hob's
online journal |
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September 2003I've discovered the Joy of Musicmatch DownloadsSeptember 30, 2003: Finally, an ITunes store for us
PC users! I've always used Musicmatch
as my mp3 player, and they released a version that seamlessly lets you
buy songs for .99c each or a whole album for $9.99 a piece. Not too shabby.
I don't mind the .99c thing, and I just hope I don't abuse it! A tad more random todaySeptember 26, 2003: I just gotta say I LOVE the www.joblo.com website. I get addicted to reading his website and he has so much info about everything going on in the movie biz. Primarily because of his enthusiasm, I can't wait to see Kill Bill (I sorta wanted to see it before, but now, good God yes I want to see it), I will pick up the Scarface DVD (I know, not much of an arm-twister, but whatever), and even the Sleeping Beauty 2-DVD set. I hate the power of the internet medium - I hate it I hate it I hate it! So I was off today, and I got to go into work today to help move some evil cubicle furniture around. Evil I tell you, evil. I was driving to work and realized that there is this song that is totally cool and you should listen to it - it's a dance song, but it's got a great melody, beat, track, etc. It's called "Simply Being Loved" by BT, and it is on my Ultra.Dance 04 CD I bought at Best Buy. It's definitely worth a listen if you get a chance to. I've thought about posting a random mp3 on the site for people to download, but I guess that is just what the RIAA doesn't want, right? Well, if no one tells them, maybe I'll still do it. It's a good song. And I also have to comment that Sonny & Cher's "I've Got You Babe" is probably one of the most beautiful love songs ever. If you actually just listen to the words, it's overwhelming how nice that song is and what it means. Of course, Sonny & Cher didn't end up together, but whatevah..... So those were my random rants. I missed Friends last night, I hope to
eventually catch it via videotape, but Survivor rocked. I am so behind
in going-to-the-movies, I don't know what to go see. Perhaps Secondhand
Lions (to catch an in-theatre view of the new Return of the King trailer
- oh yeah!!!), or The Rundown, which I've heard is great, and the Rock
doesn't totally suck in it. This was my Friday! Woo hoo!September 25, 2003: I'm just freakin' glad that I am
done with this week. In other news, Survivor is still fun! Better be ready for Survivor Episode 2September 24, 2003: Well, I pretty much did my typing
quota on the trip report that accompanies my San Antonio pictures, but
I'll fill you in on what has been going on since last we spoke. I went
to Los Angeles, got my tux fitted, installed XP on Harv's computer, hung
out with the folks, hung out with Jason, Wendy & Clarissa (the mos'
def MOFs on the planet, let me tell you), and then drove my butt back
3.5 hours to my home here in Vegas, just so I could get ready to go to
work. Thrilling. Work has been somewhat interesting, but alas, if I told
you why, I'd have to kill you. Sucks for you, eh? So the dilemma for tomorrow
evening - Survivor is on at the same time as new episodes of Friends and
I think Scrubs. I would like to see those both, but am not sure how to
do it. Problems, problems.... Back to LA...againSeptember 19, 2003: I should be on the road now, but
I really wanted to finish my Survivor page. I think it rocks now. Anyways,
I'm back to Los Angeles to get fitted for a tux for Jason's wedding. I
also will be finishing up the stuff at home I promised to do. Should be
a good time, but I really can't wait to just spend a weekend at home now,
doing absolutely nothing! Isn't that why I took off time from UoP? Speaking
of which, I got another A, so my GPA for 16 credits is still a perfect
4.0. Woo freakin' hoo! Now go check out my cool Survivor page! Yay! Survivor returns in amazing form!September 18, 2003: Seriously, it's great that Survivor
has started up again. It's been like months since Amazon ended! You can
read all about my thoughts on the first episode of Survivor 7 at my fantastic
new page. Check it out! I just got back from
my trip to San Antonio - but I won't be putting up pictures probably until
this weekend. So check back then. And if you have any thoughts on Survivor
and want to be a regular contributor to the page, let me know by sending
your thoughts via email and I'll be sure to post them up. Alright, fall
TV has returned. Back in the Bowling GrooveSeptember 10, 2003: So, first a funny story. It's approaching lunch time at work, and my SSgt, Jennifer, decides to make some microwave popcorn. She puts it in the microwave, and then proceeds to tell us a story about once when she was stationed in England, one of the Help Desk guys put some popcorn in the microwave for 20 minutes, resulting in the microwave catching on fire, and the subsequent evacuation of the building, but not before having to lock up all the COMSEC safes, etc. Apparently everyone just hated this dufus for doing this, and after she finished telling this story, we all had a good laugh out at the front desk. Well, I go back to my desk when I hear this shriek.... "Capt Barnes!!!!!!" Hmmmm.....what could be the matter? I begin to determine what is wrong when my nose picks up the scent of something burning. As I go back to the source of the shriek, it starts getting hazy. Sure enough, the popcorn Jennifer was cooking had decided to over cook and smoke out the back room. And needless to say, we were all covered in the great smell of burning popcorn the rest of the day. There's nothing like carrying that smell with you everywhere.. Also, today was my first night playing with the Det 1, 28 TS bowling
