Ah, blogging. I remember it well. Hopefully, I can get back on track here and return to my old self after the month I’ve had.

Where do I begin? Let’s start here.

Due to an unfortunate set of circumstances, my mom was living with us here in our home from late December up until about a week ago and as a result, our lives were pretty much put on hold during that time. We just couldn’t live the way we normally do and, although it was my own mom, it was as if there was an outsider looking at us with each and every little thing we did. Blogging definitely took a hit as well since I felt my creativity was not where it should have been.

The problems, however, didn’t end there and before we knew it, Ann and I were verbally taking shots at each other. We had never done that in all of our years of marriage—17 this June—and we knew exactly why we were now. And then, about a week ago, Mom told us she made arrangements to live with a friend of hers.

Before she left, she told me that I hated her, and that I was “mean” and “evil.”

Okay, those who read my blog probably wouldn’t doubt the mean and evil aspects of my persona but all kidding aside, I didn’t give those comments much credence. All any of us did—myself and my cousins—was try and help Mom and in the end, we were all turned down. As a result, it’s sort of hard not to get “mean” or “evil” when you’re unemployed, you’re feeding an extra person who practically had to be begged to help contribute to the food and rising utility costs, did nothing to help herself find a place to live even though you found a place for $312 a month, and you’re having panic attacks because of all this.

All of these things did a number on our family dynamic which will take some time to repair. I haven’t heard from Mom or my brother since then and I’m not quite sure if I will. It’s up to them if they wish to get in touch with me.

Ah, what else? Oh, I know. Remember that fantastic Dell computer I was so patiently waiting for? Can you guess what I’m going to say next?

Yeah, you’re right: it took a dump after less than a month of use. Not that I’m all that surprised about such a thing because my father-in-law’s old Dell was also an unreliable piece of shit that slow out of the box. So just the other day I went ahead and did a fresh install of Windows 7 and as of this post *knock on wood* it’s running smoothly. Fortunately, I had everything already backed up on the external drive so I didn’t lose a thing, but I had to re-install my most oft-used programs which aren’t much, but still a pain.

In the evenings I’ve been spending a lot of time on Forza Motorsport 3 (see current header), either playing or creating graphics for my cars (or to sell for virtual dollars), just to keep my sanity in place during that crazy month. It turns out that if you spend more time creating vinyl groups than playing the damn game, you can get pretty good at it. To see a gallery of my stuff, it’s up over at Flickr. No, it’s probably not the most elaborate stuff you’ll see but considering it was all made from scratch and with an Xbox controller, this failed Advertising Design major is damn proud of it.

And speaking of geeky things, now that I have webcam, I signed up for Skype. Because all of those long distance calls I make were starting to add up. Yeah…

Is there more? Why yes, there is. I am also coaching/managing a t-ball team this Spring with my own son on said team. I’ve been in constant contact with my Team Parents, making Excel charts for lineups, etc. so I’ve been busy there. Our first practice was cancelled due to our recent unusually wet weather and our next one on Wednesday is also in jeopardy for the same reason. So our first game is on February 27th and I’ve yet to meet my team or have a practice with them. Not good, so I just hope it clears up real soon.

If there is an upside to any of this bad weather—and I’m sure my friend Preston would beg to differ—is that it dumps tons of fluffy white stuff in our local mountains. So we headed up there one weekend just to get out of the house, and we had a good time:

You can see a Flip Video of me sledding on Flickr (because embedding it here isn’t quite working).

We ate at the Evergreen Cafe (see left) and I gotta tell you, the food and service were absolutely incredible. In fact, I had to ask the waitress if the bill was right once we decided to leave.

The cost for all three of us was less than $23. This is when you know you’re not in the big city anymore. That, and the friendly service, the homemade bread used for toast, the owner going to each and every table to see if everything was okay.

