Another Leap Day

"Better to shoot for the stars and land in the mud, than shoot for the mud and make it." - Unknown

Leap years are cool I think. I can't say I fully understand how they work other than they are every four years. I understand the it takes 365 days for the earth to go around the sun and i'm assuming it takes a fourth of a day extra so after 4 years we add a day. This 6th grade science (who am I kidding, 3rd grade science) isn't too complicated, but the point is I just trust that it all adds up even though I've never checked it out for myself. An extra day is always welcomed. My niece Sarah had her birthday on February 28th, which I noticed when I did the math that she was born on a leap year. So I asked my sister Ana about it and she told me that she chose to make sure Sarah wouldn't be born on the 29th because she didn't want her to feel like her birthday couldn't be fully celebrated each year. I think it was a good call.

There was an Obama Rally on Wednesday at Texas State. I wanted to go, but I knew it would be packed and I was really tired after my run, so I ended up falling asleep that night at like 9pm. It sucks when you wake up at 3am and think it is the morning and then have to keep waking up every few hours waiting for 7am. Of course I wake up late, ironic when I got so much sleep.

Thursday for lunch my boss took our clients, me and Susan to the Salt Lick. I had never been there before. It is a BBQ place and I have to admit it was really good. I found it curious that they only accepted cash, yet they were a long established place. I think they have some of the best BBQ in Austin. These were some great clients.

Thursday night I had plans to go out with Oscar and Abram. I was hoping for a low key happy hour and hopefully Oscar and Abram would get a chance to hang out since Oscar works most of the day and we all really don't see each other even though we live in the same house. Well Abram was fortunate enough to get invited to a Spurs Mavs basketball game, and of course he had to take that offer. That left Oscar and I, and he was still up to going out so I was game. The thing is that I don't work well with the Austin schedule. Let me explain, in DC I could go to work and at 5:30 go out to happy hour, be home by 8pm (10pm latest if the night was really good) and then you go to bed and wake up early for work in the morning. Weekends were normal, you go out about 10 or 11 and stay out until they stop selling beer. In Austin, there are probably happy hour places, but the places we go to are Thursday night places that are geared for people who don't have work on Friday and can stay out late. So we get to the bar and it is empty at 9pm. We actually only pay 3 bucks to get in, even though it will be like 10 dollars later in the night. We have some drinks and catch up on how things have been going. Oscar then went out and did his dancing thing, while I had a few drinks and had a good time texting. I called it a night early because I had work in the morning, but Oscar stayed because he was having a good time.

So I'm in bed not yet fully asleep and it is about 3am. I'm having trouble falling asleep because I decided to watch Lost when I got home, but I'm almost there. Then the phone rings and it is Abram. All I hear is New Braunfels, and I tell him, man its late, I'm asleep, of course I can't go hang out in New Braunfels. Then he tells me, no no, we got pulled over by a cop. That woke me up. So, on the way back from the game, a person he did not know was taking him home when she got pulled over by a cop. They took her in and left Abram stranded at a gas station. I drove down there and picked him up and he filled up my tank of gas. You would think I would be frustrated because of the inconvenience, but the fact that he was ok and that he wasn't in any trouble was more important. It sucks to bail a person out of jail, now that sucks. Now I am paying for it today though, but I'm going to sleep really well tonight.

grrrr

New Life

"Every day may not be good, but there's something good in every day." -Unknown

It is crazy, Oscar, Rino and I were all born within 7 days of each other back in 1979. We all have sisters and they all had/are having babies during the same month almost. As I have mentioned, Oscar's sister had her baby last week. On February 26, 2008 Sebastian Ezekiel Hernandez (not sure on the spelling yet) was born to my cousin Vanessa (Rino's sister). This is his first time being an uncle and I'm excited to let him into the club. My sister Eliza is due really soon, and this is her moment, we are all so happy for her. Tori will be a good big sister. It is like kids come in waves.

Abram has got his law school applications in. Now it is just a matter of time and waiting. Hopefully he will hear back soon and get to take on that new task. He isn't working right now which does make me feel somewhat jealous, but I remember how it felt post bar exam when I had no job and spent a lot of time at home with no money, it wasn't as glamorous as I thought it would be. All I know is no matter how it turns out, it will all be ok. It is a great spot to be in when the entire world is yours to do with it as you please. That kind of freedom is rare in life. I tried to tell it to a homeless man and well his response made me understand that isn't always true.

