Third Saturday: December Edition

I hope the Holiday Season is treating y'all well.

Breakfast at the Mesa Cafe wasn't as crowded this month. Not to say that it's a bad thing. Sometimes a little quiet can be a good thing.

Bosco showed up with children Alyssa, Joseph and Gabriel in tow. Papas was there, as well. Wolf and Joaquin showed up later for a cup of coffee.

As I wrote when I first started the Herd, there is no requirement to show up. Someone will be there. The group is different every time. We're just trying to build a tradition, start something to build our ties to each other. We started going on Sundays, but we switched to Saturdays to accommodate more people.

While it would be nice if some people showed up every now and again... *cough* Garcias, Aspurias, Jaimes', Hernandez' *cough* ...there is no expectations for anyone to go. And it would be nice if some people came when they were in town (nods to the Montross in the corner), no one's gonna say anything to folks who go less than others.

So far, Ronny, Matt, Papas, Bosco, Robert and I are the regulars. And every time, no matter who or how many, it's always good times.


For anyone who didn't get a copy of the letter I sent out last May, here's the reason we do this monthly breakfast in the first place. And no, it's not just for the guys, the younger ones, or the single ones...


May 1, 2007

To All of My Cousins-

Each of us has a lot going on, especially as most of us grow older, form our own families, begin careers, and become tied to other responsibilities. Sometimes these things can make us forget about family, and we can become distracted from the things that are most important.

Whether it is helping each other get a job, start a business, help someone move, help someone out of a bad situation, or just to enjoy some laughs for an hour or so—just being able to get together to talk is important for all of us.

On the Sunday after Uncle Bob passed away, we got together for breakfast at Mesa Café. It’s not something we had done much before, though we probably should have. We did it for our cousin Robert, and we did it to show our ties to each other.

And so, a new tradition began.


There is an open invitation to all of you, and any I forgot, to join us on the third Sunday of every month, at 10am, at the Mesa Café.


This is mostly for those old enough to sit still, but it would also be nice for us to set an example and be role models for the younger cousins. If you want to bring the younger brothers, sisters, nieces or nephews, feel free to do so (just try to keep an eye on them).

Let’s make sure to keep the cousins together. If nothing else, family is all we’ve got.

If you can let me know at least a day ahead of time if you will be going, it’ll make it easier to get a table and make arrangements. My cell phone number is 805-637-6836.

-David

Quote For Your Weekend

Here's another weekend quote for y'all to consider:


"Happiness is to take up the struggle in the midst of the raging storm,
and not to pluck the lute in the moonlight or recite poetry among the
blossoms."


-Ding Ling, Chinese Author

The Girls Plan A Getaway

It’s early in the planning stages, but the Aunties and Cousins are planning an All-Female getaway in July 2008.

It goes without saying that trips like these are a good and necessary thing. They build and strengthen ties, allow people to catch up on how life is for everyone else, and the trip can be relaxation away from the usual hubbub of every day life.

Of course, that’s not the primary reason for the trip next summer.

It comes at a time just before Leah’s wedding. And a better time could scarcely be found for the getaway. This gives the Women of our family a chance to get together and share advice, experience, and wisdom learned from one generation to another. The exchange of knowledge will surely be great. It is a special thing for the Aunties and Cousins to do with and for Leah as she becomes a bride and builds the foundations of her own family.

Thus far, either stays at the Chumash Resort near Santa Barbara’s numerous wineries, or somewhere close to the heart of California’s Wine Country in Napa Valley have been tossed around for consideration. Nothing is definite yet.

There is still time. But don’t wait too long or places will be booked by the summer tourists.

In any case, to everyone going: enjoy!

Christmas Day

Word has it that we’ll be meeting at the Fugee Caaa…. I mean, Gramma’s House on Christmas Day. The menu will be decidedly Mexican in type, and I’m sure plenty of related sweetness will be on hand before, during, and after.

That's gonna be good times!

