Valentines Dinner

Tania and I went out for valentine’s dinner on Thursday. We beat the crowds and had a nice enjoyable dinner. If you watch America’s Top Chef on Bravo then you should know the Chef from Italy named Fabio. The restaurant he owns and cooks at is in Moorpark called Café Firenze. We have been their before and know the food is exceptional. Through my work I am able to buy a $25 gift certificate $7 so it was also a good deal.

We tape the show and are a little behind so we were not up to date on Fabio’s standing in the show. When sat down, we saw him coming out of the kitchen to talk to a few guests. I was surprised he wasn’t still on the show because he seems to be one of the better chefs. I asked our waiter about it and he said Fabio made it to the finals and he would be going back to film the last episode in a week or.


Tania had the Butternut squash ravioli and I have the solver dole wrapped up with spinach. The presentation of the food wonderful. My fish looked like little fish cinnamon roles. For dessert we a trio of chocolate cake, bread pudding and cheese cake. The cheese cake was served warm and was incredible. I love exceptional good. It’s too bad great restaurants cost so much, but we got out of there for $50 (including the $25 off).

Not bad for a nice romantic dinner with my wife with food from a soon to be world famous chef. Let’s see the other husbands’ out there top that.

Back Surgery Recovery Update

Due to special request, another update on the progress of back surgery. It seems kind of hard to believe, but it is very difficult to monitor or explain the degree to which I am healing.

Before surgery, I was having constant pain and cramping in my left leg. Most alarming was that the muscles in calf were beginning to atrophy due to pinch nerves in my back. These symptoms are about 90% better. However, after shorts walks my left leg is much more sore than it should be and this is very worry some.

While my leg pain has improved since surgery, my back pain is actually worse now than it was before surgery. It has been three months since the surgery so it is not unusual to still be in more pain than before surgery. Back surgery can take a long time to heal. For some, it takes a full year.

Since surgery my pain has slowly (very slowly) improved. The improvement comes weekly rather than daily. The first two months after surgery my improvement was measured by how much less pain pills I needed each day. I started by taking 2 Norco (super strength vicodin) very four hours, both night and day. Today I am taking about four over a 24 hour period (two during the day, one late at night and at about 4 am). I also take a muscle relaxer at bedtime.

I have been at this frequency for about the past month. My general pain level has also been about the same for the past month. But this doesn’t mean I haven’t been improving. Improvement is now measured by increase in activity. So a month ago, I my pain level was about the same as it is today, but I was spending most of my day lying on the couch watching television. I am now back to work and getting out of the house much more. I never know what type of activity will set my back off and get the pain going.

I still haven’t started physical therapy yet. My doctor wants the bone between my two vertebrae to be better grown before starting. I am going to the gym a few days a week to talk on the treadmill and light swimming.

A Dog's Life

Clover is by far the best dog we have ever owned. If it wasn't for his constant shedding he would be perfect. The street our new house is on is pretty step, especially when you recently had back surgery. Because of this, I haven't been taking Clover for walks like I used to. The poor dog is getting fat and lazy.

However, when Amber came down to visit us over the Christmas holiday, she took clover the to dog park several times. It is only about a seven minute drive from the house - very convenient.

That's one of the great things about having kids. While they are young you spend a lot effort trying to enspire them. Then when they get older, they get to return the favor. Amber really inspired us to to be more diligent in taking clover out. Crystal, Tania and I have all taken to the dog park since Amber left. He totally LOVES it.

Clover never spends much time around other dogs so when he was around them he didn't know how to act. He is become much more doggy-socialized now. It's funny though, he likes to run and chase other dogs but quickly becomes bored and comes back to us. That is until the next dog runs by then he runs off and chase them. However, he still really doesn't know how to play. When the other dogs start jumping up and stuff Clover just looks confused.

Unfortunately, all the recent rains have prevented us to keep up this good habit. We will just have to try to make sure to start up again when the weather improves.

Hey Amber - Clover thanks you!

Chineese New Year's Parade

One thing that happens as your children get older is that you slowly stop attending parades. From the small city sponsored parades made up mostly of boy scouts and girl scouts to the larger ones with elaborate floats, you just slowly loose interest as the amazed looks these things bestow on your child's face stops occuring.

One of the local parades we never attended in the past was the Chineese New's Years Parade that occures in China Town. For those who never been, China Town is North of down town LA near Dodger Staduim. The parade was schedule for last Saturday and the weather forecasts for for sunny skys, light wind and temps in the low 70's -- perfect parade weather!

So Tania, Crystal, Cory and I went down to China town to check it out. I put the shades on and saved a spot on the parade route while everyone went shopping and hunted for some good Chineese take out for me eat while I enjoyed the sights.

