The Big Slide...

Funny thing happened when Aya and I started debating about buying a house...JT started liking the tot lot in our complex. Before then, JT always dismissed it as a 'second-class' park. Now we almost go everyday.

There are 3 slides at the tot-lot. A small kiddie slide, which is perfect for his age. A medium kiddie slide for kids a year or two older.

Then there is the older slide. Naturally, JT likes the big slide more.

Normally, Aya and I slide down with JT, but lately he has been wanting to go down by himself. Pictures alone can't do JT's slide justice...but luckily I have video.....um, for the squimish, you may want to cover your eyes:

Let me start by saying that JT is totally okay. In fact, he thought it was funny and wanted to ride again. On one hand, it is nice that he is sort of tough. On another hand, it is a little scary that he likes to be so adventureous!

Signage...

I thought this was pretty funny. Rather poor placement for a Yahoo Ad.

Yes, I doubt most will get it or even think it is funny...just something amusing for me.

Reality TV...

This entry is off to a crappy start! I was trying to update the site a few days ago and I couldn't upload pictures. I finally realized that I accidently hit BLOCK to the google IP address so my firewall was blocking all uploads. Grr.

In any case, I was watching TV over the weekend. I realized that when it comes to reality TV programs as long as there is a girl that I like I will watch.

For example, I don't always watch the Apprentice. This is probably only the second time I watched and I was watching because the first PM was Heidi. I said I would keep watching until she was fired...and she was fired near the end of the season so I just watched the entire season.



I used to like Survivor but then it got stale and boring. Well for some reason this season, I liked this big beaver toothed chinese girl, Michelle Yi....so I watched until she got booted off.


Then there is Run's House. I watch because Reverend Run is a hilarious dad. It doesn't hurt that his oldest daughter, Angela has moved back home!

Who are your favorite reality 'stars'?

What is Sicker...

I see my 'sick' topic generated some interest. I like the fact that Thomas needed more details about how 'hot' the girls are and most surprising is that Roger replied back to the sick topic....I LOVE IT!!

So the question was:

“What is sicker?”

If you are a coroner, would you ever sleep with a dead person? or

If you are a plastic surgeon, would you ever sleep with a patient after you put them to sleep with anesthesia?

Originally, Oscar and I debated this for quite some time. Oscar said the coroner was way sicker. I thought the plastic surgeon was sicker. I didn't think many would agree with me...but I thought it would be more 50-50.

Sunil hit it right on the head on why I also thought the coroner was sicker. For me, the dead person is already dead...no harm no foul. Two, there is that doctor-patient trust factor. Three, I felt as though a moral barrier for a 'live' person was crossed when the doctor takes advantage of a sleeping patient. Hence, the combination of it all is all sicker.

Now, if we take the 'victims' side of it, Oscar and I both agree the sleeping patient is sicker.

Yes, definately sick...but when you eat lunch with the same people all the time, the superficial chit-chat gets boring and then the 'What if' questions start coming out.

What is sicker?”

Last week, I was talking to Oscar and I am not 100% sure how we got onto this topic. There is no right or wrong answer…in fact, it can be filed under sick and sicker. No real surprise to those who have eaten lunch with Oscar and I as this is the norm for our lunch conversations.

The question is, “What is sicker?”

If you are a coroner, would you ever sleep with a dead person?

or

If you are a plastic surgeon, would you ever sleep with a patient after you put them to sleep with anesthesia?

Asleep at the wheel...

Most of the time JT loves to be outside and riding around in his little car. We have noticed that if we take him around nap time he falls asleep. Unfortunately we don't a camera with us but Aya and I think it is the funniest thing.

Good thing Thomas had a camera as we riding around my parents neighborhood. I think it is embarrassing to be pushing a kid in the car while he is sleeping!

Risk versus Reward...

After debating what would be best for our family, Aya and I decided that as much as we liked the house over the weekend, we are not going to put a bid on the house.

What made it tough was we went to the house hoping we wouldn't like it...and we liked it. It was the first time Aya and both liked a house.

Then we were hoping there would be a lot of bids because we agreed that we would not getting into a bidding war. We would place one bid and that was it. Sadly, after the first day there were no bids.

Basically, it was ours for the taking but we just couldn't pull the trigger. In the end, the practical side of me won out. I just couldn't justify taking on 5x my current mortage for 400 more sq feet and a yard. Even though JT would love a backyard to play in...we would be poor and couldn't afford backyard toys.

I never thought I would even be close to buying a million dollar home. Part of me feels that it is just ridicilious to pay that much money for a house. Then I realize, I live in LA and almost every home is going for a million bucks now. Maybe next time....

Buy or not to Buy?

Aya and I have been searching for a house for quite some time now. We haven't been in a huge rush as we feel we have a good home now. It would just be nicer to be in a home instead of a townhome. Also it would be nicer to live on a street that isn't so busy.

Well, it looks like we found a home worth bidding on. We have to make a decision today or tomorrow if we will make an offer on this home:

For me it is a tough decision. Do you go with finanical freedom, which we have now because I have such low mortgage payment...or do we go with a slightly bigger home and a hefty mortgage payment. Decisions, decisions.

This one has an ANSWER...

Okay, since you guys wanted an answer try this:

-- Go to maps.google.com
-- Click on Get Directions (under the address bar)
-- In From type: New York, New York
-- In To type: Paris, France.
-- And read line # 23

The Verdict...

