Monday, January 12, 2009

Google maps is a peeping Tom

I was at a friends house and google maps caught me in her front yard unloading my wifes car! I've only been there 2 or 3 times, I just wanted to show her how street view worked. Sheesh! What are the chances of that? Maybe big brother is following me around.


View Larger Map

Being a fan of throwing myself off of high places

I thought this video was totally cool, thanks Pop.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

My first Tattoo

The night my wife flew into town, after pizza and before we went over to my uncles, we went out exploring the local area and stopped into a tattoo parlor to see some of their work. One of the designs caught my eye and after talking to the artist, Alex Ramirez of EZ-Tattoo about ideas, I put down a deposit and made an appointment for Wednesday night, 3 days hence. I might be the last person at my workplace to get a tattoo and I definitely am out of my group of peers out of high school plus married to a girl with quite a few of her own, it wasn’t a rash decision.


We came back, Alex got gear ready and suddenly with a little bit of pain, I was marked for life with the end of the dragon tail. Three hours and some change later, I had a green beast of myth on my arm that I’m very happy with. I think some in my family is a bit disappointed in me, I might be the first “Dustman” of my line to get a tattoo but at 36, I think I can make my own decisions on such matters.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

More geeky tech gear

I'm sitting at home typing on a new Acer Aspire One netbook on Google Doc's, my shoulder was complaining about carrying around my behemoth of a laptop, multiple hard drives and assorted computer gear so I broke down and purchased a super small and light model. So far, the only thing that I've had trouble getting used to is the little touch pad, a setting on in it keeps on changing the zoom level of the screen as I'm surfing around, I'll have to figure out how to turn it off. I've tried Skype out with video using my Sprint wireless USB drive and it works great. I haven't had any issues with getting used to the small keys and typing unlike some of the reviewers. For a system with only a gig of RAM, it's perky and quick. I'm looking forward to being able to slip it into the small pocket of my backpack and watch entire movies without having to recharge. Enough about that, post coming up about the rest of the trip, maybe written on this computer.

Thursday, January 08, 2009

All around Arizona

Collin and I drove out to Arizona on New Years Eve and welcomed the New Year in with my sisters and nephews and nieces. It was sedate and quiet, had a beer and minutes after the clocked struck, we drove over to my mom’s and crashed out. 3 days before that we had drove from Sacramento to San Diego then San Diego to Prescott. I’ve had the Fusion since August and yesterday, it turned over 11 thousand miles.

(a stop over at Glamis with Collin)
Over the next few days, we visited friends in the area, Collin finally proved that he was able to kick my butt at Halo and he did, 25 to 2, ouch, I’m totally out of practice.

We went down to Phoenix Saturday night and stayed at a Motel 6 on Scottsdale road, good things about that place, they were cheap and allowed pets. Bad things were the beds squeaked and the blankets had an odd musty smell and unless you counted my son, I had no brought along a pet.

The next morning, we went out to breakfast with my dad and Collin caught a 9:25 Southwest flight to Sacramento and a little after noon, my wife flew in. We went out to pizza with my friend Swan at Patsy Grimaldi's Pizzeria‎, thanks for lunch, the pizza was great.

Afterwards we went stopped by my dad’s house then went by the hotel and dropped off Heathers bags. That night we went to a partial family reunion at my uncle Larry’s with 15 or so of my relatives, this was the first time for some of them had met my wife. I think it went over well.

(at my Uncle Larry's house)
Afterwards we stayed the night back at the M6 and the next morning, drove up to Prescott with a brief stop at the factory stores. I had reserved a room at the Prescott Resort or Bucky’s, it’s a hotel that was built by the Sheraton in 1989 on top of a hill overlooking Prescott and taken over by the Yavapai Indians a couple years later and turned into a partial casino. I’ve wanted to get a room up there since the place was built and it seemed like a prime time. It was one of the nicest rooms Heather and I have stayed in, I wouldn’t have minded having that bed in my apartment. Beers down in the casino were a dollar and we met up with my high school buddy Larry and his wife Jennifer and turned up a few and watched the snow fall down and not stick.

