RETIRED WARRANT

The trip home

Hi folks, and I am really sorry about neglecting the blog for so long. I just was so busy doing stuff with Laila and others that I totally gave up on trying to keep up with things.

I am now in the air and on my way home. It was a great trip as we were able to meet some of the players in Unification Wars and learn more about the game. We also spent some good quality time together and with friends.

But now it is time to get back home and get to work. I will be blogging daily again and keeping everything updated from here on out. I do have a few things to get taken care of as usually happens after a long trip, but I should have that done right away.

We are about 4 hours out of San Francisco now and I think I will go ahead and blog quickly about the trip and then carry it on when I get to San Francisco and have some power to be able to plug into.

While the trip here was a total fiasco, the trip home has been a lot better. Laila dropped me off at the airport abut 4 hours before the flight. I got in a short line of only 6 people and it only took a little over a hour to get my boarding pass, which is pretty fast for Philippine Air.

I then went through customs and the second checkpoint, I forgot to tell of the one when you enter the airport, and then I called Laila. I talked to her for a while but the place was pretty crowded and I was really tired of standing so I went ahead and told her I was going to go sit for a while, which I did.

I was watching the standard airport stuff, like the people trying to sneak stuff through airport security, the lovers almost having sex as they said their goodbyes and all. I was talking with this one younger Filipino/American guy from San Francisco and then he wandered around making friends, mostly trying to meet women. It was all fun to watch.

I then called Laila back and talked to her until they started boarding. The only incident I saw going through the final security check and getting ready to board was this lady who was a first class passenger. She was really creating quite a scene as she did not think she had to wait in line to go through security since she was first class. The airline has nothing to do with security so she had to wait like everyone else and she was really angry about it. I got through before she did, but I had this secret hope that she would get all her stuff searched while going through. That went fairly quick and the plane was not full so I was able to stretch out as the middle seat was empty and the Filipino guy in the isle seat was really small so he had plenty of room.

I watched the first movie and then went to sleep for a while. The movie selection was the same old lame stuff that they usually have on these flights, all g-rated mostly Disney flicks.

Now I am waiting for them to either show the TV shows or rerun one of the movies or something. I have a set of NCIS video’s with me so I can put one of them on if I feel the need but I have been thinking abut a new spreadsheet layout for the game and I might work on that for a bit.

So I guess until I get to San Francisco this is it for now.

All right, I got to San Francisco and actually got here a half an hour early. It was kind of cool that I did get here early since it took forever to get off the plane and then when I did get off the plane it took forever t get my luggage.

Every time I fly with Philippine Air they give people grief in line about carry on baggage and all. Every time I get on the plane and then try and get off the plane I basically see all kinds of violations of the carry on baggage rule.

Philippine Air does have a charge for overweight carry on baggage and with the soaring costs of air travel and fuel prices, if I were them I would go ahead and start weighing the bags and assessing the fines at the cabin door. That would stop these people who try and move their entire household on the plane as carry on baggage. I carry just one small bag that fits under the seat in front of me. It gets extremely irritating to try and get off the plane while these people trying to get the bags and bags of stuff out of the overhead bins. I would be really grateful to see them enforce their policy. If these people had to pay out of pocket for the inconveniences they cause people they would stop doing it.

Next we had to take the long hike to customs. They have lines for returning US residents, but then no one pays attention to those lines and as they just go to whatever line they want to go to. So those lines were backed up and when I got to the counter the guy gave me the 20 questions routine. He asked me where I had gone, how long I was there and how many times I had visited. He then asked me if I brought back any CD’s in which I answered yes. That perked his interest until I told him that they were the Columbia House CD’s I took with me.

I then went to the endless wait at the baggage carousel and got my bag to take through customs and turn back in at the other end. That whole thing seems like a waste to me. Why can’t they just check you through and if they want to search your stuff pull it out as it is being transferred to the next airline. Oh well, they are the government and there to help me.

I then had no problem getting to the United Airlines counter to get my boarding pass. I then went through security there and off to the gate. I tried to call Judy on the payphone to let them know when I get in, but the pay phones were all broken. There was this guy there that saw what happened and let me use his cell phone to call, so I was able to tell them when I would get in.

I found a great spot with a receptacle and resumed the blogging until my flight starts boarding which should be in about ten minutes or so. Now I think that since it will be boarding soon I will hit the little boy’s room and get ready to go. I will write tomorrow’s post from work during the lunch hour.

Sixth Trip to Visit Laila

Well I am on my way on the adventure to Laila’s again. This morning I got up early and after saying the Rosary with Laila and posting some OP in the game I set out for work. I got there in plenty of time despite leaving slightly late and getting hung up in some traffic.

I got my class graduated and on their way to their ships, and then I went and finished up teaching the data parts of the receiver. I took off a bit early and hit the bank for some travel money. I then ran home and got myself reset in the game.

After that I packed up the rest of the stuff I was going to bring and waited for Judy and Carlos to give me a ride to the airport. I also made out the house payment and put it on the refrigerator door for them to mail on the first.

Then I played the waiting game. I had told Judy I wanted to get to the airport by 1 PM and that the plane left at 3 PM. Laila and I were chatting while I was packing up the last few things and we were getting worried about the time. About 12:30 Judy called and said she was on her way home, so I felt a little better. I had been chatting on the laptop so I switched over to the PC and packed up the laptop.

