A message for Elvie…from Colin

October 19, 2008 by admin.

Hi Mom, I may not be able to persuade you to vote for Barack, but, maybe the former Secretary of State, Colin Powell can. This morning he gave a very eloquent endorsement for Obama. Don’t worry, Hillary might be back in 2016. Although, after that heart breaking election back in 2000 where the Presidency was stolen from Gore by Florida state officials and the U.S. Supreme Court, I thought Gore would come right back in ‘04 to take back what was rightfully his.

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ASTV
The Live mobile cam is back up while Ethel is away…
Last night Evan and I broadcasted our trip to Panda Express.

Watch live video from Family Cam on Justin.tv

LIVE
Watch live video from Family Cam on Justin.tv

jm
The Editor

Posted in Check it out, Mom & Dad, Family Events | Print | 1 Comment »

In Memoriam of Uncle Johnny

September 9, 2008 by admin.

June 24, 1935 to August 31, 2008.

I didn’t know Uncle Johnny that long, but what I did learn about him over the past 10 years was that he was a jokester. He would always have a different funny anecdote everytime our paths would cross. He was the life of the party. I wish I knew him when he was running the Eastmont Mall back in the day. I’ve always been envious of how the Villegas girls were always able to get the hottest concert tickets because Uncle Johnny had a Ticketmaster computer in his record store or were able to watch endless movies because he managed the theater.

(excerpt from funeral program)

Born June 24th, 1935, he was the youngest of 4 boys. His father, a merchant marine, left the family for the United States when he was a very young boy. His brothers joined the WWII guerilla movement in the Philippines in support of the U.S. Some of his earliest memories were of being sent to play in the middle of the street to block Japanese trucks that held American POWs. While the children played in the streets, the women threw food into the back of the trucks for the American soldiers.

Because his father left the family when he was 9, he became a working man. He sold newspapers and cigarettes on the street and shined shoes to help make a meager living for himself and his family. He continued in this fashion, working his way through school. He graduated from Arellano High School in 1954. Before he could even attend his graduation ceremonies, his older brother called on him to work in a marble quarry in Teresa, Rizal. Knowing that this was not his calling, he returned to Manila after two years to attend school.

At the age of 19, he impressed a local business man and went to work for quality house. While working fulltime, he attended the University of the East. On his way to an from work, a beautiful young lady, Irene, working in her family’s sari-sari store, caught his eye. They courted for seven years. She wouldn’t marry him until he finished college. With that incentive, he earned his degree in Accounting in October, 1961. They were married, November 18, 1961.

Over the span of nine years, they had five children: Gloria, Gina, German, Grace and Geraldine. He continued to work for Quality House, moving up in the ranks and becoming a beloved part of the family. In 1964 John and Irene opened their own sari-sari store. An accomplished bowler, he qualified for the Philippine national bowling team, but was forced to decline the position because he needed glaucoma surgery in March, 1971 and was planning to immigrate to the U.S.

In April 1971, escaping martial law in the Philippines and taking advantage of reformed immigration laws in the United States, he came alone to America. He worked hard and paved the way to make a smooth transition for his family to come the following year.

His first job in America was Import Traffic Manager for Regal Apparel. When that company closed, he worked for National Imports as Controller. The recession hit hard and National Imports also closed down. he was unemployed for several months when, in 1976, he landed a job at Eastmont Mall. He began as an accountant and proved his worth, becoming the controller and finally the General Manager of the mall. He opened a toy store, children’s clothing store, and ice-cream parlor. He also took over the management of the movie theater and the dry cleaners in the mall. Accustomed to wearing many hats, he simultaneosly managed all of these businesses as well as the shopping center. After a change of mall ownership, he weaned himself from his duties in the shopping center and concentrated his efforts on his newly acquired toy store and ice-cream parlor.

In 1991, he closed the businesses and retired early due to his failing vision. This afforded him the opportunity to play alot of golf and to travel. John brought joy to many people during the best of times and he inspired even more during the worst of times.
Author Unknown

jm
The Editor

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I do…

August 25, 2008 by admin.

Yesterday, Ethel and I, attended the wedding of her good friend and former co-worker, Noel, as she married her partner of 22 years, Barbara. The ceremony and reception was held at the secluded Wildwood Acres Resort in Lafayette. To get there you have to drive down a one lane private road for quite a distance until you hit a dead end and then you’ll find yourself at the resort. This place is so deep into the Lafayette hills it feels like your hours away from home. Luckily, we made it there just as they were starting the procession.

