Updated Dec 16, 2004

Dec 16, 2004 Well, Thanksgiving has come and gone. Al & Gillian came and stayed for a month, got to see Dad a couple of times while he was here. Both are doing well and I think enjoyed their stay for the most part. On Thanksgiving Day I went to Paul and Holly's house. A wonderful time and great company. With the wine & food, one of the best TG's for sure. Went to AZ on Friday morning to spend time with my Mom and the family. Greg & crew didn't make it but everyone else did. During the night I stayed in Laughlin with Tarise and Javier. It was fun spending time with everyone. I'm off for a vacation to see extended family for the next two weeks. I'll have tons of pictures of everyone and I'm sure some great stories to tell.

Oct 25, 2004 The weekend of the 16th I got to see an old friend Michele from the 909 area. It was great to see an old friend and meet some of her new ones. They took a limo from the Upland area down to Newport Beach. I ended up meeting her with Melissa & Dave Aprea. Last weekend was our annual Ocktoberfest night for the Master's Swim Team gang. Four of the people there I went to Belize with 2 years ago. Bob, Marie, Kathy and Mary. I even won the Beer Stein holding contest beating out 6 other guys for the free mug, hat, shot glass and flower lay. Whooppiiieee. Got a great show of the ladies performing again. Now I say they are closer to 70 years of age. It's an amazing show that becomes downright unbelievable when you see how old they are. Saturday, Kerry and I went to a few places in Sunset Beach. Found out they are closing down the famous Mother's Tavern in December. My house sprung a leak in the kitchen sewer line, destroying the carpet and generally making a mess of things. Paid for a guy to fix the line, now I have a big tile replacing job ahead of me. Guess I'll be staying close to home for a while. Neal had a Birthday on the 21st. and Suresh had his last day on Friday, the 22th.

Oct 11, 2004 It's Oktoberfest time! Went on Saturday to Old World in Huntington Beach. Tarise, Javier, Dong and I planned to go. Right after we got there, a pair of acrobatic twins performed quite a routine. We were about 20 feet from them and I thought they were about 13 or 14 yrs old. After they were done with about a twenty minute set, they walk around collecting tips. As she was getting closer and closer to us, I couldn't believe it, she & her sister must of been at least 50 and I'd say closer to 60 years old. I wanted to get a picture afterwards, as I was in a state of shock when she came by our table but they had already gone. JR and Al were there with some friends and we started hanging out with them since it was getting too hot inside by the dance floor. Sunday, stay home and had Steven & Brianna over for a little BBQ. We played horse shoes and then just relaxed & ate. Today on the 11th, found out Suresh is leaving HDM for a job with Q-logic. Sounds like a great move for him, but it'll set us back for a while. Oktoberfest pictures.

Oct 5, 2004 Last two weekends were centered around Pat & Jessica's Wedding. On the 25th was the Bachelor party, which follow the sports Theme of Jay's party. There was Surfing, Volleyball, lunch, Basketball then Ultimate Frisbee. I helped Jim Lowery clean up the backyard so we missed the first two events. Which turned out to be a blessing as 3 games of Basketball wiped me out anyways. I just sort of limped around during Ultimate. Afterwards everyone headed over to Jim's house in Costa Mesa and hopped in the pool, ate, played Ping-Pong and had a few beers. (photos of evening) To cap the night we went to the Blue Beet in Newport Beach. On the 2nd was the Wedding Day. It was a very nice beach wedding, just south of the Balboa Pier in Newport Beach. I came by Taxi with Jim & Nicola and the official story is that the Taxi was late picking us up. Wink. Well, after running across the sand, we got there just in time for hearing the I do's and it finished up in short order. Alex gave us a ride to the Newport Beach Golf Club where the reception was being held and we were the first one's there. The bar wasn't even opened so I just made a quick pour, Jim and Alex tried to do the same but as they were behind the bar out comes the bar manager yelling like we were up to no good. I got a good laugh from that one and my free drink. Pat and Jessica have nice families and even nicer friends so it was a great event/day for sure. I signed the first part of the wedding card "To two great people that make an even better couple." ... pretty much sums it up.

