Ceej-try-2-keep-up

Tech Tech

2011-03-13T13:00:00.000-07:00

A few new things going on. Since about 2 months of going to LifeChurch, I started serving at different positions in the church. I first started out on the Set-up/Tear-down crew. I still serve on the crew. I really enjoy all the people I work with. Setting up the church takes anywhere from an 1hour to 2, depending on the size of the crew. We've now built up a fairly well trained crew which can set up fairly quickly. I mostly work on the Experience Room which is the main worship room.

After working on the ST crew for a few months, I joined the Host team. On the Host team I mostly worked in parking. It was a greeting position which basically welcomed people with a smile and waving in the parking lot. Now more recently I was talking with the Worship Pastor, Justin Cowell, asking him if there positions open on the Tech Team. Audio and Video. He noted a position running the video and I was super glad to accept the opportunity.

Today was my first day working with the video. It was challenging, but one of the best positions I've served in yet. The hardest part is just getting all the transitions straight.... well.... not really hard, but paying attention to make sure you get them. I'm hoping to work with another Techy next week to gain more knowledge of the video.

Also I've stepped up to a new laptop. It's so far been a treat. I'm really glad I wet with the MB Pro. I've had to learn my way around the new updated programs, but for the most part it's been a smooth transition.

Back in January, I was getting into my car after work and twisted something in my left knee. Pain just shot through and it knocked the wind out of me. For the past few weeks, I've just been easy on my knee and had to take some Ibuprofen to ease the pain. For the past two weeks I've been taking a supplement called Move Free. It's got 4 main ingredients to help lubricate and ease joint pain. My knee feels much better now. That in the combination with a visit to my Chiropractor. Last Wednesday I went to see him and he torqued my leg.... Loud pop, followed by a quick shot of pain. Now It's feeling pretty great. I ran on it a few weeks ago and I made it less than a mile. I was going to try this weekend, but I think I'll wait til tomorrow. Bicycling hasn't been a problem though.

If all goes well, I'm considering doing a 100K in October. There is a run the taturs are putting on which consists of a 50K, 100K, and 100 mile runs. I'm not ready for a 100 miler, but I figure the 100K is doable. That's about it. I've got some thinks to work on so .... yeah that's about it.

Laters
Ceej:)

Apple got me too

2010-10-25T19:36:00.000-07:00

I know I've been complaining a lot, but here is another one. I recently broke my 2nd generation Ishuffle. The charger component broke and I tried to smash it back onto the device which I guess messed up the Ipod. It wouldn't charge. So in lieu of going to try and get it fixed I decided to by a new 4th generation Ishuffle.

So I get my new Ipod, plug it in, and it notes that the Ipod requires Itunes 10 to work. Okay.... so i DL Itunes 10 and what next.... Itunes 10 requires Mac OS X 10.5 to work. Which is saying I need to upgrade to Leopard or rather Snow Leopard. So now I need to pay $129 bucks for my $49 device to work. Okay, but wait whoops I also need 1GB of memory (minimum) and 12GB of Hard Drive space to run Snow Leopard. I have neither. Grrrrrrr!!!!! Memory upgrade $100 and I only have a 40 GB hard drive.

So my $49 Ishuffle is really a $278 plus Ishuffle. I betting it's close to the most expensive Ishuffle anyone has ever bought. I'm kind of considering just getting a new laptop or a mac mini as a new desktop computer. Ideas???

Sigh.....
Ceej:(

Freaking Fleet Feet

2010-10-09T12:15:00.000-07:00

So I needed some new shoes and I decided.... well... I'll just go to Fleet Feet and pick up my tried and true tested Asics Cumulus size 10 width 4E.

Background Info
Fleet Feet is the only running store that carries width running shoes. No other place does. They state.... "Not too many people need them so we don't carry them."

So I either buy them from Fleet Feet or order them online. Well I've got some runs coming up and I need to break in some shoes. So I figured, I don't like Fleet Feet, but I need shoes asap. I go there and a dude standing up front is like.....

Dude: "Can I help you?"
CJ: "Yes, I need some new shoes. The Asics Cumulus in a size 10 4E."
Dude: "Okay, let me see what we have."

He comes out with a pair of shoes, shows me the size info on the side, and I am like "alright".

More background info
Fleet Feet, along with most running stores, allow the customers to try on and run in a pair of shoes to see if they are comfortable.

SO. I get home and find out I've been bamboozeled with a pair of previously ran in shoes. They have dirt wear on the bottom. "Grrrrrrrrrr" Freaking Fleet Feet jacked me again. Dude, I said new shoes. Not shoes that some other potentially athletes foot goober ran in. You disappoint me Fleet Feet. I will plan better in the future and you will not have my business.

FFF
Ceej :[

My new ride!!!

2010-07-10T20:56:00.000-07:00

My bicycle finally arrived a few days ago. I picked it up on Friday at Bicycles of Tulsa. It is a 2011 Giant Revel1 mountain bike. Lots of great features.... I'm not familiar with all of them yet. I went to 4 shops in the Tulsa area and one in Owasso. Price wise the Giant gave out the most bang for the buck. I looked at Specialized and Cannondale models too. They were more expensive with the same features. When I first went to Bicycles of Tulsa they said a Large would be my size, but the 4 others I went to said I should go with a Medium.... so majority rule. I was more comfortable on a Medium too. Great service at all the shops with lots of friendly people.

Mers suggested I should go with more of an urban or hybrid bike. However, I'm not going to commute with this like he did with his bike in Chicago. It's going to be my scoot around town and trail riding bike. I can't wait to go test it out on Turkey Mountain in Tulsa. I still need a helmet (full face) before I do that though. I'm all about the safety. I may get a pair of MTB specific shoes too. Today when I was riding around I slipped forward off the pedals and almost greeted the handlebars with my face..... Right at an intersection too. I tried to play it off. I'm not sure if anyone saw it or worse recorded it. I'm gonna get a little jumpseat for Say. Plus it's an okay size for Mel so she can go with me on some of my runs. Win, win, win.

Right now, I'm working on figuring out the gearing on the bike and practicing some sweet jumps and wheelies. Cause you gotta get that stuff down before you hit the trails. I've also found a few Duathalons that are Mountain bike/run races. Those look like a HOOT! I'll try and hit one of those up next year. The closest one I've seen is in Arkansas. Hopefully, I'll put up some sweet wheelie pics in the future.

GIANT!
Ceej!

It's Official!!!

2010-07-03T16:53:00.000-07:00

I finished my first Ultra marathon today. A 50 miler.... actually 51.5 miles. Time 11h 21min 01sec. I wasn't really shooting for a particular time, but just to finish the overall thing. My partner was looking for a 10 hour finish which was totally in reach at the beginning, but things don't always go the same at the beginning as at the end.

Pre race meeting
The start of the race was at midnight. We had a pre-race meeting where the officials went over some of the rules and stated (I forget what his actual words were but something like) "You'll have thoughts of quitting around miles 30 and 40, but don't let your mind tell you your out". They then showed us the medal for finishing and the prize for not.... a handshake. Melissa took a couple pictures and then we were off.

Miles 1-10
I totally felt great. We were running in a large pack for a while. It was pretty humid though. I think my tech shirt was soaked after a couple miles. Kind of passing and getting passed by the same people as we put our running strategy into play (Run 2 Walk 1). Actually for a while we were running 20 min and walking 10 cause we didn't realize they had mile markers out. It was just too many people and dark. A headlamp was mandatory for the first lap of the race. It was fun to see all the people sort of glowing with the reflective material they were wearing. I used it more on the backside of the course. The first side of the course was flat and fast. When we hit mile 5 a brutal hill began. The hill lasted through most of the mile and there was a full on food station just before mile 6. Mile 6 was then all downhill through 7. Then the course became flat and fast again.

Miles 11-20
For these miles we ran back the way we came. So instead of continuous running circles you ran the next loop backwards. I'm not sure of the purpose behind this other than to mix the hills up a little. Through these miles we realized there were mile markers and started our Run 2 Walk 1 technique. We still were also passing and getting passed by the same people.... still playing the cat and mouse game. I'm drinking a ton of gatorade and water, eating salty foods, even pouring some salt on my hands and licking it off. Salt keeps your electrolytes up which keeps you from cramping.... potassium and magnesium are also a big part of that. I still didn't take any Ibprofen yet. I wanted to wait til the next loop.

Miles 21-30
Before we left the aid station on the next opposite loop, I hit up some magnesium, salt, and more gatorade. I think I also grabbed a bagel which I ate about two bite before tossing it on the trail while we were taking off. It was just a litte too chewy and heavy. A little past mile 21 there is a wooden bridge on the loop. There was a nice breeze going which felt amazing. Legs were kinda getting heavy toward the end of this loop and some people we started to not see anymore passing us. The hills were more punishing this round too. Also at this point the trail was lighting up with more n00b runners. They were giving us a lot of encouragement thought so it was all good.

Miles 31-40
By the end of this loop my feet were shot. Toes felt like they were rubbing up against my shoes and blisters were forming. I brought a change of shoes, socks, and running shirt and they were due. I also hit some Ibprofen before I left. I'm not gonna lie it was painful getting going on this loop. We switched to a Run1 Walk 1 on this loop and were still pulling off 10 min mile runs and 13 min walks. At the end of the loop I could tell I was on the verge of a nasty crap in my quad and hamstring. We were pretty much set in the pack at this point. No passing was going on at this point. Survival mode was in play.

Miles 41-To Glory!!!
I made sure to hit up some salt, magnesium, and I had a drink one of my friends gave me to try "Squincher" which is supposed to have double the electrolytes and potassium of gatorade. I also gave Melissa a two hour warning for finish time. For the most part of this lap we were walking. Still punching out 13 to 14 minute walk miles though. My pinky toes were killing me and that's what was really keeping me from running. It seems pansy, but the pinky toe is a brutal one to have being smashed repeatedly. Trust me! On the first mile back we encounter some older women who had a super powerwalk going on. I made sure they knew they'd be tripped if they came on me....jk. Most people at this point were walking or running so slow they might as well have been walking. We ran when we could throughout this loop. The real sucky thing was it started to rain and squishy shoes are not fun.

Eventually one guy came up on us and passed. His run though was about as fast as our powerwalk. On the HORRIBLE hill we caught him and started chatting with him. This was his 36th Ultra. He noted he'd had some problems holding down food through it. When we got up the hill, we grabbed some food and took off. He took off a little before us and was gone in flash. I didn't even see where he was he took off so fast. At the mile 6 marker another person passed us. It was this asian dude who was totally sandbagging it the whole race. He ran right by us. We kept our powerwalk on and pressed forward. Two more people passed us near the end. One I called "Hulk" cause of his green shirt. The other was Arnold Begay. He's done the Badwater Ultramarathon in 2009. Watch the documentary "Running on the Sun" to see what this event is all about. We passed one guy around mile 48. I text Melissa about a mile out noting our color clothes and what to be looking for. We jogged it in at the end of the run.... STRONG FINISH!!!! I'll post more finish picture on FB. I didn't get any video of it though.

Glory!
Ceej:)

The Taturs

2010-06-12T10:56:00.000-07:00

Okay so back into running again. I baptized myself with a 20 mile run last night. I haven't ran over 8 miles since my last marathon in 2006. It started at 8 pm and was supposed to be a 30 mile run. I probably could have gone the whole distance but at 15 I ended up running by myself and started to get discouraged. When you're running with other people you have discussion and listen to what they're saying, but when your by yourself all your doing is thinking about your body and how it feels. I took it slow though and I still feel good today..... but very tired.

The group I ran with was the best group of runners I've ever been with. There were quite a few people. One person I knew and the others I think I made good friends with. At one point I was drinking a gatorade and one of my pals I just met was like "Can I just have a small sip of that (referring to the gatorade)". I was like "Uh .... okay." Little awkward to share a drink with someone you just met. I was also eating some of the potato chips from a plastic bag and kind of shaking them out on my hand .... you know without reaching in and grabbing a handful. Well that's exactly what the person after me did. Close group :)

This was a very well planned out training run. They had about 5 point where people met us along the trail and gave us any water, gatorade, chips, pretzels, cookies, .... etc. All the people were so friendly too!!! Best run ever!!! I'm going to run with these people every change I get.

Most of the people in the group have done an Ultra before. A lot of them 100 mile plus Ultras. I'm just happy trying to tackle my 50 right now. Or rather attempt to tackle the 50.

On another note, I'm in the market for a bicycle. I think it'll be some nice cross training. There is a Trek store in Tulsa that I'm going to purchase from. Now I could go to Target or Walmart to get a bike, but I figure I'm serious about getting back to my full potential so I shouldn't cut corners. I was thinking road bike, but I'm thinking with the roads around Owasso I'm gonna be more comfortable on a mountain bike. I haven't tested yet and I'll probably do that next weekend. I did go there though and go a run down on the bikes that would be nice for a beginner such as myself.

Ceej:)

Haven't blogged in a while....

2010-05-29T18:47:00.000-07:00

What's going on....???

Well, I guess I haven't blogged since last November, which was more of a picture montage. We started going to LifeChurch. It's sort of a "mega church" which I never thought I'd really like the idea of going to a big church. The thing with LifeChurch though is it has many locations, but the same message. I've struggled with my beliefs all my life. Not knowing really what I believed. Last year I was with my Uncle and I was picking his brain about his religious background. Where did his belief in the Lord come from..... certainly not from his own family. Honestly, once I started going I just felt good and complete. I have a lot of stuff (expensive stuff) and none of that really made me happy. We have a nice car, house, clothes, motorcycle, and I still always thought more, more, more. It's because I never had the one thing that only really matters.

Now i know what some people think because it's the exact thing I thought. Why waste money on church? What do you mean your saved? How do you believe in something you can't really see? Why do so many bad things happen in the world if God is so loving? Why are so many people who proclaim to be Christians a-holes? The more I research questions like this and religion the more I see the answers to these questions I've had. God never gave up on me so now I'm trying to do my best to repay Him.

So what does this mean?? Am I going to start harping on everyone to put Christ in their lives.... no. I should, but the one thing that irritated me about religion was people who tried to shove it in your face. I suppose some people need it shoved in their face though as it's the only way to have them listen. However, what I enjoy about LifeChurch is they want you to invite your friends and family to hear His message...... and from the first time I heard it, I was hooked. Melissa and I (and Saylor) started serving on the LifeChurch Owasso Setup team and going to a LifeGroup.

LifeChurch Owasso worship band.

LifeChurch Owasso site.

Now I've been to other churches before, but none that I've felt so welcomed at. Not to slam other churches, but all the other churches I've gone to.... never spoke to me. I'd sit their and wonder what was for lunch or pass notes between friends/wife. The pastor, Craig Groeschel, delivers His word in a manner that just.... makes sense. From the first time I went I was able to take a step back and look and the way I live my life and how society has influenced it. Whether it be the immoral standards, greed, or many other numerous "standards" society has set as normal, I found Christ as my saviour out of this. I know what your saying.... why not just say "well duh people these days are ungrateful, promiscuous sinners who only care about themselves" The problem is most people don't see it cause they've been trained by society to think this is all "normal".

I'm now halfway through the Bible and just get more interested the further I go. I think I could go on for a long time with this, but I'll just wrap it up and say. You can acquire a lot in your life from knowledge, wealth, family, friends..... but the only thing that's is going to last is your eternal salvation through Christ. I certainly don't want to die and at my time of judgement have Him look at me and tell me He never new me.

Laters and Love
Ceej:)

Saylor in Korea

2009-11-29T13:55:00.000-08:00

Saylor's Hanbok basically fits her perfectly now. Just wanted to share how beautiful she looks in it.
Half dressed

Mid falling

Love
Saylor:)

Thanksgiving Trip

2009-11-29T11:06:00.000-08:00

Overall had a good and exhausting trip to Illinois and Iowa. Lots of stuff done. I will definitely miss UF. We talked every two to three weeks about UFC and Moto GP events coming up. I'm never got to ask him if he saw the last Fedor fight, but I'm sure he saw it. He was excited to see that and almost missed it cause he though it was on Showtime until I told him it was a live CBS event. He was my motorcycle website finder and he always talked about taking a cycle trip out to OK, but never got to do it. I will miss you UF.

We also got to see Laura and Grandpa Barnett who we both forgot to get pictures with. Grandpa was actually about to leave for Florida for the next 2 months (December and January) to hit up some Florida golfing. Lots of fun!.... jealous! And Laura was about to leave for DisneyWorld.... even more jealous! Nice to see both though and for Laura it was a first Saylor visit.

