27 Mar 2006     I'm going back

The soreness is slowly going away - my left leg only is a little bit sore and a little bit groin-stretched. So I'm totally ready to go back. This time, I may actually have friends going though - some have expressed interest in making their way out there, and it looks like this time, we'll go to Keystone, which is really only on the other side of the valley from Breckenridge. You can actually see one from the other when you're at the top of their respective mountains. I LOVE SKIING!

Speaking of all caps, I finally got an email from CivvyJenny - she lives! Sounds like she is busy, but it also sounds like she's doing a lot better than when going slowly crazy at her parent's house. She's still down for coming to Vegas in June though, so that should be fun.

Going back to work kinda sucked, but it wasn't all that bad today. But now that I'm looking forward to this weekend, I hope this week goes by sorta fast.

And oh yeah, by the way, this website has a guestbook again. Not exactly how it used to be - but it's free. Sorry about the ads! If I decide I like how this web-based guestbook works, I can pay $10/year and the ads go away. So we'll see how it goes. If you're interested in seeing the old guestbook stuff from the previous incarnation, I put a link to it at the bottom of the homepage.

Au revoir!

25 Mar 2006     So....damn....sore!

Going skiing twice in one week and not having gone skiing for so long add up to a lot of residual soreness right now. I woke up with it, and pretty much still have it. Ouch. But it was damn worth it. I do think I won't be going skiing again this weekend - probably have to wait till next weekend! It won't be the weekend of April 8th though, because I'll be headed to Denver as one of the old Lajes crew, Boris, is getting married then! A LOT of the old crowd will be reuniting at this event, so it should be a lot of fun. I promise pictures of course, and I am sure many will be drunk photos. But of course.

I got a call from Mila this evening - it was great to chat with her and think about eventually living back close to friends in a few years. But she called to tell me that she had just seen the movie, 'A Cinderella Story', with Hilary Duff. Yes, it's a teen movie, but the reason for her excitement was that the movie was filmed heavily at Monrovia High School. I remember seeing the trailer for it once, and noticing immediately the Friendship Circle, which is where I freakin' sat when I was there! But beyond the trailer, I had never bothered to see the movie. But she calls, I look up the listings online, and sho' nuff, the movie was going to be on again on HBO an hour after she called me. So I sat down and watched it - not too bad a movie for a teen thing, but it was beyond cool and also surreal to see how much of the movie was actually filmed there. They filmed in a ton of the hallways, the exterior shots of the school, the football field, the locker room, the swimming pool - it was all MHS! Crazy. Another movie that heavily filmed at MHS was 'Not Another Teen Movie' - the infamous, to me, scene in which Jamie Pressley says 'It's already been brought-ed' was filmed at our football field. So damn weird. Anyways, my high school is famous.

I went to Best Buy today - I know, I should be stopped. I didn't buy any DVDs though! I got some CDs and some games. One of the CDs was a comedy CD by a guy named Daniel Tosh. HILARIOUS!!!! I also bought a dance CD called FiredUP 3 and it has a mix of Kelis' 'Milkshake' song that is beyond awesome. Definitely along the lines of the dance music that I enjoy. I'd post it here for your review, but I don't want the damn RIAA to come sue me!

Anyways, I also met with a contractor today to take care of my lawn once we emerge from winter. I thought about doing all of that stuff myself, but I realized I don't want to go buy a lawnmower and then have to do all the work to take care of both a front and back lawn. So I'm paying someone to do all of it for me. Sweet.

I was about to embark on a semi-rant concerning loneliness spurred on by watching a chick flick that came on after 'A Cinderella Story' - this one was called 'The Wedding Date'. An enjoyable movie - I like Debra Messing from 'Will & Grace' - but another one of those damn relationship movies that ultimately bums me out. But as I alluded to before, it would have been a semi-rant, and even then, not too emotional of one. The fact that my situation is not as bad as it once was helps me get past the nitnoid neurotic stuff I'm starting to deal with more and more as I approach 30. Ugh. I can't believe I turn 30 this year. When Mila and I were talking, she brought up birthday celebrations. She said she is headed to Ensenada, Mexico, for hers in August (her b-day is July, but time schedules dictate the trip to move to August). I don't think I'll be able to join her for that, but I proposed a Las Vegas blowout in November for my birthday, which should enable more attendance. I'll have to start laying plans for that soon...

Auf Wiedersehen!

24 Mar 2006     Back at Breck! (say that 5 times fast - it's fun!)

I took a day off from work today so I could go back to Breckenridge (Breck is what us locals / ski enthusiasts call it [you have to read that in my snobby voice, by the way]). I fucking love that place. I want to like work there and just ski every damn day. Although right now, I'm really sore and tired. I drove myself there this time as opposed to going on a base trip - after knowing how to get there now, it was no big whoop to drive 2.5 hours and begin the ski fun. I also endeavored to take some intermediate ski lessons. Anyways, to make an awesome long story stay long, I was able to have a one-on-one lesson for group rates, since no one else showed up in my category (Level 5 skier: can handle blue terrain but exploring better parallel technique, according to the sign where I stood). SWEET! Since I had personal treatment (which costs ~$250 otherwise), I made the most of it and was able to work on my turns. Dirk, my instructor (yes, his name was Dirk - this is his 32nd year on the slopes, I kid you not - who named their kid Dirk back in the 60s?), gave me some awesome pointers, which I'm going to write down here for my use - if you want to sample the knowledge for yourself, feel free! But now I can turn right with no problems (almost a similar problem like Zoolander's!), and I feel a lot more confident on the slopes. I did notice my bad habits coming back every now and then, but at least I recognized them. Anyways, here's my things to remember while skiing:

HOBIE's SKI TIPS TO REMEMBER FOR FUTURE SKIING ENDEAVORS!

