…Its weekend recap.

I had an excellent weekend, too short and almost felt a little unproductive but it was super fun. The house is coming along but we still have so much to do. We are taking lowes gift certificates now! LOL

Friday was quiet, mi Cielo and I had a nice dinner and were just tired from the whole week… plus we knew that Saturday would be busy, we had cleaning to do at the old place but plans changed just a bit. As we got ready to go take care of business I got a call for technical support. Not from work but from someone who I had just helped with their computer. So most of Saturday got taken up but the computer problem was solved and I made a little cash. Cielo got to go do a little shopping in the mean time so she could get ready for the party… now everyone is going like what party… LOL

Saturday night we had the company party, not holiday but kind of… it had changed a little bit from last year. It was hosted at a theater newly renovated. They had dinner theater for us, my first experience with it, and I am still not sure if I liked it or not. It was free dinner and open bar so no room to really complain. Then we got to go out and meet some friends afterwards for a couple of drinks and we had a blast.

Sunday we got our little bundle of joy back and went to breakfast at … you can see his picture up (love the hairdo dude). Then a trip to lowes to make us feel like we need to be rich because we want so much stuff. What is up with that store it is surpassing the electronics store as my place to window shop… I think I am growing up.

We then finished the afternoon with a movie, went to see Meet the Fockers. I need to catch up on my movie reviews, so I will talk about it some time soon. Then went back to the house for some catch up on housework. I got a TV working on the Bedroom so now we have TiVo there too. And then we were just exhausted and dreading Monday once again. So what happened to you guys this weekend?

Webster defines terrorism as the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion. America now hears this term every single day. I am not sure what the count of hits on the word terrorism on a google search prior to 9-11 was but now terrorism bring back about 21,300,000 results. God brings back about 130,000,000 and Love brings back about 253,000,000 just to put things into perspective.

Many groups have practiced terrorism. Political and religious ideals seem to fuel the largest and deadliest. Before 9-11 America felt safe, I used to feel safe here. I grew up around terrorism in Colombia. Bombs were not something that you heard about on the news in a far away country, instead it was that loud noise that could wake up late in the middle of the night. I remember two incidents very vividly.

One was at night probably around 8 pm I was visiting my grandparents. We heard a loud explosion that rattled the windows. My grandparents live on a 3-story house with a terrace that kind of overlooks some of the city. We went up to the terrace and saw a fire probably about 5 miles from where we were standing. A pharmacy owned by the cartel people had just been blown up.

The second incident I remember happened just blocks from where I lived. I was playing soccer with my friends when we heard a loud boom. We knew what it was and out of curiosity ran to check it out. Sure enough a bomb had exploded killing a prosecutor that lived in our neighborhood.

Sometimes if my Dad was not home on time we would worry that something could have happened. If a report of some kind of violence was on the news, there was always that fear even though my Dad did not work in a “high risk” job. Still being on the streets at night was not a safe thing when you had to cross rougher neighborhoods to come home.

One of the biggest motivators for my family to relocate to the US was opportunity. My parents knew that here my sister and I would have a better opportunity to go to school and become better people. As a huge added bonus the US was safe, there was no bomb or violence at every corner. Or at least that is how it was painted.

As I developed as a teenager in the US I started to learn that while it was safer here, there was still neighborhoods that were dangerous and places you should not go. In general though most people lived their lives without having to watch their backs at all time or had never even heard a loud explosion except for during Independence Day in a Fourth of July celebration.

It was a very good feeling of security knowing that I was safe. As long as I stayed in the right neighborhoods I would be safe. As long as I was working and living my life I would have nothing to worry about. Then 9-11 happened. And it made that fear come back. That uncertainty set in. It is a feeling that I did not want to experience again and sad enough I understand.

Most people have calmed down now and are not as in shock as they were in 2001, but we are still living terrorism every day. We have our troops fighting this war and the fear of many of our young man and women not returning is a reality. It is also very real to the people that have loved ones in the military. It might not be the same as waiting for Dad to come home on time, but listening to the news hoping that the news report does not include a death toll.

I have always personalized my desk somehow, but the fun thing is that now I have a pretty decent collection of desk toys. Cielo made it grow this past Christmas but in the middle of moving it took me a while to get them to work. Both of the new additions were fragile and I wanted to make sure they got here safe.

