Christmas Eve

Here it is, Christmas Eve and it's cold and super windy outside. Tried to go to Walmart to pick up a couple of things but i saw that there was a line outside, i guess waiting for them to open so i high tailed it out of there. It wasn't too important anyways.

Only worked half a day today and we have off tomorrow, plus next week we also get half a day on New Years Eve and New years Day off. then January will be a looonnnggg month because i have a week off the first of february, just like always. I take a week off after my birthday to unwind.

Last night we took some baked goodies for our neighbors, some weren't home but that's okay. i make some mini hummingbird cakes (bundt cakes) and gave those out. the recipe is pretty good, got it from a lady at Joel's work. Earlier there was a knock at our door and by the time i opened it, they were gone but they left a present for us. chocolates from henry and sandra. Yay. "Wrapped up" joel's present, meaning just used a gift bag. Ha Ha.

the boss gave us a scented candle and some flavored hot cocoa. Monica and i gave him a couple of movie tickets. made a few candy bags to give out at work too. was gonna make some cupcakes but at the last minute i changed my mind.

tomorrow is christmas day and we'll see what happens.

Dreary December day

Saturday and christmas is almost a week and a half away. luckily i've already finished all my christmas shopping and the only thing left to do is wait. I've been home from work these past two days cuz i've been sick with a cold. today i'm feeling alittle better, at least the fever is gone and it looks like the worst is over. Yay!

need to go get some stamps and print out a couple of pictures to send with the christmas cards. i guess i can mail those on monday. still need to take maggie and tracy to take a picture w/santa.

Yet another long weekend

Not that i'm complaining, but it's a "just for the record" thing. We were due for a systems upgrade at work so they shut down the office Friday all day and Monday morning. We are supposed to call in tomorrow after 8pm to find out what time to go in monday am but everyone was saying that it was noon on Monday. either way, i'll call in tomorrow just in case.

spent most of the day today doing some last minute christmas shopping. i can't believe i'm actually done. i just need to wrap up the presents because today i put up the christmas tree and we need some presents to put under it. put up some more decorations and lights and the house is finally looking a little festive. about time.

need to give the dogs a bath tomorrow because they're gonna go take their picture with santa either tomorrow or next weekend. they have it at petsmart every weekend in december. we also need to take our annual christmas picture to send with the christmas cards. i usually send a picture of the santa visit too.

hey, man, we were expecting some snow fall yesterday but it passed us by again. it was cold, though, this morning it was 25 degrees and there was some ice accumulation, but that's about it. some of the plants/trees won't make it, but oh well.

Thanksgiving Holiday Weekend

Just at home enjoying a long weekend for the thanksgiving holiday. luckily we didn't go anywhere this time but i'm afraid we're gonna have to make an appearance with the family next month for christmas. not christmas day because i hate traveling during christmas but maybe a few days later. who knows.

thanksgiving was really uneventful here. we went out to watch Ninja Assassin then had some lunch. the movie was okay, what do you expect from a movie with that name. the beginning was a little over the top and gory, reminded me of the beginning of Ghost Ship, all that blood and dicing and chopping :) but i'm glad we stuck around. there wasn't much of a story but i guess the last half of the movie was good. the main character turns out the be the heroe, so it was good, especially since i used the last of my tickets from the RAD award.

the first ones i used to go watch 2012. that was a pretty good entertaining movie, like Twister, Independece Day, The Day after Tomorrow, Deep Impact, those kinds of movies. like the previous movie, not much of a storyline but it had cool effects and stuff. good for a time out.

been doing the FACEBOOK thing more often now because it's good to get in touch with people from your past. I just wish i could find more of them out there but unfortunately not everyone was joined the 21st century yet.

tony ambriz told me that today is Enoc's wedding day. he gave me his cell number but i tried calling him to no avail. can't say i didn't try.

had Thursday and friday off, so i had a four day weekend. needless to say, i'm getting plenty of rest. well deserved. plus, this week we're getting friday off again because we're getting some network updates and they're closing the office all day friday and maybe half a day on monday, keep your fingers crossed.

got the tickets to The Lion King next month. finally get to watch it, and the seats are pretty good ones, so....

Finally finished reading the Jonathan Kellerman book i was reading and managed to start Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol. i barely started this week and i'm almost halfway done. his books are always such easy reads because there's so much action you can't put them down.

tv is going to such from now until january because they're on reruns now, but i've got some recorded stuff on dvr...about 30 episodes, so that'll keep me busy.

Time to Relax

Oh, my God, it's November already. Where did the time go? It's gonna be Thanksgiving next and before you know it, Christmas.

But for now, Halloween was uneventful around here. We had to take a long weekend trip to the valley to empty of my mother in law's house and put everything in storage. She's in a nursing home for now and depending on how well she does, she might be in there awhile, so she had to let go of the house she was renting. There were some trick or treaters at mom and dad's neighborhood but basically it was a quiet weekend. Some of my plans didn't pan out but that's the way it is. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Unfortunately, sometimes when we go down to the valley, it so happens that someone passes away and we have a funeral to go to. Last time it was sister amaya, this time it was emilio, grandma's brother. we were in town, so i was able to make it to the funeral. took some pictures during the outside ceremony and then later on at mary's house.

Another week gone by

Everyone loves the weekends. Time away from work and time spent doing things you really enjoy. Like anything but work....

