zizakdotcom... Often Imitated, Never Duplicated

Van Halen II

2009-11-20T21:03:00.000-08:00

I recently got busted for playing this a little bit too loud...

Can you imagine that?!?

Recover Disk Space on your Mac with Monolingual

2009-09-24T08:41:00.000-07:00

I have been struggling lately with space issues on my MacBook. (Gotta get rid of all those 'research files' I have been accumulating.) Yesterday I decided to actually do something about it. After a little searching, I found a little gem called
Monolingual. Here is a snip from their sourceforge site...

http://monolingual.sourceforge.net

"Monolingual is a program for removing unnecessary language resources from Mac OS X, in order to reclaim several hundred megabytes of disk space. It requires at least Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) and also works on Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard). Version 1.3.9 is the last version for Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger).

I don't know about you, but I use my computer in only one (human) language — English.
And I'm willing to bet that you do too, albeit perhaps not English.
So why do you have a bunch of localization files for the Mac OS X operating system
filling up your hard drive? Enter Monolingual — a handy utility for reclaiming your
space for more useful things… like international mp3 files, email or whatever you like."

Here are my results after running Monolingual.

Before:

After:

Results:

Amazing! Just by removing files I will never use, I saved myself 3.6GB!!! Awesome!

A word of caution though... If you think you will EVER use localized files, save those. I saved all Japanese localization because my MacBook has been known to travel to Japan and friends & family there may require them if they use my machine. Just use caution before kicking off Monolingual, because getting them back requires re-installation.

Enjoy!

New Alice in Chains. Getting PsycHeD!

2009-07-18T15:51:00.000-07:00

The new Alice in Chains is set to drop in store September 29th, 2009.

Can.Not.Wait.

For those who have NOT heard the new single, A Looking in View check it out here:

http://www.aliceinchains.com

Be prepared, it is heavier than Whaleshit! Although I would much rather prefer a Layne-Staley-fronted-Alice-in-Chains, (not too possible since Layne went dead back in April of 2002) new frontman, Will Duvall does a great job maintaining the Alice legacy with his strong, dark vocals. A perfect harmonizing complement to AIC Vet, Jerry Cantrell.

I would love to see an extended AIC tour, so far only the following dates have been announced:

Jul 18 Detroit
Aug 1 Dublin, Ireland
Aug 2 Barcelona, Spain
Aug 4 London, United Kingdom
Aug 8 Berlin, Germany
Aug 10 Hamburg, Germany
Aug 12 Amsterdam, Netherlands
Aug 22 Los Angeles
Sep 8 New York City
Sep 12 Indianapolis
Sep 15 Toronto, Canada
Sep 20 Milwaukee

Help bring back Rock and Roll and pick up the new Alice in Chains record when it drops September 29th, 2009.

Rock out!

Catpuke - On the Equator

2009-06-18T17:57:00.000-07:00

Location - Laundry Room Entrance
Date - June 18th, 2009
Time - 16:35
Reporters - Me
Culprit - Neko
Form - 4.1; Small footprint, moist consistency, a little watery. Not very appealing.
Annoyance Factor - 3.3; I was in the other room, I knew she was on the tile. No Big.
Containment - 2.1; Easy
Collateral Damage - 2.5; I hate when it gets in the tile grout.
Clean Up - 3.0; 5-7 squares of toilet paper and a wipee.
Comments: I like how its straddling the Northern and Southern Hemisphere. I am waiting for one that she has her sick in four tiles at once. Like at the Four Corners in Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico.

Score: 15.0

Life Information 101

2009-06-18T17:25:00.000-07:00

I believe all children should be armed with a knowledge base of information which will allow them to navigate their lives without looking like a Dolt. If this knowledge could be 'installed' at birth, all the better. But until then, it is my job as a Dad to teach MY kids what I believe to be this critical Life Information. This information has been compiled over 40+ years of personal experience and is referred to on a daily basis

This is the first installment the Life Information 101 series.

Left loosey, Righty tighty.

I can not count how many times I have used this one. It never fails. It always helps. And it has multiple applications...

A screw, a nut, a bolt, a lightbulb, a gas cap, a coffeecup lid, a jar, a bottle of beer.... the list goes on. The beauty of this lesson is that it is easy to remember, very applicable and once mastered, it quickly eliminates the Dolt Factor.

