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
Sunday, December 27, 2009
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.
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.
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.
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.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Show me the money
I am having a heck of a morning. Yesterday, I received a letter from the VA about my payment for the GIBILL for going back to school. It seems instead of asking me for an account to direct deposit the money into, they deposited it into an account I had 7 years ago, which I no longer have now. They told me this was done on the 19th. I called the bank and they told me that the VA did try to deposit the money on the 19th, but it was rejected the same day. Now I am on the phone with the VA again to find out where my money is. And of course wait time is approximately 25-30 minutes which usually turns into 45 minutes to an hour. I just don't understand businesses sometimes. If they deposited it and rejected it the same day, they should know. I have had this happen in the past where they tell me one thing, I follow up on it, have to call the business back and their like "oh, I see it now". Just do it right the first time. It's not like it's a thousand dollars or anything, only a couple of hundred dollars, but still, it is money that I need to pay bills. We'll see where this goes when they get back on the phone....in 30 minutes.
My daughter is having some little Thanksgiving party today at school, so I will probably work half day and go to it. We leave tomorrow after I get off work to head to the Father-In-Law's place for Turkey Day. Plan on coming back on Friday as I still have school work to do. This is my last week for this class. Next class will be in Jan. and I will be starting my English classes. I just recently took an English Proficiency Exam. I didn't do as well as I had expected. I was kind of nervous about it, so I googled it to see what it might include. I found a practice one through google, took it and scored 100%. I was like, wow, this is great. Went in to my school to take it, feeling confident, and it was nothing like what I just did. I scored 35/45 which is equivalent to 77.77%. I could take it again as they said we have two attempts. However, it did take me nearly 2 a/2 hours to take the test. Well, I was taking it at work, while I was working at the same time and it took awhile everytime I answered a question to upload the next one. The test didn't count towards my grade, so I was happy about that as well. I still have an A in this class. I think I am at a 96.5% right now.
Well, I am still on hold and feel like wrapping this up. Another week and a half until I head out to Germany.
My daughter is having some little Thanksgiving party today at school, so I will probably work half day and go to it. We leave tomorrow after I get off work to head to the Father-In-Law's place for Turkey Day. Plan on coming back on Friday as I still have school work to do. This is my last week for this class. Next class will be in Jan. and I will be starting my English classes. I just recently took an English Proficiency Exam. I didn't do as well as I had expected. I was kind of nervous about it, so I googled it to see what it might include. I found a practice one through google, took it and scored 100%. I was like, wow, this is great. Went in to my school to take it, feeling confident, and it was nothing like what I just did. I scored 35/45 which is equivalent to 77.77%. I could take it again as they said we have two attempts. However, it did take me nearly 2 a/2 hours to take the test. Well, I was taking it at work, while I was working at the same time and it took awhile everytime I answered a question to upload the next one. The test didn't count towards my grade, so I was happy about that as well. I still have an A in this class. I think I am at a 96.5% right now.
Well, I am still on hold and feel like wrapping this up. Another week and a half until I head out to Germany.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
18 Nov
Well, it is another hump day. It seems everyday this week has been long days. I had my root canal on Monday. It had been 5 years since my last root canal and I had forgotten how long it takes. I spent over two hours getting it done. They gave me the strongest medication they could to numb me and I still felt it. At least it is all over now. That was the last dental appointment that the military pays for, so now I can set up appointments with my regular dentist and start going through my insurance. This is actually the first time I have had dental insurance in years, so I can finally get some things done as long as I can afford the copays.
Next week is Thanksgiving and I will be going to the Father In Law's. I just replaced my tire this morning on my car and will be taking my other vehicle in for oil change and battery replacement. It seems like everytime I have a little bit of extra money, something happens and I need to pay for something, taking away all my extra money and sometimes additional. At least I am actually bringing in money now and can afford to pay bills though.
Friday, the kids bring home progress reports. The cool thing about this school district is they give us a website to go to and username and password for each kid that we can check on their grades as long as the teachers keep them current. My oldest son has all A's and B's for this quarter, but still needs to bring them higher to bring his semester grades up due to what he got for 1st Quarter. My younger son has a few grades below a B and still needs to bring his up. We'll just have to see on Friday when I get their up-to-date progress reports.
Only 2 1/2 weeks until I go to Germany. I am looking forward to it even if it is going to be cold as hell and possibly snow. I love going to Germany to sight see and stuff. I hate going to the same place twice, but I haven't had to worry about that yet. This is my third trip to Germany and third different location. I especially like going in December because of the Christmas Markets they have in the towns. It is nothing like here in the states. There, the townspeople all set up little booths in the middle of the streets to sell stuff and congregate with one another.
