Category: Life in Pictures

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Dear Living Spaces…..

I would like to ask a questions to a company that seems to have some serious issues with customer service: Are you actively trying to piss people off?

I am asking this in all honesty, this will be the third time we have ordered from you and each time we have had an issue. But…..the first two issues were about the out sourced delivery and assembly companies but this one is about the quality of your product. Which by the way was the main reason we came back for another round of delivery problems!

The first two times we ordered we had serious delivery issues; from the wrong thing being delivered (three times!) to the delivery guys trying to pull a fast one saying they did not have to assembly the furniture. The 800 number and the web site were about as useful as a cock flavored lollipop so we ended up going down and bitching them out in person. Which by the way is the only way to get their attention, go to the store and Karen the shit out of them!

We had seen a bunk bed we wanted to get for the kids, it was a good price and we knew what we were about to get into. So, with the knowledge and understanding of our previous encounters, we ordered again!

This time around we did not have any issue with the delivery, this time the problem is the quality. My oldest son climbs on his bed for the first time and we hear a crack! He is not a heavy kid, maybe 130 lbs, so it was a surprise he was able to break the boards so easily! But after looking at the boards it was easy to see how and why they broke. Every bed we have ever bought from ANYWHERE uses sold wood board for the main mattress boards. But what does Living Spaces use? Glued wood parts……

This is section one of about 4 parts that made up the one of the 38.5 inch boards.
The ‘break’ is right where the joint is made.

The breaks were all at the jointed areas, not actual breaks in the wood but the boards separating because this kind of wood should not be used as a support board! Why did this seem like a good idea?

We ended up going to Home Depot and bought 6 boards, 38.5 inches, four of which we need and two as back ups. Before this most recent purchase we really liked Living Spaces furniture. I will be sending them an email about this so lets see what they have to say! This may be the determining factor if we ever go back…..more to come…..

The kids are super happy with their beds!

Message sent to Living Spaces 6/17/2020 @ 19:10hrs:

We recently bought a bunk bed from Living Spaces, and we had to replace 4 of the mattress support boards. The boards that keep the mattress from fall through are made with glued fitted parts, instead of solid boards. This will be our fifth bed we have purchased from Living Spaces and the first time I have ever seen compressed wood being used as the support beams.
My son broke four of the boards by climbing on the bed to put on his new sheets on his new bed. He probably weights 130 lbs! I would like to hear from someone on this matter…..I might replace all the boards on this bed, I do not want the kid on top falling through and landing on the kid on the bottom.

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10 Days of Cooking

The wife went back home to New Jersey for 10 days leaving me and the boys behind to fend for ourselves. She is the primary chief in this household. She can walk into a kitchen and create an amazing meal where as I would only see ingredients. It is like her super power! I can follow a recipe, with instructions, exact measurements and cooking times. What she does is pure magic and makes no sense in my head.

I keep a note book of recipes that she has taught me; meat sauce, chicken soup, lentil soup, and wine chicken. I am always updating it with steps I forgot or things the wife failed to mention, usually measurements haha!

So for me, this meant that I was going to have to find a way to organize our meals for the next ten days. So, I wrote down everything I know how to make and even a few I had a pretty good idea how to make. And honestly thanks to YouTube there is very little I was not willing to at least try!

The Battle Plan, I did not add left over night and Fridays are always our eat out night so no need to put anything there.

From this point on it was going to the store and buying all the ingredients, checking my cook book and cooking! Meal one was one of the easiest dinners, steak and fries. I did not take pictures of this one, it was over so fast I did not even think to take pictures. Much of the same happened with the hamburger and hot dog night. Slam bam thank you mama dinner is done! So for about four meals I did not take any pictures; Steak and fries, Hot Dogs and Hamburgers, left overs, or out eat out night. No one wants to see fast food, that just boring ha!

Meal two was beef stew, which came out ok…..I followed the instruction to the letter but the potatoes did not cook all the way through. That part was a little annoying but kind of expected. This has happened before, so I had to cook it a little longer on the stove. Note to self, try putting the potatoes on the bottom. I did add an extra ingredient, 100% Pain. It is not a hot sauce it is an ingredient, it does not add flavor but just a drop can add some serious heat! I add this to soups and stews….not too much just enough to give it a kick!

