Everyone else is doing it why can't I?

I'm back

2007-01-20T21:53:00.000-08:00

So after 10 weeks of work and Christmas and moving, I am back. It seems like I am the only one of all my friends who is blogging. Anyway I finished all of my work And I am moving to California. I am learning to fly the Super Hornet. Its a great airplane. I know that I was going to continue my thing with Goth chicks on myspace. I realize that no one is reading this. Shit my own girlfriend doesn't read my blog. But it is a bit theraputic to write what I am thinking so I am going to keep doing it. Hopefully I can think of something clever to say in the next couple of weeks.

Sort of a cop out

2006-10-24T21:58:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I know,
Everyone was waiting and just holding their breath for my witty and wry observations on goth chicks on myspace. Unfortunately that will probably have to go on hold for a while. The school I am in right now is a real ass kicker and I don't have much time to write. But don't worry, any school where the final exam is in Vegas can't be all bad right? Anyway I'll get back at it when I have more time.

Myspace deconstructed pt 2

2006-10-05T19:24:00.000-07:00

Well I'm back at it. My scientific attempt to categorize the various species of the denizens of Myspace. As promised the next installment is....The Jersey Meathead.
Now first a little about the name. The Jersey meathead is not necessarily from NJ anymore than a Jersey cow has to be from England. Much like the breeding of dogs, this is an offshoot of both the serious athlete combined with the frat boy. So anyway the first thing that one sees on the Jersey Meathead page is going to be a picture of this guy with his shirt off or in a wife beater. The main feature of the picture is the striking of the "I'm so huge" pose. Now the car doesn't have to be in the picture but trust me it will be there somewhere. Next to the picture is the quote. Typically it is something self agrandizing. "You think you can handle this ladies?" or something of the like. Ususally the music of the Meathead has a very "Night at the Roxbury" vibe to it. This can be separated from the truly insane gym rat, by the fact that the hardcore dude will have some form of seriously hardcore music going. Anyway delving in to the picture file is quite revealing. If the car is not featured in the picture at the beginning, it will be featured at least twice in the photo section. One will be the car alone in all of its awesomeness and at least one with the meathead posing on the hood. The rest of the pictures are going to be devoted to the girls that they met at the club this past weekend and of course at least one professional picture of a playmate snuck in there to see if we are paying attention. Looking at the friend file you can see that the meathead only associated with other Meatheads. They will of course comment on the great pursuits of meatheadom: getting laid, driving fast cars and of course being huge. All of these things will be listed on the interests. Other interests include getting drunk trying to get laid and getting drunk. The only interests that are not found are attempting to get the knuckles off of the ground. That and crocheting quilts. Out in the real world one can identify the meathead by the booming (yet really bad) music coming out of the pimped stereo in the 1999 Camaro with the real working hood scoop. Also notable would be the shirt that is almost tight enough to allow one to see the guys internal organs.
Like I said these are not designed to reflect on anyone I know just what I have seen.

Next time.....The Goth chick

Hey, whaaaahapann?

2006-10-02T18:25:00.000-07:00

I'll get back to the whole myspace thing in a bit but I have one fantasy football related thing...
Hasselbeck, what the F dude. That was absolutely awful. If you are going to lose anyway, just throw the damn ball away!

Myspace deconstructed pt1

2006-09-28T18:29:00.000-07:00

All right. I realize that I am about 150 years behind the times, But MySpace... I'll caveat this with the fact that yes I have a myspace thing and it has helped me connect with old friends from school. But further than that, it has taught me something. That there are about 10 different personality profiles out there that are duplicated 100 million times. So for the next several blogs I am going to attempt to hit up each of these templates. It'll be fun you can see which one of these you are. I will not name names. And now the first species.

