RETIRED WARRANT

Bridge Collapses

Yesterday we had a few things for the class to get done and one of the other instructors and I spent the afternoon tutoring one of our students who was having difficulties. We actually stayed late and so on the way home rather than mess with cooking and all I stopped off and picked up a couple of pizza’s for dinner. I then swung by a neighborhood store and picked up some lottery tickets and then was going to the post office to check the box, but there was an accident blocking the parking lot so instead I just went home.

I flipped on the TV and was getting on the computer when I noticed Fox News was reporting an incident in Minneapolis about a bridge collapse. The initial reports were kind of sketchy but then they started showing pictures and I was shocked. The bridge was huge and the damage devastating. There was a semi and a school bus along with many cars.

Through the rest of the evening I watched as they kept reporting and on particular thing caught my ear. I guess a year earlier they had discovered some cracks and I guess they didn’t follow it up. If this is true I can just imagine the lawsuits.

It also got me thinking about how many bridges I cross each day on the way to and from work and while traveling around town. I sure hope Caltrans has been keeping up the maintenance on ours here. Also it makes me worry about how they would hold up in an earthquake since I do live in an area prone to earthquakes.

I know that a few years back they did a lot of retrofitting of the freeway bridges in San Diego to make them less susceptible to collapse during a quake, but when you see something like that on the news it really gets you thinking.

A few weeks they had the tanker truck that had a wreck and when it caught fire caused the bridge up there to collapse. I just hope that things like that could be prevented. Anyway I will hold the victims in my prayers and I hope the recovery process moves quickly.

This morning was quite a frustrating day. I got up on time and all, but I had to install faults as soon as I got to work and a few of the radios were not cooperating. Anyway instead of having the class start troubleshooting at 7:15 as planned we didn’t get them started until 8. Then I had to cut the troubleshooting time back a bit because on of the instructors has an evaluation today and borrowed the class for an hour. At least I am ahead of schedule so we will just work on more troubleshooting tomorrow and if we have to finish up on Monday.

Today I may be able to go back to Stargate Warriors. I had PM’ed an admin asking how long it would be until I could go back and was told the period is 14 days, but someone we know from another fed quit and it was only seven days. I just want to make sure so I do not wind up fedless. I will talk to the folks tonight when I get home. Laila wants me to start posting the standings for planets and OP posted of the fed page. It should not be too hard and so I will get that all put together. Other than that I guess things are going great.

Well time to get back to doing the job. My break is over and I have some stuff to get done.

Laila and her family are fine

Laila and her family are safe from the typhoon, but many Filipinos lost their lives due to flooding and mudslides, and my heart goes out to them. The original track that I saw had the center of the storm passing 8 miles south of Manila and it would have lost some strength, but instead the storm headed to the south and held it’s strength as it stayed over water a little more and avoided most of the mountains.

Again uncontrolled logging probably had a lot to do with the mudslides, but I don’t know that much about it, just what I hear from Laila. I know our church will have an additional collection on Sunday and my family will give generously as we always do after one of these killer storms go through.

I am also saddened by the news that my closest work buddy may ship out to Iraq on Tuesday. Lately when they need people to fill critical billets in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Afganistan, or Iraq, they have been drawing the people from the school commands.

What happens is they will contact all the commands that have people of the rate they are looking for and then they will have each command volunteer people for the billet. They were looking for an Electronics Technician First Class and my buddy was volunteered. He will not know for sure if he was chosen until Monday and then will ship out Tuesday for weapons training and processing. Another one of my close buddies is also waiting word to see if he will be going to Guantanamo Bay.

Today we got off early and so for the first time in years I went to the commissary on base. I could not believe how low the prices were even though I had to wait in line forever to get out. David was working there today and he even bagged the groceries for me. I was able to buy alot of things I don’t normally get and could not believe how low the final total was.

I was going to give David a tip, but he had spotted several items that I bought that he will be gobbling up and said that I should keep the money.

Anyway, when I got home Judy was at work so Carlos and I unloaded the car and put everything away. Now I have a decision to make as I don’t really know what I should make for dinner as I have alot of options.

