Monday the 19th – TOUR GUIDE! – I was giving my friend Amanda the grand tour. She was in from New York for a few days, so I wanted to do some stuff she wouldn’t ordinarily do. So we went to the Target Range to shoot my Walther PPKs. She had never shot a gun before, but she took to it like a pro. She loved keeping the target after she was done, and for a New Yorker, she’s not a bad shot! Afterwards we went to my friend Fred Westbrook’s house and sat out in the warm sun, something Amanda hadn’t seen in awhile living in cold, snowy New York. Then I dropped her off at a friend’s house so she could spend the night with them, while I went to Long’s Drugs to pick up a prescription for some major painkillers from my doctor. If you remember in the previous week’s log, I was experiencing intense tooth pain from a sinus infection. I picked up the prescription, took a few of them, and went to bed to recuperate!

Tuesday the 20th – GO GO POWER RANGERS! – I picked up Amanda and we went to Shoreline Studios in Santa Monica. I had two more Power Rangers TV spots to record, and luckily the studio was right by the ocean. So while I worked, Amanda went down on the beach and enjoyed reading her book in the sunshine. After that we went to lunch at Campo’s, one of my favorite Mexican places on the Westside of LA, and then we went to Laser Blazer to look at the new DVDs. Then we stopped by It’s a Wrap and Amanda picked up a few items there. We gave her the scenic tour through Beverly Hills, and then we headed back to my house. That night we went to Bob’s Big Boy for the usual Tuesday night meeting with Chuck McCann and company. We were also joined by my friends Sara and Kristy. Amanda was covering a lot of ground during her trip here!

Wednesday the 21st – AMANDA’S FINAL DAY! – In the morning Amanda and I went to Disney Character Voices in Burbank so I could lay down tracks for an upcoming Disneyland parade. She enjoyed watching the process and meeting the wonderful folks at DCV. Then we headed over to have a delicious lunch at Round Table pizza. We enjoyed the buffet lunch, and Amanda mentioned that she hadn’t had Round Table pizza since she was a kid! After that we went to Studiopolis Burbank so I could lay down tracks for the new “Bleach” videogame. While we were in the lobby waiting to go in, my buddy Steve Blum came in. Knowing that Amanda was a HUGE fan of some of Steve’s work, but had never seen him, I made a point of saying “Steve Blum everybody!” Once she realized who it was I saw her face light up and she was trying to keep her cool as much as possible. She did a good job, and Steve was enjoying talking to her about his work. After that Amanda was on Cloud 9! After the session we went back to my house so she could pack up her stuff. My friend Robert Meyer Burnett, film producer and Star Trek fan, came by to take Amanda out for a drink before she had to fly back to New York that night. So after giving Robert the tour of Planet Wallywood, they went on their way. I took a quick nap but made it up in time that night for evening church. Knowing that the next day I would be totally free of any commitments (both personal and professional) I went to Denny’s, picked up some food to go, and went home to enjoy a few episodes of “Mannix” on DVD. I stayed up really late knowing that I would be able to sleep in late the next day. And to top it all off…it started to rain! NICE!

Thursday the 22nd – DAY OFF! – I slept in really late, but got up around mid-morning to walk Sassie. It was still raining, even harder now, so it was really easy to go back to sleep and nap all day. What a nice day for a day off! I decided to go over to the local Circuit City to see what bargains I could find, now that the entire chain is going out of business. I picked up a few new Blu Ray discs, a few other items, and best of all, I picked up a new 37″ LCD Samsung flatscreen. I wanted to upgrade the TV in the Puppet Room for a long time, and this was a good opportunity. And since VHS players are soon not going to be made any longer, I also took the chance at getting a new DVD/VHS player. That evening I took a phone call from my attorney to work out some business, and then set about setting up my new TV. That evening I stopped by Sunshine Studios to do another episode of the iPod radio drama called “Dead of Night”, written and produced by my old buddy from the “Astro Boy” series Dick Grunert. It’s a fun little show to do and I’m happy to be involved. I recorded my tracks and then went home to continue setting up my new system in the Puppet Room.

Friday the 23rd – GORMITI IS BACK! – After a few months’ hiatus, we’re back doing the Italian cartoon “Gormiti” at Studiopolis Burbank. It was fun having the gang all together again. It was still raining outside, but I needed to get over to Best Buy to pick up an HDMI cable for my new system. So after the session I got my cable, picked up lunch at the Wendy’s drive-thru, got a few donuts at Krispy Kreme, and headed home. It was such a beautiful rainy afternoon, and I didn’t have anything going on the rest of the day, so I put on my new flannel jammies, turned on the electric blanket, ate my lunch in bed while watching “Mannix” on DVD, and then took a nap. It was DELIGHTFUL! That night I met up with my pals Fred Westbrook, Chuck McCann and Kristy at DuPar’s for some pie.

Saturday the 24th – WAVE WEEKEND! – I got up early to let my maids in, and then I was on my way to Jerry’s Famous Deli for a 94.7 Wave reunion lunch. I hadn’t worked at The Wave (a smooth jazz radio station in L.A.) for about 10 years, so it was fun to catch up with some of the other former DJ’s. If you are from LA, you may recognize the names Mark Abel, Amy Hiatt, Julio Flores, Nancy Wilson, Steve Clark and Cathi Parrish. There we all were having lunch and laughing about the old days. With the exception of Nancy, we haven’t been at the Wave for about 10 years. And nobody seemed the worse for it. Everybody seemed to be doing really well. After lunch we all came to Planet Wallywood so they could get the tour. It was a very fun afternoon and I’m sure we’re all going to be keeping in better touch in the future. That afternoon I caught a nap, and then got up in the evening to do some stuff around the house. I had autographed photos to send off, other correspondence to do, my checkbook needed balancing, and I finished up a few other things too. It was a VERY productive evening. Of course, I ended the evening by watching a few episodes of “Mannix” on DVD.

Sunday the 25th – SUNNY SUNDAY! – The rain was gone (for now) and the sun was out again. I drove over to a studio in Van Nuys to do some voice work on an interactive, digital comic book. It was a lot of fun and I hope to do more. My pal Neil Kaplan had introduced me to Michael and the other producers of this project. After the session I drove back home to catch a quick nap before church. I made it to evening church (albeit a little late) and saw my friends Kristy and Tracy there. So I pulled up a chair and sat with them. Afterwards Kristy and I went to Ernie’s Taco House for dinner, and then met up with Chuck McCann and my pal Sara at DuPar’s for dessert. Dessert quickly turned into a mountain of fries with plates full of ketchup! We stayed there for about 2 hours just talking about all sorts of things. But around midnight, I needed to get back home to feed Sassie. I knew Monday was a free day, so again I took delight in staying up all night watching episodes of “Mannix” in bed! (I’m going to make a complete list of all of the TV shows I’ve seen on DVD as I’m sure it’s now numbering in the high hundreds!)

And how was YOUR week??!!