RETIRED WARRANT

Not a typical Saturday

This morning after chatting with Laila until she went to bed I ran down to the post office to get the mail. The idiot light lit up reminding me that I was almost out of gas so I quickly ran down to the Navy Exchange Gas station and filled up the tank.

While I was at the pump I was behind some retired guy much older than me. He was having difficulty walking and even handling the pump and all. We both finished about the same time, but I had paid at the pump with my American Express while he had to pay at the window so I had to wait a while for him to come back.

When he did come back I found that he also drove like he walked, really slow and since he was going left out of the exchange I decided to go right and just take another route home.

Earlier today I had heard that there was going to be a big anti-illegal alien rally in National City, after their Mayor officially declared it a Sanctuary City. He did this on his own and without a vote of the City Counsel, and basically has a “I can do what I want because I am the Mayor, and they are not” attitude.

Anyway, now the minutemen have come to National City to voice their opinion. I was going to grab a flag and go myself, but they had a rally last week and some violence erupted. Laila told me to stay home so I decided I would listen to her.

Anyway the rally was supposed to be down by the National City Mail Library in a park. Knowing that the streets would all be blocked off in that direction I took 8th street which is a couple of miles from where the rally was being held. When I got to National City Blvd there was a large group of people holding the National Flag of Mexico.

They had all kinds of signs and all, and I was wondering why the border patrol and INS were not there rounding them up. This is not Mexico, and I am tired of seeing the Mexican Flag being paraded around in my country.

These people want to break out laws, and then flaunt the fact that they are here. And they are being enabled by crooked politicians like Mayor Inzunza.

When they are successful in taking over the United States and turning it in to a third world hell hole just like Mexico is, I guess the Canadians had better watch out because they will be next.

The legal residents of this country had better wake up and demand that something be done and fast. The illegal aliens are getting bolder and bolder. If you read World Net Daily, every day there are more and more incidences of crime committed against citizens of this country by people that are here unlawfully.

When I read about a police officer in Houston being shot in the head four times by a illegal alien that had been in jail for a variety of offenses and was deported, and then I see the Mayor of Houston and the police Chief in Houston still support being a Sanctuary City I am dumbfounded. It is time we bounce all these politicians at all levels of government out of office.

When I see people again showing identification at the polls, I now suspect I know how people like Inzunza got elected. He had to have benefited by the illegal alien vote. One thing I am thankful to see is that as I drive through National City and see all the candidate for mayor signs I have not seen one with his name on it.

Well I have vented on that one enough for today. Yesterday I was startled that someone posted a picture of Michelle Malkin in a string bikini that was definitely a fake picture, and she was blowing up all over her blog about it. She did leave the picture up on her blog.

I noticed today she was a little more quiet about it. I think she should quietly take whatever legal action she may be able to take and not dignify thier attempts to insult her as that just adds to their blog traffic.

And I was also shocked to hear that congressman Foley, a fighter for children’s protection from sexual predators, is a predator himself and had to resign from office. I hope they prosecute this guy to the full extent of the law and I also hope the leftists see that when someone on the right screws up they resign.

Well time to get some meaningful stuff done for the weekend.

Judy came home

Usually Fridays are pretty quiet, but not today. Before I talk about that I guess I will go back to last night. Right after I got home from the dentist, my daughter arrived from Maryland. We helped her unpack and put all her stuff up in her room.

She brought her cat and is somewhere in the house but we have looked high and low, and have not been able to find it. I guess it will come out of hiding when it gets hungry.

Judy, Carlos, and David all went over to the ex’s house last night for a visit. When they got back we all sat around watching TV along with Laila and her kids in the Philippines.

Laila and I watched “Armageddon” last night and then “Deal or No Deal” before Laila departed to buy food for the wake. She was also trying to convince Pearl into going to the doctor to get her burn looked at. Pearl hates to spend money and did not want to go.

After talking to my son last night I went to bed. He kept talking half the night and I finally just had to get some sleep.

I got up a few minutes later than normal and got ready for work, said prayers with Laila and then left for work. I dropped David off on the way and got there in plenty of time.

I taught until 10AM when the class had to go to take their urinalysis. I hung out to attend the weekly meeting in th e other building and also did the weekly paperwork to submit to my boss.

I then was getting ready to write my blog entry for the day but then I would up helping work on an antenna system with one of the other instructors.

We then got a phone call that someone from the depot would dropped by, to swap some equipment with us so I then went and removed the equipment from the racks and put it on a cart. I then went back to helping work on the antenna until the guy came. He didn’t show up until 1:30 and I then installed and checked out all the gear. It all worked and I finally headed for home about 2:30.

