Christmas Eve

Since it's Christmas Eve today we only worked half a day. We have tomorrow off and i requested Friday off as well s0 i'm gonna get some well deserved time off.

We weren't able to make it to the valley this christmas but maybe next weekend. our docket this christmas is full because we have tickets to go see CATS on saturday and we have maggie scheduled for the vet that day too.

her comp exam was due in november and since they closed the vet in the petsmart around here we have to take her to one that's a little further away so we had to put it for a weekend. one of the booster shots that she needs triggered an allergic reaction the first time so had it so now everytime she needs it we have to leave her for the day so they can keep her under observation. we pick her up in the afternoon.

we wanted to go see the transyberian orchestra next weekend but we waited too long to decide and there weren't any good tickets left so, there.....nickelback is not until april but cheech and chong are gonna be at the majestic in march. tickets go on sale jan 9 so i think we're going to that one.

i have the rest of the day until 5 oclock to myself so i'm listening to handel's messiah. i only have the cd and not the packaging so i couldn't remember which cd went first since the cds aren't numbered so i just popped in any and i lucked out. man, that brings back memories of my years in choir when all the city high schools would get together to perform that piece during christmas at that big church downtown, that was cool. i'm surprised some of the songs are familar after all these years. Right now it's "for unto us a child is born". cool.

talked to mary a little while ago, she called me while making some last minute shopping. they're getting together at her place tonight. too bad we can't be there. yeah, right, i'm glad we couldn't be there because otherwise we'd have to come back tomorrow because joel has to work friday and i just hate traveling on christmas day like we did last year. that totally sucked. we'll go another time and drop off the presents.

i have my assignment due on jan 4 and i really need to get started, time's ticking away. maybe this weekend. yeah right.

Countdown to Christmas

It's almost the end of the year already but better yet, only 18 days til christmas. i did some shopping today and i only have a handful of presents left to buy. not bad since before today i hadn't bought anything. usually i wait until the last minute to do my shopping.

thanksgiving went okay, it was a busy day. started cooking early in the day because company showed up around 1:00. the turkey was pretty good, we made two and had enough to feed a crowd and feed us for the rest of the weekend and halfway through the next.Company hung around for the rest of the day and left around five to go register and get ready for the convention. mom and dad went with them but returned later on in the evening and they all had another go at the food.

Even Maggie got into the action. We let her chew on a turkey leg for a little bit.

They stuck around for the rest of the weekeend. Mom and dad stayed over on Thursday night and they spent the morning here Friday and left after 12. They thought they were gonna take the bus back but we surprised them by giving them the truck. Dad was so shocked but thankful, he couldn't believe that we just wanted to give it to him, no strings attached. Snapped a picture before they left.

That Saturday we brought up the tree. Yes, we have an artificial christmas tree. Who wants to be responsible for chopping down a new tree every year. How environmental of us, huh? Anyways, today i finished decorating it and the place. Put up some extra lights that don't show in this picture but i was so excited that i finally finished decorating the tree that i took a picture before i was done but here it is.

Since it's been cold lately, i brought out Maggie's sweater. I had to cut off the sleeves because in the past she couldn't move very well and now she's pretty comfortable in it, although she's gotten bigger since i first bought it and it's pretty snug on her, so i don't keep it on her for too long, just enough to say, ah, how cute and snap a picture.

OMG, went to get tickets for the nickelback concert in april and couldn't get very good seats. i wanted them in the charter section but ended up in the plaza level section 105. I guess that's still good because it's by the side of the stage and at least it's not in the nosebleed section.

have to go get ready for the week. Got my assignment back on Saturday and i have until january 4th to turn it in. I'll get to it on new years day.

Thanksgiving preparations

Here it is, Thanksgiving eve and we're getting ready to celebrate with family. Mary and kin as well as mom and dad are supposed to come in tomorrow. They youth convention is here this year and mom and dad are coming with them. Have the next two days off from work and that means another four day weekend.

Haven't been to the movies in awhile so i don't have any reviews to report. Maybe next weekend because this one will be full. Oh, i just heard today that Nickelback's gonna be in town in April. Tickets go on sale next Frida. Can't wait, i'm there....

Still trying to finish reading the most recent book--John Grisham's The Partner. It's about this lawyer who fakes his own death and runs off with 90 millions dollars from the firm he works for. They catch him since the beginning of the book and i guess the whole book is about what happens afterwards. I'm halfway through so we'll see...

Am i going to the big sales this weekend? Hell, no, i'm not getting up at dawn just to save a few bucks...let someone else stimulate the economy. This girl's taking the day off.

Last night was the finale of Dancing with the Stars and Brooke Burke won. Stopped watching it ages ago because quite frankly, i have better things to watch...or do.....on mondays i watch Heroes and Tuesday i watch House and Fringe. Some of the other shows are on winter break and some like Smallville and Supernatural won't be back until Jan 15.

Gotta go, things to do...

Countdown to Thanksgiving

It is officially a week and a half before Thanksgiving. Mary and her family as well as mom and dad are coming over and i've got a lot of planning to do. Not really, but i need to plan for more that joel and i. The GLAD youth convention is gonna be here this year so they were gonna be in town anyways so they decided to ask mom and dad to come. We're probably gonna go to the Thursday night service. Gotta work Friday, so.....Got the day after Christmas home but not the day after Thanksgiving off. Gotta work with what you've got.

Was feeling sick so i didn't go to work friday and we've been hibernating this weekend so we didn't do much. joel came down with the flu so we were both sick this week/weekend but it's going a lot better now.

Finally mailed out my assignment, it was only a week late so i'm waiting to hear from ernest go i can continue w/the article, depending on what he tells me to do.

Proud to be an American

Howdy, folks, it's the day after the election and i am giddy as can me. Yesterday we elected our nation's first African American president. How's that one for history making? I guess in the future everyone will remember where they were when they heard the news. Me? I was watching the results at home. I am so excited about this. Yeah, no one is perfect but one can only hope. It'll take a long time before we are out of this hole but we'll wait and see. Watched the speeches afterwards and i have to admit that Mccain's was graceful. Except when the audience booed when he mentioned that he called Obama to congratulate him. That was tacky. Come on, it's not like it was a junior high student council elections. Grow up. It's been awhile since i actually looked forward to presidential speech. Not since Clinton. How refreshing. There is still hope for minorities in this country. God bless America and God bless Obama.

November Already?

Goodness gracious, where did the month go. Better yet, where did the year go?

Halloween has come and gone and it was a quiet occassion. We couldn't wear costumes to work, so....we didn't had out candy this year because we live in an older neighborhood and the one time we tried it there weren't many takers. We never got around to decorating outside either. It's no big deal anyways. But you know me, i gave out candy bags at work to only a select few.

So, the big day is Tuesday. Election day that is, regardless of who wins we're in for a big circus ahead. There won't be any regular tv coverage that day because of all the election coverage. This one will be one for the history books because we will either get an african american president or a woman vice president. How will get my vote? Obama. Enough said, let's move on.

Went shopping this morning, i actually got a couple of pairs of jeans and a shirt. About time too. Bought the tickets to Cats for next month. It's on the 27th of December, I can't wait. End the ear off with a bang. Maybe today I'll make some more cupcakes or even the brownies. MMM, can't wait, although i won't eat them all because, well, i can't. Time to start making holiday plans. Supposedly mary's gonna be in town for thanksgiving and we're having dinner here. That i gotta see. christmas who knows because i might not get the day after christmas off at work. Don't get me started about that. i do have to start making my shopping list for this year. I know, last year i swore i'd do my shopping throughtout the year but who keeps their promises anyways.

my assignment is a week overdue and i still need the query letter so...hasta la vista.

It's a great weekend out there

I was outside a few minutes ago w/maggie and the weather was just as pleasant as can be. It's 6 days until Halloween and 10 days until the election. I was going to get some tickets for Cats in December online but i think i'd rather go in person to the ticketmaster to get them. It's quicker that way. Quicker in the sense that i'll have them in my hand the same day.

