Charlie's Rants & Raves

Ike....

2008-09-11T18:34:00.000-07:00

So here comes a hurricane
Ike is his name
I still have to go to work
I doubt that there will be any perks
Lots of wind, rain, and maybe a flood
Turning my backyard messy and full of mud
Hopefully there will be no damage and all will be well
But I'm no psychic, only time will tell
So wish me and everyone the best
As we face Mother Nature's latest test

You Got Joe Horn'd

2008-06-30T19:49:00.000-07:00

or...I'm gonna pull a Joe Horn on you.

You know you have made it to the big time when your name can be used as a verb (like Google). Joe Horn, if you don't know is the guy from Pasadena that shot two burglars in the back for robbing his neighbor's house. He called 911 to report the burglary, but decided on his own to confront the the two men, even at the insistence of the 911 operator telling him not to go confront them.

Well, there have been debates about this. Mr. Horn was cleared by a grand jury of the shooting. What is the law? I don't know. I thought that we were not a society full of vigilantes. What is the point of having laws...hell, even justice if we have a society of vigilantes?

Now, I'm not siding with the burglars (who were shot in the back by the way). They did wrong. Do they deserve to be punished...yes, to the full extent of the LAW....not to the full extent of a vigilante's decision of being judge, jury, and executioner.

If you ever decide to visit Pasadena...or Texas by that matter, be sure not to lock your keys in the car. If you try to jimmy the lock to get your keys...you could get Joe Horn'd.

I'm back.....

2008-06-29T15:59:00.001-07:00

Gosh, October 2007...last time I posted something in here. What has happened since then? Plenty I'm sure. I don't remember what though....

What's going on now? Hurt my foot running into the fence playing softball (almost made the catch). Mia turned 4 recently. I have a vacation coming up. Got a Nintendo Wii.

Everything is OK.

Hello...

2007-10-17T20:16:00.000-07:00

Man, where the hell have I been? It's only been 5 months since I last posted anything on here.

Well, nothing new going on. Same old stuff I guess.

Sights from my trip to the UK

2007-05-05T21:36:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from my trip to the UK. Below is the queue (line) to go through passport inspections. This line took 2 hours to get through.

Below is an image of Tower Castle in London

Tower Bridge in the picture below
Millenium Bridge in the picture below
St Paul's Cathedral from the other side of the Thames River
The London Eye
Didn't know they were so cheap...

View from inside one of the pods on the London Eye
Big Ben / Parliament from the London Eye

Queen Elizabeth II bridge
Sunrise in Haywards Heath

Clean up your doggie litter.
Driving to Brighton
Brighton Pier / beach

Somewhere in the air...Ireland I believe

Canada
Cool looking river and ice

Meandering river

Lake Huron...finally in the states
Southwest of Fort Wayne, Indiana
Flying in the cloudtops

Heading out to the UK

2007-04-26T18:15:00.000-07:00

I'm leaving for London on Saturday and will return in a week. I'm flying into London so I'll try to get in as much of London as I can. It should be fun...hopefully I don't get too lost...

Fortune Cookie of the Day

2007-04-26T17:56:00.000-07:00

"It was all so different before everything changed."

Um, duh...change is one of those things that will always occur. People change, the world around you changes...you just have to deal with it.

Question...

2007-04-24T19:11:00.001-07:00

There is an old saying that all good things come to an end.

Is the same thing true for bad things?

Wicked

2007-04-05T19:13:00.000-07:00

Ana and I went to see the musical Wicked last night at the Hobby Center. I thought it was awesome. I've never been to a musical, but something about this one made me want to see it.

The seats were OK...definitely could have been better, but at ticket broker prices, we made what we could of it. We ended up in the right gallery, row j, seats 9 & 10.

I really enjoyed it...I'd definitely see it again...but not at ticket reseller prices. I'll have to keep an eye out the next time it plays here again.

Natural Bridge Caverns

2007-03-25T09:58:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from my visit to the Natural Bridge Caverns. It was interesting...very humid though. And don't use google maps to find this place...that map was screwy.

Assorted pictures from vacation.

2007-03-25T07:57:00.000-07:00

Day 6 of Vacation

2007-03-25T07:48:00.000-07:00

Day 6 of the vacation was the last one. We decided to head up to Burnet, which is about 20-25 miles from where we were. The drive wasn't too bad, however, the Bluebonnets did not sprout out as much as I would have hoped. I'm sure in the next month the place we went to will be covered in those things.

After that we went back to my sister's place and cleaned up while the kids played on the trampoline. Then we left. We went to Rudy's to eat. It wasn't bad. I almost ate an entire rack of ribs (and made for a long trip home).

That was it...that's how I ended my vacation with the family. It was fun and a bit expensive, but I hope the kids had a good time.

Congratulations

2007-03-22T19:23:00.001-07:00

Marisa and Sean!!!!!

Day 5 of Vacation

2007-03-16T21:32:00.000-07:00

Today was a busy day...

1) Woke up real early (7:00 AM)
2) Got everyone else up to get ready to go to San Antonio
3) Had a light breakfast (a banana and a South Beach Diet Bar)
4) Took out the trash and recyclables
5) Left for San Antonio
6) Stopped at Jack in the Box for breakfast to go (I had the ciabatta breakfast sandwich)
7) Arrived at San Antonio and parked at a garage close to the Riverwalk
8) Walked around the Riverwalk to find the boat tour for the Riverwalk. The guide was pretty funny and I learned a few things (like the end of Ghostbusters was filmed at one of the buildings next to the Riverwalk)
9) Walked around the Riverwalk some more to the mall. Walked the mall.
10) Had lunch at Cafe Ole on the Riverwalk. I had the chicken fajitas and a margarita. They had a 60 oz. margarita, but I wasn't going to touch that one. The place was good, but a bit pricey.
11) Walked around the Riverwalk some more and made our way to the Alamo
12) Walked around the Alamo and read up on some of the history. Didn't actually go into the Alamo because the line was very long. It was good to see that people were interested in Texas history.
13) Got some snow cones from a street vendor
14) Went to the Alamo Quarry Market. Went to Old Navy and Gameworks. The kids had fun in there spending tokens to play a Spongebob Squarepants game
15) Had McDonald's before driving back
16) Stopped at the Tanger Outlet Mall in San Marcos. Went to the Old Navy and KB Toys outlet stores there. There are actually 2 outlet malls there...the Tanger Outlet Mall and the Prime Outlets (maybe about 200 stores between the 2 of them).
17) Came home

See a full day...too bad the vacation is almost over...*sigh*

Day 4 of Vacation

2007-03-15T19:22:00.000-07:00

Well, day 4 of my vacation. Seems like I like waking up around 10:00 AM. Wonder if that will affect my normal wake up schedule when I get back to work???

Here's what we did...
1) Woke up
2) Had brunch (I had a South Beach Diet Pepperoni Pizza)
3) Headed out to Toy Joy
4) Headed out to the Duck Boat tour (got lost and found out that it was sold out for the day)
5) Went to Mount Bonnell
6) Headed back to Leander, but turned back around to drive around Austin
7) Drove in downtown Austin, next to the Capitol building and the UT football stadium
8) Drove around some more near the lake
***8.5) Forgot to mention that we went to Subway. Funny story here. I was asking Ana "which kid she thought would be the most adven". Before I could finish it, Kai said "ugly". Then he said raise your hand if you're ugly. Nobody raised the hand, but i took a sip of my coke. Then he pointed at everyone and said you are all ugly, so you need to raise your hand. I bust out laughing...remember, i took a sip of coke. So i spit coke on Ale, Kai, and Ana. I thought I would never get away with spitting on them and having them laugh about it...in any other situation, they would have been mad...but in this one, not so much.
9) Went to Zilker park and walked around a bit
10) Headed back to Leander and bought gas (for $2.35 a gallon...later found another place for $2.29)
11) Played on the trampoline with the kids
12) Did a light workout
13) Ate cheese quesadillas
14) Planned our trip for San Antonio tomorrow.
15) Here I am...need to go to bed soon to wake up early tomorrow.

Day 3 of Vacation

2007-03-14T20:12:00.000-07:00

Well, we finally made it to Austin early, early this morning...around 2 AM. There was hellacious weather in Houston that made us leave later then expected. Luckily we left when we did because I hear there was some nasty weather at home today.

Here's how the day pretty much went...

1) Woke up around 9:30 AM
2) Watched some satellite TV
3) Went to Wal Mart to get some groceries
4) Had lunch (me, eggs and fish sticks...I'm not making that mistake again)
5) Went to the Austin Nature & Science Center. It was fun. The weather could have been nicer but oh well...no pictures to post either. I took plenty, but I left my USB cable for the camera at home...dang.
5A) Looked at the indoor exhibits they had...bees, snake skin, snake rattle, bugs, spiders, etc.
5B) Went to the Dino Pit...dug up some dinosaurs...then re-buried them
5C) Looked at the wild animals that can't be released in the wild
5D) Looked at more animals...birds this time, that can't be released in the wild
5E) Went on the trails they had...pretty nice
6) Went to Wienerschnitzel. Not really German food, but I've never had it
7) Took a nap because I felt a bit ill
8) Went to the mall
9) Watched Lost (this Tivo stuff is great...rewind, fast forward...pretty sweet)
10) Here I am

Weather for tomorrow looks about the same. Mostly cloudy, high of around 83. We'll just wake up and see what there is to do.

