Yay!!

• I'm so excited. And I just can't hide it. I'm about to lose control and I think I like it. Woot! Last post before vacation. I won't be blogging again for about a week. I took all five days off from both jobs. Amazing but true. I should have done bible study earlier, reading Numbers 1-7, but thats one of the most boring parts of the Old Testament and I have pre-vacation ADD at the moment. I finished the book of Hebrews in less than 3 days earlier this week so I'd say thats an accomplishment.
  
• The last few days have been okay. Wednesday morning was spent grocery shopping and sitting in a boring meeting with the family attorney. Oh I also had to go to Starbucks twice. First time I went through the drive-thru, I ordered a hot latte, and the one I received was ice cold. I didn't have a chance to call and complain until about 2 hours later. I did receive a new drink and coupons for two free beverages in the future. Like I've said before, when it comes to food/beverages, it never hurts to complain of you've been wronged. Most of the time they'll make it up to you and then some.
• Thursday I woke up in the middle of my sleepy morning to purchase our NKOTB tix, and scan/email some document to one of my bosses. Fun stuff. In the afternoon/evening I hung out with Dad. I was bad and had some Coldstone ice cream, but TJ treated so I couldn't say no. Took forever to get it since I had to order for 4 different people, one of them wanting A LOT of ice cream. Oh well.
  
• I am just so stoked about my vacay, I can't say it enough. Yes there will be a small bit of worry in the back of my head about my dad. I'll try to enjoy myself as much as possible and take tons of pictures and random videos. I can't wait to go on a four day adventure, and spend the next 3-4 days afterward running errands at home, yet still resting in between. Yay!!!
  

Pray for my Dad

• Hey there homie G's. What's crackin? I got a few things going on. Some good. Some bad. Monday morning we took Dad to the neurologist. Dad has spinal fluid pressing his brain against his skull. This could be the cause of his dementia-like behavior, not Alzheimer's. He needs to have surgery pronto, to put in a ventricle shunt. We're waiting on the insurance to approve the procedure, and to find a neurosurgeon who takes Dad's insurance. At the earliest we may get a consult by Friday and maybe can schedule the procedure late next week when I'm back from vacation. Now it's more of a waiting game and I'm spending almost every waking moment worried about Dad. On the plus side, up to 80% of patients show improvement after the shunt, so Dad may get some memory and cognitive function back. Which is awesome.
  
• Other than that scary news, the last few days have been tiring. I got less than 3 hrs of sleep on Monday. Total. Tuesday I slept about 5 hours, give or take. Today I'll be in bed by early afternoon and I'm shooting for 8 hours. We're shopping at both grocery stores and have an appointment with the lawyer in between so lord only knows when I'll be able to hit the hay. I also have to clean the litterbox and start laundry after I put away the groceries. Oh boy.
  
• I'm hecka excited for my vacation next week, yet feel guilty about it. I'm going to be 5-6 hours away having a blast while my dad is at home sick. Kinda selfish. Other people tell me I deserve a vacation, and I have been planning it for almost 4 months. Okay, my boss will be here soon, time to pretend I'm being productive.
  

"Why does Ray look like John Candy?"

• Hey there my buddy old pals. How was your weekend? Mine was pretty fun. Friday morning I went to the gym, and that evening I took Michelle and my dad out for dinner and to Target. I got an awesome Grover puppet. Haha. I worked here later that night, a nice overtime shift. I need the money so I didn't mind.
  
• Saturday I got about 5 hours of sleep, then got up, showered and headed over to Kimmie's house. We had a lot of fun. We watched a few episodes of Forensic Files, then I went to get our dinner from Carls Jr/Green Burrito. When I got back we watched a remake of Sybil. I like the original with Sally Field much better. After that I put on Little Shop Of Horrors, one of my top 5 movies now. Cute little Rick Moranis, I can't help it. Then we watched all of the NKOTB music videos on DVD, including some live tracks. It was pretty fun. Then I made a quick trip to Starbucks for a much needed coffee boost. Later on, then I really totured Kimmie with Sixpack, a movie with Kenny Rogers and a very young Diane Lane. In the middle of the movie we were both hungry again and craving fries/shakes, so I made a 1am random trip to McDonalds. I got a chocolate shake and a snack wrap, she got a vanilla shake and fries. After the Kenny Rogers movie we watched an episode of The Real Ghostbusters (On Demand), and went to bed.
  
