Joe Cool

What's On Your Reading List?

2012-02-01T23:10:00.001-08:00

So once again I have taken up on reading, this is something I always enjoy and do often and then I go on long reading hiatus and then I pick it up again. So at the beginning of the year I picked up "The Broker" by John Grisham.

I have been I Grisham fan since an ex co-worker of mine put it in my hands. That book was "The Firm". "The Broker" follows in the same line as most of his books and to me they are very entertaining and worth reading. Hollywood stopped adapting his books into movies but if you remember lots of his novels were made into movies. Most of the time the adaptations were pretty good and for the most part followed the book.

Yes, I think I will go and find the few books of his I haven't read because I know his are always very entertaining.

When I told my daughter that I had finished "The Broker" she said she had a couple of books that I might like and brought them to me. The one I am currently reading and that I will probably finish tonight is "Water For Elephants" by Sara Gruen.

I have a thing that if I ever watch a movie based on a book and I haven't read the book I will never pick it up. The beauty of reading is that of putting your spin on the images being painted by the writer. When I read I have mental pictures of how I think or interpret how the characters should look but if I watch the movie when I pick the book it makes me see the actors and thus limiting my imagination and I hate that. I watched, the movies "It", "The Green Mile", and "Misery" before reading the books, well needless to say I doubt I'll ever pick them up.

When I read "The Firm" my friend told me the movie was in the making and that Tom Cruise would play the main character. Well I am a Tom Cruise fan so I was fine with that but as I read the book I kept seeing Tom Cruise and not Mitch McDeere. With Water for Elephants I made the mistake to see the movie trailer on Youtube and now as I was reading about Jacob Jankowski I kept seeing "Cedric/Edward" in my mind, so basically I was connecting two other movies where Robert Pattinson started.

Well, having those images didn't stop me and I really liked the book. Catching a glimpse of the gypsy life those poor souls lived back then, not knowing what the next day would bring and yet sticking around if only for the food and the sense of belonging. If you haven't read the book pick it up, it is pretty good. Now I will make it a point to pick up the movie this weekend. I know movies in many cases don't even come close to the book but I will hope this one is not too bad. By the way, I love watching movies based on books that I read because I like to see how well they can adapt them into a two hour movie.

Next book is, "In The Name of Honor" by Richard North Patterson. Looks like it may be good, and hopefully I will find new writers that I can follow for a while.

Some of the writers that I have read many of their books are: Stephen King, Michael Crichton, Robin Cook, Dan Brown, John Grisham, and a few others.

Adventures in California

2012-01-25T17:34:00.001-08:00

On the road again! California bound, destination La Puente.
It is safe to say that I am getting way too familiar with I-10 between Avondale and La Puente. I know the gas stations, truck stops, towns, rest stops, casinos, freeways, etc. etc. I know that on marker 71 Maricopa county ends and La Paz county begins, and I know that from the top of the hill to my gas stop exit in Quartzite there are 11 miles.

"One's destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things." -- Henry Miller

Yes, I am getting too familiar with I-10 to the point where the five and a half hour drive is not that bad. Of course driving the 07 Pony is very enjoyable too. The seats are comfortable, the radio plays music straight from my DX memory card and won't repeat a song throughout the whole trip, the cruise control is very useful but I still prefer to have full control on the gas so I don't use it much, and sucker is pretty fast too.

The Post Office and The West Coast Vietnam Wall
In Chiriaco Summit, California
So this past trip was very nice, again I don't mind the five and a half hour drive to get there but I can tell you that the 45 minute mile and a half drive from Hacienda Blvd. to Azusa Blvd. in heavy Saturday traffic was extremely frustrating. No, I didn't see no accidents, traffic was just that bad and I have to ask myself how is it that the locals say "Oh this is not that bad". I understand that when you don't have a choice you kindda have to adapt and overcome but to anyone that is not used to that kind of traffic it is totally frustrating and upsetting.

We stroke out on finding a venue for the wedding but will continue to set appointments and I am confident that we will find something soon. We better!

Yahoo weather told me there would be rain over the weekend, well, Yahoo was right, however the rain came at night so Saturday and Sunday were actually very rain free. Monday was not as lucky as it rained most of the day. I left La Puente at noon and the rain followed me all the way to Palm Springs, at times it was raining so much that I could only see two cars ahead of me and my wipers were working on overtime. Then clear skies for about an hour and then rain again but not as hard all the way into Buckeye.

My honey and I posing for a picture in between dancing and singing.
I had a great time with my honey. We joined my sister at Casa Cabral on Friday night for some karaoke and lots of dancing. I was in a dancing mood. Karaoke rotation in Cali is a bit different than here in Phoenix. There you write your name, you get called and then if you don't write your name down again you are S.O.L. which defeats the term "rotation", so I got to sing a song and as I was saying good bye got a chance to sing a second song. Oh well!

Having good fun and dancing our little feet tired.
Well, each time I go there it's obviously a new adventure and I am sure there are more to follow during the next five months.

First Trip of the Year!

2012-01-17T20:57:00.001-08:00

Since I am not sure weather I'll leave for Cali on Thursday or Friday I am already busy at washing all the clothes, it's a ritual every time I go to put together complete sets of clothes that I will need for however many days I'll be there. It's sort of like making the anticipation a little more agonizing because many times I am completely packed and ready to go like two days in advance. Yeap, a glutton for punishment I guess but when you are by yourself you have to find something to do with your spare time which these days is pretty much all the time. He, he, he!

I am excited for this trip because although plans can change at any time and without previous notice we intend to go dancing and to karaoke, which means dress up clothes and dress shoes. And at this time I am still debating weather I want to drive or ride, there is a huge difference on how to pack depending on what I choose. But besides the fun part this trip is also destined for Abby and I to go and check out the different venues where we can hold our wedding reception and hopefully find a place and book it.

The more you invest in a marriage, the more valuable it becomes.
~Amy Grant

Yeap, the date is getting closer now, it is amazing how fast time has passed. The anticipation mounts and so does the stress, well not for me but for her, women tend to stress out a bit more than men in this area. lol Me, I am just confident that if it is God's will all will fall into place at the right time. So, I am truly hoping that much will be accomplished during this trip.

Love is a gift of one's inner most soul to another so both can be whole
~Tea Rose

One thing is for sure, I need to take up a collection to keep funding these trips because with a thirsty Mustang they are not cheap, so send your contributions in the name of love to my attention. lol Or not, money or not more than likely I'll still be traveling even if I have to be a stow away in a freight truck or something.

My Monday!

2012-01-16T21:46:00.001-08:00

Hanging with Mr. Cool.
First of all if my daughter wants to take me to the movies in the morning she has to call me at the very least with one hour of anticipation and not with just ten minutes, so when she said oh did I wake you I was like huh, well yeah! So no, I did not go with them to watch Beauty and the Beast in 3D.

Then she called again on her way back and asked if I was home. "Good hook us up with breakfast cause I am starving" she said, so I cooked this potatoes and egg brunch topped with my delicious home made red salsa and we had some really good tacos. At first the kids said they didn't want some, then they kept coming back for more thus reaffirming the fact that I am a great cook.

Mr. Diego's head was looking like a chia pet so I kidnapped him and kept him with me all day. We went to the Barber Shop were he received a nice buzz and then we came back to the house were we just kicked back and had a good time doing nothing.

Hanging with these little kid is one of the easiest things to do. He may be only eight but he totally acts and I think he truly believes he is much older than that. Never bugs, does not demand that we buy him things and if I do buy him things he always things about his three sisters first, he is full of kind words for everyone and basically just loves us unconditionally. Those that know him will agree with me that it is very easy to love him.

Later, we decided to watch a movie and Garfield was the movie he picked, so Garfield it was. Then my daughter said to come over to her house and to return her kid and she would pay me some tostadas as ransom. So after briefly weighing the options I was sitting in front of three tostadas and a very talkative Rapunzel.

No doubt God is good and he takes care of me through my family. Me, I just cherish the love that comes my way and pray to God that it doesn't ever end.

Family Get Together

2012-01-15T19:48:00.000-08:00

On a Sundy afternoon...

Michelle and Nichole looking pretty and I believe hungry.
There is nothing like spending a Sunday in the company of your kids and grand kids, this blog doesn't really have a theme but if you look in the archives you will see that it has always focus on family and family life, and yes, mine in particular. I am pleased to see that we always pull through the adversities life may throw at us and we do so with unity, hope, and love, and lots of it.

That be me and Nikki. The pizza was just a hold me down until the real food was ready

During these past two years my little family has experienced many changes and little by little we are adapting to them, for a little while there I felt like we were all heading in different directions as part of the changes as well as the growth of the individual families, at times we all seem to just plain struggle but we are all making it one way or another.

When adversity comes knocking I am always amazed to see how fast my kids round up together and unite and start helping one another, this gives me a great sense of pride and to some point of accomplishment. My son is going through a rough time in his life and again not only my daughters but also my two son's in law have been there for him and it is so nice to see how he is thanking each one of us just by showing us some very positive changes. Yes, in this case actions are louder than words.

Michelle and El Daddy~O.
So for three Sundays in a row we have gotten together as a family and just enjoy each other's company weather by cooking or watching the football games, but mostly cooing, but as I told them, next week you're all on your own because this kid here will be making his first trip of the year to good ol' crowded Southern California, specifically the La Puente area.

I rock when it comes to cooking, today I prepared this finger licking good gallinita pivil.

Thank You Ministers For All You Do!

2012-01-14T22:25:00.000-08:00

Begin at Home
Someone once said: “Charity begins at home.” So does evangelization. Husbands and wives should help each other to take their faith seriously and grow in it. Parents are the first to help their children open their minds and hearts to Jesus by teaching them how to pray and giving
them their first religion lessons. How important for the family to practice their faith, especially by participating in the Sunday Eucharist.

So we were invited to a dinner at 6:00 o'clock in Sharp Hall as a "Thank You" to those of us that are in one of the many ministries at St. Vincent de Paul. As we entered the hall we were all registered and were given a wrist band, I thought father McCaffrey was going to give us unlimited beer thus the wrist band but no, it was actually a numbered band that later would be used for a prize raffle. Well one can only wish, ja ja and I don't even drink.

Upon entering the hall I noticed how much work had been put into this event. All the tables and chairs were nicely covered with table cloth and matching chair covers. A nice center piece with two candles and disposable cups with a bottle of coke on each table. Also I noticed that our peers, all those that organized this event dressed the part as professional waiters. It was a very nice touch. Each person had their assigned tables and they did a fantastic job first at making sure we all had bottled water and later in serving us first the salad, then the main course. We were on our own to go get the dessert as they had a huge dessert table set up as well.

I wanted to take many pictures of the event but my camera's battery died after the third or fourth image. Well no problem I'll use my camcorder which also captures images, wrong, Mr. Joe Cool forgot to reload the memory card in the camcorder so, needless to say I could not take any more pictures.

Serve your parish as a Eucharistic minister, lector, choir member, altar server, usher, etc.

A musical group that plays and sings charismatic music played for our listening enjoyment then Father McCaffrey introduced our new priest and welcomed him into our parish. After an opening prayer our waiters began bringing the food. They did an awesome job and we all enjoyed the food.

Then the prize giving started, it was fun as it was done in a white elephant fashion. There were a little bit over 35 presents given away and those that were lucky to have their number called were having fun at stealing the gifts from those that were hiding theirs instead of raising it up.

Help Someone in Need
It is important to see Jesus in the poor. When faith is put into action by serving those in need, faith comes alive and has the power to attract others. Evangelizers don’t just write checks but reach out to the sick, the homebound, the troubled, the homeless, the hungry, and the imprisoned. When others see this “hands on” service to the poor, they will take the faith more seriously.

Once the presents were finished it was time to have them opened by the winners, that also took a little while as there were many, finally they were done and now it was time for a DJ to start playing the music. The tables would be moved out of the way so that those that desired to dance could do so.

As a last surprise which I did not wait for a mariachi came in to play some music and to entertain those that remained there. It was a fun time in celebration with our peers from all the other masses both English and Spanish and I don't think anybody that attended had a bad time.

Pray
Prayer is what drives evangelization. Prayer is something we can all do – any time, any place. We can pray for ourselves and for others. And certainly, almost everyone, even the most hardened unbeliever, appreciates prayers in time of need.

I am happy to report that in about two weeks I will be celebrating my second anniversary as a choir boy and I am loving it more and more.

Mi Familia

2012-01-08T18:48:00.000-08:00

Rejoice with your family in the beautiful land of life! ~Albert Einstein

It's a new year and it's also time to recharge our batteries, time to regroup and to rekindle those things that for one reason or another started slipping from us. As I mentioned in a previous post I started my year with those that matter most to me and the happy feeling I had that day just does not want to leave again. So... after mass I texted my kids and asked a simple question, "How about hot dogs at my place?".

Well, needless to say they accepted my offer and once again we had a fantastic time together. The weather here in Phoenix has been gorgeous so while the older kids played outside, and the guys watched the football game, Michelle, Nichole, and I got busy preparing the hot dogs. I had been craving hot dogs with all the trimmings, the only thing I didn't want on them this time was bacon. Well, I didn't hear the end of that one. lol

Families are like fudge - mostly sweet with a few nuts. ~Author Unknown

Not all have the opportunity to have the family all gathered in the same place at the same time, I am just lucky that way. So every time we are together I cherish the moment and just take it all in and then I take a nap. lol Yes I do, and my daughters certainly have plenty of pictures of me doing this.

You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them. ~Desmond Tutu

And thank you for a house full of people I love. Amen. ~Terri Guillemets

So, I for one love having these small family gatherings whenever possible, it is important to let each other know how much we care about one another, if we don't have each other to lean on then we have nothing. I am not making new year's resolutions, I never do but I do resolve to enjoy my family, all of it as much as I can.

Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one. ~Jane Howard

Prejudice.

2012-01-06T15:42:00.000-08:00

I refuse to feel threatened if I have not done anything wrong, I have that power in me and I am thankful for it but sometimes living in a state like Arizona many people that also have done nothing wrong do live in fear.

OK living here illegally does constitute doing something wrong under the law of the United States but you know that popular saying that says "All rules are meant to be broken" sort of come into place here. Because if by breaking this one rule you as a father or mother can provide better for your family by honestly working and earning your keep then you cannot be considered a burden but an asset.

