The Year in Review

It's New Year's Eve! Today means a lot of different things to different people. To some, it signifies the end of a year they'd like to forget. To others, it's the end of a year that they wish would never end. I'm somewhere in the middle.

2009 had a lot to offer to me. For starters, I was single for the entire year. And some people look at this as a bad thing, but I don't. It allowed me to do a lot of things I probably wouldn't have been able to do if I had a demanding girlfriend. I started working out and running to help get myself into better shape (beer belly gone). I was able to spend lots of time with my friends as well as reconnect with friends I hadn't seen since high school. Most of the friends I reconnected with were girls which might not have been as easy to do with a girlfriend.

This past year was also a good year for me at work. For the most part my job is pretty easy, but it's going to get much more difficult with the start of the new year. It will be more difficult because I was challenged by my boss to take on new responsibilities. As mentioned before in this blog, I will be studying for my CCNA certification. This means that I will be doing a lot of reading and might have to skip a few nights out with friends. We'll see about that though. I was also asked by the owner of the company if I would be willing to track our trademarks. To be honest, when I was asked if I could do this I said yes because some training would be involved. Also, I can't tell the owner of the company that I am not willing to learn something new. That would be career suicide! So with some training, that will be another responsibility that I'll be taking on next year.

Another great part about this past year was the fact that I finally moved out again. I had been living at home ever since I graduated college in 2004. There are certain reasons that I didn't move out before now (condo, car, etc.) but I wouldn't change my purchasing decisions given the chance. I love my car and I love being able to roll out to Vegas and not have to worry about a room whenever I want. Being single is good for that too because it's usually a last minute decision to head out to Sin City. And you all know how much I hate to plan in advance. The roomies have been loads of fun and our house is looking great. We've only got a one year lease but if things go well, I'm sure we'll try to extend it. Hopefully next year I won't be talking about moving at the end of the year because that would just be way too stressful during holiday season.

Even though I know this blog is does not have hundreds of readers (or even ten for that matter) I'd like to take a moment to thank all my friends, new and old, for helping me enjoy a great year. Thanks to all my Rowland Heights friends. You guys have been there from the start and I'll never forget it. Thanks to my new Upland, Rancho, and La Verne friends for always providing loads of fun no matter what. Thanks to all my old high school friends who I reconnected with this year either through another friend, or at the reunion. Seeing you guys again was one of the highlights of my year. Thanks to all my OC friends down in Newport and the ones who have moved away up north. I really need to get down there more often. Someone needs to start the happy hour thing up again. Thanks to my old college friends from San Diego. Even if I haven't seen you in a while, you still influenced me in some way this year (i.e. facebook and aim).

Finally, I hope everyone has a great time tonight at their New Year's Eve parties. Be safe, and ring in the new year with style! Cheers!

I've Moved

During this past year I had been looking to buy a condo and take on a roommate. I searched lots of different areas only to find that nothing nice was in my price range. Finally, some friends of mine decided that they wanted a bigger place and so the 4 of us decided to move in together.

We found a house in La Verne that we all liked and so we jumped on the application process and got accepted. We moved in last Saturday when it was raining on and off all day long. That made it a big adventure. Covering couches and dressers and beds with giant blankets to save them from rain was tough. Even more difficult was the fact that I couldn't help move all day long. I had my company Christmas party to go to that night. At the party I got pretty drunk, won a $10 iTunes gift card, and danced with two beautiful girls. So it was a good time.

Back to the house now. We've been here for a full week now and the house is pretty much all put together. We have a Christmas tree fully decorated, lights outside of the house, and a nice living room where we can all relax together. For now, we are all perfect roommates. Nobody has pissed anyone else off, but it's early. I'm hoping we can keep this streak alive for a long time to come. If anything changes, you can bet I'll be writing about it here.

One Full Year

Hi again all! No, I didn't forget about this blog. Ok, maybe I did for a little while. But I'm back again.

November 8th just recently passed and that date holds special meaning for me. It's the one year anniversary of my good friends Jeff and Beth. I had a great time being a part of their wedding down in San Diego last year. We all had a lot of fun! I'm not sure what they did for their first anniversary but I did manage to send them my best wishes. I'm sure they had fun.

That date also marks the one year anniversary of me being single again. Bittersweet day don't you think? Since that day I've been working out and running on a regular basis. Being single gave me a lot of extra time and I've put it to good use. In that time I managed to work off most of my beer belly and I'm now able to run 4 miles without stopping at a pretty good pace. Losing 10 pounds in one year has got my weight down to a svelt 147! That's very close to what I weighed my senior year of high school which was over 10 years ago.

Speaking of one full year, 2009 is almost at an end. It's about time to start working on those new year's resolutions right? I had three resolutions that I made this year and I'm proud to say that 2 of the 3 will be completed.

1. Run a 5K

On December 5th I will be in Las Vegas for the Great Santa Run which is a 5K for charity. I was a part of this run a couple years back, but I didn't actually run the race. I jogged/walked with my mom, but had a great time. How could you not have fun when you're surrounded by close to 10,000 other people in santa suits? Visit http://www.lasvegassantarun.org/ for more info.

2. Move to the beach

This one is a partial completion. I am in the process of moving out with a few friends right now, but I don't think we are going to end up near the beach. The beach is expensive and pretty far from all of our jobs. I wouldn't mind the commute because you always get to come home to the beach! But I'm alone on this one. Oh well.

3. Get my CCNA certification

This is the one that isn't completed but I have started the process, finally! CCNA stands for Cisco Certified Network Associate. It's a certification that applies to working on Cisco networking equipment like switches and routers. I've bought a couple thick books that are guides to everything I need to learn to pass the test. I'm on chapter 5 of 36 total. I hope to have the certification by the end of next year.

How are you guys coming on your new year's resolutions? To be honest, I think this is the first year that I've actually worked on one of my resolutions. That's why I'm kinda proud of it and writing about it here in the blog. If you haven't started, the year isn't finished yet. Still a month and a half to get working. If you at least start one, it'll feel great I promise!