Well, I am almost finished with my second college course. I still have an A right now with 2 weeks left. I will start my next class in January. Everything with school seems to be doing fine and is pretty simple as long as all the deadlines are met. I am still waiting for another college to transfer my credits over and then I will know how much longer I have to go. I was originally told I would only need to do about a year and a half to get my Bachelor's Degree after all my credits were transferred, but I want to see them transferred to make sure. We'll see.
I hope this week picks up and goes faster. I think it is the medication from the root canal that is making me tired and makes the time go slower. But I need them for the pain. Until next time.
Next week is Thanksgiving and I will be going to the Father In Law's. I just replaced my tire this morning on my car and will be taking my other vehicle in for oil change and battery replacement. It seems like everytime I have a little bit of extra money, something happens and I need to pay for something, taking away all my extra money and sometimes additional. At least I am actually bringing in money now and can afford to pay bills though.
Friday, the kids bring home progress reports. The cool thing about this school district is they give us a website to go to and username and password for each kid that we can check on their grades as long as the teachers keep them current. My oldest son has all A's and B's for this quarter, but still needs to bring them higher to bring his semester grades up due to what he got for 1st Quarter. My younger son has a few grades below a B and still needs to bring his up. We'll just have to see on Friday when I get their up-to-date progress reports.
Only 2 1/2 weeks until I go to Germany. I am looking forward to it even if it is going to be cold as hell and possibly snow. I love going to Germany to sight see and stuff. I hate going to the same place twice, but I haven't had to worry about that yet. This is my third trip to Germany and third different location. I especially like going in December because of the Christmas Markets they have in the towns. It is nothing like here in the states. There, the townspeople all set up little booths in the middle of the streets to sell stuff and congregate with one another.
Well, I am almost finished with my second college course. I still have an A right now with 2 weeks left. I will start my next class in January. Everything with school seems to be doing fine and is pretty simple as long as all the deadlines are met. I am still waiting for another college to transfer my credits over and then I will know how much longer I have to go. I was originally told I would only need to do about a year and a half to get my Bachelor's Degree after all my credits were transferred, but I want to see them transferred to make sure. We'll see.
I hope this week picks up and goes faster. I think it is the medication from the root canal that is making me tired and makes the time go slower. But I need them for the pain. Until next time.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Monday blues
I had my daughter's fifth birthday this past weekend at Schnepf Farms. It cost me a lot less than what I had figured, but that is also because I had a lot less people show up than expected. Oh, well, she still had fun.
Of course for the last few weeks, for some reason, I check all 4 of my tires on my car to make sure they are good. See I got this car from my Mother In Law last year who told me all the tires were new. However, the tread looked good, but the sides looked cracked. It was all from tire rot because it sat and didn't get used much from the time she had replaced the tires. So over the course of the past year, I have had to replace three of the tires so far...until Saturday. When we were leaving my daughter's birthday party, I checked all 4 tires and they were good. As I neeared the street to start heading home, my sister pulls alongside to let me know I had a flat. Of course I couldn't afford it as I had just put my account into the negative just to pay my daughter's birthday party. So my Brother in Law and I drove to a gas station and got some fix-it-flat. Came back, filled it up, and it worked. Drove home and everything was fine. I even went to the gas station after that to put more air in the tire and it was fine. However, later that night, I cam out to check it and it was flat. So, yesterday morning, I put the spare on it and had noticed it had a hole in it on the inside of the tire. So, I am driving on a spare until later this week when I can get another tire. Oh, well, at least all 4 should not give me a problem for a while.
I go today to the dentist again for my last little appointment that the military is paying for. I get the privilege of having a root canal done today. After that, I will begin setting up appointments with my dentist under my dental insurance to begin getting other things done. I am just so happy that the military finally paid to get some of it done, as that will be a lot less that I have to pay for.
I will be heading up to the Father In Law's house for Thanksgiving next week. I love going up there as Thanksgiving dinner consists of no turkey and all steak. It is a great break from the city life as well as he lives in a small town and lives on 40 acres. I know it will be colder up there though. I think this week alone we will be in the mid 70's. Up there it is more like 50's. Well, that's all I got today.
