Barry...

Obviously this is a late posting. I guess I was just debating about what to write or how I feel about the whole Barry Bonds issue.

Baseball has always been the sport I really enjoy. I really enjoy playing it and I really enjoy watching it. Barry Bonds has been one of my favorite players since he was with Pittsburgh. I used to think Bonds and Bonilla were great.

I loved it when Barry was traded to the Giants for two reasons. One, I hate the Giants. Two, I can see him play more because I love Dodgers. Sure, I liked Bonds when he was NOT playing against the Dodgers and I boo him when he does play the Dodgers.

With that being said, I haven't seen a lot of games with Babe Ruth or Henry Aaron. Different times, different athletes. For me, I have personally seen Barry Bonds play and I think he is the best power hitter I have ever seen.

Yes, I hear he is a jerk to his teammates. Yes, I hear he is jerk with the media. I personally don't care. In fact, I kind of like it. When he was in his prime, he could field, run and hit. I love his homerun poses. I love the fact he doesn't even move if the other team hits a homerun and he knows it. Classic.

It is a shame that he isn't well liked because when McGwire and Sosa were hitting homeruns people were loving baseball again. When Barry broke the single season homerun record people were watching. I just don't think a majority of people wanted to see Barry beat Hank Aarons homerun record.

I know there is that cloud of steriod use. Heck, innocent until proven guilty, right? Who am I kidding? I think he took steroids whether he knew it or not. I don't think the steriods helped him hit the ball any further, but I do believe steroids helped Barry play longer and helped his body recover so he can break the record. Do I feel he cheated? Perhaps. I also don't think he was or is the only one in major league baseball to take steroids or performance enchancing supplements.

All, I know is that I have enjoyed watching Barry play. When Barry was close to breaking the record I was watching as many Giant games I could...just in case. I am sure people thought Hank Aaron's record would never be broken...and now I am not sure Barry's will ever be broken. I am keeping an eye on A-Rod...that guy can play....best player in baseball right now.

Barry Bonds was the second jersey I bought after Cal Ripken's 4-5 years ago. I never wore the Bond jersey until now. I don't plan on wearing it again until he retires...and that is just because he plays for the Giants and I hate the Giants....go DODGERS!

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On a side note, Aya has noticed my jersey collection has gotten larger. She also noticed my small jersey collection is just as expensive or more expensive than her suits!

I know have:

Cal Ripken - Orioles Cooperstown Classic
Barry Bonds - Giants
Roger Clemens - Astros
Pedro Martinez - Red Sox
Orel Hershisher - Dodgers
Tony Gwynn - Padres old school 80's jersey
Ichiro - Mariners
Ichiro - Japan WBC
Maddux - Atlanta
Albert Pujos - St Louis World Series edition
Nolan Ryan - Astros old school retro jersey

I have actually been trying to get jerseys of my favorite players, who I think will be hall of famers. I passed on Jeter because I think wearing his jersey is a little gay. I thought the same of A-Rod but I am going to get his jersey. I am just waiting to see if he remains a Yankee.

Any other suggestions for favorite players?

Friends...

This has been going on for a while now, but I have never gotten around to video taping it. Everytimg JT hears the theme song from Friends he stops what he is doing and starts to dance. Once the song is over, he goes back to doing whatever he was doing.




JT isn't quite ready for the Soul Train dance line, but I taught him everything I know!

21 Months...

I almost forgot the usual "Monthly Annoucement" of JT being 21 months old!

While we were happy JT wasn't a TV watcher when he was younger (like he is sooo old now), he has turned into quite the afternoon TV vegatator lately. JT was never one for watching Baby Einstein videos but he L-O-V-E-S his ELMO! Everyday after Grandma's, if JT is good, we go home and watch ONE episode of ELMO.

During this one episode, JT climbs up into the chair and just vegs out. Aya and I noticed that if ELMO goes off the screen JT gets upsets. Thus, this favorite ELMO dvds are the ones where ELMO gets a lot of screen time.

Video Post...

My mom is in Hawaii for the next week, so that means I need to leave work at 1:00 pm so I can watch JT in the afternoon's when my dad goes to work.

So far so good. JT and I just have extended play time. The first day we walked around the block at my parents house...which took 90 minutes. We looked at the motorcycles and buses. Then we went to the ice skating rink and watched kids free skate. I noticed that there aren't a lot of fat people that skate.

The second day we ran around the yard, came home and went to the tot lot, went for a walk and then decided to use the treadmill:




Roger and Shirley post a lot of video of Jessica. Lately she has been saying more words. Of course JT is still not talking but he does have his own 'sound effect' language. Here is a sampling:

Business Casual...