• We slept in until about 11am on Sunday. We listened to Howard Jones and other random 80s stuff while getting ready, then took the Dial-A-Crap to Casa Mexicana, a pretty decent restauraunt. They had awesome chips. Only downside is that I still have heartburn almost 12 hours later. I took several sips off of Kimmie's banana margarita, it was yummy. Later on we came back home, and watched the second half of Till Murder Do Us Part, that bad Lifetime movie with Meredith Baxter and Stephen Collins. Then I went for our dinner and coffee. KFC for Kimmmie, Jack In The Crack kids meal for me (applesauce instead of fries), and more Starbucks. After the overdramatized TV movie, there wasn't enough time for me to put on another movie, so we watched Highway To Heaven. Awesomeness. I had a pretty fun weekend I must say.
  
• It's another busy week for me. Today Dad has an appt at the neurologist, then I get to go home for about 3 hours of sleep. Gotta be up at 1:30pm for my afternoon job. I'll probably catch up on sleep by Wednesday, so I'm okay. After all, this time next week I'll be snoozing in our hotel room in Anaheim. I can't wait!
  

I'm awake

• What's up my homies? Yay it's Friday. I'm in a chipper mood because I've actually gotten sleep the past few days. Wednesday morning was pretty busy. Took Dad and Michelle and got half of our grocery shopping done, then Dad had a doctor appointment, then to the bank, then dropped Dad off at home for a bit while Michelle and I finished shopping at Walmart. Dad does okay by himself for small intervals, at least for now. I didn't get in bed until about 1:30pm (up for 24 hrs), and I slept until 9:30 that evening. Those 8 hours felt great.
  
• Thursday I got about 7 hours of sleep, then picked up Dad to hang at my house for the afternoon/evening. We got Starbucks on the way of course. He ended up dozing off during Scrubs, that was okay. I took him home around 8:30, with a stop at McDonald's first to get a milkshake. I'd like to lie and say it was for him, but I was still uber hungry two hours after dinner, and got myself a chocolate one. I'm such a fatass sometimes. I try so hard not to eat bad, but yeah.. anyway. We ended up getting two of them, since they accidentally made an extra one. I left the other one in Dad's fridge for Michelle to have.
  
• This weekend should be pretty darn fun. I'm working here tonight for Yuriy. It's 8 hours of overtime, and believe me I need it. I'm spending most of Saturday/Sunday in Lodi with Kimmie for an 80stastic weekend, I can't wait. We have so much fun together. Oh yeah, going to the gym this morning, and probably on Saturday before heading out to Lodi. Woot!
  

i need sleep

• What's up folks? I'm hecka tired. I slept 5 hrs yesterday and 3 hrs the day before. Monday I went to breakfast with Davina at Pelton Cafe there in San Leandro, then took Dad to get his MRI. I didn't get to bed until 10am, and I had to be up by 1:15 so I had time to pick up my latte before working at Traffic. Totally exhausting. That night at my fulltime job I was pretty busy due to automation problems during most of my shift, so it was kinda crazy.
  
• Tuesday morning I had to run a few errands with Michelle before going home to sleep. I worked at Traffic again in the afternoon, then hung out at home for a few hours before coming here.
  
• Today I'm taking Dad and Michelle grocery shopping at both stores, with a doctor appt for Dad in between. I'm hoping to be in bed by 1pm at the latest. I want to play catch-up with my sleep and get about 8 hours. One can only wish. My schedule is just crazy this week and next, with lots of doctor appointments, medical procedures, and meetings with the lawyer over legal stuff. (Well duh he's a lawyer.. lol.) I still get to go on my little vacation to L.A. in less than 2 weeks, so I'm stoked. I'm also babysitting Dad one night a week so Michelle can go out with her boyfriend. She deserves it. This kinda cuts in on my social time, but whatever. Family is more important then social obligations, least in my book.
  
• Okay now off to make a grocery list and sleep with my eyes open. Haha.
  

I hate rain

• Howdy folks. I'm back from my weekend. Things are pretty much back to normal. Friday afternoon I worked at Traffic, then went home to relax and watch TV, and stayed up way late since I didn't have to get up early the next day. Saturday I slept in, went to the gym, then picked up Dad and spent 7 hours with him while Michelle went out with her boyfriend. We spent about half the time at my house watching TV, and the other half at his house watching movies. I have noticed he seems more coherent now, and his appetite is back. This new medication is definitely making a difference.
  