That’s what it’s all about, and that’s why we need a Wrightwood escape every now and then. It was just an incredible day all the way around. Not to mention that I found a several 45s for 50 cents each in one of the local shops: “Don’t Stop Believin’” by Journey, “I Melt With You” by Modern English and The Jacksons 5’s “I’ll Be There”.

Okay, so I’ve caught up on everything, I think. Hope it wasn’t too boring or whatnot. And hey, since we got our taxes done and have a little cash to spend, I’ll be out all this weekend beginning late Friday and through late Monday so I’ll try to get at least another post in. We’re taking Anthony to LEGOLAND* and the SeaLife Aquarium for an early birthday present…even though someone else’s birthday is actually on Sunday…*cough*cough*…

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* LEGOLAND and LEGO are actually copyrighted as ALL CAPS. Check it out—they’ll never (officially) be lowercase in print or Web. The things you learn when you write for a magazine…

It’s 25 degrees up here and it’s beautiful. So glad we came today!

If you are visually impared and/or need to use braille, then perhaps you shouldn’t be driving. Just sayin’.

This was my trip home after picking up Anthony from school. By the time I left the truck, picked him up and returned, we were both drenched to the bone. I’m not saying it was bad but we’ve had several advisories: tornado, high surf, etc.

It was so bad that all the manhole covers were being popped and thrown in the middle of the streets (see middle of picture):

I also saw quite a few trash cans floating down the street:

I ended up calling the police and they dispatched help immediately:

And here’s the flood channel behind Ann’s office:

Yes, it’s almost to the top.

And this street was completely flooded:

Despite all this, keep in mind that the worst is yet to come. Yeah, so it’s not snow or anything but it’s bad enough. Either way, I still love the rain.

The one thing I can always depend on happening at the start of a New Year is the renewal of my domain name. I mean, it’s really hard to ignore all those damn e-mail alerts I get beginning in November and being I’m the type to let them go for a bit, I usually end up renewing the thing at the last minute.

And this year was no exception. Today, I went ahead and renewed the thing for another year so all of my loyal readers—all three of you—won’t have to update your bookmarks or do anything drastic. Not that this blog is even worth reading lately but hey, I do it all for you. And me.

Along with the domain name comes domain mapping for WordPress, which I also renewed today. So I own this for another year. Yay for me.

Other things. It seems that my streak interesting things happening on odd-numbered days ended as of today. There wasn’t anything worth noting or interesting going on, so I guess it’s all done for. But there were a few more in the meantime:

January 13: My Dell computer finally arrived, along with Lips Number 1 Hits (not in the same box or from Dell but hey, it arrived the same day). I absolutely dig the new computer and spent a day getting everything installed, moved over, and re-arranging the computer desk. Fun stuff, and I don’t really think I’m done just yet.

January 15: I went in for my second interview for the proofreader position. I suppose it’s a good sign when you arrive and the HR person says, “I’ve heard so many good things about you!” I’m taking that as a compliment but believe me, I’m by no means getting my hopes up about the position. I’m just not going to do it for the sake of keeping my sanity if it doesn’t work out. And if it doesn’t then that’s fine; I’m very happy being Mr. Mom and spending more time with Anthony.

As far as other things, there’s not much happening or to speak of (or that I care to elaborate on, for that matter). If anything, I was going through some of my ancient Word documents and found quite a few gems I wrote in college, long before this blog even exited. Should I get a little desperate for content and from the way it looks I just might, I’ll go ahead and post a few of these docs. Just to keep things going.

That’s it for now. The rain’s falling steadily here on SoCal and I think it’s time to go and relax. See ya.

Before I get to the root of this post, I’d just like to say that I’ve been dealing with some personal matters in my life which have inhibited my blogging time. Nothing too major or anything; just some family issues that have yet to be resolved and, hopefully, will be in the near future.

So now here we go!

In this, an even-numbered year, it seems that some of the more memorable things have been happening on odd-numbered days. Not that I’m a firm believer in numerology or anything, I just noticed that this is the way things are going. In fact, it seemed to start on December 31, 2009 when I got the call about the job interview.

