When life ends, it literally goes down the toilet...

As some of you may know, I got fish. Well yesterday was a sad day as there were two casualties after all my rainbow shark started dying immediately following a routine water change. To be honest, I cannot tell you what may have caused it. I've done this a billion times, and they have been through this a billion times. After a couple hours all but two of the shark snapped out of it. One of my rainbow had jumped out and was found about 10 feet away in the living room. The other was the red tail, which has always had issues with health. Crazy thing about the red tail is that he actually was improving quite well, then suddenly you could see he was in bad shape. Oh well... So long guys.

Rainbow Shark

Red Tailed Shark

On a happier note, Jim, Mike and Mel, Jared, Dad, and I all went to see Avatar yesterday. All I can say is be careful about that drink, because 2 hours into the 3 hour movie it came back to haunt me with a vengeance. I regretfully stand up and felt the effects of the 3-D or the darkness or sitting, I'll never know, but as soon as I stood up and stated making my way down the isle, I instantly lost my balance and almost fell over the row ahead of me, only to step on Jared's popcorn, and a few poor people's feet as I bumbled down the row. When I got back I then came across another fun adventure that was a first. Ever walk into a full 3-D movie theatre looking for your party? Not simple when everybody looks the same with those big goofy glasses in the dark.

Oh well, Avatar was hands down amazing. Can't wait until it comes out. Go see it in 3-D IMAX while you can.

What will be will be...

Whoever it was that put the idea in my head as a kid that I need to create a plan for my life and stick to said plan needs to be kicked in the pants. When does life EVER go as it is planned? For those who know me, you'll know that I'm a true Houstonian. I was raised there and by golly, I wanna die there. Recently, however, I've been assisting my brother with the setup and administration of his practice in Dallas.
This position was originally meant to last as a one-week favor which sorta evolved into a year-long investment.

As some may know, I have decided to return to school and pursue a degree in mechanical engineering. My goal was to return to Houston this Spring and jump right back in. Problem is, is that I don't have a job down there. Hmm... Well I found out that a company here in Dallas is potentially interested in me. :/ At the same time, my Dad has just been assigned to work with the young single adults' activities program with our church. This makes things interesting for me... My departure from Houston ended my assignment working with the activities for the young single adults for past 3 years, so I now find myself becoming involved in his assignment as well.

We'll see how things go.

Now time for a bit of a rant... WHAT IS IT WITH APPLE!? That company is retarded. My old computer died this summer causing me to lose my entire musical library consisting of a few thousand songs. I realize that they should have been backed up, but my external hard drive is currently in Houston, and I let it slip. After the computer was repaired, I found I was able to receive a massive download of all my iTunes purchases free of charge. This was good. What's bad is if we fast forward a few months till now, we would discover that again, my computer has suddenly began to die on me. I began transferring documents over to my new computer, and accidentally permanently deleted the folder with ALL of my iTunes music inside. (I understand that sounds silly and moronic, but you would have had to just been there or do it yourself). I just checked and found out that as part of iTunes, you may only download files once, and that you may be charged to regain lost files.

How the heck does that make sense?! We're not talking about physical tangible objects, this is data with an account of all purchases made by the owner. I bought them. I paid my dollars. They are mine. I didn't buy files only to have then technically loaned to me. I'll talk to Apple, but they have already lost my business.

money...

Money. Such a stupid part of our life. Completely overrated, a pain in the butt when ya don't have enough, yet pretty handy when we have enough of it, and potentially destructive when we have too much of it.

What really makes life interesting is when timing is impacted by money. As we know by earlier posts I wound up in the hospital after a life-threatening injury. All that costs money, and in my case as somebody who did not posess health insurance at the time, it adds up to a LOT of money. Over $20,000 to be exact. To add to this I got bills yo'!

Well, we'll skip that for now, but I would like to tell ya a bit of what's been goin' on lately. This month I've been able to resolve close to $18,000 worth of the medical bills thanks to the hospital approving me for a charity loan, thus writing me off and forgiving me of my debt.

THANK YOU FREE-MARKET!!! Prime example of how universal healthcare is not needed and private organizations prevail to benefit the lives of others.

Anyways, the main chunk of the debt is gone, I'd love to work on that sucker and pay the rest of it off to be done with it once and for all. I'd gladly do so if it weren't for all the other crap that costs money until then.

As if I had nothing to kill my wallet, my transmission decided to poo out recently ($$$!!!), I needed some new clothes for work ($$$), contacts ($$$), Christmas presents ($$$), and to add insult to injury, my noble computer for the past 5 years suffered a catestrophic blow when the harddrive suddently died while installing an update. :(

That was REAL bad. I kinda rely a bunch on my computer, so to have suddenly go "thpppppt" was a super slap to the face.

