my thoughts.14.3:

*last up-dated: 31 Dec 2011/6pm

(25 Dec 2011 - 31 Dec 2011)

a place to say what's on my mind,

and in my heart...

Christmas Day/10:30pm

well, another holiday has come and gone.

I'd like to thank you all for all the emails, voice-mails,

dm's, snail mails, texts, and e-cards.

you guys are so wonderful.

ok then, did everbody get everything they

wanted for christmas?

no?, yes?, maybe?...

our christmas morning was pretty crazy;

Ash had her alarm set for 5:45a

(she wanted a 'little make-up' on for pics)

so 'officially' the day started here at casa-kiss at approx 6am; dogs were barking, the music was playing,

the coffee carafes were filled, and fresh muffins had just come out of the oven.

grandma jo had gotten up at 4:30a to

get everything started.

believe it or not, I was the last person downstairs,

and I really needed coffee first.

then the presents began to be handed out.

instead of having 'a santa' hand-out the goodies,

everybody was in charge of passing out their own gifts.

that way a person could enjoy everyone's

reaction to their presents all at once.

I thought that was a pretty good idea,

and everybody else seemed to like it also.

I had to laugh at the selection of the christmas tunes we were listening to; 'christmas all time greatest records'.

bing crosby/white christmas, ella fitzgerald/silent night, dean martin/rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, etc.

I will say this though, it was better than some of the artists/songs I had been listening to on the radio for

the past couple of weeks.

after the six of us; myself, Ash, her mom, Jess,

and the grandparents were done unwrapping presents and stashing our loot, it was time for breakfast.

pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage, hasbrowns, muffins, rolls, orange/grapefruit/tomato juice, milk.

needless to say, we all were stuffed and ready for a nap after we finished. actually, I did lay down for abit.

the pupz also enjoyed their holiday gifts of

turkey/beef jerky, assorted pull toys and 4 boxes of treats. unlike other breeds of dogs, huskies and malamutes will eat 'everything' at once and not just let the food sit.

poor beverly the bassett has finally gotten used to the fact that she just can't eat a little and come back for more later,

as 'it will' be gone.

the girls were mostly in the kitchen throughout today, and grandpa jack and I 'tried' to play the video game

'call of duty/black ops' on my new ps3.

I normally don't play these type of games,

but some of the kids who comes over here for mnf or other gatherings brings games such as these along

to play in the game room. way too much info to remember to just jump in and play, will have to read the instructions before we 'try' to play again.

as the day progressed we watched a little nba on the tv,

and all of us took all the pupz for a walk throughout

the nieghborhood.

I loved walking around my last 'hood' in vegas christmas morning and watch the kids play with their new presents; bikes, radio-controlled cars, airplanes and such.

but 'this' place doesn't ring true.

older generation around here. but we did have some people come out and wish us a merry/merry and visit.

after the walk, we all cleaned up for christmas dinner and help set everything up. we basically had a traditional christmas dinner of turkey, ham with all the fixin's.

I had mentioned this 'turducken' thing I keep hearing about on the boob tube, but was met with extreme prejudice.

so maybe another time then.

after dinner we had the mexi-godfather & godmother arrive with a couple of their fam-members which lead us into watching a couple of christmas movies;

national lampoon's christmas vacation, and bad'der santa.

I ended up coming upstairs just past 10p, and now you all are caught up with my day.

it's just past 10:30p, and I am extremely beat,

so I am going to call it a day. one last time;

Merry Christmas everyone...

26 Dec 2011/9:45a

I am so sorry guys, apparently my site didn't publish last night as I had thought it did. oops!!!

not sure if it was my fault, or vistaprints... again.

ok, so I'll just do a 'quickie' to get this 'out there;

hectic morning, had some sleepovers last night and a couple of peeps just got called into work. (construction) some of us are getting ready to drive south to 'the grove' shopping district for lunch and maybe catch a movie.

so I'll update later this afternoon.

have a great 'boxing day' everyone...

