Puppies, Puppies, Puppies

 

Mother's Day

I am so blessed to have the two greatest Mothers in my life. My Mother has always been and always will be "Barbara Jean the Teenage Queen". She's the most lighthearted, joyful, fun person you can ever get the pleasure of meeting. Of course those are not her only qualities, that's just what you get the first time you meet her. She is also an extremely compassionate, loving, caring, nurturing, giving, ambitious, driven, intelligent, well spoken, professional woman who after raising both my sister and me, sold almost all of her belongings and left her home to be with my father and follow the Lord's calling to the mission field.
After spending nearly five years in Kingston Jamaica, she and my father returned to the US to start over. Five years ago, she took on a new challenge and added Realtor to the list of adjectives that describe her.
I am always blown away by her strength and character. My father, sister, me and now my wife are very lucky to have her in our lives.
If that wasn't great enough, a year and a half ago, I was given the gift of another great mother. I know that it is a long running joke that Mother-in-Laws are the bane of the husband's existence. That is so far from the truth in my life. When I married Chelle I married into the Shaffer family and I love it. My mother-in-law is awesome, and I love spending time with her and my father-in-law Butch. Every July we get together and spend a week with them, and although I am not sure if we will be together this July, I am missing them and looking forward to being with them as soon as we can.
Happy Mother's Day to my two favorite moms.

Christian

Bulldog Beauty Contest

Today we are heading down the street on the Vespa to Livingston park to watch the 2nd Annual Bulldog Beauty Contest. We are very excited and plan on taking photos that we'll post here later this evening. LINK

Saturday in Belmont Shores

Chelle and Myself are hanging out with our friend Megan Shockro. We walked down 2nd street to Murphy's Irish pub. Hanging out on the patio enjoying a pint and a burger and watching all the cool old cars and motorcycles driving by.
We are loving are new home! 


Christian Crowe
Los Angeles Solutions Consultant
Sprint Nextel Inc.
310-350-0384
Christian.Crowe@Sprint.com

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Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld
 

Same stuff several hours later and 32 miles south.

Before 

We are moved in!!!!!

Oh my gosh! You have no idea. Well, you probably do if you have ever moved. In fact, everytime I do a move I think it's never been as bad. This one was no different. Chelle and I packed all day Saturday and Sunday as well took several trips down in our car. Living on the second floor in both the departing and arrive apartments makes for very sore legs and backs. Bright and early Monday we got up and got busy again. The Starving Students moving company truck arrived at 9:15am and once Grant and Robert assessed what was ahead of us, we started. The truck was packed by 1:30 and we headed south to the unloading spot, our new home! After arriving there, Chelle ran to Subway and us guys started unloading. We took a 15 minute break to shove the sandwiches down our throats and then we were back at it.
The truck was finally empty 9 hours after it arrived at our old place. We said our goodbyes to our new friends from the moving company and we started the unpacking process. Shortly afterwards, Chelle and I walked across the bridge to 2nd street and ate dinner at Ryan's Grill. Then back to the new apartment to make a place to sleep.
We are so delighted to share this new place with all our friends and family. We can't wait to share this new piece of heaven with all of you. So now it's time again for all of you who have visited us to schedule another trip to Cali to spend more time with us.
This time we will lounge at the pool and if the spirit moves us we can walk across the bridge and camp out on the beach.

Pictures and video to follow.

Cheers!

Christian

AARRRGGGGH!

I don't have a photo of it, but on my way home from work I had to fill the tank. First I went to my favorite gas station the cheapest unleaded was $3.69 a gallon! The premium was $3.99. Across the street cheapest was $3.59. I ended up turning around and going back to the station that is traditionally more expensive. The sign read $3.37, $3.47 and $3.59. When I pulled up to the pump I saw a small sign taped to the gas handle stating that the $3.37 gas was out of order. After moving my car to another pump I realized that all the $3.37 pumps were like that. So I had to put the $3.47 gas in. I can't get over how crazy these gas prices are. It's driving me nutty!! Well, I guess the bright side is that Chelle and I moving this weekend, so I will be in scooter distance to my office again.

