Thursday, November 29, 2007

Christmas Feeling

The Christmas movie for last night was "The Christmas List". I have seen this movie about five times already but if it plays I just watch it again. This is the movie where the kid wins a MUSTANG in a store raffle and he puts the perfume lady's name in his ticket so they get to share the car because obviously they won it. It's a pretty cool movie worth watching at least once.

And so I continue to warm up for Christmas, money is tight so I am aiming at goodwill. I just want a festive and Merry Christmas without the hassle and expense. There are so many other ways to enjoy Christmas than with presents. A good example is "mi chica" and I watching these Christmas movies together while enjoying each other's company.

Of course the kids will get their presents, while the kids at heart will get my love. Then there are those unfortunate kids that won't have a present if we don't pick the little paper Christmas tree hanging from our work's Christmas Tree. This year I get a 3-year old little girl.

The company's Christmas party is scheduled for Friday December 14, that should be a highlight. Our parties are usually pretty fancy and pretty fun, a good opportunity to dress up a bit and look good. lol

I am trying to stay away from the goodies associated with the holidays, there's never a shortage of candy, popcorn, peanut brittle, chocolate and a plethora of goodies that come in daily, I do not need the extra weight right now. I'll save my stomach for the good food. I am hoping for ham this year, we already had turkey.

Some of us celebrate Christmas and some celebrate the holidays, what ever that means. To me, when it comes to Christmas there is only one reason for the season.

What is yours?

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Christmas Movies

"Mi chica" and I love watching Christmas movies together. I for one can't get enough
of them. Christmas movies always carry a message of hope and goodwill. Some are just cute while others are real tear jerkers, there are old ones that have become classics and there are new ones that become instant classics.

I don't think I have a favorite, there are many that I look forward to seeing again and again and I know they will be repeated year after year, but it's fun when they show a new one too. This year "mi chica" and I have already watched about six of them so far, at least one of them was a new one.

I just think it's cool to watch something with possitive messages once in a while, these days everything revolves around violence, shooting, killing, etc. On the other hand Christmas movies leave you with that warm fuzzy feelin we all need.

Am I the only one that like these movies?

Tell me your three favorites, maybe I can catch them this year.

Friday, November 23, 2007

Thanksgiving


Typically Thanksgiving Day is spent at home, in the past my brother's in law from California have made the trek to Phoenix to celebrate with us but as the kids have grown and now have responsibilities such as work and such they couldn't make it this year.

Thanksgiving is the one day we celebrate with "mi chica's" side of the family. My side of the family is too big and they all get together anyway. This year it was only my sister in law and her family, my father in law and his wife, and my three kids with their families, that still was quite a few of us. My son only visited for little while because him and his wife scored some tickets to the football game at ASU. We got stuck with baby sitting duties until they came back late at night.

This year we've had some hurdles and we are still paying the price for past mistakes, but we are in the process of regrouping and planning a way out. For Thanksgiving we celebrated and gave thanks because we are a big happy family and because no matter what we have each other.

I am thankful for my wife of 26 years, for my three kids and six grand kids, and for having their love. I am thankful for my mom, whom we lovingly spend two nights out of our week so that she is not alone. I am thankful for my brother and sisters and all their better or worse halves as the case may be and to all my nephews and nieces and all their little kids.

I am thankful that we all have our health, maybe not as good as it once was but still good never the less. I am thankful that I have a house, and that I live in a nice city. I'm thankful that I have a job a like and that continues to provide for us.

In a time where there is so much crime and hate going on I am thankful that people that love and care for the same things surround me I do. Many people have forgotten about the real meaning of Thanksgiving Day. Even though I was born in Mexico where this day is not celebrated, our adoptive country does and we have embraced the holiday and it's meaning as if it was from our direct ancestors. We too are Pilgrims that left our country to come here looking for a better way of life.

We celebrated in family unity and enjoyed the feast that was lovingly cooked by my wife, my sister in law and, my daughters (OK, truthfully "mi chica" did most of the cooking) and vowed to maintain our family as close and united as we have done thus far.

And none of these things would be possible without the help and love of our dear God, whom we tend to neglect so easily sometimes.

I hope all of you had a Happy Thanksgiving Day and celebration.

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Bix


I needed a brake from blogging and I found something just as fun if not more. I am still posting pictures on my photo blog but it's my "Joe Cool's Blog" that is taking a little break.

You may have read on my profile that I like to do karaoke but somehow I don't get too many chances to go out to a karaoke place so I found the next best thing. Yes for the past month or so I have been doing karaoke on line. Yahoo joined forces with Bix and they have one of the most fun and exciting sites for us wannabe singers.

At Bix you can create a contest for just about anything, from modeling, to what's the best comic book or comic here, or what's the best car etc. etc. etc. If you can think it you can create it and post it. Well there is a section there at Bix for karaoke and that's where I have been this past month.

