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

What do you do?

What do you do, if the person who hurts you the most, is also your best friend?

Geminis BIrthday Part I

I started the day meeting with some buddies to go play basketball. My buddy was teasing me about making breakfast before we go play. So I made rice, eggs, and corned beef. Not bad if I do say so myself. So I called him up and said to swing by. He didn't think I was going to cook. HA! Serves him right. So he swung by and we had our pre-grub game meal. Afterwards, we jetted to the park. It was at this community court. Really nice. We got everyone there and we started our games. It felt really nice playing again. It was obvious that most of us (including the guy typing this) was out of shape. But other than that it was really good. I liked it because one of my friends joined us that doesn't really come out. He got comfortable enough that the guys invited him to the bar later that night to join in the bar party. And he actually said yes. So we were looking forward to this. Side note: while we were playing, some hot chick came out and started sunbathing. I wasn't distracted at all.