Now I am waiting for Laila to get up, but that won’t be for a couple of hours. So I guess that is all for now. Time to start the weekend.

I was going to cook today, buy since I am really tired from moving all the equipment I think I will cheat and just go buy something.

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.

Court Hearing Moved

Well we have had another bad day. Last night I was all set up to record the nightly television shows for Laila to watch later. She had a court date scheduled so that we can start getting some of this legal stuff out of the way so she can come to the States.

She left bout 6 PM my time and I kept Chikka on so that she could text message me at home.

In the meantime I had a bunch of paperwork to do for my new class so I knocked out what I could of that and watched a movie, while waiting for her to contact me. About 7:30 she called me on the phone, but I guess her cell phone dropped because we could not hear each other.

She got home about 7:45 my time and so I didn’t have to record anything for her. She said the court date was moved to October as the Judge was out of the country. She still had to pay an appearance fee, and I have to tell you, I am getting really sick of all the delays and additional costs involved. You would think that if the Judge was not going to be there, they would notify the parties involved in ongoing cases know that before they waste the time and expense to appear.

Anyway my son cooked some Carne Asada last night and I ate that, but was feeling a little rundown and tired. We watched “House” and the two “Law and Order” shows. Sometime during the night she got word that her niece had been admitted into the hospital for dengue fever and needed a blood transfusion. She was still trying to find out more information about what was going on, when I went to bed.

This morning I woke up really early. I was having to go to the bathroom a lot and had heartburn, probably from the Carne Asada my son made. I tried to go back to sleep but lay awake thinking if the court cases would ever get over so that Laila ad I can get legally married soon.

I got up when the clock went off and actually got ready for work and all before my coffee was even finished brewing. I went over to fire up chat, but I guess I got another of those Microsoft updates that rebooted my PC. Since I have it password protected it will only boot up as far as the windows log on screen.

Anyway I finally got my coffee and got on line, and as soon as Laila came on I found out that her niece had died overnight. I guess it was more serious than anyone knew and her family had taken too long to get her to the hospital. It is a shame as her niece, Alexandra, was only 9 years old.

Now Laila is of course feeling the guilt we all feel when we lose a family member. Why didn’t I spend more time with her? Why didn’t I help my brother’s family more? Anyway, she was in tears and after we dedicated our prayers to Alexandra this morning I tried to calm her down the best I could. I really don’t know what else to do other than try and be supportive as possible.

This morning I dropped my son off at work on my way to work. When I parked the car I saw that he had forgotten his backpack in the car. I have to fill a prescription for Monday’s dental surgery at lunch so I will try and drop it off with him.

Judy didn’t call last night, and every time I tried to call her David was on the phone. They should have made it to Texas yesterday. I hope to contact her tonight and see how they are doing.

Anyway, I guess that is it for now. I have a bunch of stuff to get done this morning at work, so I had better get hopping.

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Last night I stayed up a little late watching TV but I didn’t sleep in that late this morning. I got up and made a fast breakfast today Laila and I did our regular routine.

I also watched Fox News and was watching all the stuff about Bill Clinton’s meltdown on his interview with Chris Wallace. I guess the truth hurts. Laila will disagree, but since I was in the military during the Clinton administration and lived through the lean years when we were getting our spare parts from decommissioned ship’s and were firing missiles to keep his scandals off the front page of the newspapers and out of the press, I will not change my opinion.

Laila has a different opinion and does not understand why he is being beat up in the press, but then she gets her news from the Clinton News Network CNN. She also lives in a country where the opinion of the people is controlled by what the government there will allow them to see on their media. Anyway, I had better get off that subject because I don’t want to get my lovely Laila mad at me.

Laila went to bed just as I was leaving for church this morning. Today was the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time. The first reading was Wisdom 2:12, 17-20. The second reading was James 3:16-4:3. The Gospel was Mark 9:30-37. Father Cholo gave the mass again this Sunday. I guess he will be the one giving the 11 AM mass each Sunday. The message today was about importance, and the fact that was we are all equal servants of God. There are no servants of God that are more important than others. So I took that to mean I should be humble and less cocky in my real life as well as spiritually. I am sometimes guilty of that, especially when I teach. I get a little over confident at times.

Now I am watching football and hoping to hear from my daughter who will be departing Maryland tomorrow morning and heading for San Diego. I hope they take their time and don’t try to travel too far each day. She said they are only going to drive during the daylight hours, and I hope she stays with that plan. Especially with the weather being the way it has been back east lately.

Anyway, I have some paperwork to do for work and I had better get it done. I hope everyone had a great weekend.

