RETIRED WARRANT

My DMV adventure

Yesterday I took an adventure and went to the Department of Motor Vehicles. I let the guys know that I was going there during my lunch hour and that I may be a little late. ET1 told me if I was going there don’t even bother coming back because I would spend my entire lunch hour just waiting in line, and that by the time I got done it would be too late. I told him that since it was a Tuesday maybe it would go pretty quick, but he didn’t think so.

Anyway at lunch time I jumped in the car and off I went. I got to the parking lot of the DMV and noticed the line to even get in was already lined up out in the parking lot and I couldn’t find a parking space.

Then I almost witnessed an accident as some knucklehead backed out of a parking spot without looking. In fact the lady he almost hit was parked right beside him. She pulled out and was getting ready to start forward and he almost backed into her. She hit her horn and the knucklehead then looked and saw her. That would have been embarrassing getting in a wreck at the DMV.

Anyway I took her spot and then went and got in line. While there I noticed that about 85% of the people were foreigners. Many were there with their entire families or friends. As I was going into the building after waiting outside I noticed all the no food or liquids and no cell phone signs posted everywhere. When I got inside I noticed that a lot of people blew off the no food, liquids, and cell phone signs.

I got to the counter and they gave me my number B282 and then I went to the waiting area where they were displaying the numbers. Since everyone brought their families, friends and all there was no seats left so I found an empty place to stand and then watched as they posted the next B number which was like B253 or close to there. It didn’t sound so bad and I figured it would go pretty quick.

Since everyone with a B number was there for change of Title or Registration the wait is a little longer than some of the other things like driver’s license and all. I finally got a seat near on of the registration desks and then watched as people had all kind of excuses for being late, trying to register without a smog check, not having the documentation and all kinds of other stuff. A lot of it was funny and some people are so dumb. If you are trying to shortcut or defraud the system these people are going to catch it. I mean that is all they do, is just this paperwork. Anyway I was watching people get turned away and watched while those with the proper paperwork spent very little time at the desk.

For a while it seemed like I was going to be seen right away as they started ticking through the B numbers really fast, but then they got stuck on the G and H numbers and for a while they didn’t even call B numbers.

Some big guy took the seat next to me and this guy was gross. He was big, fat, and he was snoring even though he was awake. He kept coughing and snorting and even belching. Every time they would call a non-B number he would complain. It got annoying and I was really glad when he moved. Then a Chinese guy sat next to me and I felt bad for him. He had a number in the B325 range and he was going to be there for a while, but he was pretty cool.

Right after he sat down up came B282, and I went off to window 15. I gave the lady the title which was all filled out and signed. She asked me the value and gave me a piece of paper to fill out. I told her that I was changing the name on the title due to the divorce and she said, good, that I didn’t have to pay taxes or get it smog checked.

She then gave me an amount to write the check for and sent me to a window to get new tags. I spent less than 5 minutes at her desk and when I got all done it was 1:30 PM so I was there for about 2 and a half hours, maybe a little less.

After that I dropped by the bank which is fairly close to the DMV and then headed for home. I stopped by the post office and got the mail. I think it is almost time to send my city councilman another e-mail as there are more and more panhandlers showing up in the neighborhood. I usually ignore them but some get a little abusive when you walk by. Anyway whenever the numbers of them start increasing I drop and e-mail to my councilman and they disappear for a while. They have been hanging out at the grocery store and post office lately and a few of them have been getting aggressive.

After that I went home, since it was too late to go back to work, and so I did some things for work on the laptop at home and waited for Laila to come on line. We were both very productive last night in gathering planets and Laila again got more than I did. Both of us made it out and back with little damage and then we posted for one of our fed mates.

When he went out, someone crushed him before he even got his fleet built so someone was sitting on him. I will keep that in mind next time I am building. I think the key is to switch fleets fast. I also have seen where some folks don’t attack my main but hit my other planets so I will have to think of a strategy for that.

Today is Valentine’s Day and Laila was happy to receive the flowers and chocolates I sent her. Also when I came in there was a note that we are having a meeting today so I will have to go there. I am going to stop off and get some food for the kids when I get off work today.

So I guess that is about it for today. Have a great week.

A great night

Yesterday when I got home all my Internet problems were cleared up, and I didn’t have to do anything but log on. So I guess the problem was with my ISP the whole time. They have been quite dependable through the years and so it kind of caught me by surprise.