If I might offer an editorial comment to this post: tell your wonderful children, siblings, etc to leave his or her new toys at home. As it is, we spend money on them throughout the year, and then we use Christmas as an excuse to buy them more junk.

While I personally think we ought to be putting money elsewhere (into savings bonds, education accounts, etc) for the younglings, this isn’t the point of this comment. Rather, it’s that not all kids are able to get the same toys, or as many toys as the next one. Don’t remind any kid, whether they are 3 or 13, that they might not have as many possessions as the next one.

You see, adults can appreciate what someone else owns, and the work (or even luck) that likely went into it. But kids don’t yet know tact, they don’t know kindness—and they often flaunt what they have.

It was only in the last couple years that I realized this. Two cousins were playing with each other on Christmas Day and one said, “I have to go to _____ to get more presents.” And they said this while the second cousin watched the first play with new toys—the second having not gotten as many presents, nor ones that were as cool.

I’m not going to blame the kid for saying it, however. Children aren’t mature enough to understand all that they say or do.

So, yeah—leave the toys at home. And, in doing so, you might teach your kid that Christmas is about more than presents. Such as, for instance, being together with family.

See y’all then, hopefully sooner!

Photos

So y’all know how to look at the pictures and photo albums, right?

Just look in the column on the right and click on the ‘Photo Albums’ link to get to all of the albums. Once there, you can click on any album to see what’s inside. Inside an album, you can click on any picture to see a closer view.

You can click on the ‘Back’ button on your browser (should be in the top left of the window you’re in, and it’ll look like an arrow pointing backwards) or you can click on ‘Back to Album’ just above and to the left of the enlarged photo you are viewing.

Did you also know you can download the pictures to your computer, or even order prints directly from the photo album?

When you are looking at the close-up view of any picture, take a look to the right of that photo. You will see one link for ‘Download This Photo’ and another for ‘Order Prints’.

When you download a picture it will be saved onto the computer you are on. When it is saved to that computer, you can look at it any time without having to come back to the Family Photos page online. If you have a printer, you can also print the pictures from your computer and keep or frame them.

If you want to order printed photos of any picture, click the ‘Order Prints’ link. This will add a picture to an order you can process when you are finished browsing for purchases. If you click ‘View Order’ (upper right of the page) it will take you to a page that asks what company you want to order from, and then you will be asked about the number of prints, sizes and possibly finishes. You can order prints of any picture up in the online photo album. These prints are about $1 each—not the most affordable, but it’s an easy way to get them.

Of course, some of you I’m sure don’t want to bother with all that. You know who you are… ;)

If there are photos you want and you’d like prints of them, let me know and I can order them for you. When I receive the pictures, I’ll take them to you and you can reimburse me. Just let me know and I’ll take care of it. Or you can bug one of your other siblings, cousins, etc.

This has been another ‘How To…’ for visitors to The Herd.

Cheers!

Family Billiards: The Hustle's In The Genes

The day after Thanksgiving, some of the Fam went to play pool together at Don Q's. Salene sent me some great pics of the happenings. Here's what Salene has to say:


My mom has been wanting to shoot pool for a long time now. I promised I would take her the next time I came to S.B., so here we are at Don Q's on Chapala. It was a good time :)

My mom hasn't played in decades and I play weekly. I have competed in tournaments all over the Bay Area and in Las Vegas. First game against my mom, just like she said she would, she whooped my butt. I liked it :) Actually I think it is in the blood, because all the cousins were shooting really well... even lil Megan who has never shot before!


So who showed up? Auntie Rosie, Megan, Salene, Candy, Bosco, Ronny, Wolf, and one of the guys' friends.

After that, I think I'ma take my nina Rosie to some out-of-town pool halls and hustle some cash ;)

Thanks Salene for the pics!

Here's the album.

Who Wants To Work

I’ll be the first to admit that moving fitness equipment—the weight machines, racks, benches and cardio machines y’all like to work out on—isn’t the easiest thing to do.

