Thanksgiving Day Tradition

One of the biggest and most important event in the US is Thanksgiving Day. It beats any other holiday, including Christmas Day, hands down. For those of us who have adopted this land as our second home away from home, we have adapted to the local practice and tradition. We, too, celebrate Thanksgiving Day, sometimes, in our own way.

For the past few years, we have created our little tradition around Thanksgiving. Since we do not have family close by, this day was celebrated among the three of us, with lunch at Maggiano's in Santana Row. For other folks who would rather go out to eat than cook at home, reservations have to be made well in advance to ensure you of a spot at this popular dining place.

Our day started with a mass at St, Joseph (I read, too). Surprisingly, there weren't too many people. But the ceremony remained solemn -- an opportune time to be thankful for all the blessings received. Right after mass, we headed back home to freshen up a little bit, before heading to Santana Row for the 1:15pm reservation.

Pumpkin Praline Cheesecake

Maggiano's was packed, as always, Thanksgiving Day or any other day. We arrived a little bit early hoping that we could get seated sooner. Unfortunately, not. So we waited. After 20 minutes or so, we were ushered to our table. I've learned from past dining experience and brought our own bottle of wine. It was way much cheaper to pay the $15 corkage fee than to pay $65 for a bottle that I could have bought for $20 retail.

If you haven't been to Maggiano's during Thanksgiving, they have a prix-fixe menu, which they serve family style. For starters, they had a variety of bruschetta. Then we had a choice of 2 salads, 2 main entrees, plus 2 side dishes, 2 pastas, and 2 desserts. For the salad, we got the classic ceasar's salad and Maggiano's tossed salad. The main courses were country ham with sweet yam and pan-fried filleted tilapia. The third choice was obviously turkey, but since we were not fans of it, we skipped it altogether. For our pastas, it was rigatoni and spaghetti & meatballs. Our side dishes included a cream of corn and sauteed spinach. And for dessert, it was tiramisu and the ultra rich pumpkin praline cheesecake.

Tiramisu

As in every meal at Maggiano's, there was just way too many food for 3 people. Even if you skipped breakfast or are famished, it was just impossible to finish all the food on the table. And if you did, you can ask for more, at no extra cost. No kidding. With all the leftovers packed and the wine bottle empty, the strong, hot house brew was what we needed. Then, it was time go. The wife was so fixated with the pumpkin cheesecake that she bought a whole cake. And it wasn't cheap. But it's the only time of the year that Maggiano's serves it, so why not.

When we got home, we put away all the food we brought, and took a little siesta. It was one of those days that you didn't care about errands to run or chores to do. It was a perfect time for a nap.

After about a couple of hours, it was time to head off to our godchildren's, as we had been invited for Thanksgiving dinner. Food served were not your traditional Thanksgiving fare. Instead, they were Filipino favorites, which included grilled salmon head, grilled pork belly, mini fish fritters, banana heart (or bud or blossom) cooked in coconut milk, crabs, and fried & grilled eggplant. And desserts were a variety of pumpkin delights, mini fruit tarts, creme puffs, and macaroons. To say we weren't stuffed was lying.

With or without a turkey, it was another day to be thankful for.

Note:  Author wishes to acknowledge Yelp for the use of the photographs in this post.

Tech Problems And Some Beer

This Monday was quite a long day. I worked from home because I needed to take care of some home stuff. The day started with my usual drop off of Jake at Nick's for the carpool to Bell. Whether I was off, working from home, or whatever, I still had to take him there by 7am, so sleeping in was never an option.

Work-wise, I had a 2-hour Webex meeting from 9-11am. I was all set to call in to the meeting when suddenly I had difficulty logging in to the Webex link. After numerous tries, no luck. I've had success in the past, from home, but not this time. Then, I realized that I had a tech refresh a couple of days prior, which included the replacement of my laptop. As in all tech refreshes, not everything (file, applications, software, settings, etc) is transferred over despite the promises made by IT. I guess that included my Webex link.