Western Union

Last night Laila and I watched TV again since Yahoo was back up. We watched “My Name is Earl” and then we watched the “Deal or No Deal” that I had recorded before last nights episode of “Deal or No Deal” came on. It was pretty exciting as the woman got down to 2 cases one with $750,000 and one with $1,000,000. They offered her $880,000 and she stayed with her case and won $750,000. We were both really excited.

We then watch “Dateline” where they had the child sex sting going again. They have been doing this for a few years now, so I am wondering how they can catch so many people. You would think these guys would be a little more careful. We then watched the season premier of “Law and Order”. I wonder why Dennis Farina is no longer on the show.

We watched the news and then I went to bed. I forgot to set my clock and slept in until 9 this morning, then had some slight PC problems before chatting with Laila this morning. Just as she was getting ready to go to bed my ex called and told me m daughter Judy was having some problems and please to give her a call.

I said goodnight to Laila and then called Judy. She was asking for some money for her trip, in case of emergency. The ex and I decided we would split it, so I took a shower and was going to run to the bank and then to Western Union to wire her the money. When I was in the shower I thought, why drive all over the place, I should be able to do it online. So I got done with my shower and logged on to their site and filled out everything. I hit send and found that my credit card was rejected. I called their toll free number to find out what was up and they told me my credit card company didn’t approve it, so I called the credit card company. They said they rejected it because they wanted to make sure it was a valid request, and to go ahead and try it again.

I logged back onto the Western Union site and again the credit card company rejected it. I then asked if I could just take it out of my checking account, but they don’t do that. By now I was getting angry, so I jumped in the car and went to the bank. My bank is in Chula Vista and has the most miserable parking lot in the world, as I have blogged about before. Also I hate to drive in Chula Vista as it is home to some of the most miserable drivers in the area.

Anyhow, I got my car parked after watching people try and park their SUV’s and big pickups into the little parking spaces in the parking structure. When I went into the bank I then saw that the lines were ridiculous. It must have been a payday or something because the lines were almost out the door and everyone was cashing checks. I went to the member’s only line, since it was much smaller. The member’s only line is just for deposits and withdrawals and is supposed to be like an express line. Some lady though was taking forever, obviously blowing off the rules for the member’s only line.

I finally got to the counter and was done with my transaction in less than a minute and then off to Western Union I went. I could not believe the charges as it costs less to send Laila money in the Philippines than it cost to send money to Judy. Then I came home and called Judy to give her the transaction number so she could pick up her money.

Now I am doing my laundry and getting caught up on chores. Anyway, I am glad all of that is over, and now I can get back to the weekend.

Rumors and no webcam

I love working with the military, especially because these guys can get the most ridiculous of rumors started. This week the base has been practicing security drills, and so they have been doing vehicle searches at the gates, and checking identification carefully.

Anyway, rumor has it that at 10AM this morning they are going to close the gate and that when they do that nobody will be allowed on or off the base. The rumor has gone as far as having instructors dismiss their classes so they can get out of the gate before it closes.

I can’t do that with my class since we have to complete the final examination today. They should finish it right about 10AM and then we will have to review and all.

I can see them securing the gate to inbound traffic but not to outbound traffic. Even during 9/11, people were allowed out but not in, so it makes no sense to me. Anyway, I guess I will find out when I try to leave.

It reminds me of the stupid stuff that used to be started and then spread around the ships I was stationed on. People that think only women gossip and spread rumors are wrong. Sailors have them beat hands down. After the first gulf war when we were anchored off the coast of the United Arab Emirates for weeks at a time the rumors that came out about when we were going home, and possible port visits were always flying around. I think that is why I always liked smaller ships better. Al the best rumors and stories happened on the smaller ships.

Last night was supposed to be a great night. “Deal or No Deal” was on as well as the season premier of “CSI”. Shortly before 8PM when I fired up the web camera, I got a server busy from Yahoo. I then tried Trillian, but it wouldn’t even turn on the camera. I think Trillian can’t work if Yahoo is down. Anyway since it was messed up all night Laila and I couldn’t watch TV together last night. I did tape “Deal or No Deal” so we can watch it at a later date.

Also I messed up and did not record “CSI”. I thought “Deal or No Deal” was supposed to come on at 8PM and then I would switch to “CSI” so I didn’t bother readying the upstairs VCR to record anything. I also had some dumb idea that “CSI” came on at 10PM. I guess in the future I should check the schedule instead of thinking.