---- Don't look down at your feet or at the immediate area in front of you. That will tend to give you the impression you're moving a lot faster than you really are. I totally used to do that, and then I'd worry about trying to correct my skis so they would be parallel and just end up messing it up completely. Now I don't look down - I look towards my goal down the hill.

---- Stand up straight. Sounds easy, right? Well, your first inclination while skiing is to stay low to the ground so when you inevitably fall, you aren't going to be falling as far. So most people tend to try to sit a bit with their posture, or lean forward with their upper body. This was a thing I still am having trouble not doing, but when I find myself doing it, I try to correct. It does make a difference, and you're not having to use your leg muscles as much to stand up; you're using your skeleton to stay up. Definitely a lot less strenuous.

---- With Turns: Use the poles - they're not just for looking cool anymore! Who knew? They're such a fashionable accessory... but I digress. Remember to use the 'Touch-Pole' system while doing your turns so that you end up having a rhythm while turning. It's amazing how bad I do now when I forget to use the tap n' turn system. Once I remember to do it, my turns magically remember how to work. Basically, when you're just about to enter, say, a right-turn, you'll already have your right pole on its way forward, bringing it forward with your wrist. You then just touch the pole (but don't jam it in as some sort of point of axis) to the ground, and then use that as a first beat to the turn rhythm. The next beat then is to start the turn, whether it be a skid or a carve turn. Remember not to have the pole forward before it's time. No 'waiting for it' - just when it's about time to turn, bring the pole tip forward and tap it in the ground. When it's not time to turn, keep both poles pointing behind you at a slight angle. And Hobie! Remember for your right turn (which is your weak one), that you need to roll your right knee a bit more focused immediately upon that second beat. The left turn wasn't too bad.

---- An advanced technique that Dirk taught us (by the afternoon, the other half-day session joined up with us) also was to lean in just a bit with your body toward the turn at about the same time you're tapping. It's called the crossover point. Today, I did this a couple times, but it's not intuitive yet. But when I did manage to remember (amongst all these other things) to try that, the turns are definitely easier. But remember, don't just lean in with your upper body (remember you're keeping better posture now). Use the 'from-the-ankles' lean - remember how far forward you can lean in your skis and you're not about to flip over.

---- Keep your upper body somewhat facing downhill towards your destination. The coiled spring effect of your lower body twisting in a different direction from your upper body gives you potential energy, and when it's time to turn, you can use that energy to make stronger turns.

---- Carve Turns: Oy. I will definitely need more practice on this type of turn. The skid turn is the most familiar turn to beginner/intermediate skiers. You burn off a lot of momentum during a skid turn and it helps control your speed, if that is what you are wanting to do. So a skid turn isn't a bad thing, but if you want speed and also want to do some drifting turns, you need to learn carve turns. Carving is when you basically just dig the same edges of your two skis in a bit - the natural bowed-in shape of the ski, both in its top-down view and side-profile will provide you a curved dig-in when you apply that pressure to one of the edges. We practiced this on flatter terrain as doing this as newbies on steep grades would ensure our untimely demise - at least mine. When I took it easy and focused on making, say, the left edges of the skis my pressure point, the skis naturally cut in and turn you left. There's no extra work on your part as in a skid turn. Just counterbalance so you don't fall over. Then when you're ready to turn the other direction angle the skis to no cut-in, and immediately cut the other direction. Sounds easy enough, but when you're actually moving, and if your skis aren't pretty parallel, it can get ugly. As when I wiped out when my skis crossed. Ouch. Knocked my knees pretty damn hard and got thrown forward out of my skis - but I didn't let that get me down - you have to put those skis back on and just try again. But this is a technique I definitely need more practice on.

That was pretty much what I learned today in my lessons. I would loved to have had a full day (say...tomorrow! Hmm...may have to consider doing that) then to practice it by myself. I had originally intended to just take a half-day of lessons so I could spend the second half of the day putting it into practice, but Dirk talked me into the whole day with promises of going on a double black diamond - alright, that would definitely have made me NOT go back, but he was a great instructor and it was awesome to see how much I improved just in one day.

I did realize though that one application of sunscreen is not enough. My face is a bit red - not scorched, but I can definitely feel all the skin on my face. Also, those few falls I had today are definitely still felt. But whatever - growing pains! And I wasn't at work, so that's a plus!

Let's see, what else has been going on? Seriously, not much. Although I saw that Happy Dagger is basically stopping her site, although she's leaving it up for links to her articles in the LA Weekly. Such a bummer!

I'm totally getting a season pass to the VailResorts (Vail, Breckenridge, Keystone, Beaver Creek) next year.

