Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving, I have many things to be thankful for.

I am most thankful for my wife....I mean she did say, "yes" and that got the whole thing going. Not only is she my wife and best friend, but a terrific mother to our two beautiful daughters.

Of course I would have never even gotten to that point if it weren't for my parents. (Don't worry, I won't go into the birds and the bees part). My parents divorced very early on in my life....but that's ok, because it brings in the next two people that I'm thankful for.

My grandparents. I give most of the credit to them for molding me into the person that I am today. Thank you for that....plus now that I can share "the beautiful game" with my grandpa.

I am also thankful for family. My Aunt Flo and Uncle Mike have been such a great help to us here in Houston. They've really helped to make our transition here a smooth one.

And I can't forget friends. Especially our new friends from Studio 563. Craig, April, Chip & Jeanette. They are now a part of our family and I'm so proud and honored to be a part of the 563 family and also to call them friends.

Lastly I want to say thanks to my friend Kyle in NYC. Even though we're far away and "talk" via email....I value your friendship and I want to say thanks for keeping in touch.

I hope everyone has a good Thanksgiving.

Hot & Cold

photo by Dan Steinberg for AP

SoCal is pretty much on fire....I just got an email from my mom, saying that there's a fire in Irvine near a Toll Road that we used to drive on a lot and that fire jumped the freeway to the otherside.

There are huge winds there and although the Santa Ana winds do cause havoc every year with the fires, I don't think it's EVER been that bad.

I read somewhere that there are 15 fires burning in Southern California right now!!

Please pray for the firefighters and the people and structures that they are working to save.

In Houston weather news....a MEAN cold front moved in this morning. I read earlier today that just before 10 am at Hobby Airport (which is near our house) it was 82°....less than an hour later it was 61° and raining!!

photo by Johnny Hanson for the Houston Chronicle

What the....??

After months of heat and humity....a cold front has rolled into Houston.

We had a BIG STORM last night and plenty of flood warnings in effect too....but this is the first time that I've gone outside in the morning to get into the car to go to work and thought...."Hey? It's cold."

High School Musical

A couple of weeks ago, Loo and I went to go see High School Musical @ the Fort Bend Theatre.

The Fort Bend Theatre is this cool old building with a tiny little stage and MAYBE 10 rows of seats. I bought tickets online....got directions from the Fort Bend Theatre's very own website, but still GOT LOST!! But, don't worry, we still made it to the show in plenty of time.

If you don't know about High School Musical then with the help of Wikipedia, I'll tell you about it.

With a plot described as a modern retelling of Romeo & Juliet, High School Musical is a story of two high school juniors from rival cliques: Troy Bolton (played by Zac Efron), captain of the basketball team, and Gabriella Montez (played by Vanessa Hudgens), a shy transfer student who excels in math and science. Together, they try out for the lead parts in their high school musical, and as a result, divide the school. Despite other students' attempts to thwart their dreams, Troy and Gabriella resist peer pressure and rivalry, inspiring others along the way not to "stick with the status quo."

This was Disney Channel's most successful movie at its time with 7.7 million viewers in its premiere broadcast in the US.

Loo was too young to get in on the first High School Musical from Disney....she didn't even know about it until a few months ago.

The Disney Channel started re-running High School Musical a couple times a week to get everyone excited about High School Musical 2.

Loo and I saw the "Sing Along" ( or the karaoke) version of High School Musical....it was the first time I had actually seen it too. I'd heard plenty about it on the radio though. Bean from Kevin & Bean fame on KROQ talked about it all the time.

I'll HONESTLY say....I liked it. It was a pretty cool little musical....and hey, it's Disney, it can't be that bad, right?

Anyway....Loo was really looking forward to seeing High School Musical 2....and secretly, so was I!! (Shhhh, don't tell anyone!) We recorded it for her on the DVR and then we watched it the next day.

She actually likes the second one more than the first one!! (For the record, I can't pick a favorite) She now has a High School Musical t-shirt!

OK, OK....so I'm sure you're thinking...."Why is he posting this stuff??" I'll tell ya....I just wanted to give you a little back story, that's all.

The show at the Fort Bend Theatre was really pretty good....obviously they edited the script a little for the stage....but man, they did a really good job. There was one character who stole the show though....and he wasn't even in the original....they created a narrator type character, named Jack Scott. This kid would pop up on a make shift TV screen....he was reading the announcements for the school. It was a great way for them to cut some scenes out and move the story along.

Loo had a great time....at the end of the show, the cast invited all the kids up on stage to learn the dance moves from the last song....Loo got up there and was just in awe of everyone.

Even though Troy wasn't Zac Efron, it didn't matter to her....the story was still the same and that's all that mattered. She was up there singing and dancing with everyone. It was really cool of them to do that.

It was great daddy & me time for us both!

Things You See on the Street

from the blogberry

I just walked past a woman who was smoking a cigarette in one hand and in the other hand she had an open can of Slimfast.

Maybe it's just me, but it just seemed odd!

Lost in the Tunnels

Downtown Houston has a series of tunnels that connect people from one building to the next....there's places to eat and shop all along the way....so it's great. Especially during the rainy season or when it's just plain HOT outside.

This is something that was also common place in Singapore, where it's also humid and has a rainy season.

Let me tell you when the tunnels are not FUN. It's when you're new to the downtown area and new to this tunnel system....and you go to find "the mall" and end up about 5 blocks East of it!!

I was waaaay off course. I took a wrong turn somewhere and then the new challenge became....just getting back to my building!!

It was raining too, so I couldn't just go above ground to get my bearings!

Fun! Fun! FUN!

Dynamo Truck

The Houston Dynamo are our MLS team....this truck was parked near City Hall.



Since I'm a big soccer fan....I just thought it was cool.

Houston Traffic

My Aunt asked me the other day how I was dealing with the traffic....?

Traffic? What traffic?? If this is traffic, I'm in heaven!!

This "traffic", is nothing like OC traffic, and not even close to LA traffic!!

Houston

Only some of you know that we're now living in Houston. We've been here for about a month.

Over the next few blog posts, I'll be posting about our journey....about living in Texas....leaving California, a great job and family and friends....and of course about our new life in Houston.