That is a lot of Birthdays!

Annabella and I get into some interesting conversations about life, superhero trivia (like why did Hawkgirl quit wearing her helmet for the new season of Justice League on TV?) and other important stuff. Anyhow, she heard the dj on the radio mentioning those who were celebrating a birthday that day. He probably mentioned 12-15 people. She then asked me "Why are so many people celebrating birthdays today, daddy?" I said many people tend to have birthdays every day. The truth is that I had never pondered this before so I started doing the math with her about how many people in the city of Orlando alone (figure greater Orlando and vicinity to have about 2 million people) celebrated a birthday each day. We will hypothetically assume that each person is allocated one day out of the year so that would be 365 people in a year. So we divided the 2 million by 365 and figured that roughly 5480 could celebrate their birthday every day in this city area. That is a lot of birthdays. I guess we forget cause we think it is our own special day. By the way this reminds me; when Ruth and I went into the Hospital to have Nicholas the nurse said that their birthing center was the third largest in the US and that they delivered roughly about 1000 babies a month. So in this city I guess we should be tacking on another 30 birthdays to the 5000+ number every day. I'm starting to get claustrophobic...

The Republic of Miami

So I went to see my uncle Bruno (who happens to be a couple of years older so he is actually more like my brother) in Miami and I was pleasantly surprised to see his brother and sister there with him as well. It was a wonderful reunion that happens once in a millennia. So I thought I would share a couple of pics.

By the way...I knew that there was a lot of hispanics in Miami, but I did not realize that now Hispanics is ALL THERE IS around there. I had great Colombian, Peruvian, and Cuban food all weekend. It was awesome!!! Can you tell I miss Panama.

How I unwind!!!

So...for those who don't know me that well...I am an avid movie fan. Over time I have become more selective about my choices (I used to watch just about anything when I was younger) due to my time limitations. So now I have resorted to new methods to enjoy cinema...movie trailers! So now that I have much less time to enjoy a full length feature film I love watching trailers of upcoming movies. My reason...you can't go wrong with movie trailers because they always put their best foot forward. Editors will arrange footage and music in a perfect union together with that great "voiceover" guy. As I was checking new trailers out recently I remembered one of my favorite trailers which kinda poked fun at the "voiceover" guy. It happens to be for a Jerry Seinfeld post-Seinfeld movie about the life of a comedian aptly called "Comedian." So if you want to see it click here. If you feel inclined to view and enjoy trailers like me go to the trailers page in the Apple website after viewing my blog or click here if you are done visiting my corner of the online universe.

Middle of semester craziness!

The biggest mistake up until now with keeping my blog updated was waiting until thhe semester started to catch up on my blogging. WRONG!!!! I have a fairly hectice schedule with school, kids, and having breathing room and guess what...blogging dropped down the priority ladder to just above looking over past tax forms. So of course I feel guilty about it, and it lingers on me like another monkey on my back of uncompleted things.
So I thought I would get back to this by adding some good pictures we have taken over the summer and the beginning of the fall and actually enjoy being able to share some of our life with friends and family.

This picture was taken towards the middle of August as we went boating of the Gulf Coast. We enjoyed a great time riding around the islands, flirting with going into the Gulf (by mistake) and seeing dolphins playing with freefloating seaweed.

Life's Soundtrack

You know how you listen to certain albums and they just sound like a soundtrack for life. I just bought the new Coldplay album and it sounds like it should be piped into nature's PA system, drowning out the noise of the everyday humdrum. They're sound just moves you to a place of peace and good memories and things that are larger than you and I. Enough said!

P.S. Not all my posts will be bilingual. I'll try, but this one is not one of those!

P.D. No todos mis noticias seran bilingues. Tratare... pero este no es asi!

Preschool of Rock / La Escuelita del Rock

My sister Tiffany sent me an email describing their new descorated game room. Apparently done in a "Chicago Bears" theme (maybe they'll do better this year!) Anyhow...A little punk rocker snuck into one of the pictures (my nephew Luke) and I thought it would be cool to show him off on my blog. The funny thing is that his hair sticks up all on its own. I tried pushing it down and it wont budge. It's like a full head cowlick! I guess that is why God had us come up with hair gel.

Mi hermana Tiffany me mando un correo describiendo la remodelacion de su cuarto de juego para los pelaos. Aparentemente el tema es el equipo de futbol americano los "Chicago Bears." Triste la verda por que el equipo no vale la peno pero bueno. Lo importante es que mando una foto de mi sobrino Luke. Parece punk por que el cabello lo tiene siempre parado y trate de peinarlo pero que va! Es por eso que Dios hizo el gel de cabello!!!

Last Day at Work! / Ultimo Dia de Trabajo!

Today is the last working day (if you do not count worship on Sunday) of my internship here at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Ft. Myers, FL. I have been enjoying my time here so much. The place, the people, the relationships have all been above and beyond anything I expected. I was invited to go to lunch yesterday with the rest of the chruch staff to a local restaurant called "The Farmers Market." You can guess the location of the place by the title. Real down home cookin' for me and the staff. Phil, the music director, sat next to me and ordered hamhock. I still do not know what it was he ate, but it is some part of the pig towards the backside and it came cooked with skin and all. Phil swears by it, but I will not try it and just take his word for it. Today is like any other day except that it is my last and with it comes these strange feelings of joy and sadness at the same time. I feel I have all these things to do before I go. I guess you always feel that way when you come to the end of something. It's kinda like when you leave the house on a long trip and you have that feeling you left something you might need. Anyway...all I can say is a big THANK YOU to all who shared their life and heart with me during this time. I hope this will only be the beginning of a long standing relationship.

Hoy es mi ultimo dia the trabajo como internado en la iglesia Covenant Presbyterian en la ciudad de Ft. Myers en Florida. Solo quiero mencionar cuanto he apreciado los momentos y las amistades que he tenido y encontrado aqui. Ayer me llevaron a almorzar para celebrar mi despedida y me llevaron a un lugar local donde sirven comida tipica del sur de los Estados Unidos. Un amigo y colega llamado Phil se comio un plato de algo que viene del cerdo pero no se que y no se veia muy apetitivo aunque el me juraba que si lo era. Hoy ha sido un dia normal aunque la verdad es una mezcla de tristeza y alegria. Siento que hay cosas por hacer, como cuando uno se va de la casa de viajes y siente que dejo algo en la casa que iba a necesitar. De todas maneras queria dar las gracias a todos que compartieron su corazon y sus vidas conmigo durante las utlimas ocho semanas. Espero que este sea el comienzo de una muy buena relacion.

Welcome to Linares Online / Bienvenidos a Linares Online

This is just the beginning of what I hope will be a great chance to stay connected with friends and family

Yo espero que este sea el comienzo de una gran oportunidad de mantenerse en contacto con nuestra familia y nuestros amigos.