What a week

Whew...what a week. I lost computer access here at workon Monday because I didn't reimage the computer to Vista. Found a way around it, just unplug the thernet cable, sign in, and plug it back in. It works. On Wednesday I went to get a new ID Card because mine was going to expire Thursday and I would be locked out. Came back and can't log on. Was without internet access until yesterday afternoon. Came to find out all 3 of the computers that we own are too old to re-image...great, now I need more computers. I am borrowing a laptop from another unit just to get my work done. Finally figured out how to add a printer this morning as the printer in my office is a parallel port and can not connect to the laptop without a parallel to USB cable. I'll figure it out.

I have drill this weekend, so Another two days to add to my workload. School is still going good. Received an e-mail yesterday I have been approved for the Pell grant again. Woohoo, more money to come back to me within the next few months. Still waiting to find out the confirmed list for our overseas missions. Still hoping I get the Italy mission as I requested. Hopefully find out within the next few weeks. That just about sums up my week...been pretty busy.

Monday again

Well, the weekend is over. Just watched movies on Saturday...nothing too entertaining or worth commenting on. I did watch BOUNTY HUNTER last night and thought it was ok. Dropped the kids off at the MIL's for a few days...they come back tomorrow. Took the wife to go see ECLIPSE since we aren't able to go out much just the two of us. It was a pretty good movie. I hear there will be two more movies, one of them being a part 1 of 2, so three more movies to come. I also saw the trailers for the new HARRY POTTER movie and the new NARNIA movie. I can't wait to see the NARNIA movie. I believe they will also be making two more after this one.

I just joined Facebook last week, finally. It has been addicting, but I have had to try to pull myself away from it. It was starting to interefere with my schoolwork and my work. So I am trying to stay off it until in the evenings after everything else is done. I remember I was the same way when I first did Myspace, but I hardly do that anymore. Nothing really planned for tonight. Just go home and try to relax with no kids present. Have drill this weekend so I am trying to relax while I can since this will be another weekend I do not have open. Already did the back to school shopping for the kids. I hope I got everything, but we will see. They start back in a few weeks.

Still house hunting, but waiting to see my current credit report. I found one house I fell in love with from the pictures. Went to see it a couple of days ago and it was missing the light fixtures, the ceiling fans, the faucets, the shower heads and more. I was like if they drop the cost $40,000, I may consider it. So I am now trying to look at different houses. I will probably be pulling my credit report sometime soon and see where I am at. Until then, I don't know.

Boycott B of A

I hate Bank of America. If I didn't have my auto loan through them I would close my account and go somewhere else. The other day, the orthodontist place accidentally deposited my postdated check three days early. B of A cashed it that day, causing an overdraft and six other charges to go in overdraft, thus creating 7 overdraft charges at $35.00 a pop. So now my account is negative $600+. I went to the orthodontists yesterday and calmly explained to them what happened. They were real apologetic and felt bad when they realized they deposited it too early. They did appreciate me being calm about it and I explained there was no use in getting angry, accidents happen. They asked if they could do anything and I asked if they could call the bank and explain it. Needless to say after an hour on the phone with B of A between me and her, B of A was trying to tell the merchant it was their mistake and they should deposit money into my account to cover their mistake or issue me a check. B of A was not responsible and they would not retract the overdraft charges due to someone else's mistake.

On top of that, a B of A representative tried telling me that post dating checks are illegal. oh, really, so when B of A calls me about my van payment and asks me to do a check over the phone for a specific date is not post dating? Shut the F up you bimbo. Anyway, long story short, B of A won't do a dang thing. I don't feel it is right for the orthodontist to pay me or put money in my account, even though it was their mistake. We did work out a deal that they will not charge me for my August and September payments. This was all for my son's braces and the check was for three months worth. This is the second time I have had this situation with B of A and all they care about is getting money any way they can to pay back their bail out money by stealing from their customers.

Ho-hum

Well, I received a picture mail today on my phone from my brother, Ralphd00d, and he was obviously in Frankfort. He sent me a picture of Dad's grave. He is back in Indy right know for Dad's side family reunion. I was unable to attend this year. I watched a movie last night called DON MCKAY. It starred Thomas Haden Church-the mechanic from the tv show WINGS and also played Sandman in SPIDERMAN 3. It was a b rated movie, but it was actually pretty good.

No real plans this weekend. Just working, schoolwork, and stuff. Well, short post, but oh well. I am busy today.

Oh, yeah...movie reviews

Forgot to add it to my long post yesterday, but I did watch a few movies over the weekend. First was PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS: THE LIGHTNING THIEF. It was a pretty good movie and was obviously made for kids, but I liked it. I also saw THE CRAZIES, which turned out to be pretty boring. Lastly, I watched a hysterical movie. HOT TUB TIME MACHINE. It is not RM approved and does contain breif nudity, language, drug use, and sexual innuendos. It cracked me up.

