Good Bye 2008

Well then, it seems that it is time to end another year.  It has been a crazy one with gas prices bouncing all over, the economy sucking and all.  There have been some good movies that came out and some good video games as well.  I personnally have gotten to do a lot this year, bunch of traveling and got married and all.  Hopefully next year works out fairly well also. 

Anyhow as far as a year in review, I'll leave it to JibJab.   I'm gonna go make breakfast.  

Tada!!!

Ok... real quick like.  Look to ths side of the page.  Check out the photoblog and my nerdy blog for info on the trip to New Mexico Skies.  It was really cool, and now it is nap time.

Goodies

Ok, so I figured I would post up some of the stuffs that I got for Christmas. Undoubtly I will forget stuffs, but it will give you all an idea.

Little Big Planet for the PS3 (it is a really cool game, and even Stella will play with me)
Iron Man Bluray
Indiana Jones Bluray (the new one)
A nice red sweater
A knit cap
Brad Paisley CD (the new one)
A book on being the president
A book about Eagle Scouts
An American flag flow on a combat mission over Afghanistan
A pail o' people chow
A set of coaster with pictures I took in them
A little multitool
Canasta deck


Again, I'm sure that there is more. I would like to thank everyone that I got something from and I hope you have all enjoyed your gifts as well. Go ahead, post up some of the cool things you got, either as a comment or on your blog.

As for me now, I'm enjoying another present. I am up at an observatory for a couple of nights. Hopefully there will be some really cool images to put up on the photo blog.

Christmas Morning Video

Christmas Menu

Just thought it would be fun to post up our Christmas Menus.

Wigilia

Caesar Salad

Platski

Dinner Rolls

Seared Salmon Steaks

Shrimp with Cocktail Sauce

Parmesan and Romano Rice

Vegetable Medley

Sparkling Cider

Christmas Cookies

Christmas Breakfast

Cinnamon Rolls

Fruit Salad

Mimosa

Christmas Dinner

Caesar Salad

Warm French Bread with Dipping Sauce

Honey Glazed Ham

Orzo

Green Bean Casserole

Garlic Mash Potatoes

Gewürztraminer

Ice Cream

Feel free to post your Christmas Menus as well.

Happy First Day of Winter

Well... unless you should be on the southern hemisphere... in which case, welcome to summer time!

Yes, once again we are in winter according to the calendar.  Today we will get the least amount of sun of any day of the year.  This will be much more noticable if you live in say, Alaska.  But still, less sunlight then any other day of the year.  

Turns out that meterologically we were in winter right after thanksgiving.  There is a very interesting thing about winter out here.  Yesterday I was wondering about in a tshirt during the day, but at night it dips down around freezing.  Oh, and there is snow in the mountains.  The ski resorts are open, but apparently only texans are there since there is only about 20 inches of snow. Thats right, 20 inches of snow and everyone is waiting for them to get real amounts of snow.  Last year the ski report had some with close to 150 inches of snow. And that is a lot of snow.

Now then... where are my tacos?

Christmasy Stuffs

Greetings to all of you,

  I know it has been a bit busy since I posted last so it has been some time.  But fear not, there has been much happening.  A lot of it has been work, which just hasn't been all that fun.  Also we finished out scouts for the year.  

Now then, as far as Christmas stuff goes, we have been having our advent dinners.  It has been really nice to get every one together and just get to relax.  As you may have guessed our last one will be tomorrow.  

The tree and inside stuff went up the friday after Thanksgiving.  A week or so later the outside lights went up and had a timer and all.  I should probably put a few pictures of them up so you can all bask.  It is not at the levels of Spud extravaganza, but I do have lights up outside. 

This morning I made Christmas cookies!  There are now happy chocolate chip cookies and not so happy oatmeal raisin cookies.  The oatmeal raisin cookies lack cohesion.  I think that I may need to get a new recipe for them.  But the chocolate chip ones came out quite nicely.  And they are red and green for the holiday spirit.  

Tonight we will be having a Holiday movie marathon.  I am working to watch all of our holiday movies plus a few that we rented.  I have made up a list of Holiday movies that we own (in no particular order):

• Bells of St. Mary's
  
• Muppet Christmas Carol
  
• How the Grinch Stole Christmas (animated)
  
• The Year without a Santa Claus
  
• White Christmas
  
• Santa Claus is coming to Town
  
• Frosty the Snowman
  
• Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
  
• Little Drummer Boy
  
• Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol
  
• Cricket on the Hearth
  
• Frosty Returns
  
• Christmas with the Simpsons
  
• The Simpson's Christmas 2
  

Now before you ask, I don't really know this Cricket on the Hearth business, it was in a set of Christmas DVDs and I knew all the others.

I need to look into getting Its a Wonderful Life as well and would like to get National Lampon's Christmas Vacation.  Feel free to add your suggestions too.

Happy...well, whatever today is, Saturday I think

So then... I know I haven't posted so much lately.  And there has been blogage by other happy bloggers, which is good to see.  Now then, that past week I have been busy as anything.  Getting up early and pting an then work and then other errands and then by the time I would get home collapse in bed.  

Thursday night we watched Horton Hears a Hoo on bluray which is really good.  The opening looks amazing from a quality standpoint.  It looks very realistic.  All of the movie is good, the opening is striking on bluray with a 1080P screen.  

On Friday I got to run around and get some stuff done.  I finally put up the outsite Christmas lights.  I have them on a timer with a photocell in it, so that they will come on a dusk and stay on for 3 hours.  Its pretty sweet.  Of course and added bonus of this was that I needed to get a staple gun too.  I was going to see about a ladder, but it seems they are a bit more expensive then I thought, so I am sticking with the step stool for now. That night was a tacky sweater party at one of our friends places.  It was a good time and there was some good eggnog, so all was good.  

Today has been a lot of home stuffs, cleaning dishes, laundry and the like.  Not all that productive, but stuff that needs to get done.  Then we have some errands to run and later today is the Christmas parade here in town.  Tomorrow is week 3 of our Advent dinners.  

Anyhow, I think that is about enough blogging for now, so I think that I shall stop and prehaps there will be more later.  Don't forget to check the twitter.

Fed Ex sucking continues!

As you may have picked up from the last post I have had issues with Fed Ex.  Being a customer and not being pleased with their relations to me (ie sucking at life) I wrote their customer relations department (see the post below), since they don't seem to have a customer service office.  This was their reply to me:

Thank you for taking the time to contact us.

I apologize, but you have reached FedEx Office Customer Relations, and
we do not have the ability to assist you with your request.  Your
inquiry is one that will need to be addressed by a FedEx shipping
representative.

For your convenience, I have forwarded your inquiry to
webmaster@FedEx.com. A FedEx representative will be contacting you
shortly to address your questions or concerns. Please feel free to
contact them directly by dialing 1-800-GO-FEDEX (1-800-463-3339).

Thank you again for writing.

Alisa Nielsen
Customer Relations

Now, since they have fowarded this email to Fed Ex shipping, just like they did last time, I'll give Fed Ex shipping till tomorrow to try to contact me.  Then it will be time to reach out again.  Of course, being confused that apparently the customer relations office is not about customer relations, I had to write back to them: 

Dear Sir, Ma'am, or Automated Machine that will tell me that this is not the function of your office,

I have emailed this address twice.  As far as I can tell you are customer relations.  As far as I can tell, since I have done shipping through you I am a customer.  In both of my emails I have complained that your customer service sucks.  I have written how I continually reach out to you and your company continues to ignore me.  This seems to be an issue with the way that you related to your customers, hence contacting customer relations.  However both of my emails have been replied to by saying that you can not help me that it isn't your office's job and then forward the email to Fed Ex shipping, who by the way is even worse at customer relations than you are.  I'm curious at this point, since your replies to my previous emails have led me to believe that your office (customer relations) has nothing to do with customer relations, so what is it you do?

Luckily their first response was quick, and automated!  Lets have a look:

Thank you for contacting FedEx Office!  Your comments are extremely important to us as they help us to improve our products and services.  Every email we receive is reviewed and in most instances responded to within 48 hours.  You may also contact one of our customer service professionals at 1-800-GoFedEx, 24-hours a day.

Please note if your email is regarding the change or cancellation of an online order we encourage you to contact us at our toll-free number listed above in order for us to provide you with immediate assistance.

