I just finished watching the new "Predators" movie down here in Orange County; Papa and I went to the show while Logan and Breanna stayed behind to play their favorite board games and watch one of Nana's 3,678 movies (and I'm not kidding on that number.....well OK, plus or minus about 100 DVDs or so, but that's still TONS of movies she has! Nana is the movie-watch from HELL !! !! !! ;)

Anything that she likes, such as TV movies: CSI, Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, 24 with Kiefer Sutherland, Scrubs, The Price is Right, Wheel of Fortune, Rin Tin Tin, you name it, if she really likes it, she'll either copy it onto a VHS tape or copy/record it directly onto a DVD disc!!! She's really techno-savvy with all the movie recording devices!!! "Ohhh here she comes, watch out Lord, she'll chew you up!!!! Whooooaaaaa here she comes, she's a DVD/VHS eater!!!!!!!!!" :)

Ed's 2010 Retirement party was a BLAST! It was about 4 weeks ago; it was hotter than shit that day, about 95 degrees, we worked our asses off to throw Ed one hell of a retirement party, I took all the pics and video of the event; it turned out great! June and Gary were talking to me quite a bit and Gary seemed aloof and funny as always, happy and in his element teasing/making life miserable or at least questionable for the kids cause he'd ask them off the wall questions and humorous stuff.

That's it for now, more to come.....

Brian & Tressa

Wow, Christmas 2009 has now passed us. Amazing, where did the year go? Logan and Breanna made out like bandits, like they always do at X-Mas! Breanna got a new "beginner's Singer sowing machine," a Mermaid Barbie, some really cool glow in the dark bracelets, and one of her favorite things, a Crayola Magic Doodle canvas with its drawing wand. It's pretty awesome....basically you take the protective plastic coating off the canvas, you install three AAA batteries, and turn the wand on and start drawing.

It looks best in the dark (after all it's a Magical Glow in the dark Doodling canvas). :) It's incredible, the tip of the wand has two types of applicators, one looks like a 35 carat diamond head which disperses some of the "glowing ink" when you're drawring, makes a thicker line too; you access the other tip by pulling off the diamond tip and it's a more pin-point accuracy tip that draws straighter well defined lines. She played with the canvas and drew for hours last night.

Logan loved it too cause when they turned off the lights, "Holy cow, Dad, it glows so bright!!!!" Breanna read some of the instructions and turned to me elated, "Daddy, the drawing stays on the canvas for about 4 or 5 minutes, then goes away so I can draw again!!!" The smiles were priceless . . . . now on to Logan. He got a Mattel Police chopper with sound effects and lights (the turbine for the rotor blades spins inside the shaft of the choppy and lights up, he loves it)! Then I think he got his favorite gift from here: It was the NERF N-Strike shoot-em-up game for the Nintendo Wii. Logan also got a Crayola gift, it was sweet, a spray painting, template driven, art spraygun. That was a mouthful, but basically he has lots of templates like animals or cars, etc, that he can airbrush onto his arms or legs and it looks like a tattoo; it then comes off in about 2 days or so (as per the instructions, so that means most likely 4 to 5 days the tattoo will be gone).

Christmas Eve we always have X-Mas with my folks, so we went over to Tia's for a great dinner and present opening.

Logan opened his presents from Nana & Papa, he got a cool Tool Set, looks like a Black & Decker set from Home Depot....has a drill, saws-all, screwdriver, etc, etc. He then opened up his favorite gift, he got the Star Trek Enterprise 1701 replica starship. It's got lights and sounds from the latest Star Trek movie, "Target the enemy ship, open up with everything we've got, FIRE!!!!" LOL!!!! And he loves the Red Alert sound and the ship lights up like a Christmas tree.

