Update

Today's my 35th. birthday, and while I don't feel 35 mentally, I think physically, I am already feeling 35 and beyond!

The GF took me out on her motorcycle and we rode around town for a bit. The weather was really nice and that made the motorcycle ride really relaxing. Then we got some steaks and stuffed mushrooms for a great steak dinner! Thank you my PQ for a great birthday!

I also need to mention that we've found a ghetto apt. that we could maybe afford to rent in Va. This whole transition at work thing is happening really fast, and it was made more complicated by the fact that we had limited time to look for a place to live and make all the other arrangements. I don't know how my job will be from this point on, but I hope it'll get better from this point on. Both my GF and I are still longing to live back in Tx....and if I can somehow manage to find something to do back there, we'll be on the first U-Haul back!

The last few days has been stressful for us because of looking for a place to live, and fighting the nagging feelings of insecurity and the frustration of navagating the complicated roads of the DC Metro area....but the hotel bed was comfy and we had our faithful dog with us, so it wasn't completely that bad.

BTW, today is also the faithful dog's birthday! Well, we're not exactly sure when he was born, but it was 5 years ago today that we adopted him from Townlake Animal Shelter in Austin, Texas, so, happy birthday, Ramen dog!

Hey Doc,

Thanks for the birthday greeting, please e-mail me about when/where you'll be at when you come to the Milbloggers's Conference! I'll be living in that neck of the woods pretty soon!

The GF and I would love to be able to meet with you and Tragic!

Iraqi kids

Nomatter what the both sides might say....

War sucks.

We're off to....

The Washington D.C. area, instead of just getting rid of me, my bosses have decided to see if I can be of more use down in one of the company's satellite offices.

I have no idea how much the company will pay me, but I do know that everything will cost more, and it'll be our most urban living experiences ever.

I've met with the people down at the D.C. office briefly and they seemed nice. I hope that working for them will be a more pleasant experience than here in J-Town. Even if it doesn't turn out well, at least I'll be able to serve the company until my one year obligation ends and we could move back to Texas, which is where we think that we should be anyways.

Since we've only got about two weeks to get everything ready (I meant everything) blogging will be sporadic.

Wish us luck, I don't know if D.C. will end up being a place that we'll want to stay for long term, but the urban living will be a valuable addition to our cross country, living all over the place experiences.

For Jeff

Because spring is almost here....

I love my GF

Who has been putting up with me for the last 8 years and counting....giving me all my feline and canine children, and tolerating all my bad habits!
I hope that we'll have many more years together, have at least one real child, and more pets!
I am glad that we are together, even when we are in places that we didn't exactly like, it's so much more easy when I've got you around!

Shinjuku

Nice!

Global Warming

THE strongest March snowstorm to hit northeast China's Liaoning Province in 56 years has left at least one person dead and seven injured after the roof of an agricultural trade building collapsed under the weight of the snow, local sources said.Three arched ceilings of the Minglian Agricultural Trade Building in Huanggu District, in the provincial capital of Shenyang, collapsed at noon yesterday, burying about 20 stall owners and customers, said a witness.Beginning Saturday night, rain and snow has fallen continually in most parts of Liaoning, with reported precipitations of 36 millimeters in Shenyang, 56mm in Dalian and 68mm in Dandong, the Shenyang Meteorological Observatory reported.Snow piled up two meters high in some areas, it said.The snowstorm forced Taoxian International Airport in Shenyang to close at 8am yesterday.By 4pm, more than 100 flights had been canceled and over 1,000 passengers were stranded at the airport, which was hoping to reopen today.Eleven expressways in Liaoning were closed.Classes were suspended for today for 900,000 primary and middle school students in Shenyang.More moderate rain and snow hit most parts of north China on Saturday and yesterday, disrupting air and highway travel in these areas.At Beijing Capital International Airport, more than 200 flights were delayed by 1pm yesterday due to snowfall, airport sources said.That followed heavy rain on Saturday, which surpassed the total rainfall in the capital in the past three months, said Guo Hu, director of the Beijing Meteorological Observatory.In Tianjin, Binhai International Airport was closed at 7am yesterday and more than 20 flights have been delayed, airport sources said.Expressways through the city were also shut down. The city reported 25 to 32 millimeters of rain and snow by yesterday morning.In Erdos city in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, which saw a blizzard on Saturday with a maximum snowfall of up to 20 centimeters, about 40,000 passengers and 10,000 drivers were stranded.The Baita Airport in Hohhot, capital of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, had to be closed between 6pm on Saturday and 6am yesterday.

Xinhua

Another old favorite t.v. show

I don't know if anyone really remembers this show, but back in 1985, there was a show called "MacGruder and Loud". The premise of this show was about this couple who are both cops in the same dept. at their work, and has to work extra hard at not letting others in the fact that they're couples, since there was a policy in the police dept. against couples working as partners.

The show didn't last for too long, the storyline gradually lost steam. Yet while it lasted it was funny and sometimes even profound.

I think this show was one of the almost better shows about couples back in the 80's.

T.V. shows that I've enjoyed

One of my favorite shows on t.v. was the show "Thirtysomething", even though I really wasn't of age to really enjoy the show of such complexity. ( I was in my early teens when this show first showed up.) I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed watching all the characters grow, suffer, and endure through all the complexities of being thirtysomething in the 80's.

According to Wikipedia....

Influences and cultural impact

The television show, Thirtysomething reflected the angst felt by baby boomers and yuppies during the 1980s ^[2], ^[3], such as the changing expectations related to masculinity and femininity introduced by second-wave feminism (as noted in R. Hanke's 1990, article "Hegemonic masculinity in Thirtysomething" and Margaret Heide's 1995 book, Television Culture and Women's Lives: "Thirtysomething" and the Contradictions of Gender ^[4]).

Thirtysomething was notably influenced by the introspective, comic drama The Big Chill. Additional films and television programs which reflected similar themes include Baby Boom, Fatal Attraction and Wall Street (all appearing in 1987); the 1986 television drama L.A. Law; and the 1988 film Working Girl. In addition, its mix of realistic scenes and surreal flights of comic fancy owed a debt to such Woody Allen films as Annie Hall.

Thirtysomething, while never number one in the Nielsen Ratings, was nonetheless enormously influential in its day (as indicated by the introduction of the term "Thirtysomething" into popular discourse) and won a number of Emmy Awards and nominations. Critics and audiences were sharply divided about the show's characters and dialogue; the show was widely praised for its sensitive characterizations, but also widely mocked for its generally affluent but depressed and neurotic characters (a fact satirized in one episode, when a focus group is shown a commercial based on the style of the series, with actors standing in for Michael and Elliot and speaking like them. The focus group's response is overwhelmingly negative, and they voice many of the criticisms of the series itself).

I started to think about some of the t.v. shows that I had enjoyed because I had noticed that I just don't enjoy watching t.v. shows as much as I used to. Although I watch more t.v. now than I did when I was in my teens, I can't help it but to notice that most of the t.v. shows which are on now (cable shows included), are mostly shit and not very profound or memorable.

So I decided to post on some of the t.v. shows that I've enjoyed through the years, for nostalgic reasons, as well as to recall why I had enjoyed these shows.

This has been the first entry.