All of a sudden the screen started messing up and Skype kept dropping so I rebooted it and went up stairs to get the razor, toothbrush and stuff like that. Finally I went ahead as told Laila to get some sleep and I continued to wait for Judy and Carlos.

They finally drove up about 1:15 and we quickly loaded the car up and off we went. We were pretty lucky because there was no traffic until we got to the airport, and there was very little traffic in front of the United Terminal. I got to the counter and there was no line so that went quick, even though they had me move some weight, from one bag to another. That was easily done and then it was off to the security checkpoint. They were training new people and so that went very slow, even though there was not a line.

The guy in front of me must have been transporting half of his household as carry on baggage as he had several bags and additionally filled up three of those baskets you run through the x-ray machine.

I am waiting for my flight to board which should be happening pretty quickly. It is 2:15 now and it just landed from Chicago and will continue up the coast to San Francisco. Once I get there I will try and find a good place to camp out and plug in the lap top while waiting the 5 hours before heading for the Philippines. I brought a set of season 2 of NCIS so I have plenty of stuff to watch while waiting. I think I will wait before going to the international terminal though since I want to find one of those e-mail type computer terminals to send out a few e-mails. I have wifi on the lap top but I don’t subscribe to any of the services and the airport ones seem to never work right.

Well I suppose it is time to put this thing up and get ready to board the plane. They should start any time, so I’ll add some more to this post when I get there.

Well I am currently sitting on the floor at the Philippines Airlines counter. The flight from San Diego got here a little early and the ticket counter isn’t open yet, but there is already a line. It is 4:45 now, but I don’t think the ticket counter opens until 5PM if I remember correctly.

The flight up from San Diego was not too bad other than I wanted to slap the kid sitting behind me for continually kicking the back of my seat and the disgusting guy sitting next to me. The kid was probably about 12 or 13 and he and his brother were just having a fun time at everyone’s expense. I saw if you can’t control your kids on a trip, leave them home.
The guy that sat next to me was just disgusting. He was too fat to get the tray table down, and he kept rocking forward and backward the whole trip. He also brought a bunch of magazines with him and was ripping pages out continually. It was a really bad display and luckily no one had the unfortunate luck to sit between us.
If was kind of funny when we left San Diego. There was a bunch of like wealthy businessmen and women that wanted to get to San Francisco and we trying to get into First Class or Business Class for the trip. One lady even was so bold to say exactly what seat she wanted while standing by for First Class. Well First and Business Class were full so I hope they enjoy San Diego, because I am here and they are still waiting for their First Class seats. Well I guess I will watch a NCIS episode while sitting here in the line. So I will get back to this later.

Well after watching two episodes of NCIS we were informed that our flight was cancelled. They will have us leave tomorrow instead. I guess we will be leaving tomorrow, a little after 11 AM. I was one of the first people in line so I was one of the first to ask them what were they going to do with people from out of town that had no place to stay. They are going to put me up in a hotel for the night so that is cool. We are just waiting for the van to get here so we can get a ride to the hotel. S now I am waiting for them to get me over to the hotel so I can plug in and talk to Laila. Also I have to go eat, because I am starving.

Anyway I will add more when I get to the hotel.

Ok, I got to the hotel, the put us up in the Good Night Inn near the airport. They were pretty cool, I had a nice room, though it was nothing fancy, and they gave us a meal at a seafood buffet, though I had most of the beef and chicken items. They also had Internet access so after trying several different ways to get through to Laila I finally did and let her know what was up with the flight and all. I then played the game a bit and we chatted until it was time to go to sleep.

This morning I got up and showered and all then got online again. I was able to get myself out and start back in when the Internet died in the room and I could not get back online any way I tried. I went ahead and checked out of the room and decided I would try from the Airport. I tried several of the Internet pay things at the airport but found none of them working right, so then I decided to try buying a phone card but many people were hesitant to use them and some of them were not working either.
I decided I would try and get my wireless to work on the airport service, but again that wouldn’t work. So try and try I was not able to get work to Laila. At least last night I was able to pass on the flight number and arrival time.

After all that failed I went ahead and got some breakfast at a little restaurant in the airport and it was not bad, other than the price was a little steep. I then stakes out a place near an electrical receptacle to use the laptop and update the post. I have about 2 more hours before the plane leaves so I am thinking of watching a couple more episodes of NCIS or maybe try and explore internet options again. I just know I am a little tired of walking, as I have been all over this airport.

So I guess that is it for this part of the trip. Next part hopefully we will be in the air and on our way, or else we will be back on our way to a hotel again. At least Laila is glad that we are getting in at a reasonable time. 6:30 PM is a lot better than 5:30 AM.

Well now I am on the plane, and the first thing that happened was it was late getting loaded. Then the sound for my seat doesn’t work and the little TV for the seat does so now I have that distraction. I was going to watch NCIS on the plane but I seemed to have dropped my USB headset somewhere while getting on the plane so now I can’t watch movies or TV on the plane. This airline is beginning to get my goat. The last three times they have been late. Two of the last three flights I was assigned to a seat where I could not see or hear the movie. Since this is my seventh trip in a year and a half with this airline, I would like to be treated better. I do not buy into that first class, business class crap, and now that Philippine Airlines actually gets me there later than if I would have caught the longer multi-stop airlines that why not fly a cheaper more dependable airline next time.