• Sunday I slept in again, made some whole grain pancakes and went to the gym. I would have gone walking but it was 48 degrees and pouring rain outside so I had to do my exercise indoors. The rest of the afternoon was spent watching TV and movies, and napping. Talk about a lazy weekend. I guess I deserve it.
  
• This week is pretty darn busy. Working 58 hours and taking Dad to several appointments. In fact today I'll maybe get about 4 hrs of sleep if I'm lucky. Oh well, I can make up the sleep on the weekend, hopefully.
  
• Two weeks from now I'll be sleeping in our hotel room in Anaheim, I can't wait. I am so looking forward to this. I already paid for the hotel and admission/all you can eat pass for Universal Studios, so the expenses won't be that bad. Oh and Dad said I could use the gas card, so that's $60-80 in savings right there. I'm just a tad nervous since I lost that third job, and I had to pay almost $400 to my dentist for what my work didn't cover. Stupid dental crowns. I think I'll be okay though. *crossing fingers*
  

That's Life

• Hey folks, I'm back from another brief hiatus. This has been one of the worst weeks I've had in a while. Not THE worst, but up there in the top three. When I last left you guys Dad had just been readmitted into the hospital after going kinda psycho. It took them about 15 hours to get the poor man a room upstairs. That is insanely bad. Meanwhile my sisters and I waited around for hours on end, and eventually we all left and came back later. Later that evening Michelle and I talked with a neurologist (who had diagnosed my mom with brain cancer so I don't really like the guy), and he confirmed that Dad has Alzeimer's. Not a major shock, but still not something I needed to hear. Later on Michelle and I did the grocery run, and I went home and got some sleep. I took the night off since the whole day was pretty stressful.
  
• Wednesday while getting ready to go visit Dad, I got a call from KDFC. I got laid off. Now I understand that everything happens for a reason, but still what a bummer. That means I make $200 less a month now. They encouraged me to file for unemployment even though it's part time, so I'll look into that next week. Hey anything helps. I'm still going on vacation next month, I have to pay off my dentist and Spencer needs his shots. Oh well, I have my weekends fairly free (not counting babysitting my dad) so that's cool. Later that afternoon I worked at Traffic, then I got a call that Dad was being discharged that evening. I picked him up and got him home. He was still a little confused, but physically healthy enough. I was also off from work on Wednesday night as well.
  
• Thursday wasn't so bad. I hung out with Dad for a few hours while Michelle ran some errands, and set up their DTV thing so they can still recieve a signal after next week. Later on I went to the gym, then worked at Traffic. Later on that evening at home I discovered that I lost my timecard. It's nowhere. Searched all over the house and my car. Only place I'd hope to find it is at Traffic. Now I have to leave a note for some lady downstairs to make me a new one. Oh and the zipper busted on the jeans I'm wearing. Stupid $7 jeans from Dave & Barry's. Oh the week I'm having. Could be worse though.
  
• Yes I just ranted about my bad luck lately, but I'm really blessed in the long run. Trials only make a person stronger. Plus, I live in a well developed nation. I have clothes on my back, food in my belly. I have awesome friends and family. So what if I have a few bad things happen? That's life.
  

please pray for my dad

• Wow where do I even begin? The past 32 hours or so have been a rollercoaster ride for me. Let me start at the beginning. Sunday I spent most of the day being productive, but feeling a little bit moody for no reason. Guess I sensed something bad was going to happen. I took Michelle to run a few errands, then when we got back to Dad's house we noticed he was very lethargic and his fingernails were starting to turn a little blue. It was hard to get a good O2 reading on him, so we called 911 and got him into the ER at San Leandro Hospital. My family hates that place with a passion since my mom passed away there a little over a year ago. So Dad got admitted, and stayed there overnight. He was diagnosed with complications with severe COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonery disease), given some antibiotics for his chest cold, and released earlier this evening. The only new medication he recieved was a steroid for his lungs, which he was going to use with his breathing treatments. He also had an irregular heart rate but they told us an echo cardiogram was an outpatient procedure that we'd have to make an appointment for, and didn't refer us to a cardiologist.
  
