Time to Push My Body, My Vehicle, to it's Limit

My cousin and his family pushed their vehicles to the limit
during the 2012 Survivor Mud Run.  Now, it's my turn!

Hey there.  I feel rugged.  I'm continuing down that path of fitness and I have the Gladiator Rock'n Run in just a few short weeks.  Aside from the obstacle course that I will have to power through, there will be the mud to contend with.  And lots of it.  A cousin of mine participated in the Survivor Mud Run earlier today I was going through his pictures.  All I could think of was the mud all over their bodies.  Almost as if they went off road and gave themselves a mud bath.  I told myself that in 2 short weeks, it will be me in muddy clothes standing victorious at the finish line.  It will be me with a muddy smile on my face and feeling of accomplishment, very similar to that of my cousin and his family.

The Day I Became a Flute Player

Hey there.  This weekend, while I was relaxing at home, I decided to play some music.  Not on the iPod or radio, but play a musical instrument.  Most of you already know that I play guitar.  I have both an acoustic guitar and an electric guitar.  Both are pretty special to me.  The acoustic was given to me by wife (girlfriend at the time she gave it to me) and my electric is a Kirk Hammet "Skully" (KH-602) guitar.  But I'm not here to talk about guitar, I'm here to talk about my flute playing.  That's right, I play flute.  From time to time, I managed to eek out some time to play.  Last weekend was one of those times.  I grabbed the book that I would practice out of in JR. high and high school and test out my skills.  No doubt that they've diminshed some, but after 18 years of first picking up the instrument, they have yet to completely erode.

September Photo a Day - Self Portrait

Hey there.  We're going to give this photo a day thing another try.  I was doing fairly well during the month of August but the death of my baby cousin practically destroyed my picture taking mood.  I told myself that I wanted to complete a full month of pictures and since this is the first of the month, we're going to start off the month with a picture.  The whole list for the month is above and today's picture is a self portrait.

Training for the Gladiator Rock'n Run

Hey there.  Training has begun!  Well... actually, I've been doing some exercises on and off for quite some time so it's not like I've been sitting on my butt doing nothing, but today marks the official day that training starts.  The Gladiator Rock'n Run is on Oct. 6th at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena and I have a little over a month to build my endurance.  That's the one area where I know I lack.  I'm not the biggest of guys, I'm not the fastest, I'm not the most athletic, but I do have an OK build and I'm not a push over.  I was able to complete all of the challenges during the Hero Rush but I did notice that during the jogging parts of the run, other runners ran by me.  The challenges were tough and I was able to power through it, but I could tell that my body slowed down to recuperate during the jog.  I even stopped to walk at some points.  Not good.  So I want to make sure that I can build that endurance.  I need to able to finish through obstacles AND still have enough in my tank to jog to the next obstacle.   So tonight, my endurance levels up!

The Loss of a Baby Cousin

Hey there.  I've been kind of missing this past week.  I found out this Monday that my baby cousin (2nd gen cousin) passed away recently.  It devastated me.  Especially since my little baby cousin's dad (1st gen cousin) and I grew up together and I've always felt close to him.  It's tough to have to bury a child.  It is the most devastating thing that a parent would ever have to endure.  While at the viewing, I couldn't but to get choked up.  A small angel... lying there motionless is not what a baby should be.  A child is the epitome of life, the essence of joy, and the very definition of a growing family.  To have a young one be taken away from you before he had a chance to experience the outside world, shattered those thoughts for my cousin, his wife, and the whole family.

August Photo a Day - Something You Hate

Hey there.  Today's picture is something that I hate.  That's pretty easy.  I hate hate.  I hate it when people discriminate against others.  Why hate?  Why not embrace?  Why not learn from our differences?  You know, the world would be such a better place without hate.  No wars, no violence, no stupid racist tweets from Olympic athletes (yeah, that happened).  My motto is "make pride universal."  I stole that from a Pantera song.  When I first heard it, I hit me.  No matter what, be who you be and that's it.  No envy, no greed, no jealousy, and no hate.  Hate is something that we can use a lot less of and I can't wait until it happens.  Later!

August Photo a Day - Sibling

Hey there.  You see that guy up there?  Yup, that's my brother.  He posted this pic on Instagram not too long ago and I thought it was hilarious.  Not so much the pose or any thing like that.  It's the fact that we were at the same place, The Downey Brewery, earlier that week my brother was irked that he wasn't invited.  lol  So in retaliation, he sent this pic to show my friends and I, "how he does it."  lol  Yeah, we're awesome like that.  The last time my brother and I were both at The Downey Brewery at the same time, we each had about 6 boots (28 ounces of beer per boot!) and the wife had banned me from setting foot at the Brewery again.  lol  Yeah, that happened.

Anyways, it's always a fun time when I'm hanging with my bro so here's a little shout out to the only sibling I have, my lil brother.  *Cheers*  Later!

August Photo a Day - Heart

Hey there.  Today's photo is supposed to be of a heart.  I decided that I would do a quick sketch of a heart with the names of my wife and kids surrounding it.  In essence, that is my heart.  The wife and kids will always be in my heart and they always come first.  The sketch is not one of my best hearts ever drawn, but it's something that I wanted to share with you.  Later!

