A glass walker in Venice Beach, CA 

Roxy - Personal Ad

Hello, my name is Roxy. I live in Fontana, CA. My eye colors are blue and brown. I enjoy sitting in the sun, taking care of little puppies and jumping on humans. I promise that I am very friendly. I own the Ramirez Family and is looking for a little attention. You can contact me at (555)SIT-ROXY.

How a George Foreman Grill Works

The basic anatomy of a George Foreman Grill

The technical stuff:
The plug is a 2 prong plug, no grounding what-so-ever. (it doesn't represent much of a shock hazard) The grill is all encased in plastic. The power cord goes to the transformer, where it converts 110VAC to 640Watts of heat to the heating element. The heat sensor prevents the grill from over heating and catching your steaks on fire!

Good idea, but good low-fat steaks come at the cost of losing it's juicyness. I found that the grill knocks out the fat, but also all of the moisture, leaving a dry steak. All of the seasoning on the steak gets cooked and leaves the charred taste. Some people like it, some don't. I prefer a fully cooked juicy, tender steak.

Oil Changes: DIY vs. Dealer

When you take car to the dealer for an oil change, you get a free deluxe car wash (at some places) and a warranty on the quality of work, if they find anything wrong with your car, they'll tell you about it, your car will have a history of genuine manufacturer maintenance available nationwide (helps if you want to extend your warranty), and plus it's convenient. In DIY, you risk damaging your own car, getting dirty, having to purchase everything you need for the job, having to dispose of the used oil, and being frustrated when something goes wrong (Murphy's law). Is it worth the extra money for manufacturer maintenance? I say yes.

Other guys vs. Dealer: I once took my car to Wal-Mart and the service guy called my Nissan Sentra a Ford Focus... That moron.



Conversation:
diwun67: How can you screw up changing the oil?? It's not that hard, and I'd rather do it myself and use a high quality synthetic rather than the cheap, recycled dino crap they use at the dealer. Try getting a synthetic oil change at the dealer and see how they @ss rape you, and who knows if they're actually using synthetic at that point. I'm a Murphy's Law graduate, and I've never had anything go wrong changing my own oil.

IncrediblyX: Your dealer sucks. Mine uses Castrol GTX. No @ss raping involved.

The Saab Airplane

Saab Airplane

If you have ever had to fly to Wichita Falls, Texas, you would have to fly in one of these tiny things. I'm not a regular flier, so I was scared out of my wits fearing that the wind would blow hard enough to knock us into the ground. Of course, I asked for a window seat when I bought my ticket... It turns out that all the seats were window seats and I just happened to get the seat that sat right next to the propeller blades. It had a cut out for a window, but there was no window. It was just a blank spot to rest your head on if you want to get a headache from the vibrations of the plane. I guess it was a good thing that there was no window, because if I had one and if for some chance a bird got smacked into it, I would pee my pants.

Beefy Stew Recipe

I like watching shows like Iron Chef and Emeril. It quite motivating and interesting to see how different foods can be stirred up and be made into one special dish. Well, here is my recipe for my delicious Beefy Stew. I'm a meat lover and I love beef!

1 package of beef (4 or 5 dollars worth, not the precut stewed sizes because they're too small)
1 piece of garlic
Montreal Steak seasoning
Lemon & Pepper Seasoning
1/4 cup Soy Sauce
1 Tomato
1 onion cut in half
3 potatoes
4 carrots
1 green bell pepper

1. Cut up the beef into 2 inch cubes and cut off all the fat
2. Chop up garlic and add it to the beef
3. Add Montreal Steak seasoning and Lemon Pepper seasoning (use however much you want, more lemon = more tang)
4. Pour in 1/4 cup of Soy Sauce and mix up the beef
5. Let it marinate overnight
6. Take out beef and put in a pot, put stove on low heat (level 3) and cover pot with lid
7. Dice up the tomato and put into bowl
8. Peel the carrots and potatoes and dice them up and put into a bowl
9. Cut bell pepper and onion into 1 inch squares
10. Once beef is boiling in it's own sauce, add vegetables all at once and stir.
11. Cover pot with lid and stir occassionally.
12. Turn off stove once all the vegetables are soft. By now your kitchen should smell really good. Serve!