Thanksgiving went overall well. We had dinner in Iowa at B and C's and lots of yummy stuff. Turkey, mashed tatos, green beans, corn casserole, rolls / croissants, gravy and some really tasty desserts that Melissa made. We did some Black Friday shopping which tired everyone out. Melissa braved the crowds at Target in the early morning to get Say a new portable DVD player. Say and I were still snooze city.

Later on we hit an outlet mall, regular shopping mall, and a little out to eat din din. Pretty tasty. On the way back, Melissa and I stopped off in Kansas City at a place called Country Club Plaza. It was like a really big outdoor mall. Lots of fun. Say had a blast. We saw lots of horses, had some ice cream and did a little shopping. Unfortunanetley, the sony cam that I video with died and I forgot the charger. I only have one video of Say from the trip. Very sad as she had a lot of vid moments. It makes me realize I really need a new camera to video with, so I'm on a quest for that.

No Thanksgiving "Office"? Are you kidding me?
Ceej:)

Vacation

2009-09-28T04:29:00.000-07:00

Well, it's back to the old grindstone this week. Vacation was fun. Weekly 17 and Weekly 18 are up and running. I've still got some more work to finish out the trip and get Weekly 15 up and running. I suppose I shouldn't actually call them weekly anymore, but I'll maybe work on name changes later. Hawaii was a total blast. This was our second time there and traveling there with Saylor was a bit of a task. Not that I wouldn't have taken her, but it's a lot of extra traveling with a child. Total fun though. Next time we go back we'll plan on hitting a different island.

So let's dish the trip. We left on a Saturday around 9-ish and got to Hawaii around 8 pm or (1 am Oklahoma time). Needless to say Saylor was totally wiped. What stunk was when we got there the street our hotel was on was blocked off and a huge street party was going on for like 1/2 a mile. This made it difficult to get to our hotel, but we made it and hit the hay.

The second day we set off in our Jeep.... yea... that's right we rented a Jeep. Basically, taking a car seat with us for cab rides or riding the bus would be tough with Saylor. The car rental place had car seats so easy peesy. First we went to the Hawaiian Swap meet at Aloha Stadium. They have cheap stuff there that Melissa wanted to get as some props in pics (ie necklaces, leis and a hula outfit). We then headed off to North Shore. Last time we were in Hawaii, 2004, we didn't make it to North Shore. It was nice, but Saylor was getting a little crabby cause it was kind of hot. So we tooled around North Shore for a bit then headed back for some shopping at an outlet mall Melissa wanted to check out. After that, we headed back to the hotel and hit beach and walked around our hotel area. Super fun.

The Third day started off at the beach around the hotel. We played on the beach and went swimming for about an hour and a half. Melissa and I took turns playing with Saylor on the beach as the other went swimming. Saylor didn't really care for the water. I think the salt water got in her mouth and she didn't like it.... who does though. We then went back to the hotel for Saylor to get in a little nap and set out to walk the beach and check out some of the stores again. After that we went back to the hotel again so Saylor wouldn't be too crabby for a nice dinner at Dukes. Dukes has the Ahi Tuna which was to die for. I got it on our last trip have been craving it ever since. Below are the pics. Sooooooooo goooooooood!!!!!!

Traveling with Saylor was fun and stressful. We can't wait for the next trip.
Ceej:)

Team tag

2009-08-02T11:15:00.000-07:00

Had a few moto things this weekend. M and I had a PNO (Parents Night Out) last night. We hit up dinner at Los Cabos then went and checked out the new River Spirit Casino. It was fairly nice. No free drinks like in Vegas though....well, no free alcohol. It was kind of fun. M and I just like to play the penny slots. We both took $15. I played $5 and it kept going up and down until I eventually lost it. I then moved to a different machine with the $10 left and did a max bet and won $7.40. I cashed out and ran. M lost her $15 so we lost $12.60. Not bad.

In moto news, the TSR has a thing where person A takes a pic then person B finds that spot and takes a pic. It then becomes person B's job to find the next pic and so forth. Despite the fact that my tires are almost done I went out to get a tag and got there just as another person, Brian48, had got it. He was cool though and we retook the pic and then went to go take a pic of the next tag together. They have two versions of this game too. A short and long distance. If I can get a new set of tires this week, I'm going to try and get the new long distance tag and try and find the short too. I go early morning on the weekends when it's cool.
The found tag.

The new tag.

I also managed to go by the Ducati dealership in Tulsa and drool over the new 2010 Nicky Hayden 848.

Most people will tell you not to get a Ducati, but I don't like to go with the crowd. I'll eventually get one and everyone can suck it. Until then the pic is all I have. I have a new Weekly up and running. It's kind of short cause I've been working a lot, but it's got some good stuff in it.

Hello moto
Ceej:)

TSR bust meetup

2009-07-25T07:09:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been watching a website lately TSR, Tulsa Sportbike Riders. It's a forum for people with sportbikes in Tulsa. There's lots of news, little scavenger hunts, events, and ride meet-ups. This morning I got up early to go to one of the meet-ups and hit a ride with some other people. Riding a motorcycle is like running in a way. It's more fun in a group than solo. Most things are this way actually unless your playing GOW. So anyway, I know I needed a new rear tire and front for that matter. I've currently got 8200 miles on them. Tire life varies from rider to rider. Uncle Fidelity claims to get around 10 to 11 grand out of a tire on his bikes which is a lot considering the horsepower of both his bikes.

Okay, I'm getting away from the point. So I get to the meet-up point and go talk to one of the riders, OLracer. The person whose bike is beside mine in the pic.

He immediately, jokingly, notes I need a new tire. I forget his actual words, but said something to the extent that they don't ride with people who have the cords showing. I actually went there not only to ride with them, but get their opinion on my tire. Olracer, his TSR name, suggested I pass on the ride and get a new tire for next time. He was kind of odd. He did that "em hem" sound that G-ma Huber does. I ended up taking his advice and as they rode off one way I started my way back home....... alone:(

So, here's the problem though. The people at the meet-up were all OLD. Like late 40s early 50s. I felt like I was in the AF reserves again. Okay one younger guy showed up, but the other 4 were old. Everyone was kind of stand offish too. I talked to the younger guy, OLracer, a girl (who was not friendly at all), and another dude introduced himself but didn't say much. The girl had a new Honda CBR 1000rr and when I asked her about it she gave me a disgusted look as if who are you to talk to me and was like...."Yea, it's fun." Okay, that's the response you give to someone who doesn't have a motorcycle. I was like "Okay, whatever...."

Maybe when I get a new set of tires, I'll try a meet up again. Maybe more of a younger crowd will be there.

Running or riding I'm picky with my company
Ceej:)

R.I.P. Taco Bell Chi-WA-WA

2009-07-23T17:30:00.000-07:00

Tonight is the BB eviction night. I usually have something special to eat on this night. Tonight in remembrance of the Taco Bell Chihuahua I had the Volcano Taco Box. A regular taco, Volcano taco, and Volcano Burrito.

Super tasty and great value which is what the Bell Dog stood for. It was pretty much a lose lose situation on BB tonight. Both of my girls were up. The sluttier of the two went home.

I've got a lot of footage and some good stuff for some Weeklys. I just haven't had the time to put them together. I should get them up this weekend. It's been pretty crazy at work lately. Long days. We're planning on meeting mom in August. I think we'll meet her halfway in Springfield and spend the night Saturday. That should be lot of fun.

I've been meaning to put up this pic.

Chick-fil-a had a "Dress like a cow and get free chicken day" so I made Saylor this outfit. I started out sewing it using just a straight running stitch, but that was taking a lot of time and I think I was using too thin a thread and too big a needle. I ended up just using stitch-wich to seal the outfit together. It kind of ended up looking more like a Flinstones outfit then a cow outfit, but it got Say her free chicken. I forgot to bring the camera to get some video footage so all I have is this one pic. I was hoping the cow would be there, but no..... no cow:(

Eat more chicken! and Goodbye Jugs!
Ceej:)

Let's talk Transformers.

2009-06-28T10:33:00.000-07:00

Went to see the new Transformers last night. Before I went, I looked at a review on rottentomatoes. Very poor ratings and the #1 complaints were pretty much spot on. Now lets be clear the overall movie wasn't "Take a lap", but SRSLY! it was so freaking loud. Now when I say loud I mean 2 and of half hours of just screaming in your ears loud. You kind of have to expect that from a Michael Bay film though. It was way too long too and started to drag out. I kept thinking...."Dude! When is this movie going to end?" The reviews may have influenced my opinions slightly, which is why I usually don't look at reviews.

Warning: This part has some spoilers........kind of
Some people are calling it ..... "Transformers 2: The Revenge of Jar Jar Binks" I can see that slightly. It does have these two annoying Autobot twins. Some of the scenes were confusing too. I'm still not sure how the kids parents ended up in the desert in the final scenes. Also at times, I wasn't sure if I was watching Transformers or The Terminator.

Meh...
Ceej:)

HFD to me!

2009-06-21T18:14:00.000-07:00

Well today is Father's Day and I had a fantastic weekend. Yesterday, M had a baby shower for one of her chicas. While she and Say were at the partay, her husband, D, and I went out and had some fun. We first hit a place on brookside in Tulsa called Sharky's. It's a poolhall / bar place. Pretty cool. We had a few drinks and met up with D's brother-in-law. After chilling there for a while, we moved on to "The Bru House" and had a chilled there for a while til we got the call that the shower was over. When we walked out we decided to hit one more drink before heading home and went to "Crow's Creek Tavern". Had a ton of fun just hanging with the guys.

Today started off with some chocolate chip pancakes. Yum! Then M wanted me to try on a polo for my FD gift. Never found one I liked though, but it was fun hanging with the fam. Then we cooked out.

I haven't had the time to get a Weekly going cause I've been trying to get an electrical problem fixed on my cycle. By process of elimination I figured out that it was the female plug terminal on the left turn signal. I'm going to have to go to Honda of Tulsa or Green country Honda / Suzuki to get the terminal. That sucks, but I'm glad I finally figured out why the fuse kept blowing. I've got a lot of Say footage though. Good stuff too.
The dog, Gretchen, is not ours we dog sitting a weekend or two ago. Say had a blast.

Peacth out!
Ceej:)

Cloaking Device

2009-05-31T14:32:00.000-07:00

A few months ago I heard motorcycle theft had gone up. Sportbikes more than cruisers. Now my bike hasn't been stolen, but I am getting cautious. One of the people I deliver to on my route had (and I stress had) a 2008 Hayabusa GSX-R 1300. It was a really sweet cycle. Last week there was a different cycle in his garage and I kind of jokingly asked him why he traded in the beauty for the beast. He then noted the Busa was stolen......right out of his garage.

It doesn't take a whole lot of finesse to steal a motorcycle. All you really need is 2 or 3 guys and a truck or van to lift it up and be on your merry way. The steering columns do have locks on them, but with enough pressure you can snap it without breaking a sweat. The guy who lost his Busa also told me you can jam a screwdriver into the keyhole and start it up. The ignitions aren't that complex.

Today, I went to Cycle Gear to get some cleaner for my plastics on my bike and one of the employees I normally talk to said his 600rr (which was like my cycle) was stolen....at work. Now Cycle Gear is a small store. He parked on the side of the building which is fairly visible and next to a Home Depot. Apparently, the bike was stolen between 3 and 5 while he was at work. That's some serious balls to steal a bike in broad daylight.

The motorcycle parking at my work is right next to the guard shack so hopefully security would have the common sense to intervene or call the police if a truck pulls up to jack my cycle. So what do you do with a stolen motorcycle? Well, the plastics on cycles aren't cheap and you can get rid of those pretty easy on ebay or motorcycle swap meets. I have full coverage with Gap on my cycle so I'm not too worried if my bike is stolen, but it'd still suck. I've worked hard to get it were it is right now. I do really pay attention to cars around me now and if I feel like someone is following me I don't go directly to my house, but I just loop through my neighborhood...... it's a little paranoid, but I feel better.

Cheeky Bastards
Ceej:)

On the brain

2009-05-29T20:59:00.000-07:00

Well....I've got a couple editions of Weekly up for grabs. Weekly 9 and Weekly 10. Both good2go. I've been working a lot lately and getting that Chang Chang! All good. This weekend I'm going to go to Hallett again. Still not ready to race, but it's fun to watch and I'll put together a little youtube vid compilation.

M is going to hit one of her friends baby showers in OKC. I'm not a huge fan of the baby shower, but I do love my baby. I've made some good plays in the market recently, but I wonder how the DOW is going to be affected when GM claims bankruptcy. That'll be interesting.....sad though too. I personally don't own any GM vehicle which is good for me. They just really went the wrong direction with their auto plan. The thing I'm sore about is the billions of dollars we already gave them. I think it was inevitable for them to tank. The U.S. government should have just let it happen. Everyone is going to feel it though....imao.

I'm hoping to get my correct tank cover for my fairings kit soon. I'll probably get it at the end of this coming week or beginning of next. I'm so tired of waiting and I'm going to slam the company I ordered the kit from a little. Not too bad, but just a light spanking.

I'm still wanting to see a scary movie. I haven't found it yet. Another horror film is coming out...."Drag me to Hell". Seems kind of lame as it sounds lame. I've heard the Rob Zombie "Halloween" is pretty good, but I'm not going for gore as much as scare.

In TV, I've found a new love "Jon and Kate Plus 8". Yes....I've become a fan. I think I like the controversy that surrounds them more than the show itself. Big Brother is supposed to start pretty soon. All of my other regular shows are done. I still haven't seen the finale or the Lost season. I watched the first episode and then went for the second and the audio was off. Now I can't find a good DL and I'm stuck. May just have to get that on DVD.....we'll see. Jay Leno is ending. I'm watching that right now.
This pic was taken in January 09

This pic taken in May 09..... little more hair in this one.

It's quite a change.... makes me sad
Still waiting on my fairings
Ceej:L

Recent Stuff in May

2009-05-16T04:42:00.000-07:00

A few things going on......

I recently ordered a new set of plastics for my motorcycle. They are Repsol replica plastics. I love the paint scheme on the Repsol motorcycles, but an actual Repsol cycle is fairly expensive and you can't really negotiate on price as most people will pay full price for the bike. So I got the next best thing which is the replica plastics. I made my order on the 20th of April and just got it this past weekend. I was extremely happy with the quality, but the gas tank cover got painted the wrong color. I'll send them and email with the pictures and call them to see what I need to do. Hopefully, they don't hose me, but it's clearly painted the wrong color as it's not what's advertised on their site.

Season 5 of "Lost" has wrapped up. I'm now in the process of doing a back to back "Lost" marathon. That'll be fun. The only thing that sucks is I was reviewing the episodes I DLed and found out the second episode audio is off. I looked for a better copy and nothing, so I'm just going to have to try and sit through that episode without pulling out my hair. I saw "The Office" cliffhanger coming. It seems like Andy and Dwight are getting ready to get back into the dating game. Dwight and Angela getting back together and Kelly (recep) and Andy. It'll be and interesting next season.

We're headed out to Mayfest today in Tulsa. I've blogged on it before. It's a festival that showcases artists from Tulsa and the surrounding states. It's pretty fun. There are bands, food, and of course art to smooze around. Saylor was too little last year to take, but we're hitting it up full force this year.

Speaking of Saylor, she has a slight cold which she got this past weekend and her nose has been running constantly. She hasn't had a fever or anything.....Just the sniffles. We're still planning on going to Illinois for the Memorial Day weekend. Probably leave Friday night or early morning. We shall see.

Irritated about the fairings.
Ceej;(

Saylor and other stuff

2009-04-20T17:37:00.000-07:00

What's in the news..... well.... Weekly 6 is up and running.

Melissa and I had a PNO over the weekend. It was kind of boring though. We were going to see a movie and then decided not to, so we went looking for a new mattress and bed. It was really strange not having Saylor around. As we walked in and out of stores it was weird not having to take Saylor with us. She's such a huge part of our lives. We went to eat at Olive Garden and just observed everyone else's kids. One girl was real cute (not as cute as Saylor), but they ordered dessert and she was all like "MMMMMMM! I LOVE CHEESECAKE!" S also had her 1 year pictures taken. I didn't go cause I needed to get the materials for the roof and get some of that going.

