May Asawa Na Ako!

I am now a married man. And I love it! I think I love it so much because I love her so much.

Toni is the best. And I hope I never forget it.

We got married November 27th around noon at

the LDS Oakland California Temple. It was a beautiful thing. The weather was great, a little cold, but great non the less. It was overcast for pictures which is great because I HATE having to squint for pictures. The sky cleared up and was blue for the rest of the day, which Toni and I spent in San Francisco. All

went perfect on our wedding day, except I forgot the marriage licence, so I hade to phone home and have Kyle bring it up with him. It all tured out good in the end, it just got us a little behind schedule is all.

Our pictures turned out AMAZING. Desiree Nebeker did our photography and we are very happy with what we have seen so far of what she has posted on her website.

I am so thankful to everyone

who turned out to both the wedding up at Oakland and at our

reception in San Jose. A special thank to Jennae for putting the reception together and

both my family and Toni's for helping with decorating and food ans all that Jazz. We GREATLY appreciate all the help and suport.

Toni and I are loving life. I love coming home from work and seeing what she has done around the apartment. I really love that she is learning to cook. I came home from work my first day back after the wedding to find her in the kitchen, cook book propped open and two pots going on the stove. The dinner was AMAZING but not nearly as AWSOME as my new bride.

Work Work Work

The last few month have been interesting to say the least when it comes to my working life. In about May I was let go from working at Keifer Professional Search, were I had been working since I came home from my mission a little over a year ago. I enjoyed working there, and loved the walk to work. Liz very kindly got me a job at Jamba Juice, but this isn't exactly my idea of an ideal job. I started looking, very unsuccessfully for something with better pay and more hours. I applied for over a dozen jobs listed on Craigslist.

Then, about a month and a half ago, I was handed a few opportunities. Rachel got me in contact with the manager at Golfland. He gave me a job doing maintenance, the hours were 6 a.m. till 2:30 p.m.. On my very fist day of that job, I went over to apply for a position that Jonathan hooked me up with where he works. All this time I was still at Jamba. I worked Golfland for just over a week, full time, before Toni and I went to Disneyland. After returning home I started my new job and gave my 2 weeks notice at Jamba Juice.

I am now a happy employee of ASAP Collection Services. I enjoy my job. It's not what I want to do with the rest of my life, but it works. It has great hours and flexibility around my school schedule and it pays decently. I have a lot of different ideas about where I would like to go in my career, but my focus for now must be on finishing school and taking care of my immediate needs.

Check out my professional profile on Linkedin.

Assembly Line of Happiness

Earlier this month Toni and I went to Disneyland, and it was a BLAST!  It was her birthday on Wednesday, we spent that day and the following in Disneyland and California Adventure, we spent significant time in Down Town Disney Wednesday trough Saturday, we went to an Eric Whitacre concert Friday night, and we drove home saturday.  For a complete brake down of the week and adventures check out Toni's blog post.

I made an interesting observation while we were there: Disneyland is set up to keep you moving and not to loiter.  Also, we were in line for Space Mountain and I observed that working there is like working on an "assembly line of happiness."

You will not find many benches or sitting areas at Disneyland but what is necessary at dinning locations.  Even out side of the women's rest room, which is where all the men wait forever, has no sitting.  Once off a ride, you are put into a gift shop or walk way, no sitting.  To get from one end of the park to another you rarely can one travel in a straight line.  All this is set up to keep you moving and exploring new things, making it difficult to sit around.

The parks have employees in every crevasse.  A single rid will have a dozen or more, each at their assigned station performing their task.  They pass visitors along, in parking lots, in lines, on roller coasters, on boats, and on the sidewalk before, after and during parade time.  They do a great job of moving everyone along, and boy oh boy do they do a great job of making us happy.  Truly I have never witnessed a more efficient assembly line of joy and happiness!

This also got me thinking.  What if you could get into Disneyland for free and just payed for the rides?  You know, like the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.  Remember the lack of benches?  These theme parks are crowded enough, they have to work hard enough to keep it running smoothly and keep people moving.  If it too was admission free the park would be over run with free loaders, people in just to have a good time.  There is plenty you could do to have a good time in Disneyland that would not require you to pay for rides.  You could have a very enjoyable afternoon, or even day in either park with no cost, or perhaps just the cost of a churro or cotton candy.  