The cermony was was held in the upper deck garden area of the resort and easily looked like 150 to 175 people were there.

Afterwards, the reception was held just down the hill from the cermony. The alcohol was flowing pretty good for a Sunday afternoon wedding…and Ethel and I did our part to sample some of the stock behind the bar.

(L to R) Diana, Ethel and Christy.

Congratulations Barb and Noel…Thanks for a great party.
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Artie is coming to San Francisco!!!

So I’m guessing I’m the only one out here who knows who Artie Lange is so allow me to introduce you to him. Some people were introduced to him when he was on MADTV…but I never watched that show because I felt it was just another late night rip off of Saturday Night Live. I first heard about Artie when he was the temporary replacement for Jackie(who quit) on the most syndicated morning radio show, The Howard Stern Show. Known for his quick wit and outrageous but true personal stories, he soon became a regular cast member on the show.
Since moving to Sirius Satellite Radio, The Howard Stern Show, has become censorship free and has given Artie the freedom to speak his mind in whatever manner he chooses. If you’re a true Howard Stern fan or a New Yorker at heart, go see him. This is a rare San Francisco appearance for Artie. I have my tickets already!

Artie will be performing at the Nob Hill Masonic Center in San Francisco on September 19, 2008 at 8pm. For Tickets click here.
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Coming Soon:
Best in the West Nugget Rib Cook-off in Reno, NV this weekend…

jm
The Editor

Posted in Check it out, Family Events | Print | No Comments »

Life on the Big Island: Part 4

August 5, 2008 by admin.

COMING SOON: SOMETIME ON AUGUST 8TH. BABY EMMA, LIVE WELCOME WEBCAST FROM THE HOSPITAL! TIME:UNKNOWN (KEEP CHECKING BACK FOR UPDATES OR FOR TEXT MESSAGE WEBCAST UPDATE EMAIL INFO@ALLEGEDLYSPEAKING.COM)

Paolo & Caroline’s Wedding: On the Beach and Under the Stars.
The Replay
Watch live video from Family Cam on Justin.tv
Watch Paul and Carol’s Wedding all month long, only here at AllegedlySpeaking.com!
Replay Schedule (running time 72 minutes):
Chapter 1: Wedding Ceremony Part 1
Chapter 2: Wedding Ceremony Part 2
Chapter 3: Meet and Greet
Chapter 4: Elaine’s Speech Part 1
Chapter 5: Elaine’s Speech Part 2
Chapter 6: B.M. Ray’s Speech Part 1 NEW
Chapter 7: B.M. Ray’s Speech Part 2 NEW
Chapter 8: Father, Daughter/Mother, Son Dance. NEW
Chapter 8: Dancing to E, W, & F.
Chapter 9: Dancing to YMCA.
Chapter 10: Dancing to We Are Family.
Chapter 11: “Have a virtual shot with the gang”
Chapter 12: Last Dance
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I’ve been frantically transfering archived video to my playlist and Youtube and getting mixed results (Justin are you seeing this?). Anyways, it works about 50% of the time, but when I get a fail message I just keep trying, so eventually I’ll have everything uploaded in about a week. I’m also gonna try to get some higher quality video clips of the wedding out by the end of September. In the meantime, enjoy the highlights I have so far.

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Well this is our last day on the Big Island…I’m pretty tired and lazy right now, island life can do that to people. I think we’re gonna go to the pool or beach today and kick back before our last dinner with the whole family. Then we have to start to pack and clean up around this place. I’d really like this place to be my Hawaii vacation home, but at 1.5 million, that’s not happening unless I win the lottery. Everybody is gone and going to places they want to see before they leave the island.

On Saturday, the day before the wedding, Jen, Alani, Ethel, Evan, Jon and Nic went parasailing in Kona.

Yesterday we all went to the town of Hawi located at the very top of the island and to go ATVing. That was pretty cool. The tour lasted about 2 hours and was 15 miles long.

It was pretty rough and alot better than the ATV tour we did on Oahu.

The route included lots of rolling and rocky hills and ends up at a waterfall where we have to hike down about 75 yards. It was a tiring hike back up the steep hill, but we made it. At the end of the tour everybody was soooo dirty. If you ever do this tour, bring extra clothes and a towel to wash up and change into.