One of the attendees to this meeting had already called me and was asking if I would be calling in. I explained my situation and hoped to catch up. After numerous conversations and attempted fixes with IT, I managed to figure things out on my own. I was able to regain my Webex access and call in to the meeting. Unfortunately, I was almost an hour late. Better late than never.

Bell had an early dismissal today, so I left to pick up the boys. Once everyone was dropped off, Jake and I had lunch before we went back home.

Later in the evening, Bell's Dad's Club hosted "Suds for Duds". It was their way of kicking off the school's winter clothing drive. For this event, all we needed was to register and pay $20, plus a donation(s) of gently used winter clothing. If you have already given away all your unwanted warm clothing, you can still attend the event, but you'd have to pony up a few more dollars in lieu of a material donation.

For $20, I thought that it was a pretty darn good deal. For this amount, you could literally drink all the beer you could. No one was counting. There was also an endless supply of chips/salsa, trail mix, and other appetizers. Dinner was bratwurst and roll, with all the fixings. And again, you can stuff yourself with all the brats you want. In addition, you also received a "Suds for Duds" beer glass as souvenir.

This was the first time to attend and I thought it was quite successful. What added to the fun event was the broadcast of 49ers-Redskins football game on 2 large screens. Somehow, it made the ice-cold beer taste even better.

About a week prior, Chris J, one of the St, Joe dads who has 2 boys at Bell, emailed the rest of the SJ dads about coming to this event because of the experience he had last year. Unfortunately, I guess most had prior commitments and didn't come. I contacted Chris J later in the afternoon, and he and I carpooled to Bell.

It was a fun night. I don't mind doing it again next year. I hope the rest can come along as well.

Is The Pacman Really Back?

After almost a year since his earth-shattering knockout that had him out cold for a couple of minutes, Manny Pacquiao was back. And his first test since that dreadful day was a wild Mexican-American brawler from Oxnard, CA, Brandon Rios. I will spare you the details of all the pomp and pageantry that came with the promotion of this fight. It was your typical Pacquiao roadshow, courtesy of his promoter, Top Rank and its head honcho, Bob Arum.

What made this a little different from those in the past was that this fight was held in Macao. Yes, you read it right. Macao, the former Portuguese colony that has now returned to mother China. And why was this event held in Macao? Well, Top Rank wanted to promote big time boxing in Asia, particularly in the gambling kingdom of Macao. He also wanted to make sure such fights were more accessible to those in this part of the world. He even included an upcoming, former Olympic Chinese boxer as an undercard bout to draw more interest. These were all great reasons why the fight was held in Macao.

But were there more? Absolutely!

The main reason this fight was held in this part of the world was all about money -- much, much more money..... for Manny, Bob, and everyone else. And why was this so? Well, taxes are (much, much) less in Macao than in anywhere in mainland USA. Can you imagine all the monies that Pacquiao reportedly had made all these years fighting in the US, and how much he actually took home after taxes? I was surprised he didn't do it much sooner. He could have probably bought the entire province of Saranggani (of which he is the congressman of) with what could have been his earnings. Now I don't really know if it mattered for Rios because he would have paid US taxes anyway, regardless of where he fought since he is an American citizen. But not Pacquiao.

Manny Pacquiao (left) & Brandon Rios (right)

And the promoter had also figured out the pay-per-view aspect of this bout and how it was important that this fight be viewed in the evening, at prime time, in the US and in most of the Western world. All they had to do was to have the fights in the morning. So, the first undercard, scheduled to air at 6:00pm PST, Saturday, was fought at 10:00am, Sunday, Macao time. By the time Pacquiao got on the ring with Rios, it was almost 9:00pm PST, or almost 1:00pm. Seemed a bit unusual, but it's the just way it is. And these boxers don't really care what time of day they fight. If they're ready, they are ready.

