Goodbye 2008, Welcome to the new year!!

What a year two-thousand eight has been. From mourning the passing of my grandma the previous x-mas to Reventon Superestrella to Memphis(follow link for one post of various) and volunteering(follow link for one post of various throughout the year), diversity events(follow link for one post of various throughout the year), LGBT issues, moving/not moving, the economy, the election, a new job position, and everything in between. What a year!!! is all I can say. Let's hope I have learned from my mistakes.

New year's resolutions: save money, better diet/exercise, get organized, move, go green, visit family, at least one vacation, love, purge, and so many more... really I'm just listing things I would like to do that are not necessarily going to happen.


Here's some photos of this past year:




To the coming two-thousand nine, you be good now!

Happy Holidays Y'all !!!

Happy Holidays Y'all !!!... So now to catch up.... PBS day. 12/6/08, went good. I thought it would drag, but the fours hours went by really fast... Later that day went to the Parade of Lights, my first time. Next time I should take a chair. It was a looong parade, and it got cold by the end of it. It was pretty.

Holiday Party 2008... This year it was at a friend's house on 12/20/08, with maybe only a week of planning. Food, drinks, Singstar, and more drinks, it was great. Woke up with a headache the next day, too much wine I think.

...On a (long) side note... this year I didn't feel any holiday cheer, even though I have been signing loudly for all to hear. I haven't been really all that festive this year, I sort of have immersed myself in work, volunteer events, and diversity events. Also, because I was going to be moving by the end of September, I had packed all my Fall and Winter Holiday stuff, and then I didn't move, but didn't feel like unpacking since moving would be in six months(maybe). I think that maybe I am still mourning my grandma's passing last year. I think maybe the prices going up on everything just made me not want to shop. Usually I shop for my roommates(Jerry, Aaron), mom, a couple of aunts, a couple of friends and give cards to almost all work friends, old friends, new friends, and family. So this year all I got out were 3 cards, my mom and 2 aunts. Not sure what's going on with me, maybe it's the over commercialized holidays or a combination of all the above, and somehow I need to cheer up. Although, today as my roommates gave me gifts and they gave gifts to each other and I had no gifts, not even a card to give them I felt that little x-mas spark lighting back up. It's not about the gift is about the giver.

My family back home, Texas/Mexico are very catholic, not crazy catholic, just very, and they do a traditional x-mas. Traditional of course is different to every family.

My family's traditional is to pray a rosary, then a classic posada, then dinner, then some fireworks, then to midnight mass. We wear corsages that are usually made by one of my aunts. This is all done on the 24th. On the 25th they all get together for breakfast, usually barbacoa, then a couple of pinatas. Both kids and adults get in the action. Then we play loteria(similar but not congruent to bingo) for wrapped prizes/gifts that several of us have brought. The prizes are varied from a box of cherry cordials, kitchen towels, sopas, avon items, etc. Then after this there is a raffle of a basket that consists of mostly pantry items. Everyone's names goes in a bowl, someone draws a name and that person wins it. This was something that we have done as long as I can remember. The person who wins the basket will fill it up the next year, if they can't, my grandma or my mom or another aunt would help fill it. My grandma, as far as I know, is the one who made the basket raffle tradition.

New Year's Eve and Day are similar except no posada. We also try to celebrate El Dia de Reyes(I think it's what they call Epiphany in English?), but that day already everyone is back to work, family, etc. so usually their is a Rosca De Reyes(a circular bread like cake) and whoever drops by can have a piece. There is a baby baked into the bread and whoever gets the slice with the baby in it is supposed to throw a celebration later in the year on El Dia de la Candelaria, but I'm not sure when that is as there usually isn't a celebration made. I think maybe once or twice it was done, that I can remember. All these celebrations, xmas, new year's, dia de reyes, etc, are all done at my grandma's house in Mexico.

Anyways, the point of this I think maybe that I should start spending x-mas holiday back home.


Hope you are all having a Happy holiday Season! :)

PBS Pledges

Tomorrow I will be on TV at the local PBS station. Well maybe I'll be on TV. I'll be taking pledges via phone during breaks. The local PBS station is located in ASU.

This is the one thing I had always stayed away from volunteering. Because my work used to involve being on the phones, the last thing I wanted is to be on the phones willingly. The work I do now requires me only half or less time being on the phones, and I get very few calls, so now I don't mind doing this. Plus it felt a bit weird not volunteering for anything in November. I'll be there for four hours.

I lost my phone...

I never thought I would be one of those people who loose their cel phone... Lost my cel phone.. last thing I remember was grabbing it from the glass table top, put it in my murse. So sometime between driving to work, working, driving back from work, stopping to do some errands, and then home I lost it... So I ate dinner when I got home, then I drove back to work see if I left it at my desk and nothing. Drove back see if I dropped it during my stop. And nothing... So oh well... what's a girl to do... Maybe now is a time to upgrade... Nah, I'm too frugal for that.. My phone was a Virgin Mobile, the pre-paid kind that I got back in 2005 and I would load $20 every 3 months... so I can't see myself paying more than that... plus I am not a big cel phone user; those of you who text me and get my responses back several days later can atest for that :) ..... So I took a break to call Virgin and although their IVR(automated system) was a bit troublesome to get through, once I got to an agent they were able to suspend my service so if anyone finds the phone they won't be able to use it, I am getting a replacement for just shipping $7.99, which I paid with some of the cash balance (no need for a credit card) I still had on my account, and should be getting the new one in the next couple of days. Then once I get that new phone, I need to call to remove the suspension of the account and transfer the phone service to my new phone. yay! I was actually going to go cel phone less. Good for Virgin Mobile that made that just super simple... :) Ya'll have a good weekend, and for those that need to call or text me, we'll you'll just have to wait a few days, 'cause until I get that new one i'll be incomunicado for a bit. :)

a word on these briefs

Kudos to those who can maintain their blog updated daily. Maybe next time I do "briefs" I can actually post them on the day of. Anyways it was fun to at least keep a draft daily.

Brief from 11/29/08

Brief from 11/29/08... Woke up early. Drove Ma to airport with Aaron. Checked bags and ticketing. Then coffee from Starbucks. Goodbye hugs. My mom heads to gate. Aaron and I head home. We detour and go to Target see if there are any specials left. Found an external hard drive for sale. Last one too. Thanksgiving leftovers for breakfast. Played Singstar. Catching up on tv the rest of the day.

