BLOGS FOR SEPTEMBER 2008

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Week ending September 28th, 2008
So how ya doing?! I am FANTASTIC!

Had a great week! Work wise it was really busy but I like it that way. I have some issues with a few solutions but we're working them out. I get to do a lot of troubleshooting which to me is really fun. I like to know what broke, why and how to fix it. So in that aspect, work has been really, really interesting over the past couple weeks. We were supposed to do our team outing on Friday but we had to reschedule due to some co-workers being out of the office. We're doing LASER TAG! Haha, I have a side bet with my boss. He seems to forget I am a former US Marine so I know how to use a gun :) We're going to do it the last week of October, I think, because the middle of October I'll be out of the office for a week taking a training class in Archiving.

Tuesday I went out to help a friend who needed some work done on her computer. Where is my "No I will not fix your computer" tee shirt?! LOL. Anyway, we went for some excellent Italian food afterwards and then I headed home. It feels good to be able to help a friend out in need so that was rewarding.

So last Wednesday at the gym I bumped into one of the trainers I talk to a lot. He's a pretty big guy. He said he's noticed my progress over the past 3-4 months and made some compliments on my gains. I don't think he was joshing me because I've gained 13 pounds since I started this weight gain powder 5 weeks ago. So that's two people who know me who have noticed all the hard work in the gym paying off :) Keeps me motivated to keep working harder. My goal of 180-190 is attainable at this rate by the end of the year!!

This weekend I went to Palm Springs to hang out with friends. We went to a really nice restaurant, walked up and down the main drag and then we ended up at this sports place that had a live band. Let me tell you something, they were very VERY good. It was just a three piece band but each member (drummer, bassist and guitar player) sung different songs and they all were good singers. They covered a multitude of songs and really did them all justice. My friend was getting a lot of looks and she was like "Hey all these guys are staring at me, dance with me!" So yes I went dancing! Haha. It's been a long time since I've shuffled my feet on the dance floor but I had a great time. All in all it was an excellent weekend. Long drive though, that's for sure.

Of course I missed Church but that's ok because I listened to it on the radio on the way there. I can't believe how far I can get 107.9 from San Diego. I could pick up the station better through the desert than I can in town sometimes. I think the Mountains have something to do with that, ya think? haha. John, sorry I missed the party but I had forgotten that this weekend conflicted. Hopefully you're coming down next weekend for the Miramar Air Show. I am really looking forward to that. It's been a while since I've hung around the jets I used to work on in the Marines (F/A-18s).

One funny thing I want to touch on is a few of my friends. I don't know why but they come to me for relationship advice. Perhaps knowing my background and some of the things I've overcome (without losing my mind LOL) they feel like I am a good person to bounce ideas off of. All in all it's cool. Most of the time it just comes down to self-respect. If you don't love and respect yourself you really can't expect anyone else to love and respect you either.

So with that piece of advice, I'm going to finish up this month's blogs. Hope you had a great weekend too. The Bucs won, the Gators lost (doh!) and MotoGP racing is coming on soon. I've got my pizza and soda and am ready for racing!!!!

Have a great week and talk to you next weekend!!!

Week ending September 21st, 2008
What a fun week! I've gotten so much done this week so today (Sunday) is a day of rest and relaxation (well, except for chores, lol).

Most of the week I took care of some personal stuff, went out with friends, etc. In fact, work-wise we went out on Tuesday and on Thursday. On Tuesday we went to this place in La Jolla. It was a vendor party so that was fun. Got to meet a bunch of big-wigs, haha. I was probably the lowest ranking guy there.

Then on Thursday a bunch of co-workers went out to this place called Kristy's. It's just around the corner from work. The lady who owns the place and yes, her name is Kristy is a little weird. I don't know her and never met her but she comes up to everyone and rubs their arm and says "Welcome back!" hehe. A warm welcome but I don't know you, lady :) It was fun though and we all had a good time. Next Friday is our team building day and we're doing LASER TAG!!! That should be fun. I'll have to whip out my old Marine Corps Handbook for this one as I plan on wiping the floor with everyone (or get tagged out in the process!).