All the toys are somewhat special to me, they might be small but they mean tons to me. They are little reminders of how life is supposed to be fun and also how I am not a grown up I am just a child stuck in adulthood.

Cielo got me a hand boiler. The thing is just amazing, and a very cool toy. If you hold it the warmth of your body makes the liquid inside rise up the little swirl, hold it long enough and it will actually appears to boil. I have always wanted a novelty toy like this one but I never would just go and buy one. Without knowing she bought me something I really wanted.

She also got me another dragon. I love dragons, enough to have a tattoo of one on my left upper arm. This one is holding guard of a treasure and has a very cool body and wing color. It is very detailed and I love it.

Then we have the gundam, which was gift from Ty. I am a huge mech fan and always wanted one for my desk too. He gave it to me while we were… and no I did not take it from him I swear, he gave it to me, LOL

The other dragon is a replacement, one of my coworkers borrowed a book from me and when he put it back he decimated my first dragon. He felt bad that he broke it and he got me a new one.

Last but not least, someone most likely a kid left little dinosaur from Toy Story on the parking lot at my apartment complex. I watched sit there for days waiting for the owner that had dropped it to pick it up again. I did not want him to become a lost toy. Eventually I felt bad and my desk became its new home.

So what do you have on your desk to personalize it? Do you have any toys?

“Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the
candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.”
– Buddha

It is amazing how quotes can have such an impact on our lives. Written word is very powerful and as the saying goes “The pen is mightier than the sword.” I am a positive person, and I like to share my happiness. Lately I have been sharing my happiness with everyone here. I have a new life, a new beginning, and a second chance. The rest of my life has started and I want to share that with every one of you.

At the lowest point in your life always remember that there is tomorrow. Take that next step always forward and never back. There is always a solution to everything life places in your path, and if you keep on striving you will receive rewards for you perseverance. That is what I am experiencing. Learning something new every day, growing and focusing on what is important will keep life going. Never lose the focus that making yourself happy is the most important thing. If you are not happy your candle is not lit and you will not be able to share that with others.

People type the weirdest things on search engines, sometimes they are funny… but what makes it even more amusing is when a computer puts a search string together that ends up pointing people to my site. Here are some of the funniest ones I have found.

william hung quotes Did that guy actually said anything besides She Bangs
youth coping with todays crisis illustration Someone has never used a search engine before
latin movies teathers Do they exist?
breakfast recepy for low cholesterol You all know this would not make it in my blog.
guy pictures on how to hump woman I do not ever want to meet the person that searched for this
t shirt i love italian boys mario brothers Nintendo fan???
midland michigan witches Dam a wiccan covenant and I am not even a member, LMAO
weight trainning for kids in there teens Trainer trying to reach a wider audience?
bears hybernate This made me laugh, but then I thought it might just be a youngster
discombabulated definition amusing because I misspelled it, then they come here for a definition DUH
comic haircut wonder if they eventually found something
plugged toilet embarrasing moments They probably read half of my blog and never found the story
what makes a good foreing teacher I can tell you what makes a bad one
action figure llcoolj There is one, LMAO
clay mation motorcycle My brain is working on this one.
fotos of people first time play tennis How old is tennis
productive ways to deal with anger Reading this blog might cause anger… I can see a disclaimer comming
leathal weapon ron jeremy I am still laughing about this one

Now that are several iterations of threesome, there is a meme I used to do called the Thursday Threesome, but I have never posted anything about threesomes on my site. Yet every month at least 20 string searches I am sure there are plenty of dissapointed people LMAO.

Now for some of the searches people did that I do have a quick answer to.

Veritas - Aequitas from the movie Boondock Saints means Truth and Justice. The word Justice is not being translated literally.

The Hogwarts Motto from the Harry Potter book series translates. “Never tickle a sleeping dragon.”

Everything I know about Thomas (Tommy) Tranchin is posted here.

And don’t forget that my navigation bar has categories and a search box; so if you are looking for a movie review or anything just use those tools.

… Now the fun part… Can you come up with better comments on any of those search strings? Or if you have a site of your own and access to your search strings, what are some of the funniest ones? Post up!