Brief from 11/28/08

Brief from 11/28/08... Woke up. Good thing right :) Made coffee, went to work. Worked. Left an hour early thanks to a friend who covered for me the last hour. Went to the Phoenix Zoo Lights with Aaron and Ma. Was last there in 2005, yet they still use some of the same lights. To Safeway to pick up a few things to make Turkey Taco dinner, Late dinner. I should have called off work, meh.

Brief from 11/27/08

Brief from 11/27/08... Made breakfast, mini pancakes, bacon, scrambled eggs with turkey ham, coffee. Washed dishes. Prepared turkey, put in turkey at noon. Playstation Home on PS3. Shopping at Kmart with Ma and Aaron, then dollar tree, then Fry's to pick up some chardonnay. While the turkey cooks Aaron put up some x-mas decorations. I started prepping sides. Thanksgiving dinner with Ma, Aaron, and Jerry. Jerry to sleep, the rest of us played Wii.

Brief from 11/26/08

Brief from 11/26/08... Rainy days just make me want to stay in bed all day. Went to Target with Jerry and Ma. Later, Ma made cuernitos. Yum! Went to Wal-Mart and bank with Arron, errands. Picked up lunch. Ate late lunch. Watched Little Miss Sunshine with Ma during which I made a pumpkin pie. Then played Singstar with Ma. We watched the last half of Rosie Live. I liked it. Then Deal or No Deal. We really got into it. Then went to 99 cent store, Wal-Mart, McDonald's, gas station with Ma and Aaron. Night movie, watched the Devil Wears Prada.

Brief from 11/25/08

Brief from 11/25/08... Woke up late again. Made coffee. Loaded some music to the now charged mp3 player. Went to a late lunch at Macayo's on central. Then went to Fry's to grocery shop for Thanksgiving meal. Watched The Wedding Date movie. Downloaded some songs in Spanish for Singstar. I stayed up playing Singstar.

Brief from 11/24/08

Brief from 11/24/08... Woke up late. Made coffee, had coffee as I reviewed bills. For lunch, went to eat at a Chinese place with Ma, Jerry and Aaron, who had worked late so dropped them off, then went to Circuit City with Ma. Later, went to Target Greatland. Stayed up late charging an mp3 player.

Brief from 11/23/08

Brief from 11/23/08... Coffee and pastry at Starbucks located in the AZ Center. Ma to church at the St. Mary's Basilica and me to the plaza. Discover India Festival. Many neat vendors of food, arts, crafts, etc. Made quiche, because Amy's photos/blog made me want to try it. Ate quiche. Later, late night tv.

Brief from 11/22/08

Brief from 11/22/08... breakfast with my cousin an mom at Comedor Guadalajara... Shopping with ma at Phoenix Public Market, Mervyn's. Reviewed purchases and watched some tv, then went to lunch/dinner at Pan Asia. Later went to Fresh and Easy to get gelato. More shopping this time at Target. Then freshly popped popcorn as me, my mom and Aaron watched a movie(She Devil).

brief...

I have been keeping just small "briefs" to post this week. I wanted to post them within the day but Just didn't get time to post them..

So my mom is here... :)

My mom, I've always called her Ma, is here :) It's always so much fun when she is here. We go shopping, eating out, festivals, etc. Last time she was here was the end of March. :) Now to get here it's about a 2 1/2 hour drive to San Antonio, TX, to catch the plane that takes another 2 1/2 hours to get here :) She got here yesterday afternoon. Went to dinner. Then watched a movie, popcorn on the side. Then a nightcap towards the end of the movie, Bailey's on ice... Anyways we are just about out the door... The photo is from 2005 when we went to San Antonio, we're waiting for the river walk tour.

Sushi Chinese Fusion!

There's a new restaurant that just opened called Pan Asia, located on 24th st and Baseline(this is in Phoenix, AZ). It's a sushi and Chinese fusion place. Aaron and I went during their quiet opening several weeks ago. The decor is nice maybe even fancy. The service was a bit lackluster as it was clear they were still trying to figure out their pace, however the food. Oh my goodness the food is just fab!!! They were still waiting on a liquor license.

Was there again this past Wednesday. The service is much improved. Didn't order any alcoholic drinks, so don't know if they got their liquor license yet. The food is presented so nicely, just typing this makes me want to go. This is a perfect place for a date night or if you want sushi and someone in your party doesn't want or like sushi, there are great chinese dishes. The first time we went I ordered a chicken tempura with plum sauce. Who would have thought those two things would go good together. It was out of this world.

These pics are of the shrimp tempura roll ordered this past Wednesday.

Evil Pumpking!!

I tried to go back to find the witch mask for Halloween, but it was not there anymore, so I looked around and found an evil pumpkin mask. So I chose that one... Was able to leave early to give out some candy... There were not many trick or treaters in my area though, so all the left over candy went into the candy bowl at work.

Quick recap of October 2008... and September...

This October there were just so many things... and I wanted to blog about them as they happened... I did try keeping up the first part of the month, but then there were a few weekends in a row where I had things to do on both Sat and Sun that it didn't happen. Either way, I think that I like blogging about things once they have happened more than about when they are coming up... Seems like when I talk/blog about things before they occur the majority of the time they end up not happening or the initial plan changes... Anyway here is a quick(maybe not so quick) re-cap of October... and a bit of September...

So really where to start.. So I did blog about the Sept. 3rd WNBA MERCURY vs Lynx game, and during the same post I talked a bit about the Hispanic Heritage Month event on Sept 17th, that I helped put together for work, as well as a brief get together on Sept 20th at Pedro's house, that was nice, but one can only take so much karaoke in one night...

I missed talking about Sept 5th... I made brownies and banana bread for a school event. I placed generous portions on a foam plate and individually put them inside plastic baggies tied with a red raffia bow. I thought they came out really nice. I also donated some hot dogs and hamburgers for the event. There were various booths at the event, although it was a bit dusty... Note for next time, make signs with info on what is being sold and at what price.

Sept 21st was the HAPA concert at the Orpheum Theater...

Sept 25th I did a presentation at work on my Target House Trip...

Sept 27th was a day trip from Phoenix to northern AZ and then back down to Phoenix.


Then October...