Breanna got makeup and hair scrunchees, and also the hair strings you can put in your hair to make interesting pony tails and styles. She's all about FASHION so she loved those gifts. She got a gumball/candy machine and an ATM machine for playing Enron-Financial VP-gonna-take-your-money-gone-wrong games!! ;)


I got a wonderful X-Mas card from Tressa, it made me cry and a waterproof AM/FM radio for the shower (so I can listen to Lamont & Tonelli on 107.7 The Bone)!! !! !!

I got Tressa the Scorpions 20th century: Millenium Edition CD via iTunes (OK, so I download the tracks then made her a CD, but you get the picture!! :)


It's 6:00am, go back to sleep. I'll wake you up in 10 minutes and we can watch cartoons on Nickelodeon! I just don't ever tell them that it's not 10 minutes that I'll wake them up in, it's more like 2 or 2.5 hours so they get some good sleep. ;)

It was a wonderful Christmas: good times, good food, always great people, and a beautiful Wife and two amazing children I thank God for.....they're the reason I exist. My Dad got out of the hospital about 1.5 weeks before Christmas and is recovering well. I was worried about him and wished I could have visited him more, but duty called and the mortgage got paid. Tia's doing well, complaining every day via the phone or in person that her knee's going to explode like Chernobyl on a Super-Vodka Sunday!!! LMAO!!!!! AND!!! Mom has not run into any more Monkey Bars on the kid's school campus, so life is good.

Even if I had gotten NOTHING for X-Mas, it would have been a perfect day . . . because my kids walk up to me every morning, give me a warm hug and say those four magic words that Melt My Heart, "I Love You, Daddy."

I love you too, Angels.

All my love forever,


Daddy (aka: Brian :)

Sunday, July 12, 2009, 5:45am

Well, it was a sad day on Thursday night. Man, I have not written anything on this Blog for almost a year......anyway, my Dad called me up and said, "We've got Trudy down here at the Vet, but have some bad news..... I thought she broke her neck or her legs gave out cause her hind legs were having some bad arthritis; I wasn't prepared for what came out of my Dad's mouth, "Bri, she had a slipped disc in her back and couldn't even walk, the Vet Doctor said it'd be 7,000 to 10,000 just to try to repair the disc in her back, with NO Garantee she'd pull out of it and be able to walk or not. We had to put her to sleep, so she wouldn't suffer or be in any pain.

My poor Trudy, couldn't even walk in her last days, but at least she could see clearly since she had cataract surgery ($3,800) worth about a month ago. That's why what Dad told me blew me away so much; she was walking around great and getting her energy back and playing with Hailey and Brisco (my Dad's Beagle and older Australian Shepherd). Trudy was such a love, she'd give you kisses all day if you got close to her face. She'd howl when you came in the door for the 1st time, telling you, "I'm so excited to see you, but all I can do is howl and bark since I can't speak English!!!!" She'd herd Brisco and Hailey into the kitchen like a good sheep dog would. She knew how to sit and shake, and "Speak" on command if you wanted her too. What a powerful bark she had; in her prime, she weighed a good 120 lbs, and man could she bark!!! ;)

OK, time for some happy postings instead of this depressing crap. On another note, we're getting Tia all setup at home now that she's not at Sunnyvale Carecenter anymore. She's a lot stronger now from the physical therapy and excersizes which is awesome! She still does not like to use her cane, I think it's a mental defiance, "I don't need this damn cane, you idiots, I can walk just fine without it!!!!" :) That's my Tia, defiant and independent till the end.

I bought her a remote control for her Toshiba combo TV/VCR/DVD unit and finally she'll be able to program all the cable channels instead of having the TV jump channels like from 7 to 11, then to 14, 26, 48, etc, etc.

For the wife's and my 5th Anniversary, I bought her a Dove dark chocolate bar, dinner at our favorite Restaurant, Maggiano's in Santana Row (San Jose, CA outdoor mall, it's an awesome place to do some good walking and enjoy the nightlife and stores). We had out favorites: Crab Cakes, Chopped Salad, Gnochi, and Baked Mussels Diavolo style! Mmmmmm, YEAH!!!!!!!!!!! Very tasty and I kept it fairly cheap, it was only $63 including tip, so not bad at all. We split each entree and enjoyed the night completely.

