He was standing in line to pass Security Check In. The ticket in his hand read Los Angeles Flight 1059. All he could think about was her. Their last encounter left an imprint too distinct to dismiss. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, but it didn't help. What is waiting for him in Los Angeles? Who is waiting for him here? And just like that, with cat like reflexes he jumped out of line. He signaled the nearest taxi and, as instinct took over, he heard himself say "Downtown! And hurry!" to the taxi driver.
Where would she be? A quick call indicated a moderately posh house party in downtown. He looked down at sneakers, jeans and a sweater. It will have to do he thought to himself. No time to change ... no where to change!
His peripheral vision caught a flower shop. With urgency, he calls out to the driver, "Stop! I need to make a stop here." As he held the rose in his hands, a smile warmed over his face. "Perfect!" he thought to himself. She loves roses.
He got back in the taxi and headed to the party. Underdressed and in unfamiliar territory, he makes his way through the crowd to the bar. The music is loud and SF's finest young professionals are in mass celebrating the beginning of the New Year.
He scans the crowd in the dark basement. Finally, his gaze stops in the middle of the dance floor. There she is in the middle of the dance floor. He walks slowly toward her. His heart pounding, palms sweating in anticipation. How will she react? Was the rose too much?
He taps her shoulder to signal his arrival. As she turns to meet her unknown admirer, the music stops and everyone freezes as if in stasis. Her gaze focusing in on the rose with a questioning look. She looks up and the dark room reveals the face connected to the rose. Their hearts pounding, she leaps into his arms for a deep embrace.

In that moment, they are one ... like two halves of the same coin.

Last Monday my mom said "You can always count on mom!" as she went to her gate. I'm pretty sure she said it in passing and it struck a cord within me because she's right. I can always count on mom. She's always been there for me and she still is. I probably don't tell her enough, but "Thank you mom! I appreciate all you have done for me."
I've always wanted to live away from home. I think it has to do with my sister. She wanted to get away so bad, but the only college my parents allowed her to attend was UC Davis. Which, as you all might know, is about an hour away from East Bay. So it wasn't the "separation" that my sister had in mind. She had to come back pretty much every weekend and when she didn't, she needed a really good excuse as to why not! But that is another story ...
I had a few colleges to choose from and UC San Diego was a really good school. Was UCLA closer? Yes. Did I get into Berkeley? No, not for the fall semester. So UCSD it was! Did I get home sick like the rest of my friends? No, not really. I actually enjoyed my time away from Walnut Creek. See a new place ... make new friends ... it was the experience I wanted and embraced. And my mom supported all the decisions I made ... some good ... some bad.
As I have grown, I realize the importance of family and proximity. I didn't get "home sick" before because I was young and unwise. Now that I'm older, I see the value of having family close by. I miss every weekend family dinner with my grandparents. I miss weekend outings with my cousins. I miss mom's home cooking. I miss being there for my family. In many ways, I feel like I've let them down. So many things I could've done for them, but couldn't because I'm 400 miles away from them.

What is with my 30s!!? I mean really! Someone up there just woke up and said "Today! Today I'm going to ruin a mans life! No no no ... I'm just going to make his life miserable!" Last weekend was a tough weekend for me. My grandfather passed away 2 years ago. I was torn up ... he was like a father to me. Last Sunday, my grandmother passed away. I didn't really know how to react ... my head was hurting ... my lungs felt like they couldn't hold any air. All weekend long I was in a daze. Not really concentrating on much and trying to occupy my mind on anything I could.
So I went riding with my boys! A great group of guys ... you can call them my "family away from my family". And they truly are! Kindred spirits with a commonality ... to enjoy life whether it be on motorcycles or just chillin! I don't know what it is about motorcycles, but it's my therapy ... my life blood! It will always be apart of my life!
I had the pleasure of meeting Oscar Funes for the first time this past Sunday. Charismatic and full of life. He fit the family like a glove! He joked, he laughed, and he could ride! I still remember his smile ... that goofy haircut ... the extra Medium T-Shirt he was earing that day ... and his laughter!
This past July 4th, Oscar passed away (news article) on a ride up in Ojai. I only knew him briefly, but it feels like we were friends since grade school.