Oh well. It's all good. As long as we keep a good attitude about it, we'll realize that it's only money and somehow, we'll be ok in the end.

So close and yet so far...

It is an entire month after I ordered my mount and yet I still do not have it within my possession. I have discovered that it is STILL just sitting all packaged up on a loading dock waiting for White Santa to just bring it to me. I am sad because somebody is sleepin on the job.

I guess tomorrow I'm going to have to put on my mean face, because this is absolutely ridiculous. I've worked in shipping before and I know for a fact that when you have a scheduled pickup, it's not that hard to hand over a 3 lb. package to a dude who simply just scans it and by golly-heebie-jeepers... imagine that, it's off to it's proper destination.

Grr... I need a cookie.

The other santa from the block...

So I just received word that the CP-e mount is not coming from Brown Santa. No... it's actually coming from his pasty white twin.

WHITE SANTA!

There is very little significance between these two santas. Both bring joy when they arrive at our doors within 7-10 business days...


Sometimes, like most brother's they have been known to argue and quarrel about whom is more superior. Honestly I don't give a hoot. I just know they are currently bringing me this!


So, here's today's awkward experience. I'm making my way back to the clinic after dropping off a specimen, and as I exit the stairwell I enter the hallway, see a lady bent over tending to a baby in a stroller, which is normally no big deal. What made this awkward was not so much her, but her husband who decided to make his move by raising hand high in the air to give her the spank of the century. This could have just been odd timing for me, (and truthfully I wouldn't really care anyways) but what was funny about it all was the look on the husband's face when he realized I had just walked in on the scene and froze dead in his tracks 'cause there was no way he was getting out of that one. He was busted. As I tried everything I could do to stay composed and just walk by as if I didn't see anything, his face just shot bright red, he just smiled and as I made it a little down the hall, I hear him laughing and whispering to his wife about what just occurred. I take my hat off to him though. I mean shoot, you're married. Why not?

As I was opening the door to our clinic, I could hear a crack of thunder in the distance. Job well done sir! Lord Vader is proud of you!

Waiting for Brown Santa...

That's right folks, straight from the north pole (only next door) is the fat man in red's jolly ol' cousin. Unlike his shy and trespassing neighbor, Brown Santa is a little nicer. When it comes to waiting for that new bike, mom's flowers, camping gear, shoes for your girlfriend, (or in my current case, a CP-e Wishbone bottom transmission mount), all you have to do is tell him what you'd like, and he arrives within only a few days!

I just can't wait. I've been a good boy and the final piece to my new transmission is bound to arrive any day now. :D

I've been going crazy, there was a slight hic-up at his workshop and he was never told about my mount, thus causing me to wait a whole month for it :( but everything is OK because he was sorry and that he'll be back at my house within the next couple days. *JOY!*

Speaking of Santas, for those of you who know and really love me, here are a few things off of my list..

Black Diamond Mesa Tent5.10 Tennies
Line 6 Micro Spider amplifier
Guitar Stand
Tripod microphone stand w/ boom

Turkeys and Zombies

Before you see another word, I'm just gotta start off by saying "HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!" Hopefully it was a good one.

We had a typical Turkey Day, just went over to my Dad's and ate until we collapsed on the couch and watched the Dallas Cowboys slaughter the Oakland Raiders. After all was said and done I went to my brother's house to help move some boxes and test out his media room since it now has ambient lighting. The best way to properly do so is by playing some Left 4 Dead 2. Great game. :D

Pretty much it's the same thing as the origional Left 4 Dead, only harder, more zombies, new characters and a wider variety of "toys" to battle infected scum. Apparently, in this story, the plot is based on 4 other survivors who are left behind as they watch rescue helicopters leave without them, forcing the heroes to blast, chop, and even chainsaw (yes I said chainsaw) their way to safety. Very fun game, but I wouldn't let little kids play or watch.

I'VE GOT GAS

Not to rip off Dumb and Dumber, but I think if I ever owned a propane or fuel franchise, I'd simply have to name it that...

Speaking of gas, I actually got some. But not for me, it's for my fish tank. I finally decided to install an air-bubble system and buried a couple air rocks (one 5" circular and a 1' bar). I put them right next to each other and laid the log on top of it all, and so far I don't think it looks too bad.

Well tomorrow is Thanksgiving and we all know what that's about. Of course it's mainly to remember how thankful we are and what not, plus a great reminder of American history. At the same time, we also should never take lightly that this grand day is also a day where one may stand proud... well, more slouched in pride on a couch with their belt undone after all they may have consumed.