In other news, I went to Nam Hai which is the Asian market in Tulsa. I'll get a youtube video of that adventure. I didn't take S with me as it would have been a little to much culture for her. Start off slow. Before M went to pick up S, we hit up IHOP for breakfast which was on Sunday. I got the chocolate chip pancakes and was really disappointed with them. Normally, the pancakes have chips in them but not on this order. That was really sucky! I asked our waitress if they don't make them like that anymore and she was like "Oh, you have to ask for them like that".......uhhhhh, okay never have before. I'll just have to make my own. I'll make em chip-tastic.

Saylor's party is coming together. Melissa has worked super hard on it and really created some awesome stuff! Cupcakes, ice cream, pizza, and lots of fun.

Hippity Hoppity Saylor's Birthday is on it's way!
Ceej:)

Up and running!

2009-03-28T03:25:00.000-07:00

Okay newest Weekly Saylor vid is up and running. I cleared out some HD space and we're back in business again. I'm also looking at putting together a Paddy's Day vid before the end of March so look forward to that. I've just threw away some stuff on the laptop HD and put some stuff on a DVD-R, but I have an external on order from TigerDirect. They have some of the best deals out there. I deliver the stuff all the time and on Friday I was thinking "Hey! You should check it out". Good stuff.

The link

In other news, our roof has some sort of leak. It has actually had some spots for a while, but it got real bad on Friday. We went upstairs to hit the hay and our bed was totally soaked. I guess the roof was leaking into a vent right above our bed and the water is just draining through the vent. Problem came right as we get our tax return back. There goes that money..... We'll claim it on our insurance, but it sucks.

Also, I got bit by a Fucking huge dog on Thursday. Marmaduke nearly ripped my arm off! Okay, see I was bagging up some packages for this dude who normally gets some car parts and the door started to open. An old lady slowly opened the door and had this massive great dane by the collar. She was like "Oh, I can't hold him". So my dumbass reaches over the head of this beast, grabs the collar and trys to pull it back. The dog responds by whipping around it's head and chomps down on my arm. I pulled away quick and the old lady was all like "Oh, did he get you". I"m like "Yes! He freaking almost tore my arm off!!" As I'm walking away in pain I hear "Excuse me, could you push the packages in the door". I wanted to turn around and be like "Fuck NO! I'm not going near your dog again!" But I just ignored her and walked back to my truck.

We're supposed to get some snow today. They say about 3", but I doubt it'll stick. Just going to make this a lazy weekend. That's about it folks.

Super cut Saylor pic

Peace out
Ceej:)

Weekly Saylor Delayed

2009-03-24T18:49:00.000-07:00

Well, I was working on the next installment of the The Weekly Saylor and the computer / laptop ran out of hard drive space so I couldn't save the project on Imovie. Just an FYI. I need an external hard drive to put stuff on so it's going to be delayed for an unknown amount of time. I may start taking things and putting them on some DVD-Rs just to free up some space. But that's what's going on right now.

Peace
Ceej:)

The Weekly Saylor Ep.2

2009-03-08T18:10:00.000-07:00

Alright people the 2nd episode of "The Weekly Saylor" arrives. Sorry I forgot to get a standing vid in there. I'll be sure to load one up next week. That'll be the staple of the next WS. I'm also working on a new theme song and opening. I've got a song figured out, but don't have a way to use the music. It may end up being a sock puppet beginning.....who knows. It's also exciting I've got St. Patrick's Day off. That'll be a fun celebration.

There is a tattoo shop that opened up in Owasso. The main artist ,Mel D., is really good from the work I've seen. His myspace page. I'm working on a new hair style....the "Chet". Chet is a person on Real World Brooklyn and has kind of a cool haircut, so I'm trying to mimic it and I emphasize trying to. It's kind of a modified mullet/mohawk. It's going to take some time to fully develop. We'll see.

Enjoy Weekly! Love,
Ceej, M, and Saylor:)

The Weekly Saylor

2009-03-02T04:57:00.000-08:00

This is the first episode of The Weekly Saylor. Just a short vid of some things that happened during the week. I've learned what I was doing wrong on the high quality thing so after this one the vids will be in a better quality. Here is the first edition hot off the press.

Peace, Love, and Saylor
Ceej:)

Youtube and stuff

2009-02-28T06:29:00.000-08:00

I've been youtube-in a lot more than blogging. I'm gong to start a weekly Saylor vid. This is mainly due to her changing a lot and I figure it will give my extended family a better grasp of how she's progressing. So, I'll throw together some vids. She recently started standing by herself.....not for long but it's all good.

I've weened myself off Monster Energy. Usually, I do it every year. I'll start back up closer to Christmas. It's just a good drink, but kind of on the expensive side. How do I it. Well, I make the commitment and do one last Monster. Then I need gradual step downs from the caffeine and overall goodness. It goes Enviga, Mountain Dew (Diet), then coffee/tea. One could argue that coffee and tea have more caffeine when consumed quicker, but it's not about the caffeine so much as just getting off the juice.

I've stuck to my guns of the "Lost" ban this season. I didn't even watch the first season episode for a taste. Just been DL-ing em for the bank. Lately, I've been watching Biggest Loser, Office, and Amazing Race. M and I also love a show called "The Soup" on E!. It's basically a guy who does stand-up to all the funny tv stuff that happens during the week. Awesome! I think Mers would get a kick out of it, but I don't know if it's available for a weekly DL.

UPS has been working me to the bone which is good. Recently, they've cut routes and have recently cut some of the drivers due to the economy. I'm thinking I'm in good standings to avoid being cut, but if I do I can still get a good 40 hour workweek by working in the hub. Not what I want to do, but ya gotta make sacrifices. I've actually got a Target going in on my route which is really adding to my overall day......and of course with Target comes a slew of other stores and delivery locations so I think I'm good.

It makes getting a day off easier though. I got approved for St. Patrick's Day off. We're going to get our taxes done and then Saylor, M, and I are going to party it up.

It's pretty cold here today...like in the teens. It reminds M of Pepperoni and how she didn't like going out in the cold weather. Not a cycle riding day, but I need to install a new air filter. I'll do that after Say hits the hay tonight.

Laters
Ceej:)

Good things will come

2009-01-12T17:46:00.000-08:00

Long story short. Last Tuesday, some Motherfuckers got a hold of my debit card number and ripped me off for a little over $1200. In-fucking-sane. I'm on vacation this week and we should be getting the money back in the account tomorrow. Really pissed me off and really frustrating. I think what really peeves me is the way my bank handled the situation. We were out with some friends and one of them is the branch manager of a bank. He said if fraud happens on someones account they put the money back in their account while the investigation is pending. Just so it's there if any emergency. Our bank, RCB Bank, told us it would be 5 days. In that time, we've had automatic debits come through and they've all accumulated non-sufficient fund fees and bounce charges. The bank assured us that they would be refunded as well, but the whole situation has kind of soured me ..... and there is little possibility for me to sweeten.

Right now we're working on finding a new bank. I can get a free tote for signing up with Bank of Oklahoma. That seems pretty cool, but a year or so ago someone hacked into the bank and got a lot of peoples accounts. I suppose anyones account is up for grabs these days if you've got a good hacker/ASSHOLE WHO CAN'T WORK FOR A LIVING LIKE AN HONEST PERSON.

Anyway, today we donated our old loveseat and chair to John 3:16 Mission. They were super appreciative! Thank yous coming out the wazzu and it felt good not to mention it's a tax write off. We also are going to give one of our vehicles to M's mom. Well, it's actually for her mom's good friend, but just transfer of title and it's theirs. Paying it forward right. Well, today in the mail I got this card from UPS. UPS has a sales incentive program that if you find people shipping with another company yous take down their info and turn it in you can get reward points. Well, you get reward points if when one of our sales reps contacts them and they start shipping with us. I turn them in as often as I can, but have never gotten anything from it. So I get this card today and it's like a rewards / American Express prepaid card. It notes at the bottom a balance of 1000 points. I was thinking it was like an incentive they give everyone and 1000 pts is like $10 bucks.

I called a good friend at UPS as he had gotten the point card before and noted he got a card for 295 pts. He then said that 1 point is equal to 1 actual dollar. I was like "SHUT THE F UP"!!!! I have $1000 bucks on this bitch!!!! I went freaking nuts!!!!! Now I'm in the dilemma of what to get! Well, I definitely want a PS3 and what else for the rest????? I love my job :)

Happy as the Hippo!!!!
Ceej:)

The Christmas Train

2008-12-20T19:36:00.000-08:00

This was my second experience of The Christmas Train. I first went back in 2003 and I have to say since then it has changed dramatically. It's now like a whole town. Back in 2003, the main attraction was the train. Now the whole set-up is bursting with flavor. It's a whole town with a western Christmas style. The overall theme of the attraction is to tell the story of Christ and the true meaning of Christmas. It has a Santa Claus set up too. "Church on the Move" in Tulsa owns and runs the whole shabang.

I do have a few bones to pic with the set-up though. Now, like I said the whole thing is ran by a church, but not just any church. "Church on the Move" is one of Tulsa's mega churches. It's like a mall church. There is an entrance fee of $15, which isn't too bad. That $15 gets you into the park and a train ride. What gets me is how a church place rakes you over the coals if you want something to eat. They serve stuff like a walking taco, frito chili pie .... all $5 and drinks 12oz. can of soda or water for $2 .... plus tax. 2 buck for a can of soda .... come on!..... terrible. Yes, they have a lot of worker, but they are all volunteer. Not payed. So it's all profit.

Santa pictures are pricey too. $10 for one and $15 for three. The Santa they had was not a very good Santa at all. He looked like he stopped off at the Christmas Tavern before he got to work. They also snapped the pic right as Saylor sat on his lap. M was like "uh....can we get her to smile first?" and they acted annoyed at it. "Uh...i guess"...... bunch of bitches. I only requested one pic and by their mistake I got 3 which I took without a peep. The picture was crappy anyway with the drunk Santa. Of course, you don't have to eat and get Santa pics so overall if not for those it was a pretty neat thing. I took several videos. One isn't DLing to the computer. It was my fav. I'll keep trying to get it up. For now, the video is private. I'll wait before I make it public.

Happy Holidays!!!
Ceej:)

Post Turkey Day Remembered

2008-11-30T17:17:00.000-08:00

I think this Thanksgiving was one of the best and made the best because of Saylor. She was the belle of the ball!...no surprise really. M and I started out our trip early in the morn of Thursday. Iowa was 9 hours so we figured that if we leave late S would sleep the entire route. She did and this made the trip fast and smooth.
She did have to take her turn driving.

Upon arrival, S was attacked by the family she had never met before. SHE LOVED IT AND SO DID THE FAM! S loves meeting new people and more thrilled to meet new family members. She loves the attention......

.....In fact, side story ..... on our way back we stopped off at DQ. We had S sitting on the table and she was staring at at an older couple across the way. She will stare at people until they acknowledge her. It's like she's willing them to look at her cute self!.....

.....anywho, S was the focus of the day. The Thanksgiving meal was AMAZING! I've never eaten so good. We had broccoli casserole, carrot casserole, hash brown casserole, corn casserole, green bean casserole, M's mac and cheese, mash potatoes, gravy with mushrooms, turkey, ham, rolls, Gma's noodles, Kell's famous snicker / apple salad, Mom's mozzarella dip, pumkin pie, pecan pie, strawberry B-day cake, and I ..... think that's it. Wonderful! Afterwards, we took a nap and they just had some good old family time with fun conversation and games!

The next day was Black Friday and we started the day at Kohls then hit a breakfast place called Perkins. Breakfast was yummy and Mom and Grandma parted at this point as well as J and his girlfriend. Next, we went to Tanger Outlet in Williamsburg, IA. After that, we grabbed a bite to eat at Texas Roadhouse and then hit up a mall to check out some additional stuff. Fun!!!! We then headed back and we hit up a little wine and conversation with K, B, and C.

We left Saturday morning ..... well .... actually saturday afternoon. On the ride back we hit a little snow, but nothing horrible. We hit a mall in Leawood, KS on the way back cause M had to exchange an outfit she bought online at a store called Janie and Jack. We didn't stay long there as it was getting late and we were getting tired. Overall, the whole trip was awesome. It was so much fun. I think as long as I have the day after Thanksgiving off we are going to hit up that trip again. Well worth it!!!!

Now back to the grindstone.
Ceej:)

What kind of cookie will you be?

2008-11-01T18:49:00.000-07:00

Election this week. I do think that my cookie choice is going to win the election. My cookie choice will go to the person who would supposedly back and aid my job. Truthfully, neither one is going to do anything for me. I think, inevitably, your life is what you make of it.
How will you choose a cookie?
Ceej:)

Re...re...re....recycle...

2008-10-25T19:16:00.000-07:00

Today, there was a Fall Festival in Owasso and costume contest. S has a super awesome Halloween costume and I think she was determined to rock it and blow away the competition, but we'll get to that later. For the most part of the day M and I focused on cleaning up the house, but more importantly cleaning the garage. We needed to take a lot of cardboard we had stored up from various orders over the years. It seemed like the whole left side of the garage was filled with cardboard. So what do we do.....

Well, Owasso has a recycle center. The RC also takes old motor oil which I had a lot of. I do all the oil changes on our vehicles. I like to use Mobil 1 because.... well.... it's the best. The best, however, costs money. If you go to an oil service place you could pay upwards of $50 to $100 to get Mobil 1. At Wal-mart you can get Mobil 1 in a 5 quart container for $23 which is the cost of a regular oil change at a service place. I knew places like Wal-mart would take old oil, but only a bit at a time. I had built up quite a collection. So we collected all the old oil and cardboard and tossed it in the truck.

It was so easy to dispose of this stuff and the best part was M and I are now motivated to recycle other things. Plastic containers, cardboard, aluminum, wood, etc... I feel all aware of the environment. Perhaps I should now buy a Hybrid car and move to San Francisco.
All up in your FACE! Recycle Bitches!!!

We've got to work for a better future
We've got to join hands for tomorrow
Ceej

Pop Pop Fizz Fizz

2008-10-23T19:59:00.000-07:00

Today, we took off to a place I've been meaning to go to for a while. Arcadia, OK is host to Pops an awesome tourist attraction along the famed Route 66. Pops is a soda heaven. It is host to ..... I don't even know how many varieties of soda. The huge pop bottle in front is a cool landmark and photo op.

Upon arrival, we went directly in at got a table towards the back of the restaurant. We wanted a more secluded table cause we took in the stroller and didn't want people tripping over it. Basically, Pops has a pretty good menu and, of course, all the soda variety you could wish for. They have fountain drinks, but the fun is picking out something original. Any bottled soda is $1.99. I started off with a "Olde Rhode Island Molasses Root Beer". I keep searching for a root beer to fill the void of Bud's Heritage day root beer. Didn't find it in "ORIMRB", but it was a tasty Root Beer. It looks like S is about to take a drink, but she's just playing with the bottle. She's so cute!!!!!

The food was reasonably priced but the add-ons can start jacking up the price of your ticket. We took some sweet pics with S and walked around the restaurant. We also picked our own 6 pack. M picked a cherry lime, lemon lime, and orange sodas. I still wanted to search for my root beer. So! As I was perusing the different root beers, I noticed Birch Beer. Hmmmmm..... this intrigued me and next to it Spruce Beer. I went with the Birch Beer, then a Maine Root (which is a sarsaparilla), and finally a chocolate soda. I had a lot of trouble picking the chocolate soda as a soda made with Kona coffee sat next to it. So many choices.......

Pops actually had a festival this weekend. I was thinking of going to it, but glad we didn't because when we told people we'd been to Pops they told a story of an exceptionally long wait. Probably due to the weekend crowd. We then left Pops and M noticed another pumpkin patch in route to Pops. So we went to the patch (I forget the name) and upon arrival notice a $6 per person entry fee......Nope! Turned right around. We also didn't have any cash on us. S would have gotten in free as 2 and under....no charge. I don't think S was digging it though.

Oh what a relief it is.
Ceej:)

Flush

2008-10-23T19:05:00.000-07:00

So I'm trying to do something everyday of my vacation. On Wednesday, it rained all day so the fam and I just took it easy and ran a few errands. I needed to go to Radio Shack to get a soldering iron to properly attach my new Hodbodies Racing flushmount turn signals. So I installed the turn signals after S and M went to bed. It was a fairly easy install. While I had the front fairings off for the signal installation, I decided to try and figure out how to switch out the air filter. I had looked on some web sites and they noted the 600rr air filter was very difficult to get to. I took off the tank cover which reveals the box that contains the air filter. I then removed the screws that I believed would get me to the filter and yes I could see the filter, but couldn't get it out. I think I have to remove a lower portion of the air filter box to get to it, but in order to do that I need to pull off the gas tank............... oooyyyyva. My new turn signals look sweet anyway. I think they really smooth the line of the motorcycle. This is a video link to see my turn signals in action.

