SUNDAY, JANUARY 30, 2005

Taxes Done

I did my taxes today. It's the third year I've done it online. It's so much easier than filling out forms. The past two years, I've filled out my federal tax forms online, then printed them out and mailed them in because most companies would charge you if you wanted to e-file. But this year, the IRS partnered with several tax preparation services and you can e-file for free. I did my federal taxes with TaxACT Online, but to get free e-filing you need to link to them through the IRS.gov site or it won't be free. For my California state taxes, I did them directly on the Franchise Tax Board site. It's free to prepare and free to e-file. I ended up owing the state a little money, but feds owed me more so I came out ahead. My federal refund will be directly deposited in my checking account within two weeks and the money I owe the state will be automatically withdrawn from my checking account on April 15th. Each tax return took me about 20 minutes to fill out. Now that's convenient.

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SATURDAY, JANUARY 29, 2005

Jamie Morris : Tsunami Debris In California? : Bamboo Littered Venice Beach
Bamboo Littered Venice Beach
Tsunami Debris In California?

The waves here in Santa Monica and Venice Beach have been washing up all kinds of debris this week. The beach is littered with junk. I don't know exactly where it's from. Could it be runoff from the rain we had earlier in the month? From the mudslides? Or did it travel across the ocean from the tsunami in Asia? I haven't seen anything in the news about it, but the beach is a mess. There is literally tons of stuff on the beach. Most of it is bamboo and uprooted trees piled so high it is practically forming a dam. Bamboo doesn't grow in California does it? There are also several wheels from cars, lots of garbage - mostly plastics and foams, and pieces of wood with nails and bolts in them. I saw hundreds of pieces of rotten fruit and for some reason at least 100 tennis balls. There were also lots of shoes (sandals mostly). It's gonna take a long time to clean this up.

Update: An Associated Press article mentions that the debris came from storm runoff.

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FRIDAY, JANUARY 28, 2005

Meet The Fockers

Against my better judgement, I went to a free screening of Meet The Fockers tonight. I didn't really like Meet The Parents that much and this movie is almost identical to it. The same people, the same focking jokes. Sure, It's funny and it'll entertain you for a couple of hours, but I'm glad I didn't pay for it. I still can't decide whether I like Ben Stiller or not. I think he's really annoying but at the same time he can be really funny. Especially when he's with Owen Wilson.

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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 26, 2005

Jamie Morris : The Soundtrack Of Our Lives : TSOOL @ Troubadour
TSOOL @ Troubadour
The Soundtrack Of Our Lives

I went to the Troubadour tonight to see the Swedish neo-psychedilia band, The Soundtrack Of Our Lives tonight. Many people have told me that TSOOL put on one of the best shows they've ever seen, so I went to check them. I got there at 9:00 just as Earl Greyhound was finishing their set. Inouk came on next, but they weren't that impressive. Why do I bother coming to see opening bands? Well, actually, the show was sold out and by getting there early, I was able to secure a good spot to watch TSOOL. TSOOL came on at 10:30 and played for about 1 hour and 40 minutes including two encores. They really do put on a great show. I can't say it was one of the best I've ever seen, but they are one of those bands that are better live than on record. And that's saying a lot because their records are really, really good. The singer is just a nut... climbing all over the equipment and stage. I'm glad I wasn't standing directly in front of him because he was spitting while he was singing and his mic stand kept falling into the crowd. They played lots of songs, old and new, including a few from their upcoming album Origin 1. My favorites were "Broken Imaginary Time" and "Sister Surround" from their last album, Behind The Music.

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 25, 2005

Jamie Morris : U2 Ticket Presale Fiasco : U2 Vertigo 2005 Tour
U2 Vertigo 2005 Tour
U2 Ticket Presale Fiasco

I've been on a concert ticket buying spree. There are so many good shows coming to town and I haven't been to any in awhile. I just got tickets for Interpol, The Soundtrack Of Our Lives, The Futureheads, and now U2. Today was the U2 fanclub ticket presale for America and Europe and it was a disaster for everyone. After paying $40 to join the U2 fanclub, I received a unique password that was supposed to allow me to buy 2 tickets this morning at 10am. At 10:00, I went to the ticketmaster website to buy tickets. I was trying for two tickets on the floor of the Los Angeles show that were $50 each. After 15 minutes of getting errors on the site, I finally got into a queue for tickets. The queue lasted about ten minutes and then told me there were no floor tickets available. I then tried for two $100 tickets that were not on the floor. Ten minutes later, it told me that there were two available. Not exactly what I was hoping for but I decided to purchase them anyway just so I'd have tickets. I entered in my credit card info and clicked "submit". I was then told that there was an error processsing my order. I went back and attempted to re-submit and was told that my password had already been used and I could not purchase anymore tickets, however, my original order had not gone through. So I had no tickets and no password. I sent an email to ticketmaster customer service and still have not received a reply. Tonight when I got home from work I decided to give it another try. I was able to get two $50 nosebleed seats and my password was accepted! Oh well, at least I have tickets. I'm going to try again this weekend when the rest of the tix go on sale and see if I can get a better seat.

