Changes Made to The TxKid Homepage and What Has Been Going On With Me
August 21, 2009
My class ended and everyone passed. I have never had a class with such student enthusiasm before. I can't wait until I get my next group. Sara turned three and we celebrated her birthday at Chuck E Cheeses. Unfortunately most of her invited gusts could not make it. She had a lot of fun though. She would have fit in at the 2009 Warped Tour where all of the kids recognized me as "Sara's dad". The highlights of the show were the outstanding performance by Streetlight Manifesto, a big fight while Gallows was playing and Meg and Dia Frampton proved they were as good as their famed father. I would have loved to have seen more old skool bands, but the lineup this year was solid. I have decided to take more time off from my office (I hate the summer heat) and spend valuable time with the kids. We have still been trying to sell most of our horses, but the economy here has wiped out all of the prospective buyers. We will keep trying.
July 12, 2009
F you Yahoo! Shutting down Geocities is wrong. This page will have to move by October 26. I have five months to decide where. We looking at sending Matt to preschool and putting Sara into gymnastics. Hopefully Angie won't be as tired on my most crucial shifts.
June 8, 2009
We took the kids to Jugfest in Tulare on Sunday and saw several major acts including Chuck Wicks, Eric Church, Steve Azar, Jessica Andrews, Ronnie Milsap and Travis Tritt. The food and drinks were a bargain compared to the Save Mart Center. There was a dark moment when a pervert tried to snatch Jessica while she was running from me to Angie so she could jump into a bounce house. Tulare's finest stopped him and found that he was a convicted molester out on parole when they ran a check on him. That means we won't see him for at least a year.
June 2, 2009
I have began teaching a class full of mostly Navy and Marine officers at Reeves Naval Air Station in Lemoore for Embry Riddle which has been contracted by DOD. Thanks to a recent deployment, my anticipated full class only has 12 students (a far cry from the 100 I would have each semester). This just means they get more individual attention. This class will end in August and I will likely have one group each year.
May 15, 2009
It has been a wild two weeks since returning. We had a monster storm hit the area on May 1. It mainly hit at night when I was sleeping so no good photos. Angie made some videos which I might put on myspace. Last night we went to Exeter to see Tracy Lawrence and two band mates play for an hour. The kids were able to have at it, and Sara found out who her friends were.
April 30, 2009
I was gone for the past week as I attended my brother's funeral in Vienna, VA. I went by myself because I would like the kids to be toilet trained before flying. I took off on the 23rd as Angie got me up early and took me to the Fresno Airport on a beautiful morning. There were some traffic issues, but I still arrived at the airport just before 700 am. Just after the kids waved goodbye to me I checked in my bag and flew through the security checkpoint and still had plenty of time so I grabbed a bite to eat (bagel and fruit cup) in the terminal. My barista was on her first day on the job (recent Fresno State grad), and she mentioned that she was fluent in Spanish so she could mingle with the international travelers. Just before boarding the TSA came and called three passengers for a gate check. I was not one of them as they picked an elderly couple (over 80) and a young Pakistani. I then boarded United flight 6676 to Denver which was on a Canadair Jet. I was really impressed with the flight attendants as they were dealing with a full plane, and there were a lot of screaming kids. Two hours later I was in Denver where I bought some gifts then put down a whole pizza and two scoops of ice cream. The staff in Denver were really good to me. I then boarded United flight 316 to Sterling. This was on a full A320 (I heard United is upgrading this flight to a 757) which did not have AVOD. I slept for most of this flight and arranged for my Washington Flyer cab to meet me at the baggage claim while on the jitney bus from the United Terminal. After claiming my suitcase I was on my was to the grandparents new home which is maze like condo. The next day I took my folks to the House of Fortune which has always been a favorite for everyone in my family for years. On the 25th was the funeral which was packed full of my brother's former employees and co-workers and some of my former neighbors. After the reception we headed home to rest up. The next three days were spent cleaning out Paul's old apartment. I took possession of his trademark leather jacket he always wore. I came back home on the 29th since my office needed me back. After a week of hot summer like days on DC I left on a cold and rainy morning. I took United flight 874 which was a 757 to San Francisco which is still horribly overpriced. The flight was very turbulent and I heard TCAS go off and scream "climb". A Federal Express DC-10 went just under us 30 seconds later. Then I took United flight 5581 (an EMB120) on a short hopper to Fresno. Angie was exhausted by being alone with the kids for a week. I will not allow my office to make her condition any worse. Angie needs her rest. Unless it's severe weather pick on someone else.
