Jodi and I decided to have a little fun with our Christmas picture this year. While we sent the boring one, this is the picture I wanted to send. Somehow when it came down to a vote the cats were included and the outcome was 3-1.
I don't know what it is lately but it's hard to find the time to get everything in lately, including writing. This weekend Jodi and I watched the Kona Ironman on TV. You may find this hard to believe but it is by far my favorite thing to watch all year. It has everything, courage, drama, inspiration, failure, and heartbreak. What is the Kona Ironman? The Kona Ironman is the world championship of ironmans. it consists of a 2.4 mile swim 112 mile bike, followed by a 26.2 mile marathon. Any one of these in itself is a huge challenge, let alone doing one after another. To give you an example of what these people go through the winner finished with a total time of 8 hours 12 minutes. 54 minutes swimming, 4 hours 18 minutes on the bike, and 2 hours 55 minutes on the run. This means after 5 hours of biking and swimming he still ran a marathon in under 7 minute miles. To compare, Lance Armstrong had a slightly longer time in the NYC city marathon that he ran last month. In contrast the person who finished last had a total time just under 17 hours. She was a 79 year old nun, who was doing this for the 21st time. She is the oldest person to complete an Ironman.
On a totally unrelated note I thought I would throw in some pictures. Last weekend we got our Christmas tree from a farm in Half Moon Bay. On Sunday we went to Mike and Kari's joint baby shower. Here is a picture of Mike realizing that he didn't just get a new oil drip pan. Actually he knew this was a baby bath but it sure was fun to watch. He's pretty calm and collected. I don't know how I'm going to wipe the "holly $^% a baby is coming" look from my face when it happens. There are no plans in the mix if that was your next question. I want to hear Mike say "it's not that bad."
This is Kacie and Adam's new dog Cooper. He's a hard core German, tatoo and all. I wonder if he has any idea how cold it is in Germany right now? If dogs are lucky, consider Cooper an over sized rabbits foot.
My little lady is in Germany right now, so in her honor I thought I would post this. This was taken last weekend during the Nike Women's Half Marathon. Here is JJ at mile 11 running on the the pacific coast highway near Golden Gate Park.
So desk jockey (a.k.a me) learned a valuable lesson this weekend. I call it the pandoras box effect. I woke up last Saturday thinking that I was going to wrap up my little sprinkler project in the front yard. I thought I'd be done by noon, sipping wine in the city with friends by 3 (see first box in the comic above). I started digging my trench next to a planter box and realized the only wood left was the wood above the dirt (see box 2 in the comic). One trip to Lowes and 4 green wood planks later I rebuilt my planter box (see box 3 in the comic). By this time it was 3:00 and I was already burnt out on the project. I had a little conversation with myself that went something like, "come on Todd, let's do this, get pumped up, let's knock this out." I then started picking like a mad man (see box 4). I got about 10 minutes into picking and herd a loud hiss. Half a second later water shot out of the ground with great pressure. I was hoping for oil but unlike the Beverly Hillbilies I hit my water main (see last box in the comic). The water is blasting the neighbors house shooting rocks caught up in the stream. Just my luck, there is a nice big window in the front.
For those of you that received my email asking for your phone number you probably already know I had one of those weeks. If you are interested read on. Our company had our big user conference and I've pretty much been working the past 12 days strait. Everything was going fine till Tuesday night. After all day at the conference it was time to attend client dinners and after parties. I must have been in 6 cabs in total that night. Unfortunately my phone slipped out of my pocket in one of them.
Raven and I kicked off the weekend by flying out of Oakland via Bart and the even better "Air Bart." If you have never visited the Coliseum Bart station it is a magical and scary place. After some delay at the OAK airport we finally make it to San Diego. We picked up our Chevy Impala rental car, aka PImpala, GImpala, or LImpala. We shot up to Pacific Beach to stay with Ollie for the night. I bet Raven that he would make us long island ice teas as soon as we got there and he didn't disappoint. After we knocked one back I threw Wild Boyz season 2 on the 65" plasma tv. I think the crew enjoyed it, but better than anything it really set the stage for the weekend. Ok, so driving through Tijuana in a brand new rental car might not seem wild to you but for two dorks who sit in front of computers all day it's definitely wild.