I also bought Tressa the BlueAnt S1 car speakerphone (you put it on the visor of your car and can answer calls, end calls, etc, via voice commands, and the clarity is awesome; usually people don't even know you're on a speakerphone, that's how clear it is. Found this one through CNET, I almost got the LG one, because it reacharges the speakerphone through it's Solar Panels, but it was expensive and the BlueAnt had amazing call quality as per the Editor's Choice statistics. Alright, I'm tired, I'm going back to bed. Take care all.

Daddy, out . . . . :)

Last Thursday, December 4, 2008 was a hard and sad day for me and my family:

My Grandfather, Geronimo Valdez, Jr. passed away, he was 85 years old. This is a brief recount of the things we did together:

12/10/08 Por Valdez Chico!

Hello, ladies and gentlemen . . . nod, a bit less formally, hello to my family and friends;
“Ohhh, quieres mucho, tu!” Tio always used to say that to me, or the famous phrase: “Vas patras, tu…” Either way, my Tio was the best Grandpa a boy and now the man presenting this speech to you could ever have.

He’d take me anywhere and everywhere. To San Francisco by the beach to have fun in the sand and take cool 70’s plaid pants on the Grandson pictures, me smiling with his sunglasses on atop Tia’s ‘65 Ford Mustang hood.

Being an “Only Son,” it was a privilege when spending the night with Tio & Tia; which as you all know, back in the 70’s I practically lived at Tio’s from Friday after school until Sunday night after my parents long recovery from partying; watching Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, The Doors, Jimmy Hendrix, and Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young up at the Fillmore in S.F. ;) It’s OK Dad, you then got to instill an amazing taste in Rock N Roll music in me and hey, I got a new Transformer toy every weekend, YEAH BABY!!! We’d often take a quick trip to the closest arcade. Tio and Tia would drop me off inside the local arcade and be waiting outside in their car, sometimes for hours while I played away and enjoyed myself. They’d have a sandwich or snack from the liquor store close by and chat the night away while I spent quarter after quarter on perfecting my Jedi Knight reaction times.

I remember Tia telling me, “Mijo, here’s another $5 dollars, but don’t tell Tio cause that’ll be $10 you’ve spent here on these games…now go play quick, and don’t say NOAUSSSING to you Tio!!!!” J Those were the days. There were the unforgettable weekends at Tia’s playing my Atari 2600 (a friend of mine’s Dad worked for Atari and every three or four months would give me two EPROM chips to stick in the special cartridge he gave me to play the new games that just came out (I got em’ for free and everyone else was buying them at Toys R Us or Kmart, Radio Shack, etc, etc).

I used to love it when I got older, at the end of Junior High or being a Junior or Senior at Cupertino High School . . . Tio would start a debate with me, and I knew I was right about a certain thing and he’d pipe back at me, “Yeah, that’s what I mean, that’s right…that’s what I was going to say!” Ahhh, My Tio. He was an amazing gentleman. Both Tio and my Dad taught me to be gentle, never to hit a woman, to treat them with respect and dignity. To say what many kids these days forget or never think about, they are simple phrases: Please, Thank you, and You're Welcome. My Dad especially taught me about chivalry and to be courteous, respectful, and thankful for everything I have.

I’m really going to miss Tio. He would cherish every time I showed up at Tia’s, whether for dinner or just to stop by with some donuts from Donut Wheel on Saratoga-Sunnyvale Rd and 280. Every time I came through the door he knew I’d make a quick right, walk over to Tia and kiss her on the lips or on the forehead and give her a hug, “Hello.” After all, Ladies first, right? I’d then wander over his direction; he was always plopped down on the couch watching TV. ;) He’d see me come around the corner from the kitchen and just beam with pride and love—being so happy and glad I had come over. He was like the NEW Puppy you get from the Pound, that puppy knew you were its new owner that would give it undivided attention and the Pup would be elated and excited as all get go to see you, his tail wagging 100 miles an hour and never stopping; that’s how happy he’d be to see us all come over, what a smile, it always made me smile to see him light up that way.

