Day Two Hundred Thirty

Dear Readers,
     Recently my grandmother had to be taken to the emergency room for a blood clot in her lung.  My grandmother on my mother's side.  She has been very special to me throughout my few years on this earth, even though there is a major language barrier between us.  She only speaks Spanish, and my Spanish is extremely limited.  I have never been able to have a complete conversation with my grandmother and it is one of my greatest regrets.  Just to let you know, my grandmother is doing better and is at home, but she will have to take blood thinners and some kind of injection on a daily basis for a while.   She is much better, but not completely out of the woods.  So I ask for you guys to keep her in your prayers, not only to heal her bodily, but to give her a peace and comfort.  Going back to what I was talking about yesterday, having more time in the day, here is another thing I would like to do.  Learn Spanish.  Learning Spanish would have been a great benefit to me.  Being able to communicate with my grandparents, being able to communicate with all the Spanish speaking community out there that is always trying to speak Spanish to me.  I have that knack for anyone who speaks Spanish to start talking to me, assuming I speak the same language.  That is why one of the first sentences I learned in Spanish was "I don't speak Spanish".  Then I get that look of blank disbelief from everyone of them, like they know I am full Mexican and there is no way I don't know Spanish.  I always get asked how I grew up with bilingual parents and never learned the language.  I just say that my parents didn't want to teach me, so that they could talk in front of my sister and I without us knowing what they were talking about.  I'm sure it came in especially handy during Christmas time.  Eventually I started picking up a few words here and there, and then could decipher what they were talking about.  Maybe I should never have let them known that I knew enough, because I could have found out all my gifts in advance.  It's more fun being surprised anyways and it was worth seeing the surprised look on my parents face when they found out I could understand enough of what they were saying.  So, now I need to learn enough to be able to communicate with my grandparents.  I still have three grandparents alive and I want to make the most of what little time we have left on this earth.

This Day In History: 1903
American philanthropist Joseph Pulitzer makes a donation of one million dollars to Columbia University and starts the Pulitzer Prizes.

Born This Day: 1786
Davey Crockett - American frontiersman and soldier, defender of the Alamo.

" Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self."

- Cyril Connolly

How do I get a house on that street?

Day Two Hundred Twenty Nine

Dear Readers,
      The Newsroom has become my new favorite show.  Well, favorite is a strong word, but it has become a show that I really look forward to watching every week.  I started recording it when it started and our DVR filled up with about six or seven episodes before I finally started watching it.  After the first episode, I was hooked.  Jeff Daniels is great on this show and what makes it even better is that it isn't raunchy like most shows on HBO.  If you haven't seen an episode or anything about it, it is a show about a news show.  Sounds boring, right?  It really isn't though.  I enjoy this show so much that it makes me wish that I knew more about politics and current events.  It makes me want to be more invested in what is going on in our country.  The days need to be 36 hours instead of 24 hours to allow more time for all the things I want to do, and learn.  Is it everyone's plight to feel like there is never enough time in the day to accomplish everything you want to?  To feel like there was so much more you wanted to do with and in your life?  That is the way I feel sometimes and it when I start getting that way, it motivates me to make the best use of my time.  I don't stay motivated, but it makes me feel better about it when I do.
      Tonight will be the first night since I have been married that I will sleep in our bed without my wife.  Yes, we have spent nights apart, but I have always been the one out of town.  This will be the first time Raina has left me to sleep in our bed alone.  It is going to be weird, especially since we are living at my parents house right now, which means it will be a little like when we were dating.  I hear she has been having a good time and getting to try some awesome food.  You know me, I just love trying out new places to eat.  I am pretty jealous of her, but hope she really enjoys herself.  She deserves it, she has been working very hard lately.  Working during the week, weeknights and weekends.  Time for her to get a break.  Hopefully she gets to relax a little and doesn't spend too much time watching Micah.  He can be a handful at times.  That is just one of the many reasons why I love that kid.