Leaving PB we stopped at a Walgreens to pick up sun screen, a case of water, Gatorade, and deodorant...what else do you need in Mexico? We crossed the border at about 1 pm and Raven kept the drive interesting with his Ipod that we rigged to play on the car stereo. The drive down the coast was unreal. No doubt some of the most amazing coast line in the world. We had no idea where our hotel was in Ensenada but we somehow drove right into the parking lot. Once there we got our single room with 1 king size bed (thanks front desk guy who was sure to say that out loud for all of Mexico to hear) an 8 pack of Tecate, ice, and a foam ice chest. Quick tour of the town and then we were off to the wedding. We had awesome directions to the church, somewhere in Ensenada. The only problem is that the streets HAVE NO FRIGEN STREET SIGNS! Again somehow we lucked out and found ourselves in the parking lot of the church. The Church was amazing. Very traditional yet modern looking. Later we hit the reception and drank our share of Pacifico's. After the reception we hit up an amazing taco bar, which we frequented several times after. 
called Maui just outside of Ensenada. There we grabbed a tall boy of Tecate and headed to the beach. Once the party got started Raven and I participated in a game of dirt field soccer....in sandals no less. I loved the large chunks of cement buried in the field. Fernando's family basically worked all day to provide one of the best meals I've ever had. Real fish tacos with shrimp, Sting Ray, salsas, fruit, and deserts.
the Otay border crossing, which was "OH-Tay" with me. We got diverted through neighborhoods, took some educated guess turns and somehow, and I mean somehow, we hit the border line. It only took about 15 minutes to cross. Once inside the US we flew into the 1st gas station for a pit stop. 
Thats right, Jodi is out of town for two weeks and I decided to go to Mexico and party my brains out. It's going to be me, a bottle of Don Julio, and the beach. Just kidding, I 'm actually going to Ensenada for the weekend for my buddy Fernando's Wedding. Fernando and his soon to be bride pictured here...ya I know it looks weird.
It is approximately 2:02 am PST or 4:02 CST here is Chicago. “But Todd, I thought you were going to Wisconsin, what happened?” I’m so glad you asked because s@!# happened when my flight got delayed from SFO and I missed the only flight between Madison and Denver. The funny thing is that United knew I was screwed before I did (yes computers are smarter than us now). You see, when I was sitting on the tarmac waiting to de-plane in Denver I got a silly little voice mail. It was from my friend United telling me that things were all cool and that they had already re-scheduled me on a flight for the following day that would get me into Madison at 1:00 pm (Keep in mind I have a meeting at 9am). I’m optimistic and say to myself, “I AM GOING TO MAKE MY FLIGHT!” I bolt out of the plane….full sprint, flip flops and all….clack, clack, clack down the airport. I think I missed the gate closing by 2 minutes (insert drama music here). After getting no love from the United customer service I take things into my own hands…Expedia. I call up and we work some magic. 9 pm flight from Denver to Chicago and a 6 am flight from Chicago to Madison.
The Crew this year was light, 7 in total. Phil had to cancel out at the last minute due to a mean fever. That meant Bob was the only adult on the boat and that was obvious by the antics that went on. I guess they had promised Phil an upgraded boat earlier in the year but when Bob showed up they said that boat was unavailable. I guess they felt bad enough so they comped us a 3 man wave runner for the weekend (stupid move on their part). Now we have been talking s%@& about wave runners for 5 years, "they're slow, they're gay, their too easy, how much fun can they be?"
Well, when it's not yours they can be a lot of fun. What makes a wave runner so fun you ask? 1) they will do about 45 mph, it's a mini boat. 2) it seats 3, and it's really hard to hold on being the 3rd man. 3) we found out that you can tow 2 tubers at the same time. 4) the wave runner can make really sharp turns, hence when put on the whip you are in for a treat click here for a video 5) they allow you to be creative, inventing games like rodeo, and flag man. Other events of the weekend included:
Last night I did nature a service. It was 11 pm and I was about to go to bed. Jodi was at the Faith Hill and Tim McGraw concert with her mom, Becca, and Becca's mom. I look in the spare bedroom to turn out the light and there are the two cats just glued to the window. Instantly I know something is up in the back yard. I throw on the backyard lights, open the door and there they are. What I thought was a single raccoon problem became plural, 4-5 to be more accurate. I grabbed a broom and chased a few up the tree. Once I had them treed I unwound the hose. I set the spray to "Jet" and then proceeded to drench the raccoon family. First I blasted dad in the redwood tree. I got him nice and dripping and then let him climb down. Next I got Jr. Jr was not so smart. He kept running along the base of the fence from one side to the other. The whole time my jet was on him. It was like that game at the boardwalk. A few times he came my way and you can bet I was eying my escape route. I let up on Jr. after he squeezed through the fence. He kept playing peek-aboo so I washed his face for him. I blasted the remaining members of the family in the tree a few more times and then started to feel bad. The scarecrow had fallen down on the job and it was time to get it back in action. Scarecrows in the old days used to literally fall down, in the 21st century scarecrows just run out of batteries. As I was replacing the batteries I could hear the coons regrouping. They were dropping out of trees, climbing them, chirping and chattering. I felt like I was in Iraq trying to reload my weapon as the insurgents moved in. Finally I got the battery in, gave the family a final douche, and flipped on the scarecrow for the night shift. 