I was watching some of the stuff i recorded during the week. I watched this week's episode of Two and a Half Men and the Mentalist. I still have about 14 titles to watch, some NCIS, eleventh hour and csi. All in due time.

Ran some errands earlier, all done before 11:00am. That's awesome. Had to get some postage stamps and mail out some bills. I'm feeling a little sick this weekend so i just came home after i went to the bank and walmart to get some toiletries. Maybe i'll go out later or tomorrow. Maybe i'll feel better then. It must be the change in the seasons but i've got a slight cold, nothing too bad. Just a sore throat and a few sneezes but i'm medicated so i'm okay.

gotta go, got lots to do, which include finishing up, or in my case, starting the assignment that's due tomorrow. Always at the last minute but i think better under pressure.

Mid week hello

Went to see Max Payne last weekend. I thought it was another superheroe movie but it turned out to be a movie based on a video game. I've never even heard of it (so I'm not a gamer) but i wanted to see it anyways, it looked like a good movie. It was. Even though it was killed by the critics (who really cares what they think) it liked it, it was pretty good and the action rocks. You don't even notice the time go bye. That is my measure of a good movie. when it ends and all you can say is wow, where did the time go. I recommend it. It was a free movie anyways because last time we went to see Babylon AD the sound was so bad that the manager gave us two passes.

Also made another batch of rum balls, you can't get enough of those.

Last night's episode of Heroes was pretty good, it featured Mr Petrelli, the father and at the end of the episode, he stole Peter's abilities. All of them. He didn't die but now all those cool abilities are good. He also stole them from Adam who was an immortal so of course he withered and died. Finally. Tonight is House and Fringe-that's a cool new show and it's a good thing is comes out after House. Tried watching Dancing with the Stars but it's more boring than usual this season. Too bad they canceled Reaper, that was a good show, oh, well, but they insist on showing more episoded of 30 rock-like anyboy ever watches that show.

This week they're having a golf tournament across the street at the Oak Hills Country Club. Yeah, this people shell out money to play golf but are too cheap to pay for parking. Here's two of those cheapskate using up the space in front of our house:

Congratulations to Juanes for winning four MTV latino awards, one of them being Artist of the Year. I just watched to live performance of Odio Por Amor. The video is supposed to have premiered yesterday but it's not on You Tube yet. It's gonna be in the live version of the recent cd. It has comes w/video. It's coming out next month.

Enjoying the weekend

Had to go to work for a couple of hours this morning but the rest of the weekend is free to enjoy. It's been awhile but it's been hectic, been putting in 10 hr days at work but here i am. Last weekend i came across a recipe for key lime pie, which is one of my favorites, probably because it's tart as opposed to sweet, which i rarely eat. Tried it out, since we have plenty of lemons from the three trees in the backyard.

Here's the latest crop:

Used up almost all of them and the rest were made into lemonade. When life hands you lemons, you make lemonade :) The pie came out pretty good, although next time i'll probably use less than the suggested one cup of lemon juice but after it was left standing for a few days it lost some of the punch from the juice.

We tried a couple of slices and i think there's still some in the fridge. Took some to work a couple of times and i think it's time to throw it out. There's another recipe that uses cool whip and strawberries that requires no baking all you have to do is freeze it so maybe that's my next project.

Last weekend we went to see Eagle Eye. It was pretty good, i think it was over two hours long but it was one of those movies that keep your interest and you don't even notice the time going by. We still have those two movie passes that we got last time when the theatre sound system was all screwed up and they couldn't fix it. At least we got a free movie out of it. Maybe tomorrow we can catch one because today we are at home doing some organizing, you know, paperwork and stuff. There's some new movies coming out this weekend but since Halloween is this month, almost all of them are scary ones.

This week in tv viewing was okay since there was no new episode of House because of the presidential debate. Have to wait til next Tuesday. Heroes was pretty good on Monday but this thing keeps going and going, it's always "to be continued". I hope i don't get tired of that and decide it's not worth the effort like when i used to watch Lost. Maybe this will be different because it's cool since it has to do with superheroes. My next favorite day to watch tv is Thursdays because i watch smallville and supernatural. You know me, i'm a sci fi geek and proud of it. Recorded other shows to watch on the weekend since there's nothing on tv. Maybe i'll go watch those now.

Banned Books Week-Celebrate your right to read

Hey, folks, how are ya? In honor of Banned Books week, why don't you break the law and pick up one of these "forbidden books"-check out the website on my list of faves. As a matter of fact, i think i've read almost all of them at one time or another, mostly in school, from Lord of the Flies to The Diary of Anne Frank. Okay, so these were school mandated reads at one time or another but at least i got the chance to read them. I bet nowadays they're hard to find in a school's curriculum. On my list of books that i've read for fun: well, most of the stephen king books, ha ha......you know what? i might just reread one this week just because i can--i do have most of them here in my public library. SSHHHH don't let the books nazis hear that or they'll break down my door and try to burn them..anyways.....

Say hello to Fall

We officially welcomed the start official start of the fall season this week and it's about time. The weather seems to be getting milder bringing a much needed break from 100 degree weather. Just finished putting up the fall decoratioins along with orange lights and everything. Looks pretty cool.

We finally got a look at the new tv season and it looks promising. I love watching my usual array of shows and some of them i have to record to watch later and some of them i just had to give up on. My second favorite night of the week is Thursday since i watch Smallville and Supernatural. My alltime favorite: Tuesday because of House and Fringe, a new show kinda like the x-files and it's pretty interesting.

Have to go for now, need to run errands.....

Monday Blues

Here we go again, same old, same old......the start of another work week. but on a cheerier note: this weekend we went to see The Mummy....finally. It was pretty good, it starred Jet Li so there were some cool martial arts moves. I didn't think there'd be that many people there but there are still people willing to go see it after all this time, it's been out for awhile.

Hurricane Ike came and went but it didn't affect us at all, not even a drop of rain or a gust of wind. On sunday it did rain, but it was on a completely different matter. The kids needed some water so they got plenty. The weather was really nice this morning, actually a little chilly and throughout the day it was pleasant. Hopefully the good weather will hold for the week, it's a nice change of pace.

In case you want some more Enrique pictures:

until next time, enjoy the cool weather.

Monday off

Spending a lazy Monday at home. Of course, doing chores but at least I'm not at home. Sunday I went shopping and finally bought the other rod for the top part of the kitchen curtains. Here you go: took a picture of the final look.

This morning I went the ENT. Finally after all this time I finally made it to the doctor to have my ear checked. It had some wax buildup that had to be cleaned out but now I'm doing so much better. I'm good to go for another year or two, it depends on whether my ear cooperates. That's one less thing i have to worry about.

You want another Enrique picture? Here you go

Well, gotta go, things to do. Later

Another relaxing Sunday

Sunday again. If it weren't for the fact that i have tomorrow off, i'd be lamenting the end of another weekend but alas, i get to relax tomorrow too. I just have a doctor's appt in the am and then i have the rest of the day off.

Last night was a pretty good one. Sylvia and I went to see Enrique Iglesias. It was supposed to start at 8 but we ended up being kept waiting until 9. I guess the opening act was running late (who cares who it was) so he took the stage first.

It wasn't a very long show, that was disappointing but it was a good one. Too bad i didn't know most of his new songs but he also sang the old ones too so i wasn't too lost. Of course, there was the "let's have a fan onstage" part of the show when he was singing his song "Hero" to this lady, poor thing almost fainted.That was funny. At least this time i was able to actually take some pictures. When we went to see Juanes i didn't take my camera and I'm still kicking myself for it. This new one has a film feature to record live but i could never figure it out before hand. Now i did. Too late. Maybe the next time, and trust me, there will be a next time. Anyways, after he finished there was an encore, of course, and then it was over. Lights were turned on and people started leaving so we did too. When we reached the exit, the security guards were telling people that it wasn't over, so if we left we couldn't come back so we went back to our seats. We thought the thing was over, so.........anyways, when the show started again it turned out to be the other guys. I guess they switched because they were supposed to go first and then the other guys but i guess they were running late so they put Enrique first. Needless to say, we were bored with the other group but we were determined to get our money's worth so we stayed until the end. Got home a little bit after midnight and didn't go to bed until 1:30. It was a great night.

