Filed under: | Personal

It’s kinda hard to avoid this function when one of my teammates, who got her US Citizenship LEGALLY late last summer, will be delivering her second baby, a daughter, next month. So the boss decided to hold one for her before she gets to go on maternity leave. She told me she’s done with the kids part and her husband is fine with that; they weren’t expecting this one to come along. Of course, some couples do have a good reason for that.
Being a guy and not having gone through such an event for almost twenty years, I actually found this to be exciting. I got her a gift card from Wal-Mart. And she’s only 26 too...just a kid! At least I will be quite happy for her and her husband, and that is a positive step for me.

Filed under: | Personal

I normally don’t post a first story this late in the evening. When I got up this morning I just didn’t feel like it, and resolved to do so when I got home tonight.
It sure was nice to get together with my fellow team members outside of work, at a sports bar, and just shoot the breeze without having water cooler conversations full of rumors. Shot some pool for the first time in many years...and I won!
Now that is a good way to end the week.

Filed under: | Personal

It’s one thing for a guy to have the hots for some girl and she tells him to take a cold shower. It’s quite another when you get up in the morning, shave, use the facilities, and then turn on the shower…
...only to find there’s no hot water. ARRRRRRGH!
So I called it in. I highly doubt that at this time of the morning, other residents of this apartment building will notice. Hopefully it’ll be fixed by then, but as for me, man it sure woke me up fast!

Filed under: | Personal

My Dad would have been 71 years old today. I miss him. I think he would have been proud of what I did yesterday.

Filed under: | Personal

Today...for the first time EVER, I shot a firearm at a shooting range, to see what it’s like. The weapon I tried out was a Sig Sauer P226, chambered for 9mm. The good folks at Caswells Shooting Range in Mesa were very helpful. Of course I had to rent everything: the weapon, 50 rounds of ammo, and eye/ear protection. All told, just under $40.
The first target, I shot 15 rounds at 10 feet, the rest at 15. The second target, 15 rounds at 15 feet, the rest at 20. The recoil I was expecting wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Of course, I was dealing with 9mm, and when both the sales rep (who swears by Sigs) and the range instructor showed me how to properly hold the weapon when I fired it, I gained confidence that I, indeed, was capable of doing this. So I took the plunge. In the near future, I want to take my local friends with me to show them I can do it...and to test out other calibers: specifically, .40 S&W and .45 ACP, before I make my final decision.
And your final question: was it worth it? You bet it was! And I felt GOOD afterwards.

Filed under: | Personal

Well, I didn’t purchase a firearm today, but I didn’t walk away empty-handed either. Consider the following:
First, I joined the NRA. If I’m gonna do this, I’ll need all the support I can get.
Second, the firearm I was hoping to purchase, the Sig Sauer SP2022, doesn’t fit my hand very well; it was a little too small, but the next size up fit very well. Granted, the P226 is gonna cost me a few more bucks, but it will be worth it, once I visit the various gun dealers in the Valley.
Finally, there was a lot of peer pressure to buy the weapon now due to the ten-minute background check, which I happened to pass, so that is not an issue. One maxim I’ve learned over the years, from both my mom and from personal experience, is wait 24 hours before making the final decision. I’ve still got a lot of research to do before I buy.
Oh yes, there is one more thing I got: I’ll publish the photo later on, but suffice it to say that this is a T-shirt the Bad Guys are gonna be able to read. Heheheheheheh....

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UPDATE (1747 MST): Well this didn’t take me long....

Filed under: | Personal

I’m finding out one aspect from my dad which, according to Mom, I inherited from him: bad teeth. And that was before the Navy did a number on his gums in his early 30s, and then he ended up having all of them pulled and getting dentures. Fortunately, I don’t have those, but I’ve got three root canals and lots of fillings. Ugh.
So here’s the scoop: believe it or not, the filling which was put into my right bottom 2nd molar in December, just four months ago, broke loose and lodged itself in between that tooth and the 1st molar, and some decay had set in whenever that occurred.
So they removed it, refilled it, and also took care of tooth #2 and tooth #3, each of which had smaller cavities. The #3 tooth actually had a silver filling from way back in 1971 (that’s 5th Grade for me!), and they got rid of that. When I told the dentist how long it had been there, he was surprised and he considered that a success!
Right now, my whole right side of my mouth (and my right ear) is nice and numb, and it feels like I’ve been punched around a few times. I’ve got enough la-la pills from last weekend’s Rx to get me through the next few days and then some.
I’ll bet you’re wondering how much of a hole it burned in my plastic. Well it was only $78 for the upper fillings. No charge for the lower, because it was a replacement. And that is a huge relief, because instead of charging it on my credit card, I could do it with my debit card! Whew.
Now it’s time to sit back, try to relax, and enjoy the recovery period. Yeah, right...NURSE! Where’s my nurse?

