La Vida de un Loco

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-26T10:06:00.000-07:00

With Google+, Twitter, Facebook, etc. it seems that I come here to write less often. In either case wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving, belated!

This is the first Thanksgiving that I spent with my significant other's family in Ajo, Az. Great food and great company.

We had an array of foods: Turkey, Ham, Red Chile Stew, 2 types of bread stuffing, white beans, 2 types of brown beans, several pumpkin pies, peach pie, dutch apple pie, sugar-free apple pie, pumpkin cheesecake, caramel apple cheesecake, ambrosia salads with and without coconut, fry-bread, couwboy bread, 2 types of yeast bread, rolls, potatoe salad, fresh roasted pumpkin seeds, sweet potatoe with marshmallows, various drinks both alcoholic and non, and with so much I may have forgotten to list some.

So much tempting food however was still able to manage and eat sensibly. Hurrah!

After lunch/dinner we went bowling. My first time ever bowling. Wii bowling does not count. I was terrible. I loved it.

Had a great time away from the city.

Kitchen Equivalent Chart

2011-09-17T09:03:00.001-07:00

Kitchen Equivalent Chart

A pinch ..................... 1/8 tsp or less
3 tsp ........................ 1 tbsp
2 tbsp ....................... 1/8 cup
4 tbsp ....................... 1/4 cup
16 tbsp ...................... 1 cup
5 tbsp + 1 tsp ............... 1 cup
4 oz .......................... 1/2 cup
8 oz .......................... 1 cup
16 oz ......................... 1 lb
1 oz .......................... 2 tbsp fat or liquid
1 cup of liquid .............. 1/2 pint
2 cups ....................... 1 pint
2 pints ....................... 1 quart
4 cups of liquid ............. 1 quart
1 quart ...................... 4 cups
4 quarts ..................... 1 gallon
8 quarts ..................... 1 peck (such as apples, pears, etc.)
1 jigger ..................... 1-1/2 fl oz (3tbsp)

Long time...

2011-07-09T10:13:00.000-07:00

Well it has been a while since I posted. I have been mostly twittering and facebooking. Of course I always mean to post but then don't.

So since my last post in March, I have continued participating in some volunteer events. I'll hopefully eventually post the what and the when of those.

I found some of my old blog posts from 2006 that I had accidentally deleted from blogger, so I did upload those.

In April, I passed a kidney stone and so since then I have been reading up on the why and taking steps to hopefully not ever get one again. I had one about 10 years ago, however that last time I never caught it when passed and this time I did. So had it sent to labs to be analyzed. Maybe I'll post what the analysis says.

And while on the subject of health, I had a biometric screening a bit after this kidney stone issue and so at the same time am taking steps to be healthier. The goal is to loose the excess weight in a sensible manner with no gimmicky diets of any kind. I have lost 24 pounds so far. I am using myfitnesspal website and app to help keep track. I am still on Livestrong, however that one is more tricky to track on and the app is not free, but they do have some great articles.

As always continuing to get rid of things that are not needed and living every day as it comes. I have been playing around with the title of this blog and changed it a few times. I don't think it is yet what I would like it to be. One day I'll get the best title and then migrate this whole thing to it.

Have a great weekend!

2011 Regional Unity Walk

2011-03-06T12:11:00.001-07:00

Participated in the 2011 Regional Unity Walk back on February 5, 2011... Here's a Video...

Sorting it out...

2011-03-05T15:28:00.001-07:00

Last Saturday, February 26, 2011 I helped sort close to 10,000 lbs of food in about 3 hours at St. Mary's Food Bank. I was there with a group from work. Here's a photo...

Welcome 2011... !

2011-02-27T11:35:00.000-07:00

Welcome 2011...! I'm a little late to this, so here is just a quick hello to this new year.

12 of 12: Not quite, but it's OK

2011-02-27T11:30:00.002-07:00

So here we are in a new year, and me trying to catch up to this post that I should have written last year. I have been putting it off and off. The reason for that is because I did not achieve volunteering 12 times out of the year in 2010. I kept thinking back on the year to see where it is that I went wrong. Where were the missed opportunities? When was it that things changed to cause me to not complete what I thought was a simple goal?

So here we are in a new year, and finally able to say to myself, "It's ok. Just think of all the positive things you were able to do." Although for my own sanity, I have got to list all the good things I was able to do even if they were not successful and regardless of whether I thought they counted or not.

-     Donated Hair to Lock of Love
-     PF Chang's
-     Childsplay
-     No Sew Blankets
- PBS Pledges
- Supplies 4 Students
- Mission Sack Meals
- Snack bags to give at Freeway exits
-     Step Out: Walk to fight Diabetes
-     JDRF: Walk to Cure Diabetes
-     Christmas Tree at Phoenix Children's Hospital
- Donated food & clothing throughout the year

That's better...

Family Holiday Traditions

2010-12-24T20:00:00.005-07:00

We were asked to share some of our winter holiday traditions at work. Heres's what I shared:

My Family Holiday Traditions are celebrated at my Grandmother's house in Mexico. Some of the traditional family celebrations for the winter holidays that my family takes part in are:

- Piñatas: Both on Christmas Day and New Year's Day, our family will have piñatas in the shapes of stars. We fill them up with candy and sometimes add some dollar bills. Both kids and adults partake.

- Gift Giving: Gift giving in our family is mainly for the children. Only some adults, aunts mainly, are the ones that may give gifts to their brothers/sisters and are usually handmade items like scarfs, hats, buñuelos, personalized/embroidered items like towels or jars with trinkets in them, etc.

- Loteria: Because we do not do big gift exchanges, on Christmas Day and New Year's Day, we get together and play loteria(Mexican bingo). Some family members will bring wrapped items that vary from chocolates, Avon, house items, etc. Some years we have had just one big loteria day on New Year's Day.

- Corsages: A variety of handmade corsages are made by my mother or one of my aunts and everyone gets to choose theirs on Christmas Eve. Aunts, uncles, children all get one.

- Traveling Canasta: My grandmother started this tradition of filling up a huge basket with snack items from soda, chips, cookies, etc. I couldn't tell you when but definitely before I was born(1980) as we have been doing that for as long as I can remember. She would stuff the basket with as much as could fit in it for Christmas. Then everyone's name is put in a bowl and one person wins the basket. The person that wins the basket on Christmas then refills the basket with new items for New Year's and again the names go in a bowl for a winner. The winner then returns the basket to my grandmother for the following year. My grandmother passed away in 2007, so now the traveling basket is continued by my aunts.

- Posada and Rosary: Christmas Eve is the day my family gets together to celebrate begin the Christmas celebrations. It starts with a praying the rosary and then we do the posada. The men go outside with candles and a sheet with the verses to sing and the women stay inside. We do the different stages starting on one door and ending on the other. Once we are let in then dinner begins.

- Nativity scene: The nativity scene is finished by the youngest member of the family. The youngest person carries the baby Jesus and everyone gives a kiss to both. Once everyone has done this then the baby Jesus is placed in the Nativity Scene.

- New Year's Eve and Day: On New Year's Eve, our family gets together for a late dinner. When the clock strikes at midnight, we all cheer to each other and drink our Champagne. We also eat 12 grapes, each symbolizing the coming 12 months, and make a wish for each of those months as we eat each grape. After this, we all hug and wish each other a Happy New Year.

- Dia de Los Reyes: On January 6th we celebrate Dia de los Reyes(Kings Day/Little Christmas), although most of the family is back to their routines, there will be a Rosca de Reyes(a sweet bread) that everyone can come by and get a piece of. A baby Jesus is baked in the bread and whoever gets the piece with the baby is supposed to do a dinner/celebration on el Dia de la Candelaria(Candlemass) which is on February 2nd.

11 of 12: If you can't volunteer...

2010-12-24T16:13:00.000-07:00

If you can't volunteer, whatever the reason, you can always donate. Throughout the year there are many opportunities to give back by donating. I personally have donated food and clothing items throughout the year. Now, whether you participate in a food or clothing drive; a blood drive, etc. and regardless of how much you donate, it will make a difference.

Heres's a short list of places that can benefit from your donation:

- St Mary's Food Bank Alliance

- United Food Bank

- St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

- American Red Cross

- Arizona Humane Society

- Arizona Animal Welfare League and SPCA

Although I may have volunteered for several events throughout the year, the nearing of the end of it makes me reflect back on what all I have done to give back; and there's always the feeling that I could have done more.

9 and 10 of 12: Christmas Tree at Phoenix Children's Hospital

2010-12-05T22:31:00.001-07:00

Ornament Extravaganza!!! That was the title I created for a series of volunteer events at work to create ornaments, leading up to the setting up of a Christmas tree at the Phoenix Children's Hospital.

Several weeks back I received an e-mail from the PCH who was looking for groups or companies to help decorate a number of Christmas trees. The groups would donate the decorations for them and decorate the tree on the first Saturday of December, with a special request, if able, to donate the tree to go along with the decorations, as some of the current trees they have were starting to look old.

After bringing up this event as a volunteer opportunity to my work group, and with budget to spend before the end of the year, I was given the green light to make the arrangements to participate. In addition to this event, we decided to create an on-site volunteer event tied to this. So up came the 'Ornament Extravaganza' to create handmade ornaments that would adorn the tree.