How have you applied Life Information Lesson 1?

Catpuke - Take it outside.

2009-06-17T06:59:00.000-07:00

Location - Garage Entrance
Date - June 17th, 2009
Time - sometime in the night
Reporters - Me
Culprit - Neko, most likely
Form - 3.5; Small footprint, dried out probably from the warm garage.
Annoyance Factor - 3.3; In the garage, out of sight. But on a rug that has just been cleaned.
Containment - 2.9; Easy
Collateral Damage - 2.9; Soiled a newly cleaned rug with sick.
Clean Up - 2.0; 1/2 sheet of Bounty.
Comments: If I wasn't paying attention, I could have stepped right into it.
Score: 14.6

Catpuke - So close, yet so far.

2009-06-15T11:45:00.000-07:00

Location - Laundry Room Entrance
Date - June 15th, 2009
Time - 10:35am
Reporters - Me
Culprit - Neko
Form - 6.1; Compact, moist, Kinda looks like a capital "F".
Annoyance Factor - 6.9; I was in the shower, couldn't react.
Containment - 2.1; No spatter.
Collateral Damage - 6.5; She sicks on the carpet!? 2 more inches and she could have made it to the tile.
Clean Up - 6.4; 5-7 squares of toilet paper and the Bissell Spot Cleaner.
Comments: Piss me off! She go two more inches and make it to the tile!?

Score: 28.0

Catpuke - Puke Pyramid

2009-06-14T16:41:00.000-07:00

Location - Master Bedroom
Date - June 14th, 2009
Time - 16:37
Reporters - Max and Suki
Culprit - Neko
Form - 7.0; Small footprint, decent consistency. Creative result.
Annoyance Factor - 8.3; This will be on mind as we fall asleep.
Containment - 3.0; Fairly easy
Collateral Damage - 7.2; Gotta wash the blanket now.
Clean Up - 4.0; 5-7 squares of toilet paper.

Score: 33.0

Max of a 1000 faces...

2009-06-11T21:13:00.000-07:00

Check out Max when we were in Shizuoka, JP back in 2006. Not a bad video for our little Sony T-1. Just don't get a sore neck looking at this.

Sunday Afternoon in the Park.

2009-06-11T21:09:00.000-07:00

This footage was taken when the Floyd was almost 2 months old. Even at 2 months he was a Badass. and he has the looks to prove it. Dont mess with the Max! i slapped all the footage together and made the vid in about 2 hours... killer vid for a HEAVY, HEAVY song!!! VH baby! listen to zizak.com

Suki's First Steps

2009-06-11T21:01:00.000-07:00

March 3rd of 2007 was the first official day that Suki walked... although she took a couple of steps on the 1st... When Max learned this, he was pissed since Sissy did it 10 days before he did.... Enjoy!

Johnny Z

Baba Baby Revisited

2009-06-11T20:03:00.000-07:00

This is Max when he on October 1, 2003. Seemed he liked to pretend he was Linda Blair or The Devil. Don't worry, we checked his head for 666, but we only found 665... ah... whatever. close enough. Check out 2410 Bridle Path Lane's kitchen mid-remodel!

Part Deux re-unites us with the world famous, often imitated, never duplicated, Baba Baby, the Maximus Floyd. This time the Baba Baby requires little before he gets his Evil on. Please watch with caution! Contains disturbing scenes of Evil.

Catpuke - Rolling Pin

2009-06-11T17:42:00.000-07:00

Location - Rear North-South Hallway
Date - June 11th, 2009
Time - 1702
Reporters - Me
Culprit - Neko
Form & Assessment - 6.0; Small footprint, Not much liquid.
Volume - 4.6; I've seen bigger.
Annoyance Factor - 1.3; On the tile is a good thing.
Containment - 3.0; Easy
Collateral Damage - 0; No one stepped in it.
Clean Up - 2.0; 5-7 squares of toilet paper and a wipee.

Score: 16.9

What's up lately?!

2009-06-05T20:09:00.001-07:00

Hey there followers of zizak.com! Sorry updates have been a little on the light side lately.
No real reason other than life has been busy lately. No big surprise.

