Halloween Potluck Galore

In past years, our little office group would put together a potluck lunch around Halloween. This year, with a full cast from the larger Compensation & Benefits group under our new boss, DC, we made it a little more official by holding the first annual Halloween potluck.

Compared to previous years, this was a bigger group, which included the larger Benefits group. A larger group meant more food. And there certainly was a lot of it. An online list was made available, where everyone would indicate what they would bring to the potluck. It pretty much covered all the essentials, from appetizers to paper plates.

Chicken Adobo

There was more than enough food to feed everyone on the floor. Dishes were varied -- some home-made, others store-bought. Regardless, everything was good. I brought my (in)famous chicken adobo. In past potlucks, I had always brought this dish and everyone seemed to enjoy it, especially with steamed white rice. At this potluch, there was no steamed white rice. Fortunately, there was Chinese fried rice, and that seemed good enough. Others just loved it even without the rice.

Appetizer and desserts were aplenty. If you started with the appetizers, you probably wouldn't be able to make it to the main courses because you'd be stuffed by then. And same goes for the desserts. By the time you got to it, you've already had enough.

As lunch progressed, someone from the Benefits team, who was celebrating her birthday, was acknowledged with a simple "Happy Birthday" song. And since it was Halloween, DC told everyone they could go home earlier than usual so they could go trick-or-treating with their kids. This was a welcome treat (no pun intended) for all.

Since I wasn't expecting trick-or-treaters in my neighborhood, I went home to watch the girls varsity volleyball game between Irvington and Moreau.

Bell's Open House From The Other Side

Bellarmine had their open house over the weekend. For the past few weeks, Jake had been looking forward to this day. Earlier in the school year, he signed up to be a shadow guide. As the name implies, these guides have potential Bell freshmen tag along with them on a typical school day in order to give them a first hand look at the life of a Bell student. During open house, these guides are tapped to assist in the various activities for the day.

With a few days before the open house, Jake has not heard back whether or not his services were needed for the open house. I guess, despite being a shadow guide, not everyone is called back to help during open house. He was beginning to get disappointed.

On the day before open house, he got an email informing  him (and others) about some guides backing out, which left open spots to fill. This was the cue for those not previously called to suit up for open house. A quick email reply confirmed his participation. Jake was a happy camper.

Just past 8:30am, I dropped him off at Bellarmine. He had lots of time to prepare and find out what he needed to do. Open house wasn't to start till 10am.

At around 1:30pm, the wife and I picked him up, and went to Left Bank for lunch. On the way, he was telling us how his day went. He didn't have to show the campus around or man a post on campus. Instead, he was roaming around, answering questions from potential students and families.

As the conversation went on, the wife got a ping on her phone. It was a posting on FB by Dr. Ben. It showed a picture of Jake standing at the quad, having a conversation with a family. When I saw the photograph, I smiled and felt proud at how responsible my boy had become. To think that we were on the other side of this conversation just a year ago. Can you imagine how quickly things have changed?

Since Jake had volleyball practice later in the afternoon and we were in the neighborhood, we decided to just hang around Santana Row. A quick stop at Pink Berry helped kill some more time. By 5pm, he was at practice, and we headed home. A couple hours later, I was back on the road, solo, to take my boy home.

Note:  Author wishes to acknowledge Dr. Ben Chew for the use of the photograph in this post.

Don't Let The Band Play

Bellarmine's varsity football team played Valley Christian at SJCC. Crowd was a bit larger than the St. Ignatius game a week ago, but it wasn't really packed unlike the first home game of the season.

As in previous trips to SJCC, I picked up Nick and Justin at St Joe, and we headed to the game. Their dad, Paul, met us there since he worked somewhere close by. When we got to St. Joe, I was a little surprised to see the parking lot full. I didn't realize that they had their Halloween Carnival, which was a little earlier than usual. But I managed to find a spot while I waited for Justin to arrive.

We got to SJCC quite early, and parking was not a problem. With our normal pre-game ritual (a visit to the restroom and grabbing something to eat & drink) all completed, we headed to our usual spot at the bleacher and watched both teams warm up. To our left, the Bell band was tuning their instruments and preparing as well. This game looked like it had the makings of a big game when I saw THE BELL (not the mascot) being pulled across the field, as well as the 2 flag bearers running up and down the track.

Barely 5 minutes into the game, Valley Christian scored their first touchdown. From the succeeding plays of our Bell boys, I had a feeling it was going to be a long night. And it surely was. The game seemed like an eternity. There were a few exciting moments, but, for the most part, the boys were playing catch-up. The Bells lost 13-31.

I kidded Jake and told him that probably the band was the jinx. In the games we've watched, Bell lost whenever the band played. This happened at the homecoming game against Serra, their first loss, and tonight against Valley Christian, their second loss. In the prior home game against St. Ignatius and the away game against St. Francis, Bell won both and the band was not present in either one.

The true test of this theory would be the last few games, including the last home game against Archbishop Mitty. If they do lose that game and the band played, that'll be the third strike. And we're out !!! Theory proven.

With the loss, our consolation was a late dinner at Five Guys.

Note:  Author wishes to acknowledge Logopedia for the use of the Five Guys logo in this post.

My Corner Space In The Gym

Now that the fall sports are winding down, the winter and spring sports are gearing up and preparing for their debut. Basketball has already had multiple conditioning sessions, and continue to do so as their tryouts near. Volleyball is not too far behind as well. As a matter of fact, they've already scheduled a few open gyms, with the first one tonight.

Being  a Wednesday, it was my pick-up day. Since Jake and Nick had planned on attending the open gym at 7pm, it didn't make sense for me to pick-up, drive back to Fremont, then go back to Bell for the open gym. So I informed Coby's mom if she could pick up his son instead.

Before the open gym, James, Nick, and I had dinner at a Mountain Mike's pizza place close to Bell. The place wasn't fancy nor was it scary, so we stayed. I thought the boys would be famished and ordered an extra large pizza. When it was brought to our table, we were all shocked. It was HUGE. It was just too much pizza for the 3 of us. We ate half and packed the rest. We finished up early so the boys had time to rest and the food to digest.

Back at Bell, as the boys changed for volleyball, I had a glimpse of the varsity water polo match against St. Ignatius. Before the start of the match, the team from St. Ignatius recited the Prayer for Generosity, as part of their cheer. I found this quite interesting. For those who do not know, the Prayer for Generosity is a prayer of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus.

I wasn't sure if I would be allowed to watch the open gym, so we went in early. I sat at the far end of the bleacher, close to the door, and away from everyone else. I was hoping to be incognito, but my red jacket pretty much gave me away. For the next 2 hours, I just sat there and did nothing. From time to time, I would check my emails or read the latest Twitter feeds on my cellphone. It was surely one of the longest 2 hours I have ever experienced.

There wasn't much to the open gym. It was just free play. It was some sort of gauge of who's interested to be part of the team. The group was divided between those who have not been on the team before -- the FRESHMEN, and those who've had. And these 2 groups pretty much played among themselves. Even the coaches running the open gym joined in and played as well.

It was a long night, and even longer day, especially if you were just killing time, like I was. But there's more to come. Hopefully, I don't have to sit and wait.

Note:  Author wishes to acknowledge Mountain Mike's Pizza for the use of their logo in this post.