I Suck At Celebrating My Daughter's Birthday

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I actually forgot I was Irish today, in part because today also happens to be my daughter's (Briana) birthday. Happy birthday, Briana! The big 3. I can't believe she is three years old. It seems like yesterday that she was a little premature baby in the neonatal intensive care unit. It's crazy how time flies. My darling little girl is three.

Anyway, Briana had her birthday party today. Joining in on the celebration were my parents, my mother-in-law, my father-in-law, my favorite sister-in-law (Janine), my niece (Kaleigh), my nephew (PJ), Karen's aunt and uncle (Denise and Paul), and Karen's grandmother. The theme for the birthday party: Cars. Ka-chow!

Too bad I suck at celebrating my daughter's birthday. We kept the party pretty simple: pizza from the Boston Pizza Company, a strawberry spinach salad, a cake, and Cars decorations. Despite the simplicity of the party, I think Briana had a great time. Funny thing is, I don't think she enjoys being the center of attention. There were moments throughout her party where she went to hide. Of course, maybe it's because she doesn't want to hang out with relatives. Just kidding.

Seems like the present Briana was most excited about this year was her Fisher Price Kid Tough digital camera. As of tonight, she has already taken 90 pictures, mostly of random things like the floor. She's funny with the camera.

Anyway, I think she had a great time and that's all that matters. Happy birthday, Briana! I love you.

I Suck At St. Patrick's Day

Not only was Saturday the day that everyone is Irish, it was also my daughter's (Briana) second birthday. Happy birthday Briana! And Happy St. Patrick's Day! Too bad I suck at St. Patrick's Day.

And what better way to start off a birthday celebration than to visit the local public library? Needing to get some signatures for my nomination papers to run for the elected position of Board of Trustee for the library, I decided to take Briana to the library if for just an hour before her actual birthday party. Sadly, my daughter's cuteness only went so far at the library as I only managed a handful of signatures.

Following my brief father/daughter bonding time at the library, we headed home to celebrate Briana's birthday. Joining in on the festivities were my parents, Karen's parents, my favorite sister-in-law (Janine) and her family, and Karen's Lowell-loving cousin (Karlene) and her husband (Tommy).

By the way, it turns out that Tommy wants to be my campaign manager for my Board of Trustee run. He apparently has done a lot of research into how many candidates were running this year for the Board. Who knew? If it works out and I'm elected, then forget my friend's (Cass) bid to become mayor of Quincy. I'll do it myself. Just kidding. I'll call it the "Asian Contagion" campaign.

Anyway, Briana's party was good. As far as parties go, Briana's birthday celebration was very low key. We ordered pizza from Sal's. The pizza was delicious as usual. And for anyone curious, for the entire week Sal's is having a corned beef and cabbage pizza special. I have been told that it tastes like a reuben. I'll admit it. I'm curious.

For dessert, Karen and I made an Elmo cake for our Sesame Street infatuated daughter. Well, Karen baked the cake and frosted it. I helped add the sugar sheet decoration to it. (In other words, I did very little.) Someday, I'd like to get more into cake decorating. But we'll see how that goes.

Karen's father also made an apple pie for dessert. Among the other things that Briana has been infatuated with lately is making apple pie. The apple pie that my father-in-law made was great. (That is his "thing".) He even spelled Briana's name with the dough. It was cool all around (and quite delicious).

As far as topics of discussions go, I'm afraid I don't remember too much from the party other than the logical train of thought from Karen's southern relatives to purchase guns as a preventive measure for some recent burglaries in their neighborhood, which is a little peculiar since they already have an alarm system. Hey, don't mess with the South.

When the party was winding down, my friend (Andrea) stopped by with a present for Briana. She got Briana a Fisher Price Little Mommy Ride 'n Drive Shopping Cart. And yep, Briana has been pushing that cart around for days since her party. She loves it. Needless to say, it was good to hang out with Andrea for a bit.

To be honest, the entire day went by very quickly. Shortly after Andrea left, and shortly after Karlene and Tommy left, Karen and I literally crashed. We went to bed pretty early, or early for me. Nevertheless, I think Briana enjoyed her day. She seemed pretty happy all throughout the day and that's really what matters.

I Suck At Drinking Apple Juice

Tonight, I got to spend some quality father/daughter bonding time with my fifteen month old daughter (Briana). Karen was having a girls night out. I think she's been looking forward to having a girls night out for some time. Plus, I'm a believer that people need individual time now and then. So I was thrilled that she was able to go out and enjoy a night on her own.

Anyway while she was out, I got to have Briana all to myself which is something I don't get to do normally. I'm not sure if I remember the last time I had Briana all to myself. It may have been shortly after she was born in which I took a week off to take care of her. She was such a peanut then. (Well, she's a peanut now.) Back then, she would just fall asleep in your arms.

Needless to say, Briana was definitely good tonight. Lately, Briana has been awful going to bed. Briana's recent routine reminds me of my niece (Kaleigh) who used to always cry "I'm not tired" whenever she had to go to bed. And yes, Kaleigh was tired when she went to bed. Similarly, Briana has started to cling on for dear life whenever Karen or I have put her to bed recently. It's definitely tough when your daughter has a stranglehold around your neck while you put her down.

But not tonight. Tonight, she went down like an angel. She did not even whimper. It was definitely a nice change from the stranglehold. So in celebration, I went wild and polished off the bottle of apple juice in the refrigerator. Yes, I suck at drinking apple juice.

Interestingly enough, that bottle of apple juice was free complements of Stop and Shop. I purchased the bottle last week for Briana while she was feverish and in need of fluids due to her reaction to her vaccination. Making sure the apple juice did not contain high fructose corn syrup, I purchased the bottle.

For anyone curious, I try to avoid foods with high fructose corn syrup as much as I can. My achille's heel, however, is soda. I think soda must be laced with nicotine or something because it just tastes so darn good and keeps you wanting more. Damn you soda for tasting so good. Some day, I'll break the habit. Some day!

Anyway, the bottle of apple juice rang up incorrectly. I debated about going to customer service because the difference was only twenty cents. As it turned out, it was a good thing that I did because they gave me the entire bottle for free. I had figured that they would refund the difference or something. But nope, free!