I had my usual work attire on today....orange croc slippers, jeans and my new t-shirt:

Everyone in the office loved my shirt. Heck, not even just in the office but in our building as I had two reasonably cute girls talk to me about my shirt and one old lady. Not too shabby. I wonder if I should wear my "I love Jenna Jameson" t-shirt to work?

Psychic

How many of you have ever gone to a psychic? Anyone out there believe in these things? Do you read your horoscope everyday?

I admit it, if I have a newspaper I will read my horoscope. I won't go looking online or buy a paper just for my horoscope but if the paper is around I do read it. I think I wrote about how I went to a tea leaf reader at the company xmas party last year.

Aya's mom gets psychic readings once a year or so. She also has this numerology book that comes out every year. She tells Aya and I about the year we are going to have. It is very cyclical. For example, the book may say I will have 3-4 good years and then a very down year of my life. Very general.

Well, Aya's mom had her psychic reading recently. Keep in mind Aya and I have never met this lady. She goes and tells her mom that I will have good fortune and even better fortune as I get older. More so than Aya. Basically my life gets better as I age. Okay, I am down with that. In fact, it is rather true.

The psychic goes on to say that I should try to have as many children as possible because the more children I have, the happier I will be later in life. My children will bring me joy. Ugh. This on the heals of 2 weeks of arguing with Aya about to have or not to have a second child.

** Sidebar: For those of you out there who see Aya, go ahead and ask her this question, "Are you going to have a second kid?"

The psychic said that we will also buy a house in the next year or so. Here is the big kicker, the psychic asked my mother inlaw if Aya and I had a short dating period and married fairly early. The reason being, the psychic said Aya and I knew each other in a past life!

WHOA! A Joey Lawrence....WHOA! Believeing in a psychic is one thing...believing in having past lives is something completely seperate! Truth is, on my first 'official' date with Aya...I told her I was going to marry her. I dunno why I said it. Believe me it wasn't to try to sleep with her because what chick wants to hear a guy propose on the first date...weird. Not only did I say I was going to marry her...but I actually really meant it and I had no idea why.

Yes, it could be a co-inky dink. Odd to say the very least. But both this psychic and the tea leaf reader said very similiar things.

Oh, when the psychic said I would be fortunate as I get older. The psychic said it was because I have someone looking after me. The tea leaf reader said the same exact thing.

Okay, most of it was good news. There was a few bad news points, but I would rather keep that to myself. I am thinking of hiring this psychic for myself to hear her review of Aya and I for myself and not second hand.

So what do you think? Totally bogus? Maybe true? Do you believe??

Viva Las Vegas...Part II

Friday night was the Celine Dion concert at Ceasar's Palace. We all went to Ceasar's and then JT and I walked back from Ceasar's to the Monte Carlo. Vegas really isn't a "baby friendly" city. Too many stairs, too many escalators...which is okay...but not when you have a stroller


In any case, JT and I made it back to the room safe and sound. We had a jacuzzi tub in the room. I have always liked being in jacuzzi's until I saw a dateline about fecal matter in the tub jacuzzi's. Ever since then I was grossed out...but I figured JT was in the tub and not me so it would be okay.

I started up the tub and fired up the jacuzzi. Before we started the bath, I had called housekeeping for an extra towel and blanket. Of course they come when I was giving JT a bath so I left JT alone in the tub while I ran to get the door.

When I got back, JT was a-ok and it was business as usual. Then I saw a little flake. Then another flake. And then another. Huh. What is that? Is that fecal matter from the jacuzzi? I didn't see it before when I started it up.

I stopped the jacuzzi and let the water settle...then it dawned on me. JT took a little crap in the tub and the jacuzzi mish-mashed his crap into poopie flakes! Eeewww. Thus, that is at least one way fecal matter gets into the tub.

I took JT out, washed down the tub and put JT to sleep. When I thought JT was sleeping, I took a shower. As I was showering, I thought I heard the door open a little...so I peaked out and there was JT awake and wondering around. I told him to go back to sleep and continued my shower.

As I was showering I swore I heard the pitter patter of his feet on the bathroom tile. Everytime I peaked out I didn't see anything. Strange...but okay...maybe JT is running around the room. HEY! I hope he isn't leaving the room! I got out of the tub and went to grab my clothes...but there were GONE! Who stole my clothes??

I run out into the bedroom nekkid and I see JT running around with my shorts. My underwear is under the blanket. My shirt is tucked under the pillow and my slippers are under the nightstand! Who teaches this kid how to sneak into the bathroom, steal my clothes and then hide them?

That in a nutshell is what it is like taking a kid to Vegas!

Viva Las Vegas...Part 1

My parents, JT, Aya and I headed to Las Vegas for a 3 day weekend. My mom wanted to see Celine Dion before she leaves Vegas at the end of the year so I bought my mom, dad and Aya tickets to the concert. I was rather surprised that my Dad and Aya wanted to see Celine Dion.