The 18 to 22 year old party girl. (I set these ages because I am not the creepy guy who is cruising for underage girls, not actually cruising for any girls at the moment, this is purely in the interest of science) The first identifying characteristic of this type is the background that is so bright and full of crazy moving and flashing things, that it has probably killed at least half a dozen epileptics to date. After you staunch the stinging in your retinas, you are then treated to the dulcet tones of Justin Timberlake music blaring in the background. Sometimes it is some form of hip hop if the girl is shooting for a little street cred, but mostly it is the Timberlake type pop music. Looking around, you see that not much has changed from the highschool quest for popularity, with her 1247 friends. Underneath that, there is naturally the 500 comments from the friends that are utterly unintelligible and usually involve a font that has a lot of glitter on it. Continuing the perusal you see of course the "what type of lover?" are you quiz, or the Thing that spells out her name as an acronym of some form of descriptions about her inherent awesomeness. The most telling aspect of this particular type is, of course, the picture file. Diving in there is where you find the smorgasboard of middle class privilege. There is her cheerleading picture. There is the picture of her and her girlfriends around her graduation present car, There is of course the picture of them all doing shots of tequila at senior frogs in Cancun during last spring break. There is some picture of her almost making out with one of her sorority sisters and then the classic boyfriend picture. This one is the most telling sign if she is single or not. If there is no boyfriend, then substitute a relative in there, sister, parents, etc. That's pretty much it other than the self description about how unique she is and how she likes puppies and helping little kids and whatnot. Rinse, repeat about 150,000 times and you have stereotype numero uno.
Stay tuned for the next one, The Jersey meathead

A little vindication

2006-09-26T12:40:00.000-07:00

So as is the case when I am bored or otherwise less than employed, I have dusted off ye old blog and begin to throw some thoughts down. First and foremost.
The Fantasy football league. Now I am not one to throw out the trash talk, but what a difference a year makes. Yeah fellas its a little different this time. You try managing a team on a ship with internet connectivity that's about like yelling into a can on a string. 3-0 boys. Yeah... Alright, I'm done with that. Felt pretty good too.
So whats going on. I am officially out of my old squadron and am just sort of bouncing around before I report to the new command. Its kind of interesting. Doing nothing is fun. For about a day. Then you realize how bored you are. But that will change soon enough.
Anyway. I have to laugh about how fired up people are about the Seahawks out here right now. Now I know that I have lambasted Seattle fans in at least one other article but I am going to slightly defend them now. There are teams that accuse the Seahawks of piping in noise to the stadium. Time was that they had to pipe a pulse into the place. Let me remind you of where you are. Its Seattle. This is not the land of the Cheeseheads or the Terrible towels. These poor folks tried to come out with a Twelfth man T-shirt and got sued by Texas A&M university. (Very bush league, Aggies). So in the land of grande skinny half caf mocha lattes, do you really begrudge the city its fleeting interest in a pro team. I mean lets be honest. Holmgren is just as shocked as you are about the noise. So to the rest of the teams in the league just go with the silent snap count or yell louder and stop whining.
Anyway I am going to try to blog a little harder but thats it for now.

So there are no pictures

2006-08-09T17:08:00.000-07:00

Hey,
So as I am sure everyone is up about, I recently returned from the wedding of Tom and Allison. It was a great time. Because I think that the camera steals my soul, there are no pictures on this post (I forgot my camera) All of the usual superlatives must be used. Allison look absolutly beautiful, Tom cleaned up pretty good. The service was top notch although I must admit that I was not expecting to be asked a question. I figured that I handled it well. Anyway It was great to see everyone. (Even the bride and groom made an appearence at the afterparty) I hope that everyone is doing well, And I promise I'll think of some thing to be cynical and complain about next time

Hey I'm still here

2006-07-20T09:20:00.000-07:00

Hey,
I realize that no one is reading this. I did exactly what Tom was afraid that I would do. I blogged like a fiend for a month and then completely burned out. That and only spending 1 month home out of the last 3 also helped. But I am back to work here. I have called in a few markers and I am coming home from an exercise for the weekend to go to Toms wedding. Wouldn't miss it. The incredibly nice stuff that he wrote about me is enough to make sure that I go. Alot has gone on since last I decided to put pen to paper (sort of). There will be plenty of time to talk about movies and music and sports and...gulp Politics. But right now I am just letting the world know that I am still here

Ya don't like it, Don't read it

2006-04-26T12:45:00.000-07:00

As Tom so succinctly put it, I have now had the experience of an angry poster to my little blog. So lets set the record straight. First, this is my little journal of thoughts experiences, etc. I am not in this for journalistic integrity. I am not going to print a retraction over the difference of an address. Are you friggin' kidding me? I guess that maybe I am just too new to this. I just check the blogs of friends of mine. I guess the technique is to put in a random word and see who wrote anything about it. And then comment about it. And suggest changes. If I don't know you, then chances are probably good that I don't care what you think. See the title of this post. Anyway glad I got that off my chest.

