Gator By The Bay 2008

My family has made a tradition of going to the annual Gator By The Bay festival and after a week of 'May Gray' we couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day. My mom, sister, cousin, Johanna, Jasmyne, and our friend visiting from Texas loaded up a couple cars and headed down to Gator which was already in full swing when we arrived. We parked at Island Prime and walked along the bay until we got to the park.



We really enjoyed the day, arrived around 1 and stayed and stayed until almost 7pm, enjoying family, the sun, the food, the music and the dancing. We brought some snacks, but we couldn't turn down the crawfish, some catfish, and other southern delights.









There was a band called The Lost Bayou Ramblers who provided the soundtrack at the stage where we'd set up camp and they were really great, and I found myself quite smitten with the singer/violinist. We also ran into some friends there. There's this general feeling at this festival, that even just for a few hours, nothing really matters. People let loose and smiles abound. Some people are really great dancers, some not so much, but nobody really cares as everyone just gets lost in the vibe. Once again, we enjoyed the event and are already looking forward to doing it again next year.


My mom is hot!



For more pics, click "keep on reading" below.




Jasmyne loved the crawfish...










This guy jumped in one of our pictures. "Oh, no," I said, "now you're gonna be on my blog." Then he gave me his card and said he had a website, too, that he blogs, but he makes a living as an artisan cheesemaker. I think I met my dream man. He blogs? And makes cheese? Heaven...
And the one on the right is all the girls together. So much fun.



This is just in case any compnies out there are looking for a spokesmodel. How cute is my girl??

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Johanna 5.10.08

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The Rundown of My Three Day Weekend

I spent the entire weekend with family by day, but still partied by night, but I kept my picture taking to a minimum. I think I need to somehow clean my camera because it's not focusing like I want it to as can be seen in the pics I posted from the week. Anyway, this is just a long winding post about my weekend, so if you're interested, click the "keep on reading" link below. If you just wanna know about the music stuff, skip this post. But you still get to see Johanna...this was feeding time.



Friday started with my brother and my sister-in-law, Melissa, arriving to my house after their lunch at Quatro Milpas. We were just going to head to my mom's but ended up all busting out our laptops to use the wi-fi since there is none at my mom's. After a couple hours, we went down and arrived at baby feeding time at Rosie's Family Daycare.





It was pretty much a laid back night at the house, we ordered pizzas, had cake for my sister's birthday, and watched Bill Maher together. By the time I got home, I was a little wiped out and took a short nap, thinking it would just be a laid back night at the Ken. I got there at 11 and it turned out that Frantic Romantic had already played, so I sat at the bar with a couple friends. I wish that I'd rechecked my own site, because I didn't realize that my listing for U-31 was so buried on my Friday night listings, or I would've been at Silent Comedy. Instead, Dan picked me up from the Ken Club and we went to Jivewire at the Casbah for a little while, until retiring at the Cherry Bomb for some quick foosball and last call, then came back to Kensington to hang out.

Come Saturday, I was taking it easy until my cousin and sister picked me up and we went back to Chula Vista for my sister's birthday BBQ, only it was cold out so it was more of an indoor party, but it was still good. It had been ages since my family was all together including my cousin, and we laughed at the thought that there was a time when we all lived under the same roof.




We again stayed at the house pretty late, until the last guests left and the house was all cleaned up. My brother turned in a little early because he was going to Disneyland on Sunday, so we said our "see you in 7 months" and called it a night, and I went home. I rested a bit and walked to the Ken in time to catch Writer and Hotel St. George. I don't know what's going on with the lights there but the last couple shows there were played in almost complete darkness, but Writer and Hotel St. George sounded great, even to just the handful of us who were present.

At the end of the night, a bunch of people came over for an after party. Since I never really take pictures after hours, I decided to take a couple of everyone sprawled in my livingroom.


The crowd eventually dwindled a little and then a little more, until it was just Andy, Abraham and I and we got into an interesting conversation about religion which was surely the sign (well, that and the sunrise) that it was time to call it a night.



