Orphan is a Great Film

Hey there. My wife and I went to see Orphan today. What a film. I greatly enjoyed it. I'll post a review of it tomorrow. But I can definitely say that it's one of my favorite films of the year so far. Later.

There's Something Wrong with Esther

Hey there. How can you NOT want to see this movie? I'm a horror and thriller film buff and there is just something about this flick that has caught my attention. The advertising for this film is spot on. Everything from the tag line "There's something wrong with Esther" to the freaky ass posters all over the city. I'll be driving by and out of the corner of my eye, I see the movie poster and it's Esther, giving me a stare down. It brings shivers to see a child with such a cold stare.

The movie comes out in theaters today and my wife and I are going to try and catch it this weekend. We don't really go out to the theaters as much as we would like. I want to say it's mostly because we don't see many movies that catch our attention. Even if they are movies for the kids, if they don't seem to excited about it, we don't see it. Well, not until I can rent it on Netflix. lol I'm kinda glad that the kids are leaning towards my love of fright. I've caught them watching Ghost Hunters on TV and the little one always asks if the movie we're watching is a "scary movie". If we answer yes, she tends to stick around and watch. lol I don't mind the kids watching stuff like that, as long as it's not overly gruesome or violent. There's no way they'll be watching Hotel or Turistas or anything like that.

Anyways, The Orphan somewhat reminds me of other films in which the child actor is NOT portrayed as innocent. Such great films as The Omen, where Damien is the son of the devil, or The Good Son, where Frodo and Macaulay Culkin represent good and evil respectively. Both of these movies hangs the question, "What would you do if it was your child?" I have a sense that The Orphan may follow suit and ask that question to the reader. From what is shown on TV, the film doesn't seem to go for cheap scares, so it's natural to assume that psychological and ethical questions are going to drive this film. If we get a chance to see this, I'll definitely be posting my comments and thoughts on this film. Until then, there's something wrong with Esther.... Uh, I mean, later. lol

A Weekend for the Baby

Hey there. We are tired. I mean, like, dead tired. We dedicated this weekend to the baby. As in, we went to go get stuff for the baby and we started to make room for the baby at home. Saturday morning, we went to a swap meet to look for the baby's dresser. My wife and I already had a specific one in mind, one that has 4 or 5 drawers and then right next to it, a little closet where we can hang baby clothes. We got one for when our youngest was a baby but the difference is that there was a large drawer on the bottom so that you can put in blankets. We don't want one with the drawer on the bottom. We've notice that a swap meet is usually the place where you can order one. We have not seen them anywhere else. It so happens that the last place we visited at the swap meet is where we found it. We ordered it and we went home to rest... for about an hour or so. Then we took off to get the baby stroller. We already knew what we wanted. There was absolutely no doubt about it. We picked it up and shopped around for some baby stuffs for a baby shower scheduled for Sunday. We soon got home and I jumped online to check Email, since I was waiting for an answer on when we can pick up a loft bed that we planned on buying. I got the ok for Sunday morning at 9ish.

Come Sunday morning, my compadre and I went to Brentwood (pretty damn close to UCLA) to pick it up. Since I took our car, the loft bed did not fit in the trunk. Good thing I took twine and we strapped the mattress and the large pieces of the bed on the roof of the car. It took us awhile because we wanted to make sure it strapped well... but also because I literally had a huge ball of twine. So we spent some time untangling the damn thing. Once I dropped him off and went home, we did a complete overhaul of our boy's room. His old bed was taken down and moved over to the girls' room so that our little one can have a big girl's bed. The loft bed was then assembled in our boy's room. We got him a loft bed so that we can place his dresser underneath it and create more space for the baby. His room now has enough space for the crib and another dresser, which is exactly what we needed.

We spent all morning and most of the afternoon on that mission. Once done, we showered and then took off to my uncle and aunt's baby shower. They had a pool and the kids wanted to get in. It was close to 5 and I didn't really want the kids to get in since they didn't have any extra clothes. My mother found the kids some clothes to wear and before I knew it, they were in the pool having fun. My wife and I kinda just sat there since we were tired. We tried not too move too much since we were busting our butts off at home. I was this close (makes that finger gesture) of saying that we should not go to the baby shower. Once the presents and all were done, we went home. Too tired to really stay much longer. We're now in bed, my wife sprawled across the bed, while I type this post up and get ready for my online work. I don't think I'll be up too late tonight (I usually go to bed close to midnight) since I'm feeling a little extra tired tonight. I'll catch you guy tomorrow. Later!

Sunday. Tired. Sleepy. Hope everyone else is having a 'lazy Sunday' We invited my compadre over today to just chill out. We had the pool out for the kids, but believe or not, they didn't stay in it much longer. We pretty much hung out, which was cool. We talked and laughed over all kinds of topic that ranged from the paranormal, to Retro Rock. Retro Rock is the music station that we were listening to on TV. It made us feel old since all the great jams were playing. lol I didn't get to complete my competition in Guitar Hero. Which is Ok. I'll try to get to it tomorrow. Other than that, we had a very chill Sunday. Later.

A Day Full of Aches and Pains

Hey there. I'm feeling pretty damn tired. I got up pretty early to lay some cement. I finally decided to get up off my ass and do it. I had started it awhile back and didnt complete the slab. I think that was a mistake since I found it difficult to continue where I left off without making it very noticeable. I spent a good 4 hours of lugging around 90 lbs bag of cement and mixing them by hand. Now that's hard labor! Soon after, my wife and I did some laundry. A lot of laundry. As we were folding clothes, my mother and grandma stopped by. We chatted it up for awhile before I decided to take a break. I played some Guitar Hero since I was challenged by some Guitar Hero Community members. I also have competitions to take part in but the guitar kinda gave way half through warming up with my son. It's not too bad but while you play, it won't hit some of the notes and if I'm in a competition, I need the guitar to work 100% or I won't stand a chance.

Right now, I'm enjoying some watermelon as I wait for dinner. There's still some laundry to do so I should get back to that. Later!

3 Extremes Film and Asian Horror

Hey there. We tried to take it easy this weekend. Didn't go to many places and didn't over exert ourselves at home. We put up the swimming pool this weekend for the kids to jump and we did some house cleaning while they were in there. We also caught many movies this weekend.