So flush and so clean, clean
Ceej:)

Moto Monday!

2008-10-20T19:30:00.000-07:00

Well, I have this week off so I'm trying to pack in as much fun and as many goodies as possible. Over the weekend, I looked up a racing track in Oklahoma, Hallett Motor Racing Circuit and lo and behold they had a motorcycle track day in the week I had vacation. Score!!! The drive to Hallett was awesome. I ran across an Infinity G35 that gunned it and right behind it was a older firebird. I downshifted and caught up to them quick pulling my cycle up to 126 mph in 5th gear and not even redlined it yet. I initially missed the exit for Hallett because it's right at a toll stop and a semi-truck was covering the exit so I had to turn around a little ways down the road no biggie.

Upon arriving at Hallett, a track session was already in motion. I had to wait for a track monitor to open the gate, but got some good info talking to him. He noted in order for me to race I need a full leather suit, boots, gloves, and of course a helmet. Most quality racing suits start around $700. Boots are going to run you around $200, but he also said they rent the stuff there. Mmmmmmm...... maybe I'd rent a suit, but boots ...... eh ....... I may have to buy my own. I'm sure they sweat in the racing suits, but feet are a different story.

They have a beginners racing program on site. I didn't get all the specifics on the "benjamins" for that, but I think it'd be a lot of fun. Just riding casually around the course as you'll see in the video I took was a lot of fun. I can only imagine gunning it around the track. After my ride around the track and snack, I tooled around looking at some of the other cycles. I really liked a pair of retro Triumph Thruxtons. Oh and back to my snack. It was pretty tasty, but I had to overlook seeing the girl use her bare hand to put the sauerkraut on my dog. Kind of disturbing seeing someone holding a hand full of the stuff before it goes on your food. Yikes!, but it still tasted good and I'm not sick so Cheers!.... I guess:)

There were all types of bikes racing. Even little mini racers which you can see the dude riding to the far left. One guy had a hot pink mini dirt bike running around the track. Pretty funny.

All in all....a good day. Hopefully, my next post from Hallett will be a track session on the course.

Zoom Zoom
Ceej:)

Pumpkin Patchin'

2008-10-19T15:34:00.000-07:00

Pumpkin Patch 1
Saturday 18, 2008

This week I'm on vacation. I've got to get in as much S time as possible. So we're hitting up a few pumpkin patches. The first one we hit was in Bixby, Ok. Lots of people upon first pulling up. This pumpkin patch was a pre-picked patch. All the pumpkins were gathered up and placed in about a 1500 sq foot area. We went with M's cousin and her daughter (BTW which is only 20 hours younger than S). I think they had a fun time. We didn't get a pumpkin cause we're hitting up another patch. Overall they had a nice set up. There were animals and a small hay maze for the kids to enjoy. They also had a food stand with pumpkin fudge that looked better than it actually tasted.......disappointing.

Pumpkin Patch 2
Tuesday 21, 2008
Today, we hit up another pumpkin patch. This time we went to a place that let you pick your own pumpkin from the patch. Livesay Orchards in Porter, OK is more know for their peaches. I didn't know that, but it states on the site "Official Peach Capital of the state of Oklahoma." Peaches were out by this time of year, but the pumpkins were in. Upon arriving, early, we were almost ran off. I guess during the week they have school trips and you can't go on a tractor ride as they are reserved for the tours. So kind of shunned off the bat, but they welcomed us to go walking around and pick a pumpkin or whatever.

The patch / patches were about 100 ft from the customer checkout place. We walked over to the patches and were completely alone. It was kind of nice. We got some great shots of S and I think she had a fun time too.

Pumpkin Head

I think next year we'll probably hit up Livesay again as S can pick her own pumpkin. We'll also hit up a weekend next time to grab the hayride.

It's the Great Pumpkin S. Brown
Ceej:)

What I was going to do vs. What I did

2008-09-21T12:12:00.000-07:00

A few weekends ago was another festival in the Tulsa area. This time it was Deutschesfest in Bixby, Ok. I was pretty excited. Mainly because of the lame time we had at the Scottish Festival. I needed redemption! I think what really got me about the Scottish Festival was the entrance fee of $6 for a lame time. Now on the web site only two German eateries are mentioned and no beer venders or tents. As we were driving to Deutschesfest, I noted to M that if we have to pay to park or entrance fee we're turning right around. I had confidence we wouldn't have to as it is not noted on the website.

We get there and this nerdy dude in a "Dunder Mifflin" T-shirt (part of the Bixby high school German club) comes up to our car window and is like "Willkommen zu Deutschesfest.....uhhhh.....it's five dollars to park" He tried to throw an accent on the German words. I looked over at the fresh cash I pulled from the ATM (going to be spent on beer and brats) and told him I didn't know I had to pay to park and that I'd have to go get some cash......never went back. I was not about to go get Scottish Festivaled again! I figured I'd just stick it out for Oktoberfest in Tulsa.

So we were going to eat at Parking-stickitfest and didn't. Now we needed a place to grab a bite. We spot a Pizza place in the corner of an area in Bixby called Pizza Shoppe. Upon entering.....not a soul in the place (aside of the staff). We ordered and I got some sauerkraut pizza to try and make up for the German food void. It was pretty tasty. I think the best part was the cheese. High quality mozzarella which was perfectly toasted upon cooking. I guess it's a chain, but it was the first time I've every heard of it. Would I eat there again?......If I happen to be in Bixby maybe.

Lastly, We went to Fleet Feet Tulsa and they were super Jerks to us. We wanted to sign up for a run which they are chip timing. One of the gals asked us if we needed help and we told her we wanted to sign up for the run. She was like "Ohhhh....we don't have the registration for that here." Then everybody ignored us. Despite this I still wanted to run with some people next Saturday so I asked someone there where it was. He was like "Ohhhhh.....well right now our groups are training for a fall marathon. Are you signed up for that?" I said no and that I just wanted to run with them. He basically acted like I wouldn't be willkommen unless I signed up (payed) for the group. Bunch of jerks! I'm done with Fleet Feet! They got money hungry somewhere along the way. There are two other running stores in tulsa that have Welcome to come out and run with us on their site.

Terrible
Ceej:)

Different Things in September

2008-09-16T19:42:00.001-07:00

I'm out of the Air Force. I did my final weekend on the 6th and 7th. I've been in the reserves for 7 years in the same unit. I pretty much expected my unit to do totally nothing for me and they came through with flying colors. Did it piss me off?....Yes. One of my buddies, who recently got out of the unit, was given a cake and a farewell from the commander. Oh no! Wait! They did do one thing for me. About an 30 min before the final signout they all soaked me with buckets of water. I was outside and upon coming back in the flight chief came out asking me about my cell phone. He took it and as he was asking me about it I noticed some movement in my peripheral. Then they soaked me. I was thinking...."Okay, they got me and they probably set me up a little farewell in the breakroom"...... Nothing! Bunch of JERKS! Saylor is Super Cute though.

My actual job is going well though. I totally love it and enjoy the people I work with. Granted, I sometimes have long days, but tomorrow is a fresh new day and I'll get through it. There is always the slackers who I have to end up helping, but it's all good. Plus! It's starting to get cooler which is a big plus! They also recently added a Red Bull machine. I don't really care for Red Bull, but just looking at the machine revs me up......well....that and the Monster Energy drink.

Last weekend Melissa and I went to Hideaway Pizza and I picked up an "Urban Tulsa" newspaper. The "Urban Tulsa" usually contains good stuff on local things and upcoming concerts. I noticed that weekend a Scottish and India Festivals were going on. The India Fest was only one day, but the Scottish Festival went on all weekend. So we hit up the Scottish Festival and MAJOR DISAPPOINTMENT! I suppose I was thinking it was going to be comparable to Oktoberfest. Now, we went on a Sunday and probably as they were rapping things up, but totally weak.

The whole Scottish thing was very limited. I didn't event think it was worth a picture. Some people were walking around with beer, but I couldn't find it anywhere. The only food that was claiming to be Scottish was some sort of Angus beef. The food cart noted Scottish beef cattle raised in Kansas. I suppose they put that on there so no one freaked about mad cow disease.

Red Lobster and Olive Garden have their "All you can eat" things going on. For Olive Garden it's "All you can eat Pasta bowl" which is actually cheaper than most of their normal pasta dishes. Red Lobster has the best deal of all....."All you can eat Shrimp". I've already hit it once and had about 10 refills.....so yummy. Cajun Garlic Shrimp, Popcorn shrimp, Hand-breaded fried shrimp, Shrimp Alfredo pasta, Shrimp Scampi, and the best of all Coconut Shrimp. The Coconut Shrimp is served with a pineapple dipping sauce.

There are a lot of shrimps in the world so......paradox.
Ceej:)

Apple is so Sweet!

2008-08-31T17:24:00.000-07:00

I got my Macbook back today. A few days ago Saylor was being burped and she spit up on the keyboard. It happened while I was at work and Melissa said she cleaned it off and it didn't seem like any damage was done. When I came home, a few of the keys stopped working. The D, 5, and the F5 (which is a volume up key) all stopped working. Not Saylor's fault, but now it needed to get repaired. Melissa called the Apple Store at Woodland Hills Mall and got an appointment set up for Saturday at 2. Melissa said they told her that if the keyboard need to be replaced it would be $317 charge. She didn't tell me that part as she knew it would just stress and upset me.

So we go to the Apple store and when the Apple tech came out, I pulled out the laptop and turned it on explaining the situation. He just said the keyboard would have to be replaced and then noted the case was cracked at the bottom and they would fix that too. I was thinking "Shoot! How much is this going to cost?!" He typed up a work order and the total cost was Zero....that's right Zero! So I left the laptop and picked it up the next day thinking maybe it was just a mistake.....Nope still zero. It looks and feels brand new! I then remembered when I purchased the laptop I got a Apple protection warranty and registered it immediately after I got it. That was a nice save on my part. Just reinforces my love of Apple!

Make it Mac tonight!
Ceej:)

Cute Saylor pic!

Lights in the Sky 2008

2008-08-17T16:06:00.000-07:00

Oh yea! I got to see Nails again at the Ford Center in OKC. Once again they put on an awesome show. The opening act, "A Place to Bury Strangers", was alright. I wasn't that impressed, but maybe because I was so stoked about seeing NIN. I got seat tickets this time, but stood through the whole NIN set. It was nice to sit during the opening act. I'm just not into the whole floor crowd thing anymore. I much rather just chill in the seats and enjoy!

I found out after the concert that NIN are going to play the new BOK Center in Tulsa in November. Guess you'll see another NIN post in a few months! The videos I took look and sound pretty good. I didn't realize the memory on the SD card would only hold around 3 songs. For the next concert I'll have a bigger SD card so I can record more of my favs.

I have one more video loaded in my youtube account. I think it's a song on the Ghosts album and I wish I would have got the whole thing. It's hard to see but the stage was set up like a erie classical concert.
I am trying....to see
Ceej:)

The end draws near....

2008-08-10T19:08:00.000-07:00

Kratos is coming!
Ceej:)

First Youtube!

2008-07-27T09:59:00.001-07:00

This is my first of many to come uploads to youtube. I was playing around with the video feature last night and BEHOLD! It worked! Yeah! Now I can post more vids of my bike and Saylor. SO Awesome!

The video quality is pretty good and I've already had like 12 views ...... okay they're all me, but it's good to go!!!!!

I need to clean the garage....
Ceej:)

Project Kitty Door

2008-07-13T11:10:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time coming, but I finally went out and got the kit to install a pet door for the garage. Smooches litter box has been upstairs since we moved in, but I've always wanted it to be outside the house. We went to Home Depot and first looked at brand new doors. The only door they had with a pet door was a kind of storm door which was around $200 Gs.....Plus $120 installation fee. I've been told installing a door is difficult so I'd opt to have someone do it. We talked with the Home Depot worker and she noted a small door would be easy to install and much cheaper as we don't need a new door. SO....M and I looked over the pet doors and decided on a larger door which would accommodate Smooch and be large enough so if Saylor decided to play she wouldn't get stuck.

One of the boxes was open so I browsed the instructions and it seemed simple enough. Plus on the back of the box it has what appears to be a 14 year old girl installing the door........ so .........how hard can it be..... and at the tune of $28 versus $300 how could I resist.

Installation was fairly simple. The door was basically 50 thousandths aluminum on both sides with insulation in-between. I started on the inside of the house and basically had to 'chain drill' the inside piece out.

The garage side came off much nicer as I just hacked it out with my electric saw. I had to make a few adjustments to make the corners fit, but it clamped together nicely. The edges still had some room so I went and got a sealing compound which normally goes around sinks. Took me about an hour and a half total. I've been working with Smooch to get her use to it. She doesn't like it so far, but I think if I put her food out there she'll have to start using it.

Installed!
Ceej:)

S's Room

2008-05-27T14:52:00.000-07:00

This is S's room complete. M and I decided on the lime green paint. When I was first painting the borders, I thought to myself...."This looks terrible." However, I figured it'd start to look better and I think it looks great now. The green really brightens up the room. M bought a stencil of S's name and placed it on the wall. The pink really compliments the green.

Her furniture which is white provides another nice neutral color to the room. I'm not thrilled about the carpet, but that can change in time. We found the shelves at Home Depot. They look pretty good and were surprisingly easy to setup. Under the shelf on the left is a butterfly and under the shelf to the right is a dragonfly (this one is not seen in the picture). Her bedding is called "Tiger Lily" and has the lime green and pink colors. The mosquito net thing was a last minute addition. I'm not sold on it, but M liked it. It looks alright.

Best looking room in the house!
Ceej:)

Get my Lost on

2008-05-26T07:50:00.000-07:00

Lost has it's season finale this week so I've been watching the last few episodes lately. I'm super glad I just waited til the end of the season to watch all of the Season 4 episodes "back to back". It's really confusing to follow and it's irritating that the episodes are so random. Due to the writer's strike this season only has 13 episodes.....well 14 if you divide up a 2 hour finale. All the previous seasons had twenty something. I suppose it'll have to satisfy til Season 5 and then the supposed final Season 6. How will this crappy show go down? In a blaze of glory or stupidity?

Yub Yub
Ceej:)

Oh! To be a Dad

2008-05-08T21:43:00.000-07:00

What does it feel like? People who have asked me this question I reply, "Amazing!". However, it's so much more than that. The feeling of myself being a dad didn't really set in until it was 'go time'. Even as M was induced and having contraction the feeling of being a dad wasn't there. It finally hit me when they said we're going to do a C-section on her and get S out. Right then this overwhelming swarm of emotions hit me. The staff took M into the surgery room and called me in about 5 min later. The doctor had the cut made and was working on getting out S.

During the C-section, I was glancing back and forth between M's face and her open stomach anxiously waiting for the first glimpse of my S. M was pretty looped from all the numbing the anesthesiologist. Her face seem scared and shocked. I just held her hand as tight as possible to comfort her. When S came out I couldn't take my eyes off of her. Her body was covered in a 'cottage cheesy' film (vernix) and was a blue/red color. The nurses took S out of the room and I stayed with M for a minute or two until the nurses told me I could come see S.

When I walked out of the operating room, the nurses were cleaning S off and I just watched in amazement at this little person M and I created. I was instantly in love! I was just speachless! I couldn't take my eyes off her. I just kept taking photo after photo. We then went into the nursery to give S her first bath and wash her hair. She also got a shot and the footprints on the birth certificate. She also was looking around her new world with those gorgeous blue eyes. She smells so good.

I started to take some of our stuff out to the car in preparation to go home and I looked around the bright sunny sky. The world seemed different. It was as if the world was getting ready to greet S too, by showing her a gorgeous spring day. Since then every time I look at her or hold her whether she's crying, sleeping, eyes open or closed, I just love her more. I cannot wait for my family to gaze upon her with their own eyes. This is how it was for me.....a comparison.

Star Wars comparison - It's like when Darth Vader looks at Luke for the first time without his mask at the end of "Return of the Jedi". When I saw the sonogram pics I was looking through the mask. She had to come out for me to really see her.

