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.

The Aquarium And A Great Week!

Finally made it to the Aquarium of the Pacific (one of my favorite places). Thanks to Roisin for making it happen. It was a great outing and a place I wanted to take Natalia for a while, and we will see this attraction more often now. Natalia had a great time running around and interacting with the divers in the tanks. I got to see the tanks and my favorite fish among great company. I do miss my fish tank. Earlier in the week I spent a nice Wednesday with Roisin as she took me out to Bastards (Marine Corps bar in memory of the 2/4), a nice bakery and a trip to Seal Beach for that beach feeling. Overall this has been an awesome week for me. Now back to work after many days off.

"They (Laura and Mary) brought the big, long-handled spoon, and the box full of bits of lead and the bullet-mold. Then while he squatted on the hearth and made the bullets, they sat on each side of him, and watched."

- Laura Ingalls Wilder (1932)

While reading Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder I came across this passage and decided to share it. Share it to show that us, Americans have a deep culture of firearms. Not to say we are violent but that firearms have been a part of our history and depicted in so many works. To picture two little girls by the fireplace with their dad, while he melted bullets for his next days hunting. 

I will like to mention two things regarding the Boston bombing. A 6 liter pressure cooker was used and I don't see how this big pot fits in the back pack worn. Sure the pictures many already seen of the accused has them wearing backpacks but I don't see anything resembling a 6 liter pot. I did some searching on sizes of these and they are rather large. However pictures of the Saudi national released (The one Michele went to visit at hospital) was wearing such a pack in surveillance pictures and that one sure was full. Also I have seen a few pictures online of the first suspect being captured and handcuffed, yet we see him dead and very injured on other pictures. Below I posted a Glenn Beck video talking about this "mysterious" Saudi national that is being kept behind the scenes.

You have to love our society. I din't know this but it seems insurance companies have been selling people "terrorism" coverage. In November 2002, congress enacted the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act. Got to tip your hat to us Americans, we manage to make money in any occasion. So no payout to those affected in Boston until the government officially labels it as a terrorist act, which they have not yet done so.

Will like to point you all to an incident in Utah where a man began stabbing a person at a store when a gun carrying man stopped the incident. >>

To my surprise I picked up a Laura Ingalls Wilder book and started to read it. I was looking to see how the book felt and how it described life 100 years ago. Her writings are more for the teen audience but still a nice read. Finished reading World War Z and found it a bit short but entertaining. I was hoping for more story but not disappointed at the descriptions. My next read is from Jules Verne, one of my favorite authors in The Hunt for the Meteor. However this book has been altered by his son Michel Verne and purists would not say it is a true Verne book, but thus far a good read. From he first pages I see it weird that he choose the story to take place in the United States.

Geek News - Joss Whedon hints that Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch will be in the Avengers 2 movie. I think this will lead to an Avengers/X-Men movie in the future. I have to say I have been finding myself watching a few you tube channels on miniature gaming like Warhammer 40k. Maybe when I get back from my deployment I will find a nice quiet corner in the house and get back to painting.

Check out the latest No Agenda Episode. 

Here I Go Again.

Windy and cold has been the news this week. I was hoping for what I call BBQ weather but not this weekend. Also planned on going to the Long Beach Aquarium this weekend to find out the Long Beach GP is this weekend and they are closed. I was looking forward to the outing and to the huge show of fake security that will plague us for some time yet to come. Instead we stayed at home and enjoyed the surroundings as usual. Went for a quick walk around the Children's Forest park by Keller Peak and a trip around Lake Gregory and the shops there. I also got my first sighting of a Bald Eagle on Saturday. Ironic? Coincidence?

"The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the mind of the masses."

- Malcolm X

Enough of the small chit-chat. I don't know where to begin regarding the current turn of events. The Boston bombing, Texas and ricin incidents are not coincidences. All I can say is I have posted some stuff on my FB and call me a crackpot. Boston incident stinks! So many government agencies present, announcements of a drill and yet it happened. We have far too many "security" agencies and I am starting to believe they are fighting for power and we are in the middle. Our current administration so eagerly trying to slowly take our weapons away and our form of protection. Why? Barry (Sorry Obama), making statements after the "gun bill" didn't pass, saying that this is just the beginning and now forcing another of his executive orders for some sort of "gun control" after the proposed bill was squashed. Why? Will we get answers for Boston? I say never. Just like in Benghazi as no answers were given. Sure we got two "extremists" but where they to blame? What can we do? All I can say at the present is to stay informed and not be afraid to come to your conclusions and think for yourself. I unlike some am not too worried on how the government seems to want to "rule" over us as it is still Americans that wear the badge and uniforms that are put to "police" us as they too know the freedoms we fight for and the way the United States Of America should be.