Obviously staying up that late meant I slept in, but eventually my parents came by and we all went to my sister's house to hang out. We watched Juno, which I hadn't yet seen, and passed Johanna around, had dinner until eventually Connie left to head back to LA and my parents dropped me back at home, where I got sucked into a Hallmark movie on CBS and tested myself to see if I could go a whole day without opening my laptop. It wasn't easy, but I did it.

So yeah, it was a busy week, and now that I've written all about it, I've got this week to cover...so I should really get some sleep but I guess I'll do a mini listings post first.

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Why Today Is Awesome

I took the day of from the day job because my brother and sister-in-law are in town before he's shipped off to that middle east hellhole. I'm just kickin it before I head down to Chula Vista. Days off rule, because there's this little satisfaction in knowing that while everyone else in the universe is working, I'm laying in my bed with my dog at my side, laptop on my lap, with 10 internet tabs open, and nothing is required of me today.

Here are some other reasons why today is awesome:

1. San Diego weather: 72.3 degrees


2. Magazine day! Got the new Wired, Fast Company, The Week, and Real Simple in the mail. I might not read enough when it comes to books, but I'm all over magazines, news sites and blogs. Information overload does not exist for me.


3. Publicists! I got the new Langhorne Slim album in the mail. I LOVE those guys. The album officially comes out April 29, and they're playing at the Casbah on May 13th and you better believe I will be there. You can have all the diamonds, you can have all the gold, but someday you're still gonna get old. You gotta learn to get a little happy along the way.


4. Groceries! As a single person without roommates, most of the time eating out seems like the easiest thing and going to the store means I just pick up a couple things at a time, but this week I went shopping and it's good to know that I am well stocked and won't have to put fast food poison in my body for a few weeks, not to mention I've also got a variety of wines, liquor, and beer that are there, just in case.


5. Things to Do! Did you see my listings for this weekend? There is so much going on this weekend that choosing where to go will be a task in itself, but I live for weekends like this and though I have a ton of pics to post from my week, my internet hours will likely be kept to a minimum this weekend because who wants to sit on the net when the sky is this blue and the weather is this perfect?


6. Family! As I mentioned, my bro is here. He got to meet my niece for the first time and we're having a family BBQ tomorrow to celebrate my sister's birthday.

So yeah, that's the shortlist of things pleasing me today...and now my sister-in-law called and they're on their way to pick me up, so I gots to bounce. I'll check in later tonight, but until then, HAPPY FRIDAY!!

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Some Random Notes

In the past couple weeks I've added some links on my sidebar that I thought I should point out.

First, Bart Mendoza has a great site with some great local music information on it.
Check out My Week In Music Magazine.

I also added Brooke's blog a couple weeks ago. Brooke works in radio so she gets some opportunities behind the scenes that make her site a fun read. Check out This Rain Delay.

Stephen Kallao is back on local radio, taking over the airwaves on Sophie 103.7 on weekends. He's also launched his photography site, Whatever Kallao.

Another site popped up recently and it covers all my favorite parts of San Diego. Check out SD Urban.

Last, even though I no longer work in Downtown, the development of the area is still something I pay a lot of attention to. This guy is in the real estate industry, so perhaps skews a different opinion than my own when it comes to development, but he's got a lot of great information, especially in regards to inner workings of the CCDC (Center City Development Corp). Read Urban Living 92101.

As I said, all of these sites are linked in my sidebar. And, a little pride after the jump.

Johanna is crawling! My niece is a speed demon these days.
Check it out here:

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Stop Me If You Think That You've Heard This One Before

Today's top news in Google had this headline: "Bush calls Iran one of two greatest threats to America" from the Times Online.

Do we really have to wait until January for this guy to be gone? For fucks sake. To quote The Smiths again, I am so sickened.

My brother is visiting for one day next week before he gets shipped off to Iraq. I think I have the right to my opinion.

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How Do You Keep Love Alive?

Today my parents are celebrating their 38th anniversary, and I just thought I needed to call that out here, because it's pretty remarkable to me. My parents have always had a strong loving relationship, even when it drove my brother, my sister and I crazy. Particularly those moments when my dad would watch one show in one room and my mom would watch something else in the den, and he'd yell, "Baby, turn on channel 7! You have to see this!" and then two minutes later tell her to check out something else on another channel. I honestly believe the remote control, i.e. "the clicker", was invented for my dad because his mind requires him to watch 4 shows simultaneously. He says he only needs 20% of the show, game, or news to get the gist. I guess I take after him in that way, only my heroin is the internet.

