lets ride

Hello all everyone seems too be doing well, I rode by road bike last week at Pebble Beach I am going back this weekend and will ride again I am so out of shape too Fat LOL but I am working on that it is nice too here from you guys from time to time keep in touch love you all

Hello

Hi every body I just wanted to tell everone out there that when the time comes to go on the tour de castillo I know that I will be ready and I know that i am going to have fun so how many are going to be going to the tour de castillo is it going to be just the five or are there going to be more I also know that mando if ready and just can't wait to start the tour de castillo so if you have anything to add to the tour de castillo I would like to hear something new or something old so get on the blog and say something ok well I have to go now Iwill talk to you later.

Kicking it back

What a life. Just chillin on a friday afternoon.

Oh Yeah!

We were at La Contenta. Playing golf? Well, we said we were golfing. That is still up for debate.

Update - Mark Castillo Jr.

OK, here's what's been going on:

Mark III has been playing baseball, he has about 2 games a week. His team, although Majors (11-12 Year olds) is still very young, this is their first year together and there are 4 10 year olds (Mark is one of them) 4 11 year olds and 3 12 year olds. They haven't one a game yet this season, but they're starting to get into their groove and they almost won last Friday against the Southern Indians. They're the Northern Dodgers. Mark plays a variety of positions; Left Field, 2nd Base and sometimes Right Field.

Work has been very hectic for me, I just finished creating a database for work that will help simulate, estimate and record daily variable labor. It's going to help us track what cost factors affect labor on a day to day basis and help track how different production combinations affect the overall cost per case for the items we produce. It was very hard because I lead a team that consisted of Me (accounting), someone from personal and someone from production planning. The system had to work for all three departments so that Accounting could use it for cost purposes, personal could use it for scheduling and production planning could use it for staffing the lines. We had to work with the line staff and production supervisors to determine what crews were necessary and what drove the increases/decreases in labor staffing to set a standard crew size for production. Now that the system is done I'm writing up instructions so that Managers, HR, Production planning and accounting (so they know how to use it if/when I leave to another plant/company). I'm planning to do my first wave of classes around the beginning of June to train all the front line supervisors and then train on an as needed basis.

Other than that, at the end of this month I'm going to be in Modesto (off plant site) in a training class for lean management or six sigma. I'm not sure how many of you know what six sigma is, but it's a production/operational ideology first used by Toyota in an effort to reduce costs/streamline production. It promotes efficiency and reducing waste/time/effort without reducing quality. Not just manufacturing companies are doing. Megan said that the term Six Sigma has been through around her office as well. The ideology can be used in more places than just the manufacturing floor. The training I'm going to be doing will be more intense and more detailed. We've been slowly getting ideas and little seminars about lean management for the past 2 years. Now they're starting to give more supervisors a more in depth training.

Last month I went to my second IMA meeting. IMA is the Institute for Managerial Accountants. I plan on taking the CMA test within the next year, maybe even before the year is up. CMA stands for Certified Managerial Accountant. It's similar to the CPA but it doesn't include auditing and it's aimed more toward analysis in a corporate environment. I haven't ruled out taking the CPA test, but for what I'm doing a CMA will be more relevant. After this I'll see what certification I'll want after that.

Reading: I just finished reading "The 33 Strategies of War" by Robert Greene. If you are interested on reading a book about strategy and don't want something that reads like stereo instructions, I highly recommend it. It uses real life examples from some of the greatest generals, strategists, kings and heroes from all of history. Tells about what they did/didn't do and why they did what they did that made their life/battle so great and how it can be applied to real life. If you haven't read any of Robert Greene's other books, I highly suggest you do, start with the 48 Laws of Power, or read The Art of Seduction; both very good reads. Next, I'm going to read "The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius", "Code of the Samurai" and then a book about six sigma. I should have those done in a couple of months. Megan said I'm crazy for the six sigma book because I'm already going to a class in a couple of weeks. But we'll see after I start reading it if it's worth it and by then the class will start so I'll be able to tell if the book is outdated or worth keeping.

Sorry for such a long post, but thin about it, I only covered what Mark III and I are doing, I haven't even gotten into Megan, Joseph or Dillon, or the fact that Mark will be in the Gate program next year. I'll cover those next time.

Peace.

Mark Jr.

Posting Update

Ok, I noticed that someone from another country made a posting on the site and I don't know what it said but the blog is only intended for our family so I restricted posting comments to only the people signed up to post on this blog. Everyone can still read it, but not everyone can post. So, anyone that wants to make a posting will have to contact me and I will send them an invite to post on the blog. If you have any questions, let me know.

Thanks,

Mark Jr.

Catching up!

Hello everyone. I read everyone's blogs and was trying to make a comment on each one but that was taking way too long since I haven't been on here in a while! It's nice to hear/see everyone doing well. I really liked everyones pictures.

Well as for me, I am doing good. I am about 7 months along now and just getting everything ready for the baby. For those of you that don't know yet, It's a girl. We are naming her Lisa Michelle Blakley. My due date is July 30th so it's coming up soon. I haven't taken pictures of anything in a while so I have none to put on here right now but maybe soon.

I will start logging in more often so that I can stay more connected but for now I gotta go! Talk to you all later. Bye!

Hello

Hi every body yes it's me again and I just want to tell all of you guy's that I to started my training and I like it I first start with a two mile run then a seven mile ride on the bike I will be picking it up when I think it is time so for all of you out there that will be doing the Tour De Castillo if you are not training you really should start training so that when we go on the Tour De Castillo you can do it well that all for now I will talk to you guy's later.

Whats up People?

