Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Almost there

Two more days until the New Year. All I can hope is that it will be better than this past year. I believe it will be since I do work AND get paid now. Of course next year will be the first time that I will make over a certain amount for the year and will no longer be able to qualify for the Earned Income Credit on my taxes in 2011. Oh, well. This is actually the best and highest paid job I have had in my life. Well, aside from being deployed since I make more when I am deployed.

I watched INGLORIOUS BASTERDS last night. Although I usually enjoy Quentin Tarantino movies, I did not enjoy this one. First, let me explain this. I have a 27-29" tv. My couch is about 15 feet away from the tv. 1/2 to 3/4 of the movie was in subtitles because they were speaking either German or French at one time or another. The subtitles were in yellow, which you can not really see when there is a bright background. On top of that, they were switching the subtitles faster than I could read them because of the blending in on the screen. My eyes hurt, my brain hurt, this movie sucked. Unless you have a big screen tv, do not watch or you will not understand it. Even if you do have a big screen tv, it is still a waste of time.

I feel better now. If there are any writers out there....make sure you have characters speak English. There are no subtitles in real life. If you can't have your characters speak English, show the movie somewhere else other than in my English speaking country. Your as bad as the individuals that are in my country and can't speak English. When I go to another country, I don't try to walk up to people and expect them to know my language.

Now look what has happened. I am getting all worked up again. Damn movie and damn non-english speaking people in my country.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Treaure Hunt

I am always looking for ways to get more money. I am currently attending school, receiving Tuition Assistance and the GI BILL. Of course the GI BILL they enrolled me in is only a couple of hundred dollars a month. I just submitted an application for a different GI BILL that I qualify for and once approved I will receive about $600 a month. A friend of mine that has already done this route is also telling me to get a student loan as well as I will receive whatever is not used at the end. Of course I am a little skeptical about doing all of that. I will save that for when I go for my Master's degree after I complete my Bachelors in about 2 1/2 years.

Another movie I forgot to mention that I saw was EXTRACT. It is made by Mike Judge, the creator of Beavis and Butthead. It is also made by the creator of OFFICESPACE, which was a great movie. EXTRACT did not meet the expectations of OFFICESPACE, but did still have it's funny parts. Still have not watched INGLORIOUS BASTERDS yet. I've got it until Friday, so I will be watching it within the next couple of days.

Work is kind of slow right now and I wish I was taking a class right now. It seems my days are longer when I don't have things to do. My next class starts 05 Jan, so it is just another week away. That is all I have today.

Monday, December 28, 2009

Movie updates

Well, I rented a few movies to catch up on. First, THE HANGOVER-hilarious movie good to watch. G-FORCE is a Disney movie, watched with the kids. Typical Disney movie and was decent. ALL ABOUT STEVE was an ok movie, but not all that. It was semi-predictable. DISTRICT 9 was a waste of time for as much as it was hyped. I thought it would be good, but it was stupid. Also on the very stupid, B-rated scale was DARK COUNTRY. Not even worth watching if it was on tv for free. Last night I watched HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF BLOOD PRINCE. I was never into any of the Harry Potter films and this one is like all the others...uninteresting. Tonight I will be watching INGLORIOUS BASTERDS. I heard this is supposed to be a good film.

In a couple of weeks, THE FINAL DESTINATION and SAW VI will be out as well as HALLOWEEN II. So maybe by the end of the month, I will have more reviews. Not like my opinion matters, but if I can save people money and their time, then it is a benefit.

Nothing much planned this week. Just working and staying home for New Year's Eve. On New Year's Day, I will be heading to the sister's house again. Other than that, nothing else planned. Wish I would have won the lottery Sat night. Oh, well.

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Christmas Recovery

Well, nothing to recover from really. For some reason, these past few years, I just don't get hyped up around this time. I still go through the motions and everything, but it just doesn't feel the same anymore. I went into Walmart on Christmas Eve. Bad idea. Never do that again. I have come to realize that over the past few years I have developed a condition where I can not be around large crowds. I begin to get an anxiety attack and want to start swinging. I never noticed this before until a few years ago. Have no idea why.



Well, I know hardly anyone reads this blog, but for those that do, I have to attache this. My brother came across a video of me on youtube and I figured I would go ahead and post it before he does. Short explanation...This was taken in August 2009 when I was in Germany. I had been drinking and didn't know there was a camera, let alone they put it on youtube. I just found it last month. Anyways, enjoy it. White boys can't dance.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fN_0KCfbLQo

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Christmas Eve

Here it is, the eve of Christmas. I think it is funny. I was talkin to someone at work yesterday and they were like Merry Christmas. I said same to you, and then they were like or do you celebrate somethin else? I said screw that, for me it is Christmas. Christmas is supposed to be about Christ, why remove him from it? I told her I tell everyone Merry Christmas this time of year and if they don't like it, get the hell out of my country.

Been busy all week playing catch up and finalizing the Christmas shopping. I believe I have everyone taken care of. Tomorrow will be a travel day as we go to the in-laws in the morning, then my parents, then my sister's. I hope everyone has a MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR. Please do not drink and drive and watch out for the idiots on the road that do.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

One more week

Well, here I am in Schweinfurt, Germany. The first week went well. Went to a couple of places this weekend. Went to Warzburg and then to Rothenburg. Christmas markets are everywhere and it is awesome. Both cities I visited had fortresses that we went and got pictures of. One of them we even got to walk along the top of the wall. They also had museums that we went and saw and we were able to take pictures inside as long as we didn't use flash. Well, I set my camera to no flash and turned it off to save battery power. I turned it back on to take a picture and apparently it resets it with the flash. Security cameras were everywhere, so I just left that room and moved on making sure everytime I turned the camera on, I took the flash off.

Stayed in my first Hostel this past weekend. No, it was nothing like the movies. It was pretty decent though. I have been taking plenty of pictures but probably will not post any until I return home. It finally got cold enough to snow last night and today. Other than that, the weather has not been too bad. Just have one more week to go before I return home.

I finally received an e-mail that all of my credits have been transferred over to my college. So I only have 61 credits to go for my Bachelor's Degree. My next class begins in January. Well, that is all I have time for now.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Small break...bigger break

Wow, has it been that long since I last posted? Well for Thanksgiving, I went up to the FIL place in Northern AZ. He continued to ask me if I wanted part of the land in the event he passes away. I know, I shouldn't pass up free land, however, I don't know what I plan on doing in the future. Most people would jump at it and sell it if they don't use it. I am not like that and in his will he would put something where the land could not be sold for over 100 years. I would just own land and have to pay taxes on it. Don't get me wrong, it would be nice to have land to vacation to or something like that, but I would not want to live there.

Thanksgiving went well there and we only had one injury. No, not one of my kids or my wife or I. One of my dogs. I have three and the biggest of the three, a boarder collie, was slightly injured. My FIL has an underground, which is basically a trailer he buried and stores food, yes, he is a survivalist. Well, to get into it, you need to climb down a ladder about 16 ft down. We went down and apparently, my dog was curious and got too close and fell in. Thankfully he didn't break any bones or anything, but he did break one of his nails on the way down. He is doing a lot better now and the nail is growing back.

I leave in three more days to go to Germany for a couple of weeks. I am excited as this will be my third trip to Germany. Maybe next year I will put in for Japan or Korea, if I am not deployed. A lot of rumors going on right now, but nothing definite yet. Don't really have money for this trip, but hopefully I can get some things for low prices to bring back for Christmas. I come back just before Christmas. Other than that, not much else going on. Probably will not post until I return unless I am able to use the internet while I am there. The last two times, I did not have access. Well, we'll see.