10 Years Goes by Fast

My title isn't talking about how long it's been since I wrote here, but it has been a while. This past weekend I had my 10 year high school reunion. The class of 1999 had dinner, drinks, a little dancing, and a nice slideshow at Angelo & Vinci's in downtown Fullerton Saturday night. There were about 100 people who showed up which was more than the past 2 reunions combined.

The organized reunion only lasted until 10pm but a lot of the group went to The Matador Cantina just down the street for some more fun. At the bar, there was also another seperate group who didn't go to the actual reunion. The bar was so super packed full of people from my high school that I was a little lost.

I talked to plenty of people I hadn't seen in years, exchanged a couple phone numbers, and had a few drinks with the rowdy crowd. When the night started I felt a little out of place because I didn't have a date to bring. Most people showed up with their spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend, fiance or whatever and I went stag. I felt better about myself when all those people went home at 10pm to take care of their kids. HA!

Anyone who didn't go to the reunion missed out on a lot of fun. If you haven't had yours yet and are thinking of not going, I'd advise against that. Go. Have some drinks. Have fun! It's much better to have gone and hated it, then to sit at home and wonder how much fun you could have had. When everyone is posting pictures and talking about the fun they had, you'll be sorry if you passed up the chance to go.

Staycation Lunch Day 5: The Backyard

This week I went to a bunch of new places. I spent some time in the heart of OC, Hollywood, Huntington Beach, Venice, and Santa Monica. Doing all of this in the span of four days left me pretty tired. For today's lunch, I decided to stay local and actually stuck to the plan. I made myself a DiGiorno pizza and had a few Heinekens in the backyard by the pool. Relaxing by the pool never gets old.

As far as vacations go, this has probably been one of the most enjoyable I've ever had. It went exactly the way that I planned, which is to say that I planned absolutely nothing and it was great! I probably spent less money this week than I have on any other vacation. Aside from lunch I also bought myself a couple new shirts, some dvds, and a new cd. I got to visit with a couple friends who I haven't talked to in a long time and hopefully will get to see them again in the near future.

Getting back to the money issue, my vacation really didn't cost me anything. For the past couple years I've been a big poker fan. I don't play much anymore, but when I did I would go to the casino every weekend to play some low limit holdem. Between that, and some low buy-in tourneys I made a good amount of money. This vacation is the newest item on the list of things paid for by poker. I might have to start playing more so that I can do this again.

Staycation Lunch Day 4: Subway???

Yeah, Subway. Lunch today wasn't spectacular, but the day in general was a lot of fun. I wasn't planning on doing much today because I was pretty worn out after yesterday's fun in the sun. But I ended up being invited out to Venice Beach by Natalie, so I went! We picked up her friend Matt and stopped for Subway sandwiches before heading out to Venice. I had never been to Venice Beach before today and really didn't know what to expect but I knew that it would be an adventure

We got lucky and found great free parking about 20 paces from the beach. After that it was straight to the boardwalk to check out all that VB had to offer. We passed by muscle beach and saw some guys working out. They really need to wear more clothes. Some outfits leave nothing to the imagination. Then we passed by the basketball courts from the classic movie White Men Can't Jump. I was then asked to sample 3 different hip hop cds by unknown artists, but refused.


There were some rather interesting "performers" on the boardwalk. There was the Worlds Best Wine-O who had a shirt that said "Jingle Bells! Jingle Bells! Help me get drunk today!" He also sang it. There were some homeless people with funny signs like "At least I'm not your kid" and "Kick my ass for $1." Then there was a guy playing guitar on roller skates with a portable amp who would follow people around as they were trying to make phone calls. He made for some great entertainment while I enjoyed a strawberry banana smoothie.


From Venice, we headed up to the Santa Monica Pier to check out things there. Again, I'd never been to the Santa Monica Pier before, so I was stoked to check it out. I snagged a slice of pizza and a soda for a quick bit of energy (very healthy, I know) then we cruised down the pier to check things out. I fought the urge to pay $6 for a picture of me with a wood cut out of Van Damme and watched some kids at the trapeze school on the pier. We saw a band playing a concert and a couple break dancing crews then headed back to the car.


It was prime traffic time, so we decided to not go straight home yet and stopped at Amoeba Music in Hollywood first. This place was the third first for me today! As I walked into Amoeba, I was just in awe of the massive selection in front of me. Racks and racks and racks of new and used music, dvds, and even VHS tapes! (For anyone under the age of 20, those are movies) There was even a free live concert in the store. The Sa-Ra and Creative Partner gave a 25 minute performance that was being filmed by MTV2.


After spending an hour in Amoeba Music and picking up 6 or 7 cds and dvds I ended up buying only 3. I bought used dvds of Fight Club and The Prestige as well as a cd by The Faint. All three for under $30. That's one great deal! I'll definitely have to go back there when I have an actual shopping list so I'm not so overwhelmed. Maybe tomorrow I'll stick to my plan of staying local. We'll see.


Since I didn't really eat anything worth taking a picture of, I'll show you guys the sign we saw while walking back to our car in Venice Beach. I can't decide if it's a clever way to meet a girl or just a pathetic attempt. You decide.

Staycation Lunch Day 3: Fred's in Huntington Beach

Originally I intended my lunch tour to be me visiting places I'd never been before. But when the weather is so nice and I'm on vacation, how can I not go to Huntington Beach for a day?

Today I went down to a familiar place called Fred's on Main Street. Fred's has great mexican food and margaritas which I've had in the past. Today I felt like a big mug of Shock Top. It's a great tasting beer which has become a new favorite for me. I'm not sure if that's because it tastes so good, or because I discovered it at Dodger Stadium. Either way, I like it and I'll keep ordering it whenver I can.

After my huge caloric intake yesterday at Pink's Hot Dog stand, I decided I'd better run. So when I arrived at Fred's with my stomach growling I wasn't surprised. I ordered some chicken taquitos to go with my giant beer. Not a huge meal, but I knew that the beer would fill me up. The taquitos had some melted shredded cheese on them as well as a good helping of guacamole. My stomach was thankful and stopped growling.

