Weekend warrior

Hello everyone. This past weekend really tested my endurance somewhat. Friday was my cousin's wedding. We all welcomed "Lobo" into the family and he is a welcome addition. The mass was nice even though we showed up super late. The reception was really nice. There was an open bar which equals trouble in more ways than one, and a pianist (did I spell that right)?

We could only stay for a few minutes at the reception because me and my wife had to go to the airport. We had a flight that night to San Jose to visit her dad who had a stroke. It was a different mind set coming from a happy celebration to a somber mood. We dealt with a similar mood shift earlier this year, but we didn't know we would experience it again, and soon.

We got to San Jose late and boy let me tell you, whoever invented GPS, thank you. TomTom was great at getting us to where we needed to go. We were going to see her dad later that night, so we did the tourist thing and went to Fisherman's Wharf.

Now, we used to live up there and went to Pier 39 often, but for some reason it looked MUCH different. We did the whole tourist thing and got on the big red bus and man, has it changed. A lot of childhood memories came flooding back. I tried visiting the old neighborhood, but that will have to wait.

Her dad was doing fine. We found out that it wasn't a stroke. It was Bell's Palsy. It wasn't as major so we were relived. After that, we finished by having dinner at this place called Sino in Santa Row in an Jose. My wife's co-worker suggested this place. It's an Asian fusion restaurant. The food there was very good and the people, when they found out who suggested the place to us, were very accommodating. It also had a lounge area which was very nice.

The net day we visited one more relative who my wife had not seen in years. Her cousin just had a baby and is the Asian Michellin baby. Very cute. We made plans to see each other again.

As we flew back home and got the kids, we went to have dinner at my parents house and to our surprise our relatives were over. Just having our family over is like a big party already. Cousins, aunts and uncles hanging out, drinking, gambling, bar-b-qing. It was great.

What a weekend.

4th of July

Once again my yearly trek to Vegas during the World Series of Poker (WSOP) has come. As you can tell from the heading of my blog, I am a huge poker fan. But please, don't confuse with me liking the game from being GOOD at the game. We will talk about my skills or lack there off at a different time.

From all the times that my little poker group has gone, we never took my brother. My brother is a much better player than I am, so I wanted to take him there to check it out. He did admit he was a little star struck in the beginning, but that all went away when we entered the poker playing area.

First we visited the Poker Palooza. It was more a convention than anything where vendors showed off what they had to offer to us poker players. One of these days I will buy that card shuffler!!!

Anyway, after that we went to the poker rooms or halls and just watched these poker players who invested $10,000 to play. I say good luck to them. Do I want to be there, of course. I thought I was ready too because I got to play in a cash game the night before with some professional players at the Luxor.

Well, needless to say my brother got to thinking that he's always wanted to play but he never thought he was ready. After this weekend, I think he's ready.

He wrote a very inspirational letter to all of us poker buddies of his, and I think, I THINK, we will be there very soon. Till next time.

Abra Kadabra

Today we treated my oldest son to his birthday lunch. We took him to the Magic Castle. Now, for those of you that don't know, it is literally a castle nestled in Hollywood where magic truly is the breathe that keeps this place alive. It took a little longer to get there because we decided to take the scenic route and saw the many flowers that were being placed on Michael Jackson's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It was amazing how many people were there visiting the star considering it reached the high nineties today. It was HOT! Anyway, my son took an interest in magic, asking me to record countless shows. He likes Chris Angel. I'm old school so of course David Copperfield gets my vote. But I still haven't seen Lance Burton and I heard he was good. So he thought that it was this place that had plaques and showed awards of magicians. He was happy to find out that there was going to be actual shows. We checked in with the hostess and she pointed us on where to go. Well, she pointed to a book case. She told the kids in order to pass, they had to say, "Open Sesame." They were reluctant at first, but when they got close to the bookcase and it didn't budge, they wondered. So they said out loud, "Open Sesame." Next thing you know, the bookcase opens. Nice. We made it to the 2nd floor of the castle and got our brunch buffet. It was very good. Then we started watching all the shows that was available to us. I would normally show you something from there today, but this castle would not allow photo taking. The Magic Castle is a members only club and have very strict rules that had to be followed. Not everyone can get into the Magic Castle so we were very lucky to have gotten in. If you can get in, take advantage of what this place has to offer, for who knows, we probably just watched the next David Copperfield today. Till next time.

Father's Day

As you guys know, I became a father earlier this year. I did not get to blog it because, well, I was getting to know my son. Even since Februaury, my life has changed dramatically. Not in a bad way by any means. I figured in life we go through stages.