First off, I finally made the jump from Direct TV. I know... I know... blasphemy. But you know what, it was the better. Verizon was offering us this bundle package that included FiOS TV so we took it. So now we have FiOS TV, FiOS Internet, and FiOS phone line. I can't complain with the services. Haven't screwed up on me once so I'm fairly happy with it. We still need some time to get used to the TV though. The remote is kinda weird and the channels have not yet been programmed into our brains. I don't know where half the channels are but I know where they may be. lol Like Cartoon Network is somewhere in the 250s area and movies start at 340 or so. lol

Anyways, we spent a fair amount of time watching movies. Anything from WALL-E, to Dark Knight, to 27 Dresses, to Wanted. I also caught this Asian horror film called 3 Extremes.

I'm a horror fan. I try to catch the latest in fright but quite frankly, they go for cheap scares like something jumping out of a dark corner or something like that. I tend to enjoy the foreign films a lot more since they go for that "mindfuck" route to not only get you trippin' out over the film, but have you thinking about it afterward. 3 Extremes is one such film.

The film is a collection of 3 short stories, each filmed by a famed horror director from the East (Korean, Chinese, and Japanese). Each has their style and each one was beautifully done. The first short was called "The Dumplings". It's basically a "how far would you go to stay young" story. A woman offers her special dumplings as a means of getting younger. As the story unfolds, you see how the dumplings are manufactured and to what lengths are taken to secure the ingredients. Definitely a chilling tale.

The second short is called "Cut". I enjoyed this short mainly because it was written in "Saw-esque" mode, where as a person is pitted against himself, and the outcome of his predicament depend on his actions. It did half some low points such as trying to force some comedy in unnecessary places, which irked me some, but otherwise, enjoyable.

The last short is called "Box" which tells the tale of sisters. I really can't say much without killing the story but I can say that this one was beautifully done. I loved the camera work and the way the story is told flows gracefully.

I loved it. Not a gruesome film, but definitely gets you wondering as to how you would react in the characters situations. I've a got a few more that I have lined up under movies I need to see. I can't wait to catch Battle Royal. From my understanding, a film of teens that are stranded on some island in a no holds barred kinda of death match. I don't know if they were forced or they being there by choice. I'll find out when I see it. Another one I want to see is Tale of Two Sisters. I'll confess, the movie poster intrigued me enough to look into this film and I've found out that the film "The Uninvited" is a remake of this film. I haven't seen The Uninvited, but that may be on my list next, only to compare to the original. Until then, later.

Happy Father's Day to Me

Hey there. This Sunday, many American's celebrated Father's Day. We were no exception. Sunday morning, I got up, expecting to be showered with hugs and kisses from my family. What did I get? None of that. lmao We were baby sitting so my wife asks me to go and get breakfast for the kids. Hmmm... No problem, maybe she's trying to get me out of the house to surprise me with something. So I go and at the parking lot of the market, I get a text message from a cousin wishing me happy Father's Day. I wrote back telling him the same and threw in the "you're the first to tell me that today." lol He laughed and he said he didn't get a Happy Father's Day from his kids until AFTER he got whacked with a baby bottle. lol I got home and nothing. I finally told my wife, "What gives?" and she said she was sorry. Since we were baby sitting, she didn't want to make it a spectacle since the little one wasn't around her dad. I said fair enough and let it slide.

Well, my wife had plans for breakfast, but those were quickly scratched since we were still baby sitting for my mother. We agreed to take care of her since my mother said she would pick her up "early". Well, early for my mother is around 12 PM so we lost our morning waiting for her. Once we done with our baby sitting duties, my wife gave me my gift, well, not literally, since she wanted me to pick it out. We sped off to the mall and she treated me to a watch of my choice.

Now, a watch is a watch but let me tell you something. I've never really owned a watch before. My wrists are so small, that I've never really wanted one because it would ride half way up my forearm. It looked ridiculous so I figured I would never really wear one. Complete ignorance on my part. My wife told me that you can get them adjusted to fit and again, I thought about it and figured, damn, so even after you buy a watch, you need to go somewhere else and get it resized.

Well, at the register to pay for my watch, I told the sales person that the watch is too big and she told me not to worry about it, that it will have a perfect fit before we leave. My eyes lit up. Again, ignorance on my end, but she was going to make it fit before we left. I am extremely happy with it. It's looks good, and classy and I found myself staring at it for min or two throughout the day. lol Check it out.

Afterwards, my wife treated me to lunch at a restaurant of my choosing. I must admit,I was thinking about the kids more than myself since I didn't want go somewhere where I know the kids won't eat the specialty. I figured, no point in going to a place like Red Lobster and then the kids order Mac n Cheese. lol We ended up going to Outback's Steak House. For the past couple of years, I've been hearing the Outback jingle on the radio and will sing it out loud every now and then to get the kids to laugh. I know that I drove my wife crazy with "He's the greatest Dynamo!" lol She pointed it out that we didn't hear the song this year and yet we went to Outback and other times when we do hear it, we didn't go. lol Looks like those subliminal messages work. lol

It was our first time there so we were not familiar with the menu. We ordered our drinks and I sent a few Twitter messages and got back some recommendations (which included bacon!!! YUCK!). Then the waiter stopped by and dropped off a wooden board with a knife stabbed into these 2 brown things that looked like potatoes. We all looked at it and wondered if it was for us since the waiter was talking to the next table when he dropped them off. I was planning on poking it but was stopped by my wife, since we weren't sure it was for us. So the next time he passed by, I said, "Guy, is this for us?" He responded with, "Yeah, is there something wrong with the bread?" I laughed. I told him it's OK that we just weren't sure it was meant for us. We ate it up, which was pretty damn good and then we scarfed down our meals. Pretty good and I recommend checking it out.

As we were leaving, we decided to skip my uncle's BBQ at his place. I figured, the kids are going to want to be in the pool and ignore us the rest of the day and it should be about me! Yeah, I got selfish like that. lmao My wife was feeling pretty tired too so ended up going home. My wife and I relaxed in bed and held each other for a bit. We watched the Dark Knight and my wife slowly drifted to sleep. Our little one soon after got up from her nap and proclaimed that I promised to play Rock Band with her and we haven't played. lol So I set it up and we played some Rock Band. I love hearing the little one sing. lol We soon after caught WALL-E and before I knew it, the day was coming to an end.

Just the way I like it, a day well spent with my family. So what's up with you guys? How did you spend your day?

Lakers are the NBA Champs

Hey there. The Lakers are the NBA champs! Hell yeah, baby!!! What a great way to end the season! After an extremely entertaining playoff run (playoffs in general were great this year), it all culminated with a Lakers' victory over the Orlando Magic. Kobe finally got that 4th ring and his 1st ever finals MVP and can finally put to rest the "Kobe without Shaq" talk.

