On Saturday he was there working with a local mason to make the bigger bank pieces come out tight and right.

Last week Nick Swazo welded the coping on the spine bank

and the corner wrap-around bank.

Planter detail.

Next move is to form the spine bank and corner bank and add some fill to get ready for the concrete pour.

Here he is on NBC doin his thing

http://video.nbc4.com/player/?id=720962

-Tony

My name's Andrew . I'm only nine, but I'm old enough to know that every spring we go to Chicago.  Dad has some kind of hospital administration conference there, and we always stay in the same hotel, right on the river, and try to convince Mom to give us quarters to throw over the bridge so we can hit the boats going under.  She never gives us any.

I like going to Chicago because it means we can go to the Museum of Science and Industry (I like looking at the airplane and the submarine) and sometimes the Shedd Aquarium, but my favorite is the Planetarium. I think I'll be an big fan of NASA when I grow up, and maybe even make a vacation to the place where the shuttle launches...if I'm lucky.

Anyways, I'm off track.  But I'm only nine, so cut me some slack. I get distracted easily.

This particular year, we were all loaded up in the maroon van with the fake wood trim along the side (don't laugh, you probably had one too) and Dad had shoved the back seat forward to make room for all our luggage.  Jenna wanted to sit back there but she didn't like how all her leg room was taken up , so she was whining.  Already. We've only been gone from the house for about ten minutes. And she's only eleven, so it's not like she's very tall anyway.

Sisters are so annoying.

Ashley was sitting in the back with Jenna and looking through packages of Adventures in Odyssey tapes, trying to pick the one she wanted Dad to play when we got to Iowa City. (Ashley always made sure we packed at least two packages of Adventures in Odyssey tapes, no matter where we were going.  She didn't want to run out.)

In order for us to leave town on a vacation of any kind, we had to make about five stops.  These five stops took a total of two hours, and we kids all got tired of vacation even before we got out of town.  Usually we had to clean apartments, stop at Dad's office (at the hospital), check apartment's pilot lights, and who knows what else.  It was almost too much for us kids to handle.

On this particular trip, we were almost free.  The last stop, Mom said, was the library.  I guess we had some library books due or something, because Mom said she'd run in and right back out.  I wanted to go sit on the giant baseball glove up on the 2nd floor and read Frog and Toad books, but not this time.

Dad pulled into the library parking lot and Mom jumped out carrying about twenty books.

"I will be back in 5 minutes," she said.

Dad turned off the car, rolled the windows down and turned the radio on.  He was listening to that Rush Limbaugh guy...Grandpa listens to him too.  I can never figure out what he's talking about, but he sure does get riled up.

Anyway, Alex opened the van door and looked out.  He was the youngest (five years old, UGH) and had no respect for the fact that we all wanted to get out of town as quickly as possible, he wanted to go play.

I knew exactly what he was going to do.  There was a retaining wall that held in the bushes and flowers and stuff and it ran along the outside of the library. Usually Mom would let us walk on the wall, but only if we were holding her hand, because none of us kids are very coordinated and we are more than likely to fall and hurt ourselves.

Alex glanced at Dad, who was really into Rush Limbaugh.  Then he sort of glanced at me, to see if I noticed what he was going to do.

I was wise to him.

Jenna and Ashley were in the backseat, looking through Ashley's new book of Tom Tierney paper dolls that Grandma had sent for the trip, so they weren't paying any attention to him.

"Don't do it, Alex." I warned.  "You'll fall off and hurt yourself."

He stuck his tongue out at me and ran over to the wall, still unnoticed by Dad because he was so short that you couldn't see him over the hood of the van.  I watched Alex walk his youngest child self over to the wall and somehow manage to wiggle himself up on to the lowest ledge.  I acted like I wasn't paying very close attention, just in case he looked at me.  (There's nothing worse than telling your younger brother not to do something and then making it look like you want to do it too.)

Ashley got out of the car to see what Alex was doing.  "Dad, he's walking on the wall," she said, but her voice was so quiet that I don't think Dad heard her.  She ran over and walked alongside Alex, but she wasn't much taller than the wall.