New Orleans, a Wedding, and a drunk Cowboy

2006-04-25T06:36:00.000-07:00

dAt the risk of this sounding like one of those offshoot discovery channel travelouges, I will tell another tale of travel. This one involves me spending another weekend in the Big Easy. Thats right folks its still there. I'm talking about the city where Tom and I ruthlessly mocked a tribe (or is it a flock) of mimes. Where in one weekend I systematically took five years off of my life (Think Princess Bride life sucking machine only with booze) Yeah Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez!
Truth is that we went there to witness a buddies wedding. Now you might be asking yourself, who gets married in New Orleans? I asked the same question. Well our friend actually wanted (read that, his future wife wanted) to get married, and I am not shitting you at a plantation house. I guess people from the south have a strange sense of things. So after a ruinous night on Rue Burbon at Pat O'briens, drinking the oh so dangerous Hurricanes, we proceeded the next ay

Burbon street, now 85 percent sewage free

to the no kidding Gone with the Wind house. No I actually haven't sat through the enitre movie or even a small part of it but I know it involves a plantation house and the civil war. And this was a no shit plantation house. I'm not going to lie and say I understand the choice of local (being that both parties and their entire families are from Texas) but I guess it makes more sense than those idiots that get married while BASE jumping or something. And it was quite sceninc.

frankly my dear I don't give a damn...

It was a military wedding and we were requested to do a sword arch. Thats were everyone gets dressed up in the full dress uniform including the sword and the officers line the way out of the church (or mannor house in this case) and form an arch of swords that the couple after they are married walks under. Its quite tradtional and looks pretty cool when done right. I will put in a generic image of one since I don't have one of us yet.

Then there was the drunken cowboy. This was an uncle of the groom. I guess people from texas think that they are all in some way, cowboys. At the risk of getting off on a rant, (trust me the texas rant is coming just not now) Why is it that some stock broker from the suburbs of houston (think king of the hill) thinks that he can put on a hat, some stupid boots and all of a sudden he is John friggin Wayne. Anyway I am having a very nice conversation with one of the girls in hoop skirts. I guess that I should mention that apparently when you rent a plantation, it comes with some college age girls that dress up in hoop skirts to add to the ambiance. At any rate I'm chatting with Scarlett O'Hara and Cowboy Curtis here rolls up and begins to slur something about the "Purrtyiest thang in Louisianna" and then trips and falls into the hoop skirt. I learned something that day. Well actually two things. One whatever those hoops are made of, they aren't that sturdy (the skirt was trashed and ripped away from the girl) , and two: while in the 1850's women may have worn miles of undergarments such is not the case in a reenactor. Two words Victoria Secret. And there wasn't much that was left a secret if you get my meaning. Never a dull moment in the big easy.

So there I was...In Vegas

2006-04-18T22:21:00.000-07:00

I guess my cryptic mention about my time in Vegas is all the rage nowadays and I guess that I should qualify my remarks. The part about the spending two weeks in Vegas that sucked was the fact that I had to go to work five days a week out of those two weeks. But I get ahead of myself. Lets set the wayback machine to February.
The skipper (my boss not the guy who hangs out with Gilligan) holds a meeting and says that we are going to do another exercise with the Air force. Groans abound. He then says that it is Red Flag down at Nellis AFB. Now I don't know a lot but I know that Nellis is in Vegas. And that is a good thing. Then he says that since we are in the Navy and the base won't have any lodging for us we are going to have to stay out in town. A single tear rolled down my cheek. It isn't appropriate to hug your boss so I quietly celebrated. Since this is actually one of the largest domestic military exercises, a lot of the casinos offer government room rates that are ridiculously cheap to do their part for the country. (Plus having a Cadre of drunken Sailors, Marines and Airman with paychecks running around the casino can't be bad for business.)
So our government sponsored housing is.... The Excaliber

Home sweet home

The day that we flew our jets down there and got to the hotel I was a kid in a candy store. By the way flying through downtown Vegas in a jet with a canopy that you can see out of is very cool.

Now that was friday afternoon and you can imagine what we did. Thats right watched Blue man group and called it a night. No we played through till Saturday afternoon. Started out at Excaliber, then walked across to NY, NY for a Nathans hotdog before finishing up in MGM Grand. The gambling gods were as favorable to me that night as they would be for the rest of the trip. I made some bank. I got absolutely sloppy. In short it was brilliant. Rinse and repeat for Saturday night. We threw a little night life in for good measure. Then sunday came and the bottom dropped out. The flight schedule for monday had everyone going in at 0500 (in the morning) and staying all day planning or flying. Red Flag had begun.

