| Time is flying by... and what do I have to show for it?
Well I feel much older now... I'm definitely slowing down in my ways. Especially since I need to utilize all my time better... I need the weekends to get all my chores done. Still so much to do. We're finally making a dent on the condo... things are being cleared out as we prepare for renovations. I only want to do minimal renovations for now, since I hope to buy a larger place in Pasadena next year after the wedding.
Speaking of weddings... we went thru a rollercoaster finding our place... The but I beleive we've found it. Back in early April, we decided on our location, in Huntington Beach, which had a nice wedding gazebo, was right across from the beach (option for pictures), and was only slightly over our planned budget. When we called to reserve the date, however, we learned that they had construction plannaed next Jan 2007... which would tear down the gazebo. A total bummer for us, because we really liked the place. We scrambled for over a month trying to find something else that came close... but no dice. We found out a few weeks ago though, that they were delaying construction till next June... and we are very fortunate for that, becasue now we'll be able to have our wedding at our first choice. We did push our date back to April, to accommodate for the weather. We now just have to review the contract tonight and submit it to secure the date. Step one appears to be complete now.
The only reversation Christina had was that the date was so close to our birthday. Oh btw, we celebrated our bday back in April. lol... this year it went by kinda unnoticed. Sort of a good thing for me I guess... I'm so old now. :-P Of course we had a 4 way birthday celebration... and since celebrating with C, this time around was the first time I was really drunk. Not like I wasn't drunk in Vegas or other times. Just not a sick drunk... but more of a 'I'm gonna pass out where I stand drunk'. I may have just been really tired too.
That was probably the last big drinking night for me... drinking doesn't appeal to me that much anymore... when I do, I just want to go to sleep now... so clubs haven't been top on my list. Does that make a boring Allen? lol... although we've stayed away from k-clubs, asian parties, and hip hop clubs... I can't resist the urge to party at Trance events... I just still have so much fun going to see a DJ I enjoy in a very relaxed atmosphere. Although I've limited most events to special events. We saw Sander K @ Avalon back in April... and Tiesto down in San Diego last month. Steve Lawler is @ Avalon next week... but I'll probably pass and wait to see my favorite DJ, Armin van Buuren, at Spundae on July 1st.
Competed in the Las Vegas Westside Tournament in early May... that was fun. Had an opportunity to play with ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.2) kttle and her guy Derek... and they helped us win our pool. (Thanks guys! I still haven't gotten our T-shirts yet, but I'll let you know when I do).
Attended 1 wedding in LA already... the ceremony was at the bride's parent's neighbor's house... and the place was gorgeous. I'm jealous. Anyway... I'm back to NYC this weekend for a college buddies wedding. As much as I enjoy going back to NYC... all these trips add up... and I have a wedding to consider now. *sigh*... We're also going back July 8th for another wedding too.
Short vacations coming up for us... another trip to Vegas... and a 4 night cruise to Ensenada. I wanted to take C to Cancun or the Caribbean, but felt a shorter/cheaper trip would be better right now. Do something big next year for the honeymoon. Any suggestions? I was considering the Caribbean, Thailand, or Bora Bora. I still want to do a tour of Europe (London, Amsterdam, Greece, Ibiza), but think I'd rather do something more relaxing.
So that's what is going on right now.
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| Out of shape? Definitely
Overweight? Not really
Stressed? Hell yeah!
Happy? Yes
Content? That depends
Not going out much? yeah feeling too old for it
Retired from clubbing? Not quite yet... especially if it's trance. I'm itching to go out.
I'm not going to the gym enough? Yes
I'm not playing enough volleyball? Yes, I'm so slow on the court
Vacation from work? I start department orientation next week (for 4 weeks)... which means 8-5 hours of attending mostly meetings.