April 12, 2009
I really don't know what to say. My brother died yesterday in his sleep. It's like he was just talking to me about our horses, and two weeks later he's gone. He paid for the Christmas gifts for my children in 2007 when I had legal bills which ran up to the point I could not afford to buy any gifts for them. That made for a wonderful holiday for three children who otherwise would not have been able to enjoy the holidays. I will never forget that. I miss you Paul.
March 30, 2009
The past three months have been extremely busy for us. Three kids and an understaffed office can do that. We are still trying to sell two of our horses and have cut their prices by 60%. The economy here is so bad that hardly anyone here is even looking for horses and most of the sales I have witnessed have been to Hawaiian buyers (and hopefully not on the way to the dinner table in Japan). We are training another horse for shows and breeding two others. We found a large parcel of and we really like (and we want to move more than ever because both of our next door neighbors were recently robbed). The biggest problem is that some of the banks have been @$$holes to us. We are considering suing them for collusion. We have also been harassed by a collection agent in LA. We have just filed a criminal complaint against her, and may follow this up with a lawsuit as well.
January 3, 2009
We had a big day in court yesterday which has become a routine for us in the past year and a half. I had to appear for jury duty in November and was in the pool for a shooting at cops trial in department 4, and was one of the last to be dismissed. This time we brought the entire family to department 8 for the afternoon session, and there were four cases. The second case was Jessica's finalization and the third case was Sara's. Both were successful for us, and we now have a full family of five.
December 29, 2008
Christmas was rather toned down this year because of the poor economy in this area. The kids enjoyed their gifts, but most of them came a bit late as a soaking rain kept shoppers away from the stores, and allowed for some excellent deals to come up with kids shirts going on sale for 80% off. Our kids ended up happy as a result. We have a big day on Friday with two court hearings coming up for our daughters.
December 7, 2008
The last three weeks have been crazy. We spent some time in LA so Matt could participate in the Great American Model and Talent Search. The kids had a blast on both days. This time we stayed at the former Hojos across the street from the Westin (which was hosting the event). While we were dining at Denny's one guy stared at Sara like a creep, but it turned out the guy was a scout at the Talent Search who is involved with filming horror movies who was just curious if Sara was participating. Sara was not eligible since she has not been finalized. Matt's picture went really well that day and he looked great. On the following day I took him across the stage in front of 16 scouts. He kept calm unlike last year, but did chew on his fingers since he was nervous. We ate at Tumby's pizza afterwards which is a favorite celebrity hangout despite it's small size. On the way home Matt threw up and we had to pull off. We actually parked in the lot of the strip club that Motley Crue referred to in "Girls Girls Girls" 21 years ago to which recently closed so Matt could empty his tummy. We sat at a rest area for over an hour so Matt could get some clean air in his system. After we came home all of us had the tummy bug and I even missed a shift. As a result we did not do much on Thanksgiving this year. I worked through a crucial set of midnight shifts last week and have used the long weekend to clean up the house.
November 19, 2008
Another family loss! Our dog Shadow was put down because she had an illness which would have cost a fortune to treat. She lived for 10 years which is about normal for a lab. We also sold one of our horses and have four remaining. I have our nine year old mare for sale for $3500 and she has a history of producing outstanding foals. If you are interested in purchasing her please e-mail me.
September 23, 2008
Matt's third birthday. He received some toy cars, a keyboard and a book that his sisters love. Taking care of my animals has become important too as two of my horses have been sick recently (they both recovered well) now my dog is coming up lame and I will have her checked out. I have plans to disrupt F---nutt on Thursday. There was this hardcore duo that played out of a trailer in Fresno on July 16 that would make a good fit to play the role.
September 5, 2008
The obnoxious heat and unprecedented drought just won't go away. I have not worked an active shift since mid July and instead have been mastering javascript and using it to configure a new fire weather page for my office. One of our stallions is sick, but is expected to recover. Also our 2008 NFL preview is now up. Make room for a trophy in the dog pound.
August 21, 2008
We took the kids to Exeter to see Lonestar perform outdoors and I got to see Cody perform for the first time since 1993 (I was in Lubbock then). Jessica is feeling better.
August 19, 2008
Angela's lawsuit against a dairy and some clowns who work there was settled last night after a marathon bargaining session. I had the kids at a nearby community center to keep them cool, but Jessica was sick and she has a norwalk virus. This is keeping me out of the office.