We were going to be ridiculously busy. The Air Force likes to have meetings. Lots of meetings. And they like to plan. If you don't have the backup to the back up to the back up plan, they are not happy. They apparently didn't get the memo that this was cutting into valuable gambling time. (Although I did get a C-note on the Superbowl and I didn't bet Seattle) Now I like flying as much as the next guy but I can fly at home.

That having been said, we were good Naval aviators and we pushed the crew rest and drinking rules to the breaking point (without actually breaking them) Lots of stupid bets were made (so much for superbowl winnings) Lots of beers were drunk. I went to the Palms and attempted to move in there. The Ghostbar was cool as hell. But let me tell you. Places like palms where the only real theme that they go for is a cool vibe work a lot better for me than the theme casinos. The knights of the round table trip gets really old after a while. And on the days that you couldn't drink or party or gamble, its about as much fun as a diabetic in a candy store. But all in all there were some really cool nights out. The night life is as advertised (spearmint Rhino, Cheetas) And I dug it. For the record I did actually go see Blue Man Group and it was pretty cool. The Air Force just tried to suck all the fun out of what should have been the greatest two weeks of my life and they almost succeeded...Almost. But I hope this clears things up. And now to steal from someone else, Your moment of zen

Baseball...Seattle style

2006-04-17T20:18:00.000-07:00

Greetings from the coast that is three hours behind the rest of the world.
So I went to a Seattle Mariners game the other day. Now they weren't playing the Yankees or anything but some buddies were going and the ticket was free. This is where I came to a few conclusions about Seattle ball.
First of all one can hardly refer to SAFECO field as a "storied ball park," what with its six years of history and all. That having been said, its a really nice park. Way nicer than most of the historically significant parks. It even has a retractable roof. (Now when they asked the Navy to do a four plane flyby of their home opener, we kinda expected them to have the roof open but hey, what can you do?)
It does however have other quirks. The rather robust menu of Ball park
treats is a little more than what you get at a regular ball park. In addition to the Hot dogs (including a Tofu dog, hey its the west coast) and pretzels, there is Terriaki chicken. And I scarcely think that the writers of "Take me out to the Ball Game" had Sushi in mind as a 7th inning-stretch snack. But thats life at the old ball game out here on the west coast.

Now one of the things that I think that they do right out here is the choice of brews. You are not just limited to Bud and Bud light in your quest for frosty goodness. There is a Microbrew across the street from the park. The selection of classy beers abounds. So they have that going for them, which is nice. There are comfortable seats and clean restrooms. Plus all manner of jumbotrons to watch. There is also their choice of mascot. The Mariner Moose. I am not exactly sure what a moose has to do with a mariner (a fancy word for sailor) but who am I to question?

Okay so I guess popeye was busy

In fact there are so many things going on that its more of an amusement park and less of a ball park. There are so many distractions that you hardly notice that the mariners just aren't a very good team. But that doesn't stop Seattle from sort of getting kinda behind their team. Its so cute to watch the so hip it hurts denizens of Seattle go through the motions of actual sports fans. But as the Seahawks going to the superbowl showed us, calling Seattle a sports town, is like calling Oral Roberts a party school.

But it was fun to get off the Island for a while.

I'm Back

2006-04-16T22:52:00.000-07:00

All right, so I'll admit it. Four months is a lot of time to take off from blogging. And I'll admit it I guarantee you no one is still reading this. But there were a lot of things going on and I guess I just sort of forgot. And its like when you take that one day off from the gym and that makes it that much easier to take the next off and so on and so on.... I digress.
So I am living in my house now and that opens up a whole new realm of things to do. Household chores. Such little treats as painting and fixing things and mowing lawns etc. (maybe thats why I haven't blogged in awhile) Another thing that you learn when you are a single guy moving into a house from an apartment, is that you don't own a damned thing. I barely have enough furniture to fill half of this place. Which when you think about itm makes sense, how many places can one guy sit anyway. Which leads to the other thing. Once you own a house, you are required to host people over there (yeah I didn't get that memo initially) so you need furniture. This house thing will be a source of material for weeks to come. So what else is new.
It has been an interesting few months. Did a det with the Air Force... in Las Vegas. Surprisingly enough, living in a hotel room on the strip for 2 weeks does get old after a while. more to follow on that.
Anyway thats enough for now, I have to ease back into these things. I didn't even stretch before this one.