Well I guess that is it for now. I have really written some long raves this week and so I will keep it a little shorter today.

Please keep the people of the Philippines in your prayers and lets all pray that the death toll does not continue to rise. Thanks for your prayers.

Be well, Joe

Well the first thing I have to blog about is some sad news. I heard that my ex-brother-in-law has cancer and that it is too late for him to get effective treatment and so to Sandy, Randine and your entire families, we have included Joe in our prayers.

Last night the kids played Monopoly while Laila and I watched televison until it was time for her to go to church. I was feeling quite tired yesterday, and I don’t know why, so I just laid on the couch all night and quietly watched the TV. I think Laila thought I was sick but I was just in one of those blah moods with no energy.

This morning I got up early and we said our prayers and traded some blogs before I said good night to Laila and Judy, Carlos and I went to church.

Today was the Last Sunday in Ordinary Time, Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King. That means the Liturgy cycle is over and the holidays will now begin for this year. The first reading was Daniel 7:13-14. The second reading was Revelations 1:5-8, and the Gospel was from John 18:33b-37.

The mass was kind of a history lesson and the Father was relating what had happened when Jesus was brought before Pontius Pilate and was questioned. He was asked if he was a king and all of that and he made it clear that his kingdom was not of the earth.

The Father taught that back in those days that there were several groups that were trying to declare themselves king and all and that there was a lot of political turmoil in those days. Blasphemy was the charge against Jesus and that was punishable by death. Jesus did not effectively defend himself in the eyes of Pilate and so he was given his fate.

The father then went on to say that this is the season of giving, and that giving is love and God is love. We should take care of those less fortunate than us and should be generous, not worrying about materialistic things.

After the service we went to Jack in the Box and grabbed some breakfast sandwiches. I wanted to get home so I could check on my washer. Yesterday while doing the laundry the spin cycle quit working and since it was late the lighting was pretty bad so I decided I would look at it today.

We got home and after eating our breakfast sandwiches Carlos and I went out and drained the washer and then flipped it on the side. I was lucky as all that was wrong was that the spin cycle belt had slipped off its track.

I was worried about more expenses after all the carpeting work I did and the water heater replacement this month. So I made out there, and now I am finishing up the laundry and waiting for the Chargers/Raiders game to come on.

Tomorrow it will be back to work and in less than three weeks I will be in Manila with my lovely Laila.

Have a great week folks and I hope everyone has a great holiday season.

Back at it

Today I got up on time but since I have been shutting down everything each night, before taking my shower, I now run downstairs and get everything started up. That way by the time I am ready for work my PC is all online and ready to go.

Well that is what I did this morning, so Laila was online when I came back downstairs this morning. Her nephew, Ericson, is in the hospital with Dengue and so she is worried about him. His sister, Alexandra, died from it just ten days ago, so keep him in you prayers.

We did our prayer thing and then David and I got in the car to go to work. I had a couple of bills to mail so on the way to work I went by the Post Office to drop off the mail. Two of our postal folks were fighting over a parking space and so it wound up taking a lot more time then I expected. These two clowns held not just me but a couple of others up as we were trying to drop off mail and they were illegally backing out of the parking lot and illegally parking. It was totally ridiculous and I will file a complaint the next time it happens.

After dropping off the mail we set out for work but were now running a couple of minutes late, thanks to the postal clowns. But I got David dropped off and I got to work on time. Today the students have the Naval Military Training, so I have a little time on my hands.

On the way in I was listening to Rick Roberts and he was talking about how the political parties are the same now. I have to agree with that and the way I vote this year will be very interesting, because there will be several races I will refuse to vote for. I am sick and tired of wasting my vote on the lesser of two evils. I will vote the propositions and who gives a crap about the politicians who will not look out for what the people want anyway. All they care about is being reelected or getting elected and the hell with the people that put them there.

When you see all the scandals and corruption coming out of Washington, I wonder if there are some prerequisites to fun for office, like being gay, a pedophile, an adulterer, a thief, or just a liar.

Then I came in to work and our resident leftist tried to engage in a political argument about Korea. I didn’t want to get involved in that so I told him I was busy and he left to go argue with someone else.

