Well we have had another bad day.  Last night I was all set up to record the nightly television shows for Laila to watch later.  She had a court date scheduled so that we can start getting some of this legal stuff out of the way so she can come to the States.

She left bout 6 PM my time and I kept Chikka on so that she could text message me at home. 

In the meantime I had a bunch of paperwork to do for my new class so I knocked out what I could of that and watched a movie, while waiting for her to contact me.  About 7:30 she called me on the phone, but I guess her cell phone dropped because we could not hear each other.

She got home about 7:45 my time and so I didn't have to record anything for her.  She said the court date was moved to October as the Judge was out of the country.  She still had to pay an appearance fee, and I have to tell you, I am getting really sick of all the delays and additional costs involved.  You would think that if the Judge was not going to be there, they would notify the parties involved in ongoing cases know that before they waste the time and expense to appear.  

Anyway my son cooked some Carne Asada last night and I ate that, but was feeling a little rundown and tired.  We watched "House" and the two "Law and Order" shows.  Sometime during the night she got word that her niece had been admitted into the hospital for dengue fever and needed a blood transfusion.  She was still trying to find out more information about what was going on, when I went to bed.

This morning I woke up really early.  I was having to go to the bathroom a lot and had heartburn, probably from the Carne Asada my son made.  I tried to go back to sleep but lay awake thinking if the court cases would ever get over so that Laila ad I can get legally married soon.

I got up when the clock went off and actually got ready for work and all before my coffee was even finished brewing.  I went over to fire up chat, but I guess I got another of those Microsoft updates that rebooted my PC.  Since I have it password protected it will only boot up as far as the windows log on screen.

Anyway I finally got my coffee and got on line, and as soon as Laila came on I found out that her niece had died overnight.  I guess it was more serious than anyone knew and her family had taken too long to get her to the hospital.  It is a shame as her niece, Alexandra, was only 9 years old.

Now Laila is of course feeling the guilt we all feel when we lose a family member.  Why didn't I spend more time with her?  Why didn't I help my brother's family more?  Anyway, she was in tears and after we dedicated our prayers to Alexandra this morning I tried to calm her down the best I could.  I really don't know what else to do other than try and be supportive as possible.   

This morning I dropped my son off at work on my way to work.  When I parked the car I saw that he had forgotten his backpack in the car.  I have to fill a prescription for Monday's dental surgery at lunch so I will try and drop it off with him. 

Judy didn't call last night, and every time I tried to call her David was on the phone.  They should have made it to Texas yesterday.  I hope to contact her tonight and see how they are doing.

Anyway, I guess that is it for now.  I have a bunch of stuff to get done this morning at work, so I had better get hopping.

Well it is Monday again, and at least I had a better start to the week than last week.  This morning I was surprised that my son actually got up before I did, and since we are currently using just one of the bathrooms upstairs there was a little competition this morning. 

I was slightly late chatting with Laila this morning, but we did get our morning prayers done and then I dropped my son off at work on my way in this morning.  This morning is when I give all my end of the course maintenance tips to the class, and so I did that and had the class play around with the test equipment and showed them a few things that are not part of the curriculum.

After that I let them go for the day and then attended a meeting with a person that works for the depot, where we get items overhauled.  Since I am currently writing my part of the new curriculum, we asked him to review what we have been putting out in class and asked it he had any suggestions on additional things we should be saying about the equipment.  It is always helpful to get a knowledgeable outsider to look at things as we are so used to what we are doing, a fresh set of eyes can be a help.

He recommended a few minor changes, and it was a fun meeting.  He was extremely happy with what he has seen with our work.  I didn’t get a chance to show him what I am currently working on, as he had to leave and we ran out of time.  I know my co-workers are impressed as they talked about the new stuff.  I told him I would give him a copy when I get done with it.

This afternoon when I get off I will drop by and get my son, and then go home and get set up for “Deal or No Deal” tonight.  I already have leftovers from yesterday for dinner tonight so cooking won’t be a chore tonight. 