Hard to believe the month is almost over. Next weekend is Halloween and soon the year will be over too. Already the commercials for "the holidays" are beginning to creep up. Great. The holidays. Again.

things are kinda slow at work so they're letting people take time off. i have friday and monday off. We're getting a new supervisor on the second of November. We'll see how long he/she lasts.

Two more weeks until Halloween

Another saturday night and here we are, it was a great morning because it was nice and chilly for a change. After running some errands, went to go get a haircut. Bought some baggies and candy for goodie bags to give to my friends at work. The rest of them can go to hell. I'm gonna make some cupcakes too.

Finally posted some pictures of the enrique iglesias concert. Yeah, after a year, but i was having some trouble with the software, so...they're on Facebook.

Time to start making plans for the holidays. At work we're gonna be off on Friday Dec 3 because of some upgrades they're making to the system. Maybe even half a day on Monday. They'll let us know by Sunday afternoon, we need to call first. Right now we're running a little slow on work, we just have the batches we need for the day and when the day is over, so is the work. But they refuse to send people home. I'd be the first to volunteer. i've got the seniority and the pto hours to cover. Friday they warned people who have 3 or more occurrences and i guess i'm not one of them. Evaluations are next month in time for the bonus (ha) and the raise that we get in january. we'll see how that goes.

no plans as of yet for tomorrow, we'll play it by ear.

Monday Blues

Today was one of those weird days when you can't really quite figure out your place in this world. Ever stopped what you were doing and just listen to what's going on around you? Well, the scary thing is that if you dropped off the face of the earth, life would still go on without you. Just a thought.

Autumn is in the air

Here it is, folks, autumn is in full bloom so to speak and it is wet and chilly outside. Went out to do some grocery shopping but came quickly back home to do some much needed chores.

Due to the heavy rain we've been getting, we've been blessed by a plentiful bounty of limes from our trees so i used some of the limes to make a couple of key lime pies. Gave one to Becky Johnson who shared it with Michael and Julie and we also gave out a baggie of limes to eat of them. Yesterday we got a banana nut cake from Michael and Julie and a salad from Becky. Gees, all i wanted was to share some of the bounty, not to be getting stuff back and forth. But since we still have some more limes, i got supplies to make a couple of more pies for our neighbors. Hey, we've been blessed, so...pass it along.

Man, Saturday night i could not sleep very well because of my allergies but last night wasn't too bad, at least i was able to get some much needed sleep.

Time to get started on my christmas shopping list, not too many, just a couple of people at work and immediate family.

Next month, on the day after Thanksgiving, Def Leppard and Cheap Trick will be here at the AT & T center and sylvia and i want to go. That'll be cool for sure.

Haven't been to the movies in a couple of weeks, maybe next weekend, to go see the new Gerard Butler movie LAW ABIDING CITIZEN. It looks interesting.

No more rain

After a week or so of rain we finally see some sun. Rain is good, but it makes everything so gloomy.

We had the new season of tv start this week and it seems like it'll be a nice one. Some new shows and stuff and the returning shows i like are cool.

On Monday watched Heroes, it was a two hour premiere so i had to record HOUSE which was also a two hour show. I prefered to watch Heroes live. I'll watch HOUSE later. DANCING WITH THE STARS also premiered but i didn't watch it on Monday when the men dance but i was able to catch it on Tuesday when the women danced. On Wednesday they had the results show and the first ones to go were Ashley Hamilton and Macy Grey. Was able to watch Macy dance....well....i guess you can call it dance but i wasn't surprised when she was voted out. Wednesday was the premiere of Criminal Minds. it was alright, wasn't too thrilled. Thursday of course is the best night on tv with Supernatural on. I recorded Bones and Fringe and i'll watch those this weekend. Friday was the new Smallville and i think Superman is finally going to fly this season. They promised more comic book superheroes/villains this season so we'll just have to see.

Want to see the new Bruce Willis movie SURROGATES tomorrow, but we'll see what happens.

Juanes' concert in Cuba was last weekend and i caught some of it live via the net. It lasted three hours or so but i only watched a little bit cause most of the music was boring to me. It came and went w/out any incident inspite of the protests and stuff. people are just jealous that they aren't doing anything to promote unity and peace so they have to dog the people that are.

Hurray for the weekend.

Yea, the weekend is finally here. it was a short week but actually it felt like the longest week ever.

began training the new employee this week and boy is she slow. one of those people that just have to write down everything you tell them but will still ask you the same damn question everytime. at least now she's on her own and i hardly have to see her. who knows if she'll actually make it, just wait until they start rushing her to produce more work.

we didn't do much for labor day weekend, just took the dogs out to the missions park and hung out a little bit.

it was raining when i got out of work but it wasn't too bad. you know how it floods easily around here with the slightest rain. at least it's the weekend and even though it's supposed to continue raining through the next couple of days at least we won't have to go to work.

we were gonna go to corpus this weekend to drop off a computer over at cyndi's but maggie has an appt with the vet tomorrow morning and who knows how long that will take. plus, it's also raining over there, so maybe next weekend.

Labor Day Weekend

Yea, another three day weekend for me, this time for Labor Day. We're not doing anything per se to celebrate but just knowing that we don't work tomorrow is pretty cool in itself.

