Christmas...

Happy Holidays everybody! Hope everybody had a great time with family and friends… Did you get the gifts you wanted? Drink eggnog? Have a White Christmas? Did your grandma get run over by a reindeer? Hope nobody got visited by Mr. Hanky, the Christmas Pooh… he loves me, and I love you! My week prior to Christmas was somewhat eventful… Tuesday night I met up with some friends in Antigua at Monoloco, and during the famous “Sweet Caroline” (as performed by the famous Neil Diamond) Bob and Laura danced on the bar counter… Zac (bartender) encouraged me to get up as well, but I was afraid I wouldn’t fit and hit my head on the ceiling.

Laura and Bob getting their groove on the counter (Zac in the background)

On Wednesday, I believe I broke my pinky toe while walking around the house… I was walking at night and hit the corner wall straight on with my right foot (which is on the same leg were I tore my ACL and had a really bad ankle sprain… guess that’s why I’m left footed). The next day the pinky toe was blue / purple and somewhat painful; my dad looked at it and told me he thought it was broken. The thing is, you can’t really do anything about a broken pinky toe, except deal with the small pain (nope, there’s no pinky toe cast).

For lunch on Wednesday, we met up with friends at TGIF for a semi Christmas celebration, which lasted way too long… my lunch break went from 12:45 to 3:15 PM… nice!!! Thursday I got together with my dad for lunch at Quizno’s (hhmm… crunchy) and on Friday we had our work Christmas party at the bosses’ house. Invite was at 1PM, left work around 12:45 and still had to stop by to buy a gift for Secret Santa (I like Evil Santa / White Elephant better). I got there around 1:45 PM, but I wasn’t the last person to show up, which is all that matters. Had some really good mojitos, and then some rum (Solera, aged 18 years) and Pepsi… so freaking good. Later on I had dinner with my friends, and finally proceeded to go to Antigua to finish off the night.

Bob had called me on Friday afternoon and asked if I was willing to help unload some container at his project, since the project was officially closed that day and there weren’t that many people who would be there to help unload (Jud and Kevin were also helping out). Of course, me being the humanitarian and great friend I am, told him I would pitch in. Long story short, after having some beers at Monoloco, I headed over to the project, where the container was just arriving (around 1:15 AM). I should clarify that it was arriving, but not yet ready to unload, since the trailer that was moving the container was having a very difficult time parking in the unloading area. I swear, it took him about an hour to park the freaking thing in the right spot… in which time we had a small car crash happen right in front of us (one car smashed into a pick up truck’s wheel, after which the pick up truck could not steer the car, and then the guy that hit him trying tried explain to the cops that the reason the truck wasn’t steering was because of a lack of steering fluid… hahahaha). Anyways, after container was ready to unload, it took us about 2 hours to unload all the things that had being donated to the project (I wasn’t as mobile as I would have liked to be, the broken pinky toe was really bothering towards the end). I didn’t get home till about 4:30 AM… I was so freaking tired, but thankful I would be able to sleep in (no nephews at home).

Saturday was my cousin’s birthday (she turned 32), so I headed over to my aunt’s house, and then met some friends for some beers at Tre Fratelli. Sunday of course was Christmas Eve, so my bro and I headed over to my Sara’s house to celebrate with my dad and some of my dad’s family. The other stop of the night was at my mom sister’s house (tia Doris), which is where all of my mom’s side of the family gathers. We had some nice fireworks, great laughs, prayed at 12 o’clock and later on headed home to open our gifts. I was very happy / thankful with all the cool things I got: a bunch of Bosox stuff (camping / drinking chair, sweatshirt, shirt), some clothing items, and tons of CDs… thanks everybody!!!

On the 25th, everybody came over to our house for turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, and Xmas cookies… Here are some pics of all the Christmas events:

Marnix and me on the 21st... (he almost bumped his head on the ceiling)

Mom, Patty, Carlos, Noah, Rodolfo, and Marnix

My dad's brother, my dad's sister, my dad, Rodolfo and me (on the 24th)

My mom's side of the family... guess who's the tallest?