team. We got stuck with the late shift, meaning we had to play starting
at 7:30pm, also meaning we didn't get done till 10:45 or so. Fortunately
you don't get the late shift all the time and it rotates. I had an amazingly
good first night, which pretty much means I'm screwed for the next couple
of games, as my average is far too high right now. I had a turkey in each
of my first two games, which led to way higher scores than normal. My
last game was much more on par with my standards, but the damage has been
done. Dammit! So what was I saying?September 8, 2003: Alright, those hot dogs were Damn good, but that was no excuse for not getting back to the stories. I don't even know what I did yesterday (Sunday) - it was a hazy boring blur, but in a good way. Soooooo... some initial bad news for me. I just found out that my identity theft problem is still nagging me and I have to fight a battle I thought I had already won with Household Bank (Die, Household Bank, Die!). You see, they ruled in my favor back in Jan 03 saying that indeed the account that was opened was not mine. I even got a neat-o letter! Yet when I got home this weekend from my TDY, I had two, count 'em, TWO collections letters waiting for me in my mailbox. After calling the bastards today, apparently they reversed their decision sometime in March, but didn't bother to tell me. Nice, eh? FUCK THEM. Sorry for the profanity, but I never promised a PG-only website. I am a tad upset, but I do realize that I just need to work through this like all the other, many many many other times, and it'll get resolved. <sigh> But on to stories and other ponderings. Where was it I left off the other day.....hot dogs? Hmm...... Oh yeah, so I went to Six Flags Magic Mountain the Friday before Labor Day. It was the last weekday they were open, and I anticipated a huge crowd - WRONG. In fact, we (Jason, Wendy, & I) actually went and picked up Ilyne from LAX before going to Magic Mountain, and even getting there at 12, the ticket line was the longest line we encountered. But on to the park - I Love this place. It really does rock, and I consider it neck and neck with Cedar Point as the all time amusement park. I dragged my friends to X first, because I had heard that the lines there sucked, and I would rather just get that over with. Amazingly, the line moved pretty good, until you actually get into the boarding station, at which you realize that it takes forever to load and unload this ride. Anyways - the ride was freakin amazing, with you going face first down the first hill, then just randomly flipping head over feet while the coaster is doing something else crazy. Unbelievable. We then pretty much hit everything else there (except for Superman), including the newest ride, Scream, which is a floorless coaster much like Superman at Fiesta Texas. Very smooth and fun. We were at the park until about 8, and then went back to Wendy's house, at which we made the decision to do something that I would regret so much that next day. We decided to booze it up in a hot tub. Oh why oh why oh why was I brain dead when making this decision? It makes perfect sense that alcohol and hot water don't mix, but guess what, I rarely make total sense, especially if fun is to be had. Well, this is the story I won't go into details on, but I drank like I haven't drank in a while, the hot water roasted me, and many other things happened, and if you give me a million dollars, I will tell you what happened. I think there's pictures somewhere, but hopefully they were destroyed. Not my finest hour, and I am pretty sure I blacked out. Yes, I'm a prince of virtue. So the next day, I decide that death may not be all that bad a thing. Seriously, I got to be hungover like I hadn't been since my time in the Azores, which Byron and others can definitely now understand. Ugh. So I go to my parents house because I told them I'd help out with stuff around the house. It's perfectly obvious when I walk in, seriously late, that I'm not going to be of much help to anyone, and of course they're pissed. Understandable. I'd be too. But I was too busy dying. So I went to sleep, eventually waking up and realizing I could eat again. I finally felt like a human being about 7pm or so, and life was good again. Then on Sunday, I was to have a reunion with, get this, my best friends from..... college? No. high school? Nope! Junior High? Not even. It was my best friends from when I was in 3rd Grade!!!!!! Warren and Nekia were my absolute best friends back at Cambridge Elementary, and through Friendster (which I highly recommend - if you want, I'll invite you to be my friendster - I could always use the higher friend count!) we found each other. Unreal. We met in Old Town Pasadena at Ruby's Diner, and it was awesome to catch up and realize that while we're 19 years older, not much had changed and I could see us being friends again, if we weren't geographically separated. But it was good to see them, and we vowed to make sure to see each other again in another 20 years. ;-) Then I went back home and did the work as I promised, although I wasn't able to finish it and will go back in two weeks. Thankfully, I felt completely good again, and after having a good visit, I drove on back to Las Vegas that Sunday so I could prepare to go to Fort Walton Beach, Florida, aka Eglin AFB. Yay! So on Monday, SSgt Robinson and I flew out to Fort Walton Beach, going through the horrible Atlanta Intl Airport (it's a nightmare - I don't