Big weekend on the horizon...

This upcoming Friday holds the start of the Catalina Grand Prix. This is a big event sponsored by Red Bull. Should be pretty neat seeing next to 1000 people riding in this competition.

Rory is going to attempt to get on a boat. I hope he doesn't miss this one, as I know they are almost sold out at this point. I hope to take Jacob up to watch the start of the race. I can already envision his "Wow!" remarks!

Sunsets and Winter warmth

It seems that as soon as the woman & I leave work, the sun is about to leave us for another night. I just had a brief discussion at lunch with Cassie about how its getting harder and harder entertaining the little guy in such a small shack. I have to say, she is such an excellent mother. She is a very "outdoorsy" type of mommy/wife. It always helps when the sun is out for a few more hours. Jacob is absolutely in love with our little park here in town. I have a feeling that he will want a full size slide in our house sometime soon. He is so independent when he crawls up each and every step onto the slide platform. He then makes eye contact (a few times) before the *plop* ...the slide begins.

Zombie Apocolypse

...just watched the Tivo'd recent episode of "The Walking Dead". Ever since reading Richard Matheson's "I am Legend" I have been hooked on zombie novels, movies, shows, etc. Hence, "The Walking Dead" being something I wanted to start watching. I like the first three episodes for the most part, BUT... in the last episode I had an issue. A human survivor had been with a group of others when he started throwing an attitude. A fight ensued, and he ended up being handcuffed to some metal piping on a roof. Later on, a guy comes to see the fate of his brother only to find... (insert gasp here) - HIS HAND. Lying right next to his hand is a bloody hacksaw.
Last time I checked, a hacksaw is absolutely PERFECT for cutting metal. Buddy, why did you choose to cut your hand off when you could have simply cut the stupid handcuffs??? Come on!

Well done, APC...

The past two concerts were nothing short of amazing. I have to say, that I have a whole new passion for the sounds of A Perfect Circle. They had a great performance, complete with a song-by-song setlist of the "13th step" album... as well as a Bowie & Lennon cover.

Good times.

Concert times two, please...

So today I am headed back to the mainland to go spend some time with my pal Rory. Lately it seems that my immediate family and friends have had many trials going on within their individual lives. Some are very personal, and others are just having a hard time dealing with relationships. Whatever the case, I hope to relieve some of them from the troubles of this world and take a break. Today Rory and I will be seeing A Perfect Circle in Hollywood. Should be a good time. Tomorrow I hope to sleep in (yay! No little boy yelling before the sun rises!). I will then get in the truck, and head on over to my folks place in Brea. I hope to spend some time with my brother. I know he is going thru alot of garbage at the moment. Maybe some good food & laughs can remedy that before he goes to work. It is his birthday this Friday, and I am pretty exited for the gift I got him. Hope you enjoy it, Dave!
Then, tomorrow night the woman & I are going to take Jacob back to Brea to be with his Grandpa & Grandma. That is a win/win situation. Love when that happens. The wife and I will then rush to L.A. (yuck) and hope to catch the Brandon Flowers performance at the Wiltern. This will be a first time for her. I have always liked that place. I think I saw TOOL there back in 1999. Wow. Feeling a bit old here.
Anyways. Until next post, carry onward.

Summer, or Fall?

Today feels more like summer here than it has the past few months. The water is glass, the Sun is shining bright, and there is not a cloud in sight. Spectacular.
Going hooping for lobsters this evening with Jay and John. Hopefully we limit!
In other news, "The Walking Dead" started off pretty decent. Although, I will say it's pretty non-original at this point to have the main protagonist wake up in a hospital setting, with no staff, flickering lights, and the old "zombie hand slowly pushing the door open". Come on!

A.P.C.

One of the better bands from the past decade is A Perfect Circle.
Just happened to find something interesting, to say the least:
"APC ground floor tix @ the Pearl, Las Vegas" - $300 ea.
Hmm, they going on a small tour before the years end???

Finally...