Weddings? 3 to go to in the next couple of months
Vegas? First weekend of May (Westside Volleyball Tournament)
NYC? June and July for weddings
Save, save, and SAVE! Weddings aren't cheap
I'm already so tired from wedding planning... and we haven't even hit the tip of the iceberg. I mean we haven't even set an official date yet... we're still searching for the ceremony site. C has hired a wedding planner already. We recently went to a wedding expo and signed up for a few things and are already getting calls about stuff (the wedding is a good year away still). I signed up for some Afterhours Tux promotion, which nets me a free tux and plane tickets, but they are already bugging me about coming in for measurements and to pick a style by end of April (for the promotion). Christina hasn't gotten her dress yet and we haven't picked a color scheme yet. Once we get our place and date, we need to send out 'save the date' cards. Which reminds me that I haven't yet sent out an email to announce my engagement. I'm such a procrastinator. I've been also debating if I should bother with a wedding website. Any thoughts?
While we were at the expo, we also got talked into signing up to see a time share presentation for Shell Resorts. The were offering us a lot to just go, so we decided to check it out. It was the 2nd time I've sat through a presentation like that. I personally think time shares can be good ideas if you have a family or are a little older. If I had the extra money to burn I would just go ahead and do one, but when they hit you with the bottom line, which is the premium package is $60K... you think about what else you could be doing with the money. Granted this group was much better in that they had a 'no pressure' policy and the girl that was trying to sell to us was really nice (she really likes C's ring, so I gave her the name of my jeweler)... her manager came over and was like well you could do the smaller packages. The smallest package was still $10K... and the 'payment plan' equates to $20K over 10 years. Although he kept stressing that we don't expect you to take 10 years to pay it off. I thought to myself, of course you do... that's the thing about 'payment plans'. I asked for some time to talk it over with Chrstina and at 1 point called Eric to get his advice... and I think they knew they were losing me, cause the hurried back over. So while I was on the phone with Eric, they worked Christina... and if it were up to her we would have spent $20K. She's every salesperson's dream. :-P I basically decided that with a wedding coming up, that I just spend a wad of money on a ring, and I wanted to use the money I have to buy another property (that will make me money)... that we could pass for now. Unlike Trendwest, they were accepting of that and even told us we could call them back after a year if we changed our minds. So I was content on leaving and just getting our free stuff. But then the free gifts 'closer' hit us with their 'Explorer package' which is like a 2 year trial. 6000 pts for 2 years to use... no additional fees (HOA or exchange fees) for $1600... and if we decided to join on within 2 years, the amount would be applied to the $10K cost for the lowest package. Honestly this sounded like a great deal compared to the 1500pts/year if we paid them $10K up front. To entice us they also said they'd include 5 nights in Kauai at 1 of their resorts, although we'd still have to pay for taxes. Pretty good deal... so we took it. So in the end they still made a sale. With our 2 year - 6000pt trial, we also got 5 nights in Kauai, a 4 day Carnival cruise to Ensendada - Mexico, 2 nights in SF, 2 nights in Vegas, movie tickets and a gas card.
I've got to start planning vacations now. :-P | | comments: 9 comments or Leave a comment |
| -I spent $2400 (not including tax) on a new Dell XPS 600 & 24" Widescreen LCD. The tower cost me about $1800 and the display another $600. I normally wouldn't want to spend that much money on a monitor... but it is truly amazing what a difference a monitor/display makes. The LCD is huge... and I'm still may set up a 2nd and perhaps even 3rd display (both smaller flat panels). Yes I can be a computer geek. I had a 21" CRT monitor, but will be retiring that along with my old Dell workstation. I figure I can ebay or craigslist them for about $200. The new system itself is pretty slick... and I ordered it with Windows XP Media Center and a remote, so that I can record like TiVo... only 1 problem... it didn't include a TV tuner which Dell's site implied it would. So I'm trying to figure out my options right now.