Rest in peace, Boba Fett

This is Boba Fett, a pet bird of my friend Cindy's. While Cindy was in Antarctica doing an assignment for the National Science Foundation, Boba Fett died of uterine cancer. Rest in peace, little bird, and I bet you'll have good company in heaven!

Update

It's the beginning of March and there might be a major change in my work and residence coming up.

As you all probably already knew, the GF and I haven't exactly had the best time ever in this part of the world. While we're grateful that at least the bills are paid, the work and the surrounding and the people could be a little bit more on the exciting side.

After that horrible time that I've had with that remote supervisor of mine, she unceremoniously dropped both me and another analyst off of her project. After that, I thought that was pretty much it, and it was pretty much a time to talk how to get out of the company at a minimum loss to either side. To my surprise, my manager suggested that he would try to find me an assignment in the D.C. area, and then he proceeded to market me with some of the people that he knew down there. Of course, I didn't really put a lot of weight on that possibility.

About two to three weeks later, my manager told me to talk to some of the people in D.C. so they can get to know me and I can get to know who they are and what they're trying to do. The GF and I did just that this past Wednesday. Interesting people in D.C., and it also seems like that the pace of operation is much faster there than in this office in J-town.....I might like that better.

I might hear something more definite by next week, and I'll let you know the outcome!

Hoping for the best.

'I HEARD A LOUD BOOM'
VP POOL REPORT
Tue Feb 2007 11:19:01 ET
Filed By Mark Silva
White House Correspondent
Chicago Tribune

The vice president left Kabul wearing a black suit and shiny dark cordovan cowboy boots - having just become the highest-level Bush administration official to have spent the night in a war zone - the unscheduled overnighter at Bagram Air Force Base. The vice president spoke on the record with the pool about the attack -- speaking, seated on a desk, in his Airstream, silver-skinned on the outside and leather-seated and wood-paneled on the inside, cabin set up inside the C-17 military cargo transport that had ferried him to Pakistan and Afghanistan and out as well.

He suggested that he never felt threatened, and that no policy of the US ought to be affected by such actions aimed at shaking the stability of the Pakistani govt.

There will be a transcript. The following is from my tape, but I caution that it was loud inside that C-17 - we sat out in the cargo bay with the rest of the administration, military and Service - so I've related the comments from tape and notes I feel most certain about, which is all of the substance of it:

"I was provided quarters overnight," he said of his Bagram stay. "It seems to me it was 10 occlock in the morning. I heard a loud boom... The Secret Service came in and told me there had been an attack on the main gate."

He was moved "for a brief period of time" to one of the base bomb shelters near his quarters, the VP said. "As the situation settled down and they had a better sense of what was going on, I went back to my room."

Asked about Taliban claims of responsibilty, he asked who said that, what did they say. Told that a Taliban was quoted by name as saying Cheney was the target, and asked what this sort of activity says of the overall situation there - and if it might be a way of playing to Taliban tactics of bolstering its own standing among the people, the vice president said, slowly, and calmly: "I think they clearly try to find ways to question the authority of the central government" there. "Striking at the Bagram (base) with a suicide bomber, I suppose, is one way to do that... It shouldn't affect our behavior."

Pooler's notes:

For whatever claims the Taliban spokesman may be making about having targeted the VP with the bombing at the gate at Bagram, the VP and his retinue were a long way from that gate, well inside that massive base. Take that for whatever it's worth.

The first we heard of the attack was the sirens of the base fire trucks leaving from their station, which was pretty close to the hub of the VP's activities there, including the military transport that he had used to fly in and out of Islamabad and Afghanistan - see the special-edition commemorative pool report on "The Spirit of Strom Thurmond."

The VP was preparing to leave Bagram this morning when the attack occurred, and the Service certainly picked up its step on our staging and sweeps as the base went to code red after attack.

On the flight out of Kabul, a senior administration official spoke to the pool insisting upon anonymity but allowing tapes - and there will be a transcript of that as well.

The president wanted the VP to make this trip because of "the continuing threat that exists in this part of the world," the sao said.

"I've seen some press reports that Cheney went in to beat up" on Karzai, the sao said. "That"s not so." The idea of going in and threatening someone "isn't valid."

There have been successes, more al Qaeda killed in Afghanistan and Pakistan than anywhere else.

"That doesn't mean there's no threat. That doesn't mean a rosy scenario. There's a lot of work to be done."

At Cheney's luncheon with Karzai, the Afghan leader told a story of meeting with tribal leaders and trying to get them to cooperate. "The only question they wanted to ask me, was, 'Is the United States with you?" Karzai said, according to this account.

People are concerned about the US commitment to the region, and Democrats in DC talking about withdrawal from Iraq make them concerned - though that debate back home had no bearing on the VP's decision to come here, sao said. "That would have devastating consequences to what we're trying to do" in this part of the world.

Karzai was reportedly "upbeat" - with all the money and troops that the US is committing to Afghanistan, the sao said, "It's all taken as a sign" of commitment.

"They worry about that... If they see weakness on the part of the US... They worry about our commitment."

The proposals of people in the US to withdraw from Iraq have "consequences in this part of the world," the official said. "The al Qaeda strategy is based on the notion that they can break the will of the American people."

Asked about Cheney's suggestions that talk of withdrawal lend comfort to the terrorists, in the context of his comments last week in the Pacific and his remarks about Speaker Pelosi, the official said no, what was meant was, "It would validate the al Qaeda strategy." Not aid and comfort them.

It was an 18-minute flight from Bagram to Kabul, landing there at 12:19 pm, and the VP was there for a little over two hours. See the Kabul pool, but we had been told the VP would meet with Afghan Pres. Hamid Karzai for about an hour - and it seemed to last a little longer, though we were outside holding.

At 2:13 pm local, the armored dust-covered motorcade of the VP left the grounds of the palace and sped through the slalom of cement and sandbag barricades that line the approach, and he boarded the C-17 under partly sunny skies.



....At Least Mr.Cheney had a room to go back to. Mortar attacks are something that soldiers deal with on an everyday basis in Iraq and Afghanistan. I hope that, if not anything, that Mr. Cheney at least get a sense of how dangerous it is out there and think about how to better take care of the ones who have came back injured and mentally traumatized, and of course, better pay ALWAYS helps!


But Seriously, I hope this war will find a good ending soon.

Thanks Hugh!

The Four Degrees of Oprah

I talked to my friend Latonya on the phone last night, I don't think I've talked to her on the phone since we came back from Iraq in late 04'. She was a mutual friend of Chief Debra Ackeret. Since you can only get so much through via instant messenger, I called her and left a message for her to call me back.

It was really nice to hear from her! We talked about what is going on in our lives and also what had happened to Debra Ackeret. You see, even Latonya, before Debra's death, has not seen or heard a lot from Debra. Latonya just chucked it to the results of two busy lives. Debra was still in the army and was thinking about going to another deployment to Iraq. Latonya found out about Debra's death through another army friend of hers, who knew Debra as well.

Shortly, I mean very shortly after Debra died, her father flew down from Wisconsin and collected Debra's body for burial in Milwaukee. Latonya never got to speak to him, or anyone related to Debra. The burial and the service was very quick and hushed. No one really knew what drove Debra to kill herself, there was still the suspecion that her boyfriend might have done it.

Now, this is where Oprah came into the story....

Kim is having trouble coming to terms with the sudden death in November 2006 of her sister—was her death a suicide or a murder?