The S.S. Burch was "hand delivered" this morning. FINALLY. I applaud the 100% effort and cooperation that Jason and his boys gave me the past few months. I am really exited to finally get on the water, even if summer is pretty much fading into the sunset. On the other hand, Lobster season starts in just a few weeks!

eggs.

Many of my friends know that I used to be quite thrilled with live poultry. Not the kind of typical "foster farms" white dumb chicken, but the awesome looking show-type. I used to have literally over a hundred chickens at one point, and within that number there was dozens of different species. My parents were always supportive, and were nice enough to give me a corner of our yard back in Fullerton. I made a ghetto coup at the time and threw a few birds in. Now days, my dad and I have rebuilt the entire coop into a luxury hen house. He mostly keeps them for the eggs but I speculate that there is times where he simply keeps them for memories of his son obsessing over these chickens. Thanks Dad.
Anyways, just was going over an interesting article from CNN.com
Here is the link:
http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2010/08/20/egg-splained-free-range-cage-free-and-organic/?hpt=C2
Check it out.

Upcoming movies, me wants to see...

There are a few movies that I hear are in the works for late 2010/early 2011 that have really caught my attention. Last years "District 9" was really a hit for Mr. Neill Blomkamp. I have to say it was very original, and the CGI was great for such a low-budget movie. I hear there is a sequel planned, yay!
Anyways, just as District 9 was such a blockbuster hit on a low budget- I am expecting the same for a movie simply titled, "MONSTERS". Its about an American photojournalist on a mission in a "quarantined zone" in Mexico. I think this one will be a success in the theatres.
I also have mentioned in the past that Zach Snyders "Suckerpunch" is definitely on my list of movies to see. Good stuff on the horizon... love the sci-fi, thriller, comedy, horror stuff. Jack-ass 3D is coming out before the years end. When will those dudes retire? One sci-fi film that I think looks good- but I feel that it may have a weak story line is "Skyline". Aliens. Humans. War. Sound original? Hmm...

Anyways. I'm out.

yay for 100!

This is my 100th post here. Been a few years in the making.
Just got back a couple days ago from a road trip up north to Shingletown. It was a trip to basically drop off my dad. He has been wanting to get up there for a few months and now he finally got there, as well as his sidekick Toby (dog).
Curlee rode with me round trip, making it alot easier to switch drivers. Thank you, good buddy.
We are attempting to get our annual trip together sometime in late September or early October. Hopefully there will be plenty of berries and good fishin' left.
Just got my (fingers crossed) LAST boat part in. Gonna work on the ole' whaler and try to get that thing in the water this weekend. Sheesh, what a project.
The boy is growing SO fast. I think he is just a couple weeks from walking. Yikes.
I'm super exited for the new W.o.W. expasion, Cataclysm. I know my wife hates the inner-nerd that dwells deep within me.

Gaslamp Quarter & TOOL

The woman and I had our first overnight stay away from the boy. He was able to stay over at Nana's house in Garden Grove. I think they both enjoyed it, but it was neat seeing him so thrilled to see his mommy & daddy walk in the house the next morning. He couldn't have crawled any faster to us.
Tool, as always, did an amazing performance. They are my favorite band, by far. We had excellent seats down in the pit area. We shacked up at the Gaslamp Courtyard Marriott for free 'cause I used my 'Marriott Points' to stay there. Yay!
Today I have turned 28. I am not in my late twenties. INSANE. I think Cassie has something planned tonight @ the Lobster Trap for me. We'll see...

Long overdue...

Been awhile since my last post. I have been busy, and all members of my family have been sick. Cassandra and I both recovered recently from a bad 48hr. case of the flu. No fun. I unfortunately had just eaten at a Lucille's BBQ and consequently have associated that food with a gut-wrenching repulsion. Oh well. Time heals!