Last week, when Body Tech (of Esparza Sr.) needed help, I called to ask who in the family could aid on an installation in Bakersfield.

The first thing I thought that made me laugh was that the list of available family members was short. Turns out we’ve all got jobs these days. Who’da thought?!

But still, Bosco came to the rescue.

We left Santa Barbara at 6am on Thursday.

There were 31 pieces of equipment that came on a semi trailer. Some we had to dismantle into smaller sections that could be carried and fit through doorways and passageways. We tried to keep it to 200 pounds per piece, but there were some things that we couldn’t manage to take apart. That meant some things weighing 400 pounds.

Of course, its not like we could just put things on a dolly and roll them through the door. That would be easy. No, we had to take them up a flight of stairs with a 180-degree turn at the landing. We had help from others of course. But when it takes 4 guys to carry an item up the stairs, and each guy ends up sweating and breathing hard after one piece, you know it’s got to be heavy.

We left the site at 2:30am Friday morning and rolled into Santa Barbara at 6am—exactly 24 hours after we’d left, with 13 hours of backbreaking work, 6 hours of driving, 5 hours of waiting, and no sleep.

Bosco was getting paid for the job, cash no less, and he told me on the way home, “Hey, you know, if your dad ever has any other jobs and if he needs help again: tell him not to call me!”

Ah, that was good times.

Marina's Post Surgery Update

Those who have spoken to her say Marina is doing well after her surgery.

I expect she'll be in need of some assistance with her kids and her household, as with her recovery after the last surgery.

But I also expect people will do their part, and help her get to 100%. 'Cuz that's what families do for each other.

Wish her a fast recovery, y'all.

Third Saturday Breakfast

Third Saturday Breakfast is on December 15th.

That would be this coming Saturday.

Don't forget, mark your calendars (click the link for one), and spread the word.

Last month we had a great turnout. Let's see if we can replicate that or even beat it this month.

See y'all then.

Quote For Your Weekend

Here is a great quote to ponder over your weekend:


"Great Minds discuss Ideas. Average Minds discuss Events. Small Minds discuss People."


Attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, though this is not substantiated.

The Modlin Compound

I was at Monica’s house the other day, just day-dreaming on the deck, and I was gazing out over the property. First at the main house with it’s tri-level construction, then to the studio (known as ‘Studio C’), and finally to the apartment behind the gate.

So what was I thinking this whole time? I wondered how many of us have, at one time or another, called a spot at the Modlin Compound ‘home’.

Over the years since, I imagine there’s been quite a few places to rest your head: the Main House, 1119 ½, Studio C, the Old Kids Room or the New Kids Room, the Couch, the Spare Room…

Of course, I also looked at the various storage sheds in the backyard and said to myself, ‘Maybe…? Nah! Couldn’t have…’

I imagine the Dog Run, the Pigeon Coop, the Bird Cage, the Tool Shed/Back Cabin, or even the Front Porch looked inviting at one time—but they weren’t THAT inviting, right?

Kidding!

But seriously, I couldn’t think of a Poll for this month, so this is the survey we’ll have on The Herd instead.

Who in our family (Gramma and Grampa on down the line) has called the Modlin Compound home?

Take some time to think about it, because I know there are a lot of names to consider. Leave your list as a comment to this post. Look to the right column and click on the ‘How To Post Comments’ link. That will tell you what to do.

I’m looking forward to seeing the list y’all come up with, and I wonder if anyone will be able to figure out all the names. I don’t have an answer, but I think it’ll be good times to try and build a list.

'Tis The Season: Flashback

In the spirit of the Christmas Season, I dug through things and found an old recording made by one of the Uncles (you guess which one) telling Christmas stories to a friend of the family. We're talking Magna Vista days right here...


That might not be the truth, but you can see how it could be once you listen to the video. You might recognize it, too. Make sure you have your speakers on, and enjoy.


Presenting, Santa Claus and His Old Lady.