Thank you again for taking the time to contact us, we sincerely appreciate your business.

Best regards,

FedEx Office Customer Relations

More Fed Ex Grumbles

So Fed Ex is still screwing with me.  I wrote to their customer relations people (for the second time now).  Here is what I had to say (the subject line was epic fail):

Dear Customer Relation Person,

    Lets start off that this is a customer relation issue.  You have failed me, and I happen to be the customer.  We'll start off at the beginning.  I placed an order from Amazon, and had it sent to me via 2 day shipping.  It was scheduled to be delivered 20 Nov.  Its tracking number was 994133804353.  Checking both the Amazon site and your site it stated it was delivered and let on my door at 1445.  I arrived home that day at 1700.  The box was not at my door, so I called your 800 number.  I was told that they would contact the local office, who would talk to the driver and they would call me the next day.  Today is 2 Dec, 12 days after I was told I would get a call about this package.  You have failed me.

  Since I did not get the call that I was suppose to get I emailed via your website.  I was told in an email reply on the night of 21 Nov that you would investigate under the number  20081120026160 and you would let me know as soon as you located the package.  I never heard anything else from that contact.  Since todays is 2 Dec and there has been nothing more from this it seems that you have just ignored me, the customer.  You have failed me.

Since you have never followed up on that I suppose that you have yet to locate the package.  I have gotten the package, it arrived in my mailbox (opened by the way) last week.  Now I emailed your customer relations on 25 November.  In this email I let you know that my box has arrived and asked why your company never followed up.  Your response was that it wasn't a customer service issue, and that Fed Ex ground would be contacting me.  Now hear it is 2 Dec and I still have yet to hear anything from Fed Ex ground from that contact. You have failed me.

Now, I have reached out to you a number of times.  Each time I get one email immediately after I contact I get one response that we will get back to me at some point.  Then I don't hear anything more from it.  Since I am a customer and you have continually failed me, I view this as a customer relations issue.  I would like to know why you don't seem to care about customers.  Perhaps why you can't keep track of packages (which I thought was what your company was based on).  Might be nice to know why my box was open when it finally got here.

But of course, based on my previous experiences from this, you'll send an email that we'll get to you and then I'll never hear back from you again.  So this means that you get today's Epic Fail.

And today's epic fail goes to...

FEDEX

So they still haven't responded to me.  I am gonna have to re-email them.  First they failed to get my box to me on time.  Then when I called to let them know that I didn't get my box and they promised that I would be hearing from them the next day.  They never called.  So I emailed again, got an email back that they were investigating and would get back to me.  So after a while I emailed the customer service people.  They of couse emailed me and said that it wasn't a customer service and they told me that it wasn't a customer service.  So now I am going to have to email them once again to let them know that they have failed.

In other news we had the first of our advent dinners.  I have posted some pictures of the table all done up nice.  Stella was quite happy to get to decorate everything and make it look like a magazine.  Everyone said that it was quite grown up and amazing looking.  So it was fun.  Now we have several other dinners, they will be a different locations, perhaps a little less formal.  

Well... follow the twitter

Happy Thanksgiving

So the past several nights Stella and I have been watching some shows on the History Channel (yes, the History Channel, not "History" as they would call themselves).  Mostly they've been on Thanksgiving and the holidays and food.  It has been quite interesting especially when the shows don't argee with each other, like one show said that Ben Franklin did not back the turkey as the national bird and another did.  But all in all they have been good. 

We learned all about the Puritans and how views of Thanksgiving evolved and such.  And how football became a large part of the holiday.  And yesterday Stella cooked up a turkey and was making bread and such.  So it was all very good.  

I would have to say that I'm thankful for my family (especially my beautiful wife) and friends.  And I hope that all of you have something to be thankful for as well.  As for me, I'm about to go turn on the Thanksgiving day parade.  Oh, and its raining here, I wonder if it'll be snow up in the mountains...

Grumble Grumble Fed Ex

Just so you all know....

I placed an order with a reputable online store (name here omitted to protect someone who will be getting some gifts this Christmas).  I have done business with them before and they have my trust.  They shipped this package to me via Fed Ex.  It was suppose to be 2 day shipping.  I had my tracking number and did a little tracking of the package, being a 2 day ship there is not much tracking that can be done.  So it was scheduled to be delievered on 20 Nov.  That evening I came home and I had a stack of boxes (stuff from a candle party and some other orders) but not this particular package.  So I checked the Fed Ex website.  It said that it had been delivered that day at 2:45 PM.  I had returned home at 5PM.  So not being able to find the box that they said was left at my front door, I called 1800 GOFEDEX (their telephone number) and had to fight with a machine for a while, which was totally useless, it merely told me what I already knew.  I finally got a human on the line and she pulled up the files and again told me the computer said that it had been delivered that day and was left at my door.  When I explained that it was not there she said that she would put in a note and the local office would contact the driver and I would get a call the next day.  

The next day came and went I received no phone call as to the location of my box.  So that evening I went online and contacted them through their website. They sent a reply that it was being investigated and gave me a case number and promised that I would be contacted once they found something.  

Well, time continued to march on and such.  Today when I came home the box was in my mailbox.  It had been opened and taped closed again.  Luckily everything was there that was suppose to be there.  However I still haven't heard anything else from Fed Ex. I sent them another email, to which I just got the automated reply that they would answer me with in 48 hours.  It will be interesting to see if they do, if not by 6 PM on Thanksgiving I will be sending more emails and such to them.

All in all this leaves some questions:

Where did my box go?

Why can't Fed Ex keep track of it packages, when its job is to keep track of its packages?

Who opened my box?  Was it a Fed Ex employee?

and the big one....   Why did Fed Ex never follow up on any contacts?  Do they not care about their customers?

Another Saturday is upon us

So again it is Saturday, so again I shall post!

Bernoulli decided to wake me up at 640 this morning cause she wanted to go out.  So since I was up I let her out and launched into the dishes and started laundry.  This then moved into more cleaning and I ended up vacuuming and cleaning the kitchen and the bathroom.  Then I decided the rest of the house needed to be vacuumed.  Plus I took the plege to the wood and waxed the floor.  Once everything was clean Stella and I broke out the bread machine and it is now in the process of making some Italian bread for us.  It should go well with stuffed peppers tonight.  

Oh, there has been a minor change in decoration.  There are now 2 Cork flags hanging behind the tv at that window.  And there are a number of candles through the house.  Stella says the place smells like a pine tree exploded.  So I am happy with the smell.  

We rented Kung Fu Panda last night and watched that and then sorta passed out.  Today we still need to take the critters to get nails trimmed and drop off the movies.  We will see if they have Tropic Thunder in today.  Then I think that we will bring the animals home and do some more errands.  We have stuff to drop off at goodwill and such.  Plus this evening we are going to see about getting some packages ready to mail out.  Plus there is undoubtedly some recycling that we need to take to the collection point.  

I started doing some Christmas shopping and have come across a problem.  I placed and order and Fed Ex says that they have delievered it, but when I got to the door that night there was not that box waiting for me.  I had a number of other boxes all happily waiting there.  Another Christmas present, some things from William Sonoma (we now have more knives), candles from the candle party.  

In other good news our Advent wreath came in.  I'll take some pictures, they will probably end up on the photo blog at some point.  This works out, since next Sunday we are hosting the first Advent dinner for our group.  We will be having an apple stuffed pork loin.  Haha!  Now you all wish that you lived here, don't you?  Stella will be going over to Cruces on Monday to pick up some stuffs which will include a holiday serving tray and some candles for the wreath.  

So then, I am still having problems with the desktop.  But I have contacted Compaq and they will be sending me a box so that I can send it back since it is still under warranty.  So hopefully it will be fixed and they can send it back to me in working order so that I can set it up.  Stella's laptop is on the fritz again, it is not having trouble booting.  So she is saving up to get a macbook.  So that will be interesting.  

Oh, and I've recieved some questions wether or not it has been cold enough to have the fire going.  It has been, last night it got down into the mid 20's.

Other then that I can't think of anything for this blog, so I will end my post and wish you all a happy weekend.  Oh, and we have been living in this house for over a month now.  And mom, should you want to come out and visit just let us know when  you want to come and if Spud will be coming too. 