Now, I’m back at work and getting ready for the XL Party at the beach (Dec 30th). I’ll be pitching in, since they sorta asked me to help out a bit, but I’m not sure what my role will be. A whole bunch of friends should be coming, and everybody I know and don’t know has been pressuring me for invites…

Again, I hope everybody had a great Xmas and that this New Year is filled with blessings and new adventures… may this new year be the best yet! Muchas bendiciones para todos…

Christmas in DC...

Abrazos and see you next year,
CRCP

It's been a long December...

Aloha! How’s is everybody doing!?!?! Me, I’ve been enjoying this long December… My sister and my nephews will be leaving this coming Friday (pobrecito yo) to Haiti, and I’ve feel like I’ve made a great connection with Marnix. He loves coming into my room and listening to music while staring at the equalizer, really enjoys running around the house, and it’s just a joy to have around (except when he needs to be taken to the bathroom). I’m gonna miss the little fellow, as well as my sister and Noah… I really wish they lived closer so we could see them all the time.

Marnix and me...

Marnix and Noah...

Speaking of long December, Wednesday night I had to stay late at work because my boss was presenting the 2007 budget to the Committee in order for it to get approved. With changes, additions, and discussion of the PowerPoint presentation, we didn’t leave here till 2 AM… I didn’t get to work till about 9:40 AM the next day (actually, it was the same day).

Friday night I went to Antigua to meet up with Bob, Kevin (who doesn't know how cell phones work), and friends… After debating on where to go to, we ended up going to the default place: Monoloco (sorta like my Café Citron / Mr. Smith’s in DC). I decided it was gonna be a Long Island Ice Tea night… which sounded like a great idea, except I got wasted after two of those and a Chocolate Cake shot on the house (thanks Zac) + my stomach was a royal mess the next day. We then headed to the park for awhile to finish of some beers and finally ended the night at an afterparty. .

On Saturday I talked to Bulchi, who is doing great with the new house and all; except for a little incident that might prevent him from leaving the country for the holidays… hope it all works out for him. Later on, we (bro,sis + her family, and me) had plans to get together with my dad for an early Xmas dinner, since my sister would not be here for Xmas eve. We had a blast, I had ham and lasagna, and everybody else had tamales (I do not like tamales, not sure why). Here is a pic of the event:

The family for dinner...

Sunday, we went out to lunch to Sushi-Ito and had some very different sushi than the one I’ve had before. At the restaurant, they did have the regular sushi, but they also had some Latin sushi, which included one with beef and some weird tomato / mayo sauce (and it was hot, as in warm). Anyways, the regular sushi was good… and speaking of Asian food, I wish they had a good Thai restaurant down here… I really miss eating at Busara so much (Pad Thais, Sum Tam, Larb Gai, Cashew chicken, spicy coconut broths…. hhhmmm).

Finally, I wanna wish all my blog readers Happy Holidays and a Feliz Año Nuevo…. Like the song goes, it’s been a long December, and there’s reason to believe, maybe this year will be better than the last. Hope this next year is full of blessing for everybody and that all your wishes come true.

Felices Fiestas a todos y un fuerte abrazo Navideño!!!
CRCP

P.S. - Ozzie came in second in the Survivor Finale… I was hoping he would win, but Yule won by one vote.
P.S. II - The Bosox finally signed the Japanese pitcher Dice-K… he should be a good one. The total transaction to acquire the pitcher cost them about US $107M…. a lot of dough!!! Eri, you should be a Bosox fan now!!!
P.S. III - Plenty of holiday parties this week… should be tons of fun!!!

Déjà vu…

After watching Survivor on Thursday night and seeing Jonathan get voted out, I picked up Lucky and headed down to Don Emiliano, which is a steak restaurant, but has this very cool lounge that gets packed Thursday thru Saturday (where the Zimeri twins were celebrating their b-day). I was only planning on staying a bit, but once the vodkas started flowing, it was hard to remember I had told Lucky we would probably be back by 11 PM…. Needless to say, that did not happen and I was extremely tired the next day.

