ANOTHER HIATUS, ANOTHER RETURN...

It's been awhile since I spent any time blogging but I'm back again. Sometimes you just need to sit back and let life happen for a while. And while I haven't been sitting back much, a lot of life has been happening.

A few days ago, I returned from a little jaunt down to Southern California. It was an extremely rushed but fulfilling trip. My wife, son and I tried to catch

up with as much friends and family as possible and sadly , as to be expected, we were not able to meet up with everyone. I did however get to finally experience the Mexican/Korean fusion at the Kogi Truck (Twice- once next 4100 on Sunset in Silverlake and second, in downtown the following night - underneath the skyscrapers with dotted lights along with warm weather and traditional Chinese music playing from an open-air concert nearby- what a fantastic evening!).

In San Diego, We "stalked" a former employee of ours to new her job at a fine and very busy Mexican restaurant in Old Town where I had some amazing shrimp (ranchero style). It turned out to be a profound moment for me to see her again, as I had to abruptly close the business and leave San Diego last year and I was unable to say goodbye as properly as I should have. But seeing her again and knowing that she had accomplished so much since we last saw each other, made my eyes well up. This was a young woman who worked from day one all the way though the closure of the store - the first employee I hired who turned out to be a great manager and a trusted friend. Now it's well known that I'm a pretty cold and unsentimental bastard but I found it difficult to hold the emotion back. It took just that one moment for all three years to come back and smack me right solid in the gob. And whenever I get a little sad, I just turn to food which in this case included dipping the most savory homemade flour tortillas into the ranchero sauce. Hey, we all have to find ways to cope, right?

The following night also proved to be a great meal as some of my old friends, some family and new friends met up for some hardcore Korean BBQ in at the medieval-looking Chapman Plaza in LA's Korea town. The meat just kept on coming and coming: brisket, kalbi (Short Rib), teji kogi (Spicy Pork), and pork belly (uncured Korean bacon)! Along with all the banchan (side dishes) and beer, we all had a great time. So much so that after the feast, we moved the party over to the Cafe across the plaza.

Food, friends, and family - the three F's - that was essentially the theme of our return visit to Southern California and while we were exhausted, we enjoyed every bit of it. Of course no visit to Los Angeles would be complete without being pulled over by LAPD - and even that turned out to be pretty cool.

NO CARNE ASADA FRIES IN THE CITY?

Perhaps JohnnyO at Burrito Justice can help me out with my current dilemma. Burrito eateries are all over the Mission, but one item of culinary distinction I've yet been able to find in the Mission, or in the Bay Area at all, is some place that makes carne asada fries. After living in San Diego the last 3 1/2 years, it just became such a staple for me and my son as we would usually share a serving. We would usually buy some from our local Mexican Take out shack, Molca Salsa, right in the heart of beautiful downtown Poway, California - the city in the country!

It's such a simple yet righteous recipe...french fries, topped with carne asada, salsa, guacamole, sour cream and cheese. There are varied differences with the types of ingredients and everyone in San Diego swears on their favorite place to get their carne asada fries action. And if you haven't tried it...well then maybe the next time that you are in San Diego, you should give it a taste. So JohnnyO...what gives? Any ideas? Friendly with any Mission taqueria owners that can relocate what is now a local insitution in San Diego?

SHATTER!

So this passed Thursday, I'm cruising in the family truckster, headed south on the 163 just before the 52, (through the Miramar Marine Air base) listening to my ipod, minding my own guero business when all of a sudden, I hear an explosion of glass. I quickly turned around, only to see my center passenger window shattered with a huge gaping hole. The first thought I had was," Did some one just try to shoot me?!" But there were no other cars around me and I hadn't cut anyone off. Then I just assumed, that maybe there is a firing range on the airbase that's not too secure. Anyway, whatever it was, it missed me by "that" much and luckily my son wasn't sitting there. I looked for a shell but I couldn't find one. The shattered tempered glass that was left made a continuous snapping sound, like bacon frying in a pan.


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I was told by the good folks at All-Star Glass in Poway that it's very rare for an object on the road to get kicked up and break a side window and that it would take something incredibly hard to break to break that window. So who knows! All I know is that I'm out $239.