Needless to say, that bottle of apple juice tasted great as I drank its last drops. Yum! It was a good way to end the night.

I Suck At Attending A Service For Remembrance

In addition to being my first time in work's new office location of Danvers, yesterday was the 18th Annual Service of Remembrance at the Old South Union Church which is directly across from South Shore Hospital. The service is held for families who have lost children. Too bad, I suck at attending a service for remembrance.

It has been over two years since Karen and I lost our son (Braden). As much as I hate to say it, I have not thought much about my beautiful angel in quite some time. Like many people I'm sure, I have been caught up in trying to raise a baby daughter (Briana) while balancing other aspects in life.

Sadly, I think my original fears are coming true. Shortly after Braden's passing, I was concerned that I would forget about him. I was afraid that I would forget his beautiful face. I was afraid that I would forget what his skin felt like when I kissed him goodbye. And now, it's almost like it is coming true. That sensation I felt when I kissed Braden goodbye doesn't seem as real as I once remembered it being. It really irks me that I can't remember that feeling anymore.

So needless to say, I was looking forward to attending the service for remembrance just so that I could have some dedicated time to thinking about my beautiful son. With such a hectic schedule, especially during the holidays, I thought it was definitely much needed.

In case anyone is curious, the service seemed shorter this year, which was probably just as well because Briana was with us. And truth be told, Briana was very well behaved during the service. She only made a couple of brief peeps during the service, but nothing distracting (unlike the children sitting behind us).

Anyway, it was a nice service. I hope Braden enjoyed the service as well. Happy holidays, Braden! Even though Daddy forgets things, he still loves you.

I Suck At Punkin' Chunkin'

On Wednesday, Karen, our baby daughter (Briana) and I hung out with our friends (Marc, Kelley, and Andrea). On the agenda for the night: Punkin' Chunkin'. Now, I suck at Punkin' Chunkin'.

For anyone curious, Punkin' Chunkin' is a competition whereby pumpkins are hurled over great distances by any mechanical means. Sounds awesome, right? The weekend after Halloween is the big World Championship Punkin' Chunkin'. The competition is held in Sussex County, Delaware.

Needless to say, all of us were pretty excited to watch the competition as Marc and Kelley had recorded the show on their DVR. Some day, all of us will have to go to Delaware and actually watch it live. That would be quite the experience! (And truth be told, I would rather go to Punkin' Chunkin' than a parade.)

Regardless, it was a good time watching pumpkins get hurled into the sky. Of course, it also helps that Andrea made a Wendy's run and brought Frosties. There were definitely some good laughs.

Following the competition, we ended up watching another show about Marc's seemingly favorite food: bacon. I think he may have been in heaven. All in all, it was a fun time hanging out with everyone.

I Suck At Thanksgiving

Thursday was Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Too bad I suck at Thanksgiving.

I sometimes wonder if Native Americans enjoy the holiday as much as Non-Native Americans. After all, if the holiday is about giving thanks (which in and of itself sounds like a great idea), what are the Native Americans thankful for? Are they thankful that their land was taken from them, causing them to live on remote strips of reservation land? Are they thankful that settlers introduced disease and alcoholism? Are they thankful for casinos? I was just curious.

Karen and I celebrated the holiday by spending time with Karen's parents. The holidays for us are usually small as it is generally Karen's parents, my parents, and Karen and I. This year, Thanksgiving was even smaller as my parents were having dinner at my cousin's house. For anyone curious, my cousin (Tiffany) recently purchased a new house in Canton and consequently wanted to host Thanksgiving for my relatives.

Thus, Thanksgiving was a small affair this year. As usual, my in-laws prepared a great meal. I've always been more into the side dishes than the turkey itself. And it turns out, my baby daughter (Briana) may be too. In addition to the sweet potato and the squash, Karen decided to see if Briana would eat some cranberry sauce. Needless to say, Briana devoured the cranberry sauce with reckless abandon. Who knew? I probably should not have been surprised. After all, I too enjoy cranberry sauce.

Anyway, following the delicious meal, all of us headed to the nursing home to spend some time with Karen's grandmother, also known as Nana. And personally speaking, I think that is what the holidays should be about: spending time with family and friends. When my family and friends are no longer among the living (and hopefully are not zombies), I want to look back with no regrets and say that I spent my time wisely with them. But that is just me.

I guess it goes without saying that I am thankful for everyone in my life... past and present.

I Still Suck At Going Through Stuff

Box number 6 is done.

Yesterday, Karen had a baby shower to attend to for our friends (Cass and Ellen). So while she was out, I took care of our baby daughter Briana. And by taking care of Briana, I mean I strapped her into an infant carrier and started cleaning up the house.

It's amazing how long it takes to vacuum a two story house with a baby strapped to you. Of course, it's also amazing how quickly the house falls back into disarray after being vacuumed. It's like a matter of minutes before the house is dirty again. That is very frustrating.

Cleaning the house with a baby is like working out: it takes forever to get the desired results, and it takes simply no time to fall back to square one. Add the fact that it seems like a vicious cycle... and there you go.

Anyway, following my hours of vacuuming, I decided to go through yet another box of stuff that my mother brought over after cleaning her attic. Now, I still suck at going through stuff. I believe this is the sixth box. The contents of the box were yet more junk from high school.

And junk there was. In addition to class notes, which were mostly in French, there were the usual things like report cards and homework assignments. I sometimes wonder if I ever went to class as well because there were a vast amount of signed passes in the box. The passes were signed by various teachers allowing me to go certain places. One of the passes was signed by my French teacher to go to her car to retrieve supplies. I thought that was funny.

There were also many of my old writing assignments which I had totally forgotten about. Apparently, my English class wrote poetry one year because I have a collection of poems from my classmates. It was that same English class where I also started my foray into screenwriting as one of the assignments in the class was to keep a daily journal... much like this blog. Of course, this was back in the day when we had to actually write our journal ideas in a book. Nevertheless, my daily entries into my journal included skits that I would write involving the day. And as usual, the skits would include my friends and people I knew.

