Street Food, Adventure and Tigers

Had a busy schedule planned for myself for the President's Weekend. Plus, no thanks to the economy and corporate office, a non-paid and forced day off on Monday (1 0f 5 this year). There was the L.A. Street Food Fest and GR2 Year of the Tiger Opening on Saturday, then the Travel and Adventure Show on Saturday and Sunday.

I originally planned on going to the Travel and Adventure Show on Saturday, after the L.A. Street Food Fest. But changed my mind when I got to the Convention Center around 1pm. Decided to head to the Food Fest instead. I had been hearing about this for the past few months and really wanted to try some of the food trucks that were going to be there. Parked my car and walked to the area where the Food fest was being held. Which was about a mile from where I parked. I didn't mind since I was getting myself back into a walking workout routine. Really did not expect what I saw when I got there... the line for this thing was super long. It went zig-zagging around the block and into the parking lot nearby. Stood in line around 1:30pm. By 3pm we were being told that the trucks were running out of food and the lines to get the food was an hour wait. Everyone started to leave and I bailed as well. That was a total bust...

On my way back to my car, I passed by the Nokia Plaza. Saw that they had set some stuff up and a small crowd was around there. Found out that Justin Bieber was going to be performing there around 7pm. I had to get something to eat, so I just kept on walking to my car. Needed to do a few things and changed my plans on going to the GR2 Year of the Tiger Opening in the evening.

Sunday I went to the Travel and Adventure Show. Was pretty surprised at how many people were there in attendance and what they had there. There was a rock climbing wall, cowboy roping, zip line and mini scuba pool. Seeing some of the scuba diving exhibitors there got me thinking about getting back into it again. Although I am a certified advanced open water diver, but I haven't gone in about 8 years. Plus I don't have a lot of dives under me. After talking to some of them, I would definitely need to take a refresher course. There was a lot of places I would love to check out... Easter, Cook and Galapagos Islands would be nice. Revisit Yosemite. Japan would be my ultimate trip right now. Always thought about going there. Well, now I have all the materials to research them all. Not sure if I'll ever get to any of these places anytime soon...












Just stopped in for a quick moment to take a look at the pieces at the Year of the Tiger exhibit at GR2. Took a few pics while I was there. Didn't stay too long, since I was a little tired from everything and need to relax a bit. There were a few that were really cool and amazing to see in person. Maybe I'll go back again this coming weekend if I don't head down to Long Beach Convention Center for the one-day Comic Event.

Moshi Monster MoPod

We got these things into the L.A. Parent office a couple of weeks ago. They were giveaway prizes at the booth for the California Baby and Kidz Expo. They are called MoPods. These were Series 1 of the Moshi Monsters edition.

I'm not too familiar with these Moshi Monsters MoPod things. There are 6 different characters to choose from: Luvli, Furi, Diavlo, Poppet, Katsuma and Zommer. They are little ring detectors that you attach to your bag or jacket and when your cell phone rings, the MoPod spins and lights up. It is supposed to alert you when your phone receives a call, text, email or voice message on your cell phone.

My editor gave me one to try out. When she saw the little characters on these, she knew I would get a kick out of them. I got the one called Furi. After opening the package, I removed the tab that blocks the battery power at the bottom. The MoPod did a little spin and flash, then stopped. I called my cell phone from the office phone, but nothing happened when my cell started to ring. Started to read the packaging and searching online. Found out that it does not work with CDMA networks or 3G enabled handsets. So it will not work with my iPhone... bummer. But there is a chance it could work with the 1st generation iPhones. Also it could activate due to the proximity of another person's cell phone.

Not a total loss though... each of these come with a secret code for a virtual accessory that you can use when you adopt a pet monster at moshimonsters.com. I went to the website site and it looks like one of those online communities for kids. Not sure if I will even use the code, but I might... Just to take a deeper look at the site.