The Blog that is me

2011-11-28T21:04:00.001-08:00

So this is a post about Grace. After reading her post we are sorely disappointed in her. She must have forgotten that it was Wanda that went to take care of Graces Mom for almost 8 months straight. Not to mention when Graces Mom went to the Hospital we stay there with her until late in the evenings. Not to mention Wanda cooking for the house - and Grace never offered any compensation for the food we brought over there. Grace seems to be wallowing in self pity when she's not the only one that has lost her parents - Wanda and I have lost both parents but we're not wallowing in sorrow like Grace. We're wondering why Grace never visits us, never sends us any updates. It's like she doesn't want to be part of anybody's Family. Based on her twitter posts and Facebook posts she's not wallowing in sorrow with trips to San Diego . . . traveling all over the bay area . . . Grace should count her blessings and reach out to her Family if she wants to be part of a Family.

Graduation time for Kevin

2011-05-03T18:18:00.000-07:00

So Kevin is near Graduation at the University of California at Santa Cruz. The date is June 11th at 5 PM at the Oakes College at the University. It's been a long hard struggle for Kevin with a hard Major add to that him having to take 3 classes this past summer (1 that was 10 weeks long and 2 Elective classes that were 6 weeks long). Additionally we asked him to stay at Ric's house instead of the customary off campus housing that he would have liked to have this last year. He also worked during his Christmas Vacation at www.coupons.inc to earn some extra cash. Kevin has worked hard trying to work his education into our small budget and we are Thankful that he is graduating in the usual 4 years.

Danielle's almost walking now

2011-01-15T18:01:00.000-08:00

So Danielle (Dan Dan as we affectionally call her) is almost walking now. She knows exactly what she likes and uses her left hand to push things away. And she doesn't let just anybody hold her now either. I've cared for her a lot so I'm one of her favorites. She's very cautious about touching things - she doesn't just grab everything she sees (I think that's a good thing). She's learning how to hug (bears, little stuffed animals and Gramma). She will sit on your lap and she likes you to show her the books. She knows how to turn the pages and likes the orange Pumpkins the best. Wanda says she will stand up on her own and clap her hands but then realizes she's standing and then falls down to the rug.

Danielle almost 11 months old

2010-11-22T07:47:00.000-08:00

So on Sundays we are blessed to have Danielle in our midst from about 10:30 AM to about 3:30 PM. On those Sundays we get to play with her and nowadays she is crawling normally (she used to crawl/slide especially on our wood floors). She plays with toys now and loves to try to bounce the balls. She tries to taste everything she get a hold of, so we have to watch her carefully so she doesn't ingest something that is bad for her. She likes to see all the pictures on the Refrigerator and she's making some little screaming noises when I get her to try to say what each picture is. I've noticed a new little smile that pops up especially when she likes something new - she'll look at me and then show that little smile that melts me instantly. She's a good eater and her Dad makes sure she has something to eat - this day it was Gerbers chicken/noodle like a guey substance but she at it all with me holding her and Grammy feeding her. She occasionally drinks from the glass that has the built in straw and sometimes drinks a bit too fast and has this cute little fake cough after she drinks. She's a very active little thing and likes to be entertained most of the time but she's easily entertained and likes to bang on the computer.

Multitasking on the iPhone OS4

2010-08-19T14:44:00.001-07:00

Well I didn't think it would be useful for multitasking but it took some getting used to using the Multitasking on the iPhone with the newest OS4. You see not all apps have been modified to be multitasked i.e. When you bop away from an app it should stay running. For example when you're playing some music on the iPod player on the iPhone the music keeps playing same as with Pandora (both these apps have been modified to multitask - with Pandora being the latest). Most Apple Apps have been modified to take advantage of the new OS.

So what's the new thing I'm talking about today that is new and what can you learn from this? Well it's the double click thing that puts your latest apps at the bottom of the screen. So at first I didn't think that this was useful but after actually having something running and then trying to go back and forth through the double-click feature it works pretty good because the apps you are multitasking between are foremost in the front of the list of the double-click list.

What we'd like to happen is to have more Developers modify their apps to utilize the multitasking feature. For Pandora it they said it took like 36 lines of code to modify their app to take advantage of the OS4. Before that the app would stop dead in it's tracks (excuse the pun) and you'd have to re-start the app.

So in summation I guess this 1st version of multitasking works but I'd really like the iPhone to actually act like Spaces or Expose that we see in Snow Leopard.

Roger or Rog

2010-06-07T14:06:00.000-07:00

So I first met Roger when he arrived from the Middle East at Jessie's house. He had with him a brand new CD player and I instantly thought (a high tech guy and we were instantly friends). We'd visit Roger and Nida over the years in Stockton and then I found out Roger played tennis. So from then on it was "Hey Roger I'm coming to Stockton to play tennis with you and he'd always be there tennis racquet in hand and we'd get up early to go to play at the Delta College. When we arrived at the Delta College there would usually be 10 or 12 people Roger knew so we always had people to play doubles with. Roger and I would pair up and we'd give most people a hard time and win our sets. Roger had a kick serve and a huge topspin forehand that gave most people a hard time. He loved playing tennis and always upgraded his tennis equipment - he'd make special trips to Mountain View (Swetkas) with me to get the latest and greatest tennis racquets and tennis shoes - he never skimped on those items either - always paid full price and always had two pairs of tennis shoes: I'd ask him where his new shoes were and he'd say "Oh those I just use them for special occasion and then when the old ones wore out he'd swap the new ones in and get another new pair. He always supplied tennis balls for us to use - he'd make sure he made the trips to COSTCO to get a case of balls. We attended several of the SAP tennis matches on Monday nights and he'd swoop in and we'd head out usually with my Brother John to watch a nights worth of tennis at the Shark tank. When I heard that Pete Sampras was going to play near Stockton at Citrus Heights I called him up and he instantly said "I'll drive". So John and I went over the night before and stayed over and we went off to see Pete Sampras play in Citrus Heights. Roger could always know when an important tennis event was happening he should be there. For instance: I'd call Roger and say "Hey Rog did you know that John McEnroe was going to be at Swetkas signing autographs and instantly Roger said "when?" and then he said we'll be going there to see John McEnroe. John McEnroe did show up and we did get autographed pictures of him - Rogers' is in his Garage - He said he was keeping it and will sell it on Ebay sometime. Roger also loved to go fishing. I knew this because when we were driving along the highway in their area he'd be telling me stories of where they went fishing and if they caught anything. Roger and I both loved gadgets and Roger always had a lot of gadgets like the latest Macintosh, iPhone etc. I'm sure because he had all these gadgets that he persuaded his brothers and Sisters to also get online and stay connected. He has Brothers and Sisters all over the world and at any given time I'd catch him chatting with someone at a distant land. I once asked Roger to come to Milpitas expressly to watch Kevin's service toss because I thought Kevin might be swinging the racquet the wrong way on follow through. Roger showed up and he watched Kevin's toss and sure enough the follow through was on the wrong side of Kevin's body - Kevin had enough respect for Roger and listened as Roger showed Kevin what his was doing wrong - Kevin ended up on the Tennis Team and now has a radically hard serve to return. If there was a new satellite antenna Roger would have it and all the channels would be up and running. We had endless conversations about just about everything. I always found it incredibly easy to communicate with roger and we'd laugh and tell jokes and it never ended. We'd talk for hours on end about everything and nothing. So one day I introduced Roger to Starbucks on a hot day after tennis and he was forever after that hooked on Starbucks. We'd go get starbucks after tennis and sometimes a cold drink and it would taste sooo good! We would video chat over the iChat on the Macintoshes and think everyone else is video chatting but not like on the Macintosh. Both Nida and Roger would ride with us to visit Kevin in Santa Cruz and we'd always have fun.

A new day

2010-06-07T06:24:00.000-07:00

Today will be a new day for me.

I am sure today will be brighter and newer than any day I've ever had.

I can sense that this week will be a new week much brighter and newer than previous days.

Depressed?

2010-06-03T09:16:00.000-07:00

I don't usually feel depressed but last night we had to wash the bedsheets at the Laundry Mat. This is not my favorite thing in the world - it would have been more exciting to go watch a Baseball game but we are on this fantastically tight budget. Anyway what keeps me going is knowing I will see my kids and also when I know we will get to interact with little Danielle. She had a small rash on the backside of her neck but I think Kathleen put some Hydrocortisone on her after her bath and that seems to clear it up. I did go to sleep a little bit depressed but at least I did fall asleep in the usual 7 minutes. It's almost been 6 months and not even 1 company has called for an interview so that's the depressing part. I'm still getting Unemployment Insurance but that won't last forever and we still have Health coverage but that won't last forever either. So I'll just keep applying and applying and hope some company will at least call me in for an interview.

looking up

2010-06-01T18:34:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of little Danielle June 1st on her stomach looking up at us. She's getting stronger and sometimes we let her stay on her stomach to gain some strength in her neck. Looks like she'll be turning over soon too. She's knowing her inner circle too because when she doesn't see anyone she knows she starts to cry... I take her outside and she stares up at the sky and at the trees - I tell her that the Angels are moving the leaves just for her. She has a wonderful smile now and everytime we see her she smiles for us.