Lots of things can be added, once I added jalapeno peppers and it was really spicy. Once I marinated the beef with honey and it tasted sweet! Experiment!


Beefy Stew, YUM!!!

Wichita Falls, TX at Dawn 

A lilly creek in Wichita Falls 

Friend in IRAQ

Conversation took place 21 September 7:30 pm
IncrediblyX = Me
Kamumo = Peter R. Tan, Field Medic for US Marines a.k.a. Doc, Hospital Corpsman, Biomedical Equipment Technician. He is one of my closest friends since I’ve joined the Navy and he is now in IRAQ.


Kamumo: hey exion!!!!
IncrediblyX: hey
Kamumo: guess where i'm at?
IncrediblyX: where?
Kamumo: ar ramadi
IncrediblyX: how is it?
IncrediblyX: how do you have access to the internet?
Kamumo: you have to pray for your life, we just got mortared 9 times this evening
Kamumo: we have internet access/cafe but is slow as shit
Kamumo: it feels different if someone is shooting at you and firing RPG
Kamumo: we had to dismount twice on the way here
Kamumo: its scary as shit here dude
IncrediblyX: which marine group are you with?
Kamumo: ar ramadi is worse than fallujah
Kamumo: 2nd battalion 5th marines
Kamumo: 1st mar div
Kamumo: it's almost 4 am here
IncrediblyX: wow
IncrediblyX: I feel bad for you right now
IncrediblyX: :-( how many corpsman are with you?
Kamumo: over here was the 2nd corpsman who died
Kamumo: he was from 2nd battalion 4th marines
Kamumo: there's plenty of us
Kamumo: yah they're trying to kill us here
Kamumo: living conditions here sucks, i haven't taken a shower for 4 days
Kamumo: no water
Kamumo: and its hot as shit
IncrediblyX: got a camera?
IncrediblyX: take pictures
IncrediblyX: hopefully you come back and show us what it's like over there
IncrediblyX: how are the locals? hostile?
Kamumo: oh, btw, a blast is very very scary
Kamumo: yeup
IncrediblyX: man, that sucks dude
Kamumo: once we get internet connection at our bas i'll send you some
Kamumo: dude, just think of it this way, every local here wants you dead
Kamumo: and i'm standing here where 2 hrs ago 4 mortars hit this place
IncrediblyX: do you want me to send a care package?
IncrediblyX: where you are at right now?
Kamumo: and i can't even take a shit or piss because all the portajohns are outside and you might get blown off
Kamumo: i'll send you an email of my address
Kamumo: ar ramadi
Kamumo: i don't know it on the top of my head
IncrediblyX: do you move around a lot?
IncrediblyX: what do you need or want?
Kamumo: i've been here an hour just trying to access my yahoo email
Kamumo: no, not a whole lot
IncrediblyX: I'll try to find something while I'm still here in fucking wichita falls
Kamumo: i need/want to go back there in the states!!!
Kamumo: i'm good so far
Kamumo: i'm not trying to get on convoys that much because it's IED bonanza outside
IncrediblyX: IED?
IncrediblyX: what's that?
Kamumo: improvise explosive devise
Kamumo: device
Kamumo: and they're pretty deadly, we had 4 when we were trying to get here, got ambushed too
Kamumo: i'm telling you straight out
Kamumo: the truth
Kamumo: it's fucking scary here
IncrediblyX: I believe you
Kamumo: i can't say how many died here so far
Kamumo: but if you get pulled
Kamumo: try to get fssg or something
Kamumo: not division
IncrediblyX: I'm probably going to get pulled, the Navy is rotating everybody
IncrediblyX: I'm already expecting it
IncrediblyX: you had a choice between fssg or division?
Kamumo: get fssg
Kamumo: that's my best advice
Kamumo: and if your going to division
Kamumo: make sure if your shooting at something
Kamumo: make sure its dead or destoryed
Kamumo: nope
IncrediblyX: you got a weapon?
IncrediblyX: 9mm baretta?
Kamumo: m16a2
Kamumo: i've fired it
Kamumo: and let me tell you, you don't want to be into a fire fight
Kamumo: no 9mm, they say that is not a weapon
Kamumo: trust me, you'd rather have a m16 with you
IncrediblyX: heck, I would arm myself with both
IncrediblyX: just in case
IncrediblyX: can you sleep?
Kamumo: some do
IncrediblyX: or is there explosions everywhere?
Kamumo: but i'm fine with my betty
Kamumo: nope
Kamumo: we just got woken up by that mortar
Kamumo: everyday
Kamumo: we don't even know if its counter battery or they're actually bombing us