A couple funny things I’ll mention, he always thought that if he left his old cars in the driveway getting older, that, “Mijo, you better believe it that car's gonna be worth more because it’s a classic!” Well, that “Classic 396” was only worth $2,000 when he sold it; but prior to the sale he told me, “Ohh yeah, don’t worry I’m gonna get $4,500 for that Chevelle, you watch….easy!” And I think my Dad picked up what I call the “Urgency Syndrome” from Tio. If Tio wanted something done now or tomorrow at 9:00am, then by-golly it better friggin’ be done at the time he wanted it done; if you couldn’t do it, then he’d find someone else who could help him or do it himself, cause you weren’t good enough (until the next time he needed some heavy lifting done that he couldn’t do). His task had to be done now, man, NOW!!! :)

Tio always kept me laughing or smiling in one way or another, I’ll never forget that. And as we used to say in a short game on the drive home from school to his house: “OK, alright . . . . alright OK, OK, alright, OK, OK, ALRIGHT ! ! !”

I Love You, Tio. God Bless You, keep you safe, watch over us now that your with God and Jeana and when you see Grandma Cruz, tell her I said, “Ohhh Lord!” I miss Grandma Cruz’s laugh, she was an Angel. I will always remember you, Tio, and thank you for touching my life, in your special way. I’d like to repeat the last words I said to you before you passed, you were waiting for all of us to get there. I kneeled over at your side and said, “Tio, I’m here. I love you with all my heart. You’re the best Grandpa a man could ever have and I don’t want you to be scared…..there’s no need to be afraid, because whether you go now or in 5 or 10 years, you will be with God and you’ll get to see Grandma Eusevia, My Grandma Cruz, and Grandma and Grandpa Greig and all of our family that have passed before us. You tell that special lady of mine, Jeana that you want some Spaghetti and homemade meatballs and Lasagna. But most importantly tell her I said “Hello and we miss her” from Breanna and me. I love you so much, Tio, but it’s OK to go if it’s time. Don’t let us hold you back, God needs you by his side to help others in Heaven and here on Earth. Godspeed, and God Bless you . . . I will always be with you in Spirit and you’ll always be in my Heart.

So I finished talking to him, knelt over closer and gave him a hug, and with that said, approximately 5 or 10 minutes later, my Tio took his last breath and passed away on Thursday, December 4, 2008, at 7:20pm.

Thank you all for coming today, it means the world to Tia, My Dad, me and my family. Anybody got three shots of Tequila or some J.D. I might need to get blitzed and drown out my sadness for a few days. I’m just kidding, but I will have one or two for Geronimo Valdez, Jr….why, because he was THE MAN!

God bless all of you and again, thank you for coming to this service, we appreciate it more than you know. Take care, ALL . . . . .

Thursday, 8-29-08, 12:36am

Holy cow, OK, as if my last post wasn't bad enough, the heat today in Houston was a whopping 104 degrees!!!!!!! With the humidity it felt like 120, GOD DANG ! ! ! ! ! ! ! :( I hate this heat. :)

OK, now on to something I rarely comment on cause most politicians suck and are thiefs and liars, much like myself. LOL!!!!!!! NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) OK, humor aside, here's a quote from Yahoo News concerning Bill Clinton's truthful support of Barrack Obama:

