We made it to San Antonio and we have returned from the rehearsal and dinner.  It was a lot of fun and I have seen people I have not seen in years.  Everyone was kind and considerate.

Getting to San Antonio was a pain in the butt as well as driving around in the city.  I don't know how people find there way around this place.  They have construction going on all over the place and it seems like it is the same work that was going on the last time I was here in 1989.

Anyway, we got up and then Judy and I after gassing up the car went to find a place to eat.  Near the hotel all th places were fast food places and we wanted something different.

We travelled down the freeway and there was a sign for IHOP so we decided to go there.  I took the off ramp and followed the food signs down the road a couple of miles and I didn't see and IHOP, just more fast food places.

I got back on the freeway and we went a few miles further and there was a sign for some family diner, which turned out to be a steakhouse, and it was closed besides that.  I then got back on the freeway and the daughter and I dcided to travel further down the road a little further.

Then we found the next town was about 70 miles away.  We decided to go for it and so we pulled into the next town and then we wound up going to a Sonic since by that time it was lunch time.

Just before we got to San Antonio we had to stop for gas.  I hate to get below a quarter tank while traveling, since you never know where the gas stations are.  I saw a sign for a Chevron Station and took the offramp.  At the bottom there was a sign that pointed left and said gas 2 miles.  I had to go through this little town with many redlights and whn I got to the Chevron station all the pumps were blocked with stuff for sale and it was not gas.

I went back to the the freeway and on the way found another station to stop at.  So we got gas and then headed into the city.  When we got there the freeways were a mess.  There ws construction going on everywhere and since I didn'tknow my way around I go lost a few times.

We finally found the motel and then I found out that the folks I made the reservations with did not make the reservations, so I will call American Express when I get home and cancel that.  In the meantime I got a room since they still had them available and we unloaded the car.

We still had a little time before the rehearsal and Judy needed a nice blouse and I needed a few things so we went to Wal-mart after finding out one was close by.  I was also looking for a USB microphone or headset so I could talk to Laila on the laptop, but they didn't hav any there so I asked the cashier and she told me there was a Bestbuy fairly close.  As we were on our way out of the Wal-mart parking lot Judy spotted a Radio Shack so we got it there.

We then after getting lost and driving on some very miserable freeway offramps and interchanges made it back to the motel and go reay to go.

Marty and Randine and one of her friends who came in all the way from Sacramento met us and we followed them to the rehearsal.  We got there a little early and checked out the place.  It is a nice big ol fashioned house, maybe a mansion or historical house and it looked pretty good and was pretty big.

We were the first ones there and walked around a bit.  Mny folks called to say they would be late after getting stuck in traffic.  When the majority of folks got there we did a walkthrough and then another walkthrough inside in case of rain.  I hope I remember the words I am supposed to say and that I do not trip and fall down the stairs or anything dumb.

We then went to a dinner at a Mexican place.  The food was great, but it was a little spicy so I know I will be feeling that.  After that we socialized and all.  I think everyone had a great time. 

WE took many pictures as did everyone.  I posted mine on Flickr, but I have a few I will take off so I kept them private for the time being and will straighten it out when I get home, because it is just not the same working on a laptop as it is using my home PC.  Also I have some software at home where I can enhance some of the mistakes I made while taking the pictures.

The motel had Wifi and I had not used it yet.  I fired up the laptop buy Trillian kept dropping, skype would not connect and when I checked my connection it said my connection was weak.  Then I found out I had to extend the Wifi antenna, so I felt a little stupid over that one. 

Then I was still having problems because AOL kept trying to start and was crashing everything.  I got that disabled and still could not get Trillian or Skype to work.  Then I found out what the problem was.  Even though I was connected I had to sign on to the Wifi network.  Now I was feeling really incompetent and wondering what else I did wrong.

But then I logged on to Trillian and Skype and both were fine.  Even better I found my connection speed was 48MB and that was awesome.  I then started talking to Laila and uploading the pictures.  So now I am finally getting used to thenew laptop.