-continued/10p-

good evening everyone.

had a fairly eventful fun-filled day.

went to 'the grove' shopping district with Ash, Jessica,

grandpa jack, and the mexi-godfather.

we had lunch at the whisper restaurant,

pretty nice place, but a very limited lunch menu.

Ash and I split a cobb salad,

and halfed a double bacon swiss burger, wonderful.

oh, grandpa jack and the mexi-godfather 'drank'

their lunch by the way; the booze-hounds.

after lunch we saw the mission impossible movie;

very actioned packed and entertaining.

it was more a typical summer block-buster release

type flick than a winter one though.

once we left the the theatre, traffic was starting to thicken so I decided to drive an alternate route home;

wasn't my brightest move, by far.

but at least we enjoyed each others company,

and the godfather's stories were better than radio.

while everyone did their own thing for dinner,

I sat upstairs and had a text-message conversation

with a friend. she's had a 'trying year', and the holidays just brought everything to the surface.

after the hour or so long texting convo,

I went downstairs fixed a turkey on wheat and took my dinner back up to my room and watched a movie

on 'on-demand': the extra man/2010 starring

kevin kline, john c. reilly, katie holmes among others. interesting movie you guys, to say the least.

so here it is just nearing 10pm and my tylenol pm's are starting to 'hit me', so I will be signing off.

I most likely will not update until after we arrive

in vegas tomorrow affternoon.

I told the zoo-crew that I'd like to be on the road nlt 10am, but as that goes, we will see.

good night all, sleep well and sweet dreams... 

27 Dec 2011/6pm

good late afternoon from sunny, but coolish las vegas, nv. ok, before I begin my blah, blah blah;

I must give special kudo's to the girls for being ready to leave this morning 20min before I wanted to be on the road. I was amazed at the eagerness of the 3 of them to

start our little journey.

I wasn't actually planning on bringing 'all' the petz,

just the catz; but after my neighbor's kids across the street found out I was coming back to the house for a week,

they 'begged' me to 'please' to bring the pupz.

so with that said, we drove the rig with ALL the petz.

it was a bit crowded with 6 dogz, 4 people, and 2 catz.

but we made it work.

the elders drove the suv, following us the entire way.

we made excellent time also.

there was traffic on 101/210, but not bad.

and when we hit the 15n, we were cruising mean and lean all the way to baker before we made our first/only stop

for lunch at 'the mad greek' in baker. (no dog stops!)

the lamb gyros at this place are legendary,

I know that I have mentioned this before throughout

my travels though; but if you ever find yourself in the mojave desert, stop at this place it's awesome.

the gyro wraps are pretty large,

but I suggest asking for extra tzatzki sauce.

and according to the girls,

the strawberry milkshakes are very tasty.

so after we ate, walked the pupz and stretched for a bit,

we were back on the road and made it to the

vegas house by 3:30p. almost 6hrs, not bad.

as soon as we pulled-up to the house,

the kids from across the street came running over and it was as if we had never been gone.

lots of giggling, laughing, barking, whinning,

tail wagging and so on.

(oh, and the dogs were excited also...ha!)

after the reunion, Ash and I went to the grocery store for pretty much 'everything'.

thinking I was going to cook tonight, I bought some fresh salmon, steaks, veggies and salad stuff.

but after getting back home, I was informed we had been invited over across the street for homemade ravioli's.

so I had to go back out to pick up a couple gallons

of pinot, and cabernet, and coke. no pepsi!

the grandparents won't be joining us for dinner;

they went to the strip and are seeing jerry seinfeld at caesars palace. been there, done that, seen him.

so here it is, 5:52p on a tuesday night and I'm back at my vegas home and have 1 cat in my lap, (no idea where cam is) and will be going to my friends house for dinner

within the hour.

right this very moment, life is perfect...

-continued/11pm-

oh my goodness. I am exhasted. had a fantastic time this evening over at my neighbors house for dinner,

and then a cut-throat game of monopoly.