20 Mar 2006     Uh, it's Springtime, right?

I don't think I really believed everyone here when they said that Colorado's true winter isn't until March and April. Today's weather has proven all these people right. Got back from Breckenridge last night, and there had been one round of snowfall, but it had stopped and the town didn't look too bad. But went to bed and sure 'nuff, opened up the blinds to see the sight of white all over, almost exactly like my very first morning here in the Springs. Unfortunately for me, I had to go to work though, although we had did get a 2-hour delay, which helped, especially considering I was pretty damn tired from skiing all day before. As I finally headed out to work, I was hoping for the best - didn't get it. I didn't get the worst though, so that's good. But I had been listening to the traffic report, and all along my normal route to work were accidents, stalled vehicles, etc. So it was time to find a different way, via the surface streets through downtown. And wow, it wasn't fun. The conditions were nearly white-out, and the roads were almost all still snowed/iced over. I was driving very carefully, but at one point, when I was going no more than 5 mph to stop at an intersection, my car just all of a sudden lost traction, my brakes stopped working, and the car kept going. Fortunately, it was only 5 mph and my car just eventually stopped. But trying to get going again was another thing, as I still had no real traction and my car didn't want to move forward. Fun fun fun. Eventually I got to work - but it was definitely not a fun drive.

So that was this morning! But I have other things to catch you up on, don't I? Well, first off, St Patrick's day evening was a freakin' blast - until I got hella drunk (well, that was actually fun) and very hungover the next day. Went out with a group of folks to the downtown area of CS, which I hadn't actually been to before. It is pretty cool, truth be told. There's a nice collection of bars and clubs right in that area and that's where we spent the evening. Along with everybody else it seemed - but it was still fun, as pretty much everyone was drinking. And as you may have seen on Michancy's website, I drunk-dialed her! But it wasn't a bad thing or anything! It was funny, I can still remember her saying, "I can't believe you're actually calling me!" Am I really that anti-social? Proceeded to get pretty drunk, we all went dancing, and when all was said and done, I was passed out on a friend's couch (I didn't drive, thankfully) and most importantly, I didn't throw up!!! Woo hoo! But the rest of the day on Saturday, I just stayed home and recuperated, as I didn't want to be all blech on Sunday for skiing. I did feel good enough to go out and see V for Vendetta that night though with some people, and that movie was pretty freaking awesome, I must say. Entertaining throughout, and it had a pretty strong message, which I definitely appreciated. But I won't go into that here, as it's pretty damn political.

But on Sunday, I woke up at o-dark-thirty and got to Peterson AFB, where I boarded the Services Van headed to Breckenridge. I must admit, I was a tad apprehensive going on this trip. My excitement was still there, but the reality that I hadn't skied in just about 2 years (it was 2 years ago in February when I went to Lake Tahoe) was sinking in and I wasn't sure how I'd do. 2 and a half hours later when the van arrived, it was time to see how I was going to do. The drive to Breckenridge was phenomenal - it was beautiful because all the mountainous scenery was covered in snow, and many of the people in the van were commenting that this was the most snow they'd seen in this area for a long time. Which equaled great skiing for us! Got to the town of Breckenridge (a total skier's town, for sure), hopped on the bus to the base of Peak 9 (there are 4 mountains in Breckenridge, starting with 7 and ending at 10 - not sure where the other #s are), and began the fun! I immediately noticed that my boots were not big enough, and while I worried a little about how my feet were going to do throughout the day, I didn't let it stop me from skiing my little heart out! I was at a world-class ski-resort - a few black toenails weren't going to stop this fun. And stop it, they didn't. I made my way through three of the mountains (Peak #10 is an all-black diamond mountain - I'm nowhere near that skill level or confidence just yet), skiing at first the greens to build some confidence, and then eventually working the hell out of the blues. It was a lot of fun, and tiring, and painful (for my toes), but so awesome. This resort is huge! It became clear though that my ski turns are horrendous - and that's why I'm considering taking leave on Friday and going back to Breckenridge to take a half-day lesson so I can get some help there. And also to go back - now that I've seen the drive, it isn't that far to go. So we'll see.

And that catches you up to what's been going on. I've put most of the pictures up I took at Breckenridge - some just weren't that good. Enjoy, and I'll talk at you later.

March 19, 2006 - Breckenridge, Colorado
It's the town of South Park - swear to God.	Breckenridge scenery + one of the many trail maps	Unbelievable view from the top of the easy lift	The easy lift	Me	A more blue-sky version of the magnificent view	Picture while up on the ski-lift

15 Mar 2006     I'm going to Breckenridge this Sunday!

Yep - I found out that the Outdoor Rec office at Peterson AFB is going to Breckenridge this Sunday (Vail on Saturday - I've got a party to go to then, maybe next time), and I signed up! Booyashaka! I'm extremely stoked about finally getting to go skiing again - I haven't been since the Lake Tahoe trip back at the BEGINNING of 2004. I wasn't invited back again to that shindig - apparently too much drama for your mama. But that's cool. Now I LIVE amongst world class slopes. Sweet. I went by Dick's Sporting Goods (what a name for a store...) and picked up some snow goggles, as I remember how useful they were back in Tahoe, and then I had to borrow them. You can easily get snowblind out amongst the slopes, and I've heard permanent damage actually can result with too much snowblind stuff going on. Whatever, I am totally going to be styling with my new goggles and behind-the-head earwarmers. You can see the results below - aren't I hella gangsta with my goggles on? Or am I totally white now, because now that I think about it, aren't you supposed to wear the goggles around your neck if you be hella gangsta? DAMMIT!!!!! Foiled again.