Danielle playing with her Toy Set

2010-05-19T21:47:00.000-07:00

Little Danielle has a little kind of play thing that toys are hanging from. She hits the toys and one of them plays a little song. Seems like she can actually activate that toy. She's more animated nowadays and is fun to play with. Grandma likes to kiss her under her chin but she complains and let's Grandma know by trying to say some words. I kiss her on the side of her neck and she likes that.

The glue that binds us

2010-05-10T10:59:00.000-07:00

It's truly amazing how we are bound together. Sometimes it's the Parents that are the glue that binds us, sometimes it's a sport - either one that you watch or one that you participate in. This glue seems to pull people together and everything else that is not so good melts into the background. Right now for us it's little Danielle Kasandra. She has given us the excuse to visit with our Children and to learn more about them by staying in there world if only during the day. And Little Danielle doesn't even know she's the glue that is binding us together. She basically helpless and needs attention, Loving and care to get her through the day. Imagine everyone wanting to hold you, everyone wanting to amuse you everyone wanting to kiss you. Everyone wanting to show you everything you might want to know. It's a shame that as we grow older this disappears and people have to almost beg to get your attention.

So little Danielle is almost 4 1/2 months old now and she's really starting to come into her own. She knows what she likes and what she doesn't like. I think she knows who's who in the zoo and who's not in the zoo e.g. When someone holds her from outside her known world she does squirm a bit - but that could be because they hold her awkwardly and she feels it.

Apple of my Eye

2010-03-31T00:08:00.000-07:00

Hi All - Well starting this Friday I will be watching little Danielle Kasandra Sana during the weekdays. This photo shows off her new earrings. She's now 3 months old (13 weeks - not that I'm counting). She's developed a little personality and likes to smile and play for 15-20 minutes. Mostly she sleeps and eats and have to remember to burp her after she eats. She's still kind of Fragile so have to take special care with her. Since she's the 1st Grandchild when she cries she isn't irritating to me. She's a cute little thing and we've been close to her since she was born - at first we visited every 2 days sometimes 2 days in a row. I've been watching the women folk on how they hold her and how she reacts to certain things. Kathleen has been a wonderful Mom and has taken extremely good care of her and I know she dreads going back to work - so we're trying to help her out until Wandas' Sister gets back from the Philippines/Guam. Apparently she likes to use a pacifier sometimes when she wants to go back to sleep. So I will be on IM - the usual AIM, Yahoo Messenger, Skype, Facebook and Twitter keeping you posted and if you see me logged on I might want to communicate because I'll be with Danielle most of the day. I'm not really expert at feeding her but I think I know the trick which is to stand up with her and to rock her slightly while feeding her - she's going to have to get used to formula because her Mom will be at work. But the Parents have been training her on the bottle during the day and during the night she get breast fed. Well that's all for now - wish me luck and call me anytime over the next 3 weeks.

Photo in Mountain View California USA

2010-03-18T20:12:00.000-07:00

So here I am again for any of you lost souls eager to hear some interesting things going on. Anyway about the picture: I took this with my iPhone in Mountain View California at the Restaurant that Wanda is working at. Today I took the Honda in for an Oil Change (1st oil change, the little wrench lit up on the dash and said A1 15) the 15 means 15 % of the oil is left as good oil and when it gets that low take it in. Anyway the Dealers are begging to keep their customers so the oil change was FREE and FREE cup of coffee/Bagel. And they did it in less than 45 minutes. I had taken the car in last week because some kind of rock got stuck in the brake and was making a gawd-awful sound but it was nothing. So we sent in a bunch of paper work to the Mortgage Company overnight today and that should do it for the Loan Mod. I took a walk around the block today (well down Temple, up Calaveras and then down Yosemite and then back on Temple about 45 minutes which by my calculation is about a mile and a half. Nice walk with a little bit of shade and I was wearing my gym shorts and Tennis Dry-fit shirt and Hat. I will have to push the walk a bit farther next time maybe a block or two more up Piedmont and then back. Or walk to the Church and Pray a bit there if the Church is Open - St. Elizabeth's. So we saw Danielle last night and she's definitely is developing a personality and is showing it with her crying states and gurgling. She's a little bit heavier and now is 11 weeks old. She'll get those 1st shots tomorrow (ouch) and they'll give her Tylenol immediately following the shots. She should do fine with it although the Parents will hear her scream probably for the 1st time like this. I found my around the ear headphones too late but will wear them next time around on the walk. The white ones that come with the iPhone fall out while walking. Okay that's about it for now.

March Madness

2010-03-11T23:55:00.000-08:00

Yea that's me. I took this picture with my webcam that is on top of my monitor. I think it's a relatively good representation of me don't you think?

So what's going on with me right? Well I'm on the job hunt right now and it's going very slow. But I am getting some things done that I've always wanted to get done. I'm keeping up with my Reading of Novels mostly just James Patterson from the Milpitas Library. He has a lot of Hard Backs that I'm reading. I'm still getting up relatively early but not as early as I'm used to - I used to wake up about 6:30 AM and leave the house for work at 7 AM. But now I get up about 7:45 take a shower and drive Wanda to work or I go to the EDD/NOVA offices in Sunnyvale to do some things over there. I'm reaching out to as many Friends as possible and sending my Resume/Cover Letter to them. I've made a document that reminds me who I sent my Resume/Cover Letter to so I don't bug them too much. I belong to a Success Team and we're meeting on Wednesdays from 3:30 PM to 4:30 PM in Sunnyvale. It's pretty good to see how other people are attacking this job situation. We have a Yahoo Group but there isn't much on the group posting, only 2 of us have posted their Resume there so far. The Facilitator of the Yahoo Group is doing a good job of posting things on the group page though. I broke out the vacuum today and ran it around the house and got the special Refrigerator Brush out and cleaned away a lot of the dust that accumulates under the Refrigerator on the coils under the Refrigerator. Thank God I don't have to do yard work anymore - it takes the Gardner guys about 45 minutes to do the entire yard whereas it would take me like hours and hours to do and it would kill my asthma. Tomorrow is Friday.

Tick Tock

2010-02-24T23:17:00.000-08:00

Hi - Decided to do a post --- been away looking for work these past couple weeks. It's not been easy especially when I go to the EDD/NOVA place for networking sessions. Everyone's coughing and I think I caught a cold from someone there. It's tiring looking at all the downtrodden faces in the room - all of us in the same boat. It reminds me of a scene in Titanic where you're in a Lifeboat and you all have the same fate. Doom and Gloom. But alas after I take a 3 hour nap after these episodes then life drains back into my body and I get a second wind. Ordered some Business Cards today with just plain stuff like my name, email and phone number.

So where am I right now? I'm in nomans land struggling like I've never struggled before with barely a slight wind pushing me along.

Burn Notice 10 PM tonight

2010-02-11T08:39:00.000-08:00

Today is Thursday - which means that at 10 PM there's a new episode of Burn Notice.

Haven't done your taxes yet - well get on it now. Gather all your documents and head over to your local H&R Block and get it done.

128-10-93-85-10-128-98-112-6-6-25-126-39-1-68-78

Has something to do with a Dan Brown novel.

February 9th 2010

2010-02-09T21:28:00.000-08:00

Well here I am posting again. It's been a tough week because EDD stopped my checks because they said my last employer said I quit and that just wasn't the case. So I have to appeal it. But I guess they'll pay me back pay when all is said and done.

Not much else really going on except for the mundane - well maybe not mundane. I did fix the annoying problem of my printer/copier/scanner not scanning every time and having to restart all the time just to get the scanner to scan. It was an easy fix actually - I went online and found that my printer Canon MP160 had a software update from 3.0.3 to 3.0.4 and they said they fixed this exact problem - I was a bit hesitant because I only have Leopard and it said the update was for Snow Leopard but it worked and installed right over the older version and scanning works every time now without restarting.

Just applying networking and trying to find a job . . . I don't have to worry about health insurance and that's a big relief.

I tried to play the John Mayer song I heard on Comcast on demand called Who Says - I got the chords off the internet and had to look up a Bm but it's not an easy song to do. It will definitely take some time to put it together - a lot of chord changes to different places.

I installed Xcode again since I moved my iPhoto library to an external drive that freed up 16GB so now I can practice my C programming on my Mac.