Beef Stew, with a kick (I am glad I was wearing shorts when I took that picture of the pot cooking ha)

The next big endeavor was wine chicken, this one I have not made in a long time but one of my personal favorites. It is also one of the first things the wife taught me how to cook, and plus I am always down with a dish that I drink with while I cook!

Wine Chicken

The next meal consisted of raviolis with meat sauce. Luckily the wife had made the meat sauce the previous week so that step was just popping it in the microwave and bing bing meat sauce! We normally do not eat sauce that comes from the jar, we have used the jar stuff during times of desperation but that is not a regular occurrence.

Just add ravioli, meat sauce, cheese and BAM!

One of the meals that required a YouTube video and a call to the wife was cream of chicken soup. I made chicken soup for one of the meals so step one was already done. Chicken soup is one of the meals I am very proficient at but taking it to ‘cream of’ was a whole new realm for me! But it came out damn good….I will be doing this one again I need to prefect this one!

Is it Soup Yet?

From this point on we did a pizza night which was the Boboli pizza, pepperoni, bacon and cheese. A Taco Bell night, a left over night and I think we did an In and Out night. So in all no one went hungry and we all survived being dudes alone!

The Beer was just a treat for me and Lucas thought it was funny to pretend to drink through his mask!

The 10 days went pretty well, but I must say that being alone is not fun. I have been with my wife for over 20 years and we have only spent a few times apart. One of the hardest was when I moved to California, that was the longest 6 months of my life. But in the end that was one of the best moves we could have made. We love it here so that 6 months of being alone paid off.

I was the man of the house for ten days and not one of my crotch goblins went hungry! And when she has to leave us again I will doing much of the same; write out the meals and implementing! I am not the spur of the moment cook, that is her specialty!

This image was created by my brother in law, so now stealing…this is me!
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Google Socks

As some of you have noticed I like posting stuff….A LOT! From Facebook, Yelp, Instagram and Google Maps. I am on the road a great deal and take pictures of all kinds of stuff. I do procrastinate to the tenth power when it comes to posting sometimes, fuck this is my first post of the year….FUCK ME!, but I do get to it.

So, Google sent me a notice last month that they were going to send me a small token of their appreciation….SOCKS. I know that really is not that big of a deal but I post stuff just for fun and not with the actual intent of getting anything in return. So getting socks for posting stuff is pretty sweet.

And to be honest, I forgot about it until I saw the package! I love getting things in the mail that are not bills or political ads!

Fuck Sweet Google Socks

I love my Google Socks! I am not sure if there are more prizes awaiting me for being a dork but I am hopeful! It is rare that I get any feedback from anyone outside my circle of family and friends. I love all comments and criticisms; if I am wrong point it out and I will make it right, if you like something let me know, follow me and I will follow back.

I am not 100% why I do the things I do regarding my postings or blogs, I am not looking for anything other than a place to call my own. Just some place I can go to rant, vent, laugh and share. There is no planning, white boarding or daily active action plans surrounding this….if there was I would probably post more ha!

I am not here for a long time, I am here for a good time. I have been blogging for sometime but I have been super inconsistent and lack any real direction. Sorry but not sorry, it is just how I am. I hope to get on here more often, I swear if I posted as much I think about posting I would have one hell of site!

So, till next time share share share the world around you!

Ps…..We went to the Korean BBQ place again last weekend, the last time we were there was back in November. This time we had more people but the same end result: Good Times and Good Food!

Gen Korean BBQ House, Milpitas Ca
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Food Comfort Zone: Korean Bar-B-Q

About two weeks ago we took a step out of our food comfort zone for some Korean Bar-B-Q, to be exact it was an ALL YOU CAN EAT meat fest! The restaurant: Gen Korean BBQ House and I will give it two thumbs up!

This place was great, this was an all new experience for us so we took a few guides with us. Two of my wife’s coworkers (Johnny and Karen) showed us the ropes and how to properly maneuver our way around. They showed us the way of the meat, sauces, grilling and the numerous Korean customs when it came to the dinner table. It was fascinating to watch Karen work the grill, she was head of this meat lovers wet dream. She was grilling and serving like a boss….and did you know that you can ask for a grill change out? This is where they bring you a new grill cover because the one you have is…dirty?!?!!? I would have never thought to do that!