John says he feels an immediate energy when trying to reach Kim's sister. "Okay, you have these different energies that are coming in," he says. "They're telling me to call you by a different name, Kimmy or Kimberly or something completely different from Kim. But they make me feel, like, don't call you Kim." Kim says that her sister used to call her "Kiminy Cricket," after the Disney character Jiminy Cricket.

John then says he is getting a feeling indicating suicide. "My sister was a warrant officer in the Army," Kim says. "She came back from Iraq late 2004. She passed away November 26th and it was questionable whether it was suicide or murder. I was told that my sister was shot and I think that's why there was the issue of suicide or murder because all of us immediately thought, and that's all we knew, was that it was murder. The forensics are still out, so the case isn't closed."

Kim says the hour-long reading with John has helped ease her worries about what had become of her sister after death. "I was brought up Catholic, so I really was raised to believe that [if you commit] suicide, you end up in the fiery flames of hell," she says. "That was my biggest fear." She says she no longer worries about that.

Two days after Kim met with John, the Sierra Vista Police Department in Arizona officially ruled that the death was a suicide…just as John's reading indicated.


Kim was Debra's sister, and she had appeared on Oprah during the day that John Edward (the bug-eyed psychic) was on the show. The GF saw that episode and so did Latonya. Now, neither of them watches Oprah much, if at all, and the one episode that they did watch, was about Debra. So what are the four degrees of Oprah? Well it's like this....me, Chief Ackeret, Chief Ackeret sister, Oprah.

I don't know why Debra had killed herself either, and I don't think that I'll ever know. I do know that Debra is not in hell right now. I think maybe she was really depressed over something or some events, and in the spur of the depression, she decided to end her life. Even though we didn't always get along during our deployment, it's all over now and I hope that she's happy and peaceful now, on the other side.

Chinese new year in Houston

I was in Houston for 5 days late last week to early this week, and got to visit with my grandpa, my sister, as well as the rest of the family minus the ones in New Jersey (aunt + her clan).
My sister drove me around so I saved some $ on a rental car. I couldn't say that I've spent a lot of quality time with my grandpa, since he mostly just plays mahjong and sleeps. We slept in the same room during my stay, and I couldn't help it but to feel that somehow, my grandma was there too. Grandpa is doing well for his age, and his new helper is a nice lady who's quite considerate.

My dad and my stepmom are still the same, trying to do their part by visting grandpa, and playing as much mahjong as they can stand. I can't really say that there were any major improvement or damage to our relationship from this visit, buy it was simply nice to have grandpa interact with them.

Chinese new year celebration was good. We catered from this local restaurant but wasn't really satisfied with the food because it was cooked and packed in haste. I so wished that grandma was also there, just have to wait a while longer though.

My sister's dog Woody was as affectionate as a dog can be, he slept with me the whole time that I was there, and I also saw how he'd stick with grandpa. Dogs are such good judge of characters, I think. Even though grandpa is not the most affectionate man around, Woody was nevertheless able to see through that.

Here are some photos from the holiday....and really, the only way to really enjoy Chinese new year is to be in a place where there are lots of Chinese people......happy new year to all!

Dumplings

Note

Will post about my trip to Houston soon.....

Obit

Ackeret, Debra A.
Age 42 years, of Sierra Vista, AZ, formerly of Milwaukee. Sun., Nov. 26, 2006. Loving daughter of Curtis and the late Noreen (nee Wick). Dear sister of Craig, Brent (Bonnie), Lance (Susan), Kim (Raymond) Gregory, Michael, Scott and Daniel. Aunt of Shane, Alexis, April, Leah and Jacob. Dear friend of Laura Ellis. Further survived by aunts, uncles, cousins, other relatives and friends. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Sat., Dec. 2, 2006 at 11 AM at St. Boniface Catholic Church, W204 N11940 Goldendale Rd., Germantown. Interment church cemetery. Visitation Sat. at the church from 9 AM until time of Mass at 11 AM. Debra served 16 years in the US Army as a warrant officer and served 2 terms in Iraq.


Chief Warrant Officer Debra A Ackeret was deployed with me when I went to Iraq. I found out about her passing via suicide from another friend who was deployed with me. Most of us have since lost touch with each other away from our deployment. Chief Ackeret and I were not great friends, but nevertheless, her passing was quite sad.

May she rest in peace and have finally found resolution to whatever that was troubling her so much.

To my P.Q.....

Happy Valentines, I love you!

Grandma

I miss her. I'll be back in Houston this weekend and one of the most important thing that I'll need to do is to visit her in her final resting place. I'm going to make sure that I get the freshest and the prettiest flowers that I can find to put before her gravestone.

The Kathy Griffin show last night

I have to say that I was far from disappointed at the Kathy Griffin show, she started the show on time, and did not skip a beat with the jokes. She started with her observation on Pa. weather, then she talked about what she knew best, the world of reality shows and celebrities, to which she's a member of that group.

She stated that lots of talk shows have banned her because of how abrasive she can be, and I just think that these talk show hosts should let their audiences be the judge. Still, I wonder how she felt after finding out the news of Anna Nicole Smith's death, you see, it's no secret that Kathy has made some Anna Nicole Smith/Trimspa jokes from time to time.

Compared to the Wanda Sykes show, Jeanine Garofalo, Ellen DeGeneres, Lewis Black, and Margaret Cho (all the live comedy shows that I've seen), I have to say that Kathy Griffin's persona was much more energetic and even a bit on the manic side, but these characteristics are her trademark. I laughed a lot during Kathy's show, yet a lot of what she had talked about was not things that I can personally identify with. (ie. Hanging out with celebrities, having teams of lawyers, etc.) Yet that doesn't make her material less valid.

Keep up the good work, Kathy, I look forward to watching your show on t.v.!

Rest in peace, Anna Nicole....

What a sad life, I hope she finally has some peace now....

Tomorrow night....

The GF and I are going to brave the cold to see Ms. Kathy Griffin, one of the funniest comediannes around. She's on this show called "Kathy Griffin, my life on the D-List", and she has also volunteered her time to be a guest on the USO tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. In the days of so many hollywood actors being against the war and ignoring the troops, she's a refreshing breath of fresh air!


Will have the report of the concert on Thursday!

Just because....

Even if you are the best and the brightest......

You can still do some pretty dumb things....