Giving Abram advice in applying to law school has reminded me that it is time for my nephew to get his college applications done along with his FAFSA paperwork. I remember being in his position and having no clue what I had to do and when it was due. It was all foreign to me. I really don't think I would of hit any of my deadlines if it weren't for the fact that I had friends that were so on top of things that I just piggybacked on what they were doing. It is cumbersome, trying to figure out financial aid and fill out those long apps and the fees. It is like doing your taxes, you want to put it off until you have to do it. So I've always been the one in my family who never stops nagging about going to college, but it is easy for me to say that when I didn't have the responsibilities that others have. So right now I know my advice or pushing won't do much to help him out since well it's been tuned out by now. I hope others might step up and be a resource for him. Ironically, I'll be paying off college for a long time, so 20 years from now we will have to see if the investment was actually profitable. The experience alone sure was.



[Updated Note: I actually looked into it and he is well on top of the topics I will discuss, but it doesn't change my reasoning, just makes me happy that I wrong.] All I want for him is to apply to UT, Texas State, (any other school his heart might desire), Pan Am and STCC. You get your responses back and then you make your decision. But then the argument is, "well I won't get into UT so why apply? I don't want to leave home so why waste time, money and energy applying to Texas State or anywhere else? I want to stay home, and I can apply to Pan Am or STCC any time, I just want to enjoy my Senior year. "


Very true, and it is your life and you should do what you want, not what others want for you and if you don't want it, then don't do it. The problem is that I feel the not wanting it might come from the fear of thinking it may not be possible and people hate to fail. So if you apply and get rejected and don't get to go because they wouldn't take you, well that is so much more hurtful to the ego than, "oh yeah, I could of gone, but I just decided I didn't want to." So even if staying home is what you know you want, then what does it hurt to apply and then if you are accepted to say, "no thanks, I'm good here." Now that decision I can respect and support, but not trying because you think you know what you want and taking the path of least resistance, that I'm not happy with for anyone. It of course doesn't matter what I think, but as someone that cares, I still get to share my opinion.


I get it, I really do, home is nice, family is nice, why leave your friends, your high school love, your band, when you have everything you want right here. You've seen it work out for others, to go to STCC, graduate and get good jobs, you'll just do that. Really, I'm all for that, but my guess is that the STCC application isn't in yet either, nor the FAFSA, so even though you may feel like it is all a given and you have a plan, you still have to act and take on those responsibilities. No one else will do it for you, this is all on you now, its your life and we will let you sink or swim on your own decisions. I really do hope I am wrong.


I can't stop harping on this, wow. I still feel that it doesn't hurt to send in those apps and finalize your plans for what you want to do now. There are deadlines, try looking them up. Ideally, I think he would be happy at Pan Am and it would be a great experience and opportunity for him. What I worry about is the "taking a semester off" problem college kids get into. "Oh I waited too long, I'll just apply in the spring." "Well now I'm working, I don't have time, I'll do it later." Before you know it, you either have only a few classes under your belt or none at all and the task seems that much more daunting. 4 years will pass, and after them you will either have a degree or you won't, but they will still pass the same.

Now am I just butting in here? I mean you can only live your own life and let others make their own decisions, but I just feel like sharing advice and not giving demands is fair. What worries me is that if someone told me I had to do something, I wouldn't want to do it. How do you make someone want something? Especially when you know they might be holding back because of a fear they don't even really recognize. Speeches don't change anything, and I've done my share...leading by example hasn't been the best in my case either. You are about to be thrown out into a pack of wolves and though your family will be able to help you in the short run, you are now your own person. I have no doubt in the end there will be success, but I want the road there to not be more difficult than it has to be.



In non college related news: I need to go back to the doctor to find out if my cholesterol has gotten better. It is just a blood test, but I figure I'll try to keep delaying it because the longer I have the better it can get and well I'm not a fan of the whole needle in my arm taking out the blood thing. This is silly, I shouldn't be dealing with this kind of crap. Genetics are one thing, but this was something that I take responsiblity for. I can either beat myself up about it or do something to make it better. The weird thing, that unlike weight, I don't notice anything having to do with cholesterol. I just have to trust that the doctor is right. Yeah one day I'll know when my heart goes into attack (Jorge is the right medical term?), but for now I'll try to do what I can.

I finally got the invitation to Jorge and Michelle's wedding. It was cute. Instead of a picture of them or some fancy card, it was a prescription slip for medication, but instead had all the information for the wedding. It was clever and really shows how proud she is of her doctor fiance. I felt great to see that they addressed it to Mar tin Ala niz, Esq., but then I remembered when Jorge asked me for my address I wrote that to be a show off, so it was actually me addressing it to myself that way. It didn't feel as cool afterwards.

