So, how was your year?

Of course; if you follow the Chinese calendar or Muslim or Aztec or whatever else the question is moot. But I am disgressing.


You can blame it on the three glasses of St0ne 11th Anniversary Ale I had been drinking (in preparation of the arrival or 2009 in Tijuana; yes, I know already arrived in a lot of places already); my daughter Vicky got me a 2 liter growler full of 11th Anniversary Ale; and I got some more Russian Imperial Stout when picking it up; I think Bonita was not thrilled about it... In any case; the purpose of this post is to try to reflect on 2008 and to start getting ready for 2009.


So, how was 2008? It depends; overall it was good. And it is ending good; but in the middle (October) there was all the financial crisis, Vicky leaving the house, Bonita is about to lose her job (this might be a good thing...) and some other minor negative things. On the positive side; I got a promotion at work (February), Vicky graduated from college (Psychology), Mediana and Pinka did great at school (The Lion King and the basketball tournament) and the recovery after October had been great. Found old friends (it took one of them dying of cancer for this to happen, so... bittersweet) and we made GREAT new friends (even though there was an accident last time they were visiting).


So, it was business as usual. Hope 2009 will be kind of the same.

See you around.

P.S. And for those wondering; yes, the killings in TJ decreased because of all the guys taking time off because of Christmas, so, no explosion here...

Past news

OK, I forgot to mention that Pinka's team (as Pinka wisely said) won the second place on the basketball tournament.

It was a hard fought game with the other team taking a bigger lead than Pinka's team could recover from... 8-1; final score 8-5. Everybody was happy; except for one of the moms that cried; really emotional moment there.

(this was to make the score 8-5)

Anyway; I just wanted to share that with you.

See you around.

Wha....

I was about to keep ranting/writing on the theme-du-jour: "Tijuana is under water[, and then I got lazy. I drove last Monday under the rain from Tijuana to San Marcos, CA (close to 120 miles round trip) and I saw 6 accidents. Today it took me 45 minutes to get to work when usually is 20, I saw three convoys of ambulances, patrols and in one case a fire truck (which means more accidents). The Via Rapida was flooded, a big three-row parking lot full of water. I took some video, some pictures and then I was too tired to upload them. I will, just not today.

Tomorrow I am going to San Marcos again, it might keep raining. Hope not. In the other hand, I might stop by the St0ne brewery...

See you around.

And there were two!

So; we finally knew what the tournament organizers decided to do. Play the three teams involved in the semifinal problem (Pinka's, Tortoises, Red Stars) and have the best two teams play in the Final and for the Third place. Pinka's won last Saturday over Tortoises 6-0. Tortoises were playing Red Stars today's morning and a couple of hours later Pinka's and Red Stars would play to complete the three games required to determine who was playing who.

Tortoises won their game over Red Stars 12-4. That meant that for Pinka's to go to the Final they had to win their game and losing for less than 7 points would get them to the Third place game, but the plan was to win straight.

Game started, and before two minutes passed Red Stars scored 2 points; then I noticed some people cheering very fervently every good play from Red Stars. The coach and a couple of moms of the Tortoises were there.

That was when I started thinking about how some parents (and coaches) can push the children on the teams so they forget that at the end of the day this is just a game. With rules and regulations and results and consequences. I think the coach felt responsible for accepting last Saturday the game against Pinka's; but when they lost; there was nothing else to do but accept the final score. Trying to compensate by adding support to the other team when there is nothing else you can do, is kind of annoying for the other parents (like me!).

Anyhoo; after several lead changes (2-0, 4-0, 4-3, 5-4, 6-5, 7-6) the final score was 9-6; Pinka's won. So the Final game (originally scheduled for last Sunday, rescheduled for today's afternoon and finally rescheduled for next Saturday) will have Pinka's and another team from other school. Pinka's already played them three times and lost all of them; close scores, so I think it will be an interesting game; refereeing had been much better in the playoffs and with the same discipline they had been showing in the previous two game they have a shot at the Championship. Let's wait for it.

See you around.

It's the season to be jolly???

I've never really completely liked Christmas season. When I was a kid (yes, I know I will start talking about walking 10 miles in the snow without shoes... wait; it never snowed in my hometown!) most of the times I got small gifts from Santa (or my parents when I grew up) which meant that I was being naughty during the year, so I did not really enjoyed them (Note to Santa: I am exaggerating! I was extra good this year!!).

The part I really enjoyed was having my family there. When we stayed in Sinaloa, all my mother's brothers and sister would come back from wherever they were living and stayed for a couple of weeks; all my cousins would be there and even though I was the eldest grandchild of my maternal grandparents I had a great time with all of them around. There were times we went to Guadalajara, Mexico City or Orizaba (Veracruz) with my father's family and I had a great time too.

But nothing better than spending New Year's eve at my parents house, with all my brothers and sisters and eventually with all of our families (we are 4 brothers and 2 sisters; all brothers and one of the sisters are married already). I like the closeness we share at that time; I mean, extended family is great, but you can get a little tired. Specially when both my parent came from families with 6 brothers and 2 sisters; from my father's family we are 30 cousins and from my mother's we are 24 cousins; so imagine the family gatherings...

Anyway, this was not the purpose of today's post. I was about to rant more about how I dislike the "extreme" shopping that takes place in this season; how the first time that I tried to cross the border in Christmas season it took me 3 hours to get it done; after one of the homeless guys that hover around that area stood in front of a car to let me change lanes... or the people fighting for the most stupid thing at the stores; being rude, etc., etc.

But; in any case, if you like it, enjoy it; the cold invites to have a hot drink (chocolate comes to mind) and to share your time with family and friends; not going out for the sake of it.

My parents will be here tomorrow; let's see how it goes (I still feel like a child around them, sometimes).

See you around.

What is next?

The league has spoken; there will be a make-up game between Pinka's team and the "forgotten team". The winner will do... I do not know; if Pinka's team wins, they will go to the Final game (as originally resulted last Saturday); but if the other team wins, I have no idea what will happen.

Let's wait for the end result.

In other order of things, my mother in law is now back in the saddle. She decided what happened could happen to anybody, then it was not personal. No need of victime-role playing or agonizing over "what if" scenarios. She is back to her previous self and that is good for all involved.

Bonita is a little worried about it anyway; she invited Vicky back home for the time being. But Vicky is at the moment being very practical about this. She really wants to try to be on her own; since eventually she will completely be. So, there you go.

At work we closed the month almost on target; everybody is happy (for the time being) and I expect they will start pushing for the grand finale of the fiscal year (coming soon! in February). Busy times ahead.

Bonita had an epiphany about her current job. She discovered money can not buy tranquility and quality time with the family; so she, who was worried about losing her job a couple of weeks ago, is now in the "let's take the money and run" mindset (Mexican labor law is particularly loaded to protect the employee in case a company fires you). So she is more relaxed on that sense. In overall, still stressed, but changed the point of focus to Vicky/family instead of work. I think this is an improvement.

My parent will be here on Saturday night (flying from Sinaloa); they have not been here since last year (I think?). It will be good to see them again (we met them at Guadalajara in the summer), and Mediana and Pinka will be temporarely more spoiled than usual, but that is the grandparents job, isn't it?

See you around.