July 2003

Crazy 8s

July 31, 2003: It's the last day of July, and I just went and decided that I better recognize that fact. Okay, not really. I really don't have much to say, but I went through my pictures of the party and ceremony, and I found one that I actually liked. You see it on the front page. Anyways, the crazy 8s thing refers to the fact that my baby Catherine passed the 8888 mileage mark today while going home. Cool, huh? Well, hope you all had a cheaper July than I did, and here's to a great August! (BTW, NBC Thursday nights are outstanding! Scrubs is freaking hilarious! Will & Grace - hilarious! And I hope to see the rest of Friends before the new season starts - and boy do I miss Survivor!)

More to come, I swear!

July 29, 2003: I do apologize for not putting up more pictures, but I am getting them in a slow trickle, and haven't had much time to do anything substantial with the webpage. I did get Jason's infamous pictures which I had heard about, and believe you me, you all WON'T be seeing some of them. But most are pretty damned funny and will be up shortly. I am thinking this weekend will be a great time for me to get them all done. Hopefully I'll even have the nice, tame pictures taken by my Uncle Steve. We'll see.
Part of the reason I haven't finished my website is that I went down to Los Angeles this past weekend. My best friend Mila was having a birthday party (Happy Birthday Mila & Happy Belated Birthday Robbie!) and I was invited! I'm just as shocked as you, especially considering Mila witnessed my nomination for best drunken performance by an idiot with a stripper at a party! I headed down to LA after finishing up CMGT 555 (finally) Sat morning, and about 4 hours later, I was hanging out with my Mom and Harv in Duarte! We had dinner and then I went down to Jason's house, as he was coming along to the party too, as now he and Mila are buds, thanks to me, of course. :-) At his house I got the CD of pictures (which I finally had the courage to look at yesterday morning) he had taken at my party. Anyways, at Mila's party, it was a mini-high school reunion of sorts, as I saw Jacen, Ben, Bryan, Kevin, Cindy/Sveta (yay!), Rena & Angie, Geoff, Monina (!), and Ken/Spitting Boy. It was a blast to see them, and was cool to be able to easily slip back into the groove of talking to them all. It was great to see Sveta again, after it had been so long since seeing her. And Monina is always a trip. Bryan works for Digiscope and his high school picture is actually in the movie T3 when the T-X is going through the databases searching for the kids she's trying to kill. Cool shit! Anyways, it was a good party, fun was had, I crashed at Jason's parents' house, had a great breakfast the next day thanks to Jason's mom, and then I was on my way back to Vegas. And now the work week is dragging along, but fortunately, I have cool people to work with, so all is good.
What's New? Some more movie reviews (I've been going a lot lately with DC & Berta, which is great. They're cool to hang out with). I swear, by this weekend, there will be pictures up of the party.

