All posts by Duf

I know a lady that was out of work for more than 6 months being treated for cancer. She is a heavy, heavy chain smoker. Granted, the cancer was not lung cancer, but it was cancer nonetheless. I thought that when she returned she would have certainly given up cigarettes, given her brush with death. Nope, still smokes like a chimney. My ex father-in-law had a heart attack. The docs said you HAVE to stop smoking. Did he stop? Nope? My mom smokes, my brother smokes. I just can not fathom the thought processes that go through the heads of people that smoke but especially those that have had significant health issues caused either directly or indirectly by their inability to kick a bad habit. I guess the same could be said about the multitudes of obsese people that develop diabetes and other health problems because of their terrible eating habits, weight gain and lack of exercise. To me, without your health, the rest of life gets pretty miserable real fast. I have a hard time finding sympathy for those that experience health problems as a result of their inability to control themselves…. Don’t particularly know why this came to my mind today….

Yesterday I picked up one of those free brochures that you always see laying around. It was about the Federal Reserve and how bankers have basically indebted our country to the point where we could sell every single thing of worth to them in this country and we still would not be out of debt. It discussed how reform was needed and suggested a system called Social Credit. It was pretty eye opening stuff and really made me think about how much corruption is simply accepted just because that is the way it has always been so noone gives it much thought. If you are interested on more on the subject, look here.

For the first time in 7 months, I headed out to the beach to play some doubles volleyball. I have not played any outdoor doubles since last October. Neither has my partner Rich, who flew down from PA to play in this tournament with me, among other things. This tournament was much closer than most that I play in. Only a 45 minute drive instead of the near 2 hour treks I am accustomed to. It was a loong day. Lower to mid 90’s with humidity nearly as high. Rich had some serious heat related issues and by the end of the day it was just down to a matter of surviving the day. We only lost one game on our net during pool play and then lost our first playoff game by a couple points. I’m positive that if we didn’t have the heat issues we would have been in the finals for sure and had a good chance to win it. However in the end, winning didn’t really mean all that much to me anyway. As a matter of fact we conceded the 3/4 consolation game so we could get out of there.

All the teams on our net except one were nice. The “Not nice” team was a co-ed team playing men’s BB. This team had a huge gaping a-hole that constantly verbally abused his female partner. In the 10 + years of playing volleyball I had never seen such behavior. I assume they were boyfriend/girlfriend. He was saying how she sucked at this, sucked at that and rolling off the curse words like he was firing a machine gun. After one of his tantrums, he took his nascar/Budweiser visor and tossed it off the court. His partner was nice enough to walk over and retrieve it and hand it to him. He yells “I guess I didn’t throw it far enough the first time!” and throws it again! He was a total idiot. I felt very bad for her. At one point when hothead was off stomping somewhere else, I went over and asked her if she wanted me to say something to him. She said no, she was used to it and thanked me for offering. I told her how not cool it was and she didn’t deserve to hear that sort of crap. She shook her head in acknowledgement and again thanked me for offering. It was really an awkward situation. You want to mind your own business, but there is just no reason for a man to treat a woman like that. I held my toungue. One of those moments I regret not doing more, I am sure I could have had a convoy of backers to confront the dope. Argh it frustrates me just thinking about it now. And the ironic part is, this team was playing in Men’s BB and finished 4-2 in pool play! She was a good player. Guy was such a jack ass .

We came home beat up, sunburned and tired. On Sunday we hit the airboats (my 4th time) and then spent the rest of the night relaxing and geeking on the Xbox. Fun.

Ali flew up to PA on Saturday for her family reunion. Nicki was looking for her all weekend. She was also scared of Rich and his girlfriend so we had to try to pacify her. I felt bad for her. Ali comes back tonight so things can start getting back to normal hopefully.

No yard/house work this weekend so the grass is long and the house is pretty much a mess. Guess I will be spending the evenings this weekend trying to restore order.

The weekend is just around the corner, no interesting thoughts, no cool links. Just looking forward to a good weekend. Out to dinner, volleyball, alcohol and no yard work sound pretty damn good right now.

My buddy Rich flies down late tonight with his girlfriend for a long weekend. We are playing in a vball tournament on Saturday and then gonna just do whatever the rest of the weekend. I’m looking forward to it. I have played ZERO outdoor doubles since last October. Rich hasn’t either. It will be interesting to see how it goes. At this point I just enjoy getting to play as opposed to 5 years ago where I was playing 3 or even 4 times a week and winning meant everything to me. My busy schedule, physical limitations and lack of people I know that play down here has changed volleyball from being one of the biggest parts of my life to a diversion that I only get to participate in a few times a year. Bums me out a bit but I guess everything changes sooner or later.

I had to do some modifications and repairs to my new flying wing last night. The control surfaces were pulling loose. The high speed puts high stress on these joints so I needed to beef em up. Hope to give it a test flight tonight.