I will not do a blow-by-blow of the fight. But I'll share with you what I saw. Pacquiao no longer has the same aggressiveness and appetite he used to have prior his terrible knockout. He was a smarter fighter, at least for this bout. He knew that he couldn't risk another careless approach, as he did the last time, and be stung by one lucky punch. I was expecting a brawl, as his opponent was one. But Pacquiao wouldn't have any of it. He would come in, throw his punches, then pull back and dance around. Very not-so-typical of him, or at least, from what I have seen of him in past fights. This was why the match went the distance, and he didn't even shake Rios one bit. His knees never buckled. It's either Rios just had a really tough chin or Pacquiao no longer has the strength to pull out a winning punch.

I didn't realize that a welterweight belt was up for grabs, but her got one. With his victory, I would expect more fights lined up for him. Will there ever be this dream match against Mayweather? Probably not. Pacquiao's win wasn't convincing enough. Not for me, at least. Are there anyone else tougher and stronger than Rios? I don't know. But he should start lining up better fighters if he wants to gain back lost prominence. Will another Pacquiao-Marquez be worth it? For the money, certainly! Will it really mean anything? Who said it mattered.

At the end of the day, it is all about MONEY -- lost of it. Is that right, Mr. Congressman? How much more money do you need? And have you asked your pastor about this? I am sure he will say, it's OK.

Note:  Author wishes to acknowledge the New York Daily Times for the use of the photograph in this post.

Driving Nick

High school boys volleyball season is coming up soon and preparations are underway at Bell. Open gyms have been scheduled in the last couple of months, and today was one of them -- the second. And Jake has all these days memorized so he doesn't miss any.

Being a Wednesday, these after-school activities add to the complexity of the carpool pick-up -- mine, in particular. From my experience during the last open gym, I certainly didn't want to wait for 2 hours with nothing to do. So I was set on going back to Fremont from Bell. And the reason I had to go to Bell was to take Jake to dinner before open gym. His class ended at 3pm, and I didn't think he could wait till after 9pm to get something to eat. My plan was to take him to dinner at around 5, and be back before 6. Enough time to digest, rest, and be ready.

With that in mind, I suggested to Nick's mom that I could bring him home since I was heading back to Fremont anyway, but only if Nick could be patient enough to wait till 6pm. I knew his basketball tryout would end at 5:30ish, so he wouldn't be waiting that long. Otherwise, Nick's dad would pick him up instead. But Nick said it was OK to wait. So, going back to Fremont, Nick was my only passenger. Early that afternoon, Coby was picked up because he didn't have any activity after school nor did he want to wait till 6pm.

When I got to Bell, Jake was hungry, alright, but he didn't have any idea what he wanted to eat. The last time, we had pizza. I wasn't familiar with the neighborhood so I was at a lost myself. Yelp and Around Me apps could only provide so much suggestions, but we still had to choose. We narrowed it down to a pho place. And with 4 stars to its credit, courtesy of Yelp, we chose Pho Lynn.

Now, don't ask me where in the world this place is because I really do not know. I had to use Google Maps to find it. And when we got there, Jake was too scared to get down from the car. To me, it seemed like a seedy part of town. But at that point, we didn't have too many choices and time was running out. This restaurant was on the main drag (which I could not remember), but had back parking.

Pho Lynn from the back entrance

We entered through the back and aside from 2 tables, no one else was there. For a Vietnamese restaurant, I was expecting the aroma of hot, steaming broth and grilled meat. Instead, it was some funky, chemical odor that I couldn't describe. It wasn't foul, but just weird. If there was such a thing as a dive pho, this was it. Jake was apprehensive, and I was beginning to be as well. He ordered pho (aka rice noodle soup with meat), while I had a lemongrass chicken rice plate. As we ate, all we prayed for was that neither one of us would get sick with whatever it was we were eating. We consumed our meals as quickly as we could, then off we went.

We arrived at Bell before 6pm. Jake waited in the car a bit before he got off and looked for Nick. Soon after, both were headed back to the parking lot. With Nick on board, Jake strode off to the gym.

On our trip back, I knew Nick was tired. But I engaged him in some small talk. He shared with me his tryout experiences and the little nuances that came with it. We also talked about professional basketball, and some other sports stuff. The conversation was light and short. Nick, after all, is a pretty shy, quiet young man. In between conversations, he was fuzzing over his mobile device, like any typical kid his age. After about half an hour, we arrived at his house. Once he got in through the garage, I was on my way.

