Uncle for the 11th time, Godfather for the 3rd

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I received word yesterday morning that my sister had given birth to her second baby - a baby girl named Mya Alice. She was born at 5:06am yesterday (November 9th) and weighed 8 lbs, 0.8 oz. and is 20.5 inches long. Congratulations Lisa! I can't wait to see Mya and kiss her on her tiny little forehead 😊

This makes my 11th niece/nephew (I really wish the English language had a catch-all name for nieces and nephews just like it does with "cousin"). This also makes my third Goddaughter - the other two being my oldest brother, Bobby's, daughter Brianna and my second oldest brother, Ben's, daughter Maryanna. Both brothers now live in Minnesota and Louisiana, respectfully, so I won't get to see those Goddaughters nearly as much as I will be able to see Mya. So needless to say, I'm even more anxious to get home...

But in the meantime, I have a little more traveling to do, and a little more partying to do with Joe while here in Fresno.

Yesterday, Joe, Jonathan (Joe's brother) and I woke up rather late (as we tend to do since we go to bed so late) and hung around the house in the morning flipping around the television to see if anything was worth watching. Nothing was, really. The three of us later joined up with their friend Heather and we went to lunch at a restaurant called BJ's (or more formally, "BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse"). A BJ's restaurant was actually just getting ready to open in south Austin before I left, but they are primarily found on the west coast. They have some great beers (if that's your thing) and actually have a micro-brewery attached to the restaurant. The first BJ's restaurants I had been to were in Portland, and it's been love-at-first-sight ever since. If you do ever go, make sure you get the pizookie for desert: it's a good sized cookie (easily shared by 2 or more) baked fresh to order in a pizza pan dish and topped with ice cream. It's amazing!

Anyway, after lunch, Joe, Jonathan, and I returned back to their apartment and watched "Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny." It's a pretty funny movie - especially if you like Tenacious D (the band composed of Jack Black and Kyle Gass). I love Tenacious D so I knew the movie would be good. It wasn't Oscar-worthy, probably, but funny nonetheless.

Last night Joe had another one of the "Man of La Mancha" shows to perform at Roger Rocka's here in Fresno and this time I actually got to go see the performance! Joe's mom and I both went to the show last night: it was my first time seeing it and her third time seeing it. The show was really good, and it even included an alcoholic beverage, desert, and a non-alcoholic beverage. I was going to go with my usual Rum and Coke or Jack and Coke but decided I'd try something unusual. They had a milkshake called "Padre's Pumpkin Pie Shake" (named after one of the characters in the play) so I gave it a try and it was really good! For desert I had a piece of chocolate cake which was very rich and moist, and that was rinsed down with Mr. Pibb (Dr. Pepper is rarely found in Fresno - a conspiracy which Joe and I might need to investigate). Even Mr. Pibb (Dr. Pepper's uneducated copy-cat) is rare in restaurants here.

After the show, several of the cast members all went out to a local karaoke bar. Considering all of the show's actors and actresses had to audition for (and receive) their parts in the musical, I was not about to go on stage and attempt to sound half as good as them. And boy could some of those cast members SING! Not only that, but there were several other people at the bar who had some great singing voices - and some not-so-great voices. Joe and I had a lot of fun even if all we really did was drink and listen to good music.

On the way home (2am or so) Joe and I stopped at a Mexican restaurant here to get a quick bite to eat. Turns out the restaurant had other plans. I don't know what happened, but the restaurant had one person in the lobby and one person in front of us in drive thru. I kid you not we were in that drive thru at LEAST 10 minutes. And this isn't just a "it seemed like forever" kind of thing. Joe and I both seriously wondered what took so long. But the carne asada burritos we got were good, so I can't complain too much...

It's now 11:45am and I'm the only one awake so far. Once Joe and Jonathan wake up we will decide on what to eat and go from there. Joe just has 2 performances left: one tonight and a matinee tomorrow. Then it's PARTY TIME BABY!!!!

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