21 August 2006    Birthday Party Change of Plans!!!!!!

I just tried to get a room on the Strip for the weekend of my birthday: THIS WAS NOT SUCCESSFUL!!!!!!!!! In fact, it was kind of shocking. There's absolutely nothing reasonably priced available on the strip - I did some digging and found out that the National Bull Riders Association Finals is happening that weekend!!! Who the hell gave them permission to use my birthday as their event???? NO ONE. But regardless, the Strip is booked solid, unless you can afford $400-600/night. So I made a command decision - the party has been moved to the next weekend. So now I'm arriving on Thursday, 9 Nov (Jenny's Birthday!) and leaving on Monday, 13 Nov. Also, I'm staying back at Bally's, and not Paris. I really do apologize if anybody's actually made reservations already - I know Robbie and Byron are probably upset with me. I guess I'll be doing some local partying on my actual birthday...

Here's some BB7 updating as Season 6 continues it's domination:

Tomorrow I am getting Catherine completely detailed inside and out. Then I go to the car dealership to test drive the Passat and see what kind of deal can be made. If it's a decent one, or if it's even possible, I may actually have a new car tomorrow! Guess we'll see.

19 August 2006    ...Done Deal!

Lots of things to catch you up on, but first and foremost, my last day in the Air Force will be 1 Sep 07, or as you civvies call it, September 1, 2007. I got word on it two weeks ago - had one of those heart-stopping things happen to me when it all became real - I really AM going to be separated!!!!!! All the happiness and fear welled up and congealed and stuff, causing the heart-stopping. I also got my VSP pay-off..well, actually, I won't get that till I actually separate, but it's nice to know I'll have it. Kind of a security blanket. Lots of people have advised me to get a tax advisor for when I get that money, and that's not a bad idea by any means. If I can avoid paying more taxes than necessary, then good for me!!! (And more hookers and limos too...)

Alright, so I guess I'll apologize for not updating like I had been in July. I just got into that rut again. After my Dad and Pat left, I kind of got into a funk. It had been nice to have family around again. When it went from people around to back to being lonely again, it kinda sucked. I didn't do much. My house began to look pretty bad. I got super lazy. And updating the site really didn't seem like all that much fun. But now that I have had a few drinks - with Captain Morgan Private Stock no less (thinking of you, Jason Rubi! - hope you get home from Iraq soon), I have decided it's time to catch up.

I'm going to work my way backwards, as honestly, I don't think I can remember all that happened since Dad left. So what did I do today? After volunteering again at the Habitat for Humanity REstore, in the damned rain no less, I came back home and showered for nearly 3 hours. At least I would have, but I did just stand there and let the grime rinse off me. Blech. I need to volunteer where it's clean and stuff. Anyways, I then embarked to Lowe's to try to figure out ideas for my bathroom. And I had some inspiration - and it looks like for about $500, I can get a new bathroom sink and cabinet, a new mirror/medicine cabinet, a sweet faucet, and some improved lighting. I'll need to get some tile as well, but it's probably better to do the hardware replacements first. Here's what I think I'd like my bathroom to look like, with a new paintjob included. Any comments?

And while I wasn't looking at ways to improve my bedroom just yet, I was working in the Interior Designer program and toyed with this color scheme. Actually, I lied - I was looking at replacing the vertical blinds in my bedroom with wooden horizontal blinds to make it match the furniture better and to get rid of the blinds that I'm not too fond of in there. A couple have broken off already when it got too windy in there, so it's time to do this. So that's what you see in the window section. But I like a tan color for the walls and I like having a lot of my pictures run along the wall - I didn't put them along where my dresser was, but I will put them there too. Here's my idea:

And then I came home and got disgruntled because my friends, at least those that are in town, didn't want to do anything. So I called Chili's for food-to-go and when I got there, they hadn't rung up my order. FUCKERS!!! So I left, got some fast food, and came home. Then I started to think about this and decided to update the site, and drink of course.

Anyways, the last few weeks at work have been a little bit trying. There's really not much to do (honestly) and what we do have to do, well, it is frustrating work because of all the moronic bureaucracy in our higher leadership. AFSPC is truly an idiotic AF MAJCOM. I yearn for the days of ACC and USAFE. <sigh> You can tell it's a MAJCOM run by geeks who have nothing better to do than to figure out ways to make 'processes' and do paperwork for the sake of paperwork. I try to keep my folks motivated, but when you are constantly banging your head against a wall trying to make sense of policies here, you can't help but get aggravated. But I do my best to put on my most professional smile and press on. Only a year left!!!!

