Well today has been busy.  I got up early and had no trouble getting dressed and online before 5:45 AM to chat with Laila.  Usually I just Chikka (Text message her cell phone) when I come on line and then she comes up on Trillian and Skype, but this morning my Chikka was messing up so we didn’t really start communicating until about 6 AM.

She wished me a happy birthday and then we did our Morning Prayer routine.  I left a little early as I decided to treat my class to donuts so I left a little early and stopped at Winchell’s on the way in and got 2 and a half dozen donuts.  They really enjoyed that, and it was great to see a smile on everyone’s face.

After that they had to go to basic military training and I had to do an instructor evaluation on one of my fellow instructors.  Once that was done then it was off to watch them do their final performance tests on the transceivers and that was keeping all jumping.  But I did have fun as the time passes faster when I am busy.

Tonight I think I will just stop off and pick up something for dinner.  Laila and I are going to actually web cam each other tonight.  It has been a while since she has used hers.  I use mine when we watch TV and walk in front of it to let her see me sometimes during the commercials.  Tonight in addition to the trick or treaters, who may wind up on webcam just showing Laila how the kids dress up.

Then we will watch “NCIS”, “House”, and Law and Order SVU.  It sounds like a lot of fun, and since we can’t be together it will be the closest we can get to being together.  I just hope the children will not be knocking and ringing the bell too late because that will get the dogs going wild.

Well I suppose that is about it for right now.  The class is starting to wander back in and it is about time to get the station assignments done.  I am hoping to get off a bit early today so I can get ready for the kids and also make sure we have something to eat for the night.

Last night we averted disaster, as Laila’s daughter Pearl managed to locate a replacement USB headset.  It was very frustrating to not be able to talk to her when she first came on line.  I guess it was pretty hard to find.  Seems like they can manufacture all kinds of stuff like that in the Philippines, but it is not easily available to the folks that live there.

Today was a little odd getting up due to the time change and even odder once I left the house.  First off there were accidents all over the place and than I guess there were a lot of folks that forgot to set their clocks back.  Since I leave the same time every day I am used to seeing certain folks on the road each morning but this morning there were some others that I did not recognize. 

After I got to the base, the base police were having a very busy morning.  They had several people pulled over at the gate and then one had pulled over someone in our school parking lot.  Additionally I saw one staking out the road behind our school.  Lots of people speed back there which is dangerous because that is also the Physical Readiness Test Course for all the commands in the area.

Yesterday while looking to see if I could find a USB microphone for Laila in some of the online shops in the Philippines, after having no luck I sent her a surprise.  She will probably blog about it I am sure.  That is if I can get her to blog.  She has been a little lazy at keeping it up to date. 

This morning while at work I got a call from Jerome’s, and they said they will be delivering the daughter’s furniture on Wednesday, instead of Thursday which will make her happy.   So that will be two upstairs rooms done with two remaining.

Anyway, now that Laila is back up on her voice side we will be watching “Deal or No Deal” and “Hero’s” tonight and tomorrow the new “House” episode will be on.  It will be coming on an hour later than normal though since Fox changed their schedule a little bit.

Also tomorrow is my birthday so we will do something special, I just do not know what that will be yet.

Well the students are returning from lunch so I had better get this finished up and ready to post when I get home.   Have a great week everyone.

I don't know if it is just me or if others are feeling the same thing, but it seems that politics are getting dirtier with every election.  The last minute press releases that cannot be fought off or disproved until after the elections.  The way the propositions are misrepresented and the negative campaign advertisements.

All of it is starting to get on my nerves.  Today I was listening to the blow up over the Rush Limbaugh/Michael J. Fox stuff.  I guess Limbaugh kind of made fun of Fox's disease and though he did apologize the liberal media will not let it pass. 

The ad’s that Fox have been running in the swing states demonizing anyone against stem cell research are misleading and in some cases incorrect.  The ad’s running in Missouri are talking about stem cell research while the proposition is about cloning.

Anyway I am just tired of all of it and wish I could watch TV without seeing all of these ads all the time.  It will be great when the elections are over and all this crap stops.  It does not even matter who wins anymore since both parties are the same any more.

I have been watching the fire story with interest.  They are worried about the winds, and hopefully they will die down so they can get a handle on the fire.

