r|break: liquid friends from yester eve, a repost, and just remembering ...

... and i'll see liquid friends and
a few others again this weekend!

milagro
10 cane

it has felt like a LONG and FUZZY week ... and the coming weekend will continue to add to the events of this week.

today is the 7-year anniversary ... of my dad dying, so i have revisited this dec 2008 post (which includes as link to the eulogy) and for a variety of reasons, i also have taken a well-needed day off from work.

a close uncle (uncle romy) died this past monday ... for each evening starting monday, there has been a novena - which will continue, as novenas do, through nine days. the viewings are sunday and monday evenings. the funeral mass and burial are on tuesday.

as family and friends gather ... we all have been supporting each other, sharing memories from way back, sharing memories from not-so-far-back, and even reminding each other of memories some of us packed away in very dark crevices of our grey matter. it's amazing and entertaining what some people remember and what others have forgotten.

moreover, we are reconnecting ... we are meeting new people, making new friends, and adding-on to our extended family - all who share a love for uncle romy. and all who share a love for his family. (and for this, i shall acknowledge how useful fbook has been. there. i admit it.)

kitchen story-telling with liquid friends - alcohol ... these past evenings have included chats/yip-yaps, rather boisterous laughter, and crazy(!!!) story-telling - much of this fueled by wine or tequila or rum or vodka or ... (uhm ... perhaps i should say ".. and/or ..." instead of "... or ..."?!)

SAME KITCHEN - 2 YEARS AGO ... i realized something after my cheeks were hurting so much from laughing. these past evenings are a bit reminiscent of christmas 2006 - SAME KITCHEN and same fun family/friends. (i'm glad i have this blog post to remind me of such fun times!)

[original post, dec 26, 2006, over here]

the beginning:

7 inviting shots of 10 cane rum

the prelude:
(ring leader instigator host o'shot to the right)
after somewhat reluctantly agreeing to partake,
nervous chit/chat amongst new & old friends

the toast:

smiles of the fun ahead - s, g, p, j, a, l
(with l having lots o' fun!)

bottoms up:

with the looks of fear, certainty,
contentment, assurance,
completion, and "almost there"

old friends, new friends,
and good times on christmas day!

[side note: i didn't partake in the next round -
shot of patron silver - uh, tequila]

now what? for today, this coming weekend, and as long as i have my wits about me ... i will share with others my love for uncle romy and for his family. i will remember my dad and how he has shaped my life and that of my family and friends.

and i will acknowledge that
today is a good day
(as shared by my friend, iris)

love you uncle romy.

(re)happy easter

have a great easter sunday
wait ... i mean -
happy easter greeting ...
enjoy!

r|break: just answering the Qs ...

from my friend who gave me the nickname snatch basket. (uh-huh) i'm late posting, but oh well...

Welcome to the Christmas edition of getting to know your friends. Okay, here's what you're supposed to do, and try not to be a SCROOGE!!! Just copy (not forward) this entire email and paste into a new e-mail that you can send. Change all the answers so that they apply to you. Tis the Season to be NICE! HO HO HO

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? reuse wrapping paper, reuse gift bags, fabric swatches, fabric remnants that can later be used to make something, recycled material, biodegradable stuff ...
2. Real tree or Artificial? real - 'cuz i just decorate the few house plants (and around the few house plants) that i have managed to keep alive.
3. When do you put up the tree? (see response to q2)
4. When do you take the tree down? (see response to q2)
5. Do you like eggnog? nope, but i like the smell of eggnog.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? operation (that little game of skill/dexterity-ish)
7. Hardest person to buy for? hmmm? none.
9. Do you have a nativity scene? nope.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? if i snail mail, it's 'cuz there is something else i'm also sending over. else, may e-mail ... may not.
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? funky, regifted book end (one) - maybe not worst ... just funky
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? first one that comes to mind - a christmas story. however, i do like the story the christmas shoes (and liked the t.v. movie enough)
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? got my eye out all year but still shopping (bricks & mortar + on-line) a few weeks headed toward christmas
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? of course and have done so admittedly
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? panetonne
16. Lights on the tree? depends; see response to q2.
17. Favorite Christmas song? two ... merry christmas darling (the carpenters) & this christmas (donny hathaway - original; and also version by whispers) (over here)
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? home
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeers? eventually
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? depends - see response to q2.
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or Christmas Day? dependent on family & when peeps around and over either a glass of wine or hot chocolate
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? incessant countdown
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? blue, actually (and white)
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? lumpia (ha!)
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? just to be around family & friends
26. Who is most likely to respond to this email? joanne