-With my new computer I've returned to gaming on a PC rather than a console like XBox. That may change later down the road when/if I buy a HDTV and Xbox 360, but for now I'm hooked on 1 PC game. Battlefield 2 is my current addiction. This game rocks! It's the best 1st person shooter and strategy game I've ever played. It's like an online multiplayer war simulator. Eric already has the game and we've teamed up online which makes it more fun. We have another friend waiting in the wings while he waits for his new PC too.
-I need a vacation... my boss even tells me that I should take time off. He doesn't want to see me burn out. I do feel like I'm starting to... but think I can hold out until they hire a full time associate or until April, when I start my department training. The training will be for 4 weeks... and although I will be in the office, I won't have to 'work' like I normally do (I'll be in hiding and won't have to do my usual work)... plus I can come in 8am-5pm. That alone is going to be a vacation.
-Christina's Valentine's gift to me was a membership massage therapy club. Since Eric/Tracy are already members we were considered family add-ons. It requires a 1 year contract membership @ $49/month (normally $59/month). That includes one 1 hour session/month, which accrue 1/month to a bank and can be used whenever... and any additional massage beyond that is like $39 for 60 min or $57 for 90 min. I'm not as into getting massages as they are, but it's still nice and it's a great deal if you go often enough. We already went twice last month (once in Glendale and once in Costa Mesa) and I think it's really helped my back issues lately. If anyone is interested, I can refer you... of course that nets me a free massage too. :-P
-I interviewed (with another team member) a candidate for the open position on my team. He had already interviewed with my boss and our group manager. I figured he must be good to have gotten that far. Boy was I wrong. No offense, the guy seemed nice enough... but he had only 1 year of experience out of school... and definitely has a lot to learn and improve on. Especially his communication and inteviewing skills. Whenever we asked him a question he rambled on and never really answered the question. Plus he had a very hard time articulating what he wanted to say and ended up not giving us a straight answer. My impression of him was that he had no clue what he was talking about. My boss later told me that he had some major concerns about his communication skills and etiquette too. He said that when the candidate interviewed with him and another of the team managers, the candidate would ask questions but would't let the managers finish answering them... he would constantly cut them off. Plus the guy was a too honest for his own good. When asked why he was interested in our company... one of his replies was that he wanted to get corporate experience... then a follow up question was what do you want to do long term (where do you see yourself in 5 years)... which he responded with 'I want to start my own business with my brother'. That's all fine and dandy...but come on! Get a clue. I don't think he realized that when you are in an interview you need to give them what they want to hear.
-So if anyone knows anyone looking for work, contact me. My company always seems to be hiring... especially IT people. Desktop alone has 5 open reqs in LA. | | comments: 9 comments or Leave a comment |
| I tell you, time is flying by. I can't believe it's Thursday already. Last Friday felt like yesterday. Speaking of last Friday... we ended up going to see Paul van Dyk @ Vanguard with a few friends... and of course we ran into the usual friends that are always there. You always see familiar faces at events like this. I had a pretty good time... I haven't seen PVD since last March in Miami. For some reason he rarely performs in LA on a weekend (always Wed or Thurs), so this was was must attend... especially since we had a 3 day weekend. Here are a few pics.
It was a fun night... although he only spun a 3 hour set. Which was fine... I don't think I could have handled being out till daylight... like back in the day in NYC when we'd see him at EXIT for a 6 hour set. We had to be up by 11 to run to Costco to pick up a birthday cake for Madison's 1st Birthday. We were the only people there with no kids and were surrounded by them... talk about pressure. lol. Some of the kids were so cute though. I ended up being in charge of balloon animals. My first time trying to make balloon animals and stuff... my first attempt was a flower that sorta looked like the diagram... but I started to get the hang of it. By the end I was an expert at making balloon dogs. Here are some of pics of Madison from the weekend.
Here she is with Grandpa
Here she is trying to get a taste of something other than baby food.
Here she is after her party... all tired out... you'll notice she has 1 of the balloon flowers I made.
Playing at home on her little car with her bear.
Daddy's little girl...she wants to be picked up.