With the help of a few people I was able to get everything needed for the on-site volunteer event; from the supplies to sending out communications in addition to getting the needed conference room booked and secured for three days. And so, from November 30th to December 2nd, we handcrafted, from kits, some of the ornaments for the tree.

On Saturday, December 4, 2010, a team of volunteers from work got together to help setup one of the many Christmas trees that are set up around the Phoenix Children's' Hospital. It was a great turnout and we had a great time decorating the tree.

Here's Some more photos:

8 of 12: JDRF Walk To Cure diabetes

2010-11-06T10:46:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, October 30, 2010 I helped out at the 2010 JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes that was held at the Tempe Town Lake. I got to help sell tickets for a raffle they were doing. It was a huge event, lots of people and companies, great turnout.

7 of 12: Step Out: Walk to Fight Diabetes

2010-09-26T16:03:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday, September 25, 2010 I helped out at the Step Out: Walk to Fight Diabetes event. This was a two part event as there was a rally for the event on the Thursday of the previous week. In that rally some of the volunteers had the opportunity to meet, share their story/reason for volunteering, and go through the assigned responsibilities for the day of the event. I was assigned to the Food & Beverage tent.

On the day of the event, I arrived at around 6:30am, signed in, and headed to the Food & Beverage tent. Responsibilities for this included, pre-walk food and beverage set up, prepare food, set up cold drink area, keep supplies replenished, post-walk food and beverage set up, and cleaning the food area after the event.

And almost as quickly as it began it seemed to end. It was a fun event. Check out the Step Out: Walk to Fight Diabetes website for event dates, volunteer opportunities, how to donate, etc.

6 of 12: Mission Sack Meals

2010-09-11T12:00:00.000-07:00

This past month, mid-August or so, we had a volunteer event at work to prepare 400 sack lunch meals that were donated to the Phoenix Rescue Mission. I had but only a few minutes to help out, however in those 15-20 minutes, I helped put together maybe 70 or so sandwiches to be included in the sacks. Bonus was that I encouraged at least 2 people to go with me to help. It truly only takes a few minutes to make a difference.

Pizza Hut Dine-In

2010-08-15T11:55:00.000-07:00

I grew up in small town in Texas where we had 2 dine in Pizza-Huts. They were always great. I even had one of my b-day parties at one of them as it had an arcade section in it. I think it was my 12th or 13th year b-day. Pizza and arcade games, what else could a young guy want at that age right.

Anyways, I am much older now of course and although prefer to support the local Pizza places, I still on occasion order from Pizza hut and the likes. I had not seen a dine-in Pizza hut in Phoenix in the longest time. So when I drove by this one, I made note to stop by in the next time the mood for Pizza would strike. So visited this dine-in Pizza hut yesterday.

Although our waitress was nice, she wiped off our table from whoever ate before us with just a wet paper towel, rather than with something that would sanitize the table. The crumbs she wiped off went onto the carpet/floor and left them there. There were only 2 other parties at the time, yet the all the remaining booths hadn't been cleaned and the menus were sticky.

The restroom was a bit unkept, by this I mean there was urine left from whoever used it prior and a dirty toilet brush with no holder towards one corner. I did like the self shutting off faucets, they save on water, however I would prefer if both the faucets and soap dispenser were on sensors.

It is clear that this dine in is in need of repairs as the booth seats were deeply torn, almost like they had been slashed open.

On the bright bright side the pizza that we ordered was good, hopefully the kitchen does a better job cleaning.

If you want to know the location of the Pizza Hut that this speaks to, look over to my yelp review of this.

5 of 12: Supplies 4 Students

2010-08-01T10:13:00.000-07:00

This past Friday, I got off work early so I could go help Communities in Schools Arizona sort and stuff backpacks. We did not get to the stuffing as the supplies got stuck in the freeway because there was an accident. So our volunteering time was reduced however, we did get a whole lot of sorting done.

4 of 12: PBS Pledges

2010-06-12T07:00:00.001-07:00

Haven't done a PBS Pledge since 2008. Today, I'm going to be a telephone operator from 11:30am - 4:30pm AZ Time. It'll be my first time in their new studio at ASU's Downtown Phoenix campus. Tune in and you may see me taking pledges. It should be fun.

Casual wear, business wear, what to wear...

2010-06-07T19:45:00.000-07:00

Although I have enough clothes to go around, I tend to stick to the same tops and bottoms. I even have multiples of the same tops and bottoms so even if I am using different pieces they are essentially the same. Like superheroes who have the same repeated outfit to wear everyday.

So I started thinking the other day, maybe I should write down what I am wearing with the hopes of being more conscience of what I am wearing to change it up a bit now and then.

Also, I seem to be missing the "gay fashion gene" so I do not pay much attention to clothing labels and do not get the urge to buy the latest and greatest. This means the brand names will range from the Discount Stores to Department Stores to On-line stores to Outlets and so on...For now I'm sticking to the top and bottom. Maybe later I'll expand to shoes and what not. :) Also most days I have a wardrobe change from my day outfit which is usually work outfit to my afternoon/evening/after-work/home outfit. For now this will be for my day outfit. :)

2010/06/01 - Top: George Long Sleeve Shirt Bottom: Concepts by Claiborne Black Slacks

2010/06//02 - Top: Ten West Short Sleeve Shirt Bottom: Concepts by Claiborne Black Slacks

2010/06/03 - Top: Eighty Eight USA Short Sleeve Shirt Bottom: Concepts by Claiborne Black Slacks

2010/06/04 - Top: Champion Black Polo Shirt Bottom: WRG Blue Jeans

Hmmm... see a pattern here... Should try to wear my other brands of slacks, Friday's are always casual... No work today so of course it was a jean day. Really if it were up to me it would always be a jean day... so...

2010/06/07 - Top: Cherokee Short Sleeve Shirt Bottom: Lee Dungarees Jeans

3 of 12: No Sew Blankets

2010-05-07T18:11:00.000-07:00

I usually help at events that involve walking here and there and setting things up putting packages together etc. This time was a crafty sort of volunteer, making no sew blankets. I was only able to squeeze in 30 minutes, I got to finish one someone had started and half of a second one. The blankets were donated to the Arizona Humane Society. Didn't have my cameras so no photos. This was the only volunteer event I was able to help with during National Volunteer Week back in April. But even a little bit counts yeah... I really need to kick up my volunteering...

This is Spyder. No longer with us, he left to be an outdoor cat and never came back.

It's been a while

2010-04-04T18:18:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I updated a blog post here... not because of lack of topics I could have blogged about... So let's see here's a quick catch up... I'm now in my thirties... yuck, but you know what I decided that i should be 25, so every new birthday from now on I will be 25...What else.. got a mini raise at work, still it was better than most got so can not complain, too much anyways... I have a job and it's what counts at this time right?! On the subject of work, I started a new work-blog in the companies intranet... They have this thing where you can create your site through sharepoint, and it has of options to share documents, photos, blog writing section, etc...

I have some tomatoes growing in containers. Like last year, not sure they will make it since I started them from seed a bit late. We'll see. I got some flowers from Lowe's, to at least have something blooming. :) I did put some sunflower seeds and bachelor button seeds in some small terra-cotta containers on the window sill so that once the Lowe's flowers die I have something to replace them with. They should be transplant ready by the end of the week, and lucky the Lowe's plants aren't dead yet...

Oh yeah, my Ma visited for a week for my b-day. So much fun. Shopping, dining, and we even took a mini trip to through Pine, AZ and got to see the last bits of snow...

And yesterday... took a trip to Ajo, Az and had a picnic in the middle of the desert with family/friends. A pre-Easter day celebration of sorts. Hamburgers, hot dogs, beer, etc... It was fun...

I crack myself up

2010-03-01T10:00:00.017-07:00

Just a super brief note to say, I crack myself up... Ha! I was going through a box and I found a notebook that, although I had forgotten about it, it looked very familiar. So I opened it.. The headline on the first page reads, "Welcome to KIRBY'S STORIES." and it goes on... I started laughing as soon as I read that, you see I was if I remember correctly 18 years old when I wrote that and when I did the plan was to fill up the notebook with short stories. Of course I only wrote one, because like everything else that I get into I get bored with it.

Other things that I wrote in the notebook were a list of passwords to websites that I used back then... Wondering if any of them still work. Several blank pages then a page than contains brief notes to self for a job interview. More blank pages then an entry for my diary that I kept back then. I can only think I put that entry in this notebook because I could not find my actual diary notebook. The entry is dated Aug. 24, 1999 3:53 pm and I wrote it in Spanish. Then a vulgar re-writing of the Ricky Martin song Livin' La Vida Loca. More blank pages then a list of things that I would like to do, most if which I have attempted and either failed at or got bored with them and moved on. Then more blank pages.

Matsuri a Festival of Japan

2010-02-28T10:00:00.004-07:00

The 26th annual Arizona Matsuri is this weekend, February 27th & 28th. The festival is from 10:30 am - 5 pm both days. There are many vendors of food, crafts, travel, etc. Also, several stages with performers and since it is at the Heritage and Science Park which is right by the ASU's Downtown Phoenix Campus, there is also an ASU stage.

I went there yesterday, and if time permits I'll go there again today. There was a parade on Saturday at 10 am, but I did not make it in time for it.