Tonight was ragchew night on 40m with some of the SBARA gang. We try to meet regularly at 8pm, every Wednesday to chat on HF, to while the time and to get more hams on HF. There were about 5 of us at the roundtable, and it was quite fun. I just wished I didn't have to cut it short since I had to pick up Jake at Bell. On the way, Al (WT6K) called in on the 2m repeater to see where I was. Whenever I drive solo, I always have my radio on. Keeps me company.

By 9pm, I was at the parking lot close to the gym, as I waited for Jake to come out. Then, we were on our way.

If none of these had taken place, Jake and I would have probably watched the Stanford-Washington women's volleyball match at Maples Pavilion. Well, it's one of those days....

Note:  Author wishes to acknowledge Yelp for the use of the photograph in this post.

Hello Clovis

Our next tournament (#3) was in Clovis. None of us had been there, so I didn't know what expect. So far, this was the farthest venue we have played at in our short club volleyball experience. I had mixed feelings about this venue simply because it was far -- almost 3 hours far. And this was just a one day tournament -- a Sunday at that. Despite my apprehension, we were ready.

Since the tournament was a Sunday, most families indicated that they would probably drive down Saturday and spend the night. Call time was the usual 7:30am, and, with a 2.5-3 hour drive, that meant hitting the road no later than 4:30am, just to get there in time. I certainly didn't want to wake up at 3:30am and drive 3 hours. I've done it once and swore never again. Bay to Bay managed to secure a block of hotel rooms at Hampton Inn at a discounted rate, so I booked as soon as I learned about it.

A few weeks prior, I posed a question to our team parent and asked if we could ask for an earlier practice schedule the Saturday before the tournament. I knew it was wishful thinking, but it didn't hurt to ask. Practice that Saturday was 5:30-7:30pm. Assuming we left right after, we wouldn't get to Clovis till close to midnight. But, like I always said, we were prepared for it anyway. It was still better than waking up at 3:30am.

Over the course of the next few days, certain things happened. Harker was hosting some volleyball playoff games and it affected the Saturday practice schedule. By divine intervention, the practice schedules were arranged in such a way that the teams who had to go to Clovis practiced in the morning. Our practice got moved up to 9:30-11:00am. This worked perfectly well. I wanted to arrive in Clovis before the sun set, so I planned on leaving at 2pm. We ended up going at 2:30pm, and got there just as the sun set, just as planned. On Friday, I did a quick Costco run for our assignment food -- fruits. I got apples, grapes, bananas, and strawberries.

Finding the hotel and checking in was a breeze. We took a much deserved rest before we headed off to dinner. Jake took advantage of the lull to do his homework. Dinner was at the Old Spaghetti Factory in Fresno, which was less than 10 minutes away from the hotel. It was arranged by our team parent. However, only 3 families went. From there, it was straight back to the hotel. For a while, we considered grabbing some ice cream, but we were just stuffed.... and tired.

Sunday morning, with all the rituals and ceremonies completed, Jake headed down for breakfast, along with the rest of the team who spent the night at the hotel. I followed about 30 minutes later, and brought him to Clovis High School, site of the tourney. Then, I headed back to the hotel, did what I had to do, and went down with the wife for breakfast. Soon after, we checked out and headed for Clovis High.

For this tourney, we remained in 5th place in the Silver division. So our team's first order of the day was to officiate. Our first game was against MVVC 15-2, which we won in 3 sets. This was immediately followed by the match against CRV 16-1, which also went 3 sets. However, we lost. But it was one of those games that we could have won had we contained our errors. We split our pool, moving into bracket play. First match in the bracket was against Kamikaze 16-1, whom we defeated in straight sets. Next was a loss against BAVC 16-1. Another split. The next bracket didn't matter much. We knew we remained in Silver. All we needed to find out was whether we moved up to 4th, dropped to 6th, or stayed in 5th.