While watching the game, you had the sense that the Magic were planning on making this a fight, but after the first half, their faces were dejected and you just knew that they were just playing the game to get it over with. It's a shame too. The Magic are an up and coming team and despite what Magic coach Van Gundy says, their lack of experience did them in. An experienced team would have the sense that the game is only half over and they have another 24 minutes to chip away at the Lakers' deficit during the 3rd qtr to give themselves a chance in the 4th. That never happened. They came out flat and without the flare that made the Magic formidable. Could it be because their leader, Dwight Howard, was plagued by foul trouble? Who knows, but that fire was not there. This series had the potential to go to 7 games. Games 2, 3, and 4 were extremely entertaining going down to the wire in each and 2 of them went into overtime. Though the world wanted to see a "Kobe Vs LeBron" match up, the Magic earned the right to represent the East in the finals and gave the Lakers a good fight. Congrats to them and their accomplishments this season. I'm sure that the Magic will take this experience and fuel that fire for next season.

As for the Lakers, this is the team's 15th championship. The team knows nothing but success. The fans of Los Angeles expect nothing less of them. During our rebuilding years, the fans tore into the Lakers for being mediocre. A 40+ win season is not good enough and the Laker fans were letting them know that. This championship makes it all that more sweeter. For a team that rides the wave of success, a wipeout completely threw this team off track. In the '02-'03 season, I believe that the team panicked went with all star players instead of team chemistry. Kobe, Shaq, Karl Malone, and Gary Payton could bring home the gold. As great individual players that they are, they did not have the team chemistry that today's team has. This proves to me that talent is not everything in the world of basketball, but managing that talent to play collectively for a common goal. For all the grief that Kobe has gotten over the years, I think he finally understood what a team is.

This is a great championship for the Lakers and the fans. One that I will surely remember for the rest of my life. I was drawn to the TV more so than before. I, too, was nibbling at my nails in the 4th qtr waiting for it end. I didn't jump as high as Kobe did, but I was up, raising my hands in victory, as if I was part of the team. I listened in on the press conferences, watching my team speak of their journey, with a smile on my face.

Los Angeles is not Green Bay, where a team means everything to the city. But this is a city where sports pride and loyalty is abundant. If you travel to Los Angeles, you are sure to find Clippers, Dodgers, Kings, Angels, Ducks, Raiders, and Laker jerseys abound. And each respective fan will loyally defend that club for life. A city divided amongst many teams, but never divided by their love of the sports. The people of Los Angeles are rejoicing. Now... I need to come up with an excuse to miss work and attend the Laker parade on Wednesday! Later!

A Busted Laptop Cord

Hey there. Saturday night, I discovered that the AC adapter for the laptop has finally given up. We've noticed that it had bite marks (I'm looking at you, JACK!) and it has been faulty these past couple of weeks. You had to bend and twist the cord in weird ways to get it to work. Well, all the bending and twisting couldn't fix it anymore. What a bummer too. I tend to do my "online work" after dark. I'll get through the dropping and adgitize browsing during that time so that I can spend the day doing what I want and not be bogged down to doing that kinda work through the day. I know that it used to get on my wife's nerves that when I would do it during the day. It would be Saturday morning and there I am, in front of the comp, doing work. I might as well get it out of the way and once my wife hits the sack, I'll log on and get some work done.

I checked out Ebay this morning to see if I can find a replacement and I'm glad that I was able to find one for $2. I bought it and it's going to ship from CA so I should be getting it fairly quickly. Until then, I'll probably go back to doing work on the desktop. Which is not bad, but I've gotten spoiled by the laptop. I can lie in bed, next to wife, watch TV, and get work done all at once. Ugh... Later.

One Long Weekend

Hey there. I feel tired as hell. We've been at get togethers all weekend long. We were at my aunt's house on Friday for a b day party but really, it turned into a "watch the Lakers kick some Denver ass" party. lol

On Saturday, we attended my father in law's birthday party. Which was pretty cool since it was a surprise party and it's difficult to get him out of the house. I pretended to go to work so that my wife would have an excuse to call him up and get him to pick her up from our place. The problem was that he was in such a hurry that he allowed absolutely no delay time. He basically went in the house, said let's go, and off they went. When my wife tried to stall by saying that she needed to go to the store for ice, he ran inside the store, grabbed the ice and ran back. All the while, I'm at my father in law's place and there is NO ONE TO SURPRISE HIM!!! Not even my mother in law was there. My brother in law and I were sweating it, since we were the only ones there. No bullshit, in matter of 3 minutes, my mother in law, my wife's aunts and uncles, and my father in law arrived. It was a close call. As soon as guests arrived we hurried them in since my wife was sending me messages that read, "got off the freeway", "just passed meat store", "one block away". lol He was surprised though. Shed a few tears and considering that it was his 50th birthday, he was very pleased that we went all out for him. One thing that didn't happen, though, was that we booked a "banda" to perform for him. Not really my type of music, but he loves it. Well, 7 PM rolls around no band. Upset, my mother in law, brother in law, and some uncles and cousins were all on the phone trying to find out the what hell happened. They even called other bands to see if they'll show up and none did. A huge disappointment since it would have been something for him to enjoy. He did have a blast though. He was dancing the night away having a blast. We left the party at about 10:30, since my wife was falling asleep.

On Sunday, we were off to my mother's kid's (long, long story) birthday party. She had the usual fixin's such as a jumper, hot dogs, burgers, and kid games. I grilled the burgers and meat while chatting it up with my bro about the Lakers and Magic. Soon after, guests arrive and word quickly spread that there was a fight at my cousin's b day party the night before. We didn't attend since we were at my father in law's. Good thing we didn't go too. It was an all out brawl with bottles flying and people getting the stuffing beaten out of. My uncle showed up with this huge ass gash above his eye. You swore he was some MMA fighter that forgot to get his eye stitched up. It was that bad. My grandma wasn't having that so he made him get a band aid to at least cover the wound. He's supposed to go get it stitched up today, but who knows if he'll go. Turns out that cops had to break up the party and fight. We chuckle at the people that were there because it seemed like those that attended my cousin's party were wearing sunglasses. lol

Anyways, the party went along without a hitch. The pinata was shredded and then candy bags were passed out. Me, getting my share in the form of "Daddy tax" shifted through the candy to see what my mother put in. Oh man... First I pulled out a slot machine. That's right, a slot machine. I laughed. I looked at my mother and told her if she was planning on hooking the kids early. I dug deeper in the bag and, what's this? Candy cigarettes. Are you kidding me? I kinda snapped at her a bit. You don't pass out candy cigs to kids anymore. Yeah, they sold em back in the day, when I was kid, but I haven't seen those things since forever. I continued to dig through the candy and I let out this monster laugh. My mother stuff the bags of "candy" with cough drops and Calcium chews. LMAO Oh man, I let out a good laugh with that. I could not believe she put those in there. I saw a few kids chucking them at each other while the adults stuffed them in their pockets. lol That's my mother for you.
We got home pretty beat that night. I did a bit of online work but then couldn't sleep. I must've gone to bed close to 12:30 or so. Ugh... I'm feeling the affects of that right now. Least I got my cup of joe sitting right next to me. Later!