Pamela, Estuardo and Carlos (Lounge at Don Emiliano)

Carlos, Valery (one of the bday girls), Gaby, and Lucky

Friday night I headed down to Antigua and met up with Jud at Monoloco for some beers. While sitting there, we exchanged some funny drunk driving stories, and were later joined by Bob, Kevin, Erin and some other people. Then, a couple of people that I know from work came over and said hi, they told me that they were with a group of friends upstairs and should come join them later on. When I did go upstairs, funny thing was, even though we all work for Industrias Licoreras (company that makes rum), we were all drinking beer... We all left Monoloco at closing time, and headed over to the Central Park to chill there for a bit.

Later on the evening / morning, while waiting for Zac (bartender / manager at Monoloco) to finish closing, one funniest thing ever happened. Some random dude started talking to me, and said that he thought he knew me from somewhere… I told them that I came to Antigua often and hung out with some gringos, including one named Bob. He then says he thinks he exchanged shirts with a Bob some months ago, which of course I remembered…. (link to August entry referencing the event http://carlosrcruz.blogspot.com/2006/08/beers-and-bowling-and-basketball.html). So I called Bob over and asked him if he remembered the dude. Bob, having puked the night of the shirt exchange, didn’t remember much, but it was established that it was in fact the same dude and that he still had the shirt in his closet… Hahahahehehe. The two dudes from San Marcos ended up being really cool people, though a little crazy, since they drive about 6 hours almost every weekend to come party in Antigua.

Jud "watering" the plants at Central Park...

Bob, Jud, Kevin, the dude from San Marcos, and some other random dude talking to us

Saturday some more family came over to visit since they wanted to see the nephews, and later on my sister had asked me to baby sit, since she had invited my mom, two aunts, and cousin for dinner in Antigua at Panza Verde (amazing food and hotel). After Marnix went to sleep, I watched “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest”, which was actually very entertaining.

On Sunday, I played some flag football (I dropped two TD passes… but also caught two), had lunch with the family at TGI Friday’s, headed over to grandma’s for advent, and watched “The Sea Inside” later on the evening. It was a really cool movie that reminded me a bit of a dear friend back in the US…. I sure hope Quique is doing well.

The family on Saturday...

At Grandma's on Sunday...

Finally, my dad came into town yesterday for the Holidays, so he came up to the house and we later met up with him for dinner. He’ll be in town for a month, which means he’s done with work for 2006. Speaking of 2006, I’ve almost been back in Guatemala for a year!!! I left my home in DC on Dec 17th 2005 … country roads, take me home, to the place, I belong…. How time flies!!!

Ahoy!
CRCP

P.S. Freddy Adu got traded away from DC United!!! What?!?! Why was he traded to Salt Lake City?
P.S. II - Still first place in my NFL picks… I have a six game lead with only three weeks to go!!!
P.S. III - Another Late Show Top Ten…

Late Show’s Top Ten Questions To Ask Yourself Before Eating At Taco Bell
10. "Have I notified my next of kin about my lunch plans?"
9. "Why is the counter kid wearing a hazmat suit?"
8. "Will the hot sauce kill the bacteria?"
7. "Is this how they poisoned that Russian spy?"
6. "Do I really want to succumb to a taco-related death?"
5. "Should I go somewhere safer for lunch like Fallujah?"
4. "Will this help me meet the recommended E.coli daily requirement?"
3. "Why are all the customers hooked up to IVs?"
2. "What would Kristie Alleyy do?"
1. "Wait -- when was Taco Bell not tainted with E.coli?"