Meat Meat and more Meat!

The above picture was the first order of about 13 orders, well I could be mistaken about the actual number because I lost track at about 10! Now, to be fair there were 4 of us and 3 of the 4 have huge appetites! We ordered pork, lamb, and all styles and cuts of beef with various seasonings and marinates!

Side dishes consisted of pickled everything

The meats came with various sauces (Crazy Sauce…I have no idea but it is what they called it) and pickled….stuff. Excuse my ignorance as I am not very versed in Korean dishes, so no offense if I get something wrong!

We had Oi Muchim, Mu Saengchae, Kimchi, and these onion things….sorry I could not find what they were called, sweet onion slices. Now, the wife was not a fan of these little side dishes by myself and out Korean guides went through about 4 rounds! I love pickled…anything! And to drink:

Jinro Plum Soju…..god this stuff is GOOD!

Jinro Plum Soju, dangerous stuff! It only has 13% alcohol so it is not that hard and went perfectly with our orgy of meat! You can only find this stuff in specialty shops or as I came to find out…Asian markets. Most happy stores (Liquor Stores) do not carry it, you might have to travel a bit if you want some. This drink is an original from Korea, from what I have gathered it was first distilled in the 14th century. It is made from rice…rice….how the hell does this wonderful concoction come from rice! I will be on the hunt for this in the near future, luckily we live within a few minutes of various Asian markets.

By the end of this adventure I was full! Not stuffed, just full. I have been plugging away at my low carb lifestyle so I avoided the rice, the bread and the sweets. I did get some carbs in me due to the sauces and alcohol but I was still on track with my low carb consuming ways.

Last thing to note on our meat travels is that we WILL be coming back here! It is not that far from our house and the experience was fucking awesome! So till next time…..share share share the world around you!

Extra Picture: This was another restaurant right next to the BBQ House, I loved the name…..Nutrition House! Nothing says awesome like being literal….its a house where you get nutrition…LOVED IT!

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Veggie Burger King Whopper

After reading all the hype I felt I should at least give it a try! The Impossible Whopper from Burger King is 100% meatless, but is said to bring all the joys of meat. Now, let’s put this up here right away: This is NOT a healthier burger. In a side by side comparison they are equally bad for you. And the Impossible has more sodium, so if that is an issue you might want to avoid…..EATING FAST FOOD!

And just some food for though if you will: Why do veggie companies keep trying to make vegetables taste like meat? Why not just let a veggie patty be a veggie patty? The answer: It would taste like old hippie underwear and no one would buy their products!

I am not hating on people that chose to not eat meat, everyone has their reasons. These are just ramblings that roll around in the vacuum my brain resides in. To each their own, if it makes you happy, it’s legal and nothing bad comes from it….have at it!

As I mentioned the nutritional difference between the two is very minimal, they are both bad for you. Enjoy them with the same same and equal caution of all fast food. And if you do not believe me here are some visuals take right from their web page:

During a break from my Lyft Life I pulled into a Burger King to see if they have finally found a way to make veggies taste like meat.

And I will give this two thumbs up for taste! This is vegetarian fast food, take it for what it is but as far as palatable…totally awesome!

I would order this again, and if I ever get the urge to go vegetarian I would give more products by Impossible Foods a try. I have tried various meat-like products and was not impressed, but I am willing to give this company’s stuff a try. I mean, why not I eat anything and everything!

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Plugging a Tire

One of the things I wished I had learned when I was younger was more hands on mechanical things. But I was never one to just wish for it, I went out and earned it. I asked questions, watched YouTube videos and just went out and tried.

When we were back in Jersey a neighbor taught me how to plug a tire. This saved me on soooo many occasions, everyone should learn how to.

I have plugged many tires since then and I wanted to teach Seth this valuable lesson.

The tire was plugged, air was added and all was set. I drove it around a couple of time just to make sure the air was not leaking out. All seemed right with the world……………..

Update:

As of this very moment 7/31/2019 I am sitting on the side of the road waiting for road side assistance. The wife came out to the car this morning to see the tire very low on air. The only thing I can figure was I did not push the plug in far enough….’That’s what she said’

She took my car and I was going to try and play with the tire again but I forgot to take the jack out of my car. You see, new cars do not come with jacks or spare tires. This is probably one of the worst ideas ever, I would like to take this moment to say that whoever had the idea to remove the spare needs to have a foot shoved up his/her ass. And I mean that literally.