I am so very sorry to have forgotten to mention Ty’s (Cielo’s son) fish Joey. He has two goldfish and has only named one. I also forgot to mention our new Betta … I will soon have a lot of pictures up, maybe go totally nuts and do a page about my pets. I did one for my computer so why not

The weekend was excellent, even though we are still unpacking and finding places for things we got to relax a little and even take a walk around the neighborhood. Friday I cannot remember too much except having a couple of drinks and watching stand up on Comedy Central, which was a blast. Saturday started with some much needed cleaning. Ty had a friend come over and pick him up for a play date, and when he was dropped off we were going to take both of them bowling, but Leagues had started already and they did not seem to excited about it anymore after they found my Dreamcast game collection. Then the grown-ups had a little play date with Cielo’s parents and sister. We played Eucher which I sucked at worse than the first time, but I will eventually get better.

Sunday was relaxing, we got to walk around the block which we had not done before. It was not the walk we were expecting since the temperatures outside felt about 10 below. But we do have a nice park about a block away with Soccer, Basketball, Sandbox and the jungle gym works. Then Sunday night we watched movies and relaxed. (Newsflash)A little sneak peak at the engagement ring was just uploaded ;). Watched Oceans 11 and Troy. So how was your weekend?

Sunday

I am an animal lover, and during my life I have had a multitude of pets. I was just having a conversation with Cielo about it and I thought it would be a perfect thing to post about. I think most people have or had pets in the past and even those that have left us can still bring a smile.

One of the first pets I can remember as a child was a dog, his name was Mitsiu and he was a crazy little mutt. He had non-stop energy that used to drive my Mom crazy. I also had other dogs during my childhood but the one I can remember the most is Duchess. She was a Rott and the most loving dog I have ever had. She was very protective of me even from my own family, extremely playful and full of energy. We could not bring her to the US because of the money and time involved with bringing a pet from foreign soil. She went to a very good home. I used to work at a Bakery right before we moved to the US and she went to live at the Baker’s home, he used to see the dog on a regular basis with me and loved it.

Now I have 3 cats Shayla, Damian and Cricket. They just came together a couple of weeks ago Cielo having Damian and Cricket before and I having Shayla. They got along pretty good until a couple of days ago, now Shayla and Damian have been going at it, but they seemed calmer yesterday. Shayla is the first cat I have ever had, my Mom was not a fan of them. In some senses I like cats better than dogs, but they both have their pros and cons I guess Dog lover turned Cat lover… but at the end it all depends on the individual pet. Damian is the oldest but he has some spunk left. Until a couple of days I thought he was just the coolest cat around, he likes everyone and loves to lay on your lap. I know you have all seen how fights between animals are represented in cartoons, well reality is not far from that because the time that I saw Damian and Shayla going at it, it looked exactly like that. A could of smoke with limbs flying all over. It was funny to see; hopefully soon they will be just sleeping right next to each other.

I also have fish now, they are Cielo’s but hey I can claim them now too ;). She has 2 convicts and 2 electric cichlids. An not to forget Harley the Pl*co that was featured in the moblog a couple of days ago. I have kept fish through most of my life as well as working at a pet store that specialized on fish. I have kept Angels, Gold Fish, Guppies, Mollies, Gouramies, Danios, Neons and Corys. I am looking forward to building a little hatchery in our basement and having a couple of big display tanks in the near future.

Surprisingly enough I have not had many birds, I did have a little one growing up that was with us for over 10 years. The bird seemed happy and used to sing all the time. But birds for the most part do not look too happy in cages and in retrospective I am not sure that it is a good idea to keep birds. Wow, I am not even sure I ever want to have birds again. Well maybe a parrot

I am reptile clueless, I had a turtle once but the thing used to bury itself in the backyard for weeks at a time and just come out once in a while. Lizards and snakes are popular pets here in the States but back in Colombia you see them so often in the while that is like trying to make a pet out of a squirrel here. I would not mind having some lizards in the house.

I did not have all kinds of rodents but did have probably about 5 hamsters. I don’t remember their names anymore but they were ok pets. It is hard to bond with them because they are nocturnal so they pretty much just keep you awake at night and when you want to see them they are deep in their dreams.

Last but not least are my insects. I do not keep insects anymore but I used to make my own ant farms growing up. I used to put them in jars with durt and watch them make tunnels and such. My Mom thought for sure that I would be a veterinarian… who knows maybe some day I will.

So what pets do you have now… what pets can you remember from when you were growing up?