I debated what would be worse, a 5-6 hour drive in the car with JT or a 1 hr flight with JT. I opted for the flight and JT did rather well on the short flight. Still very squirmy and restless but at least no crying this time.

JT was a natural:



I didn't have to say anything and JT knew which button to press:


I picked two restaurants, B & B - Mario Batali restaurant and Delmonico's Emril restaurant.

Sadly, I did not enjoy Mario's place at all. Unless you are a total foodie, I would not recommend it. I mean how many times do people eat squab and rabbit? I did not understand half the menu. True, I am a picky eater but when I eat out my tastes do expand and Aya did not know half the menu either.

I ate homemade orchiette. What the heck is orchiette? It is ear shaped pasta. Instead of me looking stupid and asking, why couldn't they just say ear shaped pasta? The food was so-so but I think I disliked it so much that I don't want to go to Mario's new LA place Osteria.

JT did not do well at dinner either. He wouldn't sit still and we had to rotate watching JT outside the restaurant. I think because of that my parents did not go out to dinner to Delmonico's with us. That place remains of our favorite places to eat. Mainly a steakhouse, but from appetizer to entree to dessert...I love it all!

More to come....

Fun with D-A-D

While Aya is travelling it is just the fella's at home having fun...or really JT taking bad pictures just like his mommy.

JT doing his buck teeth:

JT doing his impression of Aya and her small mouth.

JT doing his open fish mouth impression.

JT pretending to be shy:

Last but not least...the old standby pose...grabbing my ear:

What happens when you don't listen...

Aya is out of town the next few days so that means it is JT picture time. Aya likes to see pictures of JT on her blackberry when she travels.

I went to Grandma's to pick up JT and he was being hard headed about going home. JTs lawnmower and car where on the table and JT was mad and wanted to pull the toys down. I told JT not to pull on the lawnmower and car because it was going to fall on him...but did he listen?
Obviously he did NOT! As you can see his right eye is a little puffy, swollen and red. Sure enough the toys fell off the table and the lawn mover handle *bonked* him right in the eye.

I suppose I could have gone and grabbed the toy, but I figured this is how you learn to listen. After JT got bonked he was more than willing to listen and go home.

My body...

Good thing I wrote about not looking at my body on a regular basis because this week I paid more attention to my body.

I went to play basketball on Wedneday and after one of the games I noticed my knee was sore and my ankle was bothering. I figured I would run it off and played 2-3 more games. The pain just got worse, so I actually ended up leaving the gym a little early. Got home showered, watched tv and went the sleep.

I woke up Thursday and my knee was sore so I looked at it...not swollen...I must be okay, so I just got dressed and left for work. All day at work my leg was bothering me. My ankle hurt, so I was limping and I assumed that is why my knee hurt.

I got home, took off my shoe and this is my ankle:

YIKES! How did that happen? Ever since I came back from Hawaii, I wear slippers to work 90% of the time, but today no slippers so I didn't notice.

Sadly, work was busy and I was working the weekend so I figured I would be off my foot and it would get better. I ended up playing tennis on Saturday and I don't think it helped. I called my sister to see if she could look at it but she couldn't look at it until Sunday.

On Sunday, Dawn looked at my ankle and knee. I told Dawn wear it hurt and after about a minute she started tugging on my leg and 'pop' my knee went back into place. Apparently my knee had been twisted of the joint since Wednesday. Nothing beats free medical care!

See, good thing I checked out my own body!

A smile to my face...

I am a horrible text messenger person. For some reason I just can't use the text messenger on my phone. The auto word fill in always messes me up. I am also kind of cheap and I don't want to pay for the text data transfer.

Nonetheless, I don't mind receiving text messages. Case in point, last week I got this message:

"Miles, I hope all is well. Do you remember this day 20 years ago? You sprayed me with a fire extinguisher and threw flour all over me. -JD"

HAHAHAHHAHAHHAHA!! It brought an immediate smile to my face because I did remember that day. It didn't seem like it was 20 years ago but it was.

Let me be the first to say that I did not do it alone. There must have been at least 1 other person. Russ was definately involved but I think Brentt might have been involved as well.

Either way, it was JDs birthday and we knew he would be walking home from summer football practice. I thought it would be a good idea if we got some fire extinguishers, fill them up with water, get bags of flour and then throw it on JD after he is soaking wet. BRILLIANT!

We slowly creeped up on JD as he was walking home. We opened up the van doors and sprayed JD with water and then ran out and tossed flour all over him. Then we went home and laughed.

The best part was an hour or so later JD called and said he was tub was clogged up from the flour and it took him about an hour to scrub all the flour off of him. Apparently wet flour gets cakey and sticky! hahahahahhahahaha!! I am such a genius!

Why can't the fun days of summer be filled like that now that I am older??