Anyway, I guess that is it for today.  I hope everyone has a great week.

Last night I stayed up a little late watching TV but I didn't sleep in that late this morning.  I got up and made a fast breakfast today Laila and I did our regular routine.

I also watched Fox News and was watching all the stuff about Bill Clinton's meltdown on his interview with Chris Wallace.  I guess the truth hurts.  Laila will disagree, but since I was in the military during the Clinton administration and lived through the lean years when we were getting our spare parts from decommissioned ship's and were firing missiles to keep his scandals off the front page of the newspapers and out of the press, I will not change my opinion.

Laila has a different opinion and does not understand why he is being beat up in the press, but then she gets her news from the Clinton News Network CNN.  She also lives in a country where the opinion of the people is controlled by what the government there will allow them to see on their media.  Anyway, I had better get off that subject because I don’t want to get my lovely Laila mad at me.

Laila went to bed just as I was leaving for church this morning.  Today was the 25^th Sunday in Ordinary Time.  The first reading was Wisdom 2:12, 17-20.  The second reading was James 3:16-4:3.  The Gospel was Mark 9:30-37.  Father Cholo gave the mass again this Sunday.  I guess he will be the one giving the 11 AM mass each Sunday.  The message today was about importance, and the fact that was we are all equal servants of God.  There are no servants of God that are more important than others.  So I took that to mean I should be humble and less cocky in my real life as well as spiritually.  I am sometimes guilty of that, especially when I teach.  I get a little over confident at times.

Now I am watching football and hoping to hear from my daughter who will be departing Maryland tomorrow morning and heading for San Diego.  I hope they take their time and don’t try to travel too far each day.  She said they are only going to drive during the daylight hours, and I hope she stays with that plan.  Especially with the weather being the way it has been back east lately.

Anyway, I have some paperwork to do for work and I had better get it done.  I hope everyone had a great weekend.

Last night Laila and I watched TV again since Yahoo was back up.  We watched “My Name is Earl” and then we watched the “Deal or No Deal” that I had recorded before last nights episode of “Deal or No Deal” came on.  It was pretty exciting as the woman got down to 2 cases one with $750,000 and one with $1,000,000.  They offered her $880,000 and she stayed with her case and won $750,000.  We were both really excited.

We then watch “Dateline” where they had the child sex sting going again.  They have been doing this for a few years now, so I am wondering how they can catch so many people.  You would think these guys would be a little more careful.  We then watched the season premier of “Law and Order”.  I wonder why Dennis Farina is no longer on the show.

We watched the news and then I went to bed.  I forgot to set my clock and slept in until 9 this morning, then had some slight PC problems before chatting with Laila this morning.  Just as she was getting ready to go to bed my ex called and told me m daughter Judy was having some problems and please to give her a call.

I said goodnight to Laila and then called Judy.  She was asking for some money for her trip, in case of emergency.  The ex and I decided we would split it, so I took a shower and was going to run to the bank and then to Western Union to wire her the money.  When I was in the shower I thought, why drive all over the place, I should be able to do it online.  So I got done with my shower and logged on to their site and filled out everything.  I hit send and found that my credit card was rejected.  I called their toll free number to find out what was up and they told me my credit card company didn’t approve it, so I called the credit card company.  They said they rejected it because they wanted to make sure it was a valid request, and to go ahead and try it again.

I logged back onto the Western Union site and again the credit card company rejected it.  I then asked if I could just take it out of my checking account, but they don’t do that.  By now I was getting angry, so I jumped in the car and went to the bank.  My bank is in Chula Vista and has the most miserable parking lot in the world, as I have blogged about before.  Also I hate to drive in Chula Vista as it is home to some of the most miserable drivers in the area.