Until then....I'm out.

Day 2 of Vacation

2007-03-13T14:51:00.000-07:00

Yup...more of the same...sigh. Well at least my "real" vacation (I hope) will start tonight when we head out to Austin.

1) Woke up at 9:00 AM
2) Went to Best Buy and used my gift card and reward zone coupon to buy Casino Royale, Reality Bites (don't know why I like that movie), some batteries for the camera, and some blank DVDs
3) Vacuumed the 1st floor and staircase
4) Mopped the tile at the back door and in the hall bathroom
5) Cleaned toilets
6) Hand scrubbed the tiles at the back door and in the hall bathroom
7) Worked out
8) Here I am...

We probably won't head out to Austin until later this evening (around 8:00 PM so traffic can die down). Then when we get there...who knows...we'll have to see what we want to do and how the weather is.

Day 1 of Vacation

2007-03-12T19:18:00.000-07:00

This is what I did for the first day of my vacation
1) Wake up at 9 AM
2) Take the car in to make sure it was road ready
3) Go to the bank
4) Buy some pizza for lunch
5) Get a haircut
6) Take the kids to the mall to go play...where Mia would subsequently have so much fun she crapped herself
7) Came home
8) Worked out
9) Took a walk around the neighborhood and checked out the other houses that are being built (so many more cool options are available now, then when I bought the house...dammit!)
10) Have dinner (had to thaw out chicken)
11) Watch 24
12) Now here I am...

Exciting, huh?

Spring Planting

2007-03-11T11:49:00.000-07:00

So it's spring...it's a nice 71 degrees outside...but it feels much warmer if you are actually working outside.

Today I planted a dwarf papaya tree and two mango trees. The labor wasn't too hard because I planted them where some of the free oak trees I got from the Arbor Day Foundation were planted. They didn't fare to well so they were removed.

Tons o' fun today...now I'm off to go vacuum.

Krispy Kreme is OK...but not that Good

2007-03-11T07:23:00.000-07:00

Bored....

2007-03-09T20:23:00.000-08:00

I'm on vacation all next week...we're going to Austin and do some of the local stuff up there. My sister was nice enough to let us crash at her place while she is off getting married in Thailand. Now to figure out what to do when we're up there. That's for later...right now I'm bored.

Let's anagram my name using 3 words...
Radical Wham Issue
Mariachi Lead Wuss
Dual Wise Charisma
Casual Swim Haired
Airhead Music Laws
Musical Warhead Is
Airmailed Was Such
Salaried Haw Music
Musical Hi Seaward
Admiral Sauce Wish
Saucier Whim Salad
Sushi Malice Award
Seismic Hula Award
Musical Dish Aware
Acid Misrule Awash
Sauced Whir Salami
Iced Samurai Shawl
Wash Alarm Suicide
Warmish Clause Aid
Whimsical Sad Urea
Musical Aid Washer
Residual Mica Haws

See...bored...

Simple Answer to a Math Question

2007-03-04T20:29:00.000-08:00

Forbidden Gardens

2007-03-03T17:04:00.000-08:00

We went to the Forbidden Gardens exhibit today. It's located in Katy, TX of all places, which is fine by me since I live close by. Not too bad...it was $10 for adults. The kids were free...which was good since they were more interested in feeding the fish than the exhibits.

I ran into Will, a co-worker of mine and his wife. Overall, it was pretty neat. It was a real nice day. A bit cold, and really windy. Here are some (well a lot) of pictures from the exhibit.

Guardian of the house
This is what the kids enjoyed...feeding the fish and turtles. They sold a cup of fish food for 50 cents. Next time, I'll just take them to feed the fish.
Terracotta warriors...

Ain't they so cute???
Forbidden city...

Royal chair used for weddings.
Mia!!!! What are you doing?!?!?!?!?

blah blah

2007-02-25T13:58:00.000-08:00

i wonder if anyone actually reads the stuff i put out there...

oh well.

We won!!!! We won!!!!

2007-02-21T20:05:00.000-08:00

OK, so we've only won 1 game the entire season...which is now over for us. But hey, we're leaving on a win streak.

I know I had a good time...it would have been better if we won more and made the playoffs, but oh well...I saved all my injuries for today. I don't have a laundry list of injuries, but i've got several hardwood floor burns. It was worth it. Call me a sadist...

Lake Buchanan

2007-02-18T12:23:00.000-08:00

Pictures from my trip to Lake Buchanan. It was kinda cold, but really windy. Because of that, there was no kayaking....just went hiking through the "rugged" trail...ever been stuck by a cactus? Not fun. Guess I just nudged one with the top of my foot. The quills(?) went through the mesh in my shoe and into my toe. I was like "ow!!!! what the hell was that?!?!?!". Nothing like pulling out small needles from your toe...

Picture above...panoramic of the section of the lake I was at.
Dead tree along the trail...sign of things to come.
Peeking at the lake through the trees
Lake view from a higher elevation
One of the 5 armadillos I encountered...not much wildlife like they said there would be..
Lake view descending from the summit of the hill (some 1250 feet high)
Panoramic from the same point
Descended that...it was pretty steep

Bald eagle nest about 18 miles from the lake...waited 10 minutes, but no bald eagle showed its head...

What's Wrong with this Picture

2007-02-13T19:13:00.000-08:00

I recently bought a new toaster oven because the old one died on us. It's a Euro Pro toaster. It has some neat features, but something was a bit off on it. Remember, it's a Euro Pro toaster.

McDonald's...

2007-02-12T19:14:00.000-08:00

So we went to the Galleria yesterday and got the kids McDonalds....

I ordered two hamburger kids meals...only to find out that they were out of hamburgers. What the hell?!?!?!? I looked up at the sign to make sure that I was at McDonalds. And I was like, "isn't hamburgers their staple food? How can they be out of hamburgers?"

Anyway, it was weird, so the kids had chicken mcnugget kids meals.

Never ran into a McDonalds that ran out of hamburgers.

Ho hum...

2007-02-10T16:02:00.000-08:00

I'm bored. Another Saturday sitting at home. What to do...what to do?!?!?!?

Well, went to the dr. to get her to sign some papers OKaying Ale to try out for track.

Went to Target and bought a new toaster oven (we needed to replace the old one)

Went to Papa Joe's BBQ place over by Memorial City mall. Had the sliced brisquet sandwich...which was awesome.

Came home, watched some TV.

Took the kids to Toys R Us and Katy Mills Mall. Walked around and played some air hockey and skee ball

Now I'm home. Gave the kids a bath. Washed bedsheets. Now...nothing, sigh.

Maybe I'll go do a light workout...or maybe not.

Kai's a Yellow Belt

2007-02-04T19:03:00.000-08:00

Kai is now a yellow belt in karate. Here are some pictures. Here's the full thing of pictures

Longhorn Caverns

2007-01-28T07:43:00.000-08:00

Had a fun trip to Longhorn Caverns yesterday. The weather started out pretty bad for the drive to just south of Burnet, TX (40-50 miles northwest of Austin). Once we got to Austin, the weather cleared up and it was really nice. After passing through countless curves and hills, we finally got there.

We initially wanted to do the "wild cave tour", where you get down and dirty in the cave. You would crawl through narrow spaces and some water and things of that nature. Not enough people signed up so we just went on the regular tour.

Here is a preview of some of the pictures I took of the cave (click here for all of the pictures I took)

New plants

2007-01-20T16:00:00.000-08:00

There was a fruit plant sale today, hosted by the Urban Harvest group (http://urbanharvest.org/).

It was packed. Reminded me of the Best Buy line for the day after Thanksgiving sale. When the gates opened up, people walked, some ran into the sale area. The smart people got wagons to carry their plants in (I wasn't one of the smart people).

I grabbed a Guava (Pink Barbie) tree and a Papaya tree. Then came the line to check out. It wasn't well organized to accommodate all the people. But once we figured out where the line was, it wasn't too bad.

I took the guava tree to my mom. She'll raise it and probably be able to produce several new trees from it. I have the papaya here at home. It's a neat looking plant, but won't get planted until March.

That was my day...

24

2007-01-15T19:01:00.001-08:00

damn!!!!! that was a good 2 hours. what an ending. damn!!!!!

brrrr

2007-01-13T20:32:00.000-08:00

it's gonna get cold. they're talking about a possible ice storm within the next couple of days. houston drivers are bad enough in the rain...let alone frozen rain.

i had an exciting day (sarcasm). i didn't do anything really. i vacuumed the first floor. cleaned out the closet (still have to take care of all the stuff i threw on the bed).

well, now what to do tomorrow...?

new volleyball season

2007-01-10T20:43:00.000-08:00

it's time for a new volleyball season...and we're already down 0-1 in the standings. it's ok...there's plenty of games left we will win, then playoffs.

we've got a decent team...people i've played with before. it's always fun to play with them. now it's time to ice down the knees...i think i might be the oldest person on my team...just thought about it...awww crap, i'm old...

argh!!!!!

2007-01-09T18:37:00.000-08:00

why can't my kids get along? why do they always fight? do i need to be on that "nanny" show? i don't want to have it all televised, but damn...always fighting.

the oldest one always has to have the last word...the middle one likes to push people's buttons...and the little one just gets into the mix.

ugh...

Went to the movies....

