Back to plan A

… In an attempt to burn vacation time, I took two mini vacations.

If you remember from the last time, I took my dad to Las Vegas. He learned Las Vegas was much more than just gambling. I also did my best to take him around the world. On the first day we went to New York, Paris and Rome. On the final day we went to Venice, Medieval England and Egypt. In between we went to Hoover Dam.

While it was in the 100s, my father kept up with me. For two days, we were able to do a lot. We even went downtown, a trip that really didn’t impress him. He was impressed with the water show at the Bellagio; so much so that we went twice that first night.

Hoover Dam was impressive. It took a while to get to, but I recommend it. It’ll be a lot easier to get to once they finish the bypass that will help reduce traffic. This trip to the dam also allowed me to cross Arizona off the list of states I’ve never been to. I do wish they still kept the board drawn on the street. I also wished Arizona would follow daylight savings since the clock on that side was the same on the Nevada side.

After the trip to the dam, we visited family in Las Vegas – my cousin and her family. My dad had been looking forward to that part of the trip since he had not seen them in years, if not longer.

All in all, my dad had a great time and that was the most important thing. He said he’d be willing to go again. I’m willing to make it more of a family event next time.

… The second mini vacation involved less travel. I spent time with friends for the most part. I went golfing to with a group of strangers and I learned a valuable lesson – only golf with friends on a standard course.

I also saw a local independent wrestling company called Pro Wrestling Guerilla. My friend James had introduced me to it more than a year ago and I had always wanted to go back.

I took a friend of mine and we were packed into an American Legion Hall in Reseda. I gave my friend the same warning I got from James: If you see the crowd running, you run with that crowd. With the ring less than six feet away from the front row, there were plenty of times the fans were indirectly a part of the action. (And yes, there is a good chance I’ll be in the DVD.)

On the final night, I saw comedian Demetri Martin perform at the Grove of Anaheim. It was an excellent show and he is an excellent performer not afraid of taking chances. It was also a good time with a group of friends.

… The job hunt is still slow. Although this past week I got a reply to an application I had made just saying they had received it. That’s a first; however, I just know it is a courtesy letter. At least these people are nice about it.

In May, I jumped off of the original plan of finding work first, a new place to live second and love third and took a chance. Here I am, a day away from September back on Plan A.

As I’ve learned before, happiness is a fleeting thing. I’m grateful for the chance but know that there is nothing more to do.

This isn’t the: be all, end all either. I just have to refocus myself on getting off of the lifeboat I’m on at work. Once I get settled there, then I can work on the rest of me.

However, as I thought about it, do I really want to find someone then?

The premise behind that question is this: everyone likes a winner. Now I’m not saying I’m a loser by any means, but what I am saying is externally I’m not that impressive. And if I can’t find someone that will accept me now, how do I know they truly accept me after I’m able to land a new job with normal hours?

Well that question is something I’m going to have to answer when the time comes. I’ve been told to put up a wall, but I just can’t because that is not me so I anticipate more pain later.

No matter how bad it is, however, I’m still glad and I am doing a lot better than the beginning of the year. I’m internally stronger than most people think.

Again, it’s what you can’t see.

The faith of 100,000 fans

I’m a bit early this week, but I have things to do.

… Between this and my next blog will be my mother’s birthday on August 24 – my mother would’ve been 69.

It’s been four months since her death and it still has not been easy for my family. I’ve talked with some of my siblings and they have told me they didn’t really know to what lengths this would have affected them.

We all agree, however, we do have someone looking after us. A few of us has some sort of story of some kind of help that we can’t explain, including me.

Since Mother’s Day, I’ve been to church on a regular basis only missing once when my family didn’t go when I showed up expecting to. I go back every time because, in a way, I feel close to her.

I did pray to her once to help me out. Usually, I never pray for help because I always felt that “powers that be” always had more important things to do. Not only that, I believed they gave me the power to do what I could on my own without any extra help.

So when I prayed for help to my mom, she did answer and bless me for a short time with something I had been missing.