A Whole Lot of Shakin' Going On

Hey there. If you follow me on Twitter, than I'm pretty sure you know that we had a shaker over here in Southern California. Nothing too serious, but it was a good jolt for about 10 seconds or so. First reports estimated it at a 4.7 magnitude quake, then it was a 5.0, then it went back to 4.7. lol I chuckled to myself at how the media blew the thing up. We live in Southern California, we have little quakes all the time so when the news makes it a big deal, I feel as if there's nothing better for them to report on. They had callers dial in to share their experiences and it was just funny how a lady said, "Nothing fell, except for my eye glasses". Then there was this other person who called in and stated that he lived in Southern California for 15+ years. The newswoman then asked him if he's ever experienced any quakes before. Oh man... Of course he has! Who hasn't that lives in this area! Sheesh.

My wife is terrified of quakes. She never got used to them so she was shaken up a bit. She was lying in bed with our little one, I was in the living room, and the kids were eating dinner at the table when it happened. The weird thing about this quake was that we were able to hear it before it started to shake. I don't think I've ever heard it before it actually happens so I stood up to react, but didn't really do anything until I knew for sure it was a quake. I told the kids to get under the dinner table and I ran towards the room to get my wife and little one. By the time I reached the room, she was already up holding our little one heading towards the door. Once we reached the living room, the shaking subdued. We all sat in the living room, including our dogs and cat, and we sat around waiting for the aftershocks. From what I read, we had a 2.something and 3.something aftershocks, but we didn't feel them. While watching the news, and twittering and sending messages, we talked to the kids about earthquake safety and what they should do in case we experience an aftershock in the middle of the night. I don't think our boy was too shaken up, though, if he was, he wasn't really showing it. Our girls were shaken up a bit. Our little one ended up sleeping in our bed last night, while the other was restless throughout the night. How do I know? Because my wife couldn't sleep either so she counted the times she saw our daughter pop her head out of her room. lol

It's funny how every time there is an earthquake in Southern California, talks of the "Big One" arise. I understand that we live near a pretty active fault line but when all you hear is "disaster is a coming! disaster is a coming", how can you expect the public to not panic? It's like saying that a meteor is going to hit Los Angeles. We have no idea when, but it's going to happen. So what? Am I supposed to live a life in fear keeping an eye out on sky for any ominous looking objects? If it happens, it happens. No matter how much I prepare for it, I'm either going to survive it, or not. Same deal with earthquakes. There's no amount of rations and water and what not that is going to prepare you for the "Earth opening up and swallowing half of the south land". There's is no way to be 100% earthquake proof. It's either you're going to be lucky enough to survive it or not. Can I increase my chances? Of course! I can pack our stuff and we can all move to where there are no earthquakes. But you know what? Natural disasters happen anywhere so no matter where we go, there's is always something that the media will force us to fear. Tornados, hurricanes, lightning storms, earthquakes, meteors, pink teddy bears, or maybe even the dreaded hefalumps. lmao I say, that as long as you're informed and have a plan of evacuation, there really isn't much more that can be done. With that being said, I'm planing on having another talk with the kids, just to make sure that they know what needs to be done if it happens again. Later.

A Very Metal Birthday

Hey there. My B day has come and gone. I want to say that I'm 27 now. I really don't want to do the math since I'm extremely tired from this weekend's activities. Let's get a run down, starting from Friday.

Friday

My wife had a get together planned at the house for my B day. It was mostly my cousin's that showed up with a few of their friends. There was way more food and drinks that we could consume and after once everyone was feeling a little buzzed, my bro suggested we all play rockband. I think the boy is hooked on singing. He had us laughing since he demonstrated the moon walk while singing Beat It. lol My wife was filming and I haven't gotten the chance to see the vid but if it's as hilarious as I remember, it's going on Youtube. lol My bro also seemed genuinely disappointed when it was time to go. He didn't want to cough up the mic. My mother and many of my cousins were going to take part in Revlon's Walk for Women, a walk to help fight women's cancer, so they called it a night pretty early. Our last guests went home a little after midnight which bring me to...

Saturday
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! My wife got me METALLICA TICKETS!!! That's right. A little after midnight, she reaches into her purse and pulls out 2 tickets to go see Metallica in Anaheim. HELL YES! Does my babe rock or what! We busted our asses off trying to get them off of KROQ when they were giving them away. You needed to be caller 20 to be a winner and the best I got to was caller 18. Concert is going to be in December... I want to see Metallica NOW! lol Once I calmed down, we went to bed. We then had breakfast the next morning at IHOP. We also had to handle some home loan business. We were able to get our home loan remodified (Thank you President Obama!) and got our mortgage reduced and a way better interest rate than when we first got the loan. So after breakfast, we went to the bank, got the certified check that we needed and then dropped off all the paperwork at FedEx. We then drove home to relax a few before heading out my cousin's baby's Baptism. They had horses for the kids to ride, which was pretty cool, but the story of the night actually came from their neighbor's house. When we first walked in, we noticed that the neighbor's where hanging out by the fence. We figured they were hanging out there to catch a glimpse of the horses and what not. Well, it turns out that the neighbors where there because their baby was trapped in the car. THEIR BABY WAS TRAPPED IN THE CAR! No one realized the severity of the situation until a AAA truck pulled in their drive way to open the door. And this was about an hour or so after we arrived! God knows how long the baby was in there. It upset me some that they left the baby in there for so long. If it was my child, I would not leave him/her in there for anything close to an hour. I would have busted a window or something. We hear in the news all the time how a parent would leave their kid in the car only to come back to a dead child because of the heat or suffocation. They were lucky that this happened during the evening so heat wasn't a factor but still...

