January 24, 2007

I'm always watching movies, so here are a few more I've recently seen.

1. El Laberinto del Fauno (Pan's Labyrinth) - I didn't really know what this movie was about except that a girl gets lost in her make believe world so I thought this was for kids. Ah...no, it's not for kids. There's blood, death and craziness all around. Yes, there is the magical part with the little girl and at times it's pretty freaky too. Still, I thought the movie was interesting and good.

2. Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus - Hm ok. Nicole Kidman falls in love with a Robert Downey Jr. who has the condition where hair grows all over your body. The movie was slow and kind of uneventful. Her character was interesting though. She's all sorts of messed up and trying to hide it in this cookie cutter lifestyle. She meets Downey and it's like it liberates her. I didn't hate it, but I don't think I'd watch it again. I sort of felt the same way when I saw Dogville. I thought it was going to be great and was left feeling....Uhm ok.

3. Dreamgirls - Definitely worth all the hype. Everyone did a great job in this movie.

4. Danika - Marisa Tomei loses her mind in this movie. She starts seeing things that aren't there or haven't happened. It looked as if she was predicting the future in some way. There's family problems, job problems. This is not a happy movie. If the point of the movie was to confuse you as much as the character is, then it accomplished it. At times it was really annoying me. Over all the movie was trying to be stranger than it had to be.

January 21, 2007

This weekend was very calm so there's nothing much to report. I just stayed home mostly and watched movies. I finally saw The Pursuit Of Happyness. I'm probably the last person to watch it, but it was really good.

In other news, yes Las Fiestas de la Calle San Sebastian 2007 were in full swing, but you weren't going to find me there. Of course, I've gone in years past and that's exactly why I didn't go this year. Old San Juan just gets TOO crowded and if you go too late, you're stuck in traffic for hours on end. Then you have the reports of people getting into fights, people pushing you just to get a rise out of you as you walk and the ever so popular flying beer bottles. You know what, I like my head and would like to keep it stitch free. Plus, it's been raining something crazy here recently. No thanks. I would've liked to have gone during the day to see all the artisans, but that never worked out. There's always next year.

Aside from that, I'm sure everyone's heard that Sen. Hillary Clinton is running for President. I don't think anyone is surprised by this. If anything it's funny that she denied it so much when everyone knew she would run. Still, it'll be interesting to see how this plays out. If she wins, what do we call Bill? The first gentleman? :)

January 16, 2007

Picture suburbia and all its trappings. A tight knit community, families trying to impress (and judge) one another and of course the one's who are unhappy/bored with their lives wishing things would be different. This is the setting for the movie Little Children featuring Kate Winslet, Jennifer Connelly and Patrick Wilson.

Sarah (Winslet) is bored with her life. She's annoyed by the daily routine she has to follow because she's a mother and it's what's expected. Motherhood doesn't seem natural for her and she's also stuck in a loveless marriage. All this disconnect ends when she meets Brad (Wilson) who's Kathy's (Connelly) husband. Brad's also dissatisfied with his life. Although he loves his wife, their marriage isn't perfect either. He's seen as a failure because he can't seem to pass the bar exam. Also, all the attention around the house is given to their son. This automatically cancels him out of the affection equation.

As Sarah and Brad seem to find in each other what they were missing, leaving the door to potential chaos wide open, there's a parrallel unstable situation affecting this perfect neighborhood. Ronnie (Jackie Earle Haley), a convicted sex offender, moved into town. Everyone's up in arms about it and Larry (Noah Emmerich), the unhinged retired cop, makes it his mission to "protect" the town by intimitating him. Then in one night, everyone realizes what's most important and stability is regained.

Little Children was an interesting movie to watch. Ever so often a narrator's voice would come on and it sort of gave it this documentary feel. It was as if you were peeking into and allowed to see these people's lives. The Ronnie character made my skin crawl, so Haley did a good job. Good movie.

IMDB: Little Children

January 15, 2007

I just spent a few hours fixing my computer. It always seems I have yet another computer problem. Computers can suck and drive you up the wall when they're not working properly. I've seriously contemplated getting something from the Apple family and having a stress free life, but I haven't. I use various programs that aren't Mac friendly and I'm not ready to give those up.

Anyway. So everything was fine up until this afternoon. I plugged something into the back of my PC and when I looked at the screen, it was frozen. "Hm, computer crashed...Ok." So I hit restart and that's when my frustrations started. The computer wouldn't boot up. The power was on, but no BIOS would show up. It would only make this one long beep noise, pause and beep again. UGH!!! F*@#ING BEEPS FROM HELL!!! I'd heard this type of beep before so I went into action doing everything I knew to try to fix it.

In the past, the beeps for me have meant that something has come loose from the motherboard. So I press on the IDE's and what nots and try again. No change. I disconnect, reconnet...No change. I thought it might be a failing hard drive and I hoped it wasn't. So, I brought in my old Dell and tested the HD there. It showed life, so I stopped worrying about that. This is when I called Rob for advice. Yes, it was a hardware problem, but which one? (Props to the old Dell...that thing was made like a tank!)