Stinky Cheese and Wine Party

Saturday evening, Chelle, Tammy and I went with Josh and Judy to Redonda Beach for Renee and Ugo's Stinky Cheese and Wine Party. It was a great party and we met several new people as well as caught up with some good friends.

There was an assortment of cheeses from all over the world as well as wine for every taste.

Tammy is visiting us from Texas. She and Chelle have been friends since their college days. We thoroughly enjoying Tammy, she is a great girl and a fantastic houseguest. She is even going to extend her stay through this weekend to assist Chelle and I with packing for the move.

Everyone is amazed at Josh's poise as he balances the wine on his head.

Our New Home!

Introducing the Portofino. Chelle and I just made the final arrangements to move into a condo on Naples island in Long Beach, CA. Since doing more work with the sales teams in the Long Beach office, I've decided to move my office to that building and subsequently we've chosen to live closer as well. This new place is 3.5 miles away, so I will able to scoot to work on the Vespa. No more I405 for me!
We will be on the first floor with apartments, although it is really the second floor of the building. This picture shows our patio. We are in #201. It's on the Southwest corner of the building.

I don't have many good photos of the interior, but we will post photos once we move in and decorate. This is my baby in the kitchen.

View of the Harbor from the West corner patio. It's not a lot of water in the view, but it's water.
Here is the view to the West. You can't officially see the ocean, but there are sailboat's mast, palm trees and a red parachute from someone kitesurfing.


Although it's not pretty as seen here, we are very excited about how huge this patio is. We already spend a good amount of time on our patios at the Brentwood place, and now we have big plans for this one.
Ahhh! The pool! A step up from our last apartment, this pool is heated year round and has a very nice view of the harbor and harbor beach. The pool at our old place went into shadows after three o'clock, this one will stay sunny until the sun goes down.


This is what you see from the windows of the pool, and I believe they open up. Chelle and I look forward to spending a lot of time on the beach across the way this summer.
Here is the satelite image of it. LINK

We will post more photos once we move in.

Christian

Brentwood Street Fair

We're not really sure why there was a street fair today, but I guess there doesn't have to be a reason. Chelle and I walked down to San Vincente to grab a coffee at the corner Starbucks, saw everything going on, so we went strolling through the tent village.

There was a petting zoo for the kids. Here is a little kangaroo.

Some Lama and mini goats.

It was so funny to see these baby goats that were so tiny jumping on top of a very large turtle. The baby goats hard hoofs didn't allow for any traction, so they were sliding off as soon as they would get on. The Turtle put up with it for a bit, but eventually stood up and started walking away. It looked like something straight out of cute overload.

Fire on the Fifth

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Last night we were visited by six fire trucks and a heap of firemen. Chelle and I walked out on to our patio to see what was going on and they had the hook and ladder truck's ladder extended to the roof of our building. So we went to the street and hung out with the neighbors from the entire block.


It turns out there was just a small fire in a bathroom on the fifth floor.

Easter 2006

Easter just isn't Easter without the traditional egg coloring. Fortunately, Josh and Judy didn't dissappoint.

Together with Nick, Francesca, Strat, John and Rich, Chelle and I had a fantastic meal at the Newlyweds apartment.
Here we see happily married newlywed Judy, My short adorable wife, and the lovely and charasmatic Francesca.

Of course Easter wasn't the same without our families, but we had a super time with our great friends!

All Star United - Taboo

All Star United - Taboo
Uploaded by christiancrowe

Since I am preparing to go back out on tour with my band I thought I would post a video clip of ASU live in the Netherlands in 2003.

We are going back to the Netherlands as well as England, Denmark, Scotland and some other countries August 11th through the 28th.

I have more video of us performing in other countries and in the states. At some point I will follow the footsteps of Stewart Copeland and edit them together to make a much smaller movie similar to the Police movie I mentioned earlier in the lacrowe blog.

In the meantime enjoy this video.

Josh and Judy's Wedding

The Suits

Well look here at these handsome men!
I proudly claim the tall gent on the left, Christian. In the middle, is Nick, the musician Extrodinare and dear friend to Josh and Jude....and of course - Josh - the most debonaire Groom this side of the Mississippi!!!!!