So instead everyone pays admission and all can enjoy every aspect of the park with out the hassle of buying tickets or bumping into people at every turn.  This is a much better system.  Disney sure does know what they are doing.  And, I am sure they have studied and concluded that this is more profitable for them.  This gives them sufficient to run the park smoothly and effectively for everyone to have a much more enjoyable experience. 

This lead me to think of other applications of these principles.  In our society we have to pay for services and entertainment.  Imagine if people just come in for free and sit around?  What if we don't keep moving and enjoying what is around us?  What if we just sit still and do not act?  How would our society be if we only payed for what we are using at that time?  We would pay for a replacement for our tire when it goes flat but we wouldn't pay taxes to maintain the roads.  We would pay for food to feed our family, but we would not pay for the service that picks up our garbage.   

I am sure there are much more applications of this.  I have many more ideas myself.  I am also rather curious if 1) anyone but Toni actually reads this and 2) if there are, what is it that you all think about this idea?  let me know via comment to this post, email or facebook message.  Thank you for your time and thoughts.

Glass Half Empty or Half Full?

For the most part I consider myself a rather optimistic individual.   I try to stay positive and look on the sunny side of life.  Right now there is definitely enough good, or sunny stuff, in my life to answer energetic and positive when people ask me how I am doing, but lately the glass was been looking more and more half empty.  Let me vent just a little bit....

I had been unemployed for some time when finally things were looking up for me.  Now I am lucky to have two, yes thats right two, jobs.  I have one that i work a whopping 9 hours a week at $8.50/hr and another that started out great with about 15 hours a week at $15/hr, but not only am I now lucky to work 5 hours a week at that one, it has been so flakey on me it irritates me to no end.  I showed up to work one day, (its a door to door job, we go out in groups,) no body was there.  I called my manager and his reply was that we were going to go out on Tuesdays now instead of Mondays, but did anyone ask me about this or tell me ahead of time?  NO!  And than I showed up the other day right on time, just to get a text to meet at another place, I started on my way, but they gave me waray klaro (not clear) directions and I ended up just going home.  And to top it off, I can never know when I am going to work until the day of, and even then they change it last minuet and I never get the pay check when they tell me I should be getting it and my last one they spelled my name wrong....very professional don't you think? 

The last month or so I have been having some interesting health concerns and doctor visits.  I have seen two doctors, had blood taken twice, have an appointment with radiology on Monday,  going to have blood taken in another month and am very unclear about where this is all going.

There is a few other things I am feel VERY frustrated about but I will now write about them here.  I can't find a way to write about it without making myself look stupid or making it sound like I am upset with people that I am not.   

On the half full side, I have the most AMAZING girlfriend EVER!

Thank you for listening to me complain.

Thoughts of Today

This is a big month for me.  July of last year I came home from my mission.  It feels like so long ago and yet just yesterday.....time is playing tricks on my.

This last February I went on a date with Toni Lynn Balmer for the first time.  It was a blast.  We went out to dinner and to the Big Band Dance at Pioneer High School.  It was a great evening.  Over the following weeks we hung out a lot and went on a few more dates.  Our second date was to KFC!   On the 6th of March, four months ago today, we were at Olin and Jentry's wedding reception.  People kept asking us how long we were dating, or even just asking if we were.  We had not yet had the DTR to be "official" so we figured it was a good time.  We figure that is when we "officialized" and starting making our relationship more legit and public.  

It has been a marvelous four months...and the last year has had it's ups and down, but all in all it has been wonderful, the best year of my life.

Birth Days Are The Best!

I am a big fan of birthdays, I think everyone should have one, and I wish I had one more often.  

I had the privilege of having a birthday this last week on Wednesday.  All in all this last week was a blast!  I was partying it up like a rock star.  Toni came over Tuesday night with a BIG box all wrapped up nice a pretty like.   But she made me suffer and wait till midnight to open it so it would be on my birthday.  And what a prize awaited inside that box!  I opened it and found two canisters of Pringles and a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and another gift box.  and inside that box was another box, and in it another and so on a so forth.  Finally I got to the last box, just a cute little guy.  And in that box was a little note, and I quote, "Just Kidding,  ps. i need these boxes back." And that alone would have been gift enough for me, but then she busted out another two small presents that really made my day.

Wednesday we had cake and ice cream with the family.  Kelsey and Sam and Toni came over.  We had baked potatoes and meat loaf and upside down pineapple cake.  Then I opened some sweet gifts from my parents (Star Wars Legos,) Rachel (a bunch of little toys and what not,) and Kelsey (beach toys, like to make a castle with.)  And then it was off to institute and home to watch LOST.

