My brother's family came to visit us in March. My nephew Jacob is growing up big now and has hit "terrible 2" stage. Jacob loves Obi and always wants to play with "woa woa"... until... Obi corners him into a wall!

SANTA YNEZ, CALIFORNIA - Wine tasting with good and new friends

April was the month of weddings! We went to 3 weddings on 3 straight Saturdays! (1 in LA and 2 in Vancouver). Here is the first one; a nice outdoor wedding in Huntington Beach

Wedding #2 was in Vancouver's Downtown Club; a very very classy place.

Fortunately wedding #3 was also in Vancouver so we only had to make one trip. Kelly was a bridesmaid and we saw Kelly's bridesmaid Joyce Poon get married. It was a nice big Chinese banquet.

Next trip was off to the Philippines! I stayed in the Manila area for a few days. Here I am doing training for Juan and Lyka Dela Fuente's team

Destination Hong Kong! - had great dim sum with my "little sister" from Malaysia, Connie Mooi.

HONG KONG - Team photo of TEAM XLR8 at USANA's Asia Pacific Convention. The big announcement was USANA's entry into the China market! This is the opportunity of a lifetime that I have been waiting for!

USANA opens in China! - this is soooooooooo exciting. I am looking for people are interested to earn some extra income and who either can speak Chinese or know people that speak Chinese. If you know someone, please let me know!

HONG KONG - had a great time with one of my best friends Simon Lam. I love giving his son, Markus these big hugs!

New Macbook Pro! - after I got back to Los Angeles, my #1 priority was to get a new Macbook Pro 17" i7! (right) I had my old G4 (left) for over 4 years and I loved it... but it was time to move on and get something faster and more efficient. Talk about Apple quality. I've never had any problems with my G4 and 4 years later, it still runs!

MALIBU - I went here for my church's summer conference. Had a great time to reflect and also fellowship with my brothers and sisters. It was held at Pepperdine University. Look how beautiful the campus is! (right next to the Pacific Ocean). Good thing I didn't go there cause I never would have studied!

We love Obi! This was a great picture of Obi and I and I had to put it in here. Btw, Obi is so popular that he now has his own Facebook Fan page now! Go become his fan! http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Obi/142843765730190?v=wall&ref=ts

HOME RENOVATION - we've also been busy the last few months with home renovations. We had a ton of things done such as recessed lighting, crown molding, base molding, new paint and new furniture. This is our dining room.

LIVING ROOM - I love our living room with the recessed lighting and the new wooden beam. This is my favorite room in the house

HOME OFFICE - This is my new home office! You like the new paint and new furniture! The new big desk makes a huge difference. The next upgrade will be Apple's 30" HD monitor!

BOSTON - We went for a quick trip to Boston... and of course, we took Obi along! This is near Quincy Market

MARTHA'S VINEYARD - I took Kelly for a quick 1 day trip to Martha's Vineyard. It was relaxing. Life there is so different from California! It's been over 10 years since I was at Martha's Vineyard and going there brought back a lot of memories

NEW YORK CITY - it was good to spend time with my parents. My parents loved Obi. I can't believe that my parents would love a dog so much!

HOBOKEN, NEW JERSEY - catching up with my elementary school friend Cindy. I've known her for over 25 years! It was good to see her happy with her 2 healthy kids

EDISON, NEW JERSEY - of course we had to take Obi for his semi-annual dates with Ashley! Those 2 dogs love each other and can play nonstop for hours! This is a rare photo of BOTH dogs looking at the camera!

MAPLEWOOD, NEW JERSEY - had a great dinner with my good friend Greg Calvosa and his wife Angel at the "Above" restaurant.

NEW YORK CITY - we were all very happy to see one of my great friends, Ray Moran, get married to Theresa. Extremely happy for them... they had an awesome wedding. To me, there are only 3 things that are important in a wedding: 1) great music 2) good food 3) open bar... and Ray & Theresa aced all 3 of these in their wedding!

The great things about weddings is that there are tons of opportunities to take pictures! Isn't my wife beautiful?!!

Congrats to Mel Clarion, our newest Gold Director in our business. Mel is from Manila and in 4 weeks, his group generated over $60,000 USD in sales!

