Verdict for the Triple Murder

I have been on jury duty for about 6 weeks regarding the murders of Miguel Aquino, Dilcia Tejada and Elvis Hartley. As well as the attempted murder of Johanna Hartley. It was interesting to see first hand how such a court case is done. The murder scene photos are crazy. To hear what these people when through prior to being murdered was heartbreaking. Miguel suffered the worst - he was the one who was really beaten to a pulp, pistol whipped and choked prior to being shot in the head.

It was definitely an experience I'll never forget. We were able to convict Noel Bruno of 2nd degree felony murder for Dilcia and Elvis. For Miguel we were able to get 1st degree murder and attempted murder for Johanna. Noel will be spending the rest of his life in jail. It's just unfortunate there couldn't be a more severe punishment.

Commercial for Jazz's Taekwondo School

Here is the school Jazzmin takes taekwondo and gumdo....




Enjoy...

Orientation for Jazzmin's New School

I went to Jazzmin's school orientation today for Aspire Preparatory - it made me feel good about choosing the school. The school considers itself a college preparatory school and focuses on children excelling everyday not just sometimes. For example, there is a statewide required test called ELA. If you get a 2 you pass, 3 your above average and 4 is the highest score. If a student gets a 2 on their ELA they are enrolled in 'early bird' class to help them be able achieve a 3 next time they take the test. The vice-principal says when he speaks to the children individually he refers to them as doctor, council woman, your honor, etc. because he feels that it reminds them of what is expected of them which is to go to college and aim high.

I like that the offer breakfast before school, though I'll still give Jazzmin breakfast at home but Jazzmin will benefit from eating both at home and school. She only eats a little at a time but she's always up for the task of eating. So by the time she goes to school and they serve breakfast she'll be ready to eat again. I love that I don't have to pay for her school lunches anymore. Thank God. Unlike catholic school, there aren't extra fees here, there and everywhere.

They have uniforms but it's not as strict as the one at Jazzmin's school. Jazzmin can wear a skirt, shorts, pants or capris - as long as they're not jeans, sweatpants or track suit pants. The top is a white collared shirt - but that's as far as the limitation goes. And the great thing is she gets to wear sneakers to school - the color of those is not restricted.

They're remodeling the school yard - instead of having one big tar lott they're going to add greenery, a track, play areas w/equipment and "quiet areas" also. This definitely is a great improvement from her old school.

I feel hopeful that this school is going to be far better then her old school. The really seem to be reaching to better themselves as a school each year, whereas her old school wasn't remotely interested in improving themselves. Most of the teachers were sub-standard, kinda nutty and I had no confidence in their abilities as teachers. I also think it's very telling that a parent who used to be very involved in helping out Jazzmin's old school took his daughter out of the school. When it came time to put her in a middle school he chose catholic school but didn't choose to go back to Holy Rosary. I know it has nothing to do with price because Holy Rosary is on the low side as far as catholic school fees go.

The way they do their grading is certainly better then in Holy Rosary. In Holy Rosary if a student had an off day and didn't do well on 1 test, it doesn't matter if they did amazing in homework, classwork or other - 1 bad test grade severely brings down the whole quarter grade. I don't think homework and classwork should come to mean nothing at all because of one test.

Anyway - let's see what happens. I hope it's as good as it appears to be.
.

Can pants shrink sitting in my closet?

I don't understand it - I'm pretty close to completely over the effect of Ovarian Polycystic Syndrome on my abdomen. There is only a little bump above my belly button left and it should be gone in a month or so. I actually feel like I am thinner then I was before having this health issue. But still my regular pants are not fitting me and I don't understand it. I am even wearing a size medium underwear instead of large. So why aren't my pants fitting me? :( I don't get it. I'm tired of wearing thise 3 pairs of pants waiting for everything to be completely resolved. Even other people have remarked how slim I look now. So why didn't my pants get that memo? I guess I am going to buy at least 1-2 pairs of pants next time I get paid. It's just frustrating that I have to spend the money when I have perfectly good pants that should be fitting me. ::sighs::
.

Here today, gone tomorrow

Jazzmin is coming back today from her trip to Disney World. She called me often while she was there - she wanted to call me everyday but her Grandmother didn't let her because she had just spoken to me the day before. But I did speak to her every other day. It seems to bother Jazzmin more this year then past years to be seperated from me. She really wanted to go to Florida and is looking forward to going to Aunt Vallerie's and Grandma Holloway's but still is a little sad to be without me. It's nice to be missed. ;)

Talking to her on the phone just underlines the fact she's turning into a young lady. The way she is able to carry on a conversation, express herself, etc. In away it's a little sad to see the little girl part of her drift away. But at the same time I'm looking forward to seeing the woman she becomes.