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SUNDAY, JANUARY 23, 2005

Jamie Morris : Body Worlds Exhibition : The Chess Player
The Chess Player
Body Worlds Exhibition

Last night, actually early this morning, I went to the California Science Center to see the Body Worlds Exhibition. Body Worlds is a travelling exhibition of real human bodies and body parts that have been preserved though a technique called plastination which was developed by the German anatomist Gunther von Hagens. Plastination allow the bodies to be preserved in a way that allows the bodies to maintain enough strength and flexibility for them to be posed in all sorts of positions and they can be showed to display certain body systems: muscles, nervous system, blood vessels, digestive system, etc. It's really amazing. You get to see over 200 specimens including more than 25 full plastinated bodies. This was the last weekend the exhibition was in Los Angeles so they left the museum open 24 hours all weekend. It was completely sold out during the day so I bought a ticket for the 11:45pm admission. I got there at 11:00pm and waited in line for about 90 minutes before getting in. I spend about two hours inside and when I left at 2:30am, there was still a huge line to get in. I didn't get home until 4:00am. This exhibition is moving to Chicago after today, but Body Worlds 2 opens here in Los Angeles next weekend.

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FRIDAY, JANUARY 21, 2005

The Aviator

I went to a free screening of The Aviator tonight after work tonight. I didn't think it was that great of a film but it was interesting to learn about the life of Howard Hughes. He was pretty crazy. I guess I did like it enough to sit through the entire 2 hours and 46 minutes of it. Leonardo DiCaprio and Cate Blanchett were both great. Gwen Stefani had a tiny part in the movie. I didn't even notice her.

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MONDAY, JANUARY 17, 2005

Jamie Morris : Syracuse, New York : Dinosaur Bar-B-Que
Dinosaur Bar-B-Que
Syracuse, New York

I had a great weekend in Syracuse visiting my friend Kristin. We ate at some good restaurants like MaMa Nancy's Truck Stop, Dinoasaur Bar-B-Que, Pastabilities, Nesticos Too, and Cosmos. On Saturday, we also went to the Carousel Mall, which is supposed to be one of the largest malls in America, and we also went to a couple of cool bars: Awful Al's Smoke & Whiskey Bar and Kitty Hoynes Irish Pub. On Sunday, Kristin gave me a tour of Syracuse University where she's going to school, and that night we drove in the snow to Turning Stone Casino. The casino was fun except for two things: 1) they don't serve alcohol and 2) the cards that you use to play games with don't work very well. On Monday, we went to an amazing grocery store called Wegmans where I bought some Dinosaur Bar-B-Que Sauce and some Yerba Mate Tea and then it was time for me to fly home. My flights were delayed as usual, but I didn't get home too late.

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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 12, 2005

Jamie Morris : I Can See Clearly Now : My Building is on a Cliff!!!
My Building is on a Cliff!!!
I Can See Clearly Now

The rain is gone, and the skies are blue, but now we have mudslides. The cliff across the street from my apartment is eroding. The California Incline, the road that connects my street to the Pacific Coast Highway, is closed because of mudslides. I hope my apartment doesn't fall off the cliff!!!

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MONDAY, JANUARY 10, 2005

Jamie Morris : The Pineapple Express : Topanga Caynon Road, Mailbu, California
Topanga Caynon Road, Mailbu, California
The Pineapple Express

It's still raining, but the Pineapple Express, the storm from Hawaii - not the Dole plantation train, is scheduled to be leaving us tomorrow night! But I won't be able to enjoy the normal sunny weather for long, I'm leaving for Syracuse on Friday night and weather.com is predicting snow storms for all three days that I'm there. My apartment building felt some of the effects of the storm tonight. The parking levels below my building are starting to leak and flood, and I was awoken at 4:00am tonight to the sound of the fire alarm going off. Water had gotten into the wiring of the alarm system and caused the fire alarm to go off for about an hour.

