Wohoo!!! The Steelers won the Super Bowl!!!!
There were so many sub-plots to this game, and all of the contreversy surrounding the officiating. I’m a homer through and through, but some of those calls were a little weak. I’m just glad we came out on top since it was one of the worst games we had played all year.

I picked Mom and Dad up from the airport on the 8th( or was it the 7th?). It was good to see them. I’m also glad that Dad decided to leave early and go home the same time Mom was coming back. Especially with the mudslide tragedy that is currently being reported on the news.

Valentine’s Day came and went. Amy and I didn’t really do a whole lot, but February is a very busy month in our household and can be very expensive for a month to be so short. She did, however send me off with a very nice card. Me, being the big loser I am, gave her a Happy Valentine’s Day wish….

The 17th was Brian’s 7th birthday. He seemed very excited to be a year older! We actually had 2 parties for him. On Friday, we all went to McDonald’s and met Nanny and Papa. We all gathered around and ate fast food and some cake, and then the boys went outside to the playground to run off all of the sugar they just ingested. All in all, it was a fun day.
Then on Saturday, we had an all-day celebration starting with me taking Will and Brian to Mike’s Place for some lunchtime pizza. The proprieters of Mike’s Place are members of our church, and when Nicole found out that we were celebrating Brian’s irthday, they made him his own dessert pizza with candles and frosting! What a great gesture! Afterwards, we packed everyone up to go to Broadway at the Beach to meet Mom, Dad, and Tita Angie and catch the new Curious George movie. We arrived early and Justin and I took the boys to their favorite 2 stores, The Discovery Channel Store, and the Christmas and Trains Shoppe. Later, we met up with the rest of the Palomares clan to watch the movie. Everyone loved it! William didn’t take a potty break througout the whole movie! I was really glad to see that the boys enjoyed the movie as much as they did. Curious George is one of my favorite childhood characters and the film did a great job of intertwining a number of HA Rey’s books in to a single movie. Afterwards, we all went to Chik-Fil-A for some chikin and some playtime, and lastly, we took everyone across the street to Toys R Us. Brian got Madagascar for the xbox(fun game for kids), and Mom, Dad and Tita Angie gave hime a couple of kites and a junior set of golf clubs! The kid really racked up!

Of course, yesterday was my birthday… no real big pomp or fanfare. I got a few well wishes from work, and we had a quiet celebration at my parents’ house. I mean, what is a filipino birthday celebration without some torta or pancit?!? Anyway, we had fun, but left before 8 so the kids wouldn’t miss their bedtime. My B-day booty included a couple shirts and a nice pair of slacks. Aahh… life is good…

First, I read today that AMD has broken the 20% mark in market share. I’ve been a fan of AMD for quite a few years now, so it is a good thing to see them gaining a little ground and respectability in the general public and the business sector alike.

Also, I’ve been taking some free online courses from HP. Right now, I’m enrolled in the Linux 201 class and the PHP/Mysql class. We’ve gone through two lessons so far, and I’m fairly happy with what is being taught. The Linux 201 class is based on the Fedora Core distribution and even moreso using the gnome desktop environment. I use neither at home – I am a gentoo man with fluxbox as my window manager when I need one. However, The course outline says that they will begin concentrating on some command-line administration pretty soon. That’s the only reason I really signed up for the course – also to see where my skills are lacking as an administrator.

The PHP/MySQL class has been interesting and requires more time than I thought. I actually have to lay out the design of some faux property management website before we actually create it and then create a control panel for it. This class could end up being very helpful to me.

I’ve started an exercise program. Well – not really… I am just doing some calisthenics to keep my heart rate up and then some bench presses and resistance crunches on the Bowflex. No strict schedule or anything, but I’ve put in about an hour each night for the past 3 nights. You see, I noticed the other evening a new warning label on my cholesterol meds. The new prescription bottle says that I shouldn’t eat grapefruit or drink grapefruit juice at any time while on the meds. Intruiged, I did some web research and found out that there is some chemical found in grapefruit that reacts with the medicine. While researching, I also read many complaints from people regarding muscle loss. Some were claiming that it was pretty substantial. Well, for those of you that know me, know that I have kinda “let myself go” the past few years. The last thing I really need is to get bigger. I figure that the little bit that I’m doing now will help counteract what I could be losing due to the medication.

