Champs once again...

I live and breathe Lakers, always have. Thanks for all of the good times!!

Lakers in the 2009 Finals

One thing I've noticed in the pre-game hoopla leading up to the Finals, is the focus of Kobe Bryant. He appears to be calm, subdued and extremely focused. His maturity as a person and player has been enjoyable to watch. He realizes now, more than ever, that the success of his teammates will directly correlate with the Lakers hoisting up another championship banner. As a Laker fan, I am nervous and excited for this series!

A warning from our founding fathers

"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs."-
Thomas Jefferson

Class of 2009, Saint Justin Junior High

Congratualtions Taylah on your Jr. High Graduation. We love you so much!

311 New Album June 2nd

Taylah graduates Jr. High on May 29th

My little girl is graduating 8th grade on May 29th. This is a big step in her young life, and she has made her Mom and I very proud. Taylah will graduate St. Justin Martyr School with Honors. She should receive special recognition for her GPA, and the ceremonies will take place in the church beginning at 6:30pm. More details to come...

National Geographic's New Infinite Photograph

This is amazing. I'm a fan of NG photographers and think that it would be a dream job to shoot for them. The artistry of mosaics is something that really inspires.

Ethan on the mend

Luckily Ethan's broken arm will not require surgery. I'm happy to report that he is doing much better now that he has his arm in a cast. He spent today learning to play his Nintendo DS with one hand. He will be out of commission for roughly 6 weeks. Get better soon Buddy!

2009 Yearbook Dedications

Every year I make a dedication page for the SJM yearbook. Here are the ones I made for the kids 2009 yearbook...

Ethan's 1st Bucket

Ethan scored his first basket today. It's a big deal because he rarely gets a chance to score as defense is suffocating at this age. It happened on a steal and fast break. Ethan got out in front of everyone and received a great pass from Andrew (far-and-away the teams leading scorer) he caught it and threw up a beauty that hit nothing-but-net. It's kind of a big deal because he is only one of four kids that have scored on his team the entire season. He is getting better and better each week. His strength, thus far, has been his tenacious defense on the opposing guards. There is only three games left in this season, and he told us after the game that he intends to do a lot more scoring ;)

Star Trek Rumor

Maybe this doesn't belong on our family blog, but since I'm a fan of Star Trek TNG, I wanted a excuse to post the above picture on my blog. There is a confirmed rumor that a cameo will be made by Leonard Nimoy in the new Abrams reboot of Star Trek. The latest rumor is that the film may contain cameos of Picard or Data, as well. Many trekkies have said that this remake looks like "90210 in space" but frankly, I'm excited to see it...

Awesome view from Newport today

View of San Gabriel Mountains from Jamboree and the 73 today in Newport Beach.

Taylah beats the buzzer to put SJM over St. Norbert 18-17

Going into our first round of playoffs yesterday the expectations, admittedly, were not to high. The SJM Basketball team did not fair very well at the Mater Dei tournament this past weekend, and I thought there would be some hangover going in. Round one of the playoffs was held at St. Jeanne in Tustin, and we didn't know what to expect. The Kids seemed pretty relaxed during warm-ups and proceeded to goof around as usual.
The Game started off slowly as both teams were feeling each other out. We struggled to score (as usual), but we were able to put up a good number of shots, they just weren't falling. St. Jeanne had only one stand out player that we had to worry about, so we ran a box-and-1 defense on her which slowed her down a bit. At the half we were down 6 points, and in a low scoring game, that feels like a lot. Taylah did a very good job in the second half of securing almost every rebound. She picked it up on defense, as did the rest of the team. We never led the entire game, but were slowly creeping back into it. The two teams really got after it defensively, and it was a battle just to get a shot up. With 1:08 left in the game we called a timeout because we had to remind the kids that it was do or die. If we don't score, we go home. After a couple of broken plays and turnovers on both sides, we had the ball for a final shot. Sunny had it at the top of the key and just before she hoisted up a desperation shot from there, Taylah cut to a open spot under the basket and Sunny delivered a perfect bounce pass. Tay caught it and layed it in as the clock expired to win the game!
This buzzer-beater reminded me of her days playing club soccer, when more than once she scored a last second goal to either tie or win the match. It's safe to say I'm very proud of both Sunny for making the perfect pass, and Taylah for finishing the shot...whew...we get to do this again on Tuesday...

Ethan's 1st Basketball game

It was a rain-soaked drive to the downtown Anaheim YMCA gym Saturday morning where Ethan was scheduled to play his first game with the Timberwolves. He really looked the part with his new Nike Air Zooms and Nike Dri-fit basketball shorts, and he was noticeably excited/nervous. During warm-ups he made 2 out of 3 layups and I think that helped his confidence. He is probably one of the youngest, shortest, most inexperienced on his team but I think his coach sees something in him (as we do) because he started him at point guard. The game was very close and the two teams exchanged leads countless times. I was really impressed with how easy going his coach was in contrast to the other teams obnoxious, overly boisterous coach. Ethan was admittedly confused on where he was supposed to be on defense, and I was encouraged to see him ask his coach for direction. Ethan was not excited about his debut because he rarely handled the ball, and had no shot attempts. I told him that he did fantastic for his first game, and that it would only get easier for him over the course of the season. His team lost 26-25 and had a chance to win with a buzzer-beater. It is going to be fun to watch him develop and he always makes me proud.

Lakers make a trade

"Space Cadet" as Phil Jackson so lovingly called Vlad Radmanovic, has been shipped to the Charlotte Bobcats for college standout Adam Morrison and 3rd year player Shannon Brown. It sucks that Phil decided to go with Luke Walton over Vlad. I'm not the biggest Luke fan, and I thought Vlad at the least had potential to score consistently from the three point line. I know the Lakers have no problem scoring whatsoever, but I thought he gave the team a lift in the 1st quarter as the Lakers tend to pick it up more in the second half of games. One good thing about the trade is that Vlad will probably get a lot more PT, and be able to show off his Super-arc jumpshot.