2007-01-06T19:57:00.000-08:00

and saw night at the museum. it was pretty good. i enjoyed it. as a bonus, i saw the trailers for the new fantastic four movie (rise of the silver surfer), the simpsons, and shrek 3.

then we went to the texas roadhouse for dinner...damn this diet...i had the grilled shrimp, and of course a couple of ribs. yum (i'm so bad). but hey, i'm down a notch on my belt so this diet is working.

Open my mail???

2007-01-04T20:24:00.000-08:00

There's this article in the Seattle Times regarding the government's ability to open mail without a warrant.

Hopefully they'll open up my junk mail and "you're approved for credit cards" mail, that way I don't have to deal with it...

recovering...

2007-01-04T19:50:00.000-08:00

i've been sick the last couple of days, but i'm getting better. just one of the hazards of having kids...

Happy New Years!!!!

2006-12-31T22:56:00.000-08:00

Happy New Years to everyone...take time to reflect on 2006, but you must now move on to 2007. The past is the past and you can't do anything to change it.

Here's to a prosperous 2007 for everyone!

Woo Hoo!!!!!

2006-12-31T16:47:00.000-08:00

I got an escrow reimbursement check from my home loan lender. Appears that they overcharged me for my escrow account and they are refunding me the difference....$560.00. What a way to start the new year...now what to buy...oh, I said my goal for 2007 was to save (dammit!!!)

ouch...

2006-12-30T09:28:00.000-08:00

My neck hurts...this really sucks. Kai got sick this morning (like at 4 AM). I took him to the living room to lay down. I laid down on the couch as well and man, does my neck hurt now. It even hurt to brush my teeth this morning because my neck had to support my heavy ass head while I brushed.

Oh well...guess I'll take the day off from working out.

new years 2007 resolution 1

2006-12-29T16:07:00.000-08:00

it's that time again...time to make new years resolutions. the first one will be to save. i opened a savings account and plan on saving money in it. i'll also have to investigate if i can change my mortgage payments to only be for the house and break out the taxes/insurance. i can put that money in the savings account and get interest on it.

Snow Day

2006-12-27T19:33:00.000-08:00

Well, not really...we never get snow in Houston. A local restaurant brought in a snow making machine and let the kids have at it.

i'm back....

2006-12-27T17:53:00.000-08:00

after a long hiatus, i'm back to blogging...unfortunately, i have nothing to write about...maybe later.

My Wife's Job Sucks

2006-08-15T22:18:00.000-07:00

She works at Lane Bryant (yeah, I'm dropping names). She can't open anymore because we don't have anyone to watch the kids. They also got a new store manager (Mandy) the same day that she called in sick (for the 2nd time since she started there over a year ago). A couple days later, Kai gets the same thing she had.

This new store manager must have it out for my wife. First she emails the district manager (Chris) asking what she should do about my wife's schedule. She thinks my wife is "highly unprofessional" because she could only give a weeks notice of her availability. Um, we have 3 kids and you never know what happens with them. She asks for permission to replace her. My wife gets demoted and her pay cut back. She was OK with that because she couldn't fill out her responsibilities that she had before. But to say she is highly unprofessional is, unprofessional. This lady started there last week. She doesn't know my wife. I think that she just wants to get one of her friends to transfer over. I worked retail, I know what goes on.

Since she is still technically a supervisor, she is supposed to read any email correspondence from corporate. Guess what, she's been locked out of the system already. I would email this Chris character and let him know what's going on. He's only getting one side of the story. This new store manager doesn't know that my wife is far the best at breaking down freight (new shipments) and probably one of the best salespersons they have. Maybe the new store manager should talk to the old store manager to find out her opinion on my wife...oh wait she has. When my wife called in sick, the new store manager asked the old store manager if "she did this often", as in call in sick.

Also, my wife was scheduled for zero (0) hours for next week. What kind of shit is that? When I worked retail, if you got scheduled for zero hours (without asking for it), then they were trying to force you to quit, without having to ask you to quit.

I know that most of you reading this probably don't give two shits about it, I'm just venting. And those that know me thought I didn't get emotional.

I told her to quit, fuck 'em. Tell 'em to take the job and shove it. There's plenty of other places that she could work at that pay her more without the bullshit she's going through now. But we'll see.

In Jolly ol' Englan

2006-04-09T12:26:00.000-07:00

Work sent me to the UK for, well, work. I left on April 1 and flew into London on April 2. It was a decent flight. I got the seat right next to the exit door. Plenty of leg room. I only managed 1.5 hours of sleep though.

I was picked up by a coworker and we toured London. It was pretty nice to start off, but it wouldn't have been a true London experience without rain. So it rained on us.

We started our walk around Tower Bridge and made it all the way to the London I (or eye). Whatever. We saw St. Paul cathedral, about 9 Starbucks, Convent Gardens, Trafalgar Square, the Texas Embassy Cantina, London Bridge, Big Ben.

We were going to see Buckingham Palace, but it started pouring on us. We saw an anti-war protest. Interesting.

I'll have to upload pictures later.

Then it was off to Bury St. Edmunds. Stayed at the Ramada over there. Not much to see there...sugar factories and swineries (pig farms). Did my stint in Bury St. Edmunds and now I'm in Birmingham (well, Northfield). That's where the our UK office is.

Fun fun fun. It has rained ice and snowed. Stuff you don't see in Houston. I got lost, it was great. Driving on the wrong side of the road and everything.

What an experience. I'll write more later.

Ugh....30

2006-02-21T16:39:00.000-08:00

Just turned 30, and do you know what I did for my 30th birthday??? I got sick. Everyone told me that things would go downhill at 30, but I didn't expect it to be the day I turned 30. All I had to eat on my birthday was 1/2 of a cracker, 1/2 a slice of bread, one tiny bite of a whataburger chicken strip, and a thumb dipped in my birthday cake.

Gee, what have I done in three decades? Let's recap...

February 1976 - born
June 1994 - graduated high school
June 1994 - got my first job (with my dad)
June 1995 - got my first job not with my dad (but with the help of a friend)
August 1995 - got my first job on my own
November 1995 - met the girl that would later become my wife
December 1999 - graduated college
March 2000 - got my first "real" job
May 2001 - got married
October 2001 - had my first kid
June 2004 - had my second kid
August 2004 - signed my life away for 30 years by getting a house

Some would say that's a lot, but is it? Sometimes I feel it isn't. Feels like I could have done more (not by having more kids, but done something different).

Oh well, here's to 30 years that have passed by and to the next X amount of years ahead.

Challenger

2006-01-29T09:28:00.000-08:00

Where were you 20 years ago when the Challenger disaster occurred? I remember where I was. 4th grad in Ms. Jackson's class. We got to watch the launch live on TV. How did I feel when it happened? I was confused. Wondering what was going on. The teacher didn't know exactly how to react. I knew that something was wrong since I had seen several other successful shuttle launches. This one was obviously different.

Everyone figured out that something bad happened as the rocket boosters continued on without the space shuttle. The TV feed went black after a minute or minute and a half after the accident.

Wow, 20 years...I'm getting old.

Electrical Issues

2006-01-18T20:04:00.000-08:00

Luckily, not for me at home. However....

So I get to work at 6:00 AM today to run one of our applications. I know it takes a long time for it to load, that's why I got there so early. About 2.5 hours into it, the power flickers. Lights stay on, but all the sudden, all the servers go down. So my application stops running (oh joy). Turns out someone cut a wire, which wasn't a big thing initially, but probably sent a surge throughout, affecting all the servers. I wonder if the person that did it was quitting today and this was his final FU.

Electricity for the MetroRail was also out. Power outage. They have partial power now, but it's not completely running. Oh well....

Craptastic

2006-01-16T19:23:00.000-08:00

Guess what...I got a speeding ticket today. I think it's been the 1st ticket I've had in the last 6+ years.

I was trying to pass an 18 wheeler and then all the sudden I see a guy walk into the road. Of course it was a constable. Got busted going 61 in a 45. What gets me is where I have to go to court. I was pulled over on the Beltway 8 feeder road, going northbound, just south of Tanner Road. The courthouse I have to go to is on Chimney Rock and Gulfton, even though there is a courthouse on Clay, just west of Highway 6 (which is much closer).

The map below shows where I got pulled over (in red), where the courthouse is closest to where I got pulled over (in blue), and where the courthouse I have to go to is (in black).

Damn...

Goodbye 2005...Hello0 2006

2005-12-30T20:20:00.000-08:00

Ok, not yet, but close enough. Every newscast, website, etc. is having their 2005 recap. So I thought I would have my own. Now, remember, I don't remember much anything past yesterday. Victim of aging, both physically and mentally (try having 3 kids).

January 2005 - Started my blog. Had my power cut off. Jury duty (met an old high school classmate there). That's about it.

February 2005 - Turned 29...that much closer to 30.

March 2005 - Planted lots of trees received from the Arbor Day Foundation. First time I ever saw the Numa Numa guy...and I still love it.

April 2005 - Bought some new Star Wars Episode III toys.

May 2005 - Geeked out and watched the midnight show of Star Wars Episode III. Found out that I didn't like the people a couple houses down the street.

June 2005 - Painted Ale's room.

July 2005 - Rockets in the playoffs (not for long), high electricity bills, 4th of July

August 2005 - Hurricane Katrina, high gas prices, Mia's first haircut

September 2005 - Helping out the Hurricane Katrina evacuees by volunteering at the 'Dome, Hurricane Rita

October 2005 - New tree, Halloween, Kai's 4th birthday

November 2005 - XBOX 360's, dumb judges, and sick kids puking

December 2005 - Crazy Chrismtas lights

Now That's Christmas Spirit

2005-12-17T10:59:00.000-08:00

I want to decorate like this next year. This is totally awesome. Wonder how my neighbors would feel about this.