As that happened, I also thought to myself that my mom also gave me those gifts of coping and realizing my own potential. Since then, I haven’t prayed for any personal help. I do ask her to watch over my father and to not worry about me as I’ll be fine.

I will be fine. My parents raised me right.

… This coming Monday, I take my father to Las Vegas for the first time in his life. The room and the rental car are all booked up.

Going to Las Vegas had been a routine for me since I was able to go to UFC fights. During one span, I went six times in seven months. But since I’ve done that less and trips have been few and far in between, well for my standards.

I look forward to this trip. It’s not often you get to take someone new to Las Vegas. I’ll also get a chance to do some things I’ve never done: a trip up the Eiffel Tower, Hoover Dam and we are going to see family that lives in town (I’m meeting more family all the time).

It should be a fun time.

… The flights are all but booked to Mexico. After talking with two of my sisters that are going to Mexico and my dad, we have the flights selected.

One of my other sisters that went with my parents to Mexico City before said they enjoyed touring her around. I’m look forward to that with my dad, but I have an idea of something else to do.

I found out there is a World Cup qualifying match while I’m there. I’ve been to a World Cup semifinal but I’m looking forward to this because it will take place at a stadium that seats 105,000 people and it will be the faith and pride of an entire nation on the line. That will make for an amazing experience at Estadio Azteca.

… It turns out I was the big winner in the most days driven to Torrance for work after the transfer a year ago. I went to work for 209 days, two more over second place and about 10 more days after third. So this means I also get the biggest mileage check. I won’t get the biggest settlement check since I don’t have child care.

But I’m getting closer to free money.

Hey, I remember you

I just finished up a three-day weekend; during an actual weekend no less.

... Before I go to Mexico with my father, there will be another trip we take.

I called him a week ago, as I usually do, and he told me he would be coming to Southern California sometime in August. I need to take time off and asked him when he was thinking about coming down.

Then it hit me. I asked him in Spanish, “Want to go to Las Vegas?”

Kind of to my surprise he said yes.

So, I went to work and found a room for us at Bally’s, at the heart of the strip. The room came with coupons and vouchers for restaurants around that area and two tickets to the top of the Eiffel Tower at Paris which is located right there.

In fact, I’m going to attempt to give him a world trip all there: Paris, Rome with Caesar’s Palace and New York, New York. I also plan on taking him to Hoover Dam.

Heat is a concern of mine, but I think that if we just stay in air conditioned places and just look around, we’ll be fine. As for gaming, I’m sure he’ll just stick to the slots which may mean a trip to downtown, but we’ll see.

It should be fun.

… Just when I thought my new cell phone couldn’t be any more fun, it is.

With the addition of Bluetooth headphones, it becomes as close to having my computer with me at all times. Not only that, but it also can make and receive phone calls too with a better quality than my current headset.

With my songs already loaded into the Micro SD card, listening to them now is much more enjoyable. And, if I ever want to watch a video without bothering anyone around me, I can.

Now, if I can just get that headset to work on my computer.

… I’ve been on facebook for about a year and a half. During that time I’ve primarily used it for sharing youtube videos, interesting photos and other mundane stuff. Until two weeks ago, I never really thought much more of it.

I’ve lived in Southern California for 13 years now. It’s easier for me to lose contact with friends all the way up to high school since I moved half a state away. My friends down here, for the most part, don’t really have to do a search to find long lost friends because their family has remained in the area.

I, along with another friend, had been searching for a long lost co-worker of ours from the Daily 49er newspaper. The last time I had heard from him was by e-mail. Then two weeks ago, I woke up and saw an e-mail with the information of a long lost friend on facebook. In no time, I added him and he accepted. Finally the Daily 49er’s Holy Trinity had returned.

I had contacted another long lost friend – one from the second grade. The last time I had truly spoken to him was when I was a freshman in college. Thanks to another friend who coaxed him into joining facebook, I don’t think I would’ve gotten a hold of him.