Friday night we actually saw some rain. It's been pretty dry around here lately and we broke a record for 59 days this year of temps higher than 100. it actually feels nice to be in a chilly 95 degrees. It's still kinda humid and moist outside but that's cool.

yesterday saw the new movie Gamer with Gerard Butler. It was pretty good, considering. It's kinda like The Running Man. Prisioners can go free if they can fight their way out of a series of gunfights and the like. The only difference this time is that there is someone controlling them on the outside, via a controller, like a game so to speak. their actions mirror what the person in control is doing in hyperspace. Not bad. Not bad at all.

Last night dad called me that he just finished watching THE MIST. The only reason he called me was because he noticed that it was a Stephen King movie. He knows i love his writing. He also told me that he had been to Matamoros this Friday and that there had been three shootings there. Now he's gonna think twice before going over there again. He still will, but at least he won't take it so lightly now. Told him so.....

Finally finished reading John Saul's "In the Dark of the Night". Took me awhile because i've been so busy lately in cyberspace. It's about this kids that unknowingly unleash more killings when the ghosts of serial killers are awakened via collectibles that a now dead man had bought. It was classic Saul where he begins with something that happened in the past and now in the present comes back for a second round.

I'm now reading The Hanged Man's Song by John Sanford. This one is about a computer hacker named Kidd. It's a returning character in several books, like the ones about Detective Davenport. I just started it, sounds interesting, lots of computer stuff.

Another week gone by

Just got back today from a weekend trip to the valley. This past week was dad's 70th birthday so we planned a surprise bday party for him. It was hard keeping it a secret because you know how kids can be. Alex almost let the cat out of the bag. But dad swears he knew nothing about it. anyways, it was just us the immediate family and a couple of couple friends. the guillens and the riveras from church. elias was also there, he's mom's cousin and he gets along well w/dad too. We got him a gift basket full of his favorite snacks and he absolutely loved it. the party wasn't until saturday afternoon but we got into town on friday at noon and we had to go see them beforehand without dad knowing about the party so we told him we were in town to give him his present.

the party itself was pretty good. we set up some tables and chairs outside and it was nice at that time of the day. it rained a little bit in brownsville but not in los fresnos, so it was kinda cloudy so at least it wasn't hot. may got him a pinata in the shape of a "70" and luis got him the cake. we ate carne guisada, rice, potato salad/mashed potatoe that susan bought and i made us a nice salad. As you can see, he was really surprised. i took lots of pictures, to take advantage of the time there.

This is dad and his friends, unfortunately, medina couldn't go at the last minutes, but he had fun. i also put an ad in the newspaper wishing him a happy bday and he loved that tool.

On the way home we stopped by to see Cyndi and her family, they're in corpus christi. Yesterday they had a party for oscar's bday so we were gonna be in the neighborhood so we stopped by real quick to say hi.

so now it's back to work tomorrow. friday was angela's last day because she was fired, but she left before 10 because sylvia texted me to tell me since i was scheduled off because we left from here friday morning to the valley. they left debbie in charge and everyone swears she is mean, but hey, so what. people come and go and that doesn't scare me anymore.

the next day off for us is labor day next monday. can't wait.

Yea, hump day

Another hot day in san antonio, what else is new. This weekend went to see GI Joe and i have to say i was pleasantly surprised that the action was pretty good. The movie itself was almost two hours long but you hardly notice. Okay, so it wasn't exactly oscar worthy and it really didn't have anything to do w/the original cartoons but who cares, a good time was had by all.

Right now i am doing everything but work on my assignment. started it yesterday, barely, but it's just a rough draft and it's supposed to be due on the 23rd. Maybe later on.

Man, so much drama going on at work, people are either quitting or getting fired. I've been there for five years and i've had four supervisors. the fifth one is yet to come after angela leaves.

bought the stuff to make the basket for dad but we kinda cranked open the fritos and bean dip so that will have to be replaced. just need to get a couple of more things.

Was watching Top Chef Masters earlier because Rick Bayless is one of the top three. The finale is on right now but i'm too nervous to watch. Maybe i'll catch the last part just to see who wins. I caught some of Hell's Kitchen last week and i have to admit i didn't exactly hate it. those are the types of reality shows i like watching: i like to watch people cook and dance. That's why i miss having the Food Network cause i'd watch all the cooking shows on saturday morning but now i have to settle for PBS. Which is cool cause that's how i discovered Rick Bayless. He's pretty cool.

gotta go, maybe i'll get something done.

We Need More Rain

Yea, it finally rained earlier. Not too much, but at least it's something and maybe it will get the ball rolling.

tomorrow is Chavis' farewell luncheon. Had to go out in the rain to buy the stuff i needed for it. Let's see what drama will unfold, it never fails.

Weekend Fun

Finally the week is over and it was a long one because of all the drama and work but at least it's friday and i don't have to see those people for a couple of days.

still hot out there, what else is new?

planning on going to see GI Joe this weekend. read a review earlier that nearly tore them a new one but i don't really care. who cares if the costumes and original idea is different than the original cartoon. For God's sake, it's just a movie. get a life and move on already.

have loads of crap to do around the house. for some reason we've become pack rats and i need to sort out the junk from the useful stuff. maybe this weekend i'll get to it. i've been putting it off for awhile now. papers to shred, statements to file, etc, etc, etc.

