It is the second to last day of November, it has been an interesting month to say the least. A lot has happened since the last time I put up a blog post. Some events very interesting and others just emotionally draining. Here goes another entry into the randomness that are my thoughts...
--> I think that the first topic I will touch on are the car accidents. One the 14th my nephew got into a car accident in Daly City which destroyed his car, but he was OK. It was a hit and run. I did not hear about it until the next via a Facebook post that my sister put up. That Tuesday morning on my way to work I passed by an accident, when I looked over I thought I saw the mother of my two nephews with a neck brace on in the drivers seat. There was so much traffic that I did not have a chance to get a real good look. Later when talking to my sister I find out that it was her and that my two little nephews were in the car. They had told us that the kids were OK, but then on Wednesday we heard that the youngest one was kept overnight for observation due to a possible broken back or fractured neck. Upon hearing this I spoke to my boss and told her that I had to leave due to what had happened. As I drove to the hospital I was fearing the worst, I had already had a vision of the little guy in a neck brace and laid out on the bed. I walked in and the doctor was examining him, while he was jumping on the bed. He was alright and we were very, very happy.
--> My wife's friend came into visit for a week while I was on vacation from work. She came in on Monday night and my wife was really happy to have her here. She took my place at the movies when my wife wanted to watch Twilight. She brought us a Mardi Gras mask and a book of spells for my wife.
--> On Tuesday, WWE '12 came out and I went to pick it up, I was excited to play it. The first day I spent trying to learn the controls of the game. I played the game with my wife's friend so I got to learn pretty quick. I created my characters, arena and entrances and then took a break from playing the game. WWE '12 is a really good game. On Wednesday I had some of my Friends come over as well as my nephew. We had some Toña (a beer from Nicaragua) and some Pizza. Match of the night was a 6-man ladder match. There were 5 of us playing, the computer was Rey Misterio, my friends were John Cena, The Rock, Christian and Smash or Axe from Demolition. I was Vince McMahon. We played a back and forth match that seemed would never end, but I was able to get the brief case and the win with good ol' Vinnie Mac.
-->Later that night I went to pick up my Dad at the airport. He was coming in from Nicaragua. Really happy to have him home. We did have a bit of a scare over the weekend, but he is doing better now. It does seem that he will need to make a decision soon on if he will move back here or stay in Nicaragua. But time will tell.
-->Thanksgiving was really good. We went to my Mom's house in Petaluma. The food was really good. We had turkey legs, mashed potatoes, stuffing, rice, corn, pumpkin pie and cheese cake, to name a few items. We watched the 49ers play and although they lost the game to the Ravens, they showed that they still have some work to do, but they are on the right path.
-->After Thanksgiving we went back home then to Best Buy to wait in line for the Black Friday sales. We got there around 10:30 and didn't get in until around 2:30am. We didn't get any of the big deals but I was able to get on Blu-Ray Scarface, Faster and the Crow. We got out of there at 4am. Then I took my wife and her friend to Macy's and I went home. I picked them up later and they came home, showered and took a nap. Then it was off to Costco to get our TV. I set up the TV and got a new cable box and some other connection that I needed. I will say this, chances are that this will be the last time I go out for Black Friday.
That's it for now. Next month is the last month of the year. Can't believe that the year is almost over....
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Thursday, November 3, 2011
My Giants!
So this entry of my blog was supposed to take place on November 1, 2011. The one year anniversary of the San Francisco Giants reaching the top of the mountain in baseball. The night they became World Series Champions. First let me start by congratulating the St. Louis Cardinals on a well played World Series, to come back twice while facing their last strike in game 6 was incredible. With that said, let me go back to the Giants. I remember going to work that day and telling everyone that this would be the night, I left work early in anticipation of Game 5.
I went home and waited patiently, the National Anthem came on and I stood up, with my World Series Giants hat over my heart, I was getting nervous. My nephew, his girlfriend and her cousin stopped by for a bit, before they took off to City Hall to watch with the crowd. I could have gone with them, but I chose to stay at home, watching by myself, I didn't want to miss anything. The pace of the game was steady, the feeling I had was of confidence, that this would be the year. I held back from trying to think to much about it, as I vividly recall the events of 2002.
I am normally not very superstitious in my day to day life, but for baseball I am crazy, on this night I was sitting still if the Giants were doing good, moving around when they were in trouble. Alternating between my Giants, Panda and Lou Seal hats trying to get some mojo going. In the 7th inning, I got up from the couch and went to the dinning room table, there was something special about to happen. I sat there in anticipation of the at bats with runners on. Edgar Renteria came up to the plate, I crossed both my fingers and kept repeating 'Come on Edgar! Come on Edgar!' and BAM! I didn't hear the call on KNBR because FOX had their boring announcers on TV, from what I remember it seemed they were not too impressed, it didn't matter anyway as I yelled at the top of my lungs, something to the extent of 'Yeah!' but I cannot be sure. The 3-run homer (Which by the way the call by David Flemming is classic) gave the Giants, me and the city of San Francisco some much needed breathing room. If I would have left to go to City Hall I would have missed this. In the bottom of the inning, Cruz hit a home run of off Lincecum, but I wasn't worried about that. Timmy pitched 8 strong innings and then came out Brian Wilson.
It's funny to think about how Wilson would come out and walk the tight rope all season long. A 1-2-3 inning was not his specialty. It's like he enjoyed watching everyone get nervous and then enjoyed the sound of relief of the crowd. But this night he would give us a torture free 1-2-3 9th inning. First up was Hamilton: Struck out looking, Next up Guerrero: 6-3 on the put out, then Cruz... I remember getting up when the count was 3-2 and running to the radio to turn on KNBR 680 to hear the call and as we all know the radio feed comes in faster then the TV, so I heard Duane Kuiper 'Swing and a miss and that's it.. The Giants are WORLD CHAMPIONS!!' Then I see it on TV... Wilson with his trademark tribute and turning to see Posey running at him and the rest of the team celebrating on the field.
'This party is just getting started' he continued. It was.... For me, I made some calls, got some calls and sent out a lot of texts. It was a great and unforgettable experience. I dropped down to my knees in disbelief and shed a few tears of happiness. I was able to finally feel what having my team be World Champions was like. I almost had that feeling before, but it was taken away, but now I can say that this was it, it was real. My heart was beating super fast and I was just so proud of the team. They played to the best of their abilities and everyone played a part. The Road to the championship was not easy, it was a tough one. Winning on the last day of the season defeating the Padres 3-0 to win the west, defeating the Braves 3-2 in game 4 of the NLDS to go on to face the Phillies in the NLCS, they became National League Champions after a hard fought game 6 with a 3-2 score (UUUUUUUUU-rrrriiiibbbeee!) and wouldn't you know it, they win the 2010 World Series in 5 games against the Rangers with a final score of 3-1... It looks like 3 was a magic number for this team.
This moment in time I will forever cherish, I waited for my wife to get home and I opened up a bottle of chilled champagne to celebrate with the team as if I was there with them. Watching the highlights and interviews, it was a moment and a feeling I will never forget. In my life as a sports fan I don't know if anything can top the first time. Even going to the parade 2 days later on 11/3/2010 was amazing.
To the 2010 World Champion Giants, I thank you for the memories, the ups, the downs and especially the torture! 2011 was going to be a great year for the Giants, getting to defend the championship, but for me the 2011 season will forever be the 'what if?' season for me. Too many injuries to key players (Posey, F. Sanchez out for the season; Panda, Beltran, Ross, Wilson, Zito, J. Sanchez, Burrell, Belt [to name a few] all on the DL at some point) But in Baseball there are no excuses, the Giants of 2010 were fortunate to be healthy. This year, not so much, but there were positives to the season, we got to look at some young talent we have coming up and we had Lincecum, Cain, Wilson, Vogelsong and Sandoval represent the Giants in the All-Star game. Bochy and the staff went too. But now, the season is truly over and now another team has the target on their back... Next year 2012, the Giants will be back, healthy and ready to make another run at it.
Let's Go Giants!!!!!!
I went home and waited patiently, the National Anthem came on and I stood up, with my World Series Giants hat over my heart, I was getting nervous. My nephew, his girlfriend and her cousin stopped by for a bit, before they took off to City Hall to watch with the crowd. I could have gone with them, but I chose to stay at home, watching by myself, I didn't want to miss anything. The pace of the game was steady, the feeling I had was of confidence, that this would be the year. I held back from trying to think to much about it, as I vividly recall the events of 2002.
I am normally not very superstitious in my day to day life, but for baseball I am crazy, on this night I was sitting still if the Giants were doing good, moving around when they were in trouble. Alternating between my Giants, Panda and Lou Seal hats trying to get some mojo going. In the 7th inning, I got up from the couch and went to the dinning room table, there was something special about to happen. I sat there in anticipation of the at bats with runners on. Edgar Renteria came up to the plate, I crossed both my fingers and kept repeating 'Come on Edgar! Come on Edgar!' and BAM! I didn't hear the call on KNBR because FOX had their boring announcers on TV, from what I remember it seemed they were not too impressed, it didn't matter anyway as I yelled at the top of my lungs, something to the extent of 'Yeah!' but I cannot be sure. The 3-run homer (Which by the way the call by David Flemming is classic) gave the Giants, me and the city of San Francisco some much needed breathing room. If I would have left to go to City Hall I would have missed this. In the bottom of the inning, Cruz hit a home run of off Lincecum, but I wasn't worried about that. Timmy pitched 8 strong innings and then came out Brian Wilson.
It's funny to think about how Wilson would come out and walk the tight rope all season long. A 1-2-3 inning was not his specialty. It's like he enjoyed watching everyone get nervous and then enjoyed the sound of relief of the crowd. But this night he would give us a torture free 1-2-3 9th inning. First up was Hamilton: Struck out looking, Next up Guerrero: 6-3 on the put out, then Cruz... I remember getting up when the count was 3-2 and running to the radio to turn on KNBR 680 to hear the call and as we all know the radio feed comes in faster then the TV, so I heard Duane Kuiper 'Swing and a miss and that's it.. The Giants are WORLD CHAMPIONS!!' Then I see it on TV... Wilson with his trademark tribute and turning to see Posey running at him and the rest of the team celebrating on the field.
'This party is just getting started' he continued. It was.... For me, I made some calls, got some calls and sent out a lot of texts. It was a great and unforgettable experience. I dropped down to my knees in disbelief and shed a few tears of happiness. I was able to finally feel what having my team be World Champions was like. I almost had that feeling before, but it was taken away, but now I can say that this was it, it was real. My heart was beating super fast and I was just so proud of the team. They played to the best of their abilities and everyone played a part. The Road to the championship was not easy, it was a tough one. Winning on the last day of the season defeating the Padres 3-0 to win the west, defeating the Braves 3-2 in game 4 of the NLDS to go on to face the Phillies in the NLCS, they became National League Champions after a hard fought game 6 with a 3-2 score (UUUUUUUUU-rrrriiiibbbeee!) and wouldn't you know it, they win the 2010 World Series in 5 games against the Rangers with a final score of 3-1... It looks like 3 was a magic number for this team.
This moment in time I will forever cherish, I waited for my wife to get home and I opened up a bottle of chilled champagne to celebrate with the team as if I was there with them. Watching the highlights and interviews, it was a moment and a feeling I will never forget. In my life as a sports fan I don't know if anything can top the first time. Even going to the parade 2 days later on 11/3/2010 was amazing.
To the 2010 World Champion Giants, I thank you for the memories, the ups, the downs and especially the torture! 2011 was going to be a great year for the Giants, getting to defend the championship, but for me the 2011 season will forever be the 'what if?' season for me. Too many injuries to key players (Posey, F. Sanchez out for the season; Panda, Beltran, Ross, Wilson, Zito, J. Sanchez, Burrell, Belt [to name a few] all on the DL at some point) But in Baseball there are no excuses, the Giants of 2010 were fortunate to be healthy. This year, not so much, but there were positives to the season, we got to look at some young talent we have coming up and we had Lincecum, Cain, Wilson, Vogelsong and Sandoval represent the Giants in the All-Star game. Bochy and the staff went too. But now, the season is truly over and now another team has the target on their back... Next year 2012, the Giants will be back, healthy and ready to make another run at it.
Let's Go Giants!!!!!!
Sunday, September 11, 2011
10 Years later.....
Dedicated to those who were lost, survived and helped on that day... We will never forget!
For the last few weeks I have had been thinking about a lot of things. One of these things I have been thinking about is a tragic event that happened 10 years ago in New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania. I knew the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks where coming up and the best way I know I can pay tribute is to write down my personal thoughts and feelings and what I remember from that day. Before I start writing down my thoughts and recollections of that day I want to say that in no way do I want to make it seem that I understand or can comprehend what the victims and their families went through. What I want to do here is just share what I remember and what I think about the sad events.
Let's start with what was going on, on September 10, 2011.... I was trying to get to bed as the next day would be a big day for me. It was going to be my first day of work at Starbucks Coffee. The next memory I have is of my sister walking into the room, waking up me and my Dad by saying "An airplane just crashed into a building in New York" At the time, I really thought nothing of it. It was something that happened and I honestly did not pay much attention to it because I was more concerned about going to work on my first day. I remember watching more of the coverage before I went to work. While I was on the way to work the second plane hit the towers. I get to work and this is the only topic of conversation. As I was being introduced to customers that would become my regulars, they would ask me what I thought and tried to give me updates on what was happening. The oddest thing was that every update was different, there was no consistency in the messages and the information. My manager at the time got a phone call from the district manager and he was directed to close the store early and evacuate the staff. Mainly due to the reason that we were in a gas station and that we were close to San Francisco airport.
After work, I headed home, I had the radio turned on and still hadn't realized the significance of what was happening. I get home and I rest for a bit, I call my girlfriend (who is my wife now) and we started talking on the phone, we were both watching the coverage of the attacks on t.v. I remember how we were comparing the coverage of the news on NBC, FOX, ABC and CBS versus the coverage on the Spanish channels Univision and Telemundo. The American channels started off showing a lot of the real time events, but soon they would show, what I felt was censored coverage. On the Spanish stations the footage was raw, emotional, uncut. The best example was of the people who decided, well actually I should not assume that it was a decision for all of them, but the ones who dropped out of the building. I remember only seeing the footage once on the American stations, but on the Spanish broadcast they were showing it and showing how real the tragedy was. This was the moment that I realized that this was a watershed moment in the history of the United States.
The world changed in an instant. They postponed all sporting events, any outdoor activities and there were no flights allowed. The sky was silent, it would be some time before anyone would hear the sounds of a plane in the skies. One thing that changed as well was the emergence of the colors Red, White and Blue. It was at this time that it seemed that everyone put aside their differences and stood up for the United States of America. 'These colors don't run' would be on various shirts, posters and stickers. One thing I remember clearly is going to my History of San Francisco Class on Thursday 9/13/11 and our teacher Ms. Alioto standing in front of the class, holding back tears and just holding up the front page of the San Francisco Examiner that read "BASTARDS" with a picture of one of the planes crashing into one of the towers. That moment stands out to me and I will always remember what I was thinking during that time.
I was looking for a deeper meaning to what the attacks meant. We were talking about it in class and I voiced concerns that I felt that this could only be the beginning, that this was the warning shot. Using planes from American and United Airlines, which I thought was a message to 'Unite America' as we are really a country of people who are together but always separate. There was a lot of uncertainty going on, I had visions of an attack on the Golden Gate Bridge and other landmarks. It was not a fun time for my imagination to be running wild.
I remember that year was the year that Barry Bonds was going to set the single season home run mark. The San Francisco Giants and all of Major League Baseball, as well as other professional sports had begun to wear hats or uniforms with the United States flag on it. Chants of 'USA USA USA' would ring throughout the stadiums. We were all Americans now. We all had a common threat and we all pulled together. But to believe that it would be that way going forward was a fantasy that would never work.
On the first anniversary of the attacks, as I did every year of my time at Starbucks, I would wear all black and reflect with a moment of silence the lives that were lost and the families that continued to struggle with their loss.
Jintotepe in Nicaragua. When we were approaching Ground Zero, I don't remember where it was but we saw this flag with a list of names on it, memorializing the many lives that were lost. I also remember seeing a firehouse station with a mural dedicated to the fallen brothers of the NYFD. Being there at Ground Zero, where this tragic event happened was unreal. I could feel the sadness, the emotional toll and I could still feel people were there. This turned out to be the final resting place for a lot of people. I did get choked up, I held back tears, it was really heartbreaking. You could see the holes where the towers had been, my mind raced with the images that were shown of that day. My mind replayed the footage of the planes hitting the towers, the collapse and the cloud of dust and debris. I paid my respects to those who lost their lives and I also paid respect to the men and women of all of the rescue teams that were there to help and for those who lost their lives trying to help.
This year, 2011, marks the 10th anniversary of that dreadful day. For the past few weeks I have been just revisiting the images, the stories and tragedies of the events. I wanted to remember the people and not forget them. There are a lot of people who say "9/11 we will never forget" This moment in time is a big part of history. Only time will tell how the world looks back on it. There are few national moments that happen where you remember where you were or what you were doing when it happened. I remember.
On this 10th anniversary, I will remember those lost with a moment of silence and a moment of prayer. I wish all of the victims, first responders, families and survivors peace and love. I pray to God that nothing like this tragic event happens again.
For the last few weeks I have had been thinking about a lot of things. One of these things I have been thinking about is a tragic event that happened 10 years ago in New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania. I knew the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks where coming up and the best way I know I can pay tribute is to write down my personal thoughts and feelings and what I remember from that day. Before I start writing down my thoughts and recollections of that day I want to say that in no way do I want to make it seem that I understand or can comprehend what the victims and their families went through. What I want to do here is just share what I remember and what I think about the sad events.
