Taking a survey

Please pardon my brief hiatus. Didn't mean to disappoint my loyal readers (you know who you are :-> ).

Nate is filling out a survey from Luvs diapers regarding diaper leaks. He's not very satisfied with the one he's using because it fills up quickly. I think this is a user issue, not the product.

Spam Collection Update

My spam collection is growing at a surprisingly slower rate than expected. When I started this non-sense project last 10/24, I had 221. Now 24 days later, it went up by 192. That's an average of 8 spam emails a day. My goal is to reach 1000 by the end of the year. There's only 44 days left in the year and that's 352 more spams if it stays the rate of 8 per day. That means I will only have 765 by the end of 2005. C'mon spammers, get to work! Chop, chop.

You're getting very sleepy...

I think it's time for me to hit the bed. Just finished working on my sister's laptop. It's been an OK week for me. It's nice to know that the weekend's almost here. Looking forward to picking up my iPod nano at C/C this Saturday. I originally bought a 6GB Zen Micro but I didn't like it a bit. The touchpad is soooo messed up and the interface is complicated. I used to own an iPod mini and that is why I'm so used to the click wheel.

Ok. I'm getting really sleepy now. This is how it looks like when I stare at Nate's picture at this time of the morning. Good night. Good morning. Whatever!

Happy Birthday

Nathan turned 2 today. It was a fun filled day. First, we took him to Toys R' Us then to the mall and our last stop was at WalMart. I hate shopping. I can't stand being in a department store for more than 20 minutes. It gives me headache. Well, this day is an exception. Luckily my wife is very patient and keeps a cool head during my ordeal, otherwise...

After supper, Nate blew the candle on his cake more than a dozen times for a couple of reasons - first, he loves doing it, second just so daddy could get that perfect shot.

Will post more if not tomorrow, Saturday. That's all folks!

Me @ work

This is how I would normally look like on a typical work day. I had to wear a mask to protect my identity especially when I'm bidding on Ebay during work hours :-0



My computer froze... AARGH!

Little Stinker

Have you ever seen a skunk riding a bicycle? Believe it or not, I had an encounter with this little stinker earlier this afternoon. He almost ran me over. I think skunks are getting more and more sophisticated as far as their spraying skills are concerned nowadays. Yes, what a clever idea - spray and pedal away.

Hey guess what, that speedin' stinker is Nathan James Aranda. Here's a picture of him with his Afro-sportin' grandpa. Another Ripley's Believe it or Not moment here - Grandpa used Chia pet seeds to grow his 'fro. He later complained of burning sensation on his scalp and mild headache. We told him to use a regular hair spray instead of Miracle Gro to help ease the discomfort.

Don't Stop Believin'... Cubs

Just finished watching the White Sox clinch their first World Series title since 1917 about two hours ago and all I can say is thank God it didn't last 14 innings. As you may well know, the third game of the 2005 W/S lasted for more than 5 hours and went into the record book as the longest game ever played in a W/S. Believe it or not, my wife and I stayed until the end of that grueling and exhausting game. It was all worth it when the Sox won the game.

I'm not a White Sox fan and I didn't jump into the Sox bandwagon just because they're the most popular team in the present time. I'm still swearing my allegiance to the Cubs. Yes, you read it correctly, to the Cubs. People say that they reek, but I don't really care. The team is improving bit by bit and I think that a W/S title for the Cubs is just right around the corner. If not, we Cubs fans can always say, "There's always next year."


Good night and good morning.

Spam Collection

I hate spam! No, not the canned food. We all get bombarded by spam emails from Viagra, hair growth products, porn sites, companies telling you that you've won $1M, etc. I'm telling you, some of these companies are so desperate for your business that they will do anything to bypass the spam filters so they can penetrate your inbox.

I've been using a Yahoo! email account for quite some time now. One good thing I like about it is that it separates (or at least it tries to) the spam emails from the ones you really want to receive and places it on the Bulk folder. Occasionally, a spam email could sneak in and that not really bad.

As much as I hate receiving them, I've decided to collect spam emails to find out how long it will take to get 1,000 spams. So far, I've collected 221 and I started on Oct. 7. I don't think it'll reach a thousand by the end of this year. Who knows, maybe the upcoming holidays will boost the numbers.

