Cute Kid sings Hey Jude!

You may have seen this on myspace.com, but I thought it was cute. Remember, to Ret her into your heart!

korean baby singing hey jude

The Big Apple

This last week I had to go to New York City on business. I would have been excited to go to the Big Apple if Sarah were traveling with me, but it was a relatively short trip and not intended for sight seeing. I got in very late Sunday night and left very early Tuesday morning. I didn't visit any touristy places, though I had six hours of meetings on the 60th floor of the Empire State Building. That was pretty cool. Unfortunately I did not have my camera. I also had a great dinner with some colleagues at a restaurant called Sparks. Great food. Ultimately, this was a productive trip, but not as fun as it could have been. These are the only photos I took.

Sparks Restaurant ~ Known Dining of Choice for the Mafia
Our meal for 8 of us was 2 G's

I love me some feather pillows and the Marriot at Times Square delivered!

If you are in NYC, You gotta have some Original Ray's Pizza Pie...Fuggetaboutit!

The Greatest Generation

This weekend we were pleased to have two of the greatest generation stay with us, my Grandma and Herb. It was fun to be with them and hear some of their stories. Sarah recorded her Grandfather, Christian, in the past and it proved to be a great thing. I am going to purchase a recorder, batteries and tapes for my Grandma. I would love to have some of her life, my Grandfather's and Herb's life recorded for posterity. We played games each night and they schooled us. I guess all that morning game time paid off, eh Grandma? I intended to take some pictures of them when they were here, but forgot. Here is a picture of them from an earlier date. I love my Grandma and it is hard to think of her not here. She is such a lively and healthy person and that makes me happy. I miss my Grandpa, but am happy to know Herb. He is a good person. Thanks for stopping by!

USC Continues to Roll in the NFL...Where is UCL-Lame?!

My main man, Sedrick Ellis of Chino!

As the NFL's #1 provider of talent, THE University of Southern California continues to contribute. After the first day of the NFL draft, USC has had seven, yes seven, players drafted in the first two rounds. The first player being Sedrick Ellis from my hometown of Chino, California! This is pleasing because it represents the tremendous success SC has experienced as of late. The daunting task of replacing the players is already at hand and after spring practice it appears all will be fine in the land of Troy. On a side note....where was UCL-Lame at the draft?! Don't fret Tim, there are a few more rounds to go.

Norm Chow after the team abandons him on the first day of Spring Practice.

M-I-C-See You Real Soon! K-E-Y Why? Because We Love You! M-O-U-S-E!!!!

Let the Month of lunacy begin! We took our first trip of many this last weekend. We went to Disneyland with my nieces, (Hailey and Madyson), Samantha and my Mum. Below are pictures. We also had the opportunity to watch Madyson perform in a national dance competition. Unfortunately, they did not allow flash photography in the theater. It was fun to see everyone; Mum, DOD, Jimbo, Scooter, Samantha, Hailey Leilani, and Mady. We love you all and thank you for your hospitality.

This is us at the "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" show.

A Bunch of Mad Hatters!

HHHMMMMPPPPHHHH!!!!!

Mum and the Girls at Toad's Wild Ride

Sarah, Hailey Leilani, Madyson and Me at the Happiest Place on Earth!

Sarah after I cleaned the House!

We bought the girls autograph books, but there were only a few characters out.

Sarah and her second favorite man...er...mouse.

You Tube Fun!

This is the actor from the movie, Hot Rod, Andy Samberg. He reminds me of Jake, Sarah's brother. Sarah laughs and laughs when she sees this digital short. Enjoy!

For Sale..sniff, sniff...By Owner...sniff, sniff

After trying to sell the Jeep for six months, I finally gave up and resigned to keep it. That is why I lifted it. However, I still have four cars and only need two. That is why these two beauties are up for sale. Selling them both really pains me, but we need to be frugal and prepare for adoption costs.

The 1999 Range Rover HSE is a beautiful ride. If you have ever owned one, you will understand why it is so hard for me to give up. This is my second Rover and not my last. Entirely capable offroad, yet elegant and refined for around town. In the perfect world, this would be the car I would keep because I love it so much and it is paid off. It has 126,000 miles and is in great shape. If you have ever seen my garage, you know I care for my cars. I just installed a $1700 Steel Coil Conversion to eliminate the woes of the air suspension. It is pristine inside and has minor scratches and no dents outside. New tires, new windshield also adorn this special lady! I will miss her. If you know of anyone interested, send them my way. Asking price $9900, but I will consider all offers.
The Alfa Romeo is a 1972 Spider. It is in good condition, but could use a little love. This is a hard one to value. NADA has it currently valued at 9-12K, but who knows. I do have 3K in Z rated tires and Panasport wheels alone. It has 92,000 miles on it. I have only put on 1K miles in the 7 years I have owned it. I am asking $9000, but will consider all offers. This is a fun car!

Here is a picture of 2/3 of my garage. You can eat off the floors if you wanted to.

New and Improved and Improved Again!

After a week of headaches and leaving the Rubicon at the shop, they finally figured out why it was pulling to the right. They suggested a suspension lift and some special part would fix it and I agreed to give it a try. So the Jeep is now higher than it was before. The special part was ordered and will be installed this week. I really like it now, but it is hard to get into. Now if it would just get warmer so I could take off the top!

Marque at the Movies!

I thought I would begin doing movie reviews. It seems that most movie critics are often criticized; that they are not really offering an analysis of the movies that the public can agree with. I typically do not listen to movie critics nor so I value their opinion. There is one critic I can trust, Steve Oldfield. Anyway...I thought I would enlighten the three readers of my blog to how I feel regarding movies that I have recently viewed. I typically rate videos into five categories; 1) 5 stars - I could see this movie again and again and again. I need to own it. 2) 4 stars - I thoroughly enjoyed it and could see it again. 3) 3 stars - It was okay; not bad, but not great, just okay. 4) 1 star - I would not care if I never saw that movie again, and 5) 0 stars - I want my money back, even if I have to travel to Hollywood and beat it out of the producer! This is my first review. I understand that people have different tastes and interests in movies, so I do not expect everyone to agree with me. Please let me know what you think.Hot Rod (Rated PG-13) opened in the theaters on August 3rd and I am pretty sure they yanked it on August 4th. I got it from Netflix recently and Sarah reluctantly watched it with me. It is a story about a small town loser that never grows up. Rod Kimble (Andy Samberg) is obsessed with becoming a stunt man in an effort to make his dead father and his step father (Ian McShane) proud of him. The problem is that he performs less than wowing stunts on his moped. Sarah didn't even know what a moped is, so for those who are in the dark, it is a product of the late 70's and early 80's that combines the design of a bicycle (pedals and all) with the luxury of a motor like a scooter. It immediately oozes a Napolean Dynamitesque feeling in it's off the wall and quirky style. We laughed our butt off in the parking lot and forest dance scenes. The dialogue will keep you giggling and the relationship between Rod and his step father is disturbingly funny. All in all....I would say I give Hot Rod a rating of....**** 4 stars!!! Rent it and enjoy. Approach the movie like Napolean Dynamite with no expectations.