Let's start with what was going on, on September 10, 2011.... I was trying to get to bed as the next day would be a big day for me. It was going to be my first day of work at Starbucks Coffee. The next memory I have is of my sister walking into the room, waking up me and my Dad by saying "An airplane just crashed into a building in New York" At the time, I really thought nothing of it. It was something that happened and I honestly did not pay much attention to it because I was more concerned about going to work on my first day. I remember watching more of the coverage before I went to work. While I was on the way to work the second plane hit the towers. I get to work and this is the only topic of conversation. As I was being introduced to customers that would become my regulars, they would ask me what I thought and tried to give me updates on what was happening. The oddest thing was that every update was different, there was no consistency in the messages and the information. My manager at the time got a phone call from the district manager and he was directed to close the store early and evacuate the staff. Mainly due to the reason that we were in a gas station and that we were close to San Francisco airport.
After work, I headed home, I had the radio turned on and still hadn't realized the significance of what was happening. I get home and I rest for a bit, I call my girlfriend (who is my wife now) and we started talking on the phone, we were both watching the coverage of the attacks on t.v. I remember how we were comparing the coverage of the news on NBC, FOX, ABC and CBS versus the coverage on the Spanish channels Univision and Telemundo. The American channels started off showing a lot of the real time events, but soon they would show, what I felt was censored coverage. On the Spanish stations the footage was raw, emotional, uncut. The best example was of the people who decided, well actually I should not assume that it was a decision for all of them, but the ones who dropped out of the building. I remember only seeing the footage once on the American stations, but on the Spanish broadcast they were showing it and showing how real the tragedy was. This was the moment that I realized that this was a watershed moment in the history of the United States.
The world changed in an instant. They postponed all sporting events, any outdoor activities and there were no flights allowed. The sky was silent, it would be some time before anyone would hear the sounds of a plane in the skies. One thing that changed as well was the emergence of the colors Red, White and Blue. It was at this time that it seemed that everyone put aside their differences and stood up for the United States of America. 'These colors don't run' would be on various shirts, posters and stickers. One thing I remember clearly is going to my History of San Francisco Class on Thursday 9/13/11 and our teacher Ms. Alioto standing in front of the class, holding back tears and just holding up the front page of the San Francisco Examiner that read "BASTARDS" with a picture of one of the planes crashing into one of the towers. That moment stands out to me and I will always remember what I was thinking during that time.
I was looking for a deeper meaning to what the attacks meant. We were talking about it in class and I voiced concerns that I felt that this could only be the beginning, that this was the warning shot. Using planes from American and United Airlines, which I thought was a message to 'Unite America' as we are really a country of people who are together but always separate. There was a lot of uncertainty going on, I had visions of an attack on the Golden Gate Bridge and other landmarks. It was not a fun time for my imagination to be running wild.
I remember that year was the year that Barry Bonds was going to set the single season home run mark. The San Francisco Giants and all of Major League Baseball, as well as other professional sports had begun to wear hats or uniforms with the United States flag on it. Chants of 'USA USA USA' would ring throughout the stadiums. We were all Americans now. We all had a common threat and we all pulled together. But to believe that it would be that way going forward was a fantasy that would never work.
On the first anniversary of the attacks, as I did every year of my time at Starbucks, I would wear all black and reflect with a moment of silence the lives that were lost and the families that continued to struggle with their loss.
Jintotepe in Nicaragua. When we were approaching Ground Zero, I don't remember where it was but we saw this flag with a list of names on it, memorializing the many lives that were lost. I also remember seeing a firehouse station with a mural dedicated to the fallen brothers of the NYFD. Being there at Ground Zero, where this tragic event happened was unreal. I could feel the sadness, the emotional toll and I could still feel people were there. This turned out to be the final resting place for a lot of people. I did get choked up, I held back tears, it was really heartbreaking. You could see the holes where the towers had been, my mind raced with the images that were shown of that day. My mind replayed the footage of the planes hitting the towers, the collapse and the cloud of dust and debris. I paid my respects to those who lost their lives and I also paid respect to the men and women of all of the rescue teams that were there to help and for those who lost their lives trying to help.
This year, 2011, marks the 10th anniversary of that dreadful day. For the past few weeks I have been just revisiting the images, the stories and tragedies of the events. I wanted to remember the people and not forget them. There are a lot of people who say "9/11 we will never forget" This moment in time is a big part of history. Only time will tell how the world looks back on it. There are few national moments that happen where you remember where you were or what you were doing when it happened. I remember.
On this 10th anniversary, I will remember those lost with a moment of silence and a moment of prayer. I wish all of the victims, first responders, families and survivors peace and love. I pray to God that nothing like this tragic event happens again.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
More Randomness...(part 2)
OK, so for those of you who have been waiting (yes, all 1 of you...) here are more random thoughts about what is going on with what I am interested in...
-Now that the Church wedding is over and we are coming down for the high of the even and the honeymoon, we are looking for the right 'Thank you' cards and also the right pictures for our wedding album. We had decided on two pictures that we have printed and have framed to give to our parents. I gave my Mom hers yesterday and she really liked the frame and the picture. We are giving my mother-in-law her picture this weekend. I set up ours in our house and we will give one to my Dad when he gets here in November. I also need to print out a few more to give to our Aunts and Uncle who attended the wedding and ceremony. I also want to bring a nice one with a frame to work, I already have a picture of me and my wife up, but I think there should be anew one...
-The Bible.... So I got past the first book, then I hit a road block. The first road block was Chris Jericho's second book, then I just never picked up the Bible again, it was too ambitious for me to attempt to read the Bible in one year, I say that because I have very little extra time for reading and I like to read slow to get a better understanding of what has been written. I may read a few more books before the end of the year.. let's see where I end up..
-San Francisco Giants- right now the Giants are 2 games behind the D-Backs in the west. Considering that they have had most of their players out due to injury this season, I would call that pretty impressive. But what plagues the Giants is the inability to cash in with runners in scoring position. It's like the cave into the pressure and get over anxious and just swing at anything, usually resulting in an inning ending double play, Strike out or my favorite frustration a foul pop up. They still have great pitching, but the staff cannot be expected to go out and shut everyone out. The offense needs to score. The Giants still have some time left on the schedule and I know they will get it together and win the west. I hope it happens the night of Oktoberfest.....
-San Francisco 49ers- Pre-season football means nothing. Don't believe me, what was the Niners record last pre-season? go ahead and check, I'll wait.... that's right 4-0 and they did not have a good season. So when the Saints put a whoopin' on the Niners, I wasn't upset that they lost. I was upset by the lack of focus and play. It's the pre-season open it up! Throw the ball. Then last week they beat the Raiders... how did the fans respond to that? go ahead, look it up..I'll wait... That's right, by beating the hell out of each other. It is disheartening to hear what went down that day. Did anyone not lean from the Brian Stow incident in LA? It's just a game folks. It's not that serious. The players don't even care. Senseless violence at sporting events create an atmosphere where families are not going to attend. The experience at a game is to enjoy the game, have a hot dog, maybe one or two beers (depending on how big your paycheck is, beer is expensive..) cheering for your team and if they win...Cheer louder, if they lose...Show your pride and hold your head up. On that day it was 'I don't like ______' so I'll knock you out in the bathroom, or better idea let me shot you over something so small. Oh and you ladies, if I can even call you that, fighting in the parking lot? really? really? I bet you are a real catch. I don't care if it was a Niners 'fan' or a 'Raider' fan, this should not be happening. If you want to fight, sign up for the armed forces. Don't ruin the sporing games experience just because you're an A$$hole!
-What's next... my sister-in-law is having another boy!!!! Both my nephews celebrate birthday's in September, a baby shower for our cousin and a Giants game. Tomorrow my wife and I are going to see John Legend and Sade in concert and next week the circus comes to town. I think in the next few days I will write a post about Michael Jackson on what would have been his birthday and also reflect on the 10 year anniversary of the attacks on September 11th.
-So folks, that's it for another blog about my random thoughts.................... Have a great day!
-Now that the Church wedding is over and we are coming down for the high of the even and the honeymoon, we are looking for the right 'Thank you' cards and also the right pictures for our wedding album. We had decided on two pictures that we have printed and have framed to give to our parents. I gave my Mom hers yesterday and she really liked the frame and the picture. We are giving my mother-in-law her picture this weekend. I set up ours in our house and we will give one to my Dad when he gets here in November. I also need to print out a few more to give to our Aunts and Uncle who attended the wedding and ceremony. I also want to bring a nice one with a frame to work, I already have a picture of me and my wife up, but I think there should be anew one...
-The Bible.... So I got past the first book, then I hit a road block. The first road block was Chris Jericho's second book, then I just never picked up the Bible again, it was too ambitious for me to attempt to read the Bible in one year, I say that because I have very little extra time for reading and I like to read slow to get a better understanding of what has been written. I may read a few more books before the end of the year.. let's see where I end up..
-San Francisco Giants- right now the Giants are 2 games behind the D-Backs in the west. Considering that they have had most of their players out due to injury this season, I would call that pretty impressive. But what plagues the Giants is the inability to cash in with runners in scoring position. It's like the cave into the pressure and get over anxious and just swing at anything, usually resulting in an inning ending double play, Strike out or my favorite frustration a foul pop up. They still have great pitching, but the staff cannot be expected to go out and shut everyone out. The offense needs to score. The Giants still have some time left on the schedule and I know they will get it together and win the west. I hope it happens the night of Oktoberfest.....
-San Francisco 49ers- Pre-season football means nothing. Don't believe me, what was the Niners record last pre-season? go ahead and check, I'll wait.... that's right 4-0 and they did not have a good season. So when the Saints put a whoopin' on the Niners, I wasn't upset that they lost. I was upset by the lack of focus and play. It's the pre-season open it up! Throw the ball. Then last week they beat the Raiders... how did the fans respond to that? go ahead, look it up..I'll wait... That's right, by beating the hell out of each other. It is disheartening to hear what went down that day. Did anyone not lean from the Brian Stow incident in LA? It's just a game folks. It's not that serious. The players don't even care. Senseless violence at sporting events create an atmosphere where families are not going to attend. The experience at a game is to enjoy the game, have a hot dog, maybe one or two beers (depending on how big your paycheck is, beer is expensive..) cheering for your team and if they win...Cheer louder, if they lose...Show your pride and hold your head up. On that day it was 'I don't like ______' so I'll knock you out in the bathroom, or better idea let me shot you over something so small. Oh and you ladies, if I can even call you that, fighting in the parking lot? really? really? I bet you are a real catch. I don't care if it was a Niners 'fan' or a 'Raider' fan, this should not be happening. If you want to fight, sign up for the armed forces. Don't ruin the sporing games experience just because you're an A$$hole!
-What's next... my sister-in-law is having another boy!!!! Both my nephews celebrate birthday's in September, a baby shower for our cousin and a Giants game. Tomorrow my wife and I are going to see John Legend and Sade in concert and next week the circus comes to town. I think in the next few days I will write a post about Michael Jackson on what would have been his birthday and also reflect on the 10 year anniversary of the attacks on September 11th.
-So folks, that's it for another blog about my random thoughts.................... Have a great day!
I promise......
I was having a conversation with someone and they asked about the wedding. They asked me if we did the traditional vows or if we wrote our vows. I told them that we used the traditional vows as me and my wife agreed it would be the best thing for the ceremony. So that got me thinking, what would have I write my wedding vows..
"As I take your hand, I promise to love you for the rest of my life.
I promise to support you, stand by you, be with you to make sure we are alright.
I promise to lift you up when you are down and help you soar when we leave the ground.
I promise to be faithful, respectful, true and above all of the I promise to always love you.
I promise to take care of you, to show you that you are my world
and cherish all of our moments.
As I take your hand in front of family, friends and God
I promise to always love you as your husband and best friend"
-I would have like to shared this with everyone if we would have elected to have this in our ceremony. But I am happy with knowing that I have every day of my life to making sure that I follow through with this. Who knows, maybe at our 25th or 50th anniversary, I may dust these words off and add a few more....
"As I take your hand, I promise to love you for the rest of my life.
I promise to support you, stand by you, be with you to make sure we are alright.
I promise to lift you up when you are down and help you soar when we leave the ground.
I promise to be faithful, respectful, true and above all of the I promise to always love you.
I promise to take care of you, to show you that you are my world
and cherish all of our moments.
As I take your hand in front of family, friends and God
I promise to always love you as your husband and best friend"
-I would have like to shared this with everyone if we would have elected to have this in our ceremony. But I am happy with knowing that I have every day of my life to making sure that I follow through with this. Who knows, maybe at our 25th or 50th anniversary, I may dust these words off and add a few more....
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Looking Back... (Thank you's & Final Thoughts)
So here it is, a final wrap of the big day. Let me start with the Thank You's.
In no particular order:
To our parents: Mom (Olivia) Mom (Rosario) Dad (Jose) and Dad (Dave)
Thank you for your constant support and for all of the love and understanding that you give us. Our wedding day was much more special because you were a big part of it. You all looked amazing and we really hope you enjoyed yourselves. Thank you again. We love you.
To our Family: Sister (Karen) Brother (Will) and Tia Silvia
Thank you for your contributions at the church and for any input you gave us for the wedding. It was a pleasure to be able to include all of you into our special day. We hope you enjoyed the event and that you will forever hold onto the good memories of this night. We love you.
To our special helpers: Olga, Brain and Jennifer and the Daza Family
Thank you very much Olga for helping out so much. Brian thank you for taking the pictures you took and for teaching us how to Dougie! Also, Happy Birthday! Jennifer thank you for your help and also thank you to your parents for lending us the car. It was awesome! You all stepped it up in 3D and played a big part on our wedding day. We love you.
The Bridal Party
The Groomsmen: Charles, Arnel, Lil Will and Santi
Thank you guys very much for being a part of our wedding. When we decided to move forward with the event I knew that you were the ones that I would want in the bridal party. You all looked great in the tuxedos and I am really happy that your personalities came out and you showed people why you were up here with us and not watching with them. I truly hope that you enjoyed the night and thank you once again. I really appreciate you and I love you everyday
The Bridesmaids: Adri, Alina and Alexia
A^3 (If you don't know what that means, look it up) Thank you very much for being here and being part of this day. We both appreciate the efforts that you have made and are very thankful for your contributions. We really hope you enjoyed the night and will forever take the memories with you as a keepsake of a great moment in time for us. Thank you for everything. We love you.
The Best man: Amilcar
Well, what can I say. A no doubt about it pick. Thank you very much for all of your help and support. Thank you for your kind words during your speech. We have been friends for over 16 years now, more like brothers. You were a big part of this day and I thank you for all of your efforts and for everything you do. You set the bar high for best man duties, but I will come through in 2013 for you! I love you every day! Thank you again.
The Matron of Honor: Elmira
Thank you for being here. The Orange looked awesome! Your kind words during your toast we very welcomed. I hope everyone understood why you were picked for this roll. Thank you for your efforts and contributions for our wedding. You did an awesome job at the church and were a great Matron of Honor. You helped make this day very special for Ulisa and me. Thank you again and We love you.
Looking back on this day. It was great. No doubt about it. We want to thank everyone who showed up at the church and at the reception hall. We really hope that you truly enjoyed yourself and that our wedding will hold a special place in your mind's memory museum. Even for those who wanted to be here and could not make it, always remember you are with us in our hearts. We are truly blessed to have a great families and friends. We love you everyday!
In no particular order:
To our parents: Mom (Olivia) Mom (Rosario) Dad (Jose) and Dad (Dave)
Thank you for your constant support and for all of the love and understanding that you give us. Our wedding day was much more special because you were a big part of it. You all looked amazing and we really hope you enjoyed yourselves. Thank you again. We love you.
To our Family: Sister (Karen) Brother (Will) and Tia Silvia
Thank you for your contributions at the church and for any input you gave us for the wedding. It was a pleasure to be able to include all of you into our special day. We hope you enjoyed the event and that you will forever hold onto the good memories of this night. We love you.
To our special helpers: Olga, Brain and Jennifer and the Daza Family
Thank you very much Olga for helping out so much. Brian thank you for taking the pictures you took and for teaching us how to Dougie! Also, Happy Birthday! Jennifer thank you for your help and also thank you to your parents for lending us the car. It was awesome! You all stepped it up in 3D and played a big part on our wedding day. We love you.
The Bridal Party
The Groomsmen: Charles, Arnel, Lil Will and Santi
Thank you guys very much for being a part of our wedding. When we decided to move forward with the event I knew that you were the ones that I would want in the bridal party. You all looked great in the tuxedos and I am really happy that your personalities came out and you showed people why you were up here with us and not watching with them. I truly hope that you enjoyed the night and thank you once again. I really appreciate you and I love you everyday
The Bridesmaids: Adri, Alina and Alexia
A^3 (If you don't know what that means, look it up) Thank you very much for being here and being part of this day. We both appreciate the efforts that you have made and are very thankful for your contributions. We really hope you enjoyed the night and will forever take the memories with you as a keepsake of a great moment in time for us. Thank you for everything. We love you.
The Best man: Amilcar
Well, what can I say. A no doubt about it pick. Thank you very much for all of your help and support. Thank you for your kind words during your speech. We have been friends for over 16 years now, more like brothers. You were a big part of this day and I thank you for all of your efforts and for everything you do. You set the bar high for best man duties, but I will come through in 2013 for you! I love you every day! Thank you again.
The Matron of Honor: Elmira
Thank you for being here. The Orange looked awesome! Your kind words during your toast we very welcomed. I hope everyone understood why you were picked for this roll. Thank you for your efforts and contributions for our wedding. You did an awesome job at the church and were a great Matron of Honor. You helped make this day very special for Ulisa and me. Thank you again and We love you.
Looking back on this day. It was great. No doubt about it. We want to thank everyone who showed up at the church and at the reception hall. We really hope that you truly enjoyed yourself and that our wedding will hold a special place in your mind's memory museum. Even for those who wanted to be here and could not make it, always remember you are with us in our hearts. We are truly blessed to have a great families and friends. We love you everyday!
Looking Back...(The End)
We get out and the pictures begin again. Robert Valdes was very instructive with us and was very professional. He had us pose in different locations and we were also competing with about 4 or 5 other brides. The tourist in the area were filming us and taking pictures of us. Which was strange, but whatever. The girls were getting tired from walking on their heels. Some of the poses were funny. The sun was out and everything was perfect for us. This time was more of the time for Ulisa to take pictures with her Bridesmaids, but I got some in with the guys as well. Alina would help out a lot by fixing Ulisa's dress and yes, I have seen the pictures and they were great.