Last night, Laila and I caught up on the missed episode of “Deal or No Deal” and then we watched the Friday night new one. After that we watched the “Dateline” Chile predator thing and then “Law and Order”. After the local news while channel surfing for a good movie to watch I accidentally surfed through “Duece Bigalow, European Gigolo” and Laila wanted to watch that one so even though it is not my kind of movie, because we were watching together I put it on.

This morning I slept in a little bit then Judy and I took my car in to get serviced for the San Antonio trip and then went shopping for groceries. Now that I can eat solid foods again I am going to make taco’s for dinner tonight so I got all the fixings for that.

I am waiting for them to call me and tell me the car is ready, then we will go pick it up. Seems the only thing I have to do now is send my measurements to the Tuxedo Store for the wedding.

I will also get my hair cut sometime over the weekend. I will probably do that tomorrow. I am a bit lazy today, probably due to all the work this week and the medications for the surgery.

Well, I guess that is about it. I am going to go fix something to eat and fill up the belly. Have a great weekend everyone.

Test

Have you ever had one of those mornings when you just didn’t feel like doing anything?

Well, this morning was that morning. I got up and took my shower and got my coffee and all. I got online with Laila and after we did our prayers, I checked my e-mail. Now that Netscape has combined with AOL I am finding many more spam type e-mails in my box and it checking e-mail a major production.

Well I did have an e-mail from a former student who was having radio problems. I replied that I was going to look up some info at work and get back to him. I printed a copy of his e-mail and then headed out the door. I started the car and then remembered that I needed my camera, so I went back in and got that. I got back into the car and then remembered something else I needed. After about three trips into the house to get stuff I forgot I got on the road. I was still on time but the traffic was miserable on the freeway and even worse when I got to the gate. I still made it to work on time, but as I was sitting stopped in traffic I was thinking of all the gasoline wasted in the parking lots we call freeways and streets. Stop and go driving is hard on your engine as well as burning up more fuel.

They need to do something about it, but instead they keep spending more and more money for the San Diego Trolley and other mass transportation things that are not utilized by that many people.

Anyway after almost being hit by some clown on a motorcycle, I made it in the gate and then went upstairs to my classroom. Today is test day and also the students had General Military training, so while they were at training I dug up the reference materials for the former student having problems on his ship.

I fired off an e-mail with some suggestions for him to possibly solve his problem. After that I went ahead and got my classroom ready for the test, but I am really feeling quite lazy right now. If I were teaching I would be up on my feet and I would have the blood and adrenalin flowing. Instead I will be sitting on my butt in the back of the class watching them take the test. You can’t believe how boring that it.

When they finish I will review the test and send them on their way, and then will fire up the lab and make sure everything is ready for tomorrow’s lab day. After that they will move on to another area and I will get their sister section for two weeks until the next new class gets here.

Once I am sure the lab works I will then work on my Power Point project. I have made quite a bit of progress with it, but there is still more to be done. I just find myself looking for something physical to do today, to get the circulation going.

I almost forgot I have to get in touch with my daughter’s tonight. I have to talk to the one about how we are going to get to San Antonio, drive or fly, and the other about accommodations and Tuxedo size. The wedding will be taking place next month at this time.

Well, I guess that is it for now. Tonight “House” will be on so that will be great. I am worried about next week, since “Deal or No Deal” is returning and will be on each day of the week. It will conflict with “House” next Tuesday. I guess I will have to record one of them while we watch the other. I think there will be quite a few conflicts with the TV schedule this fall. I haven’t really thought about it. Maybe it is time I thought about getting a TIVO. I’ll ask Laila about it tonight. I wonder if it would work there in the Philippines.

Well, got to get. The test will be starting soon. Have a great day.

Cars

I filled up my car full of gas over the weekend and the cost kind of surprised me.  Well as I have been thinking of stuff to blog about from back in my life I was thinking of all the different cars I have owned through the years and the different phases of life I have been through as it relates to what I drove.

When I was going to High School in Fresno, I kind of got my first vehicle a powder blue, 1955 Dodge pickup truck which my mother and stepfather gave me.  It wasn’t running and so they told me if I could get it running I could have it.  Parts were hard to come by, but when I could get parts I could get it running, however then something else would break so it was seldom driven and I finally gave up on it.