August 14, 2008
It's been a busy two weeks for the family. First I converted Sara's crib into a toddler bed, and we watched our stallion Doc's Painted Chic Perform on Tuesday. Then it was off to Fresno on Thursday for the 2008 Warped Tour which featured Angels and Airwaves, Katy Perry and Motion City Soundtrack. I have now seen nearly every group that has put a top ten single out this year except for the hard core rappers. This show had a very young audience as the card was loaded with christian groups since Mayhem took all of the drinkers and druggies away. It was also incident free unlike past years, and it was back at the Save Mart Center with it's expensive parking and concessions.
July 29, 2008
This is difficult to talk about, but we lost one of our horses today. Mia Double Chex died at three from colic, but may have had colon cancer. She became ill after we tried to breed her to one of our stallions, but she didn't take and it was downhill from there. She died just hours after she was transported to the vet so at least they didn't have to do anything complicated.
July 23, 2008
Sara became extremely sick on Monday night and was taken to a local hospital. She was diagnosed with having bacterial infections in both of her ears and has been placed on three medications. I have been out of the office because of this, but am planning a return by the weekend. We have two horses for sale at equine.com and horsetopia.com. We can negotiate pricing so if interested please contact us.
July 16, 2008
The activity in the office has picked up with 20 warnings in five days thanks to a monsoonal surge. On Saturday, I put out a flash flood warning for the Piute burn area just before it was inundated and fire fighters were evacuated. After three active shifts I took Tuesday off and went to another concert. This was called the Mayhem Festival which features local favorites Six Ounce Gloves and big hitters Airbourne (yes they sound like they are from Melbourne), Underoath (who once again put on another great show in Fresno), Dragonforce (from all over the world), Disturbed (best group I've seen this year) and hardcore kings Slipknot. This was a crazy show which had a big fight in the audience and the Fresno Police had a field day with marijuana smokers (this will clog up the courts for the next year). There was also this duo that played out of a trailer before and after the show that would make a great protest act. When I came home afterward the power was out and we got to test our backup lighting system which worked very well for us. Happy #2 Sara.
June 20, 2008
We have had to make some budget cuts recently because of the high gas prices (nearly $5/gallon here) cutting subscriptions and putting less into savings. Several houses in our neighborhood have recently foreclosed, but that has not lowered property taxes. We will try to sell a couple of our horses, but only to someone who can provide excellent care for them. We still have three separate court cases going on, and the legal bills sure don't help. The kids are doing well when they don't fight each other. The office has been restocked and I am hoping monsoon season can bring some good thunderstorms so I can supply our funds. We did see a concert last night with Julianne Hough who is another product of the band factory state of Utah and has a big hit called "That Song in My Head" in a remake of a classic known as "Peace Train" by Yusof Islam. She was good but her band was flat. Next was Chuck Wicks (who is a really cool guy that I met in a Vons in LA last November). His band was excellent and performed a series of power ballads which would have been big in the 1980's. I am very impressed by his tour schedule as he is not afraid of hitting small markets. Then came Jewel Kilcher who was fantastic. I was finally lucky enough to catch her since she rarely tours the continental U.S. (being from Alaska). She played big hit after big hit. Finally it was time for Brad Paisley, and I have now seen the Opry star seven times. Two special guests also appeared in Deirks Bentley (the guitar master) and Chubby Checker (of limbo fame). Amazingly only 40% of the Save Mart Center was filled. Matt went to the show with us and really had a good time. He was easy to put to bed when we got home.
March 29, 2008
The office has been critically understaffed again and once again I led a fight to make sure we are properly staffed. I will not go into details, but the SEC tournament disaster two weeks ago could have been partially averted if all offices had full staffing. This reflects on a small number of lawmakers who know who they are. The kids have all been much healthier and Sara is getting big. Matthew is always watching "the bulls" while we are being paid to show a video to Jessica. As for Sara well she thinks she is much older.
February 29, 2008
I've lived a half life. 40 years and am married with three small children, 5 horses and a dog. Our property has lost almost a fifth of its value in the past two months and "for sale" signs are becoming common here. Many of my neighbors are about to lose their jobs too with defense contract being cut like never before.
January 11, 2008
Matthew went to the hospital yesterday with a viral infection, but he has recovered. I had to take a day off from work because of it. Sara and Jessica had it to, but they were not as incapacitated.
December 26, 2007
The kids all had a blast for Christmas thanks to uncle Paul. They were all really happy all day even though I had to go to work in the afternoon.
December 18, 2007
A big storm hit today and has brought a hopeful end to the long drought. We recