I am the reset button...

Man, yet another long hiatus since my last post. Well, since then, same ol stuff has been going on that's been goin on w/ everyone else...the holidays. Havinjg so many places to go and dropping off so many things and shopping and partying so much that you need a break from your break. But now that the holidays are kinda settling down, it's back to the good old work routines and stuff, but it's kinda hard to transition from not working to working again, but in due time, in due time. Well, I have a little time to write, cuz we're en route to San Diego on a test drive and Joel's not really saying much, he's just listening to music and enjoying the drive I guess. We have little moments of chatter, but nothing more than that. It is a beautiful day outside though, it's nice to drive down the coast and just enjoy the calm...

I get no respect
I don't like it when I get that feeling that someone doesn't respect me. And I was thinking about how this plays into the whole, "don't care what other people think about you" thang, but I think this is a little different. Because if they don't respect you, then they treat you a different way, which rises about merely what someone thinks about you. I got that "new-guy" treatment at work today, I don't like it. I just think it sucks that just because someone is newer than most of the people there and hasn't really had that much experience, that they should be treated like they're incompetent or ignorant. That's how someone learns, and I just think that's bad people skills. Because I wouldn't want the new guy to think that I thought that of them, that would be an insult, plus, I would want them to learn as much as possible, w/o making them feel estranged or excluded because of their exposure. Or maybe they think they're just superior to another person, which I've also dealt with here already on a few occasions. It's this kind of thinking that makes people not really like other people, or not like working for or with certain individuals. People really should treat other people the way they want to be treated. It just frustrates me. Some people man...

New Year's
So...yet another year is coming to a close and another year is about to begin...and so I ask myself, how will I be different this year, what shall I change about myself, what resolutions have I made? Well, some are the same and some are new, but here they are:

Smoking; I am going to try to make a sincere effort to rid myself of this habit, not necessary right at the new year, but hopefully, within a few months, I will.

Family; I feel like I do not spend enough time w/ my family. I kinda just go to work and always do my own thing. So spend more time w/ the fam, especially pop. He sits at home a lot of the time, and he doesn't really like to go out much anymore. Ever since the stroke he doesn't really say much, not cuz he doesn' want to, I think it's just too tough for him. Maybe being at home a little more and trying to have little conversations will help, and maybe that way, I can show him that I love him and that I do wanna spend time with him. I mean, he's never said anything about me not being around much, but if you don't know my family, we are quite non-affectionate and non-expressive with one another. I think I wanna at least spend 2 days a week with him at home, just doing nothing, maybe watching Laker games or something. Yeah, that'll be good.

Organize; I want to keep my room clean and organized all the time, so that means, I need to pick up after myself more often, do laundry more often and just keep a regular schedule about maintaining my room. Not only my room, but my desk at work and my car and the rest of the house as well.

Health: just like everyone else, I would like to get a little healthier this new year. I haven't gone to the gym on a regular regular basis for a while, and I hope I can motivate myself to do so in the '04.

That's all for now I guess, I'll probably come up w/ some more soon...

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

"Out with the old and in with the new."

I am Santa's hat...

Traffic on the ones...
One of the really cool things this week about driving to and from work is that there has hardly been any traffic on the freeways this week. I mean, of course, there's gonna be traffic around your mall and airport areas, but everywhere else, generally okay. It's nice. Work commutes have been quite easy on people, I guess everyone decided to leave on vacation at the beginning of the week. Too bad not EVERYONE does it....like when we were in school and we had christmas vacation. That would be cool.

The thing I hate about being at work on a rainy day is that it makes me want to go home. I guess if I couldn't see it then I would be okay, but I freakin face the window all day at my desk, and even if I was away from my desk, I would be out on a test drive, which would mean, I'd be out there, in the rain, and still want to go home. And even more so because I'm in a car and I'll just want to drive home. Blah, I wanna go home...cuz I'm watching
LOTR ROTK
tonight baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Finally!

Appreciations
-gift wrapping sessions
-people who value your opinion/input
-paid holidays
-holiday get togethers
-old friends
-free soda at work
-nice bosses and coworkers

Well I know some people won't be checking or writing blogs over the next few days probably so, a very safe and MERRY CHRISTMAS to all!!!!

"'Tis a sad thing to be old and act old...."

