Another Interesting Day in SD

Well can you believe it ... somehow someone knocked over one of those huge steel beams that they use to construct the bridges. So what happens they close down the 15 freeway ... hello have fun driving around in San Diego. Read more about the story here. Well other than making the commute a lot longer than normal, its just traffic like usual until we finish building the new freeway managed lanes.

This year Mealani will be at her mom's while we are celebrating the event which is too bad. But we do have plans to head to Vegas for the President's day holiday. It should be quite fun since Mealani likes Vegas just did not enjoy the getting sick part she experienced last time. Still another full day at work so looking forward to the weekend ... buy somethings for Mealani's party and watch more movies from Blockbuster.com.

Well Some Good News ...

Well today was the big day when we found out what our new job titles will be. There was some handwringing and stuff since our company has not had a programming group before. Also the ability to get promoted and make more money was on our minds. So it looks good that I will now have the title Programmer Analyst II. That does not mean I will be making more money tomorrow but at least it is better than being a assistant web developer analyst for the next several years.

Well I guess I have more planning to do for Mealani's birthday party as another person along with Tim and his family. Also several other co-workers will probably attend like Amber, Bill, and Daniel. I have been trying to find a clown for the party but the cheapest clown I found charged $95 an hour. Pretty steep considering what they are doing ... maybe I should go be a clown also since they seem to make way more money than I do.

Well here's to hoping we can get our proposed raises in March.

Train Accident

So I have been reading up on this Metrolink train derailment. It was caused by this guy who wanted to commit suicide but at the last minute decided he did not have the guts to do it. So he left his vehicle on the tracks and walked away. The train slammed into the suv and derailed causing it to hit another train going the opposite way. The death toll is 11 but vcould go higher since there are also 24 people in critical condition.

I guess my feeling are like this ... if you want to commit suicide go jump off a cliff, slash your wrist or something that is not going to get other people hurt. Don't do it by train, suicide by cop, or some other stupid method. These people don't want to die ... they want attention. So 11 people needlessly died just so one guy could get attention ... seems so pointless and a huge waste. I am sure many of those people who died were thinking about all the things they had to do.

Sometimes some people should not have rights that protect them especially when the effects of their action create destruction in the lives of people. This is clearly a case of someone who deserves what they get and now that he is being charged with murder - 11 charges plus maybe murder with special circumstances which could give him the death penalty; I say good - let's fry his ass and give him what he wanted which is to die.

Phone Call - Who Could It Be?

Well today I was surprised to receive a phone call from a number I did not recognize so I answered "This is Alan speaking" Turns out it was one of the parents from Mealani's class. They were RSVPing for Mealani's birthday party which is good as I was worried that maybe not enough people would show up. Its sort of hectic when you do not know the parents that well so you cannot just ask them ... is your daughter coming to the birthday party. But boy it puts me back into the position of preparing for the birthday party. I want her to have a good time so I need to think about activities for the kids to do while they are there for three hours. I was thinking games likes pin the tail and musical chairs. That means I need to go shopping for prizes too ... too bad KB Toystore is already close. I could have purchased several more toy items or Barbies or something as prizes. Well I guess tomorrow at lunch I will hit the mall and see if I can find anything.

Taking a Walk at Lunch

Well today Bill and I went for our daily walk at lunch. We had planned on going to Horton Plaza but he told me that the K.B Toystore had already shut down. I was planning on picking up more little gift givers for Mealani's birthday but I guess I will just have to figure out something else to give away. I had planned on taking some pics but I guess my camera on my phone is all jacked up. Too bad it was a nice day and there were so many cool new things to see. I guess time for a new phone.

Well another neat thing we saw today was the opening of Extraordinaire Desserts on Union Street. I know that the desserts in that place are to die for especially when you consider how rich the cheesecakes and other desserts there are. Can you imagine paying 7-8 dollars for a piece of cake. I guess that reminds me also that I need to order a cake for Mealani's birthday party. I am not sure what type of cake but I guess something with princess or something like that on it will be the only way to go.

Also I talked to my sister last night, told her to have her birthday the same day as Mealani so that way we could kill two birds with one stone. I hope that she will invite some friends over and stuff ... I think its time we just move on from where we have been.

One thing I have noticed lately is that I am completely hooked on Poore Brother habanero chips. My gosh they are so spicy but damn they are good. I cannot get enough of them but I know if I don't cut back I will be screwed by gaining back all the weight I have lost in the past year. I know that I have a goal of loosing weight and trying to get into better shape ... you know got some important pics to take this year ... so I need to have the will-power to stop. Just a lot easier said then done. Another time I need to do is find out about getting tickets to the Disney on Ice show Monsters Inc. so that Mealani and I can go. It should be a lot of fun for both of us since we both ejoyed the movie so much. Maybe I can convince grandpa to go also as he enjoyed the movie as much as we have. I should ask Amy's mom back for the movie as she borrowed it several months back and still has not returned it. Ok well I guess that's all for now.

The New Year - Let It Ring!!

Well it is officially here. 2005 is suppose to be the great start to a whole new year however we (well me) are already facing challenges. I have to provide my daughter - Mealani with a cool birthday but do all the planning and setup on my own. Mealani is turning 5 on February 8 so we are having her party on February 5. She has invited her fellow classmates but she only wanted to invite girls. She also will ask several of her classmates from her previous school to attend.

