Digital Impulses

New Year's Eve 2007: Goodbye, 2007.

Spent at the house with the family. 

Isa, Mom, Pete, Patricia, Daniel, Feliz, AJ, Cindy Reyna and I had dinner in the den and after dinner we spent a couple of hours dancing in the living room.

At around 2355, we put on Channel 7 and waited for the Ball to drop in Madison Square Garden in New York City.  After we rang in 2008 with the usual hugs, kisses and well wishes, everyone just left my house pretty much in a group.

Nice, fun end to a not very good 2007.  Good Riddance.  May 2008 be much better.

Christmas Day 2007

Typical.

Wife didn't work.  We eventually made it to my mom's house for the 'open presents/brunch' that my mom throws for us and that was great.  My brother Pete was feeling a little ill and after playing with his new iPhone for a while, he,m his wife and kids took off around 3:00 or so.

The wife and her mom took off a little while after that and I hung around with my son and his girlfriend for a while longer, finally leaving a little bit after 5:00 PM.  Actually, my cousin Alex stopped by for a little while also and was able to bond with us for a while.

The presents haul this year was pretty good and I am glad I got the PC I needed to play around with Windows Home Server.  There was remarkably little tension during today's Christmas celebration, oddly enough.  That's good tho.  I think.

Christmas Eve 2007

The 24th this year turned out pretty good. 

My brother, his wife, their kids, my sister, my mom and my wife's cousin's husband and two kids came over to spend Christmas Eve with us.  The food was great and there was a remarkable feeling of calm around the table.

There was very little tension and what little tension there was was centered around the usual drama suspects - my brother and sister.

Typically, after dinner, we started watching a movie (Mission Impossible III) and my sister made a quick exit, since she takes great exception to sitting around watching movies after a family dinner.  After she left, we finished watching the movie and then everyone just took off for the night.

All in all, a nice, peaceful Christmas Eve.  Very welcome Indeed.

Isa's birthday

A little stressful, though not as bad as I would have thought.

The evening started off with a rendezvous at the Chili's in Torrance, CA where the family met up to have dinner and give my sister her presents.  We had some good food and the presents opening was calm enough. 

After dinner, we agreed to meet somewhere in the City of Commerce to go dancing.  Once Alex and I arrived, we saw that the place was really crowded and we waited outside for everyone else to arrive.  When we got inside, we were seated at a table and were expected to eat, while we waited for a table near the dance floor to open up.

It never did and there was hardly any space to dance, so my cousin and I took off and came back home.  I drove him back to Chilis to pick up his car and eventually made it home.

I am glad this is one more social event that has been put to bed.

A first since the 80's: Dinner with Bert and Patty at Benihana in Torrance

So, this afternoon after work, my wife calls me while I was on my way home and tells me that she is on her way to Torrance to see about a nuisance "windows tinted too darkly" ticket.  So she tells me to head back and meet her at Benihana for dinner.

Well, I get there before she does and proceed ti sit in my car and wait.  While waiting, I get a phone call from Bert and we get to talking about dinner plans.  One thing leads to another and i invite him and his wife to join us for dinner.

Eventually, Bert and Patty arrive and we had already secured a place in line for a table.  We had to wait just a few minutes for a table and before we knew it we were called to a table with a white couple with two little girls who seemed pleasant enough.

Dinner was excellent (although pricey, with the bill after tip coming to $200).  The cook was a little sloppy, but he was a nice enough guy.  The conversation at the table was also very friendly and we all seemed to have a great time.

This is something that went much better than I expected.  It just might happen again.  Who knows.

Alarm system repair

I just got off the phone with my alarm company to schedule a technician visit to see about a smoke alarm detector in our hallway that is too close to a new heater we installed.

Due to the proximity of the detector to the heater, we have had multiple false alarms that have triggered two unnecessary visits by the fire department to our home.

Once the technician comes by, we are going to have him MOVE that smoke detector away from the hallway to somewhere where regular heat from the Heater won't be causing it to trip the alarm.  More to follow after the smoke detector is moved.

Haircut

Took some time this afternoon to get a haircut at the usual place in Lawndale that I go to. The owner, who usually cuts my hair, was there and cut my hair this time also.

He was his usual pleasant self and I was in and out in about 15 minutes.

Mitchell Report released: "Steroid use 'Widespread' in MLB"

Senator George Mitchell released his report on the results of his 20-month long investigation into the use of Steroids in Major League Baseball. The 409-page report paints a very bleak picture, stating that that Steroids use in Baseball is widespread, affects every single team and taints players at all positions.

