Being Me

Didn't spend much time with Natalia over the Memorial day weekend and spent most of the weekend with Roisin. Headed to Big Bear which to my surprise was not that busy. Stopped by a few antique shops, smelled quite a bit of candles and got to see some really pretty photographs at the local gallery. Also got a few nice pictures from Big Bear as you can see. This week, on the other hand, has been full days at work and looking forward to a few days off cooking and staying in town with Natalia doing the "small town thing" on Saturday.

Finished reading The Mote in God's Eye and found it very entertaining. A classic in the genre as is really dwells into the lives of the Motes, their beings and their history. It shows us how violent humans are and starts to explain the motives and history of an alien race. I know there is a sequel and already on my shelf and on my "to read" list. My next book is The Last Threshold and I eagerly turn the pages to see how the huge story ends and how it may lead to R.A. Salvatore's new book coming out in the fall.

The XBOX One is due to release later this year and getting some press but I feel it will be revolutionary in the sense that there will be a camera inside your house always listening and watching. Thus far I do not see many people thinking and writing about this aspect but today I just read how it may even monitor if you watch commercials. That alone is scary for it to track all your moves inside your house. I don't think the engineers deep down felt this device could be so bad but knowing how government works and so many agencies and companies very quickly I am sure they got their hands on the developing of this device. I can even see this device seeing how many people are in the room and charging you more for a movie or just not allowing its viewing to make more money. Will I get an XBOX? Yes, but I want to know more if the Kinect sensor actually has to be plugged in. I would not install the camera device and I am sure very shortly people will figure a way to disable its microphone function. It would be evil of them to force the Kinect device to be plugged and setup to use it. That I feel would cost them in sales. Sony should not follow this trend.

On the cycling front I must say I haven't been keeping up lately but this past weekend Freddy Gonzalez makes it his 4th National jersey. Amazing he still has the motivation to race at his age and his roller coaster career. Lance Armstrong again making news, like a true politician he will keep denying and lying and not speaking hoping it goes away. After all his words on how he will help the sport clean itself has yet done anything to help. But at least he is out of the sport and unable to cause any more harm. The corrupt system is still governing the sport but hopefully with more eyes over it. On the Livestrong Foundation it is being put to light how much of the money this organization collected went to pay high salaries. I knew all along this was used as Lance's secret hush money/legal fund and so many people leeching of this. When will people realize so many of these "non profits" are really high profit scams. Why find a cure for a disease when it makes more money to not find a cure.

Amazing how a lying and disgraced politician is running to be mayor of New York City. Yes, Anthony Weiner is running and experts have him winning. Makes me think if people are actually that stupid or are elections that corrupt and fixed?

Don't forget to catch the latest No Agenda Show.

Memorial Day - Hoorah!

This is one of those celebrated days many see for the wrong reasons. Of course it has been commercialized and recently as I have seen patriotism being seen as a bad thing, this day should be looked as the day normal individuals freely choose to sacrifice themselves and families for what our nation is. Many people never will fully understand what this is as so many never sacrifice or bother to make a difference. But to those very few that sacrifice by leaving their families and some pay the ultimate sacrifice in death to serve. For whatever reason we serve our nation deep down we do it for honor and courage. These deep beliefs should never be lost and need to be passed down. Patriotism should never be discouraged and I feel those that do should move to the side and thank those whom sacrifice so they can take advantage of what this nation is.

Going on "walks" in the extreme weather, in full uniform with the feeling in the back of your head of danger. Turning on the engine of that truck getting ready to go out on a convoy and not knowing how your day may end. Working in a make-shift hospital receiving wounded friends and doing the best you can so they can make it home to their families. Being an officer and having to sit down and make real decisions that affect life. No, these individuals are not going out for a run around town in their fancy gear, going on a safe commute to work or making decisions on where to move that display at a store. These individuals give up privacy and so many comforts to serve. This creates a family of men and women that so many will never understand. I can say, as late as I joined I am very proud to share that misery with these men and women. Every day I think of those serving and friends from my unit down range serving and sacrificing and doing the job to bring home safe everyone downrange.

Normal Quiet Days!

Normal quiet days since the past post and all I can think of is - "The calm before the storm". BBQ pork shoulder I smoked the other day, came out decent but it needed about an hour more. Next time I think 250 degrees is the ticket. Also will try another rub. Saturday on my "trash run" I saw that again the Saturday market started in town and this time it was rather large and stopped by. As the book junkie that I am I picked up a few books and stopped by the library and finally got me a library card. Spent a bit of time around there and in the park with Natalia.

Again threats from my "ex" wanting to take Natalia away from me. I am starting to think, why? Again blamed for her being sick when I picked her up last week and she wasn't there to drop her off. Again no reply on where she was that morning and I have no clue on where Natalia lives or spends her time. Always very secretive. In time this will change as Natalia grows up.