Turns out that after removing, testing and re-installing cards on the motherboard, it was my old dial-up modem that was the trouble maker. I promptly threw that P.O.S. in the trash! It was an unnecessary piece anyway. I'm just glad it wasn't the graphics card or anything else. I feel like I dodged an expensive computer bullet.

This is why I don't store ANYTHING on my computer. ALWAYS BACK UP YO' SH!T! You never know with computers.

January 13, 2007

Tonight was a sort of painful night. I'll explain.

At first I didn't want to go running tonight. I just wasn't in the mood and I've felt tired all day. However, I was already wearing my exercise gear and I knew that if I didn't do it, I'd regret it. Plus, I only exercise for an hour which isn't bad. What's an hour really? So I got off my butt and headed for the treadmill.

Everything was fine. I ran my mile and started on the walking section. That's when I started to feel slightly uncomfortable in my shoes. Even so, I kept going. The pain did increase a bit, but nothing that wasn't bearable. So I finished my routine.

When I was finally done, I took my right tennis shoe off and saw what the problem was. My shoe had rubbed my achilles tendon area raw. As you can see in the picture it bled a bit. My tennis shoes are New Balance and aren't new new. They're a couple of months old. This friction had happened before, but never to the point of blood. I just thought they needed to be broken in, but it hasn't gotten any better. If anything it's gotten worse, I'd say! So, I need to get new shoes that have more padding in the back.

Oh yeah, and for an extra treat showering afterwards was quite the stinging experience!

(The only other time I've had a bloody sock was back in high school. During a softball game, I misjudged the altitude of a low line drive and the ball hit my left toe. It broke my nail and jammed it into the skin. Yes, quite painful...lots of blood. Maybe Shelly remembers that one.)

January 12, 2007

You go to a K-Mart with the intension of buying one thing in particular. This one item is the only reason why you ventured out to the shops. It doesn't matter what it is. It can be a belt, dog food, super glue...whatever. Yet, before you leave someone else might ask you to do them a favor while you're out. Since it's at the same store, there's no problem so you say, "Suuuuuure, I'll do it"...even if it postpones the purchase of said item.

Buying the one item all of a sudden becomes a harder task especially if you go with someone who has a wandering product eye and makes you walk all around the store for things that aren't needed. So you finally have what you came for, but the other person suggests, "Well, let's check out the other store. They might have a different kind or more variety". They're right so you put everything down and go.

Even so, you're set on what you already had, so you go back to K-mart. As you're getting your item, there are more interruptions. The phone rings, "Get milk, get cereal....". And your shopping buddy has wandered off again. You finally get everything (and everyone) and pay just to realize the ONE item you came for was the one thing you DIDN'T get. And now you can't get it because you have no money.

Does this sound familiar? Well, this happened to me today. :)

January 9, 2007

Apple just annouced their newest gadget. It's a phone for Cingular called the iPhone. Ok, I like technology just as much as the next person, but this phone is INSANE! It's got a life of it's own. It definitely looks cool, sounds severely interesting and of course, expensive.

For starters it's a widescreen that's completely controlled by touch. It can change from portrait to landscape view automatically. It all depends on how you're holding the phone. It's a bit of everything...an iPod, a computer, a phone, a camera. Visual voicemail...Yeah, it's alive. I'm not going to go into all that it is or does here. Check out the Apple page and look for youself.

The iPhone is too much phone for me. It might sound and look cool, but I don't even use the camera on my more standard celphone. I've never been online on my phone because personally I don't see the point to that. But to all of you out there that love all-in-one gadgets, this is your new hotness.

January 7, 2007

Resolutions. I am not the type of person to make resolutions as we ring in the new year. Resolutions are made to be broken. I don't know anyone who's actually kept a resolution...ever. So I don't make them. I do however want to share something I've started, or stopped depending on how you vewi it. Call it a resolution or not, it doesn't matter. This is actually something that I'd been thinking about way before new years.

If you're a regular visitor to this site, you've seem all the pictures of my good times. It does sometimes look like my friends and I go overboard with the partying, but typically I only go out once a week and recently I haven't really been drinking. So I decided to be at zero alcohol. My reasons are my own and so far people have been respectful. Sure, I've gotten comments which is to be expected, but overall they've been cool. I don't know if this is a "forever" change, but it sure is a "for now" change.

With that out of the way, can I just say that I'm completely sick, AGAIN! Yes that's right, I have yet another cold. This is completely unfair since I spent the ENTIRE month of November with the flu. I went to MD for halloween and came home ill. That lasted for the first 2 weeks of November. As soon as I was feeling better, I was off to Tampa where a combination of oddly unexpected cold weather and no warm clothes landed me back on the sick list for the remaining 2 weeks of the month.

Fast forward to now, I've managed to catch whatever upgraded bug is going around. Nyquil, Dayquil and Tylenol seem to have zero effect on my symptoms. I'm so congested it's not even funny. I have so much sinus pressure my teeth hurt! I got no sleep last night because I couldn't breathe. So basically I've been up and miserable since 5am today.