From Houston Chronicle....
ORLANDO, Fla. — A magistrate's hearing on an attempted-murder charge against NASA astronaut Lisa Nowak of Houston has been scheduled for 3 p.m. today.
Authorities said they added the charge based on the fact that the materials Nowak had acquired for a showdown with Air Force Capt. Colleeen Shipman could have been used to kill her.
Until the new charge was lodged today, Nowak was eligible to post bond and return to Houston pending trial on a variety of charges lodged early Monday, including attempted kidnapping and battery of Shipman.
Nowak told police she wanted to confront Shipman because she believed they were competing for the affections of Navy Cmdr. William Oefelein, another NASA astronaut.
Police said Nowak drove 900 miles, donned a disguise and was armed with a BB gun and pepper spray when she confronted Shipman.
Nowak, 43, a Navy captain and married mother of three, flew to the international space station last July aboard space shuttle Discovery.
Oefelein, 41, piloted the space shuttle Discovery in December. He and Nowak trained together but never flew a mission together.
Nowak told police that her relationship with Oefelein was "more than a working relationship but less than a romantic relationship," according to an arrest affidavit. Police found a love letter to Oefelein in her car.
When Nowak found out Shipman was flying to Orlando from Houston, Nowak decided to confront her early Monday, according to the arrest affidavit.
Nowak raced from Houston to Orlando wearing diapers in the car so she wouldn't have to stop to go to the bathroom, authorities said. Astronauts wear diapers during launch and re-entry.
Dressed in a wig and a trench coat, she waited for Shipman's plane to land and then boarded the same airport shuttle bus Shipman took to get to her car, police said. Shipman told police she noticed someone following her, hurried inside the car and locked the doors, according to the arrest affidavit.
Nowak rapped on the window, tried to open the car door and asked for a ride. Shipman refused but rolled down the car window a few inches when Nowak started crying, the statement said. Nowak then sprayed a chemical into Shipman's car, the affidavit said. Shipman drove to the parking lot booth and police were called.
An officer reported following Nowak and watching her throw away a bag containing the wig and BB gun. Police also found a steel mallet, a 4-inch folding knife, rubber tubing, $600 and garbage bags inside a bag Nowak was carrying when she was arrested, authorities said.
Oefelein and Shipman, who worked at Patrick Air Force Base near the Kennedy Space Center, did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
NASA spokesman James Hartsfield in Houston said that, as of Monday, Nowak's status with the astronaut corps remained unchanged. "What will happen beyond that, I will not speculate," he said.
Hartsfield said he couldn't recall the last time an astronaut was arrested and said there were no rules against fraternizing among astronauts.
According to NASA's official biography, Nowak is a Naval Academy graduate who has a master's degree in aeronautical engineering. She has a teenage son and younger twin girls.
Oefelein has two children and began his aviation career as a teenager flying floatplanes in Alaska, according to a NASA biography. He studied electrical engineering at Oregon State University and later earned a master's degree in aviation systems at the University of Tennessee Space Institute. He has been an astronaut since 1998.

To Doc....

One of these days, Doc, I'll be strolling on the beach with the GF and the dog....I'm glad that life is dandy for you, but why must you rub it in?

I might not have been in the best place in life in the past fews years, and yes, I do gripe a lot, but you know what? I keep on trying, even if the outcomes are not the ones that I would have liked.

It may not be a lot, but that's all that I've got, you know?

Sometimes.....

I kinda miss the days that I've spent back in uniform, despite the fact that there were a lot of hassles.

My job right now has became a kind of a farce, and if it was not for the costs of moving again and what I have to pay back to them if I leave before the year ends, I really wouldn't mind wrapping it all up here and move to someplace warmer. I came into a job situation that was really diffucult to began with, and with the previous problems unresolved, I've basically inherited the same problems. You see, I've got this manager who is a very diffucult person to work with but she is the type who could almost walk on water for the upper management since she's good at what she does and manages to bring in contracts for the company every once in a while. I also don't think I know how the in's and outs of the fine art of marketing....I am from a school of those who think that if the product is that good, then the product should sell itself. Did I also tell you that sub-freezing climate is not really my thing either?

Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful to be working, I just so wish that I could just work and not have to deal with pretentious personalites, control freaks, and ass kissers...wait, that's in every job!

For now I basically have to play along for a little while more. The GF and I are already dreaming and scheming about someplace else. I apologize to the pet for bringing them to a place that's so cold that, as of 2 days ago, this town's temperature beat both the temperatures of Anchorage, Ak, and Siberia!

Congratulations Zach!

This is our cute as a button nephew, Zach, and the judge in his custody case granted the majority of his custody to his dad's side of the family. It all worked out great because his dad's side of the family loves and cares a lot for him, and he knows it.

So, congratulations kid! With luck, we'll be back to Texas to see you soon!

Mr. Hakim Al Jaburi

He was our Arabic translator when we were in Iraq. He was not only kind but he was a funny and generous man as well. His trailer was next to mine and a whole bunch of us spent many evenings in his trailer drinking chai and talking about each other's families. He let us borrow his wool blankets when the coldness in the desert evenings became too much to bear, and before we left Iraq, he was going to apply to be a Rhodes Scholar and come to study in the U.S., and I thought that it was only going to be a matter of time before we all meet again.

It was not to be, however. After a week of getting back to the states, we got word that Hakim was assinated when he was driving back from the U.S. base to his family after he had collected his wages for the week.

His death was not the only death that I've encountered during my tour in Iraq, but his passing was especially sad because we've gotten to be friends over the time that I had spent in Iraq.

I think heaven, or whatever that'll come after life, will be a very interesting place, at least for me. Let's see, my grandmothers will be there, so will many of their friends that I used to know, and I know that Hakim will be there too. Now if I can just figure out how to be at least half as nice and generous and some of these people....

The black and white collection

And here are our kitty cats!

Silly's on the left and Little Man is on the right, this picture was taken while we lived in Kansas City.

Pho

Oh how I miss you!

Our Ramen!

This is our dog, Ramen, and he has been the best birthday gift ever! The GF gave him to me as my 30th. birthday gift. I had the choice of either a palm pilot or a dog, and had I picked the palm pilot, it would be sitting in some box in the garage somewhere instead of being utilized.

I hope he'll be with us for many more years and x number of more moves to come!

Welcome to the world, Brandon William Lowe!

This week....

The GF had a chance to meet my remotely located boss while on a business trip to DC, she (the GF) had quit her job the day before and since she's a lot better at this direction thing than I am, so we asked our landlor to take care of the dog for a day while we ventured down to DC.

Without revealing the details of the business meeting, it was a sort of "sales" effort by my remote boss to try to secure a business contract. I was basically told not really to say much of anything and just watch my boss "do her thing". Unfortunately, I think what these people were looking for were not things that we could offer. It was kind of funny and sad at the same time as my boss kept trying to tell them about the company's capabilities while the clients were either looking away or shaking their heads.

That brings me to my boss. She's this lady who has brought in the company a lot of contracts because of her previous business associations. She used to work for a state university as their library science specialist. Which means that she's good at researching things but not neccessarily intepreting them. Over the years, she has established a team of other library science folks for her team, and this other guy and I were hired at analysts to try to make sense of the data that they've gathered in order to crank out these reports. I think she'd rather have gotten more library science specialists than people like me and the other guy.

So come to find out that she has a habit of pissing people off and being a control freak over those who work for her. There were approximately 14 analysts who took the high road because of her. My fellow analyst and I have already encountered various examples of her idiosyncracies....only to have our suspecions confirmed later on by her team of librarians.

We're stuck, I'm stuck. Work has become irritating and burdensome. Yet I know that for now I must grin and bear it, and if I can, try to make the best of this situation....if I only knew how...

The poor GF is frustrated over how horrible the job situation is around here. I am sure that I've not been much of a source of comfort to her either. The pets are cold and I felt at fault for bringing them to such a cold place to live at. I only hope that by next year, this time, we'll be at a warmer place and griping about how hot January has been.

Looks like I was close.....

Sociology 92% Anthropology 83% Psychology 83% Philosophy 75% English 75% Biology 67% Journalism 67% Engineering 67% Dance 58% Mathematics 58% Linguistics 58% Art 50% Chemistry 50% Theater 50% What is your Perfect Major? (PLEASE RATE ME!!<3) created with QuizFarm.com

*This is about what major should I take in college...I was an anthropology major, so I was close!

