Hernandez Life » birthday

Rachel’s 2008 Wingding

Rick — Thu, 08 May 2008 14:15:45 +0000

Sunday April 27th saw us attending Rachel’s birthday party at Club Mud, a place where they do ceramics, among other things. Lots of children, paint flying everywhere, screaming, laughing, pizza, soda, & cupcakes, what else can a kid want. Amazingly nothing got broken.

Click HERE or on the photo below to see pictures of the festivities, plus a few from Rachel’s actual birthday.

Arthur C Clarke Has Past Away

Rick — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 05:52:29 +0000

All time great science fiction writer Sir Arthur C Clarke, author of more than 100 books, has died today in Sri Lanka at the age of 90 after a cardio-respiratory attack. Born in 1917 in England, Arthur C Clarke had lived in Sri Lanka for more than half a century. He came to popular fame in 1968 when the short story The Sentinel was made into the film 2001: A Space Odyssey by director Stanley Kubrick. However he made his first mark on this world during World War II when he published a visionary paper detailing the conditions of placing a satellite in geostationary orbit. He was paid about 20 dollars for the theory that launched a multi billion dollar industry.

Clarke always wanted to be allowed to make three wishes. Peace in Sri Lanka, evidence of extra-terrestrial life and for the world to adopt cleaner forms of energy. Recently at his 90th birthday, confined to a wheelchair due to the effects of childhood polio, Clarke said “I have no regrets and no more personal ambitions”.

Other notable books included:

Childhood’s End
Rendezvous With Rama
Songs of Distant Earth
Against the Fall of Night
The Fountains of Paradise
City and Stars
Expedition to Earth
Islands in the Sky
Nine Billion Names of God
Earthlight
Against Infinity
A Fall of Moondust

He will be sorely missed!

Jessie’s Birthday plus 2 Baby Blogs

Rick — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 02:32:46 +0000

Thursday was Jessica’s 11th Birthday, and on Saturday a group of 20, including 11 of Jessie’s best friends, went out to dinner at Fridays. Afterwards we all trooped back to the LaPreta Residence for presents and merriment. A few of her friends stayed for a sleepover.

Remember, to reach the photos, you need the userid & password. If you’ve forgotten or lost it just call or send me an email and I’ll send them to you.

To see all the photos of the festivities, please go to our private family website family.hernandezlife.com, or just click here to get to the photo gallery directly.

Baby Blogs

In case you missed the emails, the Coopers, both Ashly & Adam, and, Josephine & Joshua, have created Baby Blogs. You can find them at:

And then there were three… by A2 (A Squared)

Baby J by J2 (J Squared, soon to be J Cubed?)

Josephine, Ashly, Josh, Adam, from Phaedra & I, congrats and best wishes!

Click any of the pictures above for larger versions

Catching Up

Rick — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 06:41:01 +0000

Haven’t had much time to write the last couple of weeks, (plus Phaedra thought I was posting to much,) so here’s a quickie digest of what’s been going on in our lives for the first couple of weeks in this new year.

Here’s what has been happening, in reverse order:

January 13th
Jessica had a 5th grade Siddur party at her sunday school. Click here to see the photos on our family site (password required).

January 12th
We finally get FIOS installed! Yea!!! 20 meg download and 5 meg upload speeds. All the better to post by. And BitTorrent by.

January 11th
News that the RIAA might disappear. Click on cartoon (or most other photos) for larger image.

January 5th
We went out with Eva & Anthony to celebrate Eva’s birthday. Afterwards we picked up their kids from a neighbors house and finished off with a birthday cake. You can see a few pictures of the night here (password required).

January 3rd
Phaedra gets flowers for no reason from me (other than the fact that I love her Truly, Madly, Deeply).

Leftovers Galore

Rick — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 19:54:40 +0000

Phaedra and I spent the evening we got back from Miami, in making up what we missed by going south (I wish we could merge both events together). The company of Eva, Anthony, Mattie, Jessica, Ben, and Rachel. The excellent food (from both eve’s dinner of seven fishes & day’s dinner of meats). The liquor. The laughter. The birthday cake (Phaedra’s second). ~~The traffic driving back home in the holidays.~~ And of course the gift giving. Everything was great; thank you Eva & Anthony for sharing with us. I wish my family could have been there. They’d have loved it! There are a bunch of photos of the fun, & the kids on our family site.

Remember, to reach the photos, you need the userid & password. If you’ve forgotten, or just lost it, call me, or send me an email, and I’ll get it to you.

To see 14 photos of our visit that night, please go to our private family website family.hernandezlife.com, or, to save time, just click here to go to the photo gallery directly.