Anyway, I haven't said so here before, though my friends know the story because I love to tell it. Back in '69, my dad had just come back from Vietnam and they pulled into San Diego. He was originally from Buffalo, but he'd just bought a motorcycle and decided to stay a while. My mom grew up locally in National City and was a fairly typical 19 year old. On a night out in Tijuana, my mom with her girlfriends and my dad with his Navy buds, they met at a nightclub, though I guess they called them discos back then. They were smitten quite quickly and after just four months, my father asked her father for permission to marry my mother. My mom says my grandpa said something like "You want her? You can have her," and then he handed my dad the payment book for the camaro she bought.

I certainly don't know any secrets to love, but they found it and worked at it. For all the good and bad, the ups and downs, there's still something magical about the love that they share for one another. It's set the bar pretty high for me personally because of the example my dad has set on how to treat a woman. One day I hope to find that man who still says, every night and every morning, "I am so lucky to have you."

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Too Many Plans, Too Little Time: the rest of my weekend

I completely overbooked my weekend, so much so that when it came to it, I ended up at only two of the seven or so things I'd planned. After getting sick, I realized I had to listen to my body and needed to take it easy.

Friday night, I had miscommunicated with a friend and we ended up missing Tokyo Police Club at Soma, but when Abraham called, he and Dan swung by and picked me up to go to the Beauty Bar. Since Sarah has been there, there are some noticeable changes to the bar. I liked it when Erika was the manager there, but even then, I sometimes felt like a fish out of water; I would go for the bands and when they'd finish, I'd leave to someplace where I felt a little more comfortable in a hoodie and jeans. Some of the staff has changed, the booking is a little different, and there's less a focus on pleasing the hipsters, and I think a different crowd is feeling more comfortable there than before.

Swim Party was awesome as ever, but I was absolutely blown away by Pattern is Movement. Two guys, one on drums and one on keys, just killing it. They did a Radiohead cover that was amazing and they were really nice guys to boot. I highly recommend checking out their MySpace page here.

After the show, Dan dropped Abraham and I off at the Ken Club and we had a couple unnecessary shots and when the bar closed, Abraham crashed out while I caught up on my week's worth of In Treatment.

In the morning my dog was going nuts and I let her out and she had "e.d." (explosive diarrhea) so I set up my lawn chair to stay outside with her and fell asleep in the sun for a couple hours. By noon, it was hot and we decided to get lunch. We headed for El Comal in Grant Hill, but it appears to have changed owners and is now called "Caffe de Pepe" or something. We still ate there, and our food was pretty damn good, though I miss El Comal's salsa trio and their chilaquiles were to die for. Dan came and met us, as did my sister and Johanna, so it was a fun time to chill out.

After lunch, I really wanted to check out the show at Planet Rooth, but I was kinda tired, so I napped instead, and ended up missing a house crawl that I should've been at as well. I did some evening grocery shopping and when Abraham and Daniel showed up again, we walked to the Ken. I was really mellow, and didn't go into the band room until Red Feathers played. I guess I was pacing myself since I kinda knew there was gonna be an after party, and there was. A bunch of us went back to my house, listened to music, watched some shit on YouTube and chilled out for a while until everyone bailed in the wee hours of the morning.

That lead to Sunday, where it was a lazy day and I spent most of it with my family for a BBQ. We watched Enchanted, which I actually thought was a pretty funny spoof of all the Disney princess movies until it turned into one in the end. And of course, I spent some Q.T. with my niece. Petro commented that I haven't posted a picture of her in a couple weeks, so this one is for him.



Anyway, by the time I got home from my parents' house, it was almost 9 and I realized I'd not posted about any of last week's shows, so I decided not to go to the Casbah. I do plan on being there tomorrow for Musee Mechanique and if you haven't heard them, check them out here or here. Hopefully someone will be kind enough to get me a copy of Staring At The Sun. I'm looking forward to the week ahead, but it's finally time for me to get some sleep. I'll try to get some listings up in the morning. night-night.

