Got married over the weekend.  We had a small ceremony at the Flamingo Hotel in Vegas.  It was a very special day.  Everything went quite smoothly and everyone enjoyed themselves (I hope).

         

Maid of Honor Claudia and Best Man Miguel, graced us with their smiles and presence.

We had a nice lunch at Trevi in the Forum Shops at Ceasar's Palace where we celebrated our nuptials with good food, close friends and family.

So many pictures to share.  These are the highlights.  In time, I hope to find the perfect venue to show them off, but for now, this blog will have to do. 
                                                                                            

I was just getting into my last entry last night when Maria announced dinner was ready. I don't like to allow food to get cold, even salad (cause we usually stick steak in it instead of croutons), so I made my blog priority number two. After dinner I didn't feel like writing. So I am conlculding this today.
I suppose I was trying to make a connection between becoming a father and downgrading the pedals on my bike. The point being that I no longer have time to make 3 or more changes of footwear everytime I ride my bike and keeping my body free from injury is more important now than ever before. I can't wait to play catch with my little guy, or chase him around a park. And since this is some years in the future, I gotta keep myself intact. I was a happy baby (that smiling baby above is me). I have great parents to thank for that, two people who always placed my welfare before thier's. I just hope I can do the same. The pedals are just a metaphor.
I am keeping the SPD pedals and shoes. It is not too difficult to install them back. But for now, I think the regular pedals cover my needs adequately.

Change happens and most of the time we are unaware that it has occured. A couple of weeks ago I noticed how sick I was of my SPD pedals( a bicycle pedal that requires the user to wear special shoes which have a clip on the bottom which clips onto the pedal) : Always having to carry around extra shoes, always worrying about clipping out at the next stop. The inability to clip out has never been a factor in any of my falls. Still, I believe I can mitigate my injuries in a fall if the possiblity of catching the fall on my feet is possible. SPD'S can hinder this. The argument for SPD'S is that SPD pedals create a sense of efficiency that standard pedals cannot. With SPD pedals you push a pedal down with one foot and pull the other up with the opposite foot. At the risk of being labeled a non-serious biker, I purchased and installed regular pedals soon after. Truth is I love riding a bicycle but I just don't have room in my life for "extra shoes". The time I was spending going from sneaker to SPD shoe was becoming cumbersome. Also, I felt vulnerable having my leg be one with a bicycle pedal. I have to limit my vulnerabilities now:

I am going to be responsible for another human being now. AND, THAT IS CRAZY! Not bragging or anything but I have become pretty good at keeping my world under control. Yeah, sometimes one of the tires on my bike needs trueing or I get a flat. But a BABY BOY?! What kind of variables will that present?

food for thought

http://www.thejesuschristshow.com/

whenever I get a chance I like to listen to this show on 640 kfi. the show is hosted by a man referring to himself as Jesus Christ Your Holy Host. That statement borders on blasphemy, actually it is blasphemous. However once I got over the shock of someone referring to himself as God's Only Son and started to listen to what he (He) was saying, the show developed an appeal for me. The host ( I am not going to capitalize it cause I don't feel comfortable with it, a case of hardwiring I guess) takes calls from people dealing with real world issues and attempting to make spiritual sense of events that can range from personal to global. Jesus' answers are aligned with how the Bible would answer the issue. A majority of the time I concur with the host's position. Surprisingly, his position is not, as one would assume, preachy or defined by dogma. He cites scripture but does a good job of making it accessible to someone not as well versed in it. If you ever get a chance check it out, it is on Sunday mornings from 7-9 on kfi, 640 on your am dial (am dial, WHAT'S THAT?).
Today someone called and wanted to speak about the catastrophe in Haiti. The question posed was something to the effect of, "does God allow things like this to happen in order to punish, or is He just letting creation fly on autopilot?" I immediately thought about destruction in the Bible; the tale of Noah or of Sodom and Gomorrah (spelling?). The host was quick to point out that Earthquakes are not in and of themselves bad things. Earthquakes are what cause most geographic phenomena like mountains. Earthquakes are the attempt of the physical Earth to establish tectonic balance, a balance that never lasts because change is the nature of Creation. He pointed out that most of the tragedy in an Earthquake comes from things falling on top of other things. I felt that a finger was about to be pointed at this point but that's where he left it. The gist of the argument was, to quote the bard, "nothing is good or bad but thinking makes it so." Tragedy happens not to punish but because things move on this planet and sometimes the movements affect our lives. As to the question of is-creation-on-autopilot? Well, whether it is deliberate or not, we learn much from tragedy. As we see all around us there is a Samaritan spirit evolving. It is difficult to find a person who doesn't wish to help in one way or another. In times like this we learn about how much in debt we are to one another, that's something an absent God could not teach.
For me it is very difficult to see the images of the destruction in Haiti. I can't help but think what if someone I loved had been there. What if that was me? Life is truly a precious thing, give thanks for yours and pray for those not so lucky.

Prodigal Son

This is a picture of me from December of 1969. I was about 1 year and 9 mos. I am amazed that even back then and even in Guatemala parents enjoyed the novelty of taking their child to a place where they could dress them up in outlandish attire and snap pictures to preserve these preciously contrived moments. My mom describes the costume as "indigines" which I believe means indigenous and refers to the population in Guatemala that is less hispanic and more representative of the people living outside the urban areas. I would like to think that they are what is left of Mayan culture but I am sure that I am wrong.