-----------------------------------------
"He was not used to the 24/7 news cycle and people with cell phones recordin what he said at every stop,” a close associate of his told me. “But you can’t blame Bill Clinton for the loss. At end of the day, he was a huge plus.”
Now, both Clintons have a chance to be a plus for Obama. But one of the greatest contributions they can make is to leave the spotlight. There can be only one nominee.
Conventions are a time for unity and good feelings, however, and the crowd received Bill very, very warmly Wednesday night.
Basking in the applause, he said: “I love this.”
And who says Bill Clinton doesn’t tell the truth?"
-----------------------------------------

Amen to that reporter, Roger Simon. That was a great article, it was much longer than the cut out paragraph above, but that last bit was perfect. A nice way to defend one of the greatest Presidents this country has ever had. He was a great leader and did a lot for us, but got tarnished, severely for his extra marrital affair with Monica Lewinsky. Everyone said, "No President should ever do that and remain in office."

You know what, leave the man alone. It's his "personal business." Even though he WAS the most powerful man in America, nobody has the right to judge or delve into his personal life. How would you like reporters, paparrazi and teens with cell phones recording your every move and writing down or typing in WHATEVER YOU SAY? It would be an "invasion of privacy," right?

Your Honor, I rest my case. Three words:

Bill Clinton Rocks!


I'd elect his ass again over Obama any day, but alas, he served his two terms in Office.

"Say Goodnight, Gracie . . . . ," and with that, I exit, Stage left. ;)


-Brian

Wednesday, 8-27-08, 5:10pm

OK, Houston . . . . this hot weather and humidity bullshit: YOU CAN KEEP IT ! ! ! ! I've been in this Hot Zone for three days now and Jesus H, come on, where's the give?! :)

Thank God the green 2008 Mustang they gave me has A/C otherwise I'd have to check out. I'm definitely hitting the pool tonight, no Spa, it's hotter than the proverbial "whorehouse in Texas." ;) Yesterday, I went from the front of A-4 to the "visitor parking" section, which is close, but I was drenched in a downpour of torrential rain. No biggie, it was just water.

Well, when I got to the car, I got in and pulled down the mirror and was like, holy flash floods, Batman!!!!!! I was soaked, I looked at my shirt and pants and they were drenched too.....at least half way down my pants was.....man and the thunder sounds like something out of the war movies we all watch: BOOM, crack, BOOOOOOM!!!!! One thunder burst went off right over head when I got back to my hotel and I actually ducked. It was so loud, that I thought a tree or something right behind me got struck, it was a trip! :)

I did get to hear the new Metallica, which SUCKED! I do enjoy the Schizophrenic Psycho song by Puddle of Mudd, that tune rocks. I'm waiting to hear the other two Metallica songs to see if they're any good, but for now that tune, "The Day That Never Comes," friggin' blows goats. Sorry Metallica, but I am a LONG TIME True Fan, and I don't mince words. Pick up your guitars and riff out some better sounding music; again, I'll await the other two, you'd better not disappoint.

Cable Guy, Jack of all Trades, Master of None: It's 5:00am, do you know where your Son is? :) LOL! ! ! ! ;)

This is Valdez Chico, signing off . . .

Sunday, 8-24-08, 12:50pm

Flying out to Houston, TX, for HP. Wow, I've never been away from the kids for more than a day or so, and at that I was still close. Tressa used to leave for 2 or 3 days work with Del Valle Homes, but she was still only an hour and a half or two hours away.

This will be an adventure that's for sure. I'm going to HP's Houston campus to the Color LaserJet University training for five days (Monday through Friday).

It was a bit rough leaving the kids and Tressa at the Security Screening gate. Breanna was crying stating she'd miss me, Tress was crying and telling me she loves me so much. Logan was crying cause he toppled over a Security Screener guy by the window. LMAO! He was rough horsing with Breanna and somehow hurdled himself towards the back of the guy's knees and he went down: BOOM!!! I helped him up a little and he said, "That's OK....no problem." But we railed Logan, "You don't do that young man, you tell him you're sorry." Which he did, but he was humbled and embarrassed and knew he was in trouble, so he started crying.