Kevin's got the PS3 at his house so no Blu Ray movies this week.

Oh yea we did our taxes last week - it was okay - it's always okay when you don't have to pay.

ER and Hospital Rooms

2010-02-01T12:39:00.000-08:00

Starting in September of 2009 I've logged many hours in Hospital rooms at Kaiser and the VA. Can't forget visiting Ric up at the Veterans Hospital earlier in the year for his knee Replacement. Well there was my own knee Operation in September - 1st Operation since I was 8 years old when I broke my elbow in 3 places and spent 14 days in traction and 3 months at home with a cast.

Then there was my Automobile crash where I spent only about 1.5 hours in the ER.

Next was Roger up in Redwood City - Spent many hours sitting with Roger through his ordeal.

And that was during Christmas.

Then we waited for little Danielle to be born - the most joyous wait though with friends and family in the waiting room.

The Poor little Ayla couldn't breathe and we visited her in the Hospital where she spent two nights with an IV and oxygen tube connected to her small body.

Lastly was Kevin on January 31st - Feb 1st where he had some diarrhea and throwing up going on and they had to give him 4 liters of Saline Solution in an IV and that took all night to accomplish.

So through it all I guess I was due to spend time in these Rooms to give comfort to the sick and to pray for their recovery. It gives me pause to know how frail we all are in this human condition. But seeing people in recovery mode it gives me hope that we dig hard and deep to stay alive. I've seen Ric up on a walker just 2 days after a huge knee operation. I've seen Roger battling his brain tumor walking around with his cane and going through his radiation therapy. I've played with Ayla after her ordeal and she still remembers her oxygen taped to her cheeks. I watched Kevin wince when they had to poke the tops of his hands for more blood for blood cultures. And they there are the Angels we call Nurses that do this day in and day out poking and prodding and nursing the sick to wellness - God Bless the Nurses and Doctors. I stayed up all night last night in the room with Kevin and Wanda and I didn't get any sleep but didn't feel sleepy until about 8 AM this morning. I watched the monitor as it spewed out the heartbeat of Kevin and every 30 minutes it gave us the details of the blood pressure - sometimes too high sometimes even too low (too low when he wasn't laying down flat). The Monitor was everything to us at that time - the digital pulses displayed for us to monitor the oxygen monitor affixed to his index finger indicating oxygen levels sometimes at 100 and other times at 99. I heard Kevin's phone beep at 11:11 PM. He said that's when he makes a small wish. So right now we get to watch Danielle while Danny and Kat run an errand to the EDD. Danielle is such a joy to take care of - she's very predictable nowadays for us and she looks like she's communicating with Wanda on a different level. Well that's about it for today.

Thursday and Friday 2010 january 29th

2010-01-29T20:40:00.000-08:00

Well Thursday we prepped to go to Auntie Bayas in Sunnyvale - ran some errands. We spent the evening with Family - it was fun seeing Everyone!

Friday we went to get a Money Order for Kevin's off campus housing and then to Valley Fair to get some free Bread at Boudini's and some clam chowder and some Halibut for dinner.

Who Says?

2010-01-28T15:06:00.000-08:00

A John Mayer Song ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZwVjys2bQI

Who Says?

Monday and Tuesday up to 1/26/2010

2010-01-27T01:52:00.000-08:00

Monday and Tuesday were kind of slow days. Just trying to get my medical benefits in order. But I think now everything's fine. Had to fill out a form to justify Kevin's dependency for medical benefits but that was okay. Both Monday and Tuesday we visited Danny and Kathleen and little Danielle Kasandra. Danielle is really easy to watch and is almost 4 weeks old now. She looks around and seems like she responds to us with some small amount of cooing. We're getting used to her rhythms and can sense when she is hungry, needs a diaper change or just wants attention from us. I noticed she had 8 letters in her two first names (this is good luck in the Asian world). Her faces is changing weekly and it's hard to tell who she resembles now. I'm thinking mostly like Kathleen.

We rented some movies: Gamer, The Line and I Hate Valentines I think is the name of the last one. I watched The Line (good movie) and the Gamer (strange but good also and it's in Blue Ray) haven't seen the last one yet.

We did a little grocery shopping, dropped off some clothes and paid up Kevin's Wells Fargo Charge card - he uses the charge card to buy books.

Tennis Tennis Tennis

2010-01-24T21:09:00.001-08:00

Today is Sunday: (I skipped a few days I think - We visited Danny and Kathleen and Little Danielle yesterday [Saturday].) Danielle is so cute nowadays - she looks at you and seems to recognize things. Grandma wanted to keep holding and playing with her but it was getting a little too late. Wanda's been waiting for a Grandchild for many years now. Especially a little girl.

Today I went up to Alameda to play some tennis. I noticed that it was fairly dry the night before so just in case I brought my Bicycle riding gear in case we couldn't play tennis. I got to Alameda at 8 AM and it seemed like it was threatening to rain. Dave and Doug arrived and we headed off to the courts: Longfellow - too much water on the courts, Washington - courts were all full, Franklin - too much water - so we headed off to Laney College which we have played before. We snagged a close parking space and I parallel parked on the 1st try. John scouted a court - singles court and we started playing. We played Australian Doubles because Doug was under the weather and was just taking pictures. We had some good ralleys and it was the 1st time I felt I could play on the singles side by myself (my knee operation). But I held my own and got the only ACE of the day down the T.

Then we headed off to our favorite place to eat afterwards - ButterCup by the freeway.

January 20, 2010 Wednesday

2010-01-20T18:54:00.000-08:00

It's Wednesday and today we took a ride to Taco Bell to see Monica. It was pouring on 680 North from Milpitas and I was driving like 50 MPH. We saw a truck that ended up on the center barrier facing traffic with the back end on the center divide.

We watched Danielle while Danny and Kathleen went to get the birth certificate and run some other errands to Best Buy etc. She's so easy to watch nowadays. She's got a small rash on her face and went to see the Dr. for a 3 week checkup.

Rented a Steven Segal Movie (actually pretty good) and a Blu Ray Ninja movie.

Tuesday 1/19/2010

2010-01-20T10:33:00.000-08:00

We went up to Oakland to see a Lawyer about my Accident and gave him all the documentation to work with. Now it's all up to him to get it all settled out. A heavy load has been lifted from my shoulders.

We went to see little Danielle and she was awake and squirming all around when I was holding her. She's 3 weeks old now. Like clockwork she wanted milk and then Wanda held her while we were watching TV.

Tuned into an on-demand series I like: NCIS-LA - the guys drive the ultimate car Charger SRT and I noticed the SRT was stitched onto the seats this last episode.

24 - The series

2010-01-18T23:36:00.000-08:00

Tonight was my favorite night of the week. 24 was on. To the right is my version of Jack Bauer. 24 is still like a short movie and still has the same impact on me. Looks like Agent Walter is going to be the next Jack Bauer.

Today we went to Costco to pick up some supplies for Kevin and run some errands - To AT&T (total bust there - they're not really cutting their prices down), then Walmart to get Kev some things there - small broom/dustpan etc. Return some movies at Blockbuster and then to Safeway to get some Raviolis and then to the new iHop on Calaveras. I prefer Dennys in Fremont because they make a better T-Bone breakfast steak. iHop tried but the service seemed to be lacking a bit and we were seated next to the wall next to the kitchen so you could hear someone chopping something occasionally. Buttercup is the best though for Waffles.

Tomorrow we're going to see the Lawyer about my accident last October 2009.

Saturday January 18th 2010

2010-01-18T00:05:00.000-08:00

Today we went over to watch Danielle for the afternoon. She's such a doll to watch. Wanda gave her a little bath and washed her hair. She doesn't like baths too much. She can cry when she wants to. We put some fresh new clothes that her Mom laid out for us and she drank down a couple of bottles of milk. After all that she went to sleep for a few more hours and then like clockwork she wakes up and wanted some more milk and her diaper changed.

Then her Mom and Dad came home and Kevin and Jono came over just in time to help Danny put together an IKEA dresser like the one they already had. That went over without a hitch - Good Job Danny and Kevin... Danny and I then went to Auntie Bayas to pick up some home cooked food for Kathleen and we got a $10 pizza at pizza hut (half Hawaiian and half meat lovers).

Then we had 24 minutes to reach Milpitas from Danny and Kathleen's house to watch the season premier of 24. We made it with 4 minutes to spare.

Thursday January 14th 2010

2010-01-14T19:05:00.000-08:00

So I've Lawyered up for the battle with State Farm and my own ALLSTATE insurance companies. I didn't think I could battle them and get an adequate settlement. There are too many things

I don't know about these things. The standard fee is about 30% which seems reasonable for me.

Today we just cleaned the house. I tuned into an on-demand episode of CSI NY (my 2nd favorite show on TV).