Everyone is healthy, that is what counts.

Here's to health and happiness to all!

Piece out!

OpenID at zizak.com

2009-06-02T20:09:00.001-07:00

We just implemented OpenID here at zizak.com. You ask.. What is OpenID and what can it do for me?

Scraped from openid.net website...
--------
What is OpenID?
OpenID eliminates the need for multiple usernames across different websites, simplifying your online experience.

You get to choose the OpenID Provider that best meets your needs and most importantly that you trust. At the same time, your OpenID can stay with you, no matter which Provider you move to. And best of all, the OpenID technology is not proprietary and is completely free.

For businesses, this means a lower cost of password and account management, while drawing new web traffic. OpenID lowers user frustration by letting users have control of their login.

For geeks, OpenID is an open, decentralized, free framework for user-centric digital identity. OpenID takes advantage of already existing internet technology (URI, HTTP, SSL, Diffie-Hellman) and realizes that people are already creating identities for themselves whether it be at their blog, photostream, profile page, etc. With OpenID you can easily transform one of these existing URIs into an account which can be used at sites which support OpenID logins.

OpenID is still in the adoption phase and is becoming more and more popular, as large organizations like AOL, Microsoft, Sun, Novell, etc. begin to accept and provide OpenIDs. Today it is estimated that there are over 160-million OpenID enabled URIs with nearly ten-thousand sites supporting OpenID logins.
---------------------

More Maynard Wine Tourdates

2009-05-04T19:50:00.000-07:00

For those of you interested in checking out T O O L's frontman Maynard James Keenan, you can find him here in the very near future promoting his Arizona Stronghold Wines...

Dates and locations for the signings are:

Jun. 03 - 4:30 - 7:30 p.m. - Milwaukee, WI (2305 N. Prospect Ave.)
Jun. 05 - 4:30 - 7:30 p.m. - Chicago, IL (1500 N. Kingsbury)
Jun. 06 - 2:00 - 5:00 p.m. - Chicago, IL (1101 S. Canal St.)
Jun. 09 - 4:30 – 7:30 p.m. - Miami, FL (6701 Red Rd. – Coral Gables)
Jun. 10 - 4:30 – 7:30 p.m. - Boca Raton, FL (1400 Glades Rd.)
Jun. 12 - 4:30 – 7:30 p.m. - Orlando, FL (8003 Turkey Lake Rd.)
Jun. 13 - 2:00 – 5:00 p.m. - Jacksonville, FL (10601 San Jose Blvd.)

Here was my take on the experience when the Maynard rolled through Sacramento.

www.zizak.com/maynard-james-keenan-whole-foods-sacramento-wine-tour

Enjoy!

One of the happiest days of my life...

2009-04-25T20:05:00.000-07:00

was today....

Quote Suki 04.25.09:

"I am glad my Dad is my Dad..."

If that doesn't make you love this grrrl, I don't what will.

Something nice I have in common with my daughter.

2009-03-09T20:13:00.000-07:00

Today I think I may actually have beat a personal record. Something to be really proud of.

As of 17:00 PST, I have cleaned up 4 catpukes that I found in various parts of the house and with varying magnitude of destruction. Today I got everything from the Completely-Liquid-Silver-Dollar-Sized-on-the-Tile easy job to the Half-Chunky-Half-Wet-Eight-Inch-CatPuke-Skidmark-on-the-Carpet that is a Royal Pain in the Balls to clean. This special gift requires the help from our trusty Bissell SpotLifter. If we didn't have this thing, our carpets would look like a literal minefield of Catpuke. Not pretty. Fortunately, this thing works like a champ. Spray the catpuke spot with the magic liquid, let it sit and vacuum the catpuke away. Then proceed to half-gag your lunch as you clean it out of the effluent reservoir. NASTY!

So as I am cleaning up the day's fourth offensive, and Suki comes along because she sees that I am about to employ the trusty Bissell SpotLifter. (She is scared as Hell of the loud noise, she hates it in fact). She jumps on the bed and buries her head in the pillows while the SpotLifter wails away.

Just as the SpotLifter wound down to a halt and revealed a clean carpet, Suki asked, "Daddy, what are you doing?"