Now, I know this is something not new. For me, I tend to hold on to the memories of the past because there were good times back then. You meet new friends, you party hard with them, get in trouble with them. hahaha. But now, the nights of toasting with beer and wive, are replaced with warming bottles and making formula. Different, yes. Dissapointed, HECK NO. Like I said our life goes through changes. Now the next stage of my life is kicking in and I love it.

Yesterday was Father's Day. For me, it was officially my Father's Day. I don't know if I'm bad posting this, but I didn't really know how different my feelings would be.

May 6, 2006, I promissed my heart to my wife and her 2 children, who of course I considered mine even before we got married. When Father's day rolled around then, I felt touched that they would handcraft gifts for me and say, "Happy Father's Day daddy," even though we all knew I wasn't the biological father. Then my son was born this year, and my older kids loved him so much. There was no jealousy whatsoever. This year, my older kids again gave me handcrafted gifts, but this time I appreciated the gifts, and them so much more. Something inside me really gave my a shove on how special it really was to be a father. I thank my parents for showing me what unconditional love really means and I can now pass it down and practice it with my family.

To all the father's out there...cherish your children and cherish your wife. They are unbelievable gifts.

Till next time.

So Sorry

Hello everybody. I'm sorry I've been away. It has been an emotional roller coaster since the last time I was here. It has been a cloudy and sunny experience. My mother-in-law passed away and then 5 days later, my son was born. I know things happen for a reason so I'm not even going to question God. In a way, I think God gave us our son early so that the pain would be more bearable.

Having a new baby is in many ways life changing. You can try to prepare as much as you can, but unless you have your baby, it's a whole new ballgame. I get teased by my friends about not getting enough sleep, mountains of diapers, and many spit-up towels by my bed. Well, let's just say they are not myths. I thought I could handle the no sleep part. I mean c'mon, Vegas on a weekend. But I quickly found out a weekend is much different than every night.

Although we are going through this "change" in lifestyle, now I understand what I mean by "labor of love". I am thankful that I have my son. I have my step kids that I consider my own and love very much, but with my newborn, I can appreciate all the sacrifice involved and it ways have brought me closer to them.

Last night I was able to take out my wife to reconnect. It's been a while since we had a date and it was something that we were both very much looking forward too.

We decided to go this restaurant called Roy's in the Anaheim Garden Walk. I heard about this place and about the fine gourmet dining. So off we went. Now you know being the eater that I am, I am picky about where to eat. My wife, through 6 degrees of separation, knew one of the chef at Roy's so it was more incentive for us to go. Now this place was very nice and the service was excellent. You can really feel the "aloha" spirit. We ordered and we just really reconnected. We were just talking about things that happened, life, friends, so many subjects. Then we got to meet the chef friend. Very nice guy and down to earth. I don't want to spoil the experience that anyone who wants to visit this restaurant, but the food is AMAZING. Our treat was the dessert. We ordered a chocolate lava flow type dessert. But when we got it, we got 4 desserts thanks to our chef. Really good stuff.

Enjoy the pics and till next time.

Good Morning...

For those of you who really know me, I would try my hardest to watch any or all of Martin Nievera's concerts or shows. So far the longest I have gone time wise was 4 hours away. Now that might not sound like a long distance to travel, but trust me, for me, it's like going half way around the world. He will be performing at Morongo Casino tonight with Brian McKnight, another great singer. Hopefully, next time, my family can watch him again sometime soon.

So today we will be going to Kanoa's first scrimmage. I thought we were supposed to have the uniforms passed out yesterday, but I guess we will be getting the uniforms today. He wants purple & gold. Me personally I wanted black, but what can you do?

So as I start this beautiful Sunday morning, I just think to myself, "How lucky am I?"

Just got back from a Christmas Party

Merry Christmas everyone. We just got back from my friend's Christmas party. As always it was the greatest. My friends are the best in the world. One of them got a promotion and is leaving for Chicago on December 29. Chicago...dang. I heard it gets cold over there. That is the place he grew up so I'm sure he'll be ok. Besides, now we have an excuse to go visit him.

A funny thing this thing called growing up. We're expecting a baby in February and even though in my mind I'm thinking it will be ok, I know that things will have to change. Sometimes change is good. Sometimes bad. It just really depends on how you look at it.

It looks so easy on "Friends". Sometimes I envy them. When I crisis comes up, either Chandler tells a funny joke, Phoebe starts cleansing your aura, or Joey, well, is just Joey. But I guess life isn't a sitcom so I shouldn't treat it like one.

Whatever happens, I love my friends. I love my buddy who is leaving us and I wish him the best. And I'm lucky to have the friends that I have right now.

Ok...me going to bed. There's my son's basketball scrimmage tomorrow.

Merry Christmas everyone