The tire was not completely flat, just low so I used a can of Fix-a-Flat and added air. And off I went, everything was roses until about 10 minutes on the highway when I looked up and saw the PSI dropping! Fuckitty fuck fuck….

I pulled off the highway just in time to for the tire to go completely flat. So, here I sit waiting for KIA road side assistance to come get me. And to think all of this could have been avoided by having a spare tire!

Ps….I just went back to look to see if I just didn’t see a spare….but no, I was correct no spare.

Dear KIA Design/Engineer/Parts Team,

FUCK YOU from the bottom of my heart. I hope every one of you breaks down in some remote area with no cell phone service and you have to walk 15 miles to find a pay phone to call for service, just to realize you left all the information you need back in the car and that you now have to walk all the way back to the car just to come back to the pay phone to call for that amazing road side assistance.

Do not get me wrong, KIA makes really good cars. We are a KIA family but this design flaw really needs to be addressed,

Thank you

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First Summer Adventure….of Many to Come…

This past weekend the family took a trip out to Marina State Beach, just a short drive down from Moss Landing.

I love going to the beach, I never get to go as often as I would like. I hope to someday live on or at least really close to a beach. We are only about an hour away so it is not all that far.

Seth was not feeling the whole beach vibe so he just sat in the sand being moody. But Lucas was on board with it so one out of two is not bad.

The water was, and probably still is, FUCK COLD. I was able to get to about my bellybutton before I turned back, I always thought that the water in Ca was going to be warmer than NJ…boy was I wrong!

  • This is what happens when you ask the kids to apply sunscreen

After all was said and done it was a good day, and I hope to get down here again soon.

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Life and Pictures

I am not a pro when it comes to taking pictures, hell I do not even use a real camera. All my pictures are taken with my phone, so if you are looking for some high grade shit you will be disappointed. I had a really nice camera once, but someone decided I did not need it anymore and stole it. It was one of those 35mm FILM cameras too! -Side note: When I first met my wife, her family had drawers of undeveloped pictures. I started taking them to the Photo-mat to get processed. It is so strange now to think that was what we had to do to get pictures!

The below three pictures are of a truck that belongs to the father of a family friend. I swear if I win the lottery I am going to take this one and fix it! I love old cars/trucks. New cars are ok, but I really do not think people are going to have the same love for these plastic battery powered supped up go-carts as they have for the old 50s-80s cars .

1952 Dodge Pick Up

Spiders……everywhere spiders!

Here we have Seth, Lilian and Lucas. Nothing crazy or artsy fartsy just the family in the kitchen doing family stuff

We almost had to use this picture for a lost dog poster. He disappeared on Sunday, not sure how he got out but his dumb ass just took off. Luckily we were able to find him about a block away from the house. He is chipped but it is not a GPS, it will let anyone that scans him who he belongs to. Charlie, dont be stupid…..

Life is going well for everyone; Lucas has his cast off and will be able to start up his MMA classes again soon (He broke it falling off his bike), Seth has not runaway from home or been arrested for anything so his teen years are not that bad as of yet, all is well with the Wife Unit (That is the actual name I use for her on my Phone), and for me I have no real complaints. Work is still a four letter word but my workout is coming along nicely. About to head into month four or pumping iron 6 days a week, tomorrow is leg day….wish me luck HA!

Till next post; journal often, journal more and take pictures of everything. 

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Round Two

It finally came!

After searching and searching I finally went with the actual Kia part, instead of the ‘Kia Like’ parts I found on Ebay and Amazon. They were cheaper but this is not the time or place to go cheap. I did go cheap on the shipping, the part was about $178 and the shipping…..over night would have been $300! Or….wait a week and only pay $18, yeah I did not need the part that badly! So a week it was to be….

I get the notice from USPS that I had to go to the post office because ‘There was not a safe place to deliver’, I cannot remember the last time I was at the post office! There I was at 0900 hrs, first in line getting my package and the lady comes from the back with this BOX….and all I kept thinking was ‘Did I order the right part?!?!’ The part is literally about the size of a soft ball and here is this box that could probably fit about 20 of them!