To which I replied, "Cleaning up CatPuke."

"What is your favorite kind of CatPuke Daddy??"

"I enjoy the dry, chunky kind that is easy to clean."

Suki responded with "Oh cool. That's my favorite too!"

I am glad to see we have that in common.

Maynard James Keenan from TOOL appears at Whole Foods in Sacramento.

2009-02-19T17:23:00.000-08:00

So yesterday I was out in the real world, away from my normal sequestered existence. (Remember I have been working from home since June 2008, thankfully actually.)

On my drive home down I-5 South, I have my radio tuned to Sacramento's Alternative Station, KWOD 106.5, on in an effort to decompress and equalize from the 8 hours of white-noise that saturated my skull from the 50,000 square foot datacenter I was confined to.

What?! Did I hear that right? WTF?!?!

Did they just say Maynard James Keenan from T O O L is gonna be at Whole Foods in Sacramento TOMORROW NIGHT?!?! Whole-y Shit! I recall reading that MJK's new venture is wine making. My immediate thought is I hope it doesn't delay the next
T O O L record. :)

So I get home and call the store to validate if I heard that correct. The dude at the Eastern and El Camino Whole Foods Store I talked to confirmed that Maynard will indeed be at the store, signing bottles of his new line of wine he is launching, Arizona Stronghold Vineyards. He continued to explain how its gonna work. Show up after 08:00am on Thursday and receive a numbered card that reserves your space in line. Said card serves conveniently as an order form for Maynard's wines that ranged from $25 to $110 in price. Woe! You need to purchase a bottle of wine to get it signed by the Maynard. NO OTHER MERCH with be signed! NO CAMERAS! NO CELLPHONES!

So I mull this information over in my skull that has been cleared out of white-noise from some Alice-in-Chains - Jar of Flies and a Vodka Tonic or two. I think, how cool would it be if me and George-O, my 12 year old, go and meet one of my Rock-and-Roll Heroes and share and in a Kickass Father and Son experience?? So I spring it on him at 8:30pm or so Wednesday. He said he would "TOTALLY be into it!" He is budding T O O L fan afterall. I digest this all as I fall asleep last night.

I wake up at 07:00am today (Thursday) and think about it. Is it worth it? I gotta drive to the other side of town (approximately 40 minutes one-way) at 08:00 rush hour traffic to get the ticket to get in line... "I would TOTALLY be into it!". Then drive back, wait in line, deal with the Freak Parade. "I would TOTALLY be into it."

So I talk it over with my better half and she says its cool to take him. "Have a good time."
08:00am, I drop George-O at school and head to Whole Foods to get the ticket... ETA 08:45am.

I arrive 08:50am at Whole Foods expecting to see a line of headbangers around the corner. There is NO ONE there!!! "Coool" I think to myself. I walk up, talk to a dude standing at the front door, he gives me a ticket, because why else would someone looking like me be at Whole Foods at 08:50am, tells me that Maynard will start signing at 4:30pm today and to arrive anytime after 2:30pm. Cool. We are number 177. He adds there is 1000 tickets available and we have a great number.

Psych!!!!

I continue to carry my day forward like any other workday, but today I am awaiting Taylor to arrive home from school. He does. I remind him of our upcoming adventure. He says, "Cool...................... THATS TODAY! Awesome!" We are out of the house by 3:15pm based on the contingency he finishes his homework when we get home.....

"No problem Dad."

On our drive up to Sacramento, I tell T how T O O L was one of your Mom's and mine first dates, we traveled to Reno, NV to check them out there. Also, we caught them at them Sacramento Memorial Auditorium. Both dates supporting T O O L's 1998 release AEnima. I continue to tell him how his little brother was almost named Maximus Maynard Zizak (we opted for Maximus Floyd Zizak, obvious reference, obvious better choice we believe too.)

We arrive at the scene and decide to park across the street just south of Whole Foods. We lived in the area for 10+years and knew that parking lot sucks to begin with on a normal day, let alone without the 1000+ Strong Freak Parade. Good choice. We get to the corner and assess the scene, the line was wrapped around the back corner of the building. "WOE!" Taylor exclaimed. We laugh and headed toward the crowd.