almost new year's eve! tick-tock-tick - ...

r|break: ... post-christmas fiber break (pt. 5 -last one)

fiber break coming to a close.
parts 1 & 2 over here ... and parts 3 & 4 over here

massage? (check!) . chiro visit (check!) .
friend & sushi & emerging 2009 resolutions?
(check! check! check!)

(part 5 / end)

hope you enjoyed your post-christmas fiber break!

r|break: ... post-christmas fiber break (pt. 3 & 4)

just continuing the fiber break.
(got the early morn shopping done!)

parts 1 & 2 clips over here.

(part 3)
(the fun part with the scroogey stuff & a l'il tweety & yosemite sam, even - with a l'il marvin cameo)

("... a fuddsicle! ...")

(part 4)

(and a few more scroogey stuff & characters - got taz (esp. @ ~ the 6:20 min mark)?!)

almost ... almost done ...
just one more part
(patience ... later, after the massage & friend visits!!!)

r|break: ... post-christmas fiber break (pt. 1 & 2)

a bit longer than the regular fiber break,
enjoy my favorite duck's christmas scroogeness & frivolity

(part 1)

(... "how 'bout this pacifier for baby?!" ...)

(part 2)

("... bah humduck!" ...)

will post next parts of the clips
as a muddle through the day
(aka after some shopping & stuff)

christmas tune crooners ...

two of my fave contemporary christmas songs

karen carpenter's merry christmas darling

and although image is static, enjoy the tunes ...
donny hathaway's this christmas

merry christmas!

gingerbread house greetings this christmas eve ...

the project for the christmas eve effort?

a gingerbread house that we just needed to assemble - using way too sweet frosting and a bunch of other candy-stuff.

four of us started the venture - my sis-in-law, niece, nephew and self. and after i placed the rooftop with shingles up versus shingles down, and my nephew and i were a l'il more anal about accuracy and precision of gumdrop placement (and other cutesy features) ... he & i decided it was more important fun to make a mad-eye ginger man than show our engineer-tendencies and suffer a bit of a scolding-lite from the 2 creative directors (sis-in-law & niece). so this is what we did ...

... abuse mad-eye ginger man

and have him serve as the back-door security guard
for the fabu gingerbread house.

then we suffered from all the sugar.

oh yea ... here's the niece ...
merry - happy - holidays!

(and from 2 years ago ... this holiday greeting for my dem & rep friends)

this holiday's geek alert ...

it is likely a very (VERY!) small pool of people who may find this even slightly amusing ... but i'm amused (kinda) so it's being posted.

it was NOT enough to get SOME halloween mileage out of THE aging cow costume. i needed/wanted to pull it out for the december holiday shindig. fortunately, co-worker matt was up for serving as the holiday methane generator

(nice strategically placed garland, eh?!)

below are some lyrics to jingle bells. it's a little mangled & a bit choppy ... but it was sung by a few folks during a holiday luncheon while matt danced (?) around to the lyrics. (and yes! i realize some of the lyrics don't rhyme like they are s'pose to. it's a silly-song-thing. pull the stick out ...)

to the tune of jingle bells
Oh - jingle bells, methane stinks
cow poop smells the worst
but did you know when cows ruminate
greenhouse gases are totally first

a mask won't work to catch cow burps
and use it as a fuel
so a bucket is used to catch cows poop
and burn it to meet air rules

walking in as a permittee
with an application to burn poop
we'll check it for B-A-C-T
then throw you for a loop (moo-moo-moo)

questions we will ask
and modeling you must pass
then permit limits will hold you to task
for violations - you don't want to amass

oh!!! ... jingle bells, methane stinks ...