You have to experience this to understand, and in my case I did. Yes I am now an American citizen but that was not always the case, and I do thank my parents for giving me and my sisters a better life here in the U.S. than if we would have stayed in Mexico. Yes, they broke man's law but worked hard to repair whatever harm they may have caused by doing this. The outcome is my whole family, a product of love and sacrifice are all good citizens of this country, of our state, and of our community and are in no way a burden to this country.

My story is repeated over and over throughout the entire country and the few that may actually be bad seeds are a very minimum percentage. So education is key, we must educate our children and teach them right from wrong, don't wait til they get the warped notion of this on the streets. I know my kids without a doubt love everybody regardless of what nationality or color they are.

We only get one life to live, so I hope those I love live it well. Then there are those that waste valuable time on things such as hate and prejudice. I have to wonder what kind of home environment these kids live in. What would posses two seemingly nice teenage girls to fire up a camcorder and record what seem minute after minute of uninterrupted hate, voicing out what obviously are their beliefs but shamelessly based on hate towards their fellow man.

I say shame on you parents that allow your kids to do this, and shame on you if your kids learned this by example and are not doing anything other than following in your footsteps.

If you want to know what prompted this post just watched the attached youtube link. I know some of you will be in pro of this and some in con and in the end God Bless America because we have freedom of speech and are entitled to our own opinions.

On a side note, us Mexicans do like burritos and God forbid if they are bean burritos we can be lethal if you know what I mean. ;-)

Thousand and One Nights

2012-01-04T18:58:00.000-08:00

I didn't even realize it until right now, after blog surfing and commenting for a while I came back to my own dashboard and then I noticed that yesterday's post was in fact my 1000th post. I guess this means that in the span of the past five plus years I have probably written 1000 little stories. Who would have thought I would keep this for this long? In June the blog will be six years old already, let's see how many more stories we can tell in the future.

I am surprised that Blogger is still very much strong, I think blogging took a downfall with the birth of Facebook but as far as I am concern as long as blogger is still alive so will my posts. Facebook and blogging to me are like night and day. Facebook is for a day to day but blogger is a progressive tale of my family life and is archived here for you to see.

So, today would be sort of the 1001 night for blogging, well kindda. What would you do if one night you come home and find out that you don't have keys to open it and the kids are cold and just plain want to go inside and attack their rooms and their beds? Well, that was the case on one particular night and me being the smart man that I am first searched to see if just by chance any of the window may have been left unlatched, which this particular night was not the case.

I don't even have a number for a locksmith so what is the next logical thing. Hummm I remember back in the other house I had to replace a kitchen window and after I took it out myself and took the frame to a glass shop the window was only around $8.00 dollars so there, that was my answer let's brake a kitchen window. So I took a deep breath and wacked it with a hammer, to my surprise it bounced back so another deep breath and bam success, or at least partial success. I didn't know windows in new houses were double paned.

Sooooo, one, two, three, and BAM! Second pane is now also broken, finally access to our house. Fast forward to the next day, and I am trying to figure out how to take the window out, strike one cause I could just not figure it out, all my manly family members gave it a try and strike two, no success, so I call a glass shop. After giving them the 411 on what I needed I found out that there was like a $75.00 fee for them just to go see it and measure it so Mr Smart a.k.a. as me said well have no fear I can measure it for you, so I did.

Well, based on what you are telling me double paned window with these dimentions the replacements will run you approximately $450.00 installation included. Ahh! Did you say $450.00 I think we need to hold on as I need to check my finances which at that time were hitting a regular low. Strike three!

People I knew all tried to figure out how to handle this on our our own but no luck.
Well people I am happy to report that some 3654 day after that insident, our phones now find the nearest locksmith, you can probably google how to brake into your own house, you can call a family member that has a key to your house and so on and you can also finally replace that darn broken window.

Yes, after ten years the window has finally been replaced and to my fiance locking the front door of the house will once again make sence. lol

This also proves that I live in a good neighbourhood. And that cardboard boxs make good interim window panes He, he, he!

Let It Unfold One Day at a Time

2012-01-03T22:23:00.000-08:00

Now what? Where do we go from here? Last year was definitely a good year, it was fun, it was exciting, I certainly broke the record for trips to California, I fell in love, I got engaged, reworked my life, got rid of most of my possessions, lost my job of 21 years, and enjoyed life as it is being thrown at me. To me there is no other way, those of you that have known me for a long time already know that I no longer take things for granted, but I do enjoy what it is granted to me, I am still a simple man with simple goals and no unnecessary expectations, I have had good teachers and mentors in my life that have shown me that expecting less and enjoying more is the key.

So now we are already into the new year and with it come some very needed life fine tuning. As I continue my quest towards a new beginning with the woman I love I have to keep archiving my past and setting that clean slate that from this day forth will be filled with new dreams, hopes, and memories. The archives will be closed but as always readily available.

So finding a new job is now top priority on the agenda, after being in management most of my working life I would now like to find a job where I don't have to be the one calling the shots, I already have enough white hair and even though I consider myself to be fairly stress free it does take it's toll when all the responsibilities ultimately fall on your shoulders and when things go wrong you have to be the one putting your face out there. I think for once I would just like to worry about me and that's it. Don't get me wrong, I am a team player but what I mean is I just want to worry about my performance and not everybody else's.

Finding the funds for the upcoming wedding is also going to be priority one, but that will be right after I find a job, so with that said I ask everyone of you out there to give me a holler if you hear of anything out there and also to say a prayer on my behalf so I don't get too many rejections. I know it's a tough world out there these days so I will go out there with that in mind and I do expect it to be a tough hunt with plenty of competition.

I started a "To Do" list last year, sort of a honey do list but longer, lol. I have done very well in achieving and completing the tasks in the list and I am finding out that I like having it. I named it "Jose's very big to do list" so you can just imagine, I cross one task on it but add a couple more. Having the list just keeps reminding me that I can't deviate from it or it will get insanely long.

I have found out these past two years that I am in fact a smart man and I don't need to live my life in survival mode, I have always been like my mom when it comes to money and it is not hard for me to live on a budget and to stay within the budget. Thankfully I know how to live very little so that is a big plus. I can handle stress easier than most and people tend to confuse this with me being nonchalant but trust me I am not. I have never been nor I intend to ever be a conformist, I just don't like to live above my means, been there done that and I don't want it thank you very much.

So, all I am saying is that I think I learned a lot last year and now I am totally ready for this 2012 to start unfolding, so wish me luck and I promise I will keep you all posted as the events unfold.

Those of you that have been a daily part of my life I thank you and ask you to please don't abandon me as I need all the good vibes you all can send my way. Love ya all.

The First Day Of 2012

2012-01-02T20:56:00.001-08:00

I love everybody even people I have not met in person but that have been in my everyday life. I know there are some people out there that don't really understand this concept but I have found some of the greatest friends I have in the Internet and I won't change them for nothing and I have no problem at all letting them now that I love them.

This being said I welcomed 2012 with the people I love and care the most. I spent the morning with the woman that I love the most, my fiance Abby and the woman probably loves me more than anyone in this whole wide world, my mom! And the sistersita that knows me better than anyone, the one that when I was little took care of me, and when I was young made sure my clothes were always looking sharp for the disco, and the one that always has an open ear to hear me out. Thanks sistersita for pulling me back to church, serving with you in our choir ministry has been a life saver.

After mass Abby and I came to the house to wait for those that have made my life very bright and very happy, yes I am talking about my three kids and my ten wonderful grand kids. Without a doubt God blessed me with the best kids a father can ever wish for and now these ten grand kids that bring sunshine and a lot of noise into my life. We were also very fortunate to have Abby's little girl and her boyfriend join us in a family carne asada. There is nothing better than to start the new year with those you love the most.

My two dysfunctional in laws whom I love as if they were my sons took over the grill and before we knew it we were all enjoying the carne asada. Abby had cooked this killer rice that one of my daughters dubbed as fantastic, some tasty beans, and a delicious pico de gallo, while I made two different kinds of salsas which as always the kids attacked right away with tortilla chips.

There was a little moment there when I didn't feel the love. They guys say there is a curse that if I watch my favorite team play they will lose so time and time again they ban me from the living room when The Cardinals are playing. I went out to take care of the meat on the grill but had to go inside to get a pan, I was in the kitchen for no more than 30 seconds when the opposing team scored a touchdown, the "Dad get out of here" screams came out from all of them almost in unison. Half an hour later they came out and said Dad you may now come back in, our team won. lol

What a fantastic family time we had together and I was so happy to be sharing this time with Abby.

Abby and I closed the day with a visit to my sister's house. There my nieces had us going with some of their stories, we drank coffee, talked, had fun, and laughed a lot. All in all it was a fantastic first day of the year.

Abby's New Ride!

2011-12-26T18:36:00.000-08:00

Well, it wasn't to be another Ford as I wanted but new cars even the little tini wini ones are a little too expensive and since we'll probably be stuck with a payment for at least another six years it had to be something more affordable so we could have a comfortable monthly payment. So, I started scanning the available stock at the autoplex here in my neck of the woods and one car in particular caught my eye, and of all brands a Chrysler.

A dark gray convertible with a decent amount of miles on the odometer and only a year old. I had to go drive this thing and also to see if the car was as nice in person as it was in the pictures. I was not disappointed, the car indeed looks super clean and when on it's very quiet.

So... at this point I called Abby to tell her I had found a very clean and nice looking car at the price range we were looking into and that although not new the car pretty much looks new. So, I sent her this image as a teaser and then gave her the dealership's Internet addy so she could see the rest of the pics.

I think it's safe to say she saw it and liked it immediately.
As exciting as buying a car can be it also can be an unpleasant experience. Haggling and negotiating for a lower price can always take it's toll, but at this dealership there is none of that, and this will be the fifth car that has been purchased by me or a relative at this dealership and in this particular case my fiance.

Looks very nice, front and back.
So the question is will the paperwork come back from California in time for them to release the car to me so I can take it to her. I will be leaving for Cali on Wednesday and I will wait until early afternoon, otherwise I will just drive my trusty steed and we will pick it up when we come back to Phoenix on Friday.

So, although anything can go south at the last minute I think this is pretty much a done deal.

Abby, congratulations on your new set of wheels, I know you will enjoy it very much.

Merry Christmas Familia!

2011-12-23T18:44:00.000-08:00

I did not get the chance this year to print and mail the Christmas cards so I am sending you this virtual one in hopes that it will reach all of you my family and friends in time for Christmas.

Wishing you
a very merry Christmas
and an new year
filled with happiness.

Christmas Decorating?

2011-12-21T20:35:00.000-08:00

And just like that Christmas is upon us, as every year I have been having fun watching Christmas movies although my list is a lot shorter this year since I no longer have the Hallmark channel and Lifetime basically sucked as they keep repeating the two or three movies they are showing.

Holiday Switch
A Christmas Proposal
Christmas in Paradise
The Holiday
Secret Santa
Dear Santa
An Accidental Christmas
Comfort and Joy
A Diva's Christmas Carol
Fred Claus
A Christmas Strike
Nothing Like the Holidays
The Road to Christmas
A Nanny for Christmas
Deck The Halls
Four Christmases

I used to get very substantial bonuses when I was working which year after year allowed me to buy a little something to almost every family member, but this year that changed so I called my magical daughter Michelle and gave her the task to take me shopping for Christmas presents for the kids and told her I was on a very tight budget. So armed with little money and a great attitude we left and when the girl at the register finished ringing all the items I was still left with three dollars to spare. Michelle you are magical indeed, thank you for the help.

As much as I love Christmas I normally don't do the lights on the house, I think the one year I did them they stayed up until that house was sold. However I love to see a Christmas tree and for one reason or another started getting Santas for Christmas and before I realized it I had a fairly big collections of Santa's. I grab a new Santa every chance I get. The best time to find things like this is right after Christmas as all the stores lower the prices to almost nothing. Oh, this year, my Santas also remain in a box in my garage.

Don't get me wrong, I am in a Christmas mood but I have been in a house deconstruction mode and so this year I am skipping all the decorating aspects of the season. But I am enjoying the religious side of it which should be the most important part to begin with.

As I write this I am listening to some of the Christmas Carols we will be singing during our Christmas Eve mass, and also going over the readings to be more prepared to listen to mass.

Since I am not decorating the house at least I made sure this post had plenty of lights.

Yes Make Mine a Ford Please!

2011-12-20T22:07:00.000-08:00

Ford, Fiesta
It actually looks like a nice little car to have, I bet it will be super economical on gas and sits four or five. Wow! But honest, does this look like guacamole green to you?

Fiesta: [fee-es-tuh; Sp. fyes-tah] (Party) -- A festival or a festive celebration.

It has to be fate, Abby's car has been screaming to be replaced and last week it kindda gave up and left her stranded at her own house. She needed to drive from Lancaster to La Puente to pick up her daughter and so she tried to rent a car from her cell phone but she was not successful, so I did it for her from Phoenix and according to the rental company she was to get a Chevrolet Aveo as I asked for a compact car.

She called me to let me know that she had picked up the car and that she actually liked it. What? She likes a Chevrolet? Well it turns out she did not get an Aveo but a 2011 Ford Fiesta and although it wasn't her favorite color (she called it guacamole green) she said it is a really nice little car and that now that we are on the marked for a new car she would be happy with something like that.

So, I think we will continue to be a Ford family and a little Ford will maybe join us pretty soon.

Hummmm we will see?

The Christmas Season

2011-12-19T21:35:00.000-08:00

Ever since I was a little kid in Mexico Christmas has been a special time for me, I can close my eyes and remember the "posadas" which start on December 16 and run through December 24. It is a tradition to celebrate a posada every night where many get together and reenact when Joseph and Mary got to Bethlehem and asked for a room at the inn and time and time again they were sent away. We do this by way of song, where the group outside represent Joseph and Mary and the group inside rempresent the village innkeepers.

Then we would brake anywhere from two to four pinatas which most of us spent all morning making from scratch. This part of the celebration fun. The pinatas were filled with some candy but mostly fruits such as oranges and sugar canes, as well as a bunch of peanuts. The pinatas were made out of a clay pot which we covered with layers and layers of glued newspapers. We were pretty creative and many different designs were made during the fourteen days.