To my surprise I had actually order the correct thing!

Replacing it was super simple; took off the panel cover, removed the two nuts, wiggled the two claps out of their sockets, unplugged the burnt out unit, plug in the new one and then just put it back in place. (Thank you YouTube for showing me how to do this!)

Light was in and it tested out perfectly. I would like to thank KIA Parts for making this super simple and easy. I am curious how much I would have had to pay in labor for this if I had taken it to KIA? From a quick Google search I learned that the average labor cost from a dealer is $80-$125 an hour! In the end all I paid was $195 plus my time, god only know how much they would have charged for the part and the labor would have been listed as an hour. I will call this a Dad Victory, I do not want call the thunder of the Dad Gods so I will sacrifice a beer on the Man Altar this weekend.

This week has started off in the right direction, the weekend is almost here. Not sure what we are doing but I do want to get outside, the weather is getting better and the wife has been talking about hiking…..so lets see what happens!

Till next post; journal often, journal more and take pictures of everything. 

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It Is Time……

The rain has finally stopped, and the weather app shows that we have at least 7 days ahead of us with no rain! So, that means it is time to start cooking and smoking our meat! I really need to do some spring cleaning on my grill but I was so excited about firing it up I put that on my to do list for next weekend, and hell I am all caught up on my tetanus shots!

The Traeger Grill, this will be the fifth summer……Happy Birthday buddy!

I am a lover of all things grilled/smoked, and yes I know this is not healthy: I am here for a good time not a long time.

Apothic Red Wine Dark

And nothing goes with outdoor cooking like…..wine. I was a huge beer lover but time has shown me that the love of beer comes with the beer gut. I am currently working on removing that so wine has now replaced the beer. I was never into wine but I can now say I have become a ……wine-oh, not a real wine connoisseur yet so for the time lets just say I am a wine-oh.

Put another shrimp on the barbie….just lemon juice, Franks Red Hot and cook!
How could you not love chickens, they are filled with this wondrous meat!?!
Beef…..it’s what’s for dinner

My family always makes fun of me for taking pictures of my food, but I take pictures of what I love and admire……and as god as my witness I love and admire FOOD! If you were to look at my transaction history on my ATM card, it is nothing more than a journal of places I have eaten! Yes, there are other things that I love and admire but currently we are talking about food, so I will not list all my other loves. Just keep reading and you are sure to find all those other things as well.

If you are wondering what type of recipes I use for grilling, I believe in keeping it simple. Salt and pepper are always the starter and depending on the mood I may go with some simple barbq sauce or Frank’s Red Hot…….and yes I put that SHIT on everything! I love all my hot sauces, and yes I have more than a couple ha! I have seen some YouTube videos on outdoor cooking and dear god do they put a ton of crap on their food before cooking!

Keep it simple people; your life your job, and your recipes. I was (and sometimes still am) an over thinker. I was over thinking my career choices, my life choices and just about everything about the life I have and it was just too much. I was stressing, I was creating the stress and it was making Phil a dull boy. There was no need for this stress, I have an awesome life, so I finally just let go of the over thinking. I still have plans and think about what/where I want to be but I have a more chill approach to it.

This web page was a huge over thinking place for me. It stressed me out that I had not done it, it stressed me out that I was always putting it off, I stressed because I thought it was going to be too hard, I stressed that people would not read it, I stressed that people would read it then ridicule it and I even stressed about what to call it! Almost to the point the stress was stopping me from doing it, but in the end I finally let go and went to YouTube for answers. I will do a post soon about that very topic, I need to give thanks to one video in particular. For now lets just say YouTube helped me let go of some of the stress and helped me finally get my place on web.

It is not much but its mine and I am having fun with it. I go through my day thinking about what will I write about next and sometimes I stress that I am just to tired to do a post. Hell it took me a week to finally get this one out, I set out looking to do two post a week. That is my goal. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you’ve got a writing addiction? (Yes that is an altered line from a movie, if you know the movie we can be fwends). Back in my blogging days I put out two or three post a week, I kept a journal with me to jot down the things I was going to blog about next! I have started doing that again. I like doing this, and in the end that is why I do it.

So till next post; journal often, journal more and take pictures of everything……yes that includes your food!