Hello, again.

Hi people. One word.....sorry. I know, it's been a long time since I've been updating this. You know, all this time I've been gone, I've been checking out my cousin's Fotopage. It looks like something I wanna try out. It allows you to put alot of pictures up. So I think Imma try it. I'll let you know what the address is when I get one. See you again soon.

Fallen Heroes

Today, I heard found out that two heroes of mine have passed away. One of the more international ones is Christopher Reeve. He's popularly known as Superman. He apparently died of heart failure. As everyone knows by now, he was paralyzed after being thrown from his horse in an accident. Growing up, I will always remember the role of Superman he played in all three Superman movies. Since his accident, he has become a strong supporter for Stem Cell research. During his battle with his paralysis, he showed a strength comparable to that of Superman himself. The world will miss him and I will miss him. He will ALWAYS be Superman to me.
...Another great loss is the death of Ken Caminiti. Padres fans will remember him from the 1998 season when he was one of the heroes that lead the Padres to the World Series and his 1996 National League MVP year. He was a very gritty and brave player. He certainly was a gamer. No matter the injuries he had, he still wanted to be put in the lineup. I remember the one game that was played in Monterrey, Mexico against the Mets when he was suffering from a Flu and was on IV's and hit in four runs in a shutout victory. One thing he did that people remember from that game is that he ate a Snicker's bar and went out to the field and hit a home run. In more recent years, he has been in the center of controversy because he admitted that he was on Steriods during his year with the Padres. This evenutally tainted his awesome stats he had with the Pads. To me, it's not so much that he has those stats, what I liked and admired more about him is that he was a Gamer. He would do what it takes to get in the game, even is he was not well. And when he was in the game, he gave it his all. It definitely more than what some athletes are putting out these days. May these two souls rest in peace.

Finally!!!!

I didn’t think would come, but we received our keys to our brand new home last night! (Insert picture coming soon) After so many delays and postponements, it didn’t seem real at first, but the next thing I knew, I was standing in MY living room, calling my sister and brother-in-law and niece to come visit MY house!!!! Crazy, isn’t it? This whole journey started in May and finally it’s almost complete! Yesterday started off with a final walk-thru and Orientation at 1pm. Everything was fine except for the lock on the garage door, which will be fixed. One bonus is I think we got hooked up with A/C! Randy and I didn’t purchase a A/C unit yet so we were really surprised to see one hooked up. And we asked our inspector, and he basically came up with some sarcastic stuff like, “ Oh well, there was something about how the city says that this side of the building is required to have air conditioning and such. Something like that. But then again if it’s already installed and working, free isn’t too bad, isn’t it??” WTF??!!!?? Boy, did that bring a grin on my face (=]) Part of me feels that the builders hooked us up because they feel bad that they kept postponing our move-in dates so many times and all, but then again sometimes you don’t really need to know why you got mysteriously hooked up somehow. Then, we signed some paperwork and they said that they couldn’t give us a definite day when they could hand over the keys because they were basically waiting to receive papers from the city. Then Randy and I went to order our blinds and went home. Our blinds cost us a grip, but we’re happy with our choice. When you come by, let us know if we made the right choice. After all that, we were tired and hungry so we went home. So I’m hanging out with my niece…they leave and then I’m almost asleep in my bed watching TV when the phone rings again and it’s Carla, from the sales office. She says, “Mr. Lansang, come over so you can pick up your keys.” I didn’t believe her so I asked her if she was serious and she told me that she had just heard from the city and our papers had “recorded”! Wasting no time… Randy, Mom, and I left to pick up the keys from the sales office. Carla signed over the keys to us and there it was…our keys to our new home! Being sentimental, I had to take a picture of the sales persons and us; Carla and Lisa. (Insert picture coming soon) They have been very helpful in our first experience buying a home. And I know that at times they had to be the bearers of bad news, they were just doing their jobs. It’s not their fault so many things were delayed. But what’s important is that everything worked out. And I’m very happy now. We did it!

6am-3pm

I gotta tell you, this 6am-3pm gig is not too shabby. I just have to get used to sleeping @10pm every work night. Thank God for my VCR. At least I can use it to record my episodes of CSI while I go to sleep. At least I won’t be missing out on too much. It’s so much easier to get to work, driving during the 5am hour- compared with the 7am hour. Also, getting out earlier in the day feels so good. I think I’m gonna like this. On another note, Randy and I just signed our Escrow papers yesterday and we’re getting closer to moving out! I spoke to the sales persons and they said that we should be closing anywhere from this Friday (October 1st) to next Wednesday (October 6th). Hopefully, we’ll close on Friday, so we can have the weekend to paint and move in. Gosh, sometime I STILL can’t believe that we bought our own place!