Well I guess that is it for now.  Let me give this a break and check my e-mails.

Well after returning to the house twice for stuff I forgot, before we ever got on the freeway this morning, Judy and I have made it as far as Fort Stockton, Texas.  We have about 5 to 6 hours of driving to do before we get to San Antonio.

We left San Diego about 7:30 AM and made a point to stop about every 100 miles to get out and walk around a bit to mainly make sure my back is holding out.  It is and I am feeling good, though since we stopped for the night I still have the room moving thing going on, from so much time driving.

We made really good time and there was very little traffic.  There was some construction going on in Arizona just before Tucson, and a little in New Mexico, and a little more in Texas after we passed through El Paso, but other than that construction was not a problem.

We saw one big accident that held us up for a while. That was between Phoenix and Tucson in the construction zone where a couple of big rigs collided and caught on fire.  By the time we got to the scene the fires were out but the damage was obvious.  It looked like both drivers dumped the trailers and just let them burn.

When we were going through New Mexico just before getting to El Paso we saw a few Illegals being arrested.  That was interesting since most of them know where the border patrol sets up.

Other than that I love the speed limit in Texas.  80 MPH and no traffic where we are even though once the sun went down I had to slow to 65 MPH.  I just would find a big rig that was doing around the speed limit and follow them as they know how to get through the traffic that is present in some areas and all.

Anyway,I guess I had better get some sleep so I will post this and log off.  I am not excited that tomorrow is Friday the 13th, but then I was born on Halloween so I think I am ammune. 

Today is going to be a busy day.  Between my class being in lab all day and the running around that will involve to the getting ready for the trip tomorrow and all I will be pretty busy.

Last night I figured out the distance and time stuff and some possible places to stop.  Today on the way home I will fill up the gas tank, stop by the ATM, and then we will pack up the car tonight.  I want to start out tomorrow at the same time I usually leave for work since I am used to getting up that early.

Also since I will be heading east there should not be much in the way of traffic.  I have already mapped my escape route out of San Diego and the directions to the hotel.

Tonight I will map out how to get to Randine's house from the hotel, and how to get to the various places we will be going.

I wish I had cruise control, but I will be fine.  The weather looks ok, though we might catch a little bit of rain on the way.  I still figure we will get to San Antonio sometime around noon on Friday.  The big test will be getting back by Sunday night but then even if I have to drive all night to get back I will still make it in time for work Monday, I just might be a little tired.

I have to get a nice big thermos for coffee for the trip.  Also when I get home tonight I have to download a few programs to this laptop.  I also want to download some of the maps, rather than print all that stuff out.

Well time to get started with the workday. 

It is lunchtime and I am tired all ready today.  The military guys were tasked with an assignment from the office, so I have been running the practice problems all by myself today.  Since I have 10 students all working different problems at the same time it really keeps me hopping and I am so glad lunchtime came along. 

The military folks are still here to assisting in observing safety, but I have been answering all the questions and controlling who is doing what in the lab.  And since this is their first set of problems it is really busy until they get familiar with the radios and the way we do things.

At least the morning passed by quickly and that was a good thing.  Only a few more hours to go and I will be on my way home and while I laid down last night on the love seat when I first got home, I did not doze off yesterday, but I might tonight if I continue this pace for the rest of the work day.

Well, I suppose I will go get myself some lunch, because I am really hungry today.  I don't know why I have had all of these urges to eat lately, maybe because I am expending more energy the past couple of days.

Well my next entry will be from on the road and I will try and keep everyone updated on my progress.  I will take it slow and easy, as I am very safety conscious while on the road.  Anyhow, enough blogging now, I am going to go fill my stomach.

Today I got up on time but since I have been shutting down everything each night, before taking my shower, I now run downstairs and get everything started up.  That way by the time I am ready for work my PC is all online and ready to go.

