Happy Father's Day...Dad :)

Unemployed...

Life may take you where you least expect it but always have faith you are exactly where you are supposed to be.

As I recently became one of the unemployed, I decided it’s time to pursue my dream to be a Writer. I figure since I write emails to customers all day, wrote several manuals and have been writing daily during my entire career span, it's worth a shot. I'm leaning toward a Technical Writing career since I've been in the high tech industry for over 15 years and am pursuing a Technical Writing certification at DeAnza College. Although, I’d be happy to write short articles and/or write a screenplay or two, as well. My primary goal is to keep a positive attitude and not give up! Here I go...

Check out my writing portfolio at:
Cheri's iFreelance Portfolio

My resume can also be found on my LinkedIn site:
Cheri’s LinkedIn

Here are a few websites, I frequently visit, which have helped to keep me in the loop on the latest high tech trends:

John Dvorak – Tech News and Trend Analysis

Unemploymentatlity.com

Mashable.com - Social Media Guide

American Idol 2009

"This is American Idol..." Aah, music to my ears. As we all know this year was full of ups and downs. I was lucky enough to be chosen as an audience member for this year's American Idol Finale and drove down to LA with my good friend, Tanya, for the face off between Kris Allen and Adam Lambert.

Many of you have asked me how you can be an audience member for the American Idol Finale, as I've gone to the Finale for the last 4 years. Well, I'm about to spill it (hopefully this doesn't ruin my chances next year)...
At the beginning of the season, I join the wait list by submitting my information on this site (with all 3 of my email addresses):
ocatv.com.
A few weeks later, I receive an invitation to be an audience member for American Idol. There are normally about 16 American Idol contestants when I receive this invitation. As I'd obviously prefer to go to the Finale show, I wait until the date passes for this invitation and resubmit my wait list request. Like clockwork, this second submission is the request for the Finale show. Keep in mind, they send out the invitations the Friday before the Finale, so there is not much time to plan if you don't live in the LA area. Next year I'm also going to try Seatfiller.com, as my friend had front row seats for this year's Finale.

Here's a video from where we were seated at the Pre-Finale show, after the show was over. You can see what a great view we had of Kris and Adam:

Guess who I voted for...

Honestly, I think Adam is the better singer/performer, but I picked Kris to be the next American Idol from the beginning of the season and stuck with him for the duration.
Plus, he's soo cute!

Here is a picture of me and Tanya standing in line for American Idol and a picture Dave took of me with my American Idol ticket in the background:

I thought this would be a good time to reminisce about a previous season of American Idol. Check out this video of me and my friend, Maricar, two years ago:

Happy Mother's Day 2009!

I spent Mother's Day weekend with my wonderfully, awesome Mom! I was feeling a little under the weather, but did my best to rally. We enjoyed Mother's Day weekend by catching up while pulling weeds in the yard, shopping for food and jewelry at Downtown Campbell Farmer's Market, playing a fun game of gin rummy and visiting the neighborhood I grew up in South San Jose. All in all, a perfect Mother's Day!

Here's a pic of me and my mom:

Hope all Mother's enjoyed their Mother's Day, as well!

Happy Cinco De Mayo!

Happy Cinco De Mayo

To celebrate Cinco De Mayo, I ventured over to a friend's house for a fun-filled day with great friends! Here are a few pics of our wonderful day...

Hope all of you had a very Happy Cinco De Mayo, as well...

California Sun and Girls Night out

Dave and I had a wonderful time on the Santa Cruz coast. We decided we were due for a vacation. So we drove Hwy. 9 (back route from Los Gatos to the beach) to a wonderful spa overlooking the Santa Cruz Boardwalk beach at Chaminade Hotel, Santa Cruz, CA

Here are a few pics of me and my wonderful family at the beach:



And how can we forget "girls night out"!!! Here we are having a good time!


More to come...

Remembering 10 yrs. ago...

Today marks 10 yrs. since the Columbine High School massacre.
I often think back to the dreadful day when Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris enacted an all-out assault on Columbine High School. I personally think every parent should remember this day and look at their children and ask themselves daily, "Do I know my child?" Has my child's personality changed dramatically since he/she has become a teenager? These are two questions, I've always wondered if Dylan and Eric's parents asked themselves, but to date they haven't spoken about any changes in their child's behavior during their high school years or answered the question, "did I know my child?". This is the only response I've seen, "Whether they had problems at home isn't known. Their families aren't talking."

Here's a picture of my visit to Columbine a couple of years ago:


And here are a few articles I found on the subject:

• Fatal Friendship - How two suburban boys traded baseball and bowling for murder and madness
• Two sets of parents reacted differently
• The Columbine Massacre 10 years later: what about Klebold's and Harris' parents?
  

Again, just my thoughts and from what I've gathered over the last 10 yrs. it doesn't seem like many people blame their parents. I understand there were other factors which led to their behavior change, but if I was the mother of a child who killed others, I'd say, "lock me up and throw away the key...and mean it!" And I would speak to any reporter or parent, who has questions about what I may have missed, so they could learn to listen to their children and ensure this doesn't happen again...