Of course for the last few weeks, for some reason, I check all 4 of my tires on my car to make sure they are good. See I got this car from my Mother In Law last year who told me all the tires were new. However, the tread looked good, but the sides looked cracked. It was all from tire rot because it sat and didn't get used much from the time she had replaced the tires. So over the course of the past year, I have had to replace three of the tires so far...until Saturday. When we were leaving my daughter's birthday party, I checked all 4 tires and they were good. As I neeared the street to start heading home, my sister pulls alongside to let me know I had a flat. Of course I couldn't afford it as I had just put my account into the negative just to pay my daughter's birthday party. So my Brother in Law and I drove to a gas station and got some fix-it-flat. Came back, filled it up, and it worked. Drove home and everything was fine. I even went to the gas station after that to put more air in the tire and it was fine. However, later that night, I cam out to check it and it was flat. So, yesterday morning, I put the spare on it and had noticed it had a hole in it on the inside of the tire. So, I am driving on a spare until later this week when I can get another tire. Oh, well, at least all 4 should not give me a problem for a while.
I go today to the dentist again for my last little appointment that the military is paying for. I get the privilege of having a root canal done today. After that, I will begin setting up appointments with my dentist under my dental insurance to begin getting other things done. I am just so happy that the military finally paid to get some of it done, as that will be a lot less that I have to pay for.
I will be heading up to the Father In Law's house for Thanksgiving next week. I love going up there as Thanksgiving dinner consists of no turkey and all steak. It is a great break from the city life as well as he lives in a small town and lives on 40 acres. I know it will be colder up there though. I think this week alone we will be in the mid 70's. Up there it is more like 50's. Well, that's all I got today.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Veteran's Day
Tomorrow is Veteran's Day, and as a Veteran, I ask that everyone takes a moment of silence to for those that have sacrificed their lives for our freedom. Everyone has had a relative or known someone in the military at one point in their life. Whether you believe in the causes or the wars that they have fought in or not, they were there to give you the freedom to make your own decision. It is one day that they deserve. I mean after all, not only is just about every month deicated for what use to be minorities, but veterans only get a day.
I can sit here and preach about it all day. Even though there are some restaurants out there that are supporting the veterans, it is not worth it to me. It is not only the veteran that has sacrificed, it is the veterans family as well. Why give a free meal on a day for a veteran and not their family? Why offer a free meal on a day when over 200,000 veterans are deployed and can not take part? Why do we continue on our daily way with no thought of what they are doing for us?
Please, take a moment of silence for our military personnel and their families. Pray for their safe return and for their families. Thank you.
I can sit here and preach about it all day. Even though there are some restaurants out there that are supporting the veterans, it is not worth it to me. It is not only the veteran that has sacrificed, it is the veterans family as well. Why give a free meal on a day for a veteran and not their family? Why offer a free meal on a day when over 200,000 veterans are deployed and can not take part? Why do we continue on our daily way with no thought of what they are doing for us?
Please, take a moment of silence for our military personnel and their families. Pray for their safe return and for their families. Thank you.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Blah
So I think I have finally reached that point in my life where I am like....BLAH. It is not mid-life crisis because I am not dying my hair or trying to look younger or buying sports cars (like I could afford it anyways). It is just everyday comes and goes and it is the same thing everyday. It is very similar to the movie GROUNDHOG DAY where I am doing the same thing over and over with different results. Maybe it is because I haven't drank in awhile.
I rented some movies earlier this week, but have only watched one so far. STAN HELSING is a movie from the producers of SCARY MOVIE. If you are not into stupid movies making fun of other movies, don't waste your time. I love parodies, but this one was extremely stupid. The last good one was DISASTER MOVIE. I also have ALIENS IN THE ATTIC, G.I.JOE, and two others to watch. Can't remember which ones right now. I should have them all watched by Saturday night.
My daughter will be turning 5 in 7 days. She is so spoiled. Her birthday alone is costing more than both of my boys birthday parties combined since birth. I will be leaving for Germany in Dec, so I can't wait for the change of daily pace. Nothing else to say right now.
I rented some movies earlier this week, but have only watched one so far. STAN HELSING is a movie from the producers of SCARY MOVIE. If you are not into stupid movies making fun of other movies, don't waste your time. I love parodies, but this one was extremely stupid. The last good one was DISASTER MOVIE. I also have ALIENS IN THE ATTIC, G.I.JOE, and two others to watch. Can't remember which ones right now. I should have them all watched by Saturday night.
My daughter will be turning 5 in 7 days. She is so spoiled. Her birthday alone is costing more than both of my boys birthday parties combined since birth. I will be leaving for Germany in Dec, so I can't wait for the change of daily pace. Nothing else to say right now.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Trick r Treat
Well, here are my munchkins before we went out. Of course the two older ones are Jason. One wanted to be Freddy but that movie freaks my wife out, so no one could be Freddy. My daughter is a little devil/angel, and yes, it does fit her. Kids made out good for Halloween. I go in tomorrow for a root canal, so we'll see when I post next. Until then.
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