I am an itchy scratchy throaty...

I haven't had much time to blog about my life events lately, but here are some highlights over the last few weeks...

Disneyland, it was so fun even though it rained for about half the day. No matter, that's what disneyland ponchos are for...only $6!
Verwin's Company X-mas party at the Ice House in Pasadena was great. Different from normal company parties, it came complete w/ buffet line, open bar, talent show, and a scotsman with kilt and sporin. It was great.
Irvine white elephant exchange at Jon jon's house: another night of fun...I got my gift stolen from me 3 times...a shower CD player, a finding nemo thing with $20 cash and movie tickets inside, and a best buy gift certificate. But fortunately, I ended up with a huge ass bottle of Grey Goose...score!
Brian's "Housewarming" party turned out to be Rent the musical! Cic surprised me with tickets to the show on saturday and had set up the whole thing like a month before! Good job dude! I was totally surprised and totally loved the show!
UFFNOS annual kk was fun as always, I got to trade my box of Cheer detergent for a TV show CD. Got Friends season 5(score!) and had good food and got to hang out w/ the fam again...good times good times...

when you wish upon a star....
I heard this add on the radio today about having a star named after someone, which is not totally new, I mean, I'd heard about it a while back. At first, I thought it was kinda cool, but upon hearing the ad today, I thought, dude, there are like a gazillion and one stars out there, how the heck would you find yours? And yeah, they give you a map and the coordinates and all that, but freak man, a gazillion and one, that's just ridiculous. And even more, who would care? No one, that's who. Shit, if a star is gonna be named after me, I'd choose the sun. Cuz then, everyone would know where MY star is. I would also change all terminology, you'd have jayrises and jaysets. When you stay out tanning in the jay too long, you'd get jayburn. And best of all, everyone would have jayflowers, yeah, I think I'm gonna have the sun named after me...

Stick a fork in me...
ta da da da!!! (done to the tune of ta da da da, Imperial!) I am finally finished w/ my x-mas shopping. I wrapped up the last few gifts on my x-mas list during lunch today. Man, it's been a long ass 3+ weeks of shopping, thank goodness we have 366 days til it comes around again. Now, I must wrap them all, and this will be no easy task.

This made me laugh...
Smart Thinking >
Two engineering students were walking across campus when one said, "Where did you get such a great bike?" The second engineer replied, "Well, I was walking along yesterday minding my own business when a beautiful woman rode up on this bike. She threw the bike to the ground, took off all her clothes and said, "Take what you want." The second engineer nodded approvingly, "Good choice; the clothes probably wouldn't have fit you."

"To my family and friends, Thankyou. I love you. May we continue to have our relationships, laugh, smile, forgive, and live life. Don't let yourself stay in a hole for too long. It's really a waste of time. There are too many people out there that would like to play with you. I do."
-Cecilax

I am the cold wind that almost burns...

Dedicated to memory
A friend of mine called me last night with some tragic news, one of my old high school friends, Brent Galindo, passed away the other night in a car accident. I haven't seen him for about 6 or 7 years, but I still remember him, and I could have possibly seen him at my hs reunion. Although I only knew Brent in high school, I was still able to interact with him enough to know that he was a really nice guy and that there are many people who's lives have been blessed with his presence. This is a sad sad day.

And thinking about this last night just really took me out of it. It just kindof reminded me how we really, just never know, and often times, we get so caught up in our own things and we put things off. Well, the possibility for tomorrow not coming is real. It doesn't really scare me in that I try not to put things off, well, things that are important to me at least. What makes me sad is when I see people who are completely stagnant, just completely stuck where they are, not doing anything at all... I mean, I'm not trying to be judgemental saying that I'm a better person..all I'm saying is that people shouldn't just sit around when they could be doing things that are making them happy. One of my good friends told me once, "Say what you mean and mean what you say," and I would even go so far as to add on to that, "Say what you mean, mean what you say, and don't wait to say it, because...you never know."

"May the road lead you where you need to go, may the rain fall softly on your face, and may the wind blow lightly on your back."