I picked up 4 other movies yesterday and will start watching them tonight. I will post how those are after I watch them.

Not too much going on today. Just working like usual. It was nice to have the little time off I had this past weekend, but it still feels like I was too busy to relax. I just need to have an actual weekend to relax, but I do not foresee that happening anytime soon.

Survived the 4th

Whew, it was a long weekend. We left Thursday after i got off work an headed to the FIL's in Northern AZ. About 5 hours to get there. Took all four dogs with us. Thankfully came home with three. I left my beagle with the FIL. Friday we drove to New Mexico to buy cigarettes and fireworks. It was worth it. I spend $50 on a carton here and in New Mexico, i found a place that sold cartons for $18. So I picked up 5 cartons. Should last for a while.

The sister-in-law stopped by on Saturday and brought her nuisance son. i say nuisance because I can not stand him...ever. We have had the pleasure of watching him in the past for a week at a time and he does nothing but start fights with my kids and say he is bored expecting us to entertain him the whole time. Anyways, my boys and him were walking around the 40 acres my FIL owns. My boys were walking through a ravine and n uisance was on top. Apparantly he thought it would be a great idea to try to start a landslide. The rock he threw ended up hitting my oldest in the head and cut it pretty good. no stitches needed, but we took care of it. I told nuisance's mother what happened and his father and they were like 'don't worry about it, it will be ok'. I was furious. I told the FIL what happened and he took nuisance for a walk and he came back crying. I did everything I could not to put my hands around his neck. If my kids had done something like that, their asses would be tanned.

Then, the SIL tries to make my oldest accept nuisances apology. I'm like heck no. You don't do something and be forced to apologize and expect the other person to accept it. Nuisance was supposed to stay two weeks at the FIL but I said if he stays, we leave. So he sent him home and said he could come back when we leave. I tell you what, I do not plan on going up there for any other holidays unless I know for sure that other family members will not be there. I don't go up there to hang out with other family members or babysit someone else's kids to give them a break, I go up there to get away and relax and spend time with the FIL.

I finally got my grade for my Literature class. I received a 98.52% overall for the class. I am now in a business ethics class and it seems to be going well, so far. Well, that wraps up my busy weekend. Now it is back to the daily grind.

Excited...oh, yeah

Yeah, I am excited. Yesterday I just received all of the dates and locations for our annual training for the military. We picked up Italy this year and I know I will be going. I guess it is in Northern Italy (darn, too far from Rome), but it is close to Venice. I just can't wait. The good thing also is that it is in December when I have a break from school so I will not be putting any classes off to go. I am just so darn excited. I've been to Germany a few times, have no desire to go to Japan or Korea, so this will definitely be a good vacation...I mean mission.

Haven't watched any new movies yet. Probably pick some up tonight or tomorrow to take with us when we leave tomorrow evening to head to the FIL's for the 4th. It'll be fun, I am sure. Nothing else more exciting than finding out about Italy. Still waiting on my final grade for my Literature class. I am currently taking Business Ethics. It seems ok so far. At least the book is nowhere as thick as my Literature book was.

Remember Me

What a great title. Better yet, what a great movie. REMEMBER ME stars Robert Pattinson from TWILIGHT and Pierce Brosnan. I don't want to go into too much detail about the movie, but everyone should watch it. I took it to my sister's house and watched it Saturday. I came home Sunday night and watched it again with my wife. It is a tear jerker near the end, but over all is a great movie. I also watched THE VISITOR and SHE'S OUT OF YOUR LEAGUE. The latter one was pretty good, the first was a little slow.

Stayed at the sis's house this weekend. We took the kids to an aquatic park and had a good time. It was nice as it was like a smaller version of a water park and easier to keep track of the kids. Plus the cost, although the sister paid, was more reasonable than what waterparks want. Stayed Saturday night and returned Sunday afternoon. Came home to a check in the mail, which was good because I was expecting it last week (must have came on Saturday) and I was able to pay electric and water bill so I wouldn't get shut off today.

I'll be leaving Thursday night after work to head up to the FIL's for the 4th of July weekend. I will be returning on Monday the 5th. We'll see if I can survive that many days up there. We will be doing fireworks and stuff. Although it is illegal in the state of Arizona, he somehow gets away with it. I don't mean firecrackers and sparklers, i'm talking the big fireworks up in the sky. It is kind of funny because people in town usually say his firework display is better than the one the town does.