We’re Back…

Rick — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 08:30:34 +0000

Well as you can tell from this, and the two previous posts, Phaedra and I are back from our trip down south. Every other year we’re suppose to spend Christmas (and subsequently Phaedra’s birthday) with my family in Miami. They live in Kendall on one of the few lakes not connected to the canals (and therefore safe to swim (unless you really like alligators)). We had to skip last year due to hurting my foot, so it had been three years since we visited Casa Hernandez. The flight down was delayed an hour so we didn’t get in till almost 2 in the morning, after stopping in at a local Cuban coffee shop (Empanadas, Croquettas, Cafe (espresso 60 cents) & for me a cafe con leche (latte $1.20, Starbucks can’t compete).

After sleeping for a few hours we spent the day relaxing at the home of my parents (Pete & Elsa) and sister (also Elsa), but that evening we went out to the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. Never saw an Indian Hard Rock before (to tell the truth it is not on reservation land and there is big controversy over it’s existence). The casino itself is nice, but only offers slot machines & various flavors of poker. Dad & I gambled (and lost) while the girls walked around the shops (they said it was like a nice looking, outdoor, high-end mall). The one restaurant we visited was a real disappointment, with one of the worst examples of service I’d ever experienced, plus the food was ranged from bad to just OK, and over-priced. Still we all had a good time.

The next day saw us visiting a Catholic Charities pre-school/day care center that my sister was once in charge of, and is now just one of many she administers. She has done wonders with these schools and I am very proud of her.

Later that afternoon we visited El Palacio de los Jugos (Palace of the Juices (sounds better than Juice Palace)). If you like fresh juices, this place is amazing, we bought Mango, Tamarind, Guanabana (soursop), Coconut, and Pina-colada (Coconut & pineapple juices mixed). In fact we went back at least twice more during the trip to get more.

A lot of time was spent in my sister’s private enclosed side yard (Phaedra & my smoking section) that she fixed up nicely with comfortable chairs, flowering plants and an avocado tree. This photo was of a small lizard poking its’ head out of the air-conditioning unit in her yard. Glad I wasn’t there when the compressor fan turned on.

Next day Phaedra, my mother, sister, and I, went to an amazing place called Corral Castle. You can read it’s story and a link to my pictures of it in my posting “What depression can do for you…“.

That night I wanted to take everyone out to someplace nice, but different, so I looked up on Zagat, and found Ortanique on the Mile, a fantastic, if a bit pricey, Caribbean restaurant. I have to say, it may very well have been the best food, and dining experience, I have ever had. We tried West Indian Curried Crab Cakes, a 3 cheese plate, Pan Sautéed Bahamian Black Grouper, Black Angus Beef Tenderloin, and a West Indian Style Bouillabaisse. Highly recommend it if you’re in Miami, on the Miracle Mile (and can afford $90+ a person).

Next day, besides going to a chintzy street craft fair, Espanola Way Market, we visited Miami Ink, walked South Beach, and got tattoos. More of that in my post “So we went to Miami Ink…“.

During the evenings we also spent time in my folk’s beautifully landscaped & decorated back yard, with a beach and dock on the (aforementioned, alligator-free) lake.

The next day, Christmas Eve Day, and Phaedra’s birthday, were spent shopping (the girls anyway) at Macy’s (Phaedra made out well with birthday gift cards from my family), while my dad & I went out to Miccosukee Casino (we lost again). That night we had a dinner at home in Phaedra’s honor, composed of turkey & stuffing, spinach mashed potatoes, sweet potato pie, oven roasted asparagus, and cranberries. My father got Phaedra drunk with a sour-apple martini. We topped the night off with a birthday cake and gift giving.

Finally the event that brought us here. Christmas morning. A time of wonder and delight for all. After a breakfast of my wife’s world famous (at least in our small world) cheese soufflé, we got to the presents. This is a picture of what they looked like before we started.

The ripping, the tearing, paper & ribbons being uncaringly torn limb from limb. Oh my God, the horror of it all. No, only kidding, we had lots of fun, and lots of gifts for all. In fact, Phaedra & I had to leave some of our clothes behind (to be mailed) just so we could make room in our luggage for all that we received (and shopped for).

This is what the aftermath looked like. Oh the humanity of it all…

That was our trip. Phaedra & I had a great, and relaxing, time. We both very much want to thank my parents, and my sister, heartily, for their hospitality. We flew back at 9:30 p.m. Christmas Day, got in to Newark around 1 a.m. the next day, to the house by 2, bed by 3:30. Slept for a long long while, and then went to Eva & Anthony’s for Christmas leftovers, but that’s yet another post.

