JustinMar.com: The official website of Justin Mar

You were a terrible year for me. My only good highlight was my engagement to Sherry . Other than that, I don't want to remember the crummy economy that really hurt my sales numbers and my ability to put bread on the table. I must say it was the worst year I've ever had in my career in sales. Another sad note was the realization that I graduated 10 years ago from college in 2009. I can say that I am another year old and another year wiser! 2009 will also be the last year of me being a single man. I don't see that as something sad, but something I am very excited and happy about. 2010 will be awesome! It will probably be on of the most memorable years of my life! Just wait and see!

After driving all over San Francisco and eating at every household we visited; we survived! So much for trying to diet! Here was the agenda: Baked a ham in the morning. Visit my aunt's house (Mom's side) in the Richmond district of SF. Visited Sherry's family side in the Excelsior district. Visited my uncle's house (Dad's side) in Bernal Heights. Each home visited consisted of eating, eating, and more eating! It was a great time of catching up with family and enjoying great food. I've noticed that all I've been talking about is food and eating. All I can say is that I'm exhausted. Exhausted to the point where I've decided to stay at my parents for one more night. It's probably safer to drive home the day after Christmas rather than share the road with all the idiot drunk drivers on the road on Christmas evening. Speaking of the day after Christmas. Will you see in the crowds? NO! It's probably a good idea for me to hit the gym for a workout t

Photo by TT with JM's Camera/Piazza Market - North Beach - San Francisco, CA Yes, this posting is a tad bit early, but as I look at the clock; I'm only a few hours away from Christmas Eve! This December has been hectic as usual. Here is just a quick highlight: Mickey's 10 th Birthday Trip to New York City My 33rd Birthday December birthday celebration with friends As everyone is hustling and bustling through the shopping malls until the late hours for last minute gifts; I'm relaxing from my living room! I did in fact do the majority of my shopping online. Which is way much easier than dealing with traffic, crowded parking lots, and crazy shoppers. I did notice that the shopping malls are not as hectic or chaotic as they have been in the past. Not sure if it's the bad economy to blame, or everyone is just shopping online. Probably the busiest companies during this time is UPS, FedEx, and the US Postal Service. This year we've decided to keep a low profile a

The Dell Mini 10v Netbook is the new addition to my collection of Dell Computers . Despite the fact that I already have portable laptop given to me from work and my own personal laptop; I wanted something even smaller, lighter, and practical. Since netbooks are so affordable and inexpensive; you wouldn't see me really cry over the fact if it got stolen or broken. Yes, I would be upset, but it's not that harsh on the wallet if anything were to happen. Portability was my main objective. I wanted something compact that gave me to ability to toss into my "man purse" messenger bag (my small Timbuk2 bag) and small enough to also fit into my camera backpack as well with ease. Since we have been doing a lot of travelling lately, this small compact netbook is so much easier to carry around. One of the big selling points for me was the fact that I could " Hackintosh " this netbook. Hackintoshing is basically taking a PC computer and running Apple Computer's Ope

Mickey's 10th Birthday Celebration from Justin Mar on Vimeo . Mickey is 10 years old today! It has been tradition in the past where we would get Mickey a Hamburger Happy Meal from McDonald's . I also have a previous post from several years ago of the same celebration. This time Mickey took his time eating. I only give him half of the burger in tiny minced up pieces because sometimes he tends to throw up human food. I assuming that as Mickey gets older, he wants to savor eat bite! Unfortunately Sherry is away on a business trip and didn't get a chance to celebrate with us (hence the reason for the video). I also just wanted to make use of my Canon Rebel T1i that has the HD video option. Just keep on forgetting that I have the HD video option at my disposal. I know, in the video I mentioned that I dressed up for this celebration, but in reality, I was dressed up after playing in a trombone quartet on the sidewalk in front of Mrs. Dalloway's Books . So there you have it

The above photo says it all! Photography has been a little hobby that I've been tinkering with the past few months. It's definitely very fun and a bit expensive when you start building your lens collection. I been having tons of fun using my Rebel T1i. Take shots of friend's weddings, my random outings, etc. The Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L USM Lens is regarded as one of the best general purpose lenses available and for the same reasons, it is one of the most-professionally-used Canon lenses. The "L" Series is by far Canon's top cream of the crop. If you see the signature red ring around the lens, you know it's Canon's best. I'm no pro, but who says you can't have quality toys? This lens definitely puts a nice dent in my wallet. One positive factor about quality lenses is the fact that they hold their resale value very well. You'll still spend over $1000 for this exact lens used. A crummy test shot of a famous coffee company lo

Despite all the time extra free time I have lately, I still have not been disciplined enough to sit down in front of computer to blog about a specific topic. I’m not sure if I lack the motivation to type something, or just can’t come up with ideas to write about. Since I have some time to spare, why not write about something that’s going on with me currently at the moment. Gout . It’s painful, it’s annoying, and it flat out sucks! For those who do not know what gout is, and without too much scientific or medical jargon; it’s basically a condition similar to arthritis that attacks your joints due to high levels of uric acid in your bloodsteam. Gout is caused when you consume food with too much purines. It’s also knows as “rich man’s disease.” The purines are broken down in you body and then turns in to uric acid. The uric acid levels settle in your joint and then being to crystallize. As they crystallize, it caused pain and swelling in the joints. In my case, it attacks m

