Hello everyone!

I feel like I haven’t posted on this blog in forever! I know that I had said that I was going to take time out every day to post in here, but, well, things have been pretty hectic lately.

I’m in Seattle right now for our department meeting, and will be here all week. I’d love to say that I’ll have time to go around town to check out the sights, but my week is jam packed with events for work. I love it when we have these meetings, because this is really the only time I get to see my coworkers. Since we’re all spread out all over the US (and the rest of the planet) we rarely get to see each other face to face, unless we have a project together. This is a great time to see some familiar faces, meet some new ones, and have a lot of drinks on the company’s dime. *wink*

It’s been a while since I’ve been on the road, I’ve been lucky to have my Milwaukee client which gives me the ability to come home at night. I’ll be without my little Benzilla all week, although it’s a little easier now that he’s walking. I was really paranoid before that he’d start walking without me. I’m also not as worried that he’ll forget me - I’ve been gone before and he still remembers who I am.

We’re in this pretty swanky hotel in downtown Seattle. The guy at the desk was pretty cool - since the customer in front of me took FOREVER to find his confirmation number, the desk guy switched up my room to one that has got this sweet view of the Space Needle. This hotel is pretty different from the ones I’m normally at. You come into the check-in area, and it feels like you’ve walked into a club, with the blue and purple neon lights and thumping techno music. My room has got a DVD, flat panel TV and this awesome window couch that I want to sit on and curl up like a kitten.

It’s been a while since I’ve been in Seattle, our flight was SUPER delayed (there were a couple guys from my company on the same flight) and we didn’t get in until after midnight, which is 2am Chicago time. It’s actually around 4am Chicago time right now, but since I got about 2 hours of sleep on the plane, I’m good to go.
Anyway, I’ll leave y’all and do some work before going to sleep. Here’s a picture of my little booger. I gave him a donut hole and he squooshed it to crumbs, then rubbed it all over his face. It was a lot of fun to get off. Not.

Tags: Travel by Yano
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Just because this blog would be so empty with just my first post, here’s some filler, for your entertainment.

Dave and I saw this video on ESPN, and when we watched it we were like, “Whoa!” It’s crazy! This kid could have been killed!

I don’t know who I love watching dance more - our President or Tom Cruise…another thing I love to watch - how much Laura Bush HATES dancing…

I’ve been watching Dancing With the Stars, and as much as I love how Apolo’s doing, I have to say that my favorite is Laila Ali. She’s incredible, and when she’s on, she’s ON. I hope she stays on for a while, maybe going head to head with A-Lo for the finals, which ends up in a tie and can only be decided with a death match in the octagon.

The piano playing cat…just cuz it’s cute:

Tags: Video Gaga by Yano
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I’ve been trying to snatch a couple minutes every day to post on this thing, but as you can see, it’s been pretty hard to post. Hopefully I’ll have a post of some substance soon!

Anyway, I grabbed this off of Marilyn’s myspace…yeah girl, I’m checking up on you!

Yourself: busy.
Your partner: busy, too.
Your hair: 14 inches of root, 2 inches of old highlights…I need a trim and to get my hair all one color!
Your mother: i think of her often, miss her all the time
Your father: makes me laugh when I hear him having conversations with benjamin
Your favorite item: my new camera
Your dream last night: eh, I haven’t remembered a dream in a while - that’s what happens when you’re running 3-5 hours a night
Your favorite drink: lipton iced green tea
Your dream car: hmm, i’m not a car gal…anything that goes fast and has good steering and breaks
Your dream home: at least 4 bedrooms, a place for me to work, a big backyard with a fence that stops the critters from coming in, lots of windows for sunshine to come in, a finished basement with a pooltable, hardwood floors in the main areas, a living room with carpet for Ben to play in, lots of parking for parties, rooms all ready for cable, and near a highway…I’m sure there’s a lot more, but it’s one in the morning
The room you are in: the living room, in the semi-darkness, though I’ll have to turn on the lights to read some paperwork i’m working on
Your ex: is probably dating a different girl from the one I saw a month ago - it changes every time i see him
Your fear: used to be that I wouldn’t have kids, but, well, that one’s gone, so let’s just say “the dark”. scary things move around in the darkness!
Where you want to be in ten years: more kids, bigger house, making more money
Who you hung out with last night: dave and ben
What you’re not: organized, serious, tempermental, high maintenance
Muffins: Mrs. Fields has THE BEST chocolate chip muffins EVER. I can’t pass one in the morning without buying one - with milk, of course!
One of your wish list items: an external hard drive. can I be more of a geek?
Time: 1:11am
The last thing you did: brushed my teeth
What you are wearing: a maroon tank top and blue pj’s
Your favorite weather: brisk october weather
Your favorite book: hmm, I have a lot, but I’ll say, um, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
Last thing you ate: a chicken burrito
Your life: is good, but very busy. i try to stop and enjoy the little things, like ben’s little achievements, stars in the sky and sunsets, but sometimes, I’m just going to fast to appreciate things
Your mood: tired
Your best friends: understand that i’m not going to call every day and i’ll be MIA for most of our friendship, but when we get together, we’ll still be best friends and it will be as if time hasn’t passed at all
What are you thinking about right now: i’m taking too long to fill this out Your car: a 2000 CRV
What are you doing at the moment: supposed to be working!
Your summer: will hopefully be less stressful than the spring has been
Relationship status: happy.
What is on your tv: mindless MTV gunk
What is the weather like: warm and windy
When is the last time you laughed: i laugh every day with ben! but I laughed especially hard today when Ben started doing this side to side head thing before he took his nap…he looked like a little Stevie Wonder.