Avast All yee Land Lubbers!

Well, some body has to post here still.  So I will.  Ta Da!

Now then, if you follow the Twitter you will know that Stella and I were out in Cruces yesterday (which happens to be the second largest city in New Mexico [Albuquerque being one and Santa Fe being 3]).  We ran some errands and all, stopped by Best Buy, which turned out to have Cool Runnings for 5 bucks, so now we own that.  Plus Stella got to gaze upon Macbooks.  Then we went over to Hobby Lobby which is like Micheals.  There was much stuffs to look at and all, and Stella really enjoyed it.  The we went up and strolled through the mall.  The Chick-fil-a peppermint chocolate chip milkshakes are pretty darned good.  And it happens to be the location of the closest Barnes and Noble to me.  

Speaking of Barnes and Noble, we got books!  We got a collection of 7 HG Wells books, the antique looking collection of all the Hitchhicker's Guide to the Galaxy Books, The Brothers Karamov (I think thats the spelling) and a soup cook book.  Yes, that is how cool we are, I know you are all jealous.  

Anyhow, after that we went over to Bed Bath and Beyond, cause we still had a gift card from the wedding.  So now we have some more thanksgiving towels and a nice Christmas tablecloth and matching napkins.  Plus we have some napkin rings, so things can look all nice when we have peoples over.  Then there was a trip to Target.  We got more curtians and a Christmas rubbermade for the storage of Christmas items.  Yay!  

We got back into town and had to head over to St. Jude's for the St. Martin's Day celebration with the Germans.  There was singing (in German) and then a procession and of course a bon fire.  Now, I am sad to say that there were no sugared pretzels.  However we did have gluehwien and I had a bockwurst.  And now Stella likes gluehwien.  

And finally we came home and lit a fire and got pizza.  It is really cool to have a fire place out here.  I suppose mom will have to come out and visit again so she can see the new house and meet the puppy.  But I think that is all the posting for today, for we must make a run to the commissary and then Stella has craft day with the CWOC and I must do some houseworks.  There will be cleaning afoot!

Happy Veterans Day

A veteran is someone who has served or who is serving in the US Armed Forces.  So take a moment and think about any veterans you know.  

Veterans day started with the end of World War I, the Great War.  Germany signed an armistice on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918.  This offically ended the bloody conflict.  It wouldn't become a legal holiday for another 20 years.  It was frequently remembered with ceremonies, but in 1938 Armistice Day became a legal holiday to commemorate the veterans of WWI. And so it would continue for a time.

Soon though another war broke out, and more men and women served in the armed forces.  And thus more veterans came home.  A shoe store owner in Kansas thought that the all veterans should be remembered, not just those of WWI.  So he started in his town and the idea caught on, one of the Kansas representatives brought the idea to Washington.  And finally on May 26, 1954 President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed off on it changing Armistice Day to Veterans Day.  

So take a few moments, think about the people you know who are veterans.  Think about those that you don't know who are half way around the world in harm's way.  If you get a chance, thank a veteran. 

I'd like to thank:

Pop

Spud

Mr. O

Uncle Jimmy

Uncle John

Mike

Fuzzy

Bill

and all of my other friends who are veterans.

Oh, and you can go here and look at stuff.

This is today's cartoon from Air Force Blues.  I strongly recommend you visit their site.

People are in Need of a good fish slapping

Dear General Populous,

 

    It has come to my attention that you are all idiots and therefore in need of this notice.  Lets all take a look at our calendar's and realize that it is in fact only November.  I understand that you all seem to be caught up in Christmas is coming and the goose is getting fat.  But lets pause and look at a few things.  For starters, we just wrapped up Halloween and as it should be Halloween stuff is on sale.  Now is the time that you should have thanksgiving stuff out.  However it would seem that Thanksgiving is too much of an honest holiday, it isn't about buying stuff and decorating and hoopla, it is about being home with your family, about being thankful that you aren't dead yet and perhaps wondering why there is a buckle on your hat.  But everyone seems to forget it.

   In stores Christmas trees are up, Christmas music is playing.  But to be politically correct we can't call a Christmas tree a Christmas tree, we should probably be calling it a holiday plant friend who allows us to live.   And you can gather round it and sing that you are dreaming of a Caucasian holiday.  (For more on that I would direct you to the Brad Paisley song found here.).  

   Back to the stores though.  For some reason, as I noted today on my twitter.  The Thanksgiving stuff is on sale, as though the holiday had come and gone.  It is shoved out next to the Halloween stuff as though we are done with it.  But it isn't for several weeks still.  Yet the Christmas stuff is out in force.

   Now then, lets remember that you can view Christmas from the secular season or as the religious season.  Now lets say that you want to go with the secular season.  Now, for this you need Santa Claus.  And we all know that he shows up at the Thanksgiving day parade.  So that is the start of the secular season, no problems putting up the tree and decorations after Thanksgiving.  Now lets say you want to go with the religious season.  Well for this one your waiting for Jesus to be born, so that season starts on Christmas (with midnight Mass on Christmas Eve).  That runs to the Epiphany.  Personally I do them both, put my tree up after Thanksgiving and then leave it up till the Epiphany, but thats me.

  I can't begrudge stores like Lowes and Home Depot, they have stuff out so that you can have it ready, but they don't have their stores decorated for Christmas and don't have the Christmas musics blaring when you walk into the store.  

So in closing... knock of these sheniganhs or you will be slapped with a fish!!

-Me 

  

Guy Fawkes Day

Remember, remember, the fifth of November, gunpowder treason and plot. I see no reason why the gunpowder treason should ever be forgot.

You can learn more about the gunpowder plot here. Or you could do your own research.

I suppose that I'll be watching V for Vendetta today.


And... well, perhaps they'll be more posting later.

Presidental Debates

A throw back to a few weeks back......


Welcome to tonight's debate, I'm your moderator... Old News Guy. Tonight both candidates have agreed to the following rules. I'll ask a question and the candidates will then respond by launching off into a rehearsed speech about whatever you want. Then they go over the time limit as I whimper softly. Then the opposing candidate will thank everyone they've ever seen and follow by attacking their opponent with accusations of being funded by terrorists who eat babies and kick fuzzy animals.



Just remember.. I'm not making a mockery of the system, it was a mockery well before I got here.

Election Night Stupidity

Ahhh... the wonders of the fast food lifestyle, why wait till precincts start reporting in? Lets just start choosing for peoples who won the states.




I look forward to 2012, perhaps we can get the news to just report who the winner is the day before hand, it should really cut down on lines at the polls.


But really people... you aren't gonna know who won no matter how much election coverage you watch. You aren't gonna know tomorrow morning when you turn on the news. You actually have to wait for the electoral college to meet.

Now then, on another note. We all know that if the president can't be president the vice president steps up, then the speaker of the house, then the president pro tempe of the senate, followed by a string of cabinet members. But lets launch into something a bit different...

Lets say, that candidate X and his running mate Y are running against candidate L and his running mate M. Now, for our argument lets say X and Y win. X becomes the president elect. Now over Christmas X and Y go skiing and through an accident both are eaten by an abominable snowman. Who do they swear in in January?

Election Day

Step 1. Determine if you are a US citizen, if yes, continue if no, then consider beginning to pay taxes

Step 2. Determine if you are old enough and registered to vote. If yes, continue, if no, either age or do paperwork

Step 3. Determine who is running (this should be easy)

Step 4. Figure out where people are on issues (this will be hard) Should you wish to skip this step, seal yourself in the voting cubicle and close your eyes and just mark randomly on the ballot, its just as good.

Step 5. Go out and vote, vote based on your views of where people stand. If you don't know what you believe on the issues and can't say where the people you wish to vote for stand please don't mucky up my government.

Remember.... if you don't go out to vote on tuesday you have no right to complain on wednesday.

Trick or Treat

Trick or Treat, Trick or Treat, Trick or Treat for Halloween
When ghosts and goblins by the score,
ring the bell or pound your door,
better not be stingy or your little white house turns green.

Happy Halloween

A very Happy Halloween to you all! Should you be one of those people who doesn't think any one should celebrate Halloween because you are a nut case, you can stop reading my blog now.

For the rest of you, I hope you are enjoying your day and that all younger ones have a grand time trick or treating. We will be handing out candy tonight or else I will have much candy that I will have to start consuming tomorrow.