Overly gay...

Okay, this entry is not going to make me look good at all. It is what it is and this is how I feel, not that there is anything wrong with it, but it just doesn't agree with *me*.

Gay.

Yes, I would probably say that I am slightly homophobic. I have worked with gays, gone to lunch and/or had drinks at happy hour with gays. I have no problem with that. My problem is that I am annoyed by SUPER gay dudes!!

On Saturday, Aya and I went to hollywood for breakfast at this placed called Grub. Incredible bacon. Really good food. The one BIG problem is that it is super gay at this place. (I did NOT know it was that gay). In fact, it just may keep me from going back.

So we are sitting next to these 3 flamin gay dudes. One dude had sparkly toe nail polish, another dude had like glove shoes on his feet. They talked weird. I mean they were SOOOO gay, that should just go ahead and have gender surgery, grow their hair out and be ugly women!! It was painful. I can't even describe it. It was just not my thing.

I want to be an open minded person and not see color, gender, sex, religion, politics whatever...but I honestly think the super gay girly dude is off limits for me. Just not acceptible for me.

Sure, some of you may post a comment or question like what if my 'best' friend or friend says they are gay? No problem. Don't care. Gay is no issue for me. Will I go your all gay get together bbq...no. I don't have a brother...so no problem there. I have a sister but no one cares about lesbians. Heck most dudes think lesbians are cool anyway.

WAIT. Now, you are thinking about my son. What if he turns into a flamer? Yeah. I dunno. That is my flesh and blood. I would still love my son regardless...but I don't think I would entertain his guests under my roof.

Again this is just how I feel. I guess it is the first time I was ever in close proximity to someone that gay...and I hated it. It literally took all I had not to say anything or to just get up and walk out. Sure, I could be stupid and ignorant...not denying it...honestly I am kind of shocked it bothered me so much. I guess I am not as open minded as I thought.

Pinkberry...

Okay, I have to admit, I am probably one of the last people in So. Cal to try Pinkberry. Yes, I know it has been 'the place' to go all summer...but I have resisted. Why? Simply, I don't like yogurt.

Yes, I know it supposedly doesn't taste like yogurt. Well, I tried it today and not only does it taste like yogurt, but it tastes like crappy yoplait yogurt in a solid form. My fruit was nice and frest but the yogurt...bleech! I will definately pass.

Luckily, I saw Live Free or Die Hard and Bourne Ultimatum so that made up for my crappy Pinkberry experience. I could get used to this not working idea. It was great to just be strolling around Century City mall without a care in the world...laughing at all the people who went to the food court on their lunch break....while I headed towards the theater for an icee and popcorn! Ahhh the life of lesiure.

Oh yeah, Aya also said I can, "FOR SURE, retire at age 45."

I've Fallen....

I have always been bad at examining my own body. I shower every day but I don't really look closely at my body and then I wonder, "Hmm, how did I get that cut? When did I get that bruise? I got blood on me from somewhere. "

A week ago, I was rubbing my leg because it was itchy. I felt it a little prickly but I just went about my business. A few more days goes by and my leg is still itchy so I really 'look' at it and "Holy Cow!" I have no hair on my leg.

This is my usual normal hairy leg:

This is my leg with no hair:


So where did my hair go??? I look at my other leg and the same thing! I got hair missing on that leg too!

Then I remembered, 2 weeks ago I was getting ready for basketball. My hands were full and I ran upstairs to get JT a cup. As I ran upstairs and I slipped and fell and hit the stairs. I remember being in a lot of pain because my shins him the stairs....I never thought that when I fell that I had burned off sections of my leg hair!

My leg hair is growing up, thus the itchy and prickle-ness. If it was never itchy, I would have never noticed. I do remember Aya laughing at my when I fell. Strange, because I remember my shins getting all black and blue but I guess I never noticed I had no more leg hair.

No Peanuts...

Yesterday morning I get an IM from Aya that she got ONE ticket to the Dodger game. Only thing was I had already told Aya that I was going to go to basketball that night. I told her it was only pick up basketball and that she should go to the game because Barry Bonds has a good chance to hit a homerun off Dodger pitching.

I told Aya to go enjoy herself, have fun and bring *ME* back a bag of peanuts.

When Aya comes home and I ask, "Where is my peanuts?"
Aya replied "I didn't get you any peanuts."
Miles: "Why not? I specifically said get me a bag of peanuts."
Aya: "The peanut guy did not come down our row. I was sitting in the middle of the row and I couldn't get up. I only got one hot dog and it didn't even have relish on it."

Hmm, I didn't realize that the Dodger seats have chains on them that hold fans in their seats the entire game.

Just a simple request for a measly bag of peanuts and I am denied. What makes it worse is that at the end Aya says, "I thought you were joking about the peanuts." Grrr.