October 1st went Halloween shopping, didn't buy anything, just browsed to see what kinds of halloweeny stuff was out this year... I'll have more on Halloween in ab it...

October 4th went to a Muslim Festival in Tempe... tehre were booths with crafts, food, travel booklets, there was also a museum like information that was put together of the history of Muslims in AZ, and a stage. Browsed for a bit then went to the Rainbows Festival. At this one there were tons of booths with crafts, food, travel info, other events info, etc. It was packed.

October 5th I participated in the City of Hope breast cancer walk. This walk went through the Phoenix Zoo. This is the second year I have participated. Last year I was focused on walking and finishing as fast as possible. This year I took time in order to take more photos of the event and the zoo animals, specially the zoo animals :)

October 12th was the Tempe Tardeada... On my previous post I just put t link to their site and a brief that the event celebrates Tempe's Hispanic culture and community history. So when I got there, I browsed through their craft and informational booths, food booths, and their stage. There was a mariachi, I think from Tucson, playing when I got to the stage area. I drank a Coca-Cola made in Mexico. It's sweeter than the US made Coke. It brought me back to the weekends I would be at my grandmother's house. I want one just thinking of it...

October 17th... Not really an event that I went to, but this day is when I voted early... Just thought it needed at least a line about it... I took a photo of my ballot before I voted and after I voted.

October 18th.., This day was packed full of events and wish I could have done all. There were three really that I wanted to go to, but only got to do two of them. First, the one I was not able to go to was Tucson Pride. I would have needed to wake up super early to drive to Tucson and then would have only been able to be there a couple hours before I would need to head back. Maybe next year. So the events I did go to... During the day I went to the Roosevelt Row Harvest Festival. It was great to see many different types of art and artists. I wanted to take photos of everything but I didn't as I thought maybe the artists may not want photos of thier artwork out there. So I took just a few photos of the event, but I did take one photo of one piece of art though, a dress wheret he bottom portion was made out of cut up plastic bags. Later that day, I participated in the Light the Night Walk @ the Tempe Town Lake. Seems that there were less vendors than last year.

October 19th began the Childsplay's 2008-09 Spectacular Season of Theatre for Young Audiences and Families @ the Tempe Center for the Arts. I helped to put stickers on the book The Velveteen Rabbit which is one of the upcoming shows. This night they previewed the play called Getting Near to Baby, based on the book by Audrey Couloumbis. I got to stay and watch the play.

Octber 25th I helped at the St. Mary's Food Bank. It was my first time helping at a food bank. I got to help in the sorting of food donated my various different stores. They have to be sorted and weighed one store at a time, reason being each particular store wants to know how much they donated. So from noon to 3pm I helped out in tossing the donated food that was unusable. I am so glad I got to participate and help out, however it is amazing how much food goes to waste.

October 26th I helped put together walker packs for the JDRF walk that took place on Nov 1st. I got there a bit early, but I was able to start putting together the packs. It was to take us about 5 hours to put together the packs, but we were able to do it in 2 hours. I wasn't able to go to the walk itself.

October 31st... Was able to get off work about an hour early to come home and give out candy and frights.

Visit my myspace, facebook, or livespace for photo albums... :)

Hope you all have a happy start to the Holidays!

Poverty...

So it's blog action day with topic poverty... The first places that come to my mind when thinking about poverty is third-world countries, but have you ever been to the "bad" part of town. Take a drive sometime and you'll discover a whole different world.

One thing I can't understand is why there is still poverty and hunger not just in third world countries but in our own back yard. I mean how many years have we been giving money to this and that foundation yet the situation is still the same. There is definitely something stinky going on that is keeping the third world countries from developing.

Nonetheless, I think that the most important thing is to get involved. Whether it is helping your local food bank, a world food organization, laptop.org, one.org, or any other. The important thing is that you get out there and do something.

Tempe Tardeada

Today I went to the Tempe Tardeada. The Tempe Tardeada is a festival that celebrates Tempe's Hispanic culture and community history.

this weekend...

I went to Rainbow Festival and a Muslim festival on Saturday and participated in the City of Hope breast cancer walk that started in Tempe and went through the Phoenix Zoo on Sunday(Today).

this weekend...

This weekend was originally set for me to move, however since I am staying six more months at the place I am at, the plans changed to go up to northern Arizona, near Payson where a friend of a friend has a house near the forest. Then that changed since that friend had some other things to do.

So what to do with extra days off... I thought of driving to Texas, but for that I would want a bit more days than the ones I have. So it seems these will be some veg days and some road trip days. Friday, Sept 26th was a veg day for the most part aside from doing some chores. I guess not a total veg out day... Yesterday, Sat. Sept 27th was a road trip day. A friend drove me all over northern AZ for the day. We stopped at Dinosaur tracks(petrified poop, footprints, algae) and a few other places.

Today, Sunday, Sept 28.. like most Sundays should be a kick back day. Might go a few places around town.

HAPA

On Sunday, September 21, 2008 I attended the HAPA concert at the Orpheum Theatre, Phoenix, Arizona. My goodness that theater is beautiful. If you live in AZ you have got to go.

If I get a hold of a scanner I'll scan the event info to post. No photos inside as not allowed.. took a couple when walking to the theatre.

According to the info on the program, in the Hawaiian language, hapa is defined as meaning "portion," "fragment," "part," or fraction." A modified borrowing of the English word "half," and is used in a variety of forms to mean mixed together.

There are four in the group, Barry Flanagan, Nathan Kawai Aweau, Charles Ka'upu, and Malia Ann Kawailanamalie Petersen. It was a real nice afternoon.

Hope you all are having a great week!!

Can't think of a title...

Do all these really need a title?!?!.... anyways just wanted to post on the WNBA game I went to on 9/3/08 Phoenix Mercury vs Minnesota Lynx, that their mascot fell on top of me... If you look at the photos you see the thing coming up, getting closer, then it falls on me gets up and continues going up...

On other things.... With it being Hispanic Heritage Month there's tons of events going on, hoping I can go to at least one if time permits.. Either way at work a group of us put together a small event where we gave churros, had traditional music, and info on Hispanic Heritage Month. We did this on 9/17/08. I'll put up the few photos I took in a few..

Yesterday, 9/20/08, went to a friend's get together. Last one of summer... There was food, music, Karaoke, etc... forgot to take cam so no photos....

Anyways ya'll have a great week!!

