31 May 2006     Get Your Pictures Here! Fresh Pictures Right Here!

I've resolved to get all this past month and a half's pictures up and done with so I can start out 'fresh'. So here goes! I figure that as I put these up chronologically, I can explain the occurrences and also fill in the many holes between picture shoots.

So last you heard from me, at least before the past couple of recent entries, I had just gone to see Boris' wedding up in Denver and had a sort-of Lajes reunion. Damn, that was a long time ago! Anyways, April saw me busy at work, I'm sure. I really don't remember much of what occurred throughout the rest of the month though. Some of the major things that occurred though, include:

Getting through work - it wasn't too bad these past few months. Losing my deputy, Lt Bliss, when he PCS'd to Alaska was a bit traumatic, but I've got an awesome replacement with Lt Johnson, who is as motivated if not more so than Lt Bliss. Plus, he's not suffering from 'short'-itis, so he is actually wanting to help out and work. No slam to Bliss, but you know he wanted to be out of here!

April 14 - Pics from Cheyenne Mtn of Colorado Springs
Sunrise in Colorado Springs from the work parking lot	One more

Below is the one decent picture from Lt Bliss' going-away. It's a good shot of a lot of the SCB flight.

April 21 - Lt Bliss departs
The group at Bliss' going-away

Slowly but surely during March and April, I became friends with a group of folks at work. It's been awesome to have a crowd to hang out with, and the four of us have made a pretty good bond. It's a prime reason why I haven't done much with the site lately - I've actually been kinda busy with fun stuff. Not to mention that during April and May, there was some AWESOME TV on. I can't believe how good 24, Amazing Race, Survivor (I wish Cirie could have won, but an entertaining season nevertheless...), Veronica Mars, Alias (so sad it's gone!), and Lost were. Love the TiVo. But back to the point - me, Jeff, Susan, and Kelly Dean decided to go take a tour of the Coors Brewery and then explore a bit of Denver, primarily the infamous Casa Bonita! It's this incredibly over-done Mexican food restaurant that has multiple levels, cliff divers, can-can dancers, mariachi bands, etc. I kid you not. There's so much going on, it's like a theme park in there. Food's alright, but that's really besides the point. The Coors tour was a lot of fun too though, and you even get THREE free beers at the end. Sweet. And Coors definitely tastes a lot better when it's piping fresh!

April 29 - Trip to Golden, CO (Coors Brewery Tour) & Casa Bonita
The Coors Brewery	Me	KD and her self-shot	The gang waiting for the Coors Bus	Coors	I'm taking self-pictures too	Susan and Jeff in the bus	Me too!
KD & Eric	In front of the giant Coors vat	Another 'M' on a hill - apparently Monrovia doesn't have the monopoly on this	Me and the vat	Susan in the Brewery lobby	Me too	And Susan again	Our tour guide and all the Coors beers
The actual vat room	Susan and the vats	Me in the tap room	Can you imagine a beer this big?	The Coors trainyards - yes, this brewery is that big	The packing plant	KD in the Coors bar (where the 3 free beers await you)	Me outside at the Coors pond
The legendary Casa Bonita - now you need to go watch South Park to fully appreciate it.

So April came to an end, and with that, May began. At the beginning of May, I had some excitement - Mom, Harv, and my Auntie Helen came out to visit me! Yep, my first family visit, and it was a good one. They came out on Thursday night, and unfortunately, the freakish weather here in Colorado Springs decided to do something I'd never seen it do yet: San Francisco fog. For the first two whole days while they were out here, it was literally completely thick fog. So when I took them up to Cheyenne Mountain, the usually amazingly awesome impressive view from my office was non-existent. You couldn't see crap! But I did take them around the whole facility, and they got to stay for my flight call, which was a little awkward for me. I'm nervous enough in front of my flight, but to add the pressure of parents and family there too...? Anyways, it went well, and then when we went home, I left them to go play some paintball with my flight (which was awesome by the way - what an incredibly good time and especially where we played, which was a series of tons of junkyards to fight in - sweet!!!), and they bought me stuff for the house! SWEET! In the pictures below, you can see some of the AWESOME things I got. I love when family comes to town!!!! ;-) (I'm kidding, Mom!) Anyways, during the weekend, we rode the cog train up to Pike's Peak, when the weather actually cleared up! It was pretty cool. The view is so damn awesome up there - plus, it wasn't tooooo cold up there, although still chilly. After that, we came back and relaxed at my sweet house. I think I took a nap, and woke up when a humongous thunderstorm came into town. On Sunday, we then went to Cripple Creek - which I hadn't been to yet. It was a nice drive and when we thought we were there, we discovered that the rental car's GPS had taken us a few miles outside of town, onto some dirt road. Fortunately, we eventually found our way to the right Cripple Creek. This is Colorado's Las Vegas, but it's really no Las Vegas. There's no craps, and all the table games (which means blackjack) have a min and max bet of $5. Not quite high-stakes. But still, a bit of fun to be had! And the folks got their gambling fix in, so that's good. I knew I wasn't going to depend on Cripple Creek for my gambling fix, because I was heading to Vegas the next weekend! (but that story is upcoming).