Well that is what I did this morning, so Laila was online when I came back downstairs this morning.  She has a nephew in the hospital with Dengue and so she is worried about him.  His name is Erickson, I hope I spelled it right.  His sister Alexandra died from it just ten days ago, so keep him in you prayers.

We did our prayer thing and then David and I got in the car to go to work.  I had a couple of bills to mail so on the way to work I went by the Post Office to drop off the mail.  Two of our postal folks were fighting over a parking space and so it wound up taking a lot more time then I expected.  These two clowns held not just me but a couple of others up as we were trying to drop off mail and they were illegally backing out of the parking lot and illegally parking.  It was totally ridiculous and I will file a complaint the next time it happens.

After dropping off the mail we set out for work but were now running a couple of minutes last thanks to the postal clowns.  But I got David dropped off and I got to work on time.  Today the students have the Naval Military Training, so I have a little time on my hands.

On the way in I was listening to Rick Roberts and he was talking about how the political parties are the same now.  I have to agree with that and the way I vote this year will be very interesting, because there will be several races I will refuse to vote for.  I am sick and tired of wasting my vote on the lesser of two evils.  I will vote the propositions and who gives a crap about the politicians who will not look out for what the people want anyway.  All they care about is being reelected or getting elected and the hell with the people that put them there.

When you see all the scandals and corruption coming out of Washington, I wonder if there are some prerequisites to fun for office, like being gay, a pedophile, an adulterer, a thief, or just a liar. 

Then I came in to work and our resident leftist tried to engage in a political argument about Korea.  I didn't want to get involved in that so I told him I was busy and he left to go argue with someone else.

Last night Laila and I watched her favorite, Deal or No Deal, and the Puerto Rican lady they had as a contestant was doing great, just before her luck changed and she eliminated 1 Million and $750,000 in consecutive turns.  She wound up taking home just $750.  Judy and Carlos were watching it with me and everyone watching both at my house and Laila's let out a moan when she knocked out the last high amount $500,000.

Anyway, time to get ready for the class to get back, so I guess that is it for now. 

Well it is lunchtime now so I have a little extra time as I am resting my legs and listening to the radio.  The class has been doing their first transmit labs and have really had me jumping today.  At least most of the equipment has been behaving itself today.  Sometimes that can take up quite a bit of time and can be quite time consuming, but today everything was fine.  I only had to align one radio today so all in all not a bad morning.

Today on the way home I think I will stop and get some chicken, mainly because I can already tell by the soreness in my legs I will be a little too lazy to cook today.  If it were just me I would have some soup or a sandwich, but since Judy and Carlos will be there and David might be, I have been cooking lately.  I think there is some left over spaghetti but for some reason left over spaghetti never tastes right to me, so I try and avoid it.  Hopefully Judy and Carlos ate it for lunch. 

I have to map out my route tonight and print up maps of the places I need to go in San Antonio for the trip.  I also need to reserve a hotel room.  I probably should have done that already and would have booked it with the plane flight if we were going to fly.  But now that we are driving I forgot all about it, so I had better get that done.  I am not worried as San Antonio is quite a large city, and has recently passed San Diego in size.

I hope Carlos and David get along while I am gone.  They seem to get along when Judy and I are both there, but I know David is going to want to drive Judy's car while we are gone.  After what he has done to the last two cars he owned, I know she doesn't want him driving hers, and I don't blame her.  She will need the car when she starts looking for a job next week.  If she lends it to David she won't have an engine when she gets back.

Well they are advertising tonight's playoff game between Oakland and Detroit tonight.  Now that it is playoff time I will have to wait a few weeks to see "House" again.  I will watch the first part of the game I guess.  I like to keep up with sports because the students are always talking about it. 

I am glad I watched a little football this weekend so I could at least carry on a sensible conversation.  We have one guy from Pennsylvania that was bragging about the Philadelphia/Dallas game.  I then brought up the Pittsburgh/San Diego game and he hushed up a bit.

Well I suppose that is about it for now.  I will try and get some work done on a power point I am working on.     