24 will be debuting this coming Sunday at 9PM - don't miss it!

I got an unemployment check today - would rather have a pay check but it will help us stay

afloat until something comes along.

We watched a newer version of FAME on DVD last night. It wasn't half bad. I watched another

movie called HORSEMEN with Dennis Quaid - it was average though (kind of gory).

I still can't say goodbye:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDwhIfUUQbU&feature=related

Wednesday January 13th 2010

2010-01-13T21:50:00.000-08:00

It's Wednesday January 13th. We spent the night in Stockton at Roger and Nida's. Roger was in good spirits and has improved greatly since last we saw him a week ago. He seemed to have more balance. They were headed out of the house this morning to see the Radiation Therapy folks at a nearby Clinic.

This evening we spent time from 6PM to 9PM with Danny and Kathleen and little Danielle. She just turned 2 weeks old today at 6:59 PM. I took a short movie of her to commemorate the occastion. She was awake for more than an hour looking around and seeing who was holding her. I got to hold her for a while and she seemed to acknowledge what I was saying - not really but she was looking into my eyes it seemed.

The bumper etc.

2010-01-12T10:41:00.000-08:00

We were over Danny/Kats last night and I took this short video of Danielle.

http://home.comcast.net/~tuburan/Danielle_1112010.AVI

Yesterday (Monday) we picked up the freshly fixed up Highlander and they did an excellent job on the back bumper. The poor bumper has been battered over the years - hitting at least 4 things before being clobbered by someone last week. We ended up paying only $31 (our portion) while the whole job cost GEICO $811. The Bumper looks brand new now and they detailed the car so the car looks brand new now.

My Buddy Roger has to get Radiation treatments for his Brain Tumor. We're going over there today to bolster his spirits - Nida says he's so worried about the treatments (which granted are serious treatments) but the only way to get through something like that is to have the most positive attitude because the treatments are going to bring him down. So if you can say a prayer for my buddy Roger Ubongen I'd appreciate it.

That's about it for now. Just have to work on some paperwork for the October accident for State Farm...arghh

It's Monday Again ...

2010-01-11T09:21:00.000-08:00

Hi - Well this past weekend I played tennis up in Alameda with John, Doug and Dave. We played in the world famous single court at Longfellow Park. We played 3 sets trading off teams once. My knee seems to be holding up although I'm still a bit afraid to get into a full run to get after those shots to the sides or drop shots. My serve seemed to be in pretty good form although I didn't really have the pace I wanted. We had some good ralleys. We had a tasty lunch served up by Rosie and John - Thanks for a good Lunch. We watched a bit of King Kong on the blue ray. I ended up leaving my jacket at 1252 but the W's brought it by on their way home.

Friday we saw my buddy Roger, Nida and Wilma. They saw little Danielle for the 1st time at our house after Danny and Kathleen brought Danielle over after their Dr's appointment. Roger will need many appointments for Radiation Therapy.

We went to a dinner dance last Friday Evening at the Biltmore - it was fun.

Saturday we went to a 65 Birthday/Retirement party for a Friend. After that party we went to see little Danielle and Marlow/Bynkee/Ayla were there also. I had fun playing with little Ayla.

My nasal problem seems to have calmed down - my Dr. recommended using the Astelin which is another inhaler.

Time to get my Resume updated and send it to millions of companies.

Thursday 1/7/2010

2010-01-07T11:26:00.000-08:00

Well last night Wanda got into an accident on HWY 237 - someone hit her from behind but she wasn't hurt - leastwise for now. It never ends with these accidents - there were actually 3 accidents on 237 last night as I was driving to her location I saw them all. Luckily the other driver had Geico and reported it and they take full responsibility and I will be taking the car tomorrow to get it repaired. I'm doing this all through Geico so I don't have to pay my deductible through ALLSTATE.

We're renting some blu ray discs on the cheap through BlockBuster $1.99 for any movie until the end of January - that's like less than 1/2 price. Blu Ray is pretty good although I thought my TV was 1080P but what is showing up on the movies is 1080i but I guess it's almost the same. Dave W. gave me King Kong on Blu Ray and I'll finish watching it today sometime.

Had some coffee at Starbucks and some low fat coffee cake (it tasted low fat too).

Still have the nasal congestion so I'll probably email my Dr. to see if she can prescribe something for that.

I was on the road when the 4.9 earthquake happened this morning so I didn't feel it.

May the sun warm you

and the moon restore you

and may the Stars light your path...

2010 A New Beginning

2010-01-06T12:52:00.000-08:00

Hi - Well here it is January 6th 2010 and a new Beginning for us. We'll be struggling for the next few months while we get back on our feet. But I'm going to keep this blog going so you can see how we are doing. Kevin is back at UCSC - we followed him over there. Yesterday we went to the Campus Parking Building so Kev could get a parking permit so he can drive and park on campus. Most of his classes are in the afternoon so he won't have to drive on and off campus much. We (at Kev's request) changed over from an on campus meal plan to no meal plan and will shop for his food. We also took off the on campus Medical plan because we have Kaiser (Hopefully) and that saves us another $350/quarter and the meal plan is also about $350 I think. Kev has started his upper division classes now and has intro to electric circuits, computer architecture, economics (general ed) and Yoga. He's taking some medications to help with a cough he had Delsym and mucinex. I fixed his ignition keys (somehow they were bent) I went to a locksmith in Milpitas and the Locksmith had to do some creative filing on the new keys to make the keys slide in and turn smoothly - something the bent key wouldn't do. So as far as the EDD goes it's a Zoo - hard to deal with but have to get it going! Sent some email to the EDD folks today. Updated the picasa web site this morning added some new photos of Danielle over the past couple days. She opens her eyes now and moves a bit more. We watched Julie/Julia last night on the blue ray player. We got a coupon for movies (all movies during Janauary are only $1.99 - which is huge because usually 1 movie is $5.49. So we're taking advantage of that and renting a lot of Blue Ray movies in January.

That's it for now!

knee update

2009-09-24T20:33:00.000-07:00

Well it's been 2 weeks and a day since my knee arthroscopy and my knee feels a lot better. I had a lot of fear that I wouldn't wake up from the anesthesia or something like that but Wanda and Kevin were there to support me all the way. They were fantastic - Wanda even came in the pre-op room to sit there while they put the IV in. Everything went as expected and now I'm just rehabbing my knee myself. Stretching, some walking...

Left Knee update

2009-05-06T09:35:00.000-07:00

Well after nearly a month my knee seems to be fixing itself. The pain is not entirely gone so no tennis for now but I'm thinking of signing up for some membership so I can get on a stationary bike.

Left Knee

2009-04-08T09:25:00.000-07:00

Went to see the Dr. and she poked, probed, pushed and twisted to see if there was any major damage and there was none. She gave me some 800MG of anti-inflamatory meds and a sock like brace for my knee and sent me on my way.

Filipino Heritage Night at the Oracle

2009-02-07T13:58:00.000-08:00

February 12th is Filipino Heritage Night - Are you going?

John reeling in the Albacore

2009-02-04T19:48:00.000-08:00

That's Ric in the Blue with the Gaff... We're out in the Ocean about 30 miles out of Santa Cruz in John's Boat.

Subversion

2009-02-02T23:13:00.001-08:00

Subversion (SVN) is a version control system initiated in 2000 by CollabNet Inc. It is used to maintain current and historical versions of files such as source code, web pages and documentation.

My latest learning experience to help keep different versions of my home page.

2009-01-25T13:16:00.001-08:00

Ubuntu - I now have a machine running.

The Harsh Cry of the Heron

2009-01-16T17:30:00.001-08:00

I am reading The Harsh Cry of the Heron by Lian Hearn.

99 to 58 to 15 to VEGAS!

2008-12-20T23:32:00.000-08:00

We started out from Stockton on Thursday Morning at 6 :15 AM. Riding along HWY 99 South

we hit Bakersfield without incident. Then caught HWY 58 and we were stopped cold in our

tracks on the freeway. Traffic piled up for miles and miles. We were stuck for more than 2 hours

and then we found out via the iPhone that the Summit on HWY 58 was clear. O

ff we went on

our way to Vegas! We travelled through the snow on HWY 58 and ended up in Vegas. We stayed at someone's house and had a good time there. We went to old Vegas and watched the show in the center. Someone in our group knew someone who worked in the Stratosphere and we went all the way to the top and had some pictures taken. Included are some photos of the adventure - they are all taken with my iPhone so they're not really clear but pretty clear.

Joe Håchem at the Venetian in Las Vegas

2008-12-20T20:59:00.000-08:00

This past Thursday we drove to Las Vegas with some Friends.