Prior to the matches in this next bracket, it was discussed among the teams that everyone would play one game, instead of best of 3 sets, since the outcome was really immaterial and was merely for placing purposes only. We played Clovis, whom we've beaten in the past, but lost to this time. As a result, we slipped to 6th place and they moved up to 5th since they were ranked lower than us going into this tournament. With this agreed format, it meant we could leave early. And so we did. By 4pm, we were on the road. Good bye Clovis.

Traffic wasn't bad for a late Sunday afternoon. For some strange reason, I thought our trip back was much faster. On the way, we were contemplating on whether or not we could hear mass at 6:30pm in Fremont. Well, it all depended on whether or not we got to Fremont by then, right? Again, by all-divine intervention, we did. We were approaching the Mission Blvd exit on 680S by 6:25pm, and we were inside St. Joseph church just as the priest and altar servers had processed up the altar. Just in the nick of time, yea?

It was a long day, and an even longer weekend. And all I can say is, keep the faith.

Note:  Author wishes to acknowledge Yelp for the use of this photograph in this post.

Mitty Or SBARA?

It's another Friday, and it's one of those days when you just have one too many things going on. Although not as packed as in past Fridays, it was still something to think about. First, a Bell football game against Archbishop Mitty. The other, the monthly SBARA meeting. What made the selection a little complicated was the fact that the football game was the last Bellarmine home game of the season, while the other was SBARA's last meeting for the year. And did I mention that 2014 officers were also being elected at this meeting as well? The choices we have to make....

After much self-deliberation, coupled with logical thinking and detailed rationalization, I decided to attend the SBARA meeting. With my choice, it didn't mean I was off the hook with my responsibilities that were tied to this football game. The other part of this story involved my son, Jake. He wanted to watch the game and was hoping that I would come. Like all the other kids his age, I didn't think they cared much about the game. It was more about hanging out with their friends, and, hopefully, meeting girls. All he needed me for was to take him to and from the game.

I didn't want to let him down, so I made sure he had a way of getting to the game. Fortunately, his BFF, Coby, wanted to watch the game as well, probably for the same reason like most everyone else. So I made arrangements with Coby's mom for a ride. After school, Jake hung around Coby's house till they left for the game. And everything went well. Now, I was ready for my gig.

Yaesu FT-60R

After dinner at my default restaurant, Cherry Garden, I headed to Hurricane Electric's facility in Warm Springs, which was the site for our monthly meetings. Being the last meeting of the year, a brand new Yaesu dualband handheld radio was raffled off, along with some other ham-related goodies and books. Also up for grabs were a couple of knitted scarves -- always a favorite during these raffles.

This month's presenter talked about ARES, or the Amateur Radio Emergency Service -- a service arm of the Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL). Poor chap had to wait quite a bit before he could present. Typically, presenters come in and talk during the second half of the meeting. The first part usually covered introductions, news, announcements, and other business of the general membership. Then, a 15 minute break is taken, before the presenter is called in. For whatever reason, there was some spirited discussion about DXing, contesting, and 2x2 callsigns that prolonged the first half of the session. But it was all good discussion, as we all wanted.

The presentation took a little longer than I expected. After 10 minutes into this talk, I was lost and I merely counted the minutes. And each minute seemed longer than the last one. On the bright side, there was the raffle to look forward to, especially the handheld radio. By the time we got to the raffle, it was almost 9:30pm. That, too, dragged on as there were a number of small items being raffled off. I waited in anticipation for the final draw -- the radio. Unfortunately, none of my 12 numbers was called. It was over. I picked up my chair, and another, and stacked them against the rack, before I headed out into the cold night.

Till next year..... 73 es dit-dit.

Time to Fall Back

For those who may have missed it, today, we go back to Standard Time. Well, it was supposed to be 2am this morning. So before I went to bed last night, I made sure I adjusted my clock an hour backwards. It gave me an extra hour of sleep.

As soon as I got up, I checked the clock to make sure it was the right time. I had to make sure of it because I had a scheduled girls volleyball game at Moreau and didn't want to be late for it. Our first game of the season was against the other St. Joe Gold team, which we won handily in straight sets.