Also I hope that any one who would enjoy them has been watching some Halloween type movies. So far at our house we have watched Nightmare before Christmas, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Its the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, Hocus Pocus, and Sleepy Hallow (the live action one). I am some what limited to not getting to really watch horror movies, but its ok. Today I fully intend on watching Disney's Halloween treat and the 1930 Universal Horror Classic Frankenstein!

Well, I suppose that will wrap up this post, so to all you ghouls and gobblins out there, Happy Haunting.

Conspiracy

So the other day they had on the History Channel (no, it is not just History, its the History Channel, salt is not a modern marvel and Ice Road Truckers should be on the Discovery Channel) they had a show about 9/11 conspiracies. It was interesting to watch. Someone would come on and swear that there was no possible way an aircraft could crash in a certain manner or it is impossible for a building to fall in such a manner. Then someone who knew what they were talking about would come on (aero engineers, structural engineers, demolition experts) and would explain how things worked in the real world.

The best part is when they tried to say the whole thing was a government conspiracy. Then one of the experts came on and was talking about the myth of the hyper-competent government. Then I had a great idea to do away with these foolish theories. Make all the people who thing it was a big government cover up work for the government for about a month. Then they will come to realize the government can't pull it off. It will work itself out.

A Headline

So there is a headline on one of my google gadgets saying that the UN hopes for an Obama win. However, you must realize that the UN is kinda useless in present form. Its mostly a debating club. When something goes bad in the world does the UN say "Hey, lets go fix this problem?" No. There answer is "Lets pass a resolution that might possibly lead to sanctions if the problem gets worse in a few years". Then they sit around and debate about what they meant when they said it.

This is why we need NATO. Its like a possy. Something goes wrong and you say to NATO "Come on boys, lets go fix this" and then they go. Sure, dipolmatic action is the best way to take care of things but it usually works better when you have a position that if this is the right thing to do we are going to do it, and if it means using force in the end then we will use force. I mean, after all, your probably not that afraid of a toothless wolf. Not a whole lot of people are getting mawed to death. And its worse if its a 50 year old toothless fat wolf who wants to pass a sanction against you.

Another week down

So another week has gone by, I figure that I should post again. Not too much has been happening. We are now basically all unpacked, which is nice. There is soo much more room around here without boxes everywhere. So that is a plus, though it means that I will have to vacuum again. Boo to that.

Other then that I'm not sure what else to really put, reading 2001 which is a really good book, it explains so much more then the movie did. I think it will be quiet interesting to finish the book and then watch the movie again. Stella has never seen it all the way through. We started watching, but had to stop to run errands and such about halfway through. So we still need to sit down and watch that.

Saturday there is a Halloween party, which will be interesting. Plus during the day I will be up at the space museum to teach some kids about gyros and navigation. Yay for science!! Then Sunday we are hiking up a mountain with some Bishops and the youth group. So I will be out most of that day.

Hey

Everyone!


Check out the photosynth post of the nerd blog!!

Howdy

Ahoy there all of you.

So last night we had a few people over to see the new place and we craved some pumpkins and watched some Halloween type movies and in general had a good time. There was a good deal of unpacking that got done last week, as you can tell from the photos on the photo blog. The kitchen and living room are mostly set up. And in today's running I have picked up a box of those logs for the fireplace and some fire tools. So now we are ready to have a nice fire and all.

To Skippy, I must say that I am sorry, but I now plan to horde all of my Disney movie codes. I am in need of Donald in Mathemagic Land. Also I will be ready should new movies pop up that I may wish to acquire through this system.

We went to the gun show this morning and then picked up the truck that finally seems to work again. Stella had a CWOC craft day so I came home and have been a bum for a few hours. But after I finish up posting I am going to have to go forth and wash dishes and the like. Oh, we also made pumpkin bread. And baked pumpkin seeds. All fresh from the pumpkins we carved. It was a good time all around.

Well, I do believe that will finish things up for this post.

Vote Kodos!

The politics of failure have failed!! We need to make them work again!

We must go forward, not backward! Upward, not forward! And twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom!

Any how, it would seem that the time to be sealed in the voting cubicle is drawing near. I look forward to an orderly election that will eliminate the need for a violent blood bath.

So just a few random questions to see if anyone reads this or knows how things work around here.

1. How old must you be to run for president?

2. How many electoral votes do you need?

3. How many electoral votes does your state get? (Please name the state you vote in)

4. Are you planning to vote for Kang? (Remember, he is running on a platform of enslaving all mankind)

Don't blame me! I voted for Kodos.




5. I really hope you get the reference....

Unpacking and cleaning

So things are more updated then when I took the pictures. Now there are some things hung up on the walls. We have our shelves up so that the bar ware is up, you know, take care of the important stuff first. Plus we have a number of pictures and such hung up and a chunk of the books are on shelves. My diploma is hanging above my desk next to my commission plus I have a Simpsons movie poster up.

Bernoulli really seems to enjoy the backyard, but seems to be afraid to walk across the kitchen to get there. She is learning to come back inside when we open the door though, so that is a good thing. There are times that she will run around the house or just lay out somewhere, but other times she'll just sit in her cage and look sad. The cat is enjoying having piles of boxes around so that it can hide it them.

Today we are going to clean the old apartment. We have a bit more stuff to bring over, like the kitchen stuff. But by the end of today we should be totally out of the other place, so we will just have to unpack stuff here. Yay for that!

Anyhow, I will take some more pictures at some point and post those too so you can all enjoy the progress that we are making. It now seems that it is time to go out and work on cleaning the apartment. So I will post again some other time. It seems the cat is getting in the toilet again.

Home

So now I am in the new home!

If you need the address email me.

There is much unpacking to do.

Also there is cleaning to do at the other place.

Now is time for sleep though.

Blah

Ok


So we couldn't find the trip up to the trinity site, so we ended up going home and sleeping a bit more. Don't be waiting for any photos of the site. You will have to make do with what is up there.

Though there is still the Fiesta de Familia happening that we will be going to this evening. So there will be some Mexican foods for dinner and such. Plus some packing and all, seeing as how we are moving next Friday.

So this week I need to see about getting stuffs transferred to the new address and all. Hopefully I can get it all taken care of and then perhaps next weekend we can put up some pictures of the new place.

Werewolves of London

I saw a werewolf with a Chinese menu in his hand
walkin through the streets of Soho in the rain.
He was lookin for the place called Lee Ho Fooks, gonna get a big dish of beef chow mein.

Chorus:
Aaahoo, werewolves of London
Aaahoo(2x)

Ya hear him howlin around your kitchen door, ya better not let him in.
Little old lady got mutilated late last night, werewolves of London again.

Chorus 2x

He's the hairy, hairy gent, who ran amok in Kent.
Lately he's been overheard in Mayfair.
You better stay away from him, he'll rip your lungs out Jim.
Huh, I'd like to meet his tailor.

Chorus 2x

Well, I saw Lon Chaney walkin with the queen, doing the werewolves of London.
I saw Lon Chaney Jr. walkin with the queen, doin the werewolves of London
I saw a werewolf drinkin a pina colada at Trader Vic's
And his hair was perfect.

ahhhooooo, werewolves of London
Draw blood




Just a note, I managed to avoid getting bitten by the werewolves.

Home

Ok, so I am home.

So since the last post I got to spend some time in London, took a bunch of photos and all. Once I get this post up I'll begin on posting some photos, since I have had a few travels since the last photo post.

The flight home was long, it was about 10 hours. I got to watch a lot of movies on the flight. Not overly many good movies, but I did get to watch several. It took longer then we thought to get through customs, so we ended up missing our connection to El Paso, so we got to spend more time in Dallas then originally planned. So I didn't get back home till a bit after midnight. Then there was need for sleep.

Today is running errands, which is getting to be a pain because the truck needs to get fixed, but apparently there is only one place in town that can fix it, and the one guy who can fix it is out for the week. Grumble. So I think it is gonna be nap time here pretty soon. I'm still kinda on London time.

Tomorrow we are going to the Trinity site, its where they blew up the first atomic bomb. It should be kinda interesting. And then there is a festival thing this weekend. So there should be some stuffs to do this weekend.