Every house had a very elaborate Nativity set and going to church on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day was a must. Although we have our own Christmas carols we also have a Spanish version to most of the popular American Christmas Carols. Then believe it or not, firecrackers are a huge part of the celebration as well.

Although we knew of St. Nick most of us kids didn't expect presents, instead we would wait another 13 days and on January 6th we would write a letter to the three Wise Men and put it inside one of our shoes which then were left outside the room doors.

As we came here to the U.S. it wasn't hard to very quickly adopt the American way as we too got caught up with all the gift giving and the food and so on.

Christmas to me is just one happy holiday and the Christas season fills me with joy and peace.

So, I wish you all a Merry Christmas. Celebrate Jesus' birth with your loved ones as this is a wonderful time to spend with the family.

Lancaster Trip

2011-12-08T21:23:00.000-08:00

So I left at a good time, but not as early as I wanted, after gassing up and running some errands I finally hit the road. As I said to my son shortly after boarding his truck I was looking for the wire to pull and make the air horns work. I am so used to both my Mustangs being so low to the ground that even his regular not so tall Silverado felt sky high to me.

My son's Silverado, not too bad a truck, and yes it fit him just fine.
Not being to familiar with his truck I decided to take it easy on the speed and the gas, so I kept it at a legal speed. I had a soda before I left so right away my bladder started to talk to me and to ask me to stop. The first rest stop is by the Palo Verde nuclear plant, and right before I got there I notice a strange cloud formation that went up and then had a 90 degree angle bend. Upon further inspection I noticed it was some sort of a steam cloud coming out of the plant.

This cloud started on the ground and went up into the sky.
I stopped in Quartzite to fill the gas tank again but proceeded right away. When I got to Chirico Summit to get me a coffee I noticed a bunch of new things I could photograph that I had not seen before. These place never runs out of thing to take pictures off and before I knew it over half an hour had passed. That was my last stop before getting to Lancaster but it took me forever to get there. Nevertheless, the trip was very nice, the truck is really comfortable and my reliable phone's GPS app once again proved to be extremely reliable.

Scenes from Chiriaco Summit.
It was nice visiting Abby in her own turf as we had always met either at my sister's or her mom's in La Puente. We had a good time shopping late and falling asleep watching movies, as well as in cleaning out the storage rental unit she had. Mission accomplished in this trip to Lancaster.

An L.A. Adventure

2011-11-28T16:14:00.001-08:00

Of course being late to our appointment with Fr. Ruben was not a part of the plan but somehow it happened. I had it in my mind after reading the reminder on my phone that our meeting was at 10:00 so we left with what we thought was plenty of time to make it from La Puente to St. Vincent de Paul church in Los Angeles. Not only were we delayed from what to me is an insane amount of traffic but when we finally reached our destination there was no place to park as an episode of the show "The Closer" was being filmed both in the parking lot as well as in parts of the church.

So finally we parked a couple of blocks away in a metered one hour parking spot. We run, OK I run and pulled Abby but when we finally were let into the office the priest what opened the door for us said Father Ruben was gone to do some shopping for an out of town trip.

Why couldn't he wait for us after all we were only late for a few minutes. Oh well we will just have to postpone our meeting with him another week or two. So I pulled my phone to call him and then I realized my note said our meeting was at 9:00 am. Yeap, I totally got the times messed up. So I left him a message and then we went for breakfast.

So, we decided to hit Olvera Street. I had not been there in a very long time and I was surprised to see so many people walking there on a Tuesday morning. We definitely had a good time going in and out the different shops there and just basically window shopping. Of course I took advantage and as always went on a picture taking spree.

It was 2:00 pm when my phone rang. Father Ruben suggested that if we could get there by 2:30 he would see us. Now Calle Olvera is only about four miles from St. Vincent de Paul but in rush hour traffic it might as well be across the city. I however found holes here and there to maneuver and after parking two blocks away again and running towards the office we were only seven minutes late this time.

Success, paperwork was turned in and the meeting went well and that my friends are some of my L.A. adventures these days.

Scenes from La Placita Olvera in Los Angeles, California.

Engaged Encounter Weekend

2011-11-26T11:27:00.000-08:00

It was a fantastic week and weekend, how does time go so fast, why does it seem like you just blink an eye and it's gone. Yes that again was the case last week. I got to La Puente Wednesday afternoon and as usual I was hungry so my lil sis and I went to Las Marias to have some Mexican food, I had the steak and shrimp fajitas which were delicious and more than enough for me to also have lunch the following day.

Thursday I spent all morning in the house and everybody was at work then in the afternoon my sis cooked a tasty steak "bistec ala Mexicana", and at that time I was surprised by Abby whom showed up a day early as I was expecting for her to get to La Puente on Friday. Now that was a wonderful surprise indeed.

Abby and I.
This plate is at the entrance of the chappel.
Our "Engaged Encounter" retreat was over the weekend and it took place at St. Mary's Seminary in the beautiful city of Santa Barbara. I had purchased the snacks we had to take to share with the other couples but being a guy I never read through the lines when I got the instructions for the weekend and forgot we also had to take a pillow, additional covers, a robe (optional), and a towel. Abby also forgot to bring her make up case which she had ready and left it back at her house so the not reading the instructions through cost us an additional hundred bucks, ouch! I hope I learned my lesson.

So we left for Santa Barbara with plenty of time but being Friday afternoon I anticipated lots and lots of traffic all the way. Although I was right it really wasn't that bad, we had to be there at 7:15 pm and according to my car's stereo we got there just in time as finally after taking like 20 left and 10 right turns up the mountain we finally found the seminary, we knew the view must be breathtaking but we couldn't see nothing as it was pitch black going up the hill.

First thing I notice upon arriving is that there is only a couple of cars in the parking lot, so we got off and went to ask where the registration was taking place. The nice couple sitting there whom we later got to know as the senior presenter couple told me, they were not even set up yet because it was still too early. Too early? It is now 7:15 pm the time the instructions said to get there, and then it hits me, not only does it get dark very early right now but my car's stereo has Arizona time which is an hour ahead. Duh! So, from that moment on we were know as the first couple to get there.

Scenes from the beautiful St. Mary's Seminary.
After registration they started promptly at 8:00 pm with their welcome speech and they dove right into the topics. The presenters consisted of a senior couple whom had been married well over 50 years and a junior couple whom had been married about 17 years, and the priest whom I though was one of the coolest most easy to understand and well spoken man. He is currently the priest for the students at Santa Barbara State University so he is used to dealing with young couples which most of them were.

His name is John and at first I did not catch his last name, but on Saturday he wore his name tag and I noticed his last name is "Love". One of the many anecdotes he told us was that before he became a priest he used to date. He dated this girl for about six years and he shared to us that her name was Gay. He said she actually didn't mind the name combo but she said it would have been fun explaining that check book signature. When he broke the news to her that he would be becoming a priest she replied that she already knew it.

So more than once throughout the weekend I got a teary eye as the couples shared their own personal experiences with us, it is very easy to create a bond with these couples and with the priest and the bare their souls in front of us for the sake of making sure our own brand new relationships and commitments take off in the right direction. At the Engaged Encounter is not uncommon to see couples arguing amongst themselves as they explore their most intimate inner thoughts with an open mind.

Abby and I with Fr. John Love.
Abby and I with Joe and Kathie.
Abby and I with Jorge and Katie.
They fed us so much during this weekend that for a moment there I thought I wan on a cruise and not on a retreat. There's a Mexican family that takes care of all the housekeeping duties as well as all the cooking and let me tell you the food they came out with was the bomb.

We had a Sunday afternoon mass and then we received our certificates of completion which are required by the church were we will be getting married, then at around 3:30 pm were were sent home.

Sunday morning we woke up to the beauty of rain and fog and lot's of food.
The gardens there are just too beautiful and well taken care of.
Looking down the hill.
The front of the chappel.
By the chappel facing the ocean.
It was a wonderful weekend, I learned a lot from it and we, Abby and I intend to use what we learned on our daily lives.

The drive back to La Puente was even faster, the GPS app on my phone is now becoming one of the most used and trusted apps I have. I think it's amazing how these computers can think and re-think the routes to our destination with such accurateness.

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-25T17:31:00.000-08:00

So after a wonderful week in Los Angeles I finally left La Puente at around 10:00 pm and headed back to Phoenix, the idea of leaving late was to bypass all the traffic which I knew would be heave as the city to spend the holiday with their family. I still got caught in some slightly heavy traffic but it was flowing really good all the way.

It was almost 3:00 am when I got home and as always it felt good but truth be told it is harder and harder to leave Abby behind. Yes I know that will be fixed pretty soon but it just isn't happening soon enough.

After a short visit to my mom's I headed to the store to buy the stuff that we needed for our Thanksgiving feast, I was rushing as I thought they would be closing early but I should have known Walmart being Walmart would never close.

For the first time in many years we did not celebrate Thanksgiving in my house. Also my son and his family decided to branch out and celebrate on their own so this year Nikki and Loyiel were the hosts so I got ready and headed their way. I knew to get there early for the picture taking session which is always a fun time for sure.

Not only did we do our normal photo session but then my daughter Nikki decided to start practicing on her new found passion, painting faces, so she started with Michelle and then with Alexis and before she knew it the kids were taking a number to wait for their turn. Of course we took a bunch of pictures as all this happened and it turned out to be more fun than it was probably intended.

We did however had a wonderful time, complete with lots of delicious food, turkey and ham included and a plethora of side dishes. Two pumpkin and a peanut butter pies for desert completed the meal. Now the countdown to Christmas begins. Me, I am already in a Christmas mood, if you know me then you know that Christmas is my favorite time of the year and I don't mean it because of the commercialization of the holiday but for the reason of the season.

So, please allow me to start wishing you all a Merry Christmas!

Major Life Changes... Bring Them On

2011-11-08T19:50:00.000-08:00

OK so the question was "Now what?" For now it's been sort of a laid back take a much deserved break and enjoy your time off kinda time but realistically this cannot last for too long or hell will break lose. For those of you that don't know what I am talking about even though by now it's old news I lost my job back in September just a week after my 21st anniversary.

Two years ago the best company that I had ever worked for was sold and change was inevitable. It was the best ride I had as far as work is concerned and I will remember my time there as some of the best time spent anywhere. Can't say enough about a workplace that was always good to me, the owner showed compassion and understanding to all his employees and was always the first one to jump in in the time of need.

He also made sure that all of his employees would get a piece of his success in a financial way as a "Thank you guys" for caring so much about this company. It even felt good when out of the kindness of his heart he made some of us partners by giving us the money to buy into the company.

However private ownership and corporate are two different things and the changes began almost immediately, add to that a really bad economy, and it was not really a big surprise to see it coming. Job security had been a topic of daily conversation as many felt and probably still feel that it can happen to anyone at any time. Then again most of us know that absolutely no one is indispensable.

With an upcoming wedding a big event like losing your job changes everything and in my experience the best way to survive is to accept it, embrace the change, and work towards a new path for the future. I truly believe it will actually be fun and in recent self evaluations I found out we won't really need much to have a comfortable and enjoyable life so future bring it on!

Yes, the job search has begun, I am ready for what I imagine will be a long and tediuous job to fill your imformation in the never ending websites as it seems no company wants to hand applications the old fashion way. Now it's all done on line where most likely your chances are 1 in 1000 and yes the "Sorry to inform you that you are not the right candidate for our company" have began coming in but I already expected that and I don't really take this notices too hard... yet!

So just remember that if any of you out there hear about some job opening and wants to recommend me go right ahead, me and my bank account will thank you dearly if I get hired somewhere. lol

KOOL FM Car Show!

2011-11-02T13:40:00.000-07:00

The annual Cool FM carshow was once again held at Westgate City Walk in Glendale, Arizona. This is a fairly big show where you will find pretty much every kind and brand of cars on display. From the always popular Hot Rods to the not so shinny but always beautiful Rat Rods, low riders, trucks tall and low and even bikes not only the ones with shinny engines but also the ones with pedals.

For the second year in a row I find out about the show at the very last minute through my FaceBook friends, otherwise I would have taken my Pony to show. So, I got on my car and headed towards Westgate.

My friend's entries. Denver's rad Rat Rod and Don's awesome F100.
As soon as I got there I see this beauty and it's not even in the show. Wow!

One red hot Hot Rod.
Then I see four Caddies lining up in the registration line, let me tell you these Caddies were hot, however I could not get past this one as it was one beautiful sled.

Not only did I walk up and down the rows of cars but the sun was shining so much and I being the smart old dude that I am was only wearing a muscle shirt so as you may already have imagined I got a mega tan bordering on mega burn. Ouch! But even under those conditions my mission was clear, see as many cars as you can and just enjoy the show.

Michelle's 80s Party!

2011-11-01T00:47:00.000-07:00

Michelle and I.
The other day my daughter Michelle turned another year so without divulging her age I will just say that she is only two years away from the age that most women get stuck in for a looooooooong time.

To celebrate she threw an 80's kindda party complete with 80's music and we were all asked to get with the program by dressing up very 80's too. I went early 80's with a replica of one of my many outfits that I used to go to the disco, of course back then the beard and hair were brown and not mostly white. lol

My daughter Nikki and I.
Ha, ha, gag me with a spoon! Look at those outfits.
I think stores don't carry Aqua Net anymore, or do they? lol

Thee people had the wrong phones for the 80s.
All in all it was a nice fun party, everyone enjoyed it, we ate some good food, had a few drinks and to we even danced to the tune of some 80s music. Something about dancing to the Wii that kept every one laughing and going.

Wouldn't you know it, they had us dancing to some girly song.

At the end of the night fun was had by one and all. Happy birthday again Michelle! Oh wait your birth month is gone. lol

Haloween Party at the Duckworth's 2

2011-10-30T00:22:00.000-07:00

And so just to have a little fun and some good food we celebrated with a kid/fun filled Halloween party at my daughter's house. My little grandson Juanito kept crying at every turn as he hated one and all of the kids costumes. I swoop him up into my arms and told him that those were all his ugly cousin and he told me "I know who they are but they are still scary". It was just too cute and funny to watch, of course I black mailed him with first pick at the candy bucket and that was not scary for him at all. Ha, ha, I imagined that was more scary for his mom. Can you say sugar rush?