Us
Shucks - aren't we just too cute :)

Josh and Judy

As we happily gathered at 1 pm on the 9th of April, 2006, this pristine day brought together not only a gorgeous bride and groom, but new friends and family represented from Coast to Coast. Although the sun was shining brightly in the arid desert of Las Vegas, Nevada, there wasn't a dry eye in the crowd as the two souls in love wed in matrimony.
The waterfalls and palm trees surrounding this grassy getaway on the strip also blessed two hearts to be joined in bliss.

The Kiss
Sealing the Ceremony as tradition has it, the dark and handsome "surfer dude" gets his beatiful blonde Bride ~ as though it were a fairytale, Josh and Judy no longer Toad and Princess......now just happily ever after HAHA!

Mazeltoff!
Throughout the ages there have been so many customs at weddings: the white dress, the rings, the bridesmaid and groomsmen, the flowers, the toasts, the ever longed for pronouncement of husband and wife, and the sealing with a kiss. In Jewish ceremonies, the fantastic celebration after the ceremony is also kicked off with the stomping off a glass.
May there be no hearts broken and no crying over spilled milk (or wine :) ~ In hopes of dreams to come true and a future of love ! Mazeltoff!

The Conways
The moment we have all been waiting for.........tada~~~
Mr. and Mrs. Josh and Judy Conway! Luck, Love, and Lots of adventure in Life be the fortune for you both. Thank you for including Christian and I in the truly wonderful event. We treasure being a part of this very memorable day and so many more to come!!

Stewart Copeland's Documentary

Last night Chelle and I attended the screening of Everyone Stares at the ArcLight in Hollywood. In 1978 Stewart Copeland, the drummer from The Police, started cataloging his band's rise to the top through the lense of his 8 milimeter movie camera. 20 years after they disbanded he has edited down his years of filming into a 75 minute documentary. I especially liked it, being a drummer myself, because most often the shots are from his vantage points.

After the screening, Stewart took questions from the crowd. Police guitarist, Andy Summers was also in attendance, however, Sting was in Italy. When we finished the Q&A we all loaded into the HollyTrolley and it took us to a private after party at King King. If you love The Police like I do - then see this film!

Beta Testing Google's Webpage Hosting and Domain Name Email

I got this domain (christiancrowe.com) from GoDaddy.com and had intended on building the webpage with iWeb on my MacMini. I started designing the site while I considered getting a 99 dollar annual dotMac account to host it. At that time I received approval to beta test Google Pages, Google's web design and hosting application. Google Pages is very simple to use and they give you a ton of space to build on for free. GoDaddy.com allows you to use your domain name to mask the real URL of the site that you forward it to, so that's why eventhough my real webpage is at http://christiancrowe.googlepages.com it appears to be at www.christiancrowe.com.
Today I received an email alerting me that I have been given the opportunity to beta test Google's Domain Name Email. So after messing with some settings, Chelle and I have new christiancrowe.com email addresses. You can reach me at christian@christiancrowe.com or in an attempt to be clever, look@christiancrowe.com (look at the website, not me the person). Chelle can be contacted at Chelle@christiancrowe.com or ChelleCrowe@christiancrowe.com.
I know they get some grief from some tech podcasters that I admire (Diggnation, Engadget, etc), but I really dig what Google is doing.

No wait! Wasn't April Fool's Day Yesterday?

It's Sunday April 2nd, but Marcus Welby (might as well be) April 1st. Chelle and I went to our favorite neighborhood pub (Ye Old Kings Head in Santa Monica) to throw some darts and drink some pints and we ended up playing best 2 out of 3 with Superman and Batman. It was a very close game. We each won a round, but the Superheros beat us in the end. It wasn't really fair though, because they had the creepy V is for Vendetta guy there chearing them on.

Final trip to Santa Maria

March marked the end of an era. Well one that lasted a year and four months. Not really sure if you can refer to that as an era. Anyway, starting today I am assisting two Sprint sales teams in the Long Beach office and so my favorite people in the Santa Maria office will now be assisted by my good friend Sam Jafari. I've really enjoyed working with everyone in Santa Maria and I will truly miss my day to day interaction with them. At least Chelle and I had an opportunity to say thanks to some of them.
Now on to building new relationships with the great people in the Long Beach office.