:::mourning

i think i'm finally getting over the raiders' loss, so i'll go ahead and post some pics i took down in san diego the day before the game.


first off, an avid raider fan . . .




this street in the gaslamp was very busy.




outside some chocolate store.




the nfl's palace in s.d.




and finally, my mayra with her war paint on game day . . .

:::silver and black attack

looks like it'll be the matchup worth waiting for down south this coming sunday. when i went to the raiders/chargers game last month in san diego, we of the raider nation, including myself, had it in our blood that the silver and black would be back.

:::tgif

the (3-day) weekend is finally here.


my three youngest are sick with this damn flu. to top it off, the two littlest ones have ear infections. pobrecitos, they're so fussy because of it.


despite her financial irresponsibility, lucy is a good mom though. so tony and mayra have her to take care of them during this illness.

:::ftw

i'm not sure what to say. my youngest daughter's birthday passed, as you've already seen below, yet mine was no big thing.


lucy's mom made a special dinner for me along with cake. that was cool and appreciated.


but it was the fact that neither lucy nor any of my kids even presented me with at least a birthday card, much less a present, that led me down this descent. (can you believe that the sole birthday gift given to me was by one of my students, whose father was shot on the last day of 2002!), sorta says something about what we're utilized for as we get older.


and then today i learn from from my wife that she's got bigger financial obligations than i was aware of. well, being in a community property state, we all know that her debts are also mine. so i guess i might as well forget about getting a car of my own anytime soon.


just when i thought this would be the year when i'd finally drive to work in my own car, i find out that it's just not going to happen unless there's a lot more income within our familia.


unless i win a lotto jackpot some time soon.

:::mayra's 3rd



it was nice to see mayra so happy on her 3rd birthday this afternoon. later in the evening, she had fun with some of the familia around.

:::yawn

not much to tell you. the first week back to work was sort of tiring. i'd just come home and want to nap. we're in the process of going into each others' classrooms to observe for evidence of standards being taught, etc. our team goes on tuesday.


on a better note though, tomorrow is mayra's 3rd birthday! can't believe it was 3 years ago she came into our lives.

:::coming home

tonight's the night lucy returns. i just checked her flight status and it looks like they're more than halfway here!




seeing as how she'll arrive in about an hour, i better pick up all the newspapers piled up on the floor here (not to mention the beer cans).

:::back



it was back to work today after coming to lax yesterday morning from my chicagoland visit. and what a vacation that was! lucy was happily surprised to see me show up on christmas eve.


it was snowing when i arrived which made for a beautiful white christmas. the weather was pretty cold so we had to bundle up during our jaunts in to downtown.




i'm glad i went. it would not have been the same had i stayed here in socal. besides getting to see lucy and the kids, i got to spend the holidays with her wonderful familia.