Kamumo: there's a lot of shit out here
IncrediblyX: how big is your division?
IncrediblyX: is there a lot of you guys?
IncrediblyX: have you saved a lot of lives?
IncrediblyX: Do you hear corpsman up a lot?
Kamumo: it's a batallion
Kamumo: yah there's a lot of us, yup we've save lot of lives already
Kamumo: yup
Kamumo: that too
IncrediblyX: man, you're going to get lots of medals, Purple Heart etc
Kamumo: tell people over there try to get division
Kamumo: try to get a vacation in sunny iraq
Kamumo: i'm not trying to get medals here
Kamumo: i just wanna go back in one piece
Kamumo: but im telling you, it fucking sucks here
Kamumo: from where were at
Kamumo: i'm here until april
IncrediblyX: April???
IncrediblyX: Fuck, that's a long time!
Kamumo: yup
Kamumo: it's 7 months
IncrediblyX: I can't believe it, that blows
IncrediblyX: when did you leave for IRAQ?
Kamumo: yup
Kamumo: tell all the basic tech not to fail out cuz they need them here badly
Kamumo: 30 august
Kamumo: i'm going to be here almost a month
IncrediblyX: sure
IncrediblyX: I'm going to spread the news
Kamumo: it's way different this time
Kamumo: not like oif 1
Kamumo: chances of getting killed is 20 percent
Kamumo: that's not a good percentage
Kamumo: and the army is fucking up big time
Kamumo: army has it all over here
Kamumo: they are living it up
IncrediblyX: how is the army fucking it up?
IncrediblyX: do they have to fight as much as you guys?
Kamumo: but what does the marine get? nothing
Kamumo: thy're chicken heads
Kamumo: yah they do when they have a big op
Kamumo: but mostly the marines take care of things
IncrediblyX: Hmmm....
IncrediblyX: That's what I've heard
Kamumo: dude its no joke here
IncrediblyX: there's hardly any army instructors here, because everybody's in IRAQ
Kamumo: i havent felt scared in my whole entire life when that ied exploded on us
IncrediblyX: are you guys guarding a position?
Kamumo: yah, well the army is not even getting out as much, they're living it up here, they have everything that you can imagine
IncrediblyX: that isn't good
IncrediblyX: that's not fiar
IncrediblyX: fair
Kamumo: yup we're guarding the whole ar ramadi area
Kamumo: just go on to search ar ramadi, you can take a good glimpse
Kamumo: hey what can you do
IncrediblyX: that must be a big place, let me see...
Kamumo: i hope the army do they're part
Kamumo: i don't think any army bmets would do any good
Kamumo: they'll be shitting in their pants already
IncrediblyX: army BMETS do motor pool
IncrediblyX: they probably don't do any real bmet work
Kamumo: yah well most of them ran over our humvees with their damn tanks because the tanks think that they'll be hurt with a small arms fire, which why would they think that?
Kamumo: i do my part here, i try to maintain the generators here
IncrediblyX: are you there as a BMET or corpsman?
Kamumo: 8404 baby (8408 = field medic for the marines, aka hospital corpsman)
Kamumo: 8479 is only a plus
IncrediblyX: why are you working on generators? somebody must be slacking
Kamumo: yup tell em a bmet got pulled for division
Kamumo: i'm helping out the other CEB's and S4
Kamumo: if they only need help
IncrediblyX: good for you
IncrediblyX: how is the food?
IncrediblyX: are you eating MREs? (MRE = Meal Ready to Eat = Not very tasty)
Kamumo: we only eat twice a day
Kamumo: sometimes we eat mre's for a week
Kamumo: yup it sucks
Kamumo: can't do laundry or take shower if there's no water in the water bowls or tanks
IncrediblyX: what if you run out of water?
IncrediblyX: you guys do laundry by hand?
Kamumo: we just wait and pray that the convoy gets here
Kamumo: hand or haji washing machine
IncrediblyX: are you even able to brush your teeth?
Kamumo: yup, water bottles
Kamumo: we got plenty of those
Kamumo: hey exion gotta go, time is up
IncrediblyX: okay
IncrediblyX: good luck!
IncrediblyX: I'll prey for you
IncrediblyX: don't forget to give me your address
Kamumo: i'll email you my address here, just give me a post card or something
Kamumo: thanks dude, yup i will, good luck in school
IncrediblyX: :-)
Kamumo: bye
IncrediblyX: bye
Kamumo signed off at 7:31:24 PM.