She likes to share... and that includes food. After mom and dad both fed her cheerios, she decided here to share with mom.
She really enjoys anything that tastes different. She even enjoyed this lemon slice.
Monday morning drive. :-P | | comments: 8 comments or Leave a comment |
| To make a long story short…
Basically Christina knew that the proposal was coming. We had been seriously talking marriage for several months. Her parents already expected it. She knew I was already shopping for a diamond. I wanted to do it on or before Valentine’s Day. I ended up buying the ring in NYC on Chinese New Year’s Eve… not just that, but I ended up just taking her to the jeweler (Saturday night – the last appointment) to look so that she could be reassured that I knew what I was doing. Originally I wanted to ‘keep looking’ and not let her know I actually bought it. I was going to wait till after we left the jeweler and secretly call him back to let him know I’d take it and would be back first thing Monday morning (after she returned to LA) to pay for it. In the end, she ended up picking the same one I had already decided I was going to buy. She absolutely fell in love with the diamond… it almost brought her to tears, because it was perfect and everything she wanted and more. I didn’t want to disappoint her and bought it on the spot. There went my element of surprise. I arranged for the ring to be shipped to my office the week of 2/6, once the setting was finished and after I returned from my business trip to Atlanta. Essentially we were looking at a Valentine’s Day proposal. Special… but no surprise.
Not so fast though… I had to add some sort of surprise to it, so I called the jeweler to have them ship it to me Saturday morning on 2/4. Christina has a classs during the day and I wanted to at least surprise her with it after dinner Saturday night. We already had plans to meet friends for dinner and a club Saturday night for a friend’s birthday… but I already contacted the organizer to have them contact Christina and tell her that dinner had moved to Yamashiro around 5:30pm. She’d get a call that dinner ended up getting cancelled, but since we were already there, we’d have dinner ourselves and meet up with them later. The plan was to get there around sunset and enjoy the stunning views while we waited for the party that would never arrive. I hadn’t decided whether to ask at sunset or after dinner… I figured I’d do it when the opportunity presented itself.
Unfortunately… I waited around all morning for the package. When it was 11:30am I decided to contact the jeweler for the tracking number and track the package via UPS. According to the website the package arrived in Ontario, was in transit, but had been rescheduled for delivery on Monday. WTF!? I called UPS to find out what happened, and the woman on the phone told me that the package was sent regular next business day overnight. I called back the jeweler and explained to them what UPS said, and they quickly checked and confirmed that they HAD sent the package overnight Saturday morning delivery. They contacted UPS for me and explained the situation. UPS had in fact majorly screwed up, but according to the UPS manager, there wasn’t anything they could do since the package was on it’s way to Baldwin Park. It wasn’t even like I could contact them to pick it up myself or reschedule the deliver to my office on Monday (since if they attempted at my home, no one would be there). So basically, I was not looking at getting the package earliest Tuesday. Bummer. I seem to have the worst luck when it comes to planning special events… somewhere in the back of my mind I just knew that the delivery would get messed up.
Christina came back in the afternoon… I cancelled the secret dinner plans… and in fact the real birthday dinner did get cancelled. So we opted to stay in for dinner and just meet up with our friends later that night. At 5:30pm there was a phone call… I answered… and there was someone at the outside gate… it was UPS. I guess the UPS manager made every effort to get the package to me… luckily I was still home when the guy arrived. I met the UPS guy by the gate, and sure enough it was the package. When I got back inside I quickly hid the box and just told Christina that they had the wrong unit#.