After completing high school and joining the Navy, I didn’t really have a need for a car.  I was a student while I was at Great Lakes and spent all my time studying and when I did go anywhere I usually went to the USO in Chicago, and I could catch the train to get there, so I had no need for a car.  I met and married my first wife while I was there and could catch the bus to go see her.  She had a car so I didn’t have to worry about getting around when I was there.

I then went to Japan and fear of the driving laws and the fact that the ship was gone all the time kept me from getting a car there.  Besides Japan has some of the best public transportation in the world so it was fairly easy to get around, so again no need for a car.

When I got to Great Lakes after leaving Japan, I decided I needed a car.  A buddy of mine had an old Ford Pinto, I do not remember what year it was but it got me around for a while before I finally got fed up with it breaking down.  The darned thing burned more oil than gas and it finally broke down near a Ford Dealer, so in 1980 I bought my first brand new car, a silver 1980 Mustang.

Since I had a part time job as well as being in the Navy, and the fact that I was single I went ahead and paid it off early.  Also since I paid it off early I was able to reduce insurance coverage to just liability and that was when all my bad luck with that car started.  I parked it on a hill once when I went fishing one day.  The parking brake slipped and it hit a tree.  Another time I was driving in ice and snow.  I was following a Cadillac and he stopped at a stop sign, but when I hit my brakes the car just slide right into the Cadillac.  It didn’t even scratch his bumper, but it messed up mine.  Anyway I kept the car and tried to do the bodywork from the two events myself, but I wasn’t too good at it and I finally started calling it the bondo mobile.

When I returned from my first deployment on Bronstein the wife and I traded in the Mustang for a 1983 Honda Civic.  That car was awesome and was very reliable.  When I made Chief in 1985, and since I was going to shore duty the wife and I decided we needed to be a two car family so we bought a 1985 Chevrolet Celebrity Station Wagon to hold the kids and in 1987 we sold the Honda to a friend and I leased a 1987 Chevrolet Camero.  Both cars were great, and with the wagon we had room for the kids and the Camero was for fun.   Just before the lease ran out on the Camero the wife had a friend that was selling a Chrysler Cordoba that was fairly cheap.  I never liked the car and liked it even less when the hood came up and smashed my windshield in while I was traveling down the I 805.

I then went out and got a 1990 Ford Escort as I was back on sea duty and just needed something to get be back and forth to work.  The wife decided it was time for her to get a new car so we traded her station wagon in for a 1995 Chevrolet Caprice Classic Station wagon.  I kept the Escort until just before my last deployment.  The stepson was just starting to drive and so I decided to sell it to him cheap as he needed a dependable car and it had only 50 or 60 thousand miles on it, so it was a good deal for him.  He didn’t like the Escort and sold it so he could get something sportier, and when I came back from deployment I drove some ugly Mercury for a few months until I got the 2001 Volkswagen Beetle I have now.

In 1999 the wife hurt her back and got a Cadillac Cetera as it had the best back support of all the models she test drove.  We sold the station wagon to the stepson who still has it.  The Cetera started having electrical problems and so we traded it in on a 2003 Cadillac CTS, which the now ex has.

So there you have it, what I have driven since learning to drive.  I guess to sum it up I went from junkers, to sports cars.  Then wagons and economy cars through the family days and now I still have my economy car.

Close call

Well on my way home from work I took the car in to the shop, and then caught the bus home. After getting off the bus I stopped at the post office before walking the 2 miles from the bus stop to the house.

As soon as I entered the house there was a message on my answering machine saying the problem was the battery, so I told them to install the one I had in the trunk, I just bought it on Tuesday, and then change the oil and perform an alignment.

About an hour later it was ready for pickup so out the door I went to walk back to the bus stop. One of the neighbors saw me walking and asked where I was going, and after I told him he said he would drop me off.

Turns out he is retired Navy and working as a contractor too! Anyway now I have a new friend and I can also use the AC and radio in my car again. And I saved a ton of money.

Car Saga

Well I had another scare over the weekend with my car. I ran a lot of little errands yesterday that involved me starting and stopping the car frequently. I got home from my errands and then went in the house, made a few moves on blogshares, paid my bills and then decided to head to the supermarket.

For the second weekend in a row the car wouldn’t start. I went ahead and thinking I might have a soft spot on my starter, let the car slide down the driveway while in gear, and unlike last weekend, it didn’t work yesterday.