Many people dressed up in Anime costumes. There was also a group who among them had one dressed up as the Joker and another as Harley Quinn. So, feel free to dress up in your best Anime character.

feeling better...

2010-02-10T22:29:00.001-07:00

just a quick note to say feeling better now, still have a little cough... haven't focused on adding updates. was being sick a reason or an excuse ? don't know... just need a kick start... this is so short i could have tweeted it... here's to better days... :)

A place I like

2010-02-03T10:00:00.002-07:00

I still have this minor cold that is not letting me think clearly to write about what I wanted so this time just a photo of a place I visited once that I really like. I should take a trip up there again. It's been too long..

From July 2003

re-blog

2010-02-02T10:00:00.042-07:00

Before blogger I was at the now extinct yahoo 360... so I am thinking of re-blogging or more like adding those older blog posts here somehow. I enjoy reading my old posts, they crack me up sometimes... wonder if I can put a way older post dates here on blogger, so they stay true to when I originally posted them... hmmm... and before the myspace, blogger, facebook, etc. I had a geocities, didnt update it much but from time to time added stuff... I think eventually I want to to have just my own website... hmmm....

I have been a bit sick these past couple of days, although still managing to go to work. I do like my job. A minor cold, but each day is a different symptom. I never get colds with all symptoms at once. One day it will be aches, the next fever, then sore throat, etc. I guess I'm lucky it doesn't hit me full blown. I think Monday I should have stayed home if not left early, but I do like my job. Enough that I prefer to work than go home. Weird never had that for a job before. I do wish I'd get paid more, but doesn't everybody... hmmm...

Well that's why this post is posting today with yesterdays date, the cold part was not to be here just the blogging part... no photo.. really need to take photos.. Maybe I should take photos of everyday things... hmmm...

Just a photo

2010-02-01T10:00:00.001-07:00

Just a photo...

Phoenix Pride 2009

Full Month

2010-01-31T22:27:00.001-07:00

Yay to me, and a full month of blog posts. A couple times there I had to play catch up and some were just random photos and others just my random thoughts, but still I did it. Plus that's what to me this is all about, just writing down whatever comes to mind. However, it really takes something to do this daily, I still want to go back and update/add some labels and maybe also make banner image for the top. We'll see... Oh yeah a photo :)

March 2004

2 of 12: Childsplay

2010-01-30T19:00:00.002-07:00

Earlier today I was at the Tempe Center for the Arts. Me and a few other volunteers helped the Development Director for Childsplay, Melia Dunn, stamp and hand out a children's book to the attendees to the preview of musical of Peter and the Wolf. The musical runs from 01/30/2010 to 03/13/2010.

If you read either of the previous posts (Theatre for Everyone, Childsplay Brief ) where I volunteered to help with what I did today, then you know that this is one of the volunteer events I really enjoy. The volunteers get the opportunity to watch the play or musical afterwards. Everyone of the plays or musicals I have seen are just amazing. The actors are great, I specially like Michelle Cunneen.

Don't miss the chance to see any of their plays or musicals.

Posts with no Photos

2010-01-29T10:00:00.041-07:00

As you saw, or didn't, the past several posts have no photos. I'm not a photographer by any means, but I always feel each post should have a photo, image, etc., and although I carry my Sony Cybershot camera in my bag the majority of the time, I still need to be more proactive in taking photos. So I will attempt to be more photoy(?) this year and hopefully there will be posts with photos rather than not...

This post was to also be a no photo post, but then I decided I should probably put a photo on it since that was the whole point of this post right? So I searched back to some fairly old stuff, memories.

This is a photo of when I was learning to use markers 1998 or 1999 I think. The outline was first made with pencil, then continued with markers, and a bit of blending with a paper stump.

Left and Right

2010-01-28T10:00:00.047-07:00

I don't follow politics except for listening to left and right radio shows most mornings and evenings on my drive to and from work. The bottom line I get from the left is, let us help people by whatever means even if it means government helping. The bottom line I get from the right is, let us help our businesses however we choose and get out of the way government. Of course there is much more to get from each side, but it makes me guacala. I'll stick to listening to the crazies on each side, it's entertaining..

Rainy Days...

2010-01-27T10:00:00.004-07:00

These past couple of weeks it has been cloudy and rainy. I really enjoy rainy days. Coffee tastes that much better on a rainy day. Although rainy days in Phoenix are nothing compared to the rainy days from Eagle Pass, TX, where I grew up in, and definitely can not compare to Seattle of Memphis, but still it was enjoyable. There are still a few clouds here and there with scattered "showers" however I wish it would last longer.

Labels

2010-01-26T10:00:00.020-07:00

I read somewhere that blog labels should be kept to a minimum. So, I had narrowed my labels down to Family and Friends, Garden, Just Because, Photos, Reviews and Recipes, Travel, and Volunteer and Diversity. I think those are good main labels for what I mostly write about here, however I have found that I miss having the smaller narrow it down labels. Plus this blog is turining into sort of a timeline journal of sorts for me. I have found myslef coming back to reference old posts when I am trying to remember what I did and when. Anyways, this just means I am going ot update my blog to add or re-add some of those narrow down labels.

Daily Blogging...

2010-01-25T10:00:00.021-07:00

Blogging daily is something I am trying to do this year too. I have found that it takes true dedication to do. You have to really take and make the time for it otherwise it is not going to happen. Kudos to those who can keep up with blogging. Anyways hopefully I can keep up with it.

Car wetness

2010-01-24T14:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday's morning wetness on Car

Group Photo

2010-01-23T11:04:00.000-07:00

Group Photo from the voluntering at/for the P.F Chang's Rock 'n'n Roll Arizona Marathon & 1/2 Marathon 2010...

Photo taken by volunteer, not me...

sometimes

2010-01-22T09:36:00.003-07:00

sometimes me pregunto el porque seguir con este ya que casi nadie lo lee. Pero yo creo que es mas como undiario que no? Algo para deasahogar un poco de vez en cuando...

¡Pero Que Sera Esto!

2010-01-21T10:00:00.009-07:00

¡Pero que sera esto! No, no es un UFO, es la Torre De Las Americas en San Antonio, Texas, United States. La fot es del 2004.

Una foto..

2010-01-20T10:00:00.001-07:00

La entrada de la Iglesia de Guadalupe en Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico. La foto es del 2004.

Plastic bags...

2010-01-19T10:00:00.001-07:00

Although I am making a point to carry at least one reusable bag wherever I go, I still find myself getting too many plastic bags. Even on volunteer events we get plastic goody bags. I wish I was crafty enough to re-purpose them, but I would just end up accumulating more than I would ever need and then get bored with whatever I attempted to make with them. So I'll just continue using the small/medium ones as small trash can liners and the bigger ones to put items that need to head to the Goodwill. And really, I should just use reusable bags instead of "trying" to use reusable bags.

Check out this photo of a dress made with plastic bags by an artist at the Roosevelt Row Harvest Festival 208. It's a bit fuzzy 'cause I took it really quick as I did not know if photos were or not allowed.

A Volunteering Bonus

2010-01-18T10:00:00.010-07:00

A bonus to yesterday's volunteer event was getting a goody bag with coupons, samples, water tattoos, etc..

1 of 12 : P.F. Chang's Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Marathon & 1/2 Marathon 2010

2010-01-17T13:23:00.000-07:00

One down and eleven to go. This year, aside from being less hoardy, one of my goals is to volunteer at least 12 times. So hurray one down. Today I woke up at 3:15ish am to get to the water station our company would be manning for the P.F. Chang's Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Marathon & Half Marathon 2010 by 5 am located at 7th Ave and Pierson. We were about 100 volunteers. We set up tables with cups of water to then give to the runners as they passed by while cheering them on. It was much colder than in 2008, but so worth it. The runners were very excited when they ran by our water station thanking us for being there, the water, and cheering them on. I didn't take my camera, so hopefully later I can get a copy of the group photos another volunteer took. If I do I'll post it later.

The back of the t-shirt we received.

Another Volunteer Photo..

2010-01-16T10:00:00.002-07:00

At St. Mary's Food Bank in 2008 after helping sort out and weigh donations from various stores from around the valley...

Another Diversity Photo

2010-01-15T10:00:00.001-07:00

From Thai Cultural Days in 2007...

Old Diversity Photo

2010-01-14T10:00:00.001-07:00

2008 Photo from Native Trails at the Scottsdale Civic Center

Other things I like to do

2010-01-13T08:37:00.001-07:00

Other things I like to do is go to diversity type events. From the music, food, culture, traditions, etc., there's always something new to learn.

Photo from Asian Festival 2008

Old Volunteer Photos

2010-01-12T08:25:00.002-07:00

Putting fliers at the Chase Field for MDA. This was back in 2008.

Rocio was there.

and Aaron too.

Volunteering

2010-01-11T08:05:00.003-07:00

Another thing I want to do this year is volunteer more often. I have always liked volunteering, and I have done it since I was in Junior High. However, the years 2007 and 2008 are the ones I was full force volunteering. This past year, 2009, I feel like I let it slide a bit and only participated in a handful of events. I should be able to at least volunteer once a month. That's only 12 times in a year of 365 days. If you think about it it's almost nothing. I'm not counting donating my hair to Locks-of-Love since that was a long time coming...