Late works hours and tremors…

On Friday I had to stay at work late… and when I mean late, I don’t mean 8 PM, I mean 12:30 AM. I was asked to join a team in some analysis since they were short on man power, but we didn’t start the analysis until Friday afternoon, and didn’t get finished till midnight! I was sorta upset, since I had friends at different events: Bob, Jud and company were in the city at this bar called Shots; Lucky, Margit, and friends were at an early Xmas get together at Karen’s house. Since I left work so late, my eyes and my back were killing me, and I just went straight home and crashed..

Saturday, I was woken up early as usual by the nephews… Not able to sleep sucks! Ran some errands in the afternoon and then headed down to Antigua for another night of crazyness. I got there around 9:30 PM, met up with Bob, Jud, Kevin + friends and after hitting a couple of spots, stopped by Motherland Flava for a few drinks. After about 20 minutes of being there, the police came in and asked everybody to stand up since they were performing searches (padding down) on everybody, looking for drugs / guns. Usually, I wouldn’t have minded, but for some reason they padded me down twice, and the police officers were walking around with rifles and crap… not a good scene for the tourists. Anyways, after padding everyone down and checking for IDs, they explained that they were increasing security in Antigua for the holidays, which I guess is good, but do they have to come into the bars with the big guns???

Afterwards, we decided (about 10 of us) to head to La Chimenea for some salsa / merengue / reggeaton music and a few more beers (though some people need to learn how to tap the beer properly, cause a few beers were spilled). When the place closed, we looked for an afterparty to head to (Bulchi actually called me at this time, and I spoke to him for about 15 minutes... thanks for call buddy), but since the police were out and about, most afterparties were closed and there was no place to go to. Then this one dude on the street came up to me an offered us some nice packaged deal: Rum (bottle of XL), cola, cigarettes (though I don’t smoke), and something to snack on for Q140 (about $20). We didn’t think about it that much, took all the goodies and headed over to Bob’s house, the rooftop to be more specific. It was a bit cold outside, but the stars where out, plus the rum and conversation were flowing… Very random conversations were had, which I’m sure made sense at the time. Around 3:30 AM, I decided it was time for me to go back to the city… which means I got home around 4 AM.

Sunday morning, the kids didn’t wake me up, but my dad called to see how we were doing around 9:30 AM… so I had to get up and talk with him (I hadn’t talked to him in about two weeks). The family headed out to Los Cebollines for lunch, were after ordering drinks and starting to devour some chips, the earth trembled. We had a tremor that was reported at 5.3 on the Richter scale and lasted about 14 seconds!!! Phew! Quite an event… I thought I was getting a little dizzy and that was why everything was moving around me, but then realized it was something else. Funny how we all usually freeze and wait to see if the trembling it’s going to continue (and start running) or end soon.
Some pics from Los Cebollines:

Rodolfo, Marnix, and Patty

Marnix stuffing his little mouth with chips...

Rodolfo, Marnix, Patty, and Noah (maybe he was shaken up by the tremor)

Noah and your host later on that night...

On Tuesday we watched “Lucky Number Slevin” at home, which I highly recommend if you like Pulp Fiction type movies; action packed, great actors, and plenty of twists and turns.

Aloha,
CRCP

P.S. - Marnix is being potty trained right now… so he get to walks around the house in his underwear all the time… hehehe.
P.S. II - Looks like the Red Sox signed J.D.(5 y/$70 M) Drew and Julio Lugo (4y /$36 M)… Bosox spending a lot of money this offseason.
P.S. III - Another Late Show Top Ten…

Late Show’s Top Ten Least Popular New Toys

10. Madonna Home Adoption Kit
9. The Easy-Bake Meth Lab
8. K-Fed Action Figure -- Now with Taco Bell Uniform!
7. Scientology Conversion Kit
6. Tickle Me Mark Foley
5. Tom Cruise Action Figure (Sofa Sold Separately)
4. George Bush See & Say Dictionary
3. Lil' Britney Divorce Kit
2. I'll-Sue-You-For-Touching-Me-Innapropriately Elmo
1. Heckle Me Kramer