Outlook on the World's Future

Fact: A recent world census shows that the world's population is declining. It is due to many factors because of the decrease in birthrate, incurable diseases, accidents and natural death. Africa was also hit hard with the AIDS/HIV virus which seems to be spinning out of control at the moment, however, the birthrate is also multiplying faster than the lives taken by AIDS. Developed countries in Europe will have a huge decline, due to their low birthrate. The United States will be the only developed country to increase in population because of immigration, birthrates and increase in lifespan. India will be expected to become more heavily populated than China(which will be a world record once that happens). The estimated time period that this is supposed to happen will be in my lifetime: 2050. Past that, who knows? Can humanity be saved?

The pessismistic outlook: the population will increase no matter what. Under-developed countries simply lack the education, resources, and power to maintain control. Eventually, most of the world's rainforests will be cut down and if we don't find a solution to global warming, then once again there will be mass extinctions. Weather patterns will change, oxygen will slowly be depleted, resources will run out, the glacers will melt, land will be swollowed up by ocean, civil wars will break out, chaos will reign and human kindness will vanish.

Even with all of the human ingenuity, kindness, faith of religion, and strive for survival, in the end, we lose... and another form of life will claim dominance in the cycle of evolution.

A movie on the discovery channel(I can't remember what it was) predicted that squid or octopus will evolve after the human race, but that is just a theory...

An optomistic outlook of the worlds future is that the human race will(like nuclear roaches) be able to survive any change that we induce to ourselves. Biotechnology will enhance and extend life. Bionic limbs will replace missing ones. We will learn how to generate oxygen from one of our most abundant resources: "ocean water". We will develop technologies that rely less on mining the Earth for fossil fuels and other natural resources. Already, we have created materials that are stronger and lighter than steel and we have developed recycled objects that are more pliable than wood. Floating or underwater cities will be able to dodge and avoid natural disasters. Real estate will no longer be just land, maybe parts of the sky will be owned. Perhaps, we will step foot and explore other planets: maybe inhabit them and bring our water to Mars to make it more habitable. Science will open up the human genome and we will be able to eliminate inherited diseases and create a more evolved super-human. But this is also a theory...

Who knows? What do you think?

Holliday Street Flea Market, Wichita Falls, TX

Confederate Flags and Pickup Trucks


A little shady spot



Bargains are in every corner!

I had spent my day yesterday at the local flea market. (Swap-meets for you California folk) I walked around and got me some good deals on car jacks. I believe that this is a pretty good place to get used cheap tools and furniture. Maybe clothes and movies, but sometimes the pawn shop will sell movies for cheaper, but of course, you can bargain down on anything and nobody charges taxes. You can also come here for some hamburgers, hotdogs and ice cream.

Logger showing off his stuff. Texas-Oklahoma Fair, MPEC Center, Wichita Falls, TX

Birthday... Again?