Just like in blogging you deal with the same people except at Bix nobody is hiding behind a log name even though we all have it but we all know each other by our real names, it's a super tight family where no one has a bad comment for another, you can sing real shitty and you'll still get awesome uplifting comments, and the reason is that we are all there not for fame and fortune but just for the love of singing, can't be any simpler than that.

Of course anyone can join but if you have a Yahoo account that would be your same password for Bix. Upon joining you can stat commenting on peoples singing or you can start singing yourself all you need is a microphone and you are set. There are people there that don't sing so they just do commenting on anything and everything and trust me it's very addicting, more than blogging has ever been. I have been pleasantly surprised that there are bloggers there too.

Almost immediately after you join you start getting fans, your fan base starts building pretty fast and of course you become fan to other participants. There are some that take this very seriously and have actually been chosen to perform at real venues for money and fame, but the vast majority, the people like me are just there for the fun.

Now here's the challenge, I have been blogging for about a year and a half and I can tell you that I have maybe 15 to 20 blogging friends, you all know who you are, at Bix in about a month I have about 65 friends and I am fan to 68 people. Many of them posting their hellos daily, it's unbelievable the level of friendliness you'll find there. So, I want to invite any of you that may want to hear me sing and laugh a little to come and look for me and visit you don't have to be a member to visit or vote, but you can only post comment or songs if you are a member.

So far every Bix member I have invited to read my blog has made an appearance, let's see if any of my blog friends show up there.

Here's the link to my page for anyone that may want to visit:

http://bix.yahoo.com/person/Joe%20Cool

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Leave Santa Alone

When is it going to end? Apparently Santas in Australia have been instructed not to say "ho, ho, ho" as it may offend women and it may frighten children. Instead they are supposed to say "ha, ha, ha". I mean really, I can see one of my grand kids being happy in Santas arms posing for his/her picture when suddenly Santa goes "ho, ho, ho" and the kids screams in fear and mom takes the kid away because she has just been offended.

So how is it that after years and years of "ho, ho, ho" being Santas jolly laugh all of a sudden is over powered by the slang word "ho" which is used by a minority for prostitute. How is a kid supposed to know that and be offended and or frightened. Pretty soon Santa will have to politically correct his jolly laugh from "ho, ho, ho" to "lady of the night, lady of the night, lady of the night" just too be politically correct and to satisfy those that have nothing to do other than to think of all this rubbish.

Santa Claus, Holiday Figure / Toy Deliverer

Born: ?
Birthplace: The North Pole
Best Known As: Jolly toy-delivering Christmas figure

Also known as: St. Nicholas; Kris Kringle; Father Christmas

Santa Claus is the mythical figure who delivers toys to children around the world each year on Christmas Eve. According to legend, Santa lives at the North Pole and oversees a toy workshop run by busy elves. Each December 24th, on the eve of the celebration of the birth of Jesus, Santa is said to fly around the world delivering his toys in a sled pulled by eight reindeer: Blitzen, Comet, Cupid, Dancer, Dasher, Donder (or Donner), Prancer, and Vixen. (A ninth reindeer with a shiny nose, Rudolph, was introduced in Gene Autry's 1949 country music hit "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.") The name Santa Claus was derived from Sinterklaas, the Dutch term for the ancient Christian figure of Saint Nicholas.


The Santa Claus myth was popularized in America by the 1823 poem "A Visit From Saint Nicholas," attributed to Clement Moore. The poem begins "Twas the night before Christmas"... In the early 1860s cartoonist Thomas Nast drew Santa as a round, bearded man in a red suit, an image that stuck... An 1897 editorial by Frank P. Church in the New York Sun coined the famous phrase "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus." Church was replying to a letter from a young reader, Virginia O'Hanlon, who asked if Santa Claus really existed... According to the Encarta encyclopedia, the nickname Kris Kringle evolved from the German words for Christ child, Christkindl.


Please, do me and the world a favor, leave Santa Claus alone and let him do his work in peace, and let him laugh any way he darn pleases.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

NASCAR Comes to Town

We did the NASCAR thing for the third year in a row and it was a blast. Weather was a little on the hot side but we survived it. It is so amazing to me to see so many people in one place, this event really attracts thousands and thousands of fans. There's something to do or something to see everywhere.

"Mi chica" and I got there at around noon, we are so lucky to only live about 15 minutes away from PIR (Phoenix International Raceway). We got there, parked and started walking towards the race track, it took us around two hours to finally make it to our seats. Why that long? Because there is so much to see and do on the way over.

The National Anthem was being sung, I don't know how they do this but they never miss, as the performer was saying "...and the home of the brave" the four air force jets flew right above the race track, perfect coordination.

For the first time we stayed until the very end, the race ended in a two lap shoot out, there was still plenty of light when we started walking towards the parking lot but as you can imagine when thousands of people try to leave a place at the same time it will get a little crazy. Actually it was very organized, except we kept being routed to the opposite direction and our projected 15 minute drive turned into an almost two hour drive, add to this that we almost run out of gas, yeap that added some excitement.

