It's our anniversary...

9 years ago today Aya and I got married. It doesn't seem like it was 9 years ago. Aya and I went to Cafe Del Rey to dinner. We went there the night I proposed so every year since then we have gone back to celebrate our anniversary.

I know, a lot of you think, "I don't know how Aya has put up with you for 9 years". Jerks. At least come up with something new...but I was wondering about that question today. I realized that Aya doesn't really have to put up with me....I am a GREAT catch...so if anything it has been 9 years of *ME* having to deal with Aya!

I suppose in either scenario it has been me and Aya for the past 9 years. Some ups, some downs but overall we have been very lucky and fortunate these past 9 years. In fact, we are already talking about making plans to celebrate our 10th anniversary with something special. (I said someTHING not someONE so there is no 2nd kid on the way)

For now, we are celebrating the fact that we were able to do some shopping after dinner. I played some video games (where I got to yell and scream at the tv without worry of what I say or how loud I say it). Aya and I watched the Laker game and Tivo and best of all...I mean BEST OF ALL is that tonight I won't have to worry about Jack waking me up in the middle of the night asking to come into bed and then using my face as his pillow.

Happy Anniversary!

And then there were four...

For the past two years, I have been trying to "retire" from basketball. I felt as though I had better things to do then to play basketball and lose. For me I was only having fun when I was winning...anything else was just a waste of time. Not every league we play in has that 'sense' of urgency to win, but every January there is one league that is all about pride. Playing in this league is worth coming out of retirement...because you play in this league to win.

I don't know why this league is more intense. I want to win every league I play but this league is different. At the end of the season the top 16 teams from the various divisions get seeded into a single elimination tournament...like our own version of March Madness.

This year my team started the season very poorly. We dropped the first two games and things did not look good. We came together as a team and ended up near the top of our division. We drew the #8 seed in the tournament. It was such a relief to just make playoffs!

We won our first game against the #9 seeded team by 20+ points. What did we get for our efforts? We got to take on the #1 seed...and without our best player Jeff. Luckily, we continued our winning ways and beat down the #1 seed by 20 points.

We play again this Sunday and the winner advances to the Southern California finals. I have been lucky enough to play in the So. Cal vs No. Cal finals once before, but this time it is different.

Last time I was a role player on superstar team. This time, I am still a role player but we don't have a superstar team. Everyone has to do there share for us to win and play well. We don't have any one guy that can carry us an entire game. 3 months ago I didn't think we would even have a shot at the playoffs and now we are 1 game out from the finals. I love the competition and the intensity in our games now. This is why I like playing basketball.

The maddness...

March Maddness is over...

....and I am the winner!!! I picked Kansas in my big money NCAA pool, so I picked up a nice chuck of change!

In hindsight, I think I would have won ALL three of the pools I entered. The day the tournament started I realized I have Kansas in all 3 of my pools. I suppose I got nervous or chickened out so I changed 2 of the 3 final four teams to UNC, Kansas and UCLA. In all 3 pools I didn't have Memphis in the finals.

In my heart, I wanted UCLA to win as they are my favorite team. My second favorite team is UNC but I just did not think they would win it all. This year I made my decision based on just winning my NCCA pool. In all my pools almost everyone had UNC and UCLA winning so my Kansas pick was a sure deal if they won it all.

Just before the game started I was reading the LA Times and this was my horoscope for yesterday:

Scorpio (Oct. 24-Nov. 21): You're doing the work it takes to be great.

Ninja Contest...

Jenny who went to Mexico to lounge around and take 3-4 days to draw her Ninja has officially made it a contest:

http://jenjenkay.blogspot.com/

Log a comment to vote on who drew the better Ninja.

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What a different one week makes! Aya's mom is doing a lot better. She has continued to eat and do therapy. She is cooperating a lot more now and is actively participating in her therapy. She can now move her right arm and leg. She has to concentrate to move it and it moves slowly but she can move it. Her voice is getting stronger and she is alert a lot longer.

Hopefully she continue this progress and this work/therapy ethic.

Ninja-Style..

In past entries I have written about Aya trying to be stealthy like a ninja and she never is...the other day at work I was just thinking about her and drew a portrait of Aya in Office Paint.