August Photo A Day - Your Pet

Hey there.  Today's picture is our pet tarantula, Vixin.  I tried to take a picture of our dogs, Odin, Lucy, and Lacy, but they weren't having it.  They were too active to sit and have their picture taken so I decided to take a picutre of our tarantula.  We've had Vixin for well over 5 years now.  A coworker handed her to us when her daughter was "done" with it for a school project.  lol  I've seen Vixin molt twice already and if you have never seen a taratula molt, it's definitely something to check out.  You can see Vixin molting here.  The pictures in that post were taken with a camera instead of a camera phone so you'll see way better pictures of Vixin there.  So what pets do you have at your place?  Later!

August Photo A Day - A Favorite Part of Your Day

Hey there. One of my favorite parts of the day is having my morning coffee.  It's a daily thing for me and it pretty much signals my body to wake up and get going.  lol  I'll admit that it's better during the weekend though.  I get to have my cup of coffee with the wife but since today is Thursday, I'll have it at my desk at work.  If you haven't already, you should definitely check out my Ode to Coffee.  I'm sure it'll bring a smile to your face.  lol  So what's your favorite part of the day?  Later!

August Photo A Day - Yourself

Hey there.  I don't usually do the photo a day thing.  I've seen many friends go out and about and participate in them and they have all sorts of pictures that they have posted on Instagram, Facebook, or thier blogs.  Well, today is the start of a new month and once again I have seen the photo of the day posts go up.  The difference this time around is that I saw a schedule as to what you are to post that day.  That alone intrigued me so I went ahead and took the plunge.  Why not, right?  So here you go, the August 1st picture a day.  A  pic of me.  Enjoy.  lol  Later!

Early morning pic.  Getting ready for work.

The Kids Showing Interest in Music and Sports

Great job, boy!

Hey there.  When I was in middle school (let's go Edison EAGLES!) I was introduced to a lot of extra curricular activities.  There was the ROTC team, music, running, basketball... It's one of those times in your life where you decide which path to take.  I could have done the sports thing.  I love sports and it would have been great to jump into that, but as many of you know, my love was invested in music.  I went the musical route and devoted my middle school life to that.  Yes, my friends.  I was a band geek.  But that doesn't mean I didn't participate in sports activities in school.  I also did some running for the school and did a few relay races and mile runs.  Nothing too fancy, mind you, but it was done.  With all things considered, it's pretty awesome to see that the kids are following suit.  Check it out.  The boy in his first cross country run (The Long Beach Middle School Cross Country Championship) and my oldest daughter in her first orchestra recital.

The Oral-B ProfessionalCare SmartSeries 5000 with SmartGuide Video

Oral-B at it's finest!

Hey there.  A few weeks ago, I received a Oral-B ProfessionalCare SmartSeries 5000 with SmartGuide to use and review.  I must say that I was extremely excited to get to it.  A super powered toothbrush with several brushing settings and a smart guide to help you brush?  Yes please!  Now that I've had some experience with it, I want to let you guys know how it went.

First off, I am now brushing my teeth for MORE than the dentist recommended 2 minutes.  The smartguide and the 30 second timer for each section of your mouth is 100% responsible for that.  Without the timer, I know that I was rushing my brushing.  I also noticed that I may have been brushing a little too hard as well.  The power toothbrush has a red light (and sad face on the smartguide) to show you that you have brush too hard.   Have the smartguide as a guide, I know that I'll brush for the full 2 minutes and then do a little extra brushing because of the new teeth brushing ritual that I have incorporated into my oral hygiene.  I brush for 2 minutes using the whitening setting and then an extra minute using the deep clean setting.  I actually spend more time brushing my teeth than brushing my hair!  lol

Princess Zelda Drawing

Hey there.  I'm still stuck in Zelda mode right now.  I started playing Twilight Princess and I started reminiscing about Ocarina of Time.  Tonight, I grabbed a piece of paper and pen and started to doodle.  I remember seeing this glass stained drawing of Link and Zelda.  I think it's from The Wind Waker.  Anyways, I wanted to draw the whole thing.. but I'm still a little rusty.  My artistic skills are not what they used to be.  But still... I managed to draw a pretty decent Princess Zelda.  Check it out.

Not too shabby, right?

I'll get around to posting more of my drawings here and there.  The girls like to ask for drawings from time to time.  Damn.... looking at this drawing, I realized that I missed a pearl type ball in her necklace.  Oh well... like I said... I'm still rusty.  Later!

Booking That Las Vegas Hotel & Casino Getaway for Under $100

Las Vegas!!!  Here I come!!!

Hey there.  It's set.  Vacation time has been approved and it's time to book that Las Vegas getaway for a few days.  The wife and I sorely need it and just when we were talking about getting away for a few days, I get an Email from Groupon with an awesome deal for a 2 night stay at the Las Vegas Hotel & Casino for under $80.  The cool thing about Vegas is that it really doesn't matter where you stay since you want to visit all the casinos and attractions so you're really only looking for a place to sleep, but this deal included all you can drink alcoholic drinks from 4-8 pm, 2 free breakfasts, and 2 free entries to the day spa (and gym).  FREE DRINKS!!!!  That alone makes this deal worth it.  That's a pretty damn awesome deal, if you ask me.