(o.k. i gave myself 30-min to come up with lyrics - not including the commute into work via the bay bridge and a gnarly parking situation - however, trying to get begging people to croon?! ooof!)

raise your hand to answer the question for 'burbs living ...

QUESTION: on this early black friday morning,
what noise, OTHER than an alarm clock,
car or home alarm, barking dog(s), etc.
wakes one up?

HINT: i live quite (more accurately VERY) near (within 2-miles) the following:

• walmart - 24-hour
  
• circuit city
• best buy
• ... you get the point
  

ANSWER: freakin', multiple hovering helicopters. (totally wrong!!!)

(o.k. - must go to work now! sob!)

hark! who went there on valentine '08?

feng shui ... NOT!

every morning, when i look up at the ceiling in cube-opolus, this is my view.

why this above my cube?

apparently, in the world of cubes, organizations have voluntary, celebratory events. this one? - - - secret valentine.

it has been two months since valentine '08. (totally fake holiday, which landed on a thursday this year)

secret valentine? ... on the friday before the fake holiday, those wanting to partake shoved a hand into a paper bag with the name of a person. whomever you chose (let's just call that person "lucky"), you would be that person's secret valentine (let's just call the secret valentine "sugar daddy").

3 days of adoration (or whatever) ... yes. this year, the fake holiday landed on a thursday, so from monday through wednesday, sugar daddy would stealthily sneak trinkets, candy, gifts, poetry, ... whatever ... into lucky's cube or mailbox.

my monday (02/11) was AWESOME!!!

despite the fact that it is not quite legit to mess around with hanging sh** from the ceiling, sugar daddy did so. and with the little "pulley" system that greeted me on monday, i pretty much decided immediately that my secret valentine sugar daddy TOTALLY ROCKED!!!

m' sugar daddy fed the "engineer" in me with the whole pulley thing, got the chalk candy hearts, and got a bunch of self-esteem boost hearts stuck all throughout my already paper-cluttered, a.d.d. haven of which i reside during most of the daytime hours.

under the red & pink canopy created when i followed directions ... please pull down gently until rings touch above. attach to guest chair ... i enjoyed the rest of the day and next two days being showered by my sugar daddy...

monday afternoon - a pastry from cafe madeleine that i managed to share with the other cube-meisters. YUM!

tuesday - score! cute trinkets. pink carabiner hooked to pink water bottle filled with pink and white m&ms - and i mean FILLED!!!

wednesday - score more! cute trinkets. a little map to find my wednesday surprise. map led me to the l'il community dorm-room-size-fridge. in a cute little chinese take-out container - ICE CREAM! A PINT OF BEN & JERRY'S! S'MORES!!! this, i discovered before our weekly office meeting at 9 AM. at 1:30 PM, ice cream social. (hmmm ... note to self - mini-fridge does not quite keep its cool.)

ice cream social turned in to chocolate soup with nuts and marshmallows. still good. chocolate. hello?! CHOCOLATE!!! oh! and i did bring tuesday's score to share with cube-sters.

unveiling on thursday ... all the sugar daddies got in a room with all the lucky ones amidst a potluck breakfast of tasty pastries, juices, fruits, and cakes. one-by-one, each lucky found out his/her sugar daddy. for a small moment of entertainment, to the tune of love machine á la a dancing penguin ... (go ahead - click the penguin)

... 3 cube-sters (self included) in a bit of a choreographed-moment showcased our talent by butchering performing following dances:

• (very bad) ROBOT
• (quite off-beat) BUMP
• (off-sync) SNAKE
• (even-a-smooth-floor-wouldn't-help) MOON WALK

somewhere out there is a video of the ... uhm ... hmmm ... ack ... ROBOT. and somewhere out there is a pic of me and my secret valentine. gotta get it downloaded from someone's camera. HOWEVER, turns out my secret valentine was my bud - over here and over here!