• Then Michelle called around 12:45am and told me Dad was very disoriented/confused and walking out of the house, down the wheelchair ramp and into the street. I left work and drove over there, and tried to get him to calm down. He didn't know where he was, thought Michelle was a man, and that we were trying to hurt him. He kept insisting to get into my car so I could drive him home, although he was right in front of it. I gave in and drove him around San Leandro for a good 10 minutes. He kept telling me I was going the wrong way, calling me drunk. So we went back to his house, and he refused to get out of my car, because he was convinced it was not his house. Michelle got in and we drove him to the ER. She had two security guards physically get him out of my car, and I had to drive back to work. This was one of the scariest moments of my life, second only to when my mom died. I hate it when this stuff happens. Now I'm at work, least for the next 3 hours. My blood pressure's through the roof and I have a monster headache. I don't know what's going to happen next. All I know is my dad needs some help and lots of prayer.
  

nothing's changed

• Hey there homie G's. I am so glad it's the weekend. My week hasn't been that stressful, least not until a few hours ago but I'm not going there. Wednesday morning was my weekly shopping run with Michelle. It went pretty smoothly. I got enough sleep and went to work later that night. Thursday morning I should have gone to the gym but I chickened out since I was having monster cramps. My boss told me I should go but he's a man and doesn't understand how bad my female problems are. Nothing else really exciting going on.
  
• This weekend I'm taking it easy for the most part. Davina and I are going to some coffee social thing at our church tonight. Maybe I'll meet a cute guy. Chances are I won't or he'll turn into "just a friend." I have plenty of those. Saturday will be typical and same with Sunday. Next week Dad needs to get his echo cardiogram done at the hospital. Procedure should be painless and simple, but our family loathes that place since Mom died there a little over a year ago. I'm also working a lot next week, but hey it's extra money. Money I can use on vacation next month. Yay!

ain't nothin goin on

• Hey there homies. It's the middle of the week. Not much going on. Monday I worked at Traffic, came home, did housework, watched tv and came to work. Tuesday I did pretty much the same thing. On the way home from Traffic I stopped by my Dad's house to check up on him, then went home for dinner and to watch Scrubs. I know most of the first 6 seasons by heart and that's scary. These new episodes are pretty awesome.
  
• So yeah, I'm here eating veggies, drinking water and passing the time. The rest of this week should be semi-normal. I may go to some church coffee social thing on Friday evening with Davina. Free coffee and maybe a chance to flirt with hot Christian boys. We'll see what happens. I'm working A LOT next week, but that's good. More money for my L.A. trip in March. Whoo hoo. This morning I'm going to the gym and it's grocery day. That's how exciting life is. Oh yeah, I'm addicted to Twitter so if you tweet, here's my addy. www.twitter.com/djlisas. Follow me.
  

wonderful weekend

• What's up my peeps? Not a whole lot here. I had a pretty darn good weekend. Friday morning I went to breakfast at Denny's with Leeanne and Davina. It was pretty tasty. Then I went to the gym, and took Dad to his doctor appointment. He lost 5 lbs of water weight over the week. He has to have an echo-cardiogram done later in the month just to see what's going on. Other than that, we're just keeping his feet elevated and making sure he takes his water pill. Friday evening I hung out with Fernando. We took his son Joey to the duck pond, then ate leftover chinese and ice cream and watched Baby Mama. Good times.
  
• Saturday I worked in SF, then went to the gym. After that I went home and hung with Cathy and later on Amy hung out for a bit. I also made some "No Pudge" brownies. I bought the mix for a while ago at Trader Joe's. They're kinda chewy, but I like em. Less fat. I found a recipe for cornbread using yogurt and I may try it subbing eggbeaters for eggs and Splenda for sugar. We'll see how that goes later on this week.
• Sunday morning I dragged myself out of bed and went to church. Good message, about Satan being very deceptive and fooling Eve. I mean I kinda understand that woman are gullable, but come on now. I think if it were Adam he would have been fooled too. That's just my two cents. Anyway after church Davina and I went to lunch at Fenton's Creamery in Oakland. Oh man I love that place. Mostly the ice cream. Swiss milk chocolate. Heaven in a bowl. Later on we went back to my place for a brief nap then walked to the duck pond, around it and back. She kept her arm around me pushing me to go faster, so it was a good workout. Later on I uploaded pics and edited a new video and added it on Youtube. So that was my weekend.
  
• This week should be nice and low key. I'm hoping to get back to the gym at least 3 days a week now. Wish me luck. Oh yeah.. here's the video I made, especially for Cindy.. she wants to see more of what my days are like so I included lots of driving/walking to work and looking around inside. If you need more depth tell me what you want to see, girl.