We approached the line of people to ask what number they are so we can settle into our reserved spot at 177. First... 520, second 225... last 170... We settle in next to a couple younger punkers and a couple of annoying drunk chicks with foul-mouths. Sad thing about that was, they weren't even cute or funny. Just annoying.

We stood there in the same spot for about one hour and a half, people watching (my personal favorite), chit-chatting with the folks around us and with eachother. We enjoyed talking about if each of these people in line bought 1 bottle of $25 wine, that would make a nice little $25,000 payday. Thing is, the $100 bottle was sold out in 30 minutes and most people had purchased multiple bottles. So by OUR estimates, Maynard pulled in a clean $30,000. (Not accounting for Whole Paycheck's cut.....)

Perhaps the biggest laugh we got out of our conversations was our the actual Whole Foods Patrons, most of which were Suburbanite While Collars coming in for a baguette, a bottle of wine, sushi or an overpriced soup or salad for tonight's dinner and had NO CLUE of the Pending Freak Parade of T O O L fans awaiting them. Some looked at us, laughed and got a kick out of it. Some looked Scared Shitless.

I enjoyed the ones that looked Scared Shitless.

Probably the only real bummer of the day was the music selection supplied by 98Rock. We didn't listen to T O O L, didn't listen to A Perfect Circle, and God forbid, Pusifer. But they were spinning new Metallica... UGH! We digress. You would think that the local Rock station could provide some friggin T O O L.?!?

Finally around 5pm or so, we started REALLY moving. Security was tight the whole time. 3 cops (actually rent-a-cops, but they were pretty gnarly looking canvassing the parking lot looking for ruffians), 2 cops inside, 2 personal security dudes and loads of Whole Foods folks directing traffic. Again, no CAMERAS, no CELLPHONES, no MERCH!

We finally get to purchase the bottle of wine Maynard gets to sign for us, I decided on the Arizona Stronghold Mangus - described :

"Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot (and possibly a hint of Syrah). Wielding more acidity and tannin than Nachise, deep black current undertones, tobacco and leather."

Tobacco and leather???... Sounds good to me.

I go to pick one up and the lady at the register says, "If the young man (Taylor) is going to meet Maynard, he needs to have a bottle to sign with him." I say, "So its OK to serve Minors here at Whole Foods?" I shake my head, roll my eyes and reluctantly agree to this LAME ASS policy. Like I am going to leave him in the parking after all this or me stay out there and NOT share this experience with him? Yeah Right.... Mrs. Z. may drop a comment or 3 on this LAME ASS policy here later... Stay tuned for that.

We grab our 2 bottles and head out to the line to actually meet Mr. Keenan. Whew... we are almost there, the anticipation is mounting and the people are getting stoked about having the opportunity to actually have a famous rockstar POSSIBLY look at them in the eyes like they were a mangy, little GrubWorm for most likely less than 10 seconds. And we all paid more than 50 dollars for this experience??!

Rock and ROLLL!!!!!!

We finally get to the front of the line and we are standing there next in line, and we STILL couldn't see Maynard due to the wall of Bottled Water barricading him off from the rest of humanity, cellphones and cameras. Only the person who is getting their bottle/s signed can have contact with him. The personal security guard and Rent-a-Cop wave us through
and we hand over our bottles. We look up and its not Maynard! What!>!>?! Its a dude with blonde, Owen Wilson looking hair, that CLEARLY isn't Maynard, but kinda looked like him... I know Maynard has a very twisted sense of humor and he may have a plant sitting in for him.... then the bottle gets handed to a bald dude wearing a thick, black oversized hoodie.

THATS MAYNARD!

He signs the bottle and in a soft and sincere voice says, "Enjoy." He delicately hands the signed bottles over to Taylor and I.

(Next)

"Thank you." He almost whispers.

I am watching this unfold in slow motion I point to him, lock eyes and utter. "Thank you Mr. Keenan. You rock."

He slowly shuts his eyes, bows his head and breathes... "Thank you."

Taylor and I walk around the Wall of Bottled Water and chat with cool dude John we met in line and have been chatting with about T O O L, STP, NIN, FNM, Mike Patton, Music and Life for the past 90 minutes. We chat about the combined 20 second brush-with-Rock and Roll we just had. Kind of anti-climatic, but exciting, exhilarating and awesome none-the-less.