Labor Day Holiday

I hope you're like me and got the day off for Labor Day. I hope you're not like me and have to make up the day by working 10 hr days for the next 4 days...

Enough about that, this weekend was pretty busy for me. We went down to the valley to celebrate dad's 69th bday. It was on the 26th but we couldn't make it til the weekend. We took mom and him to Red Lobster for dinner. When i asked him where he wanted to go he just said he wanted something simple, like burgers and stuff but i said, oh, no, no way, we didn't travel 250 miles for burgers. So we went to Red Lobster and treated them to a nice meal at a sit down restaurant. It was worth the travel, i guess. This is dad and me after we got back. We look stuffed, don't we?

We got a chance to take some more pictures that night to commemorate the occasion. Next year hopefully we're planning a bigger event since he'll be turning 70. Maybe a pinata or something, like we did with grandma for her 80th. But when i spoke w/mary about it she mentioned wanting to do something unconventional, like a trip or something. We'll see. Here's me with the parentals.

They don't look like they're in their sixties, do they? That's where i get my youthful genes from. All together now: "Thanks dad". Never mind, it's an inside joke having to do with "Married with Children".

Didn't get a chance to visit with anyone else, since we left Sunday at noon. Things to do, places to go, people to see..

Speaking of Married with Children, the guy that played Jefferson will be coming out on the new season of Dancing with The Stars. I'm sorry, but his real name escapes me but i hope he's a half decent dancer because it looks like the competition won't be all that this year. After all, they have Lance Bass, Cloris Leachman, Susan Lucci and Toni Braxton and that Kardashian chick. Who by the way only got famous because of her sex video. But anyways, i'll just watch the first episode to get the feel of the season and if i don't like it. bye bye bye

Hopefully the news tv season will start soon because tv sucks right now. With the election only two months away, that's all they're talking about.

It's almost that day, the Enrique Iglesias concert. i'll have an update about that on sunday. I'm sure it'll be a blast.

Another hot and humid day

Howdy, y'all....just taking a break from chores to do some updates.

Finally finished reading the Faye Kellerman book "Straight into Darkness" and let me tell you I was pleasantly surprised. I bought this book at a bargain just because of the Kellerman name, she's Jonathan Kellerman's wife and i figured they'd have similar writing styles. Once i got it home I read the cover and inside flap and discovered it was a historical novel and i thought, oh no, a nonfiction book about wwII. But once i got into it it turned out to be a nonfiction novel about a policeman in pre WWII Germany. There's some murders in Munich and the police suspect a serial killer. He has to solve the murders amist the political chaos. The city has rallies that have to do with Hitler giving speeches and there's riots and stuff. At the end he finds that the killer was one of the cops but if he were to bring him in that's be political as well as personal suicide so he makes a deal with the chief of police to spare his family if the chief kills him and pretends that he was shot bringing down the killer (the killer is killed). So in a sense he sacrifies himself to spare his family who is given free passage to the united states to escape the ever escalating conflict in Germany and he is given credit for killing the serial killer. In the beginning you have a prelude by an old man talking about himself and at the end you get an epilogue by the same old man and it turns out to be the policeman's son who during all this he was just a teenager and in the end he was already an old man. So all in all it was a pretty good book. It combines the two things I like best, murder mysteries and history. Pleasantly surprised, maybe i'll read more of her books because this is her specialty. Two thumbs up.

Yesterday we went to see Hellboy II. Got a RAD award at work and I had a choice of prizes so I chose two movie passes. Movie was cool, typical Guillermo Del Toro film, monsters and stuff plus it was about Hellboy. I'm pretty sure there will be a sequel because his girlfriend turns out to be pregnant with twins. Figures.

Went shopping and got some new curtains for the kitchen. I was only able to put the lower half because I was short a rod and won't be able to put the valance up until i get a new one. Also got a new camera so I'll have more pictures to share. You can't really see the pictures on the curtains but they're some cute chefs in the kitchen. I figured the place needed some color and character.

To break in the camera i took some pictures of Maggie and this is the one i liked the most. This is what she does all day when we're out and about. Okay, so that's me behind her but for the record I was reading and not sleeping. Isn't she the cutest ever?

Well, ready to start another week of work. Except that tomorrow is also the first day of school for many so there's gonna be alot of traffic out there. Be careful!!

Summer Almost Over

Well, nothing major to talk about, everything has been pretty quiet lately. Outside right now is overcast, i hope it rains before tomorrow am so that the morning commute won't be so bad. An overnight storm would be a-okay :)

Went over to the Bijou today to watch Tell No One-one of those french imports. It's about this man whose wife is killed and since he was attacked too (he was in a coma for a couple of days) can't remember what happened. It turns out that she and her father faked her death because she killed this guy who beat the crap out of her when she confronted him about some kids he'd been molesting. The guy's family is this big ole important one so they feared for her life. The man keeps getting emails hinting that his wife might still be alive and it turns out at the end that she was. It was pretty good, considering that it in french w/english subtitles. I could only make out a few phrases at a time but it was alright.

Oh, guess what? Sylvia and I went to go get tickets for the Sept 6 Enrique Iglesias concert. So what if some other group will be there too, I'll try to ignore them :). We thought Monica would be able to go with us but she couldn't at the last moment. We didn't pry. Oh well. I'm sure we'll have fun. At least Joel's glad he doesn't have to go with me.

Bought a new digital camera and as soon as I take some pictures worth posting I'll do it. My intention is to share a new photo each week and hopefully update this blog more often and share more stuff that's going on. Hopefully.

I've been reading the newspaper more thoroughly now and because of that I've been reading about how this flight attendant was suing Victoria Osteen for attacking her during a flight because she took too long in cleaning up a spill on her seat. Well, to make a long story short she was acquitted of all charges and the plaintiff was told by the jury foreman that the whole thing was a waste of everyone's time. It took 2-3 years, I can't remember but the lady wanted 10% of Victoria's net worth as compensation for her humiliation and because she was traumatized. She was told that if she hadn't brought the whole deal up she wouldn't have been humiliated in the first place. Ha Ha. What some people would do for a buck. Get back to work, you lazy bum.

The next holiday around her is Labor Day, so at least we have a day off to look forward to. This weekend was the tax free shopping days before the start of a new school year so of course we avoided the stores at all cost. Except when we went shopping for the camera but that was at Best Buy, so....aside from that--keep away.

The 26th is dad's 69th bday. Hopefully I'll remember to send him a card, I've been slacking off lately and have a collection of cards that I bought w/every intention of sending out but never did. Oh well

Another hot day ahead

It's August around here and you can tell by the weather outside. What else would you expect at this time of the year except 100 degree weather?

Since i last updated this.....

we had a hurricane last week. It hit Brownsville directly but didn't do much damage. It was a tropical storm when it was only a few miles off the coast but when it make landfall it had upgraded to a category 2. That's why a lot of people didn't really prepare because they thought i'd be no big deal but they had almost a day and a half of rain and 100 mph winds. Even though mom and dad's house and susan's did okay, some people did loose their homes. There's still some flooding right now.

Mary and family went on a road trip for the last few days. They were here last night on their way back home. They escaped the hurricane but walked right in to an earthquake. Last week during the earthquake in California they happened to still be there. After it hit Mary called me all freaked out, that they had just had an earthquake. It was funny in a way because never in their wildest dreams did they think they'd be going through that so they were unprepared, they didn't know what to do but they're okay.

We haven't been able to go watch the new batman movie but maybe we'll catch The Mummy tomorrow.