Now That's a Lego Set

2005-12-15T19:06:00.000-08:00

Ebay item being sold for Habitat for Humanity. Over 8 feet longs, 150 pounds, and over 35,000 pieces. Wow!!! I want it. Also, shipping is free!!!

Airmarshall Shooting in Miami

2005-12-03T14:36:00.000-08:00

Pretty sad that a guy had to die, but I guess if you run down the aisle of an airplane saying you have a bomb, there's the chance that you'll get shot.

They mentioned that they took all the baggage off the plane and let the dogs sniff 'em out. Nothing found, but they did blow up 2 bags. I wonder what type of recourse a person would have if their bag was blown up because it was suspicious...which reminds me of a story I heard earlier this week. The Bay Bridge in San Fran was closed for a while because someone found an empty bag or suitcase on the bridge. They were able to tell that there were wires in the suitcase...turned out to be Christmas lights...

Rest in Peace, Mr. Miyagi

2005-11-25T08:18:00.000-08:00

Pat Morita (aka Mr Miyagi from the Karate Kid series) has passed away.

Go well into that good night. Man who catch fly with chopstick accomplish anything.

Bio.

XBOX 360

2005-11-22T18:44:00.000-08:00

So it went on sale today and I realized that I don't have the money to buy one...oh well, such is life. But I've seen some on Ebay for some outrageous prices. Can't people wait a couple weeks for the next shipment? Anyway, I found this picture of a giddy Bill Gates at a Best Buy hockin' his product. Almost looks like C. Montgomery Burns...Exxxcellent.

I want an.....

2005-11-17T19:25:00.000-08:00

Xbox 360. I went to Best Buy after work and played the demo Call to Arms 2(?). Damn, that was fun. It looked fantastic.

Only for the high price.....sigh.

So long and good night for the Phaeton

2005-11-15T20:37:00.000-08:00

VW's entry into the ultra luxury vehicle segement in the US has fizzled. According to some reports, only 686 VW Phaetons have been sold in the US. The anticipated number at inception was 10,000.

Oh well, maybe they should stick to making Golfs (24,000,000)

Yet another reason for my sister's not to have kids

2005-11-15T20:24:00.000-08:00

I mentioned that the kids were sick, right? Well, I took Mia from her momma last night to put her to bed. She proceeded to puke, just a bit and on the floor. I call Ana to come clean it up. Mia then proceeds to puke on me. I went "Eeeewwwwww!!!" and turned my head towards Ana, making a disgusted face. Then Mia does some projectile stuff. I mean, almost into my mouth. Ugh!!!! Like less than a quarter inch from my mouth. Bleyuch!!! It runs down my face, on my shirt.... So I take Mia into the bathroom and she pukes yet another time, this time on my shorts. So by the time I get ready to hop in the shower, I've been puked on my face, a bit on my neck, on my shirt, shorts, some running down my arm... yuck. It was cheese (actually milk, but you know how that gets after a while), spinach, gatorade, tomatoes(?), just lovely.

Ugh...

2005-11-15T19:33:00.000-08:00

So everyone in the house is sick now. It's all Ana's fault. I blame her. She started it, and now I get to finish it.

Well, the two youngest kids both have tonsillitis and ear infections. Mia is allergic to penecillin so she's on something else, while kai is on amoxycillin. Me, I don't know. I'll find out tomorrow when I go visit the doctor. Speaking of doctor visits, I told my supervisor that I had my doctor visit tomorrow. He asked me if I could skip it. I was like, no, there's a reason that I set up an appointment. This will be only the second time that I have gone to the doctor since I started working there....5 years and 8 months ago. Geez. Then he asks if I plan on coming back after my appointment (which is at 3:00 PM). We'll see.

But anyway, that's the latest from the household...

How dumb can you be.

2005-11-14T16:13:00.000-08:00

From the featured article....

HOUSTON -- A Houston-area justice of the peace went on trial Monday for allegedly using her deceased mother's name to apply for a handicap-parking permit, Local 2 reported.
Harris County Judge Betty Brock Bell, 55, applied for the permit in September 2004, officials said. She is charged with tampering with a government document, which is a felony punishable by up to two years in jail. Opening statements in her trial began Monday afternoon.

Prosecutors said Bell is blaming an inexperienced clerk.

"The defendant says, 'Well, they should have told me I couldn't do it. When I went to the tax office and I made this application, I didn't know it was illegal. I didn't know it was illegal to put my dead mother's name there as the applicant,'" the prosecutor told jurors.

(Hmm, I wonder if it's illegal to fill out a form for social security benefits for a dead person...idiot)

The defense said it would show that Bell did not receive enough explanation from the clerk.
"(The clerk said) 'Go ahead and initial this application,' and, of course, it was the application they still had on file for her deceased mom. Thinking that she could still continue to renew it under that application, she goes ahead and initials the application," defense attorney Jeffrey Gelb said.
Gelb said when the application was filed, Bell had a hip problem and drove around relatives who were handicapped.

He also told jurors that a disgruntled employee of Bell's sparked the investigation. The judge barred that statement and would not allow the jury to consider it.

Bell said she would provide a solid, legal reason why she obtained the handicap placard using her dead mother's name, but she declined to answer KPRC's questions about it Monday.

County workers who took the parking permit application last year knew her mother was deceased, so they turned it over to the district attorney's office, according to authorities.
Bell has been on the bench for nearly 20 years. She won re-election to Precinct 7, Place 1 last year. She was the first black woman to be elected as a justice of the peace in Harris County.

Halloween

2005-11-06T17:24:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I know that Halloween was almost a week ago, but I guess late is better than never. Here are the pictures of the kids.

Trees, trees, and more trees

2005-10-08T14:28:00.000-07:00

I spent the morning planting trees today. It was a very nice morning. Temperatures were in the 60's maybe low 70's this morning.

I transplanted the Crepe Myrtle from the front of the house and put it on the opposite side of the other Crepe Myrtle in front of the house. That one sucked. It was a major pain to dig out. It weighed a lot, and I broke my stinkin shovel. Luckily, I dug the hole for the new location for the tree last night.

Then I planted the Wisonsin Weeping Willow in the hole the Crepe Myrtle formerly resided. It's a nice sized tree, considering I only paid 12.99 after tax. 40 dollars regular minus 70% off. What a deal.

Well, I'll post pictures later.

Post Rita...Now the Fun Begins

2005-09-25T08:31:00.000-07:00

Rita came and went like nothing happened. OK, that's my perspective from my house. I drove around looking for a place to eat. It looked like McD's was open because there was a line of cars. Well, drove up to the drive thru and one of the guys working there said that they were closed and would open today. I was thinking, man they could make a killing, being one of the only places open in the area. I guess a lot of stores/restaurants will open today. Our friend Christine had to go to work today. Ana's brother had to go in as well. My buddy John has to go and check on his store. I don't know if he'll be opening the store since all of his workers fled town (that's what they say).

Damage around the area that I drove around ranged from peeled shingles, downed tree limbs, and blown down fences. The big wooden sign to the subdivision broke off its posts and is laying on the ground.

But like I said, the fun begins. I started clearing out the garage. Did I mention that it is frickin' hot? Man, it was so much nicer yesterday. Now we're going back to our normal weather. 96 degrees and 94% humidity. Crap. Since we didn't get much rain, guess I'll still have to water.

Putting stuff out of the garage shouldn't take that long. Then the process of taking all the stuff from upstairs back downstairs. One of the things I don't look forward to is re-hooking up the computer from where it initially was. But I guess this is better than the house flooding or damaged.

9/24/05 (10:30 AM)

2005-09-24T08:25:00.000-07:00

Hurricane Rita has come ashore. Nothing much has happened. Some wind, very little rain.

I checked the outside weather around 2:30 AM. It was windy and rainy. There was a decent light show. Mainly transformers blowing up. A nice hue of blue, green, and orange every few seconds. I tried to catch pictures of it, but no luck. As you can tell, we still have power. However, my friend 5 miles to the north of us doesn't. Luckily, it's cool outside and a there is still a decent breeze to keep his house cool.

I checked outside this morning around 10 AM. It's overcast, windy, and even less rain (well, non-existent at this point). I checked around for some damage. None to the house. Our banana trees didn't fare so well, but everything else is OK. Luckily, the banana trees will likely recover. I was hoping for more rain than we got. I didn't water the new grass for almost a week, expecting enough (well, more than enough) rain from Rita. But you never know, we could still get some rain out of it.

I checked around the neighborhood. The only damage came from some wind. A couple of the new houses they are building suffered some shingle damage. Other than that, nothing. No broken tree limbs, no downed power lines, nada.

My mom told my wife not to let me out because mom knew that I would go outside and check stuff out. That didn't stop me so here are some pictures.

The picture above is from one of the new houses they are building. Notice the shingles.
Image of the sky to the west of my house.

Poor, poor banana trees.

9/23/05 (8:00 PM)

2005-09-23T17:58:00.000-07:00

OK, it's dark now. We are definitely getting the outer bands of the storm now. It's gotten windier and it has started raining. Not raining much, but it's wind driven rain so it hits pretty hard. We saw several flashes of blue and orange to the south of us. I'm guessing it was power transformers or something like that. We won't have that problem because our power transformers are on the ground. The clouds and sunset were equally impressive. Here are some pictures.

