May 2005

Fucking hot

May 23, 2005: And I'm not talking about me right now (but it should be one of those 'understood' things). Las Vegas decided to get all hot and bothered and it really sucks to go outside. I'm still deliberating on what to do for dinner, as I am far too lazy to go to the grocery store (I haven't been in at least a month and a half) and it's so damn hot to drive anywhere, especially in a black car with leather interior. I'm a masochist, sue me. I'm considering ordering a pizza, as I LOVE pizza. But that just means I have to work out more. Which sucks. Especially as a couple of us went to the track at 3pm today, and guess what, that is not a good idea, especially when it's near 110 degrees. WTF? Aw hell, I just talked myself in to a pizza. And I don't mean I am suddenly a typing pizza with wit and sarcasm. Although how cool would that be?

Today was tempting to consider a bad day, but after someone reminded me that not only do we have Friday off, we also have a 4-day weekend, leading into another 4-day week, and after that, I'm off for TWO WEEKS!!! Booyah, beyotches.

It's been a good May

May 22, 2005: So, here are some pictures to get us started off right. Not too many, but they'll give you a hint as to what I've been up to lately.

Some Random May Pictures May 2005
15 May: Dim Sum with Robbie and Tami	19 May: In line on Opening Day for Episode 3!!!	19 May: The screen - I know, why the picture of it?	21 May: That's Master Hobie to you! I'm with Mel, who got her BS that day as well	21 May: The proud mom after I was graduated	21 May: Mom and Harv at the Mirage after graduation

Now isn't that all special?

I don't remember if I mentioned I had gotten to see Robbie & Tami this past week, so I'm mentioning it now. That Sunday we went to have dim sum at a new place (last year was the Bellagio), and it was good. I don't do dim sum normally, but I figure once a year I'll expand my horizons. It's really just great to hang out with them. I had to part ways with them after lunch though, and we agreed to meet up that Tuesday evening so I could show them the joy of craps. The gambling kind. What do you think, I'm some kind of sicko? (Rhetorical question) Afterwards then I went over to Lt Col Thomas' house and enjoyed his family's hospitality as he was hosting a farewell for one of the captains/pilots who was separating and was returning to Arkansas. (Side note: Why would anyone ever want to go back to Arkansas?) I was just mainly stoked to swim in a pool. It's gotten Las Vegas hot real fast here, and chilling in the pool is quite ideal. Finally after that, I hustled over to the Schofields where I caught the Survivor finale. If you haven't seen my page yet, click here. A satisfying ending to a good season. OH, and if you're looking for a final Amazing Race page, it's not gonna happen. Too much time has happened to really make it relevant. But Uchenna and Joyce won.

So then this week dragged on as we were all in full-on anticipation of Star Wars Episode 3 night. Four of us from work had bought tickets to see it on opening night, although not the midnight showings. I like Star Wars, but I still had to work the next day. Did anything happen exciting at work? Of course not. Although I do have more animosity for certain people..... Seriously, I need to start a journal where I can just write exactly what I want to without worrying about offending or shocking or making others mad. So much to say...... But anyways, Thursday finally came around and we snuck out just a smidge early so we could go to the Orleans and get in line for the 8:45 pm showing. Turns out we didn't need to get there so early, as there were literally a bajillion showings of the movie going on there, as well as everywhere around the Vegas Valley. They weren't even going to start a line until 7 or so, and we got there around 5-ish. So what else do you do when you're at a casino? Well, I'd play craps, but I was prevented from doing so.... okay, maybe not, but we didn't gamble, and just drank a few drinks at the bar and then played in the arcade to kill some time. I finally played DDR in an arcade, and I was still blown away by how some kids can play that game. Full-on Heavy mode (which is really really hard and very very fast) and they're just moving their feet to the marks as if it's nothing. Fortunately I wasn't playing against anyone, but I still wanted to see what it's like on a metal dance pad. Not as cool as I thought. Especially the part with the mocking stares from little kids who kept putting quarters on the game, indicating they were next and would I please get my "Light" mode ass off the game? And soon? Whatever, bitches.

Anyways, finally, to the point, we waited in our claustrophobic line and saw Episode 3. Absolutely fantastic. I am not going to say it's the best film I've ever seen, but I will say it's about damn time there was a good new Star Wars film out. I've been waiting and waiting to see just how the Emperor reveals himself, and boy howdy, do you ever get to see the Emperor. What's awesome is just to see the glee the Emperor has in the fact that he's hoodwinked everybody and now he rules the galaxy. Even when he's in the midst of a battle, he's just cackling away. And that scary ass face is just scary. Seriously. Did I ever mention that I was having scary dreams of the Emperor and he was trying to convince me to join the Dark Side? I kid you not. These weren't even like Star Wars fanboy dreams, it was literally scary shit. I'm such a tool. For all of you who are worried, I'm fairly certain I haven't turned to the darkside. Yet. Back to the movie, the part that gave me the chills was the final showdown between Anakin and Obi-Wan. Amazing. Especially edited together with Yoda's last fight. YOWZA. So like after seeing it on Thursday, who was in the Boulder Station theatre this morning seeing it again? That's right - the aforementioned tool was seeing it again. And it was actually better, now that I wasn't waiting and waiting for different things. Very cool movie. I'll probably have to see it once more in the theatres. After that, I can wait for the DVDs.