Last night Laila and I watched her favorite, Deal or No Deal, and the Puerto Rican lady they had as a contestant was doing great, just before her luck changed and she eliminated 1 Million and $750,000 in consecutive turns. She wound up taking home just $750. Judy and Carlos were watching it with me and everyone watching both at my house and Laila’s let out a moan when she knocked out the last high amount $500,000.

Anyway, time to get ready for the class to get back, so I guess that is it for now.

Well it is lunchtime now so I have a little extra time as I am resting my legs and listening to the radio. The class has been doing their first transmit labs and have really had me jumping today. At least most of the equipment has been behaving itself today. Sometimes that can take up quite a bit of time and can be quite time consuming, but today everything was fine. I only had to align one radio today so all in all not a bad morning.

Today on the way home I think I will stop and get some chicken, mainly because I can already tell by the soreness in my legs I will be a little too lazy to cook today. If it were just me I would have some soup or a sandwich, but since Judy and Carlos will be there and David might be, I have been cooking lately. I think there is some left over spaghetti but for some reason left over spaghetti never tastes right to me, so I try and avoid it. Hopefully Judy and Carlos ate it for lunch.

I have to map out my route tonight and print up maps of the places I need to go in San Antonio for the trip. I also need to reserve a hotel room. I probably should have done that already and would have booked it with the plane flight if we were going to fly. But now that we are driving I forgot all about it, so I had better get that done. I am not worried as San Antonio is quite a large city, and has recently passed San Diego in size.

I hope Carlos and David get along while I am gone. They seem to get along when Judy and I are both there, but I know David is going to want to drive Judy’s car while we are gone. After what he has done to the last two cars he owned, I know she doesn’t want him driving hers, and I don’t blame her. She will need the car when she starts looking for a job next week. If she lends it to David she won’t have an engine when she gets back.

Well they are advertising tonight’s playoff game between Oakland and Detroit tonight. Now that it is playoff time I will have to wait a few weeks to see “House” again. I will watch the first part of the game I guess. I like to keep up with sports because the students are always talking about it.

I am glad I watched a little football this weekend so I could at least carry on a sensible conversation. We have one guy from Pennsylvania that was bragging about the Philadelphia/Dallas game. I then brought up the Pittsburgh/San Diego game and he hushed up a bit.

Well I suppose that is about it for now. I will try and get some work done on a power point I am working on.
End.

Alexandra, Pearl, and the Typhoon

Last night was one of the more anxious nights I have had in a long time. The night started out quiet enough, but then when all the stuff happened it all happened so fast.

When I got home yesterday I took my 1000 mg of Vitamin C which upset my stomach even though I had a full meal before hand.

Laila came online and then the phone calls started coming fast from her family. I guess the hospital where Alexandra died would not release the body until the bill was paid in full. Her brother didn’t have it and I guess the family took up a collection to get it paid.

Between all of the family and Laila they managed to scrape the money together, and Laila, her sister and Pearl set out to the hospital to claim the body.

There was a problem though, a typhoon was passing through Metro, Manila at the time and so here they are, out riding around town in a taxi in a typhoon, trying to get everything taken care of.

She texted me as she progressed but with the power going out all over the place, and cell phone problems things were intermittent. I have to say that I was really scared for their safety, and couldn’t go to bed until I knew they were safe.

They made it close enough to home about 1 AM my time and I went to bed. This morning I got up a little late, but with plenty of time to get to work. I could not get a hold of Laila, because her power was off. When I came home for lunch and a dental appointment I saw that she had text messaged me that everyone was fine and they were just leaving the funeral.

She did say that Pearl spilled hot water on herself at the funeral’s stairways and burned her left arm and hand. I hope she is all right. So now they are all home and safe but no power yet.

I hope when I get back from the dentist this afternoon that she will be able to come on line. The Typhoon went right through her area and there was damage. I hope they get her power back on.

Anyway, time to get ready for the dentist and also I hope my daughter will get here before I have to leave. I also hope I never have a repeat of last night.