Merry Christmas

2005-12-25T20:31:00.000-08:00

I have been away from the blog for awhile. I guess its been a busy couple of weeks. Anyway what has gone on? Well there was the transit strike. I can honestly say that I am the last guy (based on geography) who should comment on that. That having been said, I fill the role of resident NY guy and as such I have had guys at work ask me how it was effecting me. I decided to say that "It was effecting me terribly and I should take the next few days off"
What else? Wayne Chrebet retired. I must echo Anskat's sentiments on that one. He will be missed. For all the T.O.'s out there who can't help being assholes whenever they open their mouths, Wayne was a breath of fresh air.
So another Christmas passes away from home. Not that big a deal. All of the folks out here who didn't go home for the holidays got together and had a nice little feast. My thoughts go to those who are really away from home this Christmas.
Which leads me to another thing. I was on my way to this gathering of people and I counted, no kidding, 7 people jogging. Who jogs on Christmas? Not to say that it was a beautiful day or anything, because it wasn't; 40 degrees, windy and raining. I, for one, embrace that special breed of laziness that comes from the multiple day weekends. It should have been a hint to people that this was a special day when everything in the world was closed. And yet there they were, in their special wind, water, and reason resistant garments strapped up in their heart rate monitors chugging along. I swear I will never fully understand the west coast. Now someone get me a starbucks, I'm dyin here.
Merry Christmas to all. Looking forward to seeing everyone.

I'm not angry, I swear

2005-12-08T22:07:00.000-08:00

I'm not angry about anything at the moment. After venting about the whole Christmas thing I feel a little better. I am a little saddened by the rapidly approaching end to the Howard Stern (at least for free) era. Only one more week to be entertained on my drive to work in the morning. Yeah the replacement show sounds absolutely awful. I'm not quite convinced on the satellite radio thing yet. Someone should subscribe and let me know how it goes.
The other thing that was kind of out of the ordinary was the federal air marshalls (or sky marshals as some of the fox news correspondents call them...sounds kind of futuristic) decided to pull the full Westley Snipes and go passenger 57 on someone. I feel for the wife of the poor disturbed fellow. I know he was off his meds. I'll admit that if she was really on the ball, instead of pointing it out at the last minute, she maybe could have gotten him to take the drugs, but I digress. As mean as it seems to take two to the head for being a little "eccentric" There are things that you just don't say. "I've got a bomb!" springs readily to mind as one of those things that just can't be good to say. Kinda like how you wouldn't want the pilot come over the intercom with "Holy Shit!", Bomb is not a word one likes hearing on the airplane. As unfortunate as this may be, It was necessary and I gotta give it up to the air marshals. Now I will make one comment on those guys. There are only enough of them to be on 1% of all flights. Which flights these teams are on is a closely guarded secret. That having been said, I really don't think that there is going to be a team of them on the 7:15 from Spokane to Portland. The news folks seemed shocked about the fact that they were there. Hello guys, the flight took off from Medellin, Colombia. Even if there weren't any terrorists, there was probably some illegal shit on that plane. Just a thought.
Bowl games coming up soon. Every Navy guy on the west coast is trying to work some scam to be down in San Diego for that one. Plus the Rose bowl coming up. Gotta love it. Two seemingly unstoppable offenses squaring off against two equally mediocre defenses. I'm thinking 200 total points. Plus the Rose Bowl is the only Bowl game where the sponsor doesn't get above the title billing. More to follow...

Christmas Police

2005-12-04T21:58:00.000-08:00

"Twas the night before annual winter gift giving religiously neutral festival, and all through the house..."
All right. This is going to be another piggyback onto something that Tom wrote. But he got me thinking (smell the wood burning can't ya) This whole "It can't be called Christmas its now the Holidays" thing has gotten entirely out of hand.
First of all, the name of the holiday in question is Christmas. Not Xmas or winter gift giving festival or whatever else. Thats the fact of it. I don't find it offensive in anyway. I have taken a poll and two Jews, a Buddhist and a confirmed atheist (as well as two agnostics, but they required proof that the conversation took place...) do not find the mention of the word Christmas offensive.
This begs the question who are the people who think that Christmas is offensive. How is it offensive. If you don't believe in it, don't celebrate it. And you know what, We'll still give you the day off from work. Thats the kind of swell folks you are dealing with here. I have no idea where these people came up with this expectation of protection from any exposure whatsoever to ideas that they disagree with. Where did that come from. I was tired of hearing about the F'ing Red Sox after they won the world series, but you didn't see me protesting outside of ESPN's offices. I utilized the oft neglected ON/OFF actuator on my Television and turned the friggin thing off for awhile. A novel idea I will grant you.
So let me see if I understand these people. They think that the very idea of Christmas is offensive. Well unfortunately its just a shitty break that they happen to live in a country that celebrates the hell out of it. Kinda like living in Switzerland and being allergic to Chocolate.
So I say merry Christmas and the next thing I know, The political correctness Gestapo swings into action. Can't hang a banner that says merry Christmas ehhh? Actually this is America and I can say anything I want. Wait...yes I remember reading that somewhere. So these people need to take their zeal for controlling everyone else's life and channel those energies in a more positive direction...like cordless bungee jumping. Lighten UP! You are entirely too easily offended. The world is a harsh place. Wear a cup. But to those who are so easily offended I offer a threat in the manner of that old paternal chestnut "You'd better stop crying or I'll give you something to cry about!" You want offensive? Trust me. I can give you offensive. I'll hang banners out side my house that would make a Sergeant Major blush...or better yet, I'll hang them out side your house. Get a life and stop trying to live mine!
...and to all a good night!

