Witnessing This Stupid Economic Crisis

So tonight I went to one of my favorite restaraunts in Old Town San Diego called Cafe Coyote. It's Tuesday night, and the whole Old Town was alive and happening. Anyway, while we were in line to get seats, a Hispanic lady I would say in her late 30's early 40's at the most, came up to us with a basket full of candies and said "hello miss" and before she said anything else i asked her "how much are they?" referring to the candy in her basket. And then she told me, "im just asking for donations for me and my family, my husband and I both lost our jobs recently and we are short on our rent." I had 2 dollar bills in my wallet...so I gave them to her. I felt really bad for some reason. She looked sincere, and she also looked appreciative for the little donation I gave. If I had more cash Im pretty sure i would have given it to her. She told me to please keep her and her husband in my prayers, with tears in her eyes, and I told her "oh, I will, I really will." And i mean it. If this is just a way of her hustling some money, and she's lying about this, that is on her and she will pay for that, but I had a feeling that she wasn't. At times like these with our economy in a crisis, it has come to people that once had jobs, to ask for donations outside a busy street. It's just so sad to me. I am affected by this economic crisis personally, not me myself, but someone very close to me, and I know that it will never come to them having to do anything like that, but still....it just angers me and saddens me all at the same tiime. We need a change....big time! Hopefully Obama can make something happen...im not expecting it overnight, but im just expecting it. Just thought i'd share this little experience i had tonight.

Weekend Re-Cap

This past weekend, I went out of town for my monthly visit to see Baby Leah (my best friend Laura's daughter). I've been trying to see her at least once a month since she has been born. The only time I didnt see her was in February, it was just so short that the month flew by. But I did see her towards the end of January. I love that little baby girl so much. I am making it a priority to be in her life, because just about all of my friends have kids, and I hardly know any of the kids, and I wasn't or aren't there to see them grow up, and i dont want that to happen with Baby Leah. I consider her my family, as if she were my own niece. Any way, I drove to Oxnard on Friday after work, then Me, Laura, her mom Charlie and Baby Leah headed to Lemoore to Laura's aunt Liz's house, so we can meet half way with Frankie since he didnt get the whole weekend off from the CHP Academy he is attending. Anyway, it was a typical weekend with Tapia's never a dull moment. We headed back to oxnard on Sunday evening, and then on Monday I headed back to San Diego to start my week. It was a pretty good wekend all in all. I got lots of pictures of Leah!

Updates!

The last 2 posts were re-caps of the last 2 months. I wrote them on my Facebook page, so i just copied it onto here.

I have been really slacking on keeping up with this blog. I guess because I have so many social network things going on that I forget about this.

I just signed up for Twitter. Have you guys heard of that? It's like a live feed site. You pretty much just update it as often as you want, and tell everyone what you are doing at the moment. You can upload a picture or video or whatever. I dont know anyone that I actually know in real life that has it, but a lot of celebrities have it, and its kinda cool to be able to see what they are doing. If, you want to see my live feed for Twitter, heres the link: www.twitter.com/andrearod84. Bookmark it, you can see what im up to throughout the day. You dont have to sign up to see it, but if you wanted to respond or anything, I think you would have to. It's just another way of "stalking a person"....ha ha! For some reason people are obsessed with knowing what people are doing every moment. Im guilty! Ha!

That's it for now...hopefully I'll keep up with this a little more then I have in the past few months!

FEBRUARY (From My Facebook)

Feb. 22nd - Connor and Spencer relaxing on a Sunday afternoon.

Feb. 13th - Sharah's birthday celebration at the house.

Wow, February has came and gone! It flew by me in the blink of an eye! It was a pretty calm month for me, nothing like January!

2/1 - High School Musical the Ice Tour at the Sports Arena with the Westmorlands. Pretty cool little show!
2/13 - Birthday party for Sharah celebrating her 27th birthday.2/14 - Valentine's Day, nothing special...wait...actually I spent it with 2 of my favorite boys...Connor and Spencer!=)2/16 - Sharah's actual birthday
2/17 - Would have been Dad's 49th birthday. This was a really tough day for me. It was my dad's first birthday since he passed away.
2/19 - 2/22 - A dose of life with 2 young boys....tiring but fun, none the less!
2/28 - 3/1 - Mom and John came for a short unplanned visit to SD = Phil's BBQ, Sephora, Viejas Casino, Cafe Coyote for Sunday morning breakfast...also a free tank of gas! =) I won $100 playing Blackjack! =)

All in all, it was an ok month, not the best, not the worst.Didn't travel at all this month, but who knows what March has in store!

JANUARY (From My Facebook)

January 31st - In Central Park, New York City. L-R: Marigar, Sharah, Nony, Me, Marisol and Marie.
January 24 - Me and Baby Leah (4 Months) in Oxnard, CA

Jan. 18th - Las Vegas, Nevada With The Family

Jan. 3rd - Chargers VS. Colts Playoff Game. Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, CA.
January 1st - Family Photo at Mom's House in Greenfield, CA

Wow, January was like one of the longest months for me ever! I did more stuff in this one month then I did all last year...ok, well maybe im exaggerating a little, but I did do a lot...