2010 USANA Philippines Kickoff Celebration - this was 1 year celebration of the opening of USANA Philippines. Our team, Team XLR8, is the biggest team in the Philippines right now. Check out this picture... this was only HALF the picture! (I'm in white suit in the middle)

I am so proud of my team. Talk about total domination! 4 of the top 5 income earners in the Philippines are all from our team, Team XLR8! (Nate Sunio, Diana Dela Pena, Clark De Guzman and Billy Dela Fuente)

I stayed with Jojo and Blessa Victorio in Dagupan. They are Silver Directors and also the BEST hosts! Every morning I woke up to a great healthy breakfast! Look at all these fresh fruits!

Picture of our team after dinner... We had a good long day of training and presentations at Jojo's restaurant in Dagupan. ("Silverio's"). Jojo and Blessa are the ones standing to the right of me.

I took a 4 hour bus ride and got back to Manila. Took a rest and then it was training at Shakey's pizza. One of the best things I purchased was this portable white board that I could bring everywhere. Here I am instructing future leaders of Joreyna Lacson on the "USANA Difference". Joreyna is the one to my left in the white shirt.

Next was Pampanga. I did 2 business presentations at Pampanga. Before each presentation I would do the "reverse Apple Test." I would put chunks of oxidized apple and then shave off parts of the USANA Mega Antioxidant into the water and then within seconds the apple would turn back white!

I had to use a knife to shave the Mega Antioxidant. Normally I would use scissors. It is WAY much easier with scissors!

Back at Team XLR8 Pampanga HQ for training at night. I went straight from 4pm to midnight without much of a break!

Next day... with very little sleep... we went to Bataan. I got little sleep due to the mosquitoes! The mosquitoes love my fresh American blood. I got bit everywhere at night. I would hear long sleeves and long pants and sweat my butt off to protect myself from the bugs but they would still get me! They would bite me in the toes, fingers and even on my face! ... Here is a picture of our Bataan center. Ms. Pineda here did an awesome presentation.

Our Bataan team in front of our Bataan HQ.

I was in Ed Ricalde's tuned up car (yellow) and napping and then all of a sudden woke up. Turned out that we had a flat tire! Nothing new and nothing special.. until... we put the spare on... and found out that the spare HAD NO AIR!!! So.. we got highway patrol and for the first time in my life, I rode in a highway patrol car! LOL

We had breakfast at Christian De Guzman's house. (nickname Clark). I was so impressed with Clark. Very precocious for his age. Young people are often so easy and rewarding to train. They are able to absorb and apply so fast. Clark is super super young and already able to go full time in USANA in a very short time. His dad was very proud of him.

We drove all the way to Northern Luzon in the Philippines. After a day of meetings (I did a presentation at a tennis club), we went to a restaurant/bar and had a good dinner. From left to right is Mel Clarion, myself, Josephine and Jong (our leader in Isabella)

Another day and another day of meetings and fun. This was our group shot at Cafe Isabella.

Drove 10 hours back to Manila and had a good breakfast lunch with Roann Marcelino's team. It's always nice to share during lunch!

Next morning, I took a 2 hour bus ride to Batangas. I did a training and business presentation. The house was packed in Batangas. They are a great group of people and I will miss all of them. We had over 70 people at our presentation!

Team XLR8 at Batangas. I could have stayed there the whole night talking to the team until I realized that we had to hurry or else we would miss the last bus to Manila!

I did a special training for Mikke and Pevz's group in Manila. Originally it was supposed to go from 7pm to 9pm but the next thing you know, we ended at 11pm and the janitor had to kick us out! (btw, the janitor took this picture... LOL)

Next morning, I took the bus at 6am from Manila to Clark to catch Air Asia to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I hate going to Clark airport cause it is SOOO far... the journey was tiring but once I got to Kuala Lumpur it was great to see my leader, Ken Ong and his wife Susan. Driving through Malaysia, I was really impressed at how Malaysia has developed in the past 5 years. The future is really in Asia... even a country like Malaysia (which most people in USA do not talk about) is growing so fast compared to the USA. The USA is like a slumbering giant and barely moving while our Asian counterparts are moving at breakneck speed and going to surpass us soon. At Kuala Lumpur we had dinner and training at this new karaoke place at "The Summit" in Subang Jaya. The mall is really nice and made me feel like I was in Hong Kong. Here I am with this young group of entrepreneurs. The leader of this young group (average age is under 22) is Adrian who is the one in white and standing next to me.

