Juliana my vane daughter

Juliana is now 20 months old now and is stringing together three to four word sentences. She understands virtually everything that I ask of her, and for the most part is a good girl. Did I mention she is cute? Anyway, she has discovered Youtube, and specifically, she has discovered the videos of her that I published to Youtube, and she always wants to watch them whenever she is in front of a computer. She used to watch her friends "babu" and "tata" Sebastian and Catalina, a brother and sister combo who she has play dates with in the morning before I head off to work. But now she is totally into watching the videos of herself on Youtube, which is funny as heck. She always wants to watch herself on youtube, and for that she gets the vane award. my daughter, i love her so much, even if she is so into watching herself on the computer.



juliana at 15 months




juliana at 20 months

Barack Obama

America is almost over with the Bush administration, and thank god that John McCain wasn't elected. Virtually the entire world now knows that Barack Obama was elected, by almost a 2-1 margin. The guy is a great speaker, and has brought hope again(literally) to America and hopefully around the world. Im sure that everyone who has an interest in this Man knows that he is half African (his dad was from Kenya) and half American (his mom hailed from Kansas), making him the first African-American elected to the most powerful position on earth. What some don't know is he was educated mostly in Hawaii, attended Punahou School, the most presigious prep school in Hawaii, (which is just down the street from the Viratas summer home in Manoa), went off to Harvard and became a lawyer fighting for the rights of the dispossessed in Chicago.

Another interesting factoid, (and probably the most important aspect of Barack) is that Obama is probably the first U.S. president who can hold his own at Sandy Beach on Oahu. Sandy's as the locals call it, is probably the most fickle, yet dangerous small wave body boarding and body surfing spot on Oahu. I hurt my back there on a 2ft day. I dropped in and my back went bendo, and it was tweaked. Obama has the skills to get tubed there, and for that he got my vote.

White Rabbit Creamy Candy: DO NOT EAT

If you area a fan of White Rabbit Creamy candy, don't eat it as the USA FDA has found high levels of Melamine contamination.

I used to eat these candies in the Philippines, along with Cloud 9's, my favorite Filipino candy of all time, but with scandal after scandal after scandal regarding China's lack of product safety, AKA just plain ole greed, I've continued my 15 year boycott of chinese made products. I've even quit the BENCH because that supposedly filipino clothing co., all that crap is made in CHINA too.

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The products were manufactured by China's Shandong Duqing Inc, the FDA said.

The agency also warned consumers not to eat White Rabbit Creamy Candy after New Zealand authorities reported melamine contamination "at high levels." The maker has recalled its exports of the candies to more than 50 countries and stopped domestic sales in China.

Hawaii 2008

We just got back from our annual trip to Hawaii, but sadly, this trip we didn't get to stay in our house because my lil sister decided to quit her cushy job at Kapiolani Hospital and move to San Francisco to be with her bf. So, the Manoa house is being rented out by a college student and her mother. We stayed in at the Ilikai Marina Condotel, overlooking Ala Moana Bowls, my favorite surf spot of all time. We didn't hear the birds, and didn't get to feel the tradewinds coming over the Koolau's down into Manoa Valley, which was a bummer, but were able to see Ala Moana break from the high rise. I'm not so fond of high rises, in fact, I don't like them much at all, but this one fronted Bowls, so that was a plus. Anyway, hopefully next time we can stay again in the house, but who knows when it'll be open. Ultimately I want to move back to Hawaii, when everything falls into place. I want to raise Juliana in Hawaii.

of sex and Power

My how politicians attract sex along with their power, Former presidential aspirant John Edwards admit to having an affair with a wannabee movie producer, yet the Mainstream US media continues to hammer on him for being unfaithful to his wife, while she gets a free pass is beyond ridiculous. She knew he was a married man yet the Hunter (or Druck, or whatever her name is) chose to enter in what appears to be just a sexual relationship. Shame on him for not keeping his dick in his pants, BUT shame on her for sucking his dick.

Juliana munches a Rice Crispie block

Crappy video, using a $100 Flip video camera that does well outdoors but not inside. But she's munching on a rice crispie block. She later dropped it then Kimo da dog got it.

Can you Say Obama?

juliana likes to say Obama, she says it in this clip but not as clearly as she can. She sorta stares at the red light on the camera but this time she didn't.

My forever love interest

Surfboard Slut

I've been on a surfboard buying binge as of late, and now I have about 15 surfboards. Call me a surfboard slut. I like to ride them all. The more variation the better right? The photo above is an old photo, I am gonna have to trot out my new boards for a new photo, but I picked up a Wegener and an old Skip Frye, what looks like an Eagle, but not sure.

It has been way too hot the last three days here in the OC. So much so that it has been difficult to sit in my home office. Josh and I built it out above my living room two summers ago in part to relieve the heat that the upstairs portion of the house gets. Our house sits directly in the face of the sun as it sets, so the afternoons are brutal, especially upsatirs. We put a window in just to let the breeze in but it still gets super hot.

Im BAACK

Well, it has been almost a year since I've updated this blog. First I've been busy with juliana, and second, I forgot the password! I've finally been able to reset the password (little house in the valley that I want to someday retire so I can surf warm water). Dang it has been too long.


Anyway, my daughter is now 14 months, my eldest son graduated from Mater Dei, and my middle child is going to be a sophomore at my Alma Mater. Those two boys are total opposites The eldest currelty likes blondies while the middle boy hangs with asians, which is sorta a non-surprise considering I was attracted to blondies in high school, but then became attracted to asians in college. Ah living in SoCal, that is what it does to you.

Anyway, back to my daughter. She is so cool. At 14 months, she can say a few words, and do a lot of things. For example, a week ago, I was currently indisposed ( I was sitting on the toilet, to be blunt, and my cell phone rang, which was in my office on the other side of the floor upstairs. Juliana, who is in her current cling-on stage was in the bathroom, sampling her new flavor of paper, which is tissue paper.

When the phone rang, she looked at me like she was surprised, so I said, "go get my phone juliana," which she then looked at me again, and proceeded to walk over to the room where my home office is, grabbed my cell phone, and walked back. By that time though, the phone already stopped ringing, but her actions just really amazed me, especially for a 14 month old. She has been walking for about two months now and is more confident with each step. She even wants to walk down the stairs, but I try and coax her into sliding down on her belly, because her attempts to walk down, well let's just say that it is way too early for herb to tackle that challenge.