The came from everywhere, ghosts, ghouls, Spartans, wolves, lions, comic book heroes, fairy tale princesses, pirates, rock starts, movie characters, and even a mariachi gordo, they were all there. I swear if any of those kids can sleep tonight it will be a miracle, there were no tricks because we certainly put a bunch of treats on the table and the only goal they had in their mind was to sneak up to it grab candy after candy and run away before a parental unit caught them.

For food we had a very delicious chicken pozole, bean tostadas, potato salad, and the oh so good chips and salsa (my special batch), and to wash this all down sodas and the always popular H20. Kudos to one and all the great cooks and chefs that always contribute their culinary talents and make these feasts possible.

Being around the family is always a treat and this time it was sweeter as Alexis our little first year college girl was here from NAU in Flagstaff. Have a very safe and happy Halloween and remember we celebrate that good will always prevail over evil.

Morty, wolfy, and two beautiful princesses.

Freddy and I, then morty, princess Lena, and I terrified on both pictures. And Gene Simmons whom I kept calling Richard Simmons and Juan.

Booooo but they are all too scary, I know they are my cousins but they are ugly. lol
The battle of the monsters, who will prevail?
This Iron Man kept saying quack, quack, I wonder why?

Awesome make up, Jen's was done by my very talented daughter Nichole.

Dia de los Muertos

2011-10-28T23:20:00.000-07:00

Next Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday mark one of my favorite periods in the liturgical year. After the reminder of evil and our own mortality on Halloween and the glorious triumph of good over evil in the lives of those who have conformed themselves to Christ on All Saints Day, we arrive where we always must in this vale of tears: at solidarity with our fellow Christians—in this case, the faithful departed, who are gone from this life but not from our memory. ~ Scott P. Richert

When I was a kid it never failed, once a year we would go and visit my grandmother's grave, had it cleaned, fresh flowers were taken and placed in the flower pots, and we all prayed for her eternal rest. Yet as packed as the cemetery was on "Dia de los Muertos" it was always sort of an eerie feeling. If you,ve never seen a Mexican cemetery trust me it's nothing like the American ones which look like nice manicured parks and have neighborhoods built around them.

But at least once a year we paid respect to our dead by visiting. Then at our house my tia would build an altar where food offerings for our departed would be placed. At the mercados thousands of sugar skulls and coffins were sold which are used to decorate these altars.

It is a dying tradition just as many other traditions have been forgotten as we moved on and adapted to our American way of life and now celebrate Thanksgiving, which to my knowledge is not celebrated in Mexico instead.

A simple altar for some offerings.
But to some diehards such as ourselves certain traditions are always in our minds and in our own way we will still celebrate, so for this coming "Dia de los Muertos" (Day of the dead) we will get together and honor all of our dear departed by offering and eating some home made tamales, maybe some arroz con leche, water, and other essential goodies. It should be a nice celebration that will take us back to our roots and traditions.

This altar is a little bit more elaborate.
Dead should never mean forgotten, so this coming Tuesday take a moment to honor and remember those loved ones that have gone to that better place now.

*Images in this post borrowed from the Internet.

The Firehouse Open House

2011-10-09T18:01:00.000-07:00

Walking over to the Fire Station.
The little neighborhood event that we seem to catch year after year. Once a year the Avondale Fire Department has it's open house and it's ususally a blast. From the singing fire man to the free hot dogs and ice cream, kids and grownups enjoy this event.

The firestation is withing walking distance from my house so at around ten in the morning we headed that way, I made sure to take my appetite with me.

I'll have to of those and two of the other ones please. Thank you very much!

After food we went out and admired those always very clean fire trucks. Some more picture taking took place.

Something about those ladder trucks that just captivate me specially when they have the ladders extended in a way that it almost seem they can reach the sky.

Avondle is the home of PIR - Phoenix Internationl Raceway.

Then I asked if I could take Diego and Ducky to the movies and Junior asked which movie was I taking them to, I said "Real Steel" looked like a fun movie for them and it turned out he wanted to watch it too so we asked Loyiel if he wanted to join and he said yes. So we all headed to the 2:00 p.m. show.

The movie was violent in a non violent way, after all the fights were fought by machines and somehow it feels like it doesn't count. The kids and enjoyed it and so did I.

After the movie these two cute little robots were ready to rumble.

Now What?

2011-10-03T14:15:00.000-07:00

I was always told "God know best, and He know why He does it" so with that in mind I accept what comes my way weather it's good or bad, understanding that there needs to be a balance sometimes is not easy but it is definitely necessary.

I definitely think it's a blessing to wake up in the morning and to be able to thank Him for the chance of another day, for a chance to better yourself, for a chance to right your wrongs, for a change to struggle through the day, and just plain for the one more chance. It's up to us to accept the challenge and to go after it, He did his part, now we must do ours.

I find myself in one of those moments in time where faith, acceptance, and lots of planning is in my immediate future, and yet I feel so up to the challenge and I accept it with open arms. Looking back God has been nothing but good to me so I know that He has no intention of changing things for me, but once in a while He does mixes it up just to give us a wake up call and to remind us that life should never be a routine, and that each day is a new challenge and a new opportunity.

I am definitely excited and looking forward to see what He has in store for me, but I know He does not want me to sit and wait for it, but to go out and look for it. So with that in mind, I say future, here I come.

Just another random thought.

California... Again!

2011-09-28T20:11:00.000-07:00

Traveling in my car always makes me think of Disneyland. I wonder why?
Well as always the weekend came and went way much too fast, but that's OK I will be repeating this trip yet one more time in about three weeks. Both Abby and my lil sister had been here last week so I was going to skip this trip but expected unexpected changes in my life allowed me to just saddle up the pony sort of speak and one more time ride the highway.

This time I left Phoenix promptly at 11:30 a.m. which means nothing but daylight all the way which also translates into lots of stops along the way for picture taking, eating, resting, and just plain ol' relaxing and enjoying the trip. My travel mug was constantly being filled with Mountain Dew and the ice I put in it lasted almost all the way.

It was the middle of nowhere and it had many awesome things to photograph.

It was a nice enjoyable trip and I finally made it to La Puente. My sister had gone out prospecting for a job while Abby was at a stand still somewhere on the 14 and then the 5 highways so I had to kill some time and since I was hungry from the trip I went to eat pupusas at El Salvadoreno. I had been marking my places on facebook so my niece knew of my whereabouts. After eating I got on the car and decided to text my sister, then as I was about to leave I heard a noise on my passenger door and to my surprise my niece was standing there.

"Do you have room for an ice cream date?" She said, I got out of my car and got in hers and we drove to a Basking Robins for some needed desert. Most of you already know that I have a weakness for ice cream. Ummm yummy! This is when I realize that traffic in Hacienda Heights at 5:30 p.m. totally sucks. A mile stretch took us forever to cross and my niece winded up cheating by leaving the boulevard and going through some residential areas.

Ummm Ice cream... Yummy! Abducted by my niece.
The rest of the night was pretty much a routine of what we normally do on a Friday night. Karaoke at Casa Cabral in the City of Commerce to celebrate my sister's birthday. I think one too many Long Island Ice teas and tequila shots were served because my normally happy singers couldn't even follow a line in the songs.

Bottom line, at the end of the night we all agreed we had had a fantastic time even though I fell asleep in the car the last hour or two before turning in. Fun times!

ABC Wednesday -- Letter "K"

2011-09-27T21:15:00.000-07:00

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ABC Wednesday, today it's Letter "K"

And the only thing I can think of is:

KARAOKE!

My Birthday Party!

2011-09-21T23:25:00.000-07:00

Here I am with my mom and my four sisters. Too bad my brother couldn't make it.
For and impromptu birthday party all the people that matter the most were present with the exception of my brother whom happened to be busy. There was food galore, and the ranchero meat my sister brought was not even cooked. What? No carne asada? Yep, that's exactly what happened and yet we were all full from all the other dishes that materialized on that table.

I had not one but two cakes and everybody seemed to have a great time just eating and being around each other.

Two of my favorite people, my babe and my baby sister being cool enough to hang around this old fool and not only that but they love me, at least that's my story and I'm sticking to it. And did I mention they both came from California just to be with me during this my birthday weekend.

Food materialized rather quick and both the kitchen and dinning room tables were filled to capacity with hungry visitors.

Above my son posing with me and with Abby. Bottom picture is a favorite of mine as all my ten grandkids were there on Sunday and they are all in this picture.

My daughter Michelle and I.
My daughter Nikki with Abby and I. A happy birthday indeed.
Thanks to my lil sister for all the images which I very smoothly stole from her Facebook page.

ABC Wednesday -- Letter "J"

2011-09-21T00:27:00.000-07:00

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ABC Wednesday, today it's Letter "J"

z"Joe Cool"
Double "J" -- Juan and Jose.

Joe Cool's Birthday Weekend.

2011-09-20T00:16:00.001-07:00

Of course she was my date for the whole weekend but soon she will be my date for ever.
How do I even begin to tell you what an awesome birthday weekend I had. It pretty much started on Thursday night when my fiance and my little sister decided to surprise me by showing up a whole day in advance. Yes I knew they were coming but was expecting them by Friday night, so that was a heck of a pleasant surprise.

My California surprises, Abby and Chely. These two have been best friends since like forever.

Needless to say I called in to work on Friday as I took one of the many personal days that are available to me, because believe it or not and even with all those California trips I have managed to only take a small portion of my allotted personal and vacation time. Smart time management is the name of the game.

So, the next morning Abby and I had brunch at Village Inn in Avondale. I had been there before and was not impressed but this time the food was really good and so was the service which made it for a nice time while we were there. Next we went over to the furniture to just kindda see what they had and winded up buying a brand new set of mattresses. Trust me, if I already sleep a lot once these things make it to my house I will sleep all the time because they are totally and awesomely comfortable.

It was a non stop weekend. We went from shopping, to visiting my mom, to going out dancing, to singing at church, and then to coming to my sister's for an impromptu birthday party for me which was so much fun I want another one next week. All my kids were there as were my mom and sisters, my sister Adela was also there and that was a super treat as I hardly ever get to see her.

My niece Marya better known as Maryita and I.
Joe Cool feeling very loved right now.
Las cuatro mosqueteras, bueno en realidad no son mosqueteras pero si son cuatro.
Abby and I had better things to do than to pose for pictures.

As always the best part of the after party is the food, and this time Salsitas provided with some very delicious tacos. Ummm que ricos!

I didn't have my camera handy so I am going to rely on some images caught by my lil sister and I may add more as I can steal more from family members that mey post them on facebook. Yeah, I know what a cheater.

Tidbits

2011-09-15T09:35:00.000-07:00

Looking forward to this upcoming weekend I will be getting a very special visitor from California. *Wink, wink* Heard my lil sis is taggin' along as well so that right there is a double treat. What's not a treat is that on Sunday I will be turning 52 years old. Boo! Birthdays can slow down starting right now. Slow them down please! Lot's going on so I have no idea what we will accomplish but I think going out dancing is in the agenda. A treat for my visitors will be temperatures below 100 degrees, yey they should appreciate that very much.

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So, last Tuesday I was getting ready to go out to lunch when a trucking company rep showed up and then winded up staying here just talking for well over an hour. Since by the time he left it was too late for me to eat as I didn't want to spoil my appetite for my mom's home cooked meal I decided to go wash my car instead. It was very hot and very sunny so it seemed like an awesome idea since my car really needed to be washed. I came back to work in as if by magic within the next 30 minutes the sky went from clear and sunny to dark and cloudy. By the time I left it started to sprinkle, by the time I got to my mom's it had rained. Let's say my car went from dirty to clean to dirty in just 60 minutes.

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If you still haven't visited my new blog or subscribed to it now is a good time to do it. Just CLICK HERE and go do it, don't think about it, what are you waiting for? I have not been able to start taking pictures but I have been recycling some of my favorites and I have also added a few new ones. So, don't be shy and come and visit.

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Singing at mass tonight. Last Thursday our priest sorta came into the room where we practice and "asked" if we could sing today's mass. Ha, ha, his asking is more like see you guys (at least some of us) in mass next Thursday. So tonight we sing and then we also have our scheduled practice for Sunday's mass. I really enjoy singing with the choir even though my niece constantly tells me "Tio you have to sing louder".

ABC Wednesday -- Letter "I"

2011-09-14T08:45:00.000-07:00

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ABC Wednesday, today it's Letter "I"

"I" is for Image.
Interior.
I have always liked the interior of my fox bodied Mustang.
Idea, as in decorating idea.

Why I Hate Shopping

2011-09-10T18:31:00.001-07:00

Woke up and decided I would not waste my Saturday just sitting at home doing nada so after I enjoyed my morning coffee, surfed the net a little bit, and took a nice long shower I headed out on a 28 mile round trip of my neighbourhood.

First stop West Valley Vision where I bought this super expensive glasses that keep falling apart. I lost one of the little plastic nose thingies about three weeks ago and today I am finally getting it replaced... or not, it would have help for me to know that on Saturday they close at 12:30 p.m. so me getting there a little bit past 1:00 p.m. was not going to get this accomplished. Oh well, what the heck I will wait another week, luckily this glasses are so light that it doesn't imprint the metal into my nose. Well, on to stop number two, Target.

Target is where I usually get my underwear, socks, muscle shirts etc. So I go to the one in Litchfield since I am on that side of town anyway. What I like about Target stores is that they all have the same configuration and they are easy to navigate. Ha, they had a surprise in store for me. They are changing the whole store configuration so trying to find anything there was a challenge and a quest.

Still, I located the socks, briefs, and shirts I needed and then I asked out of curiosity where was the shoe department. Oh it's on the other side past the ladies clothes in front of the infant stuff. Oh thanks I will find them, ha! I did but they only had one style of the tennis shoes I like. So much for variety, before I get in a bad mood I am just going to pay for this and hit my next target (get it I said target but obviously not another Target store. My shopping experience there, well not so good today.

Well I need to clear my mind before I hit my next stop and I knew just the perfect way to do that. Go to a motorcycle dealership and browse, mount every bike I like, pretend I am rich enough to get me one of each and have them delivered to my garage. Yey, success... at least in the dreaming part. lol

Left the dealership and headed towards Old Avondale, I am getting hungry and there are a couple of restaurants there that I like, so I stopped a couple of times took some pictures, thought about the food, and then my fiance texts me and suggest that I have a hamburger because she has been craving one since Friday and won't eat in the name of having a fantastic figure (Which I am happy to attest, she does). So there are hamburgers and then there are Smash Burgers. Ummmm yummy!