In all honesty, it is a cute picture and I think I looked like Spanky from the original Little Rascals.


This is my first blog entry in many months. I guess I use my blog energy on Facebook now, hence, no need for this space to be used. Though I enjoy Facebook, I realize it is a lazy gesture. One in which my thoughts do not need to be thoroughly articulated. A status update on Facebook is just a declarative statement with no color to it. I returned here today for fear that I am becoming one willing to blurt out orations without the ability to dive into them, take them apart and prove each component. Unfortuneately, I see myself well enough to realize I know better. I remember a class analysis on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein in which the monster was compared to an abandoned child; this analysis was taken further as to suggest the monster represented a piece of work the author no longer wanted anything to do with. The argument was something like: (Victor) Frankenstein had put his body and soul into creating life but when the creation was ugly and inconvenient he ran away from it. Well, Blogs can be inconvenient cause they demand mental agility, adherence to language and a belief that your thoughts are worthy of note. I will admit that time, enery and conviction are not always there. But even if the entry is far from its target, it was a successful exersise, if just that.

I FINALLY HAVE SOMETHING TO WRITE ABOUT!!!

I went in for my teeth cleaning two weeks ago and told the doctor that I was feeling a lot of sensitivity to cold in my upper right molar area. So they took some x-rays. They couldn't find any cavities but (ALAS!!) they saw that a past root canal had become infected. Before I continue I need to make it clear that I am scared to death of dental procedures. Even the bi-yearly cleanings scare me. The fact that there is a drill, scalers (the sharp silver tools they use to scrape your teeth) and ultrasonic hoses are all cause for alarm. When I heard that there was an infection in a root canal, I knew that I was in for a serious procedure. When my normal dentist referred me to an endontist (a root canal specialist) my fears were confirmed. The procedure I had to go through required that my gums be cut. This would allow them to fold them over and expose a deeper region of the tooth. Here they would drill, find the infection, extract it and then clean the area. After that they would fill the hole with a synthetic substance which will hopefully help the tissue rebuild. Then my gums are lifted and sewn back on. PRETTY SCARY HUH? Take care of your teeth people and get them checked regularly!

So all of last week, I was living in fear. The best way to describe it is likening it to that moment when the roller coaster car is climbing that biggest drop of the ride and you sit there just waiting for the ground to drop out below you. If you like roller coasters that is not a good analogy. I don't. However, there was a point though were that fear became just a thought. It was like I could focus on the fear and let it define me or see it as just a thought and unreal with no physical attributes with which to influence my character or even mood. There was a certain sense of enlightening through that; an epiphany if you will allow. Yesterday when I sat in the operating chair and I could sort of feel them drilling and scraping (Dr. Shimizu did a great job of numbing my mouth), I couldn't help but think that what was going on was phenomena outside of my real being. My real being was somewhere else unaffected by what was happening to my mouth. I know that this kind of experience can't be fully described. I gained some sense of calmness and strength through it though. I hope that the effects of the episode linger. It is kind of like a Budhist interpretation of the Judeo-Christian sense of "this too shall pass". Am I making sense?

I will end my entry with some random pictures I took. Maybe you can explain to me why I took them.

"What's this I hear about making Puerto Rico a steak? The next thing they'll be wanting is a salad, and then a baked potato." -Emily Litella from Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update. Emily Litella was played by Gilda Radner in the News Skit on SNL back in the 70's. She was a hard of hearing editorialist. When asked to speak about issues Emily would always talk about what she thought she heard not the issue posed. Asked to speak about Natural Resources, she would give a speech about National Racehorses. Lol (i text so much now days that it is breaching into my everyday speech, lol). I thought about Emily the other day while listening to my mom and dad talk. They can't go five lines without hearing the wrong thing. It's always huh? huh? HUH? Then one (usually dad) gives up on having any kind of dialogue. My dad can be a frustrating experience. He turns 70 in march and with all those years of experience he still hasn't learned how to not irritate me. This is why I am writing today. I lost my keys yesterday and went over to my parents to see if I had left them there. I asked if he had seen them and instead of just saying "no", he goes into a speech about how I do things without thinking and I should be more aware of what I am doing. He's right, I know that. Did I want to hear that at that moment? NO!!!!! I didn't lose it though. I just got quiet and left. I think he knew that I got upset which I don't feel good about. I found my keys in a jacket I wore three days ago. Relief! The episode brought to mind my relationship with dad. He is 70 years old. He is not changing. The ratio between the times he has irritated me and the times he has supported me and been a dad is probably 100:1. Before I get sentimental, let me just say that I count myself lucky to have such a man as my father. He always put his family first and if he irritates me with his didactic demeanor, it is only because his intention is to make me a better man. Good news for those who like bad news.http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-trash25-2009jan25,0,5995857.story I think there is a lighter side to all negative issues. In the story above, the fact that less trash is being produced because less thing are being bought is discussed. That's a good thing. Well here are pics of my pets. Milo hates flash photography.!

I wish knew what kind of fish I have. That's pretty irresponsible huh? But I do change out the water, feed them and replace the charcoal. In fact yesterday I bought them a new filter. Steward of living things!! that's what I am! BTW did Puerto Rico ever become a state? That SNL skit was more than 30 years ago and I think Puerto Rico is still a province of the United States. Wikepedia states it is an unincorporated territory of the United States. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Rico I suppose that's all for now. Hope all is well with you.