Aug 31, 2004 Hope everyone is getting ready for the big Labor Day weekend. No trips have come up and I've been happy to stay in the area so looks like I'll be here this weekend as well. On the 21st I went Freediving at Catalina. I went with Dave and Jeff who were diving on the Sport Chalet boat. Worked out great and really enjoyed myself. I took a couple of pictures after we got called in. I forget the name of the exact spot we dropped in the water but the lobster were everywhere. Going back when the season opens for sure. Last weekend I hanged out with Jim, Nicola and Pat on Friday evening. Saturday took it easy aound the house and Sunday went to Jim's house to hang around the pool and have a few drinks. Bill came with his 4 kids, 3 of them are part of a triplet birth. We all went to Sharky's for some food and went back and played in the pool some more. In the evening, after the Bill gang left we went and played some pool & had diner in Costa Mesa.

Aug 19, 2004 Wrote in the Trips section about going to Denver. Last weekend I played Texas Hold'm at Ronnie's house. Hard core game with some serious Asians. It was fun learning how to play the real version that they play in Vegas and learned some of the tricks. Saturday afternoon went to a Beer Pong tournament at a place in Lake Forest. I knew about 5 people but everyone was friendly and it was quite the event. 32 teams, double elimination play and enough beer for the sailors in San Diego. 4 pong tables and two extra for kids and warm-ups. I didn't know you could have such a serious drinking pong game until this weekend. Nadine invited me and I knew Max and Rob when they showed up. Max ended up my partner after a random draw, so I thought we were going to kick some butt. This was not to be. After losing the first game 7-0, we won our second game 6-3 and lost the last. There was a fifteen minute time limit per game to get to 7 points. Hitting the cup was one point and getting the ball in to the cup was 3. Fun time for sure. Sunday played Ultimate Frisbee with the Nadine group and then went to Mark's house for some more Asian poker.

July 26, 2004 Purchased a new bicycle last weekend on the 17th and have been riding it quite often. My goal is to ride to work but at 17 miles each way it'll take about an hour each way. On Thursday I saw Brian Gray & his girlfriend from Denver at Hurricanes in Huntington Beach. Mike Philips was there with Tarisa and about 6 other friends of his. Which made Friday a long day at work. Dr. Pete was in from NY and staying the night at Jim's so I went over there to hang Friday night. After a few drinks and playing some music on Jim's band setup (he has a bass, drums, guitar, and mic in his living room) we headed to the Harp Inn in Costa Mesa. Johnny Ray tagged along and proceeded to make an ass of himself. He's is one of my roommates, a teacher from IL. A good guy but doesn't handle drinking very well, and said he was sorry and told me to tell everyone. Saturday headed out to Hermosa to have dinner downtown with Nicola, Jim, Bill, Pete, Heather, John, Dana and a couple of Heather's friends. Took a picture of Bill & Jim up on the sun deck at Nicola's house. Ate at a place right on the pier street then went and had drinks at a couple of bars. Fun evening for sure. In the am, went and had breakfast with those still around. Before I headed home I rode my bike down to where the bike trail ends past Redondo Beach. Getting ready for leaving on Wednesday for Denver for my cousin Leif's wedding then South Dakota to spend a couple of days at Uncle Perry's house then to Lake Havasu in AZ for some waterskiing. Be gone almost 2 weeks.

July 6, 2004 Forth of July weekend, has come and gone. Friday after doing laundry at the W. 15th Street complex, I went over to Jim's house and hanged with Pat, Jim & Nicola. Mostly consisted of drinking and playing the guitar. Jim and I stepped it up a notch like old times. Saturday, after driving home and getting a few more hours sleep, Melissa came by and we drove to the Ayres Hotel in Corona for Jay and Jen's wedding, which was being held about mile down the road at Jen's Brother's house. A few were already at the pool relaxing before the evening wedding got started, Jay, Pat, Tim to name a few at Ayres. The pictures start with us at the pool. The wedding was a great outside event with just Jay and Jen and their parents taking part in the ceremonies. The rest of us, with drinks in hand, (way cool) witness the marriage of two special friends saying their vows and exchanging rings. Since I knew them both a little before and then during most of their time together up to this point, I was really happy to be a part of the whole thing and enjoyed every moment I was there. Pictures

The next morning, Sunday the 4th, I went home early and slept some before going down to Newport. Melissa's friend Kathy had a pool party during the day. Piesik, Alex and I joined her by way of riding bikes since driving and trying to find parking anywhere in Newport is next to impossible on the 4th. Later Alex, Piesik and I rode down to the crazy part near the beach and went to Rich's house party on 4th street. After walking to see the back bay fireworks show that Newport Beach sponsors, we rode back to W. 15th street and called it a night. Pictures

