Happy Bday Joelna!

PICS links:

Riverview Tavern

Puerto Vallarta PIX:

These pictures were taken with my camera... there are still about 100 more shots from Denny and Kelly's camera.  I will post when I gain access to them.  There are also some underwater pics which I will post when I get a new scanner.

DAY 1 - arrived at PV and spent the first day just chillin at the beach and having a nice dinner

DAY 2 - early morning 2 mile run, followed by breakfast.  managed to squeeze in some time to hit the fitness center for a workout and the spa for a massage.  more beach time and first time experiencing boogyboarding (next time I wanna try surfing).  also tried parasailing... wish i brought my camera up there.  at night, went to downtown PV picked up some sombreros and hit up a bar.  met an up and coming country singer from canada, tracey james.  some young ladies went around with whistles and holsters carrying bottles of alcohol.  i drank down 25 shots in less than an hour (tasted like water) and a friend had 3 (the other 9 he spat out).

DAY 3 - survived the night before and made it to breakfast early morn.  went horsebackriding for the first time... our horses took us to a waterfall where we took a dip 'cuz our tour guide told us "no swim... no tequila."  the tour guide's dog's name was also tequila... aparrently he loves tequila.  my horse rebelde kept stopping to eat long straws of grass along the way.  he also stopped in the middle of the rivers to drink.  rich said it's because my horse had to carry a heavy load... i told him his horse couldn't even tell there was a rider.  our tour guide offered to give free massages to the ladies.  he also offered free massages to the men but he would have to stop off at the resort en route.  it was actually a state prison.  caught a few more waves at the beach when we got back to the hotel.

DAY 4 - took a boat out to another resort where they offered snorkeling with sea lions, scuba diving, kayaking, yoga, cooking lessons, and a spa treatment.  my friends tried snorkeling... there were a lot of jellyfish around too.  my friend datchineseguy got stung by a few.  being the good friend that i am... i offered to pee on his leg but he declined.  richie and i tried scuba diving for the first time... awesome!  a little bit scary if you're claustrophobic.  i almost had a few panic attacks, but remembered to stay calm and breathe.  kept looking at my air gauge, just in case.  took some underwater pics but the water wasn't very clear, so the pics didn't come out well.  got sunburnt when i fell asleep on the boat.

DAY 5 - more boogyboarding... i think we perfected it.  was racing my buddies to the shore.  played volleyball for a bit.  followed up with kayaking and the hobie cat.  the hobie cat's a wind surfing thingamajig that seats up to four.  near the end of the day... we started to avoid the sun as much as possible.  sun was probably at its hottest today.  throughout our trip, datchineseguy kept saying that someone was gonna mistake me for a local and come up to me and say "get back to work!"  by now, i am looking like chicharon (pork rinds) or a dirty mexican.  i'm already dark so i don't really tan... so it just looks like i get dirty or just plain darker.  while i was wearing a life vest... an old man comes up to me at the hotel and asks very slowly if i rent out the hobies.  i guess i really was starting to look like a mexican.

Happy Seis de Mayo.  Anyone go out for Cinco de Mayo last night?  How about a bar crawl?  If you haven't done it before, do it next time.  Great time!  We bounced around up to 3 bars and got trashed before midnight.  There were a few trollies that went around to 6 different bars to drop off / pick people up.  The trolly we first got on had a wild group of people.  You would think that it was Mardi Gras with some guy hanging his ass out the window and a few girls flashing for beads.

OK I'm paying for it now... my head is spinning... ugh... back to work.

haven't had time to upload the mexico trip yet... hopefully, i can get it posted before the weekend.

my mind is still on vacation mode... in other words, i wish i were still on vacation.  it's strange that while i was on vacation i had no problems sleeping before midnight, getting up early morning, and having energy throughout the entire course of the day.  i get back to chicago to do my daily grind and i have trouble sleeping early, getting up, and staying awake at work.   pfft!  hell, i was even eating healthier while i was on vacation than i do while i'm home.

no matter!  next week i start boot camp!  tuesday + thursdays 6 am for i'm not sure how many weeks.  looking forward to getting back into shape.

Just got back from Mexico and brought home a minor sunburn as a souvenir.  To welcome me back, work calls me Sunday and requests that I come in to assist with a problem that was obviously not a network problem.  So I spent my entire Sunday evening at the office and got home Monday 1 am.  Update and tons of pics to follow!

This is WHY I'm not a gambling man!

A friend of ours just got done moving and they decided to go to a bar and relax when they got done.  I didn't get to help cuz I had a family emergency.  Not being in the best of moods, I needed a beer or 2 and just chill so after I was done, I gave them a call.  They were all still there and they decided to wait for me even though I was on the opposite side of the city.

I get there and they were playing pool on a bar table.  Looked harmless enough, just a bunch of trash talking here and there.  Soon enough we were playing pairs:  Ben and I vs Rudy and Cao.  Then things started to get interesting.

More trash talking that led to betting.  Not for money... worse... it was for pride!

First Game: 
Stakes - Losers do 50 pushups
Results - Ben and I did 50 pushups (dammit I ran the table out and left one ball for my partner - we still lost)

Not being too happy with the first game results, and letting our egos do the talking - the second game became more interesting.