2 of my top Malaysian leaders, Raymond Tan and Devan invited me to eat dinner at my FAVORITE place in Kuala Lumpur; South Pacific in PJ! Going there brought back memories. I don't go to Malaysia as often now but back in the day, we used to go eat here almost every night!

Next day, we were up in Penang, Malaysia and did a full day of training for leaders. It was a tiring but great day. Afterwards I met up with my little "bro" Ian Lim. Ian is growing up so fast!!!

Next day was business presentation. Afterwards I took a picture with my "mei mei", Connie Mooi!

Took 7am flight and went right back to Manila. Did a dinner training with Alex Sunio's group at Cantina. I basically shared what it takes to be successful.

The next night was Team XLR8 night at the USANA Office. For those that showed up early, we took a special team photo

I was supposed to do a special training on my last night in the Philippines but it turned out to be a special night for me! I had no idea what was going on since I don't understand Tagalog but the next thing I know, there were performances and entertainment. Here is a shot of Jello singing... afterward Artstrong Clarion also performed and so did Brian. I was very touched by the special night and especially the gifts that people presented me. I will miss you guys!

One of the highlights was Diana Dela Pena (Ian) as she became USANA's newest Gold Director! Diana is Team XLR8's 4th Gold Director in just 13 months in the Philippines! We are all so proud of her!

Kelly and I did our annual trip to Monterey, California and along the way, we met up Kim Koller (USANA Gold Director) at Santa Maria, CA. Kim is one of our USA leaders and she took us a quick tour of her hometown. (the tour lasted 10 minutes... haha)... In this pic, Kim took us to a great breakfast place in downtown Santa Maria

Once we got to Monterey we went straight to my favorite place, "Carmel Valley by the Sea." It is still the most beautiful place on earth and I would LOVE to retire there. This was also Obi's first time at a beach! Our only disappointment at Carmel this year was that our formerly favorite sushi restaurant called "Hanagasa" changed management! It used to have terrible decor, terrible service but the MOST AMAZING yellowtail and great sushi at great prices... now they have good decor, good service but food SUCKS! Kelly and I were really looking forward to going there. What a disappointment...

Sunset at Carmel Valley by the Sea

Kelly and Obi taking a break by the golf courses at Monterey

I did yoga every morning by the water... followed by reading and then would go biking along the coast everyday. It was beautiful and really relaxing. Here Kelly took a break from her bike ride and is in "Warrior 3" pose.

While we took the pictures, Obi would watch us from his bike trailer

I would ride along the coast and then go to Pebble Beach and bike along 17 mile drive. Talk about a great place for "dream building" and getting inspired. Seeing wealth and what is possible really inspires me. It shows that anything is possible. I biked and then came across this AMAZING house (or castle) along 17 mile ride. Check the size of this place!

This is another view of the Dream Castle! It was very inspiring that the next day I had to take Kelly there to show her! You would need an army to scale that palace!

Imagine waking up to this view!

That's my bro Ryan... I know we don't look alike but who is better looking? Who is younger? Haha

Family sushi dinner with Ryan, Lisa (his wife) and their little man (my nephew) Jacob.

Jacob likes Uncle Simon. "Give me 5!"

This was a PLEASANT surprise. Turned out that my best friend Tom was also in town. Tom didn't have much time so we just grabbed a quick breakfast at Los Altos. We ate at Tom's Depot (highly unrecommended restaurant.. not good)

THANKSGIVING DINNER - my bro, Ryan, is an amazing chef. Check out the menu!

THANKSGIVING DINNER - we had great food, great wine and great company. It was awesome to see my half nephew, Jojo and his wife, Grace. The last time I saw Jojo he was like 10 years old!

Obi turned 1 year old on Nov. 28, 2009! We can't believe he is 1 already! Obi wasn't really excited about this picture. He was dying to eat his birthday cookie!!!