Moving on... I am still having random dizzy spells. It's so easy for me to casually throw out the word, "Dizzy". When in reality, I have a much more specific idea of how it is... only in my head. Words can't exactly pin-point just how I feel. It's a combination of fatigue, glazed-over look, irritation to bright lights/outside sun, and a general light headed feeling. Hmm, that's the best I can do for now. It comes randomly, at different times of the day. I thought it was associated with meals, but have since concluded it is not. I am still on Zoloft. My next doc appointment is the 12th of this month. I wonder what he will have to say.

So our little Jacob is growing up soooo fast. It's hard to believe he is a few days away from being 9 months old!!! Yikes! I love that guy so much, it makes my heart smile. I like his little chuckle, and I love even more knowing where his little ticklish spots are. I hope I will make a good Dad for this guy. He means the world to me.

I came across a really humbling photo this morning. I will finish the post with that added above.

Slowly going the way of the Buffalo...

I remember hearing that title of one of MxPx's albums. I used to listen to that album alot. Good times.
I am SLOWLY starting to feel better. It has been a day by day thing. I am trying not to get my hopes up too much here because a few weeks back I had a brief trend of a good 3-4 days. After that I went back downhill. I'm praying this time its for good. I have lost a few pounds, but no where near what my target weight is. I hope to combat this with more exercise and a better diet. I was *cough cough* FORCED to cheat last week when I went overtown for school. I know its much easier eating out of your own fridge where you can choose to eat better. On the mainland it seems like I only have the option of the choice of a number 1 or 5. UGH. Anyways.

I read some awesome news of new music in the works for TOOL. I'm stoked. They are hands-down the best band I have ever seen live. Maynard really knows how to own the crowd.

Until next time.
-M

illness amongst us...

So it seems like the past month has been that of a very, very hard one. I have still been dealing with my dizzy issues. Next doc appointment is next Friday. I hope this one has some promise, but I will try and not get my hopes up too much. I have alot of my previous 5 doctor bills coming in left and right while none of them have been able to correctly diagnose just what the hell is actually going on with my body. UGH. Frustrating.
But just as I start playing my small invisible violin, I see just how little my petty problems are. My father has a bad back infection from a previous surgery he had. He had to be admitted into the hospital and underwent another surgery to remove all the previous infected hardware. During his stay he also found out that he had pneumonia. Wonderful. The back surgery is done and he is scheduled to come home today. I know he is happy to be home with his dog. I owe a big thanks to my friend of many years- Mr. Curlee. I cant thank him enough for taking the time out of his day to drive my mom around. That's the other issue- my poor mother is still trying to recover her sight in her left eye from a surgery she had over a month ago. She is not able to drive, and really depends on my family to get her around. Speaking of getting around- my brothers transmission in his car seems to be failing. Wow- when it rains, it pours- right???
Today I am @ work, with my cohort Justin. We are going to be putting in a power-pack into our biggest engine. I need the overtime, and I know that he does now as well... He's gonna be a dad! Haha, I am very much stoked for both him and his better half. Cheers!
Anyways, onward with this day...

Suck...

This past month of my life has been one that I will remember. I have really been struggling with some sort of dizziness issue. I have been to 5 doctors so far, and not one of them has been able to pin-point just exactly what is going on. I'm praying for an answer this Friday when I go back to my internal medicine doctor and do a fasting blood test. This will hopefully tell me if I have hypoglycemia or not. I have been in such a moody slump, I can't imagine what its like for my poor family to deal with me. I feel like I have not been around to be a good father, husband, or friend lately. I have really tried to improve my diet, and thus far it seems to be slightly better. I just want some sort of definitive answer on what my body is doing, and how I can correct it.
-M

I know what its like...

to struggle with ones inner demons.
I have had anxiety issues lately, mostly due to the fact that I have possibly had hypoglycemia. I want to put all of this in the past. My thoughts are horrid, and I want to stop being dizzy. My poor wife has been dealing with a moody spouse for almost a month now. She is such a strong person.