Afterwards, we went into town and ate at a restaurant called, Lukes, recommended by one of our tour guides. It was an unexpectedly nice restaurant in a rural town. Everbody like what they ordered. The funny thing about it was that about halfway through our meal, our ATV tour guide walked out of the kitchen wearing a Luke’s restaurant shirt and waved hello to us as he walked by. We then drove back to the house, and decided to go bowling over in Kona. On the way to the bowling alley, I dropped off Jen at the airport.

At the bowling alley, I failed to hit any pins on my first turn but Karen and Louie seemed to feel at home here on the lanes. They displayed good form and had the scores to prove it. I think even Evan beat me.

Okay, off to the pool…
jm
The Editor

The AS.com Satellite Truck

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Paolo & Caroline 2008 ***Wedding Webcast*** ****The Replay****

August 4, 2008 by admin.

Paolo & Caroline, On the Beach and Under the Stars
Watch live video from Family Cam on Justin.tv

Well I just got back to the hale and I’m dead tired. This was definately a fun wedding to attend and I loved how it was just steps away from the ocean. There was no way you were gonna forget you were in Hawaii at this wedding. I have to give a very special thanks to Sherwin for without him there would have been no live wedding webcast, period. There was just no WiFi out there, NONE WHATSOEVER. Sherwin let me connect my laptop to his smart phone via USB to give me internet access. His AT&T 3G network phone worked as well as the Sprint EVDO air cards that we have been used to using here at AS.com. Also, thanks to Paul(I said I would only call him Paolo until the wedding day) and Carol for allowing me to broadcast their wedding on the internet. I kinda just told them I was gonna do this for them and didn’t really give them a chance to say no. Mahalo to Justin and crew for the technology, my wife for not bugging me about the cost of the equipment and for everybody back home and in Canada, the Philippines and France for watching.

If you missed any part of the wedding, you can watch the replay above. It’s an hour and 15 minutes long so I’ll be playing it for at least a month, most likely longer, so you don’t have to sit through it all at once. With more highlights to come.

Congratulations Carol and Paul!!!!

jm
The Editor

Posted in Family Events | Print | 1 Comment »

Paolo & Caroline’s Wedding LIVE
On the beach & Under the stars

August 3, 2008 by admin.

Watch live video from Family Cam on Justin.tv
LIVE from the Kohala Coast, Hawaii.

To join in the satellite party chat room while viewing the wedding, go to:
Chat Here
http://justin.tv/famcam

Experiencing technical difficulties? Wait 30 seconds then hit the refresh button. For additional technical notes, see previous entry.

Posted in Family Events | Print | 1 Comment »

Wedding Webcast Today!

August 3, 2008 by admin.

If you’re here to watch the Paolo and Caroline Wedding you’ve come to the right place. The event of the year is finally here. The webcast will begin today at 3:45pm Hawaii Time. Stay tuned!

Webcast Schedule
Date: Sunday, August 3rd, 2008.
Time: 3:45pm Hawaii Time/6:45pm PST (California and British Columbia)
If you’re watching from the Philippines, the Webcast will be on Monday, August 4th at 9:45am because of the time difference.
Watch live video from Family Cam on Justin.tv

TECHNICAL NOTES REGARDING THE WEBCAST:
During the course of this evenings broadcast I’ll be switching between 2 different cameras depending on how i feel which camera captures the moment the best. I may do this several times tonight and when I do, you may notice your picture has frozen. Just expect the webcast to be down 1 or 2 minutes and either wait for the page to automatically update itself or hit the refresh button after a couple of minutes.

Also, I’m trying to work out the fact that the hotel does not have wireless high-speed internet access that can reach the beach. I have put a request in with the wedding coordinator to see if they could boost their signal, but I’m not too optimistic about it ever happening. In the meantime, Paolo’s cousin/groomsman, Sherwin, has saved the broadcast by installing MS active sync into my computer so I will be able to broadcast using his phone’s 3G network. It’s not as fast as DSL or even EVDO, but at least I will be able to get the webcast out and over to you. Should I end up having to use this method, I will also re-broadcast the wedding with footage shot with my mini-DV cam on a date to be announced this Monday.

UPDATE:
As of 10:45am Hawaii time, I might be able to use the EVDO from Louie’s phone. Hoping it works the same as an EVDO air card. I won’t know for sure until close to airtime.

“See you at 3:45pm”
jm
The Editor

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