Other than that I was hoping to get a round of trading in on blogshares, but they are down for maintenance.  Hopefully they will be back up real soon, so I can get it done before Laila gets up.

I got the shopping done on the way home so today I can just pretty much relax and watch some TV or something if their site stays down.

Yesterday I kind of saw my life pass before me.  On my way home yesterday I had to stop for gas, so I took a different route home.  I was exiting the I-805 at Plaza Blvd; this is a three-lane exit.  The right lane is for right turns while the two left lanes are for left turns.  I was in the middle lane getting ready to turn left.

When the light changed to green me and the guy on my left both started into the intersection.  He was in a mini van so my view to the left was obstructed.  We started into the intersection and all of a sudden I heard a screech of tires and he had slammed on his breaks.  I hit my breaks on instinct and all of a sudden this white car flew through the intersection at about 60 miles per hour.  If I would not have hit my breaks I would have been T-boned and since I have my little Beetle at that speed, seatbelts and all I would be gone right now.

Running red lights and stop signs is a common occurrence here, actually a growing trend.  As more and more of our visitors from the south come here I see these laws being violated more and more.  About a year or two ago, my daughter got a speeding ticket and went to court.  While there she found that for one, she was about the only person that had a valid license, but second she found some interesting opinions of laws.

One of the Mexican guys that was there was under the impression that at a stop sign if you look both ways and do not see a police officer you then there is no requirement to stop.  He told the judge "No cop, no stop".  As long as this is the attitude of these illegal visitors, and as long as our government continues to let them freely come here, innocent people will continue to be hurt and killed as these folks ignore our laws.  After all, they broke the law to get here, so why follow the traffic laws.

While I don't know for sure that the person running the light yesterday was illegal, or even a Mexican, I have my suspicions since the car that ran the light was decked out pretty much as a low rider.

Anyway enough on that subject, I just thank God I didn't get hit.  Last night we watched "Deal or No Deal", "Heroes", and "CSI Miami".  Today Laila has a court appearance so we will not be doing our full routine today.  Her appearance this time looks like it may be the last one for the year.  I forgot which case it is for, but two of the three are just about over and the other one has been delayed for a variety of reasons, like weather, urgent conferences and all. 

Right now it appears to me that trying to get anything settled in the courts there only benefits the courts and the lawyers.  Here you will only make one court appearance and the declaration is made almost immediately.  There she has to keep going back time after time and each time she has to pay the court and the lawyer.  It makes me wonder about the folks that do not have enough money to hire a lawyer.  What do they do to get justice?

I just called home to check the status of the carpet guys and my daughter said they would be there at 10:30.  They called her, and it is going to be so great to see something finally getting done.  And besides, I will have my own bathroom again, even though I will have to move the air conditioner to that room.  I am not too worried about it though since it is fall and will be winter soon. 

Besides I am beginning to think that after I get the rest of the stuff done I may just put the house on the market early.  I can then rent a place until the daughter gets on her feet.  Also I will be out from under the house payment and will be able to save some more money.

I have been watching with interest the reaction of CNN showing the sniper video supplied to them by the terrorists.  It seems there are quite a few people that are ticked off. 

Last night I was watching the O'Reilly Factor and he had one of my favorite commentators on last night, Michelle Malkin.  O'Reilly seemed to get on her case when she said that CNN had an anti-American bias and that they were siding with the enemy.  O'Reilly seemed to be justifying CNN's behavior by saying that they are more of a world news organization not catering to just the United States viewers.  Also he was saying that CNN has made deals with the terrorists for access, so they will go ahead and air anything to keep the terrorist channels open.  Since most of the world is against America's involvement he surmised that CNN was catering to its international audience. 

I don't care what audience they cater too, airing snuff videos of American troops getting killed is inappropriate.

CNN has gone from the number one cable news organization to a distant second now, and if they continue to be an outlet for terrorist videos, they will be off the air.  CNN just doesn't seem to get it.  Even people who are against the war are at least for the troops.  I haven't watched CNN or maybe I will start calling it Al Jazeera West, and when I hear of these types of things being aired, it will definitely keep me from ever tuning in again.  I may even have to write Direct TV and have it removed from my tuner.  I have heard a lot of callers calling the talk radio stations and they are furious.  This happened last week and while I only heard a few news stories about it over the weekend, it is now the top topic on many conservative talk radio shows.