I called 911 and they patched me up the CHP who told me that I could make a report at a station...if I wanted too. I passed. Interestingly, the woman at UPS (the location I was headed during the incident) told me that one of her coworkers had the same thing happen to him on the same freeway but that he had a bullet hole in his car door!!!!

BLISS NO MORE...

BLISS ACCESSORIES @ WESTFIELD MISSION VALLEY
(MAY 20, 2005 to MAY 19,2008)

We have struggled for more than three years but it's all come to a bitter and ugly end. Some of it was our fault, but most of was is not. There were plenty of others who mislead us and took advantage but I can't allow myself to be overly angry because karma is king and the Universe has a way of correcting itself, along with all the greedy beings that inhabit it. In the end, it was the economy, whose stranglehold over consumers, delivered the final death blow.

High fuel and food costs, a credit crunch, a never ending war, and a clueless administration leading the charge are all a recipe for disaster when it comes to small business. People just stopped buying and that was it. Sadly but not too surprisingly, the government's stimulus package was too little and too late in our case.

Besides the stress caused from lackluster sales, we quite enjoyed running the business day to day. We had a great groups girls who worked hard for us. Working along side of them, as you must in any small business, was a great experience that made it worthwhile to show up everyday. I equally enjoyed the relationships that we built with some of our vendors, who recognized our situation and tried to help in anyway they could. And finally, the customers who loved our store and understood the value of it. It felt good to give people what they wanted and have them come back again and again to see what we had to offer. It's hard to please everyone but it felt pretty good when we had "just what" they were looking for.

It's time to move on now,I suppose, but it's not easy walking away when you have just lost everything you have worked for since you started working. All the money is gone and nothing is left but family. So from that base, we must start again.

Good-bye Bliss. Good-bye San Diego, Good-bye Southern California. It's time to take a trip into the unknown. Again...

Sunday. Sunday. Sunday...

So the Chargers have been defused, and I'm sure the City and surrounding areas of San Diego are in a funk. I'm no big sports fan myself but it would nice if they had won. Everyone would be in a good mood, and hopefully spending more money. But as it stands, the Patriots move on to near perfection as the Packers and Giants duke it out for the NFC title. I know, I know...who gives a shit? Some one must...right?

George Bailey and the Insect In My Camera

So for a few days there was a water bug that had somehow found it's way into one my security camera domes. It was trapped there. It was was trying desperately to crawl out but to no avail. My girls, who could not have cared less for the unlucky creature, just left it there.

In the meantime, I have been taking calls and receiving emails from various groups that I owe money to: the bank, the mall, vendors and collection departments. It's the end of the year for me, the last chance to make some money but now I have to face the fact that it is not going to happen. Poor sales from November did not allow me to purchase needed for this month as well as paying some of the loans and other debt. Also, the public schools did not get out until yesterday, the Friday before Christmas. Last year, the schools broke the week before, so it was busy the week before Christmas last year. Then you have the higher price of gas and customers just just spending less in general. I don't give a shit what George Bush and others are saying that the economy is just fine because that does not reflect what's going on the ground.

As a kid I used to watch Jimmy Stewart in Frank Capra's Holiday Classic, "It's a Wonderful Life". I used to love that movie and I had a thing for Donna Reed. And now, here at I am, at the age of 39 and now I feel like Jimmy Stewart's George' Bailey. That "silly old fool" Uncle Billy has screwed the pooch by losing the money and now George is royally ass-fucked at Christmas time. I feel for you George because so am I. Time and money are running out, my phone and email inbox are blowing up with people demanding payments. It's had to take sometimes and when I see my peers, who's hard work has paid off, and they are enjoying their rewards, it only makes me feel worse because I see no silver lining or resolution to my problems. But unlike George, I don't have Clarence, the angel, or good townsfolk to save me from from my troubles. It's Christmas today, so there is some respite but soon more calls and bad news will come and I will to try to deal with it somehow.

Anyway, about the damn bug...so I am sitting at my desk in the back room watching the cameras and I see the bug struggling, kicking it's many legs, then stopping to rest , then giving it another and then repeating the process. This poor bastard bug had been doing this for the two days I wasn't here. I identified myself with the poor creature and I couldn't understand why the girls wouldn't just take it out and set it free, so that's exactly what I did. I took the latter, climbed up to the camera, and took off the dome and there it was...the tiny waterbug that looked liked a monster on the camera, lying in it's own waste...at least that's what I thought it was. I then walked outside the store and dumped it into the planter. What a relief it must have been...now I can only imagine...