But I digress. Work was somewhat productive, and I actually feel like the flight is moving in a great great direction. Hopefully I can leave it in 2007 much better than I found it. That is my goal.

I went by Outback for dinner, all suddenlike. I just was driving home from Dick's, and I saw it just beckoning, and I had to stop. Had me a 22 oz Foster's, Queensland Chicken & Shrimp, and now, all is very very good in the world. I even got my new shoes from Zappos.com - got some shoes to wear during the summer as sneakers, but not actually my running sneakers. They're pretty sweet.

And now it seems like I've finalized that I'm going to be heading to Vegas in June. Civvy&NowEmployedJenny said she'd go to in June, since now that she's working again, she's ready for a vacation. It must be tough to go back to work after such an extended absence!!! Nothing but love, C&NEJenny! One of the main reasons we're thinking about heading back is to say a fond fuck-off to a member of our old organization who is finally leaving. It's such a wonderful thing that his presence will be removed - it's almost startling to think about how productive that place could be now. Whatever, I still am glad that I don't work there anymore - just for the other aspects that sucked; the parts that I do actually miss are the people I worked with ( and liked) like Linus, Fox, Porsche, Noemi and of course C&NEJenny!

Anyways, here's my hella gangsta picture. Could I be any more non-ghetto? For reals, Yo!

Mar 15 - Gangsta

Me in my gangsta gear! (or, just me in my new ski toys!)

14 Mar 2006     So everyone's basically telling me..

....that I am more fun of a read when I write drunk and when my typing is horrendous. I see. Hmmm.... I think I can accommodate you on that request, but only when it comes to the Friday or Saturday night updates. And that's also only when I have no plans - which thanks to Michancy's curse, seems to be guaranteed. Thanks again, Cackling RedHead. :-)

But on to what you all came to read about - ME! So I've got some ideas tossing around in my head (as well as in others' too), and it looks like they may come to fruition. First up - a possible trip to NYC. I haven't been there since I was like 11 or 12, with my Dad. Way before 9/11, so the city will definitely be a lot different. But me and the Kellys are totally gonna go this summer!!!! I am very stoked about this - I can't wait to see what it's like as an adult. Byron and I talked last night about it - looks like we'll go there in July (hot as hell - but hey, the hotels are cheaper then!) for about 4 days / 3 nights. Just enough time to see some stuff and get in trouble without going broke. Still not sure where to stay, but even looking online, while the prices are somewhat high, you have to consider that it IS New York City. Hopefully we'll nail that down soon. Should be fun!

And now that we just got paid, I'm thinking it's time for a ski day this weekend. I would totally be pissed if I never made it out to the slopes this season. I'm thinking Breckenridge or Copper Mountain. And the Peterson AFB IT&T place has discounted lift tickets and rents equipment as well - my ski rack will finally be used! I'm going to see if I can convince anyone else to go with me, but if I can't, I don't really care. Makes it even easier to leave and do what I want.

If you saw 24 last night, I'm crossing my fingers that they are not on a main-character-killing-spree. If Tony is dead, so help me..... I'm fairly certain another season is planned, but with the rate they're going at, who the hell will be left that the audience knows? Or perhaps that's the plan - finish this season by resolving a lot of character-storylines, and allow new characters to inhabit the 24 world. Because seriously, it really is getting to the point, as Kim stated in yesterday's episode, that being around Jack Bauer is a bad thing. And how bad can one person's luck be? But who the fuck cares - it makes for awesome television.

Today was my first day without my deputy, for a week. And I'm totally okay with that. Crazy, huh? Actually not - I rock. ;-)

So, I shall leave you with another picture - this one was taken yesterday by someone (not me), but it's of all my ACE Lts, as of at least yesterday. That roster is going to be changing throughout the year, but this was the last time that this group would all be together, what with my deputy PCS'ing next month. Looking at the picture, I don't think I ever looked that young as a 2d Lt. I was always very mature for my age.... (eyes rolling).

Mar 13 - ACE Lts

The ACE Lt Mafia

12 Mar 2006     Cool Toys and a Short Cut

I went and did it - I didn't go #2 on my head, but I did take my #3 clippers and saw off my hair. It felt really good to do it too, as my hair, if not properly taken care of (which it never has - I bet if I plunked down $100 or so at a fancy salon though, with ample hair to work with, even with my balding spot, it might look somewhat okay), just looks frumpy. So to clear it off - cool. There was a big pile o' hair to clean up though, but like I said, liberating. Just had to clean up the sides, and I was there! I've put a picture below for your perusal. Not exactly close of a picture, I know, but don't want to get tooo close there.