Also in the box that made me chuckle were my designs for the yearbook. Being on the yearbook committee, my sole responsibility was to come up with a few designs for the yearbook. I apparently came up with four designs. Sadly, none of my designs were selected for the front cover. Instead, that honor went to my friend (Ngoc). One of my designs, however, did actually make the cut for the back cover.

It's too bad none of my designs were selected for the front cover. (Or conversely, it's probably a good thing that none of my designs were selected for the front cover because our yearbook was absolutely atrocious.) My favorite design that did not get selected involved a stick figure representation of our school mascot. I thought that design was pretty cute. Sadly, no one will ever know what it looked like (except for Karen whom I showed later).

I definitely kept a lot of junk from high school. If I didn't know any better, I could be a candidate for that show, "Hoarders". After all, I also had a collection of silverware in the box. The flatware was pilfered from various eating establishments while I was in high school. Why I thought I would need them? I have no idea. Crazy teenager...

Anyway, I had a good time looking through the stuff and reflecting on my days growing up. After all, those learning experiences whether good or bad have shaped me into who I am today. And perhaps maybe it is because the holidays are coming up, but it was nice to see that I have so many good friends to be thankful for.

I Suck At Hanging Out With My Sister-in-Law

On Saturday, Karen and I took our baby daughter (Briana) out for a little visit with her Auntie (Janine). Now, I suck at hanging out with my sister-in-law. I haven't seen Janine and PJ since their trip to Las Vegas. I think Karen was looking forward to seeing Janine as she hasn't really had the chance to hang out with her in awhile.

Needless to say, it was a good visit. For a while, Briana would cry uncontrollably while at Janine and PJ's. I really do not know why she would burst into tears. I always joked that Briana saw the previous owner of the house (Helen) who has long passed away. It may be the unfamiliarity of the place for Briana. Who knows? But, it was somewhat disheartening (and probably for Janine and PJ as well) to have Briana cry all the time while with members of her family.

Briana, however, seems to have gotten better. She was all smiles particular with her uncle PJ. Of course, her happy state may have been due to the fact that PJ fed her frosting. Nevertheless, she was remarkably happy. No tears. That was a relief. Perhaps Karen's plan to get Briana more familiar with her aunt and uncle is working.

Granted, we did not really stay that long at Janine and PJ's. We stayed long enough for me to do some Tech Support while Janine, PJ, and Janine's BFF (Gretchen) played with Briana. Being the token Asian guy in the family, my duties in the family surround computers. In this case, the computer task was fairly easy: transfer files and update iTunes.

Before leaving for Las Vegas, PJ and Janine asked if I could convert their DVD movies into a file that could be played on their iPod. I had converted all of them. The problem, of course, was transferring the newly created files from my computer to theirs. What ultimately happened was that I had only enough disc space to transfer 3 of the 4 movies before their trip. Thus, on Saturday I transferred the remaining movie from my computer to theirs (after their trip).

Anyway, like I said, it was a good time on Saturday.

I Suck At The Karate Kid

Last night, Karen, our baby daughter (Briana) and I had a family night. It's been some time since the three of us watched a movie together. Since my father-in-law lent us a couple of movies awhile back, we felt that we had to at least watch one of them so that we can return them in a timely fashion.

The movie that we ended up watching last night was The Karate Kid. Now, I suck at The Karate Kid.

(The video below is a trailer for The Karate Kid.)


This version that we watched was not the 1984 original, but the 2010 reboot starring Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan. The new version is about a 12 year old boy who moves to China with his mother. He gets bullied and learns martial arts from an unlikely maintenance man.

Needless to say, I was not expecting much from the movie. After all, the original movie is considered a classic 1980s film. The movie produced such famous quotes like "Wax on. Wax off", "Sweep the leg". Plus, it produced the cult iconic villain William Zabka.

And really, if you think about it, the new movie's title actually is incorrect for the plot. The kid is in China, where the martial art of kung fu is taught. It's not karate, which is a Japanese martial art. So naming the movie "The Karate Kid" doesn't make a whole lot of sense. And if anyone is curious, DC Comics actually granted the original movie permission to use the name "Karate Kid" because it came up with the name "Karate Kid". There was a superhero of the same name before the 1984 movies ever came out.

Regardless, the movie in and of itself was not awful. For me, I think the movie would have been better had the main character not been in middle school. Of course, I'm not saying bullying is more accepted in high school. There's just something about little kids fighting each other that seems weird to me.

And perhaps it's because I am a fan of the 1980s, but I definitely thought the original movie was much better than the reboot. And of course hands down, Joe Esposito's "You're the Best" is definitely a much better movie theme than Justin Beiber's "Never Say Never".

(The video below is Joe Esposito's "You're the Best".)


But like I said, the story in and of itself is not that bad. The original movie from 1984 just told the story better in my opinion.

I Suck At Pinkberry

For a day in which neither Karen nor I had any set plans (which is a rarity in itself these days), today turned out to be quite fun. With the nice weather, we decided to do a few projects around the house that involved being outside.

Karen was going to rake some leaves while I was going to cut a few tree branches. Cutting branches may seem like an odd project. The electrical wires, however, that lead from the outside transformer into our house are near a tree. The branches of this tree are intertwined with these electrical wires. For the past winters, Karen and I have always worried that with the accumulation of snow during the winter the branches will break and take down the electrical wires with them.

Sure, it may be paranoia. But since it's better to be safe than sorry, I figured that now is as good a time as any to trim the branches before the winter season started this year. The only problem, of course, was getting the proper tool to cut the branches because I did not own one. For anyone curious, I needed a pole saw. Luckily for me, my favorite brother-in-law (PJ) had the tool.

Anyway, I was able to borrow the pole saw. As I was picking up the saw, my favorite sister-in-law's (Janine) BFF (Gretchen) asked if Karen wanted to go for a walk with her, my niece (Kaleigh) and my nephew (PJ). It being a beautiful day out, Karen opted to go for the walk instead.

So while Karen and our baby daughter (Briana) were out for their walk, I worked on removing the tree branches near our electrical wires. Sadly, my pruning skills may need a little work. When all was said and done, the tree looked a little oddly shaped with a bunch of missing branches.