Saturday my friend Derek came over and we did some work on his bike. First I had to replace the o-ring that was leaking on the Bandit. When I removed the old one it was very clear that was the problem. It had a missing chunk out of it and thus the leaking! Once that was done we tore into the V-Max's brakes. His front brakes were fine but when we got the rear brakes off we found the problem. The had worn down to the metal! After that I did something I don't do often - electrical. We installed a new horn on his bike. This is no ordinary horn. It's LOUD! Sounds like a freight train whistle and I am not kidding. The first time we tried it out we both jumped, haha! It was good to hang out with Derek and once again, thanks for the Sushi lunch afterwards. That hit the spot!

Church was awesome on Saturday. I found my friend from work there so I sat with him, his wife and daughter. Once again Pastor Bob had a great message and he does make it entertaining and fun. All I can say is I really like the traditional Church. It's really good and I've been trying to get people to come with me. I think it would turn a lot of lives around and get them in the right direction. They still want me to start a Motorcycling Ministry and I really want to do it, but I need to get them organized. We definitely have to take it easy on the roads.

OH! Have you seen the Aprilia RSV4? I am drooling over this bike. It's probably $22,000 MSRP which is a lot more than I'd want to pay for a Motorcycle. But it's definitely my kind of bike. I don't even know if we have an Aprilia dealer here in San Diego. I think there is one in OC and one in LA. I'll scout around and see what kind of deal I can find. Love the V4, love the suspension and the design of the bike. We have yet to see what the reliability or performance is though. It's supposed to have close to 200hp at the crank!!!

Well I am off to have lunch with a friend so I hope you have a great rest of your week. I'm taping the WSBK races and the Bucs game so I'll be able to watch them later tonight. Also, GO GATORS! Way to beat up on Tenn!! Muahaha. Can't wait till we play Florida State. I am sure Robert is going to have to suffer another loss at the hands of UoF!!!

Talk to you next week! In the meantime, make sure you have fun and enjoy life!!! I know I am!!! And don't forget to sign the guestbook!!!!

Week ending September 14th, 2008
Man I am beat! This was a fairly busy week at work. This Monday I have to drive down to the Network Operations Center and overview an installation of one of my solutions, so that should be fun! It always gives me a sense of personal pride when my solutions are implemented in production and work as designed. I also have a lot of training to do in October but I am definitely excited and looking forward to it. So overall work is going really well and of course, really liking what I do helps a lot!

Physically I am sore from working out extra hard this week. Definitely the new supplements (shakes) I am taking are helping a lot. I think I mentioned before it has creatine in it in addition to loads of calories (haha) so I am able to push a lot more weight when lifting. The bad part is I am always thirsty so I have to drink a lot of water. (I'm downing water as I write this). But I definitely know it's making an impact as in the past month I've put almost 10lbs on. In fact, yesterday at John's birthday party that's the first thing he noticed. "Hey, you're getting bigger!" he said, pointing at my chest. I just laughed! I don't stare at myself in the mirror so I guess I haven't noticed (outside of the scales).

Speaking of the party, that was fun. The plans I had initially made got changed when I didn't hear back as scheduled so I decided to drive up to OC and celebrate his 29th birthday (YOU OLD MAN!!!). We met up in Irvine then drove together to Dromo-1. If you haven't been there, it's a fast, gas powered KART track. The Karts will go up to 35mph which is pretty fast on such a short track. We had two qualifiers and two full races and had a lot of fun. I managed to move my overall rating into the top 600 (out of 22,000 people, 99.5 percentile) so I guess I did ok :) Wish my motorcycle racing results had turned out that good, lol.