After lunch, I cruised around Main Street and bought a couple new RVCA tshirts. One was on sale, the other just looked to good to pass up. Then I rented a bike and apparently thought I was Lance Armstrong because I went on an 8.8 mile ride. The bike that I rented was a beach cruiser which means riding home against the wind is hard as hell! My legs were burning for the last couple miles.

The workout was good preparation for the night though. I met up with Michelle, who lives in HB, and I got to hang out with her and some of her friends for the night. We had a few drinks, talked about her birthday celebrations, and laughed it up at a cool dive bar called Suds. It was good being able to catch up some since we hadn't hung out in over a year.

Today took a lot out of me. So I'm probably going to stay closer to home tomorrow and just relax by the pool. Gotta work on my tan some more, you know?

Staycation Lunch Day 2: Pink's Hot Dog Stand

Today I decided to throw caution to the wind and calories too! Pink's Hot Dog stand in Hollywood has been around for 70 years. I've only been around for 28, but I still had never visited. This iconic eatery needed to be visited this week.

I gathered a few friends to head out there with me today which was nice. Thanks again Jeff, Brandon, and Tracie. Like Jeff said, "There's nobody I'd rather be stuck in traffic with than you guys." It's a good thing we like each other, because getting home from this place took about 2 hours. The long car ride home was worth it because the hot dogs were amazing!

Every different hot dog on the menu sounds amazing! We all had a tough time trying to pick just one to order. I bounced around between the Mulholland Drive Dog, LA Philharmonic Dog, the Bacon Chili Cheese Dog, and the Planet Hollywood Dog. You will have plenty of time to study the menu and flip flop orders because there is always a line. We waited in line for about 45 minutes before placing our orders.

I finally settled on the Planet Hollywood Dog. It's a polish sausage (mild or hot) with grilled onions, grilled mushrooms, 3 strips of bacon, and nacho cheese sauce (pictured above). Pair that up with an Orange Crush and you've got a meal!

The rest of the gang ordered the Mulholland Drive dog (10" stretch dog with grilled onions, grilled mushrooms, 3 strips of bacon, and nacho cheese), the Bacon Chili Cheese dog, and the America The Beautiful Dog (12" jalepeno dog, bacon, pastrami, lettuce, and chopped tomatos). Everyone was full after finishing their hot dogs but I'm ready for dessert. If you're going to eat bad, you might as well go all out. I need some ice cream now!

Staycation!

It's been another long time since I last posted anything here. This week I am on vacation. I'm not going anywhere, so it's a staycation. My goal for this week, to cure my boredom, is to take a lunch tour around Southern Cali. Yesterday it began and I wrote about it on my facebook page. Just thought I'd share it here now as well.

My SoCal lunch tour has begun. Today I woke up not really knowing where I wanted to go for lunch but for some reason prime rib popped into my mind. Not wanting to break the bank on the first day of my staycation I decided to go to the Carvery.

I head down to South Coast Plaza a little after lunch time and start wandering around the mall in search of some prime rib. I don't usually come to this mall and I'm starting to remember why. On my way to lunch I see the following stores: Rolex, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Coach, D&G, Versace, Cartier, and Prada. Needless to say, I don't stop in any stores while visiting for lunch.

Arriving at Lawry's Carvery, the restaurant is fairly empty. I order the Lawry's Prime Rib Original sandwich. It's 6 oz. of prime rib with au jus, horseradish and Carvery potato chips served on ciabatta bread. It was prepared very quickly. I didn't have to wait more than about 3 minutes. There's not much to say about the sandwich, it's pretty much amazing! The sandwich tasted great dipped in the au jus sauce or with a dab of horseradish. Even the chips were good with a little horseradish on them.

I finished my lunch faster than I had anticipated. But then again, it was prime rib and I'm not a vegetarian. I'd definitely recommend this place to anyone up for a good prime rib sandwich with a side of eye candy (you too girls, I saw a few metro looking guys there today). But I would suggest leaving your ATM and credit cards at home, just in case you decide to browse around the mall.

Happy 4th!

Yeah, I realize that today is the 5th of July, but I was busy yesterday and I couldn't post. Friday, the 3rd, I went down to San Diego with a couple friends for the day to enjoy the great weather and watch the Dodgers play the Padres at PetCo Park. Friday was also the first game back for Manny Ramirez after his 50 game suspension.

We had some lunch in Old Town San Diego with a couple of excellent and LARGE margaritas. Then we spent some time by the pool of our hotel which was amazing. Pool on the 5th floor with a great view of the ocean and the downtown buildings. I didn't put on any sunblock, and got a little red. We didn't notice because we had a cooler full of beers next to us. Oh well.

After freshening up, and a quick stop at the hotel bar, we got a cab to the park. The place was covered with Dodger Blue everywhere! I had a feeling that a good amount of Dodgers fans would make the short trip down to San Diego, but there were much more than I had expected. I'd say at least half the stadium was filled with Dodger fans. Manny went 0 for 3 with a walk and came out of the game in the 7th. But the real highlight of the night was the Friars 5 for $5 deal. This deal got you a soda, cookie, peanuts, popcorn, and a hotdog! To make it even better, you could substitute a draft beer for the soda and still get the whole thing for only $10! It made the entire trip worth while.

For the 4th I had some friends over for a potluck and margaritas. We also had some nice weather here so some people jumped into the pool. With the potluck, we had 4 different types of chicken, but they were all good. We didn't set off any fireworks, but we heard them going off all around us. Legal and illegal fireworks. It was definitely a fun night and I think everyone had a good time. Hope your holiday was fun too.

Options are good.

Having options is always good. If someone walks up to you and says that they want to take you to a baseball game, but gives you three different dates to choose from, that's good! It's definitely better than a tuesday night game when your favorite show is on.