Jim, out

GO NAVY BEAT ARMY (yeah so I am a Hypocrite)

2005-12-03T22:21:00.000-08:00

All right. I'll admit it. I busted on Navy football in a previous article. I know. But Army/Navy is an event. The ceremony...The pageantry...The mediocre football. The simple fact is that I am in fact in the Navy and I will root for the Mids on Army/Navy day. It is a hell of spectacle. You don't see this many generals and admirals in one place anywhere outside the pentagon. There are the fly-bys and the marching and the bands. Then there are the all the spots that they film for the commercials. Some of those are pretty damned creative. Then there is the game. Yeah that usually isn't the best part of the day. Neither of these teams is really a legitimate division I school. But I will say this, the kids are playing their hearts out. The Midshipmen from Navy and the Cadets from Army sew patches from various units onto their jerseys. (We sent a few, I think I saw one of ours on the backup place kicker, maybe we need a better looking logo) Its overall a pretty good time and it is one of those where everyone isn't necessarily focused on whats going on in other places in the world. I admit it. I like Army/Navy. Anyway the Mids brought this one home for the 4th consecutive year. Good for them.

I don't think is that bad looking

Ahhhh Thanksgiving

2005-11-29T19:41:00.000-08:00

Yeah I know its kind of a B.S. holiday. I realize that basically we are celebrating the fact that we got more than everyone else. But Damn! I gotta tell ya that I like it.
First of all, There is the fact that it is planned on a Thursday. I wanna find that guy and shake his hand. Yeah four day weekend. And my boss gave the great half day on Wed so that brought it up to a five day weekend. (Yeah the defense of our nation takes time off for turkey.)
That brings us to the meal. Gluttony...sure whatever. You get all those things that are really tasty and yet you never get them because they take too much time to make. (I mean stuffing, That could be made into a meal in and of itself) Plus the Turkey. I am not even going to try to spell that chemical compound in it (Tommy help me out) But it gives that Tylenol with codeine a run for its money. I think that I have actually had a turkey related out of body experience. I am feeling so generous that I am going to overlook cranberry sauce....I can't do it. Its a purple cylinder that is barely cranberry and sure as hell not sauce. It is just this amorphous thing that brings up images of the blob. (the 50's version) But overall a day where you are allowed, nay encouraged to eat to near death is ok. Plus there's the very ill advised pie at the end.
Next comes the football part. Yeah I know that there is football on sunday, monday and even the odd thursday. Hell I don't even like the Cowboys or the Lions but man there is just something about thanksgiving football that is just so good. (plus the only thing that it has to compete with is a grotesque Sponge Bob floating down 5th ave to the utterly inane commentary of Katie Couric)
I am all for any holiday that has a kids table and a grown up table. All I am going to say is go back to the kids table and never leave.
Hope everyone had a good one. Hope to see everyone at Christmas.

I'm never gonna do that again....Until next time

2005-11-20T12:59:00.000-08:00

This is going to combine some of my other ideas into one. Stick with me on this one. Several of my friends and I decided that an interesting diversion from life on Whidbey would be to go to Seattle to witness the "Apple cup" For the uninformed (which until last week included me) this is the annual football game between University of Washington and Washington State. Admittedly this is one of the lamer names for a College football rivalry, but who am I to judge. So we set out. (element one: College football)
We bluffed and blustered our way into the game. Ended up on the outer fringe of the UW student section. Which was advantageous since there were several tasty beverages being passed around. These beverages salved the tempers of the people who had to sit in the misty, cold weather while the home team lost. In fact there was a flask that was being passed around that I think was pure lighter fluid.
Shortly after the defeat we adjourned to the local refreshment house to continue the consumption of tasty beverages.