I also will be facing some new challenges with issues with raising a daughter such as her curious questions about certain things she has noticed and also to continually challenge her so that she will not find school and life boring.

Mealani attends Oak Knoll Montessori now and the school has enriched her to the larger class. She is exposed to kids from different cultures and ethnic backgrounds. It seems to me that a lot of Asian parents and Indian seem to send their kids to Montessori programs. Its amazing to me when Mealani reads, write, and can do math when kids who are older than her cannot do any of these things.

I look forward to seeing my daughter grow up with her immense quesdt for knowledge. She likes to read books and is able to read many parts of the newspaper. I am not quite sure on whether to put her back in public school when September comes around or to keep her in the Montessori program. She is already way beyond the kindergarten level and could probably be at or a higher level than a first grader. I know I was never as knowledgable as her when I was five ... my how times have changed.

On the plus side, Mealani is sleeping in her own room again. She was sleeping there for almost 2 months when she went back to sleeping in grandma and grandpa's room. This happened after she returned from her Thanksgiving stay at her moms. Her mom lives in a one bedroom apartment with her brother, cousin, son, and sometimes another cousin. Amazing that anyone could live like that ... surely it cannot be healthy for my daughter to be exposed to that environment.

Well the month is almost over and the time will fly once again I think. Must be something to do with getting older. I myself hit the big 30 last year. It seems like the many things we took for granted when were younger are no longer taken for granted. You realize how important family and friends are ... and the realization that you will sacrafice anything for your loved ones.

Well as for my family, both mom and dad are going through some growing pains with my sister. She has not quite figured out that we are trying to watch out for her and I hope that she does not make the same mistake I made. Life is not easy but when you add in diffuculties like relationships, money, and other things ... well its all you can do to stay in the game. I have discovered that education is the key to better things in life ... it can make the biggest difference from working at a job that pays you minimum wage to one that pays you a decent wage.

Living in San Diego ... even making the median salary of 50 thousand dollars is not really enough to get by. Heck most homes are now between 600 - 800 thousand dollars. Imagine that ... the amount of money you need to bring home after taxes to afford a place like that. Luckily we did purchase our place four years ago so we are still in the plus side but it seems like housing prices are no longer skyrocketing like they were several months ago.

New Years Eve 2005

Well this year I was lucky to get invited to two parties. I went with my parents to eat at Emerald Restaurant which is really nice and had good food. My dad's colleague was on stage with his band mates to perform. After dinner was over and I hung out with them for a little while, I headed over to my friend Arelene's home. Damn she had a nice home plus she had full on catering with some salsa dancers to boot. Check it out ...


New Years Eve party with my parents and other relatives. Later on my dad won a dvd/vcr player.


Just getting ready to head to the next party.


Went to my friend's home. Let me tell you it was a nice place. Check out the nice pool along with the area they setup for salsa dancing.


Later on we learn how to salsa from the hot looking girl. She had a really tight body ... as you can tell.

Holiday Bowl Parade

Well December 30, Mealani was not in school so I took her to work with me. She was doing homework and drawing while in my office. In fact she went around and made new friends with people who I work with. I even got to meet a couple of people I did not even know. Well some pics to show you how much she enjoyed coming to work that day. Also we went to the Holiday Bowl Parade and then went out to lunch later on at Wendys. Then grandpa came by and picked us up at 3pm.


Gosh can you tell who is a trouble maker. She went to work with me for the day and was making friends with all my co-workers.


Mealani with Kira at the Holiday Bowl Parade. We left work and then had lunch afterwards at Carl Jrs. She had a good time.


Look at the beautiful weather .. San Diego in mid December. Amazing that the rest of the world is having cold weather and yet we are having absolutely warm weather ... 80 degrees.

Christmas Day

This year Christmas occurred on Saturday. The nice thing was being able to celebrate it with my daughter however I wished that Lulu was also here to celebrate with us. It will not be until Christmas in 2007 I think before we get to do that.


Mealani opens up her Christmas gifts. See the big Care Bear she sleeps with.


Whoo look at the attitude ... the cow or Mealani.

Mealani opened her presents and later on in the afternoon, we went to see her previous teacher Miss Sherril. She loves Mealani like a daughter and Mealani also likes her too. One thing though is Mealani does not like to have a strict teacher so she sometimes she will be upset at her teachers.


Mealani is with her previous teacher Miss Sherril. She also brought along a present for Miss Sherril.

Later on that night we went to look at some Christmas decorated home. This one guy starts working on his home in October to get his house ready in time for Christmas.


We went to see some Christmas lights but this guy really knows how to do it ... it takes him almost 4 months to complete the house.


Mealani with Andre ... damn that kid is chubby.

Mealani's First Performance

Here Mealani is performing her portion of the show. She reads from a card however she had her lines all memorized.


Mealani with her teachers: Miss Hawley, Miss Candy, Miss Susie, and Miss Rodriguez.


Mealani with her classmate at the multicultural fair. Mealani enjoyed having to perform in front of a large crowd.