Last Saturday we went to Graham Central Station to celebrate Sylvia's bday. Here 35th. Ha! She'll kill me for saying that. Usually we don't frequent those places but we made an exception. It was funny because i had to show my id before security would let me in. That gets kinda old eventually. Chavis and Venetta were there as well as her brother and sister in law. She did her share of dancing with Chavis but we just hung out, had a beer, and left around 11 oclock. As soon as we got home we tossed the clothes into the hamper and had to take a shower cuz our hair was all stinky of cigarette smoke. Yesterday she gave out thank you notes in appreciation for what we did to help her celebrate her bday. At work we got her a card, took up a collection to get her a gift card from JCPenney and took her out to lunch. I also made some strawberry cupcakes that thankfully came out pretty good. They tasted even better with the strawberry frosting.

We recently downgraded our cable to just basic service and i'm still trying to get used to it. I miss watching the closer, all the usa series and of course, dr who on sci fi (yesterday was the season finale) but i decided it was time to cut the cord and find more productive things to do w/my time. I received the assignment back and i have to buckle down and start working on the next one even though it's not due until the 24th but last month i turned it in late. I need to work on my writing some more and do some other stuff.

My How Time Flies

Greetings again, here it is almost the end of July and i haven't posted much. Been busy. Lazy? Maybe. Oh well..

Had a busy weekend, though. Went down to the Valley for Susan's wedding. They rented one of the dophin watch boats and we took a cruise of the bay for a couple of hours. It was all family and friends and towards the end of the ride they got married. Another brother in law. Maybe this one will be nicer. He seems like it. But then again, they all do. Afterwards we went over to their place and had lunch, they made a fish fry--it was good.

Unfortunately it wasn't all a happy occasion. Friday mary called me at work to tell me that sister Amaya had passed away. She'd been battling cancer for a few months and she finally lost the battle. The wake was Saturday night so we were able to go but couldn't make it to the funeral because it was at the same time as the wedding and we had already made plans. They wouldn't have missed us anyways, the place was packed.

Got back yesterday evening but we took the day off today just because. Because we can.

The new Batman movie premiered this weekend but we were too busy to make time. Maybe next weekend. Hey, just found out that Enrique Iglesias will be in town in September but upon checking for more info i found that he was going to share the stage w/aventura. Whatever that is. I did my research and found out that it's this group of guys whose music is a mix of r&b and reggaeton. I'm not so sure i want to go now. Talked to sylvia earlier and she expressed an interest in going, along w/moncia but now that i know it won't be just him, i don't know.

Happy 4th of July

Hey there, fellow Americans. Since today we celebrate the 4th of July, old Glory is flying high at our house. It was also a day off from work, thankfully, we get a three day weekend.

We finally got some rain yesterday but we're gonna need a lot more if we are to get out of this drought. Actually, there's on again, off again rain in the forecast for the next few days. Keep your fingers crossed.

This morning we went to see the new Will Smith movie "Hancock" and I thought it was pretty good. It's only an hour and 47 minutes long but it kept my attention for the entire run. I have to admit I was surprised when Mary, Ray's wife, admits that they know each other and have for thousands of years. I thought that was pretty cool. Not to spoil the ending, but at the end, in order for them to survive they have to go their separate ways. Okay, maybe it's not the best movie ever made, or Oscar material and all that crap but it was just a movie. Lay off already.

As far as tv is concerned, this whole week was nothing but reruns so I've decided to take a break this summer and hopefully for good. We have cable that consists of basic, standard and hbo but it's just a big old waste of money so we downgraded to just basic. Yep, channels 2-22. And you know what? Dealing with TIME WARNER CABLE is a pain in the butt. You call to get something done and they transfer you to like a million people before someone can actually help you. I guess this is so people can get frustrated and say, you know, what, never mind, I'll just stick w/what I have. Not a chance, buddy. Unfortunately around here we don't have very many cable provider options so we're stuck w/them. We used to have satellite but I grew tired of the signal going out whenever we had bad weather or even a cloudy day. It got to the point that a bad signal was a predictor of bad weather. Whenever that happened, we were, like, I guess it's about to rain, and sure enough, it would soon start raining. So we gave up on that and went for cable. The signal is better for their customer service sucks. You hear that? THE CUSTOMER SERVICE SUCKS!!!

Aside from that, it's been quiet around here. The next concert under the stars is on July 17. The city of Balcones Heights has jazz concerts every Friday night at the crossroads mall but we tried it one year and it totally sucked. Since it's free, every riff raff in town decides to show up and there are smokers and drunks everywhere who don't really give a damn about the music, they just show up to hang out. It was horrible. It's much better at the gardens because it's quieter and much more peaceful.

Hello, weekend!!

Finally, the weekend is here. It sure was a grueling week. At least we didn't have to work any overtime....this week.

Haven't really been watching tv. Everything is crap right now so I don't even bother turning the tv on. Except on Friday evenings when I watch Doctor Who. The new season is under way so there are new episodes every friday. This past one was pretty good when the doctor and donna travel to the 51st century and he meets his future companion traveler. He didn't know at first but she did and eventually she told him everything. Apparently they must be close because she knew his name (not "doctor") and he said there's only one reason why he would ever tell someone his real name....hhmm....

Last night ventured out and went out for indian food. There's this new restaurant in our neighborhood called "Mela's" and we wanted to try it out. Turns out it's pretty good. The food was good and the place was good. It's like the Olive Garden of indian food. We ended up shelling out $45 for the night but it was worth it. I give it a thumbs up.

Friday for lunch, sylvia, monica and i went to Bill Miller's. Last time we were there the brisket was kinda overcooked, rubbery but yesterday it looked fresh and tasted nice and tender. The place was buzzing probably because it was friday and probably payday for some people. All in all it was also a pleasant experience. The service was fast and they got the order right. Yea...unlike last Friday when we went to Pizza Hut.....that was a terrible experience. We went to the one here on Callaghan and 410. The place was full and they only had one server. The idiot lady didn't even write down our order and we had to repeat ourselves 4 times, the last time i practically yelled at her. she still got the order wrong. We waited 15 minutes to order, and it wasn't until 30 minutes later that the got our food. Actually, someone else's food and it took another 10 minutes for the right order to arrive. Man, talk about lousy service. I dropped an email to the manager to complain but i haven't heard anything...yet. They'll get to me eventually because last time we went to The Black Eyed Pea and the same thing happened. The waitress sat us and forgot about us. We had to flag down another waiter to get some service. Eventually the manager called me and i told him what happened. Sometimes you have bad experiences and sometimes you have worse. The worse has been at Pollo Loco where we've tried to eat there about 3 times already. Tried because every time we go in and try to eat there we are ignored by the employees because they are short staffed and are working the drive thru. Talk about rude.

Last weekend we went to see the new Adam Sandler movie, You Don't Mess With the Zohan. I have to admit that it was original and funny but definitely not the best movie I've seen all year but it was alright. I don't expect much when I go watch a movie these days.

It's Officially Summer

Well, actually, around here, we call it summer once the temp outside reaches 90 but the calender says the 1st day of summer was Friday June 20. And still no rain. Last night we got our hopes up because it was overcast with rain in the forecast but still no go. We haven't had much rain in the past months and we are so dry that they might not even have fireworks this fourth of july which is fine by me. I never quite got it. I mean, sure, when it's a city sponsored event and they have a fireworks show, but when you do it at home, i don't get it. it's loud, stinky and not to mention expensive. with everything going up in price now, why bother....

Last weekend was Father's Day but unfortunately we couldn't travel to visit day. We all pitched in and got him a present, though. We got him his very own lazy boy. he loved it, he kept calling to thank me. and since the father's day card i got him had a picture of a dad on a lazy boy he kept calling to say how odd it was that i sent him a card with that picture and how he got that same thing for father's day. anyways, susan and darren were in town last weekend and she had a card for me to sign that she was gonna give him, that way we all signed the same card. she also snapped a couple of pictures of dad with his gift, she gave it to him early, couldn't wait. :)

His 69th bday is coming up in august and we were thinking of doing something big for his 70th next year. Maybe i'll take care of the details myself because last time we had something big to celebrate i left it up to mary and susy and they never did anything. Maybe book a hotel conference room so we can all get together and maybe post a notice in the newspaper or something, that'd be cool.