(my wife never caught snow before)

(my buddies Jennifer and Larry)
On the dresser in our room, there was a letter that said we could stay another day for 50 bucks (great deal), so we brought it down and they were booked up for the rest of the week due to a religious conference and it sounded like they were taking up most of the empty rooms in the town. So I called a place where this group was unlikely to have rented a room for the next night, the Hotel St. Michael. A historic hotel located on the corner of Whisky Row, built in 1901, we got a second floor room overlooking the town square, great atmosphere and the breakfast that came with the room was excellent.

(view out our window)

(and of our window)


But before we went to the Hotel St. Michael that night, we went out for another family met up hosted again by my uncle Larry (thanks again Larry!) at the Prescott Airport, he flew in from Chandler with his wife Michele and my cousin Amy, my Aunt Lynda and Uncle Phil and daughter Diana drove up from Tucson and my cousin Jenny, her husband Elijah and daughters Emily and Jessica drove up from Phoenix to see my Grandmother Heatherbelle who is staying with my half sister Crystal. Oh and my sister Sarah and her two kids were also there. A good time was had by all, grandma has happy to see everyone and remembered the names of her kids.


(cousin Diana, uncle Larry and my sister Sarah)
(Mason is the one with he crazy face, Corbin and Emily are the ones with the cheeses on)

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Made it safe to San Jose

The traffic driving up here was actually went smoothly after I expected to drive through the storm of the century and lots of accidents. It did rain but not till after I was on the Grapevine and then it wasn’t too bad. Glad I missed the big one. I suffer a fear of getting snowed in while on leave or away for the weekend. It happened to me once in the 90’s but I did make it to work on time but the dread still sticks with me. Laugh all you want, just let me enjoy my fears. Have a great weekend, I’m signing off for now and going to spend some quality time with the wife.

Monday, December 22, 2008

Holidays, it’s time to drive

I got back from 29 Palms last week and within an hour of getting in my warm home, was struck down with a cold. It was freezing out there in those non-insulated, non-heated tin shacks, in fact, I almost got snowed in on the drive home (note, it’s pretty easy to snow in a Californian), I don’t remember it ever snowing in this part of the Mojave Desert.

(here's a picture of the ride home from my cell phone)
The rain has hardly let up in the last week and in 2 days, I join the hordes of holiday travelers making their way from one place to another and I’m sure the weather is going to make the entire endeavor a nightmare for some. One of the fears I’ve developed well since I joined the military is getting trapped someplace by the weather. Now in the days of cell phones, it’s not as big of an issue as it used to be, everyone I know is in my contacts, social networking of another sort that doesn’t involve the internet.

The plan is, I’m driving up to San Jose on Christmas Eve to spend it with the brides family, pick up the son on Sunday and come back to work on Monday. Tuesday afternoon start my leave and road trip it over to Arizona with the runt and sometime during these drives, introduce him to Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book on Audio and see how well that settles in his head. Sunday, he flies home to be replaced by my wife who is coming in to take over as my road tripping companion.

In all of this, I’m sure there are going to be adventures, sorry readers about the blogging dead air. My writing tends to go out the window when my head is filled with snot. 29 Palms was a good experience and I think I learned my lesson on the trip and don’t see the need to repeat it for a while.

Merry Christmas all, may there be warm hugs awaiting you at the end of your journeys from missed friends and family, I know there will be on mine.

Tuesday, December 09, 2008

29 Palms

I’m off in another land, another desert but this time with less internet access. I have a Sprint wireless card and Sprint seems to be the only carrier that works out here at Camp Wilson (a camp located in the middle of 29 Palms) even so, the service is really spotty. A common sight to see out here are small clumps of people that at first glance look to be smoking but when get closer and see that they’re all talking on cell phones and waving them in the air to try twisting that last little electron out of the ether. These little gatherings are hotspots that Sprint receives service even so, still not strong enough service for my broadband card. Hopefully I’ll be able to drive over to the main side of the base and log on and post this.