As I was still feeling productive, I figured I would tackle another project while Karen and Briana were out. That project: going through more crap that my mother brought over. Recently, my mother has been cleaning her attic. As my brother and I had load of junk stored in her attic, my mother started delivering my crap every time she visited.

Today, I went through my fourth box. Contained within this box were more of my college notes. In particular, the box had notes and items leading to my final year of college. As usual, it was quite interesting traveling down memory lane. I almost forgot some of the things I did.

Among the things I forgot was the fact that I took an anthropology class about nutrition. Speaking of anthropology, there were notes from my favorite anthropology course: forensic osteology. Being able to piece together information about a person from their bones was cool. My friends (Marc and Kelley) at one time thought I should have worked in forensics.

Anyway, there were other random classes that brought back memories. There was a course on women in Greek literature, a group dynamics psychology course, a philosophy course about law. I thought the range of courses was definitely varied. And after looking at my graded assignments, to say that I threw off the class curve is an understatement.

But I think without a doubt, the most fun I ever had in a class was my screenwriting course. It was fun simply because it involved something I enjoy: writing. Truth be told, were it not for my enjoyment of writing, I probably would not have kept up with this blog. At one time, this blog served as an outlet while I dealt with the passing of my son (Braden). And now with time being so limited while raising Briana, I considered stopping my blog altogether. Yet for some reason, I still feel compelled to post this blog simply because I enjoy writing.

So you can only imagine how much enjoyment I get from writing screenplays which also involve my personal addiction: movies. Needless to say, it was great looking at the scripts I wrote for the class. Typical of what I write, I had based some assignments on friends. Had I time now, I would write a script involving my friends and zombies.

Regardless, I had a great time reviewing the scripts. I think what also made the screenwriting class so enjoyable was that the course was taught by local comedian, Steve Sweeney (of Back to School and There's Something About Mary fame).

Anyway, I had a lot of fun going through the box. There was also a picture taken at my commencement that featured Karen, my friends (Cass and Aimee) and I. All of us looked so young. Apparently, I even had a yearbook from my college. I totally forgot about that. And if anyone is curious, I did look to find my friend (Andrea) who apparently graduated the same year as I did, which was fact that I did not realize until many years later. For anyone curious, she graduated from the College of Management.

As I was recycling most, if not all, of the junk from the box, Karen contacted me about meeting them at Pinkberry at the Derby Shoppes. Now, I suck at Pinkberry. For anyone curious, Pinkberry is a frozen dessert restaurant. I have never actually been to Pinkberry... until today.

After today's visit, I would have to say that Pinkberry is very delicious. (Cue Rachael Ray's "Yum-O" sound.) I loved it. I ordered the fruit parfait. It was so good that I would eat another if I could.

Karen thought it was funny that my parfait had a plethora of fruit, while she was told that she could only have three types of fruit. With the server being Asian, I attributed to our genetic solidarity. After all, Pinkberry was started by two Korean Americans: Shelly Hwang and Young Lee. I actually did not know there was a three fruit limit. I simply inquired if I could have all of the fruits in the parfait and the server did her best to accommodate the request. Plus, I gave her a wink wink too. I'm just kidding.

Anyway, Pinkberry was very delicious. I enjoyed the dessert a lot. Following Pinkberry, Karen, Briana, and I headed over to our friends' (Cass and Ellen) place. The get together was actually quite spontaneous. With my friend (Kelley) flying off to San Diego for a conference, I inquired if my friend (Marc) wanted to do something. As he had no plans for the night, I thought it would be a good opportunity to go out. So, I contacted Cass and eventually all of us ended up over at his place.

And as usual, it was good to hang out with everyone. For dinner, we actually grabbed some fast food which was something Karen and I have not done in a long while because we don't generally eat fast food. We actually hit McDonald's and Wendy's because some where interested in the infamous McRib, while others were interested in Frosties. For anyone curious, Karen and I ordered from Wendy's. I must say, however, that the McDonald's location in Quincy has changed a lot since I was last there, which was definitely ages ago. The place actually looks great.

Needless to say, the night was very entertaining. We simply hung out and watched some of the Celtics game. Briana, of course, highlighted the night by pooping all over her clothes. It was fun.

I Suck At Going Through Crap

Yesterday, Karen attended the annual American Dietitic Association conference. The conference this year happened to be held in Boston. For a dietitian like Karen, this conference is a big thing. Of course, this particular conference is even bigger for Karen because she was selected by her peers to present at the conference.

I don't think Karen, however, is happy about presenting. And truthfully, I probably would not be either because it seems like presenting at the ADA conference does not offer any perks. From what I have been told, presenters do not get any discounts for the conference or any other benefits. I find that a little bizarre. After all, as a dietitian, what would be the benefit of presenting at the conference? I know that if I were given a choice, I would prefer to simply attend the conference and not have to present anything, but that's just me.

Nevertheless, with Karen off to present at the ADA conference, I was given the chance to spend some quality father-daughter bonding time. So naturally, what do I do for quality father-daughter bonding time? I took our baby daughter (Briana) shopping.

I did not go out to many places while shopping. Shopping, however may have been a little too tiring for Briana because she fell asleep on the car ride home. So while she was asleep at home, I began to organize a few things and go through some crap. Now, I suck at going through crap.

Recently, my mother has been cleaning her attic. Unfortunately, my brother and I both have boxes and boxes of items still stored in her attic. Naturally, in her effort to clean and organize her attic, my mother has started to unload all of the crap onto me (which is rightfully so). She has been bringing boxes of my belongings every time she has visited.

To date, I have only gone through one of the boxes that my mother brought over. I think the count right now is that there are eight boxes to go through. I'm sure more are coming. The first box that I went through seemingly contained every single note I took in class while in high school. Most of the contents of that box have ended up in our recycle bin already.

The box I went through yesterday contained most of my notes from college. It's interesting looking back at those notes. Again, at the time I thought that keeping these notes would serve as a reference for me later in life. And again, I was quite mistaken. After all, most of my notes were in subjects like Anthropology, Philosophy, Psychology, and Sociology. (Yes, I majored and minored in as many useless subjects as I could, which is interesting considering how my current profession uses none of those subjects.)

