mr loke stroke at the strokes...

boys night out and what did we do? rocked the casbah like it was our job. the night started out a little, shakey...On board with us was Jacob "sign me up..." Melzer, Corporate Marlo, Tyson aka "capitan" Brown and myself. So as we are headin north up to the great SLC Marlo pulls out his ticket and asks us where we got ours. thats when it hit me. MY TICKET!! not in my pocket, my wallet or in my hand, but taped nicely to my pottery barn message center in my house. shoot. but alas, i was not alone, my friends. ty brown also left his golden ticket in his casita. so a 40 min detour later and we we on the road again, pointed in the right direction, tickets close to our hearts. luckily Melzer has premium traffic driving skillz, and we made it up in time.

we met up with the rest of our crew- half the members of the infamous Otters: Joel "i used to date a grandma" Baer and Nate Barnes. Along with them came "philipino Jeremy." the final member of the crew showed up about 15 minutes later...none other than the ring leader himself Zachy James. I am goin to be real honest with you folks...i wasn't exactly thrilled to see mr. james. Zach is one of those kids who makes life interesting- sometimes in a good way, sometimes in a bad way. its a love/ hate relationship with the kid. just like zach himself, its all or nothing. But, Zach proved to swing things for the better this time around and got us all pumped and crazy during the show.

oh the show...one word: Glorious. the music and the crowd anyway. the band- i have never seen anyone as wasted as lead singer Julian Casablancas before. he was trippin on something, but luckily was coherent enough to perform amazingly. the crowd was fun. theres nothing like goin to a show 10 deep with bros. its been a while since i was completely saturated with sweat-most of which was not my own- from head to toe. its kind of amazing sometimes when you are at a concert and a complete stranger all of the sudden becomes your best friend-just for liking the same music and gettin into it. thats how it went down, our crew joined forces with the neighboring groups with camaraderie for the Strokes. its also amazing how fun it is to go nuts, with some of your closest friends.

the best song of the night for me was "Reptilia," or maybe their opening diddy "You only live Once." another highlight of the night was tossing Zach up into the crowd to crowd surf. what a nut. the only bad thing about the show, was that their set wasn't very long.they should have played a couple more, but hey thats rock stars for ya.

other highlights of the night:
going to Chevron for gatorade. as melzer went to pay, the cashier took his debit card and put it down her bra. sick as all get out, but made us laugh none the less.
Del Taco- marlo talking about a movie character "Chinegro"- those of who know, laugh now

Tyson took some sic pics throughout the night so be on the look out for the next update.

a small recap

this here is my new addiction and release. me and erika tivo scrubs evrynight. its freakin hillarious. But on to more important things. like what was done before, i shall impress you with a hit list of exciting crap that has gone down on the past two weeks.

bustin' my chops...
we have had buster for two weeks now. time flies when you are having fun. our "lil baby bus" as e-train likes to call him is growing like a weed and is one smart cookie. in two weeks we have taught him how to go up and down stairs and he is getting way better at not leaving his special trademark in the house. after two weeks, i would asy thats pretty darn good. i also taught him how to fetch. yeah, he got skillz.

da birfday girl-


Etrain turned the big double duece on the 19th. i can speak for her when i say that she got pretty hooked up on her special day. mom and pop etrain were in town for the weekend and they treated us right.thats fo sho!! erika spent the day with her mom, doing "girl stuff" was pampered by yours truly--a special breakfast on the big red plate, some amazing gifts, a foot massage...we had a party in her honor too. it was good to see such good friends all in one place. we seriously have the best friends in the world. highlight of the party was watching erika light up like a four year old when she asked people to sing "happy birthday" while she blew out her candles. man she's cute! a special shot out to all you who hooked her up- you know who you are. she seriously was stoked off everyone's interest and love.

NYC...
some exciting news is that we are goin to the big apple in december! we found a sweet deal and gave that to each other for our x-mas present. we will be goin to NYC with yeen and jose-aka ryan and joselyn- erika is extatic. she has never been before, and has been dying to go. we can't wait.


ok,ok. so i lied. my life is not as exciting as anticipated. but i love it. the past two weeks have been busy with work, school and taking care of our child. i am not one of those crazy dog persons who thinks their dog is all there is in life, so don't get any crazy ideas about me calling buster our child. BUT, it is a big responsibility to have a pup, he keeps us on our toes and i am glad he is ours.

here is some more scrubs for you to nibble on...

the man, the myth, the legend...

sometimes pictures speak louder than words...