Labor Day and RIP, Steve Irwin

Last night, Laila was playing Rose online with her kids and I was playing blogshares, and when I was reloading one of my browsers I saw the story that Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter had been killed by a stingray.

I was kind of a closet fan of his, as I really enjoyed his humor and the way he dealt with dangerous animals. He will be missed and I really feel for his family as he has two really young children. He and his family have our prayers and we added him to our prayer list this morning.

Laila and I were talking about Labor Day today and she was asking about all the different jobs I have had through my life. I believe my first job was when I was 10 years old and I worked for the Vallejo Times Herald as a paperboy. After we moved to Napa, California I worked mowing lawns and landscaping until I went to High School. By then we had moved to Fresno and first I continued doing yard work and then I got a summer job packing ice while I was in 10th grade.

When I was in 11th grade I sold Fuller Brush items door to door, and just before my senior year I worked at a smorgasboard all the way up to when I joined the Navy in 1974.

Twice while I was in the Navy I also worked part time on the side. The first job I got was repairing Televisions and then I worked as a caretaker for some property owned by Lake Forest College.

And now I work teaching electronics which is probably the most enjoyable job I have ever had. So that is pretty much my 40 year work history.

Laila was telling me I should reward myself in some way for the holiday, but I can think of nothing special other than a nice long bath instead of a shower. She said I should go get a massage or something like that, but only one woman is allowed to touch this body and that is her, so I will have to wait until my next trip to the Philippines.

I guess that is it for now. I will go take that bath I was talking about. Everyone have a great Labor Day.

Sad News

I write this sad note after hearing the news that the two soldiers captured over the weekend were killed in a barbaric way and may have been beheaded. My condolences to their families and I will add them to my prayers for today.

I now want to hear the news that a couple more 500 pound bombs got dropped on Abu Hamza al- Muhajer.

Also I heard that the US activated the strategic defense missile system should North Korea decide to launch that missile they just got done refueling. I think that is the cool way to deal with the problem, as if they launch it we will just shoot it down.

I have another post that I was working on, for today but these things took priority and I will post that on another day. I want to make sure that I have all my facts right before posting that one anyway. Or I may rewrite it completely.

I guess that will be it for now. I just got home from work and I feel really tired for some reason. I think I shall just relax or maybe even take a short nap before Laila gets up.

Miscellaneous Rants

I have a few different topics to blog about today. I have had one of those days when quite a few things have gone through this head of mine.

First I would like to express my condolences to the Reeve family for the loss of Dana Reeve from lung cancer. Her charity work and her devotion to Christopher Reeve after his fall were inspiring to all. She will be missed, and now she will be back together with Chris.

So many famous people are dying these past couple of weeks. I might just start a celebrity obituary page. What worries me is that some have been younger than me. I have been eating better and taking better care of myself lately, but it is uncomfortable seeing all these people younger than me passing on.

Next is this idiot high school teacher that was taped accusing the U.S. of trying to dominate the world. Now that he has been fired, he has already started his speaking tour by showing up on the Today show this morning. By creating a controversy he will now become a very rich gentleman, by putting down the country that allows him to be free to do it. I believe hat everyone has the right to free speech, however there are places where that is not appropriate. One of those places is in public schools. College yes, but not high school and below. Our kids are too impressionable at those ages and when I hear of this stuff going on it makes me wonder what else is happening in our schools. If this guy hates the United States so much, I am sure he has the money to go to France, Spain, or some other Socialist country.

The next thing that has been bugging me is the whole hurricane Katrina debacle. I have several problems with everything involved with that. First the blame game has just about everyone at fault. Ok, I agree, everyone but maybe the Coast Guard blew it. Rather than point fingers everywhere, find out what went wrong and come up with a list of lessons learned.

Next, either find a way that is going to have the levees handle a category 5 hurricane without bankrupting the county or abandon it. Before all of this happened, I remember seeing some reports in the news that New Orleans was sinking. Perhaps if while most of the housing has to be destroyed anyway they should just come in and build it up so it is above sea level.

