THE JOLLY RANCHER IN ARGENTINA

Joe was in Mexico City an in Buenos Aires this week. He'll be home tomorrow afternoon........YYYYYIIIIIPPPPEEEE!!!!

He took these pictures, of a Tango Troupe in downton Buenos Aires, with his Blakberry.

"I Want To Tango With My Mango".

In Mexico you call a very good looking guy a "Mango".....
And that's M-A-N-G-O.........NOT MENGO..............O.K. Joey?

MoonRaka


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Movie Review: Superbad

Julie and I saw it last Friday. We liked it. It is somewhat similar to "Knocked Up" based on the type of humor. They can still make a funny high school movie. I'd say it is modern day equivalent of these oldies/goodies....


1984': "16 Candles"
1985: "Better Off Dead"
1990's: "American Pie" (are we really almost at 10 years past this movie?? Ouch!!)

Maybe not quite as good as these classics - but it's funny enough..

Question of the day...

Lets try something new. I'll put a trivia question out there to see who can get the answer first. Post answers as a comment. I'll start with a theme...

Question: What kind of fruit is an avocado?

Monster Bugs

When I was a gagagoo, I remember running into the living room and telling my Dad that there was a dead bug behind the door of my bedroom. He asked me, "What did it look like?" with his Colombian accent, and I got on all fours with my back toward the floor. I was teased about that the rest of my life. (By the way, to anyone who didn't get to meet my Dad, you would have loved him.)

Here goes the real bug story: John and Deb recently finished their basement and did a great job. The room grew into a bar with lots of ambience, a movie room, an office, a walkout basement, and a half bath. They were so sweet, or such sweet liars, that they said they bought an extra movie chair for their husbandless sister (Deb's more of a sister than John is a brother-just kidding Johnny:) just in case I ever went over to watch movies with them. Ain't that sweet? Anyway, it happened, I went over and watched a movie. Yes, we have no life, and the movie took so much longer to watch than 2 hours because not only are we all blind, we're deaf and had to rewind every single section, which was preceeded with a "What did he say?" Then we'd all take a stab at guessing. The rewinding was inevitable. Anyone wanna join our Senior Citizen Club? You must eat an abundance of popcorn, drink close enough mixed drinks, watch movies at levels of volume reaching the Andes, and be willing to relinquish 5 hours for each flick oh, and order a cheese pizza at 11 PM. After the million hour movie, we were cleaning up our mess, when I noticed what I thougth to be a Halloween decoration; Deb is so into Halloween. I pointed toward the baseboard and said, "Oh wow, look at that!" John and Deb looked where I was pointing and said, "Oh my God!" It was the size of the Taratulas we saw in Uruguay. It's amazing how much bugs grow in retrospect. Segue... When we were fishing at a dam in Uruguay, a guy came by with a broomstick that had a 5" pointy nail sticking out of the end of it, and proceeded to stab all of the tarantulas crawling around. He'd stab them right through the middle of their boddies, one after another, and shish-kabobbed (sp?) about 5 of them. It was so creepy because their legs kept trying to run away even though they were stuck on the nail. Eeeww! Back to the story... The most heebeegeebee part of all is that the monster (because spiders that size don't fall under the category of spider in my book) crawled in through the window where John was sitting for the five hour movie. What if it had gotten on his shoulder?!#$&* I took a photo with my phone. Keep in mind that the baseboard is about 8" wide. I tried to get them to catch it so we could find out what kind of monster it was, but Johnny decided to kill it. It took him a half a century to get up the nerve to smash it with his sneaker.

Retrospective

When I was a child and my younger brother was four we were at a beach in Mexico. He was sitting in a little inflatable raft on the beach. Every once in a while a wave would come in and lift the raft above the sand and he was so excited that he was oozing spit out of his mouth which collected into a foam bubble on his chin. I felt something under the water and grabbed it and it was some sort of strange sea creature which freaked me out. I ran out of the water and asked my parents what they thought it might have been. Because I was freaked out by the whole thing I was trying to act cool and laugh about it but internally I was actually a bit scared for reasons I can not explain. The laughter was obviously forced and I think my parents picked up on it and wondered why I was being such a wimp about a sea creature.

Later that night we I took a shower before doing to town for dinner. After my shower I forgot to put the cover back on the shower drain. We went to town for a nice dinner and came back and went to sleep. In the middle of the night I woke up in need of bathroom relief. I went to the bathroom and to my chagrin three huge cockroaches had come up out of the uncovered shower drain and were facing me from the bathroom floor. I got scared again and turned off the light and went back to bed. My parents heard me stirring and they asked why I had not gone to the bathroom. I told them that I had seen three huge cockroaches so I did'nt want to go anymore. My dad went in and killed three huge cock roaches and told me I was safe to go... I went back in and when I opened the toilet lid three cockroaches were dead in the toilet. Afterwards I went to bed and the entire night I couldn't sleep. I started to think there were three huge cock roaches in my pillow. The next morning I was glad to leave tecolulta.

Happy Birthday Raquel and Greg!

Today is the shared birthday of Raquel Morales and Greg Reed! Amazing coincidence isn't it? Apparently it is also the birthday of Macaulay Culkin :) So what is in store for our family Virgos today? I found a couple things on the web which definitely holds truth in our family:

Many Virgos can be found working in the "service to others" industries, ranging from welfare work, doctors, school-teachers through to practising natural forms of healing like massage, herbal remedies etc...

...Virgos are givers and when the chips are down and you need a friend, the one available during those testing times when you need advice or companionship the most, is likely to be a Virgo. Virgos understand human frailties better than most, because they are so deep and reflective themselves.

We love you both very much and hope the year ahead is another fantastic one!

(Raquel in a new birthday dress from Grampy)

(Greg and Amy)

What is your favorite book?

Post a comment with your favorite book.

Mine is Atlas Shrugged.

Saturday Morning

10:30 AM - 20 miles behind me.. Santa Cruz and Monterey Bay under the Marine layer in the background... Life is good..

Same Side!!!

You may remember back in June, Chogs (aka. Bryan Sendelweck, aka. "The Dean") flew out to San Jose for the Muddy Buddy. It is two man, one bike, leap frogging bike/run race that is 7 miles long. There are a handful of cities in the US that host this event including San Jose, LA, Boston, Austin and Boulder. At the San Jose event we suffered a flat tire at the beginning of the race which was a huge hold up but still a lot of fun. We decided we'd sign up for the Boulder race in hopes of finishing without any technical difficulties. I flew into Colorado Springs late Friday night for the race weekend.

The race is broken up into heats by age. We signed up for the "Beast" heat which means that the combined weight of the team is over 400 lbs! We were right on the edge weighing exactly 400 lbs so we went out for huge burritos, margaritas and beers in Boulder the night before to make sure we were adequately qualified for this category.

Paul with a sissy marg, Joe & Bryan with manly mini-margs at The Rio in Boulder.

We did wonder why we always end up eating spicy mexican food and drinking the night before the race. It is a horrible way to prepare. We both agreed that if we lived in the same state and got to hang out more frequently, we wouldn't feel so compelled to take an opportunity at partying. Racing and partying is not necesarily a synergy from an athletic perspective, but why not use the trip out as an opportunity for both!

Chogs's girlfriend Myra has a super fun group of friends we hung out with the night before. As a result we lost track of time we made it back to Chog's parents house in Louisville at around 2:00 AM singing Justin Timberlake. We had to wake up early the next morning at about 5:45 in order to make the shotgun race start at 8:00 AM. We got up, ate and were off to Boulder Reservoir!

Overall we both agree that the Boulder event was much more organized than San Jose. There were 27 teams in the beast category and we ended up finishing 2nd place out of the 27!! Much better without the flat tire! We were only about 40 seconds behind the 1st place team. We think next year we might take it a bit more seriously to test the bounds of our potential. In either case we're proud of our finish...

We wanted to thank our spectators!! We had an excellent showing! My mom came to cheer us on as well as my "Best in-laws on my wife's side of the family - in the world", Greg and Amy!! Myra also came out to cheer us on. I was very proud to have such a supportive showing! It is always fun to "get out in the day" with family and do something different. We really appreciate everyone getting up so early to come watch and for taking all the photos I've posted!