I got an eval copy of Windows 2k3 Server. Installing it now. I’m debating if I want to implement it here since I recently upgraded all of our servers to Windows 2000. There is no real need for it here but the part of me that likes to stay current with technology is making me want to do it sooner or later. I like the security initiative they have talked about with 2K3, if it actually delivers is another story.

Got an email saying my Novell CNE requires a test by October to keep it current. I won’t be pursuing it. I would be interested in how many CNE’s are dropping from the ranks. It used to be THE certification to get. It brought great respect from your peers. However, Novell has just been obliterated by MSFT. It’s funny when I first started, I was a MSFT zealot. Then I got into a big Novell environment and saw how good Novell’s products were. Just about when I got comfortable with it, the higher ups decided to convert to all MSFT. I opposed the move, but it was inevitable. Just like thousands of other businesses, we abandoned Novell. I’m actually surprised Novell is still in business for themselves and haven’t been bought by someone.

Here is the quick clip of the 4 wheelin idiots.

Another weekend flies by. On Saturday I played my first golf of this year and I believe it is the first golf I have played in over a year. I enjoy golf, but it is expensive, I am not very good at it and I don’t really have anyone to play with regularly down here. It was my first chance to play a round with my new clubs. It was a scramble format tournament which is great for me as it takes the pressure off. I decided early on that I would only hit irons all day long. My woods play is far too erratic now and could be dangerous and embarrassing since several of the holes are precariously close to a major roadway. I had a typical day for me. I impressed my teammates with my ability to hit irons long but embarrassed myself with some duffs off the tee that didnt even make it to the womens tee area. It was a good time. We finished towards the back of the teams in the standings, even with us finishing 6 under par. Following golf, we got a fancy lunch and they handed out prizes. It was a great deal for 40 bucks IMHO.

Saturday night, I finally got a chance to go see The Matrix Reloaded. I had heard and read all the negativity about the flick so I was well prepared to be disappointed. Granted the film was not fantastic, but I thought it was far from the utter disappointment that some had felt. Reading about some of the plot twists ahead of time helped me follow the story better. The special effects were waaaay cool. There is a dumb 10 minute love scene that is pointless and gave the film it’s R rating. I hardly think it was worth it. Some of the story made no sense but I think I followed the important parts. Overall I enjoyed the movie more than X2. I was also clued in that if you sit through all the credits you get to see the trailer for the third and final movie. Us and 1 other couple sat through to the end. 🙂 I’d give the film a solid B in my book.

Sunday was rainy early on, a rarity here. Normally the rain comes in the afternoon. So we had to wait a bit before mowing the grass. I did that and several other outdoor projects.

My buddy, Mike called and said that he had finished the plane that he was making for me. It is a flying wing. It is far faster than anything I have owned. I met up with him and went to a field to do my “maiden” flight. Mike first flew his so I got a feel for how it handled. I got mine ready to launch. 2 attempts, 2 nosedives into the ground after a few feet. The second crash pulled a connector off that could not be fixed at the field. I was disappointed but packed it up and took it home for some TLC. I made some quick repairs at home and launched. I had some less severe launch failures but finally on the 3rd attempt I had it in the air. Wow it is faaaaast. Just screams through the air and sounds like a pack of angry hornets. I landed safely. On my next flight I had another scary incident. After doing a loop a couple hundered of feet in the air, my battery pack unexpectedly released, leaving the plane to flutter to the ground, helplessly. It took me awhile to find it. No damage to the plane but repairs were needed to the battery pack. I got it up into the air a couple more times. It really is fun. Something to scare the neighbors with.

Around the same time, we began hearing what sounded like a motorcycle racing around our area. Keep in mind, the speed limit on our road is 30 mph. It turns out it wasnt motorcycles but 2 idiots on 4 wheelers drag racing each other on the streets. These guys were going at least 60 if not faster. This continued for a good 20 minutes. Finally we had enough and Ali called the sheriff station. Cops caught em. Hopefully they fined em but they probably got off with a warning. Some people are really ignorant. I have a quick clip that Ali shot of them flying by our house, I will post the link soon.

June is finally here. It is going to be a BUSY month for us starting this weekend. My buddy and his girlfriend are coming down this weekend. We are playing in a vball tourney. The following weekend we have an All Star minor league baseball game to go to. The following week, we fly to PA for the Pottstown Rumble and my neice’s christening. The weekend after that we fly to Arizona for my sister’s wedding. Crazy busy. Maybe all this activity will help me shake the cloud that has been hanging over me recently. I haven’t felt very good about stuff for several months now. 2003 started bad with my car burning up and has never really gotten much better.

My mom reported that she only saw one of our fish in the pond still. The baby alligator had to go, I couldn’t have it taking out my beloved fish. So armed with a flexible rake I worked on getting it out. It was a tag team effort between my mom and I. I would drag the bottom, trying to get him to come to the top. My mom would spot him and then I would try to nudge him out of the pond. We got him out once only to have him scoot back in. On the second attempt, we got him out and into the open. My mom got in front of him with the rake to distract him. I came up from behind with my first baseman’s glove and a fish net. I got the net over his head and pinned him down with the baseball glove. After some squirming and adjusting, we got him into the cat carrier. I took him out to a wild area and set him loose in a canal. He seemed happy….