I started my craps table dealing career shortly after Dad left. That following weekend was my first time, and it was for a private party at a VERY nice house up in the Palmer Lake area. That was a great group who were having a birthday party but also wanting to get ready for an upcoming trip to Vegas. They wanted to learn craps (only one or two knew how to play) - so Terry and I were there to run the game and get people experienced. It's fun to explain the game and get people to understand that while the Craps layout can seem complicated, there's really only a few things of consequence to understand. Everything else is just to try to make even more money (or more accurately, more ways for the casino to take your money). We were supposed to deal for only two hours, but they loved us so much that we stayed for another two hours after that. Needless to say, I was tired after that. That next Tuesday was the event at the Broadmoor (the Springs' 5ive-Star resort) in which it was a Hold-Em/Craps/LRT tournament (I have no idea still what LRT is, but it's some game with a die, chips, and screaming). I ended up being the Stickman at the Advanced table - and thank God I wasn't having to be one of the Dealers, as they were having to do some crazy math. These people were most definitely not the Craps newbies. But again, it was a fun evening, and with this one, it was with people who were outrageously rich. While they were playing with fake money that night, they were talking about their other trips to Vegas in which they dropped $2K... TWO THOUSAND?????? Good night! They were laughing about it too. <vomit...>

My flight had its Flight Call at the beginning of the month - this one was planned by me and we went to the local AAA baseball stadium, the Security Service stadium, home of the Colorado Springs SkySox. It was a Friday night, so there were fireworks after the game, which was pretty much the draw, as our team isn't all that good. But the fireworks... DAMN! They were incredible. And they shoot them right over the stadium, and they feel like they're right on top of you. Crazy!

Okay, it's time for some pictures!

July 30 - With Dad & Pat at Garden of the Gods
Dad at the Garden of the Gods	Pat and Dad	The pretty, lush trail into the Garden	Some rocks at the park	You can see the climbers' silhouettes	The city of CS in the distance	Me and Pike's Peaks	Me and the Central Garden area
A nice picture of the trail and a bridge	The family up at the outside of Cheyenne Mountain	Me and Dad at the Cheyenne Mountain overlook

August 1 - At home with Dad & Pat
Dad planting one of my two new trees	The planting process!	A view of my trees - one day they'll be monstrous!	The givers next to their gifts	Chili and Ellie	Ellie on the hunt	My TV room - with posters up! Yes, I finally hung them up	Dad grilling a scrumptous dinner!
Ellie wants to know what the big deal is	Ah - dinner at my house. I wish I had motivation to do that without company around

August 8 - SCB Flight Call at the Skysox Game
We were on the Big Board!!!!!!	Starting with me, SCB was in those 4 rows	Our own Jason Elie got to take part (and lose) in one of the in-between inning games	If he had made the shot, he would've won $21K	The stands actually filled up fairly decently	Fireworks!!!!!

So basically that's the gist of what's been going on. In the next few months, work will probably become unbearable, as we are having our multiple inspections in October. Meaning that all the bosses will be so wound up it will really become unfun for a while. That's why when my birthday party extravaganza rolls around, it will not only be a celebration of the coolest birthday ever, it will also be a true unwinding from all the stress of the past 10 months of inspection prep. God knows I'm not going to miss that asspain when I'm out of the military.

Speaking of my birthday, here are some dates you can plan around - and this is not a formal invitation but merely a planning tool. I plan on arriving in Vegas sometime on Thursday 2 November - my birthday is on Friday - and then depart probably on Monday, 6 November. I am toying around with the idea of getting there on Wednesday, but not sure yet. I will be (hopefully) staying at the Paris Las Vegas - make your reservations accordingly. The idea was brought up about sharing a room with me - that idea was quickly shot down. I'm not going to be doing my birthday college-style - I can afford to do a little bit better than that now. So I will be. :-) I really hope you're all able to make it!

Here's some BB7 updating as Season 6 continues it's domination:

OH Yeah!!! I'm seriously considering selling my car again. I went to the VW dealership last week and fell in love with '06 Passats. The black one I saw made me all tingly inside. Now I just have to see what kind of deal they'll make me for my Jetta. If it sucks, I will be trying to sell it privately. I'm getting Catherine fully detailed, interior and exterior, next week and then take a lot of pictures of her for my online ad at cars.com. I can get about $12K for her and that would definitely be awesome.