So recently I've had the humbling experience of being able to sit front row at a baseball game. But not just one, I have the option to sit front row at three different games if I want to. I've been lucky enough to meet a guy who has the ability to provide me seats front row to the Mariners, Milwaukee Brewers, and the Los Angeles Dodgers. It's really a great deal! I'm definitely taking the Dodgers tickets. The Mariners tickets may be next but I'm not so sure about the Brewers tickets. They are kinda far and I'm not a big fan of the midwest.

I'm very grateful to have this guy and I plan to put him to use. Updates may follow. We'll see how things turn out.

Me? Exercise?

Being newly single can really change your outlook on your life. When I had a girlfriend, I really didn't have any free time. Pretty much every free minute I had was spent with her. Now that isn't necessarily a bad thing, we usually had some good times. But being single has given me a lot of extra free time now. Being single has also motivated me to use that free time for something good. I used to be extremely lazy whenever I had free time. I still can be, but I've turned a new leaf.

I've started working out and running at least 3 times a week. I've been on this routine for about 4 months maybe more. There are times when I get lazy and don't run or I take a week or two off, but for the most part I've stuck to it. I've definitely noticed a difference in my arms and chest from the workouts which is also motivating. Most days I try to run at least 2 miles, sometimes I run 3 miles. I run on a treadmill or outside some days depending on the weather and if the Lakers are on tv. Treadmill with the tv on when the Lakers play or it's too hot outside.

Even though I've noticed my pants fitting a little looser, I still haven't gotten rid of my slight gut. The problem is that I have a major sweet tooth and love all kinds of fast food. I don't drink too much soda anymore, but I can't pass up a frosty cold beer or pizza. That's why I keep running. To make sure I don't blow up. =)

Quick Hits!

I've neglected my writing duties for a few weeks. Sue me. Here's a few short notes about what's been going on since I last wrote.

• My last Vegas trip was a lot of fun. I didn't win any money, but I did meet up with some girls I hadn't seen since high school. We went to club XS at the Wynn (girls $20, guys $50), hung out at the Venetian Pool (bikinis and high heels), and had some sourdough waffles for breakfast one day. Good times.
• My friend Damien was back in town from the east coast for a couple weeks. He's in the Navy and doesn't get to come home often so I spent plenty of time with him and the rest of our friends. I partially blame him for me not writing. We went to the beach and became pyros around a bonfire, had a pool/wii/bbq party, went to his mom's graduation party and got plenty hammered. Actually, I was drinking for about 2 weeks straight after I got home from Vegas. Met up with a couple other girls I hadn't seen since high school because of D as well. More good times.
• I bought tickets to see Blink 182, Taking Back Sunday, Weezer, and Asher Roth for September 17th at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater. Didn't get pit tickets like I had hoped, but I'm just excited for the fact that I actually got tickets at all. Now I just have to figure out who I want to take as my date. I saw Blink 182 once my freshman year in college at San Diego State. They put on a great show and I had a blast! But that was almost 10 years ago now. The band had been on hiatus for the past 4 years, so being able to see them again is going to be a real treat.
• Over the last two weeks I also got a couple of new cds. I got the new Eminem cd titles Relapse. He is back at it again and just as good as ever. Of course if you didn't like him before, this album probably won't change your mind. But I'm a fan of his, so I enjoy it. I also got the new Taking Back Sunday album. I figured that if I'm going to see them in concert I better know their new stuff. I've got their other 3 albums, so I'm sure I'll have fun anyways. They are going to be the surprise hit of that concert, IMO.

Today, I'm heading out to the Dodgers game with my brother and my neighbor. I'll be sitting in the Loge section today. Loge 165 if my memory serves me correct. Today's tickets come with a free reception complete with Dodger Dogs, cheeseburgers, chips, peanuts, sodas, cookies, and other goodies! Later tonight I'll be heading to a friends house for some beers before he gets shipped off to Korea. Who knows when I'll be back again, but hopefully it won't be 3 weeks again.

Post Vegas/Pre Vegas Part 1

This past weekend in Las Vegas was loads of fun! Friday morning I drove up with my neighbor who was visiting her pregnant friend. We made good time, getting into town in about 4 hours. I dropped my neighbor off with her gal pal and headed to my condo. Dropped off my brother's new wheels at our place in Henderson and made myself some lunch, then headed to the strip.

I met up with my friend and his family at the Miracle Mile shops. Some of them wanted to walk around and shop (lame!) so we headed back to the hotel room for a quick drink and to head down to the pool. After some sun and an AMF we decided to do a little gambling. With a new batch of AMFs quickly made up and a little food in our stomachs we headed to Planet Hollywood to play some video blackjack and wander around a bit. I lost $20 on blackjack and penny slots in about 15 mins so I decided to move on to Roulette. I played for about 15 or 20 mins and made my money back plus a little more. About $45 in all. Remember the $20 bet increments from the last post? Anyways, a win is a win.

We moved from there to staring at the girls in The Pleasure Pit, all very attractive. After a little bit of gawking we decided to play some poker. My favorite. Unfortunately, the cards were not very kind to me. I didn't win my first hand for over 2 hours! After that beat down we headed back to the hotel where my buddies girlfriend had finally arrived. She had to work, but flew in after a long day and was ready to party.

We ate some dino chicken nuggets (they are the best) had some redbull vodkas and a little Patron, then decided to walk towards the strip for a bit. We started walking at around 1:30 am. On our walk, we decided that a midnight swim in the 24 hour pool would be a more fun idea. We got changed and headed down to the pool with more redbull vodkas at 2:30am. The pool was surprisingly not empty. Plenty of people had the same idea that we did, and a few people partied too hard. We saw one person passed out on a pool chair. Drinking at the pool always leads to interesting times and tonight was no different. I ended up making $20 to swim naked across the entire pool and back. It was, by far, the most exciting way to earn a quick Jackson. My buddy and I convinced his gf to do it too. Since she had never been skinny dipping, we figured this was as good a time as any. Plus he said he would cover her $20 skinny dipping debt to me.