Anyhow, I got my car parked after watching people try and park their SUV’s and big pickups into the little parking spaces in the parking structure.  When I went into the bank I then saw that the lines were ridiculous.  It must have been a payday or something because the lines were almost out the door and everyone was cashing checks.  I went to the member’s only line, since it was much smaller.  The member’s only line is just for deposits and withdrawals and is supposed to be like an express line.  Some lady though was taking forever, obviously blowing off the rules for the member’s only line. 

I finally got to the counter and was done with my transaction in less than a minute and then off to Western Union I went.  I could not believe the charges as it costs less to send Laila money in the Philippines than it cost to send money to Judy.  Then I came home and called Judy to give her the transaction number so she could pick up her money. 

Now I am doing my laundry and getting caught up on chores.  Anyway, I am glad all of that is over, and now I can get back to the weekend.

I love working with the military, especially because these guys can get the most ridiculous of rumors started.  This week the base has been practicing security drills, and so they have been doing vehicle searches at the gates, and checking identification carefully. 

Anyway, rumor has it that at 10AM this morning they are going to close the gate and that when they do that nobody will be allowed on or off the base.  The rumor has gone as far as having instructors dismiss their classes so they can get out of the gate before t closes.

I can’t do that with my class since we have to complete the final examination today.  They should finish it right about 10AM and then we will have to review and all.

I can see them securing the gate to inbound traffic but not to outbound traffic.  Even during 9-11 people were allowed out but not in, so it makes no sense to me.  Anyway, I guess I will find out when I try to leave.

It reminds me of the stupid stuff that used to be started and then spread around the ships I was stationed on.  People that think only women gossip and spread rumors are wrong.   Sailors have them beat hands down.  After the first gulf war when we were anchored off the coast of the United Arab Emirates for weeks at a time the rumors that came out about when we were going home, and possible port visits were always flying around.  I think that is why I always liked smaller ships better.  Al the best rumors and stories happened on the smaller ships.

Last night was supposed to be a great night.  “Deal or No Deal” was on as well as the season premier of “CSI”.  Shortly before 8PM when I fired up the web camera, I go a server busy from Yahoo.  I then tried Trillian, but it wouldn’t even turn on the camera.  I think Trillian can’t work if Yahoo is down.  Anyway since it was messed up all night Laila and I couldn’t watch TV together last night.  I did tape “Deal or No Deal” so we can watch it at a later date.

Also I messed up and did not record “CSI”.  I thought “Deal or No Deal” was supposed to come on at 8PM and then I would switch to “CSI” so I didn’t bother readying the upstairs VCR to record anything.  I also had some dumb idea that “CSI” came on at 10PM.  I guess in the future I should check the schedule instead of thinking.

I did see some other shows that were new or that I had not watched before.  “My Name is Earl” was pretty funny, but “The Office” was so crappy I almost turned it off.  I found this to be another agenda driven program.  I am so tired of seeing and hearing about gay issues on my TV, radio, and in my news on the internet.  I am not a homophobe or anything like that, I am just sick and tired of having it forced down my throat.  Put all this gay programming on Bravo and get it out of prime time, because when I see it I tune out.

There were no big winners in “Deal or No Deal” and the lady currently playing has already killed the top two prizes, so tonight it will not be that overly exciting.  She will not set a new record or anything.  Last night since Laila couldn’t watch I told her everything that was going on.  I am sure it would have been better to watch it on her side.

I hope whatever is going on at Yahoo gets fixed.  This morning just before leaving for work, I tried it out and they were still having problems.  I hope they didn’t get that new virus that is going around.  I have been fairly happy as they have been pretty good in the past in keeping it up.  I can only remember it being down one other time when I tried to use it. 

Well that is it for today’s post.  Have to get the class tested and out of here, and then hope that the rumors are not true and that I can get off the base today.

An update, I got off the base and stopped at the grocery store on the way home.  I got myself a nice steak and some ribs for the dogs, so I can spoil them a bit.  I checked Yahoo and it is back up so I am trying to get a few things done before Laila wakes up.  Wow, I am so glad the weekend is here.