Sunday

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY! I surprised my wife with a set of flowers and her Mother's Day gift. She's been wanting a set of Doc Marten Boots so I got her a pair. 20 eye Docs with a zipper on the side since I know that lacing up could be a pain. We then went to have breakfast at Mimi's Cafe. I made reservations well in advance since I know it would suck to wait for a table. We showed up and waited no more than 10 mins before being seated. We were there first. My brother was to take my mother and grandma and we were expecting my mother in law as well. My wife got a little upset since her mother was running a little late. My mother was running late too so I told her not to let it get to her. We all sat down, had our breakfast, cracked some jokes and went on with our day. We went to my Aunt's house since she asked the night before for everyone to show up at her place to watch the Laker game (Damn Losers!). We were one of the first to get there and after awhile, the swarm of people that is my family started coming in. The kids ended up jumping in the pool. My wife and I felt a little uncomfortable with them in there since they're not the best of swimmers. One of my Aunt's piled on the floating devices on our little and once they all had their floating tubes, they were having some fun. We didn't feel at ease until I jumped in with them. I had too. Was the only way I really feel comfortable since the pool did not have a shallow end. So yeah, after killing hours in a pool and eating afterwards. We took off, tired as hell.

MONDAY

At work, tired as hell. Had to roll off the bed cause I didn't want to get up. I think the whole family is tired from this weekend. None of the kids seemed to be awake this morning. lol They all seemed sluggish and hesitant to get up and that includes us. So, that was my weekend. How was yours?

Please Welcome Shadow the Rabbit

Hey there. I week or so ago, Southern California was under a killer heat wave. Temperatures reached into the high 90s and topped 100 degrees in some areas. Well, that heat took our rabbit with it. We've had "Fluffly" for close to a year and we were not really educated in rabbit care during high temperatures. We left Fluffly outside and I covered his cage with some brush and grass to create a roof and when we got home that evening, he was no longer hopping. I did a quick makeshift burial for him and the kids were crying. The youngest one was still wondering why we didn't take Fluffly to the hospital, since there was no blood. lol She didn't understand. My wife and I were devastated and upset. We wondered if we should get another rabbit. We read up on how to take care of it during high heat and we found out that it's a tough job. You need to make sure it's cool. Rabbits do not handle heat very well.

Well, after some consideration, we decided to get another rabbit. We picked it up on Friday and we must say, we're a little surprised by it. First, it's a black rabbit, so Shadow is a perfect name for it. I was naming it "Grass Guzzler" and "Pellet Chomper" to see if any of those names would please the kids. lol They laughed them off, of course, and then my wife suggested Shadow and everyone was in agreement.

Shadow is getting used to it's new home. Jack, our cat, seems to be afraid of him so there's no in house animal fighting. lol Another thing that's tripping us out is that Shadow seems to be potty trained. Weird, no? We keep him in the bathroom during the night and he used the dog mat that I left out for him and it did it's business on the mat. We were like, "whoa..." I've never seen a rabbit do that. They're known for crapping all over the place and we're fortunate and Shadow is not like that. So far, he's only done his business in the bathroom. If Shadow keeps it up, he may be a in house bunny. So far so good. I just need to make it more of a home for Shadow instead of just taping the water bottle to the wall. lol You gotta give me points for creativity. lol Until then, later!

Saturday Night Rock Out

Hey there. So this Saturday was our rock band / guitar hero night. My wife had asked everyone to come dressed up. Some people did, others didn't, but that was expected. We dressed up, of course. lol We never miss an opportunity to show a little creativity. We didn't go all out but just enough to make it fun. First off, I was a little upset that I could not find a white mask ANYWHERE. I went to Halloween shops, party supply shops, malls... nothing. So I had to improvise. Being Buckethead, I needed the white mask and a bucket so I just did the next best thing, painted my face white. While at the store, I decided to get black paint to get the kids in the spirit. I figured I could just paint their faces as members of KISS and they're ready to go. My wife decided to change her persona at the last minute and went with the beehive wearing Amy Winehouse.

First to arrive was our cousin, who came right from work so he wasn't dressed. He's a butcher so I told him he should have just brought his bloody apron and made up a name. No one would have questioned him. lol Soon after my compadre and his wife showed up as Maynard and Noodles. The guy looks hilarious in his bald cap. Miss B,"La Chica Dorada", and Donna member, Brett showed up shortly thereafter. We all got to playing and started laughing our asses off. Once the kids were in bed, the drinks started flowing, except for my wife, of course. No drinks for her. After many battles and songs, Maynard and Buckethead started to get into a heated showdown on who can sing Creep, by Radiohead better in Expert. Needless to say, if you're singing Radiohead, you're buzzing. lol I'm already getting questioned on when the next rock night is. I'll keep ya guys posted. Until then, check out some pics from the night. Later!

Oh! I almost forgot. One of the highlights of the night was when we went out to get pizza. I pulled up to the pizza place and Maynard says, "Yo, Buckethead, you're forgetting your bucket!" lol I put my bucket on and jumped out the car and into the pizza place to order our pizza. lol Man, did we get all kinds of looks and I swear, the people thought we were there to rob the place. Instant classic! lol So if you were in the Long Beach area and thought you saw Buckethead ordering pizza, YOU DID!!! HAHAHAHA! Later!

Mini KISS

Maynard and Noodles

Amy and Buckethead

Brett and Paul(a)
Getting the show started

Catching the show
Drinkin' it up
All Star Girl Band (feat. Jack Sparrow as their manager)
Showing Mayanrd how it's done

Sunday - A Day of Rest

Hey there. I am beat. We had our rock night last night and we're still pretty tired from it. We must have gone to bed at about 3 AM. I'll post the pics and details tomorrow, since I'm too lazy to go and get the camera right now.

Today is our "we're not gonna do sh*t" day. You need those every now and then. We slept til 10, which is a huge luxury for us, and then made breakfast for the kids. We've been lounging on the couch since, watching TV. We caught the Bulls - Celtics game, which was great. My wife likes to give me grief cause I'm a huge Laker fan and the Celtics gave the Lakers a beat down in last year's finals. Seeing the Celtics playing, she was going for the Celtics (friendly trash talking ensued). My wife, not really a basketball enthusiast, was pretty into the game. The game was definitely an exciting one, that was close throughout and didn't name a victor until the 2nd OT. Bulls came up with some huge blocks in the 2nd OT for the win. Dont' worry friends, I'll convert her to a Laker fan soon enough. lol

After the game, she switched it over to some movie about Amy Fisher on the Lifetime Channel. I'm not very familiar with her story but the movie was awful, in the sense that it cut at the most inconvenient of places and the dialogue was not all that great. All the while, I'm tossing Reese's Pieces in the air, trying to land them in my mouth. Yes friends, I was chucking candy into the air and trying to eat them cause "silly daddy" is cool like that. lol My wife soon joined in, but to show me how it's done. I'm not very good at it and I'm sure that there's still a few pieces on the couch somewhere. Eh... too lazy to look for them now.