(Bryan at the start with the Bike)

(Shotgun start - Bryan in the blue shirt with white bike tires)

(Shotgun start for the runners. Im' in there with a green shirt near that trojan looking guy)
(Entering the Mud pit at the finish)
(Almost there!)
(Just a few feet more!)

(Hanging out with the fam!)
(Myra, Chogs, Amy, Me, Raquel)

What does "Same Side" mean? We wanted to come up with a signature move that would set us apart from all other runners. We came up with the "Same Side" running technique. Normally people run or walk with their arms and legs moving in opposite directions in order to balance out their motion. Same side is where you have your arms and legs going the same direction. It looks very awkward like some type of ghoul, but it is quite intimidating for the competition and my wife thinks it looks very manly. (Ok - I might have made that up - but she might think so!)

JU DON DU DAT JU BAT TING!

It took me forever to catch up on the blog. Delinquent blogger here. Ju don du dat ju bat ting! Long story.

Here goes what's new with Sue: Just as I was going to quit La Candela (Salsa band), the guys in the band gave me the abandoned puppy look, and those who know me, know I can't say no to a homeless creature, so I bought the band. Now I'm trying to get it back up to ground zero. There, my delinquent blogger excuse. Also, I'm going on a tour with Manuel Molina, from whom we stole comments such as, "I'm so amazing" (meaning, That's amazing), and this one really cracks me up, if one was to say "I love your dress", Manuel would add, "So am I", instead of "Me too". They have now become Manuelismos. On the 4th of July I was so impressed with Amber's Spanish, and I can't wait to hear some more, so let me know when we can all get together again. I love the gatherings. OK, rewind... I'll be traveling to Egypt, Turkey, Spain, Greece and Italy. I think there is one more stop, but Manuel won't answer his phone, so I'm running with this story. I'll be gone from Sept. 19th- Oct. 17th. I'm going knowing that I'll have to trust my sons with the house, gardens, plants and pets. Oh well is all that comes to mind. I've always wanted to feel Greece and Italy, and then add the Middle East... I used to be a belly dancer/instructor, and I always wondered why; maybe I'll find out. I'll try to check email and blogs while I'm gone.

Love you all

Cuncu

Army Video

Just got back from Boulder where we ran the Muddy Buddy (I'll add a post for this later). While we were in CO my mom gave me the DVD of J's Army video... Julie and I started watching it last night. This is the complete version of the one on the family video album. It is super funny! It's like watching something on MTV but you also get a taste of life in the Army. Julie and I watched half of it last night and are going to finish tonight (it's like an hour long!). He really pulls it together with music etc... Those scenes are hilarious where he's dancing in the barracks. Where does he come up with that???

Julie laughed, gave me a funny look and said: "What is up with all you Morales men???" I have to admit, it made me proud :)

Anyone who has not seen it yet should definitely get a copy.. J - since you guys do have some spare time... please make another one!

---- Joe...

Also- while we were on-line we were looking for Cas Haley videos.. He's the guy that came in second place on America's got talent.. He's awesome.. Check out his "Walkin' on the moon" on youtube...

Im in boulder and really liking it!

Muddy Buddy - Boulder

Many may remember a post I submitted back in June about the San Jose Muddy Buddy. Well Chogs and I had a great time so we decided to sign up for the Muddy Buddy in Boulder too. It takes place this Sunday a the Boulder Reservoir. Here is the info:

http://www.muddybuddy.com/events.php?id=6

If anyone is interested in coming out to to cheer us on and watch us get dirty we'd love to see you!

Joe

San Jose MB pictures:

News from the Reed's......August 2007

Hello from the Reed family!

This will be my first attempt at posting so we'll see how this goes!

Back to school for Amber !!!!

This is the time of the year that schools all "start up" again and this year, before the students returned... Amy helped Amber set up her new classroom at South Elementary School in Castle Rock. The kids started yesterday (8-13-07) and Amy visited in the afternoon so she could take a few "first day of school" pictures of Amber and her students. Amber spent last Sunday afternoon with us and before she left, she sang a few bars of the, "I can't believe I have to get up in the morning and go to work blues" as she drove off Sunday night.




Back to school for Amy !!!!!!


