Thursday, November 11, 2004
Laila and I have started a new blog for our save the children sponsorship. I have a link under my miscellaneous blogs section: or you can just clik here:Save a child
Posted at 10:05 pm by
RWO
Well i have returned from my trip to fresno all safe and sound. Actually i got back yesterday, but was a little too tired to blog about anything after driving back down.
The trip wasn't that bad. I managed to get out of San Diego in the morning. The guys at work were really understanding about letting me get out of there early. Well just as I jumped in the car and started for the gas station to fill up the tank the change my oil note came up. As the wife has a Cadillac CTS and I was taking her car it tells you when it needs service.
Well I figured since I had to go to the gas station I would go ahead and have them change it then. Mistake, big mistake. Well they changed the oil and I got on the road. A few exits down some guy started waving at me but drov off before I got the window rolled down. He was trying to tell me something so I got off at the next exit and checked out the car. Nothing wrong. I got back in and continued up the freeway. Well then I started seeing smoke from the back of the car.
I pulled off the freeay and there just happened to be a Jiffy Lube at that exit so I went over there and these guys were great. They found that the guy at the gas station did not have the oil filter seated right and I was leaking a little oil. There was a car wash next door and they recommended that i get an undercarriage wash. And then they wouldn't even take my money for helping me out. that is one chain that I will revisit. I gave them five dollars anyway andtold them to consider it a tip and got the undercarriage wash.
I managed to get back on the road and actually didn't have much traffic through Los Angeles. i had smooth sailing all the way up until I got to Fresno itself. Then there was a wreck on the freeway which held me up for a while.
Since it was just me I stayed in that High Class Hotel 6 chain as I am really cheap. If the wife would have gone with me I would have had to stay in at least a four star or five star place, but since it was just me, I just look for a place to flop. Well I had the address and then I found out there are actually two on the same street about a block and a half from each other. I of course immediately pulled into the wrong one.
Well I finally got that all straightened out and got to the right one, got checked in and called the wife to let her know I made it safely. I then called my old high school buddy and got directions to his house. I was shocked at how big Fresno has gotten over the years. And the lack of traffic was nice. I wouldn't mind moving back there someday.
I finally found my friends house, which turned out to be a trailer, and then was shocked to see what bad shape they were in. They were not in the greatest of physical shape, both extremely overweight. He has never held much more than minimum wage jobs and they have been on and off welfare over the years. I kind of felt bad for them. They were a walking advertisement for why you should apply yourself in school. Niether of them had applied themselves in school.
Well I took them out to a steak dinner at some fancy steakhouse. The food was great, though a bit pricey. I asked them if they wanted to do something else after dinner and they said there was an Indian Casino just south of Coursegold so we went up there for a while. They didn't have any money so I staked them a bit so they could play. Well we hung around there until 11 and after loosing all my money we headed back to Fresno. I dropped them off and hit the pit at my hotel. I actually got to sleep in until seven, which was awesome as I am used to getting up at 5:30 on weekdays.
I showed and shaved and then drove out to Pelco, which was where the field trip was going to see where we were supposed to meet, then went to McDonalds for one of those great healthy breakfasts. I then cruised back to Pelco and ate in the car and listenbed to the radio until folks started showing up.
The factory tour was great, and the folks at Pelco were great to us. They make security camera systems and are the only ones that don't outsource thier labor to other countries. They are very involvedin the Fresno Community and have many employee programs. It would be a great place to work if i were looking for a job. I won't bore you with our assignment there, as we were mainly learning about Quality Assurance.
We finished our Pelco tour and then i cruised over to see if any of my instructors were around over at State. The place was dead, and no one was around, so I figured I had better get on the road and head back to San Diego. It was smooth sailing until I got to Valencia (Magic Mountain) and then the traffic started. It was pretty much bumper to bumper and stop and go all the way to San Clemente. The traffic then cleared out and as I was hading into San Diego, I heard on the radio that the 805 was a mess so I decided to take 5 down to the Southbay and then take the 54 over to the house. The 5 was just as bad so as I got to National City I just got off and took back roads home.
