rrived at Disneyland last week. There is also a name change to the Disneyland Resort Line. The new trains have a new seating arrangement (chairs in the center that face out like the submarines) and a sleek/retro design.
I first fell in love with John Barrowman in the Producers. How cool is it that he was on both of my planes from Seattle (to SFO and to LAX). He was in first class on the first flight and just a few rows behind me on the second. An incredible celebrity sighting.
I had a wonderful trip to Seattle and enjoyed visiting my brother's family in Port Townsend, extended relatives in Olympia, and my parent's home in Seattle. This picture is at the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks which we visited on Christmas Eve. Check out all of my pictures which includes a White Christmas in Seattle.
Today, as I returned from giving a presentation at the Annual California Financial Aid Conference in San Francisco, I saw Keven Nealon, from Saturday Night Live fame, and his wife. It's hard to go through LAX without spotting a celebrity. According to his website, he was returning from performing at Caroline's Comedy Club in New York as recently as last night.
I went to church this morning and Max Lucado was the speaker. It was a great time at church. 10 minutes away is Disneyland where I met my friend Patrick for a fun day in the park. I finally went on the new Finding Nemo Submarine ride -- AWESOME! It was worth the 1.5 hour wait. See all of the photos!
Today I went back to church for the first time in a LONG time. Back to the church that I have gone to at certain crossroads in my life. The Crystal Cathedral.
She said that the hardest lesson she has had to learn in life is to forgive herself. I've added her name to the celebrity sightings section of my blog. She looked GREAT!
I went back to Disneyland today and also visited Disney's California Adventure. I went on Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion which is themed after "Nightmare before Christmas." See all of the pictures.
If you cannot be with your family and friends on Thanksgiving, then what a great way to spend Thanksgiving in Southern California: Disneyland. Clear sky and 78 degrees, I was shocked at how crowded it was and how beautifully it was decorated for Christmas. What a great day and check out some pictures.
What a great time in the Pacific Northwest. I especially enjoyed my time in Port Townsend. Check out all of the pictures on my Flickr page.
Wow - this picture from space looks like California is sucking on a bunch of cigarettes. This is the worst firestorm I can remember since I've lived in California since 1984.
He's one of the most famous character actors in Hollywood and I saw him on the USC Campus today as they were filming an episode of "Bones" right next to the building I work in. His name is David Paymar. He's been in some of my favorite movies. Pretty cool!
Houston - Oct. 13
The Barnsdall Rio Grande service station was built in 1929 and is one of the most architecturally significant service station in California and perhaps the United States. Constructed in the popular Spanish colonial revival style of its time, it was designed by the same architectural firm that was responsible for many of the attractive Richfield service stations of the same time period.
One of the most notable features of the station was its vertical elongation. It covered only 450 square feet at the base but soared 40 feet into the air. The third floor of the tower held a 2,000 gallon water storage tank which provided pressurized water to the station. The station was situated at the entrance to the oil field owned by the Barnsdall-Rio Grande Oil Company and was intended to be a corporate showpiece. The first operator of the station was D.M. Tinsler. Under his management the station received a beautification award from the Garden Club of Santa Barbara and the Montecito Roadside Committee. The Montecito Roadside committee was particulary concerned about the unsightly accumulation of signage around service stations and along the roadways. 
The contest judges declared the grounds to be “finely kept” and relatively free from signs. In the years to come the station would receive many other awards for “excellent appearance”.
Today the station is located on a side road, but when it was originally built is was on the Coast Highway (now 101) and undoubtedly attracted the attention of the highway traveler. Even if the motorist was not in need of services they would be compelled to stop just to admire the architectural beauty of this unique station. If the service station didn’t stop them, the adjoining restaurant would.
Today, on the way home from Santa Barbara, I stopped by the Getty Villa in Malibu. I was there once before. What an awesome place!
I had a really fun weekend in Santa Barbara. I had breakfast at my usual breakfast joint, the Brown Pelican. I've been there so many times that they know what I want before I order it. I can just say, "the usual." Then I went up to the Firestone Brewery in Buellton, CA for some pretzels and a beer. On the way home, I stopped by the Circle Bar B Ranch.
Today in my building at USC, I saw Dennis Miller. He looked like he was lost. I was at our student services counter and he walked through the lobby and paused right in front of me for a second, then kept walking. My favorite Dennis Miller movie is "The Net".
On my way home from Santa Barbara today, I stopped off in Summerland which is just south of Santa Barbara.
The funeral of the late great Merv Griffin, talk show host and game show creator, brought out many Hollywood players to the service at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills on Friday.
Among the guests…..
A fully bearded Ryan Seacrest.
Ellen & Portia.
Former first lady Nancy Reagan.
Jeopardy host Alex Trabeck.
Veteran broadcaster Larry King.
Suzanne Somers and Wheel of Fortune co-host Vanna White.
Funnymen Dick Van Dyke and Carl Reiner.
California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife, Maria Shriver.
(source: http://perezhilton.com/?p=3864)
Today I had my picture taken for a publication; I'm actually running for a state office within the financial aid industry. Hopefully I'll get the post. It's on top of my regular workload but on work time.
AKA Mervyn Edward Griffin Jr.Born: 6-Jul-1925
Birthplace: San Mateo, CA
Died: 12-Aug-2007
Location of death: Los Angeles, CA
Cause of death: Cancer - Prostate
Gender: Male
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Bisexual [1]
Occupation: Talk Show Host, Business
Party Affiliation: Republican
Nationality: United States
Executive summary: The Merv Griffin Show and Jeopardy
Griffin died of prostate cancer, according to a statement from his the family that was released by Marcia Newberger, spokeswoman for The Griffin Group/Merv Griffin Entertainment.