London

In london

at business center, costs £s to get on the net

quick update, went into town tonight, going again tomorrow

more pics when i get back

hello to all!

keyboard weird

Updates!

First off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! I know its a bit late, but the interwebs were broken (see post below).


OK, so I have been running around and have gotten to see some stuffs. Yesterday we drove out to the coast and saw the Pembrokeshire Coastal Trail. We only walked a bit of it. I can see where it would be very cool to take about 2 weeks and backpack the whole thing. I took lots of pictures, some of which I will be uploading to the photo blog after this post is up. On the note of pictures, I have now taken over 1 Gig of pictures. So I have lots and lots of them. I doubt that they will all end up on the photo blog, but I'm working to make sure that a good selection find its way up there.

So today we went down to see Cardiff. Got to tour the castle, hopped on the sight seeing bus. We went down and saw the cultural center and took in some opera. There was a guy playing piano and another guy singing Figaro. So that was cool to see. Then we wandered around Cardiff Bay, ate "american" food. A burger made with Welsh beef has a different taste to it. I'm sure that once again I'm not allowed to give blood. Then we saw some of the National Museum. I got some dragons, I hope that you all like them. And then we headed back.

Now that I'm done with this post, it will be time to upload some pictures.

Interwebs

Oh interwebs... why do you suck here?


Well, there is but one thing to do when the interwebs break in Wales, enjoy some Brains.



BRAINS!!! Not just for Zombies anymore!

Ahoy

So then, I have been hanging out here in Cymru for a while and have been enjoying some beers. I've enjoyed the Brains. I'd say you can skip the Evans Evans Warrior, it wasn't that great. Tetley's is a good one, but it makes me think of tea. And tonight I enjoyed Cwrw Haf, which is a Welsh ale.


Just remember in Welsh Ll is pronounced Cl, so a Llama is a Clama.

Also, sometimes W is a vowel.

Beer

She called me late last night, to say she loved me so
It didn't matter anymore,
I say she never cared
And that she never will,
I'd do it all again
I guess I'll have to wait until then

[chorus]
And if i get drunk well, I'll pass out
On the floor now baby
You won't bother me no more
And if you're drinkin' well, you know
That you're my friend and I say
I think I'll have myself a beer

[verse]
She called me late last night, to say she loved me so
but I guess you changed her mind.
Well I should have known, it wouldn't be all right,
but I can't live without her
So I won't even try...

[chorus]
And if I get drunk well, I'll pass out
On the floor now baby
You won't bother me no more
And if you're drinkin' well, you know
That you're my friend and I say
I think I'll have myself a beer

[interlude]

Maybe some day, I'll think of what to say
Maybe next time I'll remember what to do
She looks like heaven, maybe this is hell
Said she'd do it all again, she'd promise not to tell!

[chorus]
And if I get drunk well, I'll pass out
On the floor now baby
You won't bother me no more
she said,
it's okay boy cause you know
we'll be go friends and I say
I think I'll have myself a beer
I think I'll have myself a beer

Woohoo etc
yeah yeah yeah
woohoohoo


I'm just off to have a beer.

This is nothing like the movies

So then, yesterday didn't end up working so we toured around. We attempted to go to one castle, but as it turns out Wales for the most part just doesn't bother with mondays. So any how, we ended up going up to Hay on Wyre, which is apparently called the town of books. We were going to see Hay Castle. It was a book store. Every other shop was a book store. Book stores everywhere. My mom would have loved it.

So we saw that plus we saw the cathedral in town here. Then there was some sacking out, which was good, cause I was a tired peoples.

So then today was dull, went to work. There is a huge fricken hill that is rather annoying. And there were lots of sheep. Sheep to the left, sheep to the right, sheep in front of me, sheep behind. Which reminds me, if you are not a member of the sheep of the day club, but would like to be, leave a message and perhaps your email, or email me and let me know.

Then I had some corned beef pie for dinner. It was quite good. Plus the lady there though my accent was amazing, though I never thought of myself as having an accent. But any way, I think that it is time to go continue my beer-tastic quest!

Cymru

So then, I have been hanging out in Wales for a while and things are going alright. Got in late Friday night and just crashed. Something about basically being up for 40 some hours. Saturday we wandered around the town here and we went down to some caves in a national park. There are pictures of both already on the photo blog. Oh, and I had boar sausage and Brains. Brains being a beer brewed in Cardiff.

Today was a bit of a setup day but nothing in the afternoon. So we drove out to see White Castle. There were no burgers and not much in the way of a castle either. Then we went on a hike to see the rest of the 3 castles. As it turns out we saw sheep, cows, sheep, the foundation of a mill, sheep, a barn, sheep and sheep. But it was a decent walk. Tonight I tried some Evans Evans beer. Another Welsh beer, not as good as Brains.

And tomorrow has been pushed back a bit, so it looks like we won't have to go in till the afternoon. So we will be checking out the cathedral and the castle here in town. Look for more pictures to come.

Oh, also I have gotten a Welsh love spoon. There was a craft fair so I got to chat with the guy who made it, and he carved 2 S's on it. It really looks nice. Other then that I'm not sure what else to say for now. So I will end this post.

I am in Wales

So lets do a bit of a run down.

I woke up at 0645 18 Sep 08 MST

I left my house at 0745 18 Sep 08 MST

I got on the first plane at 1030 18 Sep 08 MST

Got off the plane in London 0742 19 Sep 08 BST

Got through customs 0830 19 Sep 08 BST

Ended up driving about London trying to get things sorted

Drove to Bath, UK. Got there about 1730 19 Sep 08 BST

Got into hotel in Wales about 2315 19 Sep 08 BST

Time of post 0030 20 Sep 08 BST

On the plane there was a small child sitting behind me that kept crawling over the seat and tried to crawl into mine.

I haven't had much in the way of sleep, a few brief catnaps on the plane and the like. Had some food on the plane, but traveling today I've had a sandwhich, a soda and some pringles. I am now tired, stinky, but not overly hungry. It is time to shower and sleep. Nice big British breakfast in the morning.

Hooray Friday!

Ok, so it is Friday and life is good. So I got pretty much everything done that I needed to for work. It has been some long days this week, but next week should be quieter and getting home a bit earlier. I was going to be going camping this weekend, but we have been getting a lot of rain (cause the pacific ocean is depressed). So since we were gonna be at the bottom of a canyon in a flash flood watch it was called off.

As far as my computers go, I got an answer back for some more stuff to try to get the desktop working. Luckily both our laptops have been running well and the router is up and kicking so the interwebs continue to work.

Now it would seem that the truck is doing the same thing once again. This will be the third time, but since we live in Alamogordo I have to wait till monday to take it in to get looked at. Last time they didn't charge me, so they had better not this time. It is really getting annoying.

On the really good news side of things we have found a nice house to rent. So hooray for that. It is actually a nice place and a nice area of town. So we will be moving in October. Hooray for moving. Its is a 2 bedroom, only 1 bathroom. The living room is bigger plus there is a fenced yard. So we will be able to let the dog out and she can run about in the yard. It also means that I will have to get a lawnmower. But I will have somewhere to put grills. Now, I haven't gotten to see the house yet. Stella has walked through it and looked around and really likes it.

Now the dog is chasing the cat about. Its nice that they play with each other.

And finally I am going to the UK on Thursday. That is only 6 days away. I will be taking my computer and a camera or too. So while I might not be posting on the nerd blog so much, look for some pictures though.

Oh, and Dreamworks is in town. Apparently they have taken up every hotel room in town. And they are filming on base. I've driven past some of the sets, its kinda funny. Apparently there have been some stars spotted around town.

I like this commercial

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5BxymuiAxQ



The song keeps getting stuck in my head.

This never gets old does it?
Nope.
It kinda makes ya wanna
break into song
Yup.

I love the mountains,
I love the clear blue skies,
I love big bridges,
I love when great whites fly!

I love the whole world,
and all its sights and sounds.
Boom De Yatta, Boom de yatta, Boom de yatta, Boom de yatta

I love the oceans,
I love real dirty things,
I love to go fast,
I love Egyptian Kings!