mr. & mrs. N1X0N

so this weekend was pretty fun. we hung out with ty and jenny brown saturday night and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. the browns have been away in AZ for the summer and now have graced the p-town bubble with their presence. we went to our new favorite joint- the happy sumo and exposed them to some quality japanese food. the service sucked, and our waitress was a complete moron, but she did give us free drinks and appetizers because she struggles at life. so that was cool. it was definitely good to hang out with ty and jen again- they are kinda like cartoon characters... especially ty. seriously hillarious. we were able to finally give them their wedding gift. its always fun to see how people react to presents. its more exciting to give than to recieve in my opinion.we had an awesome time, and spent like 40 min on ty's mac photobooth- here are some of the highlights:

puppy news: our lil pup comes on tues at 12:00. we are both goin nuts with anticipation. the name is still up in the air. we are waiting to see him, and hopefully it will just come to us. we went to petco. on thursday and got all this puppy stuff in preparation for our lil guy.

mr. metro is still in full effect. i got another facial on saturday- this time a chemical peel and an oatmeal mask. in true spirit of mr loke stroke, i snacked on the oats as e-train put them on my face. not quite like quaker oatmeal- needed some brown sugar and honey!

provo madness- so today was the stake regional conference in the bubble. translation: pres. monson came and spoke at the marriot center. it was mayhem. took us 45 min to get to the marriot ctr., then by the time we got parking, the place was filled to capacity and they had to turn people away! only in provo, my friends.

we are glad to find out that clint and jess finally finished their maiden voyage and returned to san diego!

a new addition...

so i have been seriously slacking on my posts. so sorry to disappoint. the last couple of days have been busy so i will fill you in on what's been goin on... Leno style.

the top 10 reasons why my life is cool are:

10.- Yoga. i am harnessing my chi like you would not believe. a new unlimited monthly pass has got me hooked. yesterday i did head stands and binding!

9. ear candling- if you have not done it, and think your ears are clean, guess again. i almost wretched in my mouth after seeing how much wax was removed from my melon.i can actually whisper in erika's ear and she can hear me!

8. homemade Carne Asada- mr loke stroke strikes again in the cocina. fresh bajio tortillas, fresh guacamole, salsa fresca,refried beans, succulent steak...(wipe the drool now)


7. the last good-bye: sending clint and jess off on their maiden voyage to o'side. if you haven't seen the mayflower yet, you're in for a treat!the pics don't do it justice.diego's mop- lil diego kicked it with us again.he is much bigger and his mane is off the chain. did you guys break a bottle of bubbly on the bow of the boat before your trip?


6. first day of school- what? wait a minute. school makes tone's life sweet? must be a typo. it is. provo is back to full capacity- full of clueless freshman, provo all-stars/burn-outs trying to swoo the women-folk, and even more bad drivers. so the twist is, only one more semester here! that is why my life is sweet.

5. mr. metro- clint and jess described me as the "ultimate metro" because i get facials, wax my nose hair and eyebrows, get back treatments. thats what happens when your wife is an esthetician and you have hairy mexican/spanish genes. a smooth tone means a happy e-train. besides, have you had a facial from erika? you are missin out my friend- magical hands, magical. Also the recent discovery of Yoga and my vegetarian meals are tip offs. don't worry friends, mr loke stroke could never call it quits to meat.

4. pork barbacoa salad-oh yes, the rio my friends. on monday night we celebrated our labor day with "manuel labor" and our latino friends at cafe rio. nothing like it, nothing. thats the one redeeming factor of the p-town bubble.


3. melzer- seeing jake in his "first-day corporate attire" to impress his professors and colleagues. let me spell it out for you; a white button shirt-good. solid red christmas tie- decent. black nautica "sweater vest"- looked like something jamie foxx should wear. more of a shirt than a vest really. now for the "melzer flare"- bright red dickies shorts. i could literally see him across campus. i think he caused a few wrecks on east campus drive with those ones. haviana sandals- viva brasil! his mop of Jewish locks on his skull. some sweet versace glasses.(they really are pretty dope)and to finish off the look, a dirty goatee. you da man melzer!

2. arrested development season 3- if you haven't seen the show, well then that sucks for you. season one and two have blessed my life with laughter for years to come. buster, gob, george-michael and maybe...tobias. i have only seen 3 episodes of season 3 and already am addicted. who knew little opie griffith would grow up to make soo many people laugh.














ladies and gentlemen, drumroll please......the title of the blog, the newest addition to the mendioroz crew, the tiny ball of fur that makes Erika melt like ice cream on the 4th of July

1...the one, the only- PUPPY!!a 1.1 lbs. short-legged jack russell terrier. we still haven't picked out a name yet so how 'bout we take a vote. here is what is on the ballot: jack, buster, rico, dino, bean, kepa, peanut.

breathe, bend, be

so its been a few days since my last entry, but man some interesting things sure have happened! Thursday night i got my pamper on- Erika took me into to her school where she gave me the most incredible facial i have ever had. yes, folks mr. loke stroke is now a facial and wax junkie, getting the hook up from the mrs. The hour and a half long european facial is something that everyone needs to indulge on. a lil trimmage of the eyebrows was also on the menu- something Dad could use, according to mom. the facial totally knocked me out, and i went home and fell asleep at 10:00. it was off the hizee fo shizee...as far as the menu for thursday- Bajio Grill. I got a break from the kitchen.

