New Years Fireworks

Marco has looked forward to today all year and I think you can see why by the pictures above. We spent the day with Marco's sister and her kids lighting the smaller fireworks right outside their home. Then as midnight approached we all went to his mother's house and the boys busted out the larger and more dangerous fireworks. Holland is such a warzone on New Years Eve, if you haven't seen it-you should. Those Dutch are CRAZY!

Gouda Friends

Had a wonderful time visiting Marco's long time buddy Ronald and his girlfriend Simone at their new place in Gouda. A special thanks to them both for inviting us over.

Brussels Christmas Market

Marco, Skip, and I checked out Brussels and found an awesome Christmas market which included a light show, skating rink, and a huge ferris wheel.
Other things we did in Brussels:
Visited the comic book museum
Checked out the center
Saw the Manneken Pis
And, took some awesome pictures

Goodbye Contiki Tour. . . Hello Brussels

Before leaving Paris I had to go visit the Louvre. I spent an entire morning at the museum before hoping on a train and meeting Marco and Skip in Brussels.

More Paris!

I wish we had another week in Paris. There's so much to see and do, it's impossible to see it all in a few days.

Paris!

There aren't enough words to describe how much I loved Paris! I think this picture says it all.

Lion of Lucerne

The drive to Switzerland was beautiful. We didn't end up arriving until real late but we still managed to get some shopping done and later Meera and I checked out the Lion of Lucerne.

Yummy food in Florence

Things we did in Florence:
Went to the Academia to check out the David
Took a walking tour of the city
Had a yummy Gelato
Did some major shopping
And attended a Tuscan dinner

Segundo Dia en Roma

We spent another fun day in Rome. I think Meera, Pablo, and I saw every inch of Rome there was to see!! No kidding!

Highlights:

We almost got hit by a car
We lost eachother when the bus pulled away without me
We took the wrong bus and ended up in the run down side of Rome...

and that's only a fraction of what happened to us today!
Besides all the drama, we actually got to see everything we wanted to see.

Ciao Roma!

Pablo in Roma

Pablo and I checked out some of the Roman sights our first night there. Tomorrow we'll have more time to explore. Yay!

Gondola in Venice

Venice was beautiful! We had a wonderful time on the gondola ride and then shopping at the stores. Although it was extremely cold at night I had a great time walking around checking out the city.

Snow in Austria

Today we arrived in Austria but took a small detour to see the castle that inspired Cinderella's castle at Disneyland. It was so beautiful! It was even better than usual since the entire area was covered in snow.

Beer Time in Munich

Having a wonderful time in germany!

Today we
went to the oldest beerhall
took a walking tour of the city
took some great pictures
ate wonderful food, and
checked out the world famous christmas markets

Back in Amsterdam

Well, I made it. I'm back in Holland and wouldn't you know it, it's raining. Yuck! But then again it's always raining here. I'm waiting around for my Contiki group to show up so I thought I would go on the net for a few minutes. Later I plan on walking around town to get good shots of Pablo. I hope this is not my only post while on this trip.

Greetings from Holland!

Super Susana's Birthday

Today we celebrated Susana's birthday and I think she was pretty happy with the gifts we got her. Her birthday is actually tomorrow but since her and I will be gone tomorrow we decided to celebrate it today.

Tomorrow I'm flying to Holland to start my European Tour!! Yay!! I'm starting to get excited about it. I'm not sure how much computer access I will actually have during my trip but I will try to post as often as I can.

Ciao Everyone! Have a Merry X-mas and a Happy New Year! See you in 2007.

Pablo in Vietnam

Pablo came home today with some wonderful pictures from Vietnam! It looks like he had a fabulous time there with Terry and Eugenia. This lucky monkey will only be home for just a few days before going off to Europe with me. Yay!

For next year Pablo will be traveling to Boston in early February and to Cambodia in March.

Go here to see more pics of Pablo in Vietnam.

2006 Company X-mas Party

I had an awesome time at the company Christmas party this weekend! The after-party at Craig's was the bomb as well! It was so cool watching people drink their way to silliness. LoL!