"Get off there.  You're going to fall and hurt yourself," she whined.  "Get down."

Alex ignored her.  He made it to the highest part of the ledge, by this time he was halfway along the wall. I glanced away, bored by Alex's obvious rebellion.  Suddenly, Dad yelled something and jumped out of the car so fast I thought Rush must have said he was voting Democrat in the next election.

I stood up and looked out the window, there was Dad bent over Alex, who had managed to do a swan dive off the three foot high ledge and face plant right into the concrete.  Mom chose this moment to come out of the library, and there she saw her youngest (naughtiest) child bleeding profusely, two front teeth wiggling around in his mouth.

I felt a sort of righteous indignation -- NOW WE WERE LATE FOR VACATION.

If that guy had listened to me, we'd be on the road by now.

We could almost be listening to Adventures in Odyssey.

Why doesn't anyone ever listen to me anyways?

Dad picked up his fancy cell phone (yeah, he seriously had one...he was the only person I knew that did) and got on the phone with some bigwig doctor at his hospital.  I imagined that it was the top surgeon and that Dad went to lunch with him weekly.  Dads are important like that.

We drove at breakneck speed back up 380 to St. Luke's, where we rushed into the ER, a bleeding, bawling Alex in tow.  Jenna, Ashley and I all sat there on the marginally comfy chairs, glaring at Alex.  We were sure he had ruined our vacation, and all because he was being disobedient.  We were especially dismayed when Dad told Mom to call his contacts in Chicago and tell them we wouldn't be there until the next day, if at all.

Our mutiny level rose even higher then, but seeing as none of us were over the age of 12, we didn't really count.

Dad finished checking Alex in with the nurses, and came back over to where we were waiting.  Alex was sitting on Mom's lap, holding Ashley's hand and crying "I....I'll never disobey Andrew again!"  I felt really pleased that I had been right after all and that Alex was now getting it served to him for being so naughty.

Nobody ever respects the middle children, I tell you what.  I'm sure Ashley will agree.

A very short time later, Alex's name was called.  I knew what the ER was like (from this other time when I sort of dropped a ladder on Alex's head and, well...let's just say it wasn't pretty) and so I decided I would be better off staying in the lobby.  Mom and Dad made us all go back, though, and we all sat on some chairs that Dad rounded up outside the little cubicle.  We sat there talking, loudly, about how annoying Alex was, how he ruined our vacation and how we all hoped he got a lot of shots.

Thinking back on it, I'm surprised the three of us didn't get spanked on the spot.  But Mom and Dad were probably distracted by Alex bleeding all over the place, so they didn't notice us being nasty on the other side of the curtain.

After some extensive examination by the fancy doctor I still imagined Dad had called, it was determined that Alex was a wimp and not as bad off as everyone had thought he was.  He had two slightly wobbly teeth, but the doc said they would heal up just fine if we held ice on them for the rest of the day.

The doctor, who became my favorite guy ever, also said we should probably head down the road to Chicago and that everything would be just fine.  Jenna, Ashley and I cheered.  (Alex couldn't cheer because he had a mouthful of ice and plus he was still kind of whimpering.)

We were all still feeling hostile towards Alex for the next several hours while we drove, until he decided he wanted to play Nutkin (a squirrel game I had invented and Jenna despised) which, naturally, made amends with me but probably made Jenna even madder at him.

The end.

Coping is set on the two pieces we've been working on in the one corner.

Tanner did excellent on the monkey bridge! I bet him 4 corndogs he could not do it without falling... of course I lost but he forgot about the corndogs so it all worked out!

Then we went to out most favorite place to get burgers and enjoy the country POPS they have over 51k glass pop bottles in every flavor ever made on the walls an in the case to buy!! Great family outing! 

And after a long hard day of food, fishing, hunting fake animals and other boy stuff, this is what Chandler did on my bed as I was doing math and he was in the middle of a story about dragons. I tried to get on of Tanner, but he sleeps on the top bunk! 

We hope all who visit are well...