Thoughts and Prayers

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, and as many of you may well already know, Auntie Marina goes in for surgery tomorrow.

This will be the second surgery she's had in the last several months to remove an aneurysm from her brain. What is an aneurysm, you ask? Here's what wikipedia says:

An aneurysm is a localized, blood-filled dilation (bulge) of a blood vessel caused by disease or weakening of the vessel wall. Aneurysms most commonly occur in arteries at the base of the brain and in the aorta (the main artery coming out of the heart), a so-called aortic aneurysm. The bulge in a blood vessel can burst and lead to death at any time. The larger an aneurysm becomes, the more likely it is to burst. Aneurysms can usually be treated.

Click here for the rest of the article.


Here is some information from the Mayo Clinic:

• -Brain aneurysms sometimes run in families.

• -Hypertension and Smoking are related to increased risk of aneurysms, and can worsen conditions.

• -Smoking can lead to multiple aneurysms.

• -Short, rapid increases in blood-pressure associated with straining and lifting heavy objects can also lead to aneurysms.

Click here for the entire article.


The National Institutes of Health also has good, reliable information. Click here for more.


While some surgeries can be called routine, it is always a good thing to give good thoughts and many prayers for anyone undergoing surgery. And let us also hope for a quick and easy recovery.

Get On The Bus

This was discussed over Thanksgiving Weekend while the Nor Cal Contingent visited. Namely, some of the Aunties and Uncles were thinking it a good idea to charter a bus to take us Santa Barbarians to Morgan Hill, CA for Leah's wedding.

Well, I did some looking. I didn't do in-depth research. I simply wanted to get an idea for the cost. I emailed 2 companies: US Coachways, and Santa Barbara Airbus. Though it's been over a week, I only have a response from US Coachways.

Here is what they say:

We have available a 56 passenger coach. It comes equipped with high back bucket reclining seats, TV, VCR, AC, AM-FM stereo, rest rooms and some have CD/DVD players. On any overnight stays a private room is required for the driver. The price will be $2390 plus a 15-20% gratuity for the driver. We work on a first come first serve basis. If you decide to book please sign all forms and completely fill out the attached forms and return them to us.

So, that's $2,390 base cost. The 15% gratuity adds $358.50. And let's estimate the room for the driver at $120 for the night. That puts the estimated cost for the bus charter at $2,868.50.

If we have 50 people on the bus, it makes the cost about $60 per person (no discounts for kids and senior citizens).

I'm fairly confident this is what we can expect, with little deviation, if we decide to go with a bus for the trip. There are details we must work out, and we can talk about those things later.

My opinion: this would be fun. We'd all be on the bus, free to move seats, chatting it up the whole way. There's be no wear-and-tear on personal vehicles. This would be like sitting on Monica's deck on any given afternoon. Good times, I say.

Think about it and discuss amongst yourselves. Ask and I can provide you some things to consider.

December Birthdays

Mornings in Santa Barbara from now until the middle of Spring are some of the best. The skies are blue, and most often without any clouds. The air is crisp, and refreshing. The sun, as it rises above the mountains and over the Channel, turns everything a wonderful golden hue...

I just wanted to mention that.

Without further ado, as we always do here on The Herd at the beginning of a new month, here are the birthdays for the month of December:

• Tyvador 'Ty' Hernandez, December 6

• Johnny Hernandez, December 11

• Trina Garcia, December 29
  

• Matthew 'Matt' Hernandez, December 29

As usual, I know there are more out there. But I haven't gotten feedback on the totality of birthdays yet, so this is all I have. Wish these folks a Happy Birthday-- remember, December folks usually lose out to Christmas, so it's a nice thing to go out of your way to wish them well!

What A Month For The Blog

Here is likely the last post for this month. And was this month ever a progressive one for the Herd.

With this post, there will be 29 posts for the month of November. That's just under one post per day on average. Yes, there is that much going on, that much to write, that many stories to tell.