Jake and the wife had wanted to watch the game, but Jake had tons of homework to do and was concerned he may not have enough time to finish them all. I don't blame him since he still had volleyball practice to go to. With the schedule of my game and his practice being tight, the wife took Jake to practice instead. Today, it was at King's Academy -- a place the wife has not been to before. But with Google Maps, it was all good.

Before I picked up Jake in the evening, I did a quick grocery run, mostly for Jake's lunch at school -- pastrami, ham, and bread, plus a few other stuff. On the way back from practice, I had this sudden craving for pizza. I was dead set on Mission Pizza, and nothing would change that unless they were closed. Knowing how long it took to make them, I called in our order. By the time we arrived from Sunnyvale, it was be ready. Perfect timing.

When we got home, Jake realized he left his Bell sweater at practice. I asked the wife to text the moms, whose sons had their practice right after his. The plan was for them to retrieve the sweater and bring it to school the next day. With no reply from the texts, I just hopped on the car and drove back to King's Academy. Now, I normally wouldn't do this, but since it was a Sunday and traffic was fairly light, I didn't mind. Otherwise, he would have kissed his sweater goodbye, and charged it to experience.

Now, that was any extra 35 miles on the car, almost $8.00 on gas, and 40 minutes of unproductive time. But a Bell hoodie sweater, priceless.

No Goodbye But See You Again

It was dress-up day at Bell -- one of the few special days students tidy up and look dignified in their long-sleeved shirts, neck tie, and dress slacks. It was All Saints Day after all.

The associate pastor at St. Joe reminded us churchgoers last Sunday that All Saints Day was a Holy Day of Obligation for Catholics. I missed two opportunities to hear mass -- one at the Cathedral of Christ the Light at noon, and the other St. Joe in the evening. My bad. Mia culpa. Perdoname.

Typically, I would have heard mass at noon, at the Cathedral. But today was the farewell lunch for my retiring boss, Cathy. The group's choice was Boca Nova at Jack London Square.

I had a feeling we all tried to make the moment light and fun. I know I tried, and I certainly wanted it to be that way. But I guess it was difficult because we all knew that it would probably be the last time we'll all be together. In the last 7-plus years, we've had countless gatherings of this sort, and each and every time, Cathy would foot the bill. Her being so generous is definitely an understatement.

I will miss these gatherings, not because she paid for it, but because for brief moments, we all seemed to have fun. We were relaxed and talked about things other than work. I know she tried so hard to make our team a cohesive, happy family. But we all had our quirks, and it never happened. And this frustrated her. She shared this with me on numerous occasions.

The time blew by so fast, it was time to get up and say goodbye. No tears rolled, at least, I didn't notice any, or my peers did a good job at holding it back. When it was my time, I told her this was not goodbye, but an I'll-see-you-again-soon. To which she agreed, and smiled. From there, I didn't plan on going back to work in the afternoon. So did the rest. With the early off, I was able to pass by the pharmacy to pick up my meds.

Originally, Jake and I had planned on watching the Stanford women's volleyball team play UCLA at Maples. There weren't any schedule conflicts either since there was no Bell football game scheduled. However, he got invited to watch the St. Francis-Serra varsity football game at St. Francis. I was fine with it and not being able to watch the Stanford game wasn't a big deal either.

After making a few arrangements, all was set. He had his ride to and from St. Francis. Although he wasn't really a big fan of either team, I knew he had a different agenda for wanting to watch the game. Well, it was more like him wanting to go to St. Francis, period.

 A few days prior, we were having a conversation about the Bell formal dance in December and who he was planning to take. The lady-date was identified, and it was at this football game that Jake "formally" asked her out. I'll spare you the behind-the-scenes leading up to this day, but I definitely understood why he needed to go. I was all for it.

As for me, I didn't have anything else to do. A bottle of beer or a glass of wine was not even enticing. I passed the time watching recorded episodes of Grey's Anatomy. And my boy did give me an update. The girl said, "yes."