If you're looking to score this deal, get to it.  Quantities are limited so you need to act fast before the deal is over.  The last possible day to score the deal is June 8th but they could be long gone by then.  So let's hear it, what are some of your favorite summer vacation spots?  Later!

The Oral-B ProfessionalCare SmartSeries 5000 with SmartGuide Toothbrush

An Oral-B toothbrush with power!

Hey there.  This year, I turned 30 years old and I made a promise to myself to take better care of myself. Not because I'm in poor health or anything of that sort, but because it's a healthy lifestyle that I want to integrate into my life.  I started to exercise regularly, started going on morning runs, and I started to pay more attention to my personal hygiene and grooming habits.  I want to make sure that I am at my best going forward and nothing says great hygiene than an awesome smile.  That's the first thing that people see when they meet someone, you know.  A bright smile can convey confidence and that's what I want.  My teeth have coffee stains and I've been thinking of getting a more serious toothbrush to tackle those stains and attain that awesome smile.  Good thing that my good friends at Dad Central and Oral-B provided me with a toothbrush that claims to do just that.  Check out this bad boy!  The Oral-B ProfessionalCare Smart Series 5000 with SmartGuide (Oral-B 5000) toothbrush!

Goodbye 20s! Hello Super Spartan Race!!!

Hey there.  As mentioned earlier in my Twitter feed, today is the last day of my 20's.  Yup, as of tomorrow, I will be 30 years old.  Now... I'm not one to make a big deal over birthdays.  Actually, I'm one that doesn't really care how old (or young) one is.  I usually forget how old I am and my wife is the one to remind me.  Well...  in this instance, my wife has reminded me of the big 30 once a week, every week for the past few weeks.  lol  I don't feel 30.  To be honest, I don't even know how "old" I feel.  I'm still a goofball, I still play video games (as if that's a bad thing...), and I still take part in less than wise activities (sliding down the stair case on cardboard!  C'mon!  Don't tell that you've never done it!)  If anything, I'm not as active as I used to be.  But that's about to change!  Starting tomorrow, I will go out for a morning run.  Yup.  I need to start training.  Why?  Because I'm going to take part of the Super Spartan Race coming this January!!!

The Magic of Chucky and Child's Play

Hi, I'm Chucky wanna play?

Hey there.  It's Friday night and we're hanging out at home looking for a movie to watch.  We could go out and catch a just released film but we decided to browse through Netflix to see what we could find.  What we decided on was Child's Play, the 1988 cult classic.  The kids haven't seen it.  They're more into the new stuff.  They care not for 80s awesome unless I bring it up and tell them about it.  I always said how some of my earliest memories are that of my dad and I staying up watching movies on HBO.  I'm sure my mother didn't approve.  I was no more than 8 years old or so and there I was, watching Child's Play, Poltergeist, The Exorcist, Phantasm, Hellraiser, you know, movies along those lines.  Looking back at them now, they aren't really child material and I wouldn't show my kids stuff like that at that young of an age.  Anyways, Child's Play came up on Netflix and there I go, saying how awesome it is that we just have to watch it.

Daaaaaaad! Moooooooom!

Cute:  Daaaaad!!! Look!  I sit myself!

Hey there.  MOM!!!  DAD!!!  What parent hasn't heard their kid screaming at the top of their lungs because at that moment in time, they need their mom or dad?  lol  When the kids are under 4 or 5, it's cute.  The other weekend, I was playing basketball with friends and family and I took the kids to the park.  The wife wasn't feeling all that great that morning so when our 2 year old needed a parent, what do you think I heard? DAAAAAAAD!!!  lol  And you know what... he was a cutie pie doing it.  The guys that I was playing basketball with are dads too so they knew the drill.  We all heard dad out in the distance and we stopped and turned around to see where it was coming from and to make sure the young one wasn't hurt.  He wasn't hurt...  he needed help sitting on the bench... or he needed me to get his older sister to NOT tie his hair... or, in his eyes, did something awesome and NEEDED dad to see.  lol  Like I said, under 5 years old, it's cute.

The Importance of Taking a Mental Health Day

A strong indication that you need a Mental Health Day!

Hey there.  You know... I work to hard.  I don't take many vacations.  Not because I don't want to, but because I always seem needed at work.  I've been working at the same place for well over 8 years now...  it will be 9 years this May.  And even though I am proud that I have managed to discover a career, it's tough to know that the time off is rare.  And if I do get time off, it's in small spurts.  I could never request weeks, let alone, a full month off at work.  It's just not possible.  With my, I'm lucky to get 3 days straight.  That was what was supposed to happen this week, but it didn't.  Instead, I'm settling for today, Friday, off and next Wednesday and Thursday.  Mondays and Tuesdays and are out of the question because of the meetings that I am a part of.  I think that I need to simply accept that this is what it is and cherish the moments that I can take off from work.