So that’s what a pancreas looks like.

My mom’s birthday was the 26th, so Vanessa and I took her out on Sunday. She chose Mimi’s Café for lunch, so we stopped at the one in Puente Hills on our way to LA. After a 20 minute wait, which we expected on a Sunday afternoon, we were seated. When the waitress came to take our drink order Vanessa let her know we were in a hurry and were hoping to be out of the restaurant within 30 to 45 minutes. I was a little surprised when the waitress gave us some attitude and told us the only way that we could get out that fast was to order soup and a garden salad. I didn’t want to have a bad lunch, so we all ordered sandwiches (figuring they could put together some sandwiches quickly) and decided to take our chances. It took 40 minutes for the food to come out, so I asked for to-go boxes and the bill.

I was pleasantly surprised when the manager came out and told us that he was going to take care of the bill for lunch. He said he didn’t think we should have to wait 40 minutes to get a sandwich. While I completely agreed with him, I just thanked him and told him that we appreciated it. Other than our original conversation with the waitress we hadn’t complained or said a word. So we jumped in the car and ate our sandwiches on the way to the California Science Center to see the Body Worlds 2 exhibit.

We started with the IMAX film The Human Body. I wasn’t sure if I would enjoy it, but we all learned quite a bit and it was good. Afterwards we made our way into the exhibit. Body Worlds 2 is an exhibit of over 200 real body parts and more than 20 whole bodies. They have been “plastinated” which means it is impregnated with plastic, hardened using gases, and then infused with silicone rubber. The result is you can walk right up to the bodies and see exactly what the organs, muscles, bones, blood vessels, etc. look like. Each body is in different poses with different parts removed/exposed. There aren’t any barriers around the bodies, so you can get as close as you would like.

Besides the bodies, they also display hearts, brains, lungs, and everything else you can imagine. Some are healthy, but they also show others which have tumors and disease. One of the most interesting was the woman’s body with the abdomen and uterus opened to reveal a 5 month-old fetus inside. Many people who where around us didn’t seem to understand that we were looking at real bodies. I heard several people explaining to kids that they were plastic molds.

Afterwards we went to Off Citrus in Covina. Vanessa and I used to go here for special occasions when I lived in the area. It was a nice day, but I ate too much!

Uhhhh...

I ended up leaving work yesterday after a couple of hours. I went home and slept on the couch for a while, but still didn’t start feeling good until last night. I was thinking about buying Gran Turismo 4, but since my PS2 has been acting-up I decided to see if I could get any of my current games to work. It’s still not working, so there is no reason to buy the game. Matt stopped by to pick-up his cell phone and we talked for a while. He offer to let me borrow his PS2 for a while, since he doesn’t use it.

I’m waiting for the Xbox 360 to come out later this year. Rumors are it will come with wireless controllers, hard drive (optional), and have high-def audio/video. It may also connect wireless to the TV.

You would think with 3 people updating NIMH and Brokencandy someone would have mentioned that they have found a place to live, but I had to hear about it from Matt.

Please get that away from my face

I had a great night last night! For our weekly Wednesday BBQ we had James, Reina, Ryan, Jennie, Matt, Steve, Diane, Albert and Keith over. Since it was Jennie’s first time at one of our BBQ’s we decided to have an “All American” theme. Everyone brought something, so we ended up having deviled eggs, chips and dip, potato salad, homemade macaroni and cheese, tater tots, hamburgers, and dessert. James and Steve bought the hamburgers at Irvine Ranch Market. They were half-pound patty’s (almost and inch thick) and were really good. For dessert, Diane made brownies and Vanessa made Kahlua ice cream. Damn that was good. Other than that we went through a lot of wine and a lot of beer.

Today I’m not feeling very good. I don’t think it’s the alcohol. I think it’s because I ate too much, didn’t get enough sleep, and feel like I’m getting a cold. I took an Airborne and dragged myself into work (30 minutes late). I only came in today because I have a presentation I have been preparing for all week. Of course when I opened my email, the VP requested the meeting be pushed to Friday. Oh well. I guess I will have an extra day to prepare. My boss told me I could go home, but I’m already here so going home would be a wasted day.

P.S. The Filipino guy in my office is currently singing “Killing me Softly” from the Fugees. Oh what talent.

What rain?

I have really been enjoying the rain. Aside from my white-knuckled drive to work Monday morning, it has been nice. Vanessa and I have ventured outside a couple of times to run errands or get something to eat, but we spent most of the weekend inside watching The Grudge and The Terminal. I didn’t enjoy The Terminal that much. Aside from Tom Hanks and Catherine Zeta-Jones, it was disappointing. The Grudge was great and kept me on my toes throughout the entire movie. I had to plan when to drink from my cup so I wouldn’t freak out and drop the glass.