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A Political Tangent

I got home from work today, pretty wiped out having believed we'd be able to leave a bit early but didn't, and I read a couple articles in the latest edition of The Week magazine. I love this magazine because it's like a Cliff's Notes of the weeks news and gives thorough coverage from hundreds of top papers and merges them into small, succinct passages that not only give the news, but how the news was covered by the media, in editorials, revealing the political bias of such sources.

One of the briefs this week is about how the democratic nomination is progressing, how many electoral votes each candidate still needs to get, the debate over Superdelegates, new endorsements, etc. The one page article merge gives the "what happened", "what the editorials said", "what the columnists said" and "what next?". One line stood out to me.

Clinton herself hasn't accepted that reality (of the math of Superdelegates), said David Brooks in The New York Times. Her own aids say she has a 10 percent chance of securing the nomination; it's probably more like 5 percent. So, "for the sake of that 5 percent," Democrats may be facing three months of "character assassination" and divisiveness.

I went off to take my evening nap and was awaken by a call from my mom.

"Hello?"
"Can you blog about ANYTHING?" she asked.
"Yeah, anything."
"Well, can you write something about Hillary? I'm watching the news and it's making me so mad. These white men are trying to get her to step down from the campaign and it makes me so angry. They just can't stand the thought of a woman being in charge."
"Well, mom, maybe she should step down. If she keeps attacking Obama and doesn't get the nomination, she could be pushing Democrats to vote for McCain."
"But you don't understand. If she steps down, what about all the women who've fought, all the hispanic voters on her side. It will just be more of them keeping women down for another 50 years. I'm just so frustrated by it all. They're such jerks."
"Um, ok, I'll blog about it."

So, Internet. My mom doesn't want Hillary to drop out of the race until a clear winner is chosen. And I still think she should quit, or if she doesn't, she needs to take off the gloves with Obama and bring out a fresh pair for McCain, who, I shudder to think, could beat the Dems in the fall if this slugfest continues.

So there. My two cents. And my mom's. And this guy wrote a pretty good blog about it, too. And either way, rich white male America, you're on notice. My momma don't like you.

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Johanna Celebrates Her Heritage

My niece is in Vegas right now with my family, and apparently is bringing good luck all around since my dad's on a gambling roll and already hit a royal flush. My sister took some pics to share to show Johanna's other 50%. (She's officially 25% Polish, 25% Mexican, and 50% Irish). Here's a nice gummy smile for everyone...

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Johanna, 3.8.08

I'll get to all this week's pictures in a minute. I've just gotta post this one first.

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Presidents' Weekend- the rest of my weekend

Sunday was another chill day, and when my friend cancelled plans to go to the Belly Up, I lost motivation and ended up staying in (though the show at the Belly Up and The Casbah were both really good.) I figured even though I had today off from work, I needed to get back on a normal person's sleep schedule. Plus it meant that today, I got to hang out with my niece and the rest of my family. First, with lunch at El Zarape and a couple hours at Balboa Park, then dinner and hanging out with my parents at my sister's house. It was a lovely day and put the period on what was an excellent weekend.

I still have to post my Saturday pics, but for now, some pics of my little preciosa.

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Writer, The Ringers & This Holiday Life, Beauty Bar, 2-16-08

So I had quite the weekend and have over a hundred pictures to sort through from Saturday, as well as my weekly "things to do" listings to get to, but I'm not really in the mood. I just feel like writing about the rest of the weekend...pics will come later, as well as video of Swim Party from last Monday, The Prayers from Thursday and Cory Branan from Friday.

Saturday night was a Beauty Bar night for me. The bands are starting a little bit later these days, so I had some time to hang out, grab a bite nearby, and post up for This Holiday Life. It was my first time seeing them and I really enjoyed them. They fell in the vein of Agualung for me...beautiful soaring vocals and very piano heavy. I realized that I'd left my camera battery at home, so Abraham and I snuck off mid-set to pick it up. I clocked it and my apartment is 3 minutes from the Beauty Bar.