Well I never was able to get word to Laila that I was cut off on the internet this morning and all. The airport in San Francisco has the little terminals allover the place and they want a fortune. Too bad they don’t work or are not maintained.
So now I will have to look for an internet handset for the ride home. What a bummer this flight is going to be. Oh wait, I didn’t try and see if the little headset they gave me for the plane sound system that don’t work might fit into my headset jack and then I will be able to watch NCIS.
Nope that didn’t work either, so now I guess this is going to be another boring flight like the last one. Can’t watch the movie and this time I can’t even watch the stuff I brought with me. Oh well such is life I guess.
Last night I finally bought the rest of the systems I was planning on getting on Unification Wars while I was sitting around the room waiting for something to do. I had a PM from someone who admired my systems and as I was thinking about it I decided, if I am eventually going to do it, why not just do it, so I made all my systems but the main a Parthenon, and my main is still a Titan.
I just hope my empire got in ok and that Laila was able to reset safely since I still had 4 Tokens on my empire when the Internet went dead, and she had not reset. While I am certain that I got in with no losses it still gives me an uncomfortable feeling not knowing.
So now I only have to find something to do for the next 14 hours or so of the trip with nothing to do. I don’t want to blog to much or the darned battery will be dead. Earlier I accidentally sat in the wrong seat. Maybe they will be there. I will check on the way off the plane, though when I asked earlier the lady that was sitting in that row, gave me that I know nothing look which means if I left them someone owns them, even though the person finding them will not have a clue on what they are, or what they are used for.
Well I guess that is it for right now. We are going to stop in Guam on this leg of the trip so maybe I will blog again then. We’ll see, but for right now I will save my battery for later.

A different day

Wow, have I been busy today. We were doing practice troubleshooting performance tests today, and while it was a lot of fun and this particular piece of equipment is easy, it was still keeping me pretty busy. We finished them up before lunch and I shoved them off for the day so I can install the faults for the final performance tests tomorrow.

Usually we split the class in half at this point in the course sending half to DAMA and the other half to OTCIXS/TADIXS but since half or the class is fleet returnees they are a lot quicker and very familiar with the use of test equipment so things go much quicker. We decided to run them through DAMA as an entire class and now they are in OTCIXS/TADIXS. Anyway one of the drawbacks is that we only have four stations so half the class it troubleshooting while the other half is waiting on a station to go to.

But at least while they are waiting we get to tell sea stories and stuff, so we were talking for a while about dumb stuff we have seen happen or have done ourselves. There were the normal interesting legends such as the radioman that places a live patch cord in their mouth to people blowing up test equipment. I think everyone I know has either seen someone melt meter probes or have done it themselves.

Back in the old days, before multi-meters were digital we used to use the Simpson 260’s. They were an analog meter, the one with the little pointer that deflected indicating what you were measuring. When you made a mistake with them and measured a high voltage with a low scale selected you earned the nickname “peggy” for pegging your meter and destroying the meter movement. These days most equipment will flash overload and some even say ouch.

Still if you short something you will melt your meter leads or arc weld them together. I haven’t ever done it myself, but I have seen others do it. I have also seen people get very bad burns or shocks doing it, so while we were all laughing and joking about the things we have seen and done, we still need to make sure we are safe when taking measurements.

We were also talking about ports we have been to that were great, cool and armpits. They also took a few polls of which ports were better than others. Everyone liked going to Thailand, (Phattaya Beach and Phuket) over going to Singapore. Everyone liked Hong Kong over Korea (Pusan and Chin Hae). Everyone hated ports in the Arabian Gulf (Bahrain, Jebel Ali and Dubai), though they said if they had to go somewhere in the gulf Dubai was the lesser of all evils.

It made me start thinking of places I have been and things that I have done. I have been to Taiwan (Keelung and Kaoshung). I have been to Japan too many cities to list, Korea, Okinawa, Guam, Hong Kong, Macau, Philippines (Manila, Subic, Cebu, Bacalod), Singapore, Thailand (Phuket and Phattaya), Malaysia (Penang), Indonesia (Bali), New Zealand (Toranga), New Caledonia, Solomon Islands (Honiera), Fiji, American Somoa, Somoa, Kwajelien Atoll, Australia (Bunbury, Townsville, Mac Kay, Bainbridge, Sydney, Melbourne, and Albany). I have also been to Yemen, Saudi Arabia, UAE (Jebel Ali, Dubayy, and Abu Dhabi), and Bahrain. Closer to home I have to add Mexico and Canada to the list. Almost all of that was due to my naval career so at least the Navy makes you a well-traveled person. I think my only regret would have to be that I never made an east coast deployment.

Well I guess that is about it for now. I need to start getting things ready for tomorrow, as what I do today will make for an easier time tomorrow.

My trip home

Well I am on my way back home again, and along with the usual sadness that come with leaving Laila to head back to the normal grind of work and family, the ride home has not been that great.

This morning Laila and I got up and ran down to the mall to grab a few things and then we came back home so I could get packed up and ready to leave. We called our usual driver but his van is still in the shop so we called the same guy that picked me up this time when I arrived. Laila was not too happy about this driver since he was late the last time, but since he assured us he would be there to get me at six we felt ok.

