We've Gone Ice Staking

Hey there. Our vacation time has been flying by. We're scheduled to be back at work on Monday. Ugh. I haven't really had much time to post much. It's been almost a week since my last post. Not good. No problem, though. I got something to say today.

We tried to schedule a family trip to the ice rink last week to do a little ice skating. That didn't happen so when we realized that the kids get off early on Tuesdays, we decided that would be our best chance to go. First off, I don't roller blade, the kids don't either, the only one with experience is my wife. My wife and I treated ourselves to some skating back in July (anniversary) and I spent most of the time on my ass. lol So, I was expecting the kids to spend most of the time on the ice.

The kids have never been ice skating so they were ecstatic. We also took my brother in law so it was his first time as well. The boys picked it up fairly quickly. Stayed near the edge for about 10 mins before getting bold and ventured off on their own. That doesn't mean they didn't take their spills. As we're trying to teach our daughter how to skate and glide, we'd hear this loud bang. We turn our heads and see our boy on the ice, or crashing into the wall. lol He's alright, but man, he took his lumps yesterday.

Our daughter struggled some. She seemed very timid of the ice and didn't let go of the edge until we were well into our second hour of skating. We felt that she was scared of falling and because of it, did not take many chances to go off and figure out how to skate on her own. We held her hand throughout the session, releasing her for short moments or venturing away from the edge to test the waters some. She did take some hits as well. She tried to venture on her own and we saw her slip and land on her tailbone... OUCH! She was out of commission for a few minutes. We showed some pics of us falling and that made her better.

Overall, we all had a blast. The kids want to go back already and our daughter wants to take lessons. We had the rink to ourselves, most of the time, but there were a few other skaters that popped out from time to time. We could tell that our daughter was in awe of the grace that many of them moved in. Especially, the slighter older ones that seemed to have been doing some kind of dance. We looked into putting her in. We found out that registration ends on Feb 7th and it's about $100 for 8 weeks. Personal instruction during a 30 min class. I want to put her in, but I'm a little hesitant. I would just like a little more info since it's a 30 min class that is held weekly. We also asked our boy if he'd be interested in hockey. He passed "this year". His plan? To practice skating while our daughter is in her class. lmao

We left the rink, all bruised up. I didn't hit the floor, as much. I did have a few nasty spills and a couple of close calls. lol Good stuff, this ice skating is.

We then treated the kids to some McDonalds. Not a bad way to cap the afternoon, I don't think. Yesterday was good. We didn't really get much of a chance to do things with the kids this vacation because they are in school, but it was good to be able to get them out and about when given the chance. Here are a few pics of the afternoon. Enjoy. Later!

Here we are, lacing them up.

The boys speed off as I try teaching our daughter.
Bang... and then, the floor.


Our daughter being brave and trying it on her own.
My wife and the kiddos.

Here we are, striking a pose.
Chowing down some lunch.

The ladies looking pretty.

Action AllStars For Kid Friendly Action

Hey there friends. Many of us adult gamers have many a place to enjoy online gaming. Whether it be XBOX Live or an independent online game, such as World of Warcraft, you will never be short of a community where you can join other members to chat about your passion. But what about the younger generation? Online gaming is mostly considered to be adult territory where each forum or community adheres to their own set of rules and regulations. Most of the communities don't even hold their members to any rules. That's not something that I would want to expose my up and coming online gamers. That's where ActionAllStars.com comes in.

ActionAllStars.com is a fun, safe environment where kids can join a free online community and enjoy a great game of football, baseball, or basketball with other fellow sports enthusiasts. It's perfect to introduce our children to an online community. It's fast and did I mention it's free? Set up was no longer than 5 minutes and I was into the game immediately after that. Check out Metallman's avatar.


Being a football and basketball fan, I checked out the games and was pleasantly surprised by the game play. Easy to learn and even easier to play. Action All Stars and their sponsors, which include the NBA and MLB, created the perfect environment for the young enthusiast. And the best part? It's extremely safe for your young ones to chat and explore. The site has "Moderators", adults overseeing the site, to assure that everything is running smoothly, and the chat option has safeguard features that prohibits the use of certain words that are not kid friendly. You cannot go wrong with a community like this.

Fast, fun, and free entertainment awaits at ActionAllStars.com. Check it out friends. There's finally a community out there that knows how to take care of the younger online generation. Later.

An Operation and the Pitter Patter of a Little One

Hey there. I am here to announce the addition of a little one to our family! Lucy is now comfortably sleeping in our home and we couldn't be happier. It's great to hear the pitter patter of a little one as she zooms past us as she plays. What? How can she zoom? Well... she's our new puppy! Check her out.

She's a little one. You can really get a feel for her size when she's next to our TV remote.
My wife has been wanting a little dog since forever. Most of them are expensive as hell. Don't know if it's because they stay little or because a lot of celebrities stuff em in purses or whatever. When my aunt told us that their dog has pups, I initially shot down the idea. My wife was not too pleased. Fast forward to New Years Eve. As my wife was going through some pics on my mother's phone, she saw pics of the pups and again, said that she wanted one. Me, being the "jerk" that I am, said no. As we were lying in bed the next day, I thought over the idea. The pup is little and it'll be inside, I guess it won't be so bad having another little one. I told my wife I rethought it and she was thrilled. I called my aunt right away and off I went to pick up Lucy.