This Day In History: 1977
The king of rock 'n' roll, Elvis Presley, dies at the age of 42 in Memphis, Tennessee.

Born This Day: 1935
Julie Newmar - American actress (Batman)

"I’d rather live with a good question than a bad answer."

-Aryeh Frimer

 He he he.

Day Two Hundred Twenty Eight

Dear Readers,
      It was a fairly lazy afternoon today.  Other than my three mile run to get back into the swing of things after two days off.  It always feels good to complete my runs.  I always dread them though.  Afterwards, I am always grateful that I went through it and finished.  I almost always get to that part in my run where I feel like I won't finish.  Like I really don't want to finish.  Where my legs feel like they are going to give out.  Where my breathing gets out of control and I can't get it back under control.  It makes me wonder what it is like for runners who are so strong at it, that they don't get those kinds of problems.  Will I ever get to that point?  Maybe if I don't take long layoffs between training.  It makes me think that maybe I should sign up for half marathons and other obstacle races to continually do them throughout the year, to force me to keep up my training.  It is one way to keep up the motivation, or at least attempt to. 
      The rest of my lazy afternoon was filled with a dinner of In and Out with Raina and staying in the fan area of our bedroom, continuing to catch up on Olympic events that we haven't watched yet.  Raina has gone to bed early though, because she is getting up extra early to head out to Santa Barbara in the morning with my sister Yoli.  Unfortunately, I have to work in the morning, so my one night vacation privileges have been revoked.  Raina works really hard, so she deserves to get away for a couple days and relax.  Hopefully it will actually be relaxing for her.  Micah is going along with them, so who knows if he will allow them to relax at all.  That is one rambunctious kid.  He keeps moving like the energizer bunny all day long.  Then you need to watch out if he gets into one of his moods.  A strong willed child that wants to get his way.  You have to love him though.  He is pretty stinking cute, especially when he wants to be.

This Day In History: 1914
The Panama Canal was officially opened to commercial traffic as an American ship sailed from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.

Born This Day: 1769
Napoleon Bonaparte

"The person who reads too much and uses his brain too little will fall into lazy habits of thinking."

-Albert Einstein

Waste not, want not.

Day Two Hundred Twenty Seven

Dear Readers,
      I am opening up my blog to suggestions from anybody and everybody.  My imagination of what to discuss and talk about has gone blank and I feel like I have hit the doldrums.  I guess it is kind of like writers block.  I need a jump start.  Something to get my limited creative juices rolling again.  I guess I could start talking about my favorite soda, or where I like to shop the most.  Which would mean I would be talking about shopping, which sounds boring to me.  Maybe it might entertain somebody out there though. Who?  I have no idea.  By the way, I would say I spend most of my time shopping at Best Buy.  Guess I love spending money on movies, video games, computer items and other technology items.  Perhaps I could talk about growing up in drama team from my church.  I spent about four or five years in a drama team called Soul Patrol in middle school and high school at my church.  It included a summer missions trip every year.  Including going to the Olympics in Atlanta in 1996.  Maybe talking about competing in high school sports will interest people.  Or maybe my complete lack of interest in politics will get some surprised looks from people.  There is a part of me that wishes that I were be knowledgeable in what was going on in political current events, or know everything about what the presidential candidates stood for.  It just does not interest me enough to go out of my way to learn those kinds of things.  Am I starting to ramble, or is just me?  It really is amazing how a simple paragraph that started with me having no idea what I was going to talk about, can transform and go through subject changes to get to a point that you don't even realize how you got there.  Don't remember where you started.  Just like a conversation you might have with a friend, the subject matter changes and changes to where you can only remember glimpses of the conversation as a whole.  Amazing how poor our memories can be, especially mine.  Which could be another subject that I could talk about.  How my poor memory has gotten me into trouble over the last thirty years.  Which is quite a bit.  Now I just have to remember all the possible subjects I brought up tonight and talk about them in full later. 