I woke up this morning and the yard was untouched except for the two new gopher mounds in the middle of the lawn. I'm starting to think that lawn is overrated. So on top of the scarecrow to deter the raccoons I will probably go out and get one of those vibrating rods that go in the ground to keep gophers away. I would really like to fashion some squirrels out of plastic exp0$ives and cure the problem, but instead I'll take the medication approach. Just like doctors these days, they won't cure you but they'll give you something to allow you to live with it.
I think it is safe to say that everyone survived the Stemple-Janzen wedding last weekend. I have to say that wedding is tied for number 1 in my book. Other weddings shall remain nameless but if you want to know what makes a good wedding it is quite simply the people. Granted Kacie & Adam had perfect weather and a perfect location. It was nice to see the grandparents, cousins aunts, uncles, great aunts, great uncles, old neighbors, and of course family friends. I think the thing that freaked me out the 
most was that every one is all grown up; my cousin Danny, Nick and Mark Paulsen. Not only are they grown up they are flipin huge. The after party also did not disappoint. The Maverick is a classic. Dollar bills stapled to the ceiling, hay bales, and locals to match. The shuttle bus was a great idea. My favorite picture of the night is down below. As Vic Likes to say "It doesn't get any better than that."
but you could see him thinking about it. From the looks of things people are working on growing out their butts there. 
This weekend was a busy one. Friday I drove up to South Lake Tahoe for Adams bachelor party. I got there about 7 and it felt great to be up in the mountains. Keith, Adams brother had rented this kick ass house right by Heavenly Ski resort. It was 3 stories, two decks, a hot tub on the top deck, pool table, and a unreal view of the lake. All the boys trickled in and we partied till about 11 pm, when we decided to hit the casinos. There was a huge celebrity golf event in South Lake so the place was packed. We ended up seeing Charles Barclay and Marcus Allen. The night consisted of gambling, gambling and more gambling with a side of white Russians for Adam. 
That kid can put em down. Adam had an awesome shirt on that I think really sums it up. I've never really gambled that much but Keith and Adam where playing black jack so I decided to play. They helped me out and I had a blast. I lost about $80 after an hour but made about $40 back playing poker. By 3:30 am Adam and the boys were deep into a game of craps. Having no clue about the rules I found myself in the 24 Diner helping myself to the $7.99 Prime rib sandwich and coffee, best 8 bucks I spent all weekend. By 4 am I hitched a cab back to the cabin and the party continued.
Eventually the sky started to get light and I found myself trying to remember the last time I watched the sunrise without going to bed...I believe has been about 6 years.
Today I got fitted for my tux for Kacies wedding and stopped by Mike's house to grab a tow strap and chain to pull out the juniper bushes in my front yard. The stumps came out pretty easy but if I didn't have 4 wheel drive it would have been a different story. Those roots are damn tough, obviously not Toyota tough. If your interested in more pictures from the weekend click here to go to flicker.