Photo from Light the Night Walk 2007

The Last ones

2010-01-10T15:44:00.002-07:00

This is the one photo I took of the magazines. It might have been a more dramatic photo to have piled them all, but I might have not gotten ride of them if I did that. Best to have done it quick and with not much thought. The magazine even went through a name and format change from What's inStore to RED in 2005...

Little by little

2010-01-09T10:00:00.002-07:00

Little by little I am making progress. I got rid of a huge pile of magazines that i have been accumulating for a little over 9 years. The magazines I got rid of are the monthly magazines that my work gives us.

At first I saved just the copy that I received to keep my own records of the times with the company. Then, I decided that two copies of each issue is what I should really keep in storage. So when I asked co-workers if they would give me their copy instead of tossing it, I ended up having anything from 5-30 copies of each issue. I thought to myself I will keep the two best copies of each and use the rest for crafts of some sort. I did babble here and there trying different crafts, but I am not patient enough.

So out they went in the recycle bin. Hurrah, progress! Although, I keep finding extras that I had stored in various other places, but their time has come...

Have a great weekend!!!

Documentary Weekend...

2010-01-08T10:00:00.002-07:00

Yup, this past weekend I watched some documentaries.

○ Wal-Mart The High Cost of Low Price - This one makes me want to buy less goods made in China, and solidifies why I prefer to not shop at their stores.

○ King Corn - This one makes me want to keep away on the lookout for products that contain corn syrup and avoid them. Also makes me want to avoid grain fed beef.

○ Welcome to Macintosh - This one makes me want to buy an apple product. I have none.

○ Maxed Out: Hard Times, Easy Credit, and the Era of Predatory Lenders - This one makes me think about the way I spend my money and better understand the nations debt.

Deb's Glazed Ham

2010-01-07T10:00:00.002-07:00

Here's a recipe a friend game me. I typed it exactly as she wrote it.

Deb's Glazed Ham

   Boneless Ham
   Cloves
   Dijon Mustard
   Brown Sugar
2cans Chunk Pineapple w/juice
1 1/2 c Orange Marmalade
1c Dark rum - Bacardi

Preheat oven to 350°. Cut all excess fat from ham then score the top and place cloves on ham. use spatula & spread dijon mustard over the top. Put brown sugar over the mustard. Bake for 1/2 hour.

While ham is baking mix the remaining ingredients in saucepan over low heat. Bring just to boiling then pour over top of ham. Bake for an additional 1 1/2 hours, basting frequently.

*Before pouring mixture on top of ham take toothpicks & stick pineapple chunks all over the top of ham.

Dia De los Reyes

2010-01-06T10:00:00.001-07:00

Back where I was born(Eagle Pass, Texas, USA border with Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico) the X-mas decorations stay up until el Dia De Los Reyes. So I am keeping my holiday decorations up too. Should take them down this coming weekend.

No snow just ice

2010-01-05T10:00:00.002-07:00

No snow just a bit of ice on X-mas Eve 2009.

My new short hair

2010-01-04T10:00:00.001-07:00

Day after the cut...

maybe a little ocd

2010-01-03T09:56:00.002-07:00

Over a year and a half ago, or maybe closer to 2 years, I decided to grow out my hair to donate it to Locks of Love. The original plan was to grow it for a year, however it did not grow as long as fast as I thought it would.

So I just let it continue growing with the intent of cutting it sometime in 2009. However, every time I thought I was ready to get it cut and send it to Locks of Love, I really wasn't. Turns out having long hair started feeling like a security blanket and something I could hide with. Weird.

I have a thing(maybe a little ocd) about keeping things longer than I need. Then I end up keeping stuff that just piles up. Not like those hoarder crazies that keep everything. It does not bother me or pain me when I do get rid of stuff; and I can do it in a whim without second thought.

Mine usually starts with an idea of how I can reuse, re-purpose, recycle, or up-cycle something. So I accumulate the things needed for whatever idea I had. Then, after having way too much stuff for that project. I start it, Get bored with it; finally tossing out the stuff I accumulated for it.

So this year my main goal is to be less hoardy. I needed to start somewhere, so the first thing to go was my hair A friend made pony tails of my hair, cut them and then used clippers for the rest. Felt so liberating once it was done.

I probably should have taken before and after photos.

This is the hair.

Just a random photo

2010-01-02T12:23:00.000-07:00

Welcome New Year 2010!

2010-01-01T07:39:00.001-07:00

Welcome New Year 2010! Do you make new year resolutions? I don't know that I'll be making resolutions per say, more like keeping things in mind. Maybe just the typical stuff like being a little less whoardy, eat better, be happy, less credit cards, volunteering, etc... There are also things that I would like to do online and offline but then I get too many ideas that then I don't know where to begin. No matter what I am as ready as ready can be to ride the 2010 year!

Thanksgiving Week!

2009-11-28T13:23:00.001-07:00

Just a quick brief on my Thanksgiving week.

My Thanksgiving week was full of food, shopping, and a little bit of art. My mom flew in from Texas on Sunday night and flew back earlier Saturday. Every day in between, Monday - Friday, including Thanksgiving Day, we were out shopping.

In between all the shopping we did a pit stop on Wednesday at the Phoenix Art Museum. It was as good as the previous time I was there. This day we also went to check out the new Wild Horse Pass which is part of the Gila River Casinos. Thanksgiving Day we opted for ham instead of turkey.

On Friday, for the first time ever for both my mom and me, we got up early to and went to the Target 2-Day Sale and actually waited in line before they opened. They gave us a free reusable bag designed by Marcel Wanders. They had some great sales of which the door busters were the best deals and were all gone within the first few hours. I finally have the complete FRIENDS series.

Forgot to take pictures. I should really start making it a point to take my camera with me and take photos.

Theatre for Everyone

2009-10-13T08:00:00.001-07:00

The Childsplay 2009 - 10 season recently started. The booklet that I got says Childsplay's 2009-10 Season of Strikingly Original Theater for Young Audiences and Families. It's at the Tempe Center for the Arts.

I have volunteered to help stamp and pass out books of upcoming shows twice before with the Target Storybook Season. I was able to help out again this past September when the new season began. This season began with a play adapted from the book Honus and Me. Us volunteers stamped/stickered the paperback book of Honus and Me and put an insert of Androcles and the Lion, which is the play to follow, and passed them out to the families that came to see the night's play. The bonus was that those of us that wanted, got to stay and watch the play.

I am really enjoying volunteering for these events.

Midwestern Meats

2009-10-12T12:33:00.000-07:00

Me and a friend went to Midwestern Meats from a Facebooked recommendation that it is one of the best places to purchase meat here in the Phoenix Metro area. So I checked out the website and it convinced me to go plus per their list online they say they have lamb. So we make a special trip that for us was about 35 - 40 minute drive. We walk in the door and the place was small compared to what the online photos make it seem to be. The selection of cuts of meat were not any different than what could be obtained at places near where I live and, unless it was hiding in the back, there was no lamb. Also, we were given looks when we were in there that seemed to say what are these gay guys doing in here. Oh well...

The following Sunday after this I got the Lamb my friend wanted from the Fresh and Easy that is just down the street where I was greeted with smiles.

Purex Insider

2009-10-07T08:00:00.003-07:00

I submitted to be a Purex Insider back on 9/2/09 and received a response on 9/8/09 that said no without saying no. :) I was rejected... :) Something about them only having limited amount of slots. I'm thinking I may have not fit the demographic because looking at their site seems only females got accepted and all the reviewers of the Purex® Complete 3-in-1™ Laundry Sheets talk about the positives of the product. And lets be real, there are pros and cons to their product. So here's my two cents on that product that I have been using for the past several months.

What I like about the Purex® Complete 3-in-1™ Laundry Sheets is that they are convenient and simple to use for the everyday type of laundering. To use the product I drop one sheet in the laundry machine, turn it on, add the items to be washed, and let it do its thing. Then I transfer it to the dryer. It leaves the clothes with a soft clean smell. I found a fourth use for the used sheets. They are great to wipe dust off electronics. Specially the PS3 that seems to be a dust magnet.

What I do not like about the Purex® Complete 3-in-1™ Laundry Sheets is that they are not good at tougher jobs. For example, they will not take out the smell of cat pee and white socks will be clean but not white. Although, they do leave a soft clean smell I do miss the smell that using an actual fabric softener (Downy, Snuggle, Suavitel) and dryer sheet gives to laundry.

It is more than likely that I'll continue to use the Purex® Complete 3-in-1™ Laundry Sheets for small everyday laundry needs however for tougher jobs and for that great clean laundry scent I'll stick to the actual stuff.

OXM

2009-09-26T12:34:00.002-07:00

Just a quick post to say goodbye to my subscription to the Official Xbox Magazine. I was a subscriber from issue number 6, and my last issue is number 102. I really enjoyed it while during the original Xbox. When Xbox 360 came out in 2005 and I decided that I would instead get the PS3 when it would come out in 2006, I still kept the OXM subscription.

The look of it changed when the Xbox 360 came out which was quite alright with me. Then they stopped including the nicely designed cardboard disc holders and started using those cheap white disc envelopes. I thought of canceling when that happened specially when the store versions of the disc holder was updated to a nice plastic covering. Now it's just become pointless so I chose to not continue with the subscription.