Seemed like a good idea right? This is where one of the other realizations dawned on me. In business of the last couple of weeks, my partying had tapered off to nearly nil. That coupled with the fact that I am getting old (idea number two ripped off from previous blog) and I realized that this was probably not going to end well. Other ideas occured to me late in the game. A lot of people are really serious about college football. And while my trait of rooting for other teams might be endearing to my friends, it is a habit that is going to get me thumped out in the real world. However discression is one of the first things that falls by the wayside at the hands of tasty beverages. One of the other things I learned is that I am NOT in college anymore. There is a thing that allows college kids (and sailors in port) to drink in quantities that would fell mere mortals. I am not a college student, nor am I on a port call but I nonetheless befriended several university students who took it upon themselves to treat me as an alcohol related science fair project. My friendly outgoing nature coupled with the age old pub code of conduct forbade me from turning down a drink. Yeah that was a bad idea. The aftermath was not particularly pretty.

But I guess that I could say that the 4 and a half billion brain cells that I killed off last night were just the weak ones and I am a better man for it.
I'm not going to do that again for a while.

very comfortable floor by the way.

Am I getting old?

2005-11-15T19:46:00.000-08:00

I think that I am starting to get old. Not really old. I can't remember the depression and I don't Refer to WWI as "the big one" but old none the less.
It started the other day at work. I took over a new job. I am the line division officer. Sparing you the gory details of the job description, its the place where the newest freshly enlisted guys straight out of boot camp go. I haven't realized how far removed from highschool I have gotten until I associate with those who aren't far removed at all. All of you know that I got back from a 6+ month deployment at the end of July. So I am down in the shop talking to one of my new charges about something that happened on cruise in March. One of the older guys in the shop trying to prove a point ask this sailor what she was doing in March. Answer "Thinking about prom" Jeez.

Other realizations began to take hold. When you are a kid 10 years seems like forever. Now I have friends that I have known for 10 years and 10 years ago I was in high school. wow.

I was visiting friend out here whose little cousin was out here visiting. A song off of the first Pearl Jam album was on the radio. He says that this song is "so Old!" He is fourteen years old. I did the math on that one. I was in middle school when that record came out. He was In Utero...literally.

Ohh well I am still not that old. I guess I am still that transitional stage in the eyes of the young kids, where you go from cool older kid to old guy. So here's to us. We have joined the club where VH1 has made a decade retrospective about a decade that not only were you alive for, but you actually remember. So I have that going for me, which is nice

College Football

2005-11-12T18:44:00.000-08:00

There are those of us out there who are from those institutions of higher learning where the college part was more important than the football part of it. I am one of those (hell we didn't even have a team). It is always interesting watching college ball with those who actually went to a school that could go to a bowl (not that kind of bowl, I'm pretty sure every college has that) game. The conversation immediately turns to how jacked up the BCS system is. (I really think that there are more people alive who can explain nuclear physics than the college football ranking system) That having been said, there is usually copious amounts of beer at any football watching gathering so I usually attend. I quietly sit in the corner and root for whatever team will annoy the most people. And yet I still get invited to these things.
But today I had the unique experiance of watching Navy football. There are many guys I work with who went to the Naval Academy. Now I am not going to go into the difference between Academy guys and non Academy guys (me) but their views on football are unique amongst college fans:
First: Army-Navy is the only game of the year that matters. A 1-10 season where that win is against Army is considered a winning season.
Second: They think that they have a chance to win no matter who they are playing. Now I'm not going to say that is a bad thing but Those dudes have more to worry about than playing football. And they actually have to go to classes. Real classes. With books and everything. And yet the Navy faithful still come out in support of the team.
Which brings us to today. Navy-Notre Dame. A game that Navy hasn't won in 42 years. But that seem to faze the Navy faithful. Now we all know that every Irish Catholic kid from the northeast, has some form of love for Notre Dame encoded in there genes. (Plus if you went to Chaminade, one word "Rudy") So they were supprised when I came in whistling the ND fight song (C'mon its pretty catchy). Yes I am in the Navy, but sometimes I just have to root against the Midshipmen. Its one of my chances to poke academy guys in the eye with a sharp stick. I feel bad that they lost by quite a fair margin. But on the plus side I am pretty sure that the Navy team is not hanging their future on the NFL so I don't feel so bad.
But you gotta hand it to the Navy faithful. The ink wasn't dry on the defeat and they were already planning for Army-Navy.

