Well, last night the first episode of "Deal or No Deal" that I worked on aired. With it, my first ever Prime-Time TV credit: Eric Carroll, Casting Assistant. Have to admit I'm pretty jazzed about it. I've worked on other things that I maybe should have got credit on (I'm looking at you, "Gang of New York"), but this is, as far as I know the first thing with my name on it broadcast nationwide, and certainly my first credit on a channel as big as NBC. I hate to get all nerdy about it, but its the first concrete sign of me making progress on the things I moved to LA to make progress on. Don't get me wrong, I like LA and I love living with my brother Alex, but leaving NYC was very hard. I hated leaving the city I consider home, and all the friends I made over my 8.5 year there who MADE IT HOME for me, but I did it to further my career and this credit is proof that even though I haven't REACHED my goals, I am making progress. So look for it after any prime-time episode of "Deal or No Deal" if you find your self channel surfing at the appropriate time!

This summer has become the summer of 2-wheeled vehicles for me and my circle of friends. When Adam moved out here a year ago, he decided he only needed a scooter to get to work and back, and that he and Carolyn didn’t need a second 4-wheeled vehicle. Our great friend Pug, has been a scooter enthusiast for as long as I’ve really known him, and has converted to rolling on 2 wheels pretty much exclusively for a WHILE, long before the scooter craze caught on lately. He’s got a scooter centric blog and proves that you can do a LOT of things on a scoot including bring multiple surf-boards to the beach with you. Then there is Toby, who found a SWEET old school Enduro 125cc bike to ride around his new SoCal neighborhood. Adam and I also took the California Motorcycle safety class a few weeks ago, so we’ll have our Motorcycle licenses and a break on Scooter/Motorcyle insurance. Obviously gas prices have been a big part of this, the “22-mile-each-way” commute to my new job will be a lot cheaper on a scooter than in my car.

So a couple of weeks ago, to really put to 2-wheeled lifestyle to the test I decided to ride Adam’s scoot 100 miles to Oceanside, CA from North Hollywood to visit Pug and see the Tigers play the Padres. The ride down was an adventure, complete with a few wrong turns and attempts to take closed roads, and I eventually had to use the freeway. In the end though, it was great and round trip it was less than 2.5 gallons to go over 200 miles! The trip home was much easier too and took less than 2 hours and 45 minutes, on surface streets!

It went so well, I bought my own scooter. A Lance Venice 150cc. A sweet little Retro-Styled freeway legal scoot that I absolutely love. I’ve been using a new iPhone App called AccuFuel (which you can download on your iPhone or with iTunes by clicking here) to track my mileage and as of today, I am getting 81MPG without tuning it or anything, that’s “out-of-the-box”. Sorry for the generic PR photo of the bike, but attached is my last MPG figures from AccuFuel. I promise to post a “real” picture of my scoot soon!

Hey every one, sorry for the gap, life is crazy, but I'll stop starting every post with that, as I promised to earlier. The biggest news in this asthmatics life lately? I got a new job, a job in the Entertainment industry as I had hoped to. I now work on the set of "Deal or No Deal". It's a blast, I miss my ECAD adventures, and surely the folks at GLAAD were a big part of my making a successful transition to this coast, but its nice to be working in TV. I work in the casting department, so I work with the contestants mostly. And for the record, No, I can't get you on the show, actually, if you know me well enough to read this fairly personal blog, you're disqualified from playing. Sorry. Anyway, it is a lot of fun, the people there are great and the days fly by, and the days flying by is especially impressive since my days are anywhere from 9-18 hours long... We shoot at "The Culver Studios" (which is what the photo is of) with a whole bunch of other TV shows and movies. They feed me on shoot days and most exciting for this humble blogger, I have health insurance. Its been great so far, and I don't see it getting less so any time soon! Sorry this has to be a short post since I am about to leave my apartment, so I'm not late for my new job! Thanks for sticking around, I'll try and go into more detail when I get a chance...

Most of you know that Alex and I were on a softball team together this fall/winter. You may also know that we played about 12 games... and lost every single one. Well a new season is upon us! The team is about the same except we've lost Joel to Shoulder Surgery and gain Adam Santos-Coy to fill the hole he left. This year the team is sponsored by Timmy Nolan's Tavern and Grill, the spot we'd go to hang out after our games last season. The bar is owned by a friend of Donny, Jim, and Brian's named Steve a great guy who makes sure we are taken care of when we come in.

Anyway, the season is already off to a very different start. Our first game didn't end with us as victors... but we didn't lose either, it was a 17-17 game, in which we came from behind to score 10 runs in the 5th inning. It was exciting and hopefully its a sign of a better record this year. The image for this post is the logo I designed for the "Timmy Nolan's Softball Team" (its a TN, if you can't tell). I'll post a picture of the team in the jersey's Brian and I designed as soon as we take one. Send us your positive energy on Sunday Mornings! GO TIMMY NOLAN'S!