Monday, the 5th I stayed home and relaxed. Emily was over and we hanged out in the pool. Suresh dropped by and we played Horseshoes with Johnny Ray in the backyard. Later at night, decided to light the fire pit. Pictures

June 30, 2004 Last weekend was the trip to Mexico for Jay's Bachelor Bash. Read about it in "Trips" section. This weekend is the 3rd & 4th of July. Jay & Jen are getting married on the 3rd, Saturday. The Saturday before last, on the 19th Rich & Lisa had a backyard Barbecue, took one photo with my phone. Johnny Ray tagged along and ended up being the life of the party. Looking forward to this weekend.

June 10, 2004 Went to San Onofre on Sunday with Jim, Nicole & Dong. It was overcasted and a little on the cool side but a fun surf day. We ended up leaving early and watching the Laker game at St. Patrick's Pub in Costa Mesa at Harbor and Adams. On Saturday I surfed Bosa Chica. Went there with Melissa and afterwards we went and hung out at Jay and Jen's place. Jim Seghers is getting married this weekend to Helen in New Orleans. Steven and Nick are gone as well from the office. Guess that makes me in charge. So, I'm having everyone take a long lunch on Friday to go and play miniature golf. Ian and I went to South Coast Plaza today to look at a surf board exhibition the Surf Rider Foundation is putting on. Ian Cairns of course new most of the board makers and I'm sure he enjoy it more then I did. Took a picture with my phone camera.

June 3, 2004 Summer is here in Southern California and I would say has been since May. Mostly in 70-80 degree range and the ocean temp has been warmer then normal for the past couple of weeks in the upper 60's. Makes in fun to go Surfing "for sure". Took some pictures of a bigger then normal day at Huntington Beach by the cliffs. I think I was on my way somewhere as this was early May. On the 22nd of May had another San Onofre trip. It was Melissa and I that drove down early, before 6:00am, to get a good spot for everyone. Jay and Jen showed up about an hour later with Ian & family showing up around 10:00am. Great day for going there. Everything was just about perfect. Best day I think I've ever had surfing as well. The weekend before last I went up to San Francisco and put text and pictures in the "Trips" section of the site. Last weekend was Memorial Weekend and since I've been out of town a lot decided to stay in the area. Saturday I went to Huntington Beach and did a little old fashion bar hopping with Dave Aprea, Melissa, John & his friend. We hit about 6 or 7 places and it was great to see Huntington again on Main Street. I used to live about 200 yards from Main street so it's still like my old stomping grounds. Of course with all of the new building it has definitely changed the last couple of years. Sunday, after floating a couple of hours in the new 14 foot Walmart pool, Marjorie, John and I went to the bar around the corner to shoot some pool. Monday was a little more floating and doing a whole lot of nothing hanging at the house.

May 8, 2004 Haven't written in a while. Mostly because I've been busy with work & things and haven't had the time and add the fact I haven't been excited about doing it. Went to Mammoth at the end of February and had a fun time with everyone. We had two condo's and stay up there for 5 days or so. Pictures are here. After that, went to Vegas in March and April. Once for work and the other for fun. Was able to stop by and see Paula and Jim in AZ on my way to Vegas the first time. The second was a bit of a crash and burn weekend. Suresh and I left on Thursday night and stayed at Stateline Buffalo Bills. I ended up staying up all night and walked from the tables to the car around 11:00am to head to Vegas. After spend the day around the pool & getting something to eat we went out to hit a couple of clubs. By this time it's all RedBull drinks and after a night on the town and getting in around 4:00am it kind of killed Saturday and Sunday for me. Been taking it easy since then. Tomorrow off to San Onofre to do some surfing. We have a group of 6--8 of us and are making the day of it. Monday I start an advance SCUBA class so I'll be busy with that for the next 2 months or so. Only other news is I purchased a new car in March. It's a Honda Accord with the Navigation system. It runs great & the navigation is fun & handy to have. Even came with the XM radio so I never have to listen to commercials anymore. Now all they need to do is transmit the CHP traffic map to be the perfect system. We have real time traffic sensors that monitor the fwy speeds and reports accidents, click here to see, and this information is invaluable when your on the fwy's since there are any number of ways to get where your going. Mother's day is this weekend. Happy Mother's Day!