It actually took a while to go through that one box of college stuff. After all, at the time my student identification was my social security number. And as much as I would have liked to have just chucked everything into the recycle bin, I couldn't because many of the pages contained my social security number. Damn you college! I'm sure a lot has changed since I've been in college because I can't imagine that they would still use your social security number as your student identification.

Speaking of how a lot has changed, it was interesting to see how I had some dot matrix printouts and whatnot in the box. The printouts were back when schools had a VAX (virtual address extension). Some of the items in the box could actually show the progression of computer technology as printouts improved throughout my college tenure. Thankfully, computers have gotten a lot better.

Anyway, I thought it was interesting to go through some of my college things. In the box were things like my varsity letter for baseball; papers that I wrote for sociology (like the one I titled "Me So Horny" after the 2Live Crew song, which was about gender relations); the history paper I wrote the day before its due date which received a pretty high grade. I think my friend (Kelley) who was taking the class with me was a little perturbed by that because my paper had a better grade than hers.

Other things that were interesting in the box were photocopied readings for classes. Like the big ripoff known as textbooks, most of my professors had students purchase these photocopied readings directly from them. The photocopies were then used as required readings. Big waste of money.

Speaking of big wastes, there was a paper that I wrote in the box that cracked me up. Group projects were always a big thing in college. Normally, I'm all for group projects as it theoretically divides the workload. There was this one sociology paper that brought back some memories. At the time, groups of two were randomly chosen. As it turned out, I ended up with the short end of the straw because my partner was... well... non-existent. I could probably excuse my partner, were the class an intro level course, but this was anything but an intro level course.

Needless to say, the project spanned a good chunk of time during the course. The professor would give us an assignment in regards to the main project, which was a research paper, and our group would have to work on it for that time period. Every time the assignment was given, I ended up working on the project by myself because my partner was either too busy, or she forgot, or she just simply never got around to it. When it came time to pass in the portion of the project that was assigned, my lovely partner would simply sign her name on the assignment that I prepared. It drove me nuts.

So naturally, when the final project was assigned (to actual write the research paper), I again did all the work. Knowing that my partner would simply sign her name on the paper again, I decided to type a disclaimer on the paper saying how my partner has done none of the work despite numerous attempts at trying to work with her.

Well, my partner took the paper and simply signed it. Apparently, she didn't even want to look through the paper. If she did, she would have seen the disclaimer I wrote. Regardless, I ended up getting a great grade on the paper. My professor even commented on how he enjoyed reading the disclaimer and how he would take that into consideration for my partner's grade. It cracked me up.

Anyway, I think the things that I enjoyed the most while looking through the box were my philosophy notes. I was actually inspired by one of my philosophy professors. Interestingly enough, that professor may be one of the reasons why I became an "instigator" of sorts. It was through one of his classes that I began to always question things; to ask things even when asking wasn't the most tactful of options like my man, Socrates. Although really, who am I kidding? I would probably instigate even if it were not for my studies in philosophy.

All in all, it was a nice trip down memory lane. And now, there is one less box of crap to go through that is sitting in my garage. I can't wait to see what is inside the other boxes.

I Suck At Celebrating My Father-In-Law's Birthday

Yesterday, my in-laws came over for dinner. After all, it was my father-in-law's birthday. Too bad I suck at celebrating my father-in-law's birthday. For anyone curious, it also happened to be the anniversary celebration for Karen's parents as well because the were married on Karen's father's birthday.

Anyway, it was a good time. My father-in-law wanted to have Chinese food for dinner. Consequently, we ordered takeout from the Beijing House which is a Chinese restaurant located just up the street from our house in Norwell. I'm sure my mother would be shocked to hear that I ate Chinese food that was not her cooking. Consequently, most if not all of the leftovers were distributed to everyone by the end of the night. As well, as of this posting, I have already devoured all remaining evidence of Chinese food with the exception of the fortune cookies and special sauces.

I think Karen's parents had a great time. Also joining in on the celebration were my favorite sister-in-law (Janine) and my favorite niece (Kaleigh). My favorite nephew (PJ) was apparently sick and could not attend. Naturally, Karen had to share with all of my in-laws something I wrote while I was in fifth grade.

My mother has been cleaning her attic of late. As a result, she has given me a load of boxes containing my "legacy" that were stored in her attic. I'm sure there are more boxes to be delivered soon. Among the items in one of the boxes was an autobiography assignment that I had to write in fifth grade.

The autobiography had a baby picture of me, as well as my then current picture when I was in fifth grade. For anyone curious, I had long hair back in fifth grade. Some of my friends have even joked that I was fat Asian girl back in the day.

Anyway, like most writings of a fifth grader, the train of thought in my autobiography was very random. Of course, I'm sure my blog post are equally random so maybe I haven't changed that much since the fifth grade.

Among the things mentioned in my autobiography were how my family celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas with a Butterball turkey, my aspirations to be an actor or scientist, and my desire to own a mansion, limo, and swimming pool. Sadly, I currently do not own a mansion, limo, or swimming pool. By the same account, I'm also not an actor or a scientist. It's very sad how my dreams have not come true. It's also sad how my penmanship has gone down the toilet since the fifth grade. Oh well.

All in all, it was fun time. I hope my father-in-law enjoyed his celebration.

I Suck At Scare Tactics

Today has been a random day. With it being Prince Spaghetti day, Karen, our baby daughter (Briana), and I hung out with our friends (Marc, Kelley, and Andrea). On the agenda for the night: nothing.

Ever since Lost ended and Wipeout ran its course for the summer, we really have not found that next show to watch together as a group. That is totally fine with me because I get more entertainment out of just hanging out with everyone anyway.

Well, with nothing really planned, we decided to see what was on-demand. Eventually, we decided to give Scare Tactics a try. Now, I suck at Scare Tactics. Upon watching the show, however, I was laughing in stitches.

For anyone curious, Scare Tactics is a reality television comedy similar to the show Punk'd... or Candid Camera. Unsuspecting victims who are set up by friends and family are filmed as practical jokes are played out on them. The first two seasons of the show were hosted by Shannen Doherty (of Beverly Hills 90210 fame). Stephen Baldwin actually took over hosting duties midway through the second season. And from season three on, the show has been hosted by Tracy Morgan.