Tomorrow is her flight to Illinois - oh joy a nice long trip to the airport. Don't be jealous. I always feel ill at ease watching her go on that plane alone and am anxious until I her from Val that she's arrived safely. This is the part I like the least about her going away for the summer.
.

Maduro

I tried making maduro tonight (cooked yellow plantains), they came out good! I probably didn't use as much butter as others do but I didn't want it to be too greasy. But they are really sweet and yummy!

.

Trying new recipe, Pernil

I have been trying out new recipes and today I am making pernil (aka pork shoulder) with a Puerto Rican recipe. But the pernil has to marinate overnight in the fridge so I have to wait until tomorrow to see if I was successful. My only concern with roasts and such is ensuring the meat in the middle is cooked too. Tomorrow I plan to also cook maduro (cooked yellow plantains) to go with the pernil to complete the Puerto Rican cuisine experience. Below is the pernil pre-fridge ready to start it's marinating process:


And here is the finished product. It was yummy, tender and juicy.

.

Jazzmin's Mambo Recital

Please excuse the 15 seconds I end up filming the wall - was trying to look for her on stage. She's the second one in from the left. She had to learn the last bit of the routine momens before going on stage because the teacher kept changing the routine. But all and all she did very good!

Ovarian Polycystic Syndrome

I got all my additional blood and saliva test results back last week which were to rule out rare conditions, so we can be absolutely sure what I have is Ovarian Polycystic Syndrome (aka PCOS). So now we're 100% sure that it's PCOS and nothing else. My doctor called in a prescription late Friday afternoon so I couldn't pick it up on Friday, but it should be ready by now. I don't remember the name - all I can tell you is it starts with the letter "M" and has been in use for a long time, so a lot is known about the medicine. This should resolve all my symptoms and have the additoinal bonus of possible weight loss (Yay!). I'll be really glad if it actually does resolve all my symptoms. I also wonder if the PCOS might be having an effect on my asthma - after all hormones effect everything in your body. We'll see.

Now all I need is to find out the results of my follow up ultrasound. That should be interesting since the technician asked me if my intitial ultrasound was done at a professional facility. I wasn't aware there were bootleg radiology facilities. I thought they pretty much all were professional and full of certified people??? I'm wondering if this means she found something other then what the prior results did. Who knows. Should be interesting.
.

End of the School Year

One more week of school for Jazzmin. One more week of having to take a train to the school bus and the extra time going to her school to pick her up and then take two buses home. No more montly tuition and all the extra fees that come up throughout the year. Of course her afterschool program next year will be a little more, but I guess that's OK. I'm also saving up for my trip to Korea next year so most of my extra money will be going toward savings. I'm hoping to have all the money saved up by February, going to save what I can til then and then use my tax refund to make up the rest. After that I have to save up for spending money in Korea - I don't know if I'll ever go again so I want to be able to buy whatever I want while I'm there.

I'm still waiting to see what school Jazzmin is getting into next year. Somehow the application didn't get processed due to the way the private to public school transfer applications were handled. Thank God I had the direct dial and e-mail address of a specific person at the dept. of ed or it'd be a real headache. When I was looking into the prospect of public school I had the hardest time trying to get a live, human being on the phone. So I looked on the internet and found the guy in charge of the dept of ed in the Bronx and e-mailed him. He was prompt about responding and giving me the information I needed. So that's why now I already have a direct contact lined up. So anyway, I have to wait until the end of June and they will then know for sure which school Jazzmin is going to. The good thing is the school I was afraid of her being put into is already full so there is no way she's being placed there. She's definitely going to 1 of the 3 schools that are housed in that one building, which is close to after school.

Next year she's going to have afterschool at her taekwondo school, which is awesome. This way she'll be taking classes 5 days a week and will climb the ranks quickly. It's been hard for her to move up belts by only going once a week. Also she will be able to get out her extra energy - after school she always has extra energy to burn.

I am so happy that I won't have to deal with Holy Rosary anymore. They're a disorganized mess and that is not something I want to pay for. Not to mention the extra time out of my day bringing her to and from school. YEAH! No More Holy Rosary!!
.

