Chris Webber Retirement

Brandon and I went to Chris Webber's Retirement game on Friday, February 6th. We had a great time. That was the first time this season that I saw the arena that packed. Usually there are open seats in every section, this time that wasn't the case. It was nice to see a few of the returning players too (Doug Christie, Mateen Cleeves, Scott Pollard and Vlade Divac). When Chris Webber came out for the first time the arena got loud and he just brings a smile to everyone's face. I'm looking forward to going to Vlade's Retirement, my guess is it's going to be even bigger. Here are a few pictures that I took during the ceremony.

Chris Webber w/ his replica jersey

Doug Christie, Chris Webber, and Vlade Divac

Upclose of Chris Webber

Rising of Chris Webber's Jersey

Back to School

Well I decided to go back to school and get my Associates Degree in Accounting. It's been almost 15 years since I've been in school. I have been offered a promotion at the company that I work for and the new job duties involve accounting. I only needed to take a few classses to learn the basics of accounting but I decided to go back to school to get the full degree since it will help me in the future. I decided to get my degree at University of Phoenix. I have known a few people that are either going to the school now or have already received their degree through this university. I should complete my degree by October 2010. My entire degree will be done taking online courses. I start my first class tomorrow. I will be taking 2 classes each semester which is 9 weeks long. So the next almost 2 years of my life will be working full time and also being a full time student. I know this is not going to be easy but I know this is something I need to do to further my career. I will keep everyone posted on how my classes are going. Keep checking my blogs for updates.

Winchester Mystery House

So yesterday my mom, Brandon and I headed to San Jose for the day. We went to cousin's house where my aunt and uncle met us there. We exchanged gifts and got ready to go to the Winchester Mystery House. My other cousin Ron met us there. We all had a great time, the Mansion tour was interesting but the Behind the Scenes tour wasn't all that interesting. One of the things that was interesting was that there were more windows in the Winchester Mystery House then the Empire State Building and the White House put together. I couldn't believe that. The entire mansion tour we walked 1.5 miles, that was surprising too. I couldn't believe how short the stairs were and how narrow the staircases were. If you haven't been to this historic place before you should go just once. It is a little expensive but worth going just once. Below are some pics from our trip.

Winchester Mystery House

Me, Brandon and Ron waiting for our Mansion Tour

The Winchester Mystery House Mansion

Mrs. Winchester's Bedroom - this is where she died in 1922.

The Orient Room

Rich and Brandon wearing there hard hats outside the water tower

Auntie, Brandon and my mom making wishes at the fountains

Christmas Day 2008

Christmas Day was relaxing. This morning once Brandon got up he opened up his stocking gifts, he got some speakers for his mp3 player, comic book, mp3 case, and Nexon gift card. Early afternoon Jill and Chris came over to hang out. We had some left over pie and snacked on some other left overs from last night. We exchanged gifts with Chris. Then Brandon, Chris and Greg played Guiter Hero on PS3 and American Idol on the Wii. Greg was having a blast. He sang really good. I'm sure he will be buying a microphone in the future to use on the Guiter Hero. ha ha We were going to go to a movie but we couldn't all decide on one and after playing the video games it got later in the day and Jill and Chris and things to do for the rest of the day. Before they left thou, Chris took me for a ride in his new Porshe. It's definetly a fast and cool car. He put the top down in the car and even thou it was pretty cold outside it didn't feel like that at all inside. He turned on the heater so it was nice and toasty, but with the windows up and the air glass protector in the back it keeps most of the air from coming inside. The rest of the day I'm planning on watching tv and Brandon and Greg will probably play video games the rest of the

night.