One thing about the Marines that doesn’t change much is Camp Wilson. It’s like going back to the 50’s, living in can shaped structures (quonset huts), cots, multiple sleeping bags in the winter and a sheet in the summer. Nights are cold and his place has never seen climate control, just layer on more clothes at night and take them off in the day. It’s difficult to dress to cover all of the bases because the wide temperature fluctuations.

Changes? The exchange is a little bit bigger and has the largest selection of beef jerky I have ever seen, in all seriousness, I think beef jerky takes up a 5th of the store. And someone thought it would be funny to have an ice cream truck drive by with music playing, I'll post pictures later. The only improvements on being here instead of Iraq is that you can drink a beer at the warriors club and in general the people out the front gate don't want to shoot you. Sleeping conditions are generally a little bit better forward, they're trying to keep us happy out there, 29 Palms was built to get us ready for whatever they could throw at us. Some things never change.

At least I’ll be home by Christmas hanging out with the lovely bride and son, for now, I’ll just try keeping my guys healthy and concentrate on making it home safely.

Mini Reunion

(I wrote this a week ago but this was the first time I've been on the internet)

One of the wonders of social networking is the ability to gather people who share a common element. Before my trip to Prescott, I had told two classmates that I would meet up with them on my next trip out and left a comment about that on Facebook. Other people from my graduating class started pinging in and so we decided it was as good excuse as any to set up a meet on the day following Thanksgiving. 8 of us gathered at a local watering hole called The Outpost Saloon. My 3 beer limit went out the window and I had to call an old friend to give me a ride home, thanks Theresa, I owe you big!

In a couple of years, our 20th is going to be coming into view. I wish we had Facebook and Myspace for the 10th, with a couple of messages back and forth, it was easy to set up this little gathering. Looking forward to testing the power social networking with the 20th. Here’s a picture of the gathering, we all had a great time.

Monday, December 01, 2008

Mario Kart Love Song

When you're trying to explain the why of playing video games to your wife, this guy does the best job I've ever seen, now if only I could carry a tune.

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Thanksgiving 2008 take one

I woke this morning (actually Thanksgiving morning) to the smell of a smorgasbord of pies baking in the oven, crashed out on my mom’s couch, my nephews Corbin and Mason were sitting on the floor looking up at me. “Uncle Sean, you snore!” Yup, I’m home.

My mom’s a restaurant owner, she did own a dine in place up in Seligman, a small town on Route 66 but sold the place a couple of years ago to retire for a while, that plan lasted a little over a year before she got bored and she opened up a takeout Thai food restaurant in Chino Valley. Low overhead and she had all of the equipment just sitting around, waiting to be put back to use. Like me, she hoards tools that can be used towards a future endeavor so setting up was simple.

Her and my stepdad had came down to San Diego earlier this week serving the dual purpose of driving my Tacoma to San Diego and renewing her Thai passport. The closest place to do this was the Thai Consulate in LA. I requested special liberty on Tuesday and drove them to LA during which time, I introduced her to Audio Books, specifically, a story by Orson Scott Card called Ender in Exile. After finishing in less than an hour, we went out to lunch at a local Thai place and voted on a stop by Knott’s Berry Farm since I could get the three of us in for a total of 15 bucks using the Veteran Day Tribute.

I wasn’t able to talk either of them onto any of the roller coasters but did ride Bigfoot Rapids and a train ride through a mountain, got to show the small town folks the big city when I get a chance. Wednesday, after work, I drove them to Prescott and plugged in the Audiobook again. I have turned my mom into an junky, when we got to her house that night, we didn’t go to bed until we finished up the last half hour of the book.