You go to the Pasadena Rose parade for the floats, but the Chineese New Years parade is all about the dragons and they didn't dissapoint this year. Now don't get me wrong, this parade is small time compare to the Rose parade, but it is worth the trip and the crowds are no where near the parade celebrating the American New Years parade.

The dragons come is all colors and sizes. If you ever decide to go try to remember to sit in front of the First National Bank. It has a balocony on the second floor. I don't know who was up their but they had their own dragon costume and all the dragon in the parade stopped in front of the building to do a dance at the dragon on the balcony, who dance back at them in return.

As with most parades, where were a lot of bands to listen to and adorable kids to look at. There were also a lot of martail arts demostrations. If you haven't been to our own China Town here in Los Angeles, this is a perfect way to make a day of it. The Chineese calendar is a lunar calendar so their New Years is usually a few weeks after ours. Let Tania and I know if this sounds fun to you, we would love to be your guides.

Acai Berry

Has any heard of the acai berry?

I guess Operah Winfrey drinks it and talked about it on her show.

Has anyone tired it?
I have a friend who used to work with me at JDPA. She became a full time mom after having her second child but is still friends with many of us at work. She now sells Monavie which is a juice made primarily of the acai berry. She has tried to get me to try it but I have always ignored her.

One of Tania’s doctors is having take super doses of vitamins. The doctor also wanted her to start drinking acai berry juice twice a day. I thought if a doctor is telling Tania to take it maybe I should look into this a little more.

The acai berry comes from the acai Palm tree which is a tall and slender and grows in South American (Brazil). The acai berry is a dense source of anthocyanins and has the highest amount of antioxidant properties, is higher than any other edible berry on the planet. I guess this makes it good for you? If you go online you will see a lot claims of what it can help from weight loss to depression to muscle aches and joint pain.

Unfortunately, the juice doesn’t come cheap. It cost anywhere between $18 - $45 a bottle. The cheaper brands contain mostly water, while the more expensive brands contain more acai berry juice than any other ingredient. Costco sells an it at $18, but it is mostly water.

We bought a bottle at a vitamin store. It taste like medicine and is very gritty. I also called my friend and she brought over a couple of bottles of the Monavie brand that she sells. It is about $40 a bottle but she gave me a couple for free to try. The Monavie brand taste much better is suppose to have a lot more things in it to make it better.

Tania and I are both going to try it out. We’ll let you know what we think.

Back to the Grind

Well, I am finally back at work. I was really starting to get board staying at home so it's nice to be able to put my mind back to use again. However, sitting at a desk all day isn't the best for a bad back. Overall, I am doing okay, but this has helped me realize how much further I have to go before I am fully recovered. While my leg pains are much better, my lower back hurts more know than it did before the surgery. Patients, patients, patients.

Memories from the Old Neighborhood

I just connected to two new friends via Facebook. Andrea Hansen and Mary Gallo. Andrea found me first. I am not sure how. For half of my brothers and sisters, childhood memories reside in Morgan Hill but for Cathy and I 6397 Mt Ripley Drive, Cypress CA will be and address forever engraved in the memory banks. While I was never really “friends” with either of Andrea or Mary (after all there were girls) hearing from them really brought back some old memories. Memories I whose connections I would have thought had withered away long ago.
Even though Andrea lived right next door and we were the same age we never talked much to each other. It’s not that we didn’t like each other, I just don’t think we thought much about each other one way or the other. This was how it was from grade school to high school. We talked to each other like you do with someone you see in church every Sunday for the past ten years but never really spend time with.
There were a group of us that lived within four houses to the left and right that always hung out and played together. Andrea never participated much. I always assumed she thought herself a little better than the rest of us, but being a dumb kid it didn’t dawn on me until I was much older that both of parents worked and she was allowed to go outside of the house (or let friends in) until her parents got home.
For those of you who can remember the Cypress house. You likely can remember the Hansen’s dogs. They were very into dog shows and also had three or more pugs. Pugs are funny dogs. While most dogs have barks that are loud and alarming, pug barks also sound more like laughing than yelling. Their dogs used to always chase there own tails. Based on Andrea's Facebook page, it looks like she is into the dog show thing herself, but her dogs are much bigger than pugs (not sure what they are). She lives somewhere in the Pheonix area.
Mr. Hansen used to spend many nights sitting in his garage with the door open. He would sit in a folding beach chair drinking beer and watch us kids play street play, hide & seek, etc. He always looked a little intimidating. When I was young, I thought he didn’t trust the neighborhood kids and was keeping his eyes on us. As I got older and had built up a resume of conversations with him, I realized he just enjoyed watching kids play more than watching the junk on TV. No one thought much of the safety of kids playing out in the streets back in those days, but it was probably helpful to have a parent watching over us like that. I know it did help cut down the fights between the kids.
Memories...