Reventon Superestrella - August 9, 2008

On August 9th I went to Reventon Superestrella. It is an annual all afternoon/evening concert with the most current Latin Singers. I went with a group of friends. The day before we drove to Anaheim, where we would stay for 2 nights. The day we arrived we went to Downtown Disney had lunch and checked into the hotel/resort and then did a bit of shopping. At night we went around town, a few went to a club the others to a dinner and a nightcap.

The day of the concert we woke up, went for some breakfast and some last minute shopping. Then it was back to the hotel to get ready for the concert. The concert was Awesome!!! It was long and I was tired and ready to sleep by the time it ended but so worth it.

We drove back the next day :)

Here's a list of the singers in order of appearance at the concert:


- Playa Limbo
- El Reencuentro
- Banda Machos
- Akwid
- La Factoria y Eddie Lover
- Julieta Venegas
- Amanditita
- Juanes
- Alejandro Fernandez
- Beto Cuevas
- Belanova
- Don Omar

Memphis Trip - August 5th & 6th

So the last 2 days of my Memphis Trip were the volunteer days. The night before I met the the other 34 volunteers(had drinks with some at Stax) and Bullseye, who would make an appearance at Target House later.

August 5th:

So after breakfast we all went to St Jude and saw the preparations that were already taking place at the Danny Thomas/ALSAC Pavilion, where the festival, themed Pajama Jam, would take place the next day. We were to take a tour of St Jude and afterwards help with the setting up of the event. We had a couple of hours before the tour guides would arrive. During this time we had the chance to go to the St Jude store, where all the proceeds go right back to the hospital, and the garden around the Danny and Rose Marie Thomas Memorial Garden, which is right behind the pavilion. After a quick visit to the store and the garden, there was a lot of time, so some of us started with the preparations, and soon after all volunteers were putting something together before we even took the tour.

Once the tour guides arrived, we were split into 3 groups. We were allowed to take photos inside only making sure we weren't taking pictures of children unless permission was obtained by the parent or guardian. I chose to not take photos inside the hospital. The hospital is HUGE!

After the St Jude tour we went back to the pavilion to continue with the setup and to sign up for the station each of us wanted to help out during the event. I chose the craft section.

We then headed to Target House. We met the house mama, who took us on a tour of Target House. Dinner with parents and their children followed. We helped with the remaining setup of a craft table. It was an informal dinner gathering where we got to know some of the parents and children. Some of the children at Target House would be going to the Pajama Jam the next day.

A silly string fight was to follow. It would be a free for all fight including the children and volunteers who wanted to participate. It was so much fun!

Back to the hotel after this. Several others were going to meet up to go to Beale. I had been there already each day i had been there, so this time I opted to go to sleep early as the next day would be an early and busy long day with the Pajama Jam and then flying back to Phoenix.


August 6th:

After an early breakfast we all headed to the ALSAC Pavilion at St Jude to rap up the last of the setup before the festival was to start. We took group photos and the festival started. The craft section consisted of 3 crafts, door hangers, rainmakers, and dream catchers. I helped with the rainmakers. I spent quite a bit of time in the rainmaker section, after which I was replaced so I could go have lunch. I really really wanted to go to the Guitar Hero section. So after lunch instead of coming back to the rainmaker section I went to the Guitar Hero station and helped children play and i myself played against one kid who beat me at all but the last game. I was so enthralled in this station that I didn't notice the festival had ended and everyone was tearing down the event while that one kid and I played Guitar Hero. Eventually they told us that it was time to stop since the event was over and they were putting away the games and what not.

I did a quick stop and shop as the St Jude store. We were then driven back to the hotel, from which we would then be driven to the airport come our flight time. Everyone had different flight schedules depending on where they were flying back to. My flight was scheduled until around 7pm, so Robin and I went to the Peabody and an early dinner at PaPa Pia's.

Our flight back was smooth except for the last 20 minutes or so where we experienced turbulence. It was probably the most turbulence I have experienced on a flight.

Now:

Now I am working on a small presentation for work on the trip :)









... Updated 02/14/2010, added link to PaPa Pia's http://www.papapias.com

Civil Rights Museum, Meet & Greet, and Bullseye ! - August 4, 2008

I wanted to post these faster but for one thing or another it did not happen that way... Anyways here's Monday.

So, Monday, August 4, 2008, I wake up have breakfast and check out of my hotel. Robin picks me up we go get Starbucks and then drive a bit before heading to the Civil Rights Museum. We took about 2 hours for the Lorraine Motel portion of the museum. The other half of the museum is across the street.

Instead of going right at it, we headed to the Madison Hotel and checked in, dropped our bags. The rest of the volunteers were all starting to arrive at the Madison. We dropped a few off at Graceland, then Robin and I headed to drop off her rental vehicle since transportation would be provided for the rest of the trip.

After getting back from dropping off the rental vehicle we had lunch and then took the trolley back to the Civil Rights museum to finish the remaining portion of it, another 2 hours. :) Some people just flew by the museum but we took our time. I know I read most everything and saw almost all the videos they had.

We took the trolley back to the Madison went to our room and relaxed for a few minutes before heading down to meet the rest of the volunteers. It's evening at this point. We do introductions the Bullseye the Target dog came out. We learned some interesting info on how the eye gets colored in and about the trainer. Once all introductions including Bullseye's we had dinner that was catered by the Madison Hotel.

After dinner a group of us met to go down and walk on Beale St. I had a slushy during the walk that got me nice and relaxed :) We sat by a band that was playing, which was actually the band that Billy Bob had played with the night before, then we walked down to a place called Stax for drinks. We went back to the Madison after this.

The next two days would be the tours of Target House, St. Jude, and the events that came with them.

Memphis, Little Rock, and Billy Bob! - August 3, 2008

What a Day!...

So on Sunday, August 3, 2008 I wake up and get ready with no set plans for the day, except to meet a few other co-workers from other locations in the world for dinner at around 7pm. So I figured I would just let the day play out as it may until the evening... I thought maybe I would take a cab to Beale St as several tours depart from that area. Some city tour companies did hotel pick up. Or maybe I would have the front desk arrange it for me.

First things first though, I needed come coffee, but I didn't want to make the one in the hotel room. So, as soon as I was ready I went to the lobby area to see about getting some coffee and continental breakfast. The coffee was mediocre but it would do. The continental breakfast was non-traditional in that aside from the normal continental fare, there were biscuits, eggs, sausage and gravy... Must be a southern thing, I thought. I opted for a biscuit with jam.

