Greatest Sunday EVER

Ever since the begining of this NFL season, I've had an ongoing bet with Brotha James. The bet being, my Chicago Bears would finish the season with a better record than his sorry Dallas Cowgirls. At first, it was looking like I was in trouble. My bears fell to 1-3 while the cowgirls jumped out to 2-2. Then they went up to 4-2. Luckily da Bears were able to get another win, giving them a 2-3 record. Then, this past Sunday happend. Dallas suffered one of the most embarassing losses an NFL team could have had happen. With the game tied at 10-10 against Seatle, 10 seconds on the clock, Dallas throws an interception which is run back to the 35 yard line. Seatle comes on the field and kicks a 50 yard feild goal to win it. At the same time up in Chicago, my Bears solid defense held the Ravens to only 2 field goals and beat them 10-6! Now, with a 3-3 record they are gaining ground on the 4-3 cowgirls. Dallas has a tough schedule ahead, with the Bronco's and Eagles to play. Chicago, has much better odd's with Detroit and happless Green Bay in its sights. Things are looking better!

One Very Cool Toy

Yesterday Apple announced the release of the new Video iPod. So, being the techie that I am, I looked up its specs to see if it was all its cracked up to be. I'll have to admit, this is one very cool device. Not only does it play music, show photo's and it will now hold up to 150 hours of video. Here's is where I figured there would be a catch, for sure. I thought surely they would screw it up by only allowing playback of copy protected, limited release, expensive video clips that I wouldnt really want to watch anyhow. I stand corrected. You can play .avi, .mov AND MPEG4 video. Meaning I can carry around homemade video clips and photos... or even (gasp) ripped DVD's from my home collection! Suddently this little device becomes the ultimate road trip, time killing, hand held entertainment device. The lowest priced model is the 30GB unit, which retails for $300. Thats a little steep but the price is much more justified with the features is packs. I'll be keeping my eye out for deals in the coming months on this little item. I may just have to break down and get one.

Check out the details here ---> Apple Video iPod

Late Entry

I almost forgot to post some of the pics I took in the Wichita Mountains. I let it slip from my previous post about the trip. There are alot of my friends EVP and Little EVP because he mentioned he didnt have a lot of pictures of just the two of them. So I figured I take a bunch so he could print them out. He was very happy with them
Check out the pictures! ---> Wichita Mountain Camping Trip

Pagers Suck

Its Friday morning and I've been "on-call" all week for work, carrying our pager because its my turn in the rotation. Normally the routine goes something like; the pager goes off in the evening and I call the person who paged, back and see if its something I can fix over the phone. If I can't, I notify the next person who can help them. But thats not what happened at 3AM this morning. That freakin pager goes off twice! Its beep tone is so loud, it startles me and I jump out of the bed like I was hit by an electric shock. I sit up confused, trying to figure out what that incredibly loud noise is and where its coming from. Finally, I grab the pager and press the little button to see what its beeping about. It simply says "servername - UP" UP?! UP?!! Its beeping just to notify me a server has come back online..... at 3AM!? On top of that, today is my early day at work so my alarm is set to go off at 6am. Sleep is more precious than gold at this moment. Needless to say, I wanted to smash that worthless little black box.

Back From the Wilderness

This past weekend was a true guys weekend. Myself, Brotha James, EVP and Little EVP (james), packed up gear... loaded it all into my Sportage and headed up to the Wichita Mountains in Southwest Oklahoma for a weekend of hiking, camping and exploring. This was EVP's first time up there, so I knew he and the kid would have a blast.

Our first stop was at the famous Meers Restaurant for one of their giant longhorn burgers, some onion rings and some cold drinks. Needless to say, we were all stuffed by the time we left. Figuring we needed some time to let things settle before starting out on our big hike for the day, we decided to make a stop at Mt. Scott. It was a fairly short stop. We took pictures of the vista's overlooking the mountain range. Great views on that hazy, cool morning!

