My Kids' First Bike Ride of the Year

It's that time of the year in California where the days start getting longer and the temperature starts getting warmer. So we decided it's time to start the outdoor activities for our kids. We bought Abby a bike for Christmas and it was time to take it outside and get our money's worth. We dusted off Cheryl's bike and we headed to our church's parking lot. It is the safest place we can find because the gates to the parking lot are closed so our kids could ride their bikes on the pavement without fear of getting hit by cars while we sat under a big oak tree and watched them have fun. The had plenty of space to ride around because the parking lot is so huge.

Abby was so happy to be riding her bike outside for the first time. Cheryl was having fun because she can just take off and not worry about hitting people or car like in parks. I was watching my youngest and all the time thinking that what used to be a tiny very dependent being yesterday has suddenly grown up into this independent toddler today in the blink of an eye. Time really flies and if you don't make an effort to spend time with your kids, you are going to miss out on a lot.

I can't wait for spring and summer to come. We are planning several camping trips and visits to natural parks. We have decided that this year, we would cut down on going to theme parks and spend more time doing outdoor activities like going to lakes, swimming, hiking and camping.

Back to Normal

I finally completed my project implementation. It has been 2 weeks since we went "live" with the new system. It was a tiring two weeks with several sleepless nights and a very highly charged implementation atmosphere. Problems did happen but nothing that was unmanageable. I was so proud and happy with the way my project team handled our implementation. The dedication, perseverance and commitment that they exhibited these past 2 weeks were phenomenal. We got a lot of kudos from the executive management and for our project's magnitude, we really did well with minimal impact to the business.

On a sad note, while we were busy with our 2nd week of implementation, a very unfortunate situation happened in our company. We had a reduction in force and I felt the impact of it on a personal level because I know many of those who were let go and how their job meant a lot to them. It was a sad week for me because I've worked with several of them for the past 10 years that I have been with the company as a consultant and as an employee. I pray that they will be able to cope with it and I hope that they will find better opportunities.

Moving on to the brighter side, I am so happy that I get to exchange messages with my high school buddies through our high school batch yahoo group. I wrote earlier in one of my blogs that I am so proud that my memory still works but oh boy...I was dead wrong. I was getting welcome messages from people that I thought I would remember and I am embarassed to admit that it takes me some time to dig into the deep crevices of my brain. Man, I was struggling but what I like about the messages was they gave me some ideas on how we knew each other back then. That really helped A LOT!!!! Another good thing was a file which is a compilation of pictures of our high school batch mates. What's cool about it is that it shows individual before and after pictures. The "before" is a picture from class photos and the "after" shows how the person looks now. This is such a great idea and I have to say well done to the person who took the patience and time to do it. At least now I would know if I bump into somebody from my high school batch. One thing I must say is that a lot of my batch mates really blossomed and will give celebrities a run for their money. Anyway, it's very fulfilling to reconnect to my good pals and learn about what went on and what's going on with their lives. Two of my close guy buddies are now established doctors and I am so happy for them. Several of my girl buddies are living happily married lives with kids. What's amazing is that there's quite a lot of us in the US and they even had a reunion in Chicago which I wasn't able to go because I didn't know about it. They also had a big reunion in the Philippines and again, I wasn't able to go because I didn't know about it. Hopefully I can go to the next one.

In closing, I would say that "life is good with all its ups and downs". We just have to do our best all the time with whatever life throws at us. I am a Christian and my faith helps me deal with life and the curve balls that come with it. I have no control of it but I can stand firm in my faith in God that things happen for a reason.

Busy as a bee...

I have been so busy at work and time just flew by. I am in the midst of implementing a huge project at work and for the past week and a half, I come home dead tired. I even had to work late nights at home and sometimes up to the wee hours in the morning. This situation reminded me of my college days when I had to stay up late to finish a project. Although the dynamics is different because I have my family suffering from my late night work.

But, I am not complaining. Putting in extra time during final stages of project implementations is alright. It's not an everyday occurrence. I will be taking a break after the project implementation and spend time with my wife and kids. We don't have a solid plan yet on what to do but my wife is suggesting to go up the mountains and have fun in the snow. Or we can always do what we always do, go to Disneyland.

On another positive note, days are slowly getting longer which means it's going to be spring and summer soon. And that means vacation time and camping and barbecue and picnic and swimming and so many more things to look forward to...LIFE IS GREAT!!!