We ordered pizza for dinner since we really didn’t want to make a big mess and we wanted to spend out last few hours together, but then the kids has some school friends show up and her one son Denis was having a fight with his girlfriend. Since he lost his cell phone the other night she was calling Laila’s and text messaging every few minutes. Laila actually called this little b*”"ch and told her to knock it off and use the land line because it was draining her cell phone battery, but the girl was clueless. I would get a restraining order if she were here, but they don’t have such a thing there.

We ate our pizza, and at 6 PM went to wait for our ride to the airport. Laila started getting worried when the guy was five minutes late, more worried when he was 10 minutes late and he called saying he was there at 15 minutes late. Finally about 20 minutes after the guy was supposed to pick us up he showed up on a motorcycle to tell Laila his driver would be there any second. He drove off a few minutes later and Laila finally had enough and hailed a cab.

Traffic was terrible, Christine was still calling every couple of minutes to where Laila finally turned the phone off. We got to the airport and I still had plenty of time even though Laila thought I was cutting it a little close. I had no problems getting through security and the ticket counter. Laila had given me some extra pesos to get through customs as the Philippines has an exit fee. It used t be 550 pesos but was 750 this time, so I am glad she gave me a few extra, even though they do accept dollars.

When I got to immigration I was supposed to fill out some form and they were out so I had to run back to the ticket counter and grab one. After that I breezed through immigration and the security checkpoint though I did get behind some guy that had to leave about half of his hand carried baggage behind because they were items on the banned list. Some people are just so uniformed about things. I then got to the secure area of the terminal and waited to call Laila.

I then waited until I was sure she was home and then called her about ten minutes after she arrived and we talked until it was time start boarding the plane. I whizzed through the final checkpoint and then we got on the plane. I had my usual window seat and the plane was another of the every seat taken flights so I didn’t get a row to lie down in. We were supposed to take off at 10PM and we actually left the gate on time. We taxied out to the runway and then stopped. The pilot then came on with an announcement that we had to return to the gate since something was wrong with the plane. He said he would keep up informed, but instead we sat at the gate for 2 ½ hours and then we got the announcement that they had replaced a hydraulic pump and we would be leaving soon.

We finally did leave and then I was now worried about arrival time in Los Angeles as I have to catch a flight at 9:35PM. The last time I was on a flight that left Manila late they adjusted the flight time and we made it on time, by flying a slightly different route and making up the time. I was hoping they would do it this time, but now that we are up and they are showing the arrival time it looks like we will be landing in Los Angeles a little after 8:30 PM and that does not look so good for me to make my connection. I have to get off the plane, get my bag, go through customs and immigration, then recheck my bag, go to another terminal and check in, get a boarding pass, go through security, call Judy to tell her when I will actually get to San Diego, and frankly I do not think I am going to make it in time, but I will give it my best shot.

We did receive their deepest apologies so that makes me feel really special. Anyway, I was able to sleep through about half the flight. Something happened to both Laila and I on this trip. Neither of us usually sleeps very much, but this time we slept 6 to 8 hours each day. Also I never sleep on planes well, but this time I slept for over six hours. I don’t know what happened but it a good trend for the future and good for our health.

Well needless to say, if this entry continues it will because I missed my flight to San Diego and am trying to get home somehow, so I am killing time at LAX. If this gets posted right away, then I somehow made it to San Diego on time and posted this on the blog before going to bed since I have to work in the morning.

Anyway, there is the return flight saga with all its drama and all. I hope it doesn’t get much more dramatic, I just want to get home. Ok well I did manage to finally get home last night but not after some really frustrating things happened. First a couple of things that bothered me on the plane. Why is it that none of the stewards or stewardesses on a plane knows how to run a VCR or keep with the movie schedule that is printed in their airline magazine? This has happened on several different airlines so I am not just getting down on Philippine Airways on this one. When the pilot or copilot make an announcement the movie cuts out and when they are done making the announcement you have missed the scenes that were played during the announcement. Also the movies are not shown in the sequence listed and some are not shown at all. Anyway it is just a little something that bothers me when I am on a long trip.

Also the guy that sat next to me got in trouble. All you hear in the airport prior to boarding and when they are reading the safety stuff is to not use your cell phone. The whole time the plane was being repaired this guy was text messaging and he continued as the plane took off. As we were getting ready to land he broke it out again but got caught by the stewardess and she really lit into him. I was glad to see that. I really don’t know why people insist on using these items all the time when directed not to. I think they should impose a steep fine and enforce it on airlines. I am sure they could use the extra income that would be generated.

Anyway we landed at LAX two hours late and that gave me 65 minutes to get to American Airlines to get my flight to San Diego. But then trying to get off the plane was impossible as they had to de-plane the first class and business class folks first. They kept announcing for folks to allow people with connecting flights leave first but that didn’t happen or maybe everyone on the plane had connecting flights. So he plane landed at 8:30 PM and my American Airlines flight was scheduled to leave at 9:35 PM. I was watching my watch carefully and was able to get off the plane at 8:45 PM. As soon as I got to the ramps leading to immigration I started running, hoping to somehow make my flight. I got down the stairs to where immigration was supposed to be and to my amazement we were in a different terminal.

Since the plane was late they took us to an international overflow terminal where we would have to be bussed to the main terminal and then what was worse is that they started taking the wheel chair folks first. I managed to get on a bus and took the ride to the main terminal, but then got stuck behind the wheel chairs and other old folks which slowed me down. I got to immigration at 8:55 PM and got through the line by 9:05 PM. I started losing hope but I was hopeful that I could get my bag and get over to the other terminal, though it would be cutting it very close.