Friends have told me that a newborns bowel movements are horrible when their little. I don't notice any smell. It's like, for me, all I can see is this little baby girl that I love so much. I find myself constantly checking on her when she's sleeping if she makes any noise at all. If she not moving I prod her a little to get some movement just so I know she's okay. It's hard for me to sleep not because she cries, but because I just worry. I worry about her position while sleeping and germs.....Man! Germs! I don't think I've ever washed my hands so many times.

This face ooooooohhhhhhhhhh soooooooooooo cute.

I love you S
Ceej:)

A Sneak Peek

2008-05-06T21:08:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to post a sneak of S. I'll get out some better pics later. She was kind of fussy in this pic.

My young apprentice
Ceej:)

The 11 o'clock DFF

2008-03-06T22:10:00.000-08:00

Not much to blog about and I'm bored here at Tinker. I got off early tonight...was supposed to get off at 2 am, but we got out early cause this was our last day here. The double filet-o-fish is a symbol of unity.....the unity of two fish filets. Wendy's and Arby's came out with their own version of the fish sandwich. I was extremely disappointed with Wendy's effort so I haven't even given Arby's a shot.

INCREDIBLY SUPER DFF!
Ceej:)

All one needs to know about Kimchi:)

2008-03-02T22:57:00.000-08:00

Kimchi to the Extreme!
Ceej:)

Choo! Choo!

2008-02-21T18:36:00.000-08:00

M and I hit up this place a while ago and I just haven't posted about it. I noticed the restaurant in a local newspaper ad. It looked interesting so we hit it up on a Sunday afternoon. I was hoping it would be basically what the name said "Sushi Train". Upon arrival, ST was exactly what it said it was. M and I sat down at the bar and at a good angle to pull from the train. Prices were based upon the color of the plates and you could order more special rolls off a menu. The sushi was good...but I didn't keep track of what I was ordering and it got kind of pricey. The Sushi Buffet in Vegas still number one for me.

Caterpillar roll (Off the menu)
On the menu, the roll had toothpicks on one end with avocado at the top to simulate eyes.....no eyes on my roll :(

All Aboard!
Ceej:)

The Signal is Strong

2008-02-03T18:21:00.000-08:00

After months of mooching off other peoples WiFi networks, we finally got our own. We already had home internet, but just needed a wireless router to hook up our own. The change came when our main WiFi provider, Fefe and Zack, disappeared. At first we would go to their network and it would show that they did not pay their bill......then they were gone. There are lots of networks around us, but most are secured.....bunch of jerks. Anyway, the networks we could access were extremely week and the service sporadic. We hooked up a Linksys which we were told was a quality router with good security....yes....I made sure our network is secure.

No freeloaders here!
Ceej:)

The Vacation Shaft

2008-02-03T07:16:00.001-08:00

In March, I will have had 10 years with my employer. What does the 10 year mark mean? Well, it means another week of vacation. I was super excited to see that extra vacation time on my paycheck. The vacation on my check reflected my part-time status. I figured when I got a full-time position I'd get a full time vacation check.

Okay, so here is the breakdown for vacation as a part timer of 10 years.
60 hours total which breaks down to 20 payed hours a week (ie 3 weeks)
I also get an option week consisting of 29 hours of pay. Option weeks can be taken as a full week or used as sick days.

For a full time employee, vacation for me would be....
135 hours total which breaks down to 45 hours a week (3weeks) and a option week of 58 hours.

However, this past Friday I received two paychecks. One was my regular check and the other was a check consisting of all my vacation payed off. I was like whaaaaaaa!!! What the fudge is this! What sucked even worse was I was payed at my part-time rate ($6/hour less) and hours. You don't have to be a math wiz to know this is a considerable amount of money not in my pocket. I notified my supervisor and she sent the inquiry to pay and noted to me that they should respond within 24 hours. I needed a more immediate response......so I called the union hall.

Unfortunately, the teamster representative I talked to told me this is how corporate does things. When a part time employee gets a full-time position, corporate pays off the vacation in one check a few weeks after the full-time upgrade. I asked if I should have gotten payed as a full-time employee and he noted "No, because I earned the vacation last year as a part time employee". I accepted this fate, but ....yet....I was skeptical as I thought I had seen something in the contract which overruled this.

So I checked the contract.....
Article 49-Section 7
(J) Should a part-time coverage driver work one hundred and fifty six
reports as a coverage driver in a calendar year, then that employee
will be eligible for full-time vacation and option at his/her
part-time coverage driver's rate of pay the following year.
(The 156 reports in 1997 count for the 1998 vacation period.)

I know I worked more than 156 reports last year. How do I know this? I asked my supervisor how many reports I had in October and it was like 230. So where is my full-time vacation love. I'll call the union hall again on Monday.

To be continued....
Ceej :I

Zowzers! It was a Great Week!

2008-01-18T20:22:00.000-08:00

Great things this week...........
Great thing 1:

I got my motorcycle endorsement taken care of. My insurance agent called me and asked if I'd gotten it yet to which I replied "no".....and then they informed me that if I didn't have it by February they would cancel my cycle insurance. After M's appointment, I went the the DMV and passed the written. I'd taken it before, but failed. This was mainly due to my overthinking the questions. For instance, one question I got wrong was.....

Q: After consuming 4 regular alcoholic drinks, how many drinks would be left in your body after 2 hours.

Most of the questions were like this....not really having to do much with motorcycle riding, but just general nothingness. So the answers were multiple choice of A. 2 drinks B. 1 drink or C. 3 drinks. I really mulled over this question.....I thought to myself..."Have I gone to the bathroom more than once?, I probably would have had something to eat withing those 2 hours." Totally over-analyzed the question! The answer was 2 BTW!, but who cares I passed and now have an M on my license.

Great thing 2:

On Thursday, the operation manager at UPS sent me a message saying I would be a full time driver starting the 21st of January. Boooyaaaa Bitches! I been working a full time schedule since I started driving back in May 2007, but UPS is union so you have to wait for a full time position to become available. Some 30 plus year dude is retiring this month so I'll get his slot. I had the most seniority of all the part time drivers soooooo....I get the job. The title full time comes with a 2 year progression to topout pay and change in benefits (which really doesn't come into play until retirement).

Making sweet cash with Uncle Rico
Ceej:)

Get into Safety

2008-01-18T20:09:00.000-08:00

Yeah...I've been out of the post loop for a while. I always get these ideas for posts as I'm at work and then forget when I get home. Well, for starters this week M had another Sayler appointment. Everything is good. The appointment was on Monday and my supervisor sort of got me the day off. Instead of delivering, I went to a safety conference. She had told me that I would go to this thing and sneak out so I could get to the appointment on time. Little did I know by agreeing to this, I basically volunteered for some extra duties on the safety committee. Nothing too extensive, I was already on the safety committee. I now just have the title "Wellness co-chair", which basically holds the same value as Assistant to the Regional Manager.

I haven't done a whole lot as the WC. For the most part, I give out a safety tip at the morning meeting and talk about wellness (body and mind).

Safety is #1
Ceej:)

It's over.

2007-12-27T19:06:00.000-08:00

Today UPS got back to normal. I delivered my normal 180 some stops as opposed to the exhausting 300 some stops I had been delivering. And I got off at a more normal time of 5:45 - ish as opposed to 9 - ish. It's nice to be back to normal. I got a helper for the holiday season. We'll call her K. She sucked....well....I kind of contributed to her suckiness. She was the typical helper for the first few weeks (of November) I had her. She then called me one day and said how she had stayed up with her dying Aunt and stood by her side for an hour or two so her knees hurt. So instead of having her walk the packages up to the door, I took them and had her working the scanning (basically nothing). Well, I kind of discovered I could go faster like this so that's what I did for the rest of the time with her.

She had a lot of lame excuses for not showing up though. One time some person she knew killed themself and she had to babysit some kid related to the departed. So she didn't show up that Monday. Then on Thursday she noted the funeral would be on Friday. She also said she didn't know the person very well. My thought.....then why are you going other than to get out of work. Well, I was like "Okay, what time is the funeral?" She noted it was at noon, so I suggested meeting after the funeral. Well the next day she texts me and says the funeral was moved to 2. I text back "That's fine". She never texts, calls, or shows after that.....so I guess "That's fine" to her meant she didn't have to work.

So that happened on the last Friday before Christmas. She text me on Monday and asked if she was working.....I didn't want to have anything else to do with her so I was like no. She then texts me back a bunch more times acting all concerned.....whatever. The last text she sent me was asking if I had her paycheck from the previous week (The drivers took their helpers their paychecks on Friday). This, I figure, is what she wanted to ask all along. I think she could have cared less about whether or not I needed help. I didn't have the check.....so she said Merry Christmas or what not and that was it. She did ask me to send my blog web address cause I mentioned it to her. I didn't give it to her. It much more fun to slam people behind their back or on the open web.

Oh man! She was Terrible!
Ceej:)

And the verdict is.....

2007-12-27T18:59:00.000-08:00

IT'S A GIRL!

M had a doctor appointment today. She is now about 20 weeks along and we found out (90% positive) the baby is a girl. Very cool. Everyone keeps asking me what I would prefer or what I wanted.
My answer: "It doesn't matter." So now I have an answer.

The name: Saylor Ann
Ceej:)

Wrong Color Jackmunches!

2007-10-10T18:45:00.000-07:00

Aaarrrhhhhh!!!!!! I've been waiting two weeks to get my new helmet. I ordered a red and black Shoei helmet and I get a blue and black helmet. I called the place and they were like...... "Oooooo.....yeah, I guess the helmet was just mislabeled". Actually... oh no wait.... b...l...u...e....no it was labeled right. Now, I have to send it back and it's going to be like another two weeks til I hopefully get the right helmet.

Terrible....take a lap......
Ceej:[

The Veggie God Smites Me!

2007-10-07T19:00:00.000-07:00

It had to happen.  Today Kilkenny's failed me.  Well, actually it wasn't their fault.  It started last week when M and I hit up Hideaway Pizza on Cherry Street which is next to Kilkenny's.  After we ate at HP, I went to go see if Kilkenny's had the Oktoberfest menu and they pulled through.

So today I went to K's with intention of getting the Wurst Plate.....a combination of 3 German sausages (Knockwurst, Bratwurst, and Cheddarwurst).  The Veggie God knew my purpose for going to K's and to punish me he had some alcohol regulator guy come in and forbid the sale of the German beers.  K's had a beautiful selection of true German beers and this guy reduced the list to crummy 3 point beer (Bud, Bud lite).  I couldn't even get a Guinness.  It was so sad.  They had a beer menu printed out on a piece of white paper with the 8 beers they could sell.  Paper cups were over the tap handles of the unsellable beers.

The Veggie God's wrath didn't stop there.  I was also denied the sauerkraut with my sausages.  They "ran out" of sauerkraut.....so, so sad.  The sausage was really good though and I did have some awesome mustard to compliment the sausages.

Forgive me Veggomitis!
Ceej:)

Best Buffet Ever!

2007-09-16T13:09:00.001-07:00

On Wednesday of our Vegas trip M and I hit up one of the outlet malls. My main reason for going was to try a sushi buffet. The buffet was $14.95 per person, but it was the most fantastic place in Vegas! I can spend upwards of $25 bucks myself on sushi so this was a great deal. AND! This was no crab and cucumber rolls....NO SIR! This was super sushi time. I loaded up my plate 4 times then hit the dessert buffet for some Green tea ice cream and green tea cheesecake.
The buffet was probably comparable to the one Mers ate at, but way better cause I got to enjoy it!

Yummy Green tea ice cream and green tea cheese cake!

非常に風味がよい!
Ceej:)

Viva las Vegas!

2007-09-13T16:06:00.000-07:00

We just got back from Vegas and saw a lot of cool stuff and some cool people. Upon arrival, MTV had just had the Video Music Awards (VMA's). We caught a few celebs as the were exiting the hotel. Let me do a little name dropping.....Rianna, Sarah Silverman, Scary Spice (lame), and my favorite meet of all Audrianna off "The Hills". M had the cohones to go get the pic with her while she was on the phone. I should have manned up so I could have my own pic.

We then started hitting the strip. We stayed at "The Palms" and on the first day made the walk to the strip. Everything appears alot closer than it really is. By the time we hit Ceaser's Palace it was breaktime and we hit up a little meal with a little window shopping. We figured out the bus schedule real quick. After a while of tooling around we went back to the hotel to check-in and get a time slot for the next tat at Hart and Huntington.

We tried some slots the first day with basically no luck. It took us a while to figure out the tactics for slot. Lurking is the BEST!
Oh...Lurker defines as (from a "Friends episode)-----
Phoebe has to deal with a "lurker"—someone (in this case an elderly woman) who takes slot machines Phoebe has just abandoned and manages to land jackpots with them. She attempts to antagonize the woman into leaving her alone. Meanwhile, Joey discovers his "hand twin"—a man whose hands are identical to Joey's; this man immediately gets drafted into Joey's get-rich-quick scheming. Both Phoebe and Joey are eventually thrown out of the casino.

Doubled my money from a morning lurk.

Lucky 7's
Ceej:)

The Vegas Hawk ROCKS!

2007-09-13T15:54:00.000-07:00

More pics and stories to come. M and I are on our way back from Vegas today and I couldn't wait to post a pic of the Vegas Hawk!

Rock that HAWK!
Ceej:)

Vegas Bound!

2007-09-10T09:07:00.000-07:00

M and I are on or way to Vegas. Just chilling at the Las Vegas airport sucking up some free wifi!

More to come...
Ceej:)

My next tattoo

2007-09-07T21:28:00.000-07:00

M and I are hitting up Vegas this coming week. That should make for some exciting posts. We're staying at the Real World Las Vegas home. It looks really sweet. We got a pretty good deal on the trip too. On my route, there is a gal who's going to be in Vegas at the same time we are and she paid almost $500 more for her trip. She did a package deal and we did airline and hotel separate thing. I'm not exactly sure all I'm going to do there, but I do know I want to get another tat.

Hart and Huntington is in the lobby of the hotel we're staying. I've got a couple things in mind. I don't want it to cost too much, but I want something sweet too. I've been thinking some sort of Korean or Japanese phrase or word......Why?....well it looks cool and it's something I've wanted to do.....maybe something to do with running or competitions?....hmmm..... I've also knocked around the idea of a koi fish tat. Koi have a relationship with luck and I'm sort of superstitious lately. Luck would come in handy. I really think a skull would be sweet, but I feel like that's some bad mojo. It's kind of like.....there's this sweet helmet made by Icon and it's got skulls on it, but I feel like it's a bad omen to get it. I don't know.....hmmmmm........

Inked
Ceej:)

Not even 4 hours later.....

2007-08-25T17:05:00.001-07:00

DANG! I'M SO FREAKING STUPID!!!!!! I was turning into our neighborhood after getting a cool drink at Starbucks and I DROPPED THE BIKE!!!! DANG! DANG! oh.....hell.....DAMMIT!......AND when I was getting my coffee the gal at Starbucks was asking me about my bike and she says to me...."Well, be careful cause statistically accidents happen within the first 3 months of owning a bike." I sneeched her and was like "Is that so?" I feel like going back there and chewing her out for putting that in my head.

"Sigh"......The Accident:
So I was just turning into our neighborhood off the access road and my ego was up (due to all the compliments I had got on the bike from people) and I was going too fast through the turn. I realized I was either going off into the dirt and hit a post or fall over.... well I fell over.

I was SO FREAKING EMBARRASSED...... there was a line of cars behind me who all saw me fall over. I f-in picked it up so fast and was just waving the "I'm Okay!"....and a total goober wave to them. I just pulled into our neighborhood and stopped for a second cause I was kind of shook up. One of the people turned around to make sure I was okay.......I'm like "Yeah and your not going to believe this, but I just got the bike today".....and perhaps from my poor riding skills he believed it. He noted though that it happens and he's owned a few bikes before and it happens. I'm not hurt, so I guess I thank my lucky stars for that.....just really embarrassed, but much more cautious. I suppose it's a good thing to learn your lesson early on with minor scratches.....I know I just got a serious wake up call.
The clutch lever is supposed to be straight on the end.....not bent up:(

Not total correct Stereotyping, but close
Ceej:((((((

mon rêve

2007-08-25T16:57:00.000-07:00

I didn't intend on buying it today, but the deal was toot sweet. My main hang-up about a cycle was the insurance. Progressive, my current insurer, was as you saw trying to really stick it to me. Melissa and I wend "To Look" today and the guy at the cycle shop told me he was insured through State Farm......so I asked him if it was possible for that same agent to give me a quote today. SO! Get this.....for full coverage with a $500 deductible......$28 bucks a month! What!? Unreal! This offer was too good to be true! I jumped on it and this is what the result is.........