Llama feeding time!

It's my birthday again. I'm 25 years old now. It's also the 6 year anniversary of my graduation from Navy Bootcamp and entering Hospital Corps School. What am I going to do today? I'm going to rotate my tires, return my library books, pay my auto insurance and draft up my 30 day notice to vacate my apartment. It's a busy time. I'm also going to eat the rest of my wife's peanut butter cookies that she priority mailed to me from San Diego!

My Disasters with Internet Dating

Internet dating has been around since the internet has started back in the early 90's. It was interesting and pretty much everyone on the internet back then were computer geeks and nerds. Now, it is a whole different story. Everybody is on the internet. Even grandmothers and dogs have their own e-mail address. I am happily married now, and no, I didn't meet her on the internet. But before I got married, I've had previous night-outs with people I've meet on the internet with little success.

I got on a website called Click2Asia.com. I signed right up and started chatting in the chatrooms. It didn't take me long to figure out that there were like 99 guys(around my age) and about 10 girls in there. About 2 of the girls were older horny women and about 3 of them already had boyfriends and 3 of them were way too young and the remaining 2 were being hit on by the 99 guys. What the hell!?! Where are all the cute girls at? I stuck around for a few more hours to see if any cuties ever logged on. No matter what, the guys always out-numbered the girls about 10 to 1.

I decided to do something funny, I signed up again under a different handle as an 18 year old blonde on the Asian dating site. Then I started cussing everybody out, but no matter how rude or bluntly insulting I was trying to be, guys always tried to hit on me. Funny. Those idiot guys were just horny, that's all. I quickly put that website on my avoid list.

Another thing I have done was get on, Yahoo Personals. I put up a profile, like you were supposed to and wait for someone to respond. Well, I didn't receive a response until six months later. Some Vietnamese girl was trying to hook me up with her fat sister that was in college in San Diego (about 35 miles away from where I lived at the time). It turned out that her sister had the same last name as me. What the heck? We could've been related or something! I quickly dropped that contact.

My next plan of attack was ICQ. You can download it at www.ICQ.com . It has a cool search thing where you can narrow your search of people to your own zipcode. From there, you can narrow it down to the age and gender of who you wanted to talk to. Very cool. So I put in a search for all 18 year old girls in my zipcode. It came up with over 30 results! Cool! I began looking at all their information. I ended up chatting with a high school girl that worked at Lego Land in Carlsbad, CA. We swapped pictures and such. She was actually pretty cute and interesting to talk to. This is where I learned that girls in California are more "out in the open" than the girls back home in the south. She told me about her date rape experience with her boyfriend. I tried to calm her down. Her boyfriend had forced anal sex on her. The girl was in a lot of pain. I told her to report it to the authorities, but she later told me that she sorta liked it and wanted to try it again... I quickly put her on my ignore list. That wierdo...

Next, I meet a girl that only lived only 4 or 5 miles away from where I was living. She was nice and we swapped photos. She wanted me to meet her at her house. I reluctantly agreed to that request. She seemed to be a really nice person and her photo didn't look too bad. Turned out that she was like 6 feet tall and had a big belly sticking out. I was like, oh my gawd! Her house was tiny, but what do you expect when it is walking distance from the ocean? Anyways, it was too late to call it quits, because I had already gave her my barracks phone number. She had a bunch of nice friends including some gay guy friends. I was totally freaked out when a guy told me I was cute. Ick... We went out a couple of times and I was embarrassed to go out with her. I tried to have fun and see how long the ride was going to take me. I remember her pulling out fried chicken when we went out to the movies. I was thinking, "how did you hide thing???" Gee wiz... She had me stumped. One day she started acting strange and we held a giant bonfire on the beach. We drank a few beers and she invited every guy on the beach and started flirting with everyone. Soon, all our food and beer was gone. I was really angry because I had paid for most of it and I didn't want some strange, horny men eating all my food. Anyways, I had stopped talking to her and I moved to an apartment soon afterwards. But darn it, she still had my e-mail address and kept trying to invite me over. That stalker...