Scheduling Posts...

2009-09-18T05:00:00.019-07:00

The last four and then now this post were pre-scheduled. It's been interesting pre-scheduling posts. I look back and forth at the calendar and then keep thinking what would be the best time to have it post. All the previous times when I posted was when I sat down wrote it and posted it. Don't think that I'll be consistent in pre-scheduling posts however definitely something that I'll hopefully use more often...

At the same time I signed up at twitterfeed.com so that my new posts will update to my twitter which then updates to my facebook and then to the various other sites where I have a twitter app or feed available. Makes it much easier than what I used to do which was copy and paste the post to each sites individual blog/notes sections.

Valley Fresh Lettuce Wraps

2009-09-17T05:00:00.001-07:00

This is the third recipe that came with the Valley Fresh Canned Chicken. Also have not tried it, yet...

Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients

1 (10-ounce) can Valley Fresh 100% Natural Chicken, drained
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1/2 cup diced cucumber
2 Tablespoons sliced green onions
4 Tablespoons prepared teriyaki sauce
2 Tablespoons sliced almonds
1 head iceberg lettuce, washed, cored and leaves separated

Cooking Instructions

In a bowl, combine chicken, carrots, cucumbers, and onions. To serve, top lettuce leaves with chicken mixture. Drizzle with teriyaki sauce and top with almonds. Serves 4.

Valley Fresh Pasta Salad

2009-09-16T05:00:00.001-07:00

This is another recipe that came with the Valley Fresh Canned Chicken. Haven't tried it but it looks simple enough, yeah..

Pasta Salad

8 ounces uncooked spiral-shaped whole wheat pasta
1 (10-ounce) can Valley Fresh 100% Natural Chicken, drained
1/4 cup diced red onion
1 cup fresh quartered strawberries
1/2 cup fresh blueberries
1 cup fresh pineapple
1 cup creamy poppyseed salad dressing
Fresh spinach leaves
Toasted pecans, for garnish

Cooking Instructions

Prepare pasta as package directs; rinse under cold water and drain well. Toss pasta with next 6 ingredients. Serve salad over a bed of fresh spinach leaves and garnish with toasted pecans. Serves 6.

Ebay and Paypal not worth it...

2009-09-15T05:00:00.002-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I decided to give selling a couple things via ebay using paypal for the payment. I have many things I no longer want and figured Ebay with paypal was the way to go. Turns out it is not worth it. I listed 3 cds of which 2 sold.

To list an item, Ebay charges an insertion fee which I was able to get to zero based on the options I chose. Once the items sold and payment was received there is a fee based on the final value of the item when sold plus a fee from paypal from processing the transaction. Then there's the shipping costs of packaging, ink and paper for the invoice, and the actual mail carrier shipping fees.

Not including the time and gas spent to purchase the packaging materials and to get to the post office, I made 11% of the amount I was paid. Literally I made cents for the items I sold a whopping $0.44. I don't see myself listing any more items to sell via ebay, at least not the same types of items. It's great for buyers, I have gotten some great deals. However was not a good deal for me as a seller. Maybe different items next time... We'll see.

I Like Pizza

2009-09-14T05:00:00.002-07:00

All these posts about pizzas... :) You probably figured out I really like pizza :) This is just sort of a follow up to the Pesto Pizza post. So aside from the pesto pizzas I also made mini pepperoni pizzas with black olives, 'cause I love black olives :) I'm not really good at shaping the pizza dough into perfect rounds. So here are some before and after cooking photos:

Pesto Pizza

2009-09-13T13:07:00.001-07:00

Although I prefer to buy fresh of flash frozen chicken to cook, when you are in a time pinch, having canned chicken in the pantry is a great time saver. My favorite brand is Valley Fresh. Use it on salads, pot pies, etc. My previous post about pizza dough made me give the below recipe that came with one of the cans a try. I did however make some slight substitutions to the one listed. Instead of whole wheat flatbreads I made my own pizza dough and made my own pesto from basil that I got from one of the vendors at the Phoenix Public Market.

Pesto Pizza

Ingredients

4 Whole Wheat Flatbreads
4 Tablespoons Prepared Pesto
1 (10-ounce) can Valley Fresh 100% Natural Chicken, drained
1 Cup Cherry Tomatoes, halved
4 Ounces Fresh Mozzarella, cut into pieces

Cooking Instructions

Heat oven to 400 F. Brush pesto onto each piece of flatbread. Top each with chicken, tomatoes, and cheese. Place bread on a baking sheets and bake for 12 minutes or until crisp and golden brown. Cut into pieces and serve. If desired, serve with freshly grated Parmesan cheese. serves 4.

It's in the dough

2009-09-06T11:07:00.000-07:00

When I was in high school I took 1/2 semester of home ec class. The cooking portion of that class was making pizza. We learned how to make pizza dough one day and cooked it the next. We were in groups of two or three if I remember correctly. Now I couldn't keep it a regular pizza so I decided our team would stuff the edges with cheese ala stuffed crust from pizza hut :) After this followed several weeks of me making pizza at home.

Then comes graduation and me moving to Phoenix, Arizona, USA. I forgot how it was made and didn't really give it much thought.

Fast Forward to 2005, I am a much more homebody person, and Martha Stewart's new show MARTHA had recently started and I happened to be home to watch it. She is making chocolate chip cookies from scratch, they look yummy, and she suggests that everyone should have a KitchenAid Stand Mixer. So I go out an get one.

The mixer comes with a booklet of instructions that includes some recipes. In it there is a recipe for pizza dough. So although I got the stand mixer because I wanted to learn to make my own cookies, I gave the pizza recipe a try. Hurrah! I like it.

After re-learning how to make pizza dough, I wanted to compare my fresh made dough with ready made doughs from the grocery store. So I tried the Pillsbury Pizza Crust and the store brand versions of it and to me there's something about them that seems off. I also tried the Boboli pizza crusts, those are the pre-made in the plastic bags, and to me they taste very cardboardy preservativish. I have also tried the Fresh & Easy pizza dough which is more fresh tasting than the Pillsbury ones but there's still that something that is missing, however if you are going to go with pre-made pizza dough then it's the one to go with.

Nowadays I may or may not use the stand mixer for the dough, as I found I could just mix the ingredients in a regular mixing bowl to great results. I also use garlic salt instead of just salt. Here's the recipe:

Crusty Pizza Dough

1 package active dry yeast
1 cup warm water(105°F to 115°F)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 1/2-3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon cornmeal

Dissolve yeast in warm water in warmed mixer
bowl. Add salt, olive oil, and 2 1/2 cups flour. Attach
bowl and dough hook to mixer. Turn to Speed 2 and mix about 1 minute.

Continuing on Speed 2, add remaining flour, 1/2 cup
at a time, and mix about 1 1/2 minutes, or until
dough starts to clean sides of bowl. Knead on
Speed 2 about 2 minutes longer.

Place dough in greased bowl, turning to grease top.
Cover. Let rise in warm place, free from draft, about
1 hour, or until doubled in bulk. Punch dough
down.

Brush 14-inch pizza pan with oil. Sprinkle with
cornmeal. Press dough across bottom of pan,
forming a collar around edge to hold toppings.
Add toppings, as desired. Bake at 450°F for 15 to
20 minutes.

Yield: 4 servings (1/4 pizza per serving).

Per serving: About 373 cal, 11 g pro, 74 g carb, 3 g fat, 0 mg chol, 271 mg sod.

It's a hot one...

2009-09-02T16:44:00.001-07:00

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

7:00 pm - So I get home from work on Tuesday and the AC is running but no cold air. It was about 3 years ago that it did that and it happened to be a motor and some other stuff. I wonder what's wrong with it.

7: 05 pm - No time to think about it, I have to go turn in a couple movies(Pedro and Phoebe in Wonderland) and a game(Soul Calibur IV) I rented this past weekend.

7:08 pm - A guy walking on the street is scratching his nether regions and I think to myself, "Did I notice that 'cause I am gay or would a straight guy notice that too?"

7:20 pm - Back from the rental store and start fiddling with the thermostat and check the unit out and notice the fan isn't turning but air is coming out from the vents. Weird.

7:30 pm - I'll just wait to tomorrow, how hot can it get.

11:35 pm - It's really hot, thinking about checking into a hotel room., but didn't.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

6:30 am - After on again off again sleep 'cause it was quite hot, wake up and do another check of the thermostat and unit. Beats my I have no knowledge of AC.

6:35 am - Pull some weeds out, might as well since am already outside.

7:30 am - Call my landlady, she would call repair people and have them call to set up time for them to come by.

8:30 am - Call out from work, update my voice mail from home with an out of office message. I am starting to like the new voice mail system, Microsoft Exchange Unified Messaging.

8:35 am - Oh man, I am going to miss Port of Subs Wednesdays. A tradition now with few of my co-workers.

8:45 am - Today will be a crock pot meal, do not want to turn the stove on. Simple recipe here. I added chopped onion on the bottom, then added a package of frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts, sprinkled with salt, I added some left over shredded carrots I had, a few cloves of garlic and the topped it all with a jar of chunky salsa. Super simple, tasty, and very modifiable for next time.

9:00 am - or so, A guy calls and says he could be here around 2pm.

9:03 am - Coffee, and the hot waiting game begins.