Oh shit, I forgot about my instructional craps tutorial to the Sanders. After meeting up with them, we had some great barbecue at this somewhat scary looking restaurant. Of course, it was one of those 'doesn't look like much' places that had some of the best food ever. We bought way more than we could eat though, and I ended up taking the leftovers which were enough for four of us in the office's lunch. We then went back downtown, and I showed the basics of craps at an empty table at Golden Gate. Unfortunatley, the one open table never really cleared for three of us to get up on there, so we went across the way to the Las Vegas Club, and found a table there. After nearly getting completely cleaned out, the dice turned and I ended up making all my money back double. It was sweet, and it was a great way to show someone the fun of craps - because when you lose, the game absolutely sucks. I played again this morning after my repeat viewing of Ep3, and again got lucky with timing, as I got to the table when a shooter really just got going. Ended up making $80 when all was said and done, which is sweet.

And some landmark news: I'm officially a Masters graduate, faulty diploma notwithstanding. I went to the official graduation ceremony on Saturday at the Orleans Arena. Mom and Harv came up for the ceremony, and what was funny was that there were tons of people graduating, but only 7 people graduating with my degree program. I guess it's not that popular, as most people were there for Bachelors degrees and the majority of Masters degrees were MBAs. Maybe I'm just special. :-) My coworker Mel was also graduating, as she was getting her Bachelors in Information Technology. So congratulations! Afterwards I went with the folks over to Makuda in the Mirage and had some great Benihana style food. I love fried rice from there - seeing it actually get fried is awesome.

And that pretty much catches you up on this past week. I kinda thought I'd write some more 'meaningful' stuff, as when I was driving around Vegas today, I had some alleged deep thoughts. Nothing life changing for you but nevertheless, I thought it would be interesting to type. But alas, when I sit down and type, finally, all I find the patience to write are events, and not thoughts. But I think I want to - now that I've caught up on this kinda stuff, and if I stay caught up, it should be easier to type and stuff. So we'll see. Anyways, in a few weeks, I'm off to Alaska. Score!!!! Two week vacation? I'm so there.
What's New? Here's the latest on my DVD collection. There's quite a bit more than last I updated.

FINALLY!!! (for reals)!

May 15, 2005: So, it's been a REAL long time since I've made an update to the journal section of my site. Hell, even the DVDs section is not up to date, and you know my ass hasn't stopped buying DVDs. Actually, my DVD consumption has ebbed a little, as pretty much what has been coming out has been ultimate crap. A few good things, but seriously, all the new titles lately have bit. Catching up on my 'old' movies though.

So when last we heard from our hero (me, Hobie, you know, the guy who runs this most awesome of sites?), I was whining or something similar to that, I'm sure. Actually, I was wishing Byron good luck on his way to Iraq. Well, he's out there now and he seems to be doing fine, but seriously, working 7 days a week nonstop? FUCK THAT. And the night shift, no less? If Byron doesn't get a medal for that nonsense, then the military is seriously jacked. If you want to read exactly what is going on from the squirrel's mouth, then click here for some Iraqi goodness. Latest news from Byron: He's buying a Corvette!!!!!!!!!!! How sweet is that? But I digress, go visit his site and send him well wishes.

This weekend is actually going to be somewhat productive.... I don't think that's the right word. Anyways, yesterday was fun in that I spent money on stuff. I went to Target to get some stuff that would help me in giving myself a haircut. Yes, I decided to see if I could give myself a haircut. I bought a clipper set with all the attachments. The results? Mixed..... I mean, it's not heinous, and the top and upper part look fine, but I think I got a tad ambitious with the lower section. And it shows. Oh well, hair grows back... And no, I'm not putting damn pictures up. I also went to Barnes and Noble and bought more digital graphics books (it's like crack for me) and an absolutely hilarious book called "Bad Cat". It's a small book with a picture of a seriously crazy looking cat on each page, and a freakin' hilarious caption attached to it. As an example: There's this grey and white big cat laying on piano keys, with a very sour look on his face aimed right at the camera. The caption: "I told you - no one wants to hear Billy Joel". I guess you have to see the picture too, but the book is hilarious. Here's a link to it on the Barnes & Noble.com site. And finally, I went to Copeland Sports and bought some swimming goggles. I think I'm going to try to add swimming laps to my exercise routine - perhaps twice a week at lunchtime. It's a great exercise and it helps to get you tan, so I'm there!