Once the movie was over, we switched it over to the Travel Channel where we've been watching the "paradise" series. Good stuff. You put anything in front of Paradise and you'll get the best places in the US to get some of that food. We caught the Ice Cream Paradise (Mmmmm We need to visit Ben & Jerry's to do their tour), Deep Fried Paradise, and now, Sandwich Paradise (I've eaten at the Stage Deli in NY!!!).

The Magic and Sixers are playing. I'll catch you guys later. I got some more lounging to do. Later!

The NBA Playoffs are Here

Hey there. I am a huge basketball fan and I have been waiting for this for almost a year. THE NBA PLAYOFFS ARE FINALLY HERE!!! I'm a huge Lakers fan. I've been following them since the days of Byron Scott, AC Green, Magic and Pat Riley. I pledge loyalty to no other team but the Lakers. If you follow basketball, then you would know that the Lakers were humiliated by the Celtics in last year's championship round. Do or die time for the Lakers, and what did they do? Lay a turd the size of the L.A. river... The bastards pretty much just rolled over. How embarrassing. This year will be different. It better be different. I caught the Lakers put a beat down on the Jazz this weekend and the team looked strong. The final score does not tell the tale of the game since the Lakers were in control early (up by 22 at the half) and pretty much was on cruise control the rest of the game. We're a bunch of focused individuals and this season will be a failure without a title. Being a fan, I didn't just watch the Laker game, the weekend was full of surprises in what is turning out to be a pretty interesting first round.

First game of the playoffs, Chicago @ Boston. The Celtics are the reigning champs and should be able to dispel an upcoming Chicago team. Well, the C's were without Kevin Garnett and the Bulls refused to go down without a fight. Soon to be rookie of the year (in my opinion, at least) Derrick Rose scored 36 points in his playoff debut. A huge deal since it's something that Michael Jordan nor Magic Johnson accomplished in their debut. The guy was on fire. He kept his team in the game by calmly hitting 2 clutch freethrows to put the Bulls up 1 near the end of the game. While Paul Pierce hit 1 or 2 moments later to tie the game instead of putting his team up by 1 near the end of regulation. The Bulls continued the momentum into OT and managed to edge out the Celtics for a surprising win. Rajon Rondo is having difficulties staying in front of Derrick Rose. Unless they contain Rose in the coming games, this could be a long series that can go either way.

Game 2 featured the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Detroit Pistons. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. It's highly anticipated that the Lakers will meet the Cavs in the finals so I keep a close eye on this game. The Cavs look strong in their win. I don't see them losing to Pistons. The Pistons looked like a team that is worn out. GM Joe Dumars has done a great piecing together a great team there but that team may need to start the rebuilding process soon. The Cavs are too strong and too good to lose to an old team.

Game 3 featured the Dallas Mavericks and the San Antonio Spurs. I only caught glimpses of this game, since I spent most of the afternoon doing come yard work and heavy duty cleaning. What I did see was the Spurs up big in the second qtr, which, quite frankly, I expected. When I looked at the highlights later in the evening, shocker #2 came to light when it showed that Dallas pulled out the win. San Antonio needs the injured Manu Ginobli if they wish to get far. This is a toss up for me since the Spurs have championship experience and a great coach in Greg "Poppa", but it may not be enough this time.

Game 4 was the Rockets and the Trailblazers. I should have watched this game, but payed no attention to it all. Was still outside working... I will say this however. Portland was looking very formidable near the end of the regular season. It's a huge disappointment for them to come out flat and lose to Houston home. Portland is the only team in the West that I see posing a problem to the Lakers. Their big guys can definitely match up to our bigs and the battle won at the post will determine the winner of the game.


Image courtesy of FoxSports.com

Sunday

Game 1 was Lakers at Jazz. Already spoke of this game and I'll be extremely disappointed if we dont' take care of the Jazz in 4 or 5 games. They are not strong enough or big enough to contend with our length. No excuses Lakers! Handle your business.

Game 2 featured the Orlando Magic and Philadelphia 76ers. The Magic was in control of this game from the start. Up by 18 or so by the end of the 3rd quarter, the Magic had this game in the bag. Then, they collapsed. The Sixers were the aggressors, constantly in the lane, hitting layups. Now, if you have a monster like Dwight Howard on your team, NO ONE SHOULD BE GETTING LAYUPS! The guys is a beast, and he's only 22! He's only going to get better from here. Chalk it up to inexperience if you want, the Magic gave this game to the Sixers in that 4th quarter.

I didn't see the next two games, but considering that they were beat downs, I don't think I missed much. The Hawks gave a huge hurt to the Heat. Surprisingly, they handed them a 26 point beatdown. I didn't see the game, so I don't know the facts, but where was Dwayne Wade? He's a killer talent to have on a team and he tends to shine in the playoffs. His leadership may need to be questioned if he allowed his team to be on the receiving end of a beating like this.

The other game was the New Orleans Hornets at Denver Nuggets. The Nuggets have the second seed in the West and considering how tight seeds 2-8 were, it speaks volumes that they were the ones to claim that spot. This was another one where Chris Paul should not have let his team lose by so much. He's the leader of that team and should have lit a fire under his team. Also, I was not impressed by his press conference explaination. It seemed to me that he was making excuses than taking measures to rectify the team. It's a chess match during the playoffs. Adjustments, and then readjustments are made and the team that can do it better tends to win.

If you keep track, you'll notice that the road team won in four of the contests, stealing home court advantage. I don't believe in home court advantange. You either have the skills to win, or you don't. It shouldn't matter whether the game is in different cities. The 4 teams that won on road displayed their skill. With the exception of the Rockets, the road team fought back after being down to take the win. It was an exciting slate of games this weekend and the playoffs are looking to be extrememly entertaining. Later!


Image courtesy of FoxSports.com

A Long Break Needed

Hey there. We had ourselves a nice, long 4 day weekend. We took Thursday and Friday off from work so that we can have at least 2 full days with the kids during their Spring Break vacation. Even though, it was supposed to be a time of relaxing, we spent a lot of time running around. lol

On Thursday, we deposited checks into the bank (this is a big deal for us since we RARELY go to the bank. We don't carry around much cash and any cash that is drawn is usually in the form of "cash back" at local retailers), our boy needed a hair cut (which lasted almost an hour!), and then we had our doc appointment to check up on our soon to be little one. The kids were pretty excited, since Dr. Hill played the baby's heart beat out loud so we can all hear. Strong, healthy baby, as she said. We ended the evening with a family dinner at Norm's.

