i said i was going to post part 2...but it's been pretty hectic during the holidays. however, i did manage to upload some pics from my toronto trip. here is the rest of my pics of my trip.

i finally have some time to write about my latest trip back to toronto. firstly, i want to say, how awesome it was just to be back home. it was a short trip, but i definitely packed in in the activities, and did much more than i thought i was. no rest for the weary...

funny thing is that my brother didn't even tell ethan he was coming with me till the morning of...suffice it to say, he had no idea. just look at the pics, he's sound asleep without a care in the world...when he wakes up, they nudge him and say "ethan , you're not going to school today, you're going to canada!"

the flight was fine and i think i know now why southwest is so cheap. no audio and video entertainment, and no assigned seating...what a concept. ethan was great to fly with as well...i just put cars, and fast and the furious on the dvd player, and he was golden. we arrived in buffalo just before 5pm est, but alas, no one was there to pick us up. 35 min later, my brother shows up with my mom and dad...low and behold, they didn't get any of my calls as the phone was on vibrate...go figure! from there we went straight to my favourite restaurant wah sing for some lobster...oh, did i mention i was my mom's birthday as well? jj came to meet us there...the food was good, the company was great, and the bill was plentiful.

i had so many things i wanted to do the next day i woke up. i knew i was going to be hard pressed to fit everything in, but as long as i got some of them accomplished, it would be good. i planned to meet my friend debra in the morning, then get some items from bulk barn nikki wanted (ringolos, hickory sticks) then off to see my aunt who was going to clean my teeth. i don't know how the insurance works around here, so if it means i get free dental visits everytime i come back home...so be it!

afterwards, after the 40 min of painful cleaning, i had to jet back home, change, and then meet the gang at woodbine racetrack. it was frigidly cold that night, but i made it out...jj was there with kurt, lorraine, the girls along with a whole bunch of other friends. the buffet was delicious, but the betting...well, that's another story. i lost, what can i say, but the company was great. i also got a chance to meet j's ... uh, friend....who happens to be a nikki as well...and a raptors fan too...so we got a long great. sarah was showing and guiding me as i bet my money away...i did however win once...on a $2 bet, i won $3.60. so i was up $1.60...i couldn't even win paper money damnit! oh well. more toonies and loonies in my pocket.

look for tomorrow's installment...later.

i don't even know where to begin...i was going to give my rant about how terrible the raptors have been playing and how they've been underperforming...before i knew it, my buddy over at fox in chicago emailed me to tell me that sam mitchell got the boot! and it's about time...after a ass kicking in laker land, and then a 39 point demolition to denver last night...something had to give. this team is underperforming badly, and change is needed. let's hope these guys can turn it around...get healthy and back to playing team basketball...

i've been in a bitter mood all weekend because the raptors blew the game vs. new jersey on friday, and then got their asses handed to them by boston on sunday. that's all i have to say...

on a brighter note, i was at my cousin's baby shower over the weekend. babie's galore. instant birth control!!!

i've been in a bitter mood all weekend because the raptors blew the game vs. new jersey on friday, and then got their asses handed to them by boston on sunday. that's all i have to say...

i was pretty upset that the raps lost to orlando. i really have to question sam mitchell as a coach, because i just don't think he knows how to utilize his players. his rotations are all over the place, and he doesn't seem to know how to matchup at all. with that being said, they did beat down on miami last night...2nd time in the past 3 days, but let's note that calderon was back in the lineup.

on a losing note, my ducks got a beat down from washington and ovechkin. that kid is good...there should have been a player on him all night. it was good to see him play even though it was for a loss.

now nikki has been reading twilight for the past week. she is so into this book that she read through the first volume in like 2 days, and then she read the 2nd book in almost the same time. i only know of the movie that is supposed to come out this week. the movie looks silly, and the early reviews have not been favourable, but i did promise her i would read the book when i have time. we're supposed to watch the movie this weekend...i'm really going to try and contain myself...