After what seemed like forever, we got back into the limo and went over to the Embassy Suites to do last minute prep. Then it was off to Dominic's for the entrances. Amilcar was communicating with Olga who was a great help. We had asked Olga and Brian if they could greet the guest, send them to their seats and have them sign the jersey. They both went above and beyond what we asked of them.
We were waiting for Baltazar to come out and check in with us. Then the introductions started. Lil Will and Alexia up first. Arnel and Alina, Charles and Adri, then Amilcar and Elmira. Last it was us, Ulisa and Edwin..with the glove. A nice tribute to Michael Jackson and a great reminder to everyone that this was our wedding and it was going to have some personalization to it.
I gave the thank you speech in English, Ulisa did it in Spanish. Elmira (who forgot her speech at the hotel) gave an amazing speech from the heart. I still laugh thinking about how some people were probably confused with the 'long haired Steve austin' comment. But it was a wonderful speech. Amilcar did his and I will admit I got a bit choked up, I knew he meant every word and that is what made it special.
It was amazing to see everyone ready to enjoy this party. When the music hit, I made sure everyone hit the dance floor. We made our rounds and greeted everyone. Every moment was special, the cake cutting, the bouquet toss, the garter, our parents dance and our first dance to "Stay with you" by John Legend. The night was magical and special and we could not have asked for anything more. The vibe that we felt and we knew we were going to enjoy was awesome. Everyone there contributed to the fun. It was non stop all the way up to the last song of the night by Tony Bennett "I left my heart in San Francisco"
Dominic's was a great venue to hold our reception. It really did seem like everything fell into place and it was perfect for us.
Then it was over, all of the planning, the meetings, the discussions. Done in a blink of an eye. But well worth it.....
After what seemed like forever, we got back into the limo and went over to the Embassy Suites to do last minute prep. Then it was off to Dominic's for the entrances. Amilcar was communicating with Olga who was a great help. We had asked Olga and Brian if they could greet the guest, send them to their seats and have them sign the jersey. They both went above and beyond what we asked of them.
We were waiting for Baltazar to come out and check in with us. Then the introductions started. Lil Will and Alexia up first. Arnel and Alina, Charles and Adri, then Amilcar and Elmira. Last it was us, Ulisa and Edwin..with the glove. A nice tribute to Michael Jackson and a great reminder to everyone that this was our wedding and it was going to have some personalization to it.
I gave the thank you speech in English, Ulisa did it in Spanish. Elmira (who forgot her speech at the hotel) gave an amazing speech from the heart. I still laugh thinking about how some people were probably confused with the 'long haired Steve austin' comment. But it was a wonderful speech. Amilcar did his and I will admit I got a bit choked up, I knew he meant every word and that is what made it special.
It was amazing to see everyone ready to enjoy this party. When the music hit, I made sure everyone hit the dance floor. We made our rounds and greeted everyone. Every moment was special, the cake cutting, the bouquet toss, the garter, our parents dance and our first dance to "Stay with you" by John Legend. The night was magical and special and we could not have asked for anything more. The vibe that we felt and we knew we were going to enjoy was awesome. Everyone there contributed to the fun. It was non stop all the way up to the last song of the night by Tony Bennett "I left my heart in San Francisco"
Dominic's was a great venue to hold our reception. It really did seem like everything fell into place and it was perfect for us.
Then it was over, all of the planning, the meetings, the discussions. Done in a blink of an eye. But well worth it.....
Looking Back... (The Middle)
Now it's 7am and I get up. I let my nephew sleep a little bit. I get up to transfer money and pay bills. I know, a great way to start the morning. So I am waiting for my nephew Charles and Amilcar to get to my apartment as we were headed to Sam's Barber Shop in San Bruno. While we are on the way up there, I notice that there is a fire truck near the IHOP that we were going to eat at. But I really didn't pay any attention to it. We get to the barber shop and then they tell us. "Transformer blew out, no power until the afternoon" Obviously this would not be a good thing for us. I looked up to the heavens, called in a favor and boom, lights back on! I had my beard growing for close to 2 months and now it was going to be shaved down! Sam did a great job. My beard and cut were just the right length and size. Sam was the barber that cut my hair and shaved my beard for our civil ceremony. I knew I could count on him to make my beard look perfect.
After our hair cuts and shave we went to IHOP in Daly City. We had some breakfast, of course my cup of coffee had a crack in it. I told the guys to eat up as we would not be eating until around 7pm. We went back to the apartment. Lil Will was playing the Wii. Charles left to start getting ready, I had Lil Will take a shower, then I took a shower. Then we went to pick up the bouquet's and the flowers for the family. The flowers were ready and looked awesome. We went over to the Embassy Suites and Amilcar, Charles and Lil Will dropped them off to the girls. I took Charles home and Amilcar left and we all started to get ready.
At around 12:30 Charles showed up again, this time with his girlfriends father and the 65 Impala that would take us to the church. Before we left, Amilcar, Charles, Arnel and Brian took a shot of Flor De Cana for good luck. We were looking sharp and ready to go. As I said to Lil Will 'Do you know what time it is? It's go time!'
We get to the church and I begin to give the flowers out to my family and those who are involved in the ceremony. I took a lot of pictures with my Groomsmen and some family. After about half an hour or so, I was in the church with my Mom and Dave, one on each side and got the cue, and we were off. My Dad was waiting for us closer to the alter. Then I turned around and knew that Elmira and Amilcar would step it up and make sure things got done. As I saw each couple come out, Santi and Alexia, Lil Will, Arnel and Alina, Charles and Adri, Amilcar and Elmira, Olga, then Ulisa and her Mom.
My first thoughts when I saw Ulisa was, "WOW this is the moment that will live with me forever. This is the reason why we worked hard to make this event possible. Ulisa is my soul mate. This is going to be forever for us."
Everyone did a great job. It was a nice moment in time to share with our families and our friends who could make it. We took a lot of pictures after the ceremony and then we were off to the limo to go to the Palace of Fine Arts.
In the limo, we had some champagne and were listening to some music. The A/C seemed not to be working and the window wouldn't go up. We were cracking jokes and anticipating the picture taking. Everyone seemed a little exhausted, maybe because of the anticipation of the wedding ceremony. All I know is that I was wide awake and ready for these pictures and ready for the reception.
Finally we get to the Palace of Fine Arts and the door opens....
After our hair cuts and shave we went to IHOP in Daly City. We had some breakfast, of course my cup of coffee had a crack in it. I told the guys to eat up as we would not be eating until around 7pm. We went back to the apartment. Lil Will was playing the Wii. Charles left to start getting ready, I had Lil Will take a shower, then I took a shower. Then we went to pick up the bouquet's and the flowers for the family. The flowers were ready and looked awesome. We went over to the Embassy Suites and Amilcar, Charles and Lil Will dropped them off to the girls. I took Charles home and Amilcar left and we all started to get ready.
At around 12:30 Charles showed up again, this time with his girlfriends father and the 65 Impala that would take us to the church. Before we left, Amilcar, Charles, Arnel and Brian took a shot of Flor De Cana for good luck. We were looking sharp and ready to go. As I said to Lil Will 'Do you know what time it is? It's go time!'
We get to the church and I begin to give the flowers out to my family and those who are involved in the ceremony. I took a lot of pictures with my Groomsmen and some family. After about half an hour or so, I was in the church with my Mom and Dave, one on each side and got the cue, and we were off. My Dad was waiting for us closer to the alter. Then I turned around and knew that Elmira and Amilcar would step it up and make sure things got done. As I saw each couple come out, Santi and Alexia, Lil Will, Arnel and Alina, Charles and Adri, Amilcar and Elmira, Olga, then Ulisa and her Mom.
My first thoughts when I saw Ulisa was, "WOW this is the moment that will live with me forever. This is the reason why we worked hard to make this event possible. Ulisa is my soul mate. This is going to be forever for us."
Everyone did a great job. It was a nice moment in time to share with our families and our friends who could make it. We took a lot of pictures after the ceremony and then we were off to the limo to go to the Palace of Fine Arts.
In the limo, we had some champagne and were listening to some music. The A/C seemed not to be working and the window wouldn't go up. We were cracking jokes and anticipating the picture taking. Everyone seemed a little exhausted, maybe because of the anticipation of the wedding ceremony. All I know is that I was wide awake and ready for these pictures and ready for the reception.
Finally we get to the Palace of Fine Arts and the door opens....
Looking back....(The beginning)
It's been some time since I last checked in here. Now it is July 28, 2011. 12 days after our wedding. This will be a 4 part blog. I decided to break the event down into three parts. The beginning, the middle and the end and a final thoughts section. There are so many thoughts and memories I would like to share, I just hope I do the event and the participants justice. So, sit back, relax and enjoy our wedding from the point of view of the Groom (for those of you keeping score at home, that would be me!)
July 15...
I was able to get this day off, originally I was supposed to work only half a day, but after looking over the last minute details, I decided that the whole day would be needed to get things done. In the morning I took my Dad to a doctor's appointment and then shopping down on Mission St. I got home around 12pm. Ulisa (Bride) was getting ready to do some last minute shopping with her Mom. My first task was to go get the rings cleaned and then some quick shopping for traveling supplies. I get to Serramonte and go to the jewelry place and ask for the cleaning service, of course it was not available. The person who cleaned the rings was not in and would not be back until the next day. However, they did steam clean them, which was better then nothing. I also went to another jewelry shop and the lady cleaned the rings with a liquid solution and gave me some bags to put them in. I got the last minute things at Target and went back home.
I met up with Ulisa and her friends (Elmira, Alina, Wilmer and Juan) at the Olive Garden. We were talking and catching up with each other. It was nice to have them in town and being able to spend time with them. After we left the restaurant we went over to Ulisa's Mom's house and picked up the Champagne to take to Dominic's. We also picked up the wedding dress and other items that would be included in the wedding ceremony.
Our first stop was the flower shop, we went to pay for the flowers that would be in the church. After that, we headed to Dominic's to drop off the champagne, place cards, table numbers and the seating charts. We did our final check in with Roger (the hall coordinator) and moved on to check into the Embassy Suites. After the check in and dropping off the items, Ulisa and I went over to Party City and picked up some fake rings to place on the pillow.
Now the fun part.... We headed out to Holy Angels church for our rehearsal. For the most part everyone was on time (except for 3 people [1 I knew about, 2 that were just late....]) Now, we had to find Father Jun. During this time Ulisa was speaking to Tito and Al (the music and choir contact) and finally Father Jun came out. Now, I do not want to speak bad about anyone, so I will just say that I really hope that the next time Father Jun performs a wedding ceremony, that he is more organized. I will admit, I was getting frustrated with the lack of disorganization and was just trying to calm down. However, I did have to laugh when Father Jun freaked out when he saw Elmira and Olga (who was filling in for Amilcar) walk down the isle together. But at least now we had some type of order and some type of plan to go into the ceremony tomorrow. After the practice, we practiced how we were going to take the pictures due to a short window provided the next day. We were running late, so I sent my sister and most of my family to the restaurant so we wouldn't lose our reservation. Two things that were supposed to happen were 1) the rings needed to be blessed (Didn't happen) 2) we needed to confess (after locating Father Jun, who had left, he was able to do this). The rings did get blessed during the ceremony the next day. After my confession, I headed out to the restaurant to meet everyone else.
Now, everyone is at Celia's in Daly City. This is where we had the dinner after our civil wedding. Once again we made the personalized menus and I had the people in attendance sign the guest (book) jersey. One person missing was Adri as she was still on the way from NOLA. We all had a really good time at the dinner, a few drinks and told a few stories. Alina and Juan were snapping pictures with their new camera (which I can't wait to see) and then it was time to go. We said our goodbyes, I had a quick meeting with my Groomsmen and gave them their Groomsmen gifts. For Amilcar, Charles and Arnel I gave them engraved rock drinking glasses and for the junior groomsman, Lil Will, I got him some baseball cards, a Giants wallet and a Tim Lincecum dog tag. I also gave Brian his birthday gift. Ulisa gave Alexia her bridesmaids gift and then had to go as she needed to pick up Adri at the airport. I said goodbye and goodnight to Ulisa and went to the house with Lil Will.
We called it a night at around 12:45am. I was surprised that I was able to get to sleep so fast. It was already July 16th. The day was finally here......
July 15...
I was able to get this day off, originally I was supposed to work only half a day, but after looking over the last minute details, I decided that the whole day would be needed to get things done. In the morning I took my Dad to a doctor's appointment and then shopping down on Mission St. I got home around 12pm. Ulisa (Bride) was getting ready to do some last minute shopping with her Mom. My first task was to go get the rings cleaned and then some quick shopping for traveling supplies. I get to Serramonte and go to the jewelry place and ask for the cleaning service, of course it was not available. The person who cleaned the rings was not in and would not be back until the next day. However, they did steam clean them, which was better then nothing. I also went to another jewelry shop and the lady cleaned the rings with a liquid solution and gave me some bags to put them in. I got the last minute things at Target and went back home.
I met up with Ulisa and her friends (Elmira, Alina, Wilmer and Juan) at the Olive Garden. We were talking and catching up with each other. It was nice to have them in town and being able to spend time with them. After we left the restaurant we went over to Ulisa's Mom's house and picked up the Champagne to take to Dominic's. We also picked up the wedding dress and other items that would be included in the wedding ceremony.
Our first stop was the flower shop, we went to pay for the flowers that would be in the church. After that, we headed to Dominic's to drop off the champagne, place cards, table numbers and the seating charts. We did our final check in with Roger (the hall coordinator) and moved on to check into the Embassy Suites. After the check in and dropping off the items, Ulisa and I went over to Party City and picked up some fake rings to place on the pillow.
Now the fun part.... We headed out to Holy Angels church for our rehearsal. For the most part everyone was on time (except for 3 people [1 I knew about, 2 that were just late....]) Now, we had to find Father Jun. During this time Ulisa was speaking to Tito and Al (the music and choir contact) and finally Father Jun came out. Now, I do not want to speak bad about anyone, so I will just say that I really hope that the next time Father Jun performs a wedding ceremony, that he is more organized. I will admit, I was getting frustrated with the lack of disorganization and was just trying to calm down. However, I did have to laugh when Father Jun freaked out when he saw Elmira and Olga (who was filling in for Amilcar) walk down the isle together. But at least now we had some type of order and some type of plan to go into the ceremony tomorrow. After the practice, we practiced how we were going to take the pictures due to a short window provided the next day. We were running late, so I sent my sister and most of my family to the restaurant so we wouldn't lose our reservation. Two things that were supposed to happen were 1) the rings needed to be blessed (Didn't happen) 2) we needed to confess (after locating Father Jun, who had left, he was able to do this). The rings did get blessed during the ceremony the next day. After my confession, I headed out to the restaurant to meet everyone else.
Now, everyone is at Celia's in Daly City. This is where we had the dinner after our civil wedding. Once again we made the personalized menus and I had the people in attendance sign the guest (book) jersey. One person missing was Adri as she was still on the way from NOLA. We all had a really good time at the dinner, a few drinks and told a few stories. Alina and Juan were snapping pictures with their new camera (which I can't wait to see) and then it was time to go. We said our goodbyes, I had a quick meeting with my Groomsmen and gave them their Groomsmen gifts. For Amilcar, Charles and Arnel I gave them engraved rock drinking glasses and for the junior groomsman, Lil Will, I got him some baseball cards, a Giants wallet and a Tim Lincecum dog tag. I also gave Brian his birthday gift. Ulisa gave Alexia her bridesmaids gift and then had to go as she needed to pick up Adri at the airport. I said goodbye and goodnight to Ulisa and went to the house with Lil Will.
We called it a night at around 12:45am. I was surprised that I was able to get to sleep so fast. It was already July 16th. The day was finally here......
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
25 Days
25 Days to go to the big day. Still have to pick out our first dance song and tie up some loose ends. Today is the last day that we are giving folks for the RSVP. We had the cut off date of June 15th, so I think 6 days is enough to get the RSVP's here. I have the next few people on the alternate list ready to go. So, quick tip here, if you receive an invitation to a wedding or a party and it is specifically addressed to you, don't assume that you can bring someone extra and don't ask either. If by chance you do call to ask, don't get attitude with people and then try to make it an issue about money, either make it or don't make it.
*The Giants are on a 5 game skid, they got swept by the A's and all of these 'fans' are jumping off the band wagon. Thankfully it is getting lighter. Real fans understand that it is a marathon, not a sprint and if we recall, last year this happened as well. If I recall correctly, I think the Giants ended up doing very well last year. I am old school, live and die with the team. I cheer when they are winning and still cheer my team when they are not. I don't pick and choose when to be a fan. Take the good with the bad. Yes, even MadBum's historic outing, 8 straight hits, 1 out and 8 earned runs. They will get the job done!
*Speaking of that, the melodramatic Murph and Mac show on KNBR in the morning. Since Posey went down, Murph has been on a 'Feel sorry for me' ride, after around a month of tweets where he basically praises the Giants when they win and sh*ts on them when they loose. I hit him up and said what I believe a lot of people are thinking. Which was 'enough with the depressing tweets' His response, a mature "you can unfollow" seems like old Murph likes to dish things out but when called on his sh*t he takes his ball and goes home. Losing Posey and Sanchez is tough, but you know what? Nobody outside of Giants fans care! Other fans are not going to feel sorry for us, we shouldn't either. Make it work with what you got!
*So far this transition at work is going well. It will take us some time to get acclimated to our surroundings. We hope that the folks here feel the same way and at least try to cooperate with us. Got some valuable information today that I will turn into success for my program.
*Job searching sucks! just wanted to put that out there. It is hard out here for everyone. We see openings for basic entry level jobs and they are demanding way too much for the little pay they are offering. Hopefully the economy speeds up it's recovery, because times need to change to help every one out.