In other tech news, I went and bought one of the coolest electronic devices ever at Best Buy. I had saw it yesterday when getting DVDs, but wanted to do some research on it before buying it. Anyways, it's called the Roku Soundbridge, and it basically is a device that connects to your home network (wired or wireless - sweet) and acts as an intermediary between all your digital music files on your PC and a stereo or receiver. I had seen these kind of devices before, but usually they were as big as a DVD player and all the reviews I'd ever read had been mixed. Another plus on this one is that it is compatible with Windows DRM and Musicmatch, as well as iTunes and the rest, right out of the box. Super sweet. Like I said, I didn't buy this out right because I was skeptical from the descriptions, but I researched it yesterday, found out it lived up to the hype, and went back today to get it. And WOW! It really is awesome. I'm currently listening to my mp3 collection, stored on my computer upstairs, from my stereo in the living room, and the sound quality is incredible, there have been no song fallouts or pauses (I'm using the wireless capability) and it was simple to connect. There's a picture of my setup below if you're interested. What's cool is then if I want to put the Roku on my TV room system, I can. Or bring it outside and plug in speakers directly to it, I can. And it's got both analog and digital outputs. And even better, it's got a small form factor, has a useful display, and looks great. Here's a link to the official site in case you're interested.

I also bought a humidifier for the TV room based on all the feedback I received on my static electricity complaints. Definitely had a low humidity level down there - below 10%. But I've set the humidifier for 45%, and it's slowly but surely getting there - last time I check it was at 38% after an hour or so. Hopefully I can now lay down on my couch or use the recliner and not have to worry about getting shocked or wondering where my static key is!

Don't know what else to talk about now, so I'm going to stop. Another week begins tomorrow. Joy!

Mar 12 - Random stuff
My stereo and the Roku Soundbridge on top	Me and my haircut

Okay, one last thing - I did a search on google with hobiebarnes as one word - apparently my pictures come up when people search for stuff. But this one just made me laugh laugh laugh...
http://www.flyaway-weblog.com/50226711/hooters_casino_hotel.php

Now how in the hell did they find that picture, of all pictures, to represent Hooters? So damn funny! Especially since that was back in 2001 during my last night in San Antonio.

11 Mar 2006     Ode to Breyer's M&M Mint Ice Cream

The best ice cream I've ever had. If I had to eat this the rest of my days - I would be in paradise. I've raved about this before - but seriously, why are you sitting at your computer still when you SHOULD be on your way to the grocery store and picking yourself up a 1.66gallon box of this stuff I affectionately call ice cream crack. YUM!!!!

I did absolutely, well, to be honest, if I did absolutely nothing, I wouldn't have gotten out of bed. But I did drag myself out around 11am - I was way drunk/buzzed last night. Drove around doing errands this morning (got my car washed, again -this damn snow is horrendous to a black car), picked up some DVDs at Best Buy (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - forgot how much I liked this movie, despite some of the criticism I've seen leveled on it lately), watched that, ate Low-Fat Triscuits and Spray Cheese (think that negates the Low-fat aspect of the Triscuits), updated my myspace.com profile a little, and now I'm here typing an update. Thanks to Michancy's curse, I'm back to being friendless. That's okay, I like the solitude. It allows me to catch up on my video games or something. Or drink myself into oblivion. That sounds fun.

Anyways (I use that word a lot, don't I?), I am having thoughts of using my hair clipper and giving the ol hair a #2 cut all the way around. I just hate hate hate hate my hair. So envious of those who actually have it all still. Anyways anyways anyways anyways anyways anyways.

10 Mar 2006     I Be Drunk

Seriously - I think I had more Captain morgan than I should have. I'm even multi-tasking right now - watching Survivor Live with Jenna and Dalton (they rock) and Dan Barry (the astronaut). Can you imagine how cool it would be to have been an astronaut and see the Earth from the atmosphere? How fucking cool would that be? You know, there's movies and simulations, but to be there yourself, and see the globe, for reals, would be fucking awesome. So poor Dan - he tusted Terry and now he's sitting in their studio. Dalton and Jenna are cool. I want to meet them and chat. they're too damn funny. my damn internet connection for some reason is making segment 2 of the Survivor live segment play for about 10-15 seconds at a time and then puase - I hate that. I didn't realize I was going to be this drunk all of asudden. Mixing Capt and Diet Coke, and the Morgan outweights the Coke, well, that's a recipe for goodness.

Today was a long day. I had to ruan a lot at the mountain. I thought a meeting that I was conducting was being held outside of the mountain - I was wrong. I discovered my error about 15 minutes before the meeting was started - and discovered the meeting was way in the mountain, in the back part too. As I began RUNNING out of my building, I see the Cheyenne Mountain bus pulling away from the entry building - i then realized I was going to have to run. And run I did. I had to stop at some points because I was doing a full-on sprint - and that was killing me. But I made it in the mountain eventually - one of my guys is a security foces augmentee and he said he saw me in the cameras and was wondering what hteh hell i was doing. I was late! So I then had to run by a tour group ( I thought about saying that the blast doors were about to close - hurry hury!) but I refrained. Then I got to the second floor and started walking so as not to mow anybody down. But I was walking while breathing like darth vader. Seriously. It was aweomse. I coudl totally be darth vader. And I was! I was all "bbbbbhhhhhhh huuhhuhhhhhhhh" and I was tired. I made it to the meeting 20 seconds late - but fortunately that was okay and others ran distraction keeping the O-6 distracted and talking. Even after I got ready, I still had to wait, allowing me to slow myb reathing down. It was cool. and I did good at my briefing. rock on Hobie!