We were walking around the Venetian and I spotted Joe Hachem from the World Poker Tour (WPT). He was with some people and then from behind me came an official looking Guard and asked Joe to put out his Cigar. At that moment when he was talking to the Guard I said "Hey that's Joe Hachem". I asked for a photo and Roger grabbed my iPhone and snapped this photo. Joe Hachem is the one who won $7,300,000 a few years back. He's from Australia.

Vacation !!!!

2008-12-16T22:45:00.000-08:00

So it's vacation time. I have 9 days of vacation to take starting now until 2009 january 5th! 19 whole days and nights. We'll be going to Las Vegas Thursday and Friday.

New Hair Style

2008-11-02T15:14:00.001-08:00

So instead of keeping my hair short short short I was thinking of something like this. Might be kind of hard to do but I'm going to try it over the next few months.

Ten Non-Days that shook the World

2008-10-09T19:27:00.000-07:00

Ten Non-Days That Shook the World

16th century revision of the Roman calendar caused havoc
CALENDAR
Humanity's Epic Struggle to Determine a True and Accurate Year
By David Ewing Duncan
Bard; 266 pages; $23

Reviewed by Jonathon Keats
-----------------------------

In 304 B.C. a commoner named Cnieus
Flavius brought justice to Rome by stealing
a calendar.
Understand that this was no mere act of
five-and-dime shoplifting. The early Roman
calendar, with it's intricate matrix of market
days, fasting days and religious festivals, was
then as secret a document as the Manhattan
Project blueprints in the 1940's , and provided
patricians with no less powerful a weapon.
Before Flavius posted his purloined tablet in
the Roman Forum, only aristocrats and priests
could predict the future- and arbitrarily alter
it to their own advantage.
San Francisco writer David Ewing Duncan
may not be the Cnieus Flavius of the common
era, but the implications of his latest book,
"Calendar: Humanity's Epic Struggle to Determine
a True and Accurate Year," are brash
indeed. Rather than simply telling the history
of the calendar, he has attempted to use its
evolution to tell the history of the world.
It's an audacious aim. His limited interpretive
skills and nose-to-the-books style leave
him far short of his goal, but his guiding
principle, that the very structure of the Calendar
has fossilized many of the decisive moments
in history, has profound ramifications
for how we look at the past - not to mention
our own Palm Piloted society.
Whoever controls the calendar controls our
daily lives: That is the lesson of Cnieus Flavius.
But it took a pope to demonstrate how
calendar making could become an instrument
of power-and an object of contention - on a
worldwide scale.
On Oct. 5, 1582, nothing happened. Technically
speaking, Oct. 5, 1582 never actually
occurred, nor, by order of Pope Gregory XIII,
did the succeeding nine days.
Gregory's decision was based on science: In
1582, the Western world was still following
the calendar established during the reign of
Julius Caesar, who, lacking cesium clocks,
telescopes, Arabic numerals, etc., set the
length of the year at 364 1/4 days.
Because the length of the year is closer to
365.242199 days, by the 1500s the calendar
was lagging more than a week behind the
planet it purported to reflect. More important,
the resurrection of Jesus was being observed
days before his actual crucifixion.
What led the Vatican to issue perhaps the
only scientifically sound papal bull in its history
is not so instructive as how the world
responded. Maybe nothing happened in Italy
on Oct. 5, 1582, but in industrious Germany it
was business as usual. Most Protestant countries
refused to strike 10 days from their calendar,
not so much because they doubted the
science as because they loathed the pope.
And so the actual speed at which the Earth
orbited the sun -- or, as was commonly held at
that time, the sun orbited the Earth - became
secondary to the political maneuverings of
religious and secular leaders. According to
Duncan, "the anti-Gregorian astronomer Michael
Mestlin frightened farmers in Bohemia
and elsewhere by proclaiming that the pope
really was stealing 10 days of everyone's life.
Catholics countered with absurdities of their
own, insisting that in Gorizia, Italy, a nut tree
had responded to the papal reform by blossoming
ten days early."
Germany did not adopt the Gregorian system
until 1700, and the British Parliament was
still debating the reforms in 1752, by which
time the Julian calendar trailed by a full 11
days.
Here can be seen in microcosm one of
Duncan's glacial historical shifts. When Flavius
gave the calendar to the Roman people, he
put into circulation a common currency, al
lowing ordinary citizens to operate independently
of the whims of church and state. To
resist the Catholic menace, the Anglican
Church turned Flavius on his head, isolating
its adherents commercially and religiously by
keeping them on its own schedule. So when
Parliament finally did adopt the Catholic,
Gregorian calendar on Sept. 3, 1752, the Anglicans
lost more than a quibble over religious
doctrine, and Rome won less, Catholicism
didn't conquer England that day; the secular
rule of science conquered the world,
And where has science led us? In 1998, a
year is measured at 290,091,200,500 million
oscillations of the element cesium. Accurate,
yes. Too accurate, in fact, for the planet itself:
Earth has a stubborn tendency to wobble in its
orbit, requiring periodic adjustments to our
atomic master clock. Which, if Duncan's thesis
is to be accepted, should provide future
generations with an instructive fossil record of
our own social history.
What exactly the fossil will look like may
not be known for centuries. But, if we are
capable of learning anything from Duncan's
history of the calendar, we need at least to ask
ourselves one question about the cesium calendar
before hurrying off to our next appointment:
In our race to become a society that
values truth over doctrine, have we come to
value accuracy over truth?

San Francisco writer Jonathon Keats first novel,
The Pathology of Lies, is forthcoming
from Warner Books.

Jeremy in Iraq

2008-10-02T20:45:00.000-07:00

click on the photo for a larger up close version

There have been some Military Members in the Family - U.S. Marines, U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force. Currently it's Jeremy D. Diola. He's been over in harms way for the past 3 months and is now due back in a couple weeks. Judging from the picture here he's got a tough job, although when I was chatting with him on skype one time he said "it's a job - just a job". It's hard to imagine his job - Search and Rescue - is "just a job"...

Starbucks Venti Mocha

2008-10-02T14:12:00.000-07:00

So the Goal is to quit cold turkey my most revered drink - Venti Mocha from Starbucks (that's the 20 oz version - the picture on the left is only for 16 oz.). Too many Calories and Cholesterol. I'm shooting for losing 2 lbs/month for the next 6 months - per the Doctor so I don't have to get on any meds for Cholesterol, High Blood Pressure etc.

Coda

2008-10-02T11:30:00.001-07:00

I finally broke down and purchased Coda for web page design. It's got a lot of cool features and seeing as Web Page design is something I like to do it made sense to go ahead and get it. I'll be learning how to use CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). Panic has been making software for the Mac for a long time now. They made a thing called Transmit to upload files to servers and before that I think they were the Beagle Bros. For now My Home Page will most likely have the same information but it might look different.

Tetanus

2008-09-29T10:31:00.000-07:00

Went to my Physical today and the only thing the Dr. said was to try to lose about 2 lbs a month for the next 6 months and get a Tetanus shot. I'll be staying away from Starbucks for the next 6 months - that darn mocha tastes soooo good but has tons of calories. . .

How Can I Prevent Tetanus?

Because established tetanus is often fatal, even with expert treatment, prevention is of paramount importance. The two major means of preventing tetanus are immunization and wound care.

When you have a wound, even a tiny scratch, as long as it breaks the skin, it is possible to develop tetanus. Most doctors recommend the following if you have received your primary (active) immunization in the past. If the wound is clean and you have not had a tetanus booster in the last 10 years, it is recommended that you receive one. If the wound is dirty or tetanus-prone, then your doctor would likely recommend a tetanus booster if you have not had a tetanus booster shot within the last five years.

Ham and Eggs

2008-09-26T10:25:00.000-07:00

Ham and eggs...A day's work for a chicken, a LIFETIME COMMITMENT for a pig

Coda

2008-09-24T20:36:00.001-07:00

Coda - from www.panic.com

They make the ftp client I used to use.

I'm going to get their software for designing Web Pages. I'm going to revise my tired old web page with Coda. The price is kind of steep but to get Dreamweaver it's a cool $200 and this is only $99. I'm trying it out and it's tons faster than Dreamweaver anyway. The website is filled with helpful stuff too. Now the hard part: Learn how to use CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) instead of the old html stuff. But it's a project that has a lot of incentive - because if I do it right I can put lots of stuff in the web page for everyone to see. And I can get my moneys' worth from Comcast from my 1GB/userid and I have 6 userid's. So time to go under ice as they say in the Navy and start in on the new and improved website!