*WWE had their Capital Punishment PPV yesterday. Besides CM Punk and Rey Mysterio putting on a show, Kofi and Dolph did great. Orton and Christian had a great match, and of course the PPV was ruined by SuperCena winning the way he did. Cena=overrated
*Stress is an A@@hole! It keeps me up at night and I need to figure a way to block out all of the thoughts that race through my head at the end of the night. It's not good.
*On Saturday we went to eat at Tarantino's at Fisherman's Wharf in the city. I had the fish and chips, which were good. A good portion of food. We then went and had a caramel sundae at Ghiradelli's Square. We were going to watch Inception at the house but plans changed.
*My wife was talking up a big game about her 'grilled Cheese' sandwich, She said she used to make them in Nicaragua, so she made it for me on the Foreman Grill, it was good, but I want her to do it as she did it before, in a pan on the stove to see what's up.
*It's Wednesday, I have one more week to go before my final fitting for my Tuxedo. Last time I was measured I went down 2 jacket sizes, 1 Shirt size and 1 Pant size. Got to keep on working on my weight loss. Going to the gym is essential and eating right is key to a proper diet. Getting things done and enjoying every minute of the process. 25 days until the wedding, 27 days until Cancun and our honeymoon.
*by the by, here is the thing. I am 30 years old, if you do the math you can clearly see that I was not born yesterday. Look, in life there are situations where people mess up, they say something they should have not said, they ruin surprises, they even can let you down by not being there. Here is the thing, when you call to 'explain' something to me, just be real. There are different stories going around, get on the same page. Talking to someone in a serious tone, repeating something that EVERYONE knows is a lie, just to make yourself or whoever feel better about themselves. Not cool. Be a Man or a Woman about it and just say, 'look (insert person who messed up) did this and it was my fault, I have to wear it, I feel like a (put in your favorite word here; I like Jackass or @$$hole) is there anything I can do?" Do not, and I repeat DO NOT come at me with lies and BS. It is not cute and really not welcomed or wanted. Try that with someone else. Remember that Karma train comes rolling around, there is no schedule but she will pull into the station real soon. and to quote 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin "And that's the bottom line...because 'Stone Cold' said so!"
*The Giants are on a 5 game skid, they got swept by the A's and all of these 'fans' are jumping off the band wagon. Thankfully it is getting lighter. Real fans understand that it is a marathon, not a sprint and if we recall, last year this happened as well. If I recall correctly, I think the Giants ended up doing very well last year. I am old school, live and die with the team. I cheer when they are winning and still cheer my team when they are not. I don't pick and choose when to be a fan. Take the good with the bad. Yes, even MadBum's historic outing, 8 straight hits, 1 out and 8 earned runs. They will get the job done!
*Speaking of that, the melodramatic Murph and Mac show on KNBR in the morning. Since Posey went down, Murph has been on a 'Feel sorry for me' ride, after around a month of tweets where he basically praises the Giants when they win and sh*ts on them when they loose. I hit him up and said what I believe a lot of people are thinking. Which was 'enough with the depressing tweets' His response, a mature "you can unfollow" seems like old Murph likes to dish things out but when called on his sh*t he takes his ball and goes home. Losing Posey and Sanchez is tough, but you know what? Nobody outside of Giants fans care! Other fans are not going to feel sorry for us, we shouldn't either. Make it work with what you got!
*So far this transition at work is going well. It will take us some time to get acclimated to our surroundings. We hope that the folks here feel the same way and at least try to cooperate with us. Got some valuable information today that I will turn into success for my program.
*Job searching sucks! just wanted to put that out there. It is hard out here for everyone. We see openings for basic entry level jobs and they are demanding way too much for the little pay they are offering. Hopefully the economy speeds up it's recovery, because times need to change to help every one out.
*WWE had their Capital Punishment PPV yesterday. Besides CM Punk and Rey Mysterio putting on a show, Kofi and Dolph did great. Orton and Christian had a great match, and of course the PPV was ruined by SuperCena winning the way he did. Cena=overrated
*Stress is an A@@hole! It keeps me up at night and I need to figure a way to block out all of the thoughts that race through my head at the end of the night. It's not good.
*On Saturday we went to eat at Tarantino's at Fisherman's Wharf in the city. I had the fish and chips, which were good. A good portion of food. We then went and had a caramel sundae at Ghiradelli's Square. We were going to watch Inception at the house but plans changed.
*My wife was talking up a big game about her 'grilled Cheese' sandwich, She said she used to make them in Nicaragua, so she made it for me on the Foreman Grill, it was good, but I want her to do it as she did it before, in a pan on the stove to see what's up.
*It's Wednesday, I have one more week to go before my final fitting for my Tuxedo. Last time I was measured I went down 2 jacket sizes, 1 Shirt size and 1 Pant size. Got to keep on working on my weight loss. Going to the gym is essential and eating right is key to a proper diet. Getting things done and enjoying every minute of the process. 25 days until the wedding, 27 days until Cancun and our honeymoon.
*by the by, here is the thing. I am 30 years old, if you do the math you can clearly see that I was not born yesterday. Look, in life there are situations where people mess up, they say something they should have not said, they ruin surprises, they even can let you down by not being there. Here is the thing, when you call to 'explain' something to me, just be real. There are different stories going around, get on the same page. Talking to someone in a serious tone, repeating something that EVERYONE knows is a lie, just to make yourself or whoever feel better about themselves. Not cool. Be a Man or a Woman about it and just say, 'look (insert person who messed up) did this and it was my fault, I have to wear it, I feel like a (put in your favorite word here; I like Jackass or @$$hole) is there anything I can do?" Do not, and I repeat DO NOT come at me with lies and BS. It is not cute and really not welcomed or wanted. Try that with someone else. Remember that Karma train comes rolling around, there is no schedule but she will pull into the station real soon. and to quote 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin "And that's the bottom line...because 'Stone Cold' said so!"
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
More randomness
Hey there world, or to the few that may read this and are entertained by my randomness. So here we are on June 14th 2011. You know what today is? it is Flag day! Let your flag fly ladies and gentlemen! Also did you know that 14 years ago today, Rich Aurilia hit the first ever inter league Grand Slam vs the Angels? Also it was the day that my niece/Goddaughter Alexia was born. Happy Birthday Alexia!
More randomness:
* 32 days until the big day! Trying to finalize some things by the end of this week with the music and the hotel we are going to stay at. As every day passes, more questions arise. We are about to get into crunch time and stress time. My goal for this is to pretty much be done with all of the big planning and just have little things to do by July 1st, so when my Dad and visitors come we can go ahead and do things with them without having to focus too much on big decisions and be frustrated.
*Last weekend June 11 and 12, we went to Lake Tahoe for my bachelor party, it was me, Amilcar (Best man) Charles (Groomsmen) Arnel (Groomsmen) and Brian (Usher). We were supposed to have 3 other people go with us, but due to various reasons they were not able to join us. We had so much fun, we had some beers, vodka and cranberry, lots of food and we had the stairs! Yes, 91 stairs at 7,000 feet elevation. No elevators! But we did it, we even managed to go swimming in the cold breeze. Amilcar rented a boat and we went out on the lake and went to Emerald Bay, it was beautiful. A great laid back time and it would be great to plan another trip like this in the future. It's fun to hang out and have a few drinks and just bond the only way guys know how to. The only thing I would say that was a bit lame was all of the cigarette smoke, I must have had a good years worth of second hand smoke enter my system that night.
*Speaking of smoking, why do people have the need to do this? it is nasty. Go into a room or a corner with ventilation and smoke there, away from people and be considerate that other people are not smokers and do not want to have that around them. Common courtesy folks, just saying. I don't go around and pass gas in your face, or general area and have you deal with it. Don't smoke around me!
*We saw a few people wearing Spandex. Wow, all I could think about it that there should be a weight and age limit with these items of clothing. Unless you are a WWE superstar, leave the Spandex at home. Nobody wants to see every inch of you. It's not cute and if you think it makes you look slim, someone lied to you. Do yourself a favor and buy yourself a real mirror, not the fun house mirrors and take a good look at yourself. See what I mean? and if you have a friend that tells you it looks 'good' go ahead and slap the hell out of them, and get them a pair of glasses.
*All last week I worked out hard Monday-Friday since I was not going to do any exercise over the weekend. Thankfully those stairs that I was talking about helped out. We must have gone up at least 4-5 times and we also were swimming. Where I came in 3rd place out of 5. I lost to a Dolphin and a Seal. When I got back home, I had gained 4 lbs. But I have worked off 3 lbs. I hope to at least break even for this weekends official weigh in.
*At work we are moving from our current and well liked location. To our organizational home base. It is going to be an exciting adventure. I look forward to the challenge of trying to bring the program I am in charge of and to install it over there. I will miss the folks that I have worked with here and I hope to see them around. But I know I have to move on and make this program work with my staff.
*Just a quick note, if you get an invitation in the mail and it says "surprise" all over it, do us all a favor and keep it to your self. It ruins the 'surprise' if you tell people and it gets back to the person who was going to be 'surprised'. Just saying, if you need more help on this one, let me know. =)
*My Giants are in 1st place by only 0.5 games right now. Considering that the players are dropping like flies, first Panda, then Zito, Posey, Fontenot, Belt, Ford, DeRosa and now Freddy. WTF? I don't know, but at least they get the Panda back tonight. I still have high hopes for my team and I expect them to be in the playoffs by season's end.
*Congrats to the Lebron James and the Miami Heat on winning the NBA Championship...wait, I'm sorry what was that? They didn't win? so what was all that talk about 8 championships at the beginning of the season? Oh you mean they were over confident and didn't deliver. Hmmmm. OK, well Congrats to Dirk and the Dallas Mavericks on winning the NBA Championship. Well deserved. I have said it once and I will say it again, Individuals can win games, but only TEAMS win Championships. Time for the Heat to be a little more humble. Oh and by the way, I have a good life Lebron, I do not have people around me that blow smoke up my @$$ and I know that the friends that I have are because of who I am and because I am on TV. You may have a lot of money, but it really must be hard living like that. Trust me, invest your money, save it, what ever you do, don't lose it. Because if you do, you will no longer have friends or family. On the other hand, I will still have both.
*That's it folks for this entry. Let's see what comes next. By the by, I am going to the circus in September!
More randomness:
* 32 days until the big day! Trying to finalize some things by the end of this week with the music and the hotel we are going to stay at. As every day passes, more questions arise. We are about to get into crunch time and stress time. My goal for this is to pretty much be done with all of the big planning and just have little things to do by July 1st, so when my Dad and visitors come we can go ahead and do things with them without having to focus too much on big decisions and be frustrated.
*Last weekend June 11 and 12, we went to Lake Tahoe for my bachelor party, it was me, Amilcar (Best man) Charles (Groomsmen) Arnel (Groomsmen) and Brian (Usher). We were supposed to have 3 other people go with us, but due to various reasons they were not able to join us. We had so much fun, we had some beers, vodka and cranberry, lots of food and we had the stairs! Yes, 91 stairs at 7,000 feet elevation. No elevators! But we did it, we even managed to go swimming in the cold breeze. Amilcar rented a boat and we went out on the lake and went to Emerald Bay, it was beautiful. A great laid back time and it would be great to plan another trip like this in the future. It's fun to hang out and have a few drinks and just bond the only way guys know how to. The only thing I would say that was a bit lame was all of the cigarette smoke, I must have had a good years worth of second hand smoke enter my system that night.
*Speaking of smoking, why do people have the need to do this? it is nasty. Go into a room or a corner with ventilation and smoke there, away from people and be considerate that other people are not smokers and do not want to have that around them. Common courtesy folks, just saying. I don't go around and pass gas in your face, or general area and have you deal with it. Don't smoke around me!
*We saw a few people wearing Spandex. Wow, all I could think about it that there should be a weight and age limit with these items of clothing. Unless you are a WWE superstar, leave the Spandex at home. Nobody wants to see every inch of you. It's not cute and if you think it makes you look slim, someone lied to you. Do yourself a favor and buy yourself a real mirror, not the fun house mirrors and take a good look at yourself. See what I mean? and if you have a friend that tells you it looks 'good' go ahead and slap the hell out of them, and get them a pair of glasses.
*All last week I worked out hard Monday-Friday since I was not going to do any exercise over the weekend. Thankfully those stairs that I was talking about helped out. We must have gone up at least 4-5 times and we also were swimming. Where I came in 3rd place out of 5. I lost to a Dolphin and a Seal. When I got back home, I had gained 4 lbs. But I have worked off 3 lbs. I hope to at least break even for this weekends official weigh in.
*At work we are moving from our current and well liked location. To our organizational home base. It is going to be an exciting adventure. I look forward to the challenge of trying to bring the program I am in charge of and to install it over there. I will miss the folks that I have worked with here and I hope to see them around. But I know I have to move on and make this program work with my staff.
*Just a quick note, if you get an invitation in the mail and it says "surprise" all over it, do us all a favor and keep it to your self. It ruins the 'surprise' if you tell people and it gets back to the person who was going to be 'surprised'. Just saying, if you need more help on this one, let me know. =)
*My Giants are in 1st place by only 0.5 games right now. Considering that the players are dropping like flies, first Panda, then Zito, Posey, Fontenot, Belt, Ford, DeRosa and now Freddy. WTF? I don't know, but at least they get the Panda back tonight. I still have high hopes for my team and I expect them to be in the playoffs by season's end.
*Congrats to the Lebron James and the Miami Heat on winning the NBA Championship...wait, I'm sorry what was that? They didn't win? so what was all that talk about 8 championships at the beginning of the season? Oh you mean they were over confident and didn't deliver. Hmmmm. OK, well Congrats to Dirk and the Dallas Mavericks on winning the NBA Championship. Well deserved. I have said it once and I will say it again, Individuals can win games, but only TEAMS win Championships. Time for the Heat to be a little more humble. Oh and by the way, I have a good life Lebron, I do not have people around me that blow smoke up my @$$ and I know that the friends that I have are because of who I am and because I am on TV. You may have a lot of money, but it really must be hard living like that. Trust me, invest your money, save it, what ever you do, don't lose it. Because if you do, you will no longer have friends or family. On the other hand, I will still have both.
*That's it folks for this entry. Let's see what comes next. By the by, I am going to the circus in September!
Monday, June 6, 2011
40 Days...
40 days and counting until my church wedding. Some exciting times here in the city next to the city by the bay. Here are some random thoughts and factoids about what is going on...
-Yesterday my wife went to her appointment to try on her wedding gown, I can't wait to see what she picked out, I am sure she will look beautiful on our wedding day. I went to get remeasured for my tuxedo and I got some really good news, I lost 1 size on my pants, 1 shirt size and 2 jacket sizes. Since I am still working out and planning on losing more, I will have to go in for one last fitting later on this month to make sure I am not swimming in the tuxedo. I was very happy and proud of the fact that my hard work at the gym and my discipline on food has paid off.
-coming up this week, my wife has a modified schedule so we will be able to contact some vendors to confirm somethings. We need to drop off the cake topper and make our selection of the flavor of the cake. She still needs to pick out the Spanish music she wants at the wedding and we also need to pick out our readings for the church.
-We sent out the invitations already and are just waiting for the RSVP's. So far almost all of my invited guest has responded. I have an alternate list that may just be filled with disappointment, but that is how it goes. I created the seating chart already, tried to be as fair as possible with who goes at what table, when we finalize the count we will arrange the tables to have our families close and so on and so on.
-This week, I will have to do my exercise days Mon-Fri, we are planning on going to Lake Tahoe this weekend for my Bachelor Party (yeah, I know, I am already married, but we decided to go ahead and do it anyway) So far almost everyone has confirmed. So that means that this week there will be no official weigh in on Sunday. I may move it to Friday or just skip it until next week.
-This Thursday my Goddaughter graduates from middle school! So I will be attending the festivities there. It's an exciting time. Last week I dropped her off at her school dance and my sister had a BBQ for her. We had to move the party indoors due to rain, but we still had fun.
-Saw the movie 'Sucker Punch'.. Felt like I got "sucker punched".
-On an off topic note, if you get an invitation to a "surprise" party or a "surprise" event, keep it to yourself. It is not fair to the people who are trying to make the event or party happen to have it ruined for whatever reason one feels the need to 'spread the word'
-I was able to get the Giants Bridge patch and the Gray logo patch for a surprise that I am doing for the wedding. I won't go too much into detail, but when it happens and when we get back and settled from our Honeymoon I will post a pick to show it off.
-On blogging, I always heard that people did this and now I know why. It is a relaxing activity to just write and put what you are thinking into the atmosphere. Some people will dig it, others won't. I do it for me, if you happen to enjoy it. as Brian Wilson would say... You're Welcome.
-Still need to watch 'A perfect getaway' and the last disc of season 5 of three's company, then I can watch Psych season 5, but it's on a seriously looooooong wait. Hope it gets to streaming soon. As well as The Office, How I met your Mother, the Big Bang Theory and for my wife True Blood.
-Just a factoid that needs to be put out there to see if the universe is so kind to help me out.. I need to win the Lotto! I would be so gracious =)
-Is it me or does Murph and Mac in the morning on KNBR starting to lose what made it good. I know that Double D went over to the FM station, but really guys? stop trying to push things on people (i.e. Bandwagon anthem songs and a lame Brian Wilson parody) and let's not get started on the spectacle of how sad and pathetic it was to hear them bit*h and moan about Buster Posey getting hurt.
-Speaking of Buster Posey. I thought the hit was a clean baseball play. Split second decision. It's unfortunate that he got his cleat stuck under him and got hurt. He will be back and better then ever. The Giants do have other players on the team, it is a loss for them, but the Giants will overcome and get the job done.
-So I guess I am done with this randomness, another day closer to the big day! Talk to you later!
-Yesterday my wife went to her appointment to try on her wedding gown, I can't wait to see what she picked out, I am sure she will look beautiful on our wedding day. I went to get remeasured for my tuxedo and I got some really good news, I lost 1 size on my pants, 1 shirt size and 2 jacket sizes. Since I am still working out and planning on losing more, I will have to go in for one last fitting later on this month to make sure I am not swimming in the tuxedo. I was very happy and proud of the fact that my hard work at the gym and my discipline on food has paid off.
