Mr Papa's World

Broadway & Beyond Fundraiser a Success

Suzanne — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 01:30:01 +0000

Steve, Sean, Savannah, Pianist Rick Stahl, church volunteers, and The Alma Dolores Dancers did a great job this weekend to help me put on a variety show that was a huge success in helping us raise money for our parish building fund. Overall the show went pretty smoothly with Steve running the sound system, parish volunteers running the dessert kitchen, and a few of the Mom’s running the dressing area a making sure all the dancers were ready with their costumes and hair pieces. Our only major hiccup was the boys not making a costume changed in time. It should have been an easy change for the boys as they only had to change their shirts, but they got tangled up or something. It actually provided a moment of humor ... READ MORE

Weekly Lifestream 2010-03-07

Mr Papa — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 13:00:00 +0000

Setting up for the church benefit tonight. Just call me the tech guy. #
damn! made 3 cheesecakes last night for church benefit tonight and left them on the counter overnight! they are ruined now! argh! #fail #
wow, what a busy day in the NFL. Tenders and cutst all over the place. Should be even more interesting tomorrow when free agents can sign. #
Spring is finally here in earnest. Been in low 70's all week. Need to enjoy it before it gets hot. #
Big benefit for church building fund this weekend. Suzanne singing, dance studio dancing and me the tech guy. Savannah and I baking too. #
Wow, another Monday. The start of this year seems extra slow. And no holidays until Memorial Day. #
That was one of the stranger closing ceremonies I ... READ MORE

Suzanne “Putting on a Show” to raise money for church building foundation

Suzanne — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 03:32:31 +0000

This weekend, Suzanne has put together a fund raising variety show for our parish building foundation. Our Lady of the Angels Catholic Mission church received a donation of land a few years ago, and since that time our parish has put together various fund raisers to support our future building efforts. Tomorrow, Suzanne will be performing a show with a musician friend and dancers from the Alma Dolores International Dance Center to raise additional money for the building foundation.

The show, “Broadway and Beyond’ will features Suzanne singing songs from her Broadway repertoire and dancers performing Jazz, Tap, Flamenco, and Folklorico. The event will be a family affair with both Sean and Savannah dancing, and Steve, Suzanne, and Savannah baking desserts to be served at the event. Suzanne also has been busy wearing her Mexican and Flamenco dance costumes around town to ... READ MORE

Weekly Lifestream 2010-02-28

Mr Papa — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 13:00:00 +0000

Back at Showstopper for another day of competition. Luckily only about 5 hours today. Then the drive home. #
And that's all folks. So ends another Showstopper dance competition. Finally time to pack up and head home with lots of trophies and medals #
WTF NBC… you broadcast Olympics hockey Russia vs Czech in HD, but you put USA vs Canada in standard def?? more reasons why #NBC sucks! #
WOW! what a hockey game. At LEAST Stanley Cup excitement and its not even the medal round yet! #olympics #
Olympic hockey doesnt get much better than that!!! USA wins over Canada 5-3 #olympics #
wonderful #olympic usa vs canada hockey match. now wife making me watch ice dancing. weekend of dance competition and now ice dancing. argh! READ MORE

Showstopper Photos Uploaded

Suzanne — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 13:12:17 +0000

We uploaded the photos from last weekend’s Showstopper Competition. We are very proud of all the dancers from the Alma Dolores International Dance Center for doing so well.

Showstopper Regional Results 2010

Suzanne — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 19:16:06 +0000

Last weekend was our annual trip to Phoenix for the Showstopper Dance competition with the other dancers from the Alma Dolores International Dance Center.

Savannah reached a big goal by winning her first ever Platinum Trophy for her Mexican Folkloric dance to “Tilingo, Lingo”. She looked very beautiful in her long white dress and flowered head piece. She won Gold awards for her Jazz solo, group Pom Pom and group Jazz. This was Steve’s favorite routine from the competition.

Suzanne also won Platinum for her Song and Dance routine to “I Can’t Say No” from Oklahoma. Suzanne really portrayed the character and put humor into the routine. She also recieved a Gold award for her Solo Mexican Folkloric routine and her small group Folkloric Flamenco routine.