Tags: Lists by Yano
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LOVE this commercial!

Tags: Video Gaga by Yano
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You’re probably living under a rock if you haven’t heard about the shootings at Virginia Tech earlier this week. Every station you’re on mentions it. The other day, the face of the shooter talked to me from my television all day, even when I drove in my car they played his audio.

It’s all a little bit crazy. I admit to being glued to my television the day it happened, and the day after when they had identified who the killer was. I’ve thought a lot about the debates on what happened, how it could have been prevented, who did what wrong. I’ve got my opinions on things, like how the campus police did as much as they could, that parents shouldn’t freak out about sending their kids away to school because this could happen anywhere, and that people are crazy if they think that this could have been prevented if students were allowed to bring guns on campus.

However, I’m tired of it. I want VT to go on and take time to heal amongst themselves. I was watching the Today Show the day after, and they had a VT student that was also a student at Columbine the day the shootings happened. She was shy and quiet and when Meredith Viera asked her about the media involvement, she said that having the media around made it very hard to come as a community to heal. Every time they would gather or have some sort of memorial, there would be cameras there.

I understand the media’s need to bring news to the general public, but I feel at times it becomes an exploitation of people’s pain for ratings.

Today I was watching the news and the anchor said that Cho Seung-Hui’s parents feared for their lives. The video feed then showed a house, and the ancor went on, “This is where his parents live, in in Virginia.” Come on now, his parents are already getting death threats, why are you going to show their house and tell everyone what suburb they live in?

Ack, times like this I’m glad for the brainless entertaininment that is American Idol.

Tags: Daily by Yano
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I have to admit that I’ve been watching American Idol this season, more because I have some virtual bets placed on the contestants than for entertainment. Well, Benjamin likes to dance to the music, too.

Anyway, Sanjaya, the biggest name to come out of AI in a long time, got voted off yesterday. I was pretty surprised, because I was figuring him for a top 4, not because of his talent, but because of the people voting him in. At first I think it was the work of votefortheworse.com that was keeping him on, but as time wore on, I think that more people started voting for him because they thought it was funny to have him stay in the competition.

Admittedly, the kid’s talented. He’s a good singer, but not at the levels that the current contestants are at.

And now…he’s gone. I admit, I feel for the li’l guy. He wasn’t a villain, he wasn’t horrible, and he seems like he was a sweet, hardworking guy. Poor thing hugged Lakisha for hours after it was announced that he was leaving, and cried as they showed his “We’re booting you cuz you suck” montage onscreen.

Bye bye, my little Sanjaya Papaya.

Now the REAL competition starts!

Tags: Daily by Yano
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Haven’t posted up many pictures of me lately…that’s what happens when you’re the one holding the camera…

What’s a Filipino party without the big roasted pig?

It’s hard to get kids together for a group picture!

Tags: Pictures by Yano
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1) Scott Baio - I was a Happy Days freak, I used to pretend I was married to him

2) The Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders - Blonde, Athletic and Beautiful…They were the American Dream

3) Wonder Woman - I loved her so much that I was her for Halloween for two years in a row

4) Michael J. Fox - he was so quirky and cute!

5) Ralph Macchio - I watched the Karate Kid, like, 100 times

6) Christopher Reeve - Never will there be a better Superman to me

7) Princess Leia - One of the reasons I wished I had long hair - so I could make those cinnamon roll things she had on her head
Pat Benatar - She was a tough, beautiful rocker chick. One of my favorite music videos ever was “Love is a Battlefield”

9) Michael Jackson - Back when he was a great singer and semi-normal, I sat in front of the TV and crossed my fingers during the whole Grammy awards hoping he’d win

10) Davey Jones, from the Monkees - What a cutie pie! Too bad he didn’t age all that well…

Tags: Weeklies by Yano
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We had Ben’s first birthday party last weekend. It felt like a million people came (and with Dave and my families combined, it probably was) but Ben had a good time. More of a recap later, but I wanted to throw up a couple pics:

It’s an Elmo Party!

Staring at the Cake

He Walked Like a Maniac!

Tags: Ben by Yano
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My poor poor blog, left alone and near-empty as a result of my super hectic life.

I remember the days when I would post in this thing pretty much every day, sometimes even two, three times a day. But life was simpler back then, my work life was way different than it is now.

Lately I have been in non-stop motion - handling things for work, traveling up to Milwaukee, getting things prepared for Ben’s birthday party, trying to make sure that things are still working at home with me MIA on my work projects.

So here’s the things on my plate right now:

1) Getting some documentation out to my clients
2) Planning and preparing for Ben’s birthday party. Luckily, my dad and father in law were awesome enough to come over to the house and clean
3) Pay bills
4) Reinstall my computer (I had to wipe it out after that whole virus crap a couple weeks ago)
5) Lose weight (which I have - lost 7lbs since starting this project, more because I’ve been forgetting to eat)
6) and last, but certainly not least, spend some quality time with Ben

My days usually start at around 8 in the morning, unless I’m going to Milwaukee, then it’s out the door at 6. Once I get home, then I make sure to spend time with Ben, who I hang out with until around 9:30. Once he sleeps, then it’s back to work. Most of the time, I get around three or four hours of sleep. I’m running on fumes right now!

Even though I’m nearing the point of exhaustion, I’m happy I’m working with this client. They’re a good group of people, and I’m getting a lot of much needed experience.

But I’m tired.

So tired!

Tags: Daily by Yano
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