I did see some other shows that were new or that I had not watched before. “My Name is Earl” was pretty funny, but “The Office” was so crappy I almost turned it off. I found this to be another agenda driven program. I am so tired of seeing and hearing about gay issues on my TV, radio, and in my news on the internet. I am not a homophobic or anything like that, I am just sick and tired of having it forced down my throat. Put all this gay programming on Bravo and get it out of prime time, because when I see it I tune out.

There were no big winners in “Deal or No Deal” and the lady currently playing has already killed the top two prizes, so tonight it will not be that overly exciting. She will not set a new record or anything. Last night since Laila couldn’t watch I told her everything that was going on. I am sure it would have been better to watch it on her side.

I hope whatever is going on at Yahoo gets fixed. This morning just before leaving for work, I tried it out and they were still having problems. I hope they didn’t get that new virus that is going around. I have been fairly happy as they have been pretty good in the past in keeping it up. I can only remember it being down one other time when I tried to use it.

Well that is it for today’s post. Have to get the class tested and out of here, and then hope that the rumors are not true and that I can get off the base today.

An update, I got off the base and stopped at the grocery store on the way home. I got myself a nice steak and some ribs for the dogs, so I can spoil them a bit. I checked Yahoo and it is back up so I am trying to get a few things done before Laila wakes up. Wow, I am so glad the weekend is here.

Security Check

Today, I woke up a bit early and after putting out the trash and cleaning up a few things, I chatted with Laila before going to work. This morning after our morning prayers, I was watching the news and saw that the Naval Bases were conducting heightened security checks at the gate, so I left about 15 minutes earlier than usual.

On the news, they showed that the traffic into Coronado was backed up clear across the Coronado Bay Bridge and onto both the N and S I-5. It looked really terrible so I did not know what to expect when I got to 32nd Street. It was not bad at all, maybe because I was there earlier than normal.

So now I have a little extra time before the class gets here and we start the final troubleshooting performance tests.

On the way in I was switching back and forth between Rick Roberts and Laura Ingraham’s Radio shows. Laura was talking about, how there is opposition to a bill requiring identification when people vote. There are actually some people in congress that are against this bill, and their reasons are dumb. It costs too much to get Identification is one of them. When you need Identification to get a credit card, beer, cigarettes, or a loan then I think everyone that is alive in this country must have some form of legal documents. The people that are against this bill want the illegal aliens to vote I guess.

Rick Roberts Show was about the speeches made at the United Nations. The United Nations is a totally useless and corrupt organization that needs to be disbanded. The oil for food and all the sex scandals over UN troops in Africa highlight an organization that has out lived its usefulness. When they would place terrorist nations on the UN Security Counsel they just demonstrate their uselessness.

Anyway about the speeches mad by the Presidents of Iran and Venezuela, I say fine. If the US is so evil, no more aid for you. I would break all diplomatic ties and I would freeze all of their assets here in the states. With Iran I would say, stop the nuclear enrichment program or we will sanction them.

We should also seriously look at all the countries that were cheering and clapping during the speeches. Why do we continue to send aid to countries that will use that aid to harm us? The time for common sense is here.

Citgo gasoline is owned by the Government of Venezuela and after all the kind words from Hugo Chavez about our president being the devil, I will never buy a drop of Citgo gasoline.

We need to find out what businesses some of these countries own and just stop buying their stuff. The only thing these people understand is money or war. We can’t war against the whole world, so let’s stop the aid and stop buying their goods.

That is it for today. Have a good week.

Another great night

Well Wednesday is here, meaning that at lunchtime, half of the workweek will have passed. Time seems to be flying by so quickly lately. I hope that is not a bad sign. It may just be that I am getting older and all.

This morning I got up on time, but when shaving I cut myself, so I was a little late getting onto chat with Laila before work. I was only about 10 minutes late so we still had time to complete our morning routine. I sure would like her to be here with me so we could have a slightly different morning routine, but that will be for the future.

I left for work on time and again I watched what I would call the bad driver of the day. If I were a California Highway Patrol Person I could make a killing each morning just writing tickets for the small stretch of Highway 805 North between Plaza Blvd and 43rd Street. Everyday this week, and past weeks also I have seen at least one traffic infraction per day.

Running red lights, changing lanes without signaling, or driving down the shoulder of the road are all common things seen on any morning. This morning’s moron of the day actually switched lanes 2 lanes to the right as if he were taking the 43rd street exit, sped up to about 100 MPH, and then shifted 2 lanes to the left almost hitting someone as he tried to continue on the I 805 north. Oh and by the way, because he had to slow down and merge, his unsafe act allowed him to pass only two cars.

Enough on the traffic moron of the day, actually there were others, but I will only talk about the worst offender of the day. I wonder, I could start a bad driver blog, and just write about that.