I took grandpa to check out Hollywood. I love my grandpa. I can't believe he is over 80 now... doesn't he look good for his age?!

COUSINS REUNION - one of my highlights was being able to meet some of my cousins for the very first time. For various reasons, we got disconnected since we were young. Decades later, we find out we are all living in Southern California. I met up with Lucia, Ricky, Lori, Katherine, Peter in November and then right before I left for NYC in Dec., we had a little holiday reunion and get together at my house.

I got to NYC in early December. Scott McGee (USANA Silver Director) came to visit as well. I took Scott out around town almost every night and had plenty of good food. Here, we are not necessary at a "fine dining" establishment but instead enjoying Sam Adams Cherry Wheat at "Down the Hatch" at the Village. "Down the Hatch" is a total dirty hole in the wall but it is happening and fun place... and MOST importantly, they have an "Atomic Wings" franchise inside the bar. They are the BEST buffalo wings on the planet! I normally do not eat wings but I could not help it and give that place a visit. I first knew about "Atomic Wings" back at Columbia since they had one inside "Cannon's" on 110th and Broadway. Tom and I used to go there for all you can eat wings for $5 all the time. Years later, the wings are just as good!

I arrived in NYC early because I had to do renovate my condo. My tenant moved out so I took the opportunity to renovate. Scott Mcgee was a huge huge help and his work was really impressive. It was tough work since we had 17 foot ceilings and NO scaffold to assist us. After spending over at least 100 hours of painting, I decided to NEVER NEVER NEVER paint again. Though I saved $$$ by doing it myself, it was not worth my time. It cost me more in time cost than the $$$ I saved. But... I do my best to look at the positive. I did learn a ton and that was worth the price and experience. Life is about creating memories and staying up late with Scott every night was definitely something I will never forget. Another memory created...

After the renovation, the place looked NICE! I have a potential new tenant already but I'm also open to backups. If you know anyone who is interested in a: NYC apartment 1bed/2ba 1400sf duplex 1 bedroom/2 bath 1400 sf loft for rent. It is located in Jersey City Newport and only 5 minutes away from Manhattan. 17 foot ceilings, doorman, Washer/Dryer in unit, includes gym w sauna. $2300/month.

Of course I took my son, Obi to NYC. NYC's weather was BRUTAL and my mom got Obi a wardrobe. Check out Obi's new raincoat

It was also Obi's first time in snow. Check out his new outdoor jacket! Haha... ok... I'd never thought about putting my dog in clothes but when the weather is 15 degrees and with windchill (make that zero F), then the poor guy needs a coat and some shoes!

NYC Pizza! I eat pretty healthy but love pizza. I don't get pizza much in Los Angeles (part health reason and part because pizza sucks there) but once I got to NYC, I go and fulfill my pizza quota for the year! I had pizza almost EVERY DAY or like 22 days out of the 27 days I was there. This super huge slice is from the famous "Benny Tudino's" at Hoboken. It is good stuff. I must have been there like 6 times and even took my dad there. Some other pizza places I went to: Joe's Pizza at Village (one of the best), Hoboken place on 1st & Washington (suckiest NYC pizza I've ever had), Ray's Pizza on 6th Ave and 11th St. (this must be original Ray's) since this was one of the BEST BEST BEST slices I had. wow!... Mama Theresa's at Westbury (still the best buffalo chicken slice)... no name place in midtown (no name but best thing is any place in NYC has good pizza. It was good)... this brick over pizza place in Carroll Gardens that Todd Betzag took me. (forgot the name but it was good. They had fresh hot peppers on the side) ... and a few more places. I was tempted to bring 2 pies back but I figured I had eaten too much pizza already and needed to be healthy again

One of my highlights to my NYC trip was my visit to Columbia just to see my former Chinese professor Ms. Sobelman. (or "Su TaiTai"). It was great catching up with her and also to see how much classes have changed due to technology. Ms. Sobelman also shared with me an excellent article about China. It was very very inspiring. Going back to Kent Hall brought back memories. It only seems like yesterday that I was there taking classes... One of my goals for 2010 is to be connected with the Columbia community more.

This is the famous Columbia "steps". Not many people here today since it was finals week. This is where everyone would hang out when the weather was nice.