I would get a hold of two more people and in the span of about 30 hours would communicate with four people I probably wouldn’t have if it wasn’t for facebook. It was nice to hear from people and catch up with what they have been doing.

The big question asked three of the four times was: So what happened? Each answer is not simple. Most of it is recounting things that are painful – to thy own self be true. However, each time, there was a greater sense of hope in each story and that things have been better ever since.

The important thing is that the last four friends I added wondered like I wondered, what happened to this person. In some way, our mark was made with someone and it was not easily forgettable regardless of the time.

Yes, there were changes from the last time I talked with them. At the same time, it was like nothing changed when I talked to them.

It’s all but official

I just realized I’m too old for Slush Puppies. I had the worst brain freeze ever. It was so bad I needed to stop the air conditioner and roll down the windows as I drove out of Bakersfield with the temperature at 110 degrees.

… So why has the Beckham experiment failed?

About 34 years ago, soccer in the United States was saved – despite the eventual death of the North American Soccer League – by Pele. He was able to draw large crowds for his New York Cosmos club, home and away.

He was also paid an absurd amount of money for a professional athlete at the time. Where Hank Aaron was the highest paid player in baseball at under half a million dollars, Pele would earn well over a million.

Current Galaxy star David Beckham drew in big crowds for his first season in Major League Soccer and signed what is reported to be five years at $250 million.

That’s where the similarities end.

After Pele’s first season with the Cosmos and even after his retirement, the Cosmos were still able to fill Giants Stadium (with its 78,000 seats) to near, if not complete capacity for years to come. The Galaxy still have a hard time filling up the Home Depot Center that seats about 27,000.

The main problem the Galaxy are struggling with and the Cosmos never had to worry about was a salary cap. With a contract as big as his, it’s hard to field a team with quality players. Besides Landon Donovan, can you name another, current, Galaxy player? Therein lies the problem of why the Galaxy can’t win.

When the Cosmos built the team, they were able to bring in top quality international players. After Pele, they brought in Girogio Chinaglia from Italy, Franz Beckenbauer from Germany and another Brazilian named Carlos Alberto. This was a soccer club more than 20 years ahead of its time.

Of course, the Cosmos would eventually be run into the ground to the high salaries and other financial troubles their parent company Warner Communications that caused the end of the club and the league.

Ultimately, MLS and the Galaxy will survive because of that salary cap. Beckham, however, is no Pele.

… I’m now locked into a contract with AT&T Wireless for another two years now that I have a new cell phone.

It is a Samsung Impression and to paraphrase MMA fighter Georges St. Pierre, I am impressed with its performance.

The Impression is a world phone that also has GPS and a touch screen. It takes pretty good pictures and the Internet can play videos; the quality is not so good, but it gets the job done.

It is not a smart phone like my last phone, however, but I think I can do without it.

This is the first time I’m under contract with AT&T since my contract ended in 2006. That’s when I had an LG phone (that was garbage) die on me while I still had a few months left on the contract. I bought a phone without a contract then more than a year later I was given a Samsung Blackjack by my friend James. However, it was time for a change and I wanted something cool. I’m happy with this phone.

… I talked to my father recently and got around to the subject about his trip to Mexico in October. I reaffirmed to him my wanting to go.

He wants to go for three weeks. My two of my sisters that are going with him and I are now up to figure out when we are going to be with him since we can only spend a week at a time with him. We are also trying to figure out a time, when possible, to spend some overlap time with the siblings and our dad.

When I told my father I wanted to go, he told me that I should go first with him. My sister would tell me later, he wants to show you around, which I have no problem with.

From what I understand, his trip will be in two parts, a week or so in Mexico City and the rest of the time in his – and my mom’s – home state of Jalisco. Going first means I won’t be able to go to Jalisco, but that is a miniscule disappointment.

So, I’m going to the homeland of my parents in October. When I have a date hammered down, I’ll buy my ticket and I’ll be there letting my father taking me around Mexico City.

I’m excited and I’m just under three months away from that trip.