-coming up this week, my wife has a modified schedule so we will be able to contact some vendors to confirm somethings. We need to drop off the cake topper and make our selection of the flavor of the cake. She still needs to pick out the Spanish music she wants at the wedding and we also need to pick out our readings for the church.
-We sent out the invitations already and are just waiting for the RSVP's. So far almost all of my invited guest has responded. I have an alternate list that may just be filled with disappointment, but that is how it goes. I created the seating chart already, tried to be as fair as possible with who goes at what table, when we finalize the count we will arrange the tables to have our families close and so on and so on.
-This week, I will have to do my exercise days Mon-Fri, we are planning on going to Lake Tahoe this weekend for my Bachelor Party (yeah, I know, I am already married, but we decided to go ahead and do it anyway) So far almost everyone has confirmed. So that means that this week there will be no official weigh in on Sunday. I may move it to Friday or just skip it until next week.
-This Thursday my Goddaughter graduates from middle school! So I will be attending the festivities there. It's an exciting time. Last week I dropped her off at her school dance and my sister had a BBQ for her. We had to move the party indoors due to rain, but we still had fun.
-Saw the movie 'Sucker Punch'.. Felt like I got "sucker punched".
-On an off topic note, if you get an invitation to a "surprise" party or a "surprise" event, keep it to yourself. It is not fair to the people who are trying to make the event or party happen to have it ruined for whatever reason one feels the need to 'spread the word'
-I was able to get the Giants Bridge patch and the Gray logo patch for a surprise that I am doing for the wedding. I won't go too much into detail, but when it happens and when we get back and settled from our Honeymoon I will post a pick to show it off.
-On blogging, I always heard that people did this and now I know why. It is a relaxing activity to just write and put what you are thinking into the atmosphere. Some people will dig it, others won't. I do it for me, if you happen to enjoy it. as Brian Wilson would say... You're Welcome.
-Still need to watch 'A perfect getaway' and the last disc of season 5 of three's company, then I can watch Psych season 5, but it's on a seriously looooooong wait. Hope it gets to streaming soon. As well as The Office, How I met your Mother, the Big Bang Theory and for my wife True Blood.
-Just a factoid that needs to be put out there to see if the universe is so kind to help me out.. I need to win the Lotto! I would be so gracious =)
-Is it me or does Murph and Mac in the morning on KNBR starting to lose what made it good. I know that Double D went over to the FM station, but really guys? stop trying to push things on people (i.e. Bandwagon anthem songs and a lame Brian Wilson parody) and let's not get started on the spectacle of how sad and pathetic it was to hear them bit*h and moan about Buster Posey getting hurt.
-Speaking of Buster Posey. I thought the hit was a clean baseball play. Split second decision. It's unfortunate that he got his cleat stuck under him and got hurt. He will be back and better then ever. The Giants do have other players on the team, it is a loss for them, but the Giants will overcome and get the job done.
-So I guess I am done with this randomness, another day closer to the big day! Talk to you later!
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Random thoughts
Just a few random thoughts...
-My church wedding is; including today 47 days away. Everything is getting on track. Just reserved the Limo, My wife sent out the invitations today. We are still working on a few that she will be taking to work. So far we have every seat covered. We are waiting on RSVP's to see if we can accommodate a few extra people. It was tough to see who made the cut and who didn't. There may be a lot of disappointed people out there, but hey that's life and we are doing what we can.
-I really wish I could get a higher paying job. I am OK where I am at now; not satisfied or too happy, but OK, I can cover bills and life expenses but I need to get paid more. We are going to try and start a family soon and this is not cutting it. Positive thinking brings positive results, I know I will find that position and be great at it. I pray to God every day and night to help me out with finding this job. But right now it is hard out there. I remain positive and I know I will get there.
-So far, I have lost 24.8 lbs. since I started my calorie counting program with MyFitnessPal.com It really works. I have been working hard, going to the gym, eating less and making better eating decisions. I did not think that I could lose that much weight. My starting weight was 268.8 lbs, my goal was 245 lbs. My last official weigh in (Sundays) was 244 lbs. I plan to lose more, but for now I am trying to focus more on my upper body muscles.
-The San Francisco Giants were dealt a hard blow last week (May 25, 2011) 2010 Rookie of the Year and potential All-Star Starting catcher Buster Posey was lit up by a Marlins player (Cousins) and broke his Fibula. He will be out for the whole year. It amazes me to think that after that accident how the 'fans' of the Giants gave up on the season. These same 'fans' are making actual Giants fans look pathetic by crying about how the game needs a rule change. I understand that the play at the plate is a dangerous one. I don't think that Cousins intentions were bad, but it happened, it is part of the game and now the Giants have to dust themselves off and play like defending champions. There are other guys on the field, sure Buster was a big name in our line up, but we can still do this. As a real 'Fan' you should be able to cheer and support your team at all times. I still and will always have faith in my Giants.
-On the same day that Posey went down, we got some news before the game that my Uncle Luis; my Dad's brother, passed away in Nicaragua on the way to the hospital. My Dad told my sister and she told us. I did know my Uncle, not too well but well enough. He had his bad habits like smoking, but in one way or the other we all have our bad habits. I remember hanging out with him and my Dad in front of my Dad's house in Jinotepe, the cold breeze coming in, trying to break bottles with rocks and sling shots, while drinking some beers or having some Flor de Cana. I know that it must be hard on my Dad, since he has been down there he has seen two of his brothers pass away and has had trouble with his nieces and nephews down there. What the future holds for my Dad now is up in the air. But for right now I can only say I hope that my Uncle Luis Narvaez is resting in peace.
-Last Friday my friend had us over for taco night. The food was delicious. Had about 8 beers, a couple of shots of tequila and 8 tacos (not an official count as I lost count due to the alcohol consumption) We had a good time, making jokes and talking about some odd things.
-We saw the Hangover 2 last Sunday. I liked it. It did go a bit far with some things, but that was expected because that's how all sequels are. I did laugh a lot, it was a good time out with my wife. We had some Round Table Pizza, Kettle corn, ICEE and some sour candies.
-So, this is my last entry for the month of May. I hope June brings me more opportunity to write more and have more news, good news to pass on. I know there are a few events coming up that will be worth writing about. I will be back soon...
-My church wedding is; including today 47 days away. Everything is getting on track. Just reserved the Limo, My wife sent out the invitations today. We are still working on a few that she will be taking to work. So far we have every seat covered. We are waiting on RSVP's to see if we can accommodate a few extra people. It was tough to see who made the cut and who didn't. There may be a lot of disappointed people out there, but hey that's life and we are doing what we can.
-I really wish I could get a higher paying job. I am OK where I am at now; not satisfied or too happy, but OK, I can cover bills and life expenses but I need to get paid more. We are going to try and start a family soon and this is not cutting it. Positive thinking brings positive results, I know I will find that position and be great at it. I pray to God every day and night to help me out with finding this job. But right now it is hard out there. I remain positive and I know I will get there.
-So far, I have lost 24.8 lbs. since I started my calorie counting program with MyFitnessPal.com It really works. I have been working hard, going to the gym, eating less and making better eating decisions. I did not think that I could lose that much weight. My starting weight was 268.8 lbs, my goal was 245 lbs. My last official weigh in (Sundays) was 244 lbs. I plan to lose more, but for now I am trying to focus more on my upper body muscles.
-The San Francisco Giants were dealt a hard blow last week (May 25, 2011) 2010 Rookie of the Year and potential All-Star Starting catcher Buster Posey was lit up by a Marlins player (Cousins) and broke his Fibula. He will be out for the whole year. It amazes me to think that after that accident how the 'fans' of the Giants gave up on the season. These same 'fans' are making actual Giants fans look pathetic by crying about how the game needs a rule change. I understand that the play at the plate is a dangerous one. I don't think that Cousins intentions were bad, but it happened, it is part of the game and now the Giants have to dust themselves off and play like defending champions. There are other guys on the field, sure Buster was a big name in our line up, but we can still do this. As a real 'Fan' you should be able to cheer and support your team at all times. I still and will always have faith in my Giants.
-On the same day that Posey went down, we got some news before the game that my Uncle Luis; my Dad's brother, passed away in Nicaragua on the way to the hospital. My Dad told my sister and she told us. I did know my Uncle, not too well but well enough. He had his bad habits like smoking, but in one way or the other we all have our bad habits. I remember hanging out with him and my Dad in front of my Dad's house in Jinotepe, the cold breeze coming in, trying to break bottles with rocks and sling shots, while drinking some beers or having some Flor de Cana. I know that it must be hard on my Dad, since he has been down there he has seen two of his brothers pass away and has had trouble with his nieces and nephews down there. What the future holds for my Dad now is up in the air. But for right now I can only say I hope that my Uncle Luis Narvaez is resting in peace.
-Last Friday my friend had us over for taco night. The food was delicious. Had about 8 beers, a couple of shots of tequila and 8 tacos (not an official count as I lost count due to the alcohol consumption) We had a good time, making jokes and talking about some odd things.
-We saw the Hangover 2 last Sunday. I liked it. It did go a bit far with some things, but that was expected because that's how all sequels are. I did laugh a lot, it was a good time out with my wife. We had some Round Table Pizza, Kettle corn, ICEE and some sour candies.
-So, this is my last entry for the month of May. I hope June brings me more opportunity to write more and have more news, good news to pass on. I know there are a few events coming up that will be worth writing about. I will be back soon...
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
My Next Thirty Years
So this is the big post. The big 3-0 post. I was thinking of a way to write this. I decided to do something different. Many people are still surprised by the fact that I like country music. So I thought it would be fitting to use a Tim McGraw song in this post. I will write the lyrics to the song and in between the lyrics I will tell you about my day as it happened. If you have not heard the song, it is a good one it is called "My Next Thirty Years"
'I think I'll take a moment, to celebrate my age
The ending of an era and the turning of a page.
Now it's time to focus in on where I go from here
Lord have mercy on my next thirty years'
-> I woke up in the morning and as always thanked God for another day of life, but in this case another year of life. I was so tired and I wanted to sleep more (old age I guess) but I knew I already had made plans to go to the gym and to spinning class. My wife wished me a happy birthday, I got early morning texts from my sister and best friend. Got ready and went to the gym to workout. On this day the first part of spin class did not feel like the normal 'kick your @$$' class that other instructors have, but the second half did get us some good fat burning work.
'In my next thirty years, I'm gonna have some fun
Try to forget about all the crazy things I've done
Maybe now I've conquered all my adolescent fears
And I'll do better in my next thirty years'
->We got home and for breakfast I had a healthy serving of mixed vegetables. Amilcar called me and invited me to lunch. On the way to meet him, my Arnel called and we spoke about activities that we were doing. He was hyped about the Pacquiao vs Mosley fight. I got to Amilcar's workplace and my nephew was there, we went over to eat at the Westlake Cafe. I have the Tuna melt sandwich with half of the fries. We sat around and talked for about an hour. After that I headed back home.
'My next thirty years I'm gonna settle all the scores
Cry a little less, laugh a little more
Find a world of happiness without the hate and fear
Figure out just what I'm doing here
In my next thirty years'
-> I had to go shopping for the last of the Mother's day gifts that I needed and I also went out to get me my birthday gift to myself. I got myself the book 'Worth the Wait', the 2010 San Francisco Giants year book and a t-shirt that had a world series ring on it. I was also able to walk around the mall for a bit to get some more exercise and to see what else I could get for myself. But that was it.
'Oh my next thirty years, I'm gonna watch my weight
Eat a few more salads and not stay up so late
Drink a little lemonade and not so many beers
Maybe I'll remember my next thirty years'
->So we got ready to go out to dinner at Bucca Di Beppo's in San Francisco. The guest list included my wife, mom, step-dad, mother-in-law, niece(God daughter), Nephew and his girlfriend, brother, sister, brother-in-law, best friend, cousin-in-law and his wife and of course me. We had a great meal, we had pizza, pasta and garlic cheese bread. It was a great time, the waiter and staff came out and sang happy birthday. All in all a good time out. As a gift my wife took care of the bill. Thank you =)
'My next thirty years will be the best years of my life
Raise a little family and hang out with my wife
Spend precious moments with the ones that I hold dear
Make up for lost time here, in my next thirty years'
->After the dinner, we were supposed to go out to some pub, but that did not work out so we just hung out at our apartment and watched Kevin Hart and me and Amilcar had a few drinks, Oscar, Monica and Ulisa just watched. It was a fun night, very relaxing, just the way I like it. Now that this is out of the way, we can focus on the wedding, honeymoon and next some babies =)
I do not know what the next thirty years hold for me, but as long as I am still with my wife and we have a family and are raising our children in a healthy and fun way. I would be happy. That was pretty much my day.
'I think I'll take a moment, to celebrate my age
The ending of an era and the turning of a page.
Now it's time to focus in on where I go from here
Lord have mercy on my next thirty years'
-> I woke up in the morning and as always thanked God for another day of life, but in this case another year of life. I was so tired and I wanted to sleep more (old age I guess) but I knew I already had made plans to go to the gym and to spinning class. My wife wished me a happy birthday, I got early morning texts from my sister and best friend. Got ready and went to the gym to workout. On this day the first part of spin class did not feel like the normal 'kick your @$$' class that other instructors have, but the second half did get us some good fat burning work.
'In my next thirty years, I'm gonna have some fun
Try to forget about all the crazy things I've done
Maybe now I've conquered all my adolescent fears
And I'll do better in my next thirty years'
->We got home and for breakfast I had a healthy serving of mixed vegetables. Amilcar called me and invited me to lunch. On the way to meet him, my Arnel called and we spoke about activities that we were doing. He was hyped about the Pacquiao vs Mosley fight. I got to Amilcar's workplace and my nephew was there, we went over to eat at the Westlake Cafe. I have the Tuna melt sandwich with half of the fries. We sat around and talked for about an hour. After that I headed back home.
'My next thirty years I'm gonna settle all the scores
Cry a little less, laugh a little more
Find a world of happiness without the hate and fear
Figure out just what I'm doing here
In my next thirty years'
-> I had to go shopping for the last of the Mother's day gifts that I needed and I also went out to get me my birthday gift to myself. I got myself the book 'Worth the Wait', the 2010 San Francisco Giants year book and a t-shirt that had a world series ring on it. I was also able to walk around the mall for a bit to get some more exercise and to see what else I could get for myself. But that was it.
'Oh my next thirty years, I'm gonna watch my weight
Eat a few more salads and not stay up so late
Drink a little lemonade and not so many beers
Maybe I'll remember my next thirty years'
->So we got ready to go out to dinner at Bucca Di Beppo's in San Francisco. The guest list included my wife, mom, step-dad, mother-in-law, niece(God daughter), Nephew and his girlfriend, brother, sister, brother-in-law, best friend, cousin-in-law and his wife and of course me. We had a great meal, we had pizza, pasta and garlic cheese bread. It was a great time, the waiter and staff came out and sang happy birthday. All in all a good time out. As a gift my wife took care of the bill. Thank you =)
'My next thirty years will be the best years of my life
Raise a little family and hang out with my wife
Spend precious moments with the ones that I hold dear
Make up for lost time here, in my next thirty years'
->After the dinner, we were supposed to go out to some pub, but that did not work out so we just hung out at our apartment and watched Kevin Hart and me and Amilcar had a few drinks, Oscar, Monica and Ulisa just watched. It was a fun night, very relaxing, just the way I like it. Now that this is out of the way, we can focus on the wedding, honeymoon and next some babies =)
I do not know what the next thirty years hold for me, but as long as I am still with my wife and we have a family and are raising our children in a healthy and fun way. I would be happy. That was pretty much my day.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Whatever!
This blog post may seem random, it may seem like I am just rambling and that my thoughts may or may not be fully formed but here goes anyway. A little bit of me uncut and raw with no edits...
Last week was not good, well, it started OK, but on Wednesday it went from OK to 'who made this sh*t sandwich? & why is it in my lunch box?" My car battery completely died on me, taking with it the alternator. I assume responsibility for this happening as the battery light did go on and I thought I would be able to make it to pay day to get a new one..WRONG! As luck would have it, the truck just stalled and I had to push it slightly up a hill to get it out of the way of traffic (I guess those weight lifting days at the gym are paying off!) I called AAA and waited. During this time I had already called my wife to come over to bring me my emergency credit card and of course Mother Nature decides to piss all over me in my moment of frustration and anger and hangs that cloud of rain over me and my car. When the AAA guy finishes and I pay him the fee, I start to drive to the garage where I will be potentially; excuse the term 'violated' with the cost of replacing the alternator. The folks at the garage were very nice, they even offered to give me a ride home. I politely declined and waited for my wife to pick up. Let me rewind for a second, all of this happened on the way to a workforce development forum that I was looking forward to attending, so I even missed out on that. So I get home and I am in no mood for anything. I wanted to curl up in a ball and hide in the closet so no one could see or talk to me. I get the phone call that they did need to replace the alternator and told me the cost. I did a little research on line and it seemed less then what other places would charge me so I went ahead and told them to repair the truck. I walked about a mile and a half to go get my car, every step a bit more disappointed in myself and the situation that I could have probably avoided. Now it turns out that my car battery gives out too much battery. So that was just Wednesday. At least I got some bit of good news last Friday. I can't really go into too much detail here but over the weekend I did and actually still feel some concern and fear over my back and left leg.
Last August as I was coming out of the shower I sprained a muscle in my lower back, at the time I did not know what I had did, I tried to stretch and lay down, but my foot began to go numb, I went to the emergency room and there was when my recovery of my first time throwing out my back began. I think it might have been two weeks ago during my first Yoga session that I attempted a pose and stained the muscle again, but recently I have been having pains again and a sharp pain going down to my lower left leg. It scares me because I do not want to be physically impaired in any way. That is why I started to go to the gym, to help me get into shape, lose some weight and relieve the pressure from my knees and back.
