Digital Impulses

Grand Drama Fizzle with Isa

Minding my own business, on my way home from work at noon, I get a phone call, telling me that my sister had gotten an urgent call from the hospital related to some test she had done earlier.

The amount of drama laid thick in the voice of the caller was unbelieveable.

I then proceeded to have an incredibly shitty afternoon, worried out of my head, until I got the 1600 phone call from my sister, telling me that there was nothing wrong with her and that they "just wanted to make sure" at the hospital.

All of that angst and teeth gnashing for NOTHING.  I mean, don't get me wrong, I am EVER SO RELIEVED that there is nothing wrong with my sister, but jeeeze... could we lay off off the unnecessary drama just a little bit?  My god!

After the call, I met up with my sister at Piggies for an early dinner and then we drove over to her house for me to take a look at her malfunctioning internet connection.  It turns out that her router was inadvertently unplugged and that was killing her connection.

I took care of that and thgen left her house to come home and relax in my office for a while before calling it a night.

Dinner with the kids

Had a relatively drama-free dinner with the teenager and his girlfriend, without first having to go to three different places.

We arrived at the Olive Garden in Manhattan Beach to find that there was a 45-50 minute wait.  That was an immediate no-go, so we decided to drive down to the IHOP in Hermosa beach and drove up to find it ABANDONED with a "Remodeling.  We will open again soon" sign on the doors and windows.

However, as we were driving away, my son stated that he saw a FOR LEASE sign in one of the windows.  This is really, really sad, because we have been going to that IHOP for years and we really liked both the food and the staff there.  *sigh*.

From there we decided to go have dinner at Denny's, the one at the corner of Artesia and Aviation in Redondo Beach.  The food was OK and the ambiance at the table was fine.  After dinner, the kids dropped me off at my mom's house for a visit and I was later picked up by my wife and came home to call it an evening.

5.8 Quake rocks Los Angeles

....Just felt a rather hard shaking and rocking of the building I am in in Carson, CA.  We are on a 2nd floor, so it felt like the building was bouncing.

Most of us walked downstairs to talk on our cell phones from the parking lot, but AT&T's cell network is unresponsive/overloaded so after a few minutes, I just walked back upstairs to my office and am posting this now.

I have already spoken to the wife and teenager and they are both fine.

Earthquakes.  Good to rattle the nerves a bit.  ;=)

El Cubano Grande kicking ass in Call of Duty 4

My cousin Alex @ Cyber Lab in Torrance, CA.

Project POLGVB: 2nd appraisal date set

Just got off the phone with the 2nd appraiser and he will be stopping by the house tomorrow Tuesday, July 22, 2008 to appraise the house.  This appraisal will be crucial in determining the final total amount of *cash* that we can pull out of the house in regards to Project POLGVB.

This is certainly turning out to be a really interesting time in my life.  I am going to look back on this time in 5 years and really wonder how I made it through with my sanity intact.

Amazing, really.

In line to see Dark Knight a second time

Long line in El Segundo, CA to see Batman: The Dark Knight.

Tattoo Drama

A mostly quiet Sunday around these parts, that is until the afternoon, when the teenager and his girlfriend showed up to turn my day, afternoon and night completely upside down.

Another Tattoo
Well, the girlfriend walks innocently into my office to tell me that her boyfriend has asked her to please break the news to me that the teenager has gotten himself another tattoo.  This time he had the bright idea to have his right forearm inked with "145" in Old English roman numerals.

He *says* it's a reference to one of the streets he grew up on.  We live close to the corner of 145th street.

I'll make a long story short.  I got so, so upset that there was little I could do to calm down.  It was well after midnight last night and I was still tossing and turning in bed becuase of the sheer stupidity displayed by this kid.

It just absolutely FLOORS me to see him jeopardizing his future the way he is.  Wow.

Just Wow.

Dinner at the Olive Garden in Manhattan Beach

Quiet Saturday, spent mostly puttering arond in my office until it was time to go dinner for my sister-in-law's birthday celebration at the Olive Garden in Manhattan Beach.

The morning consisted of eating breakfast followed by an aborted attempt to discuss some of the finer details and the particulars of Project POLGVB with the spousal unit.

The birthday celebration went well enough without any of the drama, dysfunction or turbulence associated with a lot of the family reunions in our family lately. We had to wait about 15 minutes for a table to sit all 8 of us at the Olive Garden in Manhattan Beach, but that was about the only issue.

After the dinner, I drove my wife home and took off to Palos Verdes to play Scrabble, where I managed to win one out of three games.  The mood was OK and we discussed Project POLGVB quite a bit.

All in all, a good, if a bit tiring Saturday.

Tia Romelia is 75 today.

My aunt Romelia, whom I have seen exactly one time in the last year, turns 75 today. It's unbelievable, really, how quickly time is just flying by.

Today is also the 12th anniversary of the passing of her husband, my uncle Manolo, who died on the afternoon of her 63rd birthday, when he was just 68 years old.  That was one of truly saddest days of my life,

She is 75.

God almighty.

Project POLGVB: The never-ending flood of paperwork

Spent most of the afternoon today after work, faxing over documents to Darryl both from my office and from the FedEx-Kinko's office on Rosecrans just past the 405 freeway.

Also in support of Project POLGVB, remodeling is progressing nicely and the 46in flat scree HD TV was mounted in the den today.  It looks great and once we have that space looking the way we want, it will be nice to watch TV in there, I think.

At one point the spousal unit expressed being very, very happy with the minor face-lift that our house is getting in the midst of the preparations for the visit of the appraiser coming up real soon now.  On the funding front, the loan process has shown lots of progress and things seem to be coming along just fine.

Amazingly enough, it seems like the credit situation re-focusing that we have undertaken in the wake of trying to get Project POLGVB off the ground has caused a beneficial effect on our credit scores and they seem to be edging up slightly

Nice.  :=)