All in all it was a seven and a half hour drive back. Then I get home and find that the wife had been in the hospital far Gallstones and will have to get her gall bladder removed. Wonderful. She is all bent because she can't eat anything that she likes. I went out today and bought her all kinds of the stuff she can eat, but she is stll moaning and groaning, about not being able to eat anything. Oh well, I did some research and after the operation she should be able to go back to normal eating.
I think this is all some after effects from her bought with e-coli from a few months ago.
Well for all of you veterans out there Happy Veterans Day and lets not forget our brace warriors that are currently deployed to protect the US from terrorism. I am glad to see the Marines kicking butt in Fallujah. It is about time we started kicking butt over there, and stopped being so politically correct.
So everyone have a great day. See you tomorrow.
Posted at 07:32 pm by
RWO
Monday, November 08, 2004
Over the next day or to I will be out of town. i have to go to Fresno for a class project. I will blog when I get back.
I hope the traffic in L.A. isn't to bad tomorrow as I have to go through all of that mess to get to highway 99. I have already contacted a friend of mine from 30 years ago, yeah we have talked on the phone, but I have not seen him in thirty years. Well, I am going to take him and his wife out to dinner tomorrow.
See you when I get back.
Posted at 11:07 pm by
RWO
Saturday, November 06, 2004
To all the folks that backed Kerry and Edwards. Ok, lets face it. They lost. It's over. Finished. They also lost more seats in the house and Senate, and the Republicans gained another Governor.
You folks had Moveon.org, the Soros money and Michael Moore's crockumentary. With all of that they still lost. So I would appreciate it if you would stop whining and crying about it. one thing the liberal left doesn't seem to get is that we of the silent majority have for years been just that, silent.
When I see the President of the United States being called a liar by the leaders of your party it angers me. It also obviously angered many others as they came out of the woodwork to vote for Bush.
If you folks would have ran a moderate like Lieberman you might have had a chance. You went way left and after 911, the majotiry just will not accept it.
So I suggest you put down your protest signs, go find a job, start paying taxes and get a life. Of move to Canada and wait in the health care lines. In the meantime I will continue to earn my wages, and thank God that I was lucky enough to be born and raised in the best country on the face of the planet.
Love it or leave it.
Posted at 02:46 pm by
RWO
Friday, November 05, 2004
Wow, I am a happy camper. It's Friday, all my school work is done for the week and submitted. Now I can for the first time in weeks actually enjoy myself for a change. That is a nice feeling.
Now as long as I don't do something dumb like decide to take a nap, I'll actually get caught up on some of my internet stuff. My Save the Chidren thing is going really great on e-bay. The bid is up to $108 so far. From watching other auctions, they take off in those last hours so tomorrow can get interesting.
Well my daughter is a little unhappy. She did some work for her mother and just came home to get me to pay her for it. We the wife has my ATM card, so now she has to go back across town to get ma to pay her. Oops. Not a happy camper. Oh now ma just came home and said she didn't have it. Checked he purse and guess what. There it was. Women. Now I have to go to the ATM, so I suppose I will cut this short.
Posted at 04:33 pm by
RWO
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
Sorry
about the lack of blogging lately. I had a surprise from one of my
college professors given to me over the weekend, a massive midterm with
many essay answers. I managed to get it done and turned in but I
neglected my blog in the process.
Also
over the weekend I turned 49 years old. I think I will dread next year
when I pass by the 50 mark. I am starting to feel old.
We
have a new girl under our Save the Children Program. Our last girl,
Cherry moved and so they assigned us a new girl. Her name is Sarah Alea
and she is ten years old. She also lives in Tramo, Philippines and as
soon as I get my scanner fixed or the ability to use someone elses
scanner I will post her picture. Maybe they will send me an e-card that
I can post.
Other
than that Rose and I are both a year older now. She is 45 and had a
birthday on the 28th, while I turned 49 on the 31st. Yeah, I am a
Halloweenie.
Well
I need to mention that there is currently an action going on, at e-bay
to sponsor Sarah. If you haven't played blogshares yet this auction
will amke you an instant trillionaire, and give you a huge jump in the
game. If you are a current player then it will give you a huge jump.