Day 40 of over 100 temperature

Good Lord, how much longer can this heat last? Like i mentioned, today is the 40th day of over 100 temperatures. The record was 35 broken last week and this is officially the hottest summer ever. I believe that too. the whole summer concert series at the botanical gardens was a no go for us because it was too hot. the only thing we went to was the shakespeare at the park.

Watching the season finale of So You Think You Can Dance. after watching the first part i have to say that it's not all that stunning. this is supposed to be the best four dancers (or favorite) and they aren't all that. I like evan because of the style of dance he represents but his jive wasn't all that. we'll just have to wait til tomorrow to see who wins.

This last two weeks we lost four people at work: laura was fired, sandra ashe, tarria, danny and chavis quit. Wow, huh? as much as i'd like to make a comment, i can't.

this month is dad's 70th bday and i've been working on a memento was that day. hope he likes it.
gees, how big can Tracy get? she's already bigger than maggie. so much for getting a small dog for maggie. who would have known that she'd get this big. but she's sooo cute.


wouldn't want to get rid of her now, it's too late, we've all bonded with her and even if she and maggie are always fighting, she's so adorable.

last week was sylvia's birthday. she's in the birthday club so she got some stuff from them, the ones that give $5 and the ones that give only $1. kirsten made her a hello kitty cake and marta helped by decorating her desk and we her friends got her a gift card from jcpenney, a hello kitty notebook and some cash from some johnny come latelys. we went to lubys for lunch. the official party was at grahams central station. it was just us from work and her brother and sister in law and other family and friends. it was cool, we had loads of fun.
Sorry, girl i know you didn't want me to post the picture on Facebook, but this isn't Facebook, ha ha.

I should be working out right now, doctor's orders, but i sometimes lack the motivation to do it and stick to it. Oh well.

Sunday Evening

It's a hot and humid sunday afternoon and i am getting ready to start a new workweek. Last week was kinda short because i took an hour off on monday morning to go drop off my urine sample at the doctor's office and i was off on thursday because i went to get my annual physical. Turns out that all my test came out normal, the calcium, vitamin d and thyroid tests were normal so the doctor has no idea why my dexa scan came out abnormal. I'll take another one next year and in the meantime i am to continue taking my calcium supplements and excercising, including weight bearing exercises. that should help.

it is a week before mom's bday. i'll mail out the bday card tomorrow and her present will have to wait until next month.

went to the book exchange store to see if i liked their guidelines for getting rid of some of my books but i didn't. so i just went to half price books and got another one because i already finished reading all the ones i had. i am currrently reading John Saul's In the Dark of the Night. I'm almost halfway through since his books are really easy to get through and mostly about ghosts and ghouls and past scary stuff. haven't read any of his books in a while, partly because i hadn't seen any new ones but i guess the one i got yesterday is fairly new.

saw Mama Mia! yesterday, it came out on tv. wanted to watch it but didn't want to pay to see it and i'm glad i didn't. it was alright, there were some awkward moments. wouldn't watch it again. right now i'm watching a new episode of True Blood, pretty good vampire show.

the emmy nominations came out this week and the only reason i'm mentioning it is because the guy that plays Sheldon was nominated for lead actor in a comedy series, that's his first time and that's pretty cool. probably won't win, someone like charlie sheen or something else will, it's just like every other awards show, just a popularity contest.

waiting for my assignment to come back graded and even though i keep telling myself that this time i won't let it sit and procrastinate in doing the next one, but who am i kidding?

Hot Enough For Ya?

Halfway through July and i feels like august because of this heat. Man, we've had days of 104 temperatures. Plus, we're bone dry. with water restrictions and everything, man it sucks....

Check it out, a couple of signs of the times. The first is the thermometer outside our door and the other one is the inside of my car. Hot huh? Spoke to mom earlier and at least they've been getting rain. Maybe we'll get lucky now that there's a hurricane in the pacific, maybe those clouds will make their way here. Keep your fingers crossed.

Watching a new episode of True Blood so i'll be back.

Happy Fourth of July

Greetings, my fellow americans, happy fourth of july to everyone out there. Have fun today and don't do anything stupid, you know what i mean.......it's nice to have another three day weekend, i'm just glad we don't have to travel anywhere we can just enjoy ourselves at home. Us and the dogs trying to beat the heat. another day of 100 plus temperatures. it's been like this for the past month and it doesn't help that it just won't rain. our lawn is already all brown, as it is, it's only weeds, but those weeds are all brown.

so, have a hot dog or two, enjoy the fireworks if your city is having them (some have been cancelled because of the bad economy) and enjoy the day. Proud to be an American!!

Howdy!!

Good Saturday morning to everyone. Just got up a few minutes ago and i was checking the net for the movie times for Transformers so we can go watch it this morning. 10am sounds good. Have to check online now because i canceled our newspaper subscription. Damn thing was getting thinner and thinner while the prices kept going up and up. I understand that they have to make changes and stuff, but we have to watch our wallet too. Can use that money for more important things, like shoes...

How about that Michael Jackson shock? It's like the passing of Elvis or John Lennnon. It's weird because ever since Beat It came out when i was in the fifth grade, at almost every stage of my life there was a michael jackson song attached to it. The world grieves.

The temperature here yesterday was 101. That's without the heat index. It's scary because we are so dry too and pretty soon we'll be up to stage 3 water restrictions. Wanted to go to the concert under the stars at the botanical gardens but i just could not picture myself in the great outdoors with this temperature. Now its all indooor activities.

