Kendra's Baptism Trip in March

At the end of March I drove down to Southern California with my friend April for Kendra's baptsm. I was there from Friday afternoon until Sunday afternoon. Yeah, a really quick trip. I was able to spend time with Ruth, who came down to go to Disneyland and attend Kendra's baptism. We had a great Saturday before the baptism by playing around with Diet Coke and Mentos and rolling down hills. It was so much fun. The whole weekend was amazing. I even enjoyed the drive down and up and spending time with April. Even if April's fan broke and we had so much fun being blown out by the fan on the way down. And I made April stop in Gilroy to look at my sign I designed a couple of years back.

FUnemployment Update

I have become addicted to Facebook, so I haven't updated my blog in forever. I was laid off in February, But man, I've been having a lot of fun being unemployed. I am going to be updating my blog now with the photos and actions that I've been taking over the last couple of months while I've been finding ways to spend my time unemployed.

LA Zoo playing with Kriswillis

The birthday adventures wrapped up by my going to the LA Zoo to spend part of the day with Kris and following along with everything she does during the work day. Talk about constantly on the go. It makes me really appreciate that I can just leave out food for the cats and let it be. There was multiple feedings with the different animals. Multiple trainings. I also got to redo my Rocky kiss. He was very well-behaved about it all. After the zoo we had dinner at the Elephant Bar for dinner and the back to hang out at Kris's house to look at photos and try to relax after all the activities over the last couple of days. The next morning Kris dropped me off at the airport and it was back to the bay area. I had a great time with Kris and with the rest of the family. I just want to say thanks to everyone who made my week so fun and special.

Birthday Present - California Adventures with Kris

My birthday present from Kris was a ticket to California Adventures. After Disneyland it was back to the Super 8 Motel and the next morning back to the Disneyland Resort and off to California Adventures. We spent the day doing whatever we wanted. We had fun roaming around the park and riding rides and geeking out on different things. Kris took me places that I've never been before in the park, like Bug's Life. I also made Kris go on Tower of Terror at least 3 times. I told her that was the minimum of times I had to go on that ride. After the park it was off to the best part of the trip... Subway. Actually it was a nice dinner even if it was Subway. And then off to Burbank again to Kris's apartment.

Happy Birthday - Celebrate Today at Disneyland

Luckily I had already planned to spend my birthday this year at Disneyland. I had already paid for the plane tickets and hotel stay. And so I was able to head down to Burbank on February 24th to prepare for my great adventure. I went down to Burbank and met up with Kris, my cousin. We drove down from Burbank to Anaheim. We stayed the night at the wonderful Super 8 Motel. The next morning we went off to Disneyland where we just happened to run into Kirsten, Mikey and Kendra as we were waiting for the tram to go to the park. We enjoyed roaming around the park. I was sporting the pin they give you when you come in the park that announces to everyone that it's my birthday.

We had fun going on the rides and after lunch we met up with Kim and Kamy. Kyle and Josh were next door enjoying California Adventures for a couple of hours. So it was off to do some more rides. It was a very enjoyable day. It was my best birthday ever. It was so much fun to just be with family at Disneyland. And it was adequately slow that we were able to enjoy the day without being too crowded in by people.

Ranks of the Unemployed

So after my visit with my family I was finally laid off officially. They did ask me to stay another week, but they decided best not to after they realized I was taking time off for my birthday. So my last day at work was February 20th. It was a hard last couple of days. I didn't eat much, I couldn't sleep. That night after my last day, I went to my friend Teresa's house for our monthly foreign film night, and fell asleep during it. I was so tired from the last couple of nights of not enough sleep.

Of course I have mixed feelings about my whole lay off. I know that it's time to move on from McDermott, but it's just not the way I would have planned it. But even then I still feel like it was the right thing.

It's still amazingly boring to be unemployed.

President's Weekend - Family Visit

It's been a while since I have updated my blog, but here goes the most recent updates as of the new year. Over President's weekend my sisters, Kirsten and Ruth came to the bay area for a visit, along with my niece and nephew, Kendra and Mikey. It was an interesting weekend given that I was laid off on February 3rd and then asked to stay on a couple of weeks. February 12th was suppose to be my last day, but then they asked me to stay another week. So it was nice to have Kirsten and her kids show up that night to begin our weekend of fun. The next morning we got up and went to Fairfield to take a tour of the Jelly Belly Factory. It was a 'sweet' tour. After the tour we had lunch in their cafeteria and Kendra had a jelly bean shaped hamburger. Later that night we met up with Ruth and she took Kirsten to La Bamba's. Mikey said it was the best burrito he had ever had. He really wanted another one all weekend.

The next day we went on the 17 and over to Santa Cruz. We went up to the Mystery Spot. Last summer I went there with my brother Tim and Mikey. It was Mikey's favorite part of the trip. This time we all seemed to enjoy it. It's a bit nerdy, but fun.

After the Mystery Spot we went down to the beach to play with Diet Coke and Mentos. It was freezing on the beach. But we had fun playing with it. You can see our fun on youtube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gD-KS9BziJc

On Sunday it was a more relaxing day. We had to spend the day in the house because of all the rain. We did enjoy some time at church and then back home to hang out with one another.

The next day, was the time for everyone to head off home. Kirsten went to leave and had to go all the way day the 101 because the Grapevine was closed because of snow. She said it was a very beautiful trip even if it was long. I have always hoped to go that way, but never wanted to spend the time.

I was able to spend a lot of that Monday with Ruth. We enjoyed hanging out and even went to La Bamba's one more time. Too bad Mikey had already gone home, so he couldn't have that burrito one more time. We also had fun visiting the Goodwill. That's always an interesting place to go.

That night after droppng off Ruth, it was nice to know that I had my place to myself again.