Take that Progressive!
Ceej:)

Insurance stereotyping (This post is now irrelevant)

2007-08-21T18:27:00.000-07:00

For the past few weeks I've been knocking around the idea of getting a motorcycle. I've wanted a motorcycle 4-freaking-ever! So I go to the cycle shop and check out the bike I want.....a 2007 Suzuki GSX-R 600. It's a super sweet bike and the price was right. I also figure I could talk down the price some cause the 2008 models are coming in and the 07's need to go. Okay, so I found the cycle.
Next step: Before any buying takes place is checking on the insurance.

I first checked online and my jaw dropped......over $1200 a year. I don't pay that for full coverage on 2 cars and 1 truck! WTF! I then call my insurance agent cause the online quotes didn't account for my accident free (knock on wood) record. SAME FREAKING PRICE! My agent tells me that a cruiser would cost considerably less per year versus a sportbike. I think is this true?.. and yes he is of course right. Get this.....the 599cc, which is the engine power, costs $900 dollars more to ensure than a 1200cc Harley. How and why is this possible? People I talk to say....well with a sportbike the power is "right there", but with a cruiser it takes a while......But it's still a motorcycle right? Irregardless of the "right there" power, both bikes don't have car walls or airbags. Helmets don't save Stupid.

The problem stems from insurance companies getting burned over FREAKING MORONS doing stupid shit on sportbikes. So basically, I'd be paying a $900 dollar extra a year moron charge. I talked to quite a few cycle owners and then remembered one I hadn't talked too......who.....Yep! I gave uncle Fidelity a call.

UF told me about a bike Kawasaki made which was sporty looking and would still probably cost less with insurance. He was right. The premium was still high, but more manageable than $1200. Now.....I could pay that, but I'm just not sure I want too.

Time for some Grand Theft Auto action!
Ceej:)

So SIC, SIC, SIC!!!!

2007-08-12T09:57:00.000-07:00

Queens of the Stone Age came to Tulsa and they did not disappoint. I've had the tickets since June and it felt like forever for the August 10th date to come around. They played a good mix of old and new stuff and started off the concert with one of my favs, "Regular John".......a sweet rocking out tune. All their songs are pretty sweet, but they never got around to "Mexicola", but with 5 records it gets hard to please everyone. I also found out Corona is Josh Homme's beer of choice which doesn't mean a whole lot, but it's currently my fav so I now feel like a superfan. The next day after they had a show in Oklahoma City and a meet n greet performance at a Best Buy before the concert. I was going to go, but had some more pressing matters to attend to that day so I had to forgo the meet.......kinda sucks, but I move on.
Josh is a wicked guitar player!!!!

Ceej Catching not saying goodnight...just saying.
Ceej:)

Halo 06

2007-07-11T19:23:00.001-07:00

M and I had the A/C fixed today. About a month ago an A/C guy came to our house and diagnosed the compressor bad. He then gave us the exciting news on how much an A/C compressor cost.....DOH! (Fill in your own expletives). We've just been dealing with the heat for the last few months. We do have an upstairs window unit, but it's nice to be in more than one room in your home. Anywho, it's up and running today. Actually, it's set on 80 degrees right now and M and I were just commenting to each other that it was pretty cold in the house. LOL! I think that's a sign you've been without A/C for a while when 80 degrees feels cold.

Consider it done!
Ceej:)

More than Meets the Eyes!

2007-07-07T18:50:00.000-07:00

M and I saw Transformers today. I first started seeing previews last year and had my doubts. It seemed like it easily was going to end up a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles kind of thing.....in other words "Suck monkey balls!" As the movie got closer to it's release date the previews started looking better. I was fairly impressed by movie. The visual effects were extremely kickass! However, the story line tended to draw out in some places. I'm not sure if this was necessary or not for a good plot. Overall, I'd say the movie was good, but maybe a little long. I did like the fact that they captured the original cartoon aspect of the Transformers show. I kind of also would have liked to see Starscream (one of my favorites) a little more, but this could be a possibility in the future.

Oh! I also did a run today which you can check out here.

Eh oh oh ah ah eh oh
Ceej:)

Energy Drink Line-up

2007-07-07T18:11:00.000-07:00

I figured I'd give my blog readers a little insight to my energy drink fix. I tried to go totally off of energy drinks at the beginning of the year, but it didn't work out. For the most part, my drink of choice has been Enviga. Mers talked about it in a previous blog of his so I won't get in depth about it. My other EG choices are Monster, Starbucks (coffee), Sugarfree Redbull, Cocaine, and Spiked. I'd like to explain what these drinks taste like, but ..... it's kind of difficult to make comparisons. I'll do my best.

Aside of Enviga.....I grab the Monster, Java Monster, Starbucks, and Sugarfree Redbull when I want a slight change up. These four have a caffeine content of around 100 mg of caffeine per can or less. However, I think my tolerance for caffeine is pretty high so most of these drinks don't do a whole lot for me except a quick thirst quencher. It's kind of a mix up from water too, but the summer heat at work is making me drink much more water and lose the caffeine fix. I find myself wanting.....no.....needing more water than caffeine. The summer will probably help me switch off of the energy drink fix again.

The last two, Cocaine and Spike Shooter, are slightly more "hard core" energy drinks. Cocaine has actually been banned in a few states due to the name. It contains 280 mg of caffeine which is like 3 1/2 Redbulls at once. The one in the picture contains sugar. The normal Cocaine with sugar burned my throat going down.....almost like it has some sort of pepper in it. The sugarfree Cocaine had a more smooth taste to it....kind of....fruity. Actually, I couldn't finish the regular Cocaine and it's been opened in the fridge for about a week now. Cocaine is also not found in a regular store.....you kind of have to go to those.....on the edge of town gas stations to find it.

Spike Shooter is the most potent energy drink on the market. This drink is only found at GNC. It contains 300 mg of caffeine. There are actually warnings on the side of the can noting to only drink half due to the drink's potency. This drink has a sort of fruity taste almost like a strawberry soda flavor. I've on had this drink once.....and it did wake me up and then it gave me a huge headache.....probably due to the caffeine content or maybe because it contains 25000 % of your daily Vitamin B12.

You wanna get Nuts!..alright....Let's get Nuts!
Ceej:)

Bixby Corn Festival

2007-07-01T19:12:00.000-07:00

M and I hit up the Bixby Corn Festival this weekend. We actually caught the tail end of it on Saturday....it had been going on for a few days. We caught some sort of frog finding contest on television and decided to go slam down some COTC.....well just me actually. M is super cautious now due to her braces, but I was all over the corn. I personally think if you want corn around Tulsa then Bixby is the place to go. M and I started getting corn from a farmers market in Bixby a few years ago and were hooked ever since. It just cooks up so juicy sweet and the kernels are always nice and plump. The overall festival was kind of boring. I think it was more about the corn. Most of the tables set up were on the lame side. They also had homemade rootbeer which was a treat....though it was no comparison to the Alton Heritage Bud's Roodbeer.

M and I also tried Fried Green Tomatoes for the first time.

I enjoyed them. I don't know if I'd get them again, but if you've never had them....they don't taste like a regular tomato. I'm not sure if it's the frying part or just the tomato itself. It kind of had a sweeter taste to it (the tomato).....almost maybe a pickled taste, but not too overwhelming. Actually, the more I write about it the more I crave.....maybe it was Fried Green Tomacco.
TOMACCO!
Ceej:)

A little exposure to my day

2007-06-25T17:41:00.000-07:00

Now that I'm working more (5 days a week, full time), I don't have a whole lot that goes on. I'll give everyone a small view of what my day is like. I took a few pictures of the package load on my truck. Today it was kind of light packed. Usually, the truck is packed top to bottom and front to back. I normally deliver around 180 to 200 stops. Most routes don't have that many stops, but the route I have is a mostly residential route. I like my current route though......mainly cause it's not in the city. There's never much traffic to slow you down. My day starts at 8:30 am and I normally finish between 5 or 6 pm.
This is my truck at the start of the day.

This is about half-way through the day......you can see the back of the door now and I've got some shelf space to work with.

The most important thing is to have a plan as to how you're going to get the job done. The best thing to do in my opinion is to clear out the middle as best as possible first. Now you have room to walk in the truck and set stuff up. UPS actually has a lable system on the packages which will set up the route. I normally do my own thing which in most cases matches the lables. Sometimes the labels are kind of jacked and if you didn't know where you're going the label system would have you going back and forth between areas instead of completing one area then moving to the next.

Replinish your fluids
Ceej:)

Hello from Pensacola!

2007-06-10T10:31:00.000-07:00

I'm in Florida for a school the military is sending me to.  It's a kind of upgrade training, but most of the work is stuff we've done before or will probably never do again.  Some of the fasteners we've dealt with I'll probably never see again.  This is actually the last class on this base.  I think it's being moved to a different location, so I'm glad I got to come to Florida for the class cause I think it's moving to Texas.  Not that there's anything wrong with Texas, but I've heard the base the class is moving to is in the middle of nowhere, USA.

My flight down here sucked.  The flight was initially delayed in Tulsa because of storms in Dallas and then once I got to Dallas I found out the flight I was supposed to take to Pensacola was totally booked.  At this point I was slightly irritated, but I moved on and the only flight I could grab was to Ft. Walton Beach which is about 40 miles outside Pensacola.  When I finally get to Ft. Walton Beach.....surprise, surprise....my luggage wasn't there.  I rented a car then drove to Pensacola (in the dark) and got into the motel around midnight.

On Monday I returned the car, but before I took the car back I drove back to Ft. Walton beach.  Pretty nice day...plus I had to get a BDU cap cause the Navy base didn't sell them so I had to make a trip to Hurlburt AFB.
Ft. Walton Beach.

This is a picture of me driving over a three mile bridge around Pensacola.  It was neat driving across it at night.  About 1 or 2 miles before the bridge there are signs telling people to check their fuel so they don't get stranded on the bridge.....not a good place to break down.


The class that I came to Pensacola for has been somewhat of a bore.  The teacher is leaving and I don't think he really cares.  That's cool though cause most of the work I've done before and is pretty lame.  No life saving events going on.  I really like the people in my class too.  Most of them are active in the military and one of the people was in my initial tech school class.  He's cool and has a lot of funny stories to tell.  I went out twice with them to various clubs and bars.  I've never done anything like that before and it will probably be my only experience.  This is mainly because I don't normally hang out with people who go to bars and I'm not much of a bar person, but the places we went to were pretty fun.  I never drank in excess, but did have a good time.

We went to a place called McGuire's which is supposed to be a well known Irish Bar.  The thing at the bar is they have money all over the walls and ceiling.  I think there's supposed to be like a quarter of a million dollars on the wall.  The deal is people sign there name or whatever on a dollar bill and stick it on the wall.  It would be a huge loss if the place burned down.  Another thing there is the bathrooms.  There is a big sign on the men's bathroom that says Women's bathroom and then in small writing below has an arrow and says this way pointing to the other bathroom.  The women's bathroom has the same deal.  I got tricked and walked into the wrong one, but there's signs once you walk into the wrong bathroom that say "this is the ladies room".

I'm checking out of Pens now!
Ceej:)

R2!

2007-05-26T07:30:00.000-07:00

He must have made the jump to lightspeed to Florida!

Fun Disney Day 4 pics

2007-05-25T14:29:00.000-07:00

M and I at the Polynesian resort for breakfast. The Kona Cafe.

M and I at our resort. There were people who stood by the Mickey during the day and had their own camera to take a picture. We figured they charged for it, so we took the pick later in the day after they left.

Me at the Rose and Crown Pub. The Epcot show was on the lake next to me.

Me with the Glowtini drink at the Rose and Crown Pub.

M on the empty Monorail car going back to the hotel.

DisneyWorld Adventure (Day 3 and 4)

2007-05-25T14:10:00.000-07:00

3rd Day
For our third day, we got tickets to the other big attraction in Orlando which was Universal Studios. Universal has two parks. The parks are connected by a walkway which has lots of fun restaurants. Adventure Island contains roller coasters and a lot of fast rides. Universal is a more sit and watch a movie type of place. You'll find lots of 3 and 4-D shows at Universal though Adventure Island has its own 3-D adventures.

Roller coasters of note were "The Hulk" and "Dueling Dragons". I think "Dueling Dragons" was my fav coaster. It ran two coasters simultaneously and at one point in the ride the coasters appear to be moving for a head on collision. You have to be in the front of the coaster to experience that, but it's worth the wait to get the front. "The Hulk" coaster was cool too. It had the most loops and corkscrews of any coaster I've ever been on. Adventure Island also had the coolest ride of my whole DisneyWorld experience. This was the Spiderman 3-D ride. I've never experienced a true 3-D thing....only the cheap blue and red glasses and looking at a book. In the Spiderman ride you rode in a moving car which did all sorts of twists and spins. The villains and hero would appear to jump onto the car and MAN! It was just too sweet!
M and me before the Spiderman ride.

A sort of mythological part of Adventure Island.

M and I outside the Universal park.

Universal was more shows. The Mummy ride was really cool. It reminded me of the Expedition Everest ride at Animal Kingdom cause it had some unexpected surprises to it. After seeing Universal we went back to the hotel and crashed for about an hour or so and then hit Downtown Disney for a little shopping. Downtown Disney is like a whole other attraction. Lots of cool stuff and restaurants.
Me trying to cheer up Eeyore.

M was all about hitting the Ghirardelli Soda Fountain & Chocolate Shop. We split a sundae.
M and I at Ghirardelli.

It was alright. I'm not big on ice cream anymore, but M loved it. Downtown Disney had some night clubs, but we were pretty tired so we called it quits for that day.

4th Day
Now we're on the 4th day and almost done with our DisneyWorld adventure. To start off this day we made reservations for breakfast at the Polynesian resort. It was right next to our hotel. M got some macadamia nut pancakes with a yummy pineapple sauce. M doesn't particularly like pineapple so I got half a grapefruit and ate her pineapple. It was more like a bowl of warm pineapple than just a sauce. We then decided to go to an outlet mall M had seen on the drive to the resort. It was kind of fun to go and walk around Orlando away from some of the Disney stuff for a little bit. We hit up some good deals too. We did that til about noon and then went back to Downtown Disney to look for a shirt M didn't get the previous night. After that we jammed back to the hotel for a quick power nap before using our pass M's cousin gave to us.

We decided to hit Epcot again. The pass wasn't a park hopper but Epcot had extra "Magic Hours" til midnight so we decided that would be our best bet. BTW....extra magic hours are given to people who stay on the resort. You just arrive at the park having the extra hours and get a bracelet to stay later. It's neat cause you can bypass a lot of the crowds for certain rides. We also wanted to get in another good meal at one of Epcot's original dinning experiences and boy did we ever get it.

We got to Epcot around 6 ish and started looking for a place to eat. We didn't want to eat at Italy again. I was wanting to try some of the "Fish and Chips" in the UK. So we made our way around to the UK hitting a few rides here and there. The rides were small boat rides which took you through different things about particular countries history. We eventually got to the "Fish and Chips" stand and M suggested I check the wait for the "Rose and Crown Pub". For two people it was immediate seating and we got these awesome seats outside and right next to the night show. So we had dinner as we watched the fireworks. It was real cool. We then hit a few rides again and got back to the hotel on an empty tram car. Tons of fun.

Overall it was a fun and exciting trip which surprised me. I'm sure we'll go back eventually. DisneyWorld has a marathon and for when we have kids I'm sure it'll be fun to take them.

Fun Disney Day 2 pics

2007-05-25T13:55:00.000-07:00

Me helping the Brooms from Fantasia with the water.

M finally meets Ariel.

M at the Indiana Jones show. She is the third person from the right of the picture.

M in line at the Rockin Coaster at MGM.

M had her sunglasses on, but the Queen made her remove them. I suppose it's rude to have sunglasses on in front of royalty.