Did I mention it to anyone? I did and I tried, but there is only so much one can do for me. Some are supportive and tell me to be careful (which they know I will not actually do, since I am a bit hard headed) and some basically put me down and told me that I was complaining too much and that I was acting like..well this blog is too classy for those words. It's to a point where I don't want anyone to know anything. I would rather keep my mouth shut and try to deal with my pain alone, then sit there and have people talk about me. It's bad enough that I am scared that I may have a problem, comments really don't help. I do not want to turn to medication for this pain, because I do not believe it to be necessary.
Hopefully the ending of this week will be great! I am trying to take all of the negative energy that is put out there and spin it to be my positive energy for this Friday. May be then I can write a little more frequently, when I am sad I tend not to write too much because it reminds me of why I am feeling that way. So here is hoping to some great news! to more blogging, to more positivity!
There it is, I have not gone back to edit anything, I just wrote what was inside my head and heart. Next up for me today is...more gym time! Keep it classy!
Last week was not good, well, it started OK, but on Wednesday it went from OK to 'who made this sh*t sandwich? & why is it in my lunch box?" My car battery completely died on me, taking with it the alternator. I assume responsibility for this happening as the battery light did go on and I thought I would be able to make it to pay day to get a new one..WRONG! As luck would have it, the truck just stalled and I had to push it slightly up a hill to get it out of the way of traffic (I guess those weight lifting days at the gym are paying off!) I called AAA and waited. During this time I had already called my wife to come over to bring me my emergency credit card and of course Mother Nature decides to piss all over me in my moment of frustration and anger and hangs that cloud of rain over me and my car. When the AAA guy finishes and I pay him the fee, I start to drive to the garage where I will be potentially; excuse the term 'violated' with the cost of replacing the alternator. The folks at the garage were very nice, they even offered to give me a ride home. I politely declined and waited for my wife to pick up. Let me rewind for a second, all of this happened on the way to a workforce development forum that I was looking forward to attending, so I even missed out on that. So I get home and I am in no mood for anything. I wanted to curl up in a ball and hide in the closet so no one could see or talk to me. I get the phone call that they did need to replace the alternator and told me the cost. I did a little research on line and it seemed less then what other places would charge me so I went ahead and told them to repair the truck. I walked about a mile and a half to go get my car, every step a bit more disappointed in myself and the situation that I could have probably avoided. Now it turns out that my car battery gives out too much battery. So that was just Wednesday. At least I got some bit of good news last Friday. I can't really go into too much detail here but over the weekend I did and actually still feel some concern and fear over my back and left leg.
Last August as I was coming out of the shower I sprained a muscle in my lower back, at the time I did not know what I had did, I tried to stretch and lay down, but my foot began to go numb, I went to the emergency room and there was when my recovery of my first time throwing out my back began. I think it might have been two weeks ago during my first Yoga session that I attempted a pose and stained the muscle again, but recently I have been having pains again and a sharp pain going down to my lower left leg. It scares me because I do not want to be physically impaired in any way. That is why I started to go to the gym, to help me get into shape, lose some weight and relieve the pressure from my knees and back.
Did I mention it to anyone? I did and I tried, but there is only so much one can do for me. Some are supportive and tell me to be careful (which they know I will not actually do, since I am a bit hard headed) and some basically put me down and told me that I was complaining too much and that I was acting like..well this blog is too classy for those words. It's to a point where I don't want anyone to know anything. I would rather keep my mouth shut and try to deal with my pain alone, then sit there and have people talk about me. It's bad enough that I am scared that I may have a problem, comments really don't help. I do not want to turn to medication for this pain, because I do not believe it to be necessary.
Hopefully the ending of this week will be great! I am trying to take all of the negative energy that is put out there and spin it to be my positive energy for this Friday. May be then I can write a little more frequently, when I am sad I tend not to write too much because it reminds me of why I am feeling that way. So here is hoping to some great news! to more blogging, to more positivity!
There it is, I have not gone back to edit anything, I just wrote what was inside my head and heart. Next up for me today is...more gym time! Keep it classy!
Monday, April 4, 2011
WrestleMania 27
WrestleMania 27 has come and gone. I was able to watch the event this year as the host at my place. I had some invited guests (brother, nephews, cousins and friends) and we watched the 'Grand-daddy of them all' It was a good time as when we get together we are able to crack jokes and make fun of the matches, while appreciating the athleticism that the 'Superstars' show. I even decided to being down my World Heavy Weight Championship belt and have everyone pose with it...
Before the show started my brother, nephew and me played WWE All Stars on PS3. The game is fun to play but I found it a bit difficult to get the controls down. But we still played and had some fun. At 3:30 we tuned into the count down and started to grub on some food. Finally 4 pm...
Show starts, the Rock comes down does his opening, still entertaining and still electric. Wish he would come back at least on a part time basis and rejuvenate the shows. After the Rock got out of the ring the matches would begin.
Alberto Del Rio (challenger) vs. Edge (Champion)
I thought it was strange that this is how they would start off the PPV with a title match. Del Rio's personal ring announcer was there and he came out in his car and had Clay in his corner. Christian came in and then Edge made his entrance. A lot of back and forth in this match. Del Rio showed his ability to make impact moves out of nowhere. There was some altercations between Christian and Clay, which got the crowd on their feet. But in the ring, Del Rio was getting to work and then Edge hit it...Spear! Spear! Spear! and 3 seconds later it was over. After the match Edge and Christian destroyed Del Rio's car. Which honestly didn't make too much sense.
Cody Rhodes vs Captain Mysterio (Rey Mysterio)
Cody enters with that ridiculous mask that he has on to protect his face, then Rey comes out in a Captain America inspired ring gear and mask. I think this was a breakout performance for Cody as he was able to tell the story with Rey and make us believe that he is a contender. There were some spots where it seemed that Rey was out cold, but he kept on kicking out. The finish of the match could have been better, I don't think Cody should have used the knee brace to get the win, but hey, a win is a win is a win.
Big Show, Kane, Santino and Kofi Kingston vs the Corre
Short match, it took longer for them to get to the ring, then to actually have the match. Match ended with the Cobra and the Big Show knock out punch. Could have been a lot better.
Rany Orton vs CM Punk
I was looking forward to this match and it did not let me down. I can always count on CM Punk to deliver as a heel. His facial expressions and gestures were great. He was able to get the crowd to hate him even more. Orton has come a long way and he turned in a good performance as well. He fed off the energy of the crowd and got the Win with a RKO after Punk jumped off the top rope. Best spot in the match was when Orton was going to hit the RKO but Punk pushed him off. It was great timing on both parts. Great way to tell the story. Although I would have had the match later on the card.
Michael Cole w/ Jack Swagger vs The King Jerry Lawler- special ref. Stone Cold Steve Austin.
SCSA came down in a ATV and rode it around the ring. Lawler came in with his old wrestling gear, being that this was his 1st match at WM, he wanted to bring that out. The match was a let down. It was going to be hard for Lawler to get a decent match out of Cole, since he is not a wrestler. Lawler wins via submission, SCSA stuns Booker T (after the Spin-a-rooni) and they drink beer, lots of it. Then the anonymous Raw GM overturns the decision and winner by DQ is...Michael Cole... Lame
Undertaker vs HHH-no holds barred
Was the streak going to be over? would HHH be able to do what HBK couldn't? Well, the match started with the stare down and boom! It was on from there. Not as good as Undertake/HBK 1 & 2, but this was good. It was brutal, it looked like these two were hell bent on destroying each other. There were lots of close falls and even HHH put the Undertaker in the Tombstone pile driver. In the end, no grave or HHH could hold him down.. Undertaker is 19-0!
Next was Snooki-mania!!
John Morrison, Trish Stratus and Snooki (Brunette Mafia) Vs. Dolph Ziggler, and LayCool
Let's file this one under the 'why was this happening?' file. Trish like always put on a good show, she still has it. Morrison hit some high spots. But I will give Snooki some credit, she did hit her moves and did a good job and she got the pin on Michelle McCool. A very short match.
Main event:
John Cena (Challenger) vs The Miz (Champion)
The intros were different. I didn't fully see the Miz one, but it looked cool with a retrospect of his time on the 'Real World' and how he came up. It was done well and when added with Nas and his hit "Hate Me Now" it real was.. AWESOME!
Then Cena's turn. The choir and the religious build up was a bit too much for me. But I guess that is what SuperCena needed to feed his 'always there' 'hustle loyalty respect' ego. The match was not spectacular. I did expect a lot more from these two, they even had the match end on a double count out. Then the Rock came down and restarted the match, then...Boom! Rock Bottom on Cena. Miz gets the pin, retains the title and got a People's Elbow for his troubles.
Rock poses on the turnbuckle, show ends....Next up...Road to WrestleMania 28...
On paper the show was underwhelming. The event was above average, they tried to put on a good show. I guess that there was a true lack of build up and that does hurt the matches. There was too much time given to Lawler/Cole and I am sure they did not expect to carry the Undertaker out in a stretcher. I hope next year they give all of the matches a proper build up and that during this year the 'superstars' step up their game and make it the best show possible.
Before the show started my brother, nephew and me played WWE All Stars on PS3. The game is fun to play but I found it a bit difficult to get the controls down. But we still played and had some fun. At 3:30 we tuned into the count down and started to grub on some food. Finally 4 pm...
Show starts, the Rock comes down does his opening, still entertaining and still electric. Wish he would come back at least on a part time basis and rejuvenate the shows. After the Rock got out of the ring the matches would begin.
Alberto Del Rio (challenger) vs. Edge (Champion)
I thought it was strange that this is how they would start off the PPV with a title match. Del Rio's personal ring announcer was there and he came out in his car and had Clay in his corner. Christian came in and then Edge made his entrance. A lot of back and forth in this match. Del Rio showed his ability to make impact moves out of nowhere. There was some altercations between Christian and Clay, which got the crowd on their feet. But in the ring, Del Rio was getting to work and then Edge hit it...Spear! Spear! Spear! and 3 seconds later it was over. After the match Edge and Christian destroyed Del Rio's car. Which honestly didn't make too much sense.
Cody Rhodes vs Captain Mysterio (Rey Mysterio)
Cody enters with that ridiculous mask that he has on to protect his face, then Rey comes out in a Captain America inspired ring gear and mask. I think this was a breakout performance for Cody as he was able to tell the story with Rey and make us believe that he is a contender. There were some spots where it seemed that Rey was out cold, but he kept on kicking out. The finish of the match could have been better, I don't think Cody should have used the knee brace to get the win, but hey, a win is a win is a win.
Big Show, Kane, Santino and Kofi Kingston vs the Corre
Short match, it took longer for them to get to the ring, then to actually have the match. Match ended with the Cobra and the Big Show knock out punch. Could have been a lot better.
Rany Orton vs CM Punk
I was looking forward to this match and it did not let me down. I can always count on CM Punk to deliver as a heel. His facial expressions and gestures were great. He was able to get the crowd to hate him even more. Orton has come a long way and he turned in a good performance as well. He fed off the energy of the crowd and got the Win with a RKO after Punk jumped off the top rope. Best spot in the match was when Orton was going to hit the RKO but Punk pushed him off. It was great timing on both parts. Great way to tell the story. Although I would have had the match later on the card.
Michael Cole w/ Jack Swagger vs The King Jerry Lawler- special ref. Stone Cold Steve Austin.
SCSA came down in a ATV and rode it around the ring. Lawler came in with his old wrestling gear, being that this was his 1st match at WM, he wanted to bring that out. The match was a let down. It was going to be hard for Lawler to get a decent match out of Cole, since he is not a wrestler. Lawler wins via submission, SCSA stuns Booker T (after the Spin-a-rooni) and they drink beer, lots of it. Then the anonymous Raw GM overturns the decision and winner by DQ is...Michael Cole... Lame
Undertaker vs HHH-no holds barred
Was the streak going to be over? would HHH be able to do what HBK couldn't? Well, the match started with the stare down and boom! It was on from there. Not as good as Undertake/HBK 1 & 2, but this was good. It was brutal, it looked like these two were hell bent on destroying each other. There were lots of close falls and even HHH put the Undertaker in the Tombstone pile driver. In the end, no grave or HHH could hold him down.. Undertaker is 19-0!
Next was Snooki-mania!!
John Morrison, Trish Stratus and Snooki (Brunette Mafia) Vs. Dolph Ziggler, and LayCool
Let's file this one under the 'why was this happening?' file. Trish like always put on a good show, she still has it. Morrison hit some high spots. But I will give Snooki some credit, she did hit her moves and did a good job and she got the pin on Michelle McCool. A very short match.
Main event:
John Cena (Challenger) vs The Miz (Champion)
The intros were different. I didn't fully see the Miz one, but it looked cool with a retrospect of his time on the 'Real World' and how he came up. It was done well and when added with Nas and his hit "Hate Me Now" it real was.. AWESOME!
Then Cena's turn. The choir and the religious build up was a bit too much for me. But I guess that is what SuperCena needed to feed his 'always there' 'hustle loyalty respect' ego. The match was not spectacular. I did expect a lot more from these two, they even had the match end on a double count out. Then the Rock came down and restarted the match, then...Boom! Rock Bottom on Cena. Miz gets the pin, retains the title and got a People's Elbow for his troubles.
Rock poses on the turnbuckle, show ends....Next up...Road to WrestleMania 28...
On paper the show was underwhelming. The event was above average, they tried to put on a good show. I guess that there was a true lack of build up and that does hurt the matches. There was too much time given to Lawler/Cole and I am sure they did not expect to carry the Undertaker out in a stretcher. I hope next year they give all of the matches a proper build up and that during this year the 'superstars' step up their game and make it the best show possible.
Friday, March 25, 2011
100 Facts about me
I was having a bit of writers block, lacking the inspiration or the topic to write about. I saw something online that was called "100 facts about me" and I thought to myself, well that should be easy. So I started a list and let me tell you, it was a bit hard. As I got to the higher numbers I would find it harder to put a down a fact and then I would go back and change some out for better ones. It's an interesting thing to sit back and list only 100 facts that you would like people to know. Some people may be surprised my list, others will not be. But I would like to share it with you, while I work on my writers block issue:
1)My name is Edwin 2) I am a Taurus 3) Born in May 4) I married my wife in 2009 5) Youngest of 3 children 6) I have 3 parents (Mom, Dad and Step Dad) 7) One older sister 8) One Older Brother 9) One older step-sister 10) One Niece 11) 4 Nephews 12) I am my Nieces God Father 13) One Sister-in-law 14) 2 brothers-in-law 15)I met my wife in June of 2001 16)Proposed on 8/8/08 17)I was born in San Francisco 18) I was married in San Francisco 19) My favorite sport is Baseball 20) My favorite team is the World Champion San Francisco Giants 21) second favorite team The San Francisco 49ers 22)I am a big wrestling (WWE) fan 23) Favorite all time wrestler: Bret "Hitman" Hart 24) Current favorite wrestler: Chris Jericho 25) My favorite number is 25 26)Favorite color: Orange 27) Favorite number on a Baseball jersey: 21 28) Previously worked for Starbucks 29) Currently working for a non-profit 30) Went to Monroe, Riverside and Paul Revere elementary schools 31) Went to James Denmon middle school 32)Graduated from Jefferson High school c/o '99 33) Got an AA from CCSF 34) Got a BA from SFSU 35) my favorite movie is: Field of Dreams 36) my favorite cartoon movie is: Beauty and the Beast 37)My favorite artist is: Michal Jackson 38)My favorite album is: Thriller 39) Favorite Michael Jackson song: Off the Wall 40) Favorite song: Never can say goodbye by the Jackson 5 41) Favorite female artist: Shakira 42) enjoy country music 43) Have a Facebook account 44) can be followed on Twitter @EddieTheGiant25 45)Started this blog this year 46) My best friend is:Amilcar 47)I am superstitious during Baseball season 48) I wear my Black Giants jacket when they are at home 49) I wear my gray Giants jacket when they are on the road 50) I wear my Orange Giants jacket on Orange Fridays 51) The fact that I do that does not make me crazy! 52) I like to cook 53) I like to write 54) I enjoy simple things 55) I like being on time 56) I hate it when I am late 57)attended the last home game at Candlestick park 58) have seen games at Pacific Bell, SBC, AT&T park 59) Have seen the Giants play at the Oakland Coliseum 60) Have seen the Giants play in Olympic Stadium in Montreal 61) have visited Nicaragua 62) Visited New Orleans 62) Visited Disneyland 63) Visited Disney World 64) Visited New York City 65) Have been to the Baseball Hall Of Fame in Cooperstown 66) Have been to Las Vegas 67) I have seen Prince in concert 68) I have seen Janet Jackson in concert 69) I have seen Shakira in concert 70) I have seen Barry Manilow in concert 71) I used to play 2B, SS and 3B when I played Baseball 72) My favorite opera is 'Phantom of the Opera' 73) I have been to Hollywood 74)I would love to travel the world with my wife 75) I don't like coffee 76) I only keep in contact with 2 people I worked with from Starbucks 77)I have a fear of heights 78) Terrible at First Person Shooter games 79)I believe in God 80) I don't care if people don't like me 81) I am happy with myself 82) I am a Batman fan 83)My favorite player is Barry Bonds 84) I was a big Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle fan was I was younger 85)I like to sing 86) Love songs get my spirits up when I am down 87) I never trust a big butt and a smile 88) I love to listen to sports talk radio 89) I remember the '89 quake 90) I pray at least 3 times a day 91) I am looking forward to growing old with my wife 92)I am not afraid of getting older 93) I have never been to a strip club 94) I am a lover, not a fighter 95) I have a sensitive soul 96) when I get really mad my eyes begin to tear up 97) I have over 5,000 songs on my iPod 98) I look forward to having my own family with my wife and kids 99) I had a beard in San Francisco before it was the cool thing to do (i.e. Fear the Beard) 100) I have trouble sleeping.
Well there you have it. 100 facts about me. There are many more, but I will keep those with me and share that with my Family and Friends. Well, until next time....