This is the red maple. It's got a bit of a lean to it, but not this much.

Here's the guava tree. Normally it stands straight up.

9/23/05 (4:30 PM)

2005-09-23T14:23:00.000-07:00

Here's an update from the border of Houston and Katy. Well, Hurricane Rita is making her way up to the coast. Looks like a Beaumont hit.

Weather here isn't too bad yet. It has definitely changed since this morning and even my last post 2 hours ago.

There is no more direct sunshine. Clouds have begun moving in, looks like from the east. Sustained winds have picked up a bit more. Before, there would be small gusts of wind. Now, it's almost a constant breeze. No idea how fast the wind is going, but it's rattling a screen on my upstairs window (maybe about 18-20 mph).

Well, that's it for now. Oh yeah, I watched the Lost episode I recorded. Damn it. I didn't know that they showed it at 8:00 PM on Wednesday. I started recording shortly before 7:00 PM. So I got to watch almost all of the episode before the tape stopped. I missed maybe about the last 3 minutes. I got to the part where the guy in the underground bunker got behind Locke and kept telling Jack to lower his weapon. I missed the rest and the preview for next week. Stupid VCRs.

9/23/05 (2:30PM)

2005-09-23T12:32:00.000-07:00

OK, all the prep that could be done is done. Ran out of tape for a couple windows. Everything that needed to be in is now in. I'll upload photos later.

Looks like the outer rain bands are about to come ashore in Galveston. It's getting a bit windier, but it's not too bad yet.

We'll see. Now I'm going to watch the season 2 premiere of Lost, since I missed it prepping for the hurricane the other night.

9/23/05 (9:35 AM)

2005-09-23T07:35:00.000-07:00

It's actually a nice day outside. Moderate temperatures with a nice breeze from the east. You wouldn't think that 250+ miles southeast of here churns a massive hurricane.

Well, I've done some work around the house some more. Took a couple more items from the backyard and put them in the garage. Taped and cardboarded up some windows. Still some to do.

They forecast the eye to make landfall near beaumont. They estimate that winds in my area (Katy) will be right around hurricane force (70-75 mph). This will last for a few hours. So we are OK for now, hopefully completely prepared for the worst, but hoping for the best.

Roads in and around Houston are clear. Most everyone that wanted to get out has gotten out. No long lines on the freeway. But that's in Houston. No telling how it is in Dallas / Austin / San Antonio.

There was a fire on a bus taking elderly people from Bellaire to Dallas. Unfortunately, 24 people aboard the bus (of 45) perished.

I'll write more as time goes by. Right now, must continue prepping the house.

09/22/05

2005-09-22T19:29:00.000-07:00

Well, well, here we are in sunny and hot Houston, Texas. There's a major storm a brewin out in the gulf. You may have heard of it. Hurricane Rita. 3rd strongest hurricane ever recorded. Right now shes 350 miles away from Galveston. I'm about 80 miles from Galveston. I'm kind of safe as long as she keeps drifting towards the east.

What a hectic past couple days. Yesterday, I spent all afternoon preping for the hurricane. I took out all of the items in the backyard that could become airborne missles. Cleaned out the garage to stuff the cars into if needed.

So I get an email at work stating that they expect us at work today. Forget that the mayor and governor said that all businesses should let their employees get the next couple days off to prep or evacuate in wake of this potential disaster.

I go in to work, grumbling for the most part. I was thinking, why am I the only one going in to town, while everyone else is going out of town. What kind of idiot am I? Well, i finally make it to work. All the outbound lanes are packed and not moving. Yet my travel in was pretty easy.

I get to work and I'm not the only insane person that went in. After a while people start trickling in. The people that work in the cafeteria didn't show so we had no lunch. We were told to get outside lunch. Great, only thing is that nothing was open. Fan-frickin-tastic.

Well, they finally let us go at 1:30 PM. Traffic hasn't moved much in that time. Lots of cars are dying on the road from a lack of gas. When you are sitting idle in traffic for, I don't know, 14 hours or so, your car will probably die.

I was going to evacuate to the Austin area where my sister lives. Problem is 290 sucks, I10 sucks, it just sucks all around. If I was to evacuate, I should have done it Wednesday morning.

I spent the morning at work mapping out alternative routes for my wife to take. Since I couldn't find gas for her car, I suggested that she pack the kids and take off in my car. I would ride the storm out. I thought 1093 to 36 to 10. Yeah, I'm sure alot of other people thought that too.

So, alas, here I am. Still have some work to do. Wish me luck. I'll write more later. Hopefully we'll have power.

Hurricane Rita

2005-09-20T19:54:00.000-07:00

Oh boy...this one is aimed at Texas...we'll see how it goes (or if I'll end up splittin' town).

Wanday Sykes is Awesome

2005-09-18T18:12:00.000-07:00

OK, I know that her TV show didn't last that long. She was pretty funny in Monster in Law. But her bit on Leno was priceless.

Jay: "But President Bush took responsibility."

Wanda: "I don’t think the President should have taken responsibility…. I don’t blame the President. I blame the American people. Y’all knew the man was slow when you voted him in. You can’t blame the blind man for wrecking your car when you’re the one who gave him the keys."

Failure

2005-09-16T17:05:00.000-07:00

Directions:Go to Google google.comtype in the word "failure"look at the first hit. =)Notice that this pops up BEFORE the definition of the word and anything on Heart Failure. Ha ha!

Screw the NY Times

2005-09-09T19:12:00.000-07:00

Like the title says, screw the NY Times!!! I take particular offense to an article they released the other day. The article is titled "Houston Finds Business Boon After Katrina".

The article portrays Houston as taking advantage of the situation that affected lots and lots of New Orleans residents. I mean, yeah, there may be some, but probably very, very few. What I have learned from this tragedy is that there are a lot of caring Houstonians. Screw the NY Times!!!

You know, I'd tell them that I volunteered (which I did) at the Astrodome. It was the height of activity here so there were thousands of evacuees here. Tell me, what has the NY Times done for the evacuees??? Have they donated any money??? Not any that I could find. All they did is what every other media outlet does, take pictures. They didn't do shit.

I volunteered my time. Two shifts in less than two days. To be exact, 16 hours volunteered in a span of 27 hours. I didn't get paid for it. I definitely didn't make any money out of it. In fact, I had to spend money. You know that gas has been high. It was about $2.99 in the Houston area. I drove 120 miles total (two trips to and from Katy to the Astrodome). That's about half a tank of gas. So it cost me about $21.00 to go volunteer...FOR FREE!!!!!

So screw the NY Times. Their article does not reflect what's really going on in Houston. WTF does the NY Times know about Houston anyway??? Damn Yankees.

Volunteering for Hurricane Katrina Evacuees

2005-09-07T20:05:00.000-07:00

Looks like there may not be much more of a need to volunteer at the Astrodome. Last week, 24000 people at the Astrodome area. Today, around 8000 remain. I'm sure that they'll still need some assistance, but not as much. They've implemented a curfew, so volunteers can't work later than 11:00 PM. I'll check what is needed later in the week to determine if I'll go back.

Well, I've at least helped/volunteered previously.

Say howdy to 'Reliant City,' population 24,900

2005-09-05T16:57:00.000-07:00

From Domeblog:

Houston's Unified Command today announced that there's a "zoning plan" for what they're calling "Reliant City," which consists of four locations:
. Dome City 17,500 residents. Center City 3,800 residents. Arena City 2,300 residents. George R. Brown City 1,300 residents
They say that with 24,900 total residents, the Reliant Park Complex is now the largest evacuation shelter in U.S. history.
They are planning to set up typical neighborhood amenities such as a Welcome Center, Banking Center, Reliant Town Square Park, Reliant City Medical Center, a Transit Center with Metro Transit Authority and HISD school bus stops.
The Reliant Town Square will include a playground, sports field and laundry facilities. The Salvation Army will construct several refreshment centers east of Dome City.
Construction completion goal is Friday.
According to the Harris County Department of Education, more than 4,000 school-aged children are expected to register this week and will start classes Sept. 12.
The Reliant City Medical Center will take 100,000 square feet of empty warehouse space, with 70 patient treatment spaces open 24 hours a day. The clinic is seeing an average of 1,400 patients per day, and has treated more than 5,100 patients in the past four days.

This should help relieve some of the tension over there. After being there myself volunteering, I know that I would go apeshit without having something to do. Imagine just sitting on your cot all frickin day. How boring is that? Sure you could roam around the complex and outside the facility, but without any money, what can you do?

Volunteering at the Astrodome Part 2

2005-09-04T09:57:00.000-07:00

Well, I decided to go back to the Astrodome to help out after Ana came home yesterday. As we last left off, I came back from the 'Dome at 2:00PM. Ana went to work and came back. I was out the door going back to the 'Dome at midnight. Well, here's what happened.

First of all, the number of volunteers dropped significantly. They said that there were around 2600 volunteers on Saturday. When I went back at midnight, there were about 30. Still a decent number considering what time it was.

Well, our first task was to move 20 unused cots/blankets/pillows from the Reliant Center to Reliant Arena. OK, no problem. Did I mention that there were failures of communications between people there? We get to Reliant Center. They don't know what we're talking about. After about half an hour, they tell us which ones to take. OK. Now the long trek. Reliant Arena is on the whole other side of the Reliant park complex. It was a nice long walk. OK, we get there and we were instructed to put the stuff in the "Isolation" area. Where the hell was that? No one at Reliant Arena knew. We wandered a bit before someone finally said to take it upstairs. Geez, use your walkie talkie once in a while. And once done, begin the trek back to Reliant Center again.