By the time we got back, we heard there was some mix-up and the Ringers went onstage second instead of Writer. Perhaps it was a weird booking to put the two together, but I know there was a little anxiety that The Ringers super high energy show would somehow overshadow Writer's more melodic and quiet set, but I'm happy to say that not only did both bands play well, but the crowd stuck around for both bands and I think appreciated them both.

The Ringers of course were all over the stage and did their LA brand of rock n roll and they do not disappoint. Again, another dude-heavy fanbase, but it was ok, I strapped my camera around my wrist and did my best to take some pics.












After they were done, I met them outside. Joe, the singer, has a sister named Rosie, so he was really nice to me and we kinda talked about the lineup change, and it just seemed like a fluke- nobody to blame but they had to get back to LA.

Back inside, Writer took the stage and sounded great. I kept joking that after The Ringers, they'd have to keep up the momentum with a few leg kicks, but they did what they do and nobody seemed to mind that they were much more mellow. I freaking love them and really can't say enough about how much I love their CD as well as what great people they all are "in real life."






After the show, Abe and I hit the Ken Club for last call, then hung out until 6 am sitting on my kitchen counter just shooting the shit, before I eventually went to sleep.

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Overdue Recap: Langhorne Slim & Silverbird @ Beauty Bar, Verso @ Ken Club, and the rest of that weekend...

It's so nice to have a free day to catch up with life, no?

A week ago Friday was a great day for me. Work was all caught up and I got to help out on a project that I can't really detail, but it incorporated local music and I was stoked to do it. I was even let off work early, and on my ride home, I was told that I would be rewarded for my efforts with a bottle of vodka. I got home when there was still a bit of daylight, straightened up my house and chilled out until Andrea and Amy showed up. We decided to have some pre-show cocktails so we called a cab who showed up relatively quickly. We were buzzing with energy and a couple drinks.

When we arrived, we met up with the guys in Langhorne Slim. Andrea had brought them some hats from The Village Hat Shop to try out, and they chose a couple. We ordered some more drinks and chilled until the bands started.

Silverbird started off the show. Justin was sporting a new haircut, and this variation of the band only had Justin's guitars, Robin's keys, and the relatively new bassist (sorry, forgot his name). Since they've been without a regular drummer, Justin used a tambourine with a foot pedal to accompany the music. They sounded really great- Justin's heartfelt voice kinda crushes me a little everytime I hear it- so I'm definitely looking forward to them getting in the studio and laying down an album.





I spend a lot of time going to shows, but it's rare for me to actively have a 'ladies night', so we kept well lubed. I finally met Sarah, the new Beauty Bar manager, and we got to hang out a bit and talk about what she's doing with the place, and I think she's got some good things planned. Dustin is helping out with the booking there, too, which I think is a good injection of new blood. Sarah also hooked me up with a couple poker chips, so our good night was propelled to a great one. On top of all that, Abraham was there and said he'd drive us home. Night set, we went back on the patio to watch Langhorne Slim and the War Eagles.

I love this band, and I'm glad that they've got a full length because listening to an EP can only hold you over for so long. I've seen them a few times now, namely with Two Gallants and when they toured with Rocky Votolato, and the energy they have on stage is great. Even with Slim jumpin all over the stage, the other musicians hold their own and really, Paul just kills on that stand up bass.







After the set, we briefly hung out, and Andrea gave one of the hats she brought to Brandon, so here's him reluctantly modeling his new hat. (Check out the Village Hat Shop Online.)



After the show, we headed back to Kensington. I guess that is the point in the night where I had that moment of clarity...like perhaps I should've had dinner before all those cocktails. Oops. We walked over to the Ken and caught the end of The Verso's set. I'll have to check them out again when I'm not all googly eyed.





Afterward, we all came back to my house, and I quickly made my way into bed while my friends entertained themselves. The next morning, they were all up, shiny and bright after crashing in my living room, and convinced me that we should get some lunch. We headed to Bluefoot for some beer while our stuffed pizza was cooking at Lefty's. I'd only ever had fries from Lefty's before and let me tell ya, call me converted. They have some of the best pizza sauce I've ever tasted and it was delicious food to cure the h.o. The Upas Street football crew rolled in and we hung out for a bit, but after a couple hours, it was nap o'clock so I suppose you could say my Friday night finally ended about 3 pm Saturday.