From there we drove down the road to the Elk Mountain trail head. This is a hike ive done a few times before. Its only about 2.5 miles, round trip which I thought would be the perfect length since we had Little EVP with us who is only 7. Despite it being a shorter trail, it still had its challenging times of climbing as we navigated our way to the top. Finally we reached the summit and were rewarded with an incredible view of mountain tops patched together with tree filled valley's. There was a strong wind blowing across the top of the mountain, so we all just relaxed and let the breeze cool us down after the climb up there. While up there we hunted for the large lizards ive seen in the past, sunning themselves on rocks. But were unable to find any.

We hiked our way down and drove to the campgrounds. We arrived at Camp Doris to find it was a popular weekend for camping. All the prime spots had been taken, so we had to settle for one that was closer to other people camping that we had hoped. A cool thing happend as I was setting up my tent. Something moving out of the corner of my eye caught my attention. I looked up and it was a deer just casually walking down the road near the campsite. Then a few minutes later, we saw a doe and a buck casually walking up from the nearby lake. Again, they were walking almost right thru our campsite very casually. I took out my camera, put the 300mm zoom lense and began snapping pictures of them. The buck began walking towards me and I was having to zoom out to fit him into the frame. He kept walking towards me and before I knew it, I had to walk backwards to get him in the frame because he was TOO close for that lense!! When I backed up, he saw me and stopped. He then looked around for the doe and trotted over to her quickly. It was a very cool thing to see them so close up. After we got the campfire going we cooked some chili-dogs and smores' for desert. Good stuff! The weather was perfect all night. Mid 60F degree temps made it easy sleeping weather. Although the ground was so hard I kept waking up to rotate my self in my sleeping bag. When I woke up for breakfast, my back and legs were a bit sore, but I stretched out and felt better. We cooked scrambled eggs & bacon for breakfast and had some banana's and apples to top things off. With our stomachs full, we packed up camp then headed out on a short hike to finish off the trip.

The ride home was pretty quiet. Everyone was exhausted. Little EVP lasted about 15 minutes into the ride. He was out like a light very quickly. The others drifted in and out of sleeping. I wanted a nap so bad, but I probably should stay awake since I was driving. We got home about 3:30pm and began the unpacking. It was a great trip and I hope to have the pictures up very soon on my site! Stay tuned!

One Plus One Equals...... One!

This past weekend Emily finished off her apartment lease, handed in her key and we moved all her stuff into my house! The two of us have combined our powers into one now. She's the first girlfriend Ive ever actually lived with. But thats because until her there has not been one I could imagine living with. But Emily's the greatest and I love having her around me at all times of the day. Things were a little tight because she had so much stuff. But we managed to get everything in. I was very glad we hired movers to bring everything over. Im DONE moving apartments. No more stair climbing, whew! Of course, Emily has already taken to decorating the place. Which is fine by me because, well, I had no decorations up. For the past six months, my house looked like a person had just moved in. She's helping to fix that problem. We'll see if she gets tired of me after a while. haha Although I doubt that will happen. C'mon!!, its me!

A Funny

Ok, this one just cracks me up.

Ah Yes... Da Bars

Or, Da Bears as most would say. So I was asked how I think my beloved Chicago Bears would do this season. Well, after many seasons of acting as the leagues punching bag, I think the Bears are finally on the right track. They have two potentially decent young QB's in Grossman and Orton. They finally have a dangerous threat in the reciever core with the new addition of Muhammed catching the long ball. And last but not least, the running game is looking great with 1st round pick Cedrick Benson and Thomas Jones. All the elements are in place for a good season, or even a playoff spot. Especially with a weakend NFC East division. Greenbay is struggling already. The Vikings are sucking big time after losing Moss to the Raiders and the Lions are pittiful. Chicago could actually have a .500 season and still make the playoffs. I'd be pretty happy with an 8-8 season if they made the playoffs and gave me a better record that BJ's cowgirls. I actually think they have the potential to go 9-7 or better. We shall see. Next stop, week 3 and the now dangerous Cinncinati Bengals. After last weeks 38-6 whipping of the Lions, my hopes are very high!