Since I slept through the evening instead of going out to dinner with Mariah and Robin, I decided to text Robin to see what their plans were. She called me back and said that she was driving Mariah back to Sherwood, Arkansas where she lives. Count me in for the drive. Sherwood is right around the corner from Little Rock, Arkansas, so we would drop Mariah at her house and then do a brief drive into Little Rock and then head back to Memphis.

The drive to Sherwood was awesome!!! It must be because all I see in Phoenix is desert that I loved all the lush green on the highway. I'm sure to the locals green and lush is just meh, the norm. I took another pic of The Pyramid Arena from the Memphis & Arkansas Bridge. While driving to Sherwood there was a truck towing part of a plane. The houses in Sherwood are so pretty with their red bricks. The drive itself was about 2 hours.

After dropping Mariah off at her house in Sherwood, Robin drove to Little Rock, Arkansas. I took a picture of a HUGE Pentecostal Church. It looked neat... :) Once in Little Rock, we drove by the William J Clinton Presidential Library. I would have loved to go inside, but we had to get back to Memphis as we wanted to go to the Civil Rights Museum. We did however stop for a coffee at Andina Cafe loacated in the River Market District right down the street from the library. We then started heading back to Memphis, but Robin was hungry so she stopped by a Wendy's to get 2 baked potatoes. I got a kids meal and it came with a glow bird from the movie Journey to the Center of the Earth. :)

On the drive back from Little Rock to Memphis I saw a sign from TEXACO. Must be one of the last ones.

Once back in Memphis we headed to the Civil Rights Museum. Took some photos of the outside and then checked that we had slightly less than 2 hours before it closed, so we decided we would go back the next day when we would have more time to take the time to go through the museum.

It was still fairly early so we drove around for a bit then right before 5pm we headed to the river where the riverboats were. We got there just in time as rain started to fall. The sightseeing cruise was to depart at 5pm. So we got our tickets and got in the riverboat slightly wet from the rain. The cruise ended at 6:30pm, perfect timing to go meet my co-workers for dinner. Robin decided not to go nor meet them since she had som homework to finish and turn in so she dropped me off at the location we were to meet at. There I met Cheryl our trip coordinator and organizer, Amy from Seoul, Korea and Naomi from Minneapolis, MN.

We headed down to Beale St. and had dinner at Blues City Cafe. As we were headed out there were 2 other co-workers, Shawna and Tony from MN, having dinner there too, super coincidence. So we all headed out after dinner down Beale St stopped at shops, bars, etc. We stopped at the Beale Street Tap Room where Billy Bob Thornton was playing the drums with a local band.

After this Amy, Naomi, Cheryl, and I had a night cap at The Peabody. I slept really good this night.

Off to Memphis - August 2, 2008

So off to Memphis it is on Northwest Airlines Flight Number 1922 at 7:45am. I had checked in the night before so all I had to do is check my bag in, pass security, and head to the gate from where the plane would depart. No troubles with any of that but I did have quite a bit of time before boarding would even begin, so I grabbed a coffee and sat at a perfect spot to people watch. It's so much fun to people watch at the airport.

The flight was pretty smooth. It arrived in Memphis at around 1pm. The Memphis terminal smelled of BBQ. Took a cab to my hotel. I was slightly early so waited about 30 minutes for my room to be ready then checked in, dropped my bag, and settled into the room.

Later, Robin and her friend Mariah picked me up from my hotel. We headed to Beale St. and had lunch at Alfred's. Walking on Beale St. was great experience minus the weather. It was maybe about 100 degrees which is not a big deal since I am used to the heat in Phoenix, the difference is Memphis' extreme humidity. Traveling in a long sleeve not a good idea. Good thing my flight wear top was the only long sleeve item I took, the rest that I packed for the trip was short sleeve. Also, it would take me until Monday, August 4th to figure out how much product to put in my hair. -note to self: do not visit Memphis during summer

So Beale St.... Not sure at what time it starts, but at a certain time several blocks of Beale St. are blocked off. There are bars, restaurants, shops, etc. and you can walk up and down with your drinks ala Vegas. The majority of the restaurants are BBQ and southern food, sweet tea, BBQ ribs, fried fish, etc. Good luck to vegetarians in Memphis. There is a variety of music at the many bars, blues, rock, karaoke... Of course your souvenir and novelty shops. Beale St. is one of the places you have got to visit when you go to Memphis, TN, USA.

After lunch we drove by the Mississippi River and headed to The Pyramid Arena to take pictures of it. The Pyramid Arena in Memphis was constructed and used for a short period by their NBA team who, based on what most locals said, did not like it and had a different arena constructed, the FEDEX Forum. So it now stands empty and unused with talks of it being converted into a Bass Pro Shop. Sad really that it's empty, but even sadder that it may end up being a Bass Pro Shop. How about converting into a casino, Luxor II, or maybe a museum of art or something more on those lines.

After this they dropped me off at my hotel, I was going to take a nap and then later we were going to meet for dinner. Instead I slept the rest of the evening/night. The flight and the weather did me in.

Photo albums of my Memphis Trip are on my Myspace, Facebook, and Livespace sites.

Why did he go to Memphis?

If you read my May's stuff post, then you know that I was selected to go on an "all expense" paid trip to Memphis. The paid part was the flight, hotel, meals, transportation from August 4th - 6th, however since I chose to fly in 2 days early on Saturday, August 2nd I had to make my own accommodation arrangements for those 2 nights. I chose to go early so I could get in some touring in Memphis, since the other days were already planned with events. I'm glad I did.

Now I didn't elaborate then how I got chosen or what the trip was for, so I'll do it now.

The trip itself was to tour Target House, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and participate in a couple volunteer events. One was a meet and greet at Target House and the other was a festival for the the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. More specifics on those on later posts.

In order to be considered to be selected, I wrote brief essay like answers to 3 questions. What volunteer events had I participated in the past 12 months, what my passion for volunteering is, and why I wanted to participate in this volunteer trip. (Haven't decided yet if I want to post what I submitted) I don't know how many other co-workers submitted for consideration, but I was ecstatic when I found out I was one of the four from our location to participate.