I hope there's a company that will pay you money for every spam you collect, just like collecting those pesky soda can tabs for cash. Will keep you posted on this non-sense project.

Barney or Basketball

Given a choice between watching that crazy purple dinosaur and basketball, Nathan goes for basketball. Shoot that ball, son. Make daddy proud.

Filler

Nothing exciting to post tonight. Thought you'd like this pix. I just have a passion for b/w images.

Video iPod

You probably have seen the commercial to Apple's new video iPod. Though I still have the "phased-out" mini in my posession, I'm already drooling over this new gizmo. According to Apple, this device supports up to 150 hours of video and will allow you to download TV shows through iTunes for $1.99 per episode. I only use iTunes to download podcasts, though I sometimes use iPodder Lemon. Where I get my songs is a totally different story.

I heard the new video iPod will not support DivX, however I believe it won't take long for the hacker community to come up with a hack for this. Just look what happened to PSP. Speaking of video, I believe IPTV is a sleeping giant that will soon wake up and put to sleep cable and dish network providers. Microsoft and a handful of companies are already making plans to get the ball rolling on this one.

One last note - I think I know what I want for Christmas this year. (hint, hint!)

A quick announcement

Hello all! I know I haven't been consistent as far as updating my blog is concerned. I will try to post at least twice a week. Though majority of the pictures posted so far are about my son, this blog is about my collection of pictures that I think deserve a place in the "blogosphere". Within the next few weeks, I will be busy working on mini-projects that will allow me to share with you my thoughts as well as pictures to go along with it. Come back soon!

Video Games

I just had to take this picture. My firstborn son being introduced into the world of handheld video games. It seems like he knows what he's doing. I think he's having a level-1 moment here. Notice the piece of plastic stuck on his right foot. Also, time to change that diaper!

Lizard in the toy chest

Be careful when reaching inside your child's toy chest. Some things in there can be very deadly and dangerous.

Top O' The Mornin'

Top o' the mornin' Maam!.My name is Nathan and I'm here to serve you with our donuts that's packed with 210 calories, 12 grams of fat (four of them saturated), 13 grams of sugar, and no fiber. How many would you like today?

Oatmeal Blues

Where's my oatmeal? No doubt, oatmeal is Nathan's favorite breakfast meal. You better give him his oatmeal in the morning or else...

One cool braddah!

Vrooom, vrooom!

A cute family moment inside the ferry boat on our way back to the "mainland" from Mackinac Island.

July is a popular month to get married. My cousin Ian got married at Mackinaw Island and my other cousin, Nina, tied the knot just a few days after. Hey... I got married in July too!Nathan is seen here causing ruckus during Ian's wedding. No, he's actually chasing a butterfly.

We finally learned who the culprit is for putting the pots and pans out of order. At first we thought that some crazy animal made its way through our kitchen and decided to just mess things up, then this photo surfaced. He is caught red-handed.

Nathan was looking for a rabbit and found this little critter instead. Mommy quickly grabbed the camera and took this shot. How cute!

This was taken when Nate was 11 mos. old. He tried ripping this plastic cup apart but didn't succeed. He ended up flipping the dinner table upside down. :-)

The family on the big screen looks very familiar. The Cubs had a contest of who can stare at the camera the longest without blinking. Guess who won? Thanks to Photoshop for this pix.

The genius at work.

A gorgeous sunset view. Taken at the intersection of Liberty and Fox Hill drive in Naperville.

I'm so fascinated w/ black and white pictures. This one was taken a couple of months back right after a thunderstorm. I was driving home from work when I saw this awesome view. Luckily I had my camera in the car. The car in front of me probably thought I was taking a picture of his plate number.

Mommy, where's the pedal?

Hi Ho, Silver away! Watch out for the television.

The lone ranger. He seemed so calm here, but after taking the picture Nathan stood up, grabbed horsie by his tail and threw him out of the window. Of course not!

Nathan @ 15 mos. old. I got him a lemon merengue pie to play around with and even had his rubber duckie join in the fun. Guess who's in charge of the clean up committee? Yours truly.

Got milk?