Highlights of the Party:

- The yummy buffet
- Susana being silly
- The girls dancing the electric slide
- Jim, Dave, and Scott singing along to Metallica
- A tour around Craig's house
- Just hanging out with all my awesome coworkers.

Holiday Street

Marco and I took a short drive down one of his favorite streets in the SF Valley. This particular street goes all out during the holidays, and Christmas is no exception. We found several cars parked along the street checking out all the crazy decorations. Seen above is only one of at least 15 homes iced with Christmas lights.

Monster Monitor

Marco’s new toy was delivered today and boy was he happy. Although I wasn’t fond of the idea at first, I’m starting to really warm up to it. This thing is HUGE!!

Crazy boys and their toys!

Bathroom Sign

I guess El Pollo Loco has decided to get a little creative with their signs. LoL!

Crazy Winds

Man, these Santa Ana winds are making my sinuses crazy! I can't wait for it to calm down.

Spiffy New Car 4 Manda

Amanda finally got her new car and it's wayyy spiffy! This car must have over 20 storage compartments in it. I'm so jealous.

Congrats Amanda! I hope this car brings you lots of good luck...unlike our Mazdas. LoL!

Guinea Pigs

It's so cool to see old friends, especially when I'm having a hard day at work.

A special thanks to Lemon and Amelia for being good sports and agreeing to be our guinea pigs. LoL!

Black Friday Success

I finally got that mini fridge I have wanted to get for the office. I got a real nice deal from Target along with some other goodies.

Other great buys:

4 GB U3 drive (Office Max)
2 GB SD card (Office Max)
Cute PJs (Target)
Flannel Bed sheets (Target)

Thanksgiving Ritual

Another great Thanksgiving gone by! We celebrated as we always do, first a lovely meal cooked by mom, followed by preparations for Black Friday (our favorite shopping day of the year). We'll have to get to bed extra early to hit those early bird specials tomorrow morning.

Daan, Jelle, & Wessel

Today I found out a lot can happen in three years. I heard back from a friend in Holland who I have not heard from in 3 years and found out she has 3 little boys now! Wow! The last time I saw her (4 years ago) she had just given birth to her first little boy. Man, a lot can happen in just a few years! I can't wait to see her again in January and finally get a chance to meet her three little boys (Daan, Jelle, and Wessel).

Angela's B-day

We celebrated Angela's b-day by getting her a real soft travel blanket which she ended up loving. Yay! Now she's got something to bundle up with when she travels.

Great gift idea Amanda!

I Voted

Yay, I voted! I love that feeling of "Making a Difference" I get after I vote. I know that in reality I may not have made a difference at all, but oh well, I'll just keep telling myself it did. LoL!

That's-a-Niiiice

Ah-man, if you haven't seen this movie yet, you should. I couldn't stop laughing through most of it. I will admit some parts of this movie are just WRONG and DISTURBING but it is still one of the funniest movies I have seen in a while.

Jason's 21st B-day

For lunch a group of us celebrated Jason’s 21st birthday at La Capilla. La Cpilla is great since they hook you up with a free lunch on your birthday, woo-hoo they rock! Happy Birthday Jason!

Free Birthday Lunch...Yum!

Happy Halloween

It was a good Halloween! Amanda and I gave away candy to co-workers, we went out for a nice lunch and saw the man of steel, and then at home I didn't have to worry about trick-or-treaters because I got home so late.

Vet Time

The girls finally went in for a quick physical and their yearly shots. I'm happy to report that they are both very healthy. I sure hope I never have to take them in for anything serious (knock on wood) like I did with Princess.

A Giant New Mall

Marco and I discovered the new extension to the Topanga Plaza today and OMG it's sooo huge! I think this mall is bigger than the Glendale Galleria now and it doesn't stop there... it looks like they will be adding several stores in 2007-2008, including Neiman Marcus and H&M. WooHoo! Now many of my favorite stores will be in one awesome location:

Macy's
Nordstrom
Neiman Marcus
The Apple Store
The Sony Store
H&M, and
The Discovery Store

Dang that new place is awesome! If you haven't been there it's totally worth checking out.