Brandon with his stocking gifts

Chris nice new porshe

Me and Brandon

Our Family

Christmas Eve 2008

It's been a while since I posted a blog. Last night was Christmas Eve, and we had a great time. There was 8 of us (myself, Greg, Brandon, mom, dad, grandpa, Jill, and Auntie Gail). We had alot of delicious food. My mom bought a 15lb prime rib and I cooked it. It turned out really good, see pics below. Auntie Gail made the green bean casserole which was delicious. Jill helped making the deviled eggs and mashed potatoes. She brought the 2 yummy desserts. After dinner we opened presents and had dessert. Everyone got alot of nice stuff. I was hoping for scarves and jackets. I got my wish and got both. Brandon got me this lovely dolphin necklace, see pics below. Brandon was playing guitar hero for everyone, that was fun. Jill and Brandon went to see Chris play in a concert at 11, I think he got home sometime after midnight. He said the concert was really good. I was exhausted by the time the night was over, but it was fun. Hope everyone had a great Christmas Eve with your families.

Xmas Tree

Our 15lb prime rib

Family Picture

Me showing off my new gifts

My Xmas Gift from Brandon - I love it

Christmas Silk Pie

Apple Cheesecake Pie

Great Papa and Brandon

Thanksgiving 2008

Well our Thankgiving was nice this year. My dad BBQ'd the turkey and my mom made the stuffing, yams and gravy. I made the mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and pumpkin pie dessert. Greg made the bean salad. Everything was delicious, and we had alot of left overs as usual. Brandon played Guitar Hero for my parents after dinner, he's getting pretty good. I will say he does love music and has a talent for playing. My mom and I looked through all the ads to figure out where we wanted to go shopping. Jill stopped by and visited for a little while after my parents left. I went to bed around 10pm that night. I set my phone to go off at 3am. At that time I woke up and got ready to go shopping. Since Brandon wanted to go and spend the weekend at my parents house he went with me at 3:30am. We got to my parents house around 4am and my mom was getting ready. Our first stop was at Walmart, but when we got there there were about 300-400 people waiting in line that was wrapped around the building, it was insane. So instead we went to Macy's across the street and we only had to wait in line with 20 or so other people. My mom and I got some really good deals. I got a shirt, 2 pairs of capri's, shirt for Brandon and a blanket for a Xmas gift for only $32.00. After that we went to Gottschalks but didn't get anything and then we made our 2nd attempt to go to Walmart. I was surprised we got a parking space right away and got the things we needed and left. Alot of people were buying TV's so I guess that was the huge deal for the people tha waited in line. After that we went to Circuit City and I got a DVD and my mom bought a CD. By this time it was 9:30am and my mom and I were getting hungry so we went to Marie Calendar's for breakfast. Then we went to Mervyn's. That was our last shopping stop. Jill picked up Brandon and we were going to get L&L to get lunch but they were closed. So we ended up getting chinese food from Raley's and took that over to our grandpa's house. We had lunch and then we helped him with the yard work in the front of his house. The rest of the afternoon I relaxed and took a nap. That night Greg and I got out the Christmas stuff and I put up our tree, ligthts and other decorations. Greg is going to put the lights on the house today. I can't wait. I love Christmas. Ok, well until the next time.....everyone enjoy the rest of there weekend.

Halloween

Well yesterday was Halloween, it was a fun but very long day. I will attach pictures of the pumpkins that Brandon and I carved and me in my vampire princess costume. I had a fun time dressing up, but I was glad to get out of the shoes I was wearing that's for sure. At work we had a potluck / costume contest / best decorative suite contest. Of course we had alot of great food. A bunch of us dressed up, it's always nice to see alot of participation. There were some really great costumes. At night Brandon passed out candy, I got 63 (Mike & Ikes / Hot Tamales) and 150 (dum dums). We only ended up having 31 kids that came. About half of what we had last year, so therefor we had a bunch of candy left over. But the good thing is it's stuff the 3 of us will eat. There were some cute kids that were dressed up but there were a few that didn't have a costume at all. I don't mind giving candy to teenagers and even adults for that matter as long as there dressed up and not just wearing a mask. We had this one boy come that was maybe a year old he was a little devil, so cute. Obviously he was out getting candy for his parents. But that's ok, he was adorable doing it. Enjoy the pics!

Brandon's Scary Pumpkin

My pumpkin - 2 bats

Rachel the vampire princess

Me with Dracula