I waved goodbye to Tressa and Logan (since she was holding him) until I couldn't see their faces as I walked down the terminal. Holding back a few tears of my own. I will miss them this week. IT's gonna be a lot of traveling. Flight leaves San Jose at 1:50pm, gets to Houston at approximately 5:40pm (by that time, I'll have covered a little time zone hop, so it'll be 7:40pm Houston time. :)

Then I'll fly back from Houston at 6:40pm and arrive in San Jose at 8:40pm (minus the two hour time zone hop back to Pacific Standard Time). Hey, all I can say is: God Bless Overtime. ;)

I'm gonna get some snacks now for the flight. I'm sitting at Terminal C2 awaiting boarding time for now. At least San Jose Intl has FREE Wi-Fi internet for travelers waiting around. :)

Tressa, Breanna, and Logan, Daddy loves you with all his heart. Be good, have fun, listen to Mommy, watch some good movies, and I'll see you soon. I love you guys! Kisses and BIG HUGS!!!

Love,

Brian

May 24, 2008, 7:50am


Memorial Day Weekend, it's nice to have a three day weekend once in a while. I was super tired last night. Didn't really talk to any one, just text'd my buddy Rome about next week. Hopefully taking the kids to The Jungle next Tuesday or Wednesday. They'll love it!

My Dad finally got his Samsung base and remote for his new LCD TV (it's a 40", mine's still bigger)!!! ;) All kidding aside, it's a nice TV, good, sharp colors, contrast is nice and when he tweaks the color settings to where he likes it, it will look awesome in his bedroom.

Had to go down to the Police Impound garage (aka: Sunnyvale Tow) and get his 1995 Ford Escort out of lock up. What sucked is S'vale PD said it would only cost him $145, but it's that, plus a $70 gate fee, and a $45 storage fee after 4 hours (which is horseshit) . . . . . you would think they'd charge you the forty-five AFTER it was there overnight. NOPE, not the case. A-holes! The tow truck driver that met us there at approx 7:40pm last night was a real dick as well.

I stated, "Why does Sunnyvale PD only mark and then tow one vehicle on this residential street?" There are cars parked UP and DOWN this street ALL the time. They don't move, they're there ALL THE TIME, because people parallel park in front of their houses every day and every night. It's been that way since I was 10 (I'm 34 now). "Why do they pick one Mexican's car and tow his vehicle out of the hundreds of cars on the street?"

The "Tow Truck Driver" from behind the counter says, "Well, you know.....you seen one Mexican you've seen em' all." This PISSED ME OFF. I responded without hesitation, "Yeah, so that's like you've seen one White Guy you've seen them all, huh?" His face turned red, and he didn't say another damn word for about 3 or 4 minutes, he just typed in what he needed to do on the computer terminal and charged my Dad the stupid $265 to get his Ford Escort out of the Impound Lot. What an ass that dude was, I couldn't believe he said that. The whole time this moderate tension was in gear, my Dad's just lookin' at me, and I was waiting for him to say, "Look, Asshole, I want your name, your Manager's name, and get his butt on the phone right now!!!" :) But he didn't, he calmly, waited there, still pissed that he had to pay more than $145 . . . . . his mature age showing now, he passively waited and paid his bill.

If he was 10 years younger, that idiot Tow Truck Driver behind the counter probably would have been out of a job. :) But alas, he's "Mr. Cool" and you'll be the fool if you fuck with him. Don't worry, Dad, I gotch yer' back! ;)

It sucks when you get a stupid "Parking Ticket" for parallel parking your own vehicle in front of your OWN HOME. This world has gone upside down I think. But, the City gets its revenue, and the Cops get paid, and the Tow Truck Driver make stupid and maybe sometimes "costly" remarks to their customers. We just walked out of there and remembered one thing: What goes around, comes around. Amen to that.

Have a great Memorial Day Weekend, it's Saturday, 8:35am. Time to start this day, Biotch!!! ;)

Regards,

Brian