2:45 pm - The reapair man gets here, he goes outside to check the unit.

3:00 pm - It is fixed, he said something about wires and showed me the ones that he removed. Cool air once again flows through the vents. Hurrah!!

3:15pm - Late lunch/Early dinner, crock pot meal is done.

Now whatever happened between coffee and the repair person getting here will be forgotten 'cause it hotness with waiting and I didn't like it.. :) Here's to cooler days!! :)

One Skillet Meal

2009-09-02T09:23:00.003-07:00

This past Sunday I was reading the latest Fall 2009 Food & Family Magazine from Kraft. There are many recipes in it that I want to try. I did try one of them and it was tasty although it did not look as pretty as the picture of it that they provide. The wording on the steps is slightly different on the magazine than on the online version but they are pretty much the same recipe. I used my Martha Stewart Everyday non-stick skillet that I got at Kmart. They don't have it online or I would link to it. Yeah there are still some Kmart stores around! There's also instructions on how to make it in the oven instead of a skillet. Oh! Martha also has some good recipes, I have tried a few to varied results. I'll post about those at a later time :) Here's the recipe from the magazine or click the link for the online one.

Stove Top one-dish chicken skillet

What you need:

1 1/2 cups hot water

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter or margarine, melted

1 pkg. (6 oz.) STOVE TOP Stuffing Mix for Chicken

6 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1-1/2 lb.)

1 can (10-3/4 oz.) condensed cream of mushroom soup

1/3 cup BREAKSTONE'S or KNUDSEN Sour Cream

Make it:

Mix hot water, butter and stuffing mix.
Cook chicken in nonstick skillet on medium-high heat 5 min. on each side or until browned on both sides.
Mix soup and sour cream; pour over chicken. Top with stuffing;cover. Cook on low heat 10 min. or until chicken is done (165°F)

Use your oven: Heat oven to 375°F. Prepare stuffing as directed. Place chicken in 13x9 inch baking dish. Mix soup and sour cream; pour over chicken. Top with stuffing. Bake 35 min. or until chicken is done.

Cooking and Recipes

2009-08-31T20:02:00.002-07:00

I find that I really enjoy recipes and cooking. I like trying new recipes even if they don't always come out like they look in the books and magazines. Sometimes I really mess up the recipes. I get frustrated when that happens but eventually I'll laugh it off. When I get lazy and don't want to go to the grocery store, I'll open the pantry and the fridge and put something together. So anyways, I think I may start posting more recipes as I try them... :)

Need to simplify...

2009-08-29T15:33:00.002-07:00

Feeling the need to simplify. To do this I am taking inventory of the things that need to go out and keeping only those that are necessary.

Chicken with Spinach

2009-08-02T11:06:00.002-07:00

Haven't really been feeling the whole cooking thing, however last Sunday I put this together and it was yummy.

Ingredients:

1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive oil
1 package ground chicken breast (I think it was a 1lb package)
1 Tablespoon garlic (I used the kind that comes in those little jars)
1 Tablespoon simple pesto (my simple pesto was made from just the leaves of my indoor basil plants, olive oil, and about 1 Tablespoon of garlic, yup no nuts)
1 bunch fresh spinach, washed (I think it was a 1lb bunch)
2 Roma tomatoes, diced (3-4 if they are small, the ones I had were huge for a Roma)
salt, pepper, spices
tostada chips

Directions:

Heat pan or skillet. I used a medium sized saucepan. Add the extra virgin olive oil and then ground chicken. Add salt, pepper, and spices to your taste. I just eyeballed it. Once the chicken has been browned, mix in the 1 Tablespoon garlic add 1 Tablespoon simple pesto. Now, add the spinach. Depending on the size of the skillet/pan you are using, you may need to add the spinach in batches. Add the diced tomatoes just as the spinach starts wilting. Simmer until most the liquid is gone. Plate. Enjoy with tostada chips. Serves 2-4.

I used tostada chips since that's what I had on hand, however it seems to me that it lends itself to be in taco shells topped with cheese, salsa, sour cream, lettuce, fresh tomato, avocado, or whatever else it is you may like.

Morning Person no more!?

2009-06-18T17:10:00.007-07:00

There was a time not too long ago(really just over a year ago) that I was a morning person. Really an Early Morning Person. I would wake up at 5 am or 6 am to get to work by either 6am or 7am, depending on Daylight Savings Time.

The day after Memorial Day 2008 is when I started in my new job position with the company I have worked at for 9 years come this November. This new position had a schedule with start time 10am, which I have really come to enjoy.

I can stay up to around midnight and get my full 8 hours of sleep. Early mornings in my opinion are the ones I enjoy most. I feel well rested getting up at around 8am, make coffee, and prepare lunch. The morning rush hours has or is dying by the time I head to work. Sure I get off later in the day causing me to miss Rachael Ray and Oprah, but I have found that I don't really miss watching those shows.

So this week, I'm training for some new "skills", which has meant getting to work at 7am. I don't like it one bit. I'm moody in the early mornings and tired the rest of the day. I don't know how I did it before. I guess one gets used to a particular schedule when one has too. One more day of these early days and then it's back to normalcy.

Movies, Car, and Garden Mostly...

2009-05-25T15:04:00.012-07:00

It's been a little over 3 weeks since my last post on May 3rd. Nothing exciting really going on, I have mostly been spending time on my container gardening.

May 8th - My plants keep growing.

May 9th - My plants keep growing but there's something eating the eggplant leaves. Took a picture of this insect. Do you know what it is?

May 10th - My plants keep growing and took a photo of some worms or larvae that are/were on one of the containers. Do you know what it is?

May 16th - Made pizza, used my first ounce or so of Sweet Basil that I have growing indoors by the kitchen windowsill.

May 17th - Discovered a brown colored bird dug around my containers in search of seeds/worms and although my main plants(tomato, zucchini, eggplant) were not damaged, it did destroy my just sprouted Sweet Basil, Cornflower from Buzzy Seeds, and my tree seedling. So I wrapped chicken wire around the containers, but not on the top so the bird still was able to fly in through the top.

May 18th - I got off work early, drove to Lowe's to purchase bird netting. After shopping my car did not start. Called a tow truck, who towed me from the store to my house for just under US $100. Cut a piece of bird netting and threw it over my plants.

May 19th - Called out from work, jump started my car, and drove it to get fixed. It would need to stay overnight and be fixed the next mid-morning. Secured and properly arranged the bird netting around my plants with twist ties.

May 20th - Picked up my now fixed car mid-morning, just under $900 for repairs. Arrived 10 minutes late to work. Verified that the bird netting worked in keeping away the bird or birds. Watched the American Idol finale and afterwards Glee, one of my new must watch shows.

May 23rd - Movie day. Watched a documentary called Abel Raises Cain, then X-Men Origins: Wolverine, later Ready? Ok!

May 24th - Movie Day plus gardening. Watched Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, then The War, Later Superhero Movie. I also planted some new Buzzy Seeds. Basil seeds around my tomatoe plants and Wildflower Seeds for Butterfly Garden.

Basil, Tomatoes, and Eggplants oh my!

2009-05-03T11:01:00.013-07:00

Basil... It's the one herb that I have grown successfully on the windowsill of the window by the kitchen every spring/summer. On one of the years I also tried cilantro, thyme, chives, parsley, dill, and marjoram to not so great success. One time I tried growing sunflowers. The seeds sprouted, but then I didn't know how to grow them in pots so they all died.

This year, end of March 2009 or so, I planted the basil seeds, Sweet Basil. On one pot I put 5 seeds and 4 sprouted and are growing. On a second pot I put 3 seeds and 2 sprouted and are growing.

Eggplant... Now sometime in 2008 I decided I would try to grow my first vegetable. I think it was June or July but I forget, it could have been the end of the 2008 year too or the beginning of 2009. Since I rent a house I decided it I would need to grow in a pot, in the event I needed to move I could take my plant with me.

So I purchased a big pot and potting soil and planted one seed in the middle of the pot. The vegetable I chose was Eggplant. The seed packet itself says Eggplant, Black Beauty. I figured if from one seed a plant sprouted then great, and if it did not then no big deal since I really would not know how to care for the plant and I may end up killing it. If my plants are outside I forget about them and then they die from not watering them. This happened to me with a flower plant I won at work in October 2008. Hmmm... I think I may have planted the Eggplant seed sometime after October 2008, since I realized that flower plant was dead when I went outside to plant the eggplant seed, oh well.

Anyways, the eggplant seed sprouted and started growing. It had tons of flowers. I read somewhere online to not over water the eggplant, so I made it a point to not water it. I would water it just at the end of each week or less. Then almost all of the flowers were gone and no eggplants were growing.

So maybe I should have watered it more often just without over watering it. The plant itself was still growing, so I started watering it more often just not drenching it. Sort of just enough so that it would have water to drink but not so much that it wouldn't be thirsty the next time I added water. Don't know if that makes sense, but whatever. About one to two weeks later it had new flowers, not as many as before, however this time one of the flowers turned into a tiiny little eggplant. Oh how exciting. Then about a week later 2 more eggplants started growing. So I have 3 tiny eggplants growing as of a couple of weeks ago. Now I'm just trying to not over or under water it. I also think there may be some kind of bug that is eating some of the leaves. I'll need to address that. On a website somewhere I read of a natural pest deterrent that calls to mix 1 teaspoon of dishwashing liquid and 1 cup vegetable oil, then combine 2 teaspoons of that mixture and 1 cup of water. I also later learned that I could use a cage to encourage the plant to grow since I have it on a pot. So I did that last weekend, watered it, hopefully not too much. I checked and watered it yesterday and it looks like is adapting quickly to the cage and there are new flowers. So maybe that means more eggplants. That would just be awesome!!!