Well now it is lunchtime so I will continue my post. Last night was TV night for Laila and me. We watched “Judge Judy” while waiting for “Deal or No Deal” and I think Laila got a kick out of it, especially the way Judge Judy gets on people in her court. The jackpots keep rising in Deal or No Deal and they set another record last night giving away $701,000 to a woman, but she has $1,000,000 in her case. Laila is dying to get on that show. Maybe someday we can make that happen, who knows what the future may bring?

We then watched “Law and Order Criminal Intent” and “Law and Order Special Victims Unit” and the premiers were pretty good as all the “Law and Order” shows are. Maybe I am just a “Law and Order” junkie, but I have always liked shows like that. I have liked pretty much everything Dick Wolf produces all the way back to “Hunter”.

While we were watching I videotaped “House” and we will catch that one tonight. I was going to cheat and watch it last night when I went to bed, but I kept my word to Laila and went to sleep as soon as the news was over last night.

The morning today was a little busy as right in the middle of our practice performance tests one of my units crapped out. I moved the problem to another bay and then when it got a little less busy I troubleshot and repaired the problem.

For my tech folks that read the blog the problem was a SAT LOOP FAILURE on an ON-143. I went right through the flow chart checking the RIB Card settings, swapping the Black Dart, and then checking the transceiver and swapping the RIB Board. Nothing worked, so I did something not on the flow chart. Knowing that the SAT LOOP Test starts in the CPU and ROM, and that they feed the Crypto Dart, which starts the test, I swapped the Crypto Dart and cured the problem. So try and remember where the tests originate and their paths, and don’t rely solely on the Fault Logic Diagrams.

Well I guess that is all for now. I have been working on another Power Point presentation in my spare time so I will get back to work on that now. Everyone have a great week.

TV

Last night, was pretty cool, because I had a great and exciting night.

First I came home and after taking care of the personal administrative stuff, e-mail, snail mail, and such, I watched the news. After that I switched over to Monday Night Football and was watching that when Laila came on line.

At 8 the season premier of “Deal or No Deal” came on and it was great. The first contestant was a member of the US Air Force and she had one of those up and down games. She finally made a deal and I think she went home with a little over $100,000.

The second guy was a reverend and this guy was awesome at the start. He was knocking out all the low stuff and I was watching the offers keep going up, but then a few really bad luck picks toward the end of the game really hurt him. He went home with I think $56,000.

The last guy was exciting and though Laila thought he dealt a little early, the guy went home with I think $675,000, maybe $650,000. When they opened his case he would have had the 3 Million dollar prize. Anyway, Laila and I had a blast and she in fact told me to cheer a little more quietly, which is a little opposite of us in the past. She was always the noisier of the two of us.

We then started watching “CSI Miami” and I don’t know if it was because I was tired or what but I could not follow the story line. I asked Laila if she knew what was going on and she said no, so I turned it off and went to bed early.

I got up after a great night of sleep and we did our morning prayers. I had to leave a little earlier than normal because the military instructors had a Captain’s Call. I got to watch all the students while they were gone, so I came in a little earlier than normal.

My class has lab so I will be sitting in the back quietly, as this is just an operational lab where they will be getting the units online, and seeing how they work. If they finish early enough I may have them start troubleshooting today. I guess that will depend on how they are doing.

Tonight I have to pick up a few things on the way home. The dogs are running low on canned food, and I have to record either “House” or “Deal or No Deal” because there is a scheduling conflict. Also the season premiers of “Law and Order Criminal Intent”, “Law and Order Special Victims Unit” and “NCIS” are all on and conflicting in the schedule too! I think Tuesdays are still the best night on television.

Yesterday my son finally made it home, but left right away to go help his brother with some yard work. I wish he would someday take a little interest in the yard work at the house, or maybe even clean his room.

Other than that life is moving forward, but would be much better if Laila and I were together. I miss her and am trying to figure out when my next visit will be. Next month I have to go to San Antonio for my daughter’s wedding, and when I do go to see Laila I would like to stay for three weeks again.

With the cost of the flight and the amount of time of the flight, it is smarter to go when I can spend three weeks there than only ten days. Also while I have more vacation time than most, I want to make sure I am careful and use it wisely, so I get the most out of those valuable days. I am beginning to think that with Christmas coming up that it would be better for me to take my next vacation then and add days to my mandatory vacation. We have to take vacation over the Christmas Holidays since the school will be shutting down. Actually I should start planning that one now so I can get the best air travel rates.

Well I guess that is it for right now. Almost time to start teaching for the day.