So this weekend I was looking forward to sleeping in and getting some house projects done. Saturday morning started off at 7 am with the sound of a cat outside our bedroom window. I walk outside and turn the corner expecting to see a cat on the ground....wrong answer, she's in the tree. I have a 8 Ft step ladder and as Murphy would have it I'm 2" short. So I kick off my morning with a trip to "the Depot," Home Depot that is. I buy a 20 Ft extension ladder, load it in the truck just to find out that the leg is broken. Round 2, wait in the return line, get a good ladder and head for home. Throw the ladder up, climb, climb, climb, yank the cat out of the tree. After the cat fiasco we went for a bike ride along Crystal Springs reservoir, and then hit the Fillmore Jazz festival in the city.
front lawn. We had our little shouting match and we went our separate ways. What I didn't know is that she uses the cats to seek revenge on me. Fast forward 4 hours, add loud fireworks, and we cant find Tosca the grey cat. I walk out in the back yard and there she is, 20ft up in the tallest tree we have. "Ahhhh-Ha!" I say to myself, I'll get her down with my new trusty ladder. As Murphy would have it again I'm 2" short, plus once I get up in the tree she climbs 5 Ft higher. Insert your favorite expletive here ______! I tell Jodi that she will climb down in the night. 7 am next day, she has not moved. I tell Jodi again, she'll come down when she's hungry. I go to work and read a bunch of how to's on the web. All tell you that eventually they come down and that you never see dead cats in trees. Then I read this line, "Do not leave the cat stuck in the tree overnight. She'll be terrified and might fall victim to a night predator such as a raccoon or an owl." Let's just say when Jodi called me today at 3:00 and said the cat was still in the tree I headed for home. I ran down to the rental yard and picked up a 32ft extending ladder. Some 3 toothed hillbilly tried to set the ladder on the cab of my truck without any padding. I felt like calling the tooth fairy and telling her that she forgot three.
This weekend Jodi and I broke the house in with a party. We had great turn out and we got a lot of compliments. People came from all over, Chico, Santa Cruz, SF, and Washington, and next door. We BBQ'd about 22 pounds of Beef and chicken kabobs. We also went through about 90 beers and 12 Bottles of wine. Not bad for a days work. We made sure everyone was fat and happy and to our surprise everyone stayed. We flipped on the outdoor lights and broke out the dessert. Our neighbors Sibby and Dave brought over some of her businesses cup cakes, the one's I've raved about in the past. People scarfed them down like they were the cure to cancer.
Eventually it started to get cold and Mike layed his eyes on the chiminea. Now we didn't have any wood nor have any intention to break it in but that didn't stop things. Before you knew it guys were scouring the yard and garage for rogue pieces of wood. Not a lot of wood was found but they did find about 100 lbs of cardboard. I can't talk up what happened next, I'll just show you the picture and let you be the judge. The chiminea was awesome! Not only did it shoot flames out the top, but it kept everyone warm and didn't make everyone smell like smoke.
Here's a picture of Mike eliminating the hair from his arm for the next 6 months. All and all it was a great party. To see more pictures click this link: Flickr The next morning Mike, Jon and I (3 of the 4 Cal Poly Roommates) went to a local breakfast joint and licked our wounds. Later that day Jodi and I drove to Santa Rosa for Jodi's Grandfathers 90th birthday party. It was a great time, but by the time Sunday night hit we were partied out.
Last Weekend we were in Reedley for Kacie's Bridal shower numero dos, that's right, she's having three.The highlight s of the weekend included golf on Saturday and a great dinner at New China with the entire family, all 16 of us. Dale made life easy on us and ordered ahead of time. We ate true family style and there was not much left in the end. Did I mention it was 100+ degrees all weekend? The whole weekend flew by and before I knew it I was back in the office.
This morning I woke up and let the cats out. After I got out of the shower I checked up on them and they were both pre-occupied with different things. Mandy had her head in the gutter and when she looked up at me her face was all dirty (kinda weird for a cat). On the fence there was a squirrel that was watching Mandy, and then Tosca was watching the squirrel. It was like a cartoon. I went over to see what Mandy was doing and saw that she had scored herself a salamander. Good job cat, you bagged yourself the most defenseless creature in all of San Mateo county. After I placed a rock over the little mander I watched Tosca and the squirrel. The squirrel climbed down the back of tree almost to the ground. Tosca could see this but I could. Next the squirrel peaked its head around the trunk and caught Tosca's attention. Tosca made a move and the squirrel rounded the tree to the other side. Eventually Tosca saw the squirrel again and made another move. Back and forth they did this till Tosca ran up the trunk. The squirrel high tailed it for the top of the tree.
Jodi and I just got back from an O.A.R. concert at the Catalyst in Santa Cruz. Great concert and a perfect spot to see a concert. All I have to say is, man has downtown changed. The hippies and weirdos are still there but there are a lot more places to eat and there are some decent stores.