I love the whole world,
and all its craziness.
Boom De Yatta, Boom de yatta, Boom de yatta, Boom de yatta

I love tornadoes,
I love arachnids,
I love hot magma,
I love the giant squid

I love the whole world,
its such a brilliant place.
Boom De Yatta, Boom de yatta, Boom de yatta, Boom de yatta
Boom De Yatta, Boom de yatta, Boom de yatta, Boom de yatta
Boom De Yatta, Boom de yatta, Boom de yatta, Boom de yatta




and should you be into gaming:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQFFxjzJQfs&NR=1

Blarg!

So I'm feeling a bit down. My computer died yesterday (the desktop). We went out and got a new one, but currently that one is not working (there is more on the nerd blog). So I feel like I've wasted 4oo bucks cause I now have 2 non-functioning desktops sitting around here.

Yesterday we cleared out the big closet and reorganized it. We got rid of some stuff and repacked others in rubber-made so it stacks nicer. Also we were able to stick all of the empty containers in there so that they are out of the way. It made the closet much better in terms of organization and all, plus it got the office looking better cause we were able to get the empty containers and a few full ones out of there. So yay for that. However due to computer issues and repair attempts the office is a mess again.

On the upside we did book our Disney reservation. For the most park we are going along with the Skippy plan, cause it is quite well laid out. Thought we vote to go to the Japanese place over the Beirgarden. Also I think that we will be out on our own for the first night that we are there (that arrival day). Otherwise we are planning on coming to all the meals that Skip laid out. So yay for Skippy!

And I think that this is where we shall end this post, look for more later.

And now for something completely different

BEER!!

Ok so we all know about beer. And I know many readers are familiar with European beers. And are also aware of American beers. And probably some Mexican beers. I must say mostly I like European. There are some American ones that are good. I have come to really enjoy Landshark Lager. If you haven't tried it, pick some up, its pretty good. And I also have found that I don't like Mexican beer so much. I mean Negra Modela and Dos XX are alright, but given the choice I would pick something else.

Which brings us to the point of this post. I've been trying some Asian beer, cause it is different. I have found that Singha is good. It is a Thai beer, so next time you go out to eat Thai, order one and try it out (Nick, you have to wait a few months still). Also go out and try some Thai food, but be warned it can be rather spicy. They will ask you for a spice level, and should you be concerned, go with a zero.

Tonight I had Sapporo, which is a Japanese beer. Mostly cause we had one from a sample pack and we had Chinese food. I found some recipes for Chinese that is more authentic then most of the stuff you order. We've been making different recipes and it is quite tasty. But tonight we ordered stuff, which means that I got to have some General Tao's Chicken. Since it is spicy I only get it when we order food. And tonight was a bit spicier then normal. But it was good.

And since we have gone into different foods, I can say that I also have had some Cuban food on my trips to Florida. The Cuban sandwhich is quite good.

As far as beers go though, go out and try some different ones, if you find one you like, post it on here and I'll see about trying it as well.

And I think that we will end this post for the time being.

And some other news too

Well beginning of this week it looked like my trip to the UK was going to be canceled, but it now appears that we will in fact be heading out there, which I'm excited about. But the truck needs to be looked at again, for the same reasons as a couple weeks back, which really kind of ticks me off. So I guess that I will be doing that tomorrow morning. Plus we have to get Stella's car registered. And I guess that I will need to up the lease on the apartment. Oh joy, I get a day off, but it seems that I will be running errands all day.

Plus I need to work on cleaning up the big closest. Plus I think that I am gonna need to go on a recycle run. And then there will be weekend cleaning. Yay, what a fun sounding weekend. But I would like to go to see about getting a cheap old speaker at goodwill for some experiments. Don't worry, I'm sure that something will turn up on the other blog.

I believe that will suffice for this post, don't worry, I"m sure that more will come at some point.

Yay College Football!

So tonight is the opening of the NFL season. But oh wait, I don't really care. Basically you have a bunch of younger players that all think that they should have the million dollar contracts, so much so that they leave school with no degree and think that a sport is a solid career plan, even though one good hit could end their career totally. Then you have the people making the millions on their contracts, thinking they are above the law and untouchable. So they do things like drugs and such and if they get caught they have the money to make it go away, setting a horrible example for kids. Then you have old men who should have retired but are trying to relieve their younger days.

I prefer college football. The motivation isn't I'm making a million buck s cause I'm here, its this is something I take on in addition to my normal classes because I enjoy it. And yes, I realize that some players just see it as a setting stone to the NFL to make those big bucks, but it is still more of a game that the players are into.

And I am glad to say that the Mountaineers won their opener. They beat out Villanova 48-21. It would have been great if I had gotten to see it, but it wasn't televised out here. So I just had the game cast, which is not nearly as fun. But this week they will be taking on East Carolina. Hopefully we'll keep this streak going and put another W on the board.

College Football season

Once again college football season is upon us. So best of luck to all the teams, especially PSU and VT.

But most importantly WEST VIRGINIA!!

And I will leave you with this:

Let's give a rah for West Virginia
And let us pledge to her anew,
Others may be black or crimson,
but for us it's Gold and Blue.
Let all our troubles be forgotten,
Let college spirit rule,
We'll join and give our loyal efforts
For the good of our old school.

It's West Virginia, It's West Virginia
The Pride of every Mountaineer.
Come on you old grads, join with us young lads,
It's West Virginia now we cheer!
Now is the time, boys, to make a big noise
No matter what the people say,
For there is naught to fear; the gang's all here,
So hail to West Virginia, Hail!

Avast, ya salty bale o' hay!

So then, I have been testing this week, so I've been working nights. It has been fun and all, but now I am done for a bit. And so I get to enjoy my 4 day weekend. Hooray for that. Plus next week is a 3 day week to be followed by a 3 day weekend. Its a tough job but someone has to do it.

Plus in a couple of weeks I have to go to the UK, so you can expect some pictures of that. I know that I have not been putting up to many pictures, but there hasn't been a lot that I have been taking pictures of recently.

The animals have begun playing with each other, which is good to see. Hopefully Bernoulli will stop ripping up everything. That would be nice.

As far as houses out here go, most of them aren't that grand. Everything is beat up and worn down. Things that wouldn't be bad to buy as a fixer uper, should you be willing to put the time and effort into repairing them, but just to rent they aren't worth it. So I think that most likely we will end up staying here.

oh, and tomorrow is the beginning of football season, so I must say

LETS GO MOUNTAINEERS!!!!

Blarg!

Alright, so I thought that a bit of an update may be in order. So I have returned home and will be here for a while, I leave to go to the UK for a bit in September, but other wise it looks like I will be here a few months. Which will be nice.

I have a bit of a cold. Which is somewhat understandable, I've had an odd schedule and traveling back and forth. So I intend on doing a good share of sleeping this weekend. But there is much to do. It seems that we have a roof stomp tonight, there is a concert tomorrow and some friends are all getting together for an Olympic dinner Sunday night. We will be skipping the concert to stay in, spend some time together and all.

Also tomorrow we are going to look at some houses to rent. We probably won't be moving until October, cause our lease will be up. While this is a nice apartment complex they want to jack up the rent and all. Where as there are some 2-3 bedroom houses that are about $250 less then what we pay here. And yes, we may have to pay a couple extra bills like water, but I think that we would end up paying a bit less, plus have things like a yard for the dog. So we will see how that goes.

I think that I will end this post for now, for it is nearly dinner time. Taco, Taco, Taco...

Yay

So it looks like I will be home for a few months now, well other than my trip to the UK. Yay for being home!

Also, we are looking into renting a house.

Home

I made it home safely, had I been on the next flight out I would still be in Orlando right now.

The pets are doing well.


Stella unpacked all her stuff so there is all sorts of new stuffs all over the apartment. Also today a box arrived so we now have another quilt for to keep us all toasty warm. Thank you mom! and even some thanks to skippy who seemed to help.

Fay

So as of now Fay made landfall down in south Florida on the Gulf coast. They had a reporter on a beach in Brevard talking about the winds and rains there (I happen to be about a block from the beach in Brevard). Out my window it is raining, but doesn't seem too bad. Orlando Airport's website claims that they are still up and functioning normally with no cancellations expected.


So in the words of the Joker..... Here we go!

Rains and Wind

So I have finished up the business of this trip to Florida. Now I can attempt to go home in the morning. Of course there is a small issue that may arise. Tropical Storm Fay. Now I don't really know if it will be a problem or not. For a while they were saying that it would get up here around Sunday, this morning they said it would be over Orlando tomorrow. Now it might not get there till tomorrow evening. If all goes well my plane will get off and I can go home.