The most exciting event of the competition for Suzanne, Sean and Savannah was ... READ MORE

Weekly Lifestream 2010-02-21

Mr Papa — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 13:00:00 +0000

Another one of those 'fake' holidays. Can't be a real holiday when I am at work, right? #
Good luck to Sean today at county spelling bee! Trying for the double – qualify for State in both Math and Spelling. Math already done. #
Sean has to settle for 1 out 2. qualified for state in Math Counts, but not Spelling Bee. He went out on croquette when he spelled croquet. #
Family prepping for showtopper dance competition. For me, that means having laptop and droid phone ready! #
Couldn't agree more!! (via Michael Rosenberg) NBC's tape-delay coverage of Olympics frustrating for sports fans http://tinyurl.com/ybe25kg #
The loooong day at Showstopper dance competition in Phoenix has begun. Got here at 8:30 am – won't get back to hotel until after 11 tonight! #
Who would have thought pure, pouring down ... READ MORE

Weekly Lifestream 2010-02-14

Mr Papa — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 13:00:00 +0000

watching http://bit.ly/18Yu7M now… astronauts boarding Endeavour for last night time launch of space shuttle #
three hours til launch though… something tells me I wont make it… interesting pre-flight stuff though…. #
Faded last night and didnt make if up for the space shuttle launch. god thing as they scrubbed until Monday morning. #
Not very memorable game, but kept one's interest. Congrats Saints! Like watching SB games where dont care who wins. but as Lions fan, normal #
typical SB day. home chips, salsa and queso. followed by chicken wings. good thing SB is only once a year! #
Another winter storm watch for next couple days. Nothing like out East. That's quite a few this year for us but only 2 have actually hit #
Oh oh. Looks like my facebook account hacked. Interesting since I ... READ MORE

Weekly Lifestream 2010-02-07

Mr Papa — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 13:00:00 +0000

Very nice visit with Suzanne's Aunts and Uncles this weekend. Good People! #
Lol… pretty funny… next Twitter? http://bit.ly/jI4Vc #
oh oh… looks like major, lengthy business trip coming up in near future… #
Oh drat. Business trip postponed. Again. #
Might stay up late! last night one RT @BreakingNews: NASA begins fueling space shuttle Endeavour, ahead of scheduled 4:39 am ET launch in FL #

Sean and Savannah Qualify for Math Counts Competition

Mr Papa — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 19:28:47 +0000

A couple of days ago the kids middle school held a math competition for the students to see which students would get to go to the regional Math Counts competition.

Sean competed last year and placed fourth in the region if my memory serves me right. This was Savannah’s first attempt at the Math Counts competition. It is both a team (the school) competition and an individual competition. The top finishers get to advance to the State level competition.

Since Sean is already taking high school math and competed last year, we figured he would do well again. And he did, finishing first in the school on the test. In fact, he set a new record high score in school history. He will be the team captain for the school in the competition.

Savannah also did well on the test and qualified for the B team. ... READ MORE

Showstopper Time

Mr Papa — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 19:43:49 +0000

It’s almost time for our annual jaunt up to Phoenix for the Showstopper Regional Dance Competition. Suzanne and Savannah have been doing this competition for years.

Savannah usually dances a bunch of numbers with her various dance classes and then throws in a solo or two. Suzanne usually does similar but a few less.

This year, Sean will also be doing one dance. While he no longer dances in multiple classes, he is doing one Mexican Folkloric class and will be competing with them. In the dance, he gets to dance with machettes doing a variety of things with them.

I usually make the trip to Phoenix to watch them. That is not for certain this year as a business trip may interfere. Assuming they do well enough, the will then take their dances to the Showstopper National Competition at Disneyland this summer. ... READ MORE

There is Nothing Like a Suit!

Mr Papa — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 16:39:00 +0000

I had to break down this weekend and actually go shopping for clothes. Its not something I ever enjoy, but with an upcoming business trip, I needed a couple of suits to wear. Since our office is business casual, I really haven’t needed a suit at all, and can usually get by with just a sports coat when meeting with customers. I had Suzanne do most of the hard work and call around to find who had the best selection and prices for me. We ended up at her favorite men’s store, The Men’s Warehouse.

I don’t mind going there too much since they have excellent service and a very good selection in Big and Tall sizes. We actually had a pretty good selection from which to choose and and one point we had three sales people helping us coordinate ... READ MORE

All Rome and Celebrity Solstice Transatlantic Cruise Photos Now Uploaded

Mr Papa — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 19:32:58 +0000

Today, I have uploaded photos from the last two days of our recent Transatlantic cruise from Rome, Italy to Fort Lauderdal, Fl on board the Celebrity Solstice. This means that all of our photos from this fantastic vacation in Rome, followed by another terrific cruise have been uploaded.

I hope you enjoy the pictures!

See the photo gallery.

Next Batch of Photot From Rome / Transatlantic Cruise Uploaded

Mr Papa — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 00:57:20 +0000

Today, I have uploaded photos from the next six days of our recent Transatlantic cruise from Rome, Italy to Fort Lauderdal, Fl on board the Celebrity Solstice. This was a fantastic cruise and I hope it shows in the pictures.