Friday- was a cool day, because i was able to reflect on some very important counsel from Ty and Jenny's wedding. I took notes from their sealing and reread them. Ty, if you read this, your sealing was amazing! After that, i was able to hit up the bidnay course with Francis and Melzer. Not our best game i'd say- i will leave out the scores so as to not embarrass anyone. except that jake beat chris the day before with a bumb knee...thats embarrassing enough. We attempted to kick off that round as our tour starter, but it was my first game back in a month or so...the tour is pending at the moment. We determined that empty bellies was the reason of our off game and hit up del taco to refuel.

Oh yeah, for dinner i made hawaiin haystacks. E-train was skeptic at first, but ended up loving it. I impressed myeself cuz they tasted just like mom's!

Later that day, Erika and I hit up a round of minigolf with Chris and Sarah- all cheated our brains out...Erika is definitely entertaining to watch in any competiive environment. those of you who know her-laugh now. The golf was brutal for everyone, but at least we all got a hole in one at some point of the night! After hitting up the links, we did what every other person in provo does- Got ice cream. did you know that provo is the #1 seller of ice cream in america? quick sociology tid-bit for ya. that and diapers...mormons- who knew? A great time had by all.

Saturday-- my favorite day of the week so far! we started off the day gettin the mind, body and soul flowing through Yoga. Thats right, yoga! i fell in love with it. It really was an eye opener for me, of how strong you have to be and can get through yoga. Erika is gnarly and pretty much dominated. she has been goin to it for a couple months now and can do all sorts of crazy poses- from head stands to binding/balancing- she's ripped! chris and sarah also attended with us, so i wouldn't be the only amateur on the mats. i look forward to goin more and getting better. its relaxing, but a really good work out at the same time!


saturday night we spent with Erika's old roommate and her recently returned missionary. we went out to the Happy Sumo and ate some amazing japanese food. it was really good. Chong's chicken is definitely a good plate, for those of you who know the place. sooo scrumptious! It was entertaining to watch Preston the new rm interact with people. i could relate to his awkwardness and "deer caught in headlights syndrome." All in all, he is a cool kid, and i think he enjoyed himself.

this blog is already creepin and way too long, so i will end the suffering. I will keep you posted on my yoga progression.

so its now 4 days into my week of improvement, and i must admit i like the new me. i have to confess i did not do anything physical yesterday(wed), but everyone needs a break right? speaking of breaks, my super wife needs to take a break from her running for a lil while because a festering heel problem hasn't gotten to be unbearable. it has now started to swell, and really affects her in everything she does. curse those 26.2 miles in Moab of self abuse and torture!! A marathon is a cool thing to say that you accomplished, but man it sure beats the crap out of ya. No worries though, yoga is there to keep her busy. speaking of which, thats my activity for saturday. can you picture mr loke stroke, on a yoga mat all twisted up like a pretzel? I am in for humiliation for sure, but at least i won't be alone. Erika scored some free passes for me, Chris and Sarah to go. i can't wait to see Francis get his zen on!

so last night i surprised myself again with my amazing cooking skills. I went old school and busted out a traditional spanish tortilla. man, it took me back to my preachin days in the mother land. this was the best tortilla i ever made though, because i actually had the time to make it good. the trick to a good tortilla is low heat. the lowest possible...so at that rate you could cook one for nearly an hour! needless to say, i didn't have time to kill as a missionary. so half of the tortilla was filled with roasted red pepper, and the other galf bacon(potato and onion throughout the entire thing of course). Erika approved as i showed her how to eat it like a true spaniard- we had to have fresh baked bread. along side the tortilla i made a fruit salad-strawberries, peaches and bananas. E-train is lovin the not having to cook bit. i am enjoying my cooking experience as well.

So yesterday i met up with Chris and David at a favorite spot of ours in Orem. Maria Bonitas is a little mex joint that me and Dave frequent for lunch when we have the time. We discussed important matters of life over beans, rice, tacos and enchiladas. One thing that was discussed was the Francis' plans for winter. turns out they are gunna load up the credits to be done in december, then move back to Ca to avoid a Utah winter. as sad as it is to not have them here, its a good move and one that they will hopefully be happy with. selfishly i want them to stay, but i know that if i was in there situation, i would choose san diego over provo any day.

another important matter discussed was a bidnay tour. a trip out to g-rides with the bidnays on hand is somthing to look forward to. no official plans or dates yet, but when it all falls down, it will be posted.