Yes, I'm talking about food. Lots and lots of food. A fantastic excuse to get fat. Ever notice what happens right after Turkey Day? No, not Black Friday. I could care less about about a stupid excuse for a bunch of psychopaths killing each other at 5 a.m. all because they can save a couple bucks. No... I'll be happily hibernating in my food coma. What I'm talking about is what really happens after Thanksgiving.

"Hey man, how was your Thanksgiving?"
"It was good, ohhh man I'm still full!"
"Oh geez, I hear ya. How much did you eat?"
"2 full plates"
"2! HAH! I ATE 3!!!"

Yes, I speak of the food competition. Whether it's among family, friends or just oneself, out there... somewhere... is an individual ready to consume as much as they can humanly stuff in. Does this contribute at all to any beneficial manner to mankind? No. Is it healthy? Not really... Do I mean to inspire anybody to do something stupid or potentially harmful? Of course not, but for those whom know who they are, Thanksgiving dinner is an annual duel between man and plate. Just try not to puke. That makes for great memories and even better photos. Not so great at the table. Or on the carpet... or in your mom's plant vase... maybe on a anthill, but certainly not on a duck.

Folks have a wonderful and great Thankgiving and try to remember those oh-so-fun family conversations. Even when one of the kids gets gas.

and now for something completely differant, here's a vid for your enjoyment...


Y
":ch

Where were ya when they passed out the brains???

Seriously folks. It happened again. This morning was entirely different from yesterday, with lots and LOTS of bright happy sunshine. What gets me though, is as I'm entering the on-ramp to a tollway, I look ahead and behold not one but 3 construction workers just STANDING in the middle of the road! Any cones? Nope. Any sign of any shape, size or form? Na-ah. The 2 of them are just standing around watching as another is scooping small clumps of mud off the road. So like before I'm forced to slow the crud down as the dude with the shovel is just looking at me before moving to the side and waving "hello".

Now don't think that I'm hating on these construction dudes, but ya know, it's called "safety" for a reason... Next time give us drivers some sort of advanced warning before we hit y'all.

Not much I can think about except for a random craving for waffles...

Mr. safety and E-ROCK '09

Just what is it with some people? This morning I opened the door and stepped into an solid cloud of fog. It reminded me of a white-out while driving in heavy snow. Absolutely 0% visibility. Moments such as this would cause one's senses to slightly raise the bar when it came to common sense and their surroundings. Not so much when I'm traveling down HWY 121 and was lucky enough to see a construction worker not even looking and taking all of his sweet time as he moseyed across all the lanes of traffic! Luckily there was nobody behind me while I was destroying my brakes trying not to kill this potential candidate for the Darwin Award of the year. Sheesh!

Recently I took a grand vacation with my buddies Nathan and his bro Josh. Due to scheduling conflicts and not to mention a minor set back due to a particular person crushing his abdomen on a pole, this was a trip 6 months in the making. I left Dallas around 12 p.m. on a Thursday, drove the 4 hours to Houston, met up with Nate and Josh and headed out on the 5 hour drive to Enchanted State Park Natural Area in Fredricksburg, TX. This place is one of our all time favorite places to camp since we've all been there camping since we were about 5. Plus the place is just freaking awesome. The drive out was great, low traffic, only a couple of cops in sight, perfect weather, a Jack-in-the-Box that took almost 20 minutes for service, and my GPS that was telling us every route except the one which would take us straight there, lol. Nate showed off some of his flash-like reflexes as he was driving at about 45 mph and as our eyes unveiled over a rise, we saw part of the road had been completely flooded over ***BOOM*** and we just stopped and sat around staring at one another trying to register if that had just happened. lol.

We unpacked upon arrival at the park around midnight and began our ascent to our favorite spot. We have several traditions at E-Rock. What's so nice about this midnight hike is not only how refreshing it is, but also the unveiling of the park's beauty the next morning when you step out of your tent.

All three of us picked up our daypacks and raced down to the ranger station to snag our food and take care of the parking registration before you wind up with a big fat nasty ticket at 8 or 9 a.m. (we can never remember which adds to the fun) For the first half of that Friday, we mainly just
laid around and relaxed. All of us had been under a lot of stress recently, so this trip was totally therapeutic, as it always is. At some point, Nathan I headed out for a few other traditions and scramble over the boulders a bit.