Season's Change

Remember that song? It's starting to feel a lot like fall now. I love it! We've had a hot summer and it's about time that the air starting feeling crisper and the air had cooled down. Fall has got to be my favorite season. Baseball's winding down, football is starting up, and in a bit...college basketball will be starting up! So much going on. One thing that’s going to change is my residence soon. I received a call from our loan guy the other day and he told me that they are really close to working out dates for the closing dates for my condo development. He said he didn’t have a definite day for me yet, but it should be happening next week. In fact, he mentioned that they’re closing out the first property next Monday. So next week, Randy and I will be moving into our brand new Condo! One other new change for next week is my work schedule. With Elsa (see previous posts below) leaving, they’ll need someone to cover the 6am-3pm shift. I accepted the offer and will be starting this schedule next Monday. It should be pretty cool. I know that I’ll be coming a lot earlier in the day, but it also means that I’ll be going home a lot earlier in the day, too. This should give me more time to run errands, cook some dinner, and even hang out with Roslynn longer. Man, that’s a lot of changes. Man, I still need to pack my things! * doh * I don’t have any boxes!

Oreo

Tonight, at around 9:20 pm, we had to say goodbye to Oreo. She apparently had a stroke which incapacitated her. This morning, she seemed okay and then my parents got worried as they noticed that she did not want to get up and was not moving much. We brought her to the Pet Hospital and the doctor there told us she had maybe a 20 percent chance or getting revived but she would still have some brain damage and she will never be the same. Seeing her at that condition was very difficult for my parents, Jon, and I. And so after the doctor gave us our options, we felt we really didn't have a choice to make. We knew she would have to be put to sleep. She has been with us for 14 years, and we could tell for a while that this moment would soon come. And so as hard as it was, we made the choice. We'll never forget her. She was very loved and was very loveable. I'll always have so many fond memories of her and will miss her very much. There's nothig to be angry about because she's had a very long life with us. I feel very lucky that she's been able to be with us for this long and that she died of natural causes. I love her alot and will never forget her. I do believe that dogs go to heaven because Oreo's soul belongs there.

Shut Da Hell Up

I don't know if you guys have been watching the news... but on Monday, during the Texas Rangers vs. Oakland A's game, there was an altercation between some heckling fans and the Texas Ranger relief pitchers. In brief, the game was played in Oakland and a group of heckling A's fans that sat right next to the visiting bullpen were heckling the Rangers' pitchers. The visitor's bullpen was situated right next to the field level seats at the right field corner of the stadium so basically, any fan sitting right there can speak or yell at the visiting team members with ease. I understand that sometimes, heckling by the fans is useful because it knocks the opponent off-focus and can distract them, but come on, have some sense! Of course if you tease anyone for a period of time, they may get upset. Of course if you tease them they may lose thier cool and get violent. It happens to everyone. Especially if you get personal with your words. It happenes to everyone. But try being an athelete and hearing it everytime you go to a opponent's field. Try hearing it and having no way get away from it, like being stuck at the bullpen unless they call you up to pitch. That's what happened to The Texas Rangers that day and to single one out, it happened to Frank Francisco. Things got pretty bad and it got to the point that some of the pitchers and staff got up and started yelling back at the fans. Then Frank did what I think shouldn't of had happened. He picked up a folding chair and threw it at the heckling fans. It struck the wife of one of the fans and broke her nose, which is really unfortunate. After that, Frank was arrested and the couple are thinking of pressing charges. They feel that the Rangers are at fault in this situation. WHAT??!!!?!?!?! Although I agree that it was very wrong for any person to throw a chair at someone, but how is it the Rangers' fault??? I mean, if you're going to talk $hit, you better be able to take whatever's coming back at you. And if you can't, then SHUT DA HELL UP! I thought you were there to watch a freaking game?? Then watch! Stop bothering these athletes! The woman even went on to saying something like, " there's these big 6 foot 5 guys...I was fearfull for my life". Man, she makes it act like the pitchers were wild animals in a circus. They only acted that way because they were trying to defend themselves from the verbal abuse they were taking from those fans. I don't think they were trying to pick a fight with anyone. If that lady was fearful for her life, she should of told her husband and the rest of those hooligans, I sorry, I mean "fans" to SHUT DA HELL UP! Her husband said that he was just heckling them so he "can get on them a little bit." And that he was trying like all fans to be the "tenth man". Whatever. There are other more effective ways to be the "tenth man". Give me a break. It was wrong for Frank Francisco to pick up a chair to deliberately hurt someone. But it was also wrong to be heckling the Texas Rangers pitching crew to the point that they got really upset. How do you expect anyone to react under those conditions? I don't expect anyone to be throwng chairs around like Bobby Knight, but I do expect them to try to turn the other cheek. But man, if they are going to keep trash talking, you gotta find a way to get themn to SHUT DA HELL UP! It's as the saying goes, what comes around...goes around.

Elsa

Today, we received word that one of our co-workers turned in her two-weeks notice. She will be moving on to work at Northrop-Grumman. It’s very bittersweet because although I know she must have decided to move on because she had a better opportunity, we are going to be missing a key member in our team. She’s been working at the hospital for 15 years now and with those fifteen years; she brings to our group a wealth of knowledge. And along with that, she’s good people. She and I have had some meaningful talks while at work and I’ll definitely miss her. She does have her idiosyncrasies, which drives us crazy, but we still will miss her. When she announced it today to us, my first feeling was of sadness because it’s like a friend is moving away. Our team has gotten along really well. As compared to some other groups in the Hospital, we're actually pretty close with each other, which is really cool. Our closeness is the key reason why we are able to support 3200 users with our 8 man team. Crazy, huh?