Headache

2008-09-22T17:59:00.000-07:00

After driving to UCSC and then to menlo park and then to 580 to Stockton I ended up with a terrible headache and the Urgent Care Center of Kaiser in Stockton and then to the Emergency Ward of an Affiliate Hospital 5 miles away. After a Cat Scan, EKG and Urine sample there was no sign of anything wrong. The Doctors said I should probably be wearing Polarizing Sun Glasses and not to drive such long distances in one fell swoop. Also stress added caused the blood pressure to go up and cause the headache. Today is Monday and I feel almost okay except for my upper arm where the nurse gave me a pain reliever shot.

2008-09-20T07:30:00.000-07:00

There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says "Morning, boys. How's the water?" And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes "What the hell is water?"

2008-09-17T18:59:00.000-07:00

Hi All - Well another day is seeing the sunset and no doubt there'll be another day in the not to distant future. My Mac Mini is backed up and running after the grueling Archive and Install the other day. Kevin took this photo last night at Santana Row (Starbucks) - he put a little bit of an edge on it (just like I like it!). We're gearing up to send Kevin off to school again. Does it get easier? No not really we will miss him and hope he can get through his Quarter of mostly Physics but he has a good Math background so he should do fine. This past weekend I bought some of that new Black Plastic material to put as a layer under the rocks in the front yard. Actually it's not black plastic anymore it's kind of gray and is supposed to let the water drain through but not let the weeds grow underneath. I bought some 25 bags of small grey pebbles to put between the new Sod Grass and the Hedge to keep the crab grass from invading the new lawn. Fingers crossed! Right now I'm using Time Machine to back up my Mini - it's funny there's a little ICON in the top bar with a little clock that is going backwards. Originally after the Archive and Install I reformatted the external drive and it wouldn't get Time Machine going but it seems like it's working hard now at backing up my system. I'm not that big a fan of Time Machine but seeing as it's FREE why not - Ric says it works great for him. I haven't tried to restore anything from it yet. So the little girl on the right is Ayla - She is Wanda's niece (Marlow and Bynkee's Daughter). She's all of 2 years old now. She's the cutest little thing. I have to say she gravitates to me - I kind of understand her she doesn't like to be just held but likes to be entertained. She's pure innocence and a lot of fun to be around. Kevin and I just nailed in some of the left over new black material onto the railroad ties in the front yard. There was always some kind of weeds and grass trying to grow there so maybe the material will cut down on that. I had a bunch of outdoor nails to nail the stuff in with. The weather seems to be getting colder now. 8 of 61GB is done on the backup Time Machine drive - guess it will take some hours and hours. Don't know why it takes so long to back up 60GB... Well time to go for now.

2008-09-10T19:30:00.000-07:00

It's September 10th today about one year after I started working at IBM and life seems to be the same. Kevin is going off to UCSC around September 22 - we will go deliver him on September 20th. This year he'll live in an Apartment on Campus. The picture on the right is me when Wanda was in the Philippines I decided not to shave (1st time ever I didn't shave for weeks on end). I'm importing a Dexter Audiobook that someone lent me into iTunes right now. It takes about 10 minutes to import each of 11 CD's. I'm supposed to get a bonus for staying past 1 year since I'm a Long Term Supplemental. My 1 year anniversary is September 24th. Haven't posted in this blog but I think I'll start it up again. I like that it's easy to put stuff in. Been working with John on the back stairs on 1252 Broadway. John has been doing a good job of gathering the needed parts to finish the job. It's a lot of hot days in the Sun but without the stairs it's hard to transport stuff into the house. We're using some powerful hand powered screw drivers and using some long screws to get everything together. Under the stringers are some heavy gauge galvanized steel struts that John used for bracing. Doug, Dave and Kevin have pitched in along with Mike and Rosie. Doug probably will post some photos of the different times when we were on the stairs. Danny, Kevin and I played some tennis at the Yellowstone Courts last night. We were all in great form and played some Australian Doubles in which Kevin and I got 3 games and Danny got 2 games. I was inspired by the Guy who almost beat Djokavich (sp) his name is Cilic (sp) but I remember that I used to bend over backwards on my serve and I've been trying that ever since I saw Cilic. It is harder but I get a ton more speed on my serve. Kevin is still using his Macbook and it works wonderfully. We got a brand new lawn in the front yard (courtesy of Simon our new Gardner). He tore out all our sprinkers and installed a new better sprinkler system and added a powered timer so it waters itself about 5:30 AM every morning. He backed out the lawn so there is about 2 feet between the hedge and the grass and they put in that border stuff to keep the weeds out. I'm going to visit Jessie so I can get some of that new week stopping stuff that you put down and put some small white rocks (well not really white but assorted white colored rocks) in the border space. I'm listening to the Dexter series but currently listening to the Lincoln Rime series that someone loaned me. I still have my iPhone and it's working wonderfully - I went to Apple in May to get a replacement iPhone because my battery wasn't lasting very long - they gave me a brand new phone so I almost have a brand new phone. Kevin got a new BlackJack II instead of the iPhone because he doesn't need the Data plan which would have cost $30 a month. Wanda is working again at Garrettcom (same company as Danny) for 2 months and we have a lead on another company when she's finished at Garrettcom. It's been hard being a Long Term Supplemental but I do get Benefits so it's not so bad. I had heard the Manager at my last company was demoted (a year late for me). So long for now. . .

Chasing the Leopard . . .

2007-11-07T21:59:00.000-08:00

It's November 7th. My iPhone is running great and is very helpful in many ways. Just settling in at work getting into the groove of things there. It's going good and is fun every day to attack new adventures. I'm going to upgrade my mini to 1GB of RAM this week sometime. I have to take a flexible putty knife and pry open the mini. Looks fairly easy. Kev's coming home for the long weekend this week. Actually we're going to pick him up this coming Friday. The track ball I was using on my mac scroll wheel stopped working for some reason so I'm using a mouse that has a scroll wheel. We're moving to Leopard en masse Me, Roger, Ric and so to be Teri and Michael. So far so good. It's interesting seeing a new Operating System and fun to see the new things it can do. We split the cost so it's like $32/person. I'm battling with Comcast to let me update my homepage. They gave us more space 1GB per userid but I can't seem to get my updates to stick so my home page has a dead link at the top arghh. Adding a video of a blind guy playing the guitar in the Philippines.

To UCSC and beyond

2007-10-01T23:11:00.000-07:00

Sunday Sept 30, 2007

We got up to go to Lowe's for a new bathroom part for the toilet. On the way we stopped at Dennys' in Fremont for a rare Breakfast with Kevin. He had his St. Francis Tennis jacket on and seemed to be a bit thinner and more Collegy to me. After Breakfast we headed over to Lowe's and bought the parts we needed. We returned and started in on swapping out the parts. I got this clever hose thing that when you rapidly shake it in water up and down it starts siphoning out water - we used it to get the water out of the toilet bowl and it worked amazingly well. We finished that and then took off for UCSC at exactly 4 PM. Kevin was driving the Camry with his Mom in the passenger seat. I followed them and then took the lead over HWY 17. There was no traffic and we made it to Rics house to drop off the Camry and then headed over to UCSC to drop Kevin off at the dorms. I had noticed that going over HWY 17 there was lots of traffic headed the opposite way so the plan was to drive up HWY 1 because we were headed over to 1252 Broadway anyway. We got to Kevin's Dorms and proceeded to bring in and take out stuff from the Dorm room - we retrieved a heavy blanket that he didn't need because we brought a lighter blanket instead. Nick, his roommate, was there huddled over a Macbook Pro messing around with some iTunes files. We plugged in the extra power strip and plugged in the fan (which we put on his large dresser). Then we proceeded up HWY 1 and there was virtually no traffic. The Sun was still out and the sky was crystal clear and you could see for miles and miles and the beaches looked magnificent. It was a 60 MPH trip up to HWY 92 and still no traffic. We arrived at 1252 about 7:30 PM and bought some dinner at KFC - John and I had chicken pot pies. The ride home to Milpitas was uneventful - again no traffic.

Mid August and the Birds have stopped Chirping. . .

2007-08-15T21:12:00.000-07:00

Today is Wednesday and time is passing by quickly. I went with Teri to her school to help put up some color in her community teaching room. The room is big and it's on a corner of a building. It was nice hanging with my Daughter for most of the day. We headed to the Hospital after that and I got to play with the iPhone for a while. The iPhone is a really slick device to play with and works really really well. It is kind of slippery though which is why lots of people have dropped them but it fits into your hands really well and I like it a lot. We've taken to eating more veggies and fruits - tonight we had some carrots with some ranch/veggie infused dip and some cantaloupe after dinner.

After dinner I went to the side of the house to finish up tracking down some grass that grows under the cement - so I dug under the cement and pull out these long strands of grass that hide under the cement. I got as much and as deep as I could and then filled the dirt back in and leveled the dirt. So now I just need to keep the weeds in check and there won't be any huge weeds come next year.