Midnight / 11pm

Man tonight was exhausting. I worked a 4 hour party out in Universal City for my bro and I'm totally wiped out from it. I'm so glad we get to change our clocks back because instead of coming home at midnight, it's only 11pm, yay!

Ethan's Blog

The Baby Quo Blog is here! Check out Ethan's new blog...he's growing so fast, and he's so cute!

Thomas' 29th

After work a bunch of us surprised Thomas with a Birthday Dinner Party at BJ's. I think he was pleasantly surprised. We hooked him up with a phat gift and some yummy food. A special thanks to Joy and Joel for running around making sure everything was done on time.

Go here to see more pictures from Thomas' surprise dinner.

New Cat Condo

A special thanks to Amanda and Dave for stopping by today. As you can see the old mattress didn't got to waste, LoL!

October Pumpkin Harvest

Marco and I had some yummy roasted corn on the cob and enjoyed a night out by attending a local Pumpkin Harvest. The sign advertising a corn field maze got our attention but after finding out how much it cost ($10 per person) we decided just to hang out, lol!

Last Day

For our last day in SF we managed to do several things. In the morning we enjoyed another round of very interesting lectures and then met up with friends for a wonderful cable car ride followed by a great lunch and awesome shopping. Before saying goodbye to SF we attended our last technical meeting and said goodbye to some friends. SF was a blast but it sure was nice to be back in LA with Marco and the girls.

Go here to see more pictures from our SF trip.

Alcatraz and Much More

Today was another busy day but we were able to do many things. In the morning we enjoyed a nice tour to Alcatraz and a great lunch. In the afternoon we attended several interesting lectures and met up with our boss for a beautiful dinner at the top of the Hilton.

Enjoying Our Stay

Amanda and I had a great time at the first round of workshops and the awesome Gala Dinner where I ran into a couple of old friends. Afterwards we enjoyed a night out on the town and an amazing view of the city from the Hilton.

Back in SF

Today I arrived in SF for the HFES conference that starts tomorrow. I took the time to explore a little more of the city and have some yummy seafood. It has been a year since I was here with Marco and Skip so it was nice to be back again.

Allan's Super Computer

The boys had a nice time putting together Allan's new Super Computer! It only took a few hours to put it together and get it up and running.

Baby Ethan is Here!

Today Ethan Kuo came into the world weighing in at 8 lbs. 4 oz. Congratulations to Janice and Andrew on their newest member of their family!
He's ADORABLE!!

Vash the Water Cat

Today I had the pleasure of meeting Amanda's kitty, Vash. She's such a sweetie! I enjoyed watching her fish hair bands out of the filled bathroom sink and drink water straight out of the faucet. Wish my kitties did that! My girls hate the sight of running water.

Profit Friday a.k.a Black Friday

OMG the holidays are almost here again! You know what that means, right kids? Yup, Black Friday! For those of you who don't know...Black Friday is the best shopping day of the year! Every year a group of us get up at wee hours of the morning and attack as many stores as we can to get great deals on stuff. Last year I ended up getting an XM radio receiver for -$10! Yes I said NEGATIVE $10, lol! WooHoo...Black Friday rocks!

Lemon's 23rd B-day

Today we surprised Alvin with an awesome birthday party which turned out to be a blast! A group of friends distracted him by sending him on a scavenger hunt that would give him clues to a destination, the destination of his surprise birthday party. It was so much fun to see Alvin complete his scavenger hunt tasks, like when he had to fly a kite in the parking lot outside of Starbucks in his pajamas, LOL! It turned out to be a great night! Happy Birthday Lemon!

Still Driving

Aw-man I could not stop laughing when I saw this car on the 405 fwy! I just don't understand how they allow vehicles this f*ed up on the road. This reminds me of the time I saw a car on the fwy with a driver's door duct taped together. LoL!