Thursday night Toni took me up to San Francisco to see Wicked at the Orpheum Theater.   It was AMAZING!!!  (toss toss)

Friday morning Jeff took me surfing for my first time, and it too was AMAZING...too bad Toni couldn't come.  And that night we had a little get together at Liz's house for mine and Rachel's birthdays.  It was a blast and a whole bunch of cool kids came.  

Saturday I went to the beach for MacKenzie's birthday get together, also a blast.  I got hecka sun burnt!  And that night we went to Amber's house for another little social gathering of sorts. 

All in all this week was just a top notch BLAST.

Read All About It!

When I was younger (as if I am old) I used to read a lot.  I love a good fantasy, science fiction, and what not.  I found that reading helped me in my writing assignments at school and improved my vocabulary.  But unfortunately, I have gotten out of the habit.  I have decided I am going to do something to fix this.  With the help of some friends I have been developing a mental list of books that I would like to read.  

Some of the books I have read and enjoyed in the past have been:

Enders Game (Orson Scott Card) 

Alvin Maker (Orson Scott Card)

Harry Potter

The 5 People You Meet in Heaven

The Alchemist 

and much, much more!

Since I have been home from my mission there has been much talk about Twilight.   I watched the movie the other night with my sister Rachel and Toni.  They made sure to point out the differences between the movie and the book.  I am kinda interested in reading the book for myself.  I am in the process of rereading the Harry Potter books (I am about 15 pages from finishing the 1st book now.)  My mom handed me a book that my grandma just told her I would enjoy, The Enoch Letters, by Neal A. Maxwell.  It will be a quick read I will tackle that in the next few days.   I have added a list of books that I am planning on reading to the left.  

I am hopping to get back in good reading habits.  Please feel free to suggest good books to add to my list, ask me about how my reading is going or what not.

Maupay Nga Kulop!

In the Philippines (I love starting stories out this way) it is very common to be greeted, or to great random strangers in passing with one or more of the following:

Good morning/noon/afternoon/evening.

Where are you coming from?

Where are you going?

How are you?

It's hot out/raining.  Whey are you out?

Oy! Friend (followed by an above question)

My favorite: Hey Joe, kaon ka tae!

It's not that they really care how you are, or where you are going.  It's just a greeting.  A friendly aspect to their culture that I loved.

Coming home it felt so odd to walk down the street and have someone walk by with out even looking at me.  Now I have a teacher that is Armenian.  She said that she loves how friendly everyone is her in America, how we all greet each other as we pass on the street with a "hi" or "good morning" or what not.  This confused me.  Now I realize that America is not as friendly as some places, but more so than a lot of places.  

Today, as I was walking home for lunch, I passed a house just as an older women was walking out the door.  She immediately struck up a conversation with me as we walked a few house lengths to where her car was parked and I continued home.  I felt so uplifted from this encounter.  It was so nice to have a complete stranger greet me and care about me for that two minutes.  

I am not sure what the moral of the story is.  But I just thought it was a neat experience and who knows, maybe one of the few people who read my blog will think so to.

In Sickness and in Health

There comes a time in every man’s life that they realize that they are mortal. (That's why we put the goblet with the poison farther away from ourselves.)  This week I had another reminder that I too am mortal. (I know, shocking)

 I have always prided myself with being the healthy one in the family, even if I do have a weak stomach.  Going through school I stayed home sick much less than my brothers and sisters.  But this week I was quite sick.  Monday and Tuesday I went to bed with a sore throat, but otherwise I felt fine.  Wednesday I woke up with a sore throat and began to feel pretty sick as the day went on.  My mom told me not to go to institute that night.  And we ALL know that Mom knows best, but I went anyway and it proved disastrous!  I had to leave in the middle of class and it was not pretty!

 That night and the following day were no fun at all.  But I finally took enough Imodium to stop my LBM.  I stayed home Thursday from school and Friday from work.  I have been slowly getting better since.  Saturday through today I have just felt like I have a bad cold, and my voice is finally coming back!