I give this past weekend a B+. Friday night we went to Il Fornio in Burlingame with our good friends Mike and Julie. We had a great time and had some really good food. Saturday Jodi went to her cousins graduation at CSSF. Turns out that Neil Young and his wife were honorary graduates for his work with the Bridgeschool, and he was also a speaker. Jodi got back to San Mateo around 4 and then we headed up to Arnold with Raven and Mona. We made great time, 2.5 hours to be precise. A quick grocery run, picked up a pizza and some growlers at the Snowshoe Brewery and we were set.
Last Sunday Jodi and I woke up at 5:30 AM on a Sunday morning to run in the Bay to Breakers race in San Francisco. Well Maybe run is an overstatement, we walked, and drank, and ran to catch up with the group after port-o-poty breaks. We were with team Orange. Why orange? Because you couldn't find your group in any other color. My Buddy Dan Davis from SC has 4 roommates that essentially planned the whole thing. They don't fool around...sound it out, pro-fess-ional. They are the guys with the full orange 
jump suits. Anyway, we started off here in front of the Palomino restaurant. In all there were 3 shopping Carts, 2 with Kegs and one with booze. There were several people from work there and of course the Hooters Guys. In case you can't read his shirt it says, "Delightfully tacky yet unrefined." I ended up seeing all kinds of people from grammar school, high school and work along the way, random and fun. The race was pretty much a giant binge-athon (see photo of Hooters guy and man in orange jumpsuit doing a keg stand for reference). By the time we hit GoldenGate park Jodi and I felt like it was time to pick up the pace. We finished the race at the polo fields and scrounged up enough change to buy 2 BBQ skewers. We played it pretty safe throughout the day but we were very tired. Highlight of the day had to be bypassing an alcohol
checkpoint with a tap in one hand, shopping cart in onother, Doug in the shopping cart, running full speed on a running path through Golden Gate park. Click the link to see more pictures
Right after Jodi and moved in we noticed the sawed lawn in the back of the house was rolled up every morning. It looked like the grounds crew showed up and just left the rolls of sawed on the dirt. I realized that we had a raccoon problem. Since the back yard is shaded and the lawn was planted in the winter it never really took root. Every night the coon jumps the fence and rolls back the lawn looking for grubs and bugs. This was all theory till I got back from New York and my time table was all messed up. Friday morning I wake up at 5:00 am and walk out the back door to see if my theory was right. Like clockwork there he was. Lawn torn to hell and a worm in his hand. He just looked at me like I here to kick him out of the restaurant. This mo fo was huge. His head alone must have weighed 8 pounds. I scared him off and went back to bed. All I could think of was a way to keep him out. By the way, wire and beer cans with rocks don't work, in fact he worked around them. 
In the past 2 weeks I have flown approximately 9,658 miles and been in 4 major cities. Last week was New York. I had been there only once before when I was 21. It was an amazing experience then but without having lived in a major city before it was overwhelming. After living the past 4 years in SF and re-visiting the center of the universe it was a much different experience. It was also extremely exciting to conduct business there. My week went a little like this.
The rest of the week was very much the same. I had my big presentation at 3 Times square the next day in the Reuters building. (pictured above) Suits, Ties, my Account Exec and Sales VP, 14 atttheirs on thier end including theipressureNo presure at all. It was nice to get that one out of the way. I definately felt on top of the world rolling out onto time square after a good visit. The rest of the week was just as packed but my AE spoiled me. We went to nice restaurants and bars and worked our a$$es off.
Yesterday (Monday) I flew out to Chicago for a big deal today. The demo lasted 3 hours. After that I ducked into a Ramada near O'Hare to do another quick demo. After that I flew out to Minneapolis, MN where I am writing this. Very cool downtown. There is one main block that has no cars filled with cafe's, shops, and pubs. Tomorrow I have an event to work for theThereany. supposedre suposed to be several hundred people there. Should be fun.
Lately I feel like things are moving at the speed of sound. I am adjusting to my new commute which is via BART. Door to Door it is about an hour. This includes driving to Milbrae which only takes about 10 minutes.
Nini's in San Mateo. This is your classic greasy spoon with old loyal all-timers who look like they have been going there for 40 years. We went with Becca and Chris (Jodi's best friend and Chris...Think handlebar mustache). I used to go here when I was on my project for the US Postal Service. Soooooo Good!