Just Made My Week!

Last night was a big night for Monday Night Football. The Dallas Cowgirls vs The Washington Redskins. The Redskins were 1-15 against the Cowgirls in recent seasons. Not good. But I had faith. Their #3 ranked defense just had to hold out against Dallas. The trash talk started and Brother James had plenty of it to dish out. After Dallas' win against the Chargers in week 1, he was already talking playoffs and possible Super Bowl. Can you believe it?! I told him, its a long season and you are about to see the true cowgirls colors. Well by the 3rd quarter it wasnt looking good. The cowgirls were winning 13-0. A touchdown and 2 field goals seemed to be putting the game out of reach. The phone calls started to pour in, but I wasnt going to answer the phone. The answering machine picked up each time to hear BJ taunt and brag. We had made a small bet and he was already claiming victory. But then, with 3 minutes left in the game, the Redskins score on a 35 yard bomb into the endzone!! Touchdown! 13-7!! Suddenly there was hope. The cowgirls then did EXACTLY what I needed them to, they wasted their possession of the ball and had to punt. The first or second Redskins play on their drive they did it again! This time a 70 yard pass for a TD! They kicked the extra point to make it 14-13, Redskins. My phone went silent. The trash talk stopped. I tried to call him, I was laughing so hard I couldnt wait to feed him some crow! Ha! The phone rings, but he quickly answers and hangs up on me. So I text message him my own taunt now. All I get back is "Shutup!". That was satisfaction enough. I was happy. The Redskins stopped dallas' next desparate drive, burning the final seconds off the clock and winning the game! That just made my week!

Bunny Suicides

I suppose is a rabbit wanted to end it all in a creative manner, this is the instruction manual it would follow. :)
http://unix.rulez.org/~calver/pictures/bunny_suicides

My "Big Day"

Yup, today... September 12, is my birthday. Bring on the clowns, the monkeys, the air horns, the noise makers and the presents. Woo Whoo! For today I am 34 years young. Man, 34... is this possible? It just doesn't seem real. I swear I just turned 25 like... oh.. a year or 2 or 3 or 4 or something ago. Oh where have the years and my hair gone??

And So It Ends...

That is, another jetski season has come to a close. (Sad sigh) We took the jetski out this weekend for one more run on the lake. Emily and I met Jimmy at the park around 2pm. We had planned to meet at 1pm, but Jimmy was stuck in construction traffic for almost an hour. That had to really suck. We got to the boat ramp about the same time and began putting the boats into the water. I stepped out of my car and into the water to pull my jetski off the trailer, and ... WHOA!! The water had dropped about 10 degrees in just these past 2 weeks!! It was actually chilly! It was at this very second I heard Emily let out a scream. She had just waded into the water and discovered the same thing. I had to convince her it would be fine once we got going on the lake. Which I knew wasnt completely true because when the water would hit us, followed by the wind, it would be chilly! Because of the lack of rain this summer, the lake was at an all time low. There was enough new shore line to make a very spacious beach if we were to lay down sand. There were rocks and stumps sticking out of the water that never see the light of day during normal rain periods. Id guess the lake was 10 to 12 feet lower than normal. This didn't really worry me. I just have to keep an extra eye out for stumps while moving across the open waters.

We rode for about 45 minutes or so, then headed back to the shore. Jimmy had brought his cook-out gear and we were going to cook up some burgers on the grill in the park. We hadn't been on the lake too long but that was fine with me. I was starving and the lake was pretty empty. We cooked and ate our burgers then relaxed for a bit. I wanted to get in a little more riding before we packed it in for the fall but Emily wanted to hang out at our picknic camp and read her book. So Jimmy and I were back out on the lake to do some final riding. We took the time to explore some new coves on the lake that I either had not been into or had not visited in a long long time. One was very interesting and went way back around a bend, but we had to turn back because of all the tree stumps now blocking our path. After about 30 minutes we finally headed back to shore for good. I loaded the jetski up and headed home. It was a nice jetski season. We got out on the lake a week earlier this season and only missed a couple weekends here and there. Well, I'll soon put it back in storage until next May and the fun starts all over again! Now, time for paintball!

Late News!

I forgot to mention this... big news! Last saturday evening the U.S. Soccer National Team played a big qualifying match against our arch rivals, Mexico. We beat them 2-0 automatically qualifying the USA for World Cup 2006 in Germany! This is big news for a few reasons. First is, we are in the World Cup! Secondly, we now have bragging rights as the first team from our group to qualify. Third, we beat Mexico with a shutout. Which is what they deserve after all the trash talk their coach did. And finally, now we can play the rest of our matches up till the World Cup with 2nd and 3rd string players, letting them get experience. The starters now get to rest, relax and heal up for the big event next summer. Its going to be a great WC06 I feel. The USA made it to the Quarter finals back in 2002 and we've improved greatly since then.

Tough One To Swallow

It was week 6 of first season with my new soccer team, Menace FC. And this week, we had to play my old team U Wish. I knew it would be a tough game normally, but I knew they would do everything they could to keep me from scoring a goal. Right from the start their defenders collided with me hard on my first 3 touches to the ball. Only one was called for a foul. My team began to struggle. We were missing our goalie who had to work late. (Of all nights!) We had a substitute goalie playing but he wasnt anywhere as good as our starter. By half time, we were down 3-1. Not too bad but it should be a closer game. Im back on the field for the second half and I recieve the ball at midfield. I move it up and beat one defender. The defense hesitates to close in on me. I wind up and fire a hard shot towards goal. In the last split second a defender gets his foot out to tip it. The ball is deflected barely at the top of the goal, missing its target. Darn!! We managed to score 2 more goals to make it 6-3 at the final whistle. Hopefully we'll play them in the playoffs and have a rematch with our full team. I know we can beat them.

Interesting Find

I went jetskiing this afternoon, like I usually do on most summer weekends. Ive been to this lake probably close to a 1000 times. No exageration. But this trip, I happen to be lucky enough to be in the right place, at the right time and catch a glimpse of something I did not think exsisted or even could exist in this lake. A freshwater stingray! Jimmy and I were pulling our jetski's up onto the shore and preparing to go get our vehicles, to pull out and leave for the day. I was walking thru water about 8 inches deep when something caught my eye just in front of my feet. I took another look and saw what clearly appeared to be a small brown stingray swimming quickly from rock to rock along the bottom. I bent down to have a closer look. He was about 4 inches long, nose to the tip of his thin tail. He was dark brown with small light brown splotches on his back which really helped him blend into the bottom of the lake bed. When he swam, he glided along the bottem effortlessly and didnt really seem scared. Just botherd that I was moving in his direction. He came to a stop just in front of me so when I bent down to look at him closer, I reached into the water and used my index finger to gently stroke his back. He was smooth, almost like a salomanders skin. At first I was very surprised he sat so still for me. Then right as I thought that, zoom.... gone into the deep. My buddy Jimmy got to my location right as this happened. I told him what I saw and he was just as amazed as I was. I came home and searched the internet for anything on freshwater stingrays in local lakes. But found nothing. I know a few people that are familiar with the wildlife in the area. Im going to ask them if they've ever seen or heard of them. Very facinating... indeed!