By now it was 6pm… and I decided to wing a Plan B… I told her that we should just go out and have dinner ourselves and told her to get ready. I called and made an 8pm reservation at Morels French Steakhouse @ the Grove. I figured that the opportunity would present itself at dinner or perhaps after dinner by the center fountain. We were seated at a 2 person table that was in between other tables… I thought about asking them to move us to a better table… but didn’t want to give anything away, so just decided to wait till after dinner by the fountain. I know I must have been a little nervous, because she commented that I wasn’t saying much through dinner…so I decided to just throw her off completely. In general the 2 of us aren’t that big into surprises… we’re more about the thought that counts… so I decided to tell her all about Plan A… and how my element of surprise was to get the ring before the coming week, when she expected it… and also how UPS screwed up the shipment and now I wouldn’t be able to get the ring for another several days now. She told me that I didn’t have to tell her, I still could have just done Plan A after I got the ring, but I told her it just wouldn’t be the same, because she would already know I have the ring and I’d would more than likely present it at our Valentine’s Day dinner. I reassured her that it won’t be much of a surprise… but we’d still do something nice for V-day.
Next stop… the fountain. We had some time to kill before meeting up for birthday festivities… so I suggested we grab some coffee and hang out by the fountain. As we were walking toward the fountain, C wasn’t watching the step off the curb and stumbled a little… tweaking her ankle just a bit. I helped her over to the side of the fountain where she could sit down… and where I could ‘kneel’ down and check heer ankle. If you’re thinking what I was thinking, then you’re thinking this was a perfect opportunity. I checked her ankle… but just wasn’t feeling it at that very moment. The Grove has bands playing on Saturday nights… and this band was in the middle of a rock song. Not the right moment I thought. I instead got up and sat down next to her to wait. It was about 10pm now… and the band just stopped… Frank Sinatra was playing in the background now. Christina adjusted her coat underneath her, caught her hand underneath her and in between the stone slab, and hurt her hand/finger. I told her I’d take a look at it… and realized it was her left hand that was hurt. I asked her which finger hurt… and even before she answered I just knew which finger it would be… and sure enough she pointed out that it was the finger nail of her ring finger. I lifted her hand and told her that I’d kiss and make it better… after doing so I reached into my jacket pocket and pulled out the little case and said ‘and if that doesn’t make it feel better, I hope this does… will you marry me?’
 
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| I miss the days of having the spare time to b.s. during the day… when I could surf the net, check updates, and kill the time with things like LJ. Work keeps me extremely busy now… and the only reason you’re seeing this update right now is partially because I was sitting at the airport terminal, waiting for my delayed flight, and decided to start writing an entry. There is a lot to cover… but first I’d like to welcome ericincal and misschristi22 to the livejournal community.
Anyway it feels like it’s been forever since I’ve updated but here you go… I’m gonna do the short version… and list highlights of the past 7 months. I added some pics, but left out a lot… but as always if you want to check out more corresponding pics, you can check out my photo album online:
( the dealio... ) | | comments: 39 comments or Leave a comment |
| | I'm still alive and breathing... I've just been so busy with work during the day, that I actually don;t have a lot of time to surf the net or do personal stuff. And by the time I get home, I'm either busy with other stuff or too tired to want to write about anything. although it's been like 3 months, I'll try and recap what has happened, and what has gone on. Well maybe tomorrow, because I have 1 hour to finish up here at work. If you guys can't wait, then you can check out my photo album to get a glimpse of some of the things that have happened. | | comments: 8 comments or Leave a comment |
| Phew... I'm back from Vegas and boy was it fun... very tiring (I'm exhausted and feel a little sick)... but incredibly fun. This was one of the few trips that Christina and I have taken by ourselves... besides NYC... but it's totally different when you go by yourselves and also do not know anyone else there. Alone time is good... and meeting new people can be fun as well... striking up a conversation with random people at clubs. Although we did randomly run into a couple, from NYC, that we have known (for the past 2 years) and have partied with on several occasions in Vegas and Miami.