Today is our first day in Mexico with nothing planned. Vic is quite the planner when it comes to vacations. We have been all over this place. 2 days ago we went to the town center. There you can find the main church and the main market. The market has been the center of town since the late 1800's. There you can find everything from clothes, snake skin belts, fish, pig heads, and half cows (as if someone took a ban saw down the length of the cow).
It was one hell of a week at work. Many people make the analogy that sales people are like athletes. They are competitive, they like to win, and when they don't they are cranky. Well that analogy could not be more spot on. My former boss put it to me this way yesterday. "Your sales person is like a quarterback, he/she is ultimately responsible for calling the right plays. If they call the wrong play down after down they are going to seriously piss some people off." Personally I like to think of myself as a running back. When my quarterback throws me under the bus, either in a play or to the coach, you can bet your sweet fanny that I won't run the ball for them any more. In extremely vague comparisons and analogies that was my week.
Yesterday kicked off the festival season in San Francisco with the Oreilly's Beer and Oyster Festival at Fort Mason. I saw a ton of people that I knew and had a really good time. Before going to the festival I met up with Raven and Mona for some lunch at our favorite North Beach hang out, Mario's. Yesterday was also April Fools day, or as the nuts in SF call it "Saint Stupids Day." We watched all the freaks walk though North Beach on a quest to do something, who knows what. Mona snapped some great photos of Trail Mix day. After lunch we jumped on bus 30 and headed towards Fort Mason. We met up with Dan Davis and the stories began. Dan is simply entertainment in a box, just add people. The routine for the day looked something like this: "2 Harps please," sip-sip-drink, sprint for the porto-potty line, wait in the mud, run back to the Harp line, "2 Harps please," etc. Mona however was on a different course. When she wasn't shooting people with her hand cannon of a camera she was sampling the festivals shell fish and fish. With her recent discovery of being allergic to the potato family, her frie
s made her a new friend....Dan. The picture above from left to right is Raven, myself, Dan, and Dans friend Mike. Mike is Irish and knows his way around a beer festival. He, like Dan is full of interesting stories.
Jodi and I had an amazing 4 days in Hawaii on the company. The only thing I paid for the whole trip was parking at the airport and drinks during the day time. Everything else was taken care of. This picture was taken from our room...ah the tough life. No doubt it was rough getting back into the swing of things at the office this week. The good news is that we officially closed escrow on Thursday and were handed the keys to our new house. The buzz kill is that we will not be officially moving in until after the 24th of April. But none the less it was nice to walk through the house and get the keys. Afterwards Joe (our realtor and friend) treated Jodi and I to some good Italian food in Burlingame. We cracked some Chianti and broke some bread. At the end of diner he handed us a card and inside was a perfect surprise. There was a picture of a Chiminea and Joe wanted to know what color we wanted. A perfect addition to our new back yard. We are so pumped! We also started to pack this weekend. We packed about 12 boxes of China, Books, Pictures, Frames, CDs, just about everything we had in a drawer or on a shelf. We're hoping to pack
gradually and take as much stuff down to the new house before the weekend of May 1. Last night we had Raven over and we BBQd some mean tri-tip equipped with Jodi's garlic bread, gourmet salad, and baked potatoes. We also watched the movie "Walk the Line." All I have to say is WOW! I highly recommend this movie. This morning turned out to be a gorgeous sunny day. Jodi and I walked to the famous Cafe Trieste, "the first place for Espresso on the West Coast back in the 50's." We had an amazing Latte and then we walked to the French Italian bakery where Jodi got a fresh crosant. We sat outside of St. Peter and Pauls church and watched the Chinese women do Tai-Chi. Tonight we are off to the Colli's for some diner.
This weekend was full of excitement. First I finished up my taxes...and I owe a whopping $1000 Dollars to both the Sate and Federal government. I hope they do something useful with it like building "Affordable Housing" so my neighborhood can experience the joys of the ghetto.
This morning I walked up the street to get my haircut and stock up on my monthly supply of Asian hot sauce. China Town, now their is a lovely smelling place on a rainy day. Tonight I am going to try my hand at pork chile Verde. The recipe is from Helen, my grandpa's wife. This actually brings me to an interesting point. For Christmas Helen sent Jodi and I a bunch of her authentic Mexican recipes. What a cool idea. This is proof that the best gifts are not always the most expensive gifts.