Well, our next assignment was to go back to help clean up before breakfast at Reliant Arena. Yeah, the place we just came back from. So another long trek over there. This is where I met Marthe (pronounced Martha). She worked for the Museum of Health and Medical Science. This was her first time volunteering for the Hurricane Katrina evacuees. She asked about my experiences and things like that. She was quite cheery. She told me that her and her friend were trying to volunteer the day before (Saturday), but traffic was insane. She said she may have came at the time of the most activity in the area. Probably so.

Well, we finally make it to Reliant Arena where we are met by a Red Cross employee. She informs us what we will probably doing (which was clean the area before breakfast). She told us what was going on there. There were about 6000 people in Reliant Arena. We were instructed to wear gloves (which we weren't instructed to do yesterday). While waiting for the go ahead to do anything, I looked at the message boards placed on the wall. Then I thought, well, these people are placing messages on the message board searching for people that may be in another location (i.e. Astrodome or Reliant Center). I don't think that there was any coordination to get all of the information together so that people could easily locate one another if they were in separate buildings. Only people that went to Reliant Arena would see messages posted by other Reliant Arena evacuees.

We were informed that the cleaning crew cleaned the breakfast area for us. Well, then we were given the task of roaming the three locations within Reliant Arena where people were situated. They suggested that we team up, guy/girl for safety reasons. Since I had talked a bit with Marthe, we both decided to team up together. We took the arena area itself (floor and stadium seating). The other 2 areas were long hallways. Well, all we had to do was walk up and down the aisles and see if we could clean up a bit (pick up loose trash). We encountered several people that were still awake, some kids just laying there with their eyes opened, and things of that sort. Well, our area had maybe 1500 people. Four of us were roaming the area. Marthe and I chit chatted a while to pass the time while walking up and down the aisles, over and over. Did I mention that it was frickin' cold in there? I don't know why the kept the thermostat on like 50, but it was cold. Marthe and I covered a couple people up with their blankets and things like that. After a while, Marthe said she was thirsty and was going to get a drink and asked if I needed one. I told her that I was OK, and that was pretty much the last I saw of her. Not that she went home or anything, she just hung out with the guy serving drinks.

Well, I continued trolling the aisles and found a lady that needed assistance to get to the bathroom. She needed a wheelchair and in times like this, wheelchairs are a commodity. I found one that had the initials HCHD (Harris County Hospital District) painted on it, so I knew that no one there owned it. Well, I began taking it and this lady started yelling at me (well, not loudly). She was like "What the fuck are you doing? That wheelchair is for my mother!" Well, didn't know that it was hers. Her name wasn't on it or anything like that. I put the wheelchair back and found one that nobody fussed at me about (maybe because they were still all asleep). Well, I helped the lady to the bathroom and that's all she needed.

Next thing that happened was that Lucian (the Red Cross head guy from Connecticut) called me over to take a cot out. The person that was in it had, um soiled it. So a UH-Downtown cadet and I lifted the cot and took it outside, disassembled it, and trashed it. Wasn't too bad except it stunk, and I was trailing the smell. Bleyuch!!!

Well after that, Marthe returned. This time with a lost child in tow. She asked if I could carry this 6/7 year old girl so she could see if she could find her cot. You didn't see too many heads because they were under the covers (as I mentioned, it was frickin cold). Well, the kid was getting really heavy. I sat her down as a couple people searched to see if they could locate her mother. She started falling asleep in the chair and almost fell out of it. That scared her so I put her on my leg. She leaned on me and fell right asleep. OK, I'm not a hypochondriac or anything, but stuff went through my mind. What might this kid have after being stuck in the Superdome this whole time. Just as I was pondering that, she went into a fit of coughing. I was thinking, shit she has something. Maybe not. Maybe she just choked on her spit while sleeping. Well, it sounded like she wanted to puke and that's the last thing I wanted to happen. She didn't and a Red Cross person came by later to take her to a lost kids section.

So back to trolling the aisles. Nothing new there, picking up trash, getting blankets for some people, and thing of the sort. That's when I met volunteer nurse from Nacogdoches. She was surprised when I mentioned SFA. A guy I work with went to SFA and talks about Nacogdoches all the time. She told me that the guy who plays the lumberjack mascot was a totally flaming homosexual. I'll have to let the guy at work know that. His axe handle has purple streamers tied to the end of it.

Well, we chatted for a while. One of her patients walked by she let me know about him. Non-compliant schizophrenic (violent schizophrenic). I told her if he started something I would be going the other way quickly. She mentioned that dysentery had begun its course throughout the evacuees, but would probably would end soon because a lot of medicine had arrived.

We talked some more about things. She let me know what some ambulance personnel do if people get beligerent with them when trying to transport people to the hospital. Well, you know how the mobilize patients in the ambulance with tape, well, if you act up, they'll run the tape right over your eyebrows. The stuff used is stronger than duct tape. Ouch.

Well, it was getting light outside and I had been replaced by a group from ExxonMobil, you could see the sea of red shirts with logos. Yeah, that was around 6:00 AM (just in time for the morning news). Yeah, you won't find me on the news because all of the reporters were sleeping while I was working. ExxonMobil, show up and take all the glory...fuckers.

Someone handed me one of the people that slept in my section. He couldn't remember where his cot was. I didn't know so we walked the entire thing twice and finally found it. He really only wanted to find it so he could get a smoke. I told him where he could go smoke, but he insisted that I take him out so I could show him where his cot was. I propped his blankets up and made a teepee shape out of them so it would be easy to find. I took him outside and we talked for a bit. He was a bit difficult to understand (Louisiana accent and stroke victim). Well, after he had his smoke, I showed him back to his cot.

Well, I decided to get some Krispy Kreme donuts (fritters actually). Just as I finished my 3rd, an HISD truck showed up with lots of food items (more donouts, cereal, cinnamon rolls, danish pastries, and apples. They called for volunteers to unload the truck in the assembly line fashion (people a few feet apart and just hand the stuff down the line). We got done with that truck pretty quick. Another one came with the milk for the cereal.

That was it. It was about 8:15 AM now and I was tired. I hadn't slept since 4:30 AM on Saturday morning. So that's 16 hours total volunteered over a 28 hour period, with no sleep. Well, I did catch a nap while driving. I found myself in the middle of the intersection of Barker Cypress and Saums, and woke up. I was like, "Fuck...doo dee doo dee doo".

Now I've got 2 hours of sleep under my belt. Ana had to go to work and if you know my kids, they're not gonna let me sleep. Well, today wasn't the most fun. Lots of walking around. My feet hurt, the tendons behind my knee hurt, yeah, it does. I hope I don't get sick from helping all of those people out. In total I had to help 2 people to the bathroom. Oh yeah, this was the first time I operated a wheelchair. I don't drive those things very well. I nudged 3 cots with people sleeping in them (my bad).

Well, I'll have to see when I would be able to go back again. Walter (my brother in law) wants to go on Friday. That would be the first day I'm available again. We'll see.

Volunteering at the Astrodome for Superdome Evacuees

2005-09-03T14:14:00.000-07:00

Well, I went to the Astrodome today to volunteer in assisting any way I could those that were displaced by Hurricane Katrina. As most everyone knows, these people were evacuated from the Superdome and transferred to the Astrodome.

Here's how my day went.

I arrived a bit before 6:00 AM. To my surprise, there were several volunteers already waiting. Well, we had to sign up and get our colored bracelet. There were different ones, but the main thing is that the pink bracelets were for evacuees. Mine was beige. I saw others that were yellow and white. Later in the day, so many volunteers arrived, that the Red Cross ran out of the bracelets to hand out. The wrote "V" in marker on volunteers hands. There were numerous people with Shell (oil) shirts. Lots of younger folk, my age, probably younger. You'll have to excuse the quality of the photos in this blog entry. They were taken from my camera phone. Since I haven't been able to pay off my cell phone bill, I took a picture of the picture on my phone using my digital camera.
I got called to my first assignment, which was to serve breakfast. Here's a photo of our arrival inside the Astrodome.
I didn't really feel like serving breakfast because I thought it would be similar to the lunch lines in school. The lunch lady gave you your food. I didn't want to deal with people saying that I didn't give them enough. Thankfully, all we had to do was set up the tables with the food items. Those that woke up were able to get the food themselves. Several of us were sent throughout the Astrodome to hand out breakfast to those that couldn't make it to the breakfast area (the breakfast area was in the concourse section on the 4th floor).

After breakfast was done, we were given the task of walking the Astrodome floor and being courteous to the people, see if they needed anything, and things of that nature. I got teamed up with a guy named Chris from Rosenberg, TX (I would run into him later in the day as well). We walked, up and down the floor, but most people were still sleeping. It didn't seem like I was doing anything to be helpful, just courteous to those that were awake. It was amazing to see all of these people of all types, old, young, really young, several white people, a couple hispanics, but the majority black. That didn't matter to me though. They were situated in these cramped, yet air conditioned areas. Cot right next to cot. There were breaks in the cots so they could get up and walk around. It was nice to see some of the kids, you know, being kids. Some were playing Yugi-Oh, another tied a string to a car to drag it around. The adults, well, some were pretty despondent, some angry, but most just thankful.