I think the 14yr old young man as a little crush on Ash,

how cute.

I don't think he liked me saying I think of him as the son I'll never have, so that makes her your 'sister'.

the comment got some laffs, but not from him... sorry w. dinner was excellent, and the jugs of wine I took over were rot-gut, but drinkable.

Ash is up in my room sleeping,

along with a most of our creatures.

I'm down stairs in the living room with beverly and the cats. I'll be sleeping on my huge sectional I left here,

Ashley is all alone in the rv,

the elders have the queen bed in the guest room,

and Jessica is at her home next door.

Jess and her hubby have some issues they are currently dealing with; which may or may 'not' be tolerable.

ok then, enuff of that shit!!! (sorry, still a little buzzed)

the grandparents got home a little while ago from the strip; they enjoyed seeing seinfeld, but said they wanted to drive the strip to see the lights, but it was bumper to bumper.

yep, welcome to vegas baby.

and as I was just typing the last sentence, I had a brain-fart; helicopter ride over the strip for them and even maybe the rest of us tomorrow night.

I know that there are at least two charters that do the

'strip-tour-thing', and one of them used to be horrendous. will have to look into this in the morning.

with over 250,000 - 500,000 people coming into town

in the next couple of days,

the sooner we do something like that, the better.

also, everyone in my 'party' wants to do the new years strip thing, even the elders.

AND the palacios family (how many?, no idea) will be driving up early saturday morning to join in the... 'fun'. *I've done the 'strip thing twice; '95 & '01...

was cold and crowded, very crowded both times.

but everybody wants to experience it,

so be it that I ruin new years. nope!

ok, I am going to go to sleep now. will say 'hey' sometime

in the morning... 

29 Dec 2011/10am

good morning all.

had a pretty busy/fun-filled day yesteday.

everybody was up and about fairly early in the morn,

and when we all finally got ready we went to a lunch buffet on this side of town (northwest) at the fiesta casino.

it's not a flashy casino such as those 'blowhards' on the strip, but for a locals casino, it's pretty nice.

after we ate; Ash, grandpa jack and I watched a ice-hockey practice/game on the ice-rink attached to the casino while Ashley, Jessica and grandma jo played slots.

after we left the casino, I took the group over to the red rock canyon conservation area. we drove the loop/tour, hit the gift shop and took some pictures.

after that, we came back here to the house and took abit of a break for awhile. deciding 'not' to go out for dinner; we bbq'd italian sausages and peppers and had them w/jar red sauce in hotdog buns and tater-tots.

(not that exciting, but fairly easy and tasty)

after dinner we drove down to 'the strip' and took an 'extended' helicopter tour of the las vegas strip.

I say extended because the normal 'in-air flight time' is normally 8-9 minutes, but if you arrange a longer 'in air' tour beforehand, you'll have a better time.

their website states a 90min tour, but that includes; transportation to/fro the tropicana casino & hotel staging area, the information and safety briefing,

the picture taking at the vegas sign

(if you buy their photo, extra $$$)

and a very corny 11min film they show in the briefing room explaing the background of las vegas gaming industry.

also, if you don't want to have the tour guide 'push' their dvd special on the tour, buy it before you begin.

(good knowledge) so after our '27min in-air tour', we walked over to the m&m's world just down the strip from the trop and bought a ton of goodies.

we finally got home last night around 9pm and everyone was so tired we all just crashed.

so that basically catches you guys up as far as

my activities goes.

as far as our mission for today; Ash wants to go find a 'day-bed' for her to sleep on when she is here.

so I imagine that is my duty also.

do they even make day beds anymore?

she is currently on her laptop looking up the exact thing as I sit here pounding these keys.

well shit, grandpa jack just informed me that there is a slight leak coming out of my hot water heater in the garage. fuck!!! gotta go...