My dad called me last night. He worked extremely hard on a project at work last month and as a reward they offered him (and the others that worked on the project) a choice of 4 different 2-night vacations. He told me he isn’t going to use it and is offering it to Vanessa and I to use. He does things like this a lot and I always feel guilty. I mean, he is the one that worked countless hours and weekends to get the project completed and now I get the reward. I didn’t do anything to deserve the vacation. Anyway, I am extremely grateful. Vanessa and I have already thought of a nice way to thank him, but since I know he will be reading this, I’m not going to reveal that now.

I would like your opinion on which place you think we should go, or if you have been to any of these places before:

Santa Barbara – El Capitan Canyon: www.elcapitancanyon.com
La Jolla – Estancia La Jolla Hotel and Spa: www.estancialajolla.com
Palm Springs – Le Parker Meridian Hotel: http://www.lemeridien.com/usa/palm_springs/leisure_us1817.shtml
Las Vegas – Best 4-Star Hotel available

Also, we are planning on taking my mom to the Body Worlds 2 exhibit this weekend (near USC). If anyone has restaurant recommendations for lunch and dinner, I would appreciate it.

I need a hobby

I decided a couple of months ago that I need a hobby, but I can't decide on one. I would prefer if it was something outdoors, or at least that got me out of the house, and I don't mind spending some money. Any ideas?

Rain, rain, go away…

It has been a slow week and I am actually enjoying the rain. Despite getting out of work early on Wednesday, I wasn’t feeling very good. I headed home and watched a couple of good shows on Tivo. That night Vanessa had school (CSUF) and I went out to dinner (Inka Grill) with James, Reina, Steve, Diane, and Ryan. The conversation revolved around questions that started with, “What’s the strangest…” and “What’s your favorite…”.

Yesterday was a good day at work. Despite the laptop crashing at the beginning of my meeting and not being able to find a file I needed on the network (I accidentally saved it on my desktop). It wasn’t a big deal. We went out for dinner and relaxed at home. Our cat, Mr. Pickles, found a new way to entertain himself. He drags worms in from outside and places them in the kitchen for us. Last night he presented us with 3 (well two, but he cut one in half).

Make me dinner biatch!

Monday, Vanessa and I were talking about how stressed she is with everything she is doing (teaching, Master’s Degree, coordinating a theatre festival, cooking, laundry, etc.). I told her if she needs me to do something, I will help out.

So, the first thing she mentioned was cooking dinner last night. I used to cook quite a bit before meeting Vanessa, but she is such a good cook and enjoys it, so I stopped. I still barbeque, but that’s about it. I stopped at the grocery store on the way home with absolutely no idea what I wanted to cook.

I started off in the meat section and started walking up and down the section looking at all of the possibilities. No luck, so I started to walk away. That’s when a guy walked out from the meat prep area of the store and asked me if he could help me with anything. I told him I was just getting ideas for dinner, but he was persistent and started making recommendations. He showed me a London Broil and said his friend made one the other night that was really good. I was a little hesitant, but it did look good.

I ended up marinating and injecting the London Broil with a red wine marinade I made and put it on the BBQ. While that was cooking, I made some rice pilaf and veggies. Everything turned out perfect.

Tonight I’m going out with some friends to Inka Grill. Should be good.

Wherefore art thou Mr. 3000?

In the interest of avoiding crowds, Vanessa and I usually don’t celebrate holidays (special occasions) on the traditional days. Thanksgiving is usually pushed to Saturday and Valentine’s Day is pushed to any day but the 14th. That was the case this weekend as well. Friday, I got out of work early and picked up 3 movies for us to watch over the weekend. We went out for sushi and watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind at home. Toward the end I noticed she had a blanket pulled almost completely over her head. I pulled the top back a little each time to be “greeted” by a yes-I’m-still-awake glare. The next day I started talking about how much I liked the movie only to find out that she was sleeping through the last half hour.

Saturday we went to a little sandwich and cookie place we like. The cookies are great, but a little expensive at $1.30. W grabbed some sandwiches, a cookie each, some chips and headed to a park to eat. After a quick trip to Borders we went home for a long day of relaxing. That night we had reservations at a restaurant. She didn’t know where we were going, but she had it narrowed to 2 places. To go to The Cat and the Custard Cup we would turn left. For The Wild Artichoke we would turn right. I decided to try a little experiment, so I turned left (The Cat and the Custard Cup). She started ‘booing’. That made me feel good and bad at the same time. Good, because I actually had reservations at The Wild Artichoke, and bad, because imagine how crappy I would have felt if we were going to Cat. Anyway, I had made the right decision, so I turned around and she was ecstatic.