Merry Christmas.
the Guero

shoplifter.

The November Retail Blues are here. Halloween is over and the store is empty of customers. We're just trying to get the store back up and ready for Christmas. One funny thing happened today. A few weeks ago, a woman who shoplifted from our store. It was busy and she took advantage by stealing a $70.00 costume. Well, we have cameras and I went back and saw the whole thing, including when she used her amex credit card!!! So I got her name off credit card receipt and called the police. Anway, she now has a warrant for her arrest and the detective I spoke with today said she called this woman and said that she was shocked but denied having anything to do with it. Well, I hope she doesn't get pulled over because if she does, she's going to get arrested.

After The Fire: Soccer Returns...

So today was a good day in the City of Poway. This is the first week that my son's soccer league has returned to playing. My son, played harder and more skillfully than he ever did before and so did the rest of his team. They won 2-0. A well deserved win indeed. I'm glad things are getting back to normal.

The Comments....

So there are some nasty little comments that appear on this blog from time to time. They come from two people, my so-called friends Peter and Jeff from LA. While both are mean spirited, Jeff's comments are probably the most rude, crude and tactless. He's a cranky young black man who works in entertainment, and no he's not a rapper!! He's soon to become a big playa in the biz. Actually he's got a corner in two bizzes...but shhhhhhh...it's all on the down low. In any case, I'll have to post his crass comments because some day he might read that script of mine from 1997 that is still sitting on the back of his toilet...
If you want to get to get to know him better. You can check his Myspace. He's hasn't updated his blog in I don't know how long but it is interesting reading.
As for Peter, although he's in the internet entertainment biz, social networking sites and other new fangled things like email make him nervous. I should send him some stamps.

BACK IN SUBURBAN BLISS

We'll we are back at home...the house once again a mess with our luggage and boxes and the other personal items. I drove up to LA yesterday for business and I saw the fires along the 5 at Camp Pendleton. I don't know if they were controlled fire line burns or not but it did look pretty cool.

In LA, the air was little better but not much. I wanted to stick around in LA but my showbiz friends shined me off for drinks and pointless conversations....but that is another story...

IT'S ALL GOOD...

The house is still there..I'm still here...my family is still here. So hey, what can I say? Hopefully our house doesn't get jacked while we're gone.

ESCAPE FROM POWAY!

This photo was taken from our back window.

So yes, the last 24 hours have been pretty insane. One moment we were having a great time together as a family at Lego Land and the next day we are trying to evacuate and figure out what we should take and what we should leave behind. It's not easy and I never thought I would be in situation that you only see other people in on the news. As the hours go by, the possibility that you could lose everything grows and grows and grows. I have no idea what is going through the minds of people who are watching their homes burn on TV.

Our van and car are loaded with clothes and we are staying with friends in the lowlands of Poway.

And our Business, well that is another story, we invested a lot in our costumes and now a week before Halloween, traditionally our busiest week for the whole year. business. It doesn't look good...but things could always be worse. I will post again soon.

Isss my Birfday! Isss my Birfday!

yes... I am 39 years old today. How do I feel being this old? Well, I still very much feel the same way I did when I was in my mid twenties on the inside however I my body doesn't work the same way it used to and when I look at myself in the mirror, it's like I'm looking at some strange middle-aged man. Wait a minute...I am a strange middle-aged man!!

Well for my Birthday, my wife and my family chipped in to buy me a new camera. They got me a Canon PowerShot S5 IS camera. It's a great camera so far. I am very thankful for them. Here's a photo I took of the Chinito (my son) tonight.

Anyway, we took some family portrait photos at my son's school and then we had a nice dinner at an Afghan kabob restaurant in Poway called Pamir Kabob House. Great food, I will have to write them up in Yelp. It was a little pricey but the food was great and it was my birfday after all. The owner also did me up with a birthday baklava. It was warm, homemade and melted in my mouth with the taste of honey.

Our New Bliss Store in Carlsbad

So here is our new store at Plaza Camino Real in Carlsbad. Were are in #137 downstairs next to the Sweet Factory. It's a lot smaller than where we were but it will have to do.
Here is a link to the slideshow with more photos: BLISS PCR SLIDESHOW