Special Gift This Christmas.

This X'mas , one of the hottest gifts is a GPS navigator.Everybody seems to want one.Staple has one brand which sold out in a jiffy this Saturday.I think it is one of the greatest gadget invented the last few years.My friend rented a car when he went to Europe last month and he credited the GPS in the rented car for making his driving there flawless.My friend did not get lost inspite of his newness to the places he visited. No need for paper maps .The only thing that is wrong is when the road is under construction. He got to find another way .That's the advantage of an On Star system fitted in most GM cars.They are up to date and live.I always get a kick out of talking to the On Star live operator .Beats listening to a taped electronic voice.

World War III ?

It's really embarassing that the Bush Administration fumbled again . This time on the nuclear program of Iran.The report from NIE that the Iranian halted their nuke program in 2003.What this talk about WWIII by the President last month if the Iranian will not stop developing the fucking thing ? Ms. Perino had a hard time explaining the confusion caused by the latest news.This is typical of the Bush Administration.No wonder we Americans are finding hard to find believers in our intelligence report anymore.

Thanksgiving Amen.

There are a lot to be thankful for despite the uncertainty of times . My experience is that you really appreciate those things that you sometimes take for granted until you lose them. Anyway , some good stuff that I am truly grateful for are :

1. My favorite TV shows . Meet The Press : Sportscenter : Holmes On Holmes : All Discovery shows except kid and medical stuffs ; American Idol ; Simpsons and many others.

2. My newly reno basement . I have my own mini gym and theather room now. Wow ! I really like it. No more going to 'Y' .More viewing pleasure. Wait till I buy a new plasma TV . Next project is adding a micro mini casino in the basement !

3. Our new car . We just love the GMC Acadia. It's a pleasure to ride on it everyday.It's the closest to an SUV .Thanks God to the car manufacturer for the crossover vehicle.


There are many others that we need to be grateful for but none more important than the fact that I am still typing away my blog ....

What Is Next ?

I was surprised to see people logging in their dog's activities in a social networking called MyDogface.After My Space and Facebook , this now the latest 'in' thing to do.More than a million people are regularly participating in this latest of social networking.This is another very dangerous situation for parents and now, dogowners.What if there are sexual predogtor lurking the net ?How do I protect my dog from pedogphile who lures young dogs to a dog park and molest them.I have to install a dogblocker to my pc now.Doggone world !

Wildfires In San Diego.

San Diego is a wonderful paradise . A little more expensive than most of the country but awesome in beauty and weather. I went there once one a tour with my family to visit the famous San Diego Zoo , its military base and the 'old' SD with Mexican influence still very much alive.I was also in SD several times to conduct business .I found San Diego pretty laid back.One time, my business associate took me to show his 'former' home located in Ramones which is one of the area affected by the horrendous wildfire.He was separated with his 'evil' wife then but not divorced .I gathered by talking to him in our nightly conversations ( I stayed with him in his mother's condo) that he was not happy to be booted from their former home in Ramones. I wonder whether the wildfires burned his home ( or is it hers now ?) there. More importantly , whether he was happy or not . Probably , happy !

Ellen Degenerate

Ellen DeGeneres was crying on TV like a thousand guys devirginized her .Ellen was in tears because a dog named Iggy was taken away by the pet adoption agency from her hairdresser's daughter. The agency said the transfer was illegal because it did not pass through it. Ellen overacted by crying in front of TV viewers . It looked like she was using the media to pressure the not for profit agency to give back the dog.Doggone world ! Talk is cheaper.Use it.

Rudy's Own Mafia.

What is happenning to Rudy Guillani's former people ? Some of his ex staff members when he was the New York's city mayor are beginning to drop like Paris' and Britney's panties.Bad for Rudy's run for the Republican nominationIf Guillani made it as his party's presidential bet,one can be sure that his opponents will exploit this.The Democrats will say that Guillani is not fit to be a Presidentbecause he makes bad choices !

Shoes Galore

I have a problem.I am thinking of building a container to house my wife's shoes in one area.Normally, this is an easy job.However,this is not one of those run of the mill project.The reason is simply because my wife's shoes number to gazillion! There are shoes eveywhere in our house.The coat closet,the kitchen,the furnace room,the storage area,the garage,the laundry room and of course , her closet.I kidded my wife that now I know where my money went.I told her that if she sells her shoes,she will have enough money to buy her desired new crossover car! I assume I need a wallful of racks to house all her shoes.It's time to buy instead of built the .....shoe bank !

Mattel Apologizes To China ? What For ?