 Oh, wait...I lied!  I did manage to have some fun in my sick days.  Toni and I were able to check some things off out "to-do-list.”  We watched "Music and Lyrics," played Guitar Hero, got ice cream and unicycled.  Toni's mom is quite the unicycler if I do say so myself.  Saturday day was an amazing day!  For one, I started to feel better that day.  I got out of the house to clean the church and even made it to the institute for broom hockey, but that to proved fatal.  I managed to cut open my thumb, the left one, pretty deep.  It bled a lot, but I lived!  Then Toni and I headed over to her place for unicycle mania!  It was great.  It was so fun to see her mom ride and Toni wasn't bad either, and I got to show off some of my skills.  We then went to dinner, picked up the movie and watched "Music and Lyrics" at my house.  It was FUN FUN FUN  :)

Weddings and Wild Animals

This week has seen it's ups and downs.  Last weekend my family hit the road.  We headed down to San Diego for Olin and Jentry's wedding.  There is nothing like  a good old road trip to make me miss the 8-10 hour bus rides on dusty roads from Tacloban, Leyte to Allen, N. Samar.  I find that such road trips help me think, or at least give me plenty of time to do so.  In this case it also gave me plenty of time to text ;)

Funny story:  I was texting the whole way down to San Diego.  Just as we were almost to our hotel my phone started acting up.  The predictive text was no longer predicting text, or so it seamed.  I soon realized that it was texting in SPANISH!!!!  It had switched languages on me and I couldn't figure out how to switch it back.  So to this day it is still in spanish, adding yet another reason to why I plan to get a new phone.

The wedding was beautiful!  Olin and Jentry are so perfect for each other.  The San Diego Temple is as beautiful as everyone says, even if it is a little noisy, (being that it is right on the high way.)  

I have been home from my mission for almost 8 months and in this time I have had one sibling and three cousins get married.  I myself have probably put in too much thought about what my wedding is going to bee like and have often asked myself, "When is my turn?"

The trip all in all was fun.  Rachel and I spent a little time at the beach.  We all went to the Wild Animal Park and got attached by wolverines.  Kyle and Suzane went, as did Kelsey and Sam, so our family was all together.  In all it was was a very enjoyable trip.

So i don't like reading really long posts so I am going to end this one, but there will be more to come about the last week, don't you worry!

My Magnificent Obsession

Bowling has begun to obsess me!  For work I had to watch "The Magnificent Obsession."  It was a great movie and although the obsession spoken of in the movie to to help others, and bowling may not be as noble an obsession, I do think it a truly "magnificent obsession."  I am not sure how it started, I think it may have been with grandma getting a Wii for Christmas, but I am now addicted to bowling in all forms.  Meaning to say Wii bowling, Buddy Bowling, lawn bowling, ibowl on Toni's iPhone...I wast way too much time on it all.  My scores vary depending on the type of bowling.  The important thing is that I enjoy it!  I am down with a good challenge, (I am not too sore a looser.)  

Oh yeah, and I even enjoy going to the bowling ally every once in a while.  The other day I went to Cambrian Bowling Center with a bunch of buddies.  It was a blast!  It is fun to give each other a bad time and pointers and act like we are all pros...and than look over at the lane next to us and see the old guys bowling all strikes.  Once I had people over to play Wii bowling.  I was on and off the bowling lane, AKA grandma's TV, from 3pm to around 11pm.  My arm was sore for a few days after that one.

I think it fair to say it's an obsession.  I think it healthy to have a few obsessions in your life, as long as you keep a balance between them.  To me it is magnificent, to another it may be a total wast of time.

Cheek out my new gadget at the bottom of the page, you can bowl right here! :)

What's my major?

It is natural for people to ask me about what I am studying and what not.  After all I am 21, in my first year of college at De Anza and probably appear as a fairly grounded person.  I get asked on a very regular basis what my major is. 

I never wanted to be one of those who are always flip flopping majors.  You know, those kids that have a new major every semester.  And than there are those that get a degree in some crazy subject that they love to study but have know idea what they are going to do with, or are not going to enjoy what they can do with the degree.

I have been a fan of deciding what I want to do and than working on a degree that will allow me to get there. 

The problem is that the more and more classes I take and the more I explore opportunity the more I realize how wide the range of my interests are.  Three months ago I was thinking that I would go for a Business Administration degree, to go into international business.  Than as I learned more about industry and business through work I have been growing more interested in perusing a degree in an engineering field, like electrical engineering.  Than as I got into my current classes (English 2, Econ 1, and Cultural Anthropology) I realize that I love critical thinking, expressing my ideas/opinions and working in groups, and I love public speaking.   So now I am going back and forth between wanting an engineering degree or a public relations degree...in short now I am "one of those."