-continued/1:30pm

ok then. we went and got a new 60gal water heater at lowes, no thanx to the smart-ass old man who was basically shafting me cause he knew I didn't know shit about water heaters. dick-head!!!

after which, while grandpa jack drove the heater back here,

I took myself out to lunch and had a big mac attack.

(the girls are out 'daybed' shopping)

I brought jack back a quaterpounder w/cheese, and had 40 chicken mcnuggets for the kidz.

so, as I sit here, jack went back to lowes without me

(fuck that lowes old man motherfucker)

to buy new fastners, couples and whatever else 'he needs' to hook-up the new heater.

hey!!! at least I admit I don't know 'jack-shit' (pun)

about house stuff. but, as I have done in the past; watching while a job/task is being completed, I will learn.

so listen to this; I read this story on yahoo just a while ago, and now cnn has a segment on it; apparently an offensive lineman 'mark asper' from the oregon football team was dining at lawry's in beverly hills with his entire team, when a diner sitting nearby started choking on some food.

so 'asper' being a 'eagle scout' jumped into action giving the 'choker' the heimlich maneuver, clearing a chunk of meat from the 'chokers' throat. and then this is what the old man who was choking had to say: (quoted...)

The man he assisted, Paul Diamond of Sherman Oaks,

is the father of an Oregon student.

"Mr. Asper came and did a proper Heimlich bearhug and I coughed the meat up," Diamond told City News Service, adding, "The posts that say he saved my life are exaggerating. But he did a nice thing and did it well, and I'm quite grateful. Not a big deal."

'exaggerating', 'a nice thing', 'not a big deal'!!!

what a ungrateful piece of shit!,

maybe 'hero asper' should just take a chunk of chewed meat and shove it back down that ungrateful

'denture wearing dick-fuck's throat'!!

wow. that is so in tune with the way people treat

everyone these days.

forget about the needless sparring between the

reps & dems right now

(which is just as stupid as this old man's comment),

people these days are just so self-consumed and arrogant and think that because they have a dozen followers on the twitter or a few people reading their blogs they are just so important. and that whatever they say is

'the greatest thing' ever!!!

hey I write this stuff for me, not anyone else.

if some of you like what I have to say, so be it.

if you don't, I don't care.

ugh. I used to be such a people-person; not anymore!

jack's back. time to take water heater notes.

-continued/10:30pm-

good evening guys. just a quickie cause I'm tired.

the water heater is working great,

set the temp for 160', I like a hot shower.

the girls came back with a delivery truck following,

with Ash' new daybed and trundle.

I love these ma/pop stores up here in vegas;

you buy something in their shop

and they will deliver it to you immediately.

(most of the time) I then took Ash to a mattress outlet and we got a 'simmons beauty-rest' to be

delivered tomorrow morning.

*the mattress that came with her daybed was fairly cheap-o, so she'll put that one on her trundle and use the simmons.

I made the decision for dinner tonite; capriotti's.

a great place for hoagie sandwiches.

they have a huge variety; cheesesteaks, turkey/stuffing, veggie, and so forth. my favorite is the capastrami;

12" roll w/pastrami, provolone, thousand island dressing,

and coleslaw. $10.99 and worth every cent!

I even made a ice cream run afterwards for a snack before the ucla basketball game. I had to go to one of my neighbors house to watch the game, as I no longer have 'direct-tv' here, just cox cable.

oh, and yes the stanford cardinal beat the bruins 60-59.

ok, I'm beat, and this web-site-dashboard is pissing me off. not working properly, again... surprisingly!  

30 Dec 2011/9:45am-

good morning.

busy, busy day for me.

will be heading to mccarran airport in a couple hours to pick-up the mexi-godfather, his wife, and 3 others.