I got to the baggage carousel and there was nothing there but a wall of people and no bags. They started coming down the ramp at about 9:10 PM but it seemed like hours. First came all the pilots and flight crew stuff and then here came mine, really fast for a change. It was 9:15 and all I had to do was get through customs and turn over my bag to the airport folks and I just might make it. It would be really close though. I ran down to customs and the guy stamped my form and I was on my way out, and then the unbelievable happened. One of the lady customs agents called me over for a bag search. Now there was no way in hell I was going to make my flight. She was very professional and courteous, asked me many questions about my trip, family, and we talked about how Laila and I met and all while she was searching. I still had some coffee grounds in the one bag from my coffee disaster and she got a laugh out of that. After going through my bags and finding nothing she then tried to search my laptop for pornography but the battery was dead. Besides I don’t even use this on the internet except for sending webcam to Laila. I joked that she wouldn’t find anything on the laptop but I couldn’t guarantee anything about my home PC since David uses it too!

I asked her if she wanted me to plug it in, but she said no problem, and let me pass. As I walked out of hat section it was 9:30 PM so I knew I missed my San Diego flight since I still had to get to another terminal and all. They didn’t have the folks to turn the luggage over to in the international terminal so I just took the bag and went to the American Terminal. I still walked really fast and when I got in line the fellow in front of me asked me if I was late for a flight. I told him yes, but that it was too late as he offered to let me go ahead of him.

I went up to the counter and told the lady there what happened and she said she would get me on the standby list for the 10:30 PM Flight so I hurried up the stairs to the security checkpoint since the flight was going to board at 10 pm according to the ticket she gave me.

I went upstairs to the security point and it was now 9:40 so I was getting worried again. The line was backed up a bit and though the lady checking boarding passes and ID instructed people to have their stuff out many people were not cooperating and so that line was moving slow. I got through there and then over to the x-ray machine. The two guys in front of me were moving in slow motion and then two morons struck at the same time. One idiot didn’t have his boarding pass and swore that he ran it through the x-ray machine. They searched and searched but never did find it so they led him away, but it held up the line. The some other moron had placed a bunch of coins in a file folder which spilled all over the floor and machine while exiting the x-ray machine. Since he was not able to pick up the coins for some security reason the security guy picked them up for him. They would have had a second security guy help but he couldn’t find any rubber gloves so only the one guy could pick them up. I was beginning to think I would miss this flight too, but that this one would have been due to the stupidity of fellow passengers.

Finally they got the second moron through and then the guy in front of me kept setting off the metal detector. Finally he got all the change out of his pocket, took off his belt and watch and he made it through. I made it right through and by now it was 9:55 PM and my boarding pass said the plane was going to board at 10 PM. I quickly ran to a phone and called the house and told David that I would be getting home at 11:30 instead of 10:30 and I still had to catch a bus to the commuter terminal and so I was getting worried again.

I got on the bus and it left at 10PM for the commuter terminal and got there at 10:05. The Lady told me I was at the top of the standby list and it looked very good for me to make the flight. I got on and we had the quiet little 45 minute flight to San Diego but when we arrived, no baggage. The lady informed me that it was probably due to my standby status and that since I was standby I would have to pick up the bag at the airport today. I then told her the reason I was in a standby status and she told me that they would deliver it to the house. Judy and Carlos picked me up at a little after 11:30 and we stopped at 7-11 to pick up some toiletries so I could shave and shower.

After that we went home and I got online with Laila. I reset my DP and then went to bed, but couldn’t sleep so I worked on a mission in the game and just stayed up all night. Now I am waiting for the lunch hour to be over and I have to get some paperwork done, then I can go home, and I could really use the rest.

So there you have it, the saga of the rest of the trip.

Fifth Manila visit

Well I am back in the Philippines for the fifth time to visit Laila and trying to adjust to the hours, slow Internet speeds and the noisy streets.

Anyway Sunday after getting home from the airport we tried to get caught up on some sleep. We work a nap for a while and then got up for a while, then another nap and so on.

We finally got up and went to church but missed the opening prayers and all because we were a little late. We were also up in the balcony and couldn’t see anything. Next week I will make sure we go to the morning mass and make sure we are not late.

Anyway Sunday was Seventh Sunday in Ordinary time. The first reading was 1 Samuel 26:2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23. The second reading was 1 Corinthians 15:45-49 and the gospel was Luke 6:27-38 and though the mass was inTagalog Laila translated some of it so that it was about a message saying love your enemy.

After the mass we went to dinner at a Chinese place called The Super Bowl of China. The food was OK but after walking all over the place and the lack of sleep I was very tired and only wanted to sleep.

We had a lot of leftovers and so we just brought them home and Laila and I went to bed early.

On my way home

Well after a long flight I have made it to LAX and an awaiting my flight to San Diego. I will have to go start getting ready to board that one in two hours for the little half hour flight south.

I called Laila from Manila but then the line went dead when I ran out of coins to dump in the machine. I was going to send her an e-mail from here but the darned airport does not have any of those portable e-mail things at this terminal unless I join some presidential flyer club thing or something like that for $50 so forget about that one.