John and I plan to hook up for any upcoming killer NorCal shows and FaceBook in the meantime. The latter is done.

Taylor and I hustle back to the car to head back to the Zizak HeadQuarters...(remember his homework??) He said to me as we merge into 5:45pm rush hour traffic, "Dad that was cool. I had a good time. Do you know what would be cool?"

"What's that?"

"When I turn old enough we share this bottle of wine."

"Count on it."

(As long as it's not Corked by then.)

I live for that day.

###################

Linkage-

http://kwod.net

http://www.sacbee.com/livinghere/story/1632015.html

http://www.arizonastrongholdvineyards.com/

We Shot Jr.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maynard_James_Keenan

http://www.toolband.com/

###########

Upcoming Maynard Wine Dates:

February 26 & 27
from 4:30 PM - 7:30 PM
Tamarac
7400 E. Hampden Ave
Denver, CO 80231
303.488.2000

March 1 from 2 PM – 5 PM
Indian School Plaza
2103 Carlisle Blvd. NE
Albuquerque, NM 87110
505.260.1366

March 23rd – WFM PLANO
2201 Preston Rd.
Plano, TX 75093

March 24th – WFM LAMAR
525 N Lamar Blvd.
Austin, TX 78703

March 26th – WFM SUGAR LAND – 15900 Southwest Freeway
Sugar Land, TX 77479

March 27th – ALAMO QUARRY – 255 E. Basse Rd.
San Antonio, TX 78

Banzai!

2008-09-30T17:17:00.000-07:00

anyone guess where this is?

Pink Floyd Founder Dies.

2008-09-15T17:14:00.000-07:00

Pink Floyd keyboard player and founder member Richard Wright has died aged 65 from cancer.

Wright appeared on the group's first album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, in 1967 alongside lead guitarist Syd Barrett, Roger Waters and Nick Mason.

Dave Gilmour joined the band at the start of 1968 while Barrett left the group shortly afterwards.

Wright penned songs on classic albums including The Dark Side Of The Moon and Wish You Were Here.

His spokesman said: "The family of Richard Wright, founder member of Pink Floyd, announce with great sadness that Richard died today after a short struggle with cancer.

"The family have asked that their privacy is respected at this difficult time."

He did not say what form of cancer the self-taught keyboard player and pianist had.

Live 8

Wright, a founder member of The Pink Floyd Sound - and other previous incarnations including Sigma 6 - met Waters and Mason at architecture school.

Pink Floyd achieved legendary status with albums including 1973's The Dark Side Of The Moon, which stayed in the US album chart for more than a decade.
Wright, known as Rick earlier in his career, wrote The Great Gig In The Sky and Us And Them from the album.

Waters left the band in 1981, performing his last concert at London's Earls Court.

Wright, together with Gilmour and Mason, continued to record and tour as Pink Floyd during the remainder of the 1980s and into the 1990s, releasing their last studio album - The Division Bell - in 1994.

In 2005, the full band reunited - for the first time in 24 years - for the Live 8 concert in London's Hyde Park.

"That was Good Times!"

2008-08-27T17:08:00.000-07:00

When teamzizak (including the cats, Henry, Neko, and Tokyo) moved to Elk Grove almost 2 years ago, we almost immediately lost Neko. For the longest time, we could not figure out where she went off to... our old house, got hit by a car or went to live with another family. She essentially disappeared. We walked around the neighborhood looking for her with no success.

Well a while back Taylor said he saw Neko at another house right around the corner. He said he tried to entice her out by calling her.. No Dice. Max even said he saw her on his way home from school. But she would not come home with him. I doubted them saying it was Neko.

Well, yesterday we see a big, ol' U-Haul in front of Neko's alleged, newly adopted house. We thought we needed to act fast if we wanted to get our Neko back. So after dinner, Taylor, Max and I went over to the house and knocked on the door.

This nice little ol' man answered the door with a perplexed look on his face. I explained our sitch on how we lost our cat once we moved to the neighborhood and pointed out where we live.. (you could see our house from his).

