Busy little bee

Yes, I have been slow in blogging recent events, and this is because of some exciting developments with two companies I'm involved with.

The first is Puzux, where we've been putting crosswords and other puzzles on the Amazon Kindle for quite a while now.  We actually just passed 25,000 books sold!  Amazon is now releasing games as well as books for this nifty e-reader, and this week has seen our new Jumble game appearing there!  It currently comes in 20 and 50 puzzle flavours, and we'll soon be launching a free 3 puzzle sampler and a 200 bumper edition:

That one has a five-star rating at the moment too!  So if you've got a Kindle, I thoroughly recommend that you give it a download and a play.

The other company was started by some classmates of Hannah's at Haas - Modify Watches.  They wanted an updated website to sell their Christmas stock, and had a nice challenge in trying to build a sandbox that you could add to and take away from as much as you wanted to see the different combos of faces and watches they offer.  Oh, and they wanted it in three weeks.  It all went live last night!

Give it a go!  If you put the code MODIFY20 into the checkout then I think you'll get 20% off.  I'm not sure about international shipping, but it would amuse me if Aaron (one of the founders) was suddenly having to post stuff to England.

So, there we go!  Those of you that think I just sit around here lapping up Californian sunshine (Mum) can rest assured that I do actually put those skills learnt on a ZX Spectrum to use (and my Mum bought me that when I was nine, so I shouldn't tease her).  Now all I have to do is - in the lingo of the MBA - find a way to monetize myself...you can't quite come after me yet, Mr Immigration Official.

Ice to see you

Walnut Creek has everything - a Cheesecake Factory, Tiffany's, Starbucks, an In 'n' Out opening soon, and to add to this chock-full list we now have an ice rink!  For the holiday season, at least.  Union Square has got nothing on us!  We laced up our boots with Patrick and Kathy, fellow Creekers, tonight.  Baby Charlie came along too but sadly did not fulfill minimum height requirements (not long though!)

The rink was the usual holiday affair, and could have done with a once-over from a Zamboni (which it got, just as we left).  We were a bit disappointed to be told that a private party had booked the place that evening and we would only get 45 minutes on the ice, but after ten minutes of using muscles that don't get out much I was hoping that the guests might arrive early.

We glided, waltzed, and pirouetted under the sparkling lights in the park.  I skated quite a bit when I was younger, but things that were within my grasp then (like switching from forwards to backwards at speed) seem less advisable at this age.  Older and wiser, or just more scared of pain and medical bills?

Walnuts on ice.

I just missed Hannah landing a triple toe-loop.

Don't worry Charlie - next year.

Interesting themed ice.

Patrick practices his ballet moves.

Speed skater!

Yes, they really do have one.

Am I too old for this?

Definitely too old for this.

Mea Cuppa

Fiona returned from Antipodean climes today, and brought with her some treasure!  It turns out that Twinings held a competition for someone to come up with a New Zealand blend of tea, and Andrew Fenemar from Nelson was a winner.  His prize was to see his tea in the shops (and receive a lifetime supply, I hope).  They're even advertising to the UK market, employing terrible cultural stereotypes that England is dark, cold and rainy, while NZ is God's own country.  It's not - that's Wales.

Like English breakfast, but more laid back, polite, and sunburned.  Oh, and not so good at cricket.

Go Getty

In an attempt to avoid further disappointment, on our way back to The Creek from The OC we decided to try something we hadn't tried before.  Opting for the 405 as a slightly less insane LA highway we waved a tearful goodbye to Jim, Gen, and Frankie and joined the traffic jam headed north through Malibu.

It was here, amongst the hills, pines, palms, white beaches, and homes of the Hollywood stars that Mr J. Paul Getty decided to build a villa.  Getty had done well for himself in the oil business (about $2 billion well) so was not short of a penny, and decided that he would 'imaginatively recreate' a sprawling Roman villa.  Why not?

He'd been collecting art and antiquities for most of his life, and was actually quite generous in running his home (one of his homes...) as a museum that the public could drop into and look around.  This villa was specifically designed to house his burgeoning collection, and although completed two years before his death in the 70s he never got to see it completed as he was living in England at the time.  Malibu or England?  Hmmm.

The museum is free, but it's $15 park (remember, this guy was a businessman) and Hannah and I got there the minute it opened.  This meant we could wander around well before the school parties and grockles arrived.  Just us in our Roman/Malibu villa, with only the butterflies and security guards for company.  I was almost tempted to strip off and jump into one of the ornamental pools, but SoCal is not NorCal.

The place is beautiful, and has been complemented by a complete renovation in 2006.  We did the architecture tour, which explained how everything new surrounding the villa is meant to suggest an archaeological dig.  This is because the place is actually a replica of a real villa being excavated from Vesuvian ash in Herculaneum, and it's an 'imaginative' recreation as they haven't finished digging up the original yet.  Why didn't Getty fund that, Hannah wondered, instead of building this?  She's so corporately responsible!

Turns out that Getty wasn't much into archaeology.  Context is everything, as Indiana Jones will tell you, and his urns, statues, sherds, and palimpsests seem to have been acquired on the grey if not completely black market.  Here's an Etruscan statue, the labels to the pristine climate controlled boxes would tell you, it is old and probably came from around the Med.

