SATURDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2005

Jamie Morris : Home For The Holidays : Isabell with
Isabell with "The Morris Family"
Home For The Holidays

I've been in Maine for the past week eating lobster and playing in the snow. The weather hasn't been too bad... highs in the 30s. My uncle has been in town visiting from Texas and Isabell is here from China, so I've had people to hang out with. I arrived on Saturday, a few hours late thanks to United. Sunday was spent opening presents and seeing the family. On Monday, we went shopping in Freeport and Portland. I got two nice coats at The North Face outlet in Freeport for half price. On Tuesday, we took a trip down to Boston. We ate well... Dim Sum at China Pearl in Chinatown, seafood pasta at The Daily Catch in the North End, and cannolis from Mike's Pastry. We also did some shopping downtown and on Newbury Street. On Wednesday, my Uncle Rick and I went to the little town of Farmington, Maine. We had lunch at a great restaurant called Homestead Bakery and we did a little shopping. Rick bought a CD called "Bert and I" - good ol' downeast humor. Listen to this if you want to hear some real Maine accents. On Thursday, we took a drive down to the southern Maine and visited some of the beach towns - Ogunquit, Wells, York, and came home to have some lobster. On Friday, we headed north to Bangor. I went to the University Of Maine bookstore in Orono to get a hockey jersey. We also went to the Bangor Mall, Stephen King's House, and the new slot machine casino - Hollywood Slots. I lost $40 playing video poker. On New Year's Eve, we went back down to Portland for an AHL hockey game. The Portland Pirates played the Springfield Falcons. It turned out to be a great game. The Pirates were losing 3-0, but came back to win 5-4 in overtime. Dustin Penner scored a hat trick but noone threw their hats on the ice! A little disappointing... if I had a hat I would have tossed it. After the game, they had an indoor fireworks show to the music of Cirque Du Soleil in the Civic Center which was pretty interesting. It was pretty bright and smokey inside, but it was better than watching fireworks outside in the freezing cold. I'll be back in La La Land on Monday night.

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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2005

Jamie Morris : Finding Nemo On Ice : Anita, Jamie, Bill, and Tim
Anita, Jamie, Bill, and Tim
Finding Nemo On Ice

Tonight I went to the Disney On Ice Finding Nemo show at Staples Center. Anita was able to get us the Paramount Pictures luxury box, so we had great seats and lots of food and drinks. The show was pretty cool. It's pretty amazing that they can skate around in those big costumes.

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SUNDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2005

Video iPod, Kings Game, Knott's

I had a pretty busy weekend. On Saturday morning, my apartment building had holiday party. We had some fancy coffees, breakfast, and a quartet singing holiday songs live. Then I went to the Apple Store and got myself a video iPod. I sold my new iPod Shuffle and my old 20GB iPod on eBay for $300 and used the money to get a brand new 30GB iPod with video. I bought an episode of Lost that I missed on iTunes for $1.99 and watched it on my iPod. It's amazing. Now I can watch tv shows or movies while riding the bus. I downloaded some software and learned how to convert DVDs to MP4 files, so now I can watch any of my DVDs on my iPod or my PSP (PlayStation Portable). In the afternoon, I checked out the new West Elm store in Santa Monica with Mary and then we had lunch at Gaucho Grill. On Saturday night, I went to see the Kings play the Phoenix Coyotes at Staples Center with Niki, David, and Carol. Kings won 4-1!

On Sunday, I went to Knott's Berry Farm with a bunch of people from work. We went today because we thought it would be empty and we wouldn't have to wait in lines all day. Unfortunately, noone told us it was "Toys For Tots Day". The park was free for anyone who brought in a toy. The place was packed. We bought some toys before going in, so we saved ourselves a bunch of money, but the lines were so long we only got to go on two rollercoasters all day: Ghost Rider and Silver Bullet.

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FRIDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2005

Jamie Morris : Paramount Studio Tour : PDE on the Lot Tour
PDE on the Lot Tour
Paramount Studio Tour

I've been working at Paramount for over five years and I've never taken a studio tour. This morning, a group of people from my department went on a two and half hour tour of the lot. The tour was great. I learned a few things that I didn't know about Paramount and we got to tour several of the sound stages where the TV shows are filmed. We toured a bunch of sets including Nip/Tuck, Charmed, Entertainment Tonight, The Insider, and Dr. Phil.

Tonight, I went to a screening of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang which was a great movie. The funniest movie I've seen in awhile.