I was just looking at a USA Today newspaper that one of my students left in the classroom while they are at lunch and the sports page was loaded with accusations that Kenny Rogers was using pine tar to doctor the baseballs during game two of the World Series.  While they made a big deal pointing it out on Sunday during the first inning of the game he washed his hands and the umpires didn't eject him or anything.  I wonder if it is just the Cardinals already making excuses should they lose the Series.  He did pitch just as good after he washed whatever he had on his hands off, and the fact that the umpires let him continue, tells me he was doing nothing wrong.   

Well now that I have covered several subjects I guess I will wrap this up for today.  I just called home again and my daughter said that the installers are there, so the new carpeting should be installed by the time I get home.  Then tonight we will start moving everything into that room so Judy and Carlos can get started on their new room with the painting and all.  Have a great day everyone.

Another Monday is here and it is back to work for the week.  This morning I finished up all the classroom work for the WSC- area, so the next two weeks or so will be all lab work.  This afternoon when they get back from lunch we will go through the receiver alignments, which mean I will be hopping.  I have everything layed out and set up, so now I just need to wait for them to get back.

Yesterday Laila has to attend one of the court cases, so she got up very early on her side, went to court and then found out she would not be heard until the afternoon session.  Because of that we did not get to spend our regular time together on line, even though we did watch "Heroes" last night in between her travels.  While she was gone the first time Carlos and I watched game two of the World Series.  I was quite impressed with Kenny Rogers pitching performance but was really worried when they took him out for a relief pitched and saw the guy load the bases.

The Charger game was a disappointment after watching them tie the game and then lose by a field goal in the last minute.  Also we have another Charger in trouble as Shawne Merriman failed a drug test.  This team has been losing players at a rate of 1 each two weeks due to stuff like that.

Tomorrow the master bedroom gets carpeted and I am looking forward to that.  I have to remember to get the electrical switch plates on my way home, to make the room look better.  I also have to make sure I stop for gas so I make it home.

Tonight is another "Deal or No Deal" night so the families will have fun.  I think the new episode of "Heroes" comes on tonight.  Actually I like "Jericho" better, but the kid love heroes, so I will let them watch it of course.  Laila likes it too, and while I like it, I am not fully attentive when it is on. 

Well, time to get some stuff done before the class gets back.

Last night it was hard to get to sleep because the neighbors on the one side were having a loud party.  I had the kids complain about the noise, but they wound up with an invite to the party instead. 

I just stayed up and Laila and I watched movies last night.  We watched "The Waterboy" and then "My Cousin Vinny" and then we watched "Little Nicky" so last night was comedy night and Laila was laughing all the way through them.

This was after I watched the first game of the World Series and watched the Cardinals destroy the Tigers.  Right now I am watching the Chiefs destroy the Chargers.  The Chargers just are not playing right at all.

This morning I got up at 8 and chatted with Laila, and then she went to bed early so she can go to court in the morning on her side of the ocean.  Judy and Carlos got up and were ready to go to church at 9:30, but even though I was up, I had not showered yet, so we went to the 11 AM mass, but then we had to leave early because Carlos got sick.

We will attempt to go again if he feels better, but it would not be nice to have him throwing up in church.  It may because of something he ate yesterday or maybe because of some drink David gave him last night.  I know my cooking is a little different than he is used to.  Also the avocado's I bought yesterday may have done it.  I am not an expert on them and I guess three of the four I bought were bad.  I think he ate the fourth one.

Today is the Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time.  The first reading is Isaiah 53:10-11 and the second reading is Hebrews 4:14-16.  The gospel is Mark 10:35-45.  Since Carlos got sick we left in a hurry and if he feels better later we will go back.  If not I will try and go myself, but want to make sure he is feeling better just in case.

Well that is the day so far and I guess I will watch the second half of the Charger game while doing some more laundry.  I forgot the colored clothing from the trip and also the kids have a ton of clothes in the garage.  I don't even know if it is stuff worth washing or if it is stuff that should be donated or thrown out. 

We have been getting rid of all kinds of stuff that the ex used to packrat.  The house is getting less and less cluttered each week.