In all it was 35 volunteers, including the event coordinator, that came from various locations. The majority were from Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. I was one of the four from Tempe, Arizona, USA. There was also a co-worker from Seoul, Korea and another from Shanghai, China and a few others from other US cities/states.

So if you did not know why I went to Memphis, now you know. :)

BBQ at Pedro's June 28th

So for some reason I forgot to blog about the get together at Pedro's... So I'll just make it brief... We had a BBQ at Pedro's on June 28th. Good food, great people... Awesome Karaoke and drinks!! :)

i'm back...

So it's back to work today after the couple trips I had.... Memphis was great minus the weather... El Reventon in Carson was great minus an argument between a couple of friends... That's the most of those two I will share, hopefully in the next few days I get a chance to blog about the trips... Overall I had an awesome set of days...

Say "NO-NO" to Sugar-Free Oreos. - Consumer Reports Tip

Watching your waistline and your wallet? Then pass up Sugar-Free Oreos. They have nearly as many calories and just as much fat as regular Oreos. Plus they cost almost double!


This information is from Consumer Reports

The FUSION Illusion! - Consumer Reports Tip

Can Gillette's five-blade Fusion Razor really help "reduce pressure for a less irritating shave?" Not according to our testers who saw no real improvement over their old razors in terms of comfort. And the Fusion blades cost more. Save your money.


This information is from Consumer Reports

Shrinking Cereal Boxes - Consumer Reports Tip

Getting fewer flakes for your money.

Kellogg has trimmed the box size of Frosted Flakes, Frosted Mini-Wheats, and Rice Krispies without trimming the price. The result: more money for less cereal. If you want more bran for your buck, try lesser known brands like Malt-O-Meal. It's almost half the price and rivals the biggest taste.



This information is from Consumer Reports

Expensive Packaging - Consumer Reports Tip

Hold the mayo!

Hellman's Easy Out! squeeze package pledges "no waste" when it comes to leaving mayo behind. But our tests showed about 11 percent (almost 5 tablespoons!) didn't make it out of the new Easy Out! I jar. Stick with a traditional jar. You'll save money and mayo.



This information is from Consumer Reports

"Wild" Salmon - Consumer Reports Tip

When "wild" salmon isn't.

If you bought fresh wild salmon out of season in winter, you may have paid extra for no reason. We bough 23 supposedly "wild" salmon fillets: 13 came from salmon farms! That means you may be paying extra for something you're not even getting. Bottom line - only buy wild salmon in the summer when the supply is abundant.

This information is from Consumer Reports

so excited...

It's getting closer and closer to August 2nd, the day I fly out to Memphis, TN. I'll be touristing on Saturday and Sunday; then Monday -Wednesday helping out at Target House. Wednesday night flying back to Phoenix. Resting and packing on Thursday. On Friday, driving to Anaheim/L.A/CarsonCity with several friends to attend Reventon Super Estrella. Reventon Super Estrella is an all day concert of Latin artists. Sunday driving back. Sleeping in all day Monday. Back to Work on Tuesday... Can't wait soooo excited! :)

Bank Gift Cards - Consumer Reports Tip

The gift that keeps on taking

Some gift cards come with so many fees that you might be better off giving a check. Case in point: The BankFirst iCard Visa Gift Card expired after only 6 months. If you still had money on the card, you'd be charged $25 (twice yearly) even after its expiration. And if you asked for your balance as a check, you'd pay even more fees.

This information is from Consumer Reports

Partnership with United Way

On Saturday, June 21st, several co-workers and myself in partnership with the United Way got together at their location where we put together kits for children and their parents that guide them in their early years and on the importance of reading to them. Included in the kits was information for the parents and 3 books, Clifford's First School Day and 2 others. In 2 hours we put together almost 1000 kits.

Info on the United Way AZ: http://www.vsuw.org/

Info on Target Corporation: http://www.target.com/community

Quick Stain Removers - Consumer Reports Tip

Seeing spots? Don't rely on these.

Ever stained your clothes while you're out an about? Better not reach for these. In our tests of 48 stained swatches, Tide to Go Instant Stain Remover completely removed just 6 of those stains and Janie Dry Stick Spot Cleaner, didn't remove any, even though it claims to leave a "like new appearance."

This information is from Consumer Reports

Pricey Car Batteries - Consumer Reports Tip

Battery buyer beware


At $145, the Exide Orbital ORB78dt-84 should have top-notch under-hood performance, right? Not exactly. Although it did score well in our Ratings, instead, pick the AutoCraft Titanium 34/78-4, and enjoy very good battery life.

This information is from Consumer Reports

Automatic Shower Cleaner - Consumer Reports Tip

It only cleans out your wallet!

Just hang it on the shower head, push a button and it cleans the shower for you, right? Not so fast. Some of our testers said the Scrubbing Bubbles Automatic Shower Cleaner missed whole areas, left streaks, stickiness and spots on walls and shower doors. After one month, some showers actually looked worse than before! Save the $25 and use elbow grease!


This information is from Consumer Reports

Whitening Toothpaste - Consumer Reports Tip

Are you buying into a little white lie?

Think they can make your teeth sparkle? Don't start smiling yet. None of the 41 "whitening" toothpastes we tested did any better to actually whiten teeth than any other toothpastes. We say don't put the extra money where your mouth is. Try Ultrabrite All In One Advanced Whitening - it was a CR Best Buy that stood out as a stain remover.


This information is from Consumer Reports

Cell Phone Service Ads - Consumer Reports Tip

Wireless plans with strings attached!

Don't be fooled by all those low price cell phone service ads you see on TV. Those "low" prices don't include taxes, surcharges and fees that providers pile on later - which can total up to 30% more than the advertised price. Before you commit to a plan, ask the carrier for a list of ALL charges, even hidden fees.

This information is from Consumer Reports

Bagged Salads - Consumer Reports Tip

Paying more for brown, gooey leaves

It's not your imagination. Bagged salad can get old before its use-by date. We went through major brands, leaf-by-leaf, and found slimy salad and "off" odors - from 1% up to 83% per bag was edible. For fresher, less expensive greens, you may want to forget the bag and toss the salad yourself.



This information is from Consumer Reports

too much stuff...

So I tend to keep too much unnecessary stuff for long periods of time. For example, sometime in 2007 I got a Consumer Reports magazine subscription offer. I would send for my first copy and if I like it I would pay for the year subscription, if I didn't the copy is mine to keep and send cancel on the invoice. I'm sure everyone has gotten this sort of offer in the mail before.