Soon, I moved to Wichita Falls, Texas. I had changed my profile in "Yahoo Personals" to the local zipcode there. I got a response right away. She had low self-esteem and I tried to cheer her up. She never had a boyfriend and she was 2 years younger than me. She was really, really nice too and she lived up north in Lawton, Oklahoma. She wouldn't send me a photo until we had agreed to meet up somewhere. I told her, "sure why not?" We swapped pictures. When I saw the picture, I wanted to cover up my eyes. I had never seen such an UGLY girl before. Her nose was really big, her eyes were small and squinty and her head was large and oval shaped. She had long straight nappy hair that looked like it was cut off at the shoulders with a butter knife. She had asked me what I thought. Being the nice guy I am, I told her that she was cute. I didn't want to totally shatter her self-esteem. I never replied to her e-mails ever again. That nasty girl...

My last and final internet dating experience was when I was stationed in Lemoore, CA right before I meet my future wife. Once again, I changed my profile on Yahoo Personals to the correct zipcode. I had several responses within the first week. One turned out to be a drug addict, one was an older school teacher with four kids(a.k.a. leftover baggage from previous relationships), and one was a super-model living in Los Angeles. Obviously, I sent out an e-mail to the super-model asking why she responded to my personals. She sent me an e-mail with her website address. Turned out she was a stripper and she wanted to have sex for money. Umm... No way.

Now you see why I think internet dating is complete crap. I ended up meeting the girl of my dreams in a GYM(fitness center) and shortly afterwards, married her. Looks do matter, because if I was to look at someone for the rest of my life and have kids with her, it might as well be an attractive girl. If you want a cute, athletic girl, go to the gym and take your pick!

The lesson of today's topic is: "Look in the right place for the right people." Examples will be: Gym = attractive, athletic, outgoing... Bookstore = older, mature, smart... Highschool = underage, innocent school girl... Internet = ugly, fat, lonely and wants your money

Trophy Booth at the Texas Oklahoma Fair. 

Texas - Oklahoma Fair, MPEC Center, Wichita Falls, TX

Texas - Oklahoma Fair, MPEC Center, Wichita Falls, TX

The SeaRay

Balloon Dinosaur

One of the many fairs that I have visited. This one is the first one where everything was paved and I didn't have to pay for parking or entry. I didn't spend a single dime! But I still had fun. I got to watch kids bounce around in a dinosaur and slide down the Titanic. The food was varied from cotton candy to big turkey legs. It was nice.

Are We Winning the War on Terror?

Are we(everyone not a terrorist) losing the war on terror? Somehow, President Bush believes that we are winning. We did a hostile takeover of two entire countries and created weak governments that are somehow similiar to ours. All of this took place in the matter of 3 months. Wow. It is the fastest war that has ever been fought. With so much happening so fast, it is not easy trying to convince the people of their respective religion and country that our customs are correct and rightious. With that, many people are angry at the US and it's allies. Terrorists groups are constantly recruiting new members and are rapidly growing in size. They are learning from every little mistake they make. Quickly, they are becoming more organized and more intelligent. Are we going to win? I don't think so. What do you think?

Dried up Waterfall

The Wichita Falls do not always have water falling. Here it is dried up. I guess the water pumps stopped working for a while, since it is a man made waterfall.

The Truth about Joining the Military

I know that this country is built on maintaining a strong military force. I am thankful for those who enlist in the Navy, Army, Air Force and Marines because they are making the ultimate sacrafice: their lives. What I mean by that is that, once they join those respective forces, their liberty and basic freedoms are stripped away. So if you see a disgruntled Marine, Sailor, Airman or Soldier, then you should understand why.