High School Never Ends

Four years you think for sure
That’s all you've got to endure
All the total weenies
All the stuck up chickies
So superficial, so immature
Then when you graduate
You take a look around and you say HEY WAIT!
This is the same as where I just came from
I thought it was over
Aw that’s just great

The whole dang world is just as obsessed
With who‘s the best dressed and who‘s having...
Who‘s got the money, who gets the hunnie's
Who‘s kinda cute and who‘s just a mess
And you still don’t have the right look
And you don’t have the right friends
Nothing changes but the faces, the names, and the trends
High school never ends

Check out the popular kids
You’ll never guess what Jessica did
How did Mary Kate lose all that weight
And Katie had a baby so I guess Tom’s straight
And the only thing that matters
Is climbing up that social ladder
Still care about your hair and the car you drive
Doesn’t matter if you’re sixteen or thirty-five

Reese Witherspoon,
She’s the prom queen
Bill Gates,
Captain of the chess team
Jack Black, the clown
Brad Pitt, the quarterback
Seen it all before
I want my money back!!

The whole dang world is just as obsessed
With who’s the best dressed and who’s having...
Who’s in the club and who’s on the drugs
Who’s throwing up before they digest
And you still don’t have the right look
And you don’t have the right friends
And you still listen to the same poop you did back then
High school never ends

High school never ends

The whole dang world is just as obsessed
With who‘s the best dressed and who‘s having...
Who‘s got the money, who gets the hunnie's
Who‘s kinda cute and who‘s just a mess
And I still don’t have the right look
And I still have the same three friends
And I’m pretty much the same as I was back then
High school never ends

High school never ends

High school never ends

Here we go again




....and I'd go bowling for soup!

And the search still goes on......

For a better place to work and live, that is.

The GF will start her first day of work tomorrow, it wasn't really what she wanted. Even though it's in her line of work (phlebotomy), but it's a temp job and she has some ways to commute and that is a bit of a concern because we don't know what the weather would be like from this point on. So far, we've had "unseasonably" warm weather, but we don't know if this is going to last.

I'm still at this job, and it's okay but I'm beginning to feel that this is really not the place for me to stay at. I'm stuck working for a very type A boss who is not really into product integrity, and on top of that, not only am I required to work my job duties, but I'm also supposed to market the company and bring in more workers like myself. It really wasn't what was told to me when I initially interviewed with them. I'm not a marketer, I don't know the first thing about it. In a normal business scheme of things, there should be money allocated for us to perform tasks like that. For now, I'm going to try to grin and bear it, but I'm thinking this is just not me and I am trying to see if I can get us out of here by the end of the year. My sister said that maybe I'm just not cut out for a regular permenant job, and maybe she's right, but what is the point of staying around this feeling of distaste?

It has been a fairly quiet weekend, and even though it's kind of boring but at least it's predicatable, and there's a degree of comfort in that.

Better Days....

I think this should be the anthem for the new year....

And you asked me what I want this year
and I'll try to make this kind and clear
just a chance that maybe we'll find better days
'cause I don't need boxes wrapped in strings
and designer love and empty things
just a chance that maybe we'll find better days

So take these words and sing out loud
'cause everyone's forgiven now
'cause tonight's the night the world begins again

I need some place simple where we could live
and something only you could give
and that's faith and trust and peace while we're alive
and the one poor child who saved this world
and there's ten million more who probably could
if we all just stopped and said a prayer for them

So take these words and sing out loud
'cause everyone's forgiven now
'cause tonight's the night the world begins again

I wish everyone was loved tonight
and somehow stop this endless fight
just a chance that maybe we'll find better days

So take these words and sing out loud
'cause everyone's forgiven now
'cause tonight's the night the world begins again

'cause tonight's the night the world begins again


By the Goo Goo Dolls

Happy new year, may all the bad things of this past year finally pass, and all the good things make their ways in for this new year! May we all be blessed with good health, wealth, peace, and happiness!

Into X'mas....

First of all, to all a merry X'mas and have a happy new year!!

What is going on lately? Well, the GF and I are going to cook X'mas eve dinner by ourselves tomorrow.... if only the turkey will thaw out in time! A collegue at work was really nice to invite the GF and I to have X'mas dinner at his house Monday (hence the two X'mas dinners), of course, we'll bring a desert for him and his family and I hope they'll enjoy it! :-)

Work is unpredictable, as in I'm not doing anything consistent from day to day, since I've got an immediate boss who's a bit of a scatter brain and not even on site. My big bosses are trying to cook up plans to "expand the business" or biting more than they can chew so that the division will look "bigger and better" (except that they don't have the personnel or the $ to do it with.), but guess what, that's the corporate world, right?

It sort of makes me wonder how much longer I will be at this job. I mean, I'm not at all the technical guru, the expert at marketing, and suck even more at kissing ass. Oh, I think I'm doing okay over there right now, but something in the back of my head is telling me that the potential for growth in this company may be somewhat limited. Of course, I could be wrong, since I've only been there for 2 months so far.

We'll see what happens.

Life is just one big adventure after the other, right?

Again, happy holiday! May you eat a lot, laugh a lot, and love a lot!

How to win the war in Iraq......

Thank you, CPT. Travis....

Introducing.....

Jennie's World, my sister Jennifer's blog. I think it's much more interesting than mine, since she's pretty good at posting photos and you do get a better sense of what life is like for her down in Houston, with grandpa, and his helper.

The GF and I have decided not to go back to Texas for the Christmas holidays, since we are a bit short on travelling money, and I am trying to save up some more vacation days so we don't have to travel in rushed fashion. I'd like to also be able to bring at least the dog on travel with us, because he likes to travel, get petted by family, and we'd worry less with him being around us. I am hoping that my grandfather will stay healthy, perhaps get a bit stronger physically, and most of all, maybe not feel as lonely now that my grandmother is gone.

Speaking of my grandmother, they finally got her tombstone made and once again, they got the product wrong. (The first mistake was the miswriting of her name in Chinese) This time, they got the wrong style of tombstone. What does it take to get it right? She has been laying in an unmarked grave since July! I miss her immensely, and even with knowing that she's in heaven already, I can't help it but to wonder where she is right now, and how she's doing.

Work is going okay, we're humming along. Lately, I've been getting an offer or two to go back to active duty assignments, over in the West Coast, where I really had wanted to move us to not so long ago....it's tempting, but is it the right thing to do? Or maybe it's time to just buckle down and see where this day job thing will take us?

Rest in peace, Piper

This is to Laurence's cat, who unfortunately had passed away from a series of strokes. I never really got to pet you, but nevertheless, I will miss you a lot!

Thanks to doc!

Of "Doc in the Box", whose link you can find in my blogroll. He had a post from two days ago about a army soldier who has returned from Iraq not too long ago called "This is Your War II" , and it has one of the best descriptions of what it is like to be going through Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)and basically the aftermath of going through a war. My heart goes out to Mr. Red2Alpha!

Go and check out the blog, and please take time to think about what tolls a war can bring not only to the ones fighting it, as well as to those around the ones fighting the war.

Not to get political here, but I wonder if these consequences ever ran through the powers that be as they made this stupid decision to goto war, if you call that a war. That's the thing, they send others to go so they don't have to go themselves, and that is the way that it always has been.