Yesterday afternoon I watched the Chargers beat the Steelers in football.  The Chargers played pretty poorly the first half and just dominated the game in the second half.  I think they would be undefeated if they wouldn’t have played the game so conservatively last week against the Ravens.  So this year it looks like we have a great team so everyone will be on the Chargers bandwagon.

The Padres on the other hand made a hasty exit from the Baseball playoffs again this year.  And again it was the St. Louis Cardinals, who the Padres have lost the divisional playoffs to, three times now in the four times they have been to the playoffs.  I guess when you see the Cardinals playing in the playoffs against the Padres it is a sign that the year is over for the Padres.

Congrats to the Detroit Tigers for giving the New York Yankees a fast exit in the American League.  I guess Steinbrenner is having a cow, and I think Joe Torre’s days are numbered as the New York Yankee Manager.  Just goes to show no matter how much you spend buying every big name player available, you are not guaranteed a win in Baseball.

So it will be the Detroit Tigers vs. the Oakland Athletics in the American League, and the New York Mets vs. the St Louis Cardinals in the American League.  Since they have decided to show all the games on Fox I will watch a few since they have taken off many off my favorite shows for the playoffs.

Today wound up being laundry day since Carlos and Judy did theirs yesterday.  This morning I went ahead and made a large breakfast of eggs, sausages, and hash browns.  It was nice cooking for the family and not just me and the dogs.  Currently I am cooking spaghetti and waiting for my last load of clothes to get dry.

Laila went to bed pretty late on her side so I think she will be signing on a little later today.  I went and got my hair cut for the wedding today and also e-mailed off my measurements for the tuxedo.  Just a couple more days and I will be off to San Antonio for the wedding.

I was watching the news this morning and saw all that stuff about North Korea doing a nuclear test.  They were also reporting that it was small or a dud.  I hope that is the case, but I think it will take a few days before they really know what happened.  I worry that if they do successfully develop the bomb, that they will sell the technology to some of the terrorist groups around the world.  If that were to happen there would not be a safe place on the planet.

So now we are back at the United Nitwits (UN) and figuring these spineless folks will do something about North Korea.  Actually the North Koreans have never stuck by any agreement they have made, so I think it is time for China, who is the only country to have any leverage with North Korea, to step up and tell the Kim Jung Il to knock all of his crap off.  If they didn’t take action I would boycott the next Olympics.

Well that is it for today, as I have to check my sauce and clothes.  Have a great week everyone.

My Internet went down last night so I went to bed early and just recorded our Thursday night TV stuff.   It initially looked like it was my Internet provider because the sync kept flashing, but then this morning it was back.

It did keep losing sync from time to time so I will ring out my phone lines when I get home from work today.  If I have a loose phone line that could cause the problem, so it will be a quick fix and unlike the past electrical problems I know exactly where the phone lines are running.

Laila finally updated her blog.  I have been on her case about not updating it.  She has not been in the blogging mood lately, I think because of all the stuff that has been going on lately with her father and daughters accidents and the death of her niece.  It is hard for her to get her mind on other things.

Also she has been all tied up playing Rose online with her boys.  Sometimes I think she is too addicted to the game, but it fills something needed in her life right now.  It keeps her calmed down through the hard times she has been having lately.

I haven’t blogged much about what has been happening in the news lately.  A lot of it has been too depressing, as in the case of the recent school shootings in Colorado and Pennsylvania.  I really wonder what causes people to do these things, and I hope this is not a new trend where people will try and out do the last person.

Another thing in the news is Representative Foley and his chat stuff.  I am now wondering if this was all a setup as some reports say the kid was over 18.  But than again I think if you are going to live the gay lifestyle and put yourself in a position of high visibility, then you will face consequences if someone decides to go after you.  When I was getting my security clearance in the Navy, that was one of the things that could have been a disqualifier, along with drug use, or indebtedness.  With the timing, the questionable sources, and the fact that ABC has had to retract some of the story, I wonder if this is all just dirty politics.