Still, as we're always telling our Greek cousins when it comes to the Elgin Marbles, you've got to protect these things, and Getty certainly knew how to do that in a fantastic, opulent, and breathtaking setting with the Pacific glittering in the background.  "Rise early, work hard, and strike oil" was JP's recipe for success.  Hannah's done all those, so I'm looking forward to building my villa next door to his sometime soon.

Nice villa, we'll take it!

Wandering in.

Pools, statues, immaculately kept plants.

A fellow visitor.  The place is on the Monarch migration route, and hundreds of them fluttered about, as if the setting wasn't idyllic enough already.

Fancy a dip?

Yes, Hannah could see herself here.

Here's looking at you!

A cheeky Roman child.  The regal face, the haughty manner, the self-assured deportment.  Reminds me of my Godchildren.

Hour of Power

It was time to tick off another item on the things-we've-never-managed-to-do-in-LA list with a visit to the Crystal Cathedral.  The last time we made it here it was deserted thanks to the strange sight of water falling from the Orange County sky.  This time, although the wind huffed and puffed, it did not threaten to blow this house of glass and steel down.

We arrived just as the afternoon service was emptying out and so decided to look round the visitors' centre while we waited for the area to clear.  You don't want to be approached by any scary Christians in a place like this.  The centre turned out to be a large gift shop and a cafe, so after perusing some fabulous Christmas tat we wandered back over to the main building.

We had missed our opportunity!  With a quick walk around the reflective edifice we discovered that none of the doors had any handles on the outside.  Inside an army of cleaners was at work, and no one was going to let us in.  A cathedral that locks people out, with a gift shop that stays open longer than it does?  Hmmm.  Even Gen (mildly atheistic in the way the South Pole is mildly chilly) was shocked.

There was nothing for it but to seek out the best barbecue food the OC has to offer at Johnny Rebs' - fried green tomatoes, pulled pork, and chicken fried steak.  Real soul food.

It looks nice from the outside.  Still waiting to see if the inside is as impressive...

Frankie's spiritual education begins!  And ends.

Jesus, actually walking on the water this time.

It's all about convenience.

James enjoys a small pre-dinner drink.

So does Hannah.

Unripe tomatoes.  Fried.  With bacon bits added.

Air bag

Disappointment is a central part of the human condition, a fact I'm reminded of graphically every time I see that giant orange ball floating above Irvine's Great Park. This free tethered balloon ride is the park's big draw, allowing you to marvel at the planned avenues and immaculate houses surrounding its green sward.  On a clear day you can contrast it all to the chaos of downtown LA.

Our pattern has been well established now.  We turn up at "check in" to find that either balloon bookings are full or the prevailing weather conditions have kept it on the ground.  In line with any activities in California that involve leaving your house, you have to sign a waiver giving up all rights to everything, and there was some excitement when, for the first time, we actually made it to this stage.  We were then handed a Cheesecake Factory style beeper and told to wait 20 minutes.

After 45 minutes the formidable trio of Hannah, Gen, and Frankie went to find out what was happening.  The balloon was going up and down with scant few people inside, and the breeze was getting up.  Ten more minutes we were told.  After eleven Hannah was on her way to complain again when the beeper went off!  She returned grinning with five "boarding passes" and we dashed to the waiting area.

It was here that our expectations began to sink like, well, a leaky balloon.  Clouds that had been lurking on the hills began skittering towards us, and a man with a walkie-talkie arrived - never a good sign.  Sure enough, tethers were soon being attached to the ground and the whole thing began to resemble a giant satsuma incarcerated against its will (I'm struggling for similes here).

What could we do? Once again we turned our backs on the recreational dirigible and (after a quick stop by the carousel) headed for home.  Deflated?  Obviously.

Up, up and away.

My balloon!  Actually I was holding some chocolate cookies and refusing to give them to her.

Hannah is feeling pumped.

Grounded.

How quickly puffed up elation becomes the shriveled wrinkles of disenchantment.

Still, got to make the best of it.

Hannah and James don't want to miss out.

A happy ending, with smiles all round (and round).

Breakfast at the cove

A short hop and skip away from the manicured lawns of Irvine is Crystal Cove, a higgledy-piggledy collection of old beach cottages that the local hippies used to inhabit for a peppercorn rent.  Used to, because the council planners moved in and evicted them to make way for some prime coastal real estate development.

The area has kept its ramshackle charm, and more importantly has kept its cafe which Jim and Gen assured us served the best beignets in the area.  And we trust them so much that we agreed to get up at 7am on a Saturday to be in line.

The little pillows of fluffy wonderfulness that were brought to our table were all that we'd been promised and more.  I could have sat there all day munching on them, but we made sure we balanced our diet with a decent breakfast (caramelised apple pancakes for us, macadamia pancakes with a coconut sauce for the Hollands).  Then we worked it off by playing some frisbee on the beach.  Not the real beach right next to us, the one on Wii Sports Resort. Far more sanitary...

We've got a much better beach on our games console at home.

The beignets.  They count as one of your five a day.

Proper fruit in this one!  That's why you have to add the syrup.

Getting feet wet in the Pacific.  Our real exercise was grabbing fearless Frankie and running from the sea whenever a wave crashed in.