NASCAR is obviously not for everyone, but if you go you'll have a good time no matter what. Just make sure to take some ear plugs or headsets because the cars are very loud.

Thursday, November 08, 2007

More tidbits.

The last three days we have been having record temperatures for this time of year. We are still well above the 90s in what seems to be an eternal summer. I am sure some of you back east are starting to experience cold temperatures, rain, and maybe even snow, but not us, no sir we live in the desert and thus get desert temperatures.

Thanksgiving is only two weeks away if anybody can believe that. Where does time go? How is it that it keeps disappearing like this, maybe you people back east can use some of that snow to "freeze" time at least a little bit.

I got my tickets for NASCAR today, it's for Saturday's race "Arizona Travel 200". The seats if they are the same as last year should be pretty good. This will be my third time attending and I know it will be a nice time. There's so much to see and do and the day will go pretty fast. I hope I don't forget the ear plugs because those babies (the cars) are loud. I expect to take lots of pictures which I will be posting in my photo blog.

Talking about photo blog, all week long I have been posting pictures from Wanda of "Brushstrokes from the Heart" if you haven't been, stop by and take a look, they are cute pictures picked by me from her wonderful blog.

How about those Country Music Awards, I watched the whole thing, I couldn't believe how bad the stars were performing and was pretty disappointed until Carrie Underwood came out and show everyone there was she has consistently won so many awards. This American Idol alumni can sing, and will do so live. But then we all knew she could sing since that's what they do at American Idol. Congratulations to her, she rocks! or should I see she yodels?

"Mi chica" on the other hand thought the whole show sucked. I was pretty happy with the winners, at least Faith Hill didn't throw a fit because she lost (was she even there?), and Martina great as she is was just a tad outperformed by Carrie.

Has anybody heard of a site called Bix?

Until the next time, later days amigos.

Monday, November 05, 2007

Tidbits

This has to be crazy but when we are still having temperature record highs in the mid 90s and we are still wearing shorts and sandals and yet you are already seeing Christmas products all over the stores and some houses believe it or not already have their Christmas light up. It's just too crazy and I feel cheated because I see some of the beautiful pictures people post of autumn scenes which we don't get here in Phoenix. It's just not fair.

Well "mi chica" is desperately trying to catch up to me, she had yet another birthday on Saturday. She turned 29 again for like the the 17th time, ummmm, it must be nice to have the secret to the fountain of youth. She had to take her dad to Nogales and when she finally got home we just had an impromptu date to one of our favorite taco places in Phoenix. After that we picked up a coffee at the gas station and headed back home. Truth is I owe her... big time. I'll make it up somehow soon enough. You know I will, don't ya baby!


"Mi chica" Isn't she lovely?

So, what's in the agenda for the immediate future. Well, if my trucking company comes through again, we'll be going to PIR (Phoenix International Raceway) for NASCAR again. We went last year as it was a blast. PIR is only about 15 minutes away from us and the passes we get include admission to Corporate Village where we get to eat and drink as much as we want before the race starts.

If you never been to a NASCAR race you are in for a surprise. First there's a whole city that forms made completely of mobile homes. PIR is in the middle of nowhere but for the event a complete supermarket is supplied. Campers as far as the eye can see and happy people tailgating all over the place just for fun.

Inside, the cars are loud and fast. You can watch the races on TV but will never really appreciate how fast these guys and gals drive until you see them swoosh right in front of your eyes. If you are smart you'll take some sort of ear plugs, these engines really roar.


This is the car that for the second consecutive year has sponsored my way in to PIR and to Corporate Village.

On a separate note, don't forget to visit my photo blog "Arizona... But it's a dry heat! as this week I feature pictures taken by my guest blogger Wanda of "Brushstrokes From the Heart".

Thursday, November 01, 2007

Guest Blogger



FRIENDS


I have been blogging for almost a year and a half and I have made many friends during that time. I personally think you are all great and I love every one of you. You have given me support and you have welcomed me into your worlds too. I truly believe that blogging friends are a tight bunch and we all stick together.

One of my newest friends is actually one of my most loyal visitors, this wonderful friend found me and loyally visits me every single day, except of course when she is out visiting her family in Southern California.

Her name is Wanda, and she has one of the nicest and most inspiring blogs you'll ever read, her inspirational posts keep one going back to her blog day after day, trust me if you meet her you'll like her... you'll like her a lot.

Without her my photo blog would be so lonely, she has made it a point to visit it daily and she always leaves me a comment or two. For this particular reason next week starting on Monday the 5th through Friday the 9th I will be posting pictures taken by her. This is my way of thanking her and the least I can do.

Please visit my Arizona... But It's a dry heat! blog next week and meet this sweet blogger whom I am proud to have as a friend.


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