I hope that Mr. Red2Alpha will somehow find a degree of peace someday.

Into December

I'm happy to report that we've all suvived the long drives, the bad weather during the commute to my aunt's house, and the gamut of emotions running throughout the household during the holiday/birthday dinners. (We had also celebrated my grandfather's 89th. birthday during thanksgiving break.)

Grandpa looked very relaxed and he even looked like he had gained some weight while staying with my aunt. My aunt flew him to live with her and her family shortly after my grandma's passing, partially because they were planning on doing that (with my grandma if she had not passed away), partially for a change of scenery for grandpa, and lastly, my aunt has a lot of misgivings about how my grandparents were treated by my uncle and aunt, the ones living near them in Houston. Let's just say that every family has problems like mine, of people not getting along with each other and misunderstanding so deep that it almost resembles hate. I guess the way that I deal with it is to live far from my family members, but that doesn't make it go away, you know?

I got to hang out with my cousins, who are all in their teens and one is even about to go into college. Technically, I am the oldest of them at 34 and while I don't feel that old yet, but I do wonder if we'll be able to hang out much more like this from now on. The family usually would get together because of the grandparents, but lately, there has been less and less occasions like this.

My aunt's house was grand, it's a million dollars and it felt like it too! It's a huge house, with huge backyard, 3 car garage, plenty of spaces, big windows, 3 fireplaces, and not to mention this jacuzzi that I almost drowned in! I sort of wish that the GF and I had a house like this! Maybe one of these days....getting comfortable sure can cost a bunch!

The GF went to see her family in Tx. and for the most part, she had a good time with the nephew, who is a lady's man now at the age of 5! I wonder if he'll grow up to be the next Hugh Hefner or something! :-)

I think I miss my family, minus the conflicts.

Pre-Thanksgiving

I raised my right hand and took my oath and became a 2nd. Lt. in the army reserves, thanks for the accolades, for those of you who might care. It was done in my office, and this retired admiral read my oath to me, and I was a bit nervous but did not feel any tingling due to excitement. I supposed that I would if I was new to this thing, but I've already been in the military for 10 years now. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for the opportunies, no matter how much I'd gripe about things.

To celebrate the occasion, the GF and I went to a local pizza parlor, and of the 5-6 people that I've asked to come along, 2 showed up. Friday nights are so bad when it comes to getting people together sometimes, and it helps that we've only been in town for a month and really don't know other people so well. So far, our only friends in town are this young couple that I've met at work, they're in their early 20's and haven't yet settled into the married with kids thing yet. They're nice people and also not from this part of the country, so it's also like we've got this alliance of out of towners.

The GF is flying to Tx. tomorrow for thanksgiving. We've bled out so much $ during the move and the first round of bills that I doubt that both of us could afford to fly back for thanksgiving or christmas. I'm driving to NJ to my aunt's for thanksgiving with the dog and going to celebrate (or try to) my grandfather's 89th. birthday there. It'll be tough because my grandmother's not here anymore and not everyone who is going to be there likes each other. My aunt doesn't like my uncle, her younger brother, both my dad (the oldest) and my aunt don't really respect my uncle. My uncle doesn't like my aunt (the middle one) because she had been treating him like shit, and on top of all that, both my aunt and my uncle think my dad is a total loser, which he kind of is. There will be a lot of evil eyes staring at each other, to which I hear that it's not all that unusual.

I'm ready to be away from here for a little while though. Good or not, at least I'm not here where nothing ever goes on and everyone stays behind closed doors.

This Veteran's Day weekend

While I salute all the veterans who have sacrificed their lives and also for those who are still serving, I didn't feel like that the holiday is really mine because I didn't have the roughest of all military careers. That is why I don't expect any free grubs or marching in parades....however, I would have liked some belly rubs, because they're free to give and receive! Yet, as I stood outside my front door, no one came by to give me any belly rubs...sigh!

We went to Pittsburgh on Friday, and ate a good dinner at this place at Station Square, a riverfront shopping complex. It took us forever to drive from here to Pittsburgh, due to highway repairs and general unfamiliarity with the general geography of Western Pa. We will make more trips to Pittsburgh and get to know the place eventually. I especially would like to visit the zoo!

It was also GREAT to have slept a few full nights and then some! I'm not the morning type, but I do get up early to do the work stuff. In this town, a lot of people go to bed early and wake up ass early...and I just don't know if I have it in me to do that. This place is such a clash of the corporate environment, the blue collar community that is the backbone of this town, and the so called emerging middle class. Most of the people here keep to themselves because it's so cold here and pleasantry is interpreted as people keeping to themselves.

I'm not sure yet if this place will ever be "home", and I don't mean that in a bad way at all...it's all part of the new experience of new job. God only knows what's down the road!

The jack

I just don't know how the hell it is possible that while I should be earning more money at the job, I'm actually keeping less because I got bumped to another tax bracket. Just got my first paycheck and they've taken out a good 1/3 of everything! I made more take home pay when I was on active duty in the army.....nope I'm not at the point where I want to go back to active duty....but this just sucks.

Otherwise, the job is going on alright, right here in cubicle city. I still have a lot to learn about how stuff works and hopefully more people to meet. Most of the people there are very serious and I sort of feel like a jokester there, but someone's got to be, right?

Most of the folks in town are kind of old, and they like to stay to themselves. Not that I've never lived in places where people like to keep to themselves, but I guess deep inside I just expected something on the slightly friendlier side when I moved here.

I miss my grandma a lot, and this is the first year that I'll have without her around, and so this will be weird.

The GF is having a bit of a hard time right now getting a gig in phlebotemy, and I hope that it'll change for her soon.

We both need to get ourselves up and moving, get busy and move our duffs around, it'll be good for the winter, generating some much needed body heat!

My Hillbilly Name Is...

Mary Lou Duke

Hillbilly Name Generator

Because I am their leader....

Damn, somebody has finally found me out! (the Oct. 19th You Like Rants post.)

NSFW!

Settling in.....

Well, yours truly finally found a house to live in! At a moment when I thought that there was really nothing left for me to look at as far as rentals were concerned, this lady called me and told me that she had a house for rent and she'll allow pets!!!!

I met up with the lady at the hotel lobby (I'm staying at a hotel right now) and she was nice enough to take me to see the house. It's a small house, but it had a basement, a garage, attic, covered patio, and a backyard that leads to a walking trail in the woods! When I went into the house, it smelled nice and looked very clean, which was a sharp contrast to the places that I've seen before around town. The rent is a bit expensive, but I think it's worth it. It's only 4 miles away from where I'll be working at, and the neighborhood is quiet.

Another thing about the landlord, right off the bat, she told me that she had two young sons and she's gay....wow! I appreciate the honesty.

Since I've been here, everyone that I've met has been very nice to me, and I think that's a great sign. I had also met a Schmuck, seriously, that's his last name! He works at the Circuit City across the street from the hotel and he sells sell phones, I got one of his business cards in case I need to switch cell phone carriers. Some of the gas stations around here are called Sheetz, to which you can easily pronounce into something else completely.

The dog has been getting nothing but affection from the hotel staff, and he seems to be adopting to the cooler weather without much problems....I mean, he should, he's full of fur!