I am a moody blue....

to the store again...
On the road again...going shopping like I've always been...he he he.
I got to shop AND eat lunch today. I asked one of my coworkers why he hadn't gone to lunch yet and then he asked me what I was doing, so I told him I was gonna go to target. Turned out he wanted to go to target too, so we went and shopped. Pretty cool, but I didn't get to get everything I wanted there because even though I was shopping, I knew he wanted to do it quickly so we could still grab something to eat. So I felt bad and stopped my shopping earlier than I would have, which was good because the lines were pretty long still. Man, I guess everyone has the same idea of shopping during their lunch. But anyway, he still wanted to eat so we went to a local ramen place, and it was pretty good. We chit-chatted about this and that, and he's a pretty cool guy. I don't think he gets the recognition he deserves for all the hard work he puts in but that's another story. So I got to take a long lunch, cuz he's one of the long-time eval guys, so it was cool. So for the first time this week, I didn't come back from lunch totally hungry...he he he. I still need to go back to target though, cuz I didn't peruse through all the aisles like I usually would on my own time. It was good though, another 5 people off my list. 10 more to go...and THEN, I'm done....and as Cic said...and completely broke, ha ha ha.

I've had this weird runny nose thang goin on for the past few days. I get the sniffles at night and in the morning, but throughout the workday, oddly enough, after I gargle, it goes away. Then it comes back later on in the evening...what the heck is that? I hope I'm not getting sick. Oscar, the guy that sits accross from me, facing me, is out of the office this week w/ the flu, but the guy decided to come back yesterday before they sent him home. That may just have been long enough to expose me...but I heard that sick people are only contagious during the first 2 or 3 days of gestation, meaning before they actually develop symptoms? Is that true? And if it is, then why do they say that if you think you have the flu to stay home, because it shouldn't be contagious anymore? Or does that gestation thing only refer to like the common cold or something? Maybe...I'm going nowhere with this subject and I am just as clueless as I was when I started...what a waste of 200 workds or less...sheesh.

Oh, I thought of another few things to add onto my wishlist, for you last minute shoppers, he he he(aren't I nice?):

A vacuum I can use and keep at my desk
other desk cleaning supplies
laker stuff to decorate my work area with
A nice snowboarding Jacket(a light one)
A business card album(is that what it's called?) I have a whole bunch of business cards I need to organize
Any lakers stuff
beanies, I love beanies, esp the ones that you don't have to double over...
a massage(from you or from a spa, I don't care)
USB wireless adaptor for my computer at home

btw...
Here is an excerpt from a comment I left on Ai's blog...i thought it was pretty funny, so I re-posted it, he he he.

"......did you know that in other places like Australia they call it Mobiles(pronounced Mow-bile?) or like in Germany, they call it Handy? I only know that cuz on the Mercedes-Benz systems, they have this thing called a UHI, which is the cell phone cradle, but it means, Universal Handy Interface. I thought it was some other cool acronym, but as I found out, such was not the case. he he he, I think I'm gonna blog about this..." (Jay Bermudez)

"Sometimes, I wish I were an elephant, even then, I think I'd still have trouble..."

I am a cobweb duster...

Man, what is this place? A blog site? Oh man, I think I remember now! I'm supposed to write in this thing!

A day away...
Man, you leave the office for a day and the work sure does pile up. I went to San Jose this past friday for a business meeting w/ some disc-stamping people out in Livermore(yeah, I didn't know where that was at first either, but it's about 30 miles east of San Jo). I come back to my desk on monday and I have ALL this work to do! Man oh man, I wanted to take another day off this week too, but it looks like I'll be much too busy here to be able to do that. Sucks to be the new guy still, everyone else is taking their vacations and leaving me w/ the dirty work...blah.

Oh here's a some stuff that I thought about while I was on my day trip to San Jo. Car renters, I don't know how they ever got around w/o navigation. Maps and just asking for directions? That was tough. And even before that, we used to never have cell phones, how did one call and ask for directions when one was lost? And to think, that was not even 10 years ago and so much has changed since then. Car rentals don't have the greatest nav units, but they do the job and I got around okay. Better than asking around and looking like an idiot...but I still got lost w/ the nav sometimes. Another thing, commuter planes. If you already didn't know, I HATE flying, but it's part of work, and that's how you get to faraway places w/o aging months in the process of traveling thousands of miles. But okay, I hate flying usually, well hate is a strong word, I'm just phobic, my acrophobia bleeds into flying. But commuter planes? Man, those things suck, they're so small! It was one of those ones you actually walk up the stairs to get into. And how is it that me, the smallest dude of all, manages to bump his head like 3 times on the plane? Only me man...only me... But it was a good trip, I got to see Jentot and we caught up and it was cool seeing a friend while out on business trip again.