The 17th was susan and mary's bdays, their 42nd. Never did get them a card or anything, i just gave them a call on that day. they were headed to the beach, a family day at the beach, i guess.

i think we finally fixed the pt cruiser. you know how it had been stalling and the dashboard lights all going on and the damn dinging, well, it turned out to be the sensors. Got two new ones and replaced them and i think that fixed the problem. doing some research found that there's a lot of stuff wrong with these damn cars, that being one thing. the other is the windows that sometimes get stuck. thought about trading it in but still owe too much on it, it'd be an upside down trade and i'll end up paying more. so for now we'll just have to deal with it.

Thursday was the first concert under the stars concert. This month it was blues guitarist Seth Walker. Never heard of him but i'm always looking for cool music to listen to. It was a nice afternoon, it wasn't too hot and there was a cool breeze going on. Sometimes the breeze was too much and blew dust our way but that was fine. Turns out the music was pretty cool. I ended up buying his new cd and he was there to sign it and everything. It's pretty good music. All in all the night went as planned. Of course, the $4 bag of popcorn and $2 water bottle were over the top but i guess it went to a good cause. Not bad for a $5 cover charge. They're also having the Dog Days of Summer when you can take your dog to the gardens, that'll be nice too. Need to make a note of it.

Friday night we went out for pizza at the Pizza Hut here on Callaghan Rd and man, i do not know why we keep going back. Every time we go they get our orders wrong and they end up giving us more food to make up for it. This time they gave us a large instead of a medium like we ordered, then they brought the correct order, so we had two pizzas for the both of us. Yeah, overkill. Not to mention that the stupid lady (i call her mullet girl) took our order 4 times and still got it wrong. Damn it, if you just would have written it down, maybe you'd remember. i took 30 minutes to get our order. Yet we still keep going back. Baffles the mind.

Flag Day

Today i rose early to fly Old Glory. It is a beautiful day to commemorate our flag.

Boy, i really must make an effort to post more frequently. I know it's been awhile to between work, home and exercise it's kinda hard but here i am.

Last night watched a new episode of Doctor Who. Well, the first time i slept through it (come on, it's Friday and really tired) but after i got up and took a shower and stuff i caught a later airing of the same episode and it was pretty cool. Okay, the giant wasp was a stretch but this is after all science fiction. The cool part was that they solved a crime alongside Agatha Christie.

This weekend is the Texas Folklife Festival but i don't know if we're gonna be able to make it today, maybe tomorrow. This coming thursday the 19th is the next concert under the stars. I really want to try and make it to the concerts this summer because they totally rock. Being at an outside concert at the botanical gardens is cool. the weather that late in the evening isn't too bad.

Did you hear about the passing away of the guy (i'm so sorry, the name escapes me) from Meet the Press? Hm...now who is going to interview the presidential candidates on his show? The elecion is five months away now and it looks like it will be Mccain vs Obama. Fasten your seat belts, it's gonna be a bumpy ride.

Didn't get to go to the movies last weekend, i wasn't feeling too well, maybe tomorrow we'll catch Adam Sandlers' new movie, i'm not up for anything that you have to sit and think for two hours. Just make me laugh. That's it, just make me laugh and i'll be happy.

The next assignment is due on the 22nd and i still haven't started. granted, it's not a full essay but i need to come up with an idea and send the synopsis and as of now i've got nothing. Nothing, i tell ya. bettter get to work.

Bring in the hot weather

Whew, someone forgot to tell mother nature that it's not summer officially because here in san antonio the temps are already in the upper 90's and with the humidity...forget about it. And summer doesn't officially start until June, but, man is it hot.

Tonight was David's high school graduation but unfortunately we couldn't make it. Had to work today. Maybe Susan will send me a pic or two.

Speaking of pictures, I finally loaded the pictures we took when we went to Marta's mom's 80th bday party.












Here's me posing with the big "80" but no, it wasn't my bday but so what, I thought it was pretty cool.....













And here's Sylvia and me, after she said I couldn't pop the balloons because they weren't mine. Oh well, so much for having fun.

Anyways, the week came and went without much ado. Yesterday was Friday so of course I watched DR WHO. It was part two of a two part episode and it was pretty cool of course. Other than that, everything else is in rerun mode since the season is over. Except for cable when the new seasons don't start yet, and I'm talking about The Closer, Monk, Psych and The Dead Zone. At least tv watching in the summer won't be such a downer.

So how high is the price of gas where you are? Over here it's $3.89 a gallon but at least we live a mile or two from work. Filled up the tank last weekend and i'm only down a quarter of a tank. As if things weren't bad enough, there's idiots out there that are stealing the gas from your car. Gees, people, get a job, huh? Times are tough for everyone.....

I'm almost finished with Stephen King's most recent book, Duma Key so watch for a review later on. From what I'm reading it's pretty good, it's about a man who has an accident at work and looses an arm but when he relocates to Duma Key to recuperate he finds out that he has a new ability: painting. But it comes with psychic visions that he transfers onto the canvas. Like I said, I'm almost done and so far so good.

Memorial Day

Greetings, earthlings......
Happy Memorial Day to everyone out there. From those of us lucky enough to have gotten the day off to those of you who didn't.....it sucks to be you. But unfortunately our office has to make up the day by working all day Saturday. Now is that fair? No, but such is life.

Well, onto cheerier subjects, this weekend i was lucky enough to be able to go to this year's Shakespeare in the Park series. This year it was The Tempest. It was pretty good since the setting changed to a planet far, far away and once nighttime fell there were all kinds of lights and stuff. And yes, the integrity of the play was still there in case you fell the need to know. The weather cooperated too because it wasn't too hot since the show started at eight. It's been super hot recently so i hope next time we make it to the garden for the summer jazz concerts it won't be too bad. Maybe.

It's been awhile since my last posting but you know how it is, you always think, naw, i'll do it later and then a month later.....here i am again.

Spent mother's day down in the valley. Enough said because I don't want to be mean or anything. I'm just sorry that I won't be able to make it to David's graduation on Saturday because of the high gas prices. Well, actually we probably could make it but why make it harder on ourselves. I'lll just send him a present along with my con"grad"uations. Okay, so that was lame, but I'm just proud of him for not being another statistic in the sense of being just another Hispanic dropout. WAY TO GO!!! In your face...

On the 17th we went to a party to celebrate Marta's mother's 80th bday. It was alright, not bad. They had mariachis of course at the beginning but then the lights were dimmed and it was time to party. Yeah right.. Naw, it was funny when the Mariachis were in front of our area (since they go around the room) and the singer was singing to sylvia who made the mistake of going solo to this thing. They always target the single gal.