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SUNDAY, JANUARY 09, 2005

Jamie Morris : Raining Sideways : I Need Some Wine
I Need Some Wine
Raining Sideways

Today it's raining the hardest I've seen all winter. There's been heavy rain all day here in Santa Monica. The alley behind my apartment is looking like a small stream. I spent most of the day inside cleaning my apartment and watching TV, but I did go out once to go see Sideways, a really good movie from the director of About Schmidt and Election about the mid-life crises of two men on a wine tasting road trip in California. Now I want to go wine tasting…

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SATURDAY, JANUARY 08, 2005

Jamie Morris : Rainy L.A. with Steve Zissou : Life Aquatic Sneakers
Life Aquatic Sneakers
Rainy L.A. with Steve Zissou

It's been raining for the past two weeks and it's not supposed to stop until Tuesday. By the time it's over, we will have gotten more rain in the past three weeks than we normally do in a year. I've been waiting for a sunny day so I can try out my new K2 EXO 6.0 Inline Skates that I got for Christmas. Oh well, as long as it's raining, I can catch up on some movies I've been wanting to see. Today I went to see The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou starring Bill Murray. It's been getting mixed reviews, but I thought it was hilarious. After the movie, I stopped by the Adidas store in Santa Monica to see if they had any Team Zissou Adidas sneakers but apparently they don't exist. If you want some, you've got to make your own.

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FRIDAY, JANUARY 07, 2005

Changes @ Paramount

There have been lots of changes lately at Paramount. This week the company announced our new chairman and chief executive, Brad Grey, who will be replacing Sherry Lansing. Also in the past few months there have been layoffs in several divisions, including mine, Paramount Digital Enterainment. We laid off 25% of our full time employees including Four Fine Fellows from StarTrek.com and my pal Elizabeth from our marketing department who I had dinner with tonight at Houston's. Our offices are pretty quiet now with so few people. I made out pretty well though. After the layoffs, they consolidated our offices and I ended up getting moved out of my cubicle and into an office (with a window!).

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MONDAY, JANUARY 03, 2005

Compensation From Delta

I asked Delta if they would compensate me for expenses I incurred when my luggage was delayed for 8 days. I also asked them to refund my frequent flier miles that I used for the flight. So far they've given me back 15,000 of my miles ($300 worth) and promised to pay for my expenses (I'm asking for $150). I'm pretty happy with that. I wasn't actually expecting them to give me the miles back. Also today, it was announced that Delta is expected to reduce fares sharply this week in an effort to avoid filing for bankruptcy. Hooray for Delta!

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SUNDAY, JANUARY 02, 2005

Jamie Morris : The Weekend is Over : Good Hair Day
Good Hair Day
The Weekend is Over

Brrrr... it's cold today. The high in Santa Monica today was in the low 50s. It's got to be the coldest day of the year. And it's been a little rainy too. Despite the frigid temperatures, I went out a couple of times today. First to get a haircut. I hadn't had one in 5 months! The last few times I've got a haircut, I've gone to Supercuts and they did a very poor job, so today I splurged and got a $40 cut at Saints Studio around the corner from my apartment. The woman who cut my hair did a really good job and I'll never go to Supercuts again. I went out one more time today for lunch at the King's Head. The special on Sundays is roast beef and it's really good. Mmmm... a roast beef dinner and a pint of Carlsberg warmed me up. It's now 4pm and I think I'm in for the night. I'm going to make myself some Cadbury's hot chocolate and watch some TV. Maybe a movie or some episodes of Globe Trekker.

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SATURDAY, JANUARY 01, 2005

Hello 2005

Happy New Year! The year started out well for me. The first thing I did today was watch the Manchester United match on TV this morning and they won 2-0. They've been doing quite well lately. They haven't lost a league match since October. One good thing about having a 4-day weekend with nothing to do is that I can catch up on some movies I've been wanting to see. This afternoon I went to see The Motorcycle Diaries, a movie I've been wanting to see for months, but haven't had time. It's about Che Guevara's roadtrip across South America in 1952 with his friend Alberto Granado. It was definitely one of the best films I saw in the past year. Watching the movie reminded me of one of my New Year's resolutions I had last year which was to re-learn Spanish. I studied it for 5 years and can barely speak it now. I started studying it last year, but I got busy and stopped. So, I'll add it to my list of resolutions for 2005 along with visiting a new continent (South America?), doubling my savings, and making it to my 5-year anniversary at Paramount.

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