I ordered a C Programming Video Tutorial. I figured that instead of buying some C Programming software I'd just buy a nicely done tutorial online - it should be here in a few days. You can see what I'm talking about at: http://apex.vtc.com/justc.php . The 1st 3 chapters are free to view and they're in quicktime. Doug you might be interested in brushing up with this sort of thing. We haven't really geared up getting Kevin his stuff for UCSC but I think that will happen next week. By the way have you backed up your computer system lately?

So this week has been kind of dull with no interviews scheduled but I am managing to get a lot of chores done around the house - moving hanging lamps and stuff like that. We have some folks dropping in starting Friday and that will end Sunday morning when they take off for San Diego.

This is a picture from the Philippines: I had just whacked off a pineapple from my Brother in Law's plant.

His Farm is about 3 miles from the Family house. He has some caretakers that live out there and take care of the farm. There are chickens that just hang around (I guess they know that if they venture too far they won't have anything to eat). There are always the dogs that live around too - they are just kind of mut dogs nothing like mean dogs or anything like that. We harvested a Papaya and then made the mistake of leaving it out and the chickens got to it before we could save it - oh well guess they like papaya too! Right about now it's probably raining there - they have two seasons raining and not raining there. The not raining season just ended in July so the rain should be happening now and they need that to water the rice crops. Well that's it for tonights blog. . .

It's August in the great state of mind

2007-08-06T22:39:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone - It's already August. Yesterday was mend a small fence day (Sunday). Kev and I put a 4x4 in some cement and I replaced some 2x4's and attached them to the 4x4's. As John can attest carpentry is not my best suit. At the Boys Club in Alameda I struggled, even though Raul Araujo was a good teacher there, to make even a proper thing to hang your hat on. But alas I was determined to jury rig things to get the fence up - otherwise all the cattle would be roaming the hills in the morning. As it happened Danny came by (actually I called him on his cell phone) and the extra pair of hands was the defining moment. I put the string up to align all the tops of the pieces of the fence and put some screws in the planks and we were almost finished. We had to cut off about 1 foot of the 4x4 that was sticking up - I started cutting it and then Danny got his second wind and put the little hand-saw to work (I don't have hardly any power hand tools like circular saws because I saw what happened to Mr. Bowen who used to live behind us at 1252 Broadway). Clean up time. Now I will have to paint the fence because it looks so shabby and mismatched with some new wood and old wood. Probably paint it white - aren't most picket fences white? One gallon should do the trick.

I tried on all my interview shirts/ties today to get used to wearing the suits so it won't be so unfamiliar when I have some face to face interviews. I'm partial to the darkish gray shirt but I will probably wear the White Linen type shirt with the tie they picked out for interviewing.

This is a picture of the Gray Shirt with my jacket.

It's Monday

2007-07-16T10:36:00.000-07:00

Today the Highlander is in the shop for the 30,000 mile service. The light on the dash was on steadily so we had to take it in.

I mopped and waxed the kitchen floor this morning. It looks great. We used some of those granules to kill a bunch of ants from Friday's dinner party. The granules are poison to the ants (but they don't know it) they take the bait back to their home and eventually they all die.

Not much else happening just applying for more jobs.

White Sands Beach and the Boat Ride there

2007-07-11T20:47:00.000-07:00

Charlie (Wanda's Nephew) arrived at the Maternal House about Noon to pick us up for the days picnic (unknown at the time). We loaded the Van with people and lunch and headed to Santa Ana some 1 hours ride from home base. The air conditioning was not working well in the back of the van so the ride was a bit longer than anticipated. We passed many Barrios along the way and Port Irene on the left hand side. The journey was along the coast on the tip of Luzon - we could see the Ocean most of the time from the van. Grace connected the iPod to the cigarette lighter and we had some tunes - I requested one tune that had 'I Love the Bartender. . .' in it. As we glided along Charlie pointed out the local places of interest. We arrived at San Vicente at the end of a dock we had all seen before. Charlie suggested we go to a White Sands Beach not far from there via some large powered Banca Boats with outriggers. We all said yes and we boarded two Boats. The water looked pretty calm for the Ocean and it was. I was situated near the front of our boat so I grabbed hold of an upright that was bracing the cover that was providing shade for the rest of the passengers. It was like riding the Mary Jane on a nice day in the Bay. The wind blowing in my hair and the water relatively calm on a Summers Day. The boat chugged along and we rounded the coastline. I heard one of our party ask how far it was (they measure everything about distance in Minutes and Hours not miles in the Philippines). The crew member said minutes. There were just two crew members on our boat - the Captain and 1st mate. As the journey went on the other boat set out to pass us on the right which was nice because then we could wave to the other boat. We could see the shoreline was at low tide and see some of the exposed coral near the shore. Just as if we thought he would suddenly turn in he kept going along the coastline. After some time he did make the right hand turn and we could see the White Sands Beach in the distance. We drove the boats onto the beach and the 1st Mate put a paddle in the front of the boat so we could step off the boat. I elected to jump into the water prior to grounding the boat and floated in with the boat alongside it. The water was clear and warm. We unloaded all the gear and headed for some trees instead of a little hut because where the trees were was more open and still was very shady and had a hammock. Charlie and Wanda hailed some of the local fisherman and they negotiated buying some of the local fish. The rest of us went to investigate the beach front. The Beach was long and had a place that wound around a corner. We waded into the water and noticed that the water was very warm (salt water). Charlie and I went around the corner and noticed that there was a drop off but it was only about 5 feet deep - so we just sunk down into the water with our heads exposed - the salt water keeping us afloat. We then went over to the fishermen and borrowed a homemade mask/snorkel and did a little snorkeling. We saw one of those fish that looked like NEMO and some small fish schooling near the shore. Lunch time: We had brought some Spaghetti for lunch so we feasted on that while some of the more brave folks ate the broiled fish that the crew had stuck on a stick and roasted over a fire. There were a couple dogs but they didn't attack us but ate our scraps and stayed in the distance. We went back into the water to see if we could get some of the sea urchins but they were kind of small so we abandoned that all together. We had brought some large Coke Bottles and drank them down during lunch. The boats were beached so pushing them off with people in the boats was accomplished by prying the boat off the shore with a large paddle (the same one that they used to get us off the boat). I didn't think they could push a boat off shore like this but the one 1st Mate handily pushed us out to sea. We were then on our way home. We could see that the coast was at an even lower tide now, much of the Shore was exposed now. We rounded the bend to go towards where we came from when we noticed that there were two floats with two divers (out in the middle of the Ocean) with no boat to be seen anywhere. Apparently they were diving for something and someone would eventually come and get them. They had masks on and looked okay out there. We arrived back at home in the afternoon at which time it was time for showers and dinner.

Baaack from the Philippines

2007-07-11T14:46:00.000-07:00

I arrived at 8 PM at SFO Sunday evening July 8th. The Plane ride was pretty smooth. We ate twice on the plane. As we were coming in to SFO over the ocean we could see tons of clouds sitting on the coastline but no clouds over the land.

One Month later

2007-06-22T18:08:00.000-07:00

Worked all morning on the ivy/hedge in the front yard. It wore me out completely. At Noon Kevin took over to trim the outer layers of the hedge on the street side. I've been wanting to do this for years and years but never had the time. Now I have the time so I'm right on it.
We'll be in the Philippines for the next 2-3 weeks.

The ironing board

2007-06-20T07:57:00.000-07:00

Preparing to go to the Philippines so it was iron all the shorts we will need.
I made a slight modification to the ironing board you might find helpful.
I noticed that when I put the iron on the ironing board it falls over because
the ironing board is not stiff and flat.
To remedy this I got a medium sized wooden cutting board - flipped it so the
flat side is facing up and put the iron on that! No wobble and the iron
stays steady ready for me to grab.

Large equipment outside

2007-06-18T16:05:00.001-07:00

Woke up early again. Had some coffee/slice of toast with Peanut Butter. Went to the gym with Kevin for about an hour. Went to use my Best Buy card from Fathers Day. They're working on the street outside - scraped down about 8 inches and today is put the asphalt down with the heavy equipment. I'm glad because weeds were growing where the old asphalt was breaking away. If those weeds survived the 90 Ton thing that rolled over them then they are some tough weeds. Friends are coming from Stockton in a while. Didn't have Lunch - just a venti Mocha when I was near Best Buy.

Friday again...

2007-06-15T15:14:00.001-07:00

Had a hard time getting up this morning. But managed to and go get some coffee! Was trying to find all the stuff to go to the beach: Large 3 burner camping stove, carpet to put under the stove, Large broom, bat, stuff for playing baseball, frisbee, chairs, tent, tables. Had lunch with Wanda. Went to OSH to get some peat moss to plant two plants that were in the kitchen window that were getting waaay to big. Bought a lighter thing to light the stove with. Have to bring some cards (almost forgot that). Hats. Kevin helped move some plants that were in the front of the house to the back where we planted them in the ground (qty 4). Cleaned some more around the computer system.