The Joy of being a Captain

July 24, 2003: So sorry for not updating this site in such a long time. The last time I did, I had too much stuff to worry about as the party and promotion ceremony drew near. Well, I guess now is as good a time as ever to recap the events of last weekend. So with no more further ado....
On Wednesday night, Byron flew in and boy were his arms tired! Sorry. He got in that evening a little later than expected as Las Vegas decided to have a freaky thunderstorm. Go figure. Once he got settled, we took off for Best Buy to get his laptop fixed (turned out he just needed to plug it in - Byron's not the brightest bulb in the bunch! ;-) Just kidding Byron) and then just hung out and went to Wendy's, and not much more.
On Thursday, I still had to go to work, so Byron kicked it at my place and learned how to love playing Rise of Nations. I swear, that game is crack in electronic form. Anyways, it was a day at work that wouldn't seem to end, but somehow I got through it. I had arranged to meet up with my Mom and Harv for dinner at Bally's, so I drug Byron along because he needed to get out of the house. It was good to see the folks again, and after a good dinner at the Cafe in Bally's, we said goodbye to the parents and wandered up the strip a little, first hitting BarbaryCoast, then Flamingo and finally O'Shea's. We played a little Blackjack here and there, but really nothing was hitting. So we decided to go back and chill at the apartment and wait for Jason to arrive, as he was driving up that night. I took a nap on the couch because he wasn't planning to get here until 2 or so. I groggily recognized his presence when he finally got here, but pretty much went to sleep after he got there.
The next day, Friday, I HAD taken the day off, so we all slowly got up and I started to panic about how the ceremony would go, if all the folks would make it to the ceremony without incident, etc. I also had a dentist's appt that morning, so if he said I needed a root canal, TOO BAD! Not today, doc. I got back, stressed some more, got my uniform ready, and then drove us up to the base to get there an hour early so as to practice and make sure we knew what to do. And all of us were, as Lt Col Boyer and SSgt Masur did everything right. Marian got a cool cake for the ceremony (a huge cake, I should say), lots of treats, and the ceremony was set up perfect. Unfortunately, my Dad, Uncle Richard and Aunt Diane got stuck at the gate (I swear I left their names at the visitor's center), but eventually were let in. It all worked out, as the ceremony didn't start right on time. The ceremony was awesome, and I was blown away by Lt Col Boyer having memorized key highlights of my illustrious career (;-) ) and memorizing the oath of office. I think I managed to stumble through my 'words' okay enough, but you can't pay me enough to watch the video of it. But I got video just in case I ever get drunk enough again to watch it. After the ceremony, everybody had time to go get checked in at the hotel or gamble or change, and at 6:30 we met up at Outback for dinner! It was a great time as my dad was hitting on Marian (not for reals, but it was funny nonetheless). I got a little toasty there after 3 beers. My dad gave me this incredible wood carving circle with my name on it, a latin phrase I can't remember the meaning of, and US Air Force on it. I'll take a picture of it and show it to you. It's incredible. I got some gambling money from Mom and Harv, which is ALWAYS appreciated. So after dinner, we all went to Boulder Station for some gambling enjoyment. I went especially to go play some craps with Uncle Richard and Aunt Diane, as they are my gambling buddies from way back. Amazingly, we had some pretty good luck there combined with the new strategy. Anyways, we ended up playing there till 11. Uncle Steve and Aunt Gladys found us at the tables and it was great to see them. It was really nice to finally see a lot of the Barnes family who I haven't seen all that much of lately. Richard and Diane left but I stayed at the table for another hour, not really losing but not really winning. I was primarily killing time as both Byron & I were stuck there as Jason had gone to the airport to pick up Kasey and Ilyne. Finally at 12 I quit, having drank plenty and feeling quite good. Byron & I went out to wait for Jason at the front gate, and sure enough, there he pulled up with two of the coolest girls ever, Kasey & Ilyne! So the evening wasn't over yet. We went to my apartment, brought up the girls' stuff, then went back out to the Las Vegas Strip! We drove up and down the Strip, then parked at Paris and started our meandering crawl. At Paris Jason bought us these huge Eiffel Tower margaritas, but they were probably the nastiest thing ever. Especially combined with all the other beer I'd drank. Regardless, pretty much all of us felt skanky having drank these things. I couldn't even finish mine. Both Byron and Kasey dropped theirs upon getting them. No class. We eventually made our way from Paris up to Caesar's Palace, where we stumbled around some more (I am VERY fuzzy during this part, which explains the lack of details), I started feeling better, but when it's 4 am, you should just go to bed. So we all passed out.