No one was spared, including team presidents, owners, general managers, coaches, managers and trainers among those who *knew* this was taking place and did nothing to bring attention to it.

Mitchell states that he requested interviews with 'almost 500 players' and that of those, only 68 responded to his request.  Among the list of current and former players named in the report are:

• Barry Bonds
• Roger Clemens
• Andy Petite
• Jason Giambi
• Gary Sheffield
• Eric Gagne
• Paul Loduca
• Miguel Tejada
• Mark McGwire
• Sammy Sosa
• Rafael Palmeiro
• Troy Glaus
• Jeremy Giambi
• Gary Matthews Jr.
• Mo Vaughn
• Jose Canseco
• Mike Stanton
• Fernando Vina
• Kevin Brown
• Matt Herges
• Jose Guillen
• Frank Thomas
• John Rocker
• Ismael Valdez

This list I got from just a cursory perusal of the PDF version of the report that I downloaded from the http://www.sportszone.com website.

This is a hugantic, ginormous mess that MLB has on it hands, one that the sport has not seen since the 88-year old, so-called "Chicago Blacksox" scandal of 1919. It's going to take years for the sport to recover from this public relations black eye, if it ever does.

As far as I am concerned, MLB should, tomorrow morning, just wipe the slate clean and consider the past 15 to 20 years as part of the "Steroids Era" in the history of the sport.  Going forward, they should issue a ONE TIME ONLY PARDON to all current and former players who were a part of this era and just move forward.

Players who played during this era and accumulated Hall-Of-Fame worthy numbers should be judged solely on what they did ON THE FIELD (since it is almost impossible to know for sure who was cheating and who wasn't, i.e. if batters hit a lot of homeruns, they were almost certainly facing pitchers that were benefiting from stronger legs and arms as a result of the use of steroids).

In other words, Let Bonds McGwire, Sosa, Palmeiro, Thomas, Griffey, Clemens, Petite and everyone else IN to the Hall if their stats are Hall worthy.  Put this shameful period behind us once and for all and let's have a fresh start.

HOWEVER, going forward, in order to slowly re-gain the trust of the public, MLB should issue an edict that states the following:

• "...Beginning with the 1st pitch of the 2008 Major League Baseball Season, any player testing positive for ANY banned substance is subject to IMMEDIATE EXPULSION from the game and is also subject to having their career statistical record EXPUNGED from the recorded annals of the game, as if they had never exsisted...'

Anything short of this sort of RADICAL, 100%, "Zero-Tolerance" policy and MLB will never remove the cloud of suspicion that is currenty hanging over it's collective body.

A sad, sad day in the history of Baseball.  Too bad.

Final cardiologist visit of 2007

So this afternoon I leave work at 12:00, go to lunch and then head out to Downey to see Dr. Seidman for my final Cardiologist visit of 2007.

I get there a little early and wait outside in my car.  at 1425, I head up on in to his office and wait for an almost an hour before I am asked to come into his office. Once the good doc comes in, he asks me a few questions and then checks me out.  Stats:

Blood Pressure: 142/100
Translation:  The Diastolic was high, since normal is "80". The Systolic was a just a little elevated, since the "zone" for hypertension is 139.  I guess being just three over is not so bad.

Weight: 273
This is not good.  Technically, I actually lost 1 lb. from my last visit in April, but I need to make a much bigger effort to lose weight and exercise over the next four months.  It would be great if I could go see Dr. Seidman on my next visit in April of '08 with 25 ~ 35 less on my frame.

Considering I was 185 lbs. when I graduated from Leuzinger High School in 1984, Here I stand twenty-three years later nearly 100 lbs. heavier than I was when I was 18.  How sad.

I am writing this here today as a reminder that today was the last time I go to see Dr. Seidman without a huge improvement.  I am going to make a concerted effort to address the issues that have me in an emotional rut and not caring as much as I should about my health.

I'm in my 40's now and I need to stop fucking around.  Today is the beginning of my walk on the road to better general overall health.

THIS TIME IT'S FOR REAL.

Facebook Mania

I have just spent the last 3+ hours inside my Facebook profile, personalizing it and adding all manner of silly applications.  Facebook is a *huge* time sink.  It was fun, tho.  I just need to be come more social and meet more people on Facebook.

It's late.  I need to get to bed.   I WILL regret this tomorrow.