From his beginning as a $100-a-week San Francisco radio singer, Griffin moved on as vocalist for Freddy Martin's band, sometime film actor in films and TV game and talk show host. His "The Merv Griffin Show" lasted more than 20 years, and Griffin's said his capacity to listen contributed to his success.
"If the host is sitting there thinking about his next joke, he isn't listening," Griffin reasoned in a recent interview.
But his biggest break financially came from inventing and producing "Jeopardy" in the 1960s and "Wheel of Fortune" in the 1970s. After they had become the hottest game shows in television, Griffin sold the rights to Coca-Cola for $250 million in 1986, retaining a share of the profits.
After they became the hottest game shows in television, Griffin sold the rights to them to the Columbia Pictures Television Unit for $250 million, retaining a share of the profits. He started spreading the sale money around in treasury bonds, stocks and other investments.
He made Forbes' list of richest Americans several times and started putting money in treasury bonds, stocks and other investments. But he went into real estate and other ventures because "I was never so bored in my life."
"I said, `I'm not going to sit around and clip coupons for the rest of my life,' " he recalled in 1989. "That's when Barron Hilton said, `Merv, do you want to buy the Beverly Hilton?' I couldn't believe it."
Griffin bought the slightly passe hotel for $100.2 million and completely refurbished it for $25 million. Then he made a move for control of Resorts International, which operated hotels and casinos from Atlantic City to the Caribbean.
That touched off a feud with real estate tycoon Donald Trump. Griffin eventually acquired Resorts for $240 million, netting a reported paper profit of $100 million.
"I love the gamesmanship," he told Life magazine in 1988. "This may sound strange, but it parallels the game shows I've been involved in."
It was in 1948 that Martin hired Griffin to join his band at Los Angeles' Coconut Grove at $150 a week. With Griffin doing the singing, the band had a smash hit with "I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts," a 1949 novelty song sung in a cockney accent.
The band was playing in Las Vegas when Doris Day and her producer husband, Marty Melcher, were in the audience. They recommended him to Warner Bros., which offered a contract. After a bit in "By the Light of the Silvery Moon," starring Day and Gordon MacRae, he had a bigger role with Kathryn Grayson in "So This Is Love." A few more trivial roles followed, then he asked out of his contract.
In 1954, Griffin went to New York where he appeared in a summer replacement musical show on CBS-TV, a revival of "Finian's Rainbow," and a music show on CBS radio. He followed with a few game show hosting jobs on TV, notably "Play Your Hunch," which premiered in 1958 and ran through the early 1960s. His glibness led to stints as substitute for Jack Paar on "Tonight."
When Paar retired in 1962, Griffin was considered a prime candidate to replace him. Johnny Carson was chosen instead. NBC gave Griffin a daytime version of "Tonight," but he was canceled for being "too sophisticated" for the housewife audience.
In 1965, the Westinghouse Broadcasting introduced "The Merv Griffin Show" in syndicated TV. At last Griffin had found the forum for his talents. He never underestimated the intelligence of his audience, offering such figures as philosopher Bertrand Russell, Pablo Casals and Will and Ariel Durant as well as movie stars and entertainers.
With Carson ruling the late-night roost on NBC in the late 1960s, the two other networks challenged him with competing shows, Griffin on CBS, Joey Bishop on ABC. Nothing stopped Carson, and Griffin returned to Westinghouse.
Meanwhile, Griffin sought new enterprises for his production company. A lifelong crossword puzzle fan, he devised a game show "Word for Word," in 1963. It faded after one season, then his wife, Julann, suggested another show.
"Julann's idea was a twist on the usual question-answer format of the quiz shows of the Fifties," he wrote in his autobiography "Merv." "Her idea was to give the contestants the answer, and they had to come up with the appropriate question."
"Jeopardy," begun in 1964, became a huge moneymaker for Griffin, as did a more conventional game show, "Wheel of Fortune," starting in 1975.
Mervyn Edward Griffin Jr. was born in San Mateo, south of San Francisco on July 6, 1925, the son of a stockbroker. His aunt, Claudia Robinson, taught him to play piano at age 4, and soon the boy was staging shows on the back porch of the family home.
"Every Saturday I had a show, recruiting all the kids in the block as either stagehands, actors and audience, or sometimes all three," he wrote in his 1980 autobiography. "I was the producer, always the producer."
After studying at San Mateo Junior College and the University of San Francisco, Griffin quit school to apply for a job as pianist at radio station KFRC in San Francisco. The station needed a vocalist instead. He auditioned and was hired.
Griffin was billed as "the young romantic voice of radio." He attracted the interest of RKO studio boss William Dozier, who was visiting San Francisco with his wife, Joan Fontaine.
"As soon as I walked in their hotel room, I could see their faces fall," the singer recalled. He weighed 235 pounds. Shortly afterward, singer Joan Edwards told him: "Your voice is terrific, but the blubber has got to go." Griffin slimmed down, and he would spend the rest of his life adding and taking off weight.
Griffin and Julann Elizabeth Wright were married in 1958, and a son, Anthony, was born the following year. The couple divorced in 1973 because of "irreconcilable differences."
"It was a pivotal time in my career, one of uncertainty and constant doubt," he wrote in the autobiography. "So much attention was being focused on me that my marriage felt the strain." He never remarried.
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