Rest in Peace

Not to be overly pessimistic, but it's sad seeing people you love pass away. More like fade away … I had the great pleasure of visiting my Grandmother last weekend. As some of you know, she is not very healthy. It was good seeing her, but it was sad to see her as unhealthy and fragile as she was. She’s 92 … I don’t even know if I will live to be 92. Not to say I don’t want to, but … I hope to see her again.

Have you ever had one of those nights where you thought anything could happen? Well, it did a few weeks ago during John Hsu's going away after work party. How did it happen?! I'm not sure ... about the time some mentioned eating contest, I already had 5 beers. At first it was vegeterian vs. non-vegeterian ... then it turned into some Chicken McNugget eating contest ... then it was 4 lbs. of carrots vs. 12 donuts in 1 hour! How did it scale up to 8 lbs. of carrots and 24 donuts in an hour? I don't know ... but it was wild! <2 lbs. of carrots and 21.5 donuts later ... 3 of the 4 contestants threw up and all the spectators had a blast!

I've been working at Space Exploration for the last 6 months and the fruits of that labor have shown today March 20, 2007. No we didn't get a 100% success rate, but we broke through major milestones since last launch. First stage ignition, first stage separation, second stage ignition, and fairing separation ... all 10/10! I can't begin to describe the feeling I had when I watched the video telemetry feed of the launch. It was like nothing I've seen before! I've seen shuttle launches in the past, but this just seemed to hit a tuning fork within me. What an accomplishment for such a young company! Bigger and better things are yet to come! I will try to post up video feed of the launch when it becomes publicly available!

WOOOHOOO!!

Falcon1 DemoFlight2 Launch - Low Quality

Let me be the first in my family to post this information online! Congratulations go out to Azarah and Russell on their recent engagement! This is great news and I wish you the best in yuor life together. Azarah ... my little cousin ... I still remember when we were all younger. Playing Hide and Seek ... playing in the school yard ... you were always so interested in what Ron and I were doing. Why didn't you want to play with Nina and Penny? Maybe because they were geeks always reading their Sweet Sixteen books, but that's for another blog. :)

It's no wonder you grew up a Tom Boy. But hey! Whatever floats his boat right? ;P

So my mom visited this past weekend ... it was good seeing my mom again. It gives her time to spend with Kaith and leaves us a bit of time to talk about what's going on back home. Being in Southern California really leaves me out of the loop. I have to rely on my cousins for most of the information that goes around.
You might be a little puzzled by the Subject line ... well, it has to do with my Grandparents. As my mom was telling this story I was simply in awe. How can these people rip off this old couple!? I mean what is wrong with the world today!!? The story goes ... a couple of guys went up to my grandparents and told them they need to inspect their piping in the home. So they proceeded to tell them to go to the basement and knock on the pipes while they "check things out." Thank god nothing bad happened! But while my grandparents were downstairs ... these thieves rummaged through their belongings and stole anything valuable they could! WTF!!!? What ever happened to a hard days work!? The satisfaction of working hard for you money!!?!? This totally pisses me off! Not because this event is "close to home" but because this is wrong on so many levels that I can't even begin to list! My grandparents worked hard for their money and now it's gone. Will they ever feel safe in that house again? I wouldn't! And this is the house they've had for years! Decades!! This is their home! Where they raised their children!!!
Does it really stop there? NO! What about people that want everything, but don't want to work for it? Yeah you know those types. Greedy bastards! Money corrupts and turns people a different shade. My advise? Stay away from those people! The only thing they are interested in is money and how green it is.

Sad to say, but I know a few of those people ... and they are "closer to home" than I would like.