This sucks. I'm still waiting for the punch line to this cosmic joke where I catch every cold known to man. F*ck this mutating cold virus!

January 6, 2007

55 photos

55 photos

January 2, 2007

37 photos

37 photos

January 1, 2007

I'll be updating the blog/posting pictures after January 6th. By then all the get togethers will be over.

Happy new year!

December 30, 2006

I know all of you out there laugh at and love my chicken stories. So who am I to deny you a bit of laughter while you're at work or wherever you are while you're reading this.

The backstory is too long to go into, but you can read it all:
Unexpected Pets
The Chicken Drama Continues
Hoity-Toity Neighborhoods Can Suck

Fast forward to now, the original rooster is dead. Not sure what happened, but it's believed my neighbor's dog is responsible. The original chicken is well and living her days out on a farm. As for my neighborhood, there's still ONE chicken offspring from the original one's running around. It's a little sad seeing her lay eggs that never hatch. Even so, it's better this way because we don't have to deal with trying to catch the chicks or whatever else could happen. There was a baby rooster around before the original rooster died, but he disappeared. We all thought he'd been killed too, but then a few days ago guess who appeared? Gallito Jr. is back!

After a couple of months of hiding, he's back. I have no idea where he went or even if it's the same rooster, but he sure looks a lot like papa rooster. I'm sure my neighbor will soon complain again about the noise :) And now we really have to pay attention to the egg laying. We can't have 12 chicks running around the neighborhood again. That was just crazy. :)

December 29, 2006

It was pointed out to me a couple of weeks ago that I talk way too much about a band, Shiny Toy Guns.

Simply put, they're awesome. I first heard of them back around august on myspace...and by accident. I liked what I heard, so I got their album. It rocks! You have to understand that PR radio suffers from reggaetonitis. It's all over the place and even the all english music station (La Mega) had to include it in their cycles. I can't stand it. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with it, but it's just not my style of music. So, the only time I listen to the radio is when I'm in the car, but even then I typically tune it out.

So I found a kickass band and started wondering when they would get more attention and if they would ever be played on PR radio. A couple of months later, I heard one of their songs featured on One Tree Hill and later on The Real World. After that my tv was on, but I wasn't paying attention to it, and I heard them on the "You Oughtta Know" clip on MTV. I laughed because all of a sudden they're everywhere which is cool. But what really made me do a double take was when I walked into Pac Sun and one of their songs was playing. Shiny Toy Guns playing in a PR mall store?! You know I asked the teller about it and she said it was a station provided by their ISP. Ah well...I chucked it up to a fluke. But then my bday came around and I'm in the car with a friend waiting to get into Shannan's parking lot and Le Disko comes on! Very cool.

I still haven't seen their video on MTV, but when I heard the MTV clip, I looked up the video on YouTube. For those who haven't seen it, here's it is:

Wish I could see them live...someday. Definitely check them out.
STG: Shiny Toy Guns
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/shinytoyguns

December 28, 2006

Here's a random story from the other night. While we were at the Estrella household, we were playing pool, listening to music, having a few beers...socializing. I was in the middle of a game and this girl I've never met before starts talking to me.

Girl: "Hey, you know who you remind me of?"
Me: "No. Who?"
G: "Now don't get offended...'cause you never know. Some people might get offended."
(Usually people tell me I remind them of Christina Ricci as Wednesday Adams. I realize I normally look like something serious is going on...That's just the way my face is, I can't help it. But here I was thinking, 'well damn, who do I remind her of that it would offend me?')
M: "Ok I won't. Don't worry about. Who do I remind you of?"
G: "You remind me of Janeane Garofalo."
(Now there's a comparison I'd never heard before)
M: "Hehehe. I'm not offended by that. I remind you of her...really?"
G: "Yeah. Hey Serena, don't you think she reminds you of Janeane Garofalo?"
S: "Yeah! Omg, you're right."

So, I guess I remind them of Janeane Garofalo. I asked how and it oddly came down to my shoes. She was going off about the way I was dressed and how comfortable I looked. Then she mentioned my shoes. The pictures are up, you can see I was wearing a blue Gap button down shirt, dark jeans and I was wearing my black oxford Skechers shoes. They said I had this relaxed vibe and didn't care to be all in painful fashion shoes. This girl on the other hand looked like she was dressed for prom. Of course I'm not offended. They pegged me right. I don't feel the need to impress anyone by the way I dress. Don't get me wrong, if the event requires formal wear, I'll dress up. But, I'm all about comfort. Originally I was going to wear converse. Wonder what they would've said about that.

Even so, is that enough to state that I look or remind people of Janeane? I like Janeane Garofalo's movies. Great actress, comedian and activist. It's all good, even if the comparison came about from shoes. :)

JG Online: Janeane Garofalo Online
IMDB: Janeane Garofalo

December 27, 2006

66 photos

66 photos