During my downtime, I like to browse the web and catch up on news(mostly technology) and sports, but about a month ago or so, I ran into a blog that has quickly turned into one of my new favorites. Again, those of you that know me, know that I worked in the service industry for about 10-12 years. I loved the restaurant business, and I took extreme pride in my job. The money was good as well… In fact, a couple of those years actually exceeded my sysadmin salary from last year. Anyway, waiterrant.net has been a good way for me to reminisce about both the good and bad things of my “previous life.” I thnk it’s a great read whether you’re familiar with restaurant life or not.

So the Steelers made it to the Super Bowl!!! I’m really excited!!! It’s a nice story that Jerome Bettis will get to play his final(reportedly) game in his hometown for the title. I’m sure emotions will be high, but I hope the Steelers don’t become overconfident. I’ve been keeping an eye on the Seahawks’ stats all year and they’ve been pretty impressive. This game is going to be much closer than most people think.

I also read that Mario’s calling it quits again. This time it looks as if it’s for good. I’m so sad about this. I had planned on going to Raleigh this year to see the Hurricanes-Pens matchup just to say that I got to see Mario play… and then they found out about his irregular heartbeat, and all my hopes were lost. Earlier in the month, Mario put the Pens up for sale, but wants to keep the team in Pittsburgh. I truly hope he can accomplish this task. I know the Pens haven’t been great the past few years, and I know that they are underachieving this year, but the Pens should never leave Pittsburgh. It just wouldn’t be the same.

A thought just came to me… How many cities have won at least 3 of the big 4 sports championships?
Here’s what I have: New York, Boston, LA, Chicago, Pittsburgh… Any others?

No parent should ever have to bury their child

I’ll be praying for you and your family, Mr Dungy.

My sympathies go out to Terry and Jen whose Volunteers lost to lowly Vandy.

I can only hope that my NFL teams win tomorrow….

A couple of lines I wanted to jot down while it’s halftime(Steelers vs. Chargers)…

First I’m happy to announce that Amy is working again in the school system. Apparently a 1st grade teacher resigned with little notice and the elementary school called Amy and asked if she would teach the class for the year. Amy is very excited and a little nervous. Though she has had many years of experience in teaching, it has been over 4 years since she was last in a classroom. Also, she is used to teaching 3rd grade, so there will be a little learning curve trying to get used to the age difference.
Personally, I have mixed emotions about the job. I vividly remember the stress and the toll that the job put on Amy. For those of you that think that teaching is a cake-walk, I’m here to tell you differently. These teachers worry constantly about their kids as if the children were their own. Mix that in with either parents who don’t care, or those whose child does no wrong, and alot of administrative politics, and you’ve got a mess.

However, this is a different school, a different grade, and a different class. I know Amy will do a great job… She always does.
Amy still plans to continue her Mary Kay business and is promising to deliver the same customer service she always has. Not to mention that being a teacher brings in a lot of new potential customers!!!

On a completely diferent note, last Friday was Vic’s last day of work before being called out to serve his Country overseas for 9 months. Wednesday the 12th is Tina last day before she moves on to another company. I’d like to take the opportunity to wish them both well, so here goes:

Vic: Good-luck to you, man. I want you to know that while you are gone, our whole department will be thinking of you and wishing you well. We are all proud of you and what you do. Just please take care of yourself and come home safe.

Tina: Well, you finally did it! Took the big leap. I can’t begin to tell you how happy I am for you to be able to move to a place where you can actually show your talents. You have always been very skilled technically and I know that you will shine at your new position. Just don’t forget about me slaving away in my little cube. and please don’t lose touch. You and I have been through a lot of stuff. You realize that you were one of the elite few to attend my wedding! Take care, and call me for lunch… I’ll even let you drive!

Well, the 3rd quarter has already started, and from what I hear over in the living room, San Diego is driving pretty well. I’ll have lots of time to post more tomorrow night whle I’m at work for our company’s Annual Meeting.