We still one more batch of photos from the last two days to prep, but we hope to get them up here in the next day or two.

See the photo gallery.

Photos From First Five Days of the Transatlantic Cruise Uploaded

Mr Papa — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 20:36:11 +0000

Okay, Suzanne has finished her work on the photos from the first five days of our recent Transatlantic cruise from Rome, Italy to Fort Lauderdal, Fl on board the Celebrity Solstice. This was a fantastic cruise and I hope it shows in the pictures.

She still has another 8 or 9 days of photos to prep, but we hope to get them up here in the next week or two.

See the photo gallery.

Initial Rome – Transatlantic Cruise Photos Available

Mr Papa — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 20:38:21 +0000

Today, I have uploaded the first set of photos from our recent family vacation to Rome, Italy followed by a transatlantic cruise on the Celebrity Solstice. This first batch of photos are from our first four days in the city of Rome, Italy. I still want to go through all the photos and caption them, but that take quite a bit of time and I wanted to get the photos up soonest.

Suzanne is busy working on the rest of the cruise photos, so hopefully, I can get them up in the next week or two. She goes in and cleans them up with Photoshop and reduces the size for the web. So until the rest are complete, please enjoy this initial set.

See the photo gallery.

Rome – Transatlantic 2009 – Wrap Up

Mr Papa — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 13:58:39 +0000

The cruise/vacation is officially over. Yesterday we returned home. Our day in Fort Lauderdale was restful and uneventful. None us wanted to do anything but relax, so about all we did was swim in the pool at the hotel and eat. With a 4:30 AM wake up call for our flight back home, we turned in pretty early too. Both flights home were also uneventful and on time with no issues whatsoever.

This was an absolutely wonderful vacation. We ran around like idiots in Rome, Italy for 4 days at the start. I think we averaged over 6 miles walking a day touring the town and seeing the sights. The kids were glad to have been able to see Rome and experience the history there. For me, it was nice to finally get back there too since its been like 7 years ... READ MORE

Rome – Transatlantic 2009 Day 19 – Atlantic Crossing Day 6

Mr Papa — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 21:36:39 +0000

Yesterday was the last sea day of our transatlantic cruise from Rome, Italy to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Thus far it has been an absolutely fabulous cruise. The weather finally turned against us as it pretty much rained all day. The temperature remained warm and the seas remained calm at 2 – 3 foot sea state. Actually, I rather enjoyed the rain. It was rather calming and relaxing. It didnt really keep me from doing much and it was rather cool looking to look out from the boat and see only fog, rain or clouds.

Being the last sea day (and day of the cruise), it was also the last day for the hot glass show. Two more shows were on tap and Sean was certainly hopeful of winning one of the raffles for a piece of glass. He really wanted to win the ... READ MORE

Rome – Transatlantic 2009 Day 18 – Atlantic Crossing Day 5

Mr Papa — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 13:47:53 +0000

Yesterday was the 5th sea day of the transatlantic crossing on the Celebrity Solstice. Weather again proved to be our friend as the weather reached into the 80’s with a slight breeze and sunny conditions. The sea state remained minimal with maybe 4 foot swells. I know I sound like a broken record, but we couldn’t have asked for much better conditions on this cruise.

Warning, more broken record posting coming up… I spent most of the day on the Lawn Club here on Celebrity Solstice. Sean and I caught two hot glass shows and they continue to be very entertaining and enjoyable. Except for Savannah’s piece from the Kids’ Club segment, we have yet to win any glass. Sean wants one bad, but the odds are against him.

While on the Lawn Club, I also got my pre-requisite couple of hours of ocean staring. ... READ MORE

Rome – Transatlantic 2009 Day 17 – Atlantic Crossing Day 4

Mr Papa — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 12:17:45 +0000

Yesterday was the 4th sea day of the Atlantic crossing on this Celebrity Solstice transatlantic cruise. I hate to sound like a broken record, but the weather continues to just absolutely rock. Temperatures were in the upper 70’s with clear skies and continued very calm seas.

After an early breakfast, I headed up to the lawn club to find a comfy chair for more ocean staring. What I thought would be a bit of a gimmick, has turned out to be one of my favorite places on the ship. It’s also quite popular with most of the guests. Who would have thought a huge lawn on a cruise ship would be so cool? Perhaps I should keep more of an open mind on that new mall on the behemoth Oasis of the Sea, which I still don’t really see myself cruising.

When the hot glass ... READ MORE