Hello May

here it is, the dawn of a new month and the more things change the more they stay the same. it's another sunny day in the alamo city and the weekend is here. yesterday spent it out and about and caught the new movie Iron Man. it's the new Robert Downey, jr movie and i have to admit he's a pretty good actor.....when he's sober....honestly, i had never seen him in action since he comes out mostly on chick flicks and you know me, i stay away from those like the plague. but now that i've had a chance to see him he seems like a good actor. the movie in general was good, it was 2 1/2 hours long but this was one of those movies where you don't even notice the time go by. it's about this weapons manufacturer who gets kidnapped in afghanistan and force to build a missile for the bad guys. instead he builds a body armor that allows him to escape his captives. once free again, he stops making weapons and focuses on this armor thing and in the end transforms himself into Iron Man the superheroe. i loved it, it even had stan lee in a cameo performance. if i had a chance to watch it again i would. and i say that about very few movies, actually.

this week was the new episode of house and bones. had to record them because we had to go out. our neighbor Kathleen Martinez passed away on the 24th and they had the wake on monday. we were unable to attend the funeral because there was no way they'd let me out of work for that because it's not immediate family. it was sad because it is so different when you've actually interacted w/the person before. we'd do favors for her around the house when she needed some manual labor done and to thank us she invited us to her home for dinner one day. we weren't exactly friends but we spoke to her on occasion. oh, well, such is life. may she rest in peace wherever she is.

anyways, the new episodes this week were okay. even house was so so. criminal minds was cool because one of the "victims" that had gone missing turned out to be the suspect. he walked away from his life to escape his abusive father who drilled it into his head that being gay was evil so the guy ended being a killer who searched out gay guys and killed them. wow, was that a twist. it took me a couple of seconds to figure it out but as a writer myself i was, like, wow, that was a brilliant twist. my hat is off to the writer. even smallville and supernatural had new episodes but i can't remember what they were about. i do remember that on reaper sam finally told the girl the truth about who he is and what he does. at first, of course, she didn't believe him but when she inadvertenly helped to get the soul she was freaking out but accepted it at the end. on friday i had to record midnight because dr who comes out at the same time and i'd rather watch that. this time they ended up in pompeii the day before the volcano erupted. donna wanted him to save the entire town but he could only help one family. this show reminds me of quantum leap in the sense that supposedly in the original "history" the whole planet gets destroyed but he managed to make it so that only that town gets buried. that was cool. on midnight i guess i missed an episode because he only gets to enjoy being human again a little bit but he ends up having to be "turned" again so that he can help, oh, i forget the name of the woman. oh, well, the point is he turns into a vampire again and is almost "ousted" when he becomes the body guard for a celebrity. you know, because of the papparazzi and stuff. today is the two hour season finale of dexter. man, last sunday i thought he was going to kill the ex husband but he only ended up planting evidence so he could get locked up again and leave him and the woman alone. i can't believe i actually said, aw, man , he didn't kill him. i think today his sister is gonna be in danger since she's dating the ice-truck killer and she doesn't know it. it's also a new episode of cold case. it's gonna be a long night.

the 31 of this month is david's high school graduation. i hope we'll be able to go but it's still too far away to know. aside from that, it's been quite. sorry i can't talk about work because that's a whole other drama.

Monday Blues

Well, here it is--the start of another week and everything seems calm. Just doing a quick update cuz there's alot of other stuff i need to get done-namely my assignment that's only half done and i need to finish it today. it's due by sunday the 27th. yeah, like always, at the last minute. but true genius is being able to work under pressure :)

this weekend saw "the forbidden kingdom" and it was pretty good, i liked it. the geek that i am i like martial arts movies. although if you're looking to make sense out of it you're out of luck. it's about this american kid who gets transported to ancient china to return a staff that's been long lost. it has pretty cool moves and it's sometimes funny too.

friday was finally the premiere of dr who on sci fi. it was an hour and a half episode and it was pretty cool. so far he doesn't have a companion but i hear that will soon change. it was cool when they asked him who he was and he answered "i'm the dr. i am a time lord....903 years old and about the save your life and the life of billions, if that's okay with you" of course i'm paraphrasing but it was cool when he said it. this week is also (today) a new episode of bones. i'll see if i have time to watch it since it's 6:38 and i still have to work on my assignment. and write down the notes about work......and.....oh, this week is also a new episode of smallville and supenatural. smallville's cool cause last week lex killed his dad and, like, turned totally evil and stuff...lol...but seriously, i guess that was the turning point for him because he "killed off" his good side and now there's noone to keep him from turning totally evil. i don't know what supernatual's gonna be about but it's bound to be cool. the x-files movie is coming out this summer. hope it's a good one.

Finally some quiet time

Boy, i know it's been awhile but work has kept me really busy, but no more, no more overtime....for now......

so, what's new? well, around her nothing much, really, except that last saturday was awesome. Went to the Juanes concert and it did not disappoint. the only thing i regret is that i didn't take my camera to snap a few pictures to share. went w/hubby--his first concert believe it or not-he claims he liked it but who knows, he might be saying that just to make me happy in which case thanks....but overall i liked it, it was cool. It was cool that i knew all of the songs except the last one. He played "rebellion" whatever that is . Only one moment of equipment malfunction during Gotas De Agua Dulce but the professionals that they are they saw it through, minus him playing the guitar. Bought a tshirt to commemorate the event and i hope i get to see him again sometime.

Just saw a clip of him playing the song Dificil and it was nice. It was unplugged somewhere in Dutch country but it was really nice, the song itself is so sad....
skipped the movies last weekend because i actually went shopping, bought a few items of clothing. Maybe tomorrow we'll catch a movie or something. something.
had to take Maggie to the vet for her heartworm test, everything came out okay and i loaded up on six more months of meds.

April is really busy for our family, we have several birthdays this month. today is alyssa's b-day, she turns 14. already mom is anxiously waiting for a quincianera next year but alyssa doesn't want one. can't say i blame her, that is so old fashioned. i didn't have one, her mom didn't either so.....mary said she might just take her and some of her friends to a theme park for the day, like fiesta texas or something so that might be better. i hope so. alex turned 6 yesterday and marcos turned 17 on the 4th. those are all mary's kids, all on the same month. :)
david's high school graduation is next month too so it's gonna be a busy one, with mother's day, which we will no doubt have to travel (can't say i'm looking forward to it on account that i hate going over there but oh well)

last night watched canterbury's law--it was alright, the lady almost got disbarred for jury tampering in the last case but in true "house" fashion she and her associates blackmailed the guy that was out to get her and she got off easier than she would of. that's cool.
the new season of dr who is soon to come out, i hope i don't miss it because i rarely watch the sci fi network. oh, i also watched eli stone thursday night. he helped out this guy because he kept seeing him in a vision of the future that he was gonna be making speeches and stuff but at the end it was all about him, he was the one that was being celebrated in those speeches. also cool.
monday was time to watch new amsterdam. too bad it was last week and i can't remember what it was about so i won't even try but this coming monday is the season finale. season finale. i hope it's not also the series finale cuz you know how that goes.

April Fool's Day

It doesn't really matter that it is april fool's day cuz noone i know pulls off any pranks anymore. in my world it was just another day. and that is fine with me.

saturday we finally went to the movies again and watched Superhero Movie. Yes, it was one of those spoofs but you know what? it was funny. it had its moments. it centered mostly around the spiderman story but had elements of batman and the xmen. among others it also starred leslie nielsen, a really funny guy. i do have something to say about all the stuff that happens before the movie actually begins. by this i mean the endless commericals, especially the one about the lexus. totally unnecessary and annoying. the movie was scheduled to begin at 12:15. yeah, yeah, we go to the matinees but so what, we have other stuff to do and very little time to get it done. back to the subject at hand: it didn't start until 12:30 or so. we got there early, so we spent 45 minutes just sitting around watching commericals. i don't even do that at home. if i'm watching tv at home and commericals come out i quickly change the channel. too bad i can't do that at the theatre. oh, and at one time the screen was frozen. we were, like, hello, stop making out up there and fix the damn thing. but i guess if you want to watch a movie and not have to wait until it comes out on dvd it is just another necessary evil to put up with. i guess i talked less about the movie and more about the circumstances but there's nothing much to say. it was a spoof of the superheroe movies. enough said.

watched some of dwts last night but no one had that wow factor. we'll see who gets kicked out this week. not that it matters to me, they're all boring. i did enjoy watching new amsterdam. the db of the week turned out to be a relative. more like his great, great grandson or something like that. he tried telling, oh, my god i forgot the name, well, the woman he likes, he tried to tell her the truth but she did not believe him. actually, he did tell her the truth but she just got angry and accused him of lying to her again. new episode next week. actually there's new episodes of old shows coming up too.

well, easter has come and gone and get ready for the barrage about mother's day. from now until may that's all we're gonna hear about. plus, we have most of our family bdays this month. can you believe that? there's marcos, alex, alyssa, tricia and luis. the oldest niece turns 20 this month. wow, i feel old.