• The pay sucks (considered poverty level until E-5)
• No freedom - You can't do what you want when you want. You can never ever call in sick or be late otherwise suffer the consequences that will affect your advancement for the rest of your career.
• Unfriendly (advancement is hard and cut-throut)
• Deployable at anytime
• Work comes first, Family comes second, Educational Opportunities comes dead last - although they preach: "Get a Degree!" Yeah... but duty comes first, you bastards. It took me six years to earn an Associates Degree (2 year degree).
• Long and Ardous Duty - Long working hours and you don't get paid extra for it. A lot of times you're just waiting for something to happen.
• No real tax benefits - No taxes is charged in the store on base, but here's the catch, a good number of necessities is more expensive than what you pay for at Wal-Mart or Target. It is a monopoly and I feel sorry for people who can't leave base so that they can take advantage of the competitive prices outside. Also, the Commissary charges a nominal stocking fee called "SCG" which is kinda like taxes, but not as much and also, the baggers work for tips. I don't like tipping people, so I have to see the "ungrateful look" when you don't tip them. One lady even had the nerve to push the tip jar in front of my face when I paid with cash and coupons! I wish I can bag my own groceries.
• What happens in the past, will come back and bite you in the ass - You maintain a service record that goes with you everywhere you go in your military career.
• Uniform inspections - What other organization grades you on your uniform appearance? The smallest details can get you in trouble and perhaps ruin your "evaluation". Which can deminish your chance for advancement.
• Random Urinalysis - I don't enjoy having somebody watching me pee. They must see genitals... that isn't cool.
• No real respect - The local police will be happy to slap you with that 5 mph over the speed limit ticket even though you are in military uniform and being respectful to the officer. (Officer Grimaldi, Badge Number 15259, you must hate your country.) I especially love it when they set up speed traps, right in front of the base gate to catch people with base stickers.
• Bullshit - I can't say this enough. There is too much of it.
• You have to move every 2-3 years - It sucks having to remake friends over and over and over and over...
• Not good for having a family - The military tries so hard to make it easier for people with families, but the truth is, it is still hard and the pay still sucks and you have to move so many times.
• Anything, I mean anything, can ruin your military career - You are held responsible for everything you do... no leniency what-so-ever.
• Maintaining your uniform is expensive - Every little ribbon and patch is gonna cost you. May heaven forbid that you ever accidentally stain your dress uniform.
• I see Dumb People - There is dumb people everywhere... but it could be argued that we wouldn't even have a military if our country didn't have dumb people.
• You can't control advancement - Shitbags and complete imbeciles can make rank, become officers and become your boss and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it.
• Language barrier - A good number of people in the military speak another language and have a hard-to-understand accent.
• Incompetence - There is lots of it since there is lots of dumb people and people who just don't give a crap about you, because their issues are more important than yours. It is so hard and frustrating to get anything done right. Consider yourself lucky when something gets done the way it was supposed to.
• Haircuts - I have to get them once every other week. And they get expensive after a while. It is considered to be a "bill".

This is not a complete list. But you get my point.

What I do on the Weekends in Wichita Falls

I usually spend my weekends getting a haircut, washing my car and going to the Commissary (military base grocery store). There really is not much to do here in Wichita Falls. There is a nice golf course on base, but I don't like golf. It is too hot outside, so it cuts out a lot of activities. There is a family fun center with batting cages, a small water park, miniture golf and go-cart rides. That stuff can easily put a dent in my wallet. There is also a minature indoor mall. It has some nice stores such as Books-a-Million, Old Navy, Hot Topic, FYE, Spencers Gifts, Sears, and JC Penny. The movies and arcade are also there too. Wichita Falls only has 3 places to view movies. The base, inside the mall and one right outside the mall. It's a monopoly for sure. I'm so used to the stadium seating of the movie theatres in California, so the movie experience here is pretty awful. Some movies come out a little late here also, but I'm not in a rush. There are two Wal-Mart Supercenters and that's about it.

1984 Pontiac Fiero

This was my first car. I only paid $1,550 for it back in 12 May 1999. It was real tiny and it consumed lots and lots of gas. I would say about 15 mpg. It made lots of noise too. I ended up selling it for $1,600. I did a lot of refurbishments and repairs to it. New tires and all. Once the repairs became too much of a burdon, I had to sell it. Total maintenance and upkeep costed me about $2,000. And I owned it for about 8 months. Now do the calculations, 2,000 dollars divided by 8 months = $250 a month. I figured that if I wanted to pay $250 a month for a car, wouldn't it be better to do it on a better more reliable vehicle? Used cars are more expensive for what they are. So in Nov of 99, I went out and got a newer car. But getting a used car provided me with the skills and knowledge to maintain my future vehicles. Such as changing out the oil, tires, brakes, mechanical headlights and waterpump.