the fires have been raging all weekend. the sky was filled with smoke and ash...honestly, it was an amazing site. the brea fires were the closest to us, roughly around 3 miles away. we weren't sure whether or not we had toe evacuate or not...so we just stayed around our place, watching the news to see where the fire was heading. these santa ana winds are crazy. they just blow every which way...very hard to predict. luckily enough for us, the fires never reached our place...

for some good news...the ducks beat the kings and the raps beat miami! all in all, a good sports weekend for me! oh, did i mention that with all these fires going, i had a craving for korean bbq on the weekend!

raps got a beat down again! this time, to the sixers for whom they beat in the opener merely 2 weeks ago! what's wrong with this picture? calderon went down with a hamstring injury...so who does sam mitchell put in...solomon. not to say solomon is not a good guard, but for goodness sake, roko played in the 3 games the raps won...so why not put him in again!!!! ahh!!!!!
and please tell me...what is wrong with this picture? can anyone say help?

anyways, we had staff hockey this morning and i'm happy to say, i scored a sick goal. i also wore my leafs jersey...so i can give props to brian burke who ultimately may end up in toronto! good luck brian, you'll need it if you inherit the mess that is the maple leafs!!

yesterday i volunteered at walter knott elementary school in buena park. it was for hockey development and we had to read to the kids. my buddy tim and i had a 3rd grade class, and he read a dr. suess book, while i picked a book called the "the greatest goal" which was about the 1972 canada / soviet hockey series! you know the story...the amazing goal by paul henderson to win it all for canada??? suffice it to say, the kids were really attentive. tim's book took merely 10 min to read...mine however, was like 50 pages, and took me almost half an hour. my arm was killing me...but at least the kids got a crash course in canadiana!!!

raps got an ass kicking last night! i was so upset after the game as i knew it was a win we let slip away! nikki couldn't understand why i was so upset...i guess it's just a guy thing, and perhaps, because i used to work for them...i have emotional attachment to the team. when they lose, i lose...

for some reason, the weekends just seem to fly by! i guess it's primarily because there always seems to be something happening. as for this weekend, my buddy and i went over to my brother's place to help him replace the suspension on his audi a4.

we also had to scout out some potential sites for our new business venture. we checked out some sites in corona, which were really cool. we are really going ahead with our plans...so it's pretty exciting!

sunday was my day of rest. i worked out on saturday, so i wasn't really planning on hitting the gym again, so instead, i cleaned the apt. i also cleaned my fish bowls and watched the raptors beat up on charlotte!!! all in all, a great weekend...

well, today is election day here in the US. as you can imagine, it's politics mania going on. obama vs. mccain!!! i'm so excited to just be here to witness history in the making. i unfortunately cannot vote as i'm not a US citizen...but if i were able to, i'm not quite sure who i'd vote for...the country is in disarray as it is, so whoever wins...good luck, as you'll have a huge mess to clean up! let's just throw my favourite candidate for 2012 in...for me, its palin all the way!!!!


how can you not love this woman!

now to some more serious topics...AI to detroit!!!! whoa! i didn't see that coming. and it just happens that AI's first game will be tomorrow against the raptors! that is going to be an awesome game! can't wait.

finally a weekend where i can just sit at home, and relax. the past week was long, arduous and hectic. i had to work friday night which was fine. nikki decided to stay home and give out candy...(and when i say give out candy, i mean, leaving a bowl out in front of the door and have the kids help themselves!)

the ducks game was awesome, even though we lost in the shoot out. a total of 13 goals, and we lost in the 13th round of the shootout...amazing. the raptors were also having their home opener that night! i was trying so hard not to watch the game or highlights as i knew i was working. my buddy jamal comes upstairs to the VIP lounge to tell me that the raptors lost!!! that news completely sucked the life out of me...so it prompted me to go downstairs to see the result for myself. it was the best decision i made, as the raptors tied the game in regulation, and won it on OT. jamal is a bastard...but the raps won, so its all good!

raptors season opener!!!!! i love the new nba leaguepass broadband! 3 live games simultaneously! let's hope the raptors can hold the sixers off for the rest of the game!

