Happy New Year!

Bonne Anee! Happy New Year! Bon Ano Nuevo! What better way to start the new year than plans for traveling, watching soccer, and spending time with madamoseille Belmonte. Currently looking for more work story of my life and getting ready for spring semester of school. Three courses 2 online. Have to do good can't ruin my 4.0! Besides for my knee surgery I had a great 2009 and looking forward to an even better 2010. I have no Idea where I'll be when 2010 ends I hope that it will be with Marie! Above is the travel map of our Eurotrip for this summer! Go USA! Until then it is work and School! On a side note I want to say that I am extremely proud of my dad for all of his accomplishments. From being a highly successful entrepreneur, to just finishing a sports complex and being an accomplished cyclist. My father and Mother are inspirations in my life and incredible individuals and I couldn't be luckier than to have them for parents. Also I am extremely proud of all of my siblings my older brother for following his dreams, my sister for her good work and dedication to whatever she does, and my younger brother for an incredible high school career from academics to sports.

Founder of "Sweet Maries" first Pizza!

This is the first pizza I ever made. I would give it a 6 out of 10 mostly because the crust could have been better and more crispy. In the future I plan to start a pizza restaurant named Sweet Maries. Even though that is about 10 years off I figured I better get started sometime. I need to come up with a recipe for a good whole wheat crust and not this box crap. The cheeses and toppings I used turned out really good. It was ham, sausage, mushroom, and two different kinds of cheeses one white one orange. Anyway Bon appetite! Sorry for the sideways pictures thank Michael for that but also for the clear pictures.

Life is good except for Marie isn't here. Lots of work and no school for the moment. I worked 12 hours yesterday which was saturday at Ramada and 6 1/2 hours today. Saving up so I can enjoy the World Cup abroad this summer while seeing my Marie. There is nothing like experiencing the World Cup in another country it will always be my favorite event and I hope the US comes to play this summer. At the present I'm drinking a glass of French wine (Marie you should be proud) well maybe not French but definitly made in France. I bought a new book from Walmart from my favorite author Jeffrey archer named "Kane and Able ". He also wrote "Paths of Glory" So Marie will tell you once I start a good book life stands still for me until I finish it so she's probably glad she's not here;) I cooked a big meal the other night, homeade mashed potatoes, homade apple sauce, salmon wraps, and black bean and corn salsa with chips. It was all fantastic except for the potatoes were suspect, although they still tasted good. So thats my life for the moment. Working and missing my girl:)

Tinkerbells Birthday!

Today was my my incredible girlfriends birthday. We weren't able to spend it together but I hope she had a good one. She is the loca chiquita on the left in the picture. I couldn't be a luckier guy to have her. Feliz Compleanos y gros bisous chiquita!

Cousins

I had the privilige of playing soccer and baseball with my two little cousins. Tyler and Dylan are both a riot and are currently playing hockey in Minnesota where they live. We ate chinese food played baseball and soccer and these are a few of the soccer pics! "IT WAS AWSOME" (Tyler age 3).

Interesting Dispute

I was in a brief altercation today that intrigued me in several ways. First it ended in my being told that I would never be successful because I was a pessimist when in fact I was just playing devils advocate to a conversation. To this I have to say who defines success. Is it how much money you have, how happy you are, how much fame you acquire, how spiritually rich you are or any number of other things. I don't know the exact answer to this problem but I believe for me it lies between happiness and being spiritually rich. If its one thing I've learned though don't let other people tell you that you won't be successful. Its happened to me more than once and I believe that constructive criticism is really the only good criticism. This is one of my favorite parts of the movie Pursuit of Happyness when the dad tells his son don't ever let anyone tell you you can't do it (to bad this isn't always the case). As a future teacher this is one of my pet peaves because students need to be encouraged not cut down and I've seen plenty of that in schools and sports. Attacking a persons character is a popular fallacy in any argument and is popular in politics because they can get away with it because of the public eye. Those that actually know something about me would know that I'm actually the opposite of a pessimist and more of a dreamer and if you can dream it you can make it happen. Next, the other person in the conversation fails to see a benefit to devils advocate. This technique started with the catholic faith way back in the day in the canonization of saints. Anyway it has been around and is taught in debate classes, business classes, used by extremely successful bussiness men and many different forums as a great way to learn and work through problems. More research on the usefulness of this popular strategy tool can be found online but one site I particularly liked on the subject was www.devilsadvocategroup.com/category/about/ and besides the part on the catholic faith where it received its origins the sound bite at the bottom of the page labeled devils advocate is extremely good. So sorry to bore anyone who read this but if you gained any insight on any of the topics then it was worth it. I am just tired of being fed crap and not saying anything about it. So don't listen to the naysayers, conformists, and live the life you want, as an individual, because thats what we need more of in this society. Remember group think kills, peace!
P.S. If you want an interesting insight into the power of groupthink read the book The Whole Truth by David Baldacci and while its a work of fiction it has some powerful implications.

I have returned from an amazing journey in the north of France. Specifically, I was in Nantes for two days and then Normandy for ten days. It was meet the family time and it couldn't have gone better I don't think. Marie was more than accomodating of me and my bum knee. I was able to see the D-Day beach and some of the history with it like the landing boat, canons, tanks, etc. One of the highlights of the trip was to see my good friend Camille (from the akumal crew) when her and her boyfriend came to visit at the house in Normandy. She is quiet and kind and an amazing friend. Also, she loves cats so everytime me and Marie see a cat we see Camilles spirit. I ate the most I've ever eaten in two weeks and the most new foods also. I loved the snails (escargo) and cheese and bread of course. I knew I was in for a treat when I was in Nantes and my first meal for lunch I order the pork. I thought I was get a couple pieces of meat however, when our food arrived my huge plate had a huge chunk of meat fat, bones and all that looked like it had just been hacked off the pig accompanied by a huge plate of potato squares. I drank a lot of good french wine which I couldn't complain about. I met her grandparents and had lunch and visited a huge basilica with them. I knew my sister would have appreciated that more than me but it was still cool. The second cool thing was Maries family dog Ushea having puppies while I was there. The mother is mostly german shepard and the puppies were german shepard lab I think. Me and Marie are adopting a black girl and calling it Jude from the beatles song hey jude (long story). The picture are from a great pizza place in Nantes. On a little side street that we randomly found and ate a romantic lunch. The trip was amazing and I miss Marie already but its back to reality and I'll live. So till next time peace chau chau and hasta luego!!!