Bluestone's newest maintenance technician, Alex Mayo, was born in the Philippines and moved to the U.S. 34 years ago at the age of 20.

When the weather's nice, he plays basketball in the park and walks his very furry and affectionate Border Collie. Ruggy earned his name from the way he looks when lying down. “He gives me hugs when I get home, and he knows when I'm about to leave. He'll lay down in front of the front door; when I try to leave, he's right there and he won't move, he moves with the door.”

As for couch activity, Alex watches at least one movie a week and his preferred genre is action comedy. “I like the Rock’s movies, the John Wick movies, stuff like that.” For people who can’t handle the non-stop fights of John Wick, he recommends Denzel Washington's The Equalizer because it alternates between thrilling justice meted out to bad guys with quieter passages of backstory.

In the winter, he goes to movie theaters and doesn't mind falling asleep because it’s all about relaxing, which might be why he likes action movies—good ones keep you awake. In the summer he'd prefer to fall asleep by a pool.

One activity Alex really enjoys is cooking. “I have two roommates, but it seems like they can't cook as good as me. So they're like my assistants. One guy washes dishes, and the other one will chop.” He loves the process of preparing the meal and then sitting down to eat “with gusto.” His specialty is a soup made with pork or beef, bok choy, lemongrass, ginger, garlic, onions, a sweet potato, and maybe a handful of baby spinach. Rice is cooked separately and served with the soup.

Alex is planning a trip back to the Philippines, hopefully in February to coincide with his mother's 93rd birthday. He's also going to spend some time with his fiance and take care of some of the paperwork involved in bringing her over three months after that. And he’s going to be looking at some real estate, too. “My dream is to have a gas station. I’ll still be working here, but that would be generating income, too. They don't have a gas station in that town, so the whole community would get gas from us. Pretty soon, time flies by, the next thing you know is you're retired and at least you've got a business.” Sounds like he’s cooked up a pretty good plan—good luck, Alex!