Good bye March

well, here it is another month gone by. spring is officially here and the flowers and trees are starting to bloom. yes, trees and in this case it's the oak tree i'm talking about. i'm suffering through the annual oak season. bad allergies. had to take some claritin and even that doesn't help 100%. i guess nothing does. one pill is supposed to last 24 hours but you know how that goes. at least i know it's only for a few weeks and this is the only thing i'm allergic to so i say: bring it on!!

easter came and went w/out much ado. at least around our household it did. that's the beauty of living far away from any family. no family obligation. none of that: we have to go to mom's today or the inlaws.. aww.. peace and quiet rules.

got the last assingment i turned in: it was okay. for the next one i need to turn in a 1,000 word personal essay. i guess i should start thinking about what i'm going to write it on since it's due by april 27 and i always put it off until the last possible moment. procrastination is my middle name.

hey, i heard that penn and monica seles where the first ones to get the boot on dwts. i watched a couple of them dance but it's not really catching my attention. i hear kristi yamaguchi is good and so it that girl that came out on 13 ghosts but i'm not even going to waste my time. there is nothing else on really, but.....i tried watching canterbury's law but it's not that good so i just watch new amserdam on monday nights. tuesdays suck cuz i don't watch american idol and wednesdays right now suck too cuz there's no new episodes of nothing yet. smallville and reaper have new episodes on the cw on thursdays so that's good. supernatural won't be back for a couple of weeks. on this last episode of smallville i think brainiac killed lana. not sure yet. in april there's the new season of dr who on the sci fi channel (rules) but i guess dresden files won't be back but the awfully boring battlestar galactica will. there is no justice in this world, i tell you, no justice. i tried watching it but i couldn't get into the story. i guess all sci fi wasn't created equal.

the juanes concert is next saturday so stay tuned for a review next week. next week is also our 7th wedding anniversary.

since it's the weekend i usually bring the book that i'm reading home to read but i guess i must have forgotten it. oh well, another week to finish reading it. it's taking forever because there is way too much drama at work that i don't have time to read there anymore.

oh, april brings all those family birthdays but i guess i won't be sending anyone anything this year. maybe

Let it rain mud

Good wednesday afternoon everyone. Just got back from work and realized i needed to do some update because I've been gone awhile. Yes, last night it finally rained but because of the wind and dust around here we got mud instead. You should see it, almost every car out there is all muddy including mine. Some have already been to the carwashes but not me.

It is springbreak time and here we are still working. It wasn't invented for the common man, or woman. Last weekend we actually considered going to the beach but then i realized that it was in the middle of spring break so we've postponed it. Again.

Went to the 10,000 BC and it was actually pretty good. Okay, so it won't win any oscars next year but it was good entertainment. We still had some money left in the gift card that i got at work for my b-day so we only paid a dollar. Cool.

The new season of dancing w/the stars started this week and i tried to watch it when Penn was the first one on the dance floor. It was then that i decided that i'd skip it this season. There's noone worth watching this season, just like the last one, i didn't watch last year either. American Idol is also on but it's boring, there's no Sanjaya this year to make fun of and watch every week to see if he's finally kicked out. Boring. The only new show worth watching this time is New Amsterdam when they go back and explore his past lives, that's cool. I think it's interesting that his son right now is 65 years old, older than him. It shows the passage of time because he's been married w/children so many times. I guess that's the drawback of being immortal. You meet people, they grow old and die and you're left alone until you meet new people. Interesting. There won't be any new House episodes until next month, along with all the other shows.

Still trying to finish reading the book i started but i don't have any time at work right now so it's usually only on the weekends that i read, so.....got the next section of my textbook and i was reading through it. I also need to start reading up on my next assignment so i won't be caught unprepared like last time. I skimped it last week and it's going to be my choice, a story or an article but is still don't know. I'm leaning towards article but i'm gonna wait until i hear from ernest so he can give me his opinion.

until next time... :)

Is it cold or is it hot?

Well, this is south texas, isn't it? The weather around here has been crazy to say the least. This morning it was in the 40's and right now i believe it is 80. It's almost officially spring time, so.....We're coming on to daylight savings time again. Yea....finally, i hate winter because it's dark by 5 o'clock. Bring on the summer daylight. The days are longer and getting out of work late doesn't feel too back because it's still light out.

Last night was the primary elections here in Texas. From what I hear Senator Clinton won the popular vote but who knows in the end what it all means, what with the caucus and everything. I myself didn't vote but maybe in November, maybe....

Since I already finished reading the sk book i had for awhile and the joel osteen one i think this weekend i'll pick up the new one i bought, Duma Key. No wait, I'm still reading The Rage. Damn, i thought i was finally free. Not yet.

Hey, last night i caught the premiere of New Amsterdam. It's a new show that comes out after American Idol (didn't watch that). It's okay i guess, don't wanna get hooked before it gets yanked off the air like everything else. Anyways, it's about this cop (of course) who is immortal (of course), but before you play it off, he will only become mortal after he meets his true love and yesterday on the pilot he had a heart attack and died (he later woke up in the morgue, of course). supposedly his true love was somewhere close to him so he needs to find out who it is because, as he put it, sometimes death can be a relief. He's been alive for hundreds of years, since the 1600 or so. Seems interesting because it kinda has some time travel when they show his "previous lives" we'll see how it goes. If it gets too girly....forget about it....:)

As of today, the Juanes concert is a month away, i can't wait. Now, i know i traded in the phantom of the opera for this show but now that it's being advertised i really want to go to this one too. it's playing here until march 23 so maybe this weekend i'll get the tickets, i hear it's really exciting...can you say falling chandelier? we'll see...

Another long week

I guess time flies when you're having fun...not....it's been okay, I guess. Finished reading Blaze and it was so unlike Stephen King. It's probably because it was one of his earlier works, under Richard Bachman. It's a small paperback so I finished it w/in the week. Still have Duma Key and a new Jonathan Kellerman book to read. Speaking of Jonathan Kellerman I was watching tv earlier and I came upon true crime tv and they had a documentary on a true crime story (hence the name of the channel) but what caught my eye was that it was i guess hosted by Kellerman. It was I guess one of those crimes a person gets involved in in the sense of researching and stuff so i was his take on the crime. Since he is a psychologist, or psychiatrist, who knows it was his opinion of the crime. It is only one of a series of episodes that feature different crime novelists. After it ended there was another episode by a former nyc da turned novelist too. But I had better things to do.

Went to see Jumper last weekend and I have to admit it was okay. Had lots of action, though and I guess that's why it was the #1 movie for the weekend. So what if they never say how he got that power or what organization samuel l jackson's character represents, it was loaded with action and that made it go by real quick. The Oscars are this weekend and as usual I have not seen any of the movies that they talk about. Figures...boring...

There was nothing good on tv this week so i just turned it off. I did watch part 2 of the season finale of monk. Okay so i fell asleep when it came out @8 but i caught it again at 11. Ha ha. Even though the writers strike is over it'll be awhile before new episodes come out. Recorded last week's Knight Rider show but haven't seen it yet. It came out at the same time that Cold Case did but that was a new episode and I'd rather watch that. Oh, and Dexter came out afterwards. I thought it was cool now that they showed it on network tv they cleaned up the language and i guess the violence. I was able to enjoy the plot more. I tried watching it on Showtime but I couldn't get through one episode. Stick to the story, guys.....

Nice sunny day in February

Back again. Haven't been able to post much since I've been very busy the last 2 weekends. The weekend of my birthday we went to visit the family. Like to say it was a barrel of laughs but it wasn't, what else is new? We actually had a girl's night out, Mary, Susy and moi went to see The Bucket List. It was alright, I guess you can call it a dramedy. It was kinda sad sometimes because as you may or may not know the guys had terminal cancer and they make a list of the things they want to do before they kick the bucket. It was funny sometimes but they die at the end and they get buried (their ashes) atop a mountaintop they wanted to see but couldn't because there was too much snow at the time. But other than the movie things were blah....I hate going over there, I always come back in such a lousy mood but I didn't do it for myself. Joel wanted to see his mom, so that's really the only reason I agreed. Anyways, here I am, one year older, one year closer to 40 but not quite yet. All in all, it was okay. The next holiday in sight is Valentine's Day but we don't do that here, not anymore.