This Day In History:1923
The American comic strip Felix the Cat debuts.

Born This Day: 1950
Gary Larson - American cartoonist (The Far Side)

"A man of action forced into a state of thought is unhappy until he can get out of it."

-John Galsworthy

The presidential Civil War hero beard.

Ulysses S. Grant

Day Two Hundred Twenty Six

Dear Readers,
      Here we are almost two-thirds of the way through the year.  My beard is a mess of hair and my blog is starting to feel like a drag for me.  I would compare it to baseballs term of "the dog days of summer".  I have talked about almost all the topics that come to my mind and am finding that my daily blog is mostly a recap of what I did during the day.  Even if my day was boring and I didn't do much, I find myself trying to stretch it out as long as possible on the blog.  I think one of my biggest problems is not being able to do them until late at night and I am already falling asleep by then.  Procrastinating used to work out for me in my youth.  Now, not so much.  I feel like finishing my blogs are starting to drag.  Right now is a perfect example.  I just fell asleep while trying to type this up.  Falling asleep with heavy hands on the keys is not a good combination.  Leaving random letters on my screen to wake up to.  I am going to have to set aside a little more time and a little earlier time for typing about my daily subject. 
      There I go again.  I really need some sleep and am afraid I won't wake up again without having my laptop fall off my lap.  So sleep, here I come.

This Day In History: 1915
A bullet fired by a German sniper enters the barrel of the rifle held by English soldier Private W. J. Smith, who had been about to shoot at the sniper.  The rifle was badly damaged, but Private Smith was unharmed.

Born This Day: 1912
Ben Hogan - American golf champion.

"Drama is life with the dull bits cut out."

-Alfred Hitchock

Day Two Hundred Twenty Five

Dear Readers,
      Why won't the heat go away?  It is sweltering this weekend.  When Raina and I finally buy our house, there will be a requirement to either have air conditioner or a pool.  I just can't handle this heat without either one anymore.  All the three fans in our room does is push around the already hot air.  Watching Olympic events on the DVR inside of a sauna.  At least we got up early this morning and kind of beat the heat a little during our run.  We went out early this morning to Huntington Beach for our long run of the week.  We made it 5.5 miles today.  Continuing to get back into running shape for the half marathon.  Running a solid three miles or so a few times during the week and then a long run on either Saturday or Sunday.  The same kind of running schedule we had for the last half marathon, which worked out well enough for me to finish and I can't ask for anything more this time around.  Okay, maybe shave a few minutes off my time.  That would be cool.  Running down at the beach is much nicer then running around here.  Just in a matter of degrees difference from Bellflower to the beach, it is that much cooler.  Then there is the breeze that can be wonderful at times out there. I can't wait for the heat to die down.
      We spent our evening celebrating Brandon's birthday again.  This time, a barbeque and hang out over at Chris and Kelly's house.  There just so happens to be a pool over there, so it was perfect time to take the swim trunks and jump in.  Makes me really want one.  I could swim all day if I could.  Just enjoying the cool water, jumping in over and over again, and even getting a little sun to avoid being pale all summer.  Then of course, we ate like kings and queens with another helping of delicious carne asada, rice and beans.  Topping it all off with some awesome pie made by Liz.  Banana cream pie and snickers pie.  It really is a good thing I have been working out, just to counteract all the eating I have been doing this week.  I think the eating habits are going to have to change in order for any of the workouts to show some kind of improvement.  I just love good food.  One of my many vices. 

This Day In History: 1908
Henry Ford's first Model T, affectionately known as the "Tin Lizzie", rolls off the assembly line in Detroit, Michigan.  The Model T revolutionized the automotive industry by providing an affordable, reliable car for the average American.

Born This Day: 1925
Ross and Norris McWhirter - Twins who compiled and edited the Guinness Book of Records.

"If the lessons of history teach us anything it is that nobody learns the lessons that history teaches us."

-Anon

In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight.