Recent Adventures

I forgot to post about my trip last weekend. Emily and I jumped on a plane and flew down to Galveston Texas to visit our friends Mike and Cheryl. We had a great time going to the beach, seeing the sites and eating out. We took the ferry across the harbor to an island. We stayed on the ferry because we didnt really go to see the island, just to ride the ferry and see the dolphins jump along side the boat. They didnt come as close as I had hoped they would. My camera was ready! We also got to check out the Moody Gardens Aquarium. This was a pretty neat place and I was totally surprised such a large park was located on the small Galveston Island. On Saturday morning, Mike and I had some time to kill while the girls went out looking at wedding dresses for Cheryl. (Her and Mike are getting married next May) So Mikey and I headed down to the historic district of town and found the Gavleston Hurricane Museum. Now, the term "Museum" turned out to be a bit misleading. It should have been called a gift shop. There were no historical artifacts, exhibits or relics from the massive hurricane that destroyed the island in 1900. Although they did have a short movie in a little theater you could watch that told all about what happened in that storm. So Mike and I decided to stay and watch that. It was very interesting because the story was told by the nararrators reading old diaries and personal accounts of the storm. It was much better to hear it in the words of the people who lived thru it. That hurricane killed 6000 people and leveled almost every building on the island! Later that night we met up with some of Mike and Cheryls local friends. We all headed down to the beach. The moon was so bright it lit the ocean up! You could pretty much see everything because of the full moon. We could see the faint flickering lights of oil drilling platforms and oil tankers on the oceans horizon.
It was a great trip and on Sunday August 21st I realized Emily and I have been together for a year and 3 months! Wow, time just fly's! She's the greatest girlfriend I could ask for. No insane mood swings or any other defects which i've had to put up with in past relationships. Things with her are just fun and simple. Im lucky to have her. :)

Hilarious!!

A buddy passed this one to me the other day. I laughed so hard I was in tears.
http://www.milkandcookies.com/links/2536

Here's a quick picture I took the other day of my new ride. I took it with my camera phone so it doesn't show much detail.

Breaking the Silence

After a couple weeks of not updating my blog, im back. And im back with actual news! About a week and a half ago, I got rid of the old Saturn I'd been driving since 2000. Im now driving a 2005 Kia Sportage EX! Its black, with power everything and has leather interior. Very sharp! Ive put a link below to the vehicle specs. So far, im very impressed with this little SUV. Lots of features for a very nice price. I'll post a pic of me and the new ride soon.
http://autos.yahoo.com/newcars/kia_sportage_exv62wd_2005/16638/style_overview.html

In the Words of Homer Simpson...

"Urge to kill... growing." That just about how I feel after my latest bout with my former phone/internet provider, Grande Communications. Im normally calm and civilized when it comes to dealing with their customer service. But thats about to change. Allow me to back-track a bit.

Back in April, I was fed up with their horrible service, lack of technical knowledge and inability to provide my new home with the products I had ordered. So I canceled my account with them. You'd think that would be the end of it. Wrong. Two months go by and I find out, they are STILL auto-billing my account!! They've now withdrawn $109 from my bank account!! So I call their customer service to put a stop to this and get my cash back. I get their residential support on the line and begin explaining the problem. He looks up my records and tells me Im listed as a business account and he cannot help me. I'll have to call the business accounts department. What?! I ask him what business could I possibly be listed as?! He reads it back. The company name, is my employer! Somehow they have mistaken my employer as my residence. Idiots. So, I call the business accounts department and explain... all over again. To my disbelief, the guy tells me, "Im sorry sir but to get this fixed you'll have to call up residential services and have them change your account". I tell him, oh no... they just sent me to this number! So he puts me on hold for a bit, then comes back and tells me, "Ok, sorry for the inconvenience. Its fixed now". He then tells me that they can get me a refund check and I should have it in 6 to 8 weeks. Uuggg... longer than I wanted to wait, but at least thats fixed. My blood pressure begins to return to normal.

So I wait. Seven weeks goes by and 2 days ago I get my check in the mail. Im relieved I get to put that money back in the bank. I mean, who can't use $109!? I open the envelope, pull out the check to look it over. I look at the check. I cant believe my eyes. They made the check payable to my employer!!! Its useless to me. Back to square one with these dorks. I used to be a nice guy when calling customer serice. Thats out the window, with my patience. It will take full restraint not vent my anger on the first phone chump who takes my call. Will this hell-hole of a company ever be out of my life?