The airport at Manila was really slow at first but it still didn’t allow me to get through the terminal very fast. It never ceases to amaze me how no matter what line I get into at Philippine Air in Manila it goes really slow.

Today I got behind a large family and then a group of contract workers. The large family had something wrong with their passports and that held up the line and then the group of contractors had screwed up paperwork of some type, which further held things up. I would think that since they deal with contractors all the time they would have a separate line to deal with those problems with someone trained to deal with those types of problems. Just as a customer service thing.

The other problem with the contractors thing is that when a couple get to the front of the line all their buddies come up to join them since they are all on the same documents, so the short line you were in immediately turns into this really long line that takes forever to get through. So after waiting in line for over an hour I finally got my bag checked and then went into the terminal section where I could call Laila. Since her PLDT landline phone is still not hooked up, I had to call her cell phone at 7 Pesos per minute vice 1 peso per minute. I had over 100 pesos in coins but they went fast and at the end of the money without warning the line went dead.

I then went through the rest of the security checkpoints and finally found a place to sit down, but it was next to this family traveling with a bunch of young kids. These kids were totally out of control and I was really getting upset especially with their little girl who was demanding all kinds of attention from everyone and would throw a temper tantrum when her siblings, mother or father did not act fast enough to suit her.

Then came the announcement that the plane would be late boarding as it had arrived late. That actually took an additional hour before we were able to board. Finally it was time to board the plane, and I like window seats but wound up with an isle seat. Also the little brat and her siblings were a couple of rows behind me raising hell, while their parents, maybe they are really smart or very neglectful sat several rows in front of me, away from their kids. Right next to me there was a couple with a small kid, about 15 months old and so I figured the flight would be hell. Actually the 15 month old didn’t make any noise at all until the end of the flight when the lights came on and then she quieted right down. The brat in the back finally shut up, after a few passengers had a talk with her and the siblings, so she settled down for most of the flight, but still raised hell from time to time.

The movies were ok this time except that every time the Steward made an announcement he would either forget to restore the movie or put the wrong movie on. After the first movie “The Guardian” I took a nap and then watched a couple episodes of NCIS on my laptop. The ride across the pacific was very bumpy this time, and though we left late we arrived at LAX early.

I went ahead and made it trough customs and immigration with no problem even though I did drop my jacket somewhere along the way. I was going to go back and look for it, but I had already made it through all the checkpoints and did not even want to attempt going back for it, with all the hassles that would involve. Besides I have another one at home.

Ah I forgot, getting my bag was another adventure. They had two carousels going to get your baggage, and so I was watching both like a hawk. All of a sudden there was no more baggage, and so I was thinking here we go again. As I was wandering around to look where I had to go to report lost luggage, there was my bag on some guy’s cart. So I went and got that, without letting the guy know a thing, but I was pretty unhappy.

After that I checked my bag through and then set out for the American Airlines terminal for my connecting flight. I was going to try and get on an earlier flight, but it seems like they are really booked tonight and the lines were really long so I decided I would call Judy and tell her when to get me, and then just catch the one I was already registered with.

After calling Judy I went in search of one of those internet rip off machines, and even asked one of the security guards, but there are none in this terminal. I had ran my battery on my lap top down on the plane, so I then wandered around the terminal looking for a place to plug in, recharge, and blog. So now that is what I am doing while waiting for my flight to come up.

Actually I am thinking of going and getting something to eat since the breakfast on the plane was pretty bad. I had sausage, ham and eggs, as the alternate was fish, and I am not a fish eater at all. Anyway the eggs were runny and the pastry tasted really strange. There is a Chili’s, and a Burger King here and though I know they will charge an arm and a leg, I am a little hungry so I might just fill out the loan papers and buy dinner.

Anyway, that is the excitement going on for this trip home. Also for Laila, yeah I am still itching. I picked up some kind of skin thing and my chest and arms have been itching for a few days now. We think it might have had something to do with the change in climate or maybe something with the water. It hasn’t happened to me on past trips so I am hoping it will clear up when I get home and get back to the routine at home.

Well, I am off to the head and to get something to eat before going to the gate to catch the ride home. I will post this when I get there or maybe even tomorrow when I have more time. It is going to be hard to get to sleep tonight, especially with work tomorrow, but I will get back into the swing of things right away. Time to get moving.

Well I went to the head and it was one of the more filthy places I have ever been and after that good food on the plane I had to of course go number two so I really hope that I didn’t catch anything really strange from sitting in there, even though I cleaned it up the best I could. It kind of reminded me of the ex-wife’s friend Judy. This woman would never use a public restroom. She was Canadian and she would do everything she possibly could before having to use a public place. Humm that reminds me, I wonder what ever happened to her. She had moved and the ex lost touch with her. I have no clue where she moved to or what ever became of her. I do know that she was a walking advertisement for why socialized medical care doesn’t work. She had a rare blood disorder and moved to the US and became a citizen because she could not get timely treatment for her condition in Canada. Anyway, I hope she and her new man are doing great.

This was weird. I went to the different food places in the terminal but all the lines were really long and as a result I decided to skip out on eating until I get home. I then went to the terminal gate and they put me on a bus. We then went out for a drive along the runways to a little building with several gates. Of course this is the first time I have flown American Eagle as I usually fly United Express. Trying to fly around the holidays messes up normal plans I guess. Anyway, here I am at my terminal now and we should be boarding pretty quickly as it is 8:53 PM and the plane is scheduled to depart at 9:35 PM. It is one of those noisy prop jobs, but they are really nice for short flights and you get to claim you luggage really fast. That means if Judy gets to the airport on time I will be in and out of the terminal in a matter of minutes and on my way to the house.