I hooked up my battery charger to the battery and let it charge for several hours, then went and tried it again, and still no start. I then spent a sleepless night wondering how long it would take me to get to work by bus and trolley, and of the long walk to even get to the bus stop.

After tossing and turning all night I woke up at five, slipped on some clothes and ran out to the car. It started right up, so I let it run for about 15 minutes while I went in and started getting ready for work. I was still a little apprehensive about it starting a second time, but it did and I made it to work on time.

I hope I am not having trouble with the alternator or starter. I am not getting any malfunction lights or anything, so I figure I either have a short, a bad battery, a bad alternator, or maybe it overheated. I did not have any problems with it during the week, but then I was not doing a lot of starting and stopping during the week.

I think I will buy a new battery on the way home today, just to be safe. They are not very expensive and at least I will have it as a backup in case it is the alternator. I have a little stop and go driving to do before I take my trip on Friday. I will try and keep the starting and stopping to a minimum until I am certain of what is wrong. I just can’t afford to be without a car.

Well I talked to some of the guys that know about cars and they told me how to check and see if it is the alternator or the battery. I found out that after starting the car, all I have to do is undo the black battery cable (ground side) and if everything dies it is the alternator. If everything is good it is the battery. Anyway, they also told me most car part places will check it for me so I may do that. I just hope that if it is the alternator it will be easy to change. I have been told it should not be too hard. I guess I will ask when I am at Auto Zone.

I also learned some other stuff about it, like there is a high-speed diode and a low-speed diode. Well now that I think about it I always drive with the radio on and the air conditioner or heater. I have taken some long drives over both weekends and since I always have everything turned on if I do have an alternator problem then if I just leave some of this stuff turned off until I can get it scheduled for maintenance it would be cool. I will just have to watch the use of electricity when I am driving and maybe charge it overnight one more time.

Anyway, I will research how hard it is to change a Volkswagen alternator tonight when I get home. I am so car stupid, but at least I know people who are car smart to ask. If it is too hard I will take it to a shop. I am sure they can fix it quick.

Almost a disaster

This afternoon I had a scare. Since we are in the lent season I am not eating meat on Friday’s in accordance with my church. Instead of meat I have been eating salads on Fridays.

Anyway I was making up a big bowl of salad and found that I had no tomatoes, and a salad is not a salad without tomatoes. I decided to jump in the car and run down to the local grocery store, but the car would not start.

Since it is my only means to get to work I panicked. Anyway I broke out my meter and found that the battery was fine and started thinking starter.

I checked out a few websites and it seems like the brushes on my starter may be getting ready to die. I left the car in gear, it is a five speed manual, and backed it down the driveway a foot or so, and it started right up.
I will now make an appointment with the Volkswagen folks to get it checked out. At least it starts now.

Another week

Well it is the start of a new work week, and with less than three weeks to go before my trip to visit Laila, I hope to keep very busy so the time passes by very quickly.

After my little stomach adventure with the million year old English Muffins, I do feel a little better today. I didn’t really feel much like eating this morning and will eat lightly over the next couple of days to make sure I am ok. I did manage to keep down some chicken soup and some tea last night.

I was a little disappointed with Bloghares this morning. I was trying to get my tagged blogs bought this morning, but the pages took so long to load I didn’t get it finished, so it was a huge disappointment. Usually I have enough time to buy the stuff in the morning, sell it when I get home after hyping it up, and then buy it back later in the night.

The next day I usually sell, buy and sell again. So basically when the game gets slow like it did this morning, it damages the way I play the game and throws my whole week off.

Anyway, Laila found some other game, that I will checkout when I get home. I don’t remember what the name of it, but I do have it book marked, so I will look at it when I get off.

I sold my Bow of Destiny at the Neopets auction for 3,900,000 so that took my account up a bit. I also won over 100,000 neopoints playing the Black Pawkeet Slots. I got 4 ship’s several times, 4 pirates once, and 5 ships’ once. I was getting a lot of chests, but they were not aligned so I didn’t get any huge winnings. I still to this day, have not won a jackpot or managed to get 5 aligned chests. Someday I guess I will get lucky get one or the other.

I have been listening with interest, to all the commercials, for the folks running for congress, to replace Randy “Duke” Cunningham. I am not in that district, I am stuck with Bob Filner, but the commercials are all over the radio and television.