The other thing that caught my eye was the City of Encinitas has made it illegal to rent to illegal aliens.  That has really caused some protests and all here.  Again I wonder why they just don’t check identification of the protesters and send the illegal ones home.  I was watching FOX News yesterday and they had a story of farmers that were hiring people from Mexico for the growing season and I see no problem with that.  I also don’t mind paying a little more for products if the farmers hire legal workers.

The illegal ones have to go though, because we don’t know who they are and where they are.  There are so many crimes being committed by some of them and the police are prevented from knowing if the are legal or illegal due to the sanctuary status of so many of the cities around this area.  I would like to see someone rule sanctuary cities illegal and unconstitutional.  Again, someone that is not a citizen of the United States does not have constitutional rights.

Well I guess that is it for now.  It is time to get the work day stuff done so I can get home and enjoy the three-day weekend.

Well my tickets for my next visit to see my wonderful Laila have been bought and paid for so now the countdown begins again.  I will be departing on 14 December and returning on 3 January.  I would have liked to go earlier and stay a little longer, but work takes priority, since without the job I would not have the money to go.

Last night was fun, since we managed to have Skype back up so we watched "Jericho", "House" and "CSI New York".  Tonight will be great because "My Name is Earl" and "Deal or No Deal" will be on.

Laila's dad burned his arm cooking and his burns are more serious than Pearl's.  I hope he heals up quickly.

Judy and Carlos have settled in comfortably, though I guess I will have to shop for more grocery items.  I have been used to buying small quantities of stuff since it is usually just me, but in addition to Judy and Carlos moving in, David has been staying home more lately and he is a bottomless pit.  One cool thing is that the house is a lot less cluttered.  Also Judy has been getting on David when he makes a mess.

I got a new computer chair on my way home yesterday.  It is the same as the last one I had, with a little more padding on the seat.  Now I have to get it broken in.   Since it is the same brand I will call their toll free number and get the part to fix the old one for the kids.  I may even be able to get it under warrantee. 

Other than that, my class will be in lab for the rest of this week and all of next week.  That will keep me busy, after they get through the operation and module location labs.  Once they start using test equipment things get busy.

Well I suppose that is it for the time being.  I have to get to work and will continue at lunch, especially since I can't eat anything due to the surgery.

Well it is now lunch time and they have had me running around a bit.  I don't mind though since it makes the day fly by pretty quickly.  Also since we are in lab we can listen to the radio and though I don't listen to music that much, it brightens up the day.

Laila went to bed really early today.  She was going to go to bed as soon as I left for work today which would have been about 9PM her time.  That means she might be online pretty early tonight after I get off work today.  I do have to stop by the bank and the mini-mart on the way home.  I need to get some milk and also I am supposed to b taking Vitamin D and Calcium Tablets, but I keep forgetting to get them.  There was also something else I was supposed to get but I forgot what it was.  I hope I remember before I go home and settle in for the night tonight.

I will also be glad when I can start eating normally again.  Soup is good but, it gets old in a hurry.  I will have to make sure to stay away from the spicy foods when I eat this weekend because of the antibiotics and Vitamin C pills I am taking.  They have really been giving me heartburn.

I also have to remember to take my car in for an oil change and maybe get some new tires before setting out for San Antonio next week. 

Laila was worried about me not being online next week but I will take this new laptop and will have it already loaded up with all the stuff we normally use.  Since it is wireless I should be able to connect somewhere, and will just check out what hotels are on the way. 

I figure leaving Thursday morning, we should get as far as Los Cruces, New Mexico or maybe even El Paso, Texas the first day and get in around noon to San Antonio.  After the wedding and all we will have to leave right away so I can get to work on Monday.  I would have liked to have stayed longer, but I was not anticipating the large class size of this class, and the portion of the course we are currently in. 

Well I suppose that is about it for now.  I hope everyone is having a great week.