Saturday. Ugh. I was very hungover. Hungover with a capital H. H in neon. And loud disco bells. It was horrible. But I didn't have to throw up. I just wanted to get better fast, because I knew I had to be able to drink again this night, of all nights! So we slowly but surely got ourselves up and at em, and we started watching videos that Kasey had brought of Azores bullfights. Pretty entertaining to see the old place and the stupidity of some of those fools. At this time Mila arrived, as she had said she couldn't come up until Saturday morning. A little while later, people started getting hungry, and we went to Jason's Deli for lunch. I could eat, but really not that much. During lunch, the discussion led to going on roller coasters. Well, hangover or not, I can't pass that up, and the coaster in question was Manhattan Express at NY NY. Yes, I had been on it before, but not for years. So I butched up and went with them to go on it. (I originally had stated I wanted to stay home and die, but I changed my mind) Maybe not my best move, but honestly, that ride rocks. It's violent as hell and I had a slight headache from it, but it was worth it. Especially afterwards when I watched Jason, Ilyne, Kasey & Byron participate in a horse-racing arcade game where you literally have to whip and ride a horse to make the horse go. Suckers. They were all exhausted by the time it was done. Anyways...... got back to the apartment with Byron, I took a short nap, and then started to get ready for the party. I wanted to get there about a half hour early just to be able to welcome the guests. Sure enough, about 15 minutes till, my folks showed up, and then more and more flowed in. I had to be geeky at the beginning of the party, as I had forgotten to copy my mp3s to my laptop, which was serving as the DJ station this evening. Anyways, lots of people showed up. Azores folks , UCLA , work folks, Barnes family folks, Sperske family folks and just folks were there. It was a blast to see everyone again. A surprise to me was to see my cousins Wendy & Richard, who I really can't remember the last time I saw them. Well, as the night went on , more drinks were drank, some dancing happened, food was eaten, and more drinks were brought and drank. At a certain point in the night, a large majority of people left, and all of a sudden Debbie came into the party. Wearing my service coat, tie, and not much else. It seems Debbie was the idea of Mr. Byron Kelly and evolved into a 'dancer' paid for by my oh-so-nice friends. So I had a stripper. If I can help it, those pictures will never be seen on this website. Just not a good thing. It was fun though!!!! And the mystery of Debbie can be forever put to rest. We ended up staying up a lot later than that, going downstairs eventually and gambling (and Jason and Byron proceeding to get royally trashed), shooting the shit and watching Kasey be Kasey. Again, we were up till about 4 when most of us just passed out. The next I knew, it was
Sunday. Apparently some of the group had gone back to my apartment to sleep, and I can't blame them. You should have seen this room in the harsh light of day. I would not have wanted to clean this room if my life had depended on it. NO THANKS. I gave housekeeping a nice big tip and vacated the premises. Byron was severely hungover and I wasn't doing so bad. I had kinda sobered up when we stayed up late that night, so I was just bleh, but not killmeIwanttodie. Anyways, we all ended up back at my place, at which Jason, Kasey, Ilyne, & Mila all left for the airport or California. Byron stayed to recover but also because he wasn't leaving till Tuesday morning. So Byron recovered Sunday, we watched two discs of Friends Season 4, and then on Monday we recovered more, played Rise of Nations head-to-head (very fun), gambled some more, and had a nice relaxing day.
Tuesday Byron went back to San Antonio, I went back to work (joy), and now it's Thursday. Yesterday I went home sick because I got fever/cold whatever crud and I was sick as hell. I'm still feeling it, but not nearly as bad as yesterday. It was one of those delirious sicknesses that won't let you sleep even when you're really tired. Miserable.
So that's my story. It was a great weekend and possibly one of the best ever! It was great to see my Dad again, all the family I hadn't seen in a while, friends from Lajes.....<sigh> Good times. I'm sorry that not everyone was able to come out; but you all know you were invited and we'll have to make it up one day. Perhaps the San Antonio folks will get that opportunity next month as I may be headed out there in August.
What's New? If you're still reading this, you deserve a cookie. Go get a bag of Soft Batch chocolate chip cookies, microwave them, and congratulate yourself. This was my longest post ever on my website. Anyways, no pictures up yet. I have some, but I'm going to wait until I get more back to actually put up a page of them.