Athlete's foot

I have THE worst case of athlete's foot known to man-kind. This really is disgusting to me. I shower daily, have changed my socks 2-3x per day, used three different ointments from the pharmacy, and dunked my feet in hydrogen peroxide (ouch)
Gonna try and go to the Avalon Clinic later today as a walk in. Crap. This is my last resort.
Why am I falling apart??? I'm still dizzy, and have really changed most of my diet around for the better. I haven't had a soda, beer, energy-drink, cookie, etc for three weeks now. What is going on????????????

what the hell is wrong with my body??

I have been terribly under the weather lately. I have been to a few doctors, all for what I'm calling "Dizzy spells followed by high anxiety". I have never had a panic attack up until a few weeks ago. They are HORRIBLE. I don't know whats wrong, but throughout the day, I am getting these dizzy spells, some so strong that I have slight balance issues. This is not good. I have had an EKG on my heart- that went well. I have had an MRI on my brain, all seemed normal there (even if my wife says I lack that part all-together). I am now having a basic hearing test Monday morning to then be able to go to a ENT doctor. I hope that this ear, nose, and throat doc can finally pinpoint where my problem lies. I have been talking with various friends and family and they are suspecting the inner-ear. That is where a problem could affect ones balance.
Lord, grant me the patience do deal with this horsecrap. I want to be a father, mechanic, and friend again. This is not fun.

MGMT

Interesting new cover of the upcoming MGMT album which is scheduled to drop on April 13th. The album is named "Congratulations".

I've enjoyed a few of their hits. They have that almost annoying, but catchy pulse that can get stuck in your head hours later.

Disneyland?

So both the woman and myself have grown up always being within earshot of Disneylands nightly fireworks. I would be able to gauge the time by the first sound of the show. 9:30pm... and my night would come to an end. Being so close to the park kinda made me numb to what lurked just a couple miles away from our home. D-land simply was not that exiting to me. This upcoming weekend its Cassies birthday and we will be headed to the happiest place on earth. I hope it turns out awesome. The last time we were there was a decade ago for her 18th birthday... whoa! We're in our late 20's?!? Ha. We are gonna try and do the park-hopper deal for both D-land and CA-Adventure. The little boy is going with his Nana Barbara just nearby in Garden Grove. Hope they both have a great time!

Plastic Beach

I have always had a strange attraction to Gorillaz. I know that Damon Albarn is a talented artist, and have liked his works from Blur, Gorillaz and The Good, Bad, and the Queen. I can remember working in Anaheim after-hours at a job cleaning up listening to "Clint Eastwood" over the P.A. system. It gave me a kick in the pants and made sweeping up the floors just a bit more enjoyable.

I'm thrilled that a new album is coming out by Gorillaz. Bummer I won't see them @ Coachella... as the woman & I had a talk about it not being worth the $$$ with the 3 bands we really wanted to see spread out over the three days. Not worth the 100+ degree weather, not even to mention the fact that our little guy cant handle a place like that. Ugh.

Speaking of... Mr. Jacob is approaching his 4th month! Insane!!!

I want to be at descanso beach

eating the ginger-sesame chicken wings...

I likey, likey...

If all plans go well... I should be able to catch a showing of "Daybreakers" early next week with Justin and Rory.

holla!

As the weekend closes in on us I feel exited to be home with my family. Towards the end of each day I long to pick up the boy from Charity & Tobey. They have been a tremendous blessing to us in taking him in for this month. We have the rest of the year narrowed down to two people. Thank God above we have options here, as it was getting pretty scary towards the end of '09.
We just had a nice visit with Cesar & Aracely coming over thru the weekend. We tried and tried again for lobsters

Can't wait to get home...

It's alot different now that Cassandra and I are both together at work. I am 100% certain that she must think of our little guy every hour that she is away from him. I just glanced up at a picture of him that I put up on my desk and I do have to say that he makes me smile inside and out. It's easy for me to now realize just how much a parent can love their child.
This upcoming weekend we are having Cesar & Aracely over. I know that Cesar is stoked to be going out on our little Boston Whaler to go hoop-netting with me. Last year he was extremely exited just for the little mackerel he caught. I should have our camera ready for his reaction for when he pulls his first lobster, HA!