Amy is also headed back to school (for three weeks)! The Aurora Public Schools contacted her last week and asked if she would be willing to help assess incoming kindergartners for the next few weeks. As anyone who knows Amy can attest....she LOVES children so it was an easy decision.....work for a few weeks with 5 year olds.....and then return to the "retired" life of bike rides, gardening, afternoon movies, and a more relaxed schedule. So this morning, the alarm went off at 5:30am and we got up, ate breakfast in the dark....and she headed off to work about the time we normally get up. Oh well......it's only for a few weeks.







Back to school for Greg!


I am still working part-time (for both Metropolitan State College and an organization called School Leaders for Colorado) so I have also returned to work this month. However, my jobs are flexible so it's not hard for me to find time to join Amy in the "retired" mode. Additionally, most of the time I can set my own work schedule which usually doesn't start before 9 or 10 in the morning......after reading the newspaper.......after going for a walk....after puttering around the house......etc etc etc :-)

Our 36th anniversary!!!

August is a special month for Amy and I as our anniversary is August 14th! We are still so very much in love.....and we are blessed with good friends and a wonderful, supportive, loving family.

We wish all of you the same!!!!!!!!
















Finally........Joe (Jr.) and Raquel......Amy and I loved your "I am from poems."

last Sunday before the beginning her Mondays off to work

it's not just the students who wave farewell to summer.....it's the teachers as well. Well in a household of teachers

That Gallon!

A new addition has been made to our garage! We just got a new Prius. Our previous cars are named:

"Whisper" - Julie's old 1990 Toyota Celica (Now owned by Julie's cousin)

"Jr. Blue" - 2003 Mini Cooper (Here with us in California)

"Fortress" - 1998 Dodge Dakota (Here with us in California - Future of which is TBD).

And the new.... 2007....high tech Prius!!!!

"That Gallon" -... As in.. We'll be driving all around town on that same gallon!! It was a long day in the dealership but Julie and I did some great tag team and ended up with a very good deal.

I AM FROM / MOONRAKA

I am from a Home Office for my Joe where we have breakfast together most mornings; a kitchen fit for a 5 Star Restaurant Chef; a Media Room looked upon by the likes of Marilyn, The Godfather, Scarface, Raging Bull, the Avalanche's, Peter Forsberg's # 21 autographed jersey, and a red pop corn machine.

I am from a lobsided backyard invaded by sweet neighborhood kids and their new puppies, a large patio where an 8 person patio set existed before the 2006 record breaking snow storms claimed the aluminum /tile table , a front porche with a ledge adorned with 9 colorful flower plants that last from April to late October.

I am from a serene at night neihborhood , and active side neighbors with a set of hell raising 8 year old twin boys and a 5 year old sweet, big eyed, beautiful girl with a 3 year old pug named Lucy, and a baby pug name Paige. I am from Daniel's Park with miles and miles of hiking and biking trails, the largest Colorado buffalo herd, and packs of coyotes howling at night while celebrating a kill, and the Sanctuary golf course.

I am from a Lebanese/ Mexican mother and a French/ Mexican father, 2 older brothers and a younger sister. I am from a small northern province in the Republic of Mexico, a materially frugal and love rich childhood. I am from a boarding school scholastic and life education that showed me what the other side could be. I am from my 3 men, my husband and my sons, the love of my life, who fill my heart with the purest joy. For 32 years now, I am honored to be from a very proud and generous "have my back" Morales family. I am from a newly arrived look into kindness, acceptance, harmony and unconditional love with which the Reed Family regales me. I am a proud Mexican seeking American citizenship.

I am from..........."Don't you do that, you Bad Thing!"......... "I'm so amazing!" (Thanks Sue)........, "Que te dice tia ?".........., "Positive energy attracts positive energy"........... "You have to WILL it.............."You are what you eat".........."No shit Sherlock"

I am from remembering that we are all connected and that our memories are our, past, present and future................that our memories are who we were, who we will be and who we ARE!

MoonRaka

I AM FROM.....

Amber has a yearly exercise with her students where she has them write a poem of the following format:

I AM FROM…..”