I hope Judy managed to talk to Laila on Skype tonight to let her know what is up. Since I was not able to send an e-mail from the terminal, I hope she is not worried about me. We have had very iffy connections since the earthquake off the coast of Taiwan last week as the lines into and out of the Philippines were affected. In fact the kids were complaining that they were having severe problems playing Rose Online and were playing a game across the server instead which was slowing Laila’s computer down.

It could mess up our TV watching until they get it fixed. They said about two weeks at the most, but since they are trawling for some ¾ inch fiber optic cables on the ocean floor, I think this outage will take a little longer than that to fix. Then of course since I was busy with Laila, I haven’t really kept up with the progress of the repairs. I did notice PLDT came out almost immediately and blamed all of their server problems of the past decade on the brake. I am still trying to figure out how that affects Laila’s landline.

Wow, 9:02 PM now so we should be boarding soon. I hope I don’t have any problems. They gave me my boarding pass in Manila along with my boarding pass for PR 112. It has the flight number and airline, but no gate and no time. The TSA folks were eyeballing it carefully and I told them they issued it to me in Manila and used my military retired ID to get through security and they let me pass no problem and even thanked me for my service.

The one thing that did crack me up was they had a border patrol checkpoint over between Immigration and the Customs desk and he asked me the purpose of my visit to the Philppines. I told him to visit family for the holidays and then he asked me is if was married to a Filipina. I told him not yet, that we were engaged, but it struck me odd, why they would be asking an American Citizen about their travels abroad. I can see it from Customs and Immigration, but not the Border Patrol.

Well it is now 9:08 PM so I guess I had better get the laptop stowed because we should be boarding soon. I figure a half hour flight to San Diego, another half hour to get home, and then I will log on to the Internet to say hi to Laila and let her know I got home all right.

I hope I get up on time in the morning, because even though I did sleep a bit on the plane I will still be tired, but I can’t go to sleep as soon as I get home from a flight as the adrenaline will still have me pumped up.

Well, I hope everyone had a great holiday season last year and I hope everyone has a prosperous and great New Year in 2007.

Flying to Manila

All right folks, just a few more hours and I will be setting off for Lindberg Field for my flight up to Los Angeles. And then while waiting there I will go ahead and blog about the trip on the laptop.

I will not be posting for a couple of days as Laila and I will be away from Internet access, unless the hotel has it. So I may not have any new posts for Four or Five days.

This morning after getting up, praying and going to work I took off early, went to the grocery store for a few forgotten items and to the bank.

Now I am getting ready to pack those few last minute items before taking off for the airport. That means I have about 4 hours before I leave the house and then of course I will have the three hour stop in Los Angeles before we leave from there.

The plane will be doing a refueling stop in Guam en-route so it makes it a really long flight. It will arrive in Manila at 5:30 AM local time and then I will have to go through customs and wait for my luggage and all.

I think I have it down now to where the only long wait is when I have to wait for my luggage as they are pretty slow.

Anyway I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Our trip home

Well it is nice to be back in San Diego and it was nice to get back to work even though I was pretty tired. On Saturday Judy and I got up a little late and ate our free breakfast. We then went to Wal-mart because I needed to replace a windshield wiper that was really worn, and because it looked like rain.

We went over to Randine’s Aunt Karen and Uncle Randy’s house to assist setting up for the wedding, so we loaded up all the stuff and headed for the house where the wedding would be held.

I left first and then took a wrong turn so a few folks beat me to the house. We got everything set up and I have to say that the relatives that were on the decorating committee did a fantastic job decorating the place. The house was a landmark old house that belongs to one of the local colleges.

After unloading and setting up chairs and stuff it was time for the guys in the wedding party to go get ready and Marty’s sister who works at the Marriott got him a complementary suite. We all showered and changed and were worried we would be late, but we got there on time and it was the women who were late.

Finally it was time for the ceremony and I was really nervous that I would trip and fall down the stairs or botch the words I was supposed to say but other than asking me who gives her away on my way up the stairs instead of when we got to the top of the stairs I got everything right and then sat with her mother through the ceremony.

Both Randine and Marty looked great as well as the rest of the wedding party. After the wedding we had the picture taking by the professional photographers as well as family members and others that wanted pictures.

We then had dinner and a dance. The reception was going to go late into the night and Judy and I couldn’t stay for the rest because we had to get on the road to San Diego with the weather looking to get worse, so we said our goodbye’s to all the different family members, changed clothes, and left by the back door.

When we started out it was pouring rain and that made going through all the road construction a little hard but we made it out of San Antonio, with a goal of making it to Ft Stockton that night. During a slack in the rain I kicked up my speed a little bit, which is rare for me, and then immediately got pulled over and was awarded a ticket by one of Texas’s finest law enforcement officers.

After the ticket I kept my speed down and as I travelled further up the road we saw several other people getting pulled over. We got up towards Ft Stockton and the rain really let loose. It got so bad at times I was worried that we might have to stop before Ft Stockton, but we did manage to make it a little past 2AM local time.