Took Tracy yesterday for her final puppy set of vaccines. she is now legal. :) we just need to schedule her for the surgery to get her spayed and to have the hernia repaired. it's just a matter of when. we are having this problem with her and maggie because maggie is getting so territorial. i'm on the couch with her and if tracy tries to approach, maggie will growl at her or pounce down on her and pin her down while she's on her back and poor tracy is just whinning and crying. we have to separate them.

OOps, how long has it been?

Well, time flies when you're having fun, doesn't it? Last week we went to the Botanical Gardens for this year's Shakespeare in the park and this year it was "As You Like It". It was way hot but we had a good time. As soon as the sun went down it was really nice. The opening act so to speak was this magician guy. the magic itself was okay and he was kinda goofy but he was funny.

This was during his "Mr Happy Pants" routine. His name's Brian something.
The play started right after that. I'd never heard of this particular play so towards the end i kinda drifted off. Not my fault though, the chair i was sitting on was nice and comfortable and there was a nice breeze blowing and it was soo relaxing, so...

This was already towards then end, the final wedding scene and we were getting ready to call it a day. There was an intermission when the magician performed again and this time he was doing some fire breathing stunts.

I know, that's a sucky picture, but hey, it was dark.

Hey, today was super hot. I know, it's Texas in June, but it's been especially hot this week. I got into my car this afternoon getting ready to come home and saw the temp gauge in the dashboard and was totally psyched at what i saw:

And that's not counting the heat index. Today was the first concert under the stars and we totally wanted to go, spend some time at the Gardens again but at the last minute i chickened out, it was too damn hot. Muy caliente!!

A soggy weekend

Wow, time sure flies when you're not having fun, especailly at work. Anyways, it's been a pretty busy time for me. Last weekend went to brownsville for mother's day. we left saturday early in the am and came back the next day before noon. came back early enough to get ready for the working week to come. it was really uneventful, same old, same old. on saturday night they were having dinner at susan's and they called to invite us but we didn't stay long. it was obvious that we weren't welcome there w/the dogs. we knocked on the door and we could hear them whinning about having to put their dog away because we were there w/ours. we just stayed for about 10 minutes or so then left all pissed. we didn't even eat or anything. well, it was after 10:00 so that was out of the question anyways.

this weekend we spent at the movies. since last weekend when Star Trek premiered we were out of town and too busy, we went to see it yesterday. it was awesome, i loved it, i want to see it again and again. it was full of action and the visual were really cool too. i'm not too familiar with the characters from TOS but it didn't matter much. today we went to see angels and demons and it was pretty cool too. went to the early show and there were still alot of people there. if it's not the #1 movie this weekend it'd be surprised. i read the book so it wasn't as nail biting as if you were unfamiliar with the story. i know what was gonna happen, so...

took tracy to the vet and as we suspected she tested positive for hookworms but the first vaccine combo contains a de-wormer so she should be okay now. she's still a little bit skinny but she's eating pretty good. she has her next appt on june 6 and they'll test her again just to make sure. that day is also the quincianera and marcos' high school graduation but i don't think we're going. we'll have no place to leave the dogs and we're not going w/out them.

it actually rained yesterday. it was pouring when we left the movie theater and it rained for the rest of the day, which is good, at least it was on the weekend when there's not that much traffic. today was a little bit chilly and sunny and the rest of the day will be back to normal in the 80's.

friday night was Debra Garcia's bday party at a club downtown. she's one of our former stric co workers. sylvia was gonna go so tomorrow i'll catch up on the gossip. i'm sure there's plenty.

Man, it's hot out there

The weather has now turned hot and humid. it fells like being back in Brownsville, i tell ya..

yesterday we added another member to our canine family. she's a small chihuahua we named Tracy. got her from a lady in somerset. drove 30 miles to go get her but she's so cute. she's still a puppy so she sleeps most of the day. then again, so does maggie. she's about 12 weeks old. still need to take her to the vet to make sure everything's okay. she was outside with the other dogs so she had fleas and stuff but we sprayed her as soon as we got her home and gave her a bath. she seems so much better now. already eating her puppy food and everything. hopefully she'll make it, since she's so small.

back to work tomorrow, after being off for two days. it sucks but what can you do.

hey, the new x-men movie came out and it looks like it did pretty good. that's awesome.

Taking some time off

Thank God it's friday, although i didn't work yesterday or today. Took a couple of days off this week because mom and dad were supposed to come and visit but it didn't happen. That's the last time i try to accomodate them.

It's a good thing i'm staying indoors because of all the supposed germs out there with the swine flu. although i saw on the news that even though some school districts cancelled school for the week some idiots actually organized a baseball game for their kids so they wouldn't be bored at home. HELLO!! they're supposed to stay at home and away from crowds. They showed this big crowd kids playing and horsing around together. that kinda defeats the purpose of staying away from possible contamination.

Well,easter had come and gone and now we have mother's day. otherwise known as the holiday when they tell you that unless you're a breeder you're worthless . Moving on.....

Still haven't used the movie tickets i got for the rad award at work. maybe this weekend, or the next when Star Trek comes out.

Watching some videos on you tube earlier and this is one of my favorites: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74PwJVtPSes

Can't be long cuz i've got other stuff to do.