*in/around your house>
*in/around your yard
*in/around your neighborhood
*family/ancestors
*sayings
*food
*”where you keep your memories”

Last October she asked us to write our own to see what we could come up with. I began but never finished! today I came across my unfinished work and decided to give it another shot. Any others like to give it a shot?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am from a garage with two cars, three mountain bikes with a bike repair center, a tiny trashcan and a large recycling bin

I am from a small patio with a grill, an outdoor gas heater, an invasion of snails that require salt permiters and PJ's love/hate cat friends

I am from quiet neighbors with a son and a zen garden, Trader Joe's, a carniceria and an evening champagne stroll

I am from the most fun wife in the world and we are proudly from North America, South America and Europe

I am from "Jus", "Luck favors the prepared" and "Taste this"

I am from julienned roots, tacos al pastor II, TGI Sushi and a pasta dish that makes me feel at home when I have been away for a long time

I am from a green volkswagon bug with young parents ....

A farm in Iowa where I met a lady named Gladice, feared dead cats and rode on horse back.....

Trips to mexican beaches, baby brother with spit on his chin and cock-roaches in the shower...

Dreaded middle school years where I learned (with amazing parental support) in a year of failure, what it takes to succeed.....

Searching many countries for my best friend and finding her only miles from where I grew up .....

Knowing that in the future I will look back to this this time as a fond memory.......

ONYX PLATES IN PV

Hola Familia, Saludos Desde PV!

Joe had an idea to frame onyx plates in Parota wood to adorn the walls of our condo. We chose orange / cream / white color onyx plates with beautiful, natural streaks cascading through the stone.

The frames were made from Parota wood which is safe to use down here as termites hate its taste. A lot of the furniture, doors, frames and other wooden structures built in PV are made from Parota.

Joe needed "Muscle" to help him hang the frames and Josh happily agreed to make the trip to help his Dad with this project. We LOVE the final product!

Con Carino, MoonRaka

From my cell phone!

Hey Guys,

You can send messages directly from your cell phone to the blog. I took this picture on my cell and sent it directly in. If you are in a strange situation and have a rare photo opportunity on your phone please send it in!!

Blogspot.com has instructions on how - or ask me and I can help.

Aguluwak Lodge, Alaska

For the past two and a half years I've been working with a customer, GCI based in Anchorage Alaska. GCI is the company that provides cable, phone and Internet service in Alaska. GCI also owns a world class fishing/outdoor lodge in the Alaskan bush...

A couple weeks back I had the very rare and lucky opportunity to go to the Lodge. It was truly an amazing experience. The land and wildlife are amazing, the lodge is extremely comfortable and relaxing, the folks running the lodge truly know how to help you relax.

We flew into the lodge first thing saturday morning meeting at a small airport in Anchorage. Aguluwak is not accesible by car so you have to fly a propeller plane and land on a lake by the lodge. The plane is called "The Otter". It's a classic, solid propeller plane made in the 50s.

The trip was filled with a ton of activities including fishing, sight seeing of nature including bears, rifle shooting etc. I caught my first Red Salmon which is supposedly quite rare becuase they aren't biting. The rule is that if you catch them in the mouth (as opposed to dragging the hook on the body) you get to keep the fish. Since they aren't biting it is very rare to do this. I guess I had beginner's luck becuase I caught one in my first half hour! They folks running the lodge said it was so rare that even one of the lead fisherman on the lodge had only caught them in the mouth a few times! They helped me pack the fish up and I got to bring it home ;) Needless to say it was the only one I caught that weekend!

It was such a release to be in a place with no cars, no TV and lots of outdoor activity. I didn't miss the hustle and bustle one bit!

This trip really gave me a lot of vacation ideas. Due to lack of knowledge, I never really thought I'd choose an Alaska vacation over other things like Beach, Europe etc. This trip definitely changed me in this regard. I could definitely see myself planning another trip to an Alaskan lodge some day. It really is true that you can't rule something out until you understand what it's about!

Here are some photos:

Target Practice.

Bears! Unfortunately this was not my SLR camera! Great photo or not, I'll never forget this! The Salmon are trying to swim upstream to mate and they get to this small waterfall. The weak ones try to leap out of the water to the upper part of the stream. While they are jumping out the Bears actually sit there and catch them in mid air. I have video of this that I'll post on the video album when I get a chance.

Stay tuned for the video!

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