Radio free...whatever as long as its free

2005-11-08T18:04:00.000-08:00

I gotta tell you, after reading Toms blog about K-Rock's inherent decent into lameness at the end of the Stern Era, it got me thinking. What are the local radio stations here going to do to fill that spot. They basically air the show live (three hour time difference) then rebroadcast it again at the end. You are talking six hours of empty space that needs to be filled. The station that Stern is on is a rock station that apparently only has access to 7 songs and Stern. They are going to suffer.
This led me to surf around the dial on the old car radio to see what was going on outside of the4 presets that I bothered to program. Nothing seemed too out of place, your standards, Classic Rock station, Top 40, Rap, Spanish language, nothing really crazy.
Thats when I inadvertantly clicked over to AM. You know that band that you only listen to when you want to know what the f is up with the traffic, or you are trying to listen to the 9th inning, since your dad wanted to beat the crowd out of the stadium. Anyway outside of the news channels, there is whole untapped well of weirdness out there and it is really funny. I thought that college radio was the last bastion of the amatuer with an idea (alas I am a little out of range of the microwave oven that UW uses to broadcast their radio station) but I was wrong. There are shows out there that you can't imagine. There are religious nut jobs screaming at the top of their lungs about...well I'm not sure what they are pissed about but I think that they are blaming me for it. Little old ladies that sit around and tell you how they bake pies, There are is even a show by a psychic wherein he claims to have predicted every major occurance for the last ten years. The only problem is that he seems only to say it on the show after it happens (not so much ESP as CNN) anyway the point of it is that I have found an untapped gold mine of weirdness and entertainly daft people on the radio. I will have no need to subscribe to satellite radio when I need my fix of the bizare. I am gonna miss Stern but I think I may have found a line as to where he finds these people.

That was fun

2005-11-07T16:15:00.000-08:00

I never really wanted this to be the ongoing story of my house buying, but I will throw one thing in there. It amazes me that you could move in near an airport and not realize it. I had about 30 forms to sign today and no less than three of them were directed at the fact that you are near an airfield and airplanes are loud. Well golly gee boss, I'm so glad that I have you here to tell me these things. Then again, as one who contributes to turning dead dinosaurs into loud noise in a jet I realize that yes these things are loud. I also know of at least 15 retirees and other homeowners that have the base noise complaint hotline on speed dial. That's where I came up with my first realization how different NY is from the rest of the country.
In Airplane terms, Myself, Chris, and Tom all live within spitting distance of JFK. I am willing to bet that not a single one of us knows the number for noise complaints for airplanes or has the faintest idea where to get it. Lets be honest I am not sure that such a number exists....

"Hello, is this JFK? I would like to report a loud airplane over my house" "(thick Brooklyn accent) So, let me see if I understand you. You live next to an airport, and you own a TV so you have heard of a jet and you know that they are loud. Lady, I make minimum wage here. Whaddya want me to do about it? Buy some earplugs. Thank you have a nice day....jerkoff!" *click*

Ahh you gotta love the pacific north west

Well hell, Tom and Chris do it

2005-11-06T22:08:00.000-08:00

I'll start off with the fact that I am about 3 years behind most forms of technology. That coupled with the fact that most people could really give two shits about my witty observations about life doesn't really bode well for me doing this. That having been said, Tom has a cell phone now (universally accepted as one of the signs of the apocalypse) So I figured that I would give it a shot.

I guess that the biggest thing that I have discovered recently is that buying a house is a pain in the ass! I really never put much thought into it but I guess my theory of sign a few places and get handed the keys probably was a bit simplistic. The way house prices are, I can't help but think that I missed the boat (pun intended) on this whole house thing. A fact that is gleefully pointed out by those who are on the boat. A typical conversation goes something like this: "I hear you are buying a house, Good for you" Me: "Thanks" Them: "So what are you paying, If you don't mind my asking?" (As if by asking me the price They would cause me to fly into a murderous rage....not yet anyway) Me:"XZYthousand dollars." Them: "Wow, My place cost 80grand less than that and it is bigger, and it is in a better neighborhood, and it came with trained helper monkeys...." Me: "Thanks" Gotta love it.

I will miss the life of the apartment building. There are such charming parts about that. But that is a story for another day