VOD - Not my daughter, but maybe in time.....

Here's a nice one. Now, I'm not sure which school of thought you'll come from. Either you'll think this kid is a super-awesome gaming prodigy. Or you'll think her father's only form of entertainment is to sit her next to him while he plays video games all day. Either way, her comprehension is impressive. Enjoy for now, and have a good weekend if I don't talk to you before long.

THE BIG UPDATE!

Ahh, loyal viewers, how I have neglected thee.

It's been too long my friends so here goes:

Christmas week was jam packed with excitement as I juggled work, playing and a visit from my brother, whom I hadn't seen since sometime around spring break of 2007.

I was playing Christmas week for the Abundant Living Faith Center. A large, large, large church located on the east side of El Paso, TX. Now, I won't get into details, but as most of you know I'm not the biggest fan of organized religion. That being said, I'm also not a big fan of biting the hand that feeds you, plus I appreciate the positive aspects and beneficial works that religious organizations provide. Ibso facto... I do it for the good of the community. Their Christmas show is second to none, consisting of roughly 300 cast members, a wire team from the same company that handles Cirque du Soleil, and a church that seats about 3500. It's a yearly thing for me, and I've been doing it long enough to not remember how long I've been doing it. All in all the show was seen by about 18,000 people in 2008, a new record for the church. If you're ever in town for the four days before Christmas, check it out.

My brother, the coolest cat this side of the Pecos, was in town for a week from December 23rd to the 30th, a week that went by way too fast. We spent some quality time playing video games, which as you all know is about as "quality" as my time gets. After Christmas week he was off to Chicago to meet up with his friends Jen and Paul whom he met during orientation for Teach for America a couple of years ago. For Christmas, we all pitched in and picked him up a lovely new Xbox 360 Pro, which means for the first time in his life he owns all the current gen consoles. Quite a feat if you ask me. My take wasn't too bad either, as I received Super Smash Bros. for the Wii from him. Before he had to leave we made sure he was filled with the best authentic Mexican food Las Cruces has to offer, which you all know you just can't find anywhere else. Thanks for the visit Chris, miss you, love you, see you soon. (above pic from my wedding, in which my brother acted as minister)

My final Christmas show ended around 9:30pm on Christmas Eve and from there it was back to Las Cruces to spend time with Crystal's family. We hosted Christmas at our house for Crystal's mother's side of the family. It was a most enjoyable evening, complete with the ritual White Elephant gift exchange and a traditional meal consisting of a variety of sides and a giant pot of menudo. A visit from Santa, a warm cup of coffee, and then off to bed once we bid goodnight to all. (shown, assorted aunts, cousins, the baby, and Pere Noelle)

Christmas day was the usual family runaround. I awoke a the asscrack of dawn to make a special Christmas delivery for a friend, I'd go into details but I refuse to spoil anyone's perception concerning the existence of the fat man. From there it was back to bed, then up again in time to be ready for a visit with Crystal's father John. We spent the rest of the morning and well into the afternoon filling up on turkey, ham, and conversation. Again, good food and time well spent with family.

We ran back home to unload gifts from the trunk and repack it with gifts for our next stop, my parent's place in Alamogordo. It's not to say we had sooooo many gifts that we had to make a stop, but when you're packing a car seat, a stroller, a diaper bag and assorted baby goodness, it doesn't leave much room for presents. We went to gas up only to discover that the gas at this particular station was the cheapest I've seen it in a very long time. Man alive, $1.19 a gallon. Boy will I ever miss you. Seven dollars later we were on the long road to home.

Alamogordo was that same as it's always been. It seems that for every business that opens or remodels, there are two that either go out of business or look like they belong in a Rob Zombie movie. At this point it's like polishing a turd. No offense to the hometown I love and grew up in, I just couldn't think of a better cliche to describe it. Turd polishing pretty much sums it up. If you disagree, you didn't grow up there. Either way, go Tigers...

Sooo there we are at my parents house, spending time with my brother, my sister's family, and my parents and pretty much just pissing the day away enjoy my mom's spiced cider and another double helping of meat. The selection consisted of deep fried turkey, slow cooked brisket, and succulent ham. I pretty much ate my share of all three, and your share. Belt loosened, we watched assorted Christmas movies, played some card games (which I totally sucked at btw), and drove home in time to sleep enough to work the next day.