Shoppin til I drop...
Damn man, I sure am getting sick of shopping. I've been shopping during my lunch hours for the past few days and then afterwards pretty much til the malls are closed. Today, I knocked off a few more people on my list and I believe I have less than 10 to go...hell yeah, almost done. Keep on shopping, keep on shopping....

oh well, there was other stuff I wanted to write about, but I think I left my post-it note where I keep my blog ideas at my desk...hasta manana with the left out thoughts!

"Why am I fighting to live, when I'm just living to die..."

I am a foiled plan...

To infinity, and beyond...
So I told myself that I would not really consider myself an old man until I started investing...well...I am calling myself an old man. Last night, I met with this financial advisor that my friend Aaron recommended me to, you know one of those that you name people you might think will want to do that, well, I did. I've been wanting to set up a Roth IRA acct since I took classes last year with Chris before I moved back to LA. I never got around to it because right when I wanted to start investing, I got laid off. But now, I have the opportunity to and so I jumped on it. Since my 401k hasn't yet taken effect, I figured I might as well get started on some financial plan for the future. Lots of people don't get into it because it seems like we're being sold something, but it's important, well at least I think so. Because I see how pop didn't have a retirement plan because his work didn't give him one and he just kinda worked and never thought about it, and I think to myself, I wish he had a retirement plan, so I started one for myself. It's crazy, what an adult decision that was, I still can't believe I AM one sometimes. But I guess now is the time to start preparing ourselves for the future...like retirement, and kids and stuff like that. Man, I'm scaring myself....

The cool thing about X-mas season is that most places are open later during the holidays. This is good for me because I usually don't get home from work til about 7 or 7:30, and I want to eat and maybe relax for a few minutes or something before going anywhere. Target is open til 11 during the holiday season, yippee! Cic and I went there last night to see if we could get some x-mas gifts out of the way, and although we didn't get anything except for wrapping paper and tape and stuff, it was quite convenient. And there weren't that many people there at that time, so it was actually kind of peaceful even. I know that as it comes closer to the actual holiday though, it won't be so, so it's good to take advantage of it before it becomes complete chaos. Tonight, I'm planning to hit the mall...maybe I'll find something there...dang, less than 3 1/2 weeks left...I gotta get crackin...

I can't wait to go boarding this Friday. It'll be my first time this season and a chance for me to break in my new board and bindings, and boots...if I can find some by tomorrow. It'll also be my first official day off from work since I started FT back in August...I'm excited. I love short weeks, I got in on Monday from NJ so I didn't have to come into the office and I'm taking friday off...I might as well see if I can get out early manana...woohoo!

"Let's forget about tomorrow. Let's forget about tomorrow. Let's forget about tomorrow, for tomorrow may not come...."

I am an apple in a vice...

Man, I'm having another migraine...I hate these things. It's pure torture man, I'd rather have a broken bone... Anyway, I need to get myself some of my sister's migraine meds, I had a migraine on Thanksgiving during our family lunch and her pills seem to have worked...or maybe it just finally wore out, I don't know. I don't take medication very often, but when it comes to migraine headaches, I'll be the first in line man. I should've just taken the week off. Granted, I would've had a hell of a lot to do when I got back the next week, but shoot, I should've done it anyway. I guess it's good cuz I got some important stuff out of the way, i.e. getting an estimate done on the E-class, meeting w/ my supervisors to get a schedule of the goings on for the next month or so, and just organizing the pile on my desk. There's always a brighter side...damn.

I hate it when people at work tell you what to do, when you're already about to do it, as if you didn't know. Well excuse me, but I've been here for about 7 months now and I think I've got some things figured out. Those are one of the things that bugs me sometimes, is that some people are such know-it-alls that they insult other people's intelligence. Even to the simplest tasks, argh. Maybe I'm just more irritable because of this headache, but I doubt it...he he he.

I have more I want to write about, but this headache's pushing them out of the way...

pictures to come tonight...

"If you don't take care of it, someone else will..."