Later that night, I rallied and went to the Ken Club for Swim Party, The Roman Spring, and the Focus Group. It was a great show for all three bands, though I didn't take pictures (you can read Natalie's review here). Late in the night, my friend Sara came to hang out, so we hopped between the band room and the bar, catching up with one another since it had been ages since we'd hung out. Of course, convenience is key, and after the bar, some friends came over. My neighbor was gone so we blasted MgmT and Sub Society and Prince and a whole bunch of other music until it was time for everyone to head home around 4 or 5 in the morning.

Last thing for me for last weekend was SuperBowl Sunday which was really chill with my family at my sister's house in PB. The game was great, but of course, I was obsessed with my niece Johanna. Talent scouts, my e-mail is in the about me section of this page :)

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New Years Eve 2007/ New Years Day 2008

By sunrise, everyone was gone and I spent the day preparing for New Year's Eve, stocking up on some beer and some mixers, cleaning, and just relaxing. Which was just what I needed before the big night ahead.

When it was finally time to leave the house, I saw Matt through the window at Bleu Boheme, so I had to say hi and have one of his delicious vodka mojitos, which was the perfect drink to start my night. Poor Matt, however, was slammed while simultaneously being hit on by every guy at the bar, so I finished my drink and promised to come by again later.

After the drink, it was Ken Club time. The bar was packed because the band side wasn't open yet, but I made my way over there after procuring a drink, because Brett wanted me to take pics of the room. I've been saying how Bodie has been fixing up the bar lately. He started on the bar side with the floors and replacing the vinyl along the bar, a couple weeks ago he had new booths put in the band room, and he's working on the floors at the moment, but I was so stunned at how pretty the room looked since over the prior week, he'd painted it a warm shade of red. I got to taking pics right away.

The bar was still a little too crowded, so a friend and I decided to go back to Bleu Boheme for another drink there. I guess the time was passing faster than I thought. I didn't realize we'd take so long, so I'm sorry we ended up missing Get Back Loretta entirely. Vitro had canceled because the drummer was stuck in a midwest snowstorm, so we arrived in time to see Microphone Mike who pretty much kicks ass on stage, schtick or not.






I didn't bust out the camera too much during the show, but there was a lovely midnight toast, then Transfer hit the stage and brought it down. I thought it was funny how many people were racing to be somewhere else after midnight, like there was this frenzy to get somewhere better. I, on the other hand, was exactly where I wanted to be.

Transfer played pretty much right up until last call, and afterward the band and a bunch of friends came over to my cozy apartment where we drank for a bit. Then everyone headed off to Black Box, but I opted to stay home. Todd came over from the bar as everyone was leaving and we chilled out for a bit watching tv. He had to work at the bar in the morning, so we crashed out and he was off to work a few hours later. The result of my late night was a chill out day. I woke up early and cleaned up the house a bit, then crawled right back into bed.

Later, my parents picked me up and we went to PB to hang with my sis and bro, and of course, Johanna, who was all giggles. I couldn't have asked for a better way to spend the end of one great year and to start off another.

Happy New Year, Party People

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Pictures- Wild Animal Park

After a late night Saturday night --some friends came over after the Sweet & Tender Hooligans show--it was nice to sleep in and chill out before my family picked me up and we headed to the Wild Animal Park. Every year, they do a Park at Dark Holiday Lights thing, and this was the last day to catch it in 2007. Of course, my camera was mainly focused on my niece, Johanna.





The entrance to the lot was packed, perhaps poor planning on our part, but it was fun and a nice way to spend the late afternoon. It was funny how everywhere you walked you heard people talking about the recent tiger attack in SF. When we realized the wait for the tour into "The Heart of Africa" was nearly two hours, we decided we would see what we could by foot. As far as the animals go, it was only exciting to see the lions enclosure, where one lion really did just look like the kind of the jungle.