Saturday "morning" was spent down by the pool again for a couple hours. Really it was about 12:30pm when we finally got down there. My buddy and his gf had a wedding to go to, so I got changed and headed out to make a bet on the Preakness horse race. I had a couple exacta boxes and bet on three different longshots to win just for the hell of it. Nothing panned out for me, but I won some money back on a quarter wheel of fortune slot machine, so it was all good. After that I walked to MGM Grand and played some poker for a few hours. Got a couple beers and made a little money there too. Chilled in the pool for a while saturday night, no skinny dipping this time. Got back to the room around midnight and started watching Eagle Eye. A really entertaining movie that I should have watched sooner. My buddy also made some awesome cinnamon rolls. After two of them, I called it a night.

Sunday morning, my buddy and his family all took off at 5am. I slept in until 9. I checked out, packed up, and headed back to my condo to load up a couple things to take home. I thought about gambling at Green Valley Ranch, then I thought about laying out by our pool. I ended up staying home and playing some Rock Band for a couple hours before picking up my neighbor and driving home. Made pretty good time getting home and had a good chat with my neighbor. When I got home, I pretty much just relaxed and got ready for the new work week.

You may have noticed that the title says "Pre Vegas" as well as "Post Vegas." It's pre Vegas because I'm heading back out to Sin City again this weekend. I'm not taking friday off this time, but I do have the holiday on monday, so it will be another three day weekend in the desert for me! This time I'm heading out there for my brother's birthday so I'm sure we'll have plenty more to drink and loads of fun. I don't think I'll get my good steak, but I'm sure I'll have some other stories for you next week. See ya back here then.

Vegas baby! VEGAS!!!

Today is my friday. I'm taking tomorrow off from work so that I can head out to Las Vegas early and beat all the traffic. A buddy of mine found some awesome deal online for a 2 bedroom condo which is usually a timeshare. I've stayed there once with him and it was great! The place has a kitchen, living room, and two seperate bedrooms.

The room is nice and all, but that's not where all the fun of Vegas happens. (Well some of it happens there if you're lucky!) There really isn't a plan for this weekend except to have some drinks and play some poker. My plan also includes winning thousands of dollars while only betting in $20 increments. So that part of the plan might not happen. We'll see. The only other itinerary item for me is to somehow get someone to go get a good steak with me. I'm thinking Prime Rib at Lawry's or maybe a steakhouse in one of the hotels. Look for a post next week to find out what went down this weekend in Vegas.

Baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball!!!!

Weekend update with QuadSevens, aka BetAsBogus.

So this weekend was full of baseball games. Friday night I got free tickets from work to go see an Angels game. Yes, you read that right, an Angels game. I am a die hard Dodgers fan, but I can't turn down free tickets. And don't worry, I wore my Dodgers hat to The Big A. My work was giving away free tickets because it was Dairy Night. This of course means that two cows get marched out onto home plate before the game for a good milking. The Royals first base coach and an Angels pitcher (I forgot their names) take two minutes to milk each cow and then the buckets are weighed to see who wins. Without even watching I'm sure you can guess who won. With the cow kicking on every pull of the udder, the Angels pitcher somehow still won. The Angels won the game that night 4-0 and I got to see a few coworkers outside of work.

Saturday I was invited to go to the Dodgers game with an old friend. It was a 12:30pm game so I got up bright at early at 8am. Yes, 8am on a Saturday morning. Some of you may know that I'm not much of a sleeper. I almost never sleep in, and on a regular night I get about 6 hours of sleep which is just fine. Sleeping 8 hours is sleeping in for me. So I decide to get up at 8am so that I can work out and get in a run and also pick up a mother's day card and some sunblock for the game. The tickets my buddy has for the Dodgers game are field level near the left field foul poul. Excellent! Great weather and the three of us (he had another friend going to the game) are living it up with our Dos X beer and the cool family in the row ahead of us. The Dodgers are coasting along on the back of an Eric Stults complete game shutout when I get a call from my brother. He's in town for the weekend for mother's day and invites me to that night's Angels game with some friends. He's buying the ticket, so I can't pass this up!

The Dodgers win 8-0 and I pass out in the car for the ride home. 4 large Dos X in the hot hot sun will do that to me. I get home, take a quick cold shower to sober up and wake up, then I'm on my way. It's a quick 15 minute drive to the stadium and I'm in the parking lot having a burrito and beer with the guys. The Angels are facing the Royals again, but tonight Zack Grienke is pitching. The guy has won his first 6 starts of the year and has an ERA of 0.40! That's insanely good! Somehow the Angels's Joe Saunders throws a complete game shutout and the Angels win 1-0. After the game we drink some more in the parking lot, then go to a party at some girl's house where we drink even more. I'm smashed by midnight and decide to head home. Two baseball games in one day though! That's a first for me, and it was loads of fun!

Sunday, Mother's Day, I wake up at 9:30 for breakfast. Got 8 hours of sleep, but I'm still a little hung over. I have some Sunny D, eggs, potatoes, and BACON!! then I start to feel a little better. For Mother's Day we are heading out to Chavez Ravine for a Dodgers day game. 1:10pm against The Hated Ones. Since I started the day a little hung over I decide not to drink at this game. Instead, I enjoy a chocolate malt in the sun! They never get old. Seats were in the Reserve level third base side which gives you a great view of the entire field. The game was exciting but eventually the Dodgers lost in the 13th inning.

Just to recap, my weekend was 3 days long, but included 4 Major League Baseball games. I was 3-1 on the weekend and only had to pay for 1 seat. Doesn't get much better than that.

Viva Los Doyers!!!

Today was Sunday Funday! I had a nice block of 9 field level seats to the Dodgers/Padres game today. I invited 6 friends and headed to the game with my parents as well. The Dodgers have been on fire to start the season. They won today, 7-3, and now have a perfect home record of 10-0! It's a new franchise record.