They are all saying the exact same thing. They are against special interest groups and illegal immigration. Then they will get in office and do the same thing all the rest do, ignore illegal immigration and take money from special interest groups. I am voting, no incumbents, as I am fed up with all of them. Washington’s ability to get nothing done other than take my money and waste it, has me very angry. Anyway, something has to be done to get through to these folks. Business as usual in Washington should not be allowed to be continued.

Another thing that bothers me is some of the comments I have seen posted on Laila’s blog and other blogs I check out from time to time. Why do people have to leave sexually explicit comments on people’s blogs? If they think they will stir a little interest from the person they leave the comment to, it will only result in turning the person off and maybe getting their IP blocked.

Laila is always managing to attract these jerks that will leave some comment that just upsets her. Basically Laila and I were friends first, and even now that she is my lover, I still don’t leave those types of comments on her blog. I can tell you guys out there; some woman will take it as an instant turnoff when you start making everything sexual in nature.

You may think you are being impressive in your posts, but for good women like Laila, you are a turn off and will get your IP banned. The other question I have is why are the majority of these stupid posts come from the United States and Australia? I sometimes am a little embarrassed by the behavior of western men.

Anyway, I am wondering how high the repairs on the son’s car are going to be this time? It sound’s like it is going to be his transmission this time.

Anyway, I just really sometimes have a hard time understanding children these days. They seem to want and want, but don’t seem to have time to demonstrate their appreciation for what you have done for them. Maybe if I go hard line on the car repairs, he will get the hint, that I expect him to get some stuff done other than sleep, eat and mess up the house.

I guess this week the anti-war folks will be out protesting the Iraqi War. I wonder how these folks have all this time to go out and protest and where they get the money to travel all over the place? I don’t mind it when they peacefully protest; I just wish the press would not make a huge deal about it. The pro war and pro troop rally’s as well as the illegal immigrant rally’s must always take place on the weekends, as people on this side all have jobs and can not afford to take off to attend the events during the week.

I hope I am not supporting these anti-war folks with my tax dollars and I also hope I am not paying for their travel. It is time they got a job and a life.

Anyway I guess this entry has managed to grow to be quite lengthy so it is now time to go ahead and get this one saved. Also time to get back to some constructive work.

Washed the car

i washed my car today and since I have taken so very few pictures with my digital camera I figured I would post picutes of my cute little car. I love it as it gets great gas mileage.

Anyway here it is RWO’s 2001 VW Beetle

Busy day

Wow, today was really busy. I had my car scheduled for its 40,000 mile checkup and some minor things like replace one of the headlights and fix the window that was off track. The dealer where I bought the car is out between La Mesa and El Cajon, way to far to travel so I took it to Metro, the VW dealer downtown. I would have used Southbay VW in National City but be had some issues with them after some repairs the supposedly made on the son’s Jetta.

Anyway I was supposed to have it there at 7AM so I got up early and actually got there before 7. When they opened up I was the first car in. They couldn’t find my paperwork so the guy looked it up in the computer and found out I was supposed to bring it in on Friday the 19th. They took it in anyway, made points with me on that one. When I got home I looked at where I wrote down all the info and found that due to sloppy penmanship my 19 looked like a 17. I am glad they took it in though.

Anyway then came the adventure. I hopped the San Diego Trolley about two blocks from the dealer and rode it 13 stops to 24th street in National City. I was supposed to be able to catch the bus home from there but the number I had didn’t show up. I started walking what I thought the bus route was, but no bus stops were there. I then walked back to the trolley station and caught a bus that said Plaza Bonita and it got me home. I guess I had written down the wrong bus number. So half an hour to get there and two hours to get home.

After coming home I had to bury Mini. That was depressing and I wound up with tears in my eyes all over again. I buried him where we can see him from the family room and I made a cross and put his name on it.

Anyway, tomorrow hopefully I will get my wheels back as I hate public transportation and the wife is using her car for work and the son is out of town. Besides I couldn’t drive both at one time anyway. Next week it starts all over again. I go to work on Monday and School starts on Monday too. I haven’t bought my books yet as I am still waiting for a syllabus for one class. I want to buy all the books at the same time. It makes things a bit easier. I am a slacker this semester and am only taking three classes. Mainly because I couldn’t get all the ones I was trying for. I guess they don’t offer all the classes each semester so I have to wait until the classes come up.

Well that’s about it for tonight.