Right now the plan calls for me to be home for about 3 weeks, then there will be a mess of traveling. Probably a week down here, few days at home, 2 weeks in the UK, few days at home then I think that I am gonna be back down here for a while.

I have been starting to study Japanese... cause, well, why not?


And I'll close with a happy thought. I should get to fly on a 757 tomorrow, not just DC-9s. Plus there should be a mint involved!

More Updating!

Ok, so it comes to my attention that you all may not have known about my finger. A week or so ago we were all playing football and I went to catch the ball. It hit my fingers and the one got really puffy. It is still a bit puffy and such.

I am still in need of a haircut.

I went to see Tropic Thunder, which all in all was a good movie, it was funny and all. Pretty much a bunch of stars making fun of Hollywood.

It was a cloudy day and all.

There may be a hurricane coming this way, yay!

Avast!

So I've had a couple long days. But I am still out here in Florida, alive and kicking. It would seem that mostly I eat sleep and work out here. Though we have Friday off and I'm considering taking in a movie or two. Also I am in need of a haircut.

And now for some random thoughts


My finger is still swelled up

I have a reservation up at the observatory for right after Christmas

I've been watching Star Trek

MOOOOSE!

Travel to Florida

So, as I seem to be traveling to Florida a bit, lets just walk through a travel day out here.

2 AM Wake up
3 AM Leave Alamo
430 AM Check In
530 AM Board Plane
6 AM Take off
840 AM Land at DFW
910 AM Board Plane
940 AM Take off
115 PM Land MCO
145 PM Get Bag
200 PM Pick Up Car
210 PM Eat
220 PM Leave for Cocoa Beach
330 PM Arrive Cocoa Beach
340 PM Walk in to hotel, get greeted by the manager who checks over the clerk's shoulder to make sure that my room has been upgraded.
400 PM Nap time!
700 PM Check the interwebs, then off to located dinner
900 PM Meeting at the Irish Pub, find out schedule
1000 PM Back to the hotel, sleeps.

Stars!

Well then, it seems that I have made it back from Florida and have been in New Mexico for over a week now! Its amazing! Any how, Stella's parents have been in town. There is now once again stacks of boxes around the apartment. This time they are not really mine though.

I got to spend the weekend up at an observatory, which was really cool. Yes, there will be pictures up on the photo blog soon. And I do intend to go back.

For now, it is gonna be dinner time I do believe.


I will post more later.

Back Home

Ok, So I have made it back to my home. I think I will be here atleast for a few weeks. There is stuffs to be done today, like I am gonna cut my hair. Currently my Garmin is getting its maps updated. I have unpacked and there is wash that must be done. I might see about watching a movie also. Anyhows... Yikes and Away.

Perhaps I'll post more later, but gaze upon some pictures.

Hooray!

I are going home tomorrow!

Space...

So then. First off, I have not seen Mama Mia. But I have seen a bunch of others. Kung Fu Panda is good and it matters not who you are you should go see it. Like I said in the last post I have gotten to see a bunch of movies this summer and have read many a book. I just finished up A Year in the Merde and I am now reading American Psycho. OOO... plus I have some books that should be showing up at the house anytime now.

Also, I have finished watching Invader Zim, as you may have gathered from my away messages. I like GIR. He was fun, I'm gonna roll around the floor for a bit, K? But now I am back to finishing out seaon one of the Orginal series of Star Trek.

For those of you keeping score at home...Since 21 May (the day I went back east so that I could get married) I have spent 13 days on leave; 3 days in Colorado; 2 days driving up and back from Colorado; 10.5 days in the office; 23 days in Alamogordo; 5 days flying back and forth to Florida (thats 10 different planes cause of connections; 8 in July); and currently 20 days in Florida.

For July: 2.5 days in the office (my current record)
8 days in Alamogordo
4 days flying
11 days in Florida
With about a week to go and another travel day

Movies and Books and such

Well, the upside is that on my trips out here I get to read a good deal. Since I've been popping out this way I've finished "How to Lose a Battle" and I've read both "Swine Not" and "Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy". Currently I'm nearing the end of "A Year in the Merde". So all in all I think that is more books knocked out then I've done in a while.

And movies, I must say that I've seen a lot of movies this summer. And I continue to rack them up and then see previews for others that I'd like to see. Now it would be nice to be home and get to see them with my group of peoples out there, but it hasn't really been happening that way. I must say that I have been very impressed by Iron Man and The Dark Knight. I think those have been my favorite movies so far this summer. There were plenty of others that were good and I enjoyed, but I think that those ended up being the best 2 I've seen so far.

My Second Home

OK, so I'm back in Florida again. It looks like I'll be here the rest of the month, for the record I have been on 8 different planes this month. The trip home will bring it up to 10.

Stella Buys Bud

So a Belgian company brought budweiser. Perhaps it will suck less now.


Maybe more later.


Going back to Florida on wednesday.

Home (For now)

Alright, so I am home. At least for now. I think that I'll be home all weekend. I might even go to work at my office on Monday. As for next weekend, where will I be? My top 3 guesses are Alamogordo, Cocoa Beach, Colorado Springs. But could be about anywhere.


Now is dinner time.

Ahh... Airports

Oh the joy of going to the airport. Show up all packed and dressed. Then you check in, you give your credit card to a machine and it tells you where you are going today, how you are going to get there and how many little side trips you'll be making along the way. Then you give your bag to a total stranger (note:this is the only time at an airport that it is alright to do so, for all other instances, please check with the announcements that will happen every 3.14 seconds.) Now that most of what you plan on taking on your trip is no longer with you you can move to security.

First they will check your ticket and your ID. They want to make sure you are you. If you are having an identity crisis it is not the time to fly. Next you move into a whole new line. Here you will start unpacking your belongings and then start to undress. (I'm thinking that I'm going to start checking everything but a book and travel in my underwear, hey, I'll get through security easier) They then x-ray your belongings to guess what you are carrying and where you'll be going (I think it is a game that they play, you know to pass the time). You then walk through a metal detector, I've been through some that you could have been cased in metal and would have gone off and I've been through some that if you seen metal in the last million years you'll set it off. Best of luck.

Now that you have made it you can attempt to locate your gate. Try not to think of yourself as a rat in a maze, if you do you'll only end up craving a chunk of cheese, which by the way they will sell to you on the plane, for the low price of $353.23 Exact change is always appreciated. If you manage to locate the gate you'll find that everyone at the airport is sitting there. They aren't actually all waiting for your flight (your destination isn't that cool) they just wanted to sit there (apparently your gate is).

You'll notice that there is a boarding time on your ticket, don't believe it, that is most likely when the plane will arrive. They will then "deplane" not my word, their. Think of the little guy from Fantasy Island, except now he is a rather large mean looking German, standing at the front of the aircraft pointing out the door "Deplane! Deplane!"

Well now that the people have managed to get off the airplane everyone on that flight will flock to the door thinking that they will be called up first and will be given the super secret better then first class seat. Actually today while in the airport I was down where there were 5 different terminals all next to each other. One person made an announcement that people needed to clear to the sides, groups at all 5 moved out of the way. Then the voice said that first class passengers could board. All 5 groups people started moving forward. The lady forgot to specify which flight. Now to make matters better 3 of the terminals had the door closed. Of the 2 that had open doors to the jetway only one had a ticket agent next to it.


Well, for the time being I'll end this here, most likely I will pick it up again and take you further through the process that is flying today.

I'm Going Home

Hooray! For those of you who don't know, I am going home today! Not really sure for how long. I feel safe in saying that I'll be there for the weekend. Most likely the begining of the week too. It would be nice to be home for a week.

Its too darn hot for penguins!

And Stans too!

A brief update

I am currently in an odd limbo in Florida. I may go home this week, I may stay till the end of the month. I'm not really sure.


I am looking at getting the car stuffs updated.

I have been told that we now have a dog. We will be calling her Bernoulli. She is an Australian Cattle Dog mix. So I will have to come home and say G'day to her. And here is a photo so the for the folks at home.

Blah

Ok, so I was just a bit down the other day. Its just that at times it seems like I am being forgotten and such, and it doesn't help that I'm being sent back and forth all over the place. Since I left to get married I have spent 18 days in Alamogordo.