Since then, more and more things have been taking place every other day. Here’s a brief collection of these things:

January 1: Went to John’s Incredible Pizza which isn’t spectacular, but it was our first time going. And it was a lot of fun.

January 3: Took a trip to Disneyland since our Annual Passports weren’t blocked anymore.

January 5: Job interview. They are supposed to be calling back candidates this week and I’ll let you know if I hear anything.

January 7: The first Microsoft Lifecam Cinema webcam arrived. I say “the first” since I ordered one from OnSale.com but was later able to obtain it for significantly cheaper. So as of this post, I have two of the suckers; the one from OnSale will be returned.

January 9: The computer that was to be my early birthday present from the in-laws was supposed to arrive from Dell but, due to their incompetence, it has yet to materialize. There seems to be a major fuck-up on their half and we’ve since canceled the order. Once the in-laws are properly refunded, we’re walking into Wal-Mart and grabbing the same HP model that they bought Ann for her birthday. Dude, I’m so not getting a Dell. Fortunately, that day some good news did arrive: my copy of Forza Motorsport 3. So it wasn’t a total loss.

January 11: The second webcam arrived, which is what I’m using at this moment to stream my ugly mug via Stickam while I blog:

"Words...something something something..."

(And believe it or not, there are two people actually watching me.) It’s HD and it’s pretty damn cool…if only my old computer had the resources to stream an HD picture. Either way, I’m enjoying it.

To take that a step further, I had originally purchased the webcam with the intention of posting video blogs on those days when I’m feeling especially lazy or have something worthy of showing off. Whatever the hell that could be is beyond me, but I thought that posing a video blog now and then would be pretty cool.

Aside from the drama I’ve had recently, that’s how my year’s been going so far. Hope yours has been going as well as expected, too. And don’t be surprised if you see a video post in the near future!
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If I resolved to make 2010 “The Year in Which I Find Religion” then man, I have failed miserably only two days into the New Year.

Here’s what happened. A few days ago, local church windbag Rick Warren–the same Rick Warren who (edited) is against supports the hate-filled, discriminatory Proposition 8 and performed Barack Obama’s invocation–reached out to his congregation at Saddleback Church and stated the following:

“With 10% of our church family out of work due to the recession, our expenses in caring for our community in 2009 rose dramatically while our income stagnated.”

But wait, the explanation goes on:

“The cause of our financial shortfall was not a management issue but simply by the way Christmas occurred in this year’s calendar,” Warren wrote in an updated message on Christmas Eve. “After 10 packed Christmas services, and with Christmas Day on Friday, many people were out of town or too tired to come back for weekend services, so the unusually low attendance created an unusually low offering. That is understandable.”

As if 2009 was the only year in which Christmas fell on a Friday. Ahem. Anyway, in order to cover these expenses, Warren pleaded to his flock of sheeple that he…um, his church needed $900,000. And the sheeple responded.

Not only did they reach his intended goal, they bested it by $1.5 million.

Allow me to repeat that: they raised $2.4 million, a tally that doesn’t even take into consideration the donations that were mailed. (UPDATE 01/05/2010: The fat asshole got another $100,000. Clearly, I’m in the wrong business.)

So to all those Saddleback faithful, especially those “too tired” to go to weekend services or the 10% who are unemployed, I have to ask a simple question.

Why? What is it about this church, this guy, that makes you open up your wallets so willingly and give your money? If you’re too tired to make it to a weekend service then perhaps you should consider how strong your faith really is. Seriously? Tired? Hardly an excuse, and I haven’t gone to church in years (because I’ve given up believing in religions in general).

For his unemployed followers, I ask the same question: why? Granted, it’s your decision on what you do with your money but damn, you’ve got to look after yourself first. Screw the church–all that praying you’ve been doing obviously has yet to materialize a job, so why give this guy money?