On this main page, the newer posts are at the top, the older posts are at the bottom. Only the 25 most recent posts are on the front page. So, you'll notice that because of the number of posts this month, there are items from the beginning of the month that are already off the main page.

If you want to read older items, feel free to do so. On the right column you'll see a section with the header 'Blog Archive'. This, as well, is arranged so that the most recent months are at the top of this section. In parentheses next to each month it the number of posts for that particular month. Just click on any of these listed posts and months and you'll be able to read older items.

Also, you can browse through the section in the right column titled 'Labels'. As I said before, these are basically the subjects on which I have written. When someone gets mentioned, or some topic covered, I'll put a label to the post. So, you can look at different topics and see what I've written so far. If you are looking for people and wonder why you're not on the list of Labels, don't fret-- I just haven't had anything to write about you, and likely haven't been told what to write (so give me some info about you and I'll out it up!).

Thanks for the good times this month. I know it may not happen every month that there is something new every day, but let's enjoy every day nonetheless. Now, let's see what December has in store. Enjoy the weekend!

On A Sunday Afternoon

Of course it was Thanksgiving Weekend, but the pictures I took this past Sunday show what a typical Sunday is like in our family.

You’ve got people gathered in a circle and snacking and chatting.

You might have a little food prep and cook-off in one area.

And you’ll always have the guys chillin' off to the side.

There are only a few pics, but here is the photo album.

That's good times.

Surnames

This should be a fun one for y’all.

A Torres met a Hernandez, and before you knew it, we were here—all 100 and some.

Now, there is a mix of last names throughout the family tree. Truth be told, not only do we have some of the most common last names of any in the country, we also have some of the most rare.

I recently came across a New York Times article that uses Census info to track surnames. It gives the frequency (occurrence for every 100,000 people), the rank, and the change in rank since the 1990 Census.

The article mentions one important concept. During the influx of immigrants in the late 1800s and early 1900s, many Europeans came to the US bearing their given family names. However, thanks to US policy, many of these immigrants had their names changed—‘Anglican-ized’ to sound more American. Thus, connections to history and culture were set aside in the name of immersion and assimilation in a glaring example of inherent American xenophobia.

As an aside, I have to mention that during this period, the rate of immigration per US citizen was at its highest compared to any era in American history. That is, there were more immigrants coming in to the US per thousand citizens than any other time—even more than now. The difference is that back then, you went to Ellis Island, got your papers stamped, and you were here as long as you wanted to stay. Now, they give us b_llsh_t about resources, security, crime, wages, taxes and the rest. But that’s another story.

So I took a look at some of the surnames from our family to see where our names fell and put them into a spreadsheet (see below).





By the looks of it, there are plenty of Garcia's and Hernandez', the Aspuria's need to have more kids, and judging by that jump in rank the Jaimes' must be having plenty of kids. Just kidding!

But it is interesting to see that the ones we can track above, the Anglo names are falling while the Spanish names are going up.

Here is the Times article where you can search names from 2000.

Here is another website where you can find info from 1990.

Good times... good times...

November Poll Closed

The Poll for November closed last week. This poll had the highest response rate yet-- 8 people voted!

So, that might not even get to 10% of our family, but it's still the highest yet. I expect December's Poll to have more responses.

Th question was, "How many times have you traveled outside of California?" This isn't just a random question. Rather, it goes to the heart of one of the defining characteristics about who we are as a family. That is, we don't travel, we don't get out much.

It has been said that any person's best quality is also their worst flaw. Viewing the motivation for the Poll and results of the Poll under the guise of that statement, what can we say about our Family?

You may come to your own conclusions, and perhaps you had an opinion established beforehand, but my conclusion is as follows:

We are a close, tight-knit family. It is nothing for us to show up at any other's house on a random Tuesday, or even a Sunday. It doesn't take a birthday or wedding to get several dozen of us gathered for coffee, dinner, or just to sit and talk. And we happen to live in a city and in a state that together have some of the most beautiful views and weather in the world.