The only draw back is when you look back at how much you've spent... although priceless... it always makes me think, 'damn if I was willing to spend just a little more I could have gone to the Bahamas, Hawaii, or Cancun'. The things really add up... 4 nights... and less than 300 miles away from home. Roughly $800 in cash spent (food, massages, cabs, & gambling)... $150 on car rental and gas (A good deal on a Dodge Stratus)... $250 on accommodations at the Aladdin... $250 on clubs/drinks. Nearly $1500... and to think that every time I go to Vegas, there is always a large chunk spent. I've got a at least 3, maybe 4 more trips to Vegas this year (Eric's bachelor party, Eric/Tracy's Wedding, a commercial real estate seminar, and maybe PimpnHo... Thinking about it actually makes me cringe.
Although I don't seem to have any luck gambling at the tables... I guess I cash in on some things when it comes to deals and stuff. Personally I think I got a great deal on the rental car... $88 for an intermediate for 4 days and I got upgraded to a standard. Then although I got a friends/family rate at the Aladdin of $55/$75/$75... when we got there they didn't have our requested non smoking room with a king size bed... so we asked for a smoking room with a king size bed (which didn't smell or anything) and we got a really nice room on the 51st (penthouse) floor... The private floor, where you need a special key to get up to.
We also found the time to get C her seasonal local resident ID... which will get her into most clubs for free. We also met up with my brother's realtor to take a look at 5 possible investment rental properties. We also got a tandem massage together off the strip at one of those Chinese places. It was Christina's first massage at a non fancy spa place and she thought it was pretty good for $70. I think my lady didn't do a good job... plus she managed to insult me. C's woman kept going on about how pretty she was... while mine was talking in Mandarin to the other massage lady how ugly my tattoo character was. Boy did she lose points with me. The clubs we checked out this time were Risque, Seven, and Drai's. Unfortunately this trip we didn't have a whole lot of pics taken.
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| | Current Music: | www.di.fm | | Security: | | | Time: | 11:13 am | | Current Mood: |  tired |
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| I hope everyone had a great 4th of July weekend. I've been stressing like crazy lately... still not sure about what... but I've been clenching a lot lately while i sleep... or grinding... to the point where my jar is killing me and it hurts to open up and eat. I'm definitely gonna just have my dentist make a night guard the next time I go in. I need more sleep. Here's a recap of my weekend.
(Friday) My coworkers 30th birthday. The evening started with a little bowling at some place in Glendale. He's from Iowa. Afterwards... off to Ktown for another friend's birthday... at a place called Orchid for Karaoke.
(Saturday) Included running errands and helping C get ready for her new school year. She transferred schools (to alleviate her commute) and is now working at a year round school. She ended classes in Encino June 24th... had last week to pack up and move... and started today at her new school. But she now loses her summer breaks. Although she will have Sept/Oct off). In the evening we headed to Avalon for PK's birthday. It was fun being out... the music kinda sucked until toward the end. I was happy to discover that I finally found a guest list that works. Also saw Jennifer Walcott, Miss August 2001, partying it up there as well.
 (Us up on the balcony)
(Sunday) Pool party down in the OC in the afternoon. Then headed further south to San Clemente to chill with Eric/Tracy. Tracy ended up helping C will school work... while I schooled Eric in some racing game on the XBox. Afterwards we saw Batman Begins (A-).
(Monday) Did some shopping at the Santa Anita mall. Then back home so C could do more prepping for school.
(This morning) We didn't get to bed till 12:30am... and were up around 6:00am... I then went with C to her new school to help her set up around 7am. Then I got to work around 8am. I know I'm exhausted... it just hasn't kicked in yet.
Quote of the day:
“If A is success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut.”
---Albert Einstein | | comments: 11 comments or Leave a comment |
| | Current Music: | www.elementradio.com | | Security: | | | Time: | 06:37 pm | | Current Mood: |  busy |
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| Yikes it's been a while... Just been so busy with things, I haven't had time to post. I haven't been going out much either. Surprise Surprise! Since I bought my DVD burner and signed up for Blockbuster online (3 months free), I've been spending many nights catching up on movies. But it's still been a busy month...
( Here are the details... ) | | comments: 17 comments or Leave a comment |
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bouncy
annoyed
exhausted