Nice, the Tigers have won their last 3 games (2 of which they came from behind) scoring a total of 30 runs in 3 games... NOT BAD! The "new guys" have come through in a big way and the Tigers who did well last year have come through to help out offensively too. Tigers fans aren't out of the woods yet, but lets just say that the last 3 days have been considerably more fun than the first 12 were, ha ha! Nice to relax... Anyway, if we can beat the Indians tonight, we aren't the team in the AL Central with the least wins anymore (although the opposite is true, if we lose, we still are, ha ha) here's to hoping for another win...

Well, the baseball season is upon us. Any of you reading this, no doubt know I am a huge Detroit Tigers fan, I was a Tigers when when they set the American League record for losses in a season in 2003 and I was at Game 2 of the World Series in Detroit only 3 years later (the only game they beat St. Louis in the Series by the way). This year has been kinda rough for Tigers fans so far. Before last night's game the Tigers has played 12 games, and only 2 were wins, neither impressive wins either. On top of that, in 4 of the games the Tigers didn't mange to score at all. All this was happening after being told that for most of the off-season the Tigers were the hands down favorite to win the World Series. We also had to watch a great guy like Brandon Inge lose his every-day position. This is heart-breaking (not that I blame Dave Dombrowski for the decision, is job is to try and win World Series, and sadly that means occasionally telling guys like Brandon Inge they aren't needed anymore) because of what Inge had meant to the team for the last few years. He is the Tiger with the most seniority, he was there in 2003 for the bad times and there in 2006 for the great times. He played any position he was asked to and made some of the most exciting catches in baseball while at third base. Despite him struggling with the bat last year, he still managed to deliver clutch hits and Home Runs seemingly when he needed to most. We also gave up Sean Casey, the nicest guy in baseball, someone you couldn't help but love. Not to mention Pudge Rodriguez, widely regarded as the begining of the "turn-around" in Detroit has struggled in the last season. And on top of all that, maybe the most exciting young Tiger Curtis Granderson, is injured and can't play yet. So after seeing Inge take the bench, Granderson benched, and watching the team that was supposed to have a real shot at 1000 runs this season ( they were on track for less than 500 before last nights game) lose 10 of 12 games... you have to understand things have been disappointing to say the least for Tigertown. That was until last night. Last night the Tiger mounted one of the most exciting comebacks I have ever seen, losing 5-0 in the 7th they went on to beat the Twins 11-9 by the end of the 9th. And it played out in a thrilling way including clutch hits (and a Homer) from Pudge, hits from rookie Clete Thomas, and getting to see Inge take 3rd for the last Inning to play his spectacular defense... I'm not saying the Tigers problems are over, I'm just saying we saw a preview of the team they could be, and hopefully will be this year. Perhaps last nights come-back was the proverbial spark we needed to break out of the funk and start winning. Either-way it was a spectacular night for Tigers fans, something we desperately needed to get excited about this year...

Remember when I said I went to Vegas to help a friend shoot a commercial and I ended-up acting in it? While the driector, Mark Freiburger, posted at Funny or Die, a great website with lots of funny content. You can see it here: http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/3aa8ac8d18 or by clicking the picture above... If you like it please wait until the end of the Video and then click the "FUNNY" vote, it could help Mark, Dale and I get work in the industry, so every vote counts! THANKS SO MUCH! Hope you enjoy it!

Those of you who have read the blog for a while, will remember that last year Alex and I went to a Sweater and Turtleneck Holiday party in La Jolla, CA. Well, it is almost that time again, in fact the party is THIS Saturday. The image is the postcard the crew throwing the party is circulating to publicize the event! All are welcome, the money goes to charity and if last year was any indication, this is going to be a GREAT TIME! My handlebars are looking truly ridiculous, and I'm trying to come up with an outfit that can top last years as we speak... hope to see some of you there!

I cut off a lot of my hair. I decided I was sick of having all that hair on my head and said I wanted to get rid of it, Alex promptly offered to buzz me with the clippers at the house... The result, makes me look kinda Tough, eh? I mean sure in this pic I took of my glasses and I m giving you my best "Ojo Loco" but between the short hair and the ridiculous facial hair... I look MEAN. You should see me in my leather jacket, children run from me.

