Monday, April 25, 2005

Double Wedding Anniversaries!


The Gang
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
April 23rd was El's parent's wedding anniversary and my parent's wedding aniversary. Shooting from the hip Ricky , Rachel, Cherilyn, Eleanor and I were able to quickly plan out a nice dinner in historic downtown Charleston at Poogan's Porch Saturday evening. Cher and Rick managed to coordinate a special fruit buttercream cake from Kaminsky's and have it brought over to the site beforehand.

It was supposed to be rainy, but weather held up although a little gusty. The sun was out and felt good, though. Poogan's Porch has been around for years (built in the 1800's I believe) and like all good Charleston restaurants has its share of ghosts, dogs and tasty lowcountry cuisine. I chose it for it's range of southern seafood specialties - the wahoo seemed popular thsi night - and its laid back atmosphere. With the exception of Rick's better half, Donna, everyone on our side made it over to celebrate.

The dinner went over well. Lots of talking and laughing and dessert was eventually brought out. I think the celebrants had a good time, not too shabby for a quickly organized dinner.

Afterwards we took a drive out to the Battery and enjoyed the weather and outdoors. Happy Anniversary!

Celia and Enrico Pineda
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
I hope Mom & Dad enjoyed their celebration. Happy 39th (or is it 37th? - you two will have to duke it out.) Anniversary!

Elisa and Ron Ruiz
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
Unfortunately, only El could be present to represent her side ofthe Ruiz. Nevertheless, it was still a nice time. Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad #2!

Tuesday, April 19, 2005

Deep Sea Fishing Saturday


P3270001
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
Earlier in the week a couple of buddies and I decided on a last minute deep sea fishing. Originally, we were to head out to Clearwater Beach to join the Double Eagle, a huge catamaran, 35 miles out ot the Gulf Of Mexico to get some sun, catch some grouper and some male bonding. By Thrsday we had decided we were a go. By Friday, Paul and Scott had booked a room in Clearwater and then Paul asks me the most important question, "Did you reserve a spot on the boat?" DOH! We call at 5pm only to find out that Double Eagle is booked solid all weekend. Working fast I do some quick research that comes up with a half day trip out of Madeira Beach.

I was really wanting to forego the Grey Snapper in lieu of some hefty grouper further out. Oh well. Better to make the best of it. Reservations booked we headed home to prep for the following morning - we had top be up at 4am to make the 8am departure time. The trip to the coast was pretty uneventful besides Paul getting the late start at 5am and our "drinking buddy" at the local Cracker Barrel. By 8am we had just made it to the boat and were off!

On the way out to the deep blue we met some fellow passengers and talked a bit only to discover that the captain had spent the previous evening getting boozed up til 3am. Nice. Well it showed. He took us to all the best spots where we failed to even get a nibble on our first two stops.

P3270003
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
By the third and fourth stop we had probably caught a total of eight fish (snapper, sea bass) with a total poundage of .5.

P3270002
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
No kidding.

P3280005
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
So although our fishing trip was a wash, it still had its share of laughs. Some other things caught onboard, namely this woman next to us, included a crab trap, a raw chicken breast, a three mile island mutant fish/tadpole thing ("Re-e-elea-a-ase me, huma-a-an") and a huge ass pelican - no shit.

$40 poorer we decided to do some power drinking at some of the local bars. We met some of Paul's friends at Rockaway Grill where we did more drinking and by 6pm I was TOAST. Scott and Paul were to carry on the adventure while I swerved home 110 miles away. I got home at around 9pm, took a shower and was done for the evening.

I think El took pity on me, although I'm sure she was pretty exhausted too after a 14 hour shift at the hospital, since we were supposed to go out that night.. We slept in (9am) and started a new day of goofing off.

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Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
I was pretty jealous that the guys continued on thru with the Weekend at Bernie's. All I know is that there was the potential of more bars, bikini'd females, wet t-shirt contests, strip clubs, Ybor City and other forms of debauchery and I couldn't wait to hear more from them on Monday. Pictured here is how the the crazy Saturday night ended up - at 9pm.

Friday, April 08, 2005

E-Dud's Outtie


E-Dud's Outtie
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
Soul sistah #1 is outta here after a long 6 MONTHS stint here at TGC. First time I met Ericka Dudley was when me and Ed were gettin' down to some old skool hip hop pumping out of our office when the "newbie" rolls in and is like "Yeee-e-a-aah! Those other guys in there are too quiet". No offense Joel, Chris and Shiju. After that it was on.

Welp Ericka I'll surely miss clownin' with you (Why you jockin' me???). Good luck with Atlanta and your new home with the Atlanta Hawks! Here I am saying my goodbyes and bestowing her with a housewarming gift of a shiny new plunger for when the shit gets too thick out in Hotlanta.

Erykah Badudley
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
My favorite nickname I use most often, Erykah Badudley.

Other a.k.a.'s: A-Team, E to the Double D, E-Dud.

Favorite foods (sarcastically): Banana, rice, or bread pudding; Key Lime Pie; Reebs (Ribs) eaten in public places; lemon with chicken or fish; flavored ice teas; cheesecake (I guess we missed that one at her going away party), amongst others - I've never seen anyone with so many "that's naa-s-sty!". Good god.

Ericka Summer
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.

Tuesday, April 05, 2005

Brent and Paula Tie The Knot


Brent and Paula
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
Sunday was spent earlier at Celebration where we shopped at the local farmer's market and then checked out the art show that was on exhibit. We decided to take Bailey with us, a rare moment since he's really skiddish around crowds of strangers. We bought lunch at the diner and ate al fresca at one of the parks before we made our way home to get ready for a wedding.

Paula, a cowerk of mine, was tying the knot with her fiancee, Brent, downtown. Great day to do this. Sunny and warm El and I cleaned up and headed to the church. An hour the deed was done and the reception was held at Harvey's Bistro down the street. Nice place for eats and free booze. We spent the afternoon hanging out with other cowerks including Ed and Cindy B and her significant other, Darlene (who we FINALLY got to meet - what a great couple) and headed home to try and catch some sun to work outside.

Didn't quite make it. An hour later we were home and DONE. We had a light dessert, watched some TV and El was toast. She has been fighting an ongoing cold for over a week so she had had enough. I don't blame her. We lose an hour this weekend and it's Monday again so we better sack out...

Congrats to Brent and Paula! Wish you guys success for the future! Your pictures are already burned off to CD so enjoy. Oh and I forgot to add the card to your wedding gift. Hope you guys enjoy the casual dining set!

Monday, April 04, 2005

Another Chick Concert...


jason1
Originally uploaded by erickpineda527.
Dan hooked us up with a couple of tickets to Universal Studios Mardi Gras where he works on the weekend. Some of the feature acts each week included Huey Lewis and the News, Macy Gray, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Arrested Development and on the night we went - Jason Mraz.

It was a pretty nice night out - cool outside - and was a nice ending to our day of getting some gardening done. She enjoyed the show and I gotta admit he sounded pretty decent live, but a bunch of slow songs is not my cup of tea. I only recognized a couple of his songs including Remedy and an exceptional cover of Hall & Oates' I Can't Go For That. At one point El bought his CD a few months back, but somehow it disappeared into a box of old CD's under my desk at home. How that happened I don't know.