We got up at 8 AM, had breakfast and got back on the road a little after 10 which was 8AM California time and started up the road. We hit a little bit of rain between FT Stockton up to about 200 miles east of El Paso. So far it was a pretty smooth trip, but then when we were about 150 miles east of El Paso there was a really nasty wreck in the eastbound lanes where a truck had flipped over on it’s side. It blocked all the lanes of traffic and they were routing the traffic across our lanes to a frontage road, while they cleaned up the mess and since the accident was fatal to someone they had to do all the police stuff that had to be done.

We then made pretty good time to El Paso and as we were going through there we hit some construction that reduced the westbound lanes from three lanes to 1 lane and that really delayed our trip.

Mew Mexico and Arizona were pretty uneventful with just a small area of construction in each state. Going through the desert was pretty boring, but Judy and I talked about a lot of stuff so it was fun.

We finally got to California and I thought we were home free until we ran into fog in the mountains and it was pretty dense so I had to slow down to 25 MPH in some spots. We got home just after 11 PM.

I then found out our phone and Internet were not working so I repaired the broken phone line, then let Laila know I was home. I should have gone to bed but could not since I was still anxious from all the driving.

I stayed up until 2 AM chatting with Laila then got up at 5:15 AM so we could say our prayers and I could get ready for work.

Today I reviewed the material for the test tomorrow and I think my class is fully ready to take the test. I think they will do great.

Tonight my prayers go out to both the people of Hawaii and I hope the islands make a quick and full recovery from the nasty earthquakes. Also my prayers go out to the family and friends of our former city counselman for my district George Stevens who passed away either last night or this morning. When he first took the job he made many improvements to this district and though sometimes he did a few things I didn’t like, he did a lot for the city and will be missed.

Tomorrow I hope everything will be back to normal for me and Judy. We are still in car shock and are both a little tired.

Hello from Ft Stockton

Well, after returning to the house twice for stuff I forgot, before we ever got on the freeway this morning, Judy and I have made it as far as Fort Stockton, Texas. We have about 5 to 6 hours of driving to do before we get to San Antonio.

We left San Diego about 7:30 AM and made a point to stop about every 100 miles to get out and walk around a bit to mainly make sure my back is holding out. It is and I am feeling good, though since we stopped for the night I still have the room moving thing going on, from so much time driving.

We made really good time and there was very little traffic. There was some construction going on in Arizona just before Tucson, and a little in New Mexico, and a little more in Texas after we passed through El Paso, but other than that construction was not a problem.

We saw one big accident that held us up for a while. That was between Phoenix and Tucson in the construction zone where a couple of big rigs collided and caught on fire. By the time we got to the scene the fires were out but the damage was obvious. It looked like both drivers dumped the trailers and just let them burn.

When we were going through New Mexico just before getting to El Paso we saw a few Illegals being arrested. That was interesting since most of them know where the border patrol sets up.

Other than that I love the speed limit in Texas. 80 MPH and no traffic where we are even though once the sun went down I had to slow to 65 MPH. I just would find a big rig that was doing around the speed limit and follow them as they know how to get through the traffic that is present in some areas and all.

Anyway,I guess I had better get some sleep so I will post this and log off. I am not excited that tomorrow is Friday the 13th, but then I was born on Halloween so I think I am immune.

A really busy morning

Today is really a busy day.

Between my class being in lab all day and the running around that will involve to the getting ready for the trip tomorrow and all I will be pretty busy.

Last night I figured out the distance and time stuff and some possible places to stop. Today on the way home I will fill up the gas tank, stop by the ATM, and then we will pack up the car tonight. I want to start out tomorrow at the same time I usually leave for work since I am used to getting up that early.

Also since I will be heading east there should not be much in the way of traffic. I have already mapped my escape route out of San Diego and the directions to the hotel.

Tonight, I will map out how to get to Randine’s house from the hotel, and how to get to the various places we will be going.

I wish I had cruise control, but I will be fine. The weather looks ok, though we might catch a little bit of rain on the way. I still figure we will get to San Antonio sometime around noon on Friday. The big test will be getting back by Sunday night but then even if I have to drive all night to get back I will still make it in time for work Monday, I just might be a little tired.

I have to get a nice big thermos for coffee for the trip. Also when I get home tonight I have to download a few programs to this laptop. I also want to download some of the maps, rather than print all that stuff out.

Well time to get started with the workday.

It is lunchtime and I am tired already today. The military guys were tasked with an assignment from the office, so I have been running the practice problems all by myself today. Since I have 10 students all working different problems at the same time it really keeps me hopping and I am so glad lunchtime came along.

The military folks are still here to assisting in observing safety, but I have been answering all the questions and controlling who is doing what in the lab. And since this is their first set of problems it is really busy until they get familiar with the radios and the way we do things.

At least the morning passed by quickly and that was a good thing. Only a few more hours to go and I will be on my way home and while I laid down last night on the love seat when I first got home, I did not doze off yesterday, but I might tonight if I continue this pace for the rest of the work day.

Well, I suppose I will go get myself some lunch, because I am really hungry today. I don’t know why I have had all of these urges to eat lately, maybe because I am expending more energy the past couple of days.

Well my next entry will be from on the road and I will try and keep everyone updated on my progress. I will take it slow and easy, as I am very safety conscious while on the road.

Anyhow, enough blogging now, I am going to go fill my stomach.