I finish up my Literature class today. Still have 5 more pages to write on my final paper. Right now I have a 98%, so I am sure I will finish this class with another good grade. I thought I only had 9 classes to go, but I rechecked and realized I have 16 classes to go so that is about another 80 weeks to go which is almost another year and a half. So I will probably graduate in early 2012. We'll see if all of this actually pays off in the end.

OMG...Am I stupid or intelligent?

So....I received my SAT scores today. Yeah, my niece did better on hers. And rightly so as she just completed High School. I went into this test without studying, without practicing, without anything. I just figured that either you know it or you don't and went in and took it. Now that I have justified myself enough and made myself feel a little better, here is what you want to know...1480. . Oh, well, the only reason I took this test was for Direct Commission, which I only needed 850. That is the only reason I took this test. I didn't need it for college as I am already in and only need 46 credits to finish my Bachelor's Degree. (Still trying to convince myself I am not stupid). So here is the breakdown in the scores:

Reading-500-49%
Math-440-26%
Writing-540-66%

Now, let me also explain the reason for the low scores. For every question you answer correctly, you get one point. If you leave a question blank, you do not get a point or a point taken away. However, for every question you answer incorrectly, you are deducted .25. I answered everything. Here was my philosophy on it. If I guessed on 20 and got 12 wrong, that is -3 points meaning I recieved 5 points for guessing. Maybe I shouldn't have convinced myself of this after looking at my math score. Well, enough about the SAT's. Go ahead and laugh and make fun, but I got out of it what I needed.

Watched GREEN ZONE last night with Matt Damon. It was ok, but not spectacular. I also have REMEMBER ME to watch. I was upset they didn't have SHE'S OUT OF YOUR LEAGUE at Blockbuster at all. It was just released Tuesday. They informed me they have 177 copies they are still waiting to receive. I guess I'll try again next week. I'll be going to the Sis's this weekend as my wife will be staying with her mother, so it will be just me and the kids. Well, that's all I got today.

Father's Day weekend

Well, this holiday weekend is over now. Rented some movies and watched them over the weekend. Saw WHEN IN ROME, which was a pretty good movie. THE STOLEN which was different, but interesting. YOUTH IN REVOLT which was hilarious, but is not recommended for children or those adults with virgin ears. THE SHUTTER. Wow, this movie was really good and I was not able to predict what was happening. It was definately a good thriller movie.

Saturday morning, I got up and took my boys on a hike on the mountains by our house. After that they said they did not want to do that again. I guess because it was not paved and it was extremely steep in some areas. It was probably about 2-2.5 mile hike. Not too hot as early as we went. I then went to Phoenix to drop one of their friends off at home that stayed with us all week. Then I took my kids to my Sis's house to have her watch them while I went to a wedding for a Soldier. It was supposed to start at 5, but ended up starting at 6 as we had to first wait for the bride and groom to show up, which they did at about 5:15-5:20, we then had to wait for the best man and another groomsman to show up, which they did at about 5:45-not yet dressed. So after the wedding, my parents married them by the way, we did not stay for the reception as it was sandwiches and chips. So the parents, wife and I went out for dinner. We went to Lonestar where we received terrible service.

First, it took 45 minutes to receive our order. There were two tables that came in after us and had already eaten and left before we were given our food and/or bill. The steak tasted like it had already been cooked and then thrown back on the grill to be reheated. We had emptied our glasses three times without them coming to refill in time. When we were getting ready to pay the bill I asked about military discount-no. Senior citizen discount-no. Then my parents asked what about a discount for bringing our meal to us 45 minutes after ordering-no. The waitress then proceeded to tell us they do not do any type of discounts. I asked 'Oh, so no employee discount?' she responded saying oh yes we do, thank goodness and walks away. Yeah, I don't think I will go to Lonestar ever again. And yeah, it was at I-17 and Peoria in Phoenix, AZ.

So we ended up asking the Sis if the kids could stay the night Saturday night so i didn't have to drive to her house and then back to mine. We still had to pack the boys clothes as they were staying with their grandmother (MIL) from Sunday-Wednesday. So the wife and I went home. Sunday morning we head to the Sis's for Father's Day and had some pretty good and thick Porterhouse steaks. The Sis bet I couldn't eat all of it, which I am sure I could have. The BIL shared some of his with his son. The Stepfather shared with my mother. I ate about 3/4 of mine and couldn't eat anymore. So I told them to wrap it up and gave it to my mother to take to my Brother since he couldn't be there. Just wanted to let him know what he missed out on. They do plan on making it a tradition now to have Porterhouse steaks for the Fathers on Father's Day.

So we now begin a new week and the next holiday is 04 July. I will be heading to the FIL's so we will see how that turns out.