Thanksgiving day, we had 6 pies, 2 turkeys, a ham and assorted side dishes, maybe 15 people in the house which is actually a light Thanksgiving load for my family. The last time I was here, it was standing room only, new parties would show up eat their fill only to have new people pop in and take their seats. This year was just a family affair. It’s good to be home, Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Lessons learned this trip, Sprint sucks out here, if you live here and have Sprint, don't even think about getting wireless internet, it's slower then a herd of turles stamping though peanut butter.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

The Beast is Gone

Back in 2000 when I was taking my sabbatical from the Navy and working as a mechanic, I purchased a 1989 Diesel Suburban. I had a lot of tools and wanted something I could load everything up into that had an alarm system and got reasonably good gas (in this case diesel) mileage. She served me well but I admit that she did break down several times when I really needed her. Went through 2 transmissions and a rear end so eventually I got a few vehicles that were reliable across long distances and new cars started taking up the bulk of my driving.

The burban stayed in the back burner, I used her to move around town and she was my mobile storage unit. The years of strangers saying “Doc, don’t you think it’s time for a new car” (maybe 15), the times when she left me abandoned in the middle of the desert (twice) and the little bits of her that died (many) started to add up. And I discovered that yes, I was able to live without her, I’ll probably miss taking naps in the back seat till the day I die but it was time to let go and set her free.

So over the last few weeks, I have been running an ad on Craigslist and last night, I got a phone call from an excited buyer with a handful of cash, I gave her a final kiss goodbye on the hood and like that she was gone. I’m a little sad but its better this way, I didn’t have the time and patience to give her the love and tender loving care that she needed and with new excited owners, I think she’ll do just fine.

I think a period in my life just ended.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

"Tagged" as a "Bookworm :)"

One of my favorite Soldiers Angels Kathi tagged me as a bookworm (or as she says "who is the most voracious reader I know!". Guess that's saying a lot.

The rules are: Pass it on to five other bloggers, and tell them to open the nearest book to page 56. Write out the fifth sentence on that page, and also the next two to five sentences. The CLOSEST BOOK, NOT YOUR FAVORITE, OR MOST INTELLECTUAL!

The closest book to me is sitting on a stack of books on my bedside table, Sherman Alexie's "Ten Little Indians" and here what it says on the 5th through 10th sentence:

"Hey, now," I said. "I thought this was a bipartisan dinner?"
"It is bipartisan," said the second Replublican husband. "I used to be with Senator Gorton. Nobody ever worked in his office."
Slade Gorton is a famous Indian fighter who wants to abolish all Indian tribes.

With a random spin of the blogging bottle, I pick (people who might fill this out)

I've always wondered whats lurking on her shelves so ArmyWife ToddlerMom,
Let's pull Carla of Some Soldiers Mom into this too,
Lets take a glance at what's going on on the front lines with Joe of Fobbits need ice cream too if he has time to fill these things out and my old buddies at Seth, Crazy Lawsuit Game and my favorite ex-burrito maker Doombunny of You Are Not Special

Sorry guys, tough questions that people want to know.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Chestnuts roasting over an open fire..

…well in a toaster oven anyways. The bride has taken on upon herself to show me all of the best of the local area around San Jose. The other day we went on a cruise along Skyline Drive. It’s a road that goes along the ridgeline of the Santa Cruz Mountains in a twisty and heavily wooded path, beautiful and definitely scenic drive. So we’re driving along through these huge trees intermittent with fog and sunlight. Stopping at all of the overlooks and taking pictures when we see a hand painted sign saying “Chestnuts 100 yards”, being in no hurry, I pull over and drive up this dirt path a couple of hundred feet away from the road to a motor home with a dozen cars in the parked in a parking lot.

There’s a guy there with a stack of 5 gallon buckets and leather gloves and I ask how this is done, he points down a dirt path and says “The chestnut trees are down that way about a hundred and fifty yards and you pick them up off of the ground.” My wife and I don’t even know where chestnuts come from at this point. We soon find out they come out of pods that look like they came straight of the Doctor Seuss book The Lorax.






We picked up a pound of chestnuts for 5 bucks and after another beautiful drive back down to San Jose we cut X’s in the side and put them in the toaster oven for 8 minutes. Heather and I ate a quarter of what we picked but the person they were a real hit with was Gatsby (the dog). He’s been fixated on them all day, we think we’ve found his favorite food and it’s not a meat product, weird.