I'm a bit nervous about work, I went to the workplace yesterday to hand in some paperwork and I remember walking through a maze of cubicles, tall cubicles. They reminded me of the "Initech" Company featured in the movie, "Office Space". Are there going to be humor at the workplace? I doubt it, but at least I hope it' bearable, you know?

Very relieved about finally finding a place!

In Pennsylvania....

The dog and I finally arrived at our temporary detination in Western Pennsylvania, after a drive that lasted almost 2 days. The weather couldn't be better for driving, but my poor dog got so worned out that he went to bed almost immediately after we checked ourselves into the hotel. In fact, as I am writing this entry, (this is the afternoon following my arrival) the dog is still kind of lazy.

Started looking at possible places to live at, and the first two were nightmares of places to look at! One of the apts. have kitchen that looked completely non-functional, and old. I won't even mention the bathrooms! I also looked at the local newspapers for any more possible places to rent, and because of the pet restrictions, I really don't have a lot of options.

Trying not to get too nervous yet, after all, I just got here, right?

Time to wake the dog up!

Goodbye, Midwest!

I'll try not to shed a tear as I drive away eastward......

Cyndi Lauper rocks!

Last night we had the pleasure of attending a Cyndi Lauper concert in downtown Kansas City. We had purchased the tickets about a month and a half ago and I just thought that it would be a good concert, mostly for nostalgia sake. I was a middle schooler in the mid 80's when Madonna and Cyndi Lauper both became pop stars...ah the good ole' 80's!


I always thought that Cyndi was cooler than Madonna, since Madonna was big on gimmicks and not real talent. However, I was not too familiar with all of Cyndi's songs except for her album, "She's So Unusual", with all the songs like "True Colors", "She Bop", etc. On the other hand, I had once purchased Madonna's "Immaculate Collection", and I think that was enough for me, I think everything after that sort of was shit, and I never had a desire to watch her in concert either.


Most of the concert audience last night were people in their 50's and beyond, with a small pocket of people who are not yet in their 30's. I thought to myself "Man, did I really age that much?" Some of them were already drunk by the time Cindi came out to sing, and they were mildly irritating. Her opening act was this raggae band called "The Rule", and it was made up of 3 white boys and one black guy from Ethiopia. The lead singer had long dreadlocks, and a good voice, but I cannot say their music was something that I'd download on my Ipod.



Cyndi did her familiar songs with different interpretations and arrangement, and it was almost like hearing her songs for the first time. Her band was also great at keeping in sync with her and they looked like they were having a lot of fun doing what they do. The encore performance was longer than any encore performances that I've ever seen at any concerts, and it was fun to watch and listen to. I don't know if I was ever really aware of how powerful her voice can be!



If you can, try and catch her in concert, and I am sure that you will not be disappointed!


Here is where you can find out more about Ms. Lauper.

Meet Sushi!

adopt your own virtual pet!

Tuesday morning

Waiting for the water to boil so I can make my tea, and semi-anxiously looking online for a place to live at once we move up to Pa. I'm having a hard time so far in finding a place that'll accept pets. It seems like if you move to that part of the country, you should buy a house. Yet I don't think I'm quite ready for house buying yet. I have no idea whether or not this job is a long term one, and besides, house buying takes lots of $ and time.

The GF is optimistic about it all, and I am glad that she is.

Right now, there are just a lot of details of packing and moving.

Let me have some tea so I can get started again....

What a week

I spent a week in Houston so that I can hang out with my sister. My sister and I, although very much different and have been on occations known to bump heads with me, we nevertheless had a pretty good time. We ate Ethiopean, Chinese, and Vietnamese food, talked a lot about our memories of grandma, griped about the rest of the family, and played with her beloved beagle, Woody. We also drove to Galveston beach and hung out for about an hour. Galveston doesn't have the best beach out there, but the weather was so nice that it made everything better.

I found out that on the plane ride over to Houston that the company that I've interviewd with in Pennsylvania has offered me a job. It was in the middle range what I said should be my "starting price" for them, but more than what I was earning before, with an extra sense of the illusion of job security. I feel kinda guilty about it because I really didn't try much to look for jobs or to try and look for another job. Part of the reasons why was because I was not really all that motivated in going through the process of selling myself to other people all over again and again. This job really literally fell out of the sky, and I just hope that I'm at least halfway useful for this company.

Above all, I hope it'll be a better and a friendlier place to be at, for all of us.

Catchy tune of the day

EVERYTHING FALLS APART - DOG'S EYE VIEW

written by Peter Stuart
from the 'Happy Nowhere" CD on Columbia

Don't look now, things just got worse.
I'm drunk again I swear this crescent is just a curse.
Oh, I got here by killin' off all my friends.
I think I've figured it out: my life begins when the fun ends.

I got my wings, I'm free to go as I please.
Yeah, I got my wings now nothing really pleases me

'till everything falls apart
then I get to try to put it back together
yeah, it falls apart you can count on that
you can count on
bad, bad weather again.

Was it good? I don't remember much about it.
When things start to feel right
you can count on me to start to doubt it.
and the devil's not in the details, no the devil is in my pants
And it's shoot first apologize later.
Another quick and new sure shot romance
Well I got what I wanted now I don't want anything
Yeah, I got what I wanted, now my life is just boring.

'till everything falls apart
then I get to try to put it back together
yeah, it falls apart and you can count on that
you can count on that; bad weather this year.

I met God this afternoon ridin' on an uptown train
I said, "Don't you have better things to do?"
He said, "If I do my job what would you complain about?
So I let it go to Hell, now I'll have something to do.
He said, "I'll let it go to hell; does that sound familiar to you?"

Well everything falls apart
then I get to try to put it back together
yeah it falls apart and you can count on that
you can count on bad, bad weather
well, everything that falls apart, baby,
sooner or later gonna come back together
well, everything that comes together, hey,
sooner or later gonna fall apart again
and you can call it anything you want
they're gonna take it all away from you
you're gonna wake up, wake up, wake up,
scarecrow and find yourself lost again...

Ode to....

The GF who is out there earning the dough right now while I'm getting reacquainted with the pets and some good old fashioned housework. While I cannot say that I'm the best housewife out there, but it has been good to get to do these things for a change.


I have to also say that my GF need to be commended for putting up with me, my funky job changes, my family, and my many shortcomings. She's the ultimate wife, mother, and the smartest gal that I know and have the pleasure of being with!

I do hope that everything will work out fine with the possible new job, possible new move, and the possible new bouncing baby!

Love you!

Back from the interview

About the job interview:

After 2 seperate legs of flights from here to Charlotte, NC, and finally to Pittsburgh (with a overbooked and rerouted flight), I took the rental car and drove to Johnstown, Pa., this mountaineous town that houses some big name defense contracting firms, and I went to interview with a not so well known company. However unknown, this company owns this campus of buildings of big proportions.

I took a look at the town, it was a small town and I can't say that I got a sense of what people were like in the town. I did think it was kind of funny that two out of two gas station attendants to which I asked driving directions from all had missing upper front teeth, and mullets for haircuts. All the Chinese restaurants from Pittsburgh to Johnstown are called Jade Garden. Overall, the town looked kind of scenic, like the rolling hills featured on a microsoft computer screensaver.