I get to Smash Burger and opt for the very tasty Arizona Smashburger complete with abanero cheese, guacamole, jalapeno pepper slices and their very tasty fries. Hey, at least my eating experience was a nice one, thanks honey for suggesting it. Love ya! lol

On a full stomach now I can go walk the food off at Walmart, there is only one Walmart I like and that is the one by my house on Camelback Ave. I go in grab a cart start going isle by aisle picking only those items that I needed and that were on my mental list, 45 minutes later I am ready to leave but decide to go check out the clothes. I found some blue jeans I liked in my size and a nice polo shirt, how awesome now I have an outfit for church tomorrow... Wrong!

I was looking for a magazine so I parked my cart and went real quick to check the magazine rack, I walked an isle here and and isle there but couldn't find the darn rack so I said forget it let's just go home. So I headed to where I parked my cart with all the stuff I had picked except guess what? I found the cart parked exactly where I left it but all the stuff I was buying was gone, gone with the wind. I guess they wanted to hold my stuff for ransom but I was not going to pay so after wasting a little bit over an hour in the store I had to walk up empty handed. I was not about to go look for all the items again. My shopping experience there, not so good.

Well, I have an extra AMC theater movie ticked, why don't I go by myself and watch Saving Private Perez. So I check the times and basically find out that it doesn't matter what time it is, they do not have that movie in their movie roster. My movie watching experience, not so good.

So now I am here at home resting from going all over town sharing with you my faithful readers the why's I hate going shopping. Shopping and Jose mix... not so good. Hey at least I did grab the underwear which I almost left at Target since I was going to Walmart.

A Colonoscopy - The Sequel

2011-09-09T09:31:00.000-07:00

Two years and a few days give or take and I am due for another colonoscopy. Second time I am at a hospital and for the very same procedure. This time it was at a different hospital however it was the same doctor performing the deed.

Dr. Cruz, my specialist has proven to be very gentle and trustworthy; she always knows what to tell me before the procedure to put me at ease. Then the nurses come in and they hit you with the heavy stuff such as, “Do you have a living will”, and “Who do we contact in case of an emergency if something goes wrong”. So much for easing my mind to the upcoming event. Right?

It was a very fast and uneventful procedure; it took some juggling for me to get there and then to be picked up. My wonderful sister was nice enough to take me in; she dropped me in front of the building, wished me well, and then left. Well, it would have been nice if I would have directed her to the correct building. I was totally wrong and so I had to walk all the way to the other side of the campus to the correct building. Oops my bad, so I won’t blame her.

Went in and followed registration protocol and before I knew it I was in a big room full of people undressing myself and getting into this sexy green gown and matching hat. The socks they gave me were brown though and totally messed up my outfit. No I didn’t give them a strip tease show; they actually pulled the curtain on my act. L lol

Mr. Melo we are going to put this gas and inject you with this so that it --- r e l a x e s y o u and puts you to sleep, and blah blah blah zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Next thing I know I am opening my eyes in a big room and this nice nurse asks me if I am awake. No, ma’am I sleep with my eyes open. Dr Cruz then comes over and praises me for being such a trooper and for doing so good. Ummm wait, what in the heck did I do? Somebody, tell me!

“We called your daughter so you can be picked up” is what the nurse told me, except my daughter had a diaper changing crisis and picked me up almost an hour later. In the meantime I sat there in a wheel chair on a corner as they needed the space for other patients. Yes, for the first time in my life I was placed on “will call”.

Well, I finally made it home. My daughter got me some Chinese food, I ate some of it and pretty much slept for the rest of the day.

Disaster Zone

2011-09-08T21:44:00.000-07:00

So, I am in the middle of a demolition derby of sorts, no room has been left untouched, most of the good furniture is out and what remains will be tossed. Lots of packing too. The idea is to give this house a total makeover and that's exactly what I will accomplish.

I imagine it will take a while for it to get to where it needs to be in it's new form but it has to be done. Well at this point there's no turning back anyway, as I said most of my stuff found a new home already.

For sure it will receive a fresh coat or two of paint through the whole house, then a new carpet, and tile in the master bedroom will have to be installed. And then lots of finishing touches here and there. Sounds like a lot but heck I am not the one that will be performing these tasks, I leave those for the pros.

I really have no clue what the final look will be but I hope that in a not too distant future I will be able to share it with you. Tell you the truth I too am curious so I will probably show me first, then sll of you. lol

ABC Wednesday -- Letter "H"

2011-09-06T20:32:00.000-07:00

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ABC Wednesday, today it's Letter "H"

Her on a Harley.
Ummm what better way to show letter "H" than wit a suculent hamburger.

Ummmm a hamburger!
Image captured by my sister Elena.
Hostel.
Image captured by Abby.

Farewell Father Prosper

2011-09-04T19:54:00.000-07:00

My mom, my niece Marya, Father Prosper, and my sister Elena.
Today was an emotional day at church, there are those that in a short period of time steal your heart and that was the case of Father Prosper from Congo whom was here for about two months visiting.

Alfred, Father Prosper, and I.
Fr. Prosper has many gifts and one of them is that he speaks about six languages as he has traveled, studied, and lived in many parts of the world including The Vatican. Today during his farewell speech he stated that he came a poor man but that he goes back to his country with a new found wealth, the one of a new language as he got to practice his Spanish during these two months.

Members of the "Caminando Con Cristo" choir posing with Father Prosper.
I noticed he was getting better and better as the days went by. My niece invited him to sing a song with her during the meditation after communion today and our main guitar player did not show up so they did the best next thing which is to sing it a capela.

It was an emotional moment as we all know my niece can sing but my admiration went to Fr. Prosper because in one short week he learned this song by Juan Luis Guerra and did it justice.

CLICK HERE TO HEAR THE SONG

A Date With a Duck!

2011-09-03T22:00:00.000-07:00

So my daughter Nichole calls me Friday night to ask me if I would be busy Saturday afternoon. Saturdays I usually don't do much so I said no. She then asked me if I wanted to have a date with a certain "Duck" and of course I said yes.

She promised me he was very excited although he didn't show it much when they brought him over but I quickly learned he was indeed excited, it's just that he is one shy duck.

I figure dinner and a movie would be fun so we went to Johnny Rockets for dinner where he ordered some chicken tenders with fries and I a Philly Cheese with chili fries. This place was of course was his choice so I couldn't say no.

After dinner we proceeded to the theater were we watched the movie Spy Kids - All The Time In The World. Cut movie with pretty good action and totally suitable for kids. Both him and I enjoyed it very much.

When we came out of the theater it was already dark so it was funny to see his expression when he asked, "It's already night?" all he knew is that when we went in there was still planty of daylight.

He told me his going to bed time was at 8:00 o'clock but I told him he could stay up until nine, but by 8:30 he was out.

We had a great time and he insiste he would like to do this again... and he said let's do it soon. :-)

There were ballons all over Johnny Rockets and Ducky asked for one. We left it in the car and after the movie as we got home Ducky said I am sending this ballon to grandma and he let it go. *Kid has a heart of gold* :'(

ASU vs. UC Davis

2011-09-02T17:29:00.001-07:00

Dorms.
Due to the economy it had been a while since one of my trucking company reps had asked me to join him in a dinner and a football game but that's exactly what happened Thursday. On Wednesday I received the call and was asked if I was interested, of course I said yes since I had no plans to travel to California this weekend.

So I was to meet him immediately after 4:00pm at Z-Tejas in Tempe. I expected traffic to get there but got none so even though I left at almost 4:20 by 4:40 I was there, good thing he too was there already otherwise I would have had to wait.

We had a couple of drinks, don't know the name of the drink but it involved blue Gatorade and Patron tequila. Two of those and I was a happy camper and ready to see ASU whip UC Davis's butt. Game was to start at 7:00pm so we stayed at Z-Tejas drinking an eating until it was time to walk over to the stadium.

The whole stadium is always a sea of yellow.
The spread point was 35 points, by half time we were like almost 30 points. We walked out a little bit before the fourth quarter started and that's when UC Davis scored two touchdowns. Not being a sports fun I love it when I go and watch a game and the home team wins.

There were many of these as the Devils scored over 40 points.
As for the outings, they are usually totally awesome. I like being wined and dined.

Stadium up ahead!
Just a small amount of all the tickets to the different outings over the years.

John Adams Jr. High

2011-09-01T09:39:00.000-07:00

Taking a look at the halls inside those doors.
It was a fun outing, not only did Abby and I went to visit the priest at St. Vincent de Paul in Los Angeles but afterwards we decided to take a trip down memory lane as well. Many of you don't know this but I have known Abby since she was like 14 years old and even though at different times we both went to the same Jr. High School in Los Angeles.

John Adams Jr. High School.
John Adams Jr. High School now John Adams Middle School was the first school I attended, starting in the 8th grade I only did two years there then it was off to High School.

In my days this area used to be all open, now it's filled with tables and even flowers.
It was a totally new world to me. I didn't speak a word of English, fresh from Mexico I was stuck in a school that required no uniforms (In Mexico uniforms are a must), the student population was 90% black, 9.9% Mexican, and .01% white. lol At least it kindda felt that way.

There was a tunnel to cross from the main campus to the PE and shops area and believe me, if you were Mexican you found out really quick to NEVER cross the tunnel by yourself or you would get an ass whooping. Fun times!

Right behind the tree across the street is the tunnel exit and beyond that the PE area. The building in the back housed the shops and the boys showers.

I remember one day we came in to movie cameras and stuff. Later on we found out our school was used to film a part of an episode of "Barretta". Wow, the memories. In any case those were two years I will always remember. Three hours of my everyday were destined for my ESL classes. I remember thinking (In Spanish by the way) why are they teaching me English? This is LA, Spanish is the main language.

A mural. "Don't drink and drive". Hopefully middle school kids are not driving yet.

Any way, it is always nice to go to those places you were a part of when young and of course we took some pictures too.

ABC Wednesday -- "G"

2011-08-30T20:41:00.000-07:00

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ABC Wednesday, today it's Letter "G"

The letter "G" is best applied when used with the following words: Grandma, great grandma, goddaughter, and granddaughters.

Here Grandma and Great Grandma share a shot with the little princess.
My Goddaughter and I posing during her farewell party.
My two youngest granddaughters.

A Blah Kind Of Weekend.

2011-08-29T15:17:00.001-07:00

My weekend wasn't really the greatest. I fell into a "I don't want to do anything" mode and I just could not shake it. I winded up sleeping all day Saturday and only got up on Sunday to attend mass and have dinner at my sister's. Once that was done it was back home to bed. Needless other than going to mass and dinner it was totally a wasted weekend. So the fairly big "to do" list that I had for Saturday will just have to join the the list for next weekend.

This morning I woke up on time and left the house early only to find the entrance of the freeway backed up. I thought here I go again I am going to be late for work so I started to settle into the freeway traffic when I noticed the source of the slow down. This guy that takes the same freeway entrance and exit and rides a semi-custom bike was down. Now I don't know if he was hit, if he hit, or if he just lost control of the bike. I just hate to see riders down as it is a constant reminder of how vulnerable we are while riding.

I could see he was moving and there were people there already giving him aid. I imagine the ambulance had also been called. So I just silently extended a prayer for him to be OK and kept going. I have seen this type of scene before and I have to shake it real fast and not let it get to me, riding is still my passion and would not dream of giving it up, at least not yet.

One of those things in my "to do" list is to take the bike for service but since I have to drop it off and leave it there I would need a ride back home and then back to the dealership when ready. These days those rides are scarce as everybody seems to be extremely busy.

Well, hopefuly next weekend I will figure it out one way or the other. For now I just hope my week goes fine.

And I wish for yours to go fine as well.

Peace!

Joe Cool's... Eye and lens.

2011-08-26T21:39:00.000-07:00

OK now that I have a fully functional camera there is no more excuse not to keep capturing images on a daily basis. With this in mind today I made an executive decision, first my "Arizona... But It's a Dry Heat!" Photo blog will no longer get new images. Instead today I started a totally new photo blog which I entitled "Joe Cool's... Eye and lens".

With me going all over the place these days I decided that I will post random images of things I see. If they attract my eye and are captured by my camera's lens I will publish them here. No theme, no rhyme, no reason, just random images and that's it.

So, please come and visit the new blog and please become a follower, I want to make sure it picks up and takes off fast but for that I need your help and support. A picture a day is all I will do and I hope you all like it.

Don't be shy and let me know in the comment section what kind of shots you would like to see, that will make it fun for me to go and hunt for them, or to at least try. There is going to be a little bit of everything so stay tuned and keep coming back.

Las Vegas

2011-08-24T23:41:00.000-07:00

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas and obviously on Facebook too. Apparently the money I took to Vegas also stayed in Vegas. It's a good thing that the Casinos were not the first thing on our list, well except maybe on my mom's list but she adapted. Upon waking up and having coffee with cheese cake we all headed down to the swimming pool, the weather was a little on the hot side but otherwise perfect so we headed to the bar ordered some drinks and went to dip ourselves in the pool. The water actually felt cold which made it very refreshing.

Ha, ha, apparently we all have different taste in drinks.

Swimming is always going to make one hungry so after an hour or so my sister and mom decided they had enough and headed back to the room to make some very delicious tortas. Ummmm were they good or what? It was then decided that we would dress up and go out for dinner and then once again to the casinos. Me, I didn't take dress up clothes so shorts and a polo did the trick but everyone else looked like Barbie dolls, OK except maybe my brother in law whom didn't even resemble Ken either. lol

Then it was off to the strip, we wanted to see the Belaggio Fountains show but trying to find parking nearby was next to impossible so we ended at another hotel with lots of stores and the decor was so pleasing to the eye that we just pretty much decided to stay there and not try a different one anymore. We got there too late for the buffet but we found a nice sit down restaurant in there that was open 24 hours.

So, as you can see, we did have a terrific time in Vegas. It was wonderful time well spent with the two birthday girls (mom and sis) my brother in law, my lil sis from Cali and of course my fiance.

Looking forward to the next trip and or next adventure.

Peace!