This was our phone conversation. I have caller ID on my work phone and I see Aya calling me:

Miles: What's up ugly!

Aya: Oh, I will call you back.

Miles: WAIT! Why did you call me if you were just going to say I will call you back??

Aya: I thought you said you were busy.

Miles: What?

Aya: Did you say, "What's up ugly?"

Miles: Yes. How does that sound like, "I am busy?"

Aya: I dunno.

This is what I have to deal with on a daily basis. Lately, Aya is on this big kick to call me and leave messages. She thinks she is calling and leaving a message on my cell phone but she is calling my work phone when she knows I am already at home! Grrr.

April Fool's...

I have been thinking about getting a new car. While my car is nice and I do like my car...I still miss having a convertible Porsche. Unfortunately the Porsche comes with 2 seats and we are a family of 3. There just doesn't seem to be nice sedans out there that doesn't feel old fogey style.

Last week I went and test drove the new 2009 Jaguar XF. It was nice but expensive. Jaguar can't even come close to the deal that Mercedes or BMW can make. Thus, I dunno if I would pay 40% more just to have something different from others since Benz and Beemers are dime a dozen in LA. I have to rule out some of the exotics since Oscar has the Aston Martin and Lotus already...can't be a copy-catter.

This isn't your dad's Jaguar XF:
So why am I looking to get another car? Well April Fool's on me...but not really. Aya and I both had to take our cars in for service this weekend on Saturday. $2000 dollars later we got our cars back! $2000 bucks for oil changes, brakes on my car, a new battery and two crummy car washes!

When the service manager called me to say Aya needed a new battery and that it would cost $300 bucks, I said, "How come you can't go to Pep Boys and throw one of the $19.99 batteries in there?" Aya and my mom thought it was funny...but I didn't think it was funny. 19 bucks compared to 300 bucks!! Gimmie a break. It is just ridiculous that Mercedes charges that much for routine service.

Yes, BMW and Jaguar will be expensive as well so by looking at another car it won't solve my problem. I guess I am just looking to spread my business and give it to others and not Mercedes.

I was going to buy a new bbq-er if my car repair bill was under $200 bucks. Forget that now. I even debated about my pre-order of Grand Theft Auto IV....but then I thought, "I can scrounge up $70 bucks for 30 hours of entertainment."

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Yoko update: Aya visited her mom today and Aya was encouraged. Aya's mom was awake the entire 2 hour visit. She ate 5-6 ozs food compared to the usual 1 oz of food. She took 15 steps today in therapy. Those are assisted steps where she walks holding onto bars, so she isn't walking unassisted but at least she was vertical today. She got a haircut and that made her feel better. So, small steps today. Hopefully 2 steps forward, 1 step back...well maybe not the 1 step back but at least there is progress.

Wedding...

Friday afternoon we went to Aya's coworkers wedding at La Venta Inn in Palos Verdes. I don't know if it was because I worked a 1/2 day on Friday but it just seemed like Aya and I had a longer and nicer weekend.

The wedding was nice. The food was good, there was an open bar and we always have fun with Aya's coworkers. Hopefully Aya and I won't ever have to host one of the dinner parties but they are pretty fun.

Mike and Courtney:

Derek and Brett:

Dave and Rose:
And of course me and Aya. I have no idea what Aya is pointing out....she was boozing it up as usual:
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Yoko update: Apparently the anti-depression medicine kicked in this weekend and Aya's brother said that her mom is doing better. She wants to leave the living assisted home and her brother said the only way that will happen is if she gets up and walks out on her own two legs. Yoko then said, "I guess I better try harder in rehab."

Hopefully that is a good sign. For the most part I think she still lays in bed and rests. She eats maybe 1-2 ounces of food per meal.

Thanks for everyone for all the well wishes, cards and flowers. I wish I could post better news or more progress but this is something that will just take a while. Hopefully with enough time, Aya's mom will be as good as new.

Easter...

It was the annual Easter Egg hunt at my parents house on Sunday. This was the first year JT was really able to participate and know what he was doing. The first time he was about 4 months old and could barely hold on to an egg. Last year he was 1.5 and kind of stunk up the joint even though we practiced. He couldn't hold the basket and get an egg.

This year he did much better but still dawdled around and didn't have that killer instinct to horde all the eggs.