Second Game:
Stakes - Losers do 50 pushups, last pushup requires a clap, AND have their pictures taken and posted on the net!
Results - Not much different from the first game... I'm beginning to think that I need a new partner!

This being our second set of 50 pushups - yes, we were struggling!  I initially tried to hide my shame by trying to hide underneath the bar table to do my pushups but the bar table was too low to get any of them done.

Of course, our opponents were not satisfied with humiliating us... they had to add to the pain!  They seem to associate pain (for us) with pleasure (for them).  In the background you can see one of the sadists kicking my partner in the ass... if only you could hear their evil laughter (see next pic).

The 3rd game was up but I began to lose confidence with my partner's pool abilities and my own ability to do another set of pushups so we dropped the stakes a little.

Third Game:
Stakes - Losers do 30 pushups AND have their pictures taken and posted on the net!
Results - This time we won and how sweet it was!

That's right suckas count it out LOUD!

Fourth Game:
Stakes - Losers do 10 single-handed pushups AND have their pictures taken and posted on the net!
Results - Let's just let the pictures do the talking!

By this time, their wicked nature has corrupted me and I too was laughing at their misery!  But they are so sick that they are even laughing at their own misery!

So now it's tied:  2 wins each!  The tie breaker had to top the others!  What could be more embarrassing and funnier than doing pushups in public; but not against the law to do in public?  After an exchange of ideas, we came to a group decision!

Fifth Game:
Stakes - Losers do 20 synchronized JUMPING JACKS outside the bar - in front of the windows - facing the bar - and have their pictures taken and posted on the net!
Results - My partner missed and scratched on the 8 ball (the only ball left on the table)!

Ben suggested we wait til some of the people outside passed us up so we could maintain some sort of dignity.  I replied, "We lost our dignity, when we lost that game!"

We each had our own window so we didn't have to "share" the embarrassment!  You can't see but the waitress and bartender were watching and laughing along with our ex-friends.

Was I bitter?  No!  Those aren't my middle fingers I'm throwing up at them! *cough*

Nonetheless, we will have our revenge!  Next time losers will be in the middle of the street doing the macarena - pictures taken and posted on the net!  Look forward to it!

These pics were taken Sunday 04/10/05 at some bar @ Damen/Roscoe.

Thinking of getting new car... having difficulty with the aspect of spending money on it though.

Option 1:  No car - Cost:  $0

  Benefits:  Save lots of extra money (no car payments, insurance, or insane gas prices to deal with).

  Downsides:  Major mode of transportation = public transportation / cabs  (sometimes it makes me feel like a NewYorker).

Option 2:  Buy a civic - Cost:  $15,000

  Benefits:  Have a reliable, reasonably priced car and still have plenty of leftover $$$

  Downsides:  Spend about $7000 per year (incl. gas, insurance, maintenance, and monthly payments).  If I'm gonna spend this much a year, I might as well buy something like Option 3!!!  Ok Ok that's just an excuse... but check out opt 3.

Option 3:  Buy a Cadillac CTS-V - Cost about $50,000

  Benefits:  Have a hot, fast, sexy ass machine that can go 0-60 in 4.6 sec!!!  Not that I would ever try to drive this fast but I could... if I wanted to.

  Downsides:  Spend about $18,000 per year (incl. gas, insurance, maintenance, and monthly payments).  I won't have a whole lot lefover after this and the new condo... but dammit I need something to park in my new $30,000 parking space!

Currently facing some major family crises.  Found out about it over the weekend.

- gramma's doing ok... recovering... still in a lot of pain and meds.  visited her and saw my aunt there taking care of her.  i hate hospitals.

- haven't heard news about my mom's cousin.  she's being held for ransom in the Philippines... 3.5 million is what they're asking.  the husband wanted to hold a vigil at their place... i don't trust him... i have my reasons.  i told my mom to be extra careful while they're there and not to endanger herself in any way.  economy is getting worse... people getting more desperate.

i am very fortunate to have good friends to help me through tough times.

Things to be grateful for:

Finally finished with this KC Project.  Spent much longer time there than I could ever care for.  Well, it was fine except for the long hours in the friggin cave!  The network was working perfectly but I had to be there to ensure that user acceptance testing went well.  Their damn application wasn't working properly and I had to take a protocol analyzer, capture the traffic to and from one of the desktops, and prove that it wasn't a network issue.  It turned out to be either the installation script or some type of permissions issue.

Spent some quality time with my best friends... watched Illini kick ass... shot pool (and quite well)... drank gallons of alcohol with no hangover 

Things to look forward to:

21 days 'til Puerto Vallarta!!!  I'm gonna dedicate my free time to work out / run.  I need to lose this beer gut.  I've done it before... it just wasn't very fun... or easy.  Now, I have to start counting calories and see if I can drop 15 lbs in 3 weeks.

I accepted the offer from the other bank... I'm sure they will be contacting me soon to let me know when to take the "test" and to fill out the paper work for the background check.  If I pass the "test" I can give the current bank I work for my 2 weeks notice... and tell the guy I subcontract for... to shove the multicast paper he requested from me up his ass!  Fortunately for him I only did one page... then I realized he was expecting me to work pro bono so I refuse to do it.

Once I get hired full time by either banks, I'm gonna move forward and close on a property.  In the meantime, I still need to save up for the 1st quarter taxes...ugh.