I talked with one of the evacuees who was ready to start over again. He was kind of upset that people were being lazy and still sleeping (it was around 8:15AM). He said, if people want to succeed, that they'll have to get up and go do something. I agreed and we talked for a few minutes. I then left and had to pee really bad. The bathroom kind of stunk. What do you expect a bathroom to smell like. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary though (other than seeing people brush their teeth in there). It was surprising how warm it was in the morning on the Astrodome floor. Luckily, the A/C kicked in later and made it much more tolerable. I saw the ever-growing message board, you know people searching for people. This was remniscent of the message boards that popped up after 9-11 and the Dec. 26 tsunami.

Here are some of the pictures I took while walking the Astrodome floor.

See, cot right next to cot. After my stint on the Astrodome floor, I went back to the volunteer staging area. My next assignment was to move something. Didn't know at the time what it was...turned out to be copy machines for the logistical team (red cross, sbc, etc). Well, while waiting for the truck driver to show back up, I got a picture of a couple of ambulances that went down the ramp in the Astrodome close to the floor of the arena. They loaded a couple people up. One lady was getting checked on the floor close to the ambulances as well. The medical triage center was in the same area.

Well, the copy machine guy got there and we had to move 3 copy machines to the 5th floor in the Astrodome. We got to go within the bowels of the Astrodome. We made it to the elevator which was heavily used. There was a sewage backup in the area so that stunk pretty bad. Well, we finally made it on the elevator and got the copy machines to the 5th floor. Problem was that nobody up there really knew what to do with them. So after a few minutes they decided to place them in several areas on the 5th floor. Here's an image of the Astrodome floor from where I was.

All of the white dots were the cots/blankets that people were in.

Well, once that was done, I think I did the most charitable, hospitable, courteous thing I've ever done. As were were going back down on the elevator, two elderly black women (sisters) got on the elevator. They wanted to go to the second floor. They were carrying garbage bags of items (which may have been the only things that they had left). I and another guy, Ron, decided to help carry their bags. It wasn't light, and I was surprised that these 2 ladies were able to carry the bags with them all around the Astrodome. There was an announcement that people should go to section 262 for something (they thought it was for busses outta Houston and I thought I heard it was for free flights to Denver (courtesy of some airline that I don't remember)). Well we got there and there wasn't anything there. We decided to walk around some more. If you don't know the 'Dome, you get around between levels by going up/down ramps. They wanted to get out of the 'Dome and see if they could call/catch a cab. Well, neither Ron or myself knew our way around the 'Dome. We walked around carrying these ladies belongings for maybe an hour or so. We finally made it outside. They thanked us profusely and even wanted to give us something. Both of us refused saying that the only thing we wanted to do was help. That's enough gratification for us. Well, I got chance to talk with Ron after that. He's from Sugar Land.

We waited around in the docking area in the 'Dome to see if there was anything else to help with. There were 5 Wal-Mart trucks getting ready to unload. With my experience in being a box monkey for a toy store, I figured that I would be able to help. Well, they didn't need me as they sent stockers from all over the place. Ron and I departed our separate ways. I decided to go back on the Astrodome floor and walk around and see if anyone needed any assistance. It was pretty much lunch time at that moment, so I know there was a slight rush to the 4th floor concourse where lunch was being served. Here's a picture before I went up to the concourse

Well, I decided to make my way up to the 4th floor concourse to help out with the distribution of lunch. I ran into a couple of the guys that helped move the copy machines with me. One of them actually went to high school with me. I knew he looked familiar. Greg's his name and he lived right around the corner from the 'Dome. Well, I ended up on the drink line. The drink area consisted of large, deep coolers, filled with ice and canned sodas and bottled water. Well, if you have ever kept your hands (arms up to your shoulders) submerged in ice filled waters, then you'll know how I felt. My hands started burning (frostbite maybe). But I persisted. When there was a lull in the food distribution, I took a box and filled it with cold water/sodas. I walked around the concourse and the stadium seating offering drinks. Here's a picture from the stadium seats.
Did I mention that people slept in three areas, the Astrodome floor, stadium seats, and concourse/hallways? Well, they did. not the best arrangements, but from what I heard, better than from where they came from.

This is where I ran into Chris again as well (the guy I walked the Astrodome floor with much earlier in the day). He was re-assigned to deliver items to the various tables serving food/drinks. I also met another guy named Chris, however, this one was one of the evacuees. He was only 11 but he decided to help out and hand out drinks. I think it was great that he was helping. We goofed off a bit (I'm a big kid myself) to take his mind off things. He was very helpful. I wish that everything turns out alright for him and his family.

I continued to serve drinks even as my hands became numb. People were asking mainly for Coke, which we ran out of quickly. The often settled for orange or strawberry Fanta. Although I was able to dig real deep into the cooler (that's why I came home wet up to my shoulders) and occasionally find a Coke. I got a bit hungry and had one of the hand out ham sandwiches. It was actually really good. There were plenty of them, so no one was not getting served. There was actually a lot of items we put on the table (bagles, donut holes, twinkies, zingers, croissants, cinnamon rolls, all kind of stuff). Some people actually brought some of the food back that their kids may have picked up. Unselfish. It was amazing. Here, they had free reign on any/all of the food that they could get, but returned it feeling that others may need it. I doubt it as more and more trucks of food/drinks arrived. But still, unselfish.

A little boy came up to me later asking if he could have a peanut butter sandwich. Problem was we didn't have any bread. I decided to take one of those good ham sandwiches and take the ham out. I made him the peanut butter sandwich and went off happily. Since there was extra ham, I figured I'd have a double ham sandwich (yummy).

Well, as quickly as I got there (6:00 AM), I had to leave (2:00 PM). My wife had to work today at 5:00 PM. I initially wanted to go volunteer later in the day (you know sleep in on my day off), but decided since she worked at 5, I would go in the earliest I could.

It was amazing to see it all. A lot of the people were courteous, thankful to be alive. They seemed like they were over the frustration of being left there at the Superdome without any assistance. Many thanked me as they came to get drinks, not thank me for the drink, but thank me for being there to help them out. Granted, there were the few (very, very few) that were angry, but overall, seems like everyone is much happier being here than there. The outpouring of Houston area residents was amazing. There was a line to get in to the building to volunteer, which I would imagine to be several hundred if not thousand deep.

To wrap it up, I can look back on this experience and finally know that I have done something worthwhile. I haven't volunteered for anything outside of work before. I felt compelled to do it. Maybe because these people are our neighbors. Maybe I wanted to help the city look good (probably not the case). Maybe I wanted to help those less fortunate. Maybe I wanted to help myself feel better about the situation. Maybe it's a culmination of all of what I said.

Well, that's it. Thanks for reading the blog. I know it was long, but here's a final piece of information. As some of the evacuees were moving about, some were crossing the street from the Astrodome to Reliant Center. A cameraman was crouched, taking video looking up at the people. He caught the guy right in front of me who was carrying a bag of items. I don't think that he was an evacuee since he didn't have the pink bracelet. Well, anyway, as the cameraman was following this guy walking, he smacked his camera right into a concrete pillar. It made a noise that sounded like a crack, but not a whole break. Well, I laughed, as did the guy in front of me.

Houston Saints & Houston Hornets?

2005-08-31T19:51:00.000-07:00

There are talks about the New Orleans Saints and New Orleans Hornets relocating and possibly playing in Houston. There was discussion that the Saints would maybe play their home opener in Houston...problem is that it's on the same day as Houston's home opener. Here's a thought...double header. For regular price of a Texans ticket, you get to watch the Saints game afterwards. It would be requested that a donation be made but not mandatory. If you got a dollar from everyone at the stadium, that would be over $60K raised (probably more like 70K, not counting people donating more than a buck). Good idea, but I haven't thought of what logistical issues there may be. Just throwing it out there.

Here's a neat picture of the "calm of the storm" from thousands of feet up.

Bitchin' about gas prices

2005-08-31T18:52:00.000-07:00

Well, never seen it before...gas in Houston maxed out at $3.31 per gallon. WTF?!?!?!?!? Yup, that's right, $3.31 per gallon. I was able to find gas at $2.64 and you bet your ass that I filled up. I only needed 3 gallons to fill up, but still, better buy the gas at that price now before it goes any higher (possibly $4.00 per gallon).

What to do. Oil really isn't the problem, it's the refinement. Not enough refineries. But where's a good equilibrium for refineries vs the environment?

It's official, it's too expensive to go to work...to bad we can't telecommute (go figure a computer company that doesn't use telecommute...ain't that a bitch).

We'll see how much higher gas goes...time to get a bike (plus my ass is getting fat and need the exercise).

We're Going to the 'Dome!!!!

2005-08-31T18:17:00.000-07:00

There's usually jubilation behind saying that. High school football is big here in Houston and that's where everyone wants to go...when you're playing high school football.

Well, moving from one dome to another. At least this one has air conditioning, electricity, running water, working restrooms, and local restaurants (that are open). I read that a 450 bus caravan will make its way from Lousiana this way.