After about two seconds he asked, "What does she look like?" Both T and M both chimed in with, "She has stripes! She is friendly! She loves cuddles! She is cute!"

The nice little ol' man told us how 'Sara' would sit on his wife's lap while she drinks her evening wine and they would cuddle up with eachother. She said she always loved those times.

Since 'Sara' was now an outside cat, he opened the garage door to see if she was nearby... and there she was! The boys cried out, "NEKO!!!" She came over to the boys and got her pets from them and Taylor picked her up like she hasn't been away from us for 2 years.

We asked if it would be good if we take her back home, he said yes. He was relieved to have her go to her original owners, since they knew she was loved and taken care of before assuming her new identity as 'Sara' at their house. He explained, since they were moving, he had arranged for 'Sara' to be taken by another family after they were to move. So she would not have been abandoned.

Taylor took Neko back to our house to get her settled down inside with the rest of teamzizak while Max and I chatted with the ol' man about 'Sara' and other things for a few minutes. Max stood there with me and listened intently at what he had to say. We thanked the man and wished him good luck at his new locale.

While walking back to our house, Max, holding my hand in the chilly evening air, looked up at me and said, "Dad, That was Good Times!"

I said to him, "Indeed it is."

Karma Points... we could sure use them

2008-07-29T21:09:00.000-07:00

I am here at Toby Johnson Middle School in downtown (windy) Elk Grove, CA at Taylor's second installment of Hell-Week. (See previous post for details...) I was walking back to the car to check on the status of Taylor's missing waterbottle, (he somehow lost it in the 100 yard walk between the car and the football field) when something shiny and black caught the corner of my eye, reflecting from the setting sun.

more below....

V
V
V

I took two steps and back and found the gleaming, black, shiny object and lo and behold, it was a cellphone... First thought that came to came mind was "What could I do with it and how could I benefit from my finders-keepers-losers-weepers loot." Then one-split second later I thought, don't be an asshole, don't even think about it. "What would I want someone to do if they found MY phone?" I need to do what I can to return it...

Fortunately, it had some battery power left and so looked through the contact's and call log to see if there is someone I could call to return the lost cellphone. Sure enough, the entry "Mom" stood out. So I called, "Mom" explained who I was, where I was and HOW I found the phone. A breath of relief came through the earpiece from "Mom" and she said, " My son lost it yesterday. I said, "Well, I am at the school and I will be here until 8pm, so come on down and I will hand it over.

It is now 7:25pm and I am awaiting "Mom's" call to pick up her son's phone. Believe me, when T-bone gets to the age of having a cellphone I would want someone to do the same for us in the likely event of Taylor (or Max or Suki) losing something of theirs...

Update soon to follow...

--jcz

zizakdotcom has been googled!

2008-07-29T21:03:00.000-07:00

The other day I was at maps.google.com looking up some directions from the homefront. No big deal. When the results of the directions came up, a popup window displayed and a view of my street showed. GOOGLE GOOGLED teamzizak headquarters!!!!

Hell, had I known the goog was outside my crib taking pics I would have run out there and saluted them!! Good stuff! but kinda creepy...

check the pic of teamzizak HQ! Enjoy!

Taylor's Hellweek Begins...

2008-07-28T21:15:00.000-07:00

The oldest member of teamzizak, Taylor, is about to step into the ultra-competitive world of pee-wee football. He has been attending non-manditory conditioning sessions in the Franklin Junior Wildcats organization (http://www.franklinjrwildcats.org) and is ready for competitive try-outs. The try-outs last 2 weeks, run from 6pm-8pm with team rosters decided on August 8th.

From the Wildcats website:

Now entering our sixth season, the Jr. Wildcats are building a reputable program in the community of Elk Grove. The Jr. Wildcats are listed among the top 30 youth football programs in California in 2007 by First And Goal Nation. The Jr. Wildcats placed four of five teams in the 2007 NCSA playoffs. Three teams, the Mighty Mites, Pee Wees, and Jr. Midget teams competed in the NCSA Championship games and the Mighty Mites were the 2007 NCSA Champions. Our Midget Open competition cheer squads placed first in a national competition sponsored by JAMZ in Las Vegas in February 2008.

Please join me in wishing Taylor the best of luck in his quest for football immortality!

Godspeed