Check out the blogshares forum for a link.
Posted at 08:39 pm by
RWO
Thursday, October 28, 2004
Well I finally took care of something I usually hate and put off until the last minute. I had to renew my drivers license today, since it expires on Sunday.
I hate waiting in line so I usually put it off until the last possible moment. Since we were still getting a lot of rain I waited until it wasd raining really hard and went then. There was still a long line, but not as long as usual, and I managed to get everything taken care of in about an hour, so I guess it wasn't too bad.
They have really streamlined the process, and I was quite surprized how fast everything went once I hit that first counter. I have been able to renew by mail for about the last 12 years as I haven't had a ticket or accident since 1989. That was until this year when I got a speeding ticket. Because of that I had to renew at the DMV so it is my own fault.
Anyway, I am street legal and unlike the several rocket scientists I saw fail the written test (how can anyone do that?) it was a boring but fast process.
Posted at 09:24 pm by
RWO
Wednesday, October 27, 2004
Well there is only one thing to blog about tonight. Since 1918 the Boston Red Sox have been the chokers of the American League. They have finally broken the curse of the Bambino and are now World Champions.
Congratulations to the team and all the fans of the Red Sox. I just hope after all the celebrating the town will still be there.
Posted at 09:10 pm by
RWO
Monday, October 25, 2004
Tonight, I had an interesting chat in one of my classes. It was how technological advances eliminate jobs. While this is indeed true and the US is going more towards a service type jobs, the smart people will try and get a job related to the technology advances.
When I see folks go to community college I usually ask them what they are trying for. Most are trying for an industry that is not going to be available when they finally finish thier educational plan. I usually try and convince them to pick something more realistic.
Everyone wants to get into computers but it is already a full industry. We are losing skilled labor such as construction and electricity as no one seems to want to do hard work. No longer is auto mechanics taught in high school. Who is landing these jobs? Right now unless I can speak spanish, I don't know what is being done to my car. At least I feel comfortable since my car was built in Mexico.
When I first joined the Navy and became an Electronic's Technician all I ever heard was how much wealth I would gain when I got out of the Navy. I was going to get out at my ten year point, but found that the promising jobs didn't exist. It was better for both me and my family to continue the Navy career and go officer, which I did.
The only way to make money in electronics, is to know someone in one of the big companies like Hewlett Packard or Techtronics to name a couple. You have to have that foot in the door. Yeah, there are a lot of companies like Ratheon, SAIC, and Tracor, which are contract jobs. Once the contract is over, so is your job.
Make sure you plan for the future, with a job that will last for years. I have that benefit as I can teach and have experience and a degree. Just coming out of school with no hands on won't compair with someone who has no degree but has been woriking in the field as companies want results.
Just food for thought.
Posted at 11:09 pm by
RWO
Sunday, October 24, 2004
I don't know if it is just me or if others have experienced the same problems with people and minivans, SUV's and large pickup trucks. Why is it that most of these folks can't drive the big beasts they drive? There should be some special driving test before someone is able to drive these larger vehicles.
They can't keep themin the lanes when on the freeway. They can't park, nor back out of supermarket parking spaces. They don't seem to notice cars are next to them when they change lanes or try and make an illegal turn. Then of course you have the overly cautious folks. The ones that enter the freeway at 25 MPH causing the entire right lane to slam on the breaks as they merge into traffic.
I don't have a problem with the folks that know how to drive them. It's the folks that try and treat them like sports cars or drive to overly cautious that are a menace to other drivers. This can all be cleared up by having them take a special driving test, like truck drivers and motor cycle riders.
Of course I doubt it would have much effect here in good ole San Diego, because probably 15% of the folks on the road don't have a license or insurance. You ever wonder why there are so many chases here in southern California. Lack of proper documentation to be here legally is one of the reasons, and of course the three strikes law.
Well that is my pet peeve of the day. Eceryone have a good week. I am going to continue to watch game two of the World Series.
Posted at 06:29 pm by
RWO