ABc Wednesday -- "F"

2011-08-23T21:07:00.000-07:00

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ABC Wednesday, today it's Letter "F"

This is an easy one for me, a motorcycle and car enthusist will definitely think of Fords and FatBoys.

Fat Boys Rule.

Fabulous Fords Forever.

Vegas Bound

2011-08-23T08:26:00.000-07:00

The birthday girls invade Vegas.
So my mom asked, "What time are we leaving?" my sister said "Early!". My sister forgot to remind my mom that for her "early" means around noonish, so my mom was up and ready since 7:00 a.m., so when we finally left Phoenix around 1:30 p.m. for the first hour of hour trip the word "EARLY" was disseminated by my mom from front to back and back to front.

So with no real rush to get there as my lil sister left La Puente after we left Phoenix and after all it was her timeshare we were staying at, we made the trip to Vegas enjoying our stops in between to stretch and rest. Remember our trip to Las Vegas was my mom's 79th birthday present so we didn't want to get her tired before we got there.

Our mode of transportation was this aswesome looking Mercury Sable station wagon that belongs to my mom, even though she does not drive she keeps it fully functional and insured and she won't part with it because it belonged to my dad.

We did get to the resort before my sister and Abby so we headed for the supermarket and stocked up on food for the weekend. We spent about an hour at the store which gave enough time for my sis to get there. After the market we only had to wait for about 20 minutes.

Cancun Caribe Resort.
After getting installed we sat to relax, coffee was offered and the sweet bread came out too along with a bowl of grapes and cherries. Perfect for sitting at the table and for conversation.

My sister Elena, the other birthday girl went outside to the balcony which had an awesome view of the Las Vegas skyline and I decided to join her. It was about midnight and we all thought we may go to sleep soon but my mom had a different idea. She is like "So we are here now what? Where are we going?" And with that we all left. We cruised all the way to the end of the strip and I was getting ready to turn around when my sister Elena says, "Look Tacos Mexico", needless to say a taco stop was in order.

Old habits never die. We are in Vegas and eating tacos.
We then headed towards a casino and winded up at the MGM Grand. We went in and walked around for a while, some of us played the slot machines and before we new it it was 3:00 a.m., so we decided to head back to the resort and go to rest.

Just a Reflexion Or Random Thought

2011-08-18T23:46:00.000-07:00

Without a doubt life has been good to me and it's easy for me to count by blessings. I really don't have time to waste on negative stuff, life is too short for that and I rather commit myself to living life to the fullest than wasting it. If one would only realize how once time is gone it won't ever come back then maybe one would adjust a positive mind set from the get go creating the best possible outcome. As the saying goes, it's better to fail at trying than not trying at all.

I don't want "my better half" to ever say or think that I should be more like someone else. I just want to be me, but the best me I can possibly be and for "my better half" to accept me just as I am. Of course people always change, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worst. Me, I hope is for the better but it takes an everyday effort and renewed promise of commitment.

Why can't he be more like you?
And see things as you see them
Do things as you do them
Say words as you say them
Live life as you live it

Then I would say
Because number one he is not me
He's his own individual
With his own ideas
And his own ideals
With his own dreams
And his own passions
With his own goals
And his own struggles
With his own virtues
And his own imperfections
And probably with his own reserved love
For the one person that will willingly
And lovingly back him up into fulfilling
The daily challenges that life inevitably
Will throw your way to be overcome and conquered.

So don't look for his imperfections
Those will probably be many
Instead look for the nice things in him
Even if there are not many
I guarantee that if you grab those and feed them
Nourish them with love not with mayhem
The dividends that you'll collect
Will be worth a thousand fold
And in the end
Isn't that what we all want?

I really believe that when you think positive and project it to your spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend, significant other, etc. I will come back to you. It's that easy. It's hard to change someone else, but it's not too hard to start by changing your own ways and aim for a better relationship and a better life.

Emma's Fifth Birthday

2011-08-17T23:36:00.001-07:00

Happy birthday Emma.
Last Saturday my niece celebrated her daughter's 5th birthday. I believe I may have published a picture of her in this blog back when she was pregnant. Actually that particular post was the sixth post in this blog (Click Here To Read It). How does time goes by so fast? Why is it that now that I am older I feel it swoosh over my head? When I think about how fast time goes by all I can think of is saying "Wow" and then can't help but think that I am getting old.

Here she is with her mom, her grandma, and great grandma. I just love this picture.
Another funny thing I noticed is that the majority of the guests this weekend were also in attendance five years ago, I think my niece has a good friendship stability.
Her friend baked this very pretty Hello Kitty cake. Wow, people nowadays are getting so creative. Not only did it look good but it tasted pretty good too.

Hello Kitty!
In my world, birthday celebrations like this one are endless, part of having such a huge united family. A good example of this is; my mom's birthday was yesterday and my sister's will be tomorrow. It is not uncommon for us to have celebrations back to back, or on the same day forcing us to either pick and choose or attend both for a shorter period of time.

As always Joe Cool's candid camera was out and about and here are some of those moments I captured during the fiesta.

Enjoy!

Here I am with the birthday girl.
And here she is with her great grandma.
The dad and her princess!

Emma and Fr. Prospero. Father Prospero is here visiting from Congo in Africa.
Blowing the candles off. Happy Birthday to you and many more Emma.

ABC Wednesday -- "E"

2011-08-16T11:42:00.001-07:00

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ABC Wednesday, today it's Letter "E"

Yep, I think a suitable image for the letter E would be this one showing that WE are now ENGAGED and although we still don't have a date set yet it will be soon, or as soon as early next year.

Engaged.

To do things right
You have to wait
But the anticipation
Won't give you a break
So you go on
Day in and day out
And patiently wait
For the next time she's around.

Yeah, the wait kindda sucks but oh it will be so worth it.

Tidbits

2011-08-11T08:22:00.000-07:00

The countdown begins, next week at around this time (I am writing this in the AM) my sister, her husband, my mom and I will be getting ready to go to Las Vegas. It's my mom's birthday on the 16th and my sister's on the 18th and my mom has been wanting to go to Vegas. So... to celebrate my lil sis booked her time share for next weekend, where she along with Abby will meet us. Should be a great fun time and I am ready for yet another road trip. The last time I went to Vegas was about nine years ago on a 4th of July. Oh memories!

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When it comes to family celebrations they are endless. Saturday my niece celebrates her daughter's fifth birthday and we will be there. Should be fun too! Kids, they grow so fast and without asking for permission. Let's celebrate!

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Well I finally went out on a date with my daughter and her husband to the movies to watch The last of the Harry Potter movies. All I can say is that I am going to miss them. Even though we all now the whole story takes in a six year period which is their primary school years, the actors in the movie aged way more than a six year span and yet it felt right that none of them was re casted. When it comes to franchise movies, this is the best franchised I have watched. Of course, no date was complete without a trip to yourgartland after the movie.

ABC Wednesday -- "D"

2011-08-09T07:34:00.001-07:00

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ABC Wednesday, today it's Letter "D"

Dad!
Most definitely, the letter "D" is for DAD. Mine may have left us a few years ago but will forever live in my heart and my thoughts.

"DUCKY"
I know I have probably published this picture before but the fact is that I love it. Ducky was pointing out how somehow the letter "i" was missing and intended to get to the bottom of it.

A much growned up Diego.

Chachi is Going to College

2011-08-08T21:18:00.000-07:00

Kerissa and I.
One moment you are at a hospital waiting for her to be born and the very next she is saying good bye as she get ready to leave to get a higher education in some Virginia University. That's pretty much what happens when you blink an eye.

So my comadre threw a going away to college party for my goddaughter and we all had a great time. Now when you drink a fruit punch where the fruit soaked in vodka for two days and have an endless amount of jello shots, yep you are bound to have fun.

So, here are some shots I captured that night:

Chachi.
Nikki, Chachi, Me, and Juan.
Michelle and Nichole.
Michelle, Juan, Chachi, Nikki, and I.
Awwww, duck attack!
Feeling the love.
Not so feeling the love.
Juan trying to steal my spotlight.
Nikki and I.

Meet Cosita

2011-08-05T22:41:00.000-07:00

"Cosita"
If you know me then you know that I am not a pet person, I just cannot commit to their care, I think it's too big a responsibility so I have learned to like and enjoy the pets of others when I get the chance but then I know when I am gone they stay.

However Abby does own a pet and therefore I too will be the co-owner of said pet, and to top it off said pet seems to like me as she never barks at me and comes to me on command. So it is with pleasure and as a request of my dear friend ChrisJ that I introduce to you "Cosita" (Little thing).

Cosita is an eight year old female chihuahua that has captured my heart as well as my attention. During our 12 hour road trip from La Puente to Cotati it was my duty and my pleasure to take her out for a walk which in many cases turned into jogging around various parking lots and it was actually fun. A couple of times when I stepped out of the car she actually cried for me, awww I felt the love. It was like, "Hey jogging partner, where in the heck are you going without me?"

So, needless to say we have inevitably bonded and I too look forward to having her here with us and maybe taking our walks around the lake. Oh yes, I know she will really enjoy that very much.

Feed me mama!
Cosita and I in some fields in Gilroy, California.

"Grrrrrrrrr Cosita you sexy thing, why don't you dump this fool that has you by the leash and come with me into those fields of love in front of us" I bet you that's what "Blacky" there was saying to Cosita.

Awwwwww!
Story goes that while Abby was visiting me here in Phoenix Cosita had to stay behind in La Puente and was to be doggysat by her niece Alexis but somewhere along the line Cosita got depressed and would cry, I imagine for Abby. So Rosie, Abby's youngest sister stepped up to the plate and took over the care of Cosita. Needless to say they bonded and here in this picture the had all gone to the park and after biking for over an hour they were all exhausted. So, too pooped to do anything else they all just layed on the grass and chilled.

We were chillin in the park
Just waiting for the sun to go down (On a Sunday afternoon)
It was Rosie, Jade, and Cosita
A Lighter Shade of Brown (On a Sunday afternoon)

Tidbits

2011-08-03T18:06:00.000-07:00

Finally I got me a decent camera, it had been a while since I had gone out hunting for photo ops and all of a sudden I find myself traveling a lot which is giving me the opportunity to get a few good captures. I still don't know if I want to continue posting on my Arizona... But it's a dry heat! blog because it's too much work as I have to go through PhotoBucket first in order for the images to come out big. But we'll see, I am still thinking about it. In the meantime I am going shutter crazy once again.

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Image captured by my daughter Nichole.
Ahhhh, gotta love our weather. I just went to my mailbox to get my mail and the wind was blowing, I can see lighting in the horizon, and it feels like a monsoon may appear at any moment, but then again it may just be knocking on the door and I just may not open it.

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Seven, eight, nine, tenteen, eleventeen, twelveteen, thirteen, fourteen... Yeap, there will be a lot of counting this Friday at work as we will be doing our mid-year inventory. As easy and well organized as we have them, I still dread inventory. But, we will survive it, hopefully we won't have any major discrepancies. I think a drink is in order on Friday after inventory just to relieve the stress. OK, I really am not stressed out at all but a drink actually sounds good anyway.

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Found this on the Internet and I want one, except I can do without the Irish and Patriot Guard patches. Other than that yep I like it!

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I can't remember if I posted this before, I stole it from my brother's FaceBook page and although I don't agree graffiti is good I do think the mural on this trains wagon is definitely pretty awesome.

The Baby Shower

2011-08-02T22:35:00.000-07:00

The trip we took to Cotati last week was to attend a baby shower. It's Abby's oldest son's first baby and we felt it would be special to make the trek. Abby was going anyway. Me... I just wanted to tag along and I am so glad I did.

So now what was I to do at a baby shower? Well let me just explain it to you as I saw it with these images:

First it started like this, just a typical baby shower with the typical babyshower games. With food, friends, and a good time.

But then my camera started aiming itself towards other cool subjects. I really love this pond and if you look at the gazebo's roof you will notice that it is a parabolic antenna.

I love fountains and I have posted my good share of them. The reason I love them so much is because of the noise the running water makes. This is not a fountain but the sound effect as the water comes down into the pond is very calming.

The top sign says, "Do not feet the bears". lol

LOL

Plenty of sitting space. All the girls were out there playing their games. I too participated in a couple of them but totally bummed. I really suck at baby stuff. lol

Oh what a cutie pie. This is the grandma to be for the second time.
Ummm if all grandmas looked like that. Grrrrrrrowl. :-)

That little dog in the pond swam back and forth with the fish for well over and hour. Poor dog, I think his name is Roscoe had a fish complex, I think he had scales under that fluffy hair. Although when in the pool he looked more like an otter than a dog.

This little structure was actually cute looking standing all alone in the yard. I don't know if it's just a storage shed or what but I just thought it was cool looking.

So, there... I probably see baby showers a bit different than the girls do.

ABC Wednesday -- "C"

2011-08-02T12:00:00.000-07:00

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So today it's Letter "C" for ABC Wednesday.

Joe Cool and "Cosita" taking a walk through some fields in Gilroy.
The letter "C" is for:

"Cosita" and Cars.

This one is pretty easy for me. Being an automobile enthusiast the obvious choice for me to highligt this week is cars. It is becoming our pastime to spot a car on the freeway and if we like it we catch up to it and snap a few pics. Fun stuff and something to do in those crowded L.A. freeways. But first meet Abby's little dog "Cosita" (Little Thing).

So, here we go I may have to many cars to highlight so bear with me and just enjoy them.

The emblems said Ferrari but I kept thinking this is a Toyota Spyder. Ummm! I liked it nevertheless.
A favorite stop of mine everytime I go to California is Chiriaco Summit. There are so many photo ops here it's amazing. I have captured many images of this place and it seems everytime I pass by they have something new for me to photograph. Last time I drove by they had these:

Obviously these have seen better days yet they looked so magestic where the sat.
We went to Sedona and this is what a saw:

This one hanging from the ceiling.

And this one flying down the highway. OK no just cruising down the street.

Sunday at The American Legion

2011-08-01T11:01:00.000-07:00

The other day I received a text from a dear friend of mine whom I met during Karaoke Friday at Manny's and he was inviting me to go see him sing on Sunday as he would be performing at The American Legion in Glendale from 2:00 ~ 5:00 p.m.