Tomatoes... A friend from work who says she has never had a green thumb decided to give growing her vegetable garden in her backyard. She planted all sorts of vegetables including zucchini, tomatoes, eggplant, snap peas, and others that I can't remember right now. She chose to grow her vegetable garden from seeds. When she purchased the seeds she was told that 1 out of every 5 tomatoe seeds grow. So she put multiple seeds in each container she had. My multiple I mean tons. A couple weeks later she said that it looked like all of the seeds were growing and now had too many plants, so she asked me if I wanted a tomatoe plant. I said sure. So she gave me on of her containers that had a cluster of tomatoe plants growing. I separated them last weekend. So 33 was the total of tomatoe plants that were in the cluster. I read somewhere online after transaplanting them that tomatoe plants should be tranplanted when they are a certain size. Makes sense since the ones that were super tinny are dead now. I still have though about 18 plants. They are all separated. Now, I had gotten just 2 large pots in which I put 2 plants each. I also put a tomatoe cage in each. The other plants are in small pots. Now that I know that they need to be bigger before transplanting them.I'm goign to hold off transplanting the remaining ones until then. The tomatoes are the beefsteak kind.

Zucchini... I have 2 zucchini plants too from my work friend who also planted too many zucchini plants. These are individually separated. They are already a good size to transplant, so all I need now is to go get 2 big pots and some trellis like cages for these. I hope they grow good.

House plant... So aside from the houseplant that I have always had(that viney like one that just about everyone has), I got so excited having vegetables growing that I also got an indoor plant. It is a palm like looking plant. Don't know what kind since it had no name at the store(Lowe's) that I bought it from.

I am so excited. If all goes good I should be harvesting my own eggplants, tomatoes, and zucchini aside from my usual basil. I van't wait.

National Volunteer Week 2009

2009-04-26T16:37:00.005-07:00

National Volunteer Week 2009 was this past week, Sunday, April 19, 2009 - Saturday, April 25, 2009.

I helped put together disaster preparedness kits. Helped for one hour. I put together about 100 kits. Wish I would have had time to put more together.

So what did you do?

If you are looking to volunteer, find something that you are passionate about and look for volunteer opportunities in those areas. I myself like volunteering for most anything.
If you are having trouble finding opportunities or figuring out where or what to volunteer for, go to http://www.volunteermatch.org/ it is a great resource that I just recently started using.

Happy Volunteering all!!

Childsplay Brief... Sunday, April 19, 2009

2009-04-26T14:00:00.007-07:00

- Childsplay is a theatre company for kids, their website says, "Arizona's Professional Theatre for young Audiences and Families"
- I volunteered to help them stamp and pass out a book, Junie B., First grader: Shipwrecked.
- The book was given free of charge as the families came in to watch a preview of the play, The Neverending Story that is playing through May 17, 2009 at the Tempe Center for the Arts.
- The book that was given is one of three books of which the play Junie B. in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells is based from.
- That play will be part of Childsplay's 2009-2010 Season. I believe it will run from Nov/Dec 2009. The play not the season :)
- After passing the books and the house being full, I was able to stay and watch the play that was showing, The Neverending Story.
- I have seen the movie, but never a play adaptation. It was great.
- This is the second play that I have seen from Childsplay.
- The first one was when the 2008-2009 season was to begin. October 19, 2009.
- It was actually a preview showing of their season and that night they previewed a play called Getting Near to Baby. It was also really good.

Not so brief, brief... Saturday, April 18, 2009

2009-04-26T13:20:00.007-07:00

If you read my post, Brief... Friday, April 17, 2009 then you know I volunteered to help with the Phoenix Pride setup. The parade was on 4/18/09 with the festival on both Saturday and Sunday, 4/18-19/2009. I am kind of liking posting with bullets, so here's how the day went.

- I wanted to use public transportation to get to the parade
- Walked to the bus stop that's just around the corner, $1.25
- Valley Metro is the name of the local bus and light rail transit systems, picked up a transit book.
- Normally the fare for 1-ride is $1.25 and an All Day Pass is $2.50, however on this day the $1.25 got us an all day local pass. They call it Reduced Local Bus/Rail Fare.
- Got off the bus on a stop that is near the Arizona Center
- Walked a few blocks to the Phoenix Public Market to have breakfast
- Breakfast burrito and coffee
- I really like this market. Locally grown produce, meat, etc. It's all either organic or natural
- After breakfast, walked a couple of blocks down to the light rail stop, $1.25 for the ride as the bus pass not valid for the light rail, no special reduced rates for the light rail ride.
- Got off the light rail at the Indian School/Central stop and walked towards Steele Indian Park where the Parade would end and the festival would be held.
- After the parade, walked to the park for the festival. Free entry as I had volunteered the previous day.
- Walked the festival grounds once.
- Then headed back home. Same route just reversed. Walked to the light rail stop, got off at the downtown stop, walked to the bus stop, and got off at the stop around the corner from where I live then, walked home the remaining half block.
- All the walking and the sun, even though there was a cool breeze in the air, did me in.
- Took a nap that went all the way to the next day, Sunday morning.

Several posts

2009-04-26T13:07:00.006-07:00

I have several posts that I have been wanting to get to, but just haven't found the time to just sit and write them out. So hopefully after this sort of just random post I'll get caught up. So in the meantime I'll just leave one this post a random photo. It's a Rhinoceros Iguana

Brief... Friday, April 17, 2009

2009-04-19T09:55:00.010-07:00

- Took the day off, volunteered to help with Phoenix Pride setup
- I have never really tracked my volunteer hours or events, the only tracking I have are of those events in which I took a camera and took photos.
- So I enrolled at http://target.volunteermatch.org/ so I can start tracking,beginning the this event.
- It does not however interlace/link with http://www.volunteermatch.org/ so I am probably going to enroll there too.
- 2pm - 5:30pm was the volunteer time slot.
- Finished the tasks early, so was able to leave early, therefore arriving Early at Lux.
- Forgot to view the gallery at the coffee shop, immersed in the stories of co-workers who had also volunteered
- Late night movie was the plan, but the movie was a special engagement and the movies passes I have said not valid for special engagements
- Went to Applebee's for dinner, with a couple people... Yes finally using those coupons they had given me.
- Our waitress was nice, the manager was the same one as last time and still as weird as before
- This time although the service was fair, the steak that was ordered medium rare arrived medium well, actually it was almost well done. The coleslaw was dry. Moral of the story is. This Applebee's just sucks. if it is not the service then it is the food..
- After dinner, desert. 2 apple pies and a hot fudge sundae from McDonald's
- Afterwards watched the first half of Confessions of a Superhero on the PS3 via Hulu.
- Went to sleep at around 2am

Weekend brief... 4/11-12/09

2009-04-12T11:41:00.008-07:00

Saturday, April 11, 2009

- Woke up, early enough (good thing right)
- Made coffee, had a cup
- A coupon for a free set of serving dishes from Harrah's Ak-Chin Casino, Aaron had
- Drove to Harrah's
- Picked up the free gift, Aaron did.
- Played slots for about 10 minutes
- Put the gift in the car
- Lunch at the buffet, $9.99
- Cheap price equals cheap buffet(didn't care much for it, can't compare to Vegas)
- More slots after lunch(2 cent Playboy themed slots are fun, fun)
- Drove back home
- Laundry, mail, etc...
- Later, movies at home
- Dinner (don't remember)
- Switched off all power strips and cell phones in my room, wanted to sleep in on Sunday...

Sunday, April 12, 2009

- Woke up late, 10:3ish am
- Made coffee, had it with soy milk, Silk brand, very vanilla kind...
- Laundry
- Played Wheel of Fortune on the PS3
- Lunch and a movie(The Spitfire Grill)
- More Laundry
- Picked up food at Fresh and Easy
- Watched The Celebrity Apprentice
- Prepared lunch for the week(this week will be short as taking Friday off)
- Dinner, was not really hungry so just grapes and a cupcake, ok 2 cupcakes, also from Fresh and Easy

just a post...

2009-04-05T12:13:00.005-07:00

It's almost a month since I posted... have mostly been twittering , http://twitter.com/elkirbster So I thought I should post something... nothing really planned so I'll just ramble on... Yesterday's Hawaiian party at Pedro's for the celebration of Rocio's, Lorena's, and Alex's birthdays was really fun. Lots of food, drinking, music, dancing. Pride is coming up. I volunteered to help with setting up the day before. Can't wait to read about Amy's trip... Need to do the taxes, purge, clean, tidy, etc...

somehow this year...