As we were about to leave his area, the crowd kinda roared. The lion was stretched on his perch, then quickly jumped down and ran to where the people were looking through the glass and he began to roar. It was so loud, we thought it was one of the prerecorded boxes making the sound, but it was the lion growling, and his roar caused all of the other lions, who were in the adjacent building put away for the night, to roar.

Once the sun dropped, it became harder to see much of the animals, but we still wandered around, looking at the lights, watching some kids use sleds on an artificial snow hill, some other kids sing some Christmas songs on a karaoke machine, and various other activities in the village area of the park before we ran out of things to do and we headed back south.



It was a beautiful night in Escondido, and I made my mom stop at a little taco shop to get some of the awesome Mexican food that Escondido is known before we said our goodbyes. Any San Diegan who doesn't have a Zoological Society membership is really missing out on one of the best things San Diego has to offer.

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Johanna's First Christmas

You knew this post was coming, right? We celebrated Christmas at my mom and dad's house, and with my God-sister Claudia living back east now, our celebration was a little more muted than it has been in past years. Her absence was felt throughout the day, but we made the best of it, and I think our highlight was when we all got to talk to her on the phone.

Just shy of 5 months, Johanna is too young to know what's going on, so I presume next year will be more celebratory, mostly this year was the 5 of us passing her around and trying to get her to let out this new giggle she's developed.

We had a nice family dinner; my mom made a roast instead of turkey for the first time ever, and it was delicious. After dinner we opened presents and I got some gift cards and some pajamas and a jacket that I like a whole lot. My sister is getting so many hand me downs from friends that we didn't go too crazy spoiling Johanna, but next year will be a different story I'm sure. I'm still looking to get her some baby earplugs, however... so if anyone knows where I can buy some, let me know.

I, of course, took a lot of pictures, and my parents bought some rustic wood frames for Johanna's room, so along with some color photos, I tried the sepia setting to get some pictures for framing.

For my family, click here for the full album.








I hope everyone got to spend Christmas with loved ones, whether that is family or friends, large or small.

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December Nights 2007 (The Night formerly known as Christmas On The Prado)

Friday was a family night for me. And for once, I think we finally got a routine down that makes sense. In the past, we spent too much time on the east side of the park, so when we'd finally get to the Prado, the museums and food would be closing down. This year, we parked in Hillcrest instead of at City College, and walked in via the Laurel bridge. We watched some dancers and saw some lights, but headed straight to the food booths. The organizers must've read my blog post from last year, because this year, while it seemed like maybe there were less vendors in the Taste of San Diego area, there was more space. The booths weren't facing one another, so there weren't crazy long lines interweaving for the samplings. We also planned well, because at 7, the Cirque du Soleil performance started, so the food area almost entirely cleared out. We had some tasty stuff from Pampas (an Argentinian restaurant), Heaven Scent Desserts, El Indio, Commonwealth Cafe (awesome wings!), Pick Up Stix, and a couple others.

After finishing up, we meandered down the prado to make sure we went into the Natural History Museum. The Dead Sea Scrolls area was closed off, but we had a nice time in the museum. We spent a while there because Johanna needed to be fed and changed, but while we were inside, the rain had come and gone outside, so we were lucky to have missed it.




Johanna was in a good mood the whole night as I carried her around in the Baby Bjorn. We ended up at the "tree" in the Organ Pavillion, but we went onstage, and its not even a real tree! Which I suppose for being "green" isn't so bad, but if you go onstage, it's actually just steel frames and scaffolding with a bunch of greenery tucked into it. Still, that's all ok with me because it was a nice night with my family.

Also, not to get ahead of myself, but a couple friends came over at the Ken Club Saturday night and helped decorate my new tree. My home is now all Christmased out. And I couldn't be happier about that.

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A Post For My Family: Johanna pics

Apparently some of my family who are in different parts of the country have some trouble navigating my website, so I thought I'd post the direct link to the latest pics of my niece, Johanna, from this Thanksgiving weekend. Click the picture for the rest of the photo album.

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Happy Halloween from our little Kielbasa

A few weeks ago my sister and I took a day trip to San Francisco. On the trip, she bought my niece her first halloween costume; this little hot dog suit.

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