the weekend just came and went! the ducks swept all of eastern canada beating the leafs, senators, and canadiens...they even won last night against columbus. we are now back at .500!!!!

friday night, nikki stayed over at her parents house. as for me, i went over to see jandro as he invited me for some all u can eat sushi at this place called onami up in irvine. it was ohhh so good. afterwards, we chilled back at his place to watch incredible hulk and play some NBA 2K .... suffice it to say, the movie was alright (still liked the ang lee version) but the ass kicking jandro got was even better!

sunday was cool. as the fam came over to chill out! we had the infamous roundtable pizza (which i still think, is the best pizza next to nyc)...the kids were over, ethan, jordan, and baby domenic! his hair, how his hair!!!

thursday morning meant staff hockey day. not only were we playing but we were also helping one of our sponsors with a commercial shoot. AAA was doing PSA at anaheim ice, so they asked if we wanted to help them with the shoot. traditionally, we play from 7am till around 8:30am...however, with the shoot, we found ourselves playing till around 9:30. suffice it to say, my legs were killing...but at least i got some ample screen time...just look for the filipino dude skating in a dark blue jersey and white helmet...that's me!

tonight is also the last preseason game for the Lakers. and as usual i got staff tickets to the event. it really is a pain in the ass to find people to take my tickets, and i usually don't want to spend after hours here at my work...but for basketball, i'll make an exception!

DUCKS beat LEAFS! what can i say...we went to watch the game over at ESPN zone at downtown disney. we were supposed to have a dept meeting there, but let's be honest, we were all there to watch the power house tilt between the putrid leafs and the even more disappointing ducks...

the game was actually pretty good. i hardly recognized anyone on the leafs (is sundin still on our team?) but i did see cujo, kaberle, steen and stajan. all in all, the ideal situation for me would be if both teams just tied and gets a point...and at the end, ducks won the shootout! everyone get a point and everyone wins!

look at how both websites labeled the game...

i had some extra tickets for the ducks vs. san jose sharks game on friday night. as usual, the last place i want to be after hours, is at work...so i knew i had to give the tickets to someone. lucky for me, my brother and cousin are always up for free tickets...(and of course, the free food and drinks in the VIP lounge)

i decided to just hang out in my office till the game got started, and until they showed up. it ended up being an awesome game, because they beat san jose 4-0 for our first win of the season!!!

i had a very full saturday. i decided to go with nikki to her power tai class in the morning. afterwards, we did our weekly trip to costco for our groceries...

we got home, had lunch, and then i had to rest up for my scuba diving lessons! that's right, scuba! the sport chalet near our place offers free lessons every 3rd saturday of the month. it finally worked in my schedule to go...and it was awesome. there were only 5 of us that showed up, and we had all the time dedicated to us. we spent almost an hour in a 14 foot pool. they showed us how to use the gear, how to put it on, and proper signs and procedures. suffice it to say, it's an amazing sensation to breath underwater...

i've told myself that i will start to be more diligent in updating this blog. after reading di's and sal's blog regularly, it has inspired me to be more pro-active when adding even the littlest things on here...i've even discovered that my friend sheryl has a blog, saadia has a blog and even tiffany has a blog!!!??? funny that no guys i know have blogs...something gay about it i guess...oh well.

last week started off great...on friday, we even found time to head out to LA to meet up with RO, who happens to be nikki's cousin from NY. I loved hanging out with RO when we were in NY, so it was a no brainer to go out and see her...