Yes, I know. It's been a few months since my last blog post. I can say that a lot has happened over the span of a few months. Here is what took place in short. Went on a trip to Los Angeles the first week of June to visit co-workers and to add an extra ten pounds to my body just from eating. I was diagnosed with Gout. There was a previous post about my foot pain, wearing a walking cast boot, etc. Turns out that being flatfooted was not the problem. Gout was the reason for foot pain and swelling. Blood tests confirmed that my uric acid levels were really high. I'm on medication and basically cut out beef from my diet. Mary and Nelson got hitched on 8/8/2009. Mary is Sherry's cousin. Pat and Stephanie got hitched on 10/3/2009 and I officiated their wedding. It was the first time I ever officiated a wedding. It was a lot of fun! Since my engagement to Sherry, we have already locked in a wedding venue and date. It will be on October 10, 2010. (Operation 10/10/10 as I wo

For those of you who purchase merchandise through Amazon.com , you should really consider getting an Amazon Prime shipping membership! It's worth every single penny! For only $79 a year, you get the following: Unlimited Free 2 day shipping with no purchase minimum,(I sometimes get it in one day) $3.99 fee if you want 1 day shipping for each item. Add up to four family members to one subscription. No minimum order size. One of the great benefits of having a Prime account is the fact that you are sales tax free! Yes, California is in a deficit, but cheating sales tax is just a small amount of revenue that my county is not missing out on. I live in Alameda County and our current tax rate is 9.75% as of July 1, 2009. Pricing on Amazon is rather competitive to local walk-in store retailers, so if I don't need the item immediately, it's better for me to buy through Amazon.com, and get it in a few days. Plus I save myself almost 10% in not having to pay sales tax, and Prime sh

Yes, envy me! So many great things happened this week! I'm engaged, had a great sales month, and now I end the month with a new toy! A great way to end the month of June 2009! The new toy is a Canon EOS Rebel T1i DSLR camera. It's a replacement camera and a step up for me to explore the greater flexibility into digital SLR camera technology. I somewhat got fed up with the limitations of a point and shoot camera, and it's just another excuse for me to keep up with the Jones'. This is a great camera; especially considering it's price tag in comparison to other cameras in it's class. It's priced just below $850, which is a bargain considering what this camera can pump out. One of the selling features for me was the capability to capture HD video. Here are a few general specs: New 15.1 Megapixel CMOS sensor with DIGIC 4 Image Processor for faster processing of fine detail and natural color reproduction, 14-bit A/D conversion fo

I told you there was going to be some change! Today I proposed to a very special person that I love dearly; Sherry Lee. It was a special day with lovely summer weather (which isn't very often in San Francisco). In fact, the weather was very HOT, but it did not spoil for what I had planned for the day. Here's a little history. On May 15, 2004, Sherry and I went on our first date. Back then, I wanted to impress her by having a nice little picnic at the Palace of Fine Arts . This is a beautiful area that is common place for taking wedding photos, with ponds, swans, ducks, and not to mention the famous "dome" structure that was made for the World's Faire in the 1920's. It's a really nice place. For our first date picnic, I made a box lunch. It included a nice croissant sandwich, a fruit salad, and some chips. It really impressed Sherry because it was nicely packaged, with decorative paper napkins, lime green colored plastic utensils, and with a lovely f

Decided to change the layout of my blog today. Also wanted a different look after noticing that the previous layout had some problems. Since I am not a html guru, I'm stuck to these cookie cutter templates that Blogger offers. They don't look that bad at all. It's better to keep things simple. Plus there's a little bit of " orange " accents! I know I haven't been blogging that often. When I do take some time away from Facebook or Twitter ; I sometimes remember that I still have this blog to maintain. This shouldn't be a chore. Other than my shortness for words at the moment, I wanted to prepare myself in this blog about the "change" that I have ahead of me very soon. Stay tuned.

Photo Credit ( http://photofill.com/archives/2006/04/light_at_the_en.html ) Yes, it's been three months since I've made a post here. So I'll just dive right in to stay on topic. The above photo is very symbolic in two ways. First, I do a lot of driving on the road. When I say a lot, I'll usually spend an average of four hours of just driving to my destinations. That's nearly half a work day. So this picture symbolizes the road I always have ahead of me. Secondly, the photo shows a tiny light at the end of the tunnel. With the current state of the economy lately, my sales numbers have dropped dramatically. I am ashamed to say that I was in a bit of a "sales slump" for a few months. So by definition to this photo; I HAVE FINALLY APPROACHED CLOSE TO THE END OF THE TUNNEL! I can see the light! Sales are picking up for me! It's not all fine and dandy just yet. An uphill battle is still ahead. For those who know me, don't even ask me about

For the past few months, I applaud the San Francisco Chronicle because they've been doing a GREAT job in assuring that my paper is delivered on my scheduled delivery date. Perhaps they saw my blog posting rant about my constant mis-deliveries. :) Aside from reading the regular print news, I also read all the latest news stories from their online publication on SFGate.com . What I love the most (aside from reading the article itself) is reading all the comments that people post in reference to the article. I know that the comment section is moderated giving users the option to report "abuse." Usually the comments are full of posts from users who are comedians probably as their second job. I'll sit in from of my monitor, laughing my a$$ off at some of the comments posed. Here's an example of comments about the recent "Free Grand Slam Meal" from Denny's offered today. What's also very cool is the fact that you can give a "thumbs up&qu

I told you that 2009 is going to be "sunshine!" I'm really excited at what FedEx delivered this morning! FedEx was nice enough to call me early this morning just to make sure that I was available fo r them to deliver my new Dell computer. There was a little mishap that left me puzzled because the monitor showed up before the CPU box. Common s ense would make one think that both boxes come together in one delivery. Turns out the CPU box arrives 15 minutes later from another delivery person . I was in need of a new computer. My previous Dell Dimension 8200 Pentium 4 was purchased back in 2001. It's outdated, slow, and I'm surprised it lasted me this long without any problems. I know that many people have complained about problems with Dell computers, but I have to honestly say that I had eight years of "trouble-free" usage. Definitely got my money's worth and more (since it still works fine). This computer is not going into retirement just y