Anyways, it was a great visit, and lots of Uno Attack was played (Helen winning a lot was a common theme). On Monday they flew out and then it was back to work for a few days. But here's the pictures first!

May 4-8 - Visit from the Family!
My dining room with the cool, amazingly appropriate artwork Mom got me	Me in my mirror!	Auntie Helen and my newly located Eiffel Tower pic from Mom	My kitchen with some new rug and dish racks - you see, the red is slowly on its way!	Mom and Helen at the artwork	Again!	Harv, Mom and Helen at the Cog Railway station	Helen and Mom in the train
Harv and Me	View from the top	More goodness	It was finally clear!	There's our train - just hope it didn't leave us there	The rails on the way back	The top of the Pikes Peak hiking trail - one day I'll get here via foot!	The actual trail end
Just in case you didn't know	The end of the cog rail	Look out below!	Me at the end	Again	Harv and the train	The rail and the city of Colorado Springs	Me and the train
Mom and Helen before Cripple Creek - ready to gamble!	There's the winners!

So like I said, after the folks left, my next weekend was planned out - I was headed to Vegas because I just couldn't hold out any longer. I needed to play! I made plans to leave the next Sunday and stay through Wednesday so I could have lower minimums on the table and so I could get out of work some more. Well, the second part worked! Apparently my dastardly plan didn't work. but I jump ahead. On the Saturday right before I left, I had my friends over for a barbeque to finally break it in as well as my new patio furniture. It was a great time, and also an inauguration of the PS2 game called Guitar Hero! Robbie had testified how freakin' awesome it was, and I had heard great things about it, but once Robbie flipped out on the game, I knew I had to play it. So I got my own copy of it, along with the guitar controller, and dayum if Robbie wasn't right on! How awesome is this game? Well, it ranks right up there with DDR for me, and you look a lot cooler playing Guitar Hero than DDR. Plus, I've now reawakened my liking for rock music. Who knew? During my barbeque, I also got some others hooked on the game, so my rep as a pusher is still intact!

But finally in Vegas, I made it that first night directly over to the Schofields so I could see them but also to watch the Survivor finale! As I mentioned way above, I wanted Cirie to win, but alas, that honor went to Aras. A great season though. Also, it was great to see my old adopted Vegas family. Not much has changed, but I haven't really been gone that long, so give it time, I guess... Throughout the next couple of days, I played craps (alone and with my craps buddy, Dave Fox), went to the pool, shopped, walked around, got drunk, ate a lot (I had an AWESOME solo dinner while people-watching at the Le Provencal restaurant and managed to put away an entire bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon myself - and discovered promptly that I was SERIOUSLY trashed from it. I could barely walk straight out of the restaurant - now that's drunk, my friends!), and eventually lost my gambling money, but it was a great vacation nonetheless. No pictures though - go figure, right!?

We're slowly but surely getting caught up to current time. The past few weekends have been mostly spent hanging out with the group, whether it be at each others' houses, going to the movies (I've managed to see a movie per weekend - Ice Age 2 (okay), MI-3 (liked it), Poseidon (liked it also), DaVinci Code (terribly disappointed!), and X-Men: The Last Stand (loved it!)), playing lots of Guitar Hero or Karaoke Revolution, drinking, etc. It's awesome to have a social circle again in which people can actually hang out with me. Yay! I love to make myself sound so pathetic, don't I? :-)

And that takes us to Memorial Day weekend, which just occurred. That's 4 days off, and I decided to finally go hiking in one of the more beautiful spots of Colorado Springs: the Garden of the Gods. Below are the pictures from hike on the Friday we had off. It was a beautiful day, and now I'm getting all stoked because my goal is by the end of the summer to hike Pike's Peak. At least the way up - you can Space-A on the cog railway down! Other than that, we managed to hang out some more, and then I also got to work on putting the red paint up on my dining room area. And I'm tired typing, so here's the remainder of the pictures. I believe I'm caught up. And can you believe this - we're now getting a hailstorm amidst the thunder and lightning. Thank God I have a garage or else my car would be getting trashed right now.