Now, on the flip side of things, this is also what keeps us close to home and most-often within our own family circle. Who needs friends when you have such a big family? Why travel when we live in such a beautiful place? Our familiarity (pardon the pun) is our security blanket, comforting and warm, and always nearby.

This isn't to say that it's a bad thing-- not at all. We are close as a family, and we extend this to anyone who enters the circle, whether they are friends or significant others. Every in-law, boyfriend and girlfriend, cousin Wolf and Uncle Larry (Bob's brother) are a testament to that.

It is not all of these positives about us that are at issue. The issue is whether the comfort of the circle keeps us from doing things-- from travel, from trying new things, from meeting new people, from doing anything that might fall outside of what the Family considers normal or usual.

This is food for thought, to be sure. But that's all it should be. Do not take offense. This isn't an indictment, it is merely a topic for consideration. And after such consideration, no doubt we will get back to those things that make our family so great, and so rich with kindness.

Out of 8 responses, 3 have traveled outside of California 1-5 times, 2 have traveled outside of the state 6-10 times, 2 chose 11-15 times, and one 16 or more times. The votes are leaning toward staying close to home.

Now, you discuss.

More Thanksgiving Pics

Leah added a couple of nice pics to the Thanksgiving 2007 photo album.

Take a look if you haven't already!

And download them, or order prints online, if you see pictures you like.

Cheers!

The Day After

Though the moments with our Family are always memorable.....*cough*...... here are some of the good times I remember from the Friday of Thanksgiving Weekend 2007:

• -Natalie’s boyfriend, Jason, was asked about someone playfully hitting him. All he heard was “…she was about to hit you…” to which Jason replied, “Who? Peggy?” I guess he has a warm relationship with his future mother-in-law. But he laughed too, so it must be all good.

• -We were kicking back on Monica’s patio, and there was a few seconds of silence. Bosco turned to Louie and asked, out of nowhere, “Have you ever been stabbed?” Not “How is your job?” or “What’s the last movie you saw?” I guess we all have our own version of ‘small talk’.

• -When Uncle Vic told us he was going to play his ‘Benny and the Jets’ video (where he performs and lip-syncs the Elton John classic on the piano) at Leah’s wedding, someone asked Leah if she was going to keep the mic away from him. Leah said, “He already told me that my wedding is not about me and my fiancé David.” I wonder if, when Leah said about her wedding “Dad, you’re paying” he thought she said, “Dad, you’re playing” and Uncle Vic started working on his performance.

• -7 months after I left UPS, Gramma Connie says she barely found out this weekend. When I told her I had quit, you should have seen what happened. She pulled a comal and a rolling pin out of her purse and started looking left to right, about to throw down some matriarchal whoop-ass with a look that said, “I brought you into this world…”—and you know the rest. Not quite what happened, but that’s pretty close to it. Call her up and tell her things, y’all. She doesn’t like surprises.

Good times, indeed.

Dancing Rosie, Pt II

I just had to find out...

Here's the "Cha Cha Slide" video Rosie's dance is from.

And we were all wondering what the "Charlie Brown" is. This is as good a look as any.


Truth be told, boredom is a helluva thing...


Kidding!

New Photos In The Gallery

Hey, y'all. I broke into my older pictures and loaded up quite a few in the Family Album. I'll be adding a few more pictures to each album, but not too many.

Take a look at one of the new albums:

• -Memorial Day 2005

• -Independence Day 2005

• -Fiesta 2005
  

• -Marisa's 4th Birthday

• -Cousins February 2006

• -Family General '05-'06
  

Dancing Rosie

Take a look at the things we do... just because. Here's the video on YouTube.

Clips of Thanksgiving 2007

I hope y'all like the video. Click any of the two play buttons below (the little arrows) to start the movie. It might take a bit to load, but give it time and it'll play. You can also find it on YouTube.

And there are pictures in the Family Albums, too.