At home relaxing

hey, how about that, almost the end of April already. Last Tuesday was Administrative Professionals Day (what we used to refer to as Secretary's Day). On this day the company takes us out for lunch and gives us a little something to thank us for the millions of dollars we make for them on a daily basis. This year they took us to the Omin Hotel. We had a three course meal, salad, main entree and dessert. The salad was good, and the entree was steak and chicken stuffed w/spinach and cheese and dessert was cake. It was pretty good, at least we got a two hour lunch and that made the day go by quick. I know it's not a really good picture we we snapped a quick one before leaving. That's Monica, sylvia and me. the three musketeers.

This last 10 days was FIESTA time here in San Antonio. Basically, it's just an excuse to get drink and party masked in the guise of celebrating the history of san antonio. At Joel's work they gave out a pair of tickets to NIOSA to each employee and we decided to make the most of it and go check it out. Hey, it was free, so why the hell not.

We boarded the VIA park and ride over at the Crossroads mall for $5 round trip each and avoided all the hassle of parking. We got there at about 7am and only lasted for about an hour. By the time we left we couldn't even walk because of the crowds. It's basically like the texas folklife festival where the have different food and beverage booths along with bands or dancing from different cultures. the only one we saw was the polish square dancers. they were okay, i guess. got fed up with being all crowded and stuff so we just left w/out buying anything to eat or drink. We did go across the street to the Hemisphair Park cuz they had live music. Bought a glass of watermelon water and strolled around the place for a little bit, relaxed, it was a pleasant night, not too hot or cold.

Hopefully this will be a short week for me because mom and dad might come over on Thursday and Friday cuz dad has a week off. Asked for those days at work but i still haven't heard anything yet but i'm pretty sure it'll get it.

Yea, tomorrow is Friday!!

The week is almost over and here i am doing some more updating. Tuesday we went to the Nickelback concert that we were so looking forward to. Well, mostly me, but....anyways, what can i say, it was awesome. Well worth the money spent because there were two opening acts and they started promptly at 7 and played until 9 when the main event started. They in turn played until 11. By the time we got home and got settled in it was one am and boy was i sleepy the next day. not too much because i'm used to not getting enough sleep anyways. took plenty of pictures and a couple of videos. here's a few of them pictures:

Lazy Day

This morning it was cold and windy (wow, huh?) and since i barely got any sleep last night i decided to stay in from work. Damn allergies are keeping me up at night because all that wheezing and shortness of breath make it very hard for me to sleep so here i am.

Tomorrow is our wedding anniversay and we're going out to dinner after work but we're going to go see Nickelback next week to really celebrate. Last year we were here --at the Juanes concert--http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTeQ0vqWLfA for the occasion. Talk about fun. Nothing says celebration than a live event and i LOVE concerts. I'll be taking lots of pictures so i'll share a few here.

Busy April ahead

Well, the start of another month. Just got through another brutual week at work and lived to tell about it. well, not really but you know what i mean.

we recently watched "knowing" and i thought it was pretty good. kinda like deep impact where there was some big life ending event coming up and there was nothing to do but let it come. it turns out that aliens had "chosen" a few to come and take away so that they could begin again somewhere else, another planet, because earth was going to be destroyed completely by a solar flare. it did and they did. at first it was kinda creepy because of the whole numbers deal that predicted future disasters that already happened since it was written fifty years ago but at the end it was cool. well, earth got destroyed so it wasn't that cool.

tv saw the end of "life on mars" and as it turns out the "real" time was the year 2035 and sam and the rest of the cast were actually astronauts on the way to an expedition to mars. the reality he thought he was experiencing was actually just a simulation to pass the time because the trip there took two years so they had to keep their minds busy while they were in stasis. cool, huh? too bad the series had to end to make room for stupid chic shows....such is life...

in real life, mary and clan are coming over next weekend for their trip to fiesta texas because of alyssa's 15th bday. it's on the 12th but they're spending friday and saturday here and going back sunday morning to be back in time for the easter pageants at church. just told her to call me friday or saturday night and we'll drop by for a visit since they're traveling in a big group. she's bringing 11 of alyssa's friends along with some of tony's family. mom and dad are coming over, supposedly, on the 30th and 1st to take advantage of dad's time off. i asked for those two days off to spend some time with them. god help me.

this tuesday is our 8th wedding anniversary. my, how time flies when you're having fun. one of the gifts for this anniversary is pottery so we went out to get a chimenea for the backyard. Looks cool, huh? we've already broken it in but had to be careful because it was kinda windy. still is, so we can't use it right now because it can be a fire hazard. but we already have the firewood ready.

the roses in the front yard are finally starting to bloom. we pruned them in the fall to get them ready and if the deer don't get them, they will turn out really nice. here's the first one, a real pretty white one. we'll see how long it lasts.

Finally, the nickelback concert is this month i'm so excited. we need a night out like this to just let loose and have a little fun. the bad thing is that it's on a tuesday and i gottta go to work the next day. i was gonna ask for the day off the next day but that would have been something an old person does. i can stay up and party late and still show up to work. maybe not as alert as i usually am but it'll be fun to say, sorry, i was out late last night. that would make me look cool, wouldn't it?