There is clearly a part of our society that has been "bought" by the administration. Bought either through the welfare system or brainwashed by our media using victims of these tragedies (just see how some of the parents of Sandy Hook are being paraded as propaganda. They don't care about them but just use them). CISPA has quietly passed while everyone was distracted at Boston and slowly the IV Amendment is being destroyed. You now will not be safe in your house as any agency can enter and take what they wish. Warrants no longer required. My little blog here can now be taken down for some of my views. Already reports of various sites taken down from FB. This is scarier than the attempt to take away our 2nd Amendment. Why is this administration (I will even say it started with Bush) trying so hard to destroy the constitution?

We are even loosing control of what we eat as now companies will not be required to label what our food contains. Why? I already see government telling us what our children have to take and what medications to be on. Why the big push to medicate the children? Now more than ever so many children are being diagnoses with so many "illnesses" and/or conditions that require medications. In the dark and being hidden among various pieces of legislature, being pushed a "national database of the mentally ill". Human beings, us, Americans being put on a list. When was the last time this has happened? Look how well it turned out. This is very scary. Lastly we are being monitored more and more to the point we will have flying machines with cameras, drones. Wow!

What I am afraid is that we are starting to see a division among us. Government is causing a rip in our nation and this cannot happen. We cannot begin to hate each other and have sides. America has ONE side. We are slowly loosing grasp at what it is to be an American, an icon, a figured looked up to by the world. A nation of freedom and fighters.

On a lighter note, as everyone knows, I like to read sci-fi and fantasy genre and it is still amazing to me of the books written about 50 years ago and many of these concepts come to realization today. And I am not talking technological advances but government and their actions.

Thanks to the Sword And Laser show I found out John Scalzi will continue his stories in the Old Man's World universe. His latest book, Human Division releasing next month as a complete version will have another sequel. Can't wait to get my hands on Human Division. Still slowly moving along with World War Z and after 100 pages the story starts to take shape.

Uncle Lucius - Keep The Wolves Away

Please remember to download the latest No Agenda Episode.

GITMO

It's GITMO for me. Hopefully Cuban sandwiches and mojitos. I will spend my active duty time at Guantanamo Bay. For some reason there was a big push for 8404 Corpsmen (Field) to the base there. My unit HMC (Chief) threw my name along with a friend since we do such good work for the unit (what a gift). He also tried to get a HM1 (1st Class) to go with us but he was not chosen. That would have been awesome to have three of us there. I would have clearly rather have been assigned to the Role 3 hospital in Afghanistan but this is what it is. No official word on our duty until we get there but this base requires mayor security and secrecy. I don't know if this is a good thing with my big mouth. I will not be posting right now my views or feelings of the base. I am very sure my character may be tested and all I can say is I believe I am strong enough to just go in, do the job and come home. The base is very old and has lots of history and with my spare time I hope to get to know some of it.

"I can't imagine what life would be without the knowledge that death is inevitable. It is because of that single overwhelming reality that we have arts, religions, the illusion of love, and probably even architecture. It is doubtful whether, did we not see ourselves as helpless transients we would appreciate life for what it is. On the other hand being grateful is not that big a deal."

- Jack McDevitt - Odyssey

At the moment I will not post anything on the Boston bombing as I feel there are many questions yet to be answered and many will be lies from our press and officials whom will get a script with an agenda and will be everywhere. It may take some time yet to find out exactly why. The whom part will be much harder to get. One big question I have is the why and why three explosions? Even to this date, us citizens still don't know the actual turn of events at Sandy Hook as now the press is saying no rifle was ever used after our government brainwashed us telling us it was and used as the platform for gun control. No to mention the latest speeches by some of the parents which were clearly scripted and read word for word. Clearly not something a parent would say but a statement written down to be read.

Finally watched Django Unchained and was hoping for more. The movie didn't have that western feel and the soundtrack didn't really fit. The bad characters were never developed well enough for me to really hate them. Given the length of the movie I had hoped to feel a character but really never did.

Finished reading Odyssey and found it entertaining and keeping the adventures of Hutch going. One last book in the series and done. Wish more was said about the "moonriders" but I hope it is all wrapped up in the last book. Decided to pick up my Nook and read World War Z since I have it there and has gotten some rave reviews. So far OK read.

I urge all to catch the No Agenda Show for the media deconstruction of current events and now with the Boston Bombing.