Well, today I went 66 miles on the bike. I feel good. I almost changed my mind. I had planned my route and I knew it would be around 65 miles. Remember, I normally go 30 miles. Well, today when I was getting to close to the 15 mile mark, I started to make excuses as to why I should only go 30 miles. I mean, I do have windows to clean and I have to work on the pool a little bit. I kept telling myself that I could do the 65 miles some other day. Also, it was kind of windy and my allergy might act up.

Well, I just kept going. Once I passed the 15 mile mark I knew I would finish with my goal. As much as I did not want to go the whole distance, I knew that I had said I would do it and I knew I would feel bad if I did not do what I said I would do. Can you understand that?

So what is the moral of this story? Please post your comments on the comments section. Thank you, Armando Castillo

Lil Mark in training

This is as close as your going to get on Lil Marks training. You need to read his comment to find out what kind of training he is a actually doing.

Hello

Hi every one out there I didn't know that my son mark was training for the Tour De Castillo because he told me that he was going to ride in the car with his tio Ray but I am glade to hear that he is in training so how many do we have for the ride is hector going to ride on a bike or a car and are hector's son's going to ride with us or do we have any other taker's for the Tour De Castillo so come one come all.

Training

Hello everyone, Lil Mark says he is training. But if I were you, I would not worry about his training. But, his training does sound good.

Armando Castillo

Hello

Hi every body I just want to tell jimmy and johnny you guy's better start training because I just started to train and it is not going to be easy I only went seven mile's and it was hard so just think when we have to go on a long trip it will be hard. We also have to be ready for any thing that could happen along the way like a flat tire or a butt break or something else that might need attention so how are you doing out there in the world are you getting in shape as you can see mando is in shape and ready are you.

Hello Peoples

So, what is going on out there in the world? I enjoyed seeing the pictures posted. We need to do more of that.

I went on another bike ride. I went 62 miles again. This time I was not hurting so bad. I think I am finnaly getting the hang of it. My training is on track. How is your training going? Are you even training? Just so you all know, I will not have a tow rope to pull you during the Tour de Castillo. SO TRAIN!

See Ya! Armando Castillo

Wine Tasting

Hello everyone. We were out wine tasting in Napa. That is Jorge, Liz, Me and Jaime. We were feeling good!

Hello

Hi every one out there in the castillo blog I just want to say that I like the picture's that mark and mando put out on the blog they sure look nice and it also gave me something to laugh at and smile but I think we need to have more people on the blog not just two or three. I would like read something from hector or raymond or even Johnny and even Jimmy although Jimmy has put out some picture's but we need to get the other castillo's in the blog to give a shout out to every one.

Comments

Don't forget that you can post comments on each picture. If you don't know how to post a comment, all you need to do is click at the bottom of the picture where it says "0 comments", that means no one has commented on your posting, if they did, there would be a number there saying how many comments have been made. But if you want to comment, you can click on that and then post a comment.

If you need more help, let me know.

Mark Jr.

Breakfast - part 2

Brother bear showed up too.

Breakfast

We had breakfast with chipmunks, then Chip 'n' Dale showed up......

Looks good

Hey jimboy, it looks good

My Bonsai project put your order in i need money

My dog coco

Mark III, Jedi Master

Mark was picked out of the crowd to briefly train as a Jedi and during training Darth Vadar and Darth Maul showed up. Mark took out Darth Vadar while another kid had Darth Maul

Inside the room

Inside the room, the boys had the bunk beds and Megan and I got the big bed.

Me and Dillon

We were waiting in line to ride Star Tours. The boys picked the mouse ears with jack skeleton on them, they only like dark and menacing looking things.

THE NEW KING!?!?!?!

I'm sure Dillon will make a good King.

Disneyland Trip

Hanging around the fireplace.

This was at an outside fireplace at the Grand Californian Hotel. That's where we stayed on our trip to disneyland.

Tour de Castillo

The planning has begun. Now we need to start training.

Has any seen this guy?

Alert! Alert! Calling all cars, calling all cars! This man has been missing for some time now. Last seen wearing a white shirt and black vest. Goes by the name of Hector. I don't know what his wife calls him so we will stick with Hector for now. If you see him, please tell him that we love him. Please tell him that we care.

Hello

Hey Jimmy, I ran into your girlfriend in Tahoe. I can see why Jenny does not get jealous.

A little late, but.......

I know it a little late, but I'm thinking of ordering the De La Hoya/Mayweather fight. Anyone wanna come over and watch it, let me know. I'm not going to get it if I only watch it, but if there are a few takers then I'll hook something up. As always, I got beer and I can get some food to munch on. I know it's late in the week making plans but that's why we have email and now this blog, we need to get used to using it so we all stay in touch and can plan things better. You know me, I'm always last minute.

Hello all

hey mando nice pictures i will have to learn do pics also i got confused which one was blow up doll great job

Oh Yeah!

Here is a picture of my first love. I still care a lot for her.

Check it out

This would be a good picture if the deer in the middle was not taking a dump. Ha Ha

Looking Good!!

I think my dad would say " Heh, heh, you look sharp like you old man, heh, heh!"

Just strolling!!

Los tres amigos. Hey man, don mess wit me!

Hello everyone!!

Just out having some fun. That would be me, Armando Castillo.

Hello

Hi mando I like the picture's that you took of every body now I need to know how to put picture's on the blog just like you vanessa was the one to help me post this on the blog and she said I can post some picture's to so she is going to help me post some picture's after I write and say a few word's before I get off the computer so I just want to say Hi to any one else who can read this note and to tell them that post something on the blog so it won't just be two person's on the castillo blog.

Hello, it is me again.

Going out to dinner. Lobster night. Do you want to join me?