Hibachi, baby!

I went to the MORI Japanese Steakhouse last night.

It was my first time going to one of the Japanese Steakhouses around Panama City Beach, and I must say I wasn't disappointed.

The MORI has one of the nicest atmospheres for a restaurant that I've seen around the city. There was a beautiful wooden bridge over a shrub and rock garden on the exterior, and a wide hallway with large glass windows from the front doors to the main interior.

When we seated we were placed next to a large family on vacation. I didn't think to ask where they were from, but they sounded like they were from Alabama, really nice people. Our soup and salad before the meal were both very good and the atmosphere around the room was very pleasant.

Shortly after our soup and salad, our chef came over. He was a young guy, very charming demeanor. He went through his whole routine of flames, knife juggling, egg spinning, and everything. He told a few jokes and made some little things on the side for a birthday girl at our table (a heart from fried rice, a flaming tiered cake from an onion). While he went through the whole thing, cooking for the nine people at our table, I didn't take my eyes off the chef for 45 minutes. And to top it all off - my steak and shrimp were fantastic, man!

It was a good time and needless to say, I'll be going back fairly soon.

Inspirational School Poster: Yearbook

Next time go in with a game plan, Pete!

Illegal Immigrant Debate

I've decided to be fairly quiet about the whole illegal immigrant issue lately because I honestly didn't care about it very much. I also didn't see these rallies and the news coverage at the moment as something that would really change a single thing. Well, I thought I could just continue to ignore it, but recently it's just gotten too annoying for me not to say something.

Ok... well, it's actually been obnoxious from the very beginning to me when I saw people marching in the street. Not because U.S. immigrants were under attack. Not because U.S. immigrants were being denied their civil rights. Not because U.S. immigrants were being deported. But, because ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS (you might as well just say Mexicans) were going to be considered felons and sent back to their contry of origin.

Sorry, but even as a fellow Latino (Puerto Rican) I can't support such nonsense. Demanding that a country give you "full rights" when you're not even a citizen of that country is ridiculous. It's like kicking in someone's backdoor, walking in, and then demanding to have dinner at the dining room table with the family simply because you're in the house now. It doesn't work like that, it's never worked like that, and it never should!!! If you want "full... rights" then try coming here "the... right... way!!!".

It really wasn't the marching that got me pissed off, I just thought that was simply childish. It's been the more recent things. Like Senator Ted Kennedy comparing this situation to the Civil Rights movement of the 60s. Ted, I'm sure all the black American citizens who were lynched, lived through segregation, were beaten and attacked by police, and gave their lives to have the rights they were denied by their own country, would appreciate being compared to some people who jumped a fence (sarcasm, of course).

Or like liberals taking offense to these people being called,"illegal immigrants", and saying that they are simply,"immigrants". If that's the case, why do we even have immigration law?! If there's no difference in the two, why defend the border?! Oh yeah, that's NOT how it works because that's ludicrous. If you don't like the "illegal" label, then don't come here "illegally". Idiots, man.

I think the last straw for me, was this new Spanish-version Star Spangled Banner with new whiney-ass lyrics. I think at this point, any mainstream support that illegal immigrants had has been eroded with this kind of constant bitching and bastardizing of American symbology.

Oh... and don't let me forget the whole - "There's no such thing as LEGAL immigrants" b.s. Yes, actually there is such a thing. You might think we stole this country from the native americans or that we came here illegally, but no country existed when we came here, and the native americans didn't believe in land ownership, so they didn't try to claimed it until they were basically slaughtered. Doesn't make what we did to the native americans right, or justified. But it doesn't make us all "illegal".

Besides that, let me say, I don't have anything against Mexicans or immigrants. But, I'm not going to listen to the loud cry of a group of people who broke the law to be here in the first place and now want amnesty. It's not right, or fair to the people who do come here legally. If they can't understand that, then I don't want them to be called "Americans" anyway. We already have enough whiners in this country, we don't need to start importing them too.

---

I just felt like I needed to go on the record and say how I feel about this since it keeps dragging on and on.

It seems to have pissed off someone near the top too, since the raids on businesses have been stepped up a bit also. I think this entire thing is going to set Latinos back in this country, and YES, I blame illegals for it. Sorry, but that's my opinion and the opinion of most of my friends.

PTA Graduation Video

My wife, Crystal, is finally graduating from college after four years - as a Physical Therapists Assistant - in about a week. At the pinning ceremony they usually play a Power Point presentation of some photos from the graduating class. Well, the task of doing a video fell to my wife and another girl, a friend, in the class to make it. And since it fell on them... it fell on me.

I decided to do a WindowsMediaVideo file instead and use some music. It came out pretty good for something I didn't really spend much time on. I like how it turned out so much that I'm planning to try and do the same thing with some pictures (wedding, honeymoon, vacation, work, etc.).

Uncle Juni

I went to my dad's house last night and saw my Uncle Juni. He came up to Panama City Beach from Oralndo to see my dad and everyone while he's on vaction. He's really over here from Puerto Rico for a job interview for a draftsman position in Kissimee, but he's kind of making a vaction out of it while he's here, which is cool.

I haven't seen my Uncle Juni in a very very long time. I'm 24 now, I'm not sure I had even gone through puberty the last time I saw him! But he's was a cool uncle when I was a kid, I can remember. He use to buy me RC cars and trucks and then take me to get batteries. He'd open his sun roof and let me stand on the seat and stick my head out.

He's really easy going too. I think I can relate to that, I'm the same way. My dad - not so laid back, ha ha. He's definitely the more uptight one of the two, but still the greatest.

We talked about work since me and my uncle do the same thing professionally. We had a few beers and talked about the companies in the area, and our experiences doing what we do. It was really a good time.

Then we had dinner - Puerto Rican red beans and rice with grilled steak on the side. I'm telling you, man, you can;t beat that with anything. It was delicious, as usual, my stepmom Wanda is a great cook.

Afterward, I got to talk to my little brother and sister, Christopher and Isabel. He's still playing a nauseating amount of video games. He's also playing soccer as well. Isabel, I found out was on her school swim team and had some swim meets coming up soon. I plan to try and be there and check it out.

Once we left my dad's house, we headed on over to Wal-Mart to do some grocery shopping and come home. I think it was about 1am when we finally got to sleep. Another a good trip to my dad's.

---

We call my uncle "Juni" because he was named after my grandfather, Jesus. Juni - short for Junior.

Discount Megapixels

You know sometimes it pays to be a cheap skate. Like when it comes to technology.

I have a digital camera. Like just about everyone else I know. The only difference is I bought mine on sale about a year ago. Everyone seems to have 6, 7, or 8 megapixels at this point. Me... I'm running at a mere 3.2.

But, honestly... who cares?! Digital cameras are so sharp, even at 3.2, that I really could care less for more pixels. I don't need that. Plus, as I found out earlier today, it's quite easier to save money with an older camera.

As I've said, sometimes it pays off. I've had my camera for about a year, maybe a bit longer. But I've never bothered to get a larger memory card for the thing. I could only hold about 32 pictures. Well, we went to Target to finally buy one since we're going on vacation to Orlando soon and we wanted to finally use the camera to it's fullest. We looked around the electronics department and found the one we needed for our camera on a discount shelf. I'm guessing they don't sell alot of them. Well, for $25, we went from 32 pictures - to 553 pictures. Which is pretty hard to beat.

I've been going picture crazy all morning since. I'm gonna have to upload some of it. The video stuff, too. I'm having too much fun.

Happy Easter