Anyways to the point, the offer came with some neat consumer tips that I kept as they may be useful at some point. So periodically I will just post the free Tips here that way I can toss the physical magazine out.

Children's Museum of Phoenix Opening

Saturday, June 14th was the Opening of the Children's Museum of Phoenix. My employer was opening weekend sponsor so I volunteered to help. From 10:30am - 1:30pm I was supposed to hand out cookies. When I arrived there were too many volunteers already at the cookie station, so instead I partnered with a guy, Jeremy from T2365, to be his handler as he was going to wear the Target Dog costume from 10:30 - 1pm. -side note- the Target Dog's name is Bullseye

After this I had 30 minutes to volunteer so I was sent to one of the trolley stops. At the trolley stops they had at least 2 volunteers together, so they sent both Jeremy and I to take the place of 2 Kohl's volunteers who made a dash to leave as soon as I we got there. In each station they had water and goodies. He left 30 minutes later as he was not able to stay longer and I opted to stay there for the remainder of the time until around 4:30pm, when the event was to end.

At all the stops they had Krispy Kreme donuts except for the one I was sent to since there was a person from a local cafe who had a chocolate fountain with goodies to dip in. She was to be there for the entire time 9am-4:30pm. So she and I are there and I mentioned I was staying there until the event was over. She then called someone from her restaurant, bitched to the person on the other line how hot it was and how not too many people were coming by this particular trolley stop. She then proceeded to pack up her stuff, and left. Oh and she left the linen on the tables dirty with chocolate. I thought it was rude of her to do that. Not because of me staying by myself but because she didn't fulfill the commitment her restaurant made.

So I am there by myself with nothing but water and informational pamphlets to give out. Aaron came by around 3pm to make me company for a little over an hour until the people taking down and packing up the stuff came. Thanks Aaron.

Overall I had a super fun time. Although the museum is not completely finished, it is looking really good.

Art Museum Saturday

This past Saturday I went to the Phoenix Art Museum. Spent almost 4 hours there. I saw almost all the exhibitions that were available. It was the first time I have been there, can't wait to go there again. No photography allowed so no photos, but it was a great experience. A little tiering after walking for close to 4 hours, but it was awesome to see all the different kind of art, from contemporary to European and Asian. If you get the chance you should really go...



... Updated 02/14/2010, added link to Phoenix Art Museum http://www.phxart.org/ 

May's stuff...

So it's been about a month since my last post... Here's some may stuff.

May 3rd - Two parties to attend. Enedina's nephew b-day and Beth B. from work had her grad party at Desert Breeze Park, really nice park in chandler by the way. So I went first to the b-day for a few hours then headed over to the party at the park

May 13th - 3rd annual Brandy Awards at work. Real awards for real accomplishments but with a spoof of the red carpet. This is a collections event so this was my first and last Brandy Award celebration. The Office Dundees came to mind.

May 13th - Let's see... I was first at the store, then moved to guest service, and the past year I was for the in a pilot that mixes guest service and collections. At the end of April I applied for a position in Bankcard and on the 13th I was offered the position. Also on this day it was officially announced I was selected for an all expense paid volunteer trip.

May 14th - Enedina's b-day dinner at El Paso BBQ. It was a great evening.

May 17th - Volunteered to put fliers at Chase Field for MDA. A total of 20,000 fliers were put in the cup holders.

May 24th - Last day in old position, will miss the team, but excited about the new position.

May 30th - Landlord sent an appraiser. I'm guessing she's fixing to sell the house we rent. Lease ends in October, so I'll probably be moving to a new place then.

Town Lake Green-up Clean-up

You may or may not know this, but this week is National Volunteer Week. To kickoff volunteering me and several other people from work teamed up with the Tempe Town Lake Green-Up Clean-up along with other companies to clean a section of the Tempe Town Lake. We were split into several different teams. Some got to paint, sweep, pick up trash, etc. We got to take out weeds and remove any dead plants. We did this for 4 hours from 7am - 11am.

After the clean-up we had a lunch(hot dogs, chips, water, cookies, etc) and a raffle as a thank you for our help. They had a set of tickets for a salsa event that was going on later that day at the lake and a set of tickets for a 4th of July show. They also gave away volunteer shirts, beach balls, and Rockstar Beverage hats. Forgot to ask someone to take a photo of me and our team together.

It was alot of hard work to pull out weeds and dead plants for almost 4 hours, but it was fun and felt good to do something for the community. Good thing it was a bit breezy. Oh and there was a fried frog. Must have died while back in the scorching Arizona heat.

Interested in volunteering? Don't know where to start? Follow this link! :)

Arizona Asian American Festival 2008

Last Saturday I went to the Arizona Asian American Festival. I was there in the afternoon. They had a fashion show of traditional wear of different Asian countries, Japan, India, Philippines, China, etc. There were vendors of food and stuff from their countries. It'd be neat to take a trip to Asia.

Fun in the sun...

Past couple weekends have been sunny, and I've been out volunteering. My face got a bit sunburned.

April 5th I helped at a local school in the setup for their American Cancer Society Relay for Life event for about 5 hours. I helped setting up the trash cans, decorations, arrangements, tables, kids play area, snack area, and white chocolate covered strawberry tray, as well as a gofer to several people.

April 11th I helped the Phoenix Pride with their last minute things for close to 5 hours. I got to distribute many cases sodas to the various vending locations and water to the stages. Then I helped rearrange cases of liquor and beer that had fallen over in the truck they came in. Lastly, I helped with marking, painting and glittering for the Phoenix Pride Float.

April 12th went to the Phoenix Pride Parade. I was super excited when I saw the Phoenix Pride float. After the Parade, went inside the Festival and walked all over the place, to almost every booth and stage.

April 13th I helped the JDRF at the Phoenix Zoo. The Juvenile Diabetic Research Foundation was presenting a research and update meeting to parents. During this time I was assigned 3 kids, Kassie, Cutter, and Cory, that I took all over the Phoenix Zoo. I got a walkie that I used to check in every 30 minutes. It was really fun.



.... Updated 02/14/2010, added link to Phoenix Pride http://phoenixpride.org/

Mom week...