Weekend Fun

Man, this morning it was cold, in the 40;s. yeah, that's cold around here. but hopefully it will be the last cold snap of the season. the oak count is still pretty high, around 8000 and i'm still feeling it. i'm all drugged up and i'm still sick. it won't last forever, but.....

susan was in town last weekend and we met her, darren and his daughter for dinner. they wanted to go to dave and busters but there was a one hour waiting time. we ended up going to wendys across the street from hobby lobby where they bought some stuff. it was decided that we're gonna have dad's bday party at her place. it just seems easier than renting a place. she bought some tiki torches and it'll be a backyard garden thing.

bought a movie last night, vantage point. haven't had time to watch it yet, but.....spent the morning cleaning up the mess some idiot left behind. overnight, someone took one of the big rocks we had around the mailbox and threw it at the pt cruiser's windshield. it cracked but did not break through. we called to cops to make a report to use for insurance purposes. hopefully on monday they'll fix it. that's been a problem around here, vandalism, burglaries and the like. we think it might have been the newspaper delivery guy but who knows.

watching 10,000 bc on hbo. again. actually, it's just on in the background while i'm working. mary will be in town next month for alyssa's bday. hope the weather cooperates.

Spring is finally here

Yea....yesterday was the first official day of spring and you can tell because the weather out there is nice. it's 70 degrees. the only bad thing about this time of the year is that we're full blown into the oak season and these allergies are killing me. i get really bad allergies and thursday i didn't go to work. should have take yesterday off too but... i was sneezing and dripping all over the place and my nose is all red. not pretty. today i'm already coughing and stuff but hopefully it'll be over soon. taking claritin but it's not enough. dr gave me singulair and i think i'm gonna have to take that one too.

other than that, it's been quiet around here. watched watchmen yesterday and it was BORING. Too long and boring.

Almost done reading "compulsion" by jonathan kellerman. this one just flew by.

wanna go watch "i love you, man" but maybe tomorrow.

hey, supernatural was cool this thursday. of course, anything to do w/demon slaying is cool. next week's episode is regarding what they'd do if they weren't hunters. kinda like a parallel universe thing. cool.

Another cool and dreadry day

OK, enough of the cold and damp weather. We want spring already. Well, we do need the rain but it wasn't enough to get us out of this drought, so better luck next time. It is sunday morning and the weekend is almost over and tomorrow it's back to reality. That sucks.

Talked to mary and susy this week about maybe giving dad a party in august for his 70th bday coming up. we still have some details to work out so maybe it'll happen.

These allergies are a pain in the butt. Maybe with this rain most of it washed off but the oak trees are still blooming so i'll have to suffer a little bit more. I'm heavily medicated and it seems to be working. a little bit.

went over to acs yesterday because i saw a dog on craigslist that i wanted to adopt but after all he hassle of filling out paperwork and stuff it turns out that they didn't have the dog i wanted. so i just left. they could have confirmed that before hand and i even asked them about it and they reassured me that it was there but it turned out to be not true. i give up. i wanted to get maggie a playmate but everything is such a hassle.

went to the library to check out another jonathan kellerman book. this one is called "compulsion" and i seem to be getting through it pretty fast. the last one i got from there was a book on the dresden files. took me forever and i eventually just turned it in w/out finishing it. i changed the due date a couple of times and never quite got into it enough to finish it. i have three other books pending, so...

OMG almost March

hey there, february sure is a short month, it's already going to be march. i guess easter is right around the corner because this past wednesday was ash wednesday. not that it means anything to me, but i'm just waiting for easter to come because mary and the family will be in town. hopefully i'll be able to see them because she's bringing alyssa and a few of her friends to fiesta texas for alyssa's 15th bday instead of a quincianera. about time they thought outside the box and opted out of an outdated celebration.

dad's bday is coming up in august, he turns 70 so we might do something big for him. at least we'll go visit.

we had spring like weather around here this week and today we woke up to cold and windy. that's texas weather for you.

found out that people were let go at the san antonio express news this week. i hope newspapers don't become obsolete one of these days. i'm still the old fashioned type that likes to hold an actual paper newspaper. i get home at the end of a long hard day at work and retire to the living room with it. i lie down on the couch and catch up with the day's news. i hope that never changes. i still like to surf the internet, but it's not the same.

Happy Valentine's Day

Okay, so maybe we don't really celebrate valentine's day around here, but most people do. We acknowledge it but we don't go all out. The way we see it is that we don't need anyone to tell us when our special day is. We have our anniversay coming up in april, that's when we celebrate our love. But since i'm not a total stick in the mud: i made some valentine's day cookies and took them to work yesterday in the spirit of the celebration of friendship. Gotta love that.

Finally took Maggie to the vet today. we had to drop her off and pick her up later because one of the vaccines she needed cause a reaction the first time she got it. So they had to admit her and give her some benadryl to prevent any swelling and they kept her for observation. We had to take her to the banfield over on sw loop 410 since they already have her records there and we're still paying on the wellness plan. After this time, we might take her somewhere else because this place is a little out of our way. we'll see.

went to see the move PUSH today, about these people with abilities running from an organization out to get them (of course). it was alright, nothing too exciting, a couple of cool moments.....it was okay.

got an email from the folks over at the olive garden that they received my comments and apologize for our unpleasant experience and will be sending us a comp meal card. Last weekend we tried to have a nice lunch there after shopping at the ingram park mall. we didn't want to eat alot so we just ordered a soup and the sob waiter gave us an "is that all you're ordering?" look that downright pissed us off. that really soured our experience but didn't want to say anything right then and there because we were still mad so the next day i emailed them.

received my assingment back and the next one is due on march 11 so i better start working on that.