what are the chances
when you just shove your hand
in a brown paper bag
and pull out a piece of paper?!

i definitely was lucky!

quick holiday "hey!"

happy
holidays!!!

o.k.

merry
christmas!!!

still ...

flaking on posting ...

time to get off squirrelinator
time to get coffee
time to get some gift cards
time to wrap
time to cook some food-stuff

[jenm ... what can i tell ya?!
i'll keep on looking.
more flakes.
not so much beach (yet?).
keep warm!!!]

still busy shopping & wrapping & bagging ...

please do take
a l'il break for yourself


i did!
[my little cute flake #16386997]

the 4th ... my 4th, back in the BA

my first 4th of july in the BA (and sans a hot dog!) ... a l'il different from the SD events & extravaganzas ... in SD, i lived in a spot where i could walk or drive no more than 5-15 minutes and see several fireworks shows ... qualcomm, sea world, san diego bay ... and some random little ones sprinkled nearby.

this year, my 4th was in the BA ... hung out with my friend, t, and her co-workers and friends at her company's annual 4th of july celebration. she works in alameda. they have an awesome, choice location to watch the fireworks display at jack london square.

unfortunately, the 2007 show ...

yup ... canceled.

so ... with the view just before sunset

we knew already we would,
after sunset,
stare off into the distance,
into another county,
across a body of water,
beyond the bay bridge

ahhhhh ... oooooo ... wow

happy 4th of july

peace.

today is unofficially pigdog day

celebrate PIGDOG with me!!!

what's so special about today? ... on VERY (VERY!!!) RARE OCCASIONS does a stranger visit any of my blogs. i usually have to force sneak send my posts to my friends in the form of an enticing, engaging, provocative, and threatening loving e-mail. i get about a 10% response (which is as good as surveys). i do this so that maybe - JUST MAYBE during my breaks at work when i might be checking for blog comments - i get to read some witty remark and engage in some banter and yip/yap.

for today - 2 things happened sort of pigdog related: (1) a friend voluntarily crept around my blog (after i sent one of my loving e-mails) and came across pigdog, and (2) a stranger posted a comment on the pigdog post. (mind you, i've not thought about pigdog for quite a while.)

event (1) ... a friend writes me the following note with this attachment of two pics from the bunny collection of the photography of chip simons.

I LOVE these photos!!! I listened to that stream of consciousness thing (which I loved as well), which led me to page through your blog a bit. Finally got to the pigdog story, and was curious enough to look at the photographer's website and found the BUNNY PICTURES! Are they not fantastic? Gorgeous, floaty-romantic, surreal, irreverent, ridiculous, ... They make me laugh and sigh at the same time. I MUST have them!

[visit chip. these are his pics]

short version of this story - she sent chip a note about loving the bunny pics, and he wrote her back - TODAY. meanwhile, apparently about the same time, i sent chip a note about my friend, while not knowing that my friend sent her note. of course, chip wrote me back. (yes! we heart chip. we don't heart him enough to stalk him, ... well? no. no. we just heart him. we aren't stalking him.)

event (2) ... i decided to visit pigdog and relive the moments back then. then back to work for a short spell. took a break. checked my personal e-mail. and saw a comment from doggybloggy. and this makes me happy that someone else can have a pigdog moment.

so ... at least in this small corner of the world,
06/14 ... it's unofficially pigdog day!
(maybe go and visit chip's site, eh? or post a comment)

to my multi-tasking mom friends!

[and to their significant others who adore them]

have a wonderful mom day!

[from mina less studio ... fun stuff!
find a store near you that has her stuff]

and multi-task away!
['cuz your significant other ... can't.]

happy easter greeting!

(at least i think l'il rabbit-child has an outfit that is flame retardant)

peace.

happy easter?!

WTF?!

wrong.
WRONG!
WRONG!!!

more pics from xmas eve

a few more pics from xmas eve - not just the growing nephew & niece.

the gals

the r-family

the kids, tia, grandma








and a little karaoke