I was surprised to read the news that the head of Mattel, the biggest manufacturer of toys in the world, has apologized to China about the recent fiasco caused toy recalls.What the fuck ? China is poisoning our kids by the use of excessive lead in the paints for toys.Why say sorry, Barbie ? Mattel should apologize instead to all the parents and kids whose health they put in jeopardy.Mattel should be sued.China and Mattel showed negligence if not criminal wrongdoing.As of now,there are still loads of toys needing checking if not outright destruction.I hope Mattel and toy distributors won't dump these defective stuff in some Third World countries.

Sally Field Is Alive .

I watched the Emmy Awards last night.One of the surprise winner was the long time actress Ms Sally Fields.It's nice to see her revive her career.I must admit her TV show is not appealing to me but I always see her in ostepuousis commercial.She is much admired in the industry. Two (2) Oscars for films such as Norma Rae and Places In The Heart. Ms. Fields said something in her acceptance speech which was censored.Very likely it's about the war in Iraq.Too bad the TV and the live audience missed it. By the way, why are Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart silent about it ( the Iraq War) during the award?I remember them being very vocal about different political issues in their own TV shows.A case of no balls gentlemen?

Casino Royale

This weekend , we went to a casino. It was exciting after all , it's been a while since I last visited one. I noticed that the nearby casino has begun to do it the Las Vegas way. It now regularly books entertainers . On the list of entertainers to perform soon are Michael Bolton , Donna Summers and The Temptations. Not bad.I want to watch Bolton do his thing. His strained voice is kinda cool to me just like another oldtimer Rod Steward. I especially love Bolton's version of the Beegees' To Love Somebody. It's my favorite Karaoke song. Besides, the wife likes to see Desperate Housewife , Nicollette Sheridan who is Bolton's partner right now. Nicolette is a longtime fav of hers from her Melrose Place days. Don't you love that. Just like recycled clothes, these performers never grow old. They remain part of our youth , plastic surgery and all. BTW , I lost.

The (Un)Joy Of Gardening

Here we are again. The time of the year when one prepares the tools for gardening. Really ? Not me.My gardening days are over.No flowers, no vegetables and as little work on the dandol... I mean , the green green grass of home. As you may recall , to those of you who still follow my blog, we just completed our first full year in this new place. We should start the landscaping and the like , right ? No.I don't intend to make the same mistakes I made 5 years ago when I planted tress left and right.WhenI built vegetable boxes for different kinds of veggies .When I had flowers galore coming out of my azz .Now we will have the minimum.This is what I told my wife.

1. cheery tomatoes ONLY for veggie and in a pot or 2 .
2. mostly perennial flowers ONLY of minimum nos. and kinds.
3. definitely NO trees 'cept in house ones i.e bonsai or mini orange tree.
4. no daily watering of the grass so these greenies won't be accustomed to H2O.
5. patio should be for use reading. If want to see a garden , I'll go to a nearby park.

Those are the rules I laid down to my wife and me to follow . Gardening should not take 1/4 of our time. Poor me should have time to blog.

Trophy Wife.

I just love the Wind Beneath My Wings .I remembered 1st hearing about it in the movie Beaches starring Bette Midler..Ever since I saw the movie , I became a big fan of Ms. Midler and of course the song . The song never fails to bring a tear or 2 in me . I know it's not manly to admit it , but that's the way it is, macho man .That's why it's hard for me to understand why some men end up dumping their wives after they reached a certain amount of success. Their wives were with these men when they are still nobodies. As the saying goes , a woman is behind every sucessful man. Definitely so true with big business people. Jack Welch , the former big boss at GE , did it. Donald Trump did it. There an endless list of former first wives. It's funny that Bette Midler was also in the movie , First Wives Club .
In Asia , most successful men don't dump their 1st wives . They just get another one and keep her on the side as well as the original wife. I wonder if my wife will rather that I keep a 2nd woman or replaced her with a trophy wife ? Just asking .

Words That Cut Like A Knife .

Alec Badwin is in a lot of trouble.His idiotic message which he left in his daughter's machine was released to the media by someone ( his estranged wife, Kim Bassiner , denied doing it ) causing angry reactions from just about everyone. His rant was no doubt idiotic as well considering they ( Alec and Kim) are locked in custody battle. That's not the point though.I was forced to look back at similar loss of control I exhibited as a parent when the boys were young . I'm no Alec but in fits of anger , I was guilty as hell. How do I correct these mistakes years after , I asked myself. It's important that I do that. Should I issue an apology letter like governments do now for wrong actions the previous ruling parties did ? I feel so guilty because as in recalling my mistakes as a parent flashbacks of similar wrong treatments I got from my parents as a kid came flooding my memory.How hurt I was then. Even up to now. Somehow the hurtful words seemed so fresh. That's why I'm not in agreement with a certain TV host when she used a line from a song to justify Alec's mistake . She said , ' stick and stones may break my bones but words don't bother me '. My parents' hurtful words not only bothered me .These words still haunt me .