Day Two Hundred Twenty Four

Dear Readers,
      It has been a really good day today.  Mostly a day of just trying to beat the heat.  Our morning started off with a trip to the Roger Dunn in Santa Ana, which is an awesome golf store.  I went to pick out my birthday gift from my father in law, Mark.  If you remember, about a month ago, I broke my driver during a golf tournament I was playing in.  So, Mark decided to get a new one for me for my birthday.  Today was shopping day.  I spent some time picking out some drivers and taking them to their indoors driving range for a test run.  I tried about eight different drivers that I had been looking at.  Different makers, different shafts, different weights, different flexes and different grips.  I swung so many times that I was actually getting tired by the end of it.  I had a blast.  They have a tracker that shows how your ball is tracking and how far it goes.  It is pretty stinking cool.  After all those swings and different clubs, it came down to the Rocketballz driver.  I hit that one the best and it felt the most comfortable to swing.  I picked out one that is the right degree in loft and the right flex.  I can't wait to get it out onto the course.  Thanks again to Mark and my brother in law Brent for my awesome gift.
      I wasn't the only one to get a new driver today.  My brother in law Brandon came along for the trip and was offered a new driver for his birthday from his brother, which was just a few days ago.  So Brandon tried out some used drivers and found one that he really hit well with.  On top of that, it was only $99, which is cheap for a nice driver.  Unfortunately, it wasn't as cheap as he thought it was.  When we went to check out, the price for everything was a lot higher then it seemed it should have been.  After checking the receipt, they realized that it was actually $199.  The 1 in the beginning was kind of messed up just enough so that if you weren't looking for it, you would most likely miss it.  That is how Brandon ended up with a nice new driver that was even nicer than he had realized.  Happy birthday to both of us.
      Our plan was to go back to the fair one last time before it leaves town today.  It was so hot today though, that we waited until later in the day when it cooled off a little bit.  So we spent the middle part of our day at Barnes and Noble to stay in the air conditioning.  Just reading magazines and catching up on current events for a couple of hours until it was time to go stuff our faces with delicious fair food.  Which we did, just as soon as we got there.  Starting off the night with some delicious Phillie Cheese Steak French Fries.  You read that right.  It was all the innards of a Philly Cheese Steak sandwich put over a pile of French fries.  It was pretty stinking awesome.  After the pile of fries, it was time for a little desert.  Some caramel and apples, with a nice scoop of vanilla ice cream in the middle, all over a waffle.  I love caramel, apples, waffles and ice cream, so it was just about perfect.  After all that food, and some in between time to walk around and catch anything that we missed, I finished off the night by sharing Mexican Funnel cake with Raina and Brandon.  Phenomenal.  Can't stay away from that stuff.  It was one of those great days that went by way too quickly.
      I also have to mention that we went and enjoyed some pig races at the fair today.  That's right, pig races.  Line them up four deep and watch them run in a half circle.  Even going as far as to give them obstacles that they would have to jump over to win their race.  It was pretty funny to watch and made me glad I am not in Texas where you know that is a normal occurrence.  Only true hicks would be doing that on a regular basis.  It was pretty funny to watch, but I am not a true hick, so one time is good enough for me. 

This Day In History: 1934
A group of federal prisoners classified as "most dangerous" arrives at Alcatraz Island off California, the first civilian prisoners to be housed on this 22 acre rocky outcrop situated 1.5 miles offshore in San Francisco Bay.  Although some three dozen have attempted, no prisoner is known to have successfully escaped "The Rock".

Born This Day: 1921
Alex Haley - American Pulitzer Prize winning author (Roots)

"Boasting of glory does not make glory, and singing in the dark does not dispel fear."

-King Hussein

Pictures of the day.

Still in the testing phase.

A shirt made just for Brandon.

Just destroyed these Phillie Cheese Steak Fries.

Pigs a racing.

Mexican Funnel Cake.  Yum.

My brand spanking new driver.  Now just don't break this one.