think I've met anyone who's been through it that doesn't come away from the experience angry and belligerent), and finally getting to the very pleasant Gulf Coast of Florida, in the pan handle. Ah. It was nice there. A little humid, but nowhere near as hot as Vegas. So, we were there to learn from the actual place where my squadron resides, as I'm in a Detachment of the squadron at Vegas. It was cool to see the real place, meet the commanders, and get some real valuable info that will help at my job. Anyways, after work, we got to stay at a cool place in Destin, Florida, which is on an outlying island from the base. It was sweet. Tuesday night we went to this place called Maguire's, which is a huge Irish pub/restaurant, but the coolest thing was the fact that there were literally hundreds of thousands of dollar bills attached to the restaurant, literally hanging from the ceiling, stapled to the booths, etc. We talked to our cool waiter, Bryant, and he told us that at last count, there was approximately $170,000 dollars on the restaurant. On Thursday, we got out of the office early, mainly because my coworker was super sick, but I wasn't! So I went to the beach - Yay! And it was great, because the beach was so not packed because it was right after the season. I didn't think I was getting any color, but again, I forget that you're going sun-blind out there and your tan really comes later, or should I say, your burn comes later. I have very creative red lines where I forget to put sunscreen. I really am the coolest guy ever. Well, that night, when Jenn (SSgt Robinson) recovered enough to go to dinner, Tropical Storm Henri made his presence known on the island, bringing us tonnes of rain and wind. It was joyous. We thought we might have to stay another few days or so, unsure if the storm was going to linger enough to cancel flights. Fortunately, the next morning the weather was gone and headed to the peninsula, and we got back to Vegas, amazingly a Vegas with decent temperatures (95 degrees or so - nice!). So that's what I've been up to. I didn't update my site while gone, although I probably could have. I'm a bad bad person! What's next, you ask, of the Hobester? Well, this Friday I will be heading to San Antonio to see my great great friends who amazingly still want something to do with me. Or at least I think so. Too bad for them, since they didn't speak up. Now they get me whether they like it or not. And Survivor is restarting in about two weeks! YAY!!!! Expect the Survivor page to come back up, with a slightly revised design to incorporate the Team Jelly scores into the main Survivor sections. We'll see, shortly. Then after San Antonio, I'll be headed back to Los Angeles (I am getting really good at this drive, I tell ya) to finish up the parents work and get fitted for my groomsman tux for Jason and Wendy's wedding. Oh, and I won't be doing school this upcoming class either, because timing really sucked. I forgot that my first class was this upcoming weekend, which I have to go to for credit - but I'll be in San Antonio! And then the last class is the weekend when I'm going on the honeymoon cruise of J & W's. So I'm taking a much needed break from UoP. Perhaps I won't hate it by the time I go back. But I really can't wait to go see the peeps in SA - it'll be fun and a blast and an overall hoot. Till then, I guess, I'll just make it through the drudgery of work and adhere to my strategy of working out in the mornings. I hate waking up early, but I have found many times I'll think of ANY excuse not to work out when I get home, and when I did work out this morning, I felt freakin' great and ready for the day. And that my friends, does not happen typically on a Monday. No, sir, it does NOT. So it killed me when that whole identity theft phone call was made, because I really was having a great Monday back. <sigh> What's New? I put up a page showing my Labor Day weekend. As mentioned earlier, there will be no pictures of that evil and strangely forgotten Friday night. Nope, nadda, nichts, nill. So don't pester me. But if there's a million dollars in the deal, I'll talk. Oh what a two weeks it has been - are you ready for some stories?September 6, 2003: Then just sit right back and get comfy. Well, they're not that good of stories, and I will definitely not be getting into too much detail about one of the incidents, just rest assured I've learned a very good lesson and I will never do it again....<heh heh heh>. So where did we last leave our fearless hero? I think I had just had a pretty uneventful weekend, with the exception of a kick ass Pat Benatar concert. Still am impressed with how much she can still rock, but I won't dawdle on that conversation topic - I mean, who can stand a person who just can't get on with it? The week at work - well, I barely care about that, so why the hell would you? Just know that on Thursday, MY last day at work, I took off somewhat early so I could get on the road to Los Angeles! Y'know, I've been doing this drive a LOT lately, and it seems to get shorter every time I do it. I know that the halfway point, about 120 miles or so, I'll be by the big mountain in the middle of nowhere, and then there I go rambling again. I think it's because I'm hungry for the hot dogs I'm baking in the oven right now - I can smell the croissant buns cooking and I'm going delirious. I may have to pause to snarf them all down. Be back soon......
Shoot me an email if you want to. I may respond. (okay, you know I will - what else have I got to do?) |
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