...as we made our way down to LA, we planned on meeting nikki's sister pam for dinner and then meet up with RO and her cousins on sunset...as usual, the traffic was horendous. we even left late, to try and avoid it, but i should know better...there is no good time to head out to LA...

so after an hour on the 5, we finally made it to sherman oaks, picked up pam and had some delicious sushi at this place called nami sushi (i think that's what it was called)...then we made our way to sunset to meet RO, and her cousin denise, lino and rosanna. suffice it to say, they were amazing. and the best part...lino's wife rosanna is from toronto!!! it was like homecoming for me...we talked and talked...it ended up being a great time, with great people. lino is a lead supervising animator with Disney studios, so please go and check out BOLT...its the latest movie he just worked on!

i had a full saturday planned. i had some errands to run in the day, and my brother's birthday dinner in the evening. for the past 6-7 months, i've been collecting all our recylables, from plastic, to glass to cans. they unfortunately don't have a recycling program in fullerton. i always wondered why people would be rummaging through our trash for recyclables...well, i found out it's because you get paid!!! that's right ! PAID!!! so after months and months of saving crap in my garage, i finally went to the recycling depot to get PAID!!! 5 bags of plastic, 2 bags of cans and 2 bag of glass...i totolled a whopping....get ready!!!...$11.00 bucks! well, that is at least $11 more than what i started with.

after my big payout from the recycling center, we headed over to my brother's place in corona to celebrate his birthday...good times with family, and st. louis bbq!!

i knew that the start of my work week was going to be a busy one. we had events almost everyday, and i knew i had to work a couple of the games. i prepared myself by volunteering to be a secret shopper for WWE RAW! yes, that's right...i said MONDAY NIGHT RAW!!!!

i haven't been to a live wrestling match since i was like 12 years old...so this was indeed a treat. not to mention, it was free and we even got $50 bucks! can't go wrong with that!

i must say, a lot has changed since my last wrestling match. i didn't recognize any wrestlers, but johnny knoxville was in the crowd which was cool, and we saw the main event between heartbreak kid and batista...and batista might very well have the biggest shoulders in the WWE!!!

suffice it to say, it was a lot of fun, and there was a guy sitting behind us who was super knowledgable of wrestling...and get this...he even had a girlfriend with him...go figure!

i'm going to try and be more diligent in updating this blog. thanks to my friends sally, and di, they are actually inspiring me to add new content...so stay tuned...

in the meantime, here is a pic of my new favourite olympic athlete! Laryn Franco of Paraguay!!!!! YAY PARAGUAY wherever you are!!!

holy smokes...was may the last time i put something up here...? that was a long time ago...almost a year...funny how time flies.

this is going to be an abbreviated blog, as i'll add some good stuff as soon as i can.

in the mean time...here is my update...

living in LA sure is an experience...do i like it better than living in Toronto? of course not...i spent practically my whole life in Toronto, so it's hardly a comparison. however, living in a big city always seems to have more character...just like NYC, or Chicago...Toronto has the same appeal...but cleaner (as my US friends always tell me).

LA is cool, when it comes to beaches, and weather...but soon, that novelty wears thin. honestly, from the locals who i've met here, they don't really go to the beach, or they complain that the traffic is too bad, or the that it gets too hot! i guess, if you're from here, you're not going to savour the intricacies of these things...just like Toronto is too cold, the taxes are too high, and the beach is well...can be hardly called a beach. but i must admit, Toronto does have the best chinese food around...hands down!

but life is good...and in the US, they seem to have a holiday every month...something i'm not used to growing up in TO.

i've met some cool people, but i've also met some typical rude ass americans...does it just escape people to be a little courteous? does it really matter how much money i make, what car i drive, or where i live? when you meet people here, that is what they ask you....it amazes me, as i don't think any of my friends back home cared about that stuff....but being here, so close to Hollywood, it matters...and it's pretty sad.

how do i like working with the Ducks? well, i can tell you it's a lot better working here than with the Leafs...the Ducks actually win games, and compete...can't say much about the LEAFS, but maybe old man Fletcher can do some things in the interim. who knows...but my Raptors are playing well...and i never miss a game. thank goodness of NBA Leaguepass.

my title has changed here in the last several months...i was working as the research analyst, but now i'm the media service coordinator/traffic manager...sounds pretty fancy to me...i wonder whether they can fit that on my business card. i am learning lots about media, and broadcasting...ultimately, i'd like to shift over into TV broadcast, and media. especially in this town...who knows, maybe they'll produce a sitcom about a filipino kid from Toronto, who moves out west to be a huge TV star...or porn star...however you want to swing it!