I cna't belive how fast the drinking caught up to me this evening. But I needed it. I just reallly had a long week - these 5-day weeks are killer!

Hopefully tomorrow I can invite the Blisses over and serve them CHICKEN TACOs!!!!!!! I like company.

Yes, I'm drunk. Rorgive the spelling errros. Wow, I am so not going to correct my spelling righ tnow. It's too damn funny.

Well, I think i better stop before it get sugly up oin here.

Not the dirnking though - drinking is hella wsweet. Literally. CivvyJenny - remember when I did 'Literally' the first time - I think we were at Marian's desk. Remember how damn funny it was? Good times!!!!! I don't miss Nelllis though.

9 Mar 2006     It Snows, It Shines, Never a Dull Moment!

Michancy, first off, how could I ever ignore you!? I grovel at your virtual feet for forgiveness. Is all forgiven? Now that you jinxed it, now I have no one to hang out with. Thanks a lot!!!! (Just kidding - I was hoping to see if there would be any guilt from Delaware - I'm guessing more cackling than guilt-feeling...) But I digress...

So let's see, I'm missing on watching Survivor right now because I felt compelled to update the site. You may have noticed that some of the photo panels on the front show some text when you do your mouse-overs. Hopefully that will be a way to let you know what exactly has updated since I've lost the 'headline' feature from my previous incarnation. I'm thinking if I ever figure out Flash, maybe I'll create some sort of marquee that has it. But that's for a very lazy, snowed-in weekend.

Speaking of snow, it snowed here yesterday. Well, I should say it snowed pretty good up at Cheyenne Mountain in the afternoon, and the whole West side of town was covered in snow, but when I got to my side of town, no snow. Just cold. Very freakin' cold. Not subzero, but still cold. Especially considering it was near 70 on Monday. This weather is truly twisted.

I forgot to fill you in on my revelation to my commander that I plan to separate in 2007. She had scheduled all us officers to complete/update our T-ODP (which is the form you use to tell the AF Personnel Center what you want to do when you grow up and where) and meet with her to make sure the T-ODP looked good and conveyed what it needed to. Well, first off, since I just got here, doing my T-ODP really doesn't help me much, but I humored the exercise and made sure to give her rights to my profile. But as I was heading to my appointment with her, I realized, I am just going to be honest with her. And honest I was. Not in a brutal way, mind you, but in a 'I'm just laying the truth out for you'. I prefaced this with the fact that I'm going to work my ass off to do the best job I can do, because I don't slouch off on the job when I'm in it. Then I said I'm separating in 2 years. She was actually very understanding - and recognized that it was good I had served as much as I did, but when you know the time is right, you know the time is right. Her point that I'm getting out before 10 years also hit home - because it would be a lot harder to hit the mid-point and then try to get out. And I'm so ready.

But that is not to say that I'm not getting good at my job. In fact, it seems that I'm definitely becoming more sought-after to take care of things and I hope people realize I'm competent. That's one thing that my direct supervisors rarely actually give me: feedback. The last one - forget it - I never had one feedback session with him. And I haven't heard much from my current boss, but she's so extremely busy it's not even funny. I think I've only had two bosses that actually said one way or the other how I'm doing. Whatever - I know I rule.

So now that I've updated, hopefully I'll get some guestbook action working soon, and then we can get back to the way things used to be!!! Off to watch Survivor!

6 Mar 2006     Can't Believe What Happened on 24!!!!!

So, it was awesome to have 2 hours of 24 on tonight. I went over to the Bliss' house to watch it, since they're huge fans of the show too. I also got tacos out of the deal - I just brought the world's best ice cream over: the Breyer's M&M Mint ice cream - delish!!!! But back to the 24 stuff - OMG!!!!! Not only was it completely action-packed and exciting, it had one of the rare endings where the clock made no noise...because they had a dramatic death of one of the main, yet supporting, characters on the show! As things were leading up to the end, I was beginning to have the strong suspicion that someone big was about to die; I just didn't think I'd be right! To see Chloe's face as it happened - you know MachineGunChloe is going to make a comeback. She may have ridiculed poor E****, but I think deep down, she had a soft spot for him. I just can't believe they did it! When trying to think of the last time they did a silent clock ticker, the only one that really comes to mind is when Jack discovered his wife's body at the end of Season 1. There were probably others, and now that I think about it, I think George Mason got a silent clock when he flew the plane and the nuclear bomb out of town, as did Ryan Chappelle when Jack was forced to kill him. Anyways, what a great show! And the First Lady with Aaron...???????? Good stuff, good stuff!!!

Well, that was a great night for TV - and tomorrow (Tuesday) will be a good day for DVD: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is coming out! Sweet....