After the racing we drove up to Downey for BBQ and games. We ended up staying there until close to midnight. We played all kinds of games, gorged ourselves on some really good food and we even played Rock Band. Not sure if you've ever played this game. It's pretty fun but nothing like playing a real guitar. I knew most of the songs I was playing on guitar but it's more like "Simon Says" than playing the real thing. The notes are not exactly timed to the real notes of the song so I kept screwing up. A few times I kept trying to do some vibrato on the buttons (where normally I'd have a string). I couldn't help but laugh out loud at myself. We only got booed off the stage once or twice, lol. We had a really good time and John's folks are good people. We should do that again soon dude. Don't forget to send me the pics so I can upload them on the site!

Today I'm going to relax and get a few things done around the house and garage. The Bandit is down waiting on the parts to FINALLY fix the oil leak (it's the gear-shift sensor that is leaking). I'm going to watch the Bucs game later today then the MotoGP race at Indy. The worst kept secret in MotoGP is finally out with Nicky Hayden confirming he is leaving Honda at the end of the season. We know he is going to (hated) Ducati so I hope he gets the support he needs. After that I'll see about heading to dinner with a friend :)

So overall another really fun week. Unfortunately no pool today as the sun has been hiding for the last couple days. Summer is fading fast so I'm trying to get as dark as I can. I still plan on heading home to Florida in November but want to try and get in a few track days before then. The fall is great time to hit the track since it's not quite as hot and yet the grip level is still really good. Besides, the RR is sitting in my garage begging me to go wind it out - and you know I really want to. Besides, I just gave it a nice tune up so it's ready to go. :)

With that, I'll sign off for this week. Hope you had a great week too and talk to you later!

B.

Week ending September 7th, 2008
Well how was your week? Mine was pretty darn good!!! Work wise it's getting a little busier but mostly because I have been in meeting after meeting. haha. Sooner or later I'll be able to dive back into some of these projects I have to complete. Other than that work is pretty good and I've been having a lot of fun, especially when I get to work in the lab and all the crazy lunches, lol.

Most of this week, personally, was pleasantly quiet. I've been going to the gym now with a co-worker lately. Makes it a lot easier for me to push heavier weights when I have a spotter. The new protein shakes are helping a lot too. With 16oz of milk it's basically 880 calories. What I didn't notice before is that it has some creatine in it which might explain why I am able to push a little harder than normal. The best part is the weight gains, which seems to be working. Where I was taking in 2000 calories before now I am taking in about 3600, haha, so that explains it. It's nice though and I am well on my way to my weight goal for this year.

Church was great yesterday as always. I really like Pastor Bob and the messages are always great, though I don't think the women were real high on yesterdays sermon which essentially centered on traditional male/female roles in marriage. He also talked about being the spiritual leader of the family which I think to a large degree has really sunk into my head. I know what my role is so I am not worried about that at all -- and I know who my faith lies in :)

The Bandit. Sheesh. It's still leaking oil even after all of that work. I think the leak is coming from the countershaft sprocket seal. That's really the only place it could be leaking. I need to take the countershaft cover off and take a peek. When I have the bike on a rear stand it doesn't leak so that's the only thing I can think of. The more I deal with this the more I really want to fix it, sell it and go get something new. And no Derek, no V-Max for me, bro. HAHA. I like my Hondas!

I got a little more sun on Saturday -- and the pool -- haha, the pool is great. The water is a nice 72 degrees and since very few of my neighbors use it, probably because we're so close to the beach, I usually have it to myself. While I was laying out I noticed this wasp. Normally it's not a big deal but this little dude was cutting these perfect balls of sand and flying off like a helicopter with them to his home, I suppose. He kept coming back to the same spot each time but I would lose him when he flew away. Three or four minutes later he'd come right back. I know it doesn't seem so interesting to some people but if you watched it in person it really was fascinating. Ok so I'm a geek, lol.

My friend is coming next weekend so it will be good to see her. She hasn't been down here since February and I am hoping she can cut a few more tracks on this song I am working on before I place it on the web site.

Well that is about it for now! I'm off to hang out with friends after I finish a few chores (lol), watch the Sunday night NFL game and get something to eat. Hope your weekend was as fun as mine.

LATER, GATORS!