Update

I am such a bad little blogger, aren't I? Tisk tisk on me for being so bad about updating. I am glad Jazzmin will be out of catholic school in two weeks. Oh to be free from their monthly tuition and their seemingly never ending fees! And also to be free of traveling back and forth to get her to school and back. That adds at least 1.5 hours to my commute time per day. Will also be nice having Jazzmin going go to her taekwondo school for her after school program so she can take more classes and move up the ranks more quickly.



I started back with my gumdo classes on Monday - it wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be. I thought my asthma would be an issue since it still bothers me during everyday things. I'm only going to be doing Gumdo for this month and then next month is going to be crazy. For July and August I am going to be doing Jujitsu, Taekwondo and Gumdo - working out 6 days a week. The neverending great push for weight loss. The meds my endocranologist ends up giving me should help me in my quest for weight loss since having a hard time losing weight is one of the symptoms of what I have.



Really not looking forward to doing Jujitsu, I really don't like it. But it's a necessary evil. Most fights end up on the ground so you have to know how to get out of holds and put others into holds. But I really get beat up doing jujitsu - guaranteed black and blues, pain, etc. It doesn't help that I only have stronger adult males to practice with. Boo hoo for me. Get out the violins.



I chaperoned Jazzmin's school trip to the Bronx Zoo on Monday - I had 8 girls that I was in charge of, that's a lot of girls to keep my eyes on in a crowded place. When we got into one of the buildings that were really dark - these boys close to the girls' age were doing that whole trick of "accidently" bumping into girls with their hands up so they "accidentally" cop a feel of their girl parts. Needless to say I had to get them out of there quickly.

I don't know if I mentioned that my wages have been garnished since the end of February for a 20 year old student loan. This next paycheck is the last one they're taking money out of and then I'm a free woman! I can't wait! I am dying to buy more things of this website where you can buy authentic Korean food products (koamart.com), there are so many things I want to try. I can't wait! I already bought ingredients a while back go make korean bean paste stew and this spicy sauce made with korean hot pepper paste and dried hot pepper. Stuff is good!

Well, I guess that's it for now!

HILARIOUS ! Onion Network News on YouTube

Hope you like it!

"The Grand Chef" had it's influence

I've watched most of the Korean drama series, "The Grand Chef", and there is a lot of cooking in this series. The love of cooking and the different things you can do with food is very much highlighted. I defy anyone to watch this series at length and not want to get into the kitchen and whip up a meal. It also makes me want to try kimchi. lol

I was thinking about how little I cook, not because I don't know how but because when you make one dish it lasts several days. Then you're left eating the same thing over and over. If I had more mouths to feed then perhaps that wouldn't be the case. Also, it just seems so expensive to cook from scratch. And then I was thinking about the few dishes I know how to make - so it's kinda boring eating my food 'cause it's the same stuff I always make.

So I went on the internet and looked up different recipes and saved them in a word document. I then went to the supermarket and bought the ingredients for 3 differnet dishes. It came out to a lot of money - to be fare about $20 of the stuff had nothing to do with the 3 dishes and $10 was for things that I'll be able to use again in another recipe (olive oil, flour, etc.). One of the dishes I am making is American Chop Suey - only because it reminds me of mom. I remember her making that - it's not like it's the tastiest dish you ever had but it's good and it brings back memories. The other 2 dishes are scalloped potatos and pork chops with mushroom cream sauce. We'll see how that goes. I actually think mushrooms go better with beef - we'll see how it tastes with pork.
.

High Price of Eating

I am so tired of dealing with the issue of lunch at work. You can't have a decent, filling meal in the cafeteria for less then $6-$10. I think that's too much. On the other end of it I could bring lunch - but I don't want to eat food I make everyday. Or even most days. It's not like I don't think I cook well but I've had my food and after a while you want something different. Plus all the time you spend cooking it - after you've spent that time you're kind of over it and don't want to eat it. If that makes any sense.

What would be great is if I could have a smaller appetite - then it would take less to fill me up...

.

BoA's first English Single

I love this video/song - it's by a popular Korean artist name Boa whose released albums in Korean, Japanese and Cantonese. She released her first English album this month - I really love her first single "Eat You Up"!!

Natasha Richardson's Death

It seems so odd that she would die as a result of a seemingly minor fall. You see people take hits to the head in boxing, rugby, etc. over and over and live to tell the tale. How can one take a spill during ski instruction, get up feeling fine and then be brain dead hours later?

Something isn't right - either the spill was worse then reported or she had some pre-existing issue with her brain that maybe she wasn't aware of. There has to be other mitigating circumstances other then a spill on the bunny slope.