Where to begin? A holiday weekend full of stuff. On Friday we got home and had a message on the machine from the dealership we bought our Nissan from. The sales guy said that Nissan was running some promotions that might be able to move us out of our 01 Sentra into an 03. I really had not considered upgrading at this point and I was just getting ready to drop about 500 bucks on some new tires and brake work for the Sentra. So we figured why not give it a shot? On Saturday on the way up we got rear ended at a stop light. Not hard, but enough to leave the mexican woman’s license plate bracket impression on the bumper. It matched another impression I already had on the bumper from another mexican rear ending me a year or so back. Just another reason to trade it. We were able to work out a deal where we moved to an 03, with no out of pocket money whatsoever and payments very close to what we pay now. Of course there is a catch, we financed it an additional year longer than the current loan we had. It is a trade off, but for the next 3 years or so we will be covered as far as car issues go and then after that I can bite the bullet and spend the money to get out of it if I want to or just ride it out till the end. Here is a pic of it.

The physical labor for the weekend was pretty mild in comparison to what we have tackled recently. We mowed grass, that’s it.

Yesterday, I was showing my mom some of the blooming plants in our little fish pond next to our house. I walked away and she was still checking them out. She called me back, with urgency. She pointed and said “What is that??!!!” It was a baby alligator! Somehow it found it’s way into our little pond. We called animal control but they said they have to be 4 feet to come and get them! So I guess I will be doing some gator removal tonight. Here are some pics of it.

We had a little Memorial Day get together at our house on Monday. We invited a couple we are friends with and our next door neighbors. Instead of a traditional Memorial Day cookout, my mom wanted to do a big sit down dinner. It was almost Easter-like. It was non-traditional but veerrry. good. Ate like a pig.

I filled in the gaps of the weekend flying my rc planes, playing with the xbox and watching some of our huge collection of Tivo’d television shows.

I watched the last part of the 3rd Indiana Jones movie and got to see another one of my favorite moments. It’s when they are in the room with all the golden cups and they have to pick the correct one. The bad guy chooses a lavish one, takes a big drink and then turns into a pile of dust in a few seconds. Afterwards, the knight guarding the room, simply says “He chose……… poorly.” Dunno I just like that moment. 🙂

I forgot to mention last week that the woman that consulted us on the Invisalign braces told us how they “Computerly digitize the teeth…” Hahahahaha

Short week. Good.

I recently got a game for my Xbox, Return to Castle Wolfenstein. It is a LIVE enabled game, meaning it can be played over the interent. Last night, I played with my buddy up north as well as up to 6 other people. I played for 2 and a half hours. It was a blast. We pretty much suck but it was a good time regardless. I got blown up, sniped, lit on fire and peirced with hundreds of bullets and enjoyed every minute of it. 🙂

I have no definitive plans for the 3 day weekend. I have to do the basic house maintenance routine. I’d like to get some plane flying time in and geek out on the xbox.

Yesterday Ali and I went to an orthodontist for a consultation. I have been conscious of my crooked teeth my entire life. It has shaped my personality to a degree and affects the way I act around people. As a kid, I remember sitting in bed and pushing on my teeth, trying to move them. I was scared of getting braces as a kid because the doctor I saw prescribed a radical “treatment” plan that included pulling 6 teeth, headgear and 3 years of braces. So I didn’t get them as a youth. A couple times as an adult, I have investigated getting them fixed but didn’t because of costs and/or inconvenience. Well this orthodontist said that Ali and I were both good candidates to use Invisalign braces, the clear plastic “braces” that you put on like a mouth piece. No teeth pulled and an estimated treatment duration of 18 months. WOW, sounds great! The doc said someone would be in to go over the costs and mentioned they could give us a “deal” since we both want to get it done. The lady comes in and gives us the sales pitch, it almost felt like we were buying a car. Ironically, when she finally got around to the costs involved, we could buy a car for what they charge for this treatment. I tried to mask my surprise from the cost. We told her we had to try to come up with a gameplan on how we would do this financially. We want to get it done and we can finacially do it. I just have to decide how I want to handle it. As expensive as it is, it is really worth it to me to not be embarrassed by my teeth. Ali’s mouth problems aren’t as visible as mine are but she really wants to get it done as well. Ideally, if we split it up and did one first and then one later it would be much easier to swallow. Otherwise, we are going to have to sacrifice some other things we may want to do in the next 18 months. Ali says she is fine with doing that, but I know how that goes. It will be something to think about this weekend.

Well Ruben won. I think Clay had the better performance Tuesday night, but they were close enough that you could flip a coin. Neither of them fit the image of what you think of when it comes down to Idol status. It will be interesting to see how their music is received. Clay reminds me of a Barry Manilow type of singer. He would make great Christmas Albums. I can’t imagine Ruben singing anything up tempo or “pop”.

3 day weekend coooommmming up.