On Friday, I took a trip to the county registrar. Oh man, was that a nightmare. We needed our little one's birth certificate and because I'd figure it would be a in and out trip, we didn't give ourselves much "wiggle" room for time. After spending what felt like an eternity, we zoomed to my mother in law's place, where my wife was anxiously waiting for me, and with out hesitation, my mother in law jumped out of the car, and my wife jumped in and off we went to Lip Service. A friend of ours works there and she was able to score us some bad ass deals on clothes. No BS, we managed to score 5 shirts for my wife and this bad ass jacket for me and our total was like $25. Now that is a bargain! From there, we grabbed something to eat and off to the mall for some maternity clothes and shoes, since my wife needed some. We managed to score on the clothes but was only able to find one pair of shoes that were her taste. While at home, my wife scheduled a Rock Band night for a weekend coming up. She threw in a twist though. Everyone invited is to be dressed up as a "rocker". lmao You know I'll be posting pics of that!

Saturday was more of a work day, I guess. I spent a good chunk of the morning doing house work, which included yard work (I hate weeds!) and washing the car. Other than that, this was our day to rest. We took the afternoon off and just relaxed some. That night our little one said something that we weren't expecting for another 15 or so years... She marched out of her room, came directly to me and said, "Daddy, I want a dragon on my arm just like you." We laughed. It was so sudden and unexpected. So I did what any sane parent would do, I grabbed a pen and drew one for her. lmao Check it out. She looks sooooo happy. lol


This little one. I know we are going to have our hands full.

Sunday was Easter Sunday. We went to my wife's Aunt's house for an egg hunt, but before that, we had our own hunt at home. We didn't just hand the kids their baskets, they had to earn them. The night before, my wife and I sat and came up with clues to guide the kids to their baskets. They had the camcorder with them so we got it all in their perspective. Over at egg hunt, my wife's cousins filled some of the eggs with confetti or baby powder so many people got smashed in the head with them. There was a HUGE mess on the floor and because of it and because of it, people slipped as they walked. I tripped out most of the afternoon on my brother in law. He's about 13 and just sat in a chair camping out, surveying the area to assure that he would not be ambushed. It seemed as if he was playing a real life game of Rainbow 6 or something. lol Man, that was hilarious.

I also caught this one movie called Old Boy. I want to get into detail with that one so I'll do separate post, but I do want to say is that this movie is BAD ASS! Later!

The Metallica Gods and a Split Lip

Hey there. Yesterday marked the release of the Guitar Hero: Metallica game. Our Sunday was pretty much planned out. My compa was to come over and we were to handle the game as a band to see just how bad ass it was. Well, things don't always go as planned.

First off, the guys at Game Stop lied to me. They told me the store would be open at 9 am so I should be able to get it then. So I figured, we can get the game early so that my son and I can get a head start on it. Well, turns out that the store was not to open until 11 am... We weren't going to sit around doing nothing so we drove back home. On the way there, my wife calls me, telling me that there has been an accident and that we need to go to the hospital. I need to hurry home. Once I get there, I see the severity of the accident. Her lip was busted open. Our daughter had a huge hole in her face. My wife did an awesome job on applying pressure and stop it from bleeding. Considering that our daughter had a hole in her face, there was very little blood, if at all, from her wound. When I asked our daughter to show me the cut, I could literally see inside her lip without anything obstructing the view. Pretty graphic stuff. Well, from what my wife was able to tell me, our daughter was playing with Lucy, our dog, and Lucy was not much in the mood to play. She did tell us that she growled at her, but she continued to play with Lucy. At that point, she picked Lucy up. Here is where the details get sketchy... We do not know if Lucy tried to wiggle herself free and snapped at our daughter to let her go. Our daughter just says that she was holding Lucy and then she bit her.

Now, before you start thinking that Lucy is a vicious dog and a menace to society, keep in mind that Lucy is a baby (a few months old) and is a chihuahua terrier. In other words, she is a small dog that doesn't know any better. We play with her all the time and I've warned the kids on many occasions that when a dog growls, you need to back off and leave them alone. Our daughter knew that she was mainly at fault. When the doctor or family members asked her what happened, she told the truth and said that after the dog growled at her, she tried to force the dog to play with her.

Anyways, after I get home, my wife fills me in on what happened and off we went to the hospital (after a quick online search of where we can take her). Our hospital stay wasn't too long, considering how long other people that I know have stayed. We checked in and approx. 30 mins later, we're checked into the "ER fast track" portion of the hospital. My mother in law showed up at that time and took our youngest daughter and son to her place so that they wouldn't have to be at the hospital. We're soon called in and shortly after, my mother, grandma, and aunt show up. At this point, I'm still pacing outside room where my daughter and wife (our daughter had her choice of which parent she wanted to go in with her) where being attended. I'd peek in every now and then, hoping I wouldn't get in trouble, so see how she was doing. Shortly there after, there were screams of pain. At first I didn't think it was my daughter. Well, maybe I was telling myself it wasn't her but when I saw the doc leave the door open, I went inside the room and see my young one in tears and a stitched up lip. We consoled her and after we get the clearance and instructions from the doc, we take off to have breakfast (at approx. 2 PM) with our family members.


Our daughter really can't open her mouth all that wide so that makes it pretty difficult to eat. She was in better spirits after she took a nap on the way home. Our mother in law suggested that we leave the kids with her so that our daughter can rest up and after a short discussion, we agreed. I also had to cancel our plans with my compa (our daughter's nino) so that she can rest. Well, rest she didn't do much of. She was pretty excited about the Metallica game. I figured that maybe she was just a little shy about the stitches.

She did, however, wanted to play GH: Metallica. She strapped in the guitar and started rocking away. I watched her play For Whom the Bell Tolls and the Unforgiven (the first two songs) and then she decided that she wants to get through Rock Band first before tackling GH: Metallica. She acknowledged that Rock Band is easier so she needs to get better if she plans on getting through GH: Metallica. She switched back and forth between the two games and then said she didn't want to play anymore. I asked her if she was bored and she admitted she was. I guess she's just not used to being alone. Even our cat missed the kids. Jack kept scratching at our son's door and continually jumped on the window sill looking for him. It was a little weird to not have the kids around. So I told her that if she's bored, I'd play GH: Metallica with her and she lit up and said, yeah.