Actually sat down this week and watched two movies. Watched Last Stand and found it entertaining to my surprise. Also watched Parker and was hoping for more there but a familiar story and not much of a "ride". Still slowly moving through my current read in The Mote in God's Eye and it is entertaining. Can't wait to finish it and start The Last Threshold and see what may be Drizzt's last story (somehow I doubt that).

I have to say that I have been keeping up with cycling news a little bit and watched the Tour of California and finally seen a race that looked clean, believable and exciting to see this. I know the sport is not clean by any means and never will as we can see with DiLuca getting caught this past week.

Geek News - Prometheus 2 movie is moving along and may be a reality as casting is starting and the story is being developed. In the meantime I ran across this great article there on more backstory to the universe from the Aliens video game >>. Been watching a bit of miniature gaming videos from Mini War Gaming among others, and I am starting to get hooked again. Maybe when I get back from my "trip" and have time and money. The XBOX ONE and the PS4 have finally made official announcements and will be out this year.

Check out the Kim Stanley Robinson interview at the Sword & Laser Posdcast >>

Out In The Open

Another week of work and I decided to shake things a little bit in "Facebook-land" by opening up about my relationship with Roisin. It was an interesting morning that day and my little blog took quite a bit of traffic from somewhere. I decided to play a little joke on Roisin with her daughter which I managed to keep it going the whole day - Gotcha! It is kind of amazing how technology plays so much in our lives in how we communicate. I will spend my free time with Natalia a whole day in front of the BBQ cooking and playing outside. Stopped by the Navy and got some paperwork for my deployment to help current issues with Natalia and direction. Woke up on my BBQ day at 0630 to find 45 degrees outside and overcast (God really likes me). Fell back asleep and woke up late but didn't stop me from starting my BBQ. Pork shoulder is what I am making and it is my first time. Next week I will try it again and modify it if need be. Still want to try brisket again but a much smaller piece this time as that takes much longer to cook. Picked up Natalia again sick and with the irritation on her arms again present. Again will clear it up and that is all I can really do.  (Cool BBQ pictured but I can't see where the wood box is)

Call me a geek but I got a little excited a few days ago to see one of my favorite authors Jack McDevitt bring back Priscilla Hutchins in Starhawk, one more novel due out early November. So I have yet another book to look forward to while I am gone. Neil Gaiman's newest novel, The Ocean at the End of the Lane out next month. Finished reading Song of Susannah and found it a little hard to read. Maybe because of the personal problems I had recently I may have found it a little hard to concentrate. But still a bit enjoyable as the story took a twist by introducing the actual author Stephen King into the story. My next book is The Mote in God's Eye which I read years ago and remember liking it, so I will revisit it. Also decided a few days later to pick up State of Fear by Michael Crichton since it relates so much at what we are going through now in this world.

Meanwhile I will say this very little about our current events. Why so much distraction and "news stories" being pumped out during the Benghazi hearings? Coincidence? Nope! The administration is very busy throwing stuff at us so we can look over there while they skim and sweep the hearings under the carpet. I don't see anything coming out of it other than vague answers and lies and lots of secrecy. Meanwhile we have Google believing they own the internet and starting to slowly edit it to accommodate their business model. That is scary as so many feel Google is the internet and they have the power to control your experience. It is time we find an alternative search engine and browser out of the many out there. It is time for another shift as the so many before.

Don't forget to catch the latest Sword & Laser Podcast #128

Drama Part # ... I Lost Count

This Doc is in distress! The "drama" has begun for me. I finally asked my ex if she planned on not following the court custody agreement during my deployment and she said she would not. She said she plans on keeping Natalia during my whole stay out and not following agreement and having my parents (Natalia's grandparents) not see her at all. But she took the time to say how proud she was that I am serving. Very unpatriotic and crazy woman. So now I have to somehow find money and go back to my attorney to get this figured out in court before I leave for deployment. I fear the worse while I am not here which should not be an issue. In the meantime she still refuses to tell me where Natalia lives during the time with her. I know she is not stable and everything is so secretive with her, thus the reason to keep everything hidden. Sadly a little girl will suffer and her childhood will suffer due to the mental illness of her mother.

The Navy will be doing the best they can and I have informed them of my problems. I await word from JAG to see what they can do this early before my mobilization. I have California Family Code Section 3047 and Assembly Bill AB 414 as my standing to have my parents take over my place while I am deployed so I can stay in contact with Natalia.

As far as my normal life is concerned, not much other than work. My grandma is in town and we went to see her Thursday for a few hours and Natalia was real excited to see her "abuelita" again. My grandmother is getting some eye surgery to fix her cataracts and I do pray it all comes out good with a speedy recovery and that she stay in California as long as possible. Not much reading as I was hoping to have finished my current read.

Don't forget to download the latest No Agenda Show. But be aware this is not for everyone. 