I was laughing so hard during the show. In fact, I think my infectious laughter had Andrea going for awhile as well. Needless to say, I had a great time watching the show with everyone.

And naturally, what kind of friends would we be if we didn't think it was a great idea to try and get one of our own friends on the show? In particular, we were thinking that it would be awesome to get our friend (Garv) on the show simply because Garv is a wimp. (And if you are curious, the process to suggest a victim for the show is by sending an email to stcasting@yahoo.com.) Just the idea of watching Garv poop his pants would be classic.

Perhaps I will suggest the idea to my friend (Aimee), who is better qualified at pulling off these types of pranks. Speaking of whom, I was digging through some old stuff that my mother brought and found something written by Aimee. My mother has been cleaning out the attic of late. In an effort to clean up her attic, she has brought loads upon loads of boxes that contain my belongings. Among those belongings: everything I kept from high school on.

I have only gone through one box thus far. In my defense, I just received the boxes today while my mom came over to watch Briana. She has assured me that more boxes will come. Great.

Anyway, the box I looked through today contained a random collection of things, but most of the items were my class notes from high school. The notes were all in binders. I had every note I ever took in class, which apparently contained a lot of scribbles and doodles of my name. I had every homework that passed in and got graded. I even had book covers that were used to cover books.

Interestingly enough, there was a note from my BFF (Kerry) on one of the book covers. She wrote "hi mike you are the classic nerd! saving your book covers! see ya kerry". And of course, Kerry's position was confirmed by another friend: "Hi Mike, Kerry is right, your a nerd. Are you gonna save the book cover? bye, Maryellen". I wonder if kids these days even cover their books with paper bags anymore...

Nevertheless, the book cover made me chuckle. I guess there was a reason why I kept that book cover after all. It's funny. At the time, I thought I would keep everything because I thought I could use the class notes or whatever as a reference later on in life. Oh how wrong I was, as evident from the fact that the box has done nothing but collect dust in my mother's attic.

Looking back now, it does seem ridiculous to keep everything from high school on. Heck, the box I went through today even had items I pilfered from the Holiday Inn when I spent the night there for a track event. I can only imagine what else is in the other boxes that my mother has waiting for me.

I know there used to be a box of stainless steel knives somewhere. I went through a klepto stage whereby I would take knives from restaurants that I ate at. Granted, most of those knives were from the Ground Round because that was were all of my friends and I generally ended up eating at. I had a track box that contained all of my running shoes and all of my track spikes. Yes, I'm insane. I can't wait to go through all of my crap now.

But also within the box was this letter written by Aimee on October 2, 1992. I loved getting things from Aimee because she just made me laugh. Her letter was actually from when I was in college. More specifically, it was during our first year in college. Heck, we were only a month into college. The letter was typed out on the computer. This was back when computer printouts looked cheesy.

The funny thing about the letter was that even though she printed it out, she never mailed it. At the bottom of the letter, she hand wrote that she didn't send the letter because she ran out of stamps. So I must have seen her, to which she gave me the letter. Classic.

The letter even brought back the memory of my scientology experience because Aimee sarcastically asked how that was coming along for me. Back when I was a lowly college freshman, I was approached while walking down the street of my college campus at the time, which was Northeastern University. The ever polite person that I am, I obliged the person who seemed normal enough. Let's just say, it was a complete waste of two hours of my life. Damn you scientologists!

Anyway, it was good to look back through my old stuff and cherish the things that made me... me... like my friends.

I Suck At Early Intervention

Kids grow up so quickly. It seems like just yesterday that our baby daughter (Briana) was drooling. Wait, that was yesterday.

Yesterday, Briana had her second Early Intervention evaluation. It was six months ago that she had her first Early Intervention evaluation and qualified for the services. From what I am told, being born prematurely almost always guarantees eligibility the first time around.

Needless to say, I suck at Early Intervention. I should correct that statement. Briana sucks at Early Intervention, in part because she no longer qualifies for their services. She apparently passed with flying colors. I'll have to give Briana credit. She knows when to turn it on.

Briana was your average quiet baby up until the physical therapist and the social worker from Early Intervention arrived. Once they arrived, it was bababa-this and bababa-that. It's interesting considering how her speaking is a recent thing... like a few days old. Apparently, she impressed the physical therapist and social worker so much that she no longer became eligible for their services. And naturally, once they left she was her quiet self again. Go figure.

Anyway, it was pretty exciting to hear that Briana did not qualify for Early Intervention. Her age no longer has to be "adjusted". At the same time, it was slightly worrisome. After all, Early Intervention has been somewhat of a safety net for Karen and I in terms of parenting. By that I mean that if we had any questions or concerns about Briana's development, Early Intervention was always there to provide guidance or helpful hints.

Plus, it was also a little sad to say goodbye to the people who have been instrumental in Briana's development during the first seven months of her life. For six months, we have routinely seen them be a part of Briana's life. So it is a little sad knowing they will not be around to visit anymore.

Of course, I am assuming that Briana will not need Early Intervention again. Hopefully, her development will remain on track. Knock on wood.

I Suck At Birthday Parties

On Saturday, Karen, our seven month old baby daughter (Briana) and I attended a birthday party. Now, I suck at birthday parties. The special occasion, however, was for my friend (Sam) and his two children.

Sam is in the armed forces. He and his wife (Tara), who normally live out of state, were making their semi-annual trip up to Massachusetts. It just so happens that in the month of October, their children were celebrating their birthdays. Sam and Tara have two twin boys (Alex and Ben). And the big birthday celebration was for their first birthday.

For Karen and I (and Briana), this was our first time meeting Alex and Ben. Because Sam and Tara live out of state, we have only seen pictures of their two boys. So it was good to meet their little ones on Saturday.

Interestingly enough, the birthday party for the twin babies was held at Blue-22 in Quincy. For anyone curious, Blue-22 is a bar. Normally, I would think that having a baby party at a bar is somewhat peculiar. It just so happens that all of us are childhood friends of one the owners of the bar (Garv). And since Sam and Tara live out of state, I can understand how the party ended up at Blue-22.