The Dodgers got up early with 3 quick runs in the first inning. Chad Billingsly took care of the rest from there. He went 7 innings and only gave up 2 runs. His record has improved to 5-0 now this season. As great as he was, the highlight of the game is very easy to pick out. During the 6th inning when the Dodgers were finished warming up, Andre Ethier threw a ball into the stands that I ended up with! I think it's a pretty sweet souvinir.

Another nice souvinir was the coupon that all the Dodgers fans got today. Since the Dodgers won the game by 4 runs, everyone got a coupon for a free order of Mini Sirloin Burgers from Jack in the Box. Yippie-I-A Mini Sirloin Burgers! HA!

Calm Like a Bomb

It's Sunday morning and I was up way too early today. I had a few beers last night, not enough to make me hungover or super drunk or anything. I went to sleep at about 1130, which is pretty early for me. Then for some reason this morning I was wide awake at 4am. I tried to force myself to go back to sleep but that only lasted until 545am when I just couldn't sleep anymore.

I was still a little groggy so I really couldn't write anything. Instead I just surfed the web a bit and tried to go back to sleep at around 7. That lasted about 2 hours and finally I just got up. I staggered down the stairs and into the garage to work out and run on the treadmill for a while. It's been over a week since I last did either one, because I got lazy last week. I only did 1.75 miles today since I hadn't run in a while and was already dieing on the treadmill. Figured I'd wait until tomorrow to really kill myself while running.

After a shower and change of clothes the song "Calm Like A Bomb" by Rage started playing on my itunes playlist. If you don't know this song, go listen to it. It has one of the best opening bass lines ever in my opinion. So of course, I had to relearn how to play it right that second. I used to play bass almost everyday when I was in college just to kill time and because it was fun to play along to my favorite songs. I still know how to play quite a few songs, but not nearly as many I used to know. Bass is also a pretty good workout for your hands and forearms. So I relearned how to play that song, then started playing a few others (Chick Magnet, Disco Inferno, Pawn Shop, Groove Is In The Heart, I Will Survive, Johnny Quest Thinks We're Sellouts). As you can see from the picture above, I have an extensive music collection which is why I like to play songs from all types of genres.

After that, and a quick discussion of Lost and how skinny Lindsay Lohan is over text messages, I'm ready to get some grub and start my day.

Catching Up...

Last sunday we tried to go back to the Back Abbey for some awesome sounding burgers and of course more Belgian beer. Four of us went there the friday before and we all missed the fact that the Back Abbey is closed on sundays. BOOOO! We ended up walking down the street to Heroe's for some burgers instead. I was a little hung over from the night before so I didn't have any giant 33 oz beers, just an iced tea.

The day before I went to Newport Beach and checked out a bar with my friend called Mutt Lynch's. This place is right on the beach with people walking into the place in bikinis which is tormenting for a single guy. Mutt also has some great pizza and giant 32oz beers. We got there at about 5pm and my buddy was intent on getting me drunk for some reason. So we ordered a giant pepperoni pizza with had loads of cheese and layers of pepperonis. It was amazing. I also got a Newcastle (left).

Finished that beer and a couple slices of pizza and I went on to have two more giant beers (Fat Tire). Then I decided to slow it down a little so I had a regular size pint of Amstel Light. We started playing some pool as the night went on and the bar emptied out. I played some pool with a good looking girl and her mom and aunt. Interesting peeps. I won the game and she bought be a beer. So that was cool. Then they took off before Mutt Lynch's doesn't have any hard alcohol, just beer and wine. Somehow after all that beer I managed to not throw up on the ride home. Usually the car is my worst enemy after drinking. I'd highly recommend checking out Mutt Lynch's. And if you do, give me a call so I can come along as well.

Friday fun!

So this past week was a really busy one at work. When friday comes around I'm ready to go out and have a little fun. Lucky for me, I have cool friends who know new spots to go to all the time. Last night we went out to a place called The Back Abbey in Claremont. They are supposed to have extremely good food and 30 Belgian beers on tap! A beer drinkers heaven! Unfortunately, this place is about as big as a bathroom. It was too packed to sit down and eat, but we couldn't let the night go by without trying out some new Belgium beers. We would return later when it wasn't so packed.

We walked down the street and found a good Thai food place called Bua. The four of us got a table pretty quickly and started perusing the menus. I already knew I wanted the spring rolls to start and I had some chicken fried rice as well. And of course a Thai beer, Singha. My friends had some duck, spicy beef noodles, and some sweet noodles with vegies. I tried the spicy beef noodles, and it was really good. I'll probably have that next time.

We packed up our doggie bags and headed back to the Back Abbey for our dessert beers. The place had emptied out some so we got to sit right at the bar which only had about 7 chairs. We each ordered a different beer and passed them around to get a taste. I had the Piraat which of course had a pirate on the tap. That drew me in right away, and I wasn't dissapointed. The other beer that I tasted which I really liked was called Chamay. Had a nice golden color and was tasted great! One really cool part about this bar was that every beer they had on tap, had it's own beer glass. Not something you see everyday, so I thought it was cool. And I might be heading back there tomorrow for the food. We decided we have to have a burger and some of their double fried french fries with dipping sauces. Yelp it and you'll know what I'm talking about.

After our excellent beers, we walked back towards the Thai place and found a Mediterranean restaurant and bar that had hookah. So we each had another beer and ordered some strawberry hookah. I had a Lebanese beer called Almaza. It was a light beer and tasted pretty good. The hookah lasted a long time and wasn't too badly priced at $15. The service was a little slow, but that's not surprising. Seems like every hookah bar I've been to has been this way.

I loved that all three of these places were on the same street super close to each other. It was definitely a great way to begin the weekend. I'll keep you posted about the burgers at the Back Abbey if I go back on sunday.

Coming Soon...

It's been a few days since I posted anything here, so I really need to take some time and write again. But until that time comes, go visit my friend's site for a good laugh.

www.randomruckus.com

See ya soon.

Mondays suck!