This past weekend we had to put in some overtime at work but not this week. Hopefully we'll have a regular schedule for awhile so I won't end the day all tired and stuff. Earlier I actually worked out. I got home at a decent hour, had dinner and rested up a bit and after turning the damn tv off I took to working out. Felt good actually. About time, huh? I actually do enjoy it but because of the surgery I couldn't do it for awhile but now I'm back in the game, although not fully healed, but...

We went to see Meet the Spartans. It was funny but stupid like always. Kinda as if it were written by a couple of teenage boys. Probably geared for that age group too but sometimes we just like to watch silly movies just to laugh. Since the guys at work gave me a gift card for Regal Cinema we wanted to use that but there was nothing good playing there this weekend, so.. Oh, next weekend I want to catch the new one Jumper about this guy that can teleport. You know me, I'm a sucker for sci fi movies especially ones having to do w/time travel and stuff. Actually, I don't think this one is about that but same difference. Couldn't make it to the Asian Festival this year, better luck next year.

Susan gave me The Blaze by Stephen King. It's a small paperback so I started reading it and I'm halfway through already. I still have the other Patricia Cornwell book that I still need to finish, I just need a few more pages to go. After that I can read the new SK one. I'm actually reading two books at a time. Plus, this weekend I bought another Jonathan Kellerman paperback that I really should wait to read until I get to the others.

I was just checking out the Russell Watson website and right now he's going through radiation treatments for, I think, a brain tumor. Hope he gets better soon.

Another month goes by

Hey there, here it is the 27th day of January. My, my how time flies when you're having fun.....not...

Yesterday while out running errands I got my hands on the new Stephen King book Duma Key. Wow, it's thicker than I'd thought. Oh well, I still have to wait until I finish reading the Patricia Cornwell novel that I'm reading right now. I'm in the middle of two books and I really need to finish one before I attempt to start another. This one has taken me longer because i don't have time to read at work now, so any little time I have to read is nearly gone.

I finally got to watch Knocked Up last weekend. BORING. Sure, it had it's moments but it was too slow for me, had a hard time staying interested. This last week brought some new episodes to tv. Criminal Minds was new, as was Monk and Psych. I'm sorry to say that I didn't quite finish watching Psych because I dozed off. Not because it was boring (far from it) but by the time Friday comes along I am stone tired from working all that overtime. At least this week we'll finally get a new House episode. Yea....as well as Smallville and Supernatural (about time). Thursday is also my birthday, my 21st, again. Ha!

Did you hear about Heath Ledger. Yep another celebrity dead. Don't know much about him but he seemed nice because at least he wasn't a tabloid celebrity.

Need to go finish reading that damn book once and for all.

BBBRRRR it's cold out there

Well, as predicted it is a cold January day out there. Sure, last week was nice and sunny but the closer it gets to the 31st the colder it gets. It never fails. Went out earlier to do some errands but hurried come cuz it was cold. Usually I venture out early in the morning before the crazies do but today i waited a little bit so at least it would be too cold. It was 38degrees with a wind chill of 29. At least I didn't have to go to work today.

Watched some new episodes last night: Moonlight, Monk and Psych. Actually, i opted to watch moonlight instead of monk (they come out at the same time) even though i was recording it. Couldn't wait. I'm pretty sure they'll show monk again and again. And again. It was a good episode of ML when Mick becomes temporarily human again after Coraline gives him "the cure". It came at her expense because she was captured and take away by her brother who is also a vampire. We'll see if the show comes back with the way things are right now. I hope it does. Psych was also good. It had the guys checking in the dad as a senior in one of those senior living communities to be able to investigate the case of one of the residents going missing. It was funny, of course. That one has a local san antonian in the mist, so..... hopefully it'll get to watch monk this week too before friday since they have new episodes then too.

In politics this week, it was the Nevada caucus. That's all I know. I used to follow politics before but now it's just a bore. Used to vote too. Used to. Don't anymore because i don't want my vote going to the republican since texas usually votes republican. That's in the case that I would vote democrat but I've also gone rep before, so you never know. But I don't think I'm voting this time around because I think I would vote dem and you know that texas always votes rep in the end. I don't want them getting my vote.

I want to make another cd to take to work of all the new songs i have so i gotta go..

Greetings for 2008

Okay, so maybe the new year is two weeks old but give me a break here, I've been super busy working a nearly 50 hour week. That's the only thing I'll say about that........

I've also been busy completing my assignment at the last minute like always. You'd think that by now I'd learned my lesson but nnnooo....maybe the next time will be different....not...

We finally got around to going to the movies again after a long hiatus. This time it was National Treasure. Sure, it was long (almost two hours) and had a convoluted plot (hello, the city of gold hidden inside Mt Rushmore) but it was a fun movie but plenty of action. I liked it. So boo hoo with all the so called experts that said it was a bad movie. The public liked it and that's all that matters. Hello!! It's been the #1 movie for three weeks in a row. I say if you like a nice, family friendly (Disney) movie, go for it. If not, go screw yourself....ha ha

Well, believe it or not there are still new episodes on tv....for now...this week I caught a new epi of Criminal Minds. It was cool with an ending that you hardly see. The guy holding a shotgun and threatening to shoot a killer actually pulled the trigger. Cool..not that killing is good but as a writer myself I appreciate a good plot twist. Last night I also watched MoonLight, which by the way, won the people's choice award for new drama..yea....it was also interesting because the lady's boyfriend (gees, I forget her name) gets killed and while Mick had a chance to revive him by "turning" him he refused. Now he says it's because he didn't want to curse him by making him a vampire and by giving her the whole "he's human, these things happen" routine but one can only wonder if he was doing it because he was his competition for her affection. HMM...one can only speculate. I think it was a little bit of both. Come on, who can resist doing away with the competition, right? Anyways, I rather enjoyed the will he or will he not die suspense. I swear, I thought he was gonna make it at the last minute but alas the powers that be denied us a happy ending again....(see the Criminal Minds summary).

Right now I'm trying to finish reading Patricia Cornwell's new book The Book of the Dead. Trying to because I no longer have time to read at work because since we all take breaks at the same time I usually spend it hanging out w/the coworkers and stuff so now I only have time to read at home which I hardly ever do cause I get home exhausted and all I wanna do is veg out. Anyways, my other Christmas gift was Juanes new CD. It's pretty good but I like the previous better, probably because I've been listening to it longer. I guess like with everything else it will take some getting used to.
Now this is me with some of my nephews. They actually agreed to take a picture which is rare. Must have been a christmas miracle. Of course one of them had ulterior motives. He wanted a new picture of himself for his myspace site. I of course complied. Why not, it was a time to be giving.




Now this is a picture of a palm tree at the parentals. When we first moved in and dad planted it it was ssoo small, now check it out. It only took 20 years for it to grow. Ha ha that's hilarious, I don't know why, it just is.






This morning I spent it doing errands, like always but when I went to Walmart to pick up some pictures., yes, I actually had to drop them off to be developed, there was some old lady taking forever, man. From what I could hear, they couldn't find her pictures and the clerk was trying to fill out some paperwork for her. Needless to say it took forever and I just told the guy, "you know what, I don't have time for this " and just walked away. Freaking pissed me off and it almost ruined my whole morning. But it didn't. I just went on and finished doing my shopping and left. Maybe I'll try again tomorrow but the suspense is killing me. I found that roll of film while cleaning out the kitchen drawers. Can you believe that? I don't even know what pictures are in there so I can't wait to see.

Gotta go, plenty to do.