Shock Jocks

Last week , there was a continous debate on Don Imus' pathetic remarks that resulted in his firing. Now, I can't watch him anymore in the morning at MSNBC to amuse myself. Imus seemed genuinely sorry for his mistakes but the firestorm created by his comments was just too much to 'let go' without his head rolling. I'm also a listener of Howard Stern before he went into sattelite radio. I remembered looking forward to hearing what Stern's outrageous distribes every morning Monday to Friday . He served as my antidote to a boring 45 minute daily car drive to work. I don't travel that long anymore to work so I stopped tuning in. Also, Stern was on free radio then .Why should I pay x dollars to listen to insults, moronic jokes and all ? Imus' show was a lot tamer. In fact, half of his stuff was legit/ serious talks as evidenced by those guests who appeared in his show 'Imus In The Morning'. VP Cheney, Ford , Al Gore to name a few participated in Imus' show before. Just goes to show that sometimes, stuff like the things that Stern and Imus spew are borderline . These guys must realize that in this politically correct world, the joke is sometimes on them !

Things Move On

It's funny that sometimes you think that things will remain the same.They don't.The only thing constant is change. It's proven time and time again.There was this female friend of mine who was in love with a married guy.I would'nt say she's madly in love but he adored the guy very much.Then the guy decided to say goodbye to her when he transferred location.Naturally,she's heartbroken.She decided to go somewhere to try her luck in another country . I'm sure she did that too as she to forget her lost love .Fast forward 8 years after. I received an e mail from her.She said she is doing very well and that she got a new condo with a clubhouse . She also wrote that she got a great job and is very pleased with how things turned out for her in the new location. ' Life is good ' she added in her e mail.
I thought about the girls in my past who swore that they will die if I leave them or something like that.It's safe to say that they are alive too and doing a good job as mothers to their children residing in their beautiful homes somewhere !

Laptops And i Pods.

Yesterday, I watched a PBS docu with my 2 sons about the the baby boomers.I've seen a lot of docus about the '60's and 70's generations but this was extra special because I watched it with the boys. I want to get their reactions if any. The eldest one was kind of into these shows and as expected,he was glued to the television set as I was.He nodded and sometimes shaked his head and even loudly voiced his disbelief at the things he found weird and objectionable.I am somewhat reminded of the times that I watched TV with my father (which was practically all the time in the age of one tv for the whole family) .Other times,we listened together to our RCA stereo. I missed those days.The father and son moments.My father was not much of an outdoor guy or active sports guy so tv watching was 'our thing' together.
These days,watching tv together is rare. Instead , the kids are into their own laptops or iPods. That's why, on the way back to their school residence i.e apartment, I interrupted their use of their laptops by asking them to play 'oldies' if they have any stored in their respective computers.' Yes ' the young one said to his bro. ' Dad will like this '. He then played The Beatles ' Across The Universe '. The elder soon followed and played a song by Johnny Cash that I don't even know. Good . ' Those are expensive tv/stereos ' I said to myself.

Mid-life Crisis

This time , my friend was talking about a very nice girl he met a few days ago on the job. The girl she said was 'hot'. In a sort of way.Not teenager hot or Paris Hilton hot.More like hot for middle age guy like him. ' I kn0w what you're thinking ' he told me. Does he ? ' I won't do that . I don't want to hurt her ' my friend said. She is young (28 yrs. old) and still single.My friend is that the married one who wants to kick his kids out as soon as they reach 18 years old.
Somehow,I don't believe him.Like a cobra , he is just waiting to pounce on this girl when the right time comes.My boss called his actuations as that of a man undergoing mid-life crisis.Funny.I do'n't know what age mid-life crisis begins (and if everyone will have one).I was thinking, if 40 is the new 30 age wise, should midlife crisis be much later now? Just curious.

Kida Don't Live Here Anymore .

The other day , a friend of mine was telling me that he is getting ready for the day his kids are no longer living in the house with him and his wife . ' I've finished 2 rooms in my basement and need only to put a bathroom and a small kitchen ' he boasted proudly of his developing plan. My friend has 2 boys who are now in high school . He expects them to leave when they reach 18 years old . ' When they are working already , they can stay with me if they chose to but they would have to pay the rent ' my friend said matter of factly. It may sound 'cold' but I guess that's just practical thinking. I remember this movie about a man and wife wanting badly 'to kick' their 28 year old son out of their home even resorting to an outside consultant to help them do it. The consultant was the star of Sex And The City . I guess , it's possible to happen . No, not the hiring of a consultant but the kids staying up to their late 20's or so. Why not ? They get free board and all the amenities of life ! ' It's better if the kids know what's ahead ' my friend finished his statement .