May 26 - Hike through Garden of the Gods
Pikes Peak through the Balancing Rock	Gorgeous view of Pikes Peak from the Visitors Center	Zoomed in	There's Cheyenne Mountain in the distance!	Cool reflection of the visitor center window	One of the huge Three Graces	Long distance view of the Three Graces	View from on the Palmer Trail - a 3-mileish route around the Garden
More Palmer Trail view	Looking into the Central Garden	The Palmer Trail	Nice view of the Front Range of the Rockies	Just a cool view of some rocks along the road	Looking towards Pikes Peak from the south part of the Garden	A timed shot of me at that same view	Just an example of the amazing rock formations in the garden

And here's how my bar/nook is shaping up. I know that I love the red, but more has to be done. I'm thinking of a very dark brown strip at the top of the red paint, along with some cool dark-hued drinking or gambling things to hang on the wall to offset the brightness of the red (which I still love, but know it's a little overwhelming as of now). Then, I want to work in the kitchen by putting a pattern on it - a trellis pattern that will have the same red, the primer grey which I've come to love, and that same dark brown color. I'll keep posting pictures as it progresses. I figure I'll get that working this weekend! And NOW, I'm caught up. Whew.

May 27-30 - Painting the barroom red
Before the work began	Getting some primer on the wall	First section painted	To show the contrasting wall progression from the front to the back	And now the red is done. Ready for fine-tuning!

23 May 2006     Blame Michancy!!!!!

Yes, blame her, the red-headed Michancy o' Delaware. Sounds like a fairy tale legendary monster, doesn't it????? Well, she's not. But she's damn funny and she called this evening, and I spilled all the beans on what was going to be updated on the website. Now I have to wait till tomorrow till I can figure out a good lie or two to put on the website tomorrow. Maybe THAT's what I'll do in tomorrow's update - list a whole bunch of things that I may or may not have done and have you guys speculate on what was real and what is fake. That COULD be fun. But then it could say a lot about how you all think of me. And my fragile ego may not take it. Aww, fuck it - I'll just drink a couple of Wahrsteiners and read your comments! It was fun talking to Michancy though. Me and her definitely click (in a friend way, to be clear; she's married!) - for me, it actually started when I first met her back at AIA, both of ours first assignment in the AF. I immediately appreciated her way-sarcastic sense of humor and loved that she told it just like she wanted. Since then, I've also grown to appreciate her love of drinking, and while I've never had the pleasure of drinking red wine with her, I think the two of us together intoxicated on red wine would spell doom and destruction for those around us caught in the whirlwind of laughter and mockery. But anyways, the promised update will have to wait till tomorrow. Like I said, blame Michancy for this. It's her damn fault - especially when she starts telling stories about 'Jeremy' and 'Laremy' - I kid you not.

22 May 2006     Return of the Hobie (part I)

Alright, alright.... so yeah, I've been away from the site for awhile. Much apologies to you all. Believe you me, it was nothing personal against you - it was me. (Does that line work over the Internet?) Truth be told though, I just didn't have the motivation to update nor really want to. These past few weekends I've been either busy with actual social events (I know, go figure!) or as in this past weekend, I just was REALLY really lazy.

So, today's update will probably not satiate the expected page-upon-page journal update you're expecting. I must say that I am distracted this evening: TWO of my favorite shows are having their finales. Alias is actually having its SERIES FINALE (NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!) and 24 is having its Season Finale (YAYYYYYY!!!!!). Much kudos to Ferdie for giving the 24 updates on the guestbook. But with these both being on tonight, there's no way I can focus energies on the journal today. But tomorrow, I'll put the pictures I've been saving for over a month up and then you'll see a true return to form!!!!

Before I go for the evening though, I want to send my prayers and thoughts to Gendy (aka the creator of O Happy Dagger) - I found out today that she was involved in a head-on collision on the Pasadena freeway late Saturday night. A drunk driver drove his car over the divider and plowed head-on to Gendy, who was in her BMW. Fortunately for her, Germans really know how to make a safe car, and the plentitude of airbags saved Gendy's life. She actually is doing remarkably well for what happened to her. A concussion and some bruises is all that happened to her, thank God. The car is totaled, and she had to be cut out of it with the jaws of life. But better the car than her. The drunk driver survived, but his passenger did not. This is the kind of shit that makes you thankful for every day you have - you never know when that jackass fucker is out there who comes out of nowhere and changes your life forever. I'm just so happy that Gendy is okay.

Anyways, like I said, I'll continue the update tomorrow. I have the time too as Robbie's visit out here was cancelled, so that's a bummer. Now I have to practice Guitar Hero on my own!!!!!! (Guitar Hero is a story for tomorrow!) Well, take care, and I'll see you then, in a manner of speaking.