Only 4 more days till I'm a Captain!

July 14, 2003: Crazy, huh? It doesn't seem like 4 years ago that I graduated from UCLA. Sad, sad, sad. Okay, so here's my admission that yes, it may have been foolish to put all my party details on the webpage, but like I said in the guestbook, and as I'm saying now, I don't think there is a Debbie! There....is......no.....Debbie! :-) Ah, who cares, the more the merrier!
It does sound like it'll be fun. In the meantime though, while waiting for the end of the week to occur, things have been boring and somewhat frustrating. My computer crashed on me this morning - great, my computer dies on Monday morning. Isn't that great?
Oh, if you're going to be joining me this weekend and you aren't aware of how unreal hot it is, don't bother bringing cold weather clothes. Look at my home page. The weather is at the bottom. And it's not lying. And it doesn't matter if it's a 'dry' heat. The heat is mofo hot. I didn't leave my apartment on Saturday - at all. I ended up watching Adaptation, and hooboy that was a weird movie. The last third just goes all out crazy. Rent at your own risk - it is an enjoyable movie, but just....odd.
I'm still addicted to that crack also known as Rise of Nations for the PC. It's an unbelievably fun game. If you're into that kind of stuff.
I also had a chance to chat with my UCLA friend, Ryan. He's living in Ohio now, is married, and is getting deployed out to the desert with, of all people, the Army. Poor guy. Here's to a speedy return, Ryan!
Speaking of which, Marian's husband, Drew, also just left for Pakistan. People left and right are getting sent! We just got word that he finally made it out to Pakistan. Drew, come back home soon!
For some reason, I think there's more that I want to say. Yet I can't think of what it is. Hmm... Well, see ya when I see ya.
What's New? That weather thing on my home page is new. It is just a way for you to see that it is ungodly hot here and that I'm suffering for you all. I also saw Pirates of the Caribbean this last Friday - in one word, a review (Goseeit).

Party details are becoming clear

July 9, 2003: It's so cool - I'm going to be a Captain soon, and I'll be making millions of dollars and buying cars, houses, oh it will be glorious. So, to celebrate my transition to billionairehood, I want to remind those that I am having a cool party at the Boulder Station. Click here for the Boulder Station website, and click here for a map showing where Boulder Station is located.

Some details: The actual party will be held on Saturday, July 19, 2003. The fun begins at 6:00pm, although you can probably rest assured that I'll be there beforehand. Also rest assured that I will be sober before 6. Afterwards, hey, no promises. Free booze, on me, until 10:00pm. I want to be a good host, but I want to save some of my millions for myself. Also there will be food for munching, but I'm not serving dinner, so you better get there early or eat dinner on your own. I have no idea how this is all going to turn out - but it should be fun. There's going to be music, gambling, drinks, food, all the proper ingredients for a party.

My promotion ceremony is going to be on Friday, July 18, 2003. That will be held at 3:30pm at the Mass Briefing Room in Bldg 878 of Nellis AFB. It's right near the flight line and hopefully, if the heat doesn't melt the jets into the tarmac, we'll be able to go take some pictures in front of the planes. For those who are going to the ceremony, I'll send you more details through email and the phone to make sure you can get on base and not get lost.

In other news, my fourth of July weekend was nice and long, but pretty uneventful. After seeing T3, I really didn't much besides on the 4th, seeing some pretty good fireworks in Henderson with DC & Berta. The rest of the weekend I got my hair cut, spent money I shouldn't have at the mall, but best of all, I bought crack - I mean, I bought a game called Rise of Nations. It's incredible. It's like Age of Empires meets Risk. The other day I ended up conquering 75% of the world as the Spanish. It was a blast, even if the settings of the game was set to Easiest. Back off. It's just that when I play on any higher level, I get my ass handed to me. Oh well.
What's New? I put another burned CD in my listing, also updated DVDs (can you believe I haven't actually bought one in a few weeks? Crazy).

I love 4 day weekends

July 3, 2003: Isn't it great when I share such insights? This was the first day of the 4-day weekend and I have gotta say that this was not such a bad way to start it. I love when I only have to work 3 days in a week too. Nice. So today I went to the mall and bought some clothes and a VERY cool toy, a universal remote control from Radio Shack. Check it out at this website. I had read a recommendation from Sound & Vision about it and when I finally saw it, I had to have it. And it is cool to use. Highly recommended. I also saw the Terminator 3 movie, which is another definite recommendation. So, tomorrow I'm going to sleep in, do something during the day, and then go see some fireworks at night. July 4 is cool!
What's New? I updated my movies page, and put up the last 4 movies I've seen but have been too lazy to put up the review for.. Also, I started up a page on my burned-CDs. I'll keep updating with more CDs and with the explanations of why the songs ended up on these CDs in the first place.

Shoot me an email if you want to. I may respond. (okay, you know I will - what else have I got to do?)