I had not seen him and his family for well over a year so I was happy to oblige. I was glad I did, he sang three sets during that time and he did most of my own karaoke favorites. Yeah, ever since Manny's stopped karaoke my country music singing has been in the back burner as I have been mostly singing in Spanish at Noche de Bohemia, so it was definitely fun to sing along with him. I video taped a few of his performances but almost by instinct I probably did voice overs as I was singing along. lol He'll probably will love that... Not!

Here is my friend Steve singing and giving me a shout out.
He even told me that if we were to practice a couple of songs he would ask me up the stage to join him. Ha! He should know by now I don't practice, I just look for the lyrics in the screen and sing away. Je je je, you can just imagine the mess I make out of the songs I sing. Ummm I wonder if that's why he said "practice"?

Steve and I have actually done a duet. We sang "You make me feel brand new" by the Stylistics and we did more than OK. I do the manly voice and he does the high voice.

Thanks Steve for the invite, I had fun and will join you again elsewhere as you continue to get more gigs, I am truly happy you are making some money by doing something you love and that we actually did for free during karaoke. Keep up the good work and sing away.

Here Steve sings a song I used to sing a lot at Manny's. Of course I couldn't resist and had to sing along. lol

Driving to Cotati

2011-07-30T13:41:00.000-07:00

Oh what fun to travel for 12 hours straight with these two. Loved it!
I am finally catching up with all the goings on of late. I think I put my car in cruise control and automatic and it finds its way to California to be more exact to the City of La Puente.

My new motto is STOP and read those darn maps before you hit the road.
Last week I took a small vacation and headed to La Puente right after work on Wednesday, the plan was to leave for Cotati the next morning but for one thing or another we didn't leave until Friday at around 10:00 a.m. The as fate has it I immediately took the wrong freeway but not to worry because that one too would meet Hwy 5 too. Once on the 5 and back on track we pushed north.

It wasn't until I was in this town and saw the freeway entrance signs said I was on Hwy. 99 and not on the 5 as I should have been.

Up the hill past Gorman you will find the split for the 99. I was driving on the far left lane so I assumed that lane would continue to be the 5, wrong! I guess at the split it does a crisscross and I did not notice so a few miles ahead we stopped for lunch. We walked the dog and had some hamburgers and then it was back in the car to hit the road. As I am entering the highway I notice that it says 99 North... What? 99? How in the heck did this happen? why am I going towards Fresno instead of San Francisco, grrrrrr for the second time I took the wrong highway.

Not realizing we were on the wrong highway we enjoyed a couple of hamburgers and walked the dog in a nice little park across the restaurant. At that point all we cared was that we were traveling together and having fun. Which is what makes a road trip that much more enjoyable. Oh, by the way, that little thing on the leash is appropriately named "Cosita" (Little Thing)

Now going back would have meant an hour delay so I decided to push forward on 99 event though I knew it was adding many miles to my trip, but I also knew that eventually it would lead to a pass to cut across to San Francisco. Sure enough, we went through Los Banos and it was at this time Abby called her son for instructions.

Well, he said take such and such highway but be careful as it splits even though it remains the same number, do not go towards San Francisco but take the one that says
Berkley. Well my co-pilot and I missed that split so guess what, we we found ourselves in a mess of traffic to cross the Bay Bridge into San Francisco. Can you see a pattern here, once again we took the wrong highway and found ourselves in a city that was so enclosed in fog that the sun (and it was a sunny day all day long)would not shine through.

We crossed the Bay Bridge into San Francisco and just like that somewhere along the middle point we went from nice sunny skies to dark, foggy, gloomy weather. It wat really cold too.

I started climbing up some streets that went up, up, up a hill into a residential area. I am one of the few men that will actually will stop at a gas station to ask for directions. So I get off the car and bam it hits me, it was freaking windy and cold and I am wearing Phoenix summer attire, so I run into the convenience store and ask the attendant whom had a thicker accent that mine.

"Excuse me but I am heading to Sonoma and somehow I am here, can you get me back on the right track" I said. "Sonoma? Then what you doing here my friend, you no need to come to city to go to Sonoma, so go and cross the bridge and you will find the 101, take it going north" he said. "Crap that means I have to pay six bucks again right?" I said, "Oh no, come into city you pay, you say bye bye you no pay" he replied.

No matter what the situation is I always know there's light at the end of the tunnel.
By this time we had Abby's son found us new route again to get out of this mess and it coincided with what the guy at the gas station told me. We were instructed to cross the Golden Gate bridge and go about a mile, then we would find a mall so we were to wait there.

Yep, 15 later they showed up to pick us up. lol I tell you, this is the last time I go out without printing my mapquest maps as I always do. While Abby was here in Arizona her phone's GPS led us everywhere but somehow in Northern Cali it kept freezing and repeating the same instructions. Grrrr frustrating, and my phone was not any better as I know I have a cheap service so I expected for it to malfunction, except mine was actually doing semi-good too.

Yeppers! That is actually me walking Cosita at the mall's parking lot.
Before jumping on the 101 we had dinner a Cheese Cake Factory restaurant, ummmm my chicken enchiladas with black beans and rice were most excellent.

Finally at around 10:30 at night we were finally at our destination. But to me it was all fun and part of the experience, we got to see many places that normal tourists will never see, unless like me they keep taking the wrong highways.

St. Vincent de Paul Church, Los Angeles, California

2011-07-28T21:54:00.000-07:00

St. Vincent de Paul, Los Angeles
W. Adams Blvd. and Figueroa
Image borrowed from the Internet.

St. Vincent de Paul Church is a Roman Catholic parish and Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument (HCM #90) in the West Adams section of Los Angeles, California. The church was built in the 1920s and designed by architect Albert C. Martin, Sr. Dedicated in 1925, it was located in what was then one of the wealthiest sections of the city, on land adjacent to the Edward Doheny Mansion and Stimson House. It was the second Roman Catholic church in Los Angeles to be consecrated. Composer Amédée Tremblay notably served as the church's organist from 1925-1949.[2]

The climactic scene of the 1999 film "End of Days" featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger's battle against Satan was filmed in the church. The church's altar is featured prominently in the film's final scenes. The Church also appears in the movie "Constantine (film)".

Well as I mentioned before, the wheels are turning and eventually in a not too distant future this is the church were Abby and I will say "I do". We visited Fr. Ruben about three weeks ago and he already gave us the pep talk along with a bunch of instructions on things we must do before the big day. Better get moving.

Back in the day when I lived in L.A. we were about ten minutes away from this church and seldom attended services there. My little sister had her "Quinceanera" there too, so when my niece suggested it for the ceremony and got the wheels moving with Fr. Ruben I was thrilled.

Here are a few pictures I took while there.

Weekend in La Puente

2011-07-27T07:35:00.000-07:00

Abby captured this image while almost drawning my mom in the back seat. She opened the window of the car while I was doing close to 90 miles per our. My mom screamed and we laughed for the nest half hour or so.

Weekend in La Puente for Crystal's fiesta.

My niece decided to throw a big fiesta for her 25th birthday and pretty much all of us from Phoenix drove to La Puente, California for the event. As you all may remember Abby was in Phoenix visiting and after three weeks this was her return ticket. My mom always the wise woman she is told me that I should have just kept her in Phoenix. "I don't know why you are taking her back, she was already here" were her exact words. Ummm I guess she told me.

This is Tallynna the oldest of my grandkids. We were trying hats at the truck stop in Chiriaco Summit. I like the way she came out on this picture.

So I decided to once again make a weekend out of it. So on Thursday right after work we hit the road and headed for California. This was to be a dual purpose trip as we would formally go to Abby's parents house and ask for her hand in marriage. Wait, but she already have three grown up kids and so do I, ummm well that doesn't mean that good customs need to die. It was fun and it was exciting to be able to do that, of course my sister was my spokes person but I was just happy that my mom was there for the occasion but better yet that she wanted to be there.

My sister the spokeperson and my mom.
We also got to talk to Father Ruben a friend of ours from Phoenix whom now is at St. Vincent de Paul in Los Angeles. Yep, the wheels are moving and they are moving fast... but not fast enough for me, but I will be patient.

We also got to go and have our mandatory marriage classes, it was sort of fun to be the oldest couple among all the rookie couples. Yep we stood out like a sore thumb but in a good way.

So, all in all it was a fun as well as productive weekend. We are now officially engaged.

This is my niece Crystal and the reason why we all made the trek to California on the weekend of July 9. She turned 25 and had a big family gathering. It was lots of fun.

My granddaughter Alayna, Abby, and my daughter Nikki at the party. Did I mention it was hot an humid that night. Still we had a blast.

Everyone was dancing, by the end of the night I was soaking wet.
My daughter Michelle with my nieces Alexis, Jessica, and Becca.

ABC Wednesday -- "B"

2011-07-26T14:27:00.000-07:00

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So today it's Letter "B" for ABC Wednesday. Let's start by saying that the letter "B" is for...

Babies.

There are way too many of these running around me and I love every minute of it. They are giving me a break right now but on any given moment you can find all my ten grandkids running around the house and driving granpa loco. But most of the time I just love to see that they are all healthy, normal, noisy kids.

ABC Wednesday -- "A"

2011-07-19T22:21:00.000-07:00

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OK let me try this again, I have started this game and never finished it as it is hard finding certain images on some of these letters but I will try and do my best this time around.

So today it's Letter "A" for ABC Wednesday and for me there's only one logical choice these days. "A" is for...

Abby.

And as if my magic one December 31st of 2010 Abby came back from the past to very much become my present and future and I couldn't be happier. Not too many people get a second chance at happiness as I am getting it. I say it was God sent and I am pretty much appreciating her with all my heart and soul.

Wickenburg

2011-07-18T20:01:00.000-07:00

My Fat Boy ready to ride.
OK the idea was to keep the momentum going and to carry the bike ride to Saturday, she wanted to go further than just a couple of miles away so we decided to go to Prescott the following Saturday, that meant we needed to go out shopping for comfortable and suitable shirts for riding.

The first time we went to a store about a month ago she would say "Oh I like this and then just kindda pass her hand over it and that was it". She did this repeatedly so I asked her to please stopped touching the clothes and to grab some of them so she could try them on. Alas, that did not happen. That's why this time I started carrying the shirts she hinted she liked and then we headed to the dressing rooms.

It was funny cause there were two other guys there with their wives, one of them couldn't care less what she was trying on, I think he just wanted out of that place, then Abby came out and showed me what she was trying on, I think first I gave her a thumbs down, then she went back in and out she came again with another blouse, this time my thumbs were pointing up, then the other lady comes out with whatever she had tried on and heads for the registers, and her husband goes, "hey, you didn't even show me", she just looked at him like are you nuts? What is it I have to show you? I started laughing cause Abby came out again with yet another blouse. I guess I am just lucky that way, cause I was having a ball. The shirts were pretty cool so we decided not on one, not on two, not on three, but on four shirts.

You can't deny that I picked a cool t-shirt for her.
A friend of mine was going to ride with us but at the last minute he couldn't join us and add to that the fact that the forecast for that day called or 117 degrees the Prescott trip had to be severely cut so we decided to get up very early and to just go have breakfast in Wickenburg.

Street scene.

Welcome to the high desert! Just 60 miles northwest of Downtown Phoenix in the Northern reaches of the great southwest’s Sonoran Desert. Wickenburg is noted for its clean air, good country living, western hospitality and all-around high quality of life.

Abby, the third wheel. lol
From my house, Wickenburg is exactly 52 miles, so we got there in no time. I don't know what it is with Arizona's little towns and even Phoenix adding those turn around thinggys at the intersections to me they are annoying and confusing, needless to say I could not find the restaurant I was looking for so we back tracked a couple of blocks and went into a restaurant that had a bunch of bikes parked in the parking lot, I think it was called Country Kitchen or something like that. Not the best food but it wasn't all that bad either.

Her.
Inside I started playing with my phone app that point you to places you want to go and actually did find the restaurant I wanted to go to in the first place and wouldn't you know it, it was only a block away past that turn around thinggy they have on the street. I hate those things.

Me.
Well we were not the only crazy riders out there that morning, I did see quite a few bikes go through Wickenburg but Abby and I were ready to hit the road. Now that we knew where I wanted to go we headed that way, took some pictures and headed back to Phoenix. The last 45 minutes or so we rode in very hot weather and I thought for sure Abby was not going to be able to take it but she was a real trooper and did not complain at all.

Us.
Shadow riders!
We were back before noon and we just kindda vegetated the rest of the day. Who wants to be out when the temps are over 115 degrees.

The Film Bar

2011-07-17T21:29:00.000-07:00

Best of Phoenix award winning and my brother "DJ Melo".
With nothing planned to do for a Saturday night we sat at the kitchen table talking to my mom and listening to her stories, which by the way she has plenty of them. She said, "What? You guys are not going out tonight?" Well we really have no plans, so I asked Abby if she wanted to do something. I then took out my phone and went into facebook. My brother had just posted that he would be spinning some records at the Film Bar in Phoenix and that he would be doing a cumbia set.

Oh yeah! "DJ Melo" always get the crowd going.
I called him and asked him what this place was about and after some hesitations he said, that it was a small theater, not a night club and that it wasn't the regular type of dancing place we were used to but to come down never the less to join him.

Oh yes I had to unbutton my shirt, the AC was only working partially and it was a hot night.
And Abby's face here posing with my lil bro was red as a tomato from dancing so much.
Abby said let's do it, so we got ready and we were on our way. His set was to start at 11:00 p.m. and we got there way before that so we went inside and waited for him. No cover charge meant more drinks, now don't think I am a drunk or anything but if you go out dancing with a beautiful lady there have to be some drinks, je je je. The Film Bar only offers sodas, locally brewed beers and wine.

"DJ Melo" doing what he does best. He truly is a Master Mixer.
The crowd was eclectic and young. When we walked in the DJ played some world music highlighting music from Pakistan. Against the walls there were long benches with a small table in front but everywhere else you would find lots and lots of vinyl covered ottoman like stools that you could grab and drag around the place to sit. We immediately liked this place and just had fun looking at the people dance while sipping on our wine.

Just before 11:00 my brother showed up but he didn't start his set until midnight. So we had some drinks with him while we waited. He said the cumbias he was about to play were really not the conventional cumbias we know but said we would like it. Not only did we like it but we danced his whole set with Abby and I opening up and little by little the place was full with people dancing.