DisneyWorld Adventure (Day 1 and 2)

2007-05-24T16:19:00.000-07:00

M and I are now back from our stupendous trip to DisneyWorld. I was skeptical about going, but after the first day I got into the spirit. I've been before and I don't remember having a good time. I went in high school for a band trip....maybe because I went with my wife I had a lot better time. We arrived on a Friday and rented a car to cruise around Orlando anytime we wanted. Plus....we wanted to make a trip to Cocoa Beach. Our plan was to hit a little shopping the first day then do 2 days at the DisneyWorld parks, one Universal day, and then hit another DisneyWorld Day with a free pass courtesy of M's cousin. Well.....to be accurate....that's what we did, but our plans changed about 10 or 11 times and we ended up bailing on Cocoa Beach.

1st Day
A Saturday was our first day at Disney. I woke up about 5:50 ish and went on a 6 mile run to start off the day. After I got back from the run, M and I went to the ticket office at the hotel and got a 2 day park hopper for Disney. Disney has 4 parks that will work on the park hopper. Magic Kingdom, Epcot, MGM, and Animal Kingdom are the main Disneyworld parks. Disney also has some water parks, but those are separate and cost extra. We first stopped at Magic Kingdom which is aimed more towards kids.

M was most excited about meeting Ariel at her grotto; however, the wait time to meet Ariel was about 50 minutes. So we ended up bailing on that and decided to come back another day. We did the typical rides there and walked around taking some cool pics. Typical rides meaning....Splash Mountain, The Tea Cups

, Space Mountain. After we hit everything we thought would be cool we moved onto another park. We decided to hit Animal Kingdom which was a pretty good choice. Animal Kingdom is a GINORMOUS safari type of park. We did a safari trip and some other stuff which doesn't come to mind at the moment, but the best part of Animal Kingdom was Expedition Everest. It's a roller coaster with really neat surprises. It does two switches during the ride which you aren't expecting and it makes the ride really neat. We managed to hit Everest 3 times right before the park closed cause most people were exiting.

We also took a lot of pictures with souviners on, but we never bought anything:) Yeah....we're cheap.

We decided after that to hop a bus and go catch the show at Epcot. Epcot is more of a dining type of place, but it has rides too. We were fairly hungry after just eating snacks that we brought with us all day. Most of the restaurants at Epcot require reservations in order to eat in a timely manner. We had heard good things from two people about an Italian restaurant "Restaurante Alfredo's". All the restaurants have authentic food from that country and authentic people working there to serve and cook. The specialty at "Restaurante Alfredo's" is of course the fettuccine Alfredo. We both got that and saved room for a tasty tiramisu and chocolate mousse. We then hit the nightly show at Epcot and returned to the hotel to crash for the night.

Melissa going in for some Chipmunk love during an Animal Kingdom Parade.

2nd Day
Our second day was focused around getting to see Ariel. We high tailed it over to Magic Kingdom saw Ariel and rode the Tea Cups again. We then went back to Epcot to do some of the recommended rides (Soarin, Mission Space-Orange Team, and Test Track). Most of the rides at Epcot are simulator rides. Soarin is the most popular and we were told do that ride as soon as possible. Soarin is basically a simulator where you watch a movie on a Omniplex theater. It feels like your on a hang glider flying over various landscapes. I think the neatest part about the ride was if you were flying over pine trees or a field of oranges a scent of pine or oranges was misted into the air so it was more realistic. Very neat. Mission Space took you in a Rocket simulator for a trip to Mars. It gave you a very real feel of being launched into outer spaced and rocketing around planets. The feel came from the simulator spinning. Test Track was one of my wife's favorite rides. It takes you through tests which a GM plant would do to cars to test the durability of the car's components. We then park hopped over to MGM.

MGM had a few fun rides. I think two of the cooler ones at MGM were the Tower of Terror and The Rockin Roller Coaster. TT takes you into a hotel which goes into the Twilight Zone. The main thrill of the ride is the elevator suddenly dropping and ascending about 4 times at the end. Rockin Roller Coaster shoots you off for a cool coaster ride. Most of the roller coasters at Disney seem to be in the dark with signs lit along the track. I personally like to see where I'm going. I think it make the ride more exciting. We also saw an Ariel show.

The coolest thing at MGM was my wife got to star in the Indiana Jones adventure. We both wore tye die tees that day and she was easily pickable from the audience when they asked for volunteers. We stayed at MGM until close and saw the best end show of the trip. The show was called "Fantasmic" and it was really cool. I'm not sure exactly how to describe it.....except lots of fun. We also met some people from the UK who gave us some ideas for destinations for the ensuing London adventure.

Working 9 to 5

2007-05-14T20:00:00.000-07:00

Last week I started driving full time.  I've been a TCD (Temporary Coverage Driver) for about 4 or 5 years now.  I could have been full time a long time ago, but I wanted to finish up school.  Well.....I got sick of school (for now) and decided I need to start a full time job.  I've been with UPS for about 10 years now and am the most senior of the TCD drivers.  My supervisor kept me on his payroll cause he wanted me to drive for his center.  That was super cool and now I'm working a nice route in the Tulsa area and just kicking butt at it.  I'll get my first full time check this week and I'm real excited.

We did have some bad news.  Just like Biggy said more money, more problems.  Our core air conditioner for the house is on the fritz.  We had a recommended guy come to the house and take a looksy and apparently the compressor isn't working.  For those of you who don't know the compressor on an A/C unit causes the air to cool.  It's going to be a $1200 repair according to the guy.  I'm going to call around and see if I can swing a better deal.  We've also got a few people who have give us their air condition go 2 person.

Disney is next week.  I'm just excited to go on Vay-K.  We're starting the packing process.  It'll be fun.  I'm hoping Peppy will be fine.  I caught her smoking when I came home from work.  JK....it's a dental chew for her teeth.  She doesn't seem to like it, but she's having fun carrying it around.

When you wish upon a star....
Ceej:)

Tie game

2007-05-03T09:27:00.000-07:00

I've been playing a chess game on my laptop lately and trying to get better at it. I've come close to beating the computer a few times, but it always ends up at a tie. According to the rules a tie comes about if the computer only has 1 move left, but either of those moves will lose the game for the computer so it notes it as a tie. Checkmate is when the computer or person can't move at all. I'm still working on it. It sucks though I've come so close. I'm in the blue and the note above in some of the shots is of the computer saying he's sucking bad and would like to resign. Never! I say. NEVER!

Question? Do you think the computer is being lame?
Ceej:)

Running Blog

2007-04-19T12:42:00.000-07:00

I started up a new blog today as well as changed my template. The new blog is going to be solely devoted to running. There's a website listed as Owasso runner, so I changed my name slightly not that it matters much. I'll try to take pictures and log every run I do. Hopefully, I'll inspire other runners and meet new people along the way to blog about. The new blog is titled Running in Owasso.

Keep the Pace!
Ceej:)

Ever know someone who......

2007-04-11T07:32:00.000-07:00

.....won a big lottery jackpot?

Until today, I thought the big Powerball jackpots where a joke. Truthfully....they are. Personally, I've always thought the bigger jackpots where just a hoax to get people to spend money which goes to fund different government activities. Yeah....kind of far fetched, but it was and still kind of is my theory. Over the weekend, my mother-in-law had made a comment that someone in Oklahoma won $200,000 in last Saturday's Powerball drawing. I figured.....hmmm.....another fictional person created by the lottery people to get people to keep pumping money into the system. Today I found out it was a person at UPS who one the money and it's someone I know. She took off work on Monday to go claim the prize money and showed up with a spanking new Z06 Corvette on Tuesday.

Now I've bought lotto tickets in the past. I usually only play if the jackpot gets over $150 mil. With this new information that real winners are out there I wonder if I'll start playing more....mmmmm......no. Hats off to my co-worker, but the odds are still stacked against ya. I'll just keep watching the stocks.

Money Money Money Moooooney......MONEY!
Ceej:)

Comments from the Cars

2007-04-01T17:11:00.000-07:00

On my runs around......well....anywhere, it's a normal occurrence to hear people yelling various comments from their cars.  I'm not sure what motivates people to do this.  It's mostly teenagers who perhaps are trying to impress their friends....I think.  Normal comments I hear are:

Comments about the paleness of my skin:  This one usually happens in the summertime when I run without a shirt....what can I say...it's true....I just don't tan.  Not too mention the SPF 30 I wear, but sun is bad right?

Comments on my mental state:  These comments occur when the weather is freezing or I'm running in the pouring rain.  I give it up to people who shout out comments in the rain.  That's some dedication on their part to roll down their window.

And of course the ever popular: "Run Forest!  Run!"

Today, some guy yelled at me a comment I didn't fully understand.  I was the only person around and I did see him look at me when he yelled the comment.  The comment was "Get a real job!"  I'm not sure if this was meant as an insult or compliment.  I'll analyze two ways I took this comment maybe my blog readers could provide some other explanation.

#1:  I actually took this comment as a compliment.  I was really focusing on a good stride at the time and running fairly quick when the person yelled the comment.  Upon seeing me, I figure he thought I was a professional runner because of my excellent stride.

#2:  The comment itself "Get a real job!".  I thought about my job at UPS.  Hmmm.....I suppose UPS is only a fortune 500 company and traded on the NYSE (ever heard of it?).  I probably make about 4X as much as a person who would yell a comment like that, have retirement accounts, 4 weeks paid vacation, almost 10 years seniority, the respect of all of my supervisors and co-workers for being a excellent employee (ask em), etc.  Yea....I suppose I should "Get a real job!"  Do Spartans have jobs?

The Olympic Runner!
Ceej:)

AWWWW SO WEAK!!!!!!

2007-03-27T09:06:00.000-07:00

I just made it through God of War 2 only to find it's a to be continued type of thing. How long do I have to wait for God of War 3? I think a while cause is supposed to come out on the PS3......What! There's a marketing scheme for ya. You need a $500 console and a great deal of patience to wait for GOW3 to come out. I guess the marketing Spartans are just as ruthless as the fighting Spartans. Ahhhhh......I'm a sucka though.

Harvest of the Bread

2007-03-24T19:53:00.000-07:00

Melissa and I have been trying lots of new foods to help her with her many food allergies. Lately, we've been going to Great Harvest Bread in Tulsa. Great Harvest makes fresh bread and grinds their own wheat and other grains daily. Great Harvest welcomes a person into the store with the invitation of a free sample. Usually, they have around eight different breads to try. Also, they have different breads depending on the day of the week. We first started going the Great Harvest to find a wheat free bread. So far we've tried two breads that are wheat free but not gluten free. Both Kamut and Spelt breads according to Great Harvest are made from an old Egyptian recipe. A person with wheat allergies is more tolerant of Kamut and Spelt.

All the breads we've eaten from Great Harvest are fairly dense. The Kamut is slightly lighter than the Spelt. I usually toast both breads, Kamut and Spelt, and spread a little butter on it. Melissa does the same. A very tasty something to munch on. I've also tried the Cheddar Garlic, Oregon Herb, Irish Soda Bread, Honey Whole Wheat, Ezekiel, and White Chocolate Cherry Swirl. I've only had a slice of some of the breads.

The Cheddar Garlic is a round loaf of bread and has cheddar cubes baked into the bread. It's lighter and would probably be good with some garlic butter and served with spaghetti or some other Italian food. The Oregon Herb is a bread which I made yummy veggie sandwiches with. The Honey Whole Wheat was one of the first breads we tried. Honey Whole makes good cinnamon toast. Ezekiel is a very good bread and especially good when made fresh. I've tried Ezekiel from Wild Oats which is stored in the freezer section, but fresh Ezekiel is the way to go. The White Chocolate Cherry is sort of a dessert bread. I think it would be good made into French toast. The Irish Soda Bread is exclusively made in March. It's pictured below. It's littered with raisins which help sweeten the bread.

I wonder what the bread of April will be........
Ceej:)

Speed Work

2007-03-21T18:25:00.000-07:00

On Tuesdays, Fleet Feet Tulsa hosts a running group at the Tulsa University track in order to aid a person to get faster in their running. I go every now and then. Lately I've been doing a lot of hill running to try and build up my VO2 max. VO2 max is essentially the maximum capacity to transport and utilize oxygen in exercise. I know some extremely hilly areas in Tulsa and Owasso. I usually do about 5-6 miles and every hill I run down I run back up. If I run up a hill well.....then I ran up it. Make no mistake though I sprint up the hill as fast as possible to really get my heart rate and breathing increased or maxed to the limit. I'm thinking this will increase not only strength, but my VO2 as well.

I went to track night to see where I stood among the other runners. The workout was 4x400m, 6x200m, and 4x400m. The groups range from 1, 2, 3a, 3b, and 3c, 4, 5, 6. I normally fall in group 3b or 3c. Last night there wasn't enough people to split group 3 into categories so we all ran as one. I managed to keep up with the group I think in part because of my hill running and also in part due to a kid in the group. The kid had to be no more than 10 or 11 years old and was just tearing it up. As we started off I'm thinking....Yea right this kid needs to move to group 4, but when we started he was really cooking. He started passing me and now I'm like.....Awwwwww Hell NO! I think just keeping in front of him helped me keep pace and give me a good workout. I know some of the adults in the group are faster than me, but no freaking 10 year old is going to show me up.

With th Quickness!
Ceej:)

Ceej the Sneetch

2007-03-21T10:25:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking a while about how to introduce this blog and while I was watching TV a few days ago I found the perfect way. In Dr. Seuss's book, "The Sneetches and Other Stories", the story of the Sneetch tells of a group of beings, the Sneetches, who live on the beaches. The best Sneetches of all have green stars on their bellies. The other Sneetches have no stars upon thars. I've determined that I am the best kind of Sneetch on the beach because as you can see below I have a star upon thar.....and as you can see the other Sneetches have no stars upon thars.

Your jealous and you know you are!
Ceej:)
Let me rub it in your faces some MO!

My St. Paddy's Day

2007-03-21T10:23:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to share a few Paddy's Day pics with my fellow Bloggers.
I was going to get the Corned Beef as shown on Mers blog, but instead found "The Vinesgrove" which is a vegetable boxty. Extremely good! I think it had carrots, cucumber, onion, and there was something else but I can't remember. I also had a few cups of Guinness and of course my traditional Irish Car Bomb.

Kilkennys Restaurant (Best Irish food in Tulsa)

Luck of the Irish!
Ceej:)

I'm not sure.....

2007-03-15T11:19:00.000-07:00

I got bored studying so I thought I'm make a smug blog mention. I'm at the library in Owasso and a library patron asked me if I was connected to the Internet. I nodded and then she asked me if I could help her get her laptop to connect. So I took a look (pretending to knew what I was looking at) and noted to her,

"Shhhhhhh.....yea I'm not sure? My laptop just kinda finds the strongest signal and goes for it....I don't have a program to connect....the laptop does it by itself."

The laptop you see in the background is the inferior a...a...Toshiba laptop.

Smug cloud looming over my Macbook and I
Ceej:)

Cake Time!!!!!!

2007-03-15T08:02:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday!!!!
Ceej:)

I salute you

2007-03-12T09:31:00.000-07:00

Last night on the Amazing Race All-stars, Rob and Amber were last to arrive to a checkpoint and were eliminated from the race. I thought I wanted this to happen, but now I feel the show has an empty spot. I always disliked Rob and Amber mainly cause they were just so cocky in their Survivor seasons. Rob and Amber's first appearance on the Amazing Race resulted in a second place finish which I think suited them. They had already won a million off Survivor and I'm glad someone else won the million dollar prize on Amazing.

In this season of the Amazing Race the All-stars, Rob and Amber, managed to come in 1st place for the last 3 or 4 checkpoints. Their luck finally ran out. Though I may have yelled at the TV and cursed them throughout the show, I still believe they are the fiercest competitors in Amazing Race and Survivor. They are the team to beat.

Rob and Amber...I salute you
Ceej:)

Chang Time

2007-03-11T16:20:00.000-07:00

Being that this is Melissa's B-day week, we went to P.F. Changs for a nice kick-off to the weeks festivities. I don't particularly like Changs. I think mainly cause I feel it's overpriced and not that good. However, a few of my previous running mates always talked about this slice of cake know as the Great Wall of Chocolate and this is how it breaks down.