As for Rick Warren and his amazingly large balls of steel, how fucking dare you ask anything from the 10% of your congregation who are unemployed. I’m still part of California’s unemployed statistic and let me tell you, I’ve got no time to sit around lighting candles to St. Whomever or go to church and listen to Captain What’s-His-Name, then donate money and put my blind faith to work and, should I get the job, lend any credence to the notion that it was my generous donation that helped me get it. No, no, no. Fuck that. I bet this fat bastard–his portly stature insinuates that the man’s eating very well–sleeps like a baby on his comfy bed knowing he’ll have a place to “work” tomorrow while the 10% continually worry about how they will make their next mortgage payment.

Again, how. Fucking. Dare. You. And I thought I was the one who was going to rot in Hell for all eternity? I’m clearly mistaken. Ah, but never mind. The fat bastard’s covered by 2 Corinthians 8:9! He’s in the clear! Goddamnit!

Well, there’s my way of getting the New Year started with a bang. And oh, what a bang it was.

In other news, this non-churchgoing heathen has a job interview on Tuesday for a proofreading position.

And you know what? It didn’t take a donation to some jive-ass preacher or church, either.

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I have never been more happy to see a year come to an end.

2009, you were a cruel bitch goddess that did nothing but bring pain and misery to my life. F.U., chinga tu madre, and bring on 2010 already. Happy New Year everybody, and be safe tonight while whooping it up. Thanks for hanging around ye olde blog and for coming back.

See you next year, guys

P.S. I have an interview next week. Let’s hope this is just the start of bigger and better things for the new year.

Look people, even though I’ve lost a tremendous amount of weight over the last few years, I still don’t consider myself the most attractive dude on the planet. I’m just not, but I don’t think I’m exactly Brian Peppers, either.

In other words, honestly I believe that my physical appearance has improved tremendously now that the extra 95 pounds* are gone but am I model material? GTFO!

But seriously, I’m having second thoughts because there have been a few incidents over the past few weeks that have started to make me wonder.

Incident #1: In the middle of doing some last-minute Christmas shopping, Ann and I stopped for lunch at Lee’s Sandwiches (which, by the way, are the proverbial bomb). We placed our order and then while waiting for our number to be called, I noticed a poster that was advertising these incredibly awesome Vietnamese calendars branded with the Lee’s Sandwiches logo (see photo to left).

The artist in me was awestruck by the color scheme of the calendar—you can never go wrong with red and gold or Asian art in general, and there was no way I was going home without one of these.

The only bummer was that they were free with a $20 purchase and our order only came out to a little over $12. I was pretty much skunked but I still wanted one, so I approached the counter and kindly asked the young lady at the register about it.

“Yeah, those calendars…I really dig ‘em but my order was about $12. Is there any way I can buy one outright since I didn’t spend the $20 to get a free one?”

“Ummm…” she replied. I smiled.

“If it’s going to get any of you ladies in trouble, then that’s okay,” I said to the all-female crew. “They are just really cool and I’d like to buy one.”

They then all huddled in the corner. You could practically hear the gears turning and then finally came a verdict from the one that looked like she was in charge.

“In the spirit of the holidays, we’ll go ahead and give you one,” she said, smiling.

“Cool. That’s awesome and I really appreciate it. I just don’t you ladies to get in trouble for giving one away,” I said.

“No no, it’s okay,” the boss-lady insisted. I thanked them all and walked back, calendar in hand, to a quizzical Ann.

“Oh, quit flirting with the girls,” she exclaimed. I laughed as I began to examine my new acquisition. I hung it on me wall when I got home and man, I’m gonna hate to have to throw it away when 2011 comes around.

Incident #2: This one happened today whilst at Costco, the place where you can walk around during your lunch hour, sample all sorts of foods, not spend a dime and go back to work with a rather full stomach.

I mention all that because today’s “flirtatious” incident involved two of said female vendors. They had a table set up where they were giving samples of focaccia, baklava, and butter cookies, all of which were downright delicious. I ended up buying one pack of each of the aforementioned items–$12.99 for all three–for me, Ann and Anthony, respectively.