I think the majority of the world would agree that Mondays suck. No matter what you do, how much you make, or who you work with, you always hate to see your weekend come to an end. Going back to work on Monday is never any fun. The reasons for work on Monday not being fun will vary widely though. I thought about this today as I was walking across the street to help someone with a minor problem that they couldn't tell me any information about aside from "It's not working!" So I thought I'd write about some of the awesomely crappy jobs I've worked in the past to help alleviate my pain.

In high school I worked at Toys R Us. If you collected Star Wars action figures or Hot Wheels, this was an ideal job. However, there were some drawbacks to it like any other job. The place is a giant toy store. Kids go crazy when they see so many toys that they want. And of course, the parents just don't care about controlling the kids while inside TRU. I've seen kids use the restroom in the aisles while a parent just turns their head. I've had to clean up puke in an aisle right next to the restrooms. Kids will pull toys of the shelves and just toss them away as soon as they see something new making a huge mess to clean up.

The parents were not much easier to deal with. I worked at Toys R Us during two interesting times. First, I was there when the Tomagotchi was huge, and at the same time UPS went on strike. So we had this amazing toy that everyone in the whole world wanted 3 of and we weren't getting any shipments of them. So parents would scream and yell at me, the lowly Toys R Us employee, because UPS they couldn't find the toy their kids wanted. They'd tell me to go look in the back after checking the inventory in our computers and seeing that we had none in stock. Kind of like the movie Waiting, we found ways to get our own revenge. We'd go to the back to "check for a toy" and hang out with a fellow employee for 10 minutes while the parent twisted in the wind up front. We didn't care, we were getting paid minimum wage. Other times we'd grab the toys and hide them somewhere in the store for ourselves.

The other interesting time that happened while I was working at Toys R Us was the Christmas that the Tickle Me Elmo first came out. Rabid parents are 100 times crazier at Christmas time. Having our store hours extended until midnight for a month didn't help either. Toys R Us helped prepare me for how to deal with insane people later in life. Whether I'm at work or not, I somehow seem to draw the crazies towards me.

The other job that I worked which I think had some influence on my future was a valet driver. In college I worked as a valet driver for a Viejas Casino in San Diego. I think everyone should work for tips at least once in their life. It really opens your eyes to how hard some people work for such crappy pay. Makes you see how much certain jobs (restaurant servers, valet, hotel maids, casino dealers etc.) really rely on tips. It's pretty bad when you get excited over a $2 tip. Having worked that job for a mere 3 months really changed the way I thought about tipping.

Well, I feel better. Maybe now I won't be so frustrated when I ask a user to "log off and sign back in" and instead, they shut down their computer. Oh well.

p.s. Happy Easter

The Dark of the Matinee

It's been a while since I've gone to the movies. I think the last movie I saw was The Watchmen, and it was excellent! The problem with movies now is that they cost so much. $11 per person is ridiculous! Makes me happy to be single! HA!

After watching The Watchmen I got curious about the actual comics. I spent a few days at work surfing the web and reading all about the series of comics. I had actually read the wikipedia entry and the entire plot before seeing the movie. Lucky for me, my short term memory sucks and I forgot all the big plot twists.

I still wasn't satisfied with just reading short summaries about all the characters, or even the authors, so I cruised to the store and bought the new release paperback. I'm sure some of the super fans would be upset to hear that I didn't go search for the original 12 comics or buy the collectors edition hardback, but who cares? I'm reading the book now and loving it. Takes me back to my childhood when I used to watch the X-Men cartoons constantly.

This comic is slightly different, but just as good. I like that it's set in a fictionalized version of the real world. It really sucks you into the story. Makes you wonder if any of this actually could have happened. And if it had happened, how different would your life be today?

And if anyone thinks this post title sounds familiar, it's the name of a song by Franz Ferdinand. Great band, check them out.

Why are you bad America?

I've found that people have a real hard time with anything that deviates from their normal daily activities. Give someone a new phone and all of a sudden they forget how to dial. Move a form to a different place on the network and now filling in a date becomes difficult. I don't know why this is, but I find it very confusing.

I don't think I've mentioned this before, but I work in the IT department for my company. So the two examples I mentioned earlier are from personal experience. I get to answer questions from my company's users on all kinds of computer, printer, and/or phone related topics. I found a website that is full of funny and confusing stories and I often check it out when I need a good laugh.

So whenever you think you deal with some really dumb people, go check that site out and laugh at someone else's misfortune. It always makes me feel better.

Brain Dumping Time

Apparently this blog is becoming a place for me to spill all the thoughts in my head into one place, at one time. So here goes tonight's session...

Today was opening day for Major League Baseball. My beloved Dodgers were in San Diego to start the season and they won 4-1. Kemp looked impressive in the field and with the bat as he smashed a HR to deep centerfield. Broxton looked good as the closer too. He hit 99 and 100 on the radar gun.

Tonight was also the first day for a new show that I will be watching regularly simply because it stars Bob Saget. Surviving Suburbia premiered tonight and I thought it was really funny. After just recently seeing him do his live stand up act, I kept picturing him saying really dirty things and making obscene hand gestures. That was funny in my head too. 9:30 Monday nights after the horrible DWTS.

Over the weekend I finally went to Best Buy to spend my gift cards that I got for my birthday. My birthday was in February, so I'm a little late. Anyways, I've been working out and running pretty frequently so I decided to get myself an iPod shuffle. I already have an iPod Classic (160GB) and an iPhone (3G 16GB, Black) so you might be wondering why I got a Shuffle. I looked at some reviews for an armband for my iPhone, but I didn't find any good reviews. Plus I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't like the idea of having my big iPhone strapped to my arm while running. This is why I got myself a blue 1 GB Shuffle. Not the new iPod Shuffle with no buttons on it. I don't like the idea of being locked into one pair of headphones. Plus 1 GB is plenty for my short runs, I don't need 4 GB. And I like the color blue.

After Best Buy, I went to Target to buy some new music with a gift card that I've had sitting in my wallet since Christmas. Anybody seeing a theme here? Yeah, I don't go shopping much. So I get there and find two new cds with girls for lead singers, Lily Allen and the Ting Tings. I go to pay and find out that my gift card is empty. I forgot that I spent it in February buying myself Mario Kart Wii online. Oh well, two cds $24 even. I like the cds, so I didn't care.