So... how does Lucy repay the favor of having a home and a loving family? She decides to "bite the hand that feeds". lol


Overall, we liked the name Lucy. My babe because of Lucy from I Love Lucy and I because of Lucy from Elfen Lied. Lucy was timid at first but she's already used to hanging around the house and she gets into little scuffles with our cat, Jack. I'm sure they'll get used to each other soon enough. The real battle will be getting her potty trained. I'm already getting a little tired of picking up her crap. lmao

Since we are on vacation, we're trying to spend some extra time with the kiddos. We picked up the game, Operation, from Target the other day. We finally cracked it open last night. With the exception of my wife, it our family's first time playing. She did say that it's a revamped version. All the original pieces were gone, except for the rubber band. It was pretty fun. It's kinda hard too. Kids laughed cause the guy on the table has "toxic gas"... and as my wife pointed out, "just like daddy." lmao



Once I get my doctorate degree in Operations, I'll let you guys know. lmao Later!

Blogs of the Month for December

Hey there. I'm a little late on announcing the winners this month. Sorry about that. Nevertheless, here we go.

Big changes in this month's listing. For several months, Picture to People held the top spot but was finally dethroned by Septagon Studios Inc. Congrats to our new top blog. Please feel free to check out the new top blog listing. 500 ECs to all the winners. Many thanks friends. Later!

Happy New Year

Hey there. Out with 2008 and in with 2009. We spent the evening at my aunt's house to celebrate the incoming of the new year. As many family gatherings that night, there was more than enough liquor to go around. It was kinda funny, actually. I called my aunt earlier in the day to ask what dish to bring in, you know, a desert, chips, or whatever. She said that she's asking everyone to bring a 30 pack of beer or a liquor bottle, you choice. lol I laughed at first but then she said that it's better that way cause she doesn't want anyone driving in the middle in the night looking for booze. Good idea, I'm sure cops were going to be everywhere patrolling the streets looking for a quick and easy DUI citation. My aunt said, be there at 6... sharp. We're of hispanic origin, you know that 6 really means 7:30 ish, lol. We end up getting to my aunts at like 7:30 or so, my wife thought that we were late. My aunt was just taking a shower and we were the first ones there. lol

I love the 2009 sign they had up. Looks like even the sign was hit by the bad economy. lol Just look at that crafty 9.

It was fun. We all chatted and then danced the night away. My cuz brought some Lambrusco wine and we had us some of that. It was funny cause my aunts had no clue what it was. They were calling it things like, "El Muslo", "Chamuco", or "El Busto". They didn't like, they considered it "pretty strong", which made me laugh since they were downing Hornitos and Cazadores.

My wife and I ended up dancing the night away. Our daughter was up dancing with us. Before long, it was 2:30 or so and our kids were knocked out. Time for us to go. Good times, good times. Here are a few pics of the night.

The dance floor was rockin'.

Here we are with our daughter after a short break from dancing.

Here we are with my mother and brother.

This is one funny pic. The ladies got together to take a pic. But what's this in the back??? My uncle snuck into the picture! That's him in the back. The man is hilarious. lmao

Here is my babe dancing with our daughter.

My aunt got up to dance and asked me to hold her seat for her. She meant it literally, look. lmao

Here is my babe, giving me a kiss as the clock strikes 12.


I wish all my friends, virtual and otherwise, a very prosperous new year. Most of us had a pretty rough 2008 so here's to a better 2009. Later!

Forced Vacation

Hey there friends. We are on "forced vacation". We won't be back at work until Jan. 19th. We usually tend to take our vacation when the kids are on vacation so that we can spend time with the kids and do activities with them. Well, this time, that's not going to be the case. Work pretty much told my wife and I that we have to much vacation time and we need to take it now. That's great! A much need break from work. But wait, also bad... The kids will be back in school soon so we won't be able to sleep in since we will need to get up at 6 ish to get them ready for school. We also didn't plan anything since the vacation was just sprung on us. I'm so not used to the time off. We accumulate about a month vacation over the course of the year but because we're needed at work, we only take a week or two a year and anything left over, we cash in on. Well, at least this way I can get to some much needed yard work done. Which brings me to yesterday morning...

I was out, cleaning up my lawn when I get an Email from The Admin at New Dilemma, wishing me a good holiday and asking if the Mexican Mafia got to me, since I disappeared after posting the Accordion Hero game. I laughed. I wrote back, from my phone, saying that I used to do most of my posts at work (I'm a very productive employee, as you can see) and since I'm not there, I need to get used to doing them at home. I also mentioned that this one mariachi band has been circling my house, giving me ominous stares so maybe it's a good idea that I stay on the down low for a bit. lol

It's about 9:30 AM now. I'm still in bed, looking out my window. I'm going to have me some breakfast in a minute and then go back outside and get a little more work done. Since I'll be home for a little over 3 weeks, I'm sure I'll have plenty of time to get to some projects that I've had lined up since forever. No more excuses now. It's showtime. Later!