5 Mar 2006     I Would Like to Thank the Academy...

I really enjoyed this year's Academy Awards show. Jon Stewart was a great host. I loved the beginning in which all the prior hosts 'declined' the gig - Whoopi saying "Aw HELL no!" was hilarious, as was Billy Crystal and Chris Rock in the Brokeback tent. After watching the show, I must say I need to get out and see some of these films. I've seen Brokeback Mountain (which was great) and Walk The Line (which I raved about below), but now I really want to see: Good Night, and Good Luck; The Constant Gardener; Crash; Syriana; Munich; sorta want to see Capote, but his high-pitched version of Truman Capote is kinda creeping me out. And I have to say, George Clooney may be the coolest guy ever. He comes across as one of the most laid-back guys ever. I loved seeing Dolly Parton singing her heart out - just how old is she though? Lily Tomlin and Meryl Streep were hilarious, and Reese Witherspoon getting her award was awesome. I didn't like the 'background' music during the speeches, and I'm actually shocked (shocked!) at how they cut off the speech for the damn Best Picture winners! But all in all, I was entertained, and watching it in HD is pretty damn sweet.

So that was the Academy Awards. What else did I do this weekend? Well, I actually had some fun with friends and got out and about! On Friday night, we had our first Friday with the officers at the O'club - and it didn't suck! In fact, it was actually a lot of fun and everybody pretty much had some drinks and relaxed. Very cool. Then went to Olive Garden (for the first time since I've left Las Vegas! - I used to go to the OG like every week!) for dinner and had lots o' wine, and then finally I had the group come back to my house - company!!!! They saw my DDR dance pad out and I believe I've begun the further spread of DDRglory to the Colorado Springs area. It truly is a game that makes you want to keep playing. Anyways, watched Zoolander for a while, but then everybody got sleepy and went home. But it was cool - finally have some social connections and had people over, which I love to do. Especially with such a cool house that I have. And the TV room rocks too. Then on Saturday, when I finally drug myself out of bed (somewhat hungover, but not too much thankfully), I ran some errands, went back and played more DDR (this game is so damn awesome when the volume is loud and I can jump jump jump as hard as I wanna), passed out on my couch in the TV room and took a nap (naps are fun), and then woke up to having a voicemail saying some people were headed to Denver for a night at Dave & Buster's - was I in? Hells yeah I was in! I debated it for about a second - stay home and be sad and write more depressing weblogs (just kidding) or get out with friends.... you figure it out. It was a lot of fun, had too much dinner (don't get the full rack of ribs at D&B's - far too much food as these ribs aren't messing around), and then played video games in the arcade, with the funnest one definitely the horse racing skeeball. You try to get your skeeball into the 'Run' holes as opposed to the 'Walk' or 'Trot' ones - and damn if it isn't a blast racing against everyone else who's trying to do the same thing. The drive home was a blast too - we were all tired and giddy and singing along to the iPod blasting away in the car. It made the hour or so drive back home fly by.

And then my story turns to today. Drug myself out of bed again and did as little as possible - played more DDR, revived my God of War game (damn that game is fun), and then waited for the Academy Awards. And now it's time for me to go to bed - tomorrow will be a long day, starting with PT early early in the morning and ending with TWO HOURS of 24 on TV. That show is so much fun. And with that, I bid you all adieu, adieu, to yuh and yuh and youh!

2 Mar 2006     The Secret to Fighting Static Electricity!

Yes, I got sick and tired of routinely being electrocuted in my house. With the furnace keeping the air inside the house pretty dry, not to mention winter keeping the air dry anyways, my house is a freakin' power generator. The worst place to be in my house though, when it comes to getting electrocuted, is the TV room. My new couches are microfiber, and apparently my body and the couch have some serious electric connections, because I can sit there perfectly still and I'll be charged up. Now if I've been lounging around and really creating the electricity, good God, if I dare to touch something metal, I might as well put a sponge on my head and call me electrocuted. So after nearly getting numb fingers from the electrocutions, I looked up how to combat static electricity.

So, how do you do it? First, make it not winter anymore. Yeah, so that option really doesn't help now. You can also wear leather bound shoes around the house, which apparently does a lot better than rubber-soled shoes. Or go bare-foot. Well, it's too damn cold to walk around barefoot and I don't have any leather shoes. So that option is kind of over too. You can buy sprays as well - but c'mon, I don't think so. So here's what you do - it doesn't help to prevent static charge build-up, but it DOES prevent you from getting the pain of an electric shock. Carry around a metal key with you - use it to touch the light swiches, the metal doors and electric components. It's a freakin' miracle of science. Now, the key takes all the discharge and you can just watch the pretty lights as the arc of electricity contacts the key and not your finger. What's scary is still how much I can still feel (it doesn't hurt, but the sensation is noticed) when the shock is a big one. It's like, EGADS, that would've hurt if it had been my finger. There was one instance, when I was changing the mattress pad, that the charge built up was so huge, that one of the stray threads was sticking straight out from the mattress. Curious, I reached out to touch it, not realizing that I was about to be brought to my knees with the amount of pain that bolted through me. Motherfucker that hurt! It hurts just thinking about it. But that's the secret. Enjoy and spread the knowledge.

I'm off now to watch Survivor and impatiently wait for my Papa John's pizza to arrive. I may be back to write some more. If you're lucky.