Today will be fun - first I'm meeting up with Robbie and Tami as they're out here to celebrate their anniversary. I met up with them last year at this time too, and we're doing remarkably the same exact thing as that time: having Dim Sum, but this time somewhere not at the Bellagio. I'm picking them up at the Plaza Hotel in Downtown Vegas in about an hour, so my update may get interrupted soon. I'm doing as much as I can though now so that I somewhat meet Byron's ultimatum of having something up by 11am today. Hopefully I'll get to hang out with R&T for a bit, but then at 3pm I have a pool party to go to at the AP director's house, which should be fun. A few hours after that, then it's a Survivor Finale party at Schofield's, and then by that time, I'll come home and crash. So don't expect to see the Survivor page until Monday evening.

That was just this weekend! As for what has been going on the past few weeks though, that'll take some serious mind melding, as I just don't recall anything all that fascinating. Matt Shadwick is back out from Eglin giving us much needed help at work. He was out here briefly in January, and is a very cool guy to talk to. Linus and I bought our tickets to Episode III for opening day at 8:45pm. The DLP theatre in the Orleans. I can not wait. Apparently the digital version is longer than the film version, or something like that. I don't really care though now, I just want to see the movie. After hearing all the amazing good things about it, I just want to see it for myself. This Thursday will be hard for me to focus on work. I'll just want to leave for the theatre all day - plus Friday all of us will be too busy talking about the movie to concentrate effectively on work still.. So basically this is going to be a three day work week. Sweet. Pony is testing for SSgt on Wednesday, so best of luck to him on making that. He's decided he's going to cross train out of the 3C0 career field because his CJR is so damn high. By the end of the year, my shop will be pretty damn empty, and I wonder how things will fare because of that. Guess we'll see, and by we'll, I mean everyone but me, Linus and Pony. See ya suckers!

As for my next assignment, I really don't have a clue yet as to where they're (AFPC) going to put me. The end date for updating your preference worksheet was last week, so assignment matching has begun. I think my boss will find out first where I'm going, so fingers are crossed that when the decision is made, it's a decent one. I'm not expecting anything good or anywhere nice, believe you me. I've used all that karma up with the assignments I've had so far. Because even though this particular job in Vegas wasn't the best, the location is one of the more desired ones in the Air Force. Go figure. I can't wait to leave this area. It's getting too big for its own good.

The last few weeks I haven't played craps that much. After the brutal beating that both me and Fox took at the tables before he left, I resolved to not play that much anymore. And I didn't, until this past Friday. I thought maybe my luck jar had had a chance to fill back up. I was wrong. The Cannery took my money, and even better yet, they caused me physical scarring. Okay, maybe no scarring occurred, but when I first walked up to the table, no sooner had I stepped NEAR the table did one of the dice ricochet off the table and hit me right in the cheek. That was probably God's way of saying 'go the fuck home, Hobie'. I obviously ignored that warning and lost my money. I HATE LOSING!!!!! I almost went to the tables at Sam's Town last night, but I got a better look at my hair and got all self-conscious. Honestly, it's not that obvious, but in certain lights and angles, you can TOTALLY tell I cut it myself. I just need more practice, as I'm not giving up on it, as I have been seriously disappointed in the latest results from haircutters. They seem to think I want a big bunch of hair around my bald spot so that it hides(?) it....? Nooooo..... This last cut I got from them only served to highlight it. I know what I want, and as I get better at the clippers, things'll get better. Learning pains.

How great have Survivor and Amazing Race been? I'm totally clueless as to how Survivor will end up tonight - I think it's Tom's game to lose tonight, meaning he's got this in the bag unless something crazy happens, but with this season, that's exactly what could be in store. And Amazing Race was fantastic with the win of Uchenna & Joyce. But I need to save those thoughts for the Amazing Race page which I haven't done yet. I need to finish that up so I can provide closure.

Alright, I think I'm done for now. I make a promise to be much more faithful in the updating of my site. I got totally lazy mixed with technical difficulties - first, my laptop would NOT connect to the wireless router, either through the wireless connection or even by direct cable connect. It would just hang at the 'Acquiring network address' phase. Truly frustrating. After 3 or 4 days of this though, then it started working and hasn't quit yet (fingers crossed while knocking on wood). But about a day or so later, that's when my editing connection to the website spazzed out on me. It just wouldn't connect via Dreamweaver of a regular FTP program. I finally got help from hostsave technical assistance, which told me to ensure passive FTP was being used. Sure enough, I went and checked that option under connections, and it worked. I think I need to do some research on passive FTP, but I am still curious as to why it just stopped working all of a sudden. Whatever, I'm back, and hobiebarnes.com is updated!!!! Booyah!

What's New? Nothing just yet. Besides the long update above. But I have tons of pictures to post from March and April, plus I'm sure some from today once they've been taken. Plus I really need to update my DVD listing. And I want to do some more DVD reviews. And I also never resumed my violin lessons. WTF? Be on the lookout for the concluding Survivor and Amazing Race pages though. Did you see that my Survivor Ep 13 page IS up though?

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