I interviews with a total of 5 people, from the manager (the one who first saw my resume), to his boss (who thought that I had a lot of military intelligence experience.), an analyst (this bald-headed guy who is a Arabic linguist who had spent 20 years in the army.), the human resources lady (this young twenty-something gal who went over their benefits packages with me. When I asked her what people in town did for fun, she was at a loss.), and last but not least, the security guy who took my info. to check up on whether or not I had a security clearances. ( I think all of them were ex-military, with the exception of the human resources lady.)

They were all friendly, but I wasn't sure exactly if I was the person that they were looking for. I got the impression that they wanted someone who has a lot more dealings with the military intelligence community (I'm just an accidental tourist, thanks to my language), and just someone who is a lot more technically aware. (I could be wrong though, I'm not always the best at reading people and what's spinning in their heads.) I do have to thank them for taking the trouble to fly me over, put me up in a hotel, and giving me a chance to interview!

They are supposed to tell me whether or not they wanted me to work for them in about two weeks time. I'm not going to worry about what the result of it will be, not really. I guess since in my mind I got this interview by total accident, if I get this job, it'll be a total accident too! I'll let y'all know when I hear something!

I was so tired when I came home last night, with just myself and not my luggage. Due to the re-routing of flight, I didn't get my luggage until sometimes this morning. (I was supposed to fly from Pittsburgh to Philadelphis, then from Philly back to Kansas City. Yet the flight to Philly was not going to leave until 3 hours after the supposed departure time, so I got the gate agent to put me on a flight to D.C. and then fly back to KC from there. That happened, but the luggage followed the original flight route. I wonder if this is a normal thing when it comes to flying with U.S. Air.....)


Glad to be back with the GF and the pets!

Moving on

I had gotten back in touch with a few people from my job from prior to Japan, went to dinner together this past Friday evening, and through a quick visit, I got to see more of my former colleges face to face.

That was yesterday, I went to the old office on a bad day, I found out. For one thing, one of the person there was just let go and from all accounts, he didn't take it too well. On top of that, due to budgetary concerns, everyone in that office have to now submit written reasons why they should stay in their perspective jobs. My old partner in crime told me that his contract (he's a civilian contractor) has been extended for another year, but he's not even sure what will happen after that. Most of the people there have invested a lot in this particular geographical area, bought houses, cars, and sent their kids to the public schools in the area.

Even though that place wasn't fully staffed when I had visited yesterday, I could sense the uneasiness and the frustration there even though the people that I saw were happy to see me.

I thought about why I chose to leave that place and I thought that even though it wasn't a easy decision to make, I'm glad that I did it. Granted, I am on unemployment right now, but I'm looking around and I like some of the possibilities around me. I don't have that "I'm stuck" kind of feeling.

On a side note, I'm glad that ABC decided to show the "Path to 9/11" movie desptie of complaints from former president Clinton and his posse. Let's play fair here, I don't think President Bush demanded that "Fareneheit 9/11" be pulled from the theaters because the movie had placed him in a negative light. Just to let you know, I don't like either the republicans or the democrats, and when we entrust our lives to the politicians, we might as well become card-carrying members of the masochist party (I made that up, by the way).

Flying out tomorrow to a job interview in the Northeast, and I hope that the interview will go well, regardless or whether or not I get the job. The GF and I are anticipating a move to...?

Here's to that ever-present unknown!

Commitment phobic men take note.....

From Associated Press...

NEW YORK -
Brad Pitt, ever the social activist, says he won't be marrying
Angelina Jolie until the restrictions on who can marry whom are dropped. "Angie and I will consider tying the knot when everyone else in the country who wants to be married is legally able," the 42-year-old actor reveals in Esquire magazine's October issue, on newsstands Sept. 19.

In the article he reflects on "fifteen things I think everyone should know."

Though Shiloh, the world-famous daughter of Pitt and girlfriend/earth mother Angelina Jolie, hogged much attention upon her birth in May, Pitt says he "cannot imagine life" without adopted children, Maddox, 5, and Zahara, 1.

"They're as much of my blood as any natural born, and I'm theirs," says Pitt. "That's all I can say about it. I can't live without them. So: Anyone considering (adoption), that's my vote."

Pitt, who plays a world traveler in the upcoming drama "Babel," subscribes to a laid-back parenting style.

"I try not to stifle them in any way," he says. "If it's not hurting anyone, I want them to be able to explore. Sometimes that means they're quite rambunctious."

Lucky kids.


....I wonder if Angelina turned around and slapped his face...

"I feel it's really important to have that time to sit and talk to them," he continues. "I really like that last minute before they fade off. And always give them a heads-up before you jerk them out of something. You need to tell them, like, `You have three more minutes.'"

___

American Cities That Best Fit You::

55% Austin

55% Miami

50% Honolulu

50% Los Angeles

50% Washington, DC

Which American Cities Best Fit You?

Funny....I used to live in Austin!

Rest in peace, Steve Irwin

He was so full of life, one of these people that I envy. He puts out more energy in one day than I do in 10 years!

I hope your legacy will be carried on. My condolences to Terri and the kids.

If you are interested, you can read about him here, I am sure that animal planet is probably going to run all sorts of tributes to him, so we can catch footages of him there too.

The award for favorite guilty pleasures movie of 06'....

goes to "Snakes on A Plane"!

Granted that the movie will probably never win an academy award, but it sure beat about at least 80% of the current movies out there when it comes to guilty pleasures!

I dragged the GF to see it with me, and even though she said that I owed her for this one, I could see that she enjoyed the movie as much as I did! Sure, some parts of the movie were a bit gory, but that was part of the fun part of the movie.

I have to admit that the internet was a big motivating factor for myself wanting to see this movie, and the other motivating factor is the fact that I really like cheesy movies.

So if you are like myself, a fan of cheesy movies with a bit of a gore, I think you'll like this movie!

The week so far....

I've been cleaning the apt. a bit, cooking some, did lots of dishes, filed for unemployment, surfed a lot of net, walked my dog, and made some phone calls to the friendly folks at the Washington army national guard, where some thoughts of me transferring there loomed for a while.

The GF has been great, constantly reminding me that we are on unemployment budget right now so we've got to act as such, reminding me what chores lie ahead for me during the day, and talking to each other at various times during the day and night. Thanks to her, I'm taking it easy for a few weeks!

I might have this job interview coming up in the next two weeks, and I don't really know if I'll get it, much less know what the job is really about... not a good way to go in to an interview. I'll keep you updated when/if anything happens. The GF and I would love to move out of the Midwest, but we realize that it's partly up to us, and partly depending on what job that I get and where that job will be at. We'll see what happens.

I've been talking to the GF a lot about my grandmother's passing and how it feels afterwards. It's like free therapy for me, and I'm really grateful for her for that. My poor sister has been dealing also with the aftermath, and I think for her it has been bittersweet. Bitter because she had looked so forward to be spending time with both of grandparents, (and some more things that come with spending time with them.) and sweet because she's now getting to know my grandfather a lot better. A death in the family can sure bring out a lot of things in us, force us to deal with things that we had avoided for a long time, influence us in both positive and negative ways, and that's just the beginning.

To my nephew Zach, we're going to try really hard to come and see you soon! We've missed you a lot from here! We'll bring down Ramen dog for you to play with, and sneak you some goodies! You got to try and stay the good boy that you are, despite the fact that a lot of the adults around you aren't as good as you are. Adults can be real idiots at times.