After racing up a particular shortcut of ours which will about send you into cardiac arrest (as shown here with Nate), we then took a minute to chill and enjoy the sights before attacking the cave. In the cave, there is absolutely zero light, except for what you bring in (so don't let the flash fool you, we can only see what your light can dish out).
After the cave, we decided to run around a bit on the surrounding rocks along the outer edge of the summit and explore a new route to the top.
We realized that we needed to get back to our camp in time as darkness and a massive drop in temperature comes instantly once the sun goes down a bit. We decided to get a little adventurous again and discovered a new route down, which was itself a big pain in the butt, but a ton of fun. Dinner was a feast, which was unusual, but a great way none the least. Twizzlers, freeze-dried camp food, hot chocolate and chillin with some good buddies around a tiny citrinella candle in the middle of nowhere away from everybody and everything is hard to beat. The following morning we all took the chance to just sleep in and be lazy. Eventually, we knew our time was short, so we packed up and headed back to the car.
Some of you may be thinking, "That's it!?" Of course not. It's never a bad time at E-Rock. This trip in particular was far too long overdue, and within a small window of time to be possible. Hands down this was an awesome trip. No arguing, no whining, no bickering, no drama or stress of any kind. Just 3 guys who love to camp at one of their lifelong favorite places with flawless weather and low population.

Here's some more pics, enjoy!

Entering Echo Canyon

Yours truly with "The Loaner" (freebie tent I was testing out for the first time)

Overlooking Echo Canyon
Inside the caveA more accurate glimpse of what it's like
Horny Toad
Some freakin HUGE centipede-like creature...
Some cool boulders along the top ridgeAlong the new route we discovered heading down
Cool little waterfall place we found. This was absolutely beautiful.
DinnerIt's desert, so fires are highly illegal. We cheat with our candle.FOOD! (chicken and rice is sooo good)
My tent was kinda ghetto, so I got creative with spare parts to keep it standing...Heading home with Big Dome on the back-left
Big Dome
Echo Canyon
Hiking back to the car
We typically consume about 2 liters of water a piece daily
Josh and I almost fell to our certain death when we leaned against this baby at our favorite Sonic
Until next time!

An end of an era...

Ok... so I know for those whom have already read, you may have noticed a particular pattern emerging with these posts. Well I officially declare the days of posting every bi-year or less have ended and shall grace y'all with these words of delight.

Here's what we missed on since my last post. Sadly, I could only keep Dude for about a month before I was forced to give him back to the pound. I was moving and there wasn't any good place where I could bring him :(

Gosh I miss that dog

So basically for all of 2009 I have been staying in Dallas and working at my brother's clinic. In June I had a pretty wild experience. I was down to visit some friends for the weekend and wound up joining them for an all out glorious game of capture the flag at midnight. The night started out great and talk about a fun time. There was a new moon over Shadowbend Park, and with limited lighting, it was super fun trying to track down or sneak up on the other team. At around 10 pm or so, I was advancing on the other team's base (a dark bridge on the other side of the park) and began to hear my buddy Raul calling for help and protesting his rage for nearly having the flag in his grasp. I did some snooping around and this is what I discovered:

1. Raul is a soccer player (very quick and agile) 2. There is only one person guarding him (at the opposite end of the bridge at twice the distance from me) 3. I have NO clue where that flag was