I also realize that I haven't been posting as much, it is a bit difficult when I'm bouncing all over and such, but I have been trying. I've at least managed to get some pictures up. So I hope that you have all enjoyed them. And yes, I realize that I didn't get to talk to mom on the phone this week, I thought that Stella would have handed the phone over at some point or my mother would ask to talk to me, but it didn't happen. So hello!

As it stands I'm currently in Florida again. I got to go home to see Stella for the weekend of the 4th of July. We went up to the Inn of the Mountain God's on the 3rd to see some fireworks, they are the ones that are on the photo blog. We saw Alamogordo's too, I have a few pictures, but they are far less impressive. So there aren't any of those posted up. I also got too do some grilling which was nice.

Then today I traveled back. For some reason known only to those people who determine flight routes I flew by way of Chicago. Which really made no sense, but oh well. O'Hare isn't that bad of an airport. I don't really have any troubles with Dallas, part of it may be that I fly there a bunch. But as it stands now I might be going home on Wednesday. Of course I might also be coming back on Sunday. There is a great deal of flux in my schedule.

Anyhow, for the time being I am in Florida and considering some food, and something to do this evening. So I will try to post again later.

Hello?

Does anyone out there really remember that I exist?

More 4th of July

So yes, Happy we managed to write up a paper and sign it. (The founding fathers made their resolution on 2 July.)


Anyhow, I have gotten some stuffs accomplished, it has been a rather busy day for me. First off I was in the parade that they have out here. Then there was a court of honor with the scouts. Came back and was getting stuffs together, the dryer once again works, I put together Stella's office chair and we built the file cabinet. Then it was time to grill and I made up some burgers and brats. Our friend Bill came over to join us.

The fireworks photos from the photo blog are from the Inn of the Mountain gods. We went up last night and got to enjoy them. Tonight we will be watching the Alamogordo fireworks. It looks like tomorrow I'll be seeing a friend from college and also the plan is to visit the pound again. Sunday we'll be visiting Las Cruces, just cause. And then monday I head back east for a while.

For now though, I think it is time to go watch ID4 with my wife!

Oh go check out the forky blog and the skip blog, they have some long entries to read.

Happy 4th of July

Yay for 4th of July.



I will post more, there will be photos. Bit busy now. Guest appearance in New Mexico.

Another Mobile Post

So again I'm in an airport. This time I'm headed home for the 4th of July. Should be a good time. We are getting a dog, there is a parade, there will be watching of some movies.


Now, currently I am tired. I got like 2 hours of sleep last night. So it is time to watch some Simpsons, then I'll be able to hop on my flight and pass out.


Yay sleeps!

Happy July to All

I hope that you are all enjoying this July and such. Also I hope that you are doing something fun for the 4th. I will be back in Alamogordo, which will be nice, even if I won't be there long. Seems that I am getting to do a bit of traveling and all so I shall be bouncing about all over the place.

In case you didn't know Stella and I will be getting a dog, perhaps as early as this weekend. So that will be fun. Don't fear, I'm sure that once we get the dog there will be plenty of photos posted so that you can all see him.

Other then that there is not a lot to say currently. So I will close out this post and I shall post again later.

And congrats to the Fork, who for the first time had the most posts in a month.

Ahoy and such

Ok, So I thought that I would put up another little post.

I got to spend time with Stella which was really fun. Since the last post we got to poke about Cocoa Beach more. We got a magnet for our fridge and did some general adventuring. This weekend I didn't have to work, so we got to do much adventuring.

On Saturday we went to the Brevard Zoo. It was really nice. They had a thing were we went kayaking through the wetlands. Also Stella feed some giraffes, and we both got to fee some birds called lorys. Then we wandered about and gazed upon more critters.

Sunday we headed into Orlando to go to Disney. One of Stella's relations does some work out there so they had some comp park hopper passes, so we got to use those. We went to the Animal Kingdom first. The safari ride is always fun, we got rather close to a rhino. We also went on the river rapids and got soaked. Then we went to Hollywood Studios. As it turns out it was Star Wars weekend, so there were many people about in costumes and such. And finally we went to the Magic Kingdom to stroll around a bit. We only got to go on the Haunted Mansion and Pirates, but it was fun.

Oh yes, along the way we got the bride and groom ears and were given just married buttons and just about everyone on the staff there congratulated us. It was really fun. And yes, there are pictures. You can see them on my photo blog. There will be more pictures, but some of them are on Stella's camera, so I have to wait to get a hold of them to share them with all of you.

And we have decided to get a dog. I'm pulling for a beagle currently, but we will see. More information will be forth coming.

An Update!

So as you may notice I am updating again. I am still out in Florida. If you were to check the photo blog you might notice that there are some new entries. So I would recommend that you look there.

First up, yes, Stella is out here. She made it out on Wednesday. Well she got to Florida on Monday, but I picked her up from her grandparents on Wednesday, so that is when she got all the way out here. We went down to Patrick and looked around plus we stopped at Ron Jon's, cause, well you gotta stop there. Apparently she had never been inside before.

Early this morning we ended up waking up and going out on the pier to watch the sunrise. It was really cool. Twas a nice morning to see it. Also there were some die hard surfers out in the water before the sun was actually up. But we went out and then came back in to sleep some more.

Today's grand adventure was going to the beach. We rented surf boards to try out. I got up on my knees, but Stella and I both had fun trying it out. We came off the water to rest a bit, then the storm of impending doom rolled in and we had to stop. You will note though that we got some pictures and they are on the photo blog. So we ended up going out for seafood today. I had shark! It was actually quite good.

As a side note in here at some where in my trip I had a cubano, which is a Cuban sandwich. It was actually quite good.

Tomorrow it looks like we are gonna go see WALL-E, so I will let you all know how that works. Then, depending on how things go over the weekend we may get to see the Kennedy Space Center and also some of Disney. All in all things are going well.

Well, I suppose that I oughta end up for now and I shall post again later. Ta ta.

Ahh... traveling

So I ended up back out in Florida. The joys of seeing the airports of the country. And their little rides. Most of them seem to have some little train thing to ride on. It provides fun between squeezing on to little metal tubes to be hurtled through the sky.

And I cruised out to the beach. There are some pictures already up on the photo blog. I know that you should all be amazed. See how quickly I get pictures out to you. I think that I am gonna get my uniform ready and then see about laying down, perhaps watching something or reading a bit.

Oh, on a side note, I have to say that Get Smart was a good movie. I would say that it is one you can go out, watch, enjoy and have some laughs at.

And finally, humidity sucks. Big time. I'll take 105 in New Mexico over 85 in Florida.

East Bound and Down

Ok, Tomorrow morning I go to flordia.

Yesterday was a cool day, only 94.

Today was Stella's Birthday! Yay!


It might rain tonight.


I have packed.

More later.



Stand back, I'm going to try science.

I'm not dead yet

Ok, so there has not been much blogging of late. I have been busy. Getting used to this whole married life business and such. So now, we'll have a happy little round of links to start us off. It would seem that the Skip and Widge are touring the civil war battlefields of the mid-Atlantic. Most of them I have seen in the past, but it is quite cool. Also it would seem that my forky brother is turning into quite the blogger now, which is good. Now we can all have some idea of what goes on over there. Also he seems to have followed my lead and has a photo blog. I recommend going there and demanding some photos! And while demanding photos go to my wife's blog and tell her its time for more photos as well.

Now, as for following my lead I am back on getting some posts up. Both of a photo and nerdy variety. For once I'm done posting here I will be moving on to post on those blogs as well. I would again like to apologize for the lack of postage and such. I have been a bit busy with the getting use to being married and such.

Ok, so in the past couple weeks I managed to return from Colorado. It was fun and quite a nice change to being down here. A month of temperatures over 100 is not as much fun as it may sound. Also I have managed to pick up a few more up coming trips. Looks like I will be in Florida for about 3 weeks. But I should be back for the 4th of July. Also in September it looks like I'll spend 2 more weeks in Florida and about 10 days in England.

Don't worry though, for my wife's birthday she will be coming out to Florida for a week or so. Hooray!!

Well, I think that will be it for this post. There are some others to write and then some errands to run. I wish you all well and happy blogging.