Nawww, people say we do but we don't look alike... or do we?
George introduced us to his friend whom organizes the event and later on he gave us a couple of shout outs, that made us feel kind of special.

All in all, a wonderful night very different to what we were accostumed but very enjoyable nevertheless.

Bike Night at Westgate... Again!

2011-07-16T12:07:00.000-07:00

During one of our many phone conversations I popped the big question. "Abby, perhaps if I take the bike you would like to take a ride with me?". And to my surprise and without any hesitation her answer was "sure!". My first thought was, did she understand correctly, this is the Harley I'm talking about? So I kindda asked again but the reply was the same, "sure I will, I've ridden in the back of a bike before and at very high speeds". Wow! I've found me a daredevil.

Ready to rock and roll, or in this case ride and roll.
Joe Cool!
So, it was a great opportunity that on Thursday night, Westgate City Center was hosting a bike night, so obviously the Harley came out of the garage and even though it was already hot weather we headed that way. The place was not packed but there were still lots of bikes, probably close to 500 of them.

Trikes with VW engines are still cool to this day.
But I still drool over the high end custom sleds, specially baggers like this one.
We got there and found a nice spot to park it right in the center of it all. After walking up and down Coyote Blvd. and watching all the cool rides parked there we headed to Margaritaville for some drinks.

My baby, can't believe it's a 94.
There were bikes everywhere.
And on both sides of Coyote Blvd.
Now this is the first time I ordered a margarita there, but after the awesome margaritas from Sedona and Jerome this one completely failed. It was weak and did not look nor taste like a margarita. Go figure! I thought for sure Margaritaville would offer killer margaritas.

Westgate City Center is a fun place to go party, plenty of restaurants and shops but most importantly the home to The Coyote's NHL Hockey Arena, and NFL The Cardinal's Stadium. Not a place that I would go there every weekend but the times I have been there I have really enjoyed it.

More pics from bike night:

Although she can pose she is not a "poser", she's the real thing.

Abby or pin up girl, ummmmm! I like!
Ummmm! I think I can ride this one!
"Oh no! That is way to low" she said.

Vintage iron.
A young rider saw the camera in my hand and offered to snap a shot.

For more images visit my facebook page.

Peace!

Jerome

2011-07-15T17:13:00.000-07:00

The facade of one of many pretty buildings in Jerome.
The continental breakfast at the hotel was actually really good, most hotels will offer you a donut, orange juice and coffee but this one had all kinds of different foods, from cereal, to waffles, coffee, orange juice, apple juice, tea, all kinds of different fruits etc. etc. We ate so good that we knew that would last us until dinner time.

An example of the many structures you'll see there.

Today Jerome is a tourist destination, with many abandoned and refurbished buildings from its boom town days. Jerome has a large mining museum, presenting the town history, labor-management disputes, geological structure models, mineral samples, and equipment used in both underground and open-pit mining. The National Historic Landmark designation has assured architectural preservation in this town, a mile high on the side of Mingus Mountain.

Getting to Jerome from Sedona is easy, the drive up the hill is fun but a bit dangerous, and it has for many years been a bikers destination. The spirit room, a biker bar was packet to capacity when we got there. So we passed and looked for a less crowded place to eat.

The Spirit Room.

There are numerous bed and breakfasts in Jerome and two hotels, The Connor Hotel and The Grand Hotel. Restaurants range from hamburgers to fine dining. The two local bars, one of them Arizona's oldest family owned bar, both regularly have live music on weekends.

So, after we passed eating at The Spirit Room we kept walking and after visiting a couple stores and galleries we passed by this restaurant called "Quince" which means fifteen. We went in and were totally taken by its decor. This place was also full but not over crowded. They had pictures hanging from every wall, even the restrooms were a sight to see. And then we saw the menu, and they had items name "El Vato Loco Burrito" I knew we got in the right place. Salsa music played all the time we were there and I wondered why. The place looked "American" yet everything suggested a Latin flavor. Turns out the owner was from Bolivia but lived in Mexico. He had worked all his life as a chef until he opened his restaurant.

Quince.
The food was the best. Abby went for fish tacos while I had a burrito. To wash it down they prepared these margaritas that were ummmm, ummmm good.

In 1983, California folk-singer Kate Wolf wrote the song "Old Jerome" after visiting the town. In 1987 the town council adopted it as their official town song. This town of 400 has created a variety of events from the Halloweeen Dance to the Jerome Home Tour in May. This is the oldest yearly Home Tour in the state of Arizona.[citation needed]

Jerome is known as an art destination, with more than 30 galleries and working studios. First Saturday Art Walk began in 2006, and has become a popular monthly event. In 2007, Jerome became a sponsor of The Sedona Plein Air Festival, and hosted some of the best-known plein air painters in the country. The Old Jerome High School is home to many artists and their open studios. Artists and craftspeople display their work in an open-air art park in nice weather.

The above information borrowed from Wikipedia.

Driving back to Phoenix was a bit exhausting as a long stretch of the highway was bumper to bumper and the sad part is that nothing caused it, it was just that many people coming back from Northern Arizona. Still, as soon as we got back to my mom's we left to my sister's as she had invited us for coffee and conversation.

We had both and enjoyed it very much.

Peace!

Sedona

2011-07-14T21:00:00.000-07:00

So on Saturday after we had only slept a few hours we got up had breakfast thanks to my mom and once again we were on the road, this time the destination was the small but beautiful town of Sedona, Arizona. The heat was already in full blast and it was nice to know that at least in Sedona it would be a little bit cooler than in Phoenix. After gassing up the car we jumped on I-17 and started hour two hour drive.

On our way to Sedona.
Again, it was an uneventful drive. We stopped at the visitors center where we took a few pictures, it is here that you start seeing the beauty of Sedona, with the red rock mountains and all the vegetation which as you know we don't have in Phoenix.

The sign said "don't touch" but I think she was touching my butt.
We were having fun taking pictures and doing those ever so necessary "my space" shots when this nice gentleman came over and offered to take our picture. I gave him the camera and happily posed for it, it is hard not to be happy when Abby is around so posing comes out naturally.

At the visitors center in Sedona, Arizona.
We got our room and were surprised at how nice the whole set up was. Right outside our door was a very nice patio and the swimming pool. And right outside the door all the shops and galleries just waiting for us to visit them.

Abby got comfortable and was looking pretty too.

Ummm, we were too comfortable and the weather was beautiful. Who wants to go shopping when you have this?

Wow, that's a big horse.

The Dance!

Awww, these two must really good friends.

Wow! Abby looking sexy here.

Howdy folks, from the Cowboy Corral.

We so were in awe!

Sedona's main attraction is its stunning array of red sandstone formations, the Red Rocks of Sedona. The formations appear to glow in brilliant orange and red when illuminated by the rising or setting sun. The Red Rocks form a breathtaking backdrop for everything from spiritual pursuits to the hundreds of hiking and mountain biking trails.

Sedona is named after Sedona Arabelle Miller Schnebly (1877–1950), the wife of the city's first postmaster, who was celebrated for her hospitality and industriousness.

Le gustan los altos y los chaparritos y hasta este que parece marciano con sombrero.
All in all we had a wonderful day, we got hungry and decided for Mexican food, we got to the restaurant late but it was still open and they served us. Not only did they serve us but they really took care of us, the margaritas they prepared for us were to die for and even the cook came out. They get a kick when we talk to them in our native language and that gives us points. Needless to say we were the last ones to leave but not before getting good byes from several of the employees. Go figure!

Now it's time to rest as tomorrow we will explore Sedona a little bit more before we head towards Jerome, Arizona.

But that folks is another story.

Peace!

Lancaster

2011-07-13T07:39:00.000-07:00

So Friday morning I got up showered and went to pick Abby up at her parents' house. The idea was for us to leave for Lancaster as soon as I got there but her mom had other plans, pretty much like mine she said you guys are not going anywhere until you eat, and with that they started making the most delicious "tacos dorados de papa". Needless to say instead of leaving at 10:00 am we left at a little bit past noon.

Remember that the original plan for me to drive to La Puente pick her up and immediately turn around and drive back to Phoenix but fate had a different plan for us and I just could not pass it up. Abby's kids all leave in different places, one leaves in Sonoma, California, another one in Lancaster, and her younger one and only girl lives in Maryland. I had already accepted that I would meet them one at a time as the opportunity allowed.

Well to make a long story short and as if by magic, her daughter cancelled her trip to Europe because she got sick and instead flew to California a week early, and her older son and his wife decided to drive down to Lancaster too. What were the chances of me meeting them all at the same time? Exactly, there was no way I was going to miss this opportunity.

I spotted that hot rodded bomb and immeadiately asked Abby to take a pictue, she got shutter crazy and took a few except it was traveling too fast. Eventually I caught up and...

Then she caputured this image. She wanted the whole side of the car but I guess we were already too close. The driver never even saw the paparazzi was taking his picture.

We had a great day complimented by a carne asada and lots of sea food. Ummmm yummy! For an ice breaker I say it all went well, they made me feel welcomed and I even took some pictures with them and God providing I hope there will be many more gatherings in our future. My son already asked "when are we meeting them?" So hopefully soon before the big day.

I hope they don't mind that I posted this picture without their permission. Here are Abby's kids and granddaughter posing with us. We took a few pictures that day and Abby had a huge smile in every single one ot them.

What a beautiful family, love the smiles.
At around 9:00 pm we said good bye and Abby and I headed to Phoenix. We had a pretty nice drive with plenty of conversation and music. A one hour delay due to construction almost gave cramps to my clutch leg but other than that smooth sailing all the way. We got to my mom's at around 3:00 am and went to rest as we were leaving for Sedona right after breakfast.

But that folks is another story.

Peace!

California Bound

2011-07-11T21:20:00.000-07:00

My trusty steed digging that hole on the highway as my mom predicted.
Wow, I guess my staycation started three weeks ago when I took a road trip to California to go pick Abby up so she could stay here with us for a couple of weeks. I left as always on a Thursday afternoon right after work and made it to La Puente by 10:00 pm. As always the drive was pretty uneventful and if you know me I'm always looking for that photo op, there are always so many wonderful things along the road and in those truck stops to photograph.

Here are a couple of good examples of what I'm talking about:

These were not there before but now they sit there just waiting to be photographed.

For me stopping at Chiriaco Summit is always a highlight and a place to go shutter crazy.

As usual I have to convince my sister that feeding me as soon as I get there is a really good thing to do, so this time she waited for me with some "verdolagas en chile verde con carne de puerco". What? You don't know what that is, just trust me it's good.

Verdolagas con chile verde y carne de puerco.
Not actually hers. I borrowed this image from the Internet.
But boy are they similar looking.
The only snug came when I hit the upland area, traffic was backed up due to road construction but I was lucky enough to somehow pass a whole bunch of cars by stayin on the left and merge until there no longer was any room to go any further. Rude? I say not, I did this fast and painless and in a very orderly fashion cause that's how I roll.

Abby joined us and we stayed up until around 1:00 then we went to rest. After a long trip and with a semi full stomach I think I put my head on the pillow and in a matter of about a second or so I was fast asleep.

The plan was to get to La Puente, eat, and head back to Phoenix but when Abby's kids as if by magic would be together the next day I had to change the plans so I could go meet them, but that my friends is another story.

Peace!

2011-07-06T07:22:00.000-07:00

Just some random images from my archives.

Taken in May of 2010 during a California trip.
Snow Day trip to Flagstaff, January 2011.
Ummmm, pozole!
Wow, he's changed since.
My bud Matt and I. April of 2009.
Grand kids. Christmas 2010.

Hello July!

2011-07-01T07:08:00.000-07:00

Image borrowed from the Internet.
And just like that half a year is gone, now I look forward to the second half which should be very hectic. With all the changes I am about to make it seems I won't have a lot of free time, yet it will be a nice time full of new feelings and emotions and yes things to do.

There's a change I did around this time a year ago and that was to trade cars. Can you believe I've had my 07 Mustang for a whole year already. I seems it was only a few months ago. Well, I am happy to report to you all that I still enjoy the heck out of driving that thing almost daily. The 93 Fox body pony has been mostly taking a well deserved rest as I only use it once in a while, I still dream of redoing it but after the 12 years I've owned it, it still looks good and actually gets more comments and approval nods than the 07.

This pony and I been together for a year already.
While my 93 has been mine for 12 years. Still love it!
July will bring at least two more road trips to California. Next week I say bye to Abby after her almost three week stay with us and I will actually drive her back to La Puente. While there we will be attending my niece's 25th birthday party. That should be a great time. Then later in July I will once again drive to La Puente and then we'll be on our way to Sonoma. I have never been that part of Northern California so I am definitely excited for that one.

For now I am just getting psyched about this weekend, I'll be taking a motorcycle ride with Abby to Prescott, with the forecasted 115 degree day for Phoenix we definitely need to hit the road at around 6:30 am or 7:00 at the latest to escape the heat, once we get up to Yarnell the temperature should be nicer.

Well, I wish you all a wonderful long 4th of July weekend, if you buy fireworks be careful it's hot and dry and easy for things to catch on fire.

Enjoy it!

Still Around and Still No Internet

2011-06-29T07:17:00.000-07:00

"Reality forms around a commitment." ~Unknown

~~Abby~~

You been here with me
And it just feels right
This is where you belong
Even if it’s too hot
Cause in the big scheme of things
Hot is what I think you are
And I know HOT I can handle
And I say HOT is alright

As you learn to deal with hotness
As you learn to embrace its warmth
Just remember in the front yard
There’s a long hose readily attached.

jmelo
Time sure does fly when you are having fun and there is just no possible way to stop it or at least slow it down so might as well use it to our advantage and enjoy it as much as possible.

It has been none stop these past two weeks and as the day gets closer when I have to take Abby back to California it suddenly hits me that it is going to be hard as she is very easy to get used to. I have a feeling my mom is thinking the same as she has had companionship every day and I know her too is loving it. Not to mention that her favorite son (namely me) has been there too.

Posting has been hard for me due to lack of Internet but I hope to eventually catch up, specially with some images we have captured these past days. We are thinking this Saturday we may take a ride to Prescott, if that happens it should be lots of fun, plus it will be great to escape the 115 degree Phoenix temperatures we are experiencing these days.

Getting to know each other has been awesome and I will treasure these days forever.

I am placing this image here as a request from my dear friend Wanda.
Peace!