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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2005

Paramount Holiday Party

Tonight we had our 2nd Annual Holiday Party on New York Street. The party was a little different this year. There were no prizes to be won and there was no band playing, however, there was an ice skating rink set up outside and a dance club set up in one of the sound stages. It ended up being a long night... I didn't get home until 12:30am and when I got home I had a red wine stained sweater (someone bumped into me) and I was missing my bag (I left it in someone's car). It was a lot of fun though. Also, Paramount gave us all iPod Shuffles for Christmas. A big improvement over the cheap gifts we've gotten in the past.

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SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2005

Jamie Morris : The Chronicles of Jamie:<br>The Office, The Well, and The World Cup : A Box of Turkish Delight
A Box of Turkish Delight
The Chronicles of Jamie:
The Office, The Well, and The World Cup

The office has been interesting since we found out are department is shutting down at the end of the year. Officially, my job will be changing on January 1st when I will join Paramount's Interactive Marketing group which is headed up by Amy P.. This week we got to meet everyone in the department which was nice, but I still don't know a whole lot about how my job will change. I'll probably know more next month. Yesterday, we learned of more changes coming to Paramount... we're buying Dreamworks! From what I've read, it doesn't sound like Dreamworks has much of an internet presence, so I don't think my new job is in jeopardy. After work on Friday, I went out for some much needed drinks at The Well with some of my PHE friends to celebrate Danielson's b-day. But the highlight of the week for me was The Final Draw for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. Today, we found out how the groups will be set up and who will be playing whom. The United States National Team were drawn into a tough group which includes Italy, Czech Republic, and Ghana. I will be applying for tickets on Monday. USA vs. Italy is definitely on my list of matches to see. I'd also love to see England and Brazil play.

Today, I went to the movies to see The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe which I enjoyed very much. It's a good story with great special effects, but it is a bit of a kid's movie. The only part I didn't like was the 35 minutes of commercials I had to sit through before the movie started. I did get there 15 minutes early, but the movie started 20 minutes after the posted time. That's just too long. After the movie, I was craving some Turkish Delight, so I went to the British store and got myself some authentic rose-lemon flavored ShahBaba Turkish Delight from Istanbul. Mmmm... I'm trying not to eat the whole box in one day.

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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 07, 2005

Jamie Morris : The Rubik's Cube Of The 21st Century : A Sudoku Puzzle
A Sudoku Puzzle
The Rubik's Cube Of The 21st Century

Yesterday, I bought myself a book of Sudoku Puzzles. This type of puzzle was invented in 1979, but it has just started getting popular in 2005 and is now in many major newspapers. The rules are simple. You start with a 9x9 grid made up of 3x3 regions (see above). The object is to enter a numeral between 1 and 9 in each cell. Each row, column, and region must contain only one instance of each numeral. What I most like about this puzzle is that you solve the puzzle using logic. There is no guessing involved (unlike crossword puzzles). Check out Wikipedia for lots more info, or you can try one online at WebSudoku.com. Warning: This game is highly addictive.

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SATURDAY, DECEMBER 03, 2005

Jamie Morris : Rachael Ray Book Signing : Rachael Ray in Century City
Rachael Ray in Century City
Rachael Ray Book Signing

Tonight, I spent two hours waiting in the wind and cold outside Brentano's Book Store in Century City to meet a crazy woman named Rachael Ray. She was signing her new cookbook: 365: No Repeats - A Year of Deliciously Different Dinners which my mother wanted for Christmas. She was very nice but very hyper. I think she must be on drugs. Well, actually Oprah likes her a lot and Oprah is addicted to meth. Hmmm... Anyways, Rachael said I was a great son for doing this for my mom and that I should now go out and do something really bad because that's what she'd do. If you'd like to meet her, she's doing several more book signings in Los Angeles and other cities.

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FRIDAY, DECEMBER 02, 2005

Jamie Morris : Paramount Christmas Tree Lighting : The Poster Should Get Good Reviews
The Poster Should Get Good Reviews
Paramount Christmas Tree Lighting

I ended my stressful work week by going to the Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony on the Paramount Lot tonight. The tree was lit and there was a fireworks display which was nice, but I went for only one reason - the bread pudding. Mmmm... After the party, I went to a screening of our new movie Aeon Flux starring Charlize Theron. Since Paramount kept anyone from seeing this film before today to prevent reviews, I was expecting this to be a horrible movie. It turned out to be pretty entertaining, and it actually had a plot! I enjoyed it, but I'm sure it'll still get bad reviews from the critics.

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