"The New Colossus" (as inscribed on the Statue of Liberty)

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

There's a lot of stuff around town for the evacuees to do. Here's a partial list:

The Houston Museum of Natural Science - free

Six Flags AstroWorld - reduced rates

Houston Zoo - free

The Houston Symphony - free

Houston Astros - half price tickets

The Children's Museum of Houston - free

Hermann Park - free pedal boat rides

Houston Comets - free

Moody Gardens - really reduced rates

Aquarium Downtown - free & a free appetizer

There are tons other. Here's a link to them all (

http://kkbq.com/MARKET/shared/info/katrinahelp.html)

The local radio station 94.5 The Buzz is running a request-a-thon. I don't have numbers on what they've accummulated so far, but I'm sure that it's a lot of money by now (see the Links bar). They're even auctioning off items (e.g. autographed guitars, autographed posters, etc).

Looks like this may be home for many of New Orleans residents for a while. Let's extend our hospitality. After all, they are our neighbors.

Hurricane Katrina

2005-08-30T20:14:00.000-07:00

I'm sure that I'm not the only person that is or has written about Hurricane Katrina, but I thought that I would express how I feel about it.

It's a tragedy. Lots of lives lost and lots of people's lives changed forever. Similar to how a lot of people came together to donate money and other items for the tsunami tragedy in Asia, we should come together again today to help our Gulf States neighbors, from Lousiana to Florida.

It is unbeliveable how in this day and age in America, that so many people have died from this. Everyone was given warnings and given a mandatory order to leave New Orleans. Some decided to ride it out. Now the levees are bursting and downtown New Orleans (which was dry yesterday) is inundated with several feet (up to 20 now) of water. Hopefully now, people will learn that when a hurricane of this magnitude comes, just leave. It's not worth it to stick around. The situation in Mississippi, where numerous (around 30) people died while riding out the hurricane bears similar resemblance to the "Hurricane Party" during Camille. Myth or not, the building was totally wiped out.

As for non-food merchandise looters (e.g. clothes, TVs, etc.) they should be arrested. I'm sure that the biggest concern the police and national guard has is to rescue people that are currently stranded, as it should. There was a video of park rangers trying to stop looters, even searched them, but they took off. Park rangers don't have the ability to arrest people I guess. Looting of food and water has been overlooked because most of the people consider it a necessity.

In Houston, the local alternative radio station, 94.5 The Buzz is running a request-a-thon tomorrow (08/31) from 6:00 AM to whenever. They did something similar for the tsunami in Asia and raised a lot for that. Here's the link (http://thebuzz.com/pages/requestathon.html). BTW the host of the morning show is from New Orleans so it has a place in his heart.

SUV City

2005-08-29T16:29:00.000-07:00

Found this on the 'net today. It's pretty funny. It's an 8 minute animated short on people living in a "dream land" called SUV City. Check it out.

http://www.suvcitythefilm.com/Pages/watchfilm3.html

Enjoy.

1st Haircut

2005-08-25T19:42:00.000-07:00

My baby's first haircut...sure it's 14 months after she was born, but it looks good. Picture at the bottom...she's fixated on the TV as the Simpsons are on.

Things that go Boom!

2005-08-22T21:57:00.000-07:00

Nuclear test footage.

$50.00 iBooks

2005-08-17T19:11:00.000-07:00

The mayhem, how awesome...well, unless you were one of the ones trampled. Interesting story. School sells (liquidates) 4 year old iBooks for $50.00 and the pandemonium ensue. They still go for around $250.00 on ebay...hey there are some already on there...

http://engadget.com/entry/1234000717054670/#comments

$2.61!!!! Holy crapola

2005-08-16T19:10:00.000-07:00

Exactly...holy crapola. Rising gas prices. Well, that's the highest I've seen regular unleaded gas for. The cheapest is $2.44.

Gas has gone up almost a whole dollar since the same time last year.

A barrel of oil is over $67.00.

What to do?!?!?!?!?! Who to blame?!?!?!?!?

This is how I'm affected...

- I might not be able to afford gas to go to work. I'll have to tell them that I can't afford to drive to work. Gas prices have gone up 36%, which is about 1200X the rate of inflation. I guess I'll have to telecommute / work from home. How sweet would that be. I work for a computer company, they should have the infrastructure to support it...nevermind.

- My electricity bill is much higher than last year. Sure it's August in Texas, but still...it's high. They had a clip on the news of some lady here that had an electricity bill over $500.00. Well she complained that they were strapped for cash, but ironically, she drove a gas guzzling expedition (that's her right) and had a plasma television in the living room.

Well, I've done a few things that I HOPE will save me some money.
- Set the A/C at 81. That's higher than the recommended 78, but that 3 degrees difference would probably mean my $175 bill would be over $200.

- Bought a few flourescent bulbs and replaced some of the higher used incandescent bulbs.

That's about it for now. Maybe I'll get solar panels (one can dream of the time when the electricity meter goes backwards).

She Walks!!!!

2005-08-15T17:41:00.000-07:00

She walks!!!!! Well, she has been walking for a while now, but this cool video hosting site let's me upload stuff. I'll be doing this for a while.

Dancin' Machine

2005-08-15T17:20:00.000-07:00

Here's Kai...AKA "The Dancin' Machine".

Energy Weapons

2005-07-20T21:37:00.000-07:00

There's an article on MSN (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8644374/) regarding a direct energy weapon that would be used for riot control / dispersal. Sounds like a good idea. Basically, it's a microwave beam fired in one direction. Those in the way will get a burning sensation (around 130 degree skin temperature after 2 seconds). Most people will want to move out of the way so the burning sensation disappears. This could prove to be a very good way to stop violent protests / riots, but there are always drawbacks.

If the people getting hit by this beam don't know what it is and don't know what to do (i.e. move out the way) or if the people are already incapacitated, then they'll cook. They also mention that eyeglasses and metal may intensify the effects of the beam.

But not to worry, they say a metal trash can lid (contrary to the previous statement) could be used as a countermeasure to the device (http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ground/v-mads.htm).

I'm just waiting for the space lasers now...

Bad Day at the Office

2005-07-20T18:42:00.000-07:00

Have you ever felt this way? Maybe when you get Windows Blue Screen of Death? Or something else?

Made in Thailand

2005-07-18T20:09:00.000-07:00

Interesting. The number 2 country in truck production is Thailand. Very intersting.

http://www.detnews.com/2005/autosinsider/0507/17/B01-250138.htm

test

2005-07-14T21:39:00.000-07:00

Tom Cruise

2005-07-13T22:22:00.000-07:00

Some interesting stuff I heard on the radio about Tom Cruise.

His first wife, Mimi Rogers, born in 1956
Second wife, Nicole Kidman, born 1967
Third soon-to-be wife, Katie Holmes, born 1978

Do the math...each successive wife was born 11 years after the prior one...so some 16 year old right now may be the future Mrs. Tom Cruise.

Another thing I heard, in Minority Report, there is a scene where these orbs are floating around. The orbs have advertisements. Freeze frame some of them and they say that one of the orbs is a TV Guide advertisement with Katie Holmes.

Hmm......

Talk Radio

2005-07-11T20:06:00.000-07:00

Talk Radio is kind of funny. I was listening to AM 950 here in the afternoon the other day. Savage Nation with Michael Savage was on. That guy is funny. It's pretty entertaining. He seems to be some super patriot or something (a nut job maybe)

He was talking about watching out for terrorists (middle eastern of course). He suggested watching all middle easterns, since they are all terrorists (bright guy). Well, a caller called in and said that the bombings in London were probably done by middle easterners, but brought the point that pretty much all of the bombings done in the US have been done by Christian, white men. Ol' Savage didn't take that too lightly. His response was "so the 19 guys on 9/11 were white?" Of course not. He really didn't let the guy finish what he wanted to say. I guess that's the power Savage had, hit the hang up button because he didn't want to hear it anymore.

But anyway, it's interesting listening to him. It makes me laugh and makes the 45 minute trip home from work amusing. It's one thing to take this guy seriously (which I have trouble doing), but at least I get a laugh while I drive home.

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

2005-07-10T17:41:00.000-07:00

OK, soapbox time.

Guess what I owe this month in utilities...$225 and some change. Holy Crap!!!! Does Reliant charge a different rate for electricity during the summer??? I don't think that I used as much energy this month that I did the previous. I even turned the thermostat up to 80..80 fricking degrees. I wonder what my bill would be if I left it at the "recommended" 78 degrees?!?!?!?!

Hopefully they won't cut the electricity as I still owe about $150 for the past month. It was a rough month. I heard that there was a law stating that they cannot cut the electricity during the summer (since it is so frickin hot here). People die in this heat. But I can't find anything like that on the 'net. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong spots.

But any fuckin' way...this sucks. I hate it and it pisses me off. I try, trust me, I try. I don't know how I'm going to do it. Not too many available jobs out there. No responses or anything like that. "go to college get a degree"...blah, blah, blah. Too bad I don't have a time machine to go back and talk myself out of going to college. This degree (nothing more than a piece of paper) hasn't gotten me diddly yet.

OK, off the soapbox...Next!!!

Deja Vu

2005-07-08T22:43:00.000-07:00

Conspiracy Theory

2005-07-07T18:50:00.000-07:00

In light of Al Qaida/Qaeda claiming responsibility for the bombings in London, consider this. Remember all of the conspiracy theories associated with 9/11? You know, 9/11 for 911 emergency services, fold a $20 bill, etc.

Here's mine.

Take the date 07/07/05, add it up and you get 19...the same number of terrorists on 9/11...coincidence???

Earth is best viewed...

2005-07-07T18:47:00.000-07:00

Earth is best viewed from far away...

Because any closer, it's a scary place.