If you have the  time on Saturday, October 4th 2008, show some love and connect with other positive pops that are trying to empower, educate and inspire their children to become better people, @ Arts High School in Newark, NJ, 9am-1pm.

 Click Here for further info: Fathers Make a Difference Day”

Here professional skateboarder Tosh Townend (green shirt) and amazing local artist Jim Houser present Commissioner Susan Slawson (blue shirt) and Franklin's Paine with a check while some local youth relish the vision of their future park.

The demo setup for the day.

Scott Kmiec is on the fence about skateboarding and public space uniting, but he's coming around.

a.k.a. chicken pox...

a.k.a. bug bites she's itched to the point where they need bandaids. :-(  I just don't have the heart to correct her - she's very concerned about it, LOL.

Its been 54 years, that means you had me when you were 35. There arent enough words I can put in this post, so I wont try to.

Thanks for everything

Next steps construction wise: We need a mason for a reasonable rate to knock out the forms for the two large bank pieces. If anyone knows anyone, please let me know. We also need to weld the coping for the formed obstacles into their shapes to get them ready to set.

http://www.soundlantern.com/UpdatedSoundPage.do?ToId=12182#

My grandfather (Sgt. Bernardo Marinduque) is someone I wish I had the privilege of meeting.  (He's my only "real" grandfather, after all.)  People who knew him had fond stories of him --- from the military, from Panggasinan (where he was originally from) and from how he got stationed in Antipolo and met my grandmother. If ever our lives overlapped, I probably would've called him "Tatay," like how I call my grandmother "Nanay."  Or, most likely, "Pops."

He was a minor then, he lied about his age to enlist in the army.  A smart boy, he studied bombs.  (Yep, you heard me) He self-studied how bombs were made, and how to disarm them.  He became part of the bomb disposal unit in the 14 BCT.  Ramon Magsaysay dubbed them the Avengers. (Making me part-Avenger?  My lola tells me that this is all in a book, and I've yet to find it.)  He was one of the many brave souls who were part of PEFTOK that helped during the Korean War.  (Prolly explains my fixation on Koreans, and Koreanovelas, lol.)  

He was their guy when it came to clearing areas --- he would sweep up landmines and disarm them, so that the American soldiers can have safe passage in whatever terrains they had to pass through.

One time, when he was studying a bomb --- it exploded, leaving him blind.  He was sent to Japan to get healed and luckily, was able to restore his eyesight.  But by then, he was being shipped back to the Philippines.

The army stationed him in Antipolo, where he met Eva Leyva Tapucar, the woman who would later become my grandmother.  They were both very happy.  (The army was even asking him to go to 'Nam --- my lola wouldn't allow it.)

In their life as husband and wife, they introduced 7 beautiful children to the world.  A year after their youngest was born, he was taken by cancer.  That was 38 years ago.  (September 8, 1970)

Although I never met him, I feel I should've.  After all, he was strong enough to become a good father of 7 --- and look how my aunts, uncles and my mom turned out.  My lola, who found individual strength when Pops was taken --- would later be honored as an Ulirang Ina awardee.  

Hope to meet you one day, pops.

If any of you has a relative who was also involved in The Korean War, or PEFTOK, or the 14th BCT, I'd like your input or any sort of background information you can find.  Hit me up on email or leave a comment.  

Thanks for listening.

[This is all second-hand information, from my Nanay and my Mama / Korean War Project]

This past week has certainly proved to be a study in relationships between friends and those who wish to be more than...just friends.

Last weekend, Tilia and I attended a play at the Globe Theatre, which was very nice indeed, but then it promptly rained on our heads. (The Globe is partially an outdoor theatre) Since I had already lost my voice at that point and was not very well, you can imagine this incident only prevailed my sickness. 