Filed under: | Personal | War on Terror

On a whim I filled out an application for a special firearm credit card...and they gave me one! So it looks like when I get the card, I will go down to a dealer and purchase one. I ain’t goin’ for no cheap-a** model; I want the best! And if these folks will help me get that, so much the better.

Filed under: | Personal

Found out in my paycheck for this Friday (yes, that’s Friday The 13th) a 3% raise in my base pay. YAY! Yes, I can breathe a bit easier now.

Filed under: | History | Personal

I just returned to Phoenix an hour ago after driving back from Alamogordo, New Mexico, not too far from the Trinity Site. Here I am, actually standing at the REAL Ground Zero. Most of the time I was there, I was at a loss for words.

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Report Continues....
I got to Alamogordo, New Mexico at about 3:30 PM MDT on Friday. It’s a small military town (DUHHHHHH!), home to Holloman AFB and White Sands Missile Range, and also very close to White Sands National Monument. The vast majority of businesses are located along White Sands Boulevard (US 70 North). It also has an offshoot campus of New Mexico State University in the foothills of the Sacramento Mountains, as well as the New Mexico Museum of Space History and Clyde W. Tombaugh IMAX Theater.
There is a small mall across the main drag from the motel where I stayed. And it sure sucked to be Cingular, because my cell phone had no service from WSMR northward! Sprint was there and so was Verizon, but not Cingular. Oh well.
The tour assembled at 0630 hours at the parking lot of Tularosa High School, about 12 miles north of Alamogordo. I got the last reserved seat on the Tour bus which was first in line of the caravan. Breakfast was served by the Alamogordo Lions. As we pulled away at 0800 with WSMR Police escort, I turned back and saw well over a hundred vehicles, ready to pull away.
The trip to the Site took an hour and a half, and no pictures were allowed because we were on the Missile Range. The first place we pulled into (actually, after the driver missed the turnoff, then had to double back from the parking lot) was the McDonald Ranch House, two miles southeast of Ground Zero, where the plutonium core was assembled. While the windows shattered and the roof was torn off, the main structure of the house survived the test, and was restored to its prior condition in 1984.
Jumbo, or what’s left of it, sat in the parking lot, just outside the main gate. This was to have been used if The Gadget fizzled, preventing the wide dispersal of plutonium over the area. As the calculations became more accurate, the decision was made not to use it, and it was placed 800 yards away, held by a steel tower which was vaporized by the test. Jumbo itself survived.
It was a quarter-mile walk in near-freezing temperatures (I later found out from one of the police officers there that the day I got there, it was 80 degrees!) and blustery skies. The obelisk was there, a twelve-foot-high silent reminder of what humankind is capable of given the impetus. Adjacent to the obelisk was the one remaining tower remnant which survived the blast.
Along the perimeter were photos of what the scientists and military personnel stationed there did to pass the time (these will be shown later in the gallery). There was a group of Japanese visitors from Tokyo who were taking photographs of these, as I was; one of them even had a 35mm panoramic camera...so that had to have been old!
They also had the Fat Man bomb casing there, a replica of the device used on Nagasaki. One guy (NOT me!) actually got up on top of the thing and whooped it up. In a macabre fashion I couldn’t resist so I yelled out “Look! It’s Major Kong!”
Finally, in the northwest corner near the perimeter, there was a covering of the original crater, with trinitite, where I had hoped to peek into. Unfortunately, sand has covered the trinitite, making it no longer visible. But it’s still there.
I went back to the obelisk one more time and prayed a simple prayer; that which Jesus Christ first taught to His disciples. And then I went back to the bus. All told, I spent a little over two hours at the site, the rest of the time warming up back in the bus. At 1230 hours we started back along the route we entered the site; on the return trip, they showed a DVD of the 1954 sci-fi classic ”Them!”...which supposedly took place in Alamogordo. Those of us sitting near the front gave it the MST3K treatment for its sexism and corny dialogue. We reached the parking lot at 1400, just as the US Army went into the LA drains, so we were “spared” of the result.
And that was it.
The Trinity Site stands as a silent reminder of what Humanity is capable of. No matter how one feels about the subject, this event must always be remembered. It is open to the public two days a year: the first Saturday in April, and the first Saturday in October (next date: October 6). There is no charge for the tour, but if you want to ride in style like I did, call the Alamogordo Chamber of Commerce at (505) 437-6120 or (800) 826-0294. The $35 price is well worth it.