Regardless, it was a good time celebrating Alex and Ben's birthday at Blue-22. Joining in on the festivities were Sam and Tara's respective parents, Tara's sister, Garv, my friends (Marc, Kelley, Leeann, Cass, Ellen, Aimee, Jim, Aimee and Jim's children, Scott, Ofelia, Scott and Ofelia's son), the parent (Peggy) of one of my friends, and some of Tara's other relatives. It was a motley crew of sorts.

Sam and Tara got a little present for Briana, which was very thoughtful. Attached to the present was also a specially selected Little Mermaid PEZ dispenser in my honor, which I thought was pretty funny. Speaking of which, Aimee also cracked me up. She gave me this ginormous gummy bear from Yummies in Maine. The gummy bear was absolutely huge. It made me laugh. It is moments like that which make me thankful to have the friends that I do.

Needless to say, it was a fun time to hang out with everyone. Speaking of which, following the birthday party, Karen and I ended up at Marc and Kelley's house to meet their new cat, Jack/Jackson. The cat is very cute and very active. Also meeting the cat for the first time were our friends (Andrea and Steve) and my BFF (Kerry). Andrea, Steve, and Kerry were in town and met up with us after their own little excursion for the day.

All in all, it was a nice day of just hanging out with friends.

I Suck At Shopping For Birthday Presents

Although it is rare, I do procrastinate with a few things. Among those things are shopping for birthday presents. Yes, I suck at shopping for birthday presents. In particular, I generally procrastinate when Karen's birthday rolls around.

It's not that I don't want to get her presents or anything like that. I just find getting Karen presents a very difficult task because I never know what to get her. It's like that on Christmas and anniversaries as well. If she had a video game or movie addiction like I do, finding a present would be so much easier.

Anyway, last night I decided to go out shopping for Karen's birthday present. Yesterday was a milestone of sorts. After all, last night was the first time I have ever been out of the house with just our baby daughter (Briana). Considering how Briana is seven months old, that is a very sad statement.

One of things Karen has wanted for awhile is for me to go out with Briana so that she can just have a couple of hours at home by herself, much like how I have the home to myself whenever Karen takes Briana while out galavanting with her gal pals. I have always found her request a little odd because if the roles were reversed, a bunch of guys hanging out with a baby seems very peculiar. I'm not so sure a bunch of guys would be as receptive to hanging out with a baby in comparison to a bunch of women.

As a result, I really have not gone out with just Briana. I suppose technically I could have taken Briana to visit her family, but then that requires... visiting family. Don't get me wrong. I love my family, but I see my parents enough during the week as it is with them taking care of Briana.

I don't know. Perhaps my never leaving the house has also added to my recent feelings about being in a rut.

That said, I may need to become a shopaholic just to get out of the house with Briana. If last night is any indication of how shopping with Briana will go, then things are looking pretty good.

After all, while shopping for a birthday present for Karen, many of the employees at the stores I visited simply started talking to me about Briana. Who knew? Briana was a chick magnet last night. She had all the female employees coming over to look and play with her. (And by play, I mean make faces and baby noises.) Briana was like a rock star.

And interestingly enough, Briana was quite good while we were out shopping. She did not make cry at all. Instead, she simply looked around and took everything all in. I think she rather enjoyed shopping. Perhaps we'll have to do a father/daughter weekly shopping tradition or something. I'm sure that will make Karen happy.

I Suck At Liver And Onions

Yesterday, Karen, our baby daughter (Briana) and I had dinner with Karen's parents. On the menu for dinner: liver and onions. Now, I suck at liver and onions.

Liver and onions happen to be one of Karen's favorite dishes. The meal has been a birthday tradition ever since she was young. So with Karen's birthday quickly approaching (this Friday), her parents invited us over for the traditional birthday meal.

I'm sure a lot of people dismiss eating the meal simply based on their preconceived notions of eating an organ. Luckily, those preconceptions don't deter me from eating. I have a very hearty appetite. Unlike a majority of my friends, I am willing to eat just about anything.

I suppose being Asian helps with that because there are a lot of Asian dishes that do not look visually appealing, but taste great. (There are also Asian dishes that do not look visually appealing and taste awful too.) As a result, I try to never judge a food by its looks or what I imagine it to taste like.

Needless to say, the liver and onions dinner was good. And naturally, Karen enjoyed it as well. I still would like to learn how to make the meal someday. Someday I will have to watch my father-in-law as he makes it.

I Suck At Shutterfly

I take a lot of pictures. I guess you can say that I perpetuate the stereotype of Asians and cameras with my picture taking. It's just that I like to capture memories, particularly because I have such a terrible memory. It is my hope that the pictures I take can jog my memory and help me remember those moments.

Plus, having a baby daughter (Briana), I have been told by others who have children of their own that the first years pass by very quickly. Some have even suggested that I take as many pictures as I can before I realize that she has grown up. Looking back, the time spent raising Briana has indeed passed by very quickly. I can't believe that she is already over 7 months old. To me, it seems like just yesterday that she was a peanut due to her premature birth.

Anyway, one of the downsides to taking so many pictures is storage. For many friends and family who wanted to see pictures of Briana, I originally set up a Picasa web album so that everyone could follow her development. For anyone curious, according to my friend Wikipedia, Picasa is "an image organizer and image viewer for organizing and editing digital photos, plus an integrated photo-sharing website, originally created by Idealab and owned by Google."

Needless to say, there is a storage limit to how many pictures I can have on the web album. I have not reached that size limit yet, but I foresee it happening some time in the near future.

Thus, I began experimenting with an alternative option. That option: Shutterfly. Now, I suck at Shutterfly. One of the reasons why I even looked into Shutterfly was because I had received a coupon for Shutterfly while registering for baby products. The coupon worked fine and it allowed me to test out the site.

Karen and I ended up creating a photo book through Shutterfly and were quite pleased with how the book came out. We were looking into creating another photo book about Briana when I noticed that they had an option to create a baby website. What mostly caught my eye was that I did not see any storage limit.

Naturally, that led me to think about trying Shutterfly as a viable option to share pictures and whatnot of Briana. Consequently I spent much of Friday night creating a test site for Briana. I guess I'll see how it goes.