I have to say, I was impressed that people actually logged a comment in my “Reader Participation Time” entry.

The picture comes from a book that JT likes to look at. He can’t pick out shapes yet but he likes to pick out the animals (he is really good at imitating lions, owls, dogs and cats). One day I was listening to Aya read to JT and Aya said, “Look at the FROG in the pond.”

FROG?? *AHEM* that is a CROCODILE.

Aya said it is not a crocodile but a frog. Her argument had nothing to do with the pond size or it being a childrens book. Aya said it is a frog, on a lily pad and he is submerged so only his eyes show. Soooo, NOT. Frogs do not sit half submerged and half out of water like that. That is an Crocodile, eyeing the prey…the snake and/or the cat.

So the votes are in and tallied….drumroll…..3-3…it was a tie!

Sunil, Sao and Ron said it was frog.

Jenny, Tom and Jeff said it was a crocodile.

Anonymous said it was a frog and that would have swung the vote but I said I am not accepting anonymous answers. Too bad. Since I rule the house with a 50.1% majority and Aya only has a 49.9% share that means the answer is CROCODILE.

Once again, I win. Too easy.

Mommy and Me...

Every Saturday Aya takes JT to a "Mommy and Me" class. Basically, it is a one hour class where other moms get together to talk about how raising their kids and ask various question while the kids play together. The kids are all basically the same age.

The mommy and me class has a very strict policy about sick kids not coming to class. This also applies to parents. Last week Aya was pretty sick and Friday night Aya was telling me that it is too bad she can't go to "Mommy and Me" because there is an easter egg hunt.

Hmm, kids JTs age...all girls...JT could dominate the easter egg hunt. Okay, I will take him to class! One word: G-A-Y.

The class was so gay it was incredible. The other moms and instructor were all very friendly and nice to me, but being the only guy at "Mommy and Me" was a little uncomfortable. They start the class off by going around the room and singing introductions to each other. Then they sing more songs. The kids play and then sing goodbye.

That is so not happening. The instructor pointed to the words to the songs on the wall for me...yeah...sorry lady, I am only here for the easter egg hunt. I am not singing. Luckily all the other moms sang when it was JT's turn.

Sadly, JT didn't dominate the easter egg event but he was smart enough to find a majority of eggs...just he ended up throwing all the eggs back and then rode a little car around the driveway.

8 Years...

I met Aya in 1996...got married in 1999...and today is our 8th wedding anniversary! Where has all the time gone? It seems as though we just got married a couple years ago...not 8 years ago.

Aya and I watched our wedding ceremony on VHS last week (my dad converted it to DVD). All I know is, I looked A LOT younger 8 years ago and I had a full head of hair....I guess marriage will age a guy!

Well, at least I can say I did one thing right in my life...I picked a good wife. I guess, I really am great. I even bought Aya this shirt shortly after we started dating...yes...when she was an intern.

3 things that I am sure Aya will want clarified:

1. No, Aya wasn't wearing the shirt when the picture was taken. She held it up and streched it out so the words were clear for the photo.

2. Yes, those are holes in the shirt and Aya doesn't wear the shirt anymore. We found in buried in Aya's drawer.

3. I have no idea what that 'stain' is above the word 'interns' but it is pretty funny.

Reader participation time...

Okay, this is the group participation comment section. You don't have to be anonymous and you don't have to create a login to leave a comment. Just select other and then type your name.

The question is: Do you see that green thing with two eyes in the pond? What do you think that is?

Edit: Okay, please pick ONE answer only. I will then list who was right and who was wrong.

Easter Sunday...

It was Easter Sunday at my parents house...which meant it was time for the annual Easter Egg hunt. My cousins all showed up and we reminisced about how I used to dominate the easter egg hunt and musical chairs. Why we aren't eligible anymore, I don't know.

In any case, it is the next generation of Easter egg hunters. I tried to practice with JT but Aya somehow got ahold of practice time and before you knew it JT was no longer gathering eggs but throwing eggs instead. Typical.

Since JT was youngest he got a 5 minute head start.


Sadly, JT was moving slow like his mom. No competitive spirit...but he did manage to find that ONE hard to get, time consuming egg in the back corner.


Despite his slowness, JT still made out with some nice Easter loot:


He had about $7 bucks and candy. I don't remember getting money or getting to keep the candy when I grew up.

Parenting 101...

I wouldn't say you learn something new every day being a first time parent, but there definately times you learn what NOT to do.

I was flipping thru the Sunday paper and noticed a Toys R Us insert. I flipped through it and saw a giant kiddie lego set on sale. I told Aya, lets walk to Toys R Us and buy it. Mistake number one...shopping with Aya is never cheap.

We get to Toys R Us and there is two lego containers. One was a fire truck and one was a construction truck. JT likes both so we take JT out of the cart and let him decide. He zooms to the fire truck, so the decision is made. That was a mistake. Don't let a 16 month year old decide on which toy, because I had to take the toy back to go pay. JT didn't like that at all. He wanted to play with it NOW and IN the store.

As the cashier rings up the legos, I noticed the price was kind of high. I asked if the legos were on sale? The cashier then tells me, "Yes, the legos are on sale, but not the one you bought." Grr.

The whole purpose of the trip was to get CHEAP legos. I should have known JT is Aya's son and getting things on sale is not part of their M.O.