Sweet Dreams ZZZZZ

Snoring is got to be one of the main irritants between a husband and wife . I can't really say that snoring is the cause for some to dissolve their marriages , but I won't be surprise if it is . When I was a little boy , I hear jokes and read cartoons about a hubby snoring loudly . I found out that these jokes on your better half snoring loudly are really true . Sometimes , too loud to be funny . I teased my wife of her loud snoring but she bounced it back to me . I can't really tell if I snore but my wife knows that she snores . It good that I really don't mind her loud snoring except when I am watching tv while lying on our bed . With the tv volume low , her snores drown out the tv sound completely . I cannot turn up the volume 'coz it might wake her up . That's why I put up the captioninstead. It's not the best way to watch Jay Leno believe me . You missed the punch lines most of the time !

Thank God It's All Over . Is It ?

Anna Nicole hugged the headlines for sometime . Even MSNBC and Fox networks devoted 3 full days of their telecast time to covering the court trial . I must admit it was very riveting television .All the characters involved in the case especially the judge were made for tv . I am glad though that it's over ! Anna Nicole was buried finally last week .
What about the paternity case ? I have enough of anything that has to do with late Anna Nicole .I can't stand another minute of her case although Entertainment Tonight and Inside Edition always have daily dosage of AN news on their programs .One thing though , the Oscars did not even include AN when a narrator cited the names with photos of industry people who passed away last year !.

Rehab , Et Tu !

Why is it that going to a rehab center has become very fashionable ? News of movie stars , politicians , sports stars and even non stars going to rehab are all over the news . Britney shaved her head , then she goes into rehab . Mark Foley embarrased himself , straight to rehab . An ex basketball star who said ' I hate gay people ' followed by a tsunami of criticisms , was adviced to go to a rehab .Somehow , going to a rehab is the cool thing to do . I got the feeling 'though that a lot of these people just used the rehab thing as some sort of an excuse to shield themselves from media attention . There is this young star , Lohan , who enters the rehab every night and comes out of it during the day . What kind of a rehab center is that ? In the old days , we call such a place , a hotel !
I just hope this rehab center thing does'nt become a trend among us ordinary people . I am afraid 'though that it will . Next thing you know , rehab centers will be right in every mall and locations near you .You'll see teens doing what their idols do. Wait . It just give me an idea . I should open a rehab center ......... with me as its 1st patient ! Cool .

My Elusive Dream

I don't know why I've been having these dreams lately . The funny thing was these dreams were about the same person . A high school classmate . OK . a female h.s. classmate. She of the beautiful face and quiet personality .She's not aloof but nevertheless guys seemed afraid to approach her including yours truly . And so in these dreams , I see myself befriending her and I think we even fell in love .
It was impossible for me to go after a girl in my younger days . I lacked confidence then and was afraid of rejection . Unless a girl showed interest in me , I will not go after her . Even when I'm head over heels in love with a girl . So , I suffered from broken heart many times in the past and in silence. So , I told my sons to go for it . That it is better to try and fail than not to try at all . I wished somebody gave me the same advice in my early days so that I would not dream about her now . Instead , I'll be sharing the bed with her and we'll be dreaming together !

Surge Your Azz

Hey . another fun word from the ' Decider ' . Pres. Bush is hellbent on escalating the war , I guess . As of this moment , additional US troops are on the way to Irag despite what the message of the last election . I must admit , Bush is one tough honcho . He never get swayed by polls . I wonder 'though if he is the parent of a military boy , would he make the same decision ? Oh how times have changed . During the Vietnam War era , numerous student protests vs. the war went on . Now , students are 'tame' or maybe because there is no draft yet ? I predict 'though it's only a matter of time before the US imposes one . Why ? The military would be s t r e t c h e d if the US fights Iran and maybe N Korea ! I don't think our present military can handle all these 'wars' . By then , it won't be a surge anymore . It will be a landslide and Dubya will be out of office . That's Barack Obama's problem !

Rosie Vs. Donald

It's interesting how the Rosie O'Donnell and Donald Trumps's battle of words has caught a lot of people's interest including yours truly . It kept me glued to the TV waiting for Rosie's views on her TV show, The View every 11:00 AM and in the early evening at 7:00 PM for Trump's response to Ms. O'Donnell's tirades in Entertainment Tonight . Finally , for a recap of the blow by blow account and analysis of the 'fight' at Fox ' Greta S. show at 11:00 PM . My day is not complete if I miss any one or worse , all 3 shows . Last night , one actor said Rosie is winning the war of the world. I mean , the war of words . Another actor said otherwise .I think , both of them will end up the winner . The ratings of The View has skyrocketed while that of the new edition of The Apprentice is said to be doing alright . Just a while ago , a news report said that there's talk about reviving the now defunct Rosie O'Donnell Show . As I've said , in the end , no one loses . No one dies. After all , talk is cheap . Unlike the Iraq War !