Dinner was absolutely amazing. We shared calamari and each had a salad. For dinner I ordered a Rosemary Crusted New York Steak (10 ounce New York Steak, served with sauteed fresh mushrooms, topped off with a melt of gorgonzola cheese, served with mashed potatoes and sauteed vegetables). It melted in my mouth. Vanessa had some pasta with artichokes, eggplant, mushrooms, and some other stuff in it. The wine was nice and dessert was delicious (Crème Brulee and a Lemon Tart). Afterward we went home to watch The Forgotten. We both enjoyed this one and Vanessa was able to keep her eyes open.

Yesterday I had planned to get a lot done and visit my mom, but I wasn’t feeling that good and by 2:00 pm I knew it would be a wasted day. I put some laundry away, but other than that I spent most of my day doing nothing.

Tonight we will stay home and watch the super romantic Mr. 3000 while eating taquitos, potstickers and chips w/ guacamole. Call me Romeo.

Darwinism ensues…

On my way to lunch today I noticed a guy riding his bicycle in the rain. He was using one had to steer the bike and the other hand to hold an umbrella. What’s so strange about that? Nothing. The strange thing was he was riding northbound in-between the two southbound lanes on Soto St. in a 40 MPH zone. I’m sure he will live a long prosperous life. This is the second strangest thing I have seen around here. The first being having to stop my truck for a chicken crossing the road on Slauson.

Stop making fun of me!!!

I went to dinner last night with some friends and do you know what happened? Someone mentioned my gray hair again. Damn! Is it that bad? The answer is NO. Then Reina asked me if I was going to start dying my hair. No. To tell you the truth, in some ways I was relieved when I turned 30 and that I have a little bit of gray in my hair. At work I have always been the young guy. I am looking forward to not being the youngest Manager. Of course they still need to hire someone younger than me before that happens.

Anyway, dinner was okay. We went to some Mediterranean restaurant in Garden Grove that James picked out. Luckily, they had pepperoni pizza and chicken as part of the buffet, because it is possible to eat too much humus. Part of the discussion at dinner was sharing what you were teased about when growing up. Painful memories. Almost everyone had bad experiences with being picked-on except James, who told us about when his voice cracked, but I think every guy goes through that. I think Diane won and I came in second.

Oh… and you have to check this out.

Click once to drop the penguin. Click again to swing the club.

My high score is 1177.8 feet.

Shaved or Unshaved?

At a meeting today someone mentioned my gray hairs and attributed them to my being married now. I actually started getting gray hairs about 5 years ago when I was 25. Not a lot you understand, but that’s when they started appearing. I noticed the guy who made the comment is in his 40’s and has no gray hair on his head, but he does on his goatee. He must be dying it. Bad move. My dad recently made the cross from more gray hairs than brown (sorry dad, but it’s true), so I figure I still have another 25 years before that happens to me. I don’t think I will really care when it does happen.

One thing I never have to worry about is going bald. My hair is so thick, and I have so much of it, I would have to dip my head in acid for it to ever fall out. But, if I ever did start balding, I would shave my head way before it happened. James did this. He had to do it when he was around 27 because it was going fast. Are the people that try to comb their hair over in denial? There was a guy at my first job we called “Ten-hair”, because all he had left was about 10 hairs and he wore them in a ponytail. Sad. I had a teacher in Germany that combed his hair forward. He literally parted his hair from ear to ear. Everything in front of his ears was combed forward, everything else was combed back.

If your hair goes gray, let it go. If it starts falling off, shave it. No Rogaine, no hair plugs, no fancy combing techniques. Unless you’re a woman, because that would just look weird.

You can't go wrong with hot women or monkeys!

I don’t remember Friday and I don’t remember Saturday, but Sunday was fun! I’m sure if I tried really hard, I could remember the other two days, but since it’s not coming to me, it must not have been that good. I decided to watch the Superbowl at my dad’s place. We were invited to a couple of places, but I decided on my dad’s for several reasons. First, he will most likely be moving this year, so it may be our last chance to watch the game together. Second, he has a 55” screen and surround sound. Third, we always eat great food. And finally, because we actually watch the game.