So I decided to take one for the team and risk getting myself caught to free Raul. I waited for the perfect timing and used every single bit of my short-distance sprinter self and rocketed across the bridge at such speed it actually scared the poo out of Raul. As I passed him in the darkness, I heard him yell "WATCH OUT!". Too late... As a quick sprinter, I can easily hit speeds around 20 mph, and caught a 4'x6" pylon basically with my liver, just below the bottom of my ribcage. A teammate 30' off heard a loud blood-curdling "CRACK!" which is good because I did too. They say that I hit so hard that I suddenly stopped moving forward, buckled completely in half over the concrete filled steel pipe, flopped over, then came to the end of my ordeal about 7 feet away on the pavement. There are not words that describe such a feeling as to what I was experiencing. Breathing was impossible, and felt as if air itself was made of fire. I could not feel my stomach, yet it was very hot and hard as a rock. My friends Raul and Jennifer were just holding my hands and everybody around was extremely scared. One of them later told me they thought I honestly may have been dying. Because I'm an idiot and potentially as stubborn as a mule at times, I told them that I would kill them if they called 911. I remember hearing an ambulance at once in the distance and getting really mad, lol.
After a little bit, I eventually managed to stand, I just stood at the bridge and I remember indescribable pain, and a thirst that is beyond words. Knowing that I literally had to go get moving and could not just stay out there forever, I decided to have another player escort me as I walked the 1/8-1/4 mile trek back to the pavilion. I remember I almost passed out a few times, but I survived the trip. I remember the first time I attempted to swallow water, agonizing and nauseating. I then just sat on a bench with some of my other buds around there. They said that I was just pouring sweat from my entire body, my skin was white as paper and my eyes were completely blood red. I inquired if anybody had any pain killers, a couple girls ran off to her car and returned a few minutes later they returned without the IBProfin they thought they had, but instead busted out the Midol. Screw it, I didn't care. I popped a couple of those bad boys and talk about BLECH!!! (For you female readers, I don't know how you do it, but I swear they taste terrible!) I got a ride down to 1960 to take care of my buddy's puppy I was sittin, and then eventually got home around 12:30 a.m.
I never slept a wink. The pain was so intense. Around 4 a.m., I noticed that my body had calmed down a bit, however a sharp pain had developed in my lower right abdomen. Hmm... I checked all around, and this sucker appeared swollen. Okay... Well it never went away and I was getting a little concerned about this since I knew the appendix was around that area. Around 5 a.m., I began calling my dad and my brother (a doctor) about the matter and even the E.R.. The hospital of course told me nothing as they are forbidden due to malpractice liability. I made some other calls and though I knew that these weren't the common signs of appendicitis (no fever, no flu-like symptoms, etc.) I decided it wouldn't be a bad idea to receive a priesthood blessing. Since this was so early on a Saturday, it took me a bit longer than usual, but I got 2 buddies to come over and take care of it. I won't repeat all of it, but in short it was basically mentioned that if I did what the doctorS said, I would be ok. That's when I was like, "crap... I really did it this time"
I REALLY didn't want to go to the hospital, a couple hours later at around noon, I called a friend to ask if he could give me a ride (forget driving, my body was destroyed) and he stated that he had actually already left and was on his way to force me to go, haha. I spent a whopping 10 minutes in the E.R. (and no I don't have insurance) freaked out the entire staff, took a ride in the CT, and a scan showed that my appendix was about to burst, which surprised everybody since I broke all the rules when it came to standard symptoms. Next thing you know I'm on an ambulance and being transported to the main hospital. From the time I arrived to the time I was out cold and under the knife was about 45 minutes. I later awoke and found out I was going to stay overnight for observation. All I'm gonna say is that those little pumps they put on you're legs are awesome, and that drugs are GOOOOD!!! All I did was sleep, it was great :)
The next day the doc comes in and reads off the shopping list of what I did.

Giant laceration across my tummy; severe internal/external hematoma on my skin, soft tissue, muscles, organs; minor blood clot on mesentary tissue; emergency appendectomy; bruised ribs, hip, knee, and blown out back.

I asked how long I would be down, he ordered me to refrain from anything related to the word "exerting" except light walking to keep bloodflow moving of course, but nothing that I would consider "fun" for at least 6 weeks, due to the fact that my injuries may cause anything to hemorrhage, hernia, or who knows what that may contribute to an early death. So... thus being said, I decided to just take it easy.
The first week home was horrible. I now have a greater understanding of what it's like to be a paraplegic, since I was pretty much just laid there due to any movement at all pulling the damaged muscles in my abdomen, and an extreme difficulty with walking. Very humbling experience. I never knew how much an abdomen contributes to everyday life.

It took a while, and I got some ways to go, but it's now almost December, and I finally started to jog again after 3 months with ACE wrap around my core. I got a lot of grief at first from others who'd had appendectomies before, but this was different. The surgery may have taken maybe a month, but the injuries are a entirely different matter. I'm getting stronger daily, but it's going to be a while until I can take a dive or a hit again. :(
B

Late night and a snoring dog...

Well tonight I made the mistake of throwing down an obscene amount of BBQ which resulted in a food coma. This simple act has now left me absolutely wired as I now find myself blogging at almost 3 am.

If it wasn't bad enough, my new pitbull I adopted, Dude (aka "The Dude"), is actively passed out on my bed and has spent much of the night mocking me with his snoring.

So far Dude is the best thing I can think of to call him. Ever realize how hard it can be to come up with a name? Sheesh. At times I think about calling him Ghandi, because if he knows I'm gonna have to take him outside yet he's not ready, he just lies down and goes limp with non-violent resistance.

Today was something new because after he went limp, he just flexed and stetched out as hard as he could. It was kinda funny beacause as I was carrying his stretched 40-50 lb body, it reminded me of a log... maybe I could call him Timber or Chipper.

Oh well...

Well folks. I'm done babbling for the night. I'll chat with ya later...