They're doing her autopsy today - will be interesting to see what they find. I feel so sorry for her family and loved ones - what a freak acident. Jazzmin told me this morning that she doesn't think it'd be a good idea for me to ever go skiing after hearing about this.

.

I Let the Bed Bug Bite

Jazzmin and I have been getting bug bites since this past summer. I couldn't figure out where they were coming from - I never saw anything on me chomping away. We've been suffering with very itchy bites - new ones appearing once a month.

I saw a promo for the late night news last week about bed bugs, though I didn't stay up to watch. I decided to check out online what bed bug bites look like to see if maybe that was what was plaguing Jazz and I. And wouldn't you know - the bites look EXACTLY like the ones Jazz and I had been getting. I read up about the bug bites and everything is the same as what we've experienced.

So I've ordred mattress and box spring covers that are supposed to bed bug proof your bed. The only other option would be to throw the mattress and box spring out - but I just bought them! Dont' want to do that. The good thing is, is I don't have a major infestation of them. If I did then we'd get bit more often.

I'm glad to finally know what has been going on so now I can fix the problem. Really hard to combat a problem when you don't know what the root of the problem is. Glad to see there is an end in sight.

.

Back to Blogging

I know I have been bad about blogging for a while, I blame Mafia Wars - a game on Facebook and MySpace. Whenever I had a spare few minutes I'd play that instead of blogging. Shame on me... But I have deleted that program so hopefully I will be more consistant with the blogging.

Just to catch up, I think everybody knows about my belly swelling to the point I thought I was 4 months pregnant. Turns out it wasn't but I don't know what exactly happened because my ob/gyn didn't tell me (as he only communicated with me by leaving voicemail messages). All I know is that my tests are all normal. But my belly has started going down since I got my monthly a couple weeks ago.

I am having my wages garnished for the next couple of months due to an old student loan from about 20 years ago. But since I am not taking martial arts for a few months - the money I save there will compensate for the garnishment. So I guess it's not so bad. Though it's not a particularly great thing to go through.

Jazzmin will be going to public school next year. I've finally come to the conclusion that the education she gets at Holy Rosary is no better then public school. Additionally, I don't like most of the teachers at Holy Rosary and don't have confidence in their ability to teach effectively. Most seem a bit off between the ears. It took a while for me to decide that public school was just as good because Jazzmin did have some good teachers in the begining. I liked her kindergarten and 2nd grade teacher - Jazz and I had decided maybe it's that she gets a good teacher every other year. But then 3rd, 4th and 5th grade teachers have not impressed me or were just bad. I don't need to pay for crazy - I can get that in public school for free. I checked out the state testing of the public school in my area and they do moderately well in english and above average in math. So they're at least as good as Holy Rosary - maybe better.

I feel like a prisoner waiting to get out of jail when it comes to Jazzmin finishing this school year. I will be happy to not have to take a train to her bus stop anymore. We'll get to leave the apt. later in the morning as a result. When I come home her after school is at taekwondo - so it's a 5 min walk from home. Instead of taking 2 buses to get home with approx 20-30 min travel time. And by going to taekwondo 5 days a week she'll go up in the ranks faster then she has going once a week. Plus Jazzmin always has this extra energy to burn after school - so being in taekwondo will tire her out and I'll pick up a mellow version of my daughter.

And let's not forget the fiscal liberation as a result of Jazzmin being in public school. I plan to pay off all my bills while also saving money to go to Korea the summer of 2010. I will also put more money into my 401K. But all this has to wait until the end of June. Sigh.

OK, that's it for now - I'm all blogged out.

.

Se7en's Music Video Featuring Lil Kim

This is the first English MV by a Korean artist named Se7en. He's wildly popular in Korea - winning about 9 Korean grammys to date. It's a really good song - I hope his album does well. Maybe if he succeeds some of the other great Korean artists can cross over (TaeYang, Big Bang).

Se7en Girls Music Video Ft. Lil Kim

Jazzmin's Basketball Playoffs.

Saturday Jazzmin had her first "play off" game in basketball. Oddly enough - even though her team lost a majority of their games, they are the winningest team in their division.

It was a good game - even better is the fact that they won by 10 points. They were in the lead the entire game. The other team had issues getting the ball to their basket and when they did - the baskets didn't go in.

Her next playoff game is this Friday - thankfully it's not on a Saturday so she doesn't have to miss dance class again. Her grandmother will be taking her to the game on Friday, but I'll be sure to keep you updated on how her team is doing!

.