newspaper Group (a subsidiary of the Media News Group) must not have been asked or else our numbers would have left every job behind.

And, if it weren't for the wonderful people I work with, I would be depressed about working in the engine room of the Titanic. As my friend James Melroy said, "It's the best worst place to work."

However, all this may change in the near future. Stay tuned.

… Also on MSN.com this past week was an article titled: "Sex and Marriage with a Robot? It could happen." In the article, researcher David Levy at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands said he forecasts that by 2050 the state of Massachusetts would be the first state to legalize the union of man and machine.

When I first read the hyperlink on the front page of MSN, my first thought was what Homer Simpson said when it was recommended to his sister-in-law Selma to consider artificial insemination if she wanted a child. "Boy I don't know. You gotta be pretty desperate to make it with a robot."

Playboy Mansion … CHECK

"A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds"

-Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

"Knowing the right people helps too."

-Me (1978-)

Before I begin, I have to thank Miguel Lopez for getting me a credential to go to the Strikeforce MMA fight at the Playboy Mansion. I know I would not have been able to get in otherwise.

Many that read this are in the newspaper business. And I know that it sucks being in the business right now. However, I was taught you could find stories that could take you places you wouldn't ordinarily get into. Well, I didn't cover this event, but I wrote about it online in a work blog.

Ah, a trip to the Playboy Mansion. It sounds like a fantasy. Well on this Saturday, it was a reality.

Now there is no parking at the Playboy Mansion, so Miguel and I had to park at UCLA and take a shuttle over. Driving up to the mansion was scenic, but you knew you were there when you saw a sign that said "Playmates at play."

Awesome!

However, it's not as hedonistic as the sign would lead you to believe. People are dressed at all times; well at least for this fight they were. By the way, people paid $1,000 for a ticket to this event, so Miguel and I saved $2,000.

The best way I could describe most of the women who came to this fight is what a former columnist at my old paper said when he covered a boxing match at the Playboy Mansion – championship abundance. Honestly, some of it was sad because its all these women had.

Miguel and I had time to walk around the grounds before the fights were set to begin. We went into the world famous grotto and that was nice and relaxing, if you like steamed rooms. After that, we walked to the mini bird zoo. I say mini because I had to duck down a lot. Apparently, Hugh Hefner is 5-5. I'd never seen some of the birds in there. I hardly took any pictures because I would have needed a flash and some of these birds looked pissed.

I also said hi to one of my heroes from my hero list on myspace, Bas Rutten. I highly recommend watching that video.

There was no entry into the house, so don't ask.

The reason why we were there, the MMA fights, was nothing special. They have some good talent at Strikeforce, but still have a way to go before catching the UFC.

I did see two members from the cast of "My Name is Earl" sitting behind me: Jamie Pressly and Ethan Suplee. From what I saw, they were nice people. Anyone who wanted a picture with them, they posed with. They weren't upset when someone didn't know how to work a camera.

I took more photos after the fight, but Miguel and I had seen enough. The only sober people left were the reporters and it was getting stupid. Besides, Hef had already turned in before the fights had ended. He must have had more pressing business.

I have family and friends that travel the world to experience places and people. I hardly travel so I have to make do with where I am. And to be honest, I'm almost done with experiencing everything Southern California has to offer after tonight.

My work on Leno

Well I finally made it to national television for the second time, in a way. The first time, it was my arm that was broadcast from coast-to-coast and beyond as I was covering the breaking story of Kobe Bryant being arrested for rape. A heard of reporters were interviewing Lakers assistant coach Kurt Rambis and my arm was holding a tape recorder. (If you care to see my arm, consult ESPN Classic for replays of Kobe Bryant being arrested as a top story in the 25-year history of ESPN.)

This time it is my work that made the television. Yes, my work was featured on "The Tonight Show" as part of their weekly "Headlines" segment. As you can see, I have Mother Teresa as a sports bettor.

Well our long-winded sports columnist Doug Krikorian has a weekly, personal minimum 45-inch rant about everything under the sun. There are some times he will write 70 inches, which my friend Feenstra pointed out to me, is way taller than him.

In these columns that coincidentally deal little with sports, he also gets four mug shots (tiny photos of someone's face) and they are always in an order he wants them. We've mugged a chicken once because he wanted it that way. And usually the first person he wants is someone we never have on file, I'm willing to bet it is one of his friends.

Well on this column led off about sports bettors he wanted some local degenerate, and I wasn't going to waste an hour looking for a jackass I know I'm not going to find. So, I went to the next one in line. It's standard except on this day it was Mother Teresa.

So, my designed page was on Leno.