Feb 13, 2004 Friday night went to Green G's with Dong & Suresh and played some pool and then afterwards went to Fuzzy's. Saturday morning I went to Bosa Chica for surfing and had a great day. Sometimes all the elements come together and you get really fun rides. In this case, since I'm not that good at taking off on bigger waves, the tide was right to be able to catch the outside break and once your in the wave and the conditions are right it will rebreak again. Since your already up and riding, during the inside break it's easier to turn and ride the shoulder of the wave which is where you want to be in the first place. Which gives you an idea of how much I kind of suck but I'm getting better and it's fun just being in the water. Saturday night some of us went over to Melissa's and headed out to enjoy the evening. We started out at Newport Brewery and then went to the Harp Inn. Had a fun evening but it did slow me down the next day. Sunday I went and played Ultimate with the gang and afterwards there was about 10 of us that met at House of Pizza. A few of us capped it off by going to Big Wave's and jumping in his Jacuzzi. Monday was Presidents Day and tried my hand at surfing again. Afterwards, since I pass the Hodge's place I gave a call and it ended up being another great evening playing Trivial Pursuit and enjoying their unlimited fine wine collection. Holly made a delightful Italian seafood dish as well. A note on Valentines Day. Guys hate this day overall when they're in a relationship. Most of the time, nothing they do or give tops what one of their friends man got them so it's never good enough. On the other hand, being single on this day and being a guy is great. And since a lot of girls go out with their single friends on this night to cheer each other up and just to get out of their home well, it always makes for a nice evening being a guy. Which brings to another note. My cousin was married last Saturday and I think that is the best day a guy can get married on. You kill two birds with one stone. Guys know what I'm talking about, girls just remember while your guy may love you to death, he still hates this day. And if he didn't get you/show you/whatever you that you wish he would or did, it isn't because you don't mean the world to him.

Feb 9, 2004 Friday night went to Huntington Beach Main Street area and ate at an old favorite place of mine call The Longboards. After that Dong and I went to Kerry's place and had some drinks or should I say more drinks and then walked to a place Kerry and her down stairs girlfriend calls the House of Dudes. It's ended up being a nice sports bar in the Huntington Harbor area and yes there was way more guys then girls but around Orange County that's normal. Saturday, I picked up Kerry and we went surfing at Bosa Chica State Beach. The waves were perfect, the sun was out and the temp was about 75 degrees. The water demands one wears a wetsuit at 57 degrees but after buying new booties to keep my feet warm, the temp isn't a problem. Had such a fun time surfing that I called everybody up to plan a San Onofre day on Sunday. I thought there would be about 8 of us to enjoy the day but it ended up being just being 5 of us. The waves were small so it wan't as fun surfing Sunday but it was still a warm sunny day and for being in the middle of winter this past weekend was better then even some summer days.

Feb 4, 2004 Friday night went to Loofer's and Fuzzy's with two work buddies, Neal & Sam. After Fuzzy's went to SG's and really had a great time. Were planning to repeat this Friday and I can't wait. Saturday after mowing the back and front yards, which takes about 3 hours, headed off to Jim's house. Our good friend Andrea is leaving for a trip to see the world and we gave her a send off party. The event was at the Blue Beet in Newport beach and is one of the better places to eat & enjoy music in OC. Sunday was SuperBowl Sunday and Nicola had a party at her place in Hermosa Beach. We had planned to start playing Ultimate Frisbee on the beach around noon before the game but it was around 1:30pm by the time enough folks arrived to get a game going. It was fun playing on the sand, with the temp about 70 degrees it made for a great game. Around 3 we headed back to get ready for the game. The game was great and a lot of fun as there was close to 40 people there.

Jan 25, 2004 Friday night met up with Melissa & Dong at Habana's for dinner and drinks. Saturday evening went over to Holly & Paul Hodge's house. Haven't seen them since Dec of 02 and it was great to catch up on what they have been doing. Both Paul and Holly work in the wine import business so it's quite a treat to be able to try some fantastic new wines they sell to their clients. Holly's an excellent cook as well so between the wine & dinner and their company it's always a great night to remember. All I need to do now is increase the visits from once a year to once a week! Sunday, played Ultimate Frisbee with the teachers crew and after the game we all went to House of Pizza. To cap the evening I went over to Jim's house with Nicola and watched Malcom in the Middle TV show. It's mine and Jim's top comedy show.