Wedding Picture - How we pulled off the Coolest Wedding!

January 15, 2003 at 15:21 Soco and I got married. Here is our photo. We got married at Naval Hospital Lemoore, at the Naval Air Station Lemoore, CA. Some people wouldn't believe that I got married in coveralls. Hehe! That is how I wanted to do it. In our uniforms at the very last minute. Also, notice the Spongebob Square Pants in his tighty-whities sticker on Soco's id badge. Nobody was invited except for Chaplin Yi, LT. Richardson and Mrs. Robyn Vigil. But that was because I needed witnesses. It was not important to me to have a giant traditional old-fashioned ceremony. In the high speed Navy, there's no time for that. We didn't even have a party or anything. Soco and I later celebrated at a delicious sub-sandwich place, called Quiznos. And after that, it was business as usual.

Stuff to Do Before I Die

I've decided to compile a list of things that I wanted to do before I die. It is not a complete list, but it is a start.

Stuff to do list:

• Ride in a hot air balloon
• Travel to Europe
• Go deep sea diving
• Take a cruise to Alaska
• Ride in a space shuttle and go to outer space
• Try all kinds of the most exquisite, exotic foods
• Shake the hand of the President of the United States of America.
• Start a worldwide campaign to raise money for a charity group called Zero Population Growth who renamed themselves to Population Connection.
• Take race car lessons in a real race car

Yeah, I know some of these things are almost impossible to achieve. But hey, you never know what may happen. Isn't life exciting?

2002 Nissan Sentra SE-R (Gold Badge Edition) 

Hydrogen Fuel Cell Car

Hydrogen Fuel Cell Car

It is interesting how this works. It takes energy to split the hydrogen from the oxygen atoms. In the experiment, I used a solar cell which split the atoms into their respective fuel tanks. Naturally, the atoms will want to combine. When they do, they produce a small current which drives the high torque dc motor. This takes place in the Fuel Cell. This kit was very interesting and you can find it at any science store or at Fry's Electronics. If not, you can do a search on Ebay or on the internet somewhere.

Lesson Learned - No Money, Big Problems

I'm trying very hard to be thrifty, but it is too hard. Everytime I get paid, it goes faster than I can save it. I don't understand this phenomenon. It begins to worry me. I feel that much of it is being spent on things that I have to buy anyways, like shoes, tires, bills, rent, ring payments and food. Moving to Japan is becoming a financial burdon. My goal to save money the six months that I am here in Wichita Falls has failed miserably. I guess I'm not seeing the future as bright as it should be. With plans of having children in a couple of years, I feel a bit helpless. I fear that I can't afford it. Military pay is not what it is cracked up to be. And it would be shameful for me to accept government assistance such as welfare and foodstamps. I'm not a man who lives on debt, but I learned that foolish choices in the past has a big effect on NOW. Although, I'm very happy with my high priced vehicle, it cost me an entire year and several of months salary pay. I know I should not regret it, but I see that my selfish decision will haunt me. I have just paid it off last month, now I'm forced to let it age in storage for three years while I'm at Japan. The lesson I have learned is that, I'm now paying for my foolishness from the past and it is painful. I should've bought a cheaper car.

One of the many rusty old bridges that cross the Wichita River. 

Another view of Downtown Wichita Falls 

How a Crest Spin Brush Works. It is actually pretty simple. Battery powers the dc motor which spins the crank that pushes the piston up and down. The case is impossible to open without destroying it. The case was glued shut. The electric toothbrush lasted for about 1 1/2 years until it died on me.

I bet you money that female sex toy vibrators work the same way without the piston.

Parking in Texas. As you can see, there is plenty of parking.