1)My name is Edwin 2) I am a Taurus 3) Born in May 4) I married my wife in 2009 5) Youngest of 3 children 6) I have 3 parents (Mom, Dad and Step Dad) 7) One older sister 8) One Older Brother 9) One older step-sister 10) One Niece 11) 4 Nephews 12) I am my Nieces God Father 13) One Sister-in-law 14) 2 brothers-in-law 15)I met my wife in June of 2001 16)Proposed on 8/8/08 17)I was born in San Francisco 18) I was married in San Francisco 19) My favorite sport is Baseball 20) My favorite team is the World Champion San Francisco Giants 21) second favorite team The San Francisco 49ers 22)I am a big wrestling (WWE) fan 23) Favorite all time wrestler: Bret "Hitman" Hart 24) Current favorite wrestler: Chris Jericho 25) My favorite number is 25 26)Favorite color: Orange 27) Favorite number on a Baseball jersey: 21 28) Previously worked for Starbucks 29) Currently working for a non-profit 30) Went to Monroe, Riverside and Paul Revere elementary schools 31) Went to James Denmon middle school 32)Graduated from Jefferson High school c/o '99 33) Got an AA from CCSF 34) Got a BA from SFSU 35) my favorite movie is: Field of Dreams 36) my favorite cartoon movie is: Beauty and the Beast 37)My favorite artist is: Michal Jackson 38)My favorite album is: Thriller 39) Favorite Michael Jackson song: Off the Wall 40) Favorite song: Never can say goodbye by the Jackson 5 41) Favorite female artist: Shakira 42) enjoy country music 43) Have a Facebook account 44) can be followed on Twitter @EddieTheGiant25 45)Started this blog this year 46) My best friend is:Amilcar 47)I am superstitious during Baseball season 48) I wear my Black Giants jacket when they are at home 49) I wear my gray Giants jacket when they are on the road 50) I wear my Orange Giants jacket on Orange Fridays 51) The fact that I do that does not make me crazy! 52) I like to cook 53) I like to write 54) I enjoy simple things 55) I like being on time 56) I hate it when I am late 57)attended the last home game at Candlestick park 58) have seen games at Pacific Bell, SBC, AT&T park 59) Have seen the Giants play at the Oakland Coliseum 60) Have seen the Giants play in Olympic Stadium in Montreal 61) have visited Nicaragua 62) Visited New Orleans 62) Visited Disneyland 63) Visited Disney World 64) Visited New York City 65) Have been to the Baseball Hall Of Fame in Cooperstown 66) Have been to Las Vegas 67) I have seen Prince in concert 68) I have seen Janet Jackson in concert 69) I have seen Shakira in concert 70) I have seen Barry Manilow in concert 71) I used to play 2B, SS and 3B when I played Baseball 72) My favorite opera is 'Phantom of the Opera' 73) I have been to Hollywood 74)I would love to travel the world with my wife 75) I don't like coffee 76) I only keep in contact with 2 people I worked with from Starbucks 77)I have a fear of heights 78) Terrible at First Person Shooter games 79)I believe in God 80) I don't care if people don't like me 81) I am happy with myself 82) I am a Batman fan 83)My favorite player is Barry Bonds 84) I was a big Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle fan was I was younger 85)I like to sing 86) Love songs get my spirits up when I am down 87) I never trust a big butt and a smile 88) I love to listen to sports talk radio 89) I remember the '89 quake 90) I pray at least 3 times a day 91) I am looking forward to growing old with my wife 92)I am not afraid of getting older 93) I have never been to a strip club 94) I am a lover, not a fighter 95) I have a sensitive soul 96) when I get really mad my eyes begin to tear up 97) I have over 5,000 songs on my iPod 98) I look forward to having my own family with my wife and kids 99) I had a beard in San Francisco before it was the cool thing to do (i.e. Fear the Beard) 100) I have trouble sleeping.
Well there you have it. 100 facts about me. There are many more, but I will keep those with me and share that with my Family and Friends. Well, until next time....
Thursday, March 17, 2011
It's not just a game...
It is no secret that in the sports world, my one and only true love is Baseball. It always has been and it always will be. Baseball to me is the ultimate team game, that can also put one person in the spotlight. I know that some people out there say Baseball is "boring" "too long' "not as exciting as Football" But i disagree. To me, Baseball is a thinking mans game. A chess game if you will, with 25 players, 9 players on the field on defense ready to attack. The people who oppose Baseball may not fully understand it. To know Baseball you have got to embrace it, learn it, play it, live it, love it. Baseball is a commitment, it is paying attention to details and being aware of the game.
Baseball is a game of numbers, 162 games, 9 player, 9 innings, 27 outs, 90 feet between the bases, 60'-6" from the pitchers mound to home plate and 108 double stitches on a Baseball (That's 216 in total for you math wizards). There are numbers that are magical 24, 42, 56, 73, 762, .400 along with 2,632 and 4,256. If you do not recognize these numbers, you should look them up. For as long as I can remember I have been a San Francisco Giants fan, the Orange and Black that grace the uniform are the perfect combination. But I'll get more into that later.
To me Baseball is a simple game with sometimes complicated rules, sure not everyone knows what a "balk" is, or what exactly the "infield fly rule" is, but on the surface everyone knows what the basics are of Baseball. 6 outs in an inning (3 for each side), 9 innings in a regulation game, 27 outs for each side and as the song goes "it's 1, 2, 3 strikes, yer out! at the old ballgame" Baseball is a fair game, better then some life situations. For instance, think about the last time you sacrificed your turn for anything for anyone, chances are the outcome for you was negative. In Baseball, if you are successful with you sacrifice, it does not count against your batting average. But you are given credit for a job well done. Also think about a time when you failed 7 out of 10 times? what did people think of you then? what did you think of yourself? But in Baseball take those 3 times out of 10 that you were a success, that makes you a .300 hitter and a very good ball player.
What I also love about Baseball is the experience. When playing with family or friends, I love the smell of the glove as it comes out of hiding in your bag. The way it conforms itself to your hand like an old friend waiting to protect you. The smell of the grass, the sound the dirt makes when you step on it, the crack of the bat. The instincts that you come across while playing Baseball are amazing, that first step, taking the perfect angle, taking the long strides and stretching your body out to the fullest to catch that ball and all while dreaming of playing for a Major League team.
I said it before, my team is the San Francisco Giants, sorry, let me rephrase that, The World Series Champion San Francisco Giants. When I go down to AT&T Park, I like to get there early, I love to see the bright green grass, the infield dirt being watered down. The team stretching before the game. I love to hear the line ups, being able to cheer for the hometown nine and jeering the visitors. My experience at the ballpark is not complete without hearing the National Anthem.
I love this game, I love watching the players after the pitch is thrown, before the batter decides if he will swing, just to see how the defense reacts to the pitch selection. It fun to follow along and try to guess what will happen next: hit and run, bunt, steal, etc. Sure Baseball can break your heart, make you cry, make you wonder why you invest so much into it, need an example? 2002. (I still can't fully talk about it). But when Baseball leaves in the fall, you know that just like an old reliable friend every spring it will be back and you will have a hell of a summer with the boys on the diamond. Baseball creates heroes, goats and hall of famers. For me Baseball has created some of the best memories I have had. Above all, to really understand Baseball there are a few things you must do:
1) Learn how to keep score of a Baseball game
2) Learn how to appreciate the Ballpark Experience
3) Learn how to listen to the radio broadcasts
4) Support your team no matter what
5) Play the game, embrace the game, be the game
6) Never give up hope, there is no time limit on the game, stay until the final out
You do not have to be the best player out there, if you have the passion, desire and love of this game. It will love you back and you will have fun playing in the sandlots or parks where you go. I honestly do not know where I would be without Baseball. In life there are decisions that we make, when I was young I turned to Baseball instead of turning to bad influences. During good times and bad times Baseball has helped me through them. I will forever be grateful and I will forever love Baseball...
Baseball is a game of numbers, 162 games, 9 player, 9 innings, 27 outs, 90 feet between the bases, 60'-6" from the pitchers mound to home plate and 108 double stitches on a Baseball (That's 216 in total for you math wizards). There are numbers that are magical 24, 42, 56, 73, 762, .400 along with 2,632 and 4,256. If you do not recognize these numbers, you should look them up. For as long as I can remember I have been a San Francisco Giants fan, the Orange and Black that grace the uniform are the perfect combination. But I'll get more into that later.
To me Baseball is a simple game with sometimes complicated rules, sure not everyone knows what a "balk" is, or what exactly the "infield fly rule" is, but on the surface everyone knows what the basics are of Baseball. 6 outs in an inning (3 for each side), 9 innings in a regulation game, 27 outs for each side and as the song goes "it's 1, 2, 3 strikes, yer out! at the old ballgame" Baseball is a fair game, better then some life situations. For instance, think about the last time you sacrificed your turn for anything for anyone, chances are the outcome for you was negative. In Baseball, if you are successful with you sacrifice, it does not count against your batting average. But you are given credit for a job well done. Also think about a time when you failed 7 out of 10 times? what did people think of you then? what did you think of yourself? But in Baseball take those 3 times out of 10 that you were a success, that makes you a .300 hitter and a very good ball player.
What I also love about Baseball is the experience. When playing with family or friends, I love the smell of the glove as it comes out of hiding in your bag. The way it conforms itself to your hand like an old friend waiting to protect you. The smell of the grass, the sound the dirt makes when you step on it, the crack of the bat. The instincts that you come across while playing Baseball are amazing, that first step, taking the perfect angle, taking the long strides and stretching your body out to the fullest to catch that ball and all while dreaming of playing for a Major League team.
I said it before, my team is the San Francisco Giants, sorry, let me rephrase that, The World Series Champion San Francisco Giants. When I go down to AT&T Park, I like to get there early, I love to see the bright green grass, the infield dirt being watered down. The team stretching before the game. I love to hear the line ups, being able to cheer for the hometown nine and jeering the visitors. My experience at the ballpark is not complete without hearing the National Anthem.
I love this game, I love watching the players after the pitch is thrown, before the batter decides if he will swing, just to see how the defense reacts to the pitch selection. It fun to follow along and try to guess what will happen next: hit and run, bunt, steal, etc. Sure Baseball can break your heart, make you cry, make you wonder why you invest so much into it, need an example? 2002. (I still can't fully talk about it). But when Baseball leaves in the fall, you know that just like an old reliable friend every spring it will be back and you will have a hell of a summer with the boys on the diamond. Baseball creates heroes, goats and hall of famers. For me Baseball has created some of the best memories I have had. Above all, to really understand Baseball there are a few things you must do:
1) Learn how to keep score of a Baseball game
2) Learn how to appreciate the Ballpark Experience
3) Learn how to listen to the radio broadcasts
4) Support your team no matter what
5) Play the game, embrace the game, be the game
6) Never give up hope, there is no time limit on the game, stay until the final out
You do not have to be the best player out there, if you have the passion, desire and love of this game. It will love you back and you will have fun playing in the sandlots or parks where you go. I honestly do not know where I would be without Baseball. In life there are decisions that we make, when I was young I turned to Baseball instead of turning to bad influences. During good times and bad times Baseball has helped me through them. I will forever be grateful and I will forever love Baseball...
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Future endeavours
Today I had to do something that I have not had done in a long time. I had to make the decision to "future endeavour" an employee. For those of you reading (which probably is not a lot..yet) when I say "future endeavour" I mean being terminated. The expression comes from the WWE. When they release a superstar they say "we wish them the best in their future endeavours", hence forth the reason I use it. Anyway, back to the point.
Making the decision to "future endeavours" an employee is sometimes an easy one, but a lot of the times it could be a very difficult decision. I remember when I worked for Starbucks I had to "future endeavor" a few people. Some were no doubt about it, while others were really tough decisions. Let me explain.
Here is an example of what I mean when an employee is a no doubt about it "future endeavor":
Comes in late, does not care about the quality of their work, disrupts and disturbs others, basically doing everything they can to be the opposite of what a good employee is. Now sometimes, hiring managers can spot potential bad employees, but every once in a while some slip through, either because they are good interviewers or even if they get good references from friends and other employees. When an employee shows a bad attitude towards their supervisor or even talks bad about their organization, that is when the beginning signs of departure happen.
Now an example of a difficult "future endeavour":
This is when you know the employee has so much potential. Works hard, goes above an beyond what you ask of them. Always there to help out in a jam. But can never be on time. Breaking the smallest of rules and getting written up for them. Do you let them slide because they have a great work record? or treat them like everyone else who barely skates by? Then there is the employee that does the minimum, just to get by. Doesn't try to do more then the job description and expects to be praised. But you can't let them go because they follow the rules. You can't just terminate someone without just cause, if you do, you are asking for trouble.
The "future endeavour" today was an easy one. The employee knew that it was coming. It's better when that happens because blind siding can really be messy. So what is my point to this. Well, I guess it would be that everyone works to the best of their abilities. No, wait that's not it. People tend to work to their happiness level. You know the saying "If you love what you do, you'll never work a day on your life" That rarely happens to any of us. My suggestion... If you are not happy with the job you have, make the best of it, work hard, show initiative and make a name for yourself. At the end of the day when you send out your resume or application it is YOUR name that is going on that paper. You owe it to yourself to learn, do and be the best at whatever it is you do.
I will admit that I sometimes forget to do that, work is stressful. Sometimes you give your all and get nothing in return, you see others not pulling their weight and they get the praise. I get it, I've been there. But then I think about who I am cheating if I do not give my best effort, I am cheating myself, because I build myself and my work experience and I try to build me as a brand.
Making the decision to "future endeavours" an employee is sometimes an easy one, but a lot of the times it could be a very difficult decision. I remember when I worked for Starbucks I had to "future endeavor" a few people. Some were no doubt about it, while others were really tough decisions. Let me explain.
Here is an example of what I mean when an employee is a no doubt about it "future endeavor":
Comes in late, does not care about the quality of their work, disrupts and disturbs others, basically doing everything they can to be the opposite of what a good employee is. Now sometimes, hiring managers can spot potential bad employees, but every once in a while some slip through, either because they are good interviewers or even if they get good references from friends and other employees. When an employee shows a bad attitude towards their supervisor or even talks bad about their organization, that is when the beginning signs of departure happen.
Now an example of a difficult "future endeavour":
This is when you know the employee has so much potential. Works hard, goes above an beyond what you ask of them. Always there to help out in a jam. But can never be on time. Breaking the smallest of rules and getting written up for them. Do you let them slide because they have a great work record? or treat them like everyone else who barely skates by? Then there is the employee that does the minimum, just to get by. Doesn't try to do more then the job description and expects to be praised. But you can't let them go because they follow the rules. You can't just terminate someone without just cause, if you do, you are asking for trouble.
The "future endeavour" today was an easy one. The employee knew that it was coming. It's better when that happens because blind siding can really be messy. So what is my point to this. Well, I guess it would be that everyone works to the best of their abilities. No, wait that's not it. People tend to work to their happiness level. You know the saying "If you love what you do, you'll never work a day on your life" That rarely happens to any of us. My suggestion... If you are not happy with the job you have, make the best of it, work hard, show initiative and make a name for yourself. At the end of the day when you send out your resume or application it is YOUR name that is going on that paper. You owe it to yourself to learn, do and be the best at whatever it is you do.
I will admit that I sometimes forget to do that, work is stressful. Sometimes you give your all and get nothing in return, you see others not pulling their weight and they get the praise. I get it, I've been there. But then I think about who I am cheating if I do not give my best effort, I am cheating myself, because I build myself and my work experience and I try to build me as a brand.
Monday, March 14, 2011
A Decade of me...
In 54 days I will close out one chapter in my life and turn the page to the next. On May 6, 2011 at 11:59:59 pm, I will turn the page on my twenties. At 12:00:00 am on May 7, 2011 I will begin a new chapter, my thirties. An end of a decade, a lot has happened between May 7, 2001 and May 7, 2011. There are many things that I have been able to do that I have been and I am truly proud of and of course there have been many things that I have done and haven't done that I am not so proud of. Thinking about the last decade of my life I have some moments that I would like to share with you, I will not go too much into detail with them, since there will be so many of them.
2001- June 30-met my future wife at my friends house
- July 16- officially became boyfriend/girlfriend via 'Thriller'
- September 11 - Tragedy strikes the US as the World Trade Center are attacked.
- My first day of work at Starbucks Coffee
- November - Friendship lost and lives changed.
2002- October 11- My Grandfather passes away
- October- San Francisco Giants make it to the World Series, do not win.
2003- April-September- San Francisco Giants go wire to wire, eliminated in NLDS
-Went to Hawaii with my Mom and Step dad and Amilcar
2004- June-Went to New York City to go to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.
Visited Statue of Liberty, 9/11 memorial, empire state building and Yankee Stadium
-September 6- William Narvaez Jr is born, my brother becomes a Dad, I become an Uncle again
2005- Moved out
-Went to Disneyland for the 50th Anniversary and for my Mom's Birthday
2006- May 2006- I receive my BA from SFSU
2007- August 7- Barry Bonds becomes the all time HR king
- My nephew Cesar is born in Nicaragua
-Attended weddings: Elmira and Wilmer; Oscar and Monica
-Talked to an old friend after 6 years
2008- April 15- Santiago Narvaez is born, second child for my brother
- June- My nephew Charles graduates from Jefferson High School
- August 8- Proposed to Ulisa at the ACME chophouse at 24 Willie Mays Plaza
- October- Went to New Orleans for a conference with Starbucks
2009- June 25- Michael Jackson-King of Pop passes away
-June 26- Ulisa and I get married at City Hall in San Francisco
July- Honeymoon in Nicaragua to visit my Dad and in-laws
-Attended the wedding of my sister Karen and Danny
- Future endeavoured by Starbucks
-Began working at Arriba Juntos
-Ulisa finally gets me on Facebook
2010-June 14 My niece/Goddaughter Alexia turns 13.. a teenager now
-Amilcar gets engaged to Olga
September 19- Charles turns 20
November 1- The San Francisco Giants win the World Series in 5 games
-Went to Disneyland to see Captain EO
-Went to Universal Studios and saw Alejandro Sanz in concert
-spent Valentine's day in Las Vegas
2011- January- Started my blog
-After 10 years, Oscar, Amilcar and me go hang out, just the three of us.