Here comes Februray

well, it was inevitable, have to go back to work tomorrow after taking a week off. Gotta do what ya gotta do.

Yesterday was my birthday and it was fun.

Spent the day w/my honey and we spent it shopping, eating and going to the movies. Watched Underworld: Rise of the Lycans. I thought it was pretty good but was taken aback when the lead female role was killed. Her father busted her and found out she was having a thing with the wolf guy and had her killed. She was pregnant w/the guy's baby. That was a prequel so at the end they show the other girl that came out at the beginning of the 1st underworld movie, still trying to figure that out. Anyways, went out a bought some stuff, a couple of pairs of earrings and a locket. Ate some cake and went out for dinner at Johnny Carinos. At first we tried the Olive Garden but it was way past full of people waiting in line so we opted for the other place. Wasn't too long of a wait. It was also Maggie's 3rd bday so we celebrated that too. Not sure what day exactly in January but that's okay.

Got alot of stuff done this week but i never actually got around to starting the next assingment and yesterday i got the last one already. What i did was put it away and i won't look at it for another few day, it always makes me nervous when i get my graded assignment back. But i'm almost done w/the course, just maybe three more months to go so we'll see what happens after that. I need to get the new edition of the writers market since it's the updated one.

You know, for february it's kinda freaky to see the sunshine outside my window. It's usually cold and raining especially since my bday is always dreary outside but yesterday was nice. didn't even need a jacket.

Finally a week off.....

Now this is more like it, finally some time off. Some time to catch up on stuff i should of done ages ago and to relax alittle bit. I actually worked out this morning, usually i try to do thirty minutes on the treadmill everyday which is usually a little more than a mile, almost a mile and a half so i'm really gonna go for everyday this week, i just have to make the time. i'm trying to lose at leat 10 lbs but at my age it's not that easy anymore, especially w/a stressful job and all. I'm just gonna relax and enjoy my week. i really need to start on my next assignment before i get the last one back. almost over with the course and i'm always on a time crunch because i leave it until literally the last minute and it turns out to be a bunch of crap.

wanted to go to the movies this weekend but got caught up in doing other stuff. since this coming saturday is my bday (my 37th) maybe we'll make time for it. it'll be easier because it falls on a saturday, so....

tonight's episode of house was a new one and it was pretty good. there was nothing else good to watch but right now i'm watching real beauty. i really don't do reality shows but sometimes i watch this one because the "contestants" think they're in a beauty contest when in reality they're judging their inner beauty. of course, they don't know that.

Onto day two of my time off...

Ready for another week?

Sunday night and time to get psyched about starting another work week. Didn't do much this weekend, except rent a couple of movies: Pan's Labrynith and Disaster Movie.

First one is a spanish movie by Guillermo Del Toro that's kinda like Hellboy. It was pretty good. Even though it was 2 hours long it held my attention. There's nothing worse than a movie in which at the end of every scene you're asking yourself, it's not over yet?

the second was another silly spoof of recent movies. It's totally brainless but sometimes you just need to laugh without having to follow a plot or complicated storyline.

Did some work around the house and visited w/sylvia who came over w/bandit.

until nex time.....make sure and watch the inauguration tuesday night. i just wish it was a holiday so we wouldn't have to go to work.....

Welcome 2009

Wow, time sure flies when you don't take time outs. It's been almost two months since my last post but here i am. Have plenty of pictures to share.

Since last time, we celebrated Christmas. Well, at least this family celebrated Christmas. We didn't go to visit family, we had a quiet event. We went to IHOP for pancakes on Christmas morning and enjoyed our day together.

Same for New Years. Around here fireworks were banned because of the dry and hot weather. Some people bitched about it but when it comes down to it, the safety of the community is more important. They still had the celebration downtown and we watched it at home where it was nice and warm.

We finally went to the valley this past weekend. I had some presents to unload and receive. Susan gave me this keepsake box, perfect for earrings and stuff:

Mary gave me a t-shirt and a totally cool wall plaque:

Mom of course gave me a new set of towels for the restroom and a pocket calendar:

Friday the 9th was David's 19th birthday. I kinda figured they'd have some kind of celebration that's why i wanted to go that weekend so that i won't have to go the weekend of the 31st (my bday). Sunday at lunchtime susan made a brisket lunch with potatoe salad and borracho beans. we had a tres leches cake and all the sodas we could drink. not that much because we had a road trip coming up, so as soon as we had lunch we left. Big guy, huh? Barely 19.

Finally took down the decorations and the tree. Put up some valentine's decorations too. The weekend of the 10th we finally made it to the Japanese tea garden downtown. It was a nice weekend, temps in the 70's and we wanted to get out there and do some walking. Place was nice, it's free to the public and very accessible. It's a small park with birds, fish, waterfalls and plenty of opportunities for a kodak moment or two.

So it's been a busy time. Between the traveling and the scrambling to finish my assignment for the month it's been hectic. Now that the not so busy time of the year is here maybe i can catch my breath for a moment or two before the easter holiday is here. We don't have any days off at working until then but i took the last week of january off. For the first time in ages i'll be taking a whole week off. Use that time wisely, my grasshopper. :)