And Thus It Begins...

Well, May the 4th and May 5th are over and so is drill weekend. A weird drill as it was very laid back. Very few patients and just sat around joking all day and doing much "training". Again re-structuring of the unit. Camp Pendleton OHSU Det D looses yet another good Doc as HM3 James finishes his contract and left by the back door when he should have left through the front door as he much deserved it. Also LT Partain leaves us for a deployment and I know that will be felt at medical to have him gone. There has been a shift in the unit with many new additions which has lead to some "unsat" behavior by some corpsmen and truthfully I will not allow that to happen and I am not alone. Sadly we only get together a weekend a month but the remaining drills I have left I will put on my "hard ass hat" and crack down on some of this. I will no longer tolerate much laziness while wearing the uniform. This may sound cheesy to many and hard to put into words but a while back HM2 Large said  that he was proud to wear the uniform, to put on the uniform transforms one to honor the uniform with its extensive history sacrifice, honor and courage that our rate represents. Those words stuck and forever will.

To my surprise Roisin again treated me to an awesome outing and dragged me to watch Iron Man 3. She didn't have to do much convincing. I found the movie entertaining and it moved the character of Tony Stark along a little bit more in the overall story line. The use of Mandarin will surprise the fans of comics and I found it a bit ... of an eye roller given the current events around the world. However Extremis was introduce and may be part of the next Avengers movie. I found the coolest scenes to be those where Pepper Potts donned the suit (sorry spolier).

Early this week I am under "Winter Weather Advisory" which I laugh because I have finally decided to put my snowblower away for the year. Actually for the next two years. However, I will see lower temps for about two days but not snow. But that would have been too funny for me.

I will keep this post short but I must point out that lately I have seen more and more websites being "blocked" and in a sense shut down by some. It has come to light that Google may be part of this. This is something I fear and many are unaware and many simply don't care or even believe. But it is happening. This is a slow movement to censor us. We are too worried about the guns and having stupid arguments over the color of the weapon or how many projectiles it can shoot while in our face we are starting to be censored. I noticed it first with Facebook taking down certain accounts. Patriotic accounts I use to follow are disappearing. This cannot happen. I am disgusted to plainly see patriotic Americans being labeled as crazy and "terrorists". Now Google has implemented a black list and for no reason they are blocking accounts with "bullshit" malware warnings that are simply untrue. A company that claims to do "no evil" and criticized China for its censorship of the internet. You should all be ashamed to act in such a way and yet enjoy what America lifestyle offers so many. I already know Facebook is compromised as the "intelligence" agencies already set up shop there and approve content under the idea of "preventing terrorism. Please, the Boston bombing happened, with warning and so many agencies present. So start by protecting us and stop scaring us and controlling us.

Ender's Game First Peek

Don't forget to download the latest No Agenda Show and disregard any "malware" warnings. These are lies by internet companies to slowly censor the internet and promote an agenda.

Work & Daydreaming

Week of work, being broke and daydreaming. Drill weekend coming up and I am sure a busy one as always with a few new guys to the unit. I hope to find a computer and get some courses knocked out as requirements for my deployment. Check in again and see if any news from others and catch up. My grandma is in town again and was hoping to see her Thursday but she was going out with my uncle. Soon Natalia will see her "abuelita" again. My flowers are all out and as you can see Natalia loves to play with them. I can't wait to my deployment to start and be over so I can have money to do my backyard. I have so many ideas and plans for it. It will be a great place to hang out in.

To my surprise I am starting to get comfortable with my deployment later in the year. I am sure as the date gets closer some feelings may change. My "ex-drama" has begun. It has been a while and it looks like it is a trend. Months of peace and then it ramps up. A bit early as I thought it would start as my deployment date got closer and I am starting to get ready for the worse and sadly enough will have to get myself and my parents ready. Whatever you can imagine, I can expect. The worse part of me being away will not be me missing my daughter but having that feeling in the back of my mind everyday of what problems my "ex" will cause. Sad to think this but it is a part of my life. Very patriotic to cause such headaches to one doing its duty.


Finished reading Hunt for the Meteor and it was a nice short read. Even when the book was first published in 1908 Verne wrote about taking advantage of the "stock market" and gaming it. Decided my next read to be the Cauldron, the final book in the Priscilla "Hutch" series by Jack McDevitt. A page turner like the rest of the series I was getting excited to see the outcome only to walk out disappointed. I was so much hoping for an awesome ending with closure. I may end up reading at a later time the other series he has written. My next read will be the The Song of Susannah (Darktower 6) by Stephen King.

Looks like J.J. Abrams is planning on bringing Stephen King's 11/22/1963 to TV. I am excited for this as I loved the book. This book and Under the Dome coming to TV is exciting. Now, when will they try to get Darktower to the big screen?

Don't forget to catch the Sword & Laser Podcast 126.