For a week my mom visited at the end of March. We went shopping and brunching and more. We spent quite a bit at the Beads Galore store in Tempe. Discovered some new places for brunch, which have actually been opened for a while just didn't know about them.

We did some cultural stops too. One was at the Scottsdale Civic Center area, which is really nice. We went there to see a Native American show about the Native American culture in the US. It was pretty neat and there were vendors with some really nice jewelry, pottery, etc. We went to Drumbeats too. A Native American operated store that sells everything Native American made.

catch up...

My last post Feb. 27th so since then...

Feb. 29th and March 1st was the WorldFEST. I volunteered to help out on the event on Saturday. I went for a bit. It was smaller than I imagined it would be. I picked up a travel info mag for Italy at the Italian booth. I started feeling sick so was not able to finish volunteering. - note to self i want to go to Italy

March 15th and 16th was the Arizona Aloha Festival. Was going to volunteer to help out, but I never got an e-mail back from volunteer coordinator. The festival was packed. There were so many people that you could barely walk. The food smelled yummy, but I wasn't about to wait in line for over an hour for "festival priced food". There were many booths of crafts and what not. Some really neat looking stuff.

March 20th - My B-day. another year older after I had just gotten used to the idea of being a year older from the previous year. So woke up didn't want to do anything. Oh my world crumbling I am getting so old. Then, what the hell so I got up had coffee in the late morning. Lunch with roommates with some nice draft beer. Went to Gameworks, time flew by it was so much fun. Back at home more beer with dinner and Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Then Cake with Champagne. I had a great day overall. And really I am not that old... :) I want some beer now...

Tomorrow, mom flies in to visit for a week. Should be nice. Haven't seen her since Dec. for Gueli's funeral. Ok off to tidy up the house for tomorrow :)

Matsuri: A Festival of Japan

The Matsuri festival was this past weekend. Forgot my camera so no pics :( but the event was really nice. There was food, shows, arts, and crafts.

4th Annual HRC Arizona Dinner Gala

The 4th Annual HRC Arizona Dinner Gala was held on Saturday, February 9, 2008 at the west building of the Phoenix Convention Center. It is an awesome building. "Be the Change" was the theme for this year's event. This is the first time ever I have been at one of these events. I was a volunteer.

Although a group of us had started volunteering and participating in D&I type events since about April 2006, around August of 2007 the company I work for began to get together to officially form a Diversity Council at our location. Though there already were various diversity councils for our company(GLBT, Hispanic, Asian, etc.), they are all based in MN, they have their own funding, and they are all ran separately. Minneapolis, MN is the company's main headquarters so they have members from all parts of the company. Our diversity council differs in that we are all inclusive, meaning we aren't separated into Hispanic, Asian, GLBT, and so on. We also have no funds to work with, although I'm sure we could get some funds for specific events if enough validation is presented. By looking at what the other councils have previously done and what they will be doing we can gear up for events we can do.

There are few members now and have had a couple of meetings with as many attending as possible as schedules permit. Hopefully as we get more participation and notoriety we can get the stores and DC to participate and get involved.

Our first event was set up by MN through the Hispanic Council where through video conference different members shared their stories. This month to celebrate Black History Month, Michael has worked on putting together and sending out an informational that should come out this week.

So, he found information on volunteers needed for the HRC event and was able to have a communication sent out for volunteers. No one but him and our two leads had signed up. I didn't sing up initially because a Gala just sounded too fancy for me, and what would I wear?! So I signed up the next day. Aaron also signed up.

Aaron and I got there a few minutes past 2pm. There were also other volunteers present. We were assigned different tasks throughout the evening. Our first task was to place the program on all the chairs. We finished that pretty quickly. After that the running around began. It was sort of like an episode of The Apprentice. There were obviously different "project managers" for the different areas like the silent auction room, the dinner room, registration, etc., and they weren't that greatly organized. Each one knew what the end results should be, but there was not one set of tasks set, just everyone doing one thing or another to get everything done. We got to help with putting up art to be auctioned and the various things associated with that, we put up easels with signage, we helped as greeters when guests were arriving, and helped at the end of the auction to input the information from the auction sheets. Aaron at the end also helped with passing out the information the the auction winners. Aaron and I were there until 10pm. I felt like I was given tasks that no one wanted to do for either lack of time or other. I was fine with it since I was just volunteering. Plus I got to see all these great art pieces I wouldn't had had a chance to.

Volunteers, unless they paid for the dinner($250), were only to have refreshments, which were at a back room set for volunteers, which only had water. There were prepared lunch boxes earlier in the day but those were clearly for the crew with HRC. There were quite a few left over lunch boxes and those were gobbled by the ASU volunteers. It was fine by me as I was there for the volunteering.

Once the dinner had started we were allowed to sit on a table that wasn't filled with guests. There were like 5 tables that remained empty. Here came my surprise. We were served dinner too. So we enjoyed wine and dinner that consisted of a salad, one main dinner course, and dessert.

The welcome and introduction was done by dinner co-chairs Brian Stranghoner and Kathy Young. Political introductions were done by Mayor Phil Gordon, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and Congressman Raul Grijalva. HRC President, Joe Solmonese, presented the State of The Nation Keynote Address. All this was done while we enjoyed wine, bread, and salad. Dinner was served after the keynote address. While this was going on, we were called to the help with the silent auction sheets and enter them into the computer system for sale to the highest bidder. I then returned to enjoy dinner and entertainment by comedian/actor Alec Mapa. The Individual Equality Award was given to Governor Janet Napolitano, who was unable to attend but sent a video accepting her award. Wells Fargo was given the corporate Equality Award. Peter Paige, actor/producer, provided and amazing speech on his involvement with HRC. One of the most touching speeches was given by Marine Staff Sgt. Eric Alva. Eric was the first American wounded in the war in Iraq. The closing Remarks were given by Brian and Kathy.

Overall this was a great event. As you read I got to participate in the setup of the event as well as enjoy the event as well. It is amazing to be among people who have a shared common goal to bring Equality to the GLBT community.

During the time I spent as a greeter I got to say hello to almost every person that attended the event. I even said hi to Peter. Even better though. When I went to help with the silent auction sheets, right before dinner, Peter walked by and I couldn't help myself and I waived at him all giddy and fan like. The best part though gave me a huge smile and waived back. Oh wish I would have ran up to him to take a picture with him.

If you want to find out more about the Human Rights Campaign follow this link to their website!