You can see the other 30 odd photos I took of our visit down south under trips on my photo page, or just click here.

Click any of the pictures above for larger versions

P.S. You may have noticed (or not) that the dates of the last few (and next) postings don’t match when they popped up on my blog. It’s because I mostly wrote them on that day, but had not had a chance to finalize the text (read spellcheck), or upload the pictures till now.

Happy Birthday Part 2

Rick — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 04:06:22 +0000

Sunday night Phaedra and I went out with Eva and Anthony to celebrate Anthony & my birthday. We went to a restaurant in Englishtown NJ that has risen from the ashes, Peking Pavilion.
It is an awesome “Chinese Fusion” restaurant that burned down just before New Year 2007, and has returned with a vengeance. I can truthfully say it is some of the best Chinese food I’ve ever had. We started off with Steak Egg rolls, Creamy Spicy Shrimp on Scallion Pancakes, Chicken Corn Soup, & Asparagus & Crab soup. The main meal was Lobster Fried Rice, Basil Beef, Grand Marnier Shrimp, and a Salmon dish I didn’t try. Desert was Apple-Pie for Anthony and Flaming Bananas for the rest of us. Peking Pavilion also has some interesting drinks; we all liked he Lychee Martinis, the Pair-tinie and the Coconut Mojito. A bit expensive, but overall an excellent restaurant.

Click either of the pictures for larger versions

Happy Birthday to Me!

Rick — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 04:36:44 +0000

I hate getting older. These iPhone pictures are actually from the office yesterday showing my present from the Welfare Fund. Unfortunately I had to skip our celebration plans for today because I have a very bad cold (Phaedra has been a tender Nurse Nightingale). Hopefully I’ll be better tomorrow so I can celebrate with my brother-in-law Anthony as Nov 11th is his birthday. So… Happy Birthday to Us. I’ll post another entry tomorrow night with those pictures.

Click either of the pictures for larger versions

Eoin Becomes A Pop

Rick — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 16:50:04 +0000

From Eoin:

Please pass on the perfect news to everyone. Nabi Young Quane was born at 5:09 pm on October 31s weight 6 lbs and 15.8 ounces. Mom and baby are well. Thanks to everyone for their best wishes.

Sobong & Eoin, You have been blessed by a li’l miracle. Phaedra and I want to congratulate you, and give you our warmest wishes for a happy & healthy life for all of you.

Click any of the 3 pictures for larger versions

There Goes My Life – by Kenny Chesney

All he could think about was I’m too young for this.
Got my whole life ahead.
Hell I’m just a kid myself.
How’m I gonna raise one.

All he could see were his dreams goin’ up in smoke.
So much for ditchin’ this town and hangin’ out on the coast.
Oh well, those plans are long gone.

[Chorus:]
And he said,
There goes my life.
There goes my future, my everything.
Might as well kiss it all good-bye.
There goes my life…….

A couple years of up all night and a few thousand diapers later,
That mistake he thought he made covers up the refrigerator.
Oh yeah……….he loves that little girl.

Momma’s waiting to tuck her in,
As she fumbles up those stairs.
She smiles back at him dragging that teddy bear.
Sleep tight, blue eyes and bouncin’ curls.

[Chorus:]
He smiles…..
There goes my life.
There goes my future, my everything.
I love you, daddy good-night.
There goes my life.

iPod Turns Five Six Today

Rick — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 01:34:54 +0000

The iPod was first introduced on October 23, 2001. Now ~~five~~ six years later, over 100 million iPods have been sold and the technology has redefined entertainment, restructured the sale of recorded music, unleashed programming from a broadcast schedule, and redefined cool. Not bad for a little white box that is just six years old. Now Apple controls over 70% of the digital music player market.

This quarter alone Apple shipped over 10.5 million iPods, along with 1.5 million Macs and 1.1 million iPhones. When I first heard of the iPod I thought, who needs to carry 1,000 songs with them, now my iTunes library holds well over 5000 songs, not to mention a bunch of movies, TV shows, music videos and podcasts. The iPod has truly changed my personal daily entertainment. In the morning I listen to environmental sounds on the bus ride in to work so I can drown out other noises and sleep. All day long I’m perusing my music library, and on the ride home from work I usually either listen to an audio book, or watch a video podcast or 2.

Happy Birthday iPod. Here’s to another 10 glorious years. Hopefully by then you will have reached three quarters of a billion sales.

Click picture to enlarge

UPDATE: Sorry, seems I can’t count. The iPod is 6 years old today, not 5. To make it up, here’s a video of that day, six years ago.