Take a Deep Breath!

2007-06-14T07:51:00.000-07:00

It's Thursday today. I re-did my online cover letter and I'm eager to put myself out there for people to see me.
Time spent away from my Mom and Dad. At the age of 20 I ventured out and joined the Navy. Leaving behind me all that I knew. Taking an Airplane ride for the first time. Having Dinner at the airport for the 1st time- I still remember it like it was yesterday Steak Au Juice (I had to watch everyone else to see how to eat the stuff). I would make some brief appearances during Radioman A school at home but then left for duty in the Philippines for 2 years. After the two years I'd be home for 30 days and then we were off to Hawaii for 3 years. I guess it's in our nature to be away from Parents but none-the-less I miss my Mom and Dad. I have movies of them, photos of them but the process of talking to them has disappeared. Mom was always yearning for information - information about her own Mom, information about current events. Mom - Dad I miss you.

Cover Letters . . .

2007-06-13T11:06:00.000-07:00

Well I finally drafted a cover letter (actually cover letters are online items now and I guess they can be paper too). I struggled to write it out but then things started to flow so it turned out okay. Need many revisions now to get it just right so I can paste it into th Apply boxes when they pop up.
Went to the gym today 10 - 11 AM. The usual Ellipitical trainer and lots and lots of situps on the situp stand. Arghh - no pain no gain right?
I also contacted two long lost co-workers and that felt good that I could actually pick up the phone and call. Contacts Contacts Contacts. No more shot gunning your Resume and expect them to call you right away.

Tuesday Evening

2007-06-12T21:32:00.001-07:00

It's about your inbox...
Everybody's inbox is always more than 10-15 messages long. I had a lot of messages in my comcast account and have since been able to get it down to 10. So think about going through your inbox - maybe just maybe there is something you forgot to look at and it's at the bottom of your inbox. File things in folders, extract things but get your inbox down to a reasonable 10-15 messages.

Tuesday morning

2007-06-12T08:42:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I shut off the alarm at 6 AM without waking up! Arghh. Got some coffee. Called Apple to make sure Kev's computer has the 3 year warranty - yes it does! Today is writing cover letter days. Like writing the Resume writing the letters (that you paste in nowadays into websites) is going to be hard for me. I'll have to go online and see what they look like.
Going to the gym at noon.

Monday somewhere in Saratoga. . .

2007-06-11T15:52:00.000-07:00

My Daughter (the Teacher) is moving to a different school to teach. I arrived at her school with the truck to help move some large desks that she brought in and is now taking home. It's so strange: I moved out of my lab less than a month ago and now I'm helping my Daughter move out of her room. Karma - who knows? She is efficient and I guess to be a Teacher you have to be organized. We packed her car full of stuff and then packed the truck full of stuff. It's nice to have spent most of the day with her. We had lunch and then unloaded all the stuff into her house. I know, I know so how is the job search going you might ask. Not as fast paced as it should but then again I don't think I've ever had this much time off in 20 something years so I'm kind of savoring it but not so much as to getting up late and all that. I still get up at 6 AM and I'm learning how to use the net effectively to look for work. It's quite a different world out there. I'm networking with Friends, Relatives and old Acquaintences through LinkedIn. Had to get a cup of coffee this afternoon just to get some extra energy. Well that's the blog for today!

Hey it's Friday!

2007-06-08T17:36:00.000-07:00

Okay I was up late last night into the wee hours and finally finished the online stuff at about 2:30 AM. Which means I got up later than usual to catch up on sleep. I went to get a cup of coffee and a low call Lemon thing at Starbucks and came home.
I later went to RM to take a class there from 1:30 - 3:30 PM. I'm signed up at the gym now for 30 days free and I hope to go as often as I can get there. Mostly just ellipitical training (45 mins) situps 500 and some leg work. We're going out to dinner tonight for Kristal's Graduation.

Thursday

2007-06-07T09:25:00.000-07:00

The Dentist called to cancel my appointment this morning. Okay by me because the traffic is bad anyway on Hwy 237 in the morning. So I went to Starbucks to get a cup of coffee (and put the sticker on the openings) found there are actually 2 holes in the top of a Starbucks cup so I covered them both. Kev and I filled out the buy-back forms to sell back his books for ca$h. Horray! This afternoon I'm going to the gym (Elliptical trainer is my favorite). Kev bought me some headphones so I can listen to my music at the gym. Graduation for Kristal tonight - Kevin's cousin (same age).

Garage

2007-06-06T20:23:00.000-07:00

My Brother came over today at about 3 PM. I had set up a table to work on a small Electronics project that Kevin got from School this past year. It was fun putting it back together and making it work. I like John he's always upbeat even in the lowest of times. We have a lot to talk about and the time flies by. We went over some things I needed to brush up on. He ate dinner with us and then got on his Motorcycle and took off into the sunset.

Shaky hands in the morning. . .

2007-06-06T07:54:00.000-07:00

Why is it when you get your coffee in the morning your hand shakes uncontrollably? Because when this happens the scalding hot coffee spills onto your hand and then makes you spill even more. Well one solution is to ask for a sticker. If you're in Starbucks you can ask for a sticker - So you ask what is the sticker in Starbucks. Simply put it's a little sticker that you put over the opening of the Starbucks coffee cup to prevent the liquid from coming out the hole in the top of the coffee cup. Simple but effective. No more worry about scalding your hand with that hot coffee.

Who am I?

2007-06-05T18:00:00.000-07:00

This question plagues everyone. You're floating along like a twig on the water and suddenly you have to describe who you are. The last few years I've grown out of me (unknowningly) and forgot how to dream. Dreaming is what keeps us alive and is the thread that keeps us sane. Even if you don't act on every dream the dreams should pop into your head and you should get that 'Oh that's brilliant!' sensation every day. So how did the dreaming stop? I'd guess it stops when people you are around don't seem to dream or when you have a thought and bring it up they stifle it so you stop the dreaming. It starts at work and creeps into your home ever so slowly like the story of how do you cook a Frog? Put him in the pan that has cold water and turn up the heat ever so slowly and before you know it ... How can you fight this loss of dreaming? Good question. One way is to find someone to talk to someone you can talk to about anything - and I mean just about anything. During those talks you'll slowly start to get back into your dreaming state. It's hard because people don't talk anymore - they communicate through print and the phone but is that talking? Maybe not. Lately I've learned things about myself from vocalizing it in class and people start to let out that you have qualities, strengths that you had forgotten about. And in turn you talk to them and give them feedback. Feedback is important and it doesn't have to be good feedback all the time and you will run into bumps along the way but I think that's normal. So when you see me talk to me. I want to hear what you have to say.

The Garden and me

2007-06-05T08:40:00.000-07:00

Every morning I start out the day with a tall cup of Starbucks coffee and lately a slice of toast with some chunky peanut butter. I rise at 6 AM and so begins the day. I attack the weeds in the garden. Of late there were some weeds that were masquerading as ground cover but they are weeds just the same. I used the Mantis rototiller to hack away at them and then gather them up by hand after using a rake to get them together. This morning I finished gathering them and put them into the Green Waste bin. I then looked at the flat stones and saw the same weeds had dug their way in between the flagstones. I got my long metal rod that I use for drilling through walls and my little tiny chair and of course my Leather Gloves and started in on the weeds in between the flagstones. As soon as I started I was almost finished. I shot the hose (jet mode) at the stones and voila - weeds be gone and it looks human again. I left a few flag stones with weeds for tomorrow. The Sun is not shining today and I noticed today the humidity was up about 70 % in the garage. Now it's time to check email and see who is on iChat/yahoo messenger and do some reviewing of Electronics/Math. Kevin just took off for the gym so it's just me here now.

The iPod

2007-06-05T07:53:00.000-07:00

Last week I bought a replacement battery for my 15GB iPod. It has on it all of the audiobooks I own. I managed to take the iPod apart and replace the battery without destroying the iPod. Unlike the Shuffle that I took apart and destroyed it in the process. The new battery seems to hold a nice charge and when I put it to sleep it comes right out of sleep in nearly the right place. I say nearly because with the old battery sometimes it would come out of sleep in an initialized state and I'd have to find the book I was reading and waste a lot of time doing that.

My Very First Blog on blogger.com

2007-05-30T14:38:00.000-07:00

Hello World - This 'is' my very first blog. I guess I'll start by saying that blogging is probably more cutting edge than most people give it credit. I've always thought too much email goes around whereas people should deposit their thoughts on a database and others can look at it when they want. I had lunch today at ERIC's Deli and it was very good - the bread was fresh and the tuna was great. Well that's about all for now.