NOTE: More pictures from this visit will be posted in the Gallery section later in the week. Watch for them!

Filed under: | Personal

I hate calling in sick to work. What I was hinting at here has to do with this. I gotta talk with my doctor to see why there are so many foods I just can’t eat/partake/consume any more. It’s really starting to bother me, ‘cause I just barf it right back up after a few hours.
Not good. Not good at all....

Filed under: | Personal | War on Terror

Three months ago I found out my brother-in-law Tony, who is an Air Force Lifer in his 25th Year of service to our country, is being deployed to Iraq for a six-month tour. He leaves one week from today. Ever since that day I found out, I’ve been praying to God to keep him safe so he can come back and spend the rest of his days with his wife June (who’s my younger sister), and their two boys, Derek (16) and Collin (10), my two nephews who I love to death.
So I decided to call him today for a couple of reasons: first, Mom told me today that Tony passed the E-8 exam and should be promoted to Senior Master Sergeant some time next month. Thus, Tony beat his older brother George, who retired as an E-7 recruiter, and my Dad was a Radioman Chief (E-7 CPO) from the Navy.
There was also another reason why I called Tony, and I will point you to the Babylon 5 episode “GROPOS” from the second season: Dr. Franklin had problems in relating to his father, who was an EarthForce General and was about to deploy with 25,000 troops to another planet. He didn’t know what to do to heal the rift with his father which had developed over the years (which, thank God, Tony and I do not have), and he told Commander Susan Ivanova, who replied without hesitation:

“Tell him you love him.”

And that is exactly what I told Tony. I love him because he’s my brother-in-law, I love him because he takes care of June and vice versa, and I love him because they gave me two great nephews who I love to death. All this...and a whole lot more.
I ask each and every one of you to please keep Tony and his family in your prayers, to keep him safe so he can come back and spend the rest of his days here. Thank you all.

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TRACKBACK: Basil’s Blog

Filed under: | Geek Stuff | Personal

Three years ago I gave up my cell phone when I moved to Arizona, because I couldn’t afford it. Now I’m finally at the point where I can get one again...and I went with Cingular’s Go Phone Pay-As-You-Go plan.
My needs are definitely different today than they were back then. I will use this phone while traveling and for emergencies. One event which eventually led me to this purchase was my truck’s ball joint failure three months ago. I was cursing my lack of a cell phone then, and now I have rectified that.
‘Bout time. ‘Nuff said.

Filed under: | Personal

Oh, don’t mind me, I managed to finally get out of the apartment today, run a few errands, and not feel worn out like I have the last few days. My voice is getting stronger, and I even told off some stupid Digg member what I thought about his anti-Semitism. Plus, fellow Lizardoid Positively 4th Street gave me a new moniker for the CBC.
To my Jewish friends, although I missed it by sundown, hope you had a Happy Purim today!

Filed under: | Personal | War on Terror

Today, I went to a Gun Show at the State Fair Grounds. I was absolutely amazed at all the equipment (firearms, ammo, and accessories) on sale there, both new and used. I say this in a positive manner, because the way things are going lately, I’ve begun to entertain the thought of actually purchasing a firearm for personal/family/home defense, and learning how to use and maintain it.
I was supposed to go with my buddy John, but when I got to his house at 1330, he had already left. So I called him on the phone, asked for directions, and went there by myself. Perhaps I needed to go and see for myself just how helpful the merchants and other folks (all of whom believe in the Second Amendment) are.
And I did not want to leave the gun show empty-handed, so I got this:

Yes, another version of this classic. To my friends in Tucson: are you jealous yet!