Usually we cook something on the BBQ, but I didn’t want anyone to miss any part of the game, so Vanessa and I picked up some snacks on the way over to his place. We had shrimp with cocktail sauce, taquitos with guacamole, chips with mango salsa, bread with a blue cheese pecan spread, jalapeno poppers, some Asian chicken dumpling thing, and crackers with cheese and salami. We washed it down with two bottles of Gamay Beaujolais (red wine).

Even with the score tied for most of the game, I didn’t think it was an exciting game. I guess it was because both teams had great defense, but neither showed a lot of offense. Regardless, it was nice to see the Patriots win.

The commercials were okay, but overall disappointing since FOX wouldn’t allow anything controversial. My favorites: godaddy.com, tobasco, and careerbuilder.com.

Learning experience

Vanessa only had a half-day at work yesterday, so when she was finished she met an old college friend (Danielle) at Disneyland - California Adventure. Wait, let me add to that. She met an old college friend, her husband, their 3 daughters, another couple, their two kids, and the other couples mom at California Adventure. They were all visiting Southern California for vacation and this was their 4^th or 5^th day at Disneyland. I get exhausted after one day at Disneyland, let alone 4 or 5 days with kids. They looked a little exhausted. I met them after they were done at the park and we headed back to their hotel (Disneyland Hotel) before going to dinner.

It was an eye-opening experience watching the parents trying to relax in the room with three kids to take care of. Most of the night turned into a lesson about kids. I learned why having three kids and two arms isn’t a good idea and after watching everyone at dinner I completely understand.

We went to a restaurant nearby: Hook’s Pointe. I joked that you can tell it’s a nice restaurant because they added an “e” to “Point”. Pause for laughter… It was a nice restaurant and while it shouldn’t have surprised any of us how well they catered to children, it did. Aside from the normal stuff like crayons and a children’s menu, the wait staff changed the table set-up and what was on the table depending on the age of the kids. Danielle spent the entire dinner holding the 8 month old with one arm while doing everything else with her other arm. By the end of the meal she had the sauce, which came with her prawns, on her shirt and in her hair and she had water all down the front of her shirt.

Dinner was great. Good service and great food.

NWA in the OC

Last night instead of our regular Wednesday BBQ, James and Steve suggested we all go to Newport Beach Brewing Company for pizza and beer. On Wednesday’s this place has a deal for $12 you get a large pizza and a pitcher of beer. There were 12 of us, so I suggested 4 pizzas and 4 pitchers of beer, but those who had been here before said the pizzas aren’t that big, so we were each going to get our own. That’s when it hit me that I would be drinking a pitcher of beer by myself. Not that I had to, but I didn’t want to waste beer.

The pizza was manageable and the beer was good. I managed to polish them both off without exerting too much energy. Finishing the beer wasn’t hard after our trip to Germany. The pizza didn’t have much flavor (Pineapple and Ham) so I covered it with red peppers. I’ve never tried that before, but it made the pizza taste much better.

Afterwards, Reina (James’ girlfriend) wanted ice cream, so we jumped in James’ truck and headed towards a Baskin Robbins. James’ truck is a raised-up Turbo Diesel F250 that sits about 3 feet off the ground. He just had a nice sound system installed (Navigation, DVD, Sirius, I-Pod, etc.) so 5 of us were cruising down Newport Blvd in a giant truck with NWA’s Straight Outta Compton blasting out of the speakers as we pulled into a Baskin Robbins. Strange indeed.

HAPPY GROUNDHOG DAY!!!

Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow today, so that means another six weeks of snow (or 72 and balmy in Southern California). Don't forget to celebrate today and greet everyone by saying "Happy Groundhog Day" with enthusiasm. If you really want to get the message across, throw a Groundhog Day party. Everyone loves Groundhog Day!

Phil's unemployed cousin...

Words of wisdom

With the news today from http://www.brokencandy.com/ that Mike and Brian will be moving to live with their girlfriends (Caroline and Kelly), Adam and Jennie getting married, and James' girlfriend having successfully kept a toothbrush at his place, I thought I would pass along some wisdom.

"Fine"
This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.

"Five Minutes"
If she is getting dressed, this is half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given 5 more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.

"Nothing"
This is the calm before the storm. This means "something" and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with "nothing" usually end in "fine".

"Go Ahead"
This is a dare, not permission, DON'T DO IT!

Loud Sigh
Although not actually a word, the loud sigh is often misunderstood by men. A "Loud Sigh" means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you over "Nothing".

"That's Okay"
This is one of the most dangerous statements that woman can make to a man. "That's Okay" means that she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.

"Thanks"
This is the least used of all words in the female vocabulary. If a woman is thanking you, do not question it, just say you're welcome and back out of the room slowly.