GREAT WALL OF CHOCOLATE
Six layers of rich chocolate cake frosted with semi-sweet chocolate chips and served with raspberry sauce

Melissa likes the:

CHANG`S CHICKEN LETTUCE WRAPS
Quickly cooked spiced chicken served with cool lettuce cups.

and the:

CRISPY HONEY CHICKEN
Lightly battered and quick-fried in a flavorful sauce

They mix their own sauce to your specification meaning hot, mild, medium, etc. I ordered the cake as their other food doesn't interest me. The cake really didn't live up to the hype of which was built. I found it a big boring $8 slice of chocolate cake. I only ate the top layer and still have 5 to go as the calorie count on this overall slice is well over two-thousand. However, I did get the:

DRAGON EYE OOLONG
Chinese oolong with safflower, peach and apricot

I also got a beer which was noted to be a house specialty. I was some sort of ginger beer and was very tasty if you like ginger. Both of these drinks were the best part of the meal. I want to note the service was very good. Our waiter was also so kind as to give me two additional bags of the Dragon eye to enjoy at a later time. Not your normal teabags either....but kind of a thin mesh triangular bag with the full tea leaves...no Lipton for me.

One word sums up the meal - Meh....
Ceej:)

Three hundred and one Spartans

2007-03-11T15:53:00.000-07:00

The movie, "The 300", opened in theaters this weekend.  I was extremely hyped to see this movie.  The movie comes from another comic of the writer, Frank Miller.  Just from watching "Sin City", I could tell this movie would be great.  We tried to go to the 7:20 showing in Owasso on Saturday only to find the show sold out.  Instead of seeing a later show, we rented "Borat" which had a slow start, but got funnier as the movie progressed and were introduced into Borat's character.  I would recommend seeing "Borat", but that's not what this particular blog entry is about.

This entry is dedicated to all the hard and exceptional people who created one of the best films I've ever seen.  "The 300" is basically about 300 Spartan soldiers who went against the entire Persian army whose numbers were rumored to be close to a million.  The plot of the movie was outfreakingstanding, but I think the cinematography was extremely spectacular.

What made it snip "extremely spectacular" snip?

Oh!...I'm glad you asked.  How about the 3D like blood effects, the actions packed battle sequences, the costume design of the actors, the backdrops of the battles, many more things complimented this movie, but I'll only mention one more......the PERFECT! slow motion timing during battle scenes and you'd have to see the movie to understand this one.  So that was "The 300" without any spoilers .... only hype.......

but Hey! Ceej the blog title says Three hundred and one Spartans.

Oh yes! Thank you!  I was getting to that.  On Wednesday after 2 pm (as noted in the Best Buy ad and was supposed to be on Tuesday), God of War 2 is released.  This movie deals with the Spartan Warrior, Kratos, who from the previous God of War was made the new God of War by defeating Aries.  In God of War 2, Kratos is cast down from his God status for ignoring Athena's request to stop his reign of destruction.  Most of the story is speculation and I'll have to find out for myself come Wednesday.

Madness?....THIS!!!! IS!!!!! SPARTA!!!!!!!
Ceej:)

Who is the Man of La Mancha?

2007-03-10T10:37:00.000-08:00

On Friday, Melissa and I were fortunate enough to see a broadway show, the Man of La Mancha.  Melissa got the tickets, FREE!, and they were some kick-freaking-arse tickets.  The doctor she works for has season tickets to the Tulsa Performing Arts Center or as know in Tulsa, "The P.A.C.".  The tickets themselves were $43 (a piece) and 6 rows from the orchestra, SMACK center.  You couldn't pull off tickets like that with a ..... pulling tool?  Hmmm....anyway, they were good seats to say the least.

Of course, The Man of La Mancha is Don Quixote.  I think most know of Don Quixote for his great imagination and the infamous battle with the windmills.  The set was extremely elaborate.  It was set in the prison of which Quixote (or his true self Miguel de Cervantes) was thrown in until his questioning of the Spanish inquisition.  Both Cervantes and his sidekick Sancho then, in lieu of suffering a severe beating, begin to tell the tale of Don Quixote.

Overall, I like the show.  However, I don't know if I would have gone to see the show if the tickets had not been free or for that matter had even know of the show playing.

Every 3 years

2007-03-06T14:54:00.000-08:00

This past weekend was my military thing and I needed to do my M-16 qualification again. In the past, my shooting capability has been fairly pathetic. If I can remember correctly, my score in basic training was around 15/40. My last qualification was done in 2003 and I got an impressive (he types sarcastically) 19/40. This is the minimum for regular qualification (19 that is).

Now, since my AFSC or job only requires me to re-qualify every 3 years the member (Me) attends a class to help remember the ins and outs of firing. We sit through a class for about 3 to 4 hours running through procedures of safety, gun cleaning or the breakdown of the gun

, firing techniques, and proper gun loading procedures to include safety (which is numero uno).

The procedure has changed slightly as we are now required to shoot with our gas mask on. BTW....this is no easy task and I did it with ease :)

We now fire a total of 100 rounds of which 50 are practice and 50 are qualifying shots. It used to be 80 where it broke down 40 practice and 40 qualifying. You only need 19/50 to qualify and 43/50 to get expert. Expert means you get a ribbon which is a decoration to put on the "dress blue" uniform.

When you begin to fire, every person shoots 20 rounds (5 rounds per clip) on a target which will allow the instructors to adjust the sight to your preference. Then the next 30 are additional practice shots. Usually my first few shots are good then it just all goes down hill, but this time was different. I was shooting like a sniper. It seemed like I couldn't miss. I was on course to obtain expert. However, I didn't get the expert, but I still shot an amazing 39/50 which is incredible for me. Especially since I haven't shot in over 3 years.

Should have been a Sniper....
Ceej:)

One motion, RIGHT OFF!

2007-03-01T08:20:00.000-08:00

Upon arriving to work today, I happened to find a great place to park. It was close to the building and I was thinking "Sweet!". So I pull into the spot a little off and proceeded to back up to straighten myself out. I then hear a loud "Crunch! Crunch!" I get out of the car only to find my front bumper hanging off of the car.

Apparently, a piece of re-bar which is seen in the picture grabbed the front a tore the bumper off. Yea...I was a little irritated. More so after I found out that UPS was not going to pay for it because the parking lot is a "public parking lot". However, I feel like if I were to damage anything on the "public parking lot" it would suddenly become UPS's parking lot and now I would be liable. Bunch of freaking jerks.

I told the building maintenance guy about it and he said he would take a look at it after preload (which is around 8:00 am). So I go looking for the guy and find out he left. What?....so what am I supposed to do? I told another manager and he gave me a camera to take pictures and I took some with my phone too. The preload manager then informed me that it was "public parking" and I would be liable for the repair. Total BS! She said she was going to call the main OKC branch of UPS and see if there was anything they could do. I'm thinking I'm screwed and will be responsible.

I do have a plan though. UPS supervisors are not supposed to even touch packages. This is because they are non-union and a supervisor touching packages would be taking away union teamsters jobs. Everyday I see and watch supervisors load trucks, so I'll just earn the money they owe me for my bumper repair by filing grievances on the working supervisors. They'll pay....if not through insurance then grievances..... they'll reimburse me.

I will get my money!
Ceej:)

Going in w/ a good attitude

2007-02-23T15:33:00.000-08:00

Melissa and I decided on our vacation we're going to take this year....DisneyWorld. Melissa has never been and she really wants to go. I've tried to push it off for as long as I could and decided that it's time. We were also discussing Las Vegas and San Diego. We then discovered that there is a military resort actually on DisneyWorld that caters specifically to military personal. The hotel is about $70 cheaper per night than the other hotels on the DisneyWorld resort. It called the Shades of Green and as far as the rooms go.....it looks like a typical military hotel (meaning nothing too fancy, but it's a cheap room).

I made the reservation today. I'm not so excited about going...or at least not as excited as Melissa. I just think in my opinion that Disney charges too much for things at the parks. I don't understand why a million dollar company charges their customers so much for things (ie food, drink, hotel, nicknacks). Maybe I just answered my own question. I suppose it does cost a lot to run such a huge resort. You've got to pay people, the bills, etc. I don't know...it just seems strange. Also, I've been there with my high school marching band and was not impressed, but maybe it's better now. I'm just mainly putting together the hotel and plane reservations. Melissa is planning the list of stuff to do.

We're asking some regular Disney goers what are the best things to do. LP, my awesome friend from high school, gave us some great tips on the fun things to do. LP also noted that most of the restaurants (in DisneyWorld) require reservations to be made months in advance.....ya just can't walk in. Most people also recommend getting a park hopper pass which allows you to go to different parks in one day.

We're going in May. So far, our plan is to spend three days attending the different parks and 1 day scooting around Orlando....possibly going to Daytona Beach. I'm thinking I'll pack a bunch of snacks so we don't have to spend an outrageous amount of money on food. I did tell Melissa to pick out one of the resort restaurants and make a reservation. That way we'll get at least one dining experience. I still haven't booked a flight or got passes to the park. My main concern was ensuring the hotel was good and now that it's out of the way I'll focus on the flight.....more to come.

I think I'll sucker punch Goofy
Ceej:)

Gift card hunt

2007-02-23T15:17:00.000-08:00

For no apparent reason today, I starting thinking about some of the Best Buy gift cards I got for X-mas last year. So I started looking for them and realized that I couldn't remember where I put them. I usually kept them (3 of them) on top of the microwave for easy retrieval. When I went to go get them they weren't there. So I started my search and eventually stumbled upon a gift card I thought I lost about a year ago. With a quick balance check I discovered the card still had 24 dollars on it. That was sweet, but I still hadn't found the 3 other cards.

Eventually Melissa inquired on what I was doing and she said she saw some gift cards in a plastic bucket upstairs. She went and looked and found a gift card, but sadly it was not the one I was looking for. It was actually a gift card I got for my B-day last year that again....I thought I lost. Oh....BTW...after a check on that it had 75 bucks on it. Now I'm up to almost a hundred bucks and I still hadn't found the 3 from X-mas. I then just figured I'd give the microwave another check and lifted up a small post it....lo and behold there they were. So now I've got almost $200 in gift cards. Too sweet.

Hey Brian, Want some Stewie jerky?
Ceej:)

Dell Vader

2007-02-15T07:02:00.000-08:00

Another addition to my home computer has been made. This time the addition was partially unintentional. The computer screen started this weird flashing thing on Monday, so I turned it off and then back on and it quit....for about 3 mins. I then shut off the screen for the night and the next morning it was totally crapped out. I suppose it just wore out, so I searched the Best Buy ad and found a 20.1" for $239. Not a bad deal. I actually wanted to get a new screen around the last Day after Thanksgiving timeframe, but had to work. I think I could have got it then for around a hundred dollars cheaper. Anywho, it just makes me think of all the modifications or adds that I've made to my Dell since I bought it in '02. Hmmmmm....

1. Replace ball mouse with optical mouse.
2. Replace top CD drive with DVD drive.
3. Addition of 300 GB Hard drive to existing 40 GB hard drive.
4. Replace top DVD drive (2) with Dual-layer DVD burner (Yes, Mers. I finally did it.)
5. Addition of 256 MB memory to bring computer to 512 MB total.
6. Addition of scannner/printer to computer to replace old (non-functioning printer).
7. Replace original 17 in. monitor with 20.1 in. monitor.
8. Numerous software add-ons.

All those have kept the computer fairly "up to date". I think the only other add-on I'm still wanting is a new graphics card. I'll probably go for that this coming holiday season. I'm wanting a 512 MB card to replace my 64 MB card. It'll be cool.

Bum Bum Bum Boam Buh Dum Boam Buh Dum....
Ceej:)

Lost is back

2007-02-09T09:45:00.000-08:00

Just a quick note:
"Lost" is back on. I'm excited and pissed at the same time. Last year in November they only showed 6 episodes and then were like "Lost returns in February 2007 with all new episodes. I'm like you jerks! Why such a break?! I think the reasoning was to show continuous new episodes, but I think you'll start to lose fans doing stuff like that. I'm still a watcher though, so I guess it didn't irritate me too much. Yea! Lost!

4 8 15 16 23 42
Ceej:)

Got a cold anyway...

2007-02-09T09:25:00.000-08:00

After not eating meat for about 7 months, I figured my days of having a cold were over. My theory was that eating meat caused me to get sick or get a cold every now and then because of the way some meat is processed. It's kind of stupid, but that was my thought. It failed and I have a cold (stuffy nose, headache, cough...blah dee blah. I got it around Wednesday afternoon. That's when the full force of the cold was in effect. Now I'm just fighting it off with lots of Vitamin C and cold pills. I should maybe go get some of that Zinc crap, but mmmm....maybe not.

This weekend I'm going up to Tinker for my reserve thing. The whole reserve thing is kind of starting to irritate me. I think it's mainly my job in the reserves. I like being in the military. Working with the aircraft is more of a continuous job and I don't do it continuously. When I go up there they (my supervisors) expect me to know about all this stuff and I usually just wing it. More often than not I either paint (the one thing I can do) or just try and mirror one of the regular civil service guys. A few months ago I was sent out to a plane to look at some damage done to it. The guy in charge was like go out there and see what needs done. So I go out there by myself and take a look at this damage. The crew working asked me if they should remove this certain part and I was just like "ummmm....yea??" I did the right thing, but I don't think I should be making decisions like that.

The new shop chief has this "Do it yourself" attitude. Nobody trains us anymore. It's like you know it or you don't and I don't cause I'm only up there like once a month. So my commitment is up this year and I think this may be it for me. I do have this AF school I'm supposed to go to in June which requires me to sign on for an additional year. I may get out of that or just sign on for one more year. I definitely don't want to be there any longer than that.

I'm in the library and this guy is typing so freaking loud. He's pounding on the keys. What the F is your problem?

Freaking weirdos!
Ceej:)

Great day!

2007-02-07T09:48:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to show how nice of a day it was in Oklahoma yesterday. I decided to go running with a different running group that met on Riverside Dr. around 5:30 ish. When I got home from work (around 9:00 am) the temperature outside was around 40 degrees. I initially prepared to go out for a chilly run, but when I check the weather channel I saw a cool 73 degrees. I thought that surely this was a mistake, but no....no mistake. What a beautiful day! I was only going to run about 3 or 4 miles, but the people I was running with were doing 6 so I'm a pushover and did 6. It was too nice to do less anyway.

I was actually hoping to find a new person to run with, but most of the people were older and none lived in Owasso. I think I need to hold running buddy auditions. I'll set up a booth by Jamba Juice or Wild Oats in Tulsa and have auditions. I'll run with them and judge whether they would help me or not in my running. One specification: Must live in Owasso and be able to run....ummm....whenever I want to:)

Oh and currently it's cold again:(

Polar bears are bears and they are still on notice!
Ceej:)

Crappy Quizzes and Dairy to Dream

2007-02-02T09:38:00.000-08:00

I'm a little no ... a lot irritated right now. I guess mostly at myself. No matter how hard I study I just can't get this Analysis stuff. It's killing me. Every Friday we take a quiz. My last two quizzes sucked and the one I took today sucked too. I usually realize the things I screwed up right after I turn it in. I wouldn't mind so much but the quizzes combined will count as much as a test score (100 pts). The homework, which I get a good grade or grades on, only counts for 50 pts total. So I'm thinking the way the quizzes are going I need to pass the tests with flying colors or I won't pass this class. In proving things for mathematics you have if and only if statements where you need to prove the forward direction as well as the reverse. Rewritten in math lingo....I'll pass the class if and only if I rock the tests. No comments needed on this....encouragement seems to depress me lately.

In other news, Melissa went to her allergy doctor appointment the other day....

A side note. A few weeks back she visited this allergy specialist and discovered she was allergic to almost everything in the book.
Various Oklahoma fescue
Pollen, mold, dust mites (extremely), Oklahoma trees
cats, dogs
wheat, corn, dairy, soy, egg (try and find packaged food without these ....it's extremely difficult)
What's left well....a ton of stuff actually. Fruits, vegetables, chicken, fish, cow,...etc. Just going to have to focus on lean healthy stuff (which she dislikes). It'll be fun.

....So we revisited and they discussed some of the food or things she needs to do. There are drops which she can take, but the doctor said her body tends to build an allergy to something when eaten repetitiously. We are now embarking on a no dairy til her B-day (March 15th) plan. I'm going to help her. She also needs to try more veggies cause corn (the only one she really liked) is now out. Suggestions here are good. I'm on my way to a bread store which makes their own stuff to see if they have anything wheat, corn, dairy, soy free. Kind of fun and frustrating. I wanted to give up dairy and now I can with help. We'll be helping each other.

A Farewell to Cheese
Ceej:)