Jan 1st = Drove back from my almost 2 week stay in Monterey Bay for the holidays.

Jan 3rd = Chargers vs. Colts Playoff Game @Qualcomm Stadium

Jan 10th = Roadtrip to Hemet for Sonic Drive In and then a stop at Pechanga Casino on the way back.

Jan 17th - 19th = Las Vegas with the family.

Jan 24th - 26th = Trip to Oxnard to see Baby Leah

Jan 31st = A Day in New York City

Whew!!!

See what I mean!?

February is a short month....so let's see if its half as exciting as January was...I got a good start already, I went to see High School Musical on Ice today with 2 of my favorite boys! =)

Another Rainy Day In San Diego

It's raining cats and dogs again here in San Diego. It rained a lot the day before yesterday. So bad that after I picked up Connor and Spencer from school, I had to come home and change because I was so soaked! I like the rain, but only on days when I dont have to go anywhere. I have to go to work today. I dont have to work until 3pm though, so for now im gonna get back in bed, and stay warm till its time to get ready!

Christmas Time Is Here!

I cant believe Christmas is one week away! Everyone I have talked to has said "it's gonna be a rough Christmas this year", or something along those lines. And I believe everyone! I know that's the case for me. With how much people have had to spend on gas this year, im sure they are seeing the difference right now during the holidays. The good thing is that gas isnt at a ridiculous high right. That is really good for me, because I have to drive back home, and it will cost me half of what it cost me in the summer to go home.

Im not done shopping, but who is ever done Christmas shopping before Christmas Eve?? Besides my mom! =) This year my christmas shopping list does only consist of family...with the exception of the boys I take care of, and Baby Leah. But that's about all I can do. I love the holidys, but I cant wait until they are over!!

Weekend Recap:

I know its been awhile since my last entry, but it's the holidays...so much to do, so little time.

I'll tell you about this past weekend....

On Saturday my BFF's (Best Filipino Friends) had the annual White Elephant Christmas Party. This is my second one I have been to, but they have had maybe 4 or 5 of them already. Im usually out of town when they have them, but I have been able to catch the last 2. Anyway, we had great food, a good board game, and of course the gift exchange. If you're not familiar with White Elephant, its where you buy a gift, usually something cheap like under 30 bucks probably, then everyone picks a number, and thats the order you get to pick a gift. You can steal someone else's gift, but we only do 2 steals and then the gift gets locked and no one can steal it anymore. So i was number 9 out of 15 I think, and the first gift I opened was Guitar Hero, of course that was going to get stolen from me, so I didnt even get attached to it! So after it got stolen from me, I had to open another gift, so I was opening it, and everyone started laughing....out of all things I got a Quesadilla Maker! The funny thing about it is, There were 14 Filipinos, and 1 Mexican...me! So me being the only mexican there getting the quesadilla maker was hilarious, and a coincidence. You had to be there!! Ha ha!

We also got the best/most shocking news of the year! One of the couples in the group, CJ and Jay are having a baby! The reason it was so shocking, is because she wasnt JUST pregnant, she was FIVE months pregnant! We were around her all night, and no one noticed! That just shows how much we pay attention! Ha ha! We screamed we cried, it was very exciting! And just yesterday, she found out she was havinga baby boy! Will and Marj just had a boy in November, so there will be another one in the group! Pretty exciting!

It was a great night, fun, shocking, exciting...everything! This group of friends I have is really the best and I am so lucky to have them all in my life. I have been hanging out with them since about 2003/2004, so its been awhile now. But being the newcomer to the group even though its been about 4 or 5 years, and not being Filipino, this group of people took me into thier well established group, and made me feel like I was a part of it. Not a lot of groups of friends would do that! They were there from me when my dad passed away, and im sure they will be there through other unpredictable trials I may face in the future, they have provided a lot of my good memories that I have had here in San Diego!

Pretty Much All Caught Up

That's been my life the last couple of months. I've gone through some life changing, traumatizing, happy, indescribable times. All I will never forget no matter how much I try or want to. But there are some I am happy to remember.

All I can do now is keep living my life.

All through this I had my sister right next to me. She is truly one of the strongest people I know. She not only had to be strong for herself, but a lot of the times for both us.

Also, my mom...I dont know what my sister and I would have done without her. She was there for us through all of this, giving us her support, strength and most importantly her love, that we needed from her.

November 4, 2008 - Election Day

He did it!!!!! Barack Obama is our next President of The United States!!

It was a historic day, and I am glad to have been a part of it. I can proudly say that I voted for our first African American President, and I hope I can proudly say that I voted for the President that gave us the change we needed in the time we needed it most. But only time will tell that last part.

I am still ecstatic about this today!!