My friend Angie from Virginia just finished taking the Bar Exam. I wish her the best of luck now that she has to wait until she gets her results. I'm sure she did great, but a funny moment was when she texted me a day before the exam to tell me she wasn't going to take it. Then I found out she was just making fun of me because that is what I had decided before my friends and family helped me get over that fear and just take it. I hope Bob and her come visit soon, they should really check Texas out.

those are my last thoughts before I go to bed

Fouetté

"Surrounded by people who love life, you love it too; surrounded by people who don't, you don't." -Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic's Notebook, 1966

There is about a week until the Texas primary. I really enjoyed the debate last week in Austin. I didn't watch it as closely as others, but I was proud to see an actual debate where two people discussed issues and actually debated instead of just giving short speeches or sound bites. I think there is one more this week. Pretty much this is Hillary's last stand and after Tuesday if she can't win Texas and Ohio by decent margins, I'm going to put both legs in the Obama camp even though I can see that that Republican Slime Machine is quickly getting in gear.

Friday after work I went to Houston to attend a high school girls dance competition with Erika. Her girls were performing and it is always great when a person shares with you something they love and what they do. The drive to Houston wasn't too bad, but her flight was delayed so took the time to stop at a truck stop, stretch and later to familiarize myself with the airport. Once she arrived, we headed for the airport and I proud of my ability to get there with such ease, with help of course.

The following morning we arrived at the school at 7am for the dance competition. For not being a morning person I think I got up pretty easily. It was huge, both the school and the competition. I think there were at least 2000 contestants and over 850 routines. I could go through all the dances I saw, from solos, modern, military and hip hop, but I learned a lot during that time, though I did have to ask a lot of questions. It is interesting how what I see is so much different than what a person who knows the intracacies of dance sees. I don't know what is difficult, it all looks difficult to me and some people do things and make them look so easy. The school did great and the competition was impressive. We finally got out of there at 11:30pm tired, but happy for all their hard work paying off. They got a lot of trophies. I just got to see one day, one snap shot, I didn't see all the hard work, late nights and countless hours that went into every routine. I do admit, I was clueless a lot of the time, but I made an honest effort. It was an experience.

Sunday morning it felt like the weekend just evaporated. I dropped Erika at the airport with my secret check-in trick in hand. Saying goodbye is always the part you don't want, but I still couldn't keep from feeling happy about the trip and chose to focus on that.

Here is one of the many things I learned:

A fouetté rond de jambe en tournant is an action where the dancer stands momentarily on flat foot with the supporting knee bent as the other "working" leg is whipped around to the side, creating the impetus to spin one turn. The working leg is then pulled in to touch the supporting knee as the dancer rises up en pointe on the supporting foot. The ability to consecutively perform 32 of these turns is considered a bravura step by the ballerina, emphasizing her strength, stamina, and technique.

My drive home wasn't too exciting. I watched Meet the Press on my cell phone because I was interested in Nader running. Jorge was excited about that. Once I made it home, I just crashed out. Luckily I was woken up in time to watch the Oscars. I swear, I only watched because of Jon Stewart, but I found out that there are a lot of good movies out there that I have not seen.

I finally cleaned my room and did some laundry. It was a terrible mess with hardly any walking room. I really do feel that at times my room is reflective of my emotional state.At least it looks somewhat decent. Here is the real problem, if you put your head in the sand you can ignore things until someone comes and kicks your ass and tells you that you need to make a change. That might explain my shopping bag filled with unopened letters. My desk has been messy too but that doesn't bother me as much. Check out this article: Is a Messier Desk Better?

Abram is finally moved in. It was a pretty seamless move, like a person setting up a tent they have set up and closed down many times before. He is actually making use of my home gym, so I hope that motivates me as well. I hope things work for him.

The dogs are getting along pretty well and I'm sure Max loves the company. Koki and Mia don't seem too happy, but are glad there is a glass door protecting them. So many animals, poor Oscar. At least most are outside. He is a good man I will tell you that.

Original Article Cite "Countdown" Keith Olbermann presented an impressively detailed timeline he called "The Nexus of Politics and Terror," in which he chronicled the Bush administration's exploitation of terror threats for political gain.

The clip is 17 minutes long and entirely worth it, and its conclusion — "what we were told about terror, and not told, for security reasons, has overlapped considerably with what we were told about terror, and not told, for political reasons" — is a dutiful summary of the past six years.

Now for a funny video: (Mom don't watch).

Jimmy Kimmel: "I'm Fucking Ben Affleck" Debuts As Response To Damon

giving makes you feel pretty darn good, what about when no one knows?