USANA Silver Director Randy Ng set up a nice USANA get together at Astoria, Queens. It was good catching up with old friends and also meeting new associates.

Got a chance to see my close Columbia buddies Chawey Wu and Simon Lam. Though we only had 1 hour to hang out (Simon Lam had to beat the snow and leave NYC for Jacksonville), it was memorable. How fast we have grown up!

Christmas Dinner with my parents

Christmas day with parents and obi

At Veneiro's (famous dessert place) at lower east side with close friend Ray Moran and his fiancee Theresa. I'm not a "dessert person" but I took NYC "off" and just treated myself. (along with pizza and wings and ice cream)

At Mama Theresa's at Westbury... Pizza again! Best buffalo chicken pizza! I introduced Ray Moran to this place and somehow when I found out that he goes here all the time, it made me happy!

Met up with good high school friend, Stanley Hsieh and his wife Joanne. Stan and I hadn't seen each other much in the past 15 years but somehow God keeps us close through all these years. I am very grateful for his friendship and really looked forward to seeing him and Joanne.

NYC was FREEZING! I am enjoying a cup of hot tea from my thermos in 15 degree weather on the streets of 5th ave. After 1 month in NYC, I felt like I lived in NYC again and really missed home. In the past, I would only visit for 1 - 2 weeks and mainly stayed in Long Island but this time I was everywhere in Manhattan and walked the city. This was the first time I've spent so much time in NYC since I moved out to Los Angeles back in 2002. I took the subways, PATH and bridges, tolls, etc. I felt like I lived in NYC again. NYC was cool... but after 1 month of NYC living... I must say that I am happy that I made the right choice and moved to Los Angeles. NYC is just not for me. I missed biking in the shorts, going to the beach and living the "Cali lifestyle"

Dec. 29, 2009 was Obi Day. We took Obi to visit my friend Mimi and Obi's girlfriend; Ashley! Those 2 dogs love each other and can play with each other nonstop for HOURS! They would run after each other nonstop. The next day both of them were so tired that they just passed out and didn't do anything in the house! Mimi was nice enough to refer us to her vet. Obi had some problem with his hind legs. We saw the vet in LA but wanted a second opinion. Turned out that Obi has "medial patella luxation". The good news is that he didn't need immediate surgery. The bad news is that Obi's patella pops in and out and is a genetic disease. There is no real cure. Unfortunately Obi should not really run nor jump anymore or else condition will get worse later on! How sad. Obi's doggy park days are officially over...

Part 2 of Obi's day was visiting my good friend Ruth and her husband Clark. We had a great time sharing stories at her house.

At "Tomoe Sushi" at the Village. I've been to many many different sushi places and this is BY FAR THE BEST SUSHI I've had. The last time I went was over 8 years ago and 8 years later, it is still just as good. They have the BEST yellowtail and BEST toro. It is unbeatable sushi and good prices. The downside is that you have to wait 30 - 90 minutes to get in. But the patience and wait is worth it. Here is a tip... go there late (after 830pm) and you only have to wait 30 minutes. I was lucky enough to go to Tomoe twice on this trip. Once with Scott and once with Kelly. Both times the food was UNBELIEVABLE! TOMOE is the BEST SUSHI I've had. Period.

Having a late night drink/dessert with USANA Silver Director Dave Block and his girlfriend Noelle. Dave Block is very impressive. Very goal driven and his growth from self development is astonishing. I learned a few things from him that night!

Brunch at Norma's (midtown) with Kelly's friend Sylvia and her husband Kevin.

This was the BIGGEST omelette that I've seen. Of course it was also $25!!!

NIKE STORE - been years since I've been to Nike Store so I decided to check it out. They had a really cool Nike Air Jordan displayed that showed every Nike Air Jordan ever made and which year it was made

Nike Air Jordan display

The famous Rockafeller Christmas tree

On the last night in NYC, we had to go back to "Down the Hatch" for Atomic Wings again! (and the last time I'll have wings for a long time...)

I'm at the mall and with my portable "home office". I'm logging into a special web presentation by Tim Sales

Kelly's Birthday! Had a great time. Here we are out and about! It's good to be back "home"