This weekend the Detroit Lions, who are off to their best start in at least the last 5-6 years, were in Arizona to play the Cardinals. Alex and I got to thinking that neither of us had been to an NFL game and we'd like to check one out. Turns out our friend Kevin Anderson (or Kevin Thoms as he is known to some) had also never seen an NFL game, so he was pumped about checking it out. And the last member of our Motley Crew was Mr. Joel Johnstone, an avid Packers fan who has been to many NFL games, including at least on SuperBowl! Joel was torn about coming out to see the Packers Division Rivals (at least this year) but decided in the interest of going on an adventure and so on he could go and root against the Lions. Sadly, the Lions did lose, and to a team I thought we were sure to beat, but.. thems the breaks! It was still a blast and I am glad we made it happen! The drive was about 5 hours each way which was a long trip, but everything else about the trip was cheap and easy, everything included the entire day will end up costing up all about $60... not bad!

Alex and I are on a softball team with a lot of friends out here (Including, but not limited to: Hart Turner, Kevin Anderson or Thoms, Joel Johnstone...) called the Big Casey's (after the Bar that the Team Captain Donny worked at, which sponsored us). Its been rough so far, we have a BLAST playing together, but we haven't won yet. We figured that 10 guys all in shape and between the ages of like 25 and 30 would be unstoppable, so we joined the second hardest league in LA, thinking we'd get more of a challenge but still run away with it. Then we lost our first game like 14-2. Most of the teams are guys about 6" taller than us on average, and outweighing us by a solid 40-50lbs, and older than us by up to 15 years. And they are kicking our BUTTS! In our defense we've improved with every game and even rallied in one game to take the lead, only to lose it again. Most teams have complimented us and told us to hang in there, saying they see us doing well if we stick with it for a few seasons, ha ha, but it is going to be a tough journey! Brian, the other team Captain, or Coach, asked me to design a logo for the team, for shirts and so on... I decided to go with something kinda funny, since fun was always the main reason for us playing. I decided on the image of a person getting hit in the face with a softball, but like a Caution sign, like the kind you see next to the road. I took a picture of myself and then did a computer drawing based on it, the result I think is pretty hilarious. I tried to "generic up" the face, but there is no doubt that it looks like me. Ha, I hope the guys don't think I tricked them into wearing shirts with my face on them! Anyway, the shirts just got printed this week, here is snapshot of mine, I think they look great! Here's to having fun with friends!

Many of you have emailed or called to make sure Alex and I are okay in spite of the numerous fires burning in Southern California. Thanks for your concern, and we are fine. The worst that we have had to put up with so far is a lot of smoke hanging in the air. At least where we are in the valley, the smoke isn't actually affecting us yet (knock on wood, it never will). The scale of these fires is truly scary, but they aren't nearly as close as the fire last march, which was practically in our backyard. This photo is a pic I took from the top of the Hollywood Hills on Mulholland Drive, on my commute home this monday. Scary stuff, looks like a volcano, doesn't it?

You guys know I try to post when I can, so I'm going to stop apologizing every time I post for the first time after a long break, deal? Okay, so I got new glasses. Here I am "working it for the camera" in them. So, what do you think? Awesome? Too Nerdy? Just the right amount of Nerdy? I think they work, and keep in mind they grow on you... that being said I have 30 days to change my mind, so if you HATE them, PLEASE let me know... And if you're opinion matters enough to me, I'll take in into consideration, ha ha ha ;) Alright, back to work!

As I mentioned earlier, Alex and I have gotten into baseball in a big way this summer, enough so that between all the games Alex, Kevin, Hart and I have been to, we decided to call this the Summer of Baseball. So I thought I would update you guys on the status of the Summer of Baseball, which has been a great success so far! Here is a little spread sheet of the games I have attended... The Parks in Blue signify the first time I was ever at that Stadium, and the team Highlighted in Yellow won the "match" as Ridgway would put it... It's been a blast, I hope to at least catch a Game at Yankee Stadium and Shea while in NYC, but maybe I will hope down to Baltimore, or over to Philly! YEAH BASEBALL!

The day after Alex ran the Marathon, Hart, Alex and I went to a Tigers game in Oakland. We ended up meeting two fun young ladies by the names of Bridette and Sheena, who were also in the bleechers and rooting for Detroit. Turns out that Bridget went to High School with Curtis Granderson, who has been my favorite Detroit Tiger player since he came up 3 years ago. Hart, a now avid Tigers fan, has also adopted Curtis as his favorite player, and even beat me to buying a Jersey. Needless to say, when Bridget invited us out to meet Curtis and hang out with them after the game, we were pretty stoked. Bridget and Sheena were great tour guides and took us to a few nice little bars, and Curtis and his friend were very cool with us crashing their party. I don't think any of us went too "Super-fan" on poor Curtis, but either way, Bridget, Sheena and Curtis made us feel welcome! The game was fun too, Bridget has us chanting for Curtis (lets go CJ!) and the Tigers (Let's Go Tigers!) loud enough that the chants we started were audible on TV! So if you heard people rooting for the Tigers at an away game on Monday, the 30th of July that was us... The Tigers did win that game which was even more fun. All in all it added up to a pretty special evening... Thanks Guys!