After trying a sample of the focaccia, Anthony and I agreed that the stuff was tasty and we had to take some home. The ladies engaged in some small talk with the two of us which eventually led into, of all things, my heritage and genealogy.

“Where are you from,” one of them asked. I sort of chuckled.

“Um…here?”

She laughed. “No, your background. Your eyes look like you could be Mediterranean,” she said.

“I’m a mutt. I’ve got so much in me that anything’s possible. Spanish, Mexican, possibly Italian…I mean, look at my nose,” I said, pointing to the schnozzola.

They both laughed as I put the bag of goodies in my cart and started to walk away.

“Thank you both, ladies,” I said. Anthony also thanked them as they waved.

Now that I am a whole lot thinner, it’s getting a little strange to notice this kind of treatment or attention being lavished upon me, and it really makes me wonder that if I was still nearly 300 pounds, would anything have transpired—the small talk, the free goodies—if the dialog was exactly the same?

Maybe it’s the combination of the dialog’s delivery and a non-fat guy that makes face-to-face interactions a whole lot more pleasurable. Or maybe it’s the addition of the goatee and the pierced ears, both part of my plan to change my appearance on different levels after my weight loss.

Or maybe these ladies at Costco just wanted me to buy some of their foodstuffs and GTFO.

Meh. Either way, if this is the result of being a whole lot thinner then man, I’m going to take advantage of it. Naturally, being a married guy I’m not going to intentionally flirt just for the sake of doing it but if there’s something at stake, like that calendar or a bitchin’ lobster harmonica, then you bet your ass I’ll turn on the charm the best way I know how.

After all, women have been doing it to us guys for years, right?

*Wait, didn’t I lose over 100 pounds? Um, let’s just say the holidays have been a real bitch, mmmkay?

The holiday season is in full swing and it’s time to look back on the things we’re thankful for. Here’s my list—and it’s pretty short.

I’m thankful to be alive and enjoy my family and friends, whom I’m also thankful for. The rest is just details. That pretty much sums it up.

As for the things I’m not thankful for,well, the list is a bit longer.

If you recall, I’ve been sandwiched between two bad neighbors for years until recently when the hillbillies finally got kicked out of their house. (Fortunately, they’ve been replaced with neighbors who are just the opposite.) But to the north of me there’s a couple that gave us problems since Day 1.

Sure, you know the husband. The guy that’s had the Happy Birthday Jesus sign on his roof for at least three years straight? The guy that built a wall between our houses without asking permission and only did it after Ann’s grandfather died? The guy who’s been to jail for beating the crap out of both women he’s been married to? Oh, and the man who, despite all this, claims to be an upstanding Christian?

Shit, if that’s a Christian, sign me up for the other team and pronto.

At any rate, I don’t watch out for this guy or his wife—she’s just as twisted as he—because they’re both hypocrites. And if I really did give a damn about them, perhaps I would have taken the time to go over to their house this morning and remind him that today was Street Sweeping Day.

But alas, I couldn’t bring myself to do it because, hell, he wouldn’t do it for me. And it’s worth noting that no other neighbors went over to tell him, either. Hmmm…

So instead…

(For optimum viewing, fast-forward to about :53 after the street sweeper goes around the truck. There’s lots of nothing going on in between.)

…I put my Flip Video camera to use again. It’s coming in pretty handy, no? And yes, I swapped the audio for something more appropriate.

A bit of schadenfreude? Perhaps, but you just don’t know the half of it.

So Merry Christmas, you self-centered jerks. And your relatives better not park over my driveway tomorrow as they tend to do each time they show up—holiday or not.

As for those I truly care for, like my regular readers and commentators, friends and family, I want to take a moment to say thanks for everything and that I hope you have a wonderful, festive, and Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, or whatever it is you celebrate (or don’t) this time of year.

And if any of you were my neighbors, I’d gladly remind you that the street sweeper was coming if your car was parked in the street

Have a great day, all!