So after about 40 mins of so playing together, we had our dinner and she was off to bed. We checked up on her from time to time to make sure that she did not have a fever. Thank god, she never developed one and the pain has subdued some. We gave her the option of staying home from school, since the doc gave her strict orders of no PE, but she decided to attend. When I dropped off the kids, she ran into some friends and instead of saying, "Hi" or "Good morning", it was "I got stitches!" lol She's definitely a trooper.

*sigh*

So our wife and I are at work, a little concerned about the fact that she's in school right after the stitching. You know kids in school... the run, the fall, they get hurt... we're hoping that she can manage to not bump her lip for a whole week. Thankfully, spring break is next week so she won't have to go to school then. She has a follow up visit tomorrow and the stitches will not be removed for another 2 weeks. We'll let you know how things turn out. Later!

Sunday, Lazy Sunday

Hey there. The weekend has come and gone... and it always feels like it's never enough to just sit back, relax, and recover from the work week. Especially when you got things you need to do at home. Woke up this Saturday pretty early to get some car work done. Those 3,000 miles have come and gone and the car needed the oil change. While under the hood, I decided to check in on the transmission. Everything looked good, but while at Autozone, I decided to buy this tranny additive that supposedly quiets down the idling. That's always been an issue with the car. It a little on the rough side while idle. Once that was done, we kinda just hung out at home. My wife and I ended up watching the film, The Tooth Fairy, on Netflix. What a funny film. lol


It's supposed to be a scary movie. I'm into those and I usually make my wife sit with me while watching them. While we stumble upon some great ones, Shutter and Amityville, to name a few, we also stumble across some bombs, Gothika and Slither... Well, I know for sure that The Tooth Fairy is not a great one, but I'm a little hesitant to place it on the bad list. The movie has it's moments that made us laugh and a movie that makes us smile and laugh can't be all that bad. Some of the highlights in the film, that we've been saying all weekend, include the "the tooth fairy" asking for a tooth by holding out her hand saying, "tooooooooooth" in a low grunty voice and the lead character saying, "Hey you b*tch" when he douses the tooth fairy in gasoline. lol Not too mention the bad slow motion scenes that were so placed in inappropriate times. We also laughed at the characters' thought process. Such as, "Oh crap, my girl just got murdered! Let me have sex with this other girl right now!" LMAO Oh man, what an experience. If you're looking for a good laugh, check this movie out.

I also managed to handle a few achievements in Rock Band. I got through Expert mode on guitar, which felt pretty damn good. And I also got though Hard mode on drums. That felt even better. I'm not a drummer, I'm a guitar guy so to be able to get through that was pretty bad ass. I'm going to attempt to get through it on Expert but I struggled to get through it on Hard so I'm not so sure if I'll be able to do it. It's great exercise and it's helping my eye-hand coordination. I enjoy doing it since it's challenging. Moving your hands and feet while keeping time is pretty difficult and a new experience for me so I'm glad that I'm expanding my musical horizons through a game.

Sunday was to be our "lazy" day. We were just going to lounge around and do nothing. Well, it started out that way. We got up at around 8 ish and we lounged around in bed until about 10:30. We couldn't sleep much since our little one has these sandals that squeak as you walk in them. Since she was running around in them, our nap was quickly killed by the loud, constant squeaks. Thanks grandma. lol We ended up giving the house a good scrub down. half way through the afternoon, we finally sat down to catch some I Love Lucy and do some online shopping for some maternity clothes. My wife, not really wanting to buy new clothes that she will only wear for a short period of time, went on Ebay and scored a lot of 16 items for about $35. All practically new clothes. Good stuff. We also received a text from my brother in law, that morning, saying that he was a hospital. Turns out that he hit his head on some exercise equipment and had a gash on the side of his head. After spending the whole day at the hospital, he ended up getting a few staples to close the gap. He showed us the staples this morning. Ugly stuff, that is.

Well, that sums up our weekend. How was yours? Later!

Back at Work and a Broken Box

Hey there. So I'm back at work... Vacation is finally over and that sucks. My wife and I so did not want to come in to work today. Especially since it's Martin Luther King Jr. Day and the kids have the day off and we're here, at work. As soon as we walked in the office, a coworker tells me to call the boss before I get started on working. Damn, can't I get settled in first? You know, a cup of joe before I get hounded? So I sit at my desk and call the boss to see what's up. Looks like he's not going to be in this week so I'm boss for the week and he left several instructions for me. Which includes a meeting, of course... Ugh... I'm not even up to speed yet and I need to represent him in a meeting. Hopefully, I'll be able to get out of it. So I then turn on the computer and open my Email. Bracing for the worse... Yup, just as I expected. A shitload of Emails. So many Emails, that I had to wait approx. 45 mins for the computer to put them all in my inbox! Close to 800 Emails. Ugh. I sooooo don't want to be here right now.

Anyways, this weekend was quite eventful. I had (notice the had) a good size projection big screen. You know, those old ones that are bulky as hell? I got it from my uncle when we moved into our home. I needed something better than a 23 incher to display in the living room. The color of the big screen was always off. Blue and green were essentially the same hue and it finally got to me. I decided to open up the bad boy to see what was the problem. As many projection screens go, the blue color gun was busted. It didn't display a projection while the the red and green ones were working fine. I found where you can adjust the color and was hoping that maybe it just needed fine tuning and as I was adjusting the color, the screen turned to a red color and after a few seconds of that, it turned black. Crap. I think the TV just died on me. I was not able to get the screen to come back on and after reading up on it online, I discovered that I was not alone and many people described what just happened to me. How the blue color always goes first and before you know it, poof, you're tv is just a huge box sitting in your living room. I ended up calling a few repair people to see how much it would cost to repair it. Prices ranged anywhere from $300 to $500. Damn, screw that. I went online to look for another TV to buy. So where do I go? Craigslist.com.

I browsed around there and people were selling their busted TVs. All saying the same thing. Blue color is off. I finally found one that is slightly smaller than our original TV but it works perfectly. All for $100! Can't go wrong with that. So I Email the guy and he hooks it up and on Sunday, I take my cuz's truck over there to pick it up. The dude was cool and even helped me load the sucker in the truck. So I take it home and it's "small" compared to our old TV but you can't complain in getting a 50 inch or so TV for $100. And the best part? YOU CAN TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GREEN AND BLUE!!! YES!

Damn, just remembered that I'm at work. Gotta knocked down most of these Emails. Later.