2009-03-15T10:42:00.006-07:00

The past couple of years I made it a point to participate in volunteer events and diversity events as well as to toke photos throughout the year of most of these events plus parties, gatherings, etc of other things I was part of... Somehow this year I haven't been able to focus to do this... I haven't yet participated in any volunteer events, even though I have had the opportunity. Diversity events I have attended have been more on the speakers/networking but no "actual" events. On the parties,gatherings, etc. I have skipped some and the couple I have attended no photos.... Like Zander from Drawn Together (Season 1, Episode 7)would say, "What is going on!" Is there a big twist to come?

Next week is my b-day... Maybe that's when I officially give a boost to what I like doing volunteering, diversity, photos of as much as possible.

I also want to keep up with blogging about the events I participate in. I think I also want to add or continue to put my own personal reviews of stuff. I have always like reviewing stuff, even if i'm not necessarily a subejct matter expert, so more of my opinion reviews. Last year throughout June and July I posted a series of Consumer Reports tips that came with an offer to subscribe to their magazine, but I think I'll just stick to my own opinion reviews.

I think I may also post random stuff. Things that do not necessarily have anything to do with the stuff(volunteering, parties, etc) I'm currently doing. Maybe recipes that I have tried/tested and the outcome, perhaps a random photo or photos, and/or something to do with crafts. We'll see what time allows... :)

Hope everyone is having a good weekend, and hope you have a good week.

Moviecube vs Redbox

2009-02-14T09:24:00.006-07:00

Several weekends ago I wanted to rent a movie NOW! The fastest way to do that would have been to rent it from the PS3, but the rentals there start at $2.99, or from Amazon.com, but I don't know yet how to stream it the TV.

Then I remembered seeing the Redbox at several locations just down the street. After signing up at their site, I headed out. First a stop at the store to get popcorn. So I went in the store and there is this Moviecube so I figured it must be similar to the other one, so I just rented a movie through it. I get home and watch the movie. A couple hours later I checked that redbox had sent me a code for one free rental. Hell yeah! So I decided I would return the Moviecube one early. I get to the store where the Moviecube is and the screen shows it "clocking", and someone in the store said that the machine was being restarted. I went to the redbox, rented a movie and decided to return the movicube one the next day.

Next day comes and the movicube machine is in still "clocking", so I return the redbox one and for the movicube one I had to call the customer service so they could verify and then I returned it into a black drop box on the side of the machine.

I didn't want to write this much on this... anyways the point really is My first Movicube rental experience not so good. My first Redbox movie rental experience good.

I checked their websites today and it seems Moviecube has updated their site, they have a signup section now and took a page out of redbox's playbook by offering one free movie rental for signing up.

I wonder which one of these will end up being the winner, or is there room for two ala Blockbuster and Hollywood Video?

hmmm... maybe I should just sign up for netflix or the blockbuster online...

Ya'll have a good weekend...!!!

Best wishes, farewell, good luck...

2009-01-27T23:14:00.003-07:00

Best wishes, farewell, good luck... to my co-workers that were let go today...

I won't say too much just that it was a gloomy day at work today. Hope this becomes an opportunity for better things to come.

Update... for prev post

2009-01-27T21:52:00.005-07:00

Quick update for the prev post on the movie and dinner... so I ended up sending a complaint via their website.... several days later one of my roommates said someone from that place had called and that they would call back... So I got a call back this past week, I am guessing their guest relations, and the person apologized and wanted to do something to make up for it so that I would continue to go to that location. so.. she sent me 2 entree vouchers.... not sure when or if i'll use them. but meh wahtever I am over it...

Movie and Dinner... from Jan 1st

2009-01-03T12:44:00.007-07:00

With my cousin, I went to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button on Jan 1st... loved the movie.. movies like this one make me want to read. Aside from video game magazines and celebrity magazines, I don't read a whole lot. Not because I don't want to, I just fall asleep after reading a few pages of any book. I have to really focus when I am reading 'cause my mind always wanders when I read something that reminds me of something else and then I loose track of what I was reading. then I have to start all over. Amistead Maupin's novels are the only ones that I can read and re-read without putting them down. :)

After the movie, we picked up Aaron and went to dinner. We went to an Applebee's on Baseline by 24th st. Their address is 2180 E. Baseline Road, Phoenix, AZ 85042.

Now I am listing their location, address found on their site, not so you can go to it, but so that you don't. So sure it was New Year's Day so those working on that day may not have wanted to be working, but it is no excuse to start slacking off. It was not packed, but obviously low on staff so we waited for a couple minutes while they cleaned a table to sit us down. Once we were seated, we browsed through their menu,sticky with food residue, as we waited for our waiter. It took a while before our waiter came by to introduce himself, Mark, and ask for out order.

We ordered our drinks, as I was not ready to order food just yet. I couldn't decide what I wanted. Another long wait and our drinks made it. Jerry and Aaron ordered and I asked for more time. He came by a few minutes later and I placed my order. Our appetizer was brought to us by a waitress, obviously not our waiter, and I asked her for individual plates(for the appetizer), extra lemons(they had given me a joke for lemon slice for my iced tea), and extra napkins. She brought them right away. Aaron and Jerry's orders came out. Jerry's was just fine. Aaron's looked like it had been siting for a bit, I'm sure it was so that they both came out at the same time since they were ordered at the same time. My order came a few minutes later.

So we were eating, chatting and then this fat woman comes and stands by our table and comments on Aaron's tea, "letting your tea get dark" or something like that, in an unpleasant sarcastic like tone, he had ordered hot tea. We were like, who the hell is this bitch. She then asks us how our meals were. We said fine. Then she left. We assumed after she left that she was the manager. Her approach wasn't very managerial like.

After we were done eating our check arrives, I decide to pay with my card. Mark takes my card and the check. He comes back a few minutes later, dropping off the receipts to be signed. So as I review the receipt I notice the amount is not what the original receipt said, and my card was not brought back.

I first figured he had given me the wrong receipts, but then I see that the last four of the card used for that were the ones on my card. I was like hell no motherfucker you did not just keep my card and charge me for someone else's food check.

So I get up to try and find a manager. I head towards the kitchen with receipts on hand. As I was going to enter the kitchen, and there is Mark, so I tell him you charged me for someone else's check and kept my card. He reaches for his shirt pocket and out comes his Applebee's card along with my card. As soon as i see it I aggressively take it out of his hand and demand to speak to his manager. He starts walking off in the opposite direction. Not sure what he said, but he was not apologetic, did not direct me towards a manager, nor did he try to explain what happened. So I head back towards our table. Aaron and Jerry assumed it was done. I said no we are waiting for the manager.

The manager, jackpot is was the fat woman that had come by earlier, walking several step behind Mark. I head towards the manager, explained what happened. She apologized and wanted my card to fix it. I was like hell no. So I said I'll go with you to see what you are doing. So she voided the other charge. I asked her for a void receipt. She said she could not give me one, so I asked her to sign and initial the original receipt, so I could keep it as reference/evidence that it was voided. She then processed the amount for my table. I signed it leaving no tip. She kept apologizing and asking me if there was anything else she could do. Obviously she was hinting at me asking to have the meal comped, but I am not that kind of person. The kitchen did nothing wrong, however if she had offered to comp the meal I probably would have accepted. She kept saying that it was an honest error. I didn't buy that. I can understand an honest error if he had given me my card with the wrong receipt, but he kept my card in his shirt pocket. That's a fucking different story.

So anyways, I may suggest to you that you do not go to this Applebee's, but if you do go beware of waiter Mark. He may be keeping cards "in and honest error" kind of way. Who knows how many cards he kept that night.

Now I am just watching my account every day to make sure the void goes through. Not going to go to that Applebee's location again. Let's hope this is a fluke and not the beginning of what my dining experiences will be this year.

Hope everyone's first movie and dinner experience in 2009 is a good one!!! :)

Welcome 2009!

2009-01-01T11:09:00.007-07:00

Welcome 2009! Let's hope this year is a good year for everyone... So what's the first thing you did when you woke up? Did you party hardy last night? Did you wake up with a hangover, headache, a person sleeping next to you who's name you don't know?

First thing I did was go pee(tmi maybe). Then made a pot of coffee. Drank coffee as I wished a Happy New Year to my online friends. If I forgot you, then happy new year to you! :)

My mom called to wish happy new year. Back home they are getting together, like every year, for breakfast. I think she said it's menudo or posole this year. After breakfast is the loteria and piñatas. Wish I was there.

Then to pay bills. I'm usually ahead of the game and have all the bills for the month paid by the mid to end of the month previous to it. Not this time. All done now. Yay! Those of you who leave bills unpaid to the last minute or past their time... well I won't get into it, but for a short period my previous position included collecting on past due accounts, so I have heard just about every reason and excuse for not paying.

Anyways, hope your 2009 is a good one!

The photo on this post is from x-mas 2007 with family.

Goodbye 2008, Welcome to the new year!!

2008-12-31T19:10:00.026-07:00

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 !!!

2008-12-25T18:14:00.007-07:00

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

2008-12-05T22:03:00.008-07:00

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...

2008-12-05T21:28:00.005-07:00

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

2008-12-02T21:43:00.005-07:00

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

2008-12-02T21:40:00.001-07:00

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

2008-12-02T21:30:00.003-07:00

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

2008-12-02T21:20:00.002-07:00

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

2008-11-30T14:30:00.003-07:00

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

2008-11-30T14:15:00.003-07:00

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

2008-11-30T13:30:00.002-07:00

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.