*all of a sudden I may have a 'sleeping arrangement' issue. I'm sure we'll work it out accordingly.

we have ticket reservations for 'O' cirque du soleil at the bellagio casino this evening @10p.

only have 9tix, may need a couple more. not quite sure if we can get them close together, or even at all. on hold now.

so besides, the airport transport thing,

picking-up n.j. for the dinner/show,

getting a haircut (a trim, mind you),

my daughter's mattress delivery,

getting propane for the rig,

the dog park this afternoon,

and a late dinner at le cirque/bellagio before the show;

I really have nothing going on at all.

ok I just got 4 more tix grouped together for tonite.

that's it, I'm done w/that.

I was just told that it's my turn to shower,

so I best be taking advantage. I'll check-in later.

-continued/4:30p-

busy damn afternoon.

I feel as if I have driven at least a couple

hundred miles already.

hmmm; to henderson for my haircut/eyebrow trim, picked-up N.J. to the house: 68miles (round trip)

to mccarran airport for the palacios': 50miles

propane/rv equipment: 35miles

dog park: 8miles

grocery/liquor run: 15miles

fuel/carwash: 10miles

total: 176miles

jeesh, I knew it!!!

anyhow, everyone is here now.

we're currently having 'happy hour' with cerveza,

crackers, meats & cheeses.

our dinner rez at the bellagio is for 7:30p,

and the show begins at 10p. had to borrow sleeping bags/pillows from my next door peeps to accommodate my ever-increasing arriving house guests.

it's amazing how certain people 'just show up' and expect me to shit show tickets that have been sold-out for weeks, maybe even months.

ok, I'm going back downstairs to play 'nice' host.

*note to self:

don't invite people 'you hardly know' to vegas to stay at your house during the new years eve weekend while your

'very shit-faced' at your kissmas party.

and if you do;

remember their names, and that one was flirting with you!

which made for an awkward moment(s).

-continued/6pm-

ok. 'everything' is pretty much working itself out even better than I could have imagined;

considering the fact that I currently have an additional 7 people 'here' that I wasn't counting on.

seeing how Jessica is my 'direct' next-door neighbor,

she has taken in the 'invited guests' to help alleviate the sleeping arrangements.

and yes, apparently I gave 'someone' in particular

the wrong impression a couple weeks ago.

I really hate feeling like an asshole.

I have appologied (a few times),

but as it has been told to me;

I think she is 'milking' this situation a little too much. anyway, all is currently 'fine' now at casa-kiss/vegas.

most everyone is already to depart to 'the strip', just waiting for the last female to finish her make-up.

you know, guys really are lucky as far as getting ready for a date/dinners/etc: pants, jacket, shoes, hair gel... done. women on the other hand: hair/nails done, dress, shoes, bag, make-up, and various other things, including time! women, you've gotta love 'em...

(or they'll cut you while you sleep)

alright, time to fly.

will touch base again after we get home.

     hope you all have a fantastic friday night...

31 Dec 2011/3am

good morning.

the show 'O' was fantastic.

I wasn't really sure what to expect, but once I attained the fact that this was a very 'shiek' circus act(s) I thoroughly enjoyed the entire ensemble.

funny thing is; my ex-wife 'always' wanted to go see this presentation, and I 'always' came up with a lame excuse or alternative plans 'not' to go.

but when my daughter asked me last month if we could 'possibly' go see this particular show during the new years eve weekend, I didn't even hesitate to pick-up the phone and inquire of the availability of the tickets.

even inviting 'more' people than I could eventually

get tickets for. (ya, my bad!)

but I made it up to them in another way.

in fact, the entire night was 'almost' flawless to the point of being perfect. the 'almost' part was having to come back to the house after we were in the middle of our dinner.

my wallet had been forgotten and was laying on

the kitchen island.

there is a story here, but I'd rather not get into the deviant actions of the mexi-godfather swindling my daughter to 'say' she had my wallet in her hand bag and just conviently 'left it' at the house so that I would not attempt

to pay for the dinner.

but these 'goobers' did not realize as to the value of the contents inside my leather apparatus; and that especially 'this weekend', it's a good thing to have your valid drivers license on you at ALL times.

it was done innocently enough,

but I was 'a little' miffed at the time.

and driving back here to get it and then trying to get back into valet was almost enough to have my slight-hypertension elevate to a moderate level.