On Monday, not expecting a devastated friend's call, I promptly had gone under a day's vow of silence where I only agreed to whisper. After all I had a job interview coming up in a few day's time and couldn't make a mess of things. But Carla had just broken up with her 'sort of' boyfriend and was torn up about it. She wanted me to not only stay on the phone, but to come over and nestle her back to emotional health. Well this simply was impossible considering my lack of psychical health, and it even took her some convincing that I couldn't make it, surprisingly enough.(Though she could rarely understand me and I told her many times we'd need a translator)

As much as I love Carla, she can be extremely needy to the point of self deprecation. Which the remains of the week's events would reveal. So the next day, I agreed to come over, purchase some crisps and hot cocoa and watch a film with Carla at her place. Though most of the night I merely ended up listening to her reminisce about this man who was CLEARLY wrong for her. But I am merely the humble friend. I listened and nodded.

At the same time, there was no sign of Ethan (her hot flatmate with the HUGE...DVD collection) and I began to forget about my attraction to him. But it was clearly a case of out of sight, out of mind because at the end of the night, just as I was about to leave, I bumped into Ethan in the hallway. He was still dressed in his work suit (he's a political recruiter in Westminster, how posh) and told me he had just seen a play at the National. We spoke about it and a couple other plays it turns out we both want to see as well...figures. But I was soon on my way out the door and back safe in my bed. 

It was only the next morning when I realized I clearly wasn't over him. 

So Saturday night I was planning to attend Phoebe's (hot gay Chinese woman) going away party, since she'd be moving to Brussels. Carla and I would attend together, so she suggested I come over a bit earlier so I could <hint hint> catch a glimpse of Ethan before we, and he, went out on our separate ways. While Carla began a long conversation with a friend from Portugal...in Portuguese, I walked into the kitchen to get some tea. When in pops Ethan. 

We embarked on what seemed like an hours conversation on everything from travel to American politics to missile supply to Henry Kissinger on the BBC. (We both watched his interview at the Republican Convention) Ethan seemed surprisingly pleased with my political knowledge and, while he was merely in the kitchen to iron his shirt, he attempted to do so about four times. Clearly he didn't want the conversation to end. He then found dishes to wash, while I simply stared longingly into his cleverly orated eyes. 

So there is, I feel, something there. The conversation was cut short by Carla calling my name, in which he promptly disappeared. Little did I know once he left for the evening that Carla would tell me she had a bit of a crush on him as well and would, and I quote, "be jealous if I shagged him." Thus the continuous neediness of Carla continues...So I'm at this point wondering if I should continue pursuing this man, as it seems my friend would become unreasonably upset with the occurrence.

So we go to the party in Soho, have a good time, see people we both know, drink, dance and mingle. Since it was a gay club everyone assumed we were together. Why does someone always assume I'm with a woman? Anyway,  she pulls me aside quite early in the night telling me her feelings for Phoebe have been festering and she feels the need to release her inhibitions tonight before she goes to Brussels. I brush it off, believing that she is merely panicking since she just ended a relationship and is definitely one of those people addicted to them. I support her brave inquisition since I believe life is short and I myself over think such decisions. 

I never actually thought she'd take my advice and actually go through with it. With little alcohol in her system mind you. 

Phoebe, just as I expected, humbly turned down Carla's request for love, and worried that Carla's second rejection of the weekend would only turn her to Ethan, we had a little chat. Though I still wonder if she may subconsciously try to sabotage my situation with him. 

Which has brought me to my conclusion. I must ask Ethan out on a date. Before it's too late. Mind you, I don't see him going for Carla (she's really not his type) but still, before she maybe even says something about me to him, I must act quickly. And Carla's brave move last night towards Phoebe has given me double inspiration to do so. 

And since Ethan claims all Americans are "quite ballsy" perhaps I'll use that as an excuse to ask him out. 

Wish me luck all you lovely anonymous cyberspacers. And look out for updates on what happens.

Ingredients –

1. Put the yogurt/cream in the freezer for at least one hour until the consistency is thick enough to handle.
2. Peel the bananas and cut into 4 equal pieces diagonally.
3. Dip the cut pieces of bananas into the yogurt/cream until it is fully coated.

4. Roll the bananas into the crushed cornflakes.
5. Store in the freezer.
6. Share and enjoy with someone while cuddling on the couch watching dvds together