Here is the competition...I mean cousins:

JT was lesiurely gathering eggs with his head start:

This year there was something new...hula hoop contests. Apparently hula-hooping is like riding a bike, once you learn you never forget how. This was Aunty Paul's idea....she is an elementary school teacher so I bet she practices all the time.

But then Aunty Nora did it too...and she said she hasn't hula hooped in 50 years!

Aya NEVER hula hooped before so this was her first time! We all know she can't ride a bike either, but at least this time she didn't get hurt.

Happy Easter!

Ian's Birthday...

After the zoo, JT and I went to Ian's birthday party at Under The Sea. Under the Sea is like a gigantic play area, with a bouncer, slides and lots of tricycles and bikes. Just imagine a big playground that is indoors.

I don't know how to describe it...there really was nothing wrong with it...but my heart kind of sank a little. Maybe it has to do with the male ego, but all the kids were running around, going on the slide, going in the bouncer, riding all the cars and JT was playing by himself with a kitchen set:

JT saw the oven and was saying, "COOKIES". I was thinking you are just like your mom. Not that Aya bakes...Aya eats cookies! To be fair, JT goes to the park daily and we were at the park at the zoo! So the kitchen set was something new but since Aya didn't go to the birthday it was just me and Jack...I didn't think it was cool to hang out in the kitchen area.

With that being said, I guess it wasn't cool for me to take a picture of JT in the mermaid cut out:

Aya and I plan to keep these pictures so if JT ever asks us for a motorcycle we can say, "NO".

Crash!
Getting back to JT and food. Under the Sea served a snack and 30 minutes later served cake. All of the other kids ate real quick and went back to playing. JT was getting 2nd and 3rd helpings of snacks and didn't leave until he ate ALL his cake. Ugh. Just like Aya. Give him food and he is one happy camper.

2 hours with about 15 kids running all over screaming and hyper. Just me and JT. It was painful...almost wished I went to Jenny's birthday....ALMOST.

Spring Fling...

A very busy Easter weekend for us. We were hardly home and this whole week of updates will be from this weekend.

We started off the weekend by going to the Spring Fling at the LA Zoo event. JT got to pet rabbits:

JT took a picture with the easter bunny and then got it printed on an Easter t-shirt:

Next up was the rabbit face painting:

Finally we met Tony the Tiger!

Puddle...

JT loves to play with water. Aya and I got JT this nice pool so JT can pour water and play with some boats.

However, JT liked splashing the water out of the container:

Then instead of playing in the nice pool of water he played in the puddle of dirty water:

Dirty hands...
Happy Friday!! I hope everyone has a good weekend!

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Aya's mom got transferred from St. Joseph's to a living assisted facility near her home in Fullerton. All of the living assisted facilities are kind of depressing. Hopefully she will get enough attention because it is about a 12 patient to 1 nurse ratio.

I know "living assisted" sounds better than ICU, but to be honest, Aya's mom sleeps a majority of the time. Rehab has not really started. The progress is slow but at least now she is out of critical and/or life threatening condition. Hopefully within the next month their will be some sort of improvement so we can actually gauge what the next step will be and have some idea of what kind of life Aya's mom will live out.

Happy Birthday!

Happy 53rd birthday to Jenny. You don't look a day over 55 if you ask me!

I love this part. It made me laugh almost every day. There was an evite for Jenny's birthday which I actually read on time and then declined for better offers that day. =)

The funny part is that 4 of the 5 people that did not reply to Jenny's party are long time friends! hahahahahhaha!!

What is even better is when I went back tonight to try to cut and paste my rude comment in I found out that the party was now cancelled! hahahaha. Oh yeah....HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENNY!

As an early bday present I researched your butt problem and maybe this is what happened:

According to WebMD, an anal fissure is “a tear in the lining of the lower rectum (anus) that causes pain during bowel movements.” Anal fissures are caused by vigorous stretching of the anal canal. A fissure may develop if you are constipated and try to pass a large, hard stool; if you don’t relax your anal muscles (sphincter muscles) during a bowel movement; or sometimes after repeated diarrhea.

Maybe Ron and Jeff will buy you some Ex-Lax for your bday! =)

Night and Day...