With Purpose

"We awaken in others the same attitude of mind we hold toward them." -Elbert Hubbard

I was talking to a friend the other day about the consequences of having a blog which can be publicly tracked back to you with a simple google search. I know my name brings it up, but there shouldn't be people out there looking me up and if there is, well it doesn't bother me unless it affects my professional life. It may be public and out there for anyone to read, but it also has a semi private nature when you know that only the people that read know you or want to know about you and how things are going. Others might be doing random searches finding your page and that is fine too. Then you find out there are more issues. How about a prospective or current employer? Someone you meet? There could be consequences in being too open and too honest. Not to mention libel issues if you happen to be upset on a certain day. I take solace in my low readership that these won't be problems I'll have to soon deal with. It is always hard trying to know where that line is. A public journal is just that, public but a journal for me when I look back.




I'm starting to get tired of the election coverage. I'm just starting to burn out. This is a bad time considering it is getting closer for the time for me to vote. I know I talk about my vote like it is the most important thing, and though important, I know that it is just one. I still like have opinions and trying to make the best decision I can. I feel like each time I hear a stump speech I have heard it before, each time I hear a pundit make an argument, I've heard it before. I always try to look for bias in the words they use and the way they say things. Thursday is the democratic debate, and I wasn't selected to get a ticket, so I'll be at home watching it. Maybe that will spark up my interest again. Maybe it is good that I'm starting to follow less closely, it does give me added stress in something I have no true control over. Just because you root for your team doesn't mean that you are opposed to firing players and hiring new coaches. Doesn't make you less of a fan to know the ones you have just suck and are bring everyone down.

Here is a story I thought was interesting: Keith Olbermann slammed Bill O'Reilly for saying on his radio show, "I don't want to go on a lynching party against Michelle Obama unless there's evidence."

Wednesday I got an email from my friend Jorge. At what point will he be my college friend Jorge rather than just Jorge. So this new doctor friend of mine is getting married to his college sweetheart Michele in the fall in California. This is how he phrased his question to me, "would you guys be willing/interested in being groom's bitches at my wedding?...if you don't think there is a really strong chance that you will attend, ... no worries, i'll get other grooms bitches." There was a lot a lot of love in there despite the bitches part. I was hoping Juan Carlos would quickly reply, "YES! Jorge, you had me at bitch." But though I know in his heart he felt it, that was not his reply, instead it was a regular yes if Marty and Herbert do it. This would be the first time I've ever a Grooms Man. I have no clue what one does or any of that stuff. I guess I'll find out. Wow a wedding.

Speaking of weddings, check out this video, Woman Rejects Very Public Wedding Proposal.

Why would anyone do something like that? I'm talking about proposing in public, I mean you kind of put the other person in a tough spot. What is more respectable, to say yes and then no off the court to save his reputation, or say no so that he doesn't have those 2 mins where he thinks you actually want to spend the rest of your life with him? I still don't know how I'd propose. Maybe she should of said, I need some time to think about it. That is a good way to say no because that is what it means. I feel a little guilty posting this, I mean if you are that guy, it must really hurt and to add this to it. There must be a lot of these out there though, a very lot its seems.

I am the same person who graduated from high school in 1998. I've grown, matured and a lot of things about me are different, but at the core, I hold a lot of the same values and judgments. I'm a hell of a lot wiser, but am probably still an idiot compared to 40 year old Marty who will wonder what I was doing at this age. So many times in my life I've been told, "you're different now." Usually in a way that rejects the former me while accepting the current me. For example, when I was in FL I was told I was different from the DC me and in DC was told by someone else I was different from the FL me. Now, I was the same person, yes there were changes I made in my life, attitude differences and approaches to life, but no huge fundamental religious conversation type of changes. So a person that accepts the FL me, but not the DC me, makes me really wonder if they are truly accepting me. Doesn't it have an undercurrent of, well if you change then I'll no longer want to be with you because you will no longer meet my current expectations of the you I care about. Isn't the whole thing supposed to be finding a person that loves the fundamental you. The you under it all, the you that drives the trying to be a better person. So for better or worse, there should be no conditions. It is just worries me that during hard times, I'll be told, "you are not the person I met at "insert point of time here" and I don't even know you anymore." I have been lucky enough in my life to meet people that truly do care about me no matter what I may be dealing with or if I'm harder to deal with than other times, but life is complex and this isn't the one all solve all solution to everything. I'm happy with the person I am right now, but I'm still working on trying to learn more things, be better to people, be more understanding, get stronger, both in mental and physical senses. There is only one me.



Wednesday night Abram and I went over to Rino's place to hang out. We were all back together. We had a few drinks and talked about the usual things. We ended up staying a little longer than I had planned, but it is cool when spending time with family feels the same as spending time with friends. I'm usually a homebody that doesn't venture out on weekdays much, so I was proud of myself to choose socializing rather than resting at home.

time to start rounding