I Suck At Zombie Outbreaks

For Karen, our baby daughter (Briana) and I, yesterday was our usual night to get together and hang out with some of our friends. After all, yesterday was Wednesday and Wednesday is Prince Spaghetti night. So joining in on the fun last night were our friends (Marc, Kelley, and Andrea) and my BFF (Kerry).

It has been a while since Kerry came down and joined us on a weekday. Luckily for us, she happened to be in the neighborhood due to an emergency training exercise. As much as it would have been cool, the emergency exercise was not for the possible outbreak of zombies. Consequently, if Massachusetts should ever experience a zombie outbreak... the Commonwealth is apparently in trouble as the state would be very ill-prepared.

Now, I suck at zombie outbreaks. Okay, perhaps not. I've seen my share of zombie horror movies. Heck, I've played my fair share of zombie video games. So I actually think I'd be pretty good should a zombie outbreak happen in Massachusetts.

Zombies aside, it was good to see Kerry again. As an interesting side note, before meeting up with all of our friends, Karen, Briana and I took a quick trip to the public library in Hingham. For Karen, Briana, and I, it was our first trip ever to the Hingham Public Library and I must say... the Hingham Public Library is very nice. The place is huge in comparison to our local library. I was actually surprised to see a bunch of teenagers at the library, because I didn't think teenagers did that anymore. Granted, they were probably just there to hang out, but it was interesting.

I would probably say that Quincy and Hingham are the top two libraries on the South Shore. Of course, I have only been to three libraries on the South Shore, but the Hingham and Quincy facilities are without a doubt the best that I have been to thus far. Norwell, by the way, still has the best librarians in my opinion and I'm not just saying that because my favorite librarian happens to be in Norwell. For anyone curious, my favorite librarian jokingly referred to Hingham's library as a palace... and apparently she was correct. Hingham's Public Library is very nice.

Regardless, on a whole the Norwell librarians are a much friendlier bunch. It is actually for that reason that Karen's grandmother goes to the Norwell Library instead of the one in her own town of Hanover.

Anyway, after being in awe of the Hingham Public Library, Karen, Briana and I met up with everyone at Marc and Kelley's. Prior to our arrival, Marc, Kelley and Kerry went out for dinner at Firefly's in Quincy after Kerry recent discovery of the exotic meal known as pulled pork. Needless to say, it was a fun time at Marc and Kelley's. I think having all of us there also provided them with a little distraction as they recently had to put down one of their cats. And for anyone curious, Marc and Kelley's cats are like their family.

I remember having similar feelings when my son (Braden) passed away. There were times where I wondered what I could have done differently. There were times I blamed myself for the causing the passing or failing to do something beforehand. After a while, a person can go insane with all these rationalizations. After thinking so much about Braden, there were times where I just simply did not want to think anymore and I think Marc and Kelley similarly wanted a little break from thinking about their cat's passing. By no means am I comparing Braden to a pet. I'm just saying I understand their need for a distraction during their grieving.

And of course, when it comes to making people feel happy, there is no better solution than ice cream! With Frozen Freddie's in Quincy still open for the season, a bunch of us drove down to pick up some ice cream. Truth be told, I was disappointed with my ice cream selection of the apple crisp flavor. There were apples in the ice cream... just no crisp. False advertising if I do say so myself.

Nevertheless, it was ice cream! Anyway, all of us just hung out, ate ice cream, and watched some episodes of Man Vs. Food. It was a good time. And apparently plans got set into motion very quickly last night for the upcoming month. What turned out as possible plans to celebrate Karen's birthday in November (instead of October) became a possible trip to the Cape in a matter of minutes. Of course, the plans were dependent on Andrea's move as her closing date got delayed due to her realtor. So we'll see.

I Suck At Birthday Parties

Yesterday, Karen, our baby daughter (Briana), and I were invited to a birthday party by my favorite sister-in-law (Janine). Now, I suck at birthday parties. Luckily, this party was for my nephew (PJ) who turned the ripe old age of 9. It's amazing how time flies. I can't believe PJ is 9 already.

The theme for PJ's birthday party was brunch. So, it was basically a brunch party complete with boil-in-the-bag omelettes. (For anyone curious, omelettes were to be made by placing two eggs and its ingredients into a plastic bag, shaken, and then placed in boiling water for 13 minutes.) When I first heard of this omelette making idea proposed by Janine, I thought it was very peculiar. After awhile, I started to think that essentially it's like poaching an egg.

Needless to say, I was curious as to how the omelettes would come out. And truth be told, the omelettes were actually pretty good. Everyone else seemed to have liked the omelettes as well.

Anyway, the birthday party was nice. PJ seemed to have a great time, enjoying all of his presents. Following the party, Karen and I decided to watch a chick flick. That chick flick: Ghosts of Girlfriends Past.

(The video below is a trailer for Ghosts of Girlfriends Past.)


The film is basically A Christmas Carol with the romantic comedy twist starring Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Garner. Matthew McConaughey is the main character who must change his womanizing ways or be visited by the ghosts. Personally, I thought Emma Stone was the funniest part of the movie as the Ghost of Girlfriends Past in her 1980s hair and attire.

Truth be told, the movie was actually entertaining and I'm not a big Matthew McConaughey fan, primarily because he always seems dirty. But the movie, which was filmed in Ipswich Massachusetts, was enjoyable.

And shortly after Karen and Briana went to bed, I decided to make yesterday a double feature by following up Ghosts of Girlfriends Past with yet another movie. That movie: Diary of the Dead. The movie was definitely not a chick flick, but it continued the "dead" theme for the double feature night.

(The video below is a trailer for Diary of the Dead.)


Diary of the Dead is the fifth film in George Romero's dead series of zombie movies. The plot centers around a group of college students who are making a movie themselves as the zombie outbreak happens. One student, in particular, then makes it his mission to film the zombie outbreak like a documentary. Hence, the Diary of the Dead.

Despite the student who films the outbreak, the movie was entertaining. Granted, I'm always a sucker for zombie movies... and zombie video games. And really, what's not to enjoy when zombies get blasted in the head?