I had not planned on drinking this evening at all,

but once I got back to the casino I had a shot and beer chaser to calm the nerves and to eventually laugh off the actions of the two 'ding-dongs' that had conspired against me.

I don't think Ash will EVER do anything like that ever again. she still feels bad I think.

I did tell her though; at the very least place my wallet somewhere in hiding and not just in open sight

for just 'anyone' to pick-up.

not that I don't 'trust' everyone who has access to my house, but there are a few peeps here,

or next door that I don't know at all.

I hate the slogan: Trust No-one. but you never know.

ok, I've rambled long enuff, it's nearing 3am,

and I'm really tired.

will say hey as soon as I wake-up.

good night, good morning...

New Years Eve 2011/9:30am

good morning.

I should still be in bed, but got up to make a fresh bagel/cream cheese run for all the early risers.

actually, the best place I discovered is vons supermarket for the bagels (excellent bakery dept)

and just shelf cream cheese. plus orange/grapefruit/tomato juice, coke, pepsi.

so, now that the older generation is 'set-up' I will go back to bed for a couple hours...

-continued/1:30pm-

alright, lets try this 'getting up' thing one more time.

actually, I'm in ucla bruin heaven.

I have the bruin f-ball going on espn, and the bruin b-ball playing on fox sports.

PLUS, I'm swiggin' my 3rd beer already AND

eating pretzel m&m's.

hey don't judge me; I asked for prtzels w/my beer, and this is what was brought to me, so be it!

both teams are playin' in the bay area; the footballers are playing at at&t park (where the sfgiants play), and the roundball team is playing at ucberkely, I love that campus. lot's of history there also.

I swear 'everytime' I've ever gone to the campus from the bart station, I've always been approached by 'hippies' playing instruments for change.

yes, there are still hippies at berkeley, I swear.

if you never been to the san francisco bay area,

you really should go. it is a strange and wonderful land.

thank you for the emails wishing me and my family

a happy new year.

and by all accounts, I would like to wish ALL OF YOU a wonderful and exciting new year.

I hope 'we all' have an excellent 2012.

ok, I'm going to take advantage of nobody doing much right now and do the shower thing, talk soon...

-continued/6p-

jeesh. you'd think that when you have two of your favorite sports team play on the same day that there would be a great chance that one of them would win,

OR even an outside chance that they both would win.

but nope, ucla football AND the basketball teams BOTH loose, in fact they got their asses beat!!!

oh well, life does go on.

so, everybody is currently doing their own thing;

grandpa jack/mexi-godfather are out in the garage

doing who knows what,

the grandma's are both next door at Jessica's

house with the 'others',

Ash is in her room talking on her phone,

Ashley is finishing up in the kitchen,

the 3 younger palacios' are playing ping pong in the den, (yes, I have a ping-pong table... here)

and I'm sitting in the living room watching news updates

of new years celebrations around the world.

yes, we are an exciting crew here tonight.

actually, we are pacing ourselves.

normally, if you were going to 'do the strip' on new years,

you would make a day of it by being there at

least 8hrs ahead.

but since we have four 'under-21's',

it didn't make since to go so early. so we will be leaving here between 9-9:30p. and if park on the east side of the strip and walk a block or two in towards the mgm grand.

parking is only $10 an hour and alot less hastle than trying to get out of any of the casino's parking structures.

so I picked up 20 party hats, noise makers, and bought a case of 'plastic' bottles of coors light.

(no glass allowed on the strip past 6am today) and grandpa jack, Ashley and Jessica will be driving the vehicles tonite.

so the rest of us (minus the less than 21ers)

will be drinkin'.

ok then. going to go next door for a while. talk soon... 

to be continued on my 'Final Thoughts'...

GAHOLLYWOODKISS.com