Good news to report. Aya took the day off because she thought her mom was going to be transferred from St Josephs to an assisted living facility. However, when Aya got to the hospital she was informed her mom was cooperative with the physical therapist and that she did really well. Better than she has ever peformed and did not complain.

Aya go to see her eat bites of food and drink water for the first time since she has been in the hospital...which is close to 1 month now. Aya's mom even sat upright in a chair and stayed awake today.

The news was so good that St. Joseph's wants to see if this trend continues. If so they might re-evaluate her and she can go be transferred St. Judes instead of a living assisted facility. Aya will be going tomorrow when the therapist is there because family encouragement can aid recovery. Hopefully this was not a one time deal. Cross your fingers...

Out of ICU...

This weekend Aya and I went to check out 3 living assisted facilities for Aya's mom. 1 was in Fullerton and 2 were in Orange. I had no idea what to expect, but all 3 were depressing.

Aya's mom was moved out of ICU on Friday into a general room. Due to health care insurance, the insurance company wants Aya's mom moved to a living assisted facility on Monday.

This was the first time in 2 weeks that I went to visit Aya's mom. Her face looked better as the swelling from the surgery was down and she looked pretty normal again. Unfortunately, she spent the day sleeping. I also did not see her move her right arm and right leg. I also heard her speak and it was more like a whisper but you could understand what she was saying. She did moan and cry a lot.

So with all that, it just doesn't seem like she is ready for assisted living...but I guess she doesn't need to be taking up a hospital bed either. Looks like our temporary plan is to have Aya move to the Fullerton house while I take care of JT.

It is about 50-50 now that JT takes off his pants to watch TV. Here he is "with" pants this time...just chillin.

Happy Monday!

The Grand Canyon...

As soon as JT turned two his two favorite words have been, "NO" and "MINE". He listens but he doesn't obey and always wants to try everything we tell him not to do. Yes, some of you are thinking just like the way *I* do not listen. Well, this is proof that he is part my son and part Aya's son.

A few weeks ago I caught him standing on the chair trying to leap from one chair to the other like he was jumping the Grand Canyon.

This is my favorite picture because on his attempt to jump the chairs he missed and ended up just being like a bridge over the Grand Canyon. However, why I like this and why it reminds me of Aya is because he didn't even put his hands out. He just had his face in the arm rest...kind of how like Aya fell shoulder first when trying to play defense against me in one on one basketball. Dork.

The recovery:
Over to the other side:

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Hopefully this Child Height Predictor comes true for JT. Based on JT's current age, current height, weight and my height and Aya's height the predictor says:

Height Predictor

Your boy will likely be 5 ft. 10 in. at age 18.

Young men often continue to grow a little past 18 until they reach 21, but their height at age 18 is very close to their final adult height. This prediction is a "best guess" but it's still just that -- a guess. Based on the formula we used* there is a 50 percent chance that your boy's full-grown height will be within 0.8 inches (above or below) of this prediction, and a 90 percent chance that it will be within 2.1 inches.

Even if it is off by 2.1 inches he will be 1 inch taller than me. Hopefully.

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Mother in-law news:

Yoko had more tests this morning and things are looking better. The vasospasms have been reduced and they think no longer require medication. In fact, they have started weening her off all her medication now.

The doctors think that with 6 months of physical therapy she could be in pretty good shape. They also want to transfer her out of ICU this week if things continue to progress. If so, she would only be in a general room for a day or two until she can get transferred into a living assisted facility.

Aya is going to look at two facilities this weekend. One is in Santa Ana and the other is in Fullerton. I am hoping the Fullerton facility is nice because that would cut done about 20-30 miles for Aya's daily 120 mile commute. In addition, Aya could just live in Fullerton the next 6 months or so.

Even though Yoko is medically doing better, mentally she is not cooperating. Yoko is battling some depression so that is causing her to refuse physical therapy thus delaying the evaluation of what she can or can not do. She refuses to swallow or eat solid food so the doctors can not remove the feeding tube nor is she rehabing the right side of her body that is showing slight paralysis. Although she has moved her hand and leg so that is encouraging. Thus, it is fustrating for Aya to go and spend the time and be away from JT when her mom is refusing treatment.

Hopefully the anti-depressents will hope and we can begin therapy and start the road to recovery.