I'm still working on my playlist of songs for my "Run Pod" which is fun. I listen to 2-3 seconds of songs in my library and know right away if it will be a motivating song for me to run to. I'm sick with music. I can't remember what I did with a friend last week, but I'll know every word to a song I haven't heard for over 10 years.

And last but not least, I had the correct response to the Final Jeopardy clue tonight. What is the speed of light? Suck it Trebek!! I'm out.

Happy Friday!

It's finally friday! This week was a bit busy at work for me. Too many projects going on at once. eForms, new email server, redrawing the regions of the sales staff, and people playing musical offices. But all that can suck a lemon now that friday is here!

I was feeling kinda tired and lazy after work but I still forced myself to workout. Only the second time this week, I slacked off. And I didn't run. I'll try to wake up tomorrow and do both to catch up. But for now, I'm looking forward to some sushi and maybe a beer or two. Hope you all have a great weekend!

April Fools Day

This post is going to jump around a bit, so be prepared.

Today was April Fools Day. In the past I've pulled a couple good pranks on my friends. Both times it involved stealing a vehicle and both times I had my victim nearly in tears. In high school I got my neighbor's mom to give me her daughter's car keys. My friends took her out for ice cream while I "stole" her car and parked it in a friend's garage. She came home thinking her car was stolen, was ready to call the police and about to break down into tears before I gave her the "good" news. She was pissed, but also surprised that I could come up with the plan and execute it so well. I was kind of a goody goody in high school, but I had a sneaky evil side too. In college I convinced a roommate that someone stole his two jetskis and trailer. He was about to drive away in an angry rage and probably cry in the car when I told him I hid the jetskis around the back of the house. It's so much fun to pull a good prank like that!

Today was also the day that the conficker virus was supposed to kill the internet. As you can see, that didn't happen. But I spent the last couple days checking my computer to make sure that it had all the important updates and also a new anti-virus program. I also spent most of the day at work checking google news for anything about the virus. Apparently it phoned home and got new instructions, but didn't do much else. It may strike in the future, but nobody really has any clue about that.

Since today is also wednesday, it's a Lost night for me too. I won't recap the show here, because if you aren't a Lost fan it won't make any sense. All I will say is that this season is starting to get really good. Lots of questions are being answered and I feel like a lot more will be answered before the season is over. Only one more season to go after this one. And Ben is still evil. Ok, that's all.

Weekend Fun!

This past weekend was one of the few that I actually had something to do planned for each day. Friday night I went to the Brea Improv to see Bob Saget. You might remember him as Danny Tanner on the show Full House (before the Olsen Twins got all druggie looking) or maybe as the host of America's Funniest Home Videos. If you see him live, don't expect anything G rated to come out of his mouth. I've seen him live once before and I think his randomly dirty humor is funny to me because of his past tame roles. I was sitting right up front next to the stage, which was a little too close I think, but still fun. He picked on some audience members, talked about Kimmie Gibler and other Full House peeps, and sang dirty/funny songs for us. My favorite being "Danny Tanner Was Not Gay" sung to the music of the Backstreet Boys song "I Want it That Way."

Saturday morning I woke up early and went to Pechanga Casino (on an Indian Reservation in Temecula, CA) to play poker with Jeff. We both played in the morning tournament, but didn't make the money. Afterwards we played some limit cash games and I ended up winning $88. Not bad for the low limits we play. After that we headed home to rest up for dinner at Benihanas. We had a group of friends together to celebrate Alan's birthday. After stuffing my face on steak, shrimp, vegies, steamed rice, a sake bomb, and some ice cream, we headed home to play a little beer pong. Always a lot of fun with this group and it provided one of the funniest quotes ever from the quietest guy in the group. One of those you had to be there moments. We were all cracking up. Good times.

Sunday morning and afternoon I didn't do much. I was still recouperating from the previous night. I spent most of the day on the couch watching some NCAA basketball and High Stakes Poker reruns. That night I headed out to the House of Blues in Anaheim to see Less Than Jake. Jeff and I made a stop in the bar before heading in to see the show and had a couple beers. The show was a lot of fun. I discovered a new band that I'm going to have to check out called The Expendables. They put on a really good show just before Less Than Jake took the stage. LTJ played for about an hour. They played a few old classics like "9th and Pine" and "Happyman" as well as plenty of new stuff (which I didn't know). I'll have to buy a new cd from them too. Getting home at midnight made Monday morning tough. But luckily I survived.

I've got my eyes set on another concert in the near future now, but I'll need to find someone to go with me. OK Go is playing the HOB on April 10th. I might just have to go alone. I'll keep ya posted.

Welcome To My World

Thanks for stumbling onto my little blog. Since some of you reading this probably have no idea who I am, I suppose I should introduce myself.

My name is Gabe Bustos. I'm a 28 year old guy living in LA county and newly single. I graduated from San Diego State in 2004 and I've been working for Cacique for about 4 and half years now. (The cheese company, not women's clothing) I'm a sports fan. I follow the Dodgers, the Chargers, the Lakers, and sometimes the Kings. Every so often I like to play poker, play guitar, or play the bass. I'll relearn a song or two when I get bored at night.

I tend to think that I'm a pretty straight forward kind of guy. Some people say that I don't open up to others, so maybe this blog will help that. I'm not a big talker usually, but I can type your ear off. I can be lazy and also a procrastinater, so who knows how often I'll update this blog. Just check back every so often and I'm sure I'll have some entertaining story for you to read. I'm also a bit nerdy as you might have guessed from my blog title. If you haven't already guessed, allow me to share my nerdiness with you. "Bet As Bogus" is an anagram for my name.

Well now you know a little about me. I'm sure you'll find out more with each post on here. Feel free to ask me any questions in the comments too. I'll try to respond in a timely manner...if anyone reads this.