-January 26 Amilcar turned 30
February 5 - Got a picture with the Commissioners (World Series) trophy!
February- Officially joined Twitter
March 5- Alina and Juan get married
March- Charles gets drafted to play with the San Francisco Grays
These are just a few things that I can remember off the top of my head. I know that there are much more. I even may have some of the dates or years wrong, but I do know that these things happened and I enjoyed being a part of them. Yes, I did mention that there were things that I did that I was not too proud of, but I am not going to mention them here. Remember, the good times outweigh the bad. 10 years worth of memories and growth. I can only look back on this time and learn from it, share the memories that were made from it and share my stories for many years to come.
What do the next 10 years have for me? A church wedding for sure, Honeymoon in Cancun, Children soon? (I hope) and maybe some more World Series titles. What I want is a new job with better pay (don't we all?) and to win the Lotto! but seriously, the next 10 years I wish are filled with love, family, friends, success and happiness.
2001- June 30-met my future wife at my friends house
- July 16- officially became boyfriend/girlfriend via 'Thriller'
- September 11 - Tragedy strikes the US as the World Trade Center are attacked.
- My first day of work at Starbucks Coffee
- November - Friendship lost and lives changed.
2002- October 11- My Grandfather passes away
- October- San Francisco Giants make it to the World Series, do not win.
2003- April-September- San Francisco Giants go wire to wire, eliminated in NLDS
-Went to Hawaii with my Mom and Step dad and Amilcar
2004- June-Went to New York City to go to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.
Visited Statue of Liberty, 9/11 memorial, empire state building and Yankee Stadium
-September 6- William Narvaez Jr is born, my brother becomes a Dad, I become an Uncle again
2005- Moved out
-Went to Disneyland for the 50th Anniversary and for my Mom's Birthday
2006- May 2006- I receive my BA from SFSU
2007- August 7- Barry Bonds becomes the all time HR king
- My nephew Cesar is born in Nicaragua
-Attended weddings: Elmira and Wilmer; Oscar and Monica
-Talked to an old friend after 6 years
2008- April 15- Santiago Narvaez is born, second child for my brother
- June- My nephew Charles graduates from Jefferson High School
- August 8- Proposed to Ulisa at the ACME chophouse at 24 Willie Mays Plaza
- October- Went to New Orleans for a conference with Starbucks
2009- June 25- Michael Jackson-King of Pop passes away
-June 26- Ulisa and I get married at City Hall in San Francisco
July- Honeymoon in Nicaragua to visit my Dad and in-laws
-Attended the wedding of my sister Karen and Danny
- Future endeavoured by Starbucks
-Began working at Arriba Juntos
-Ulisa finally gets me on Facebook
2010-June 14 My niece/Goddaughter Alexia turns 13.. a teenager now
-Amilcar gets engaged to Olga
September 19- Charles turns 20
November 1- The San Francisco Giants win the World Series in 5 games
-Went to Disneyland to see Captain EO
-Went to Universal Studios and saw Alejandro Sanz in concert
-spent Valentine's day in Las Vegas
2011- January- Started my blog
-After 10 years, Oscar, Amilcar and me go hang out, just the three of us.
-January 26 Amilcar turned 30
February 5 - Got a picture with the Commissioners (World Series) trophy!
February- Officially joined Twitter
March 5- Alina and Juan get married
March- Charles gets drafted to play with the San Francisco Grays
These are just a few things that I can remember off the top of my head. I know that there are much more. I even may have some of the dates or years wrong, but I do know that these things happened and I enjoyed being a part of them. Yes, I did mention that there were things that I did that I was not too proud of, but I am not going to mention them here. Remember, the good times outweigh the bad. 10 years worth of memories and growth. I can only look back on this time and learn from it, share the memories that were made from it and share my stories for many years to come.
What do the next 10 years have for me? A church wedding for sure, Honeymoon in Cancun, Children soon? (I hope) and maybe some more World Series titles. What I want is a new job with better pay (don't we all?) and to win the Lotto! but seriously, the next 10 years I wish are filled with love, family, friends, success and happiness.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
It is what it is...
I am a very lucky man, I have a great wife, family and friends. Today I was thinking about a lot of things that happened to family and friends and even to current and past co-workers and it made me think of someone. A great influence in my life, my Father. My Father is a great man, he was always there for me, he made sure that I had what was needed and in most cases made sure I got the things I wanted. It's funny, that I hear most people say that they could only appreciate what their Father did for them after they had children of their own. But I don't see it that way.
I remember my Father taking me with him to work in Larkspur, waking up early and going there to hang out and run around the area while he worked. I also remember going to Giants games with him, how we had a season ticket pack for the Giants last season at Candlestick and the first time we went to Pacific Bell Park. He took me to wrestling events, movies, my sports games, baseball games, football games and too many other things to mention. One of the things I remember was playing card games with him and having a best of seven series that I called the World Series. I have always had a great relationship with my Father, even when we are mad at each other we don't stay mad too long.
I try to call my Father everyday, sometimes he will call first. We joke around and although he is in Nicaragua it's like he is here. When he visits, I try to visit him everyday that I can. My Father has trouble walking and it does hurt me to see him this way. I pray every night that somehow he will get better and walk normally again.
So, the reason that I wanted to write this 1) to give a shout out to my awesome Father (Thanks Dad) and 2) to write about a little of what he did and to make a statement to "Father's". so here goes...
Only because you can have children does not make you a "Father"! being a "Father" is much more then being a sperm donor. It's more then talking about what you are going to do, making shirts, tattoos, buying signs, posting pictures on Facebook, Twitter or anything of that sort. Boasting about what you supposed to do as a "Father" needs a "Dislike" button! It's like people who want credit for showing up to work on time, it is what you are supposed to do. I hear so called "Father's" say "I love my daughter, I would do anything for her" and then are no where to be found when they baby needs milk, a car seat, clothes, to be changed or just to even play. It is disheartening to know that there are good people out in the world who struggle with fertility and cannot have their own children, who would gladly get the milk, buy the car seat, clothes, change the baby and to play with their children. And people take it for granted.
Have a positive male role model can do so much for a child. Boys can take the example that their "Father" gives them and expand on it to grow and be a better Man and "Father". Girls can take the example their "Father" give them and see that there are true Men out there who will treat her with dignity and respect.
For every time you don't follow through on promises, or miss out on their game, too busy to play, yell at them because you forget that they are children, treat them bad out of frustration it only builds resentment and pain. I thank God everyday that I did not have to go through that. The worst thing a guy can do is treat his children like they don't matter, you should thank God that you have a healthy child that you can help guide through this world and make that your priority. I think that it is sad when going to a club, bar, party, movie or even a ball game is more important then spending time with your children. Don't get me wrong, we all our own time to do what we have to do, but nothing should be more important then that quality time with your kids.
I wrote the following from a perspective of children who don't have that 'Father' in their lives
"I looked around and you were no longer there,
it made wonder if you even cared?
You tell me time and again that you'll be there,
but when I take that swing, I look back and still you're not there.
Actions speak louder then words, and what you do says a lot.
I am tired of hurting because you feel that I am not worth the drive.
Because of your selfishness we have this divide,
did you know that because of your actions I will develop a complex deep inside?
At least I will have a chance to do better for my kids, I won't lie to them like you did.
I know how it feels to have my heart broken, I would never want my kids to feel the way
you made me feel and then made me feel bad for it.
I wish you could feel the hurt I have when I see other kids playing with their Dad,
it's just sad that you never learned to be a 'Father', never attended to your son or daughter.
But there is one thing that I can thank you for, is for showing me what it's like to not be
a 'Father', so I can make sure that I am always there for my sons and daughters.
I remember my Father taking me with him to work in Larkspur, waking up early and going there to hang out and run around the area while he worked. I also remember going to Giants games with him, how we had a season ticket pack for the Giants last season at Candlestick and the first time we went to Pacific Bell Park. He took me to wrestling events, movies, my sports games, baseball games, football games and too many other things to mention. One of the things I remember was playing card games with him and having a best of seven series that I called the World Series. I have always had a great relationship with my Father, even when we are mad at each other we don't stay mad too long.
I try to call my Father everyday, sometimes he will call first. We joke around and although he is in Nicaragua it's like he is here. When he visits, I try to visit him everyday that I can. My Father has trouble walking and it does hurt me to see him this way. I pray every night that somehow he will get better and walk normally again.
So, the reason that I wanted to write this 1) to give a shout out to my awesome Father (Thanks Dad) and 2) to write about a little of what he did and to make a statement to "Father's". so here goes...
Only because you can have children does not make you a "Father"! being a "Father" is much more then being a sperm donor. It's more then talking about what you are going to do, making shirts, tattoos, buying signs, posting pictures on Facebook, Twitter or anything of that sort. Boasting about what you supposed to do as a "Father" needs a "Dislike" button! It's like people who want credit for showing up to work on time, it is what you are supposed to do. I hear so called "Father's" say "I love my daughter, I would do anything for her" and then are no where to be found when they baby needs milk, a car seat, clothes, to be changed or just to even play. It is disheartening to know that there are good people out in the world who struggle with fertility and cannot have their own children, who would gladly get the milk, buy the car seat, clothes, change the baby and to play with their children. And people take it for granted.
Have a positive male role model can do so much for a child. Boys can take the example that their "Father" gives them and expand on it to grow and be a better Man and "Father". Girls can take the example their "Father" give them and see that there are true Men out there who will treat her with dignity and respect.
For every time you don't follow through on promises, or miss out on their game, too busy to play, yell at them because you forget that they are children, treat them bad out of frustration it only builds resentment and pain. I thank God everyday that I did not have to go through that. The worst thing a guy can do is treat his children like they don't matter, you should thank God that you have a healthy child that you can help guide through this world and make that your priority. I think that it is sad when going to a club, bar, party, movie or even a ball game is more important then spending time with your children. Don't get me wrong, we all our own time to do what we have to do, but nothing should be more important then that quality time with your kids.
I wrote the following from a perspective of children who don't have that 'Father' in their lives
"I looked around and you were no longer there,
it made wonder if you even cared?
You tell me time and again that you'll be there,
but when I take that swing, I look back and still you're not there.
Actions speak louder then words, and what you do says a lot.
I am tired of hurting because you feel that I am not worth the drive.
Because of your selfishness we have this divide,
did you know that because of your actions I will develop a complex deep inside?
At least I will have a chance to do better for my kids, I won't lie to them like you did.
I know how it feels to have my heart broken, I would never want my kids to feel the way
you made me feel and then made me feel bad for it.
I wish you could feel the hurt I have when I see other kids playing with their Dad,
it's just sad that you never learned to be a 'Father', never attended to your son or daughter.
But there is one thing that I can thank you for, is for showing me what it's like to not be
a 'Father', so I can make sure that I am always there for my sons and daughters.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Decision: The act or process of deciding
In life we are all faced with decisions. Every decision we make can alter what we have in store for the future. Decisions like: Do I study hard, get good grades and gain in depth knowledge to help me for my future career? or Do I slack off or even drop out because I feel school is useless? Do I accept this job over that one? Do I move out on my own? Should I take the chance to ask her out? Should I finally grow up and be an adult?
In life there are moments where we must decide what is best for us, moments where we need to decide where we go and what we will do. Some decisions are great decisions. Like when you finally accept a job offer, asking for her hand in marriage, deciding to start a family. On the other hand there are times when we make bad decisions. When we make a bad decision, it does not only effect you, but it effects everyone around you. Bad decisions can bring on anger, sadness and tears.
Everyday I hear people talk about how they are looking for work to help support their family, that they would do anything and everything for their family and that they want to be there to help raise their family. But when it comes time to walk the walk, it turns out it was all talk.
When do we begin to take accountability for our actions, you can only be in the wrong place at the wrong time, so many times. When do you realize that maybe it is your decision making skills that have put you in this position.
I'll admit, I am to blame for a lot of things, I wish I had more courage and conviction to tell the people that I love that there is something wrong. We let things go on for too long without saying what needs to be said. I hear the things that going they are through, the actions and decisions they make and I remain quiet. I always figured it was none of my business and if they want my opinion, they would ask. Many of us, including myself do not really speak up because we know the person we want to say things to cannot handle it well. For me, I fear that I may lose the closeness that I have had with people, but slowly it seems like they are going out of their heads.
There is one thing I do know, that life moves on. When we make good decisions or bad decisions, nothing stops. We tend to blame others for our shortcomings, we build up walls of excuses to justify when we make bad choices. We almost expect every one's world to stop just for us.
The most I can do is hope that the people I love make the right choices, I only hope that one day we can all talk openly and listen to each other before it is too late. I know that I have my faults and that there are many things that people would love to tell me. I have heard suggestions from people and I try to change for the better, which I can only hope that others are trying to do that to.
The decisions we make today, be it good or bad, effect what happens tomorrow and beyond. If we are not realizing that the mistakes in judgement that we have are hurting the people we love and hurting yourself, then we all have a lot of work to do. I am not perfect and I do not claim to be (well, at least not in a serious conversation) I still need to grow and still need to make decisions that will effect my future, my wife and I need to make decisions that will shape our future for us and our children. The one decision I know that I can commit to is, to at least try to change my faults and make them into positives and to take in account how will this effect my future, my wife, my children, my family and friends.
In life there are moments where we must decide what is best for us, moments where we need to decide where we go and what we will do. Some decisions are great decisions. Like when you finally accept a job offer, asking for her hand in marriage, deciding to start a family. On the other hand there are times when we make bad decisions. When we make a bad decision, it does not only effect you, but it effects everyone around you. Bad decisions can bring on anger, sadness and tears.
Everyday I hear people talk about how they are looking for work to help support their family, that they would do anything and everything for their family and that they want to be there to help raise their family. But when it comes time to walk the walk, it turns out it was all talk.
When do we begin to take accountability for our actions, you can only be in the wrong place at the wrong time, so many times. When do you realize that maybe it is your decision making skills that have put you in this position.
I'll admit, I am to blame for a lot of things, I wish I had more courage and conviction to tell the people that I love that there is something wrong. We let things go on for too long without saying what needs to be said. I hear the things that going they are through, the actions and decisions they make and I remain quiet. I always figured it was none of my business and if they want my opinion, they would ask. Many of us, including myself do not really speak up because we know the person we want to say things to cannot handle it well. For me, I fear that I may lose the closeness that I have had with people, but slowly it seems like they are going out of their heads.
There is one thing I do know, that life moves on. When we make good decisions or bad decisions, nothing stops. We tend to blame others for our shortcomings, we build up walls of excuses to justify when we make bad choices. We almost expect every one's world to stop just for us.
The most I can do is hope that the people I love make the right choices, I only hope that one day we can all talk openly and listen to each other before it is too late. I know that I have my faults and that there are many things that people would love to tell me. I have heard suggestions from people and I try to change for the better, which I can only hope that others are trying to do that to.
The decisions we make today, be it good or bad, effect what happens tomorrow and beyond. If we are not realizing that the mistakes in judgement that we have are hurting the people we love and hurting yourself, then we all have a lot of work to do. I am not perfect and I do not claim to be (well, at least not in a serious conversation) I still need to grow and still need to make decisions that will effect my future, my wife and I need to make decisions that will shape our future for us and our children. The one decision I know that I can commit to is, to at least try to change my faults and make them into positives and to take in account how will this effect my future, my wife, my children, my family and friends.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Dedicated to all...
I wrote this today with a few people in mind. I realize that I have used a lot of hurtful words and said too many hurtful jokes to the people I love. I just wanted them to know that I am trying to be more sensitive to that fact that words do hurt, that words to remain with you and that resentment grows and because of this relationships can diminish. The worst thing I could experience is losing the people I love in life. So this one is for you, I wrote it thinking about you and how I only could imagine your perspective...If I ever did or said anything to hurt any of you I truly am sorry...I hope you have noticed that I have changed...
Title: Definition of Me...
"How could I let you make me feel so weak and insecure?
How could I let your words define who I am?
When you call me names it starts the cycle of pain.
I try to hide my emotions deep inside, but my biggest fear is one day my resentment towards you will arise.
I know you may say that you tease me out of "love",
that I should not take your words too "serious", because your words were said out of "fun"
But let me ask you a question, who was it "fun" for?
I spend days agonizing, nights crying and feeling alone.
With no one to turn to, my concerns are never heard.
Even if I told you how I felt, you would just mock me in return.
If you were in my shoes I know you would feel the same,
would you just "get over it"?
or would it continue to play over and over in your head.
If you were in my shoes I just know you would feel the same,
then maybe, just maybe you would understand why I am in pain.
I need to turn myself around, I know it's easier said then done.
But I need to proud of myself and who I have become.
I will not let you make me feel weak any longer,
I will not let you make me feel insecure,
your words will never define me anymore.
I am strong, intelligent and you can no loner hurt me.
I just need to realize that only I can define ME!"
-There it is, I hope you enjoyed it. Until next time....
Title: Definition of Me...
"How could I let you make me feel so weak and insecure?
How could I let your words define who I am?
When you call me names it starts the cycle of pain.
I try to hide my emotions deep inside, but my biggest fear is one day my resentment towards you will arise.
I know you may say that you tease me out of "love",
that I should not take your words too "serious", because your words were said out of "fun"
But let me ask you a question, who was it "fun" for?
I spend days agonizing, nights crying and feeling alone.
With no one to turn to, my concerns are never heard.
Even if I told you how I felt, you would just mock me in return.
If you were in my shoes I know you would feel the same,
would you just "get over it"?
or would it continue to play over and over in your head.
If you were in my shoes I just know you would feel the same,
then maybe, just maybe you would understand why I am in pain.
I need to turn myself around, I know it's easier said then done.
But I need to proud of myself and who I have become.
I will not let you make me feel weak any longer,
I will not let you make me feel insecure,
your words will never define me anymore.
I am strong, intelligent and you can no loner hurt me.
I just need to realize that only I can define ME!"
-There it is, I hope you enjoyed it. Until next time....
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