SURVIVOR 12: EXILE ISLAND UPDATE: I'm glad we got to see some give and take in this episode. It's nice to have actual competition between the tribes as opposed to the way tribes have dominated in the past couple of seasons. Who knows, we may actually go into the merge with even numbers, which always makes it more interesting. So Bobby got sent packing from Casaya. I'm not too surprised - you really have to be on your game and figure out that you do what you can NOT to piss off your own tribe. Yes, he was the primary reason why the won the reward challenge with his amazing fish chops (poor Bruce - I thought he would be a shoo-in for the fish chopping) - but then to go and drink the last of the wine and then not even put up any sign of remorse... well, that was just bad gameplaying. Even if you truly didn't feel bad about it, you LIE. LielielielielielielielielielieLIE! I'm soooooo sorry! It would have been easy to put it in a sympathetic light - but you go and flat out tell Courtney that while you might feel bad about it because the others didn't get any, you don't feel bad at all because she didn't get any. Wow. Horrendous strategy going on. Even when you despise people, in some situations, like Survivor, you don't let them know that until either you've been voted out or as you're voting them out. And on that second one, if they're entering the jury, don't let them know your true feelings until after the final vote. Who knows if you'll need them? But I do have to say, I am actually pulling for Cirie now. She was such a huge and easy target at the beginning, but now she's in a great position. She works hard and she isn't a hindrance in challenges. Yet with all the drama around her, she can fade in the back and let them fight it out, just like she mentioned. It'll be interesting to see how far she can go.

AMAZING RACE 9 UPDATE: Another of my favorite reality shows is back on the air!!! Woo hooo! Alas, like this season of Survivor, I have no plans to make a webpage for these. It takes a little too much time to do, and when I think about that time investment, I end up not wanting to do anything. So, I've decided just to do in-journal updates - will that suffice? Good! Anyways, I'm so glad this show is back on, minus the whole lame family angle! Immediately we're off to Brazil, and we can see immediately the dynamics of the teams. There was two hours, so I'm not about to try to recap, but I will say that my favorite teams so far are the Frosties (I so didn't want them to lose - and they were very close to doing just that), the Nerds (they're awesome), Team Latina, and MoJo. The bimbo teams (both the two guys and the two girls) are going to be fun to watch to see how far they can manage - I bet they'll go far but they may be too laid back. That obnoxious southern guy will be competitive, but if they're anything like Ray & Deana or Jonathan & Victoria, I will be rooting against them very soon. The older couple I think has a good shot, and I just don't know about those San Fran guys. A little too 70s for me. But regardless, I love watching this show - it gives me great ideas for traveling and it's really really cool when they go somewhere I've been to as well!

And that's that for today. Look at me, I'm back at updating. I think I kinda stopped doing as many updates as before because I felt I needed to get new pictures up all the time, and frankly, I've stopped taking as many pictures like I used to. Too much pressure, and hence I avoided the updates. This new site will allow me to change the front picture when I want, but not feel compelled as if I have to do so. Plus, I really do like the picture I chose on the front - a little bit mischievious, a little bit smiles, a little bit attractive. I am a sexy bitch!!!!! :-)

1 Mar 2006     Walk the Line is AWESOME!

I bought the DVD yesterday and got around to watching it today. First, I just have to reiterate how awesome it is to have a TV room and have said TV room in the basement. Then I get to blast the volume almost as loud as I can stand it - and guess what - no neighbors can hear it! It's sweet. So to watch the Johnny Cash biopic 'Walk the Line' at a very decent(ly loud) volume was excellent. And to watch it while relaxing on my awesome new couch tops it all off. But I must say, about the movie, that if you haven't seen it yet, do yourself a favor and rent it or buy it or whore yourself for it or do something dirty for it....okay, maybe that third option was a tad out of place, but any of the others are still fair game. Reese Witherspoon really is amazing as June Carter - and Joaquin Phoenix (my closest celebrity resemblance, by the way) is incredible as Johnny Cash. Due to this movie, I ended up getting one of the Johnny Cash greatest hits albums (I got 'Legend of Johnny Cash') and love it. Don't know if I'll ever delve into getting just an album of his, but still, he has some quite good music.

So, back to website news - I'm trying my best to get a security-code enabled guestbook back up and running. There's one free software one I am trying to get to work on the site, but for some reason or another, when I am using the setup website that resides on my server, it can't connect to the mySQL server. VERY frustrating as I was working on it a lot yesterday and still no luck. I am wondering if for some reason my database is corrupt - it would explain the sudden disappearance of my beloved Shooting Gallery. I put in a ticket to the web hosting company - no word back yet. Oh well. But if they fix my access issues, a guestbook will be back soon!

And for those of you who are fiending for any new pictures to peruse on the site, here are some below. They're mostly of some of the people I work with - this was during last week's Wing Annual Awards Banquet - my deputy flight commander, Lt Bliss, is below - unfortunately he didn't win, but it was still a pretty fun occasion, even though it was on a Thursday night. WTF?

Feb 23 - 21 SW Annual Awards Banquet
The nominee, Lt Bliss, and his wife Summer	Lts Johnson, Bliss and Beers	SMSgt Gates (if you've seen the AF Academy version of the Terry Tate, Office Linebacker commercials - that's him) and MSgt Kittel	Lt Bliss and Summer again before being introduced to the crowd	Part of the Lt Mafia - Lts Wohlman, Ruby, Bliss, Johnson and Beers