(Mom snapping a photo of Chris and Caitlyn)

Worked the next day... bleh.

Friday night we returned to Alamogordo, again filled up on meat, and stayed overnight. On Saturday we lounged around and enjoyed the inch or so of snow that had fallen during the night. In true New Mexico fashion, it was gone by noon. Now keep in mind I did have to prioritize family and what not over computer time, so my blogging nuts had been for the most part castrated during this time. I'm not trying to make excuses, I'm just sayin'.

We returned on Saturday night to Las Cruces with my brother. From there it was a late night of gaming and a Sunday complete with a stop at the flea market. My brother and I had lunch at Sonic, which he can't get in Hawaii. It seems fair, no Sonic for him, no tropical island paradise for me. My parents came into town on Sunday night, so we spent some more time family-style and then they took him back with them to Alamo. On Monday Crystal, Caitlyn and I slept in, then later on that afternoon went back to Alamo for one last visit with my brother. On Tuesday the 30th it was back to work, and my parents accompanied my brother back to the airport in El Paso to see him off. That evening we visited our good friend Geoff and his mother for coffee and a quick exchange of gifts.

New Years Eve was spent at work during the day, at night we went to Crystal's mother's house for an impromptu party she was throwing. The food again was excellent, another testament to the idea that I married into the right family. We retired early for the baby's sake, returning home and cooking up a late night dinner for ourselves and my friend Geoff and his mother, whom we had invited over the night before.

I was off on New Years Day, but went into work for a few hours of overtime. Otherwise it was a mellow day.

The rest is as follows... work... dinner.... baby... sleep and/or playing World of Warcraft. Geoff had downloaded a trial of the new expansion of the game but unfortunately (and I know this only means something to half of you) you can't create a Death Knight unless you already have an existing level 55 character on you server, even with the trial. So the past few days I was helping him level his character from 45 on up. As of Saturday I had made it to 51, but life calls, and I know better at this point than to place computer time over family time.

So all in all it was a busy couple of weeks. The first section I simply couldn't help, it was a whirlwind of family, limited computer access, poor cell phone reception, and more driving that a newborn should be subjected to. This last week I was recuperating, and leveling a feral druid. I can't really justify that last part, but fuck it, if your feelings are hurt, come by the house and I'll give you a Twix™.

Many thanks to Serry and Tarah (names poorly changed to protect the innocent), who visited us this last Friday and Saturday. Serry's father got married on Saturday, and we wish him all the best in this newest chapter of his life. We were dog sitting while they were at the wedding, and while they may thank us, it's our pleasure if only to get a chance to spend time with good friends.

Plus they picked up our lunch at Chilito's, it's not really relevant, but talking about it makes me smile. I had the red enchiladas with red chile meat and an egg on top. Heavenly!

What else what else....

Saw a few movies, not the theater kind of course just on DVD. Crystal wasn't to impressed with Mama Mia or The House Bunny. I made sure I was on the computer at the time. Eagle Eye maintained our firm belief that Shia Labeouf is good enough an actor to make you forget you're watching Shia Labeouf. Hamlet 2 was excellent, go watch it. Meet Dave was standard modern-day Eddie Murphy comedy, mildly funny yet a little too tame with a splash of cheesy. Eddie Murphy still manages to be one of the best actors alive today, it's just often overshadowed by family friendly packaging and scripts which place him in roles which are often revisions of characters he's played before. We rented Pineapple Express today (Marisa, if you're out there, can't help but think of you when I see this movie) and laughed our asses off. Such a good movie. Lots and lots of tiny quotable snippets, which we all know is the best asset a comedy can have right? I saw it three times in the theater, and it still felt fresh on DVD. Good stuff. The only complaint I have is that for being "unrated", there was only about 2 minutes of extra material, and none of it moved beyond it's R rating.

The baby is doing great. She's beautiful, and not in that "she's mine so I have to say it" kind of way. She cries when she needs something, and stops when she gets it. It's about as good as we could have hoped in that department. No random endless crying, knock on wood. She's a little over two months now and growing like crazy. She's well into smiling, laughing, and carrying on conversations in whatever language she can muster. Every day you ask yourself how it's possible that so much could come from so little ... /smirk

(mom and Caitlyn shown)

Life is good.

Miss you all, love you all,

Jimmy

P.S. Here you go, for your adoring pleasure.