Next with all the money these people have been given and the hospitality shown by other cities in the country, I am so tired of hearing these people whine. They have been given a lot of federal aid and charities have given tons of support. I guess since many of them were on the welfare rolls to start with they are either to lazy to settle elsewhere or are addicted to substances as was indicated by the ATM expenditures from the cards passed out right after the disaster. I don’t know what is with all this. I know I am a charitable man but I hate to see the money I donate being wasted. I feel that is what is happening with most of these people, not all of course.

I am kind of interested in South Dakota outlawing abortions and how this is going to eventually wind up in the Supreme Court. I am personally against abortion, but I feel a woman should have a right to choose. This will be interesting to watch develop in the news.

Tonight is going to be awesome as it is my favorite night of TV and they will not be ruining it by replacing House with American Idol, or dumb stuff like that. I have blogged about this lately, how they have been taking off my favorite shows and replacing them with the younger generation type shows. So tonight I will be able to settle in at 7PM and watch “The Closer”, followed by “NCIS”, “House”, and “Law and Order, Special Victim’s Unit”. This is going to be fun as I will set up my web cam and skype so my special woman can watch them with me and we can snack and comment on the shows. She speaks English extremely well but when the talking is fast I have to intervene and explain what is going on. Thank God for broadband DSL, Yahoo Internet Messaging with super cam mode, and skype. It is almost as good as being there.

I guess lastly, I am really happy to see the Supreme Court rule on the military recruiter issue. I firmly believe that recruiters should have access to schools receiving federal money. I wonder how this is going over in these schools that want to keep the recruiters off campus, and if they can really lose the federal grant money. This is again going to be something interesting to watch in the press.

Well it is about time to post this so I can get all set up for this evenings date. I hope the camera is clear and skype is as reliable as it was last night. Skype didn’t drop out for about a five our period last night and so it was quit awesome. I am going to start posting in a referral section some of the great free stuff we have found on the web. All of it is upgradeable if you like the service, but it all starts out for free. Look for my referral section shortly on the left hand side of my blog.

Farewell Kirby Puckett

It is with great sadness I am blogging this tonight.

Kirby Puckett was one of those rare players who played his entire major league career with the Minnesota Twins. That is very rare these days where players change teams for the big bucks they can get.

Besides that Kirby Puckett was a nice guy in the game. He was kind and down to earth. He was always happy in his interviews.

I was sad to see him have to retire from baseball at an early age due to glaucoma, but glad to see him make the Hall of Fame.

Tonight I send my condolences to his family.

Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett Dies

First Sunday of Lent

This morning after chatting a bit I decided to attend the 11 AM mass vice the 9:30 mass. I went ahead and signed off chat and took a nap.

I woke up at 10:20 and was on my way to the bathroom to shower when the doorbell rang. After taking care of my visitor, I took a quick shower, got dressed and off to church I sped, arriving about 5 minutes late. There was no room in the pews so I stood in the back and one of the ushers said I could go upstairs as there was some seating up there. It was pretty crowded there too, but there was room. There were alot of little ones around and they were distracting at times.

Today’s first reading was Genesis 9:8-15 (23B) which was when God made the covenant with Noah about the ark. The second reading was I Peter 3:18-22 which again talked about Noah, but related it to baptism and the cleansing of sin.

The Gospel was Mark 1:12-15 where Jesus went out to the desert for forty days and was amongst the beasts. Father Ron went on to tell us the the beasts represented bad things in our lives, such as people who get us in trouble, or temptations that cause us to do bad things. He told us to look at the good people and things in our lives and weigh that against the bad. In that way you honor the lord.

It was a pretty good message, and though in the past I have not really followed it the way I should, since I have started going back to the church, I have tried to get rid of some of those bad temptations, and things from the past. While I know I will never be perfect, at least I am giving it a good try. I guess time will tell.

Anyway, now I am back home trying to get caught up on a few things. I have been trying to clean a few small areas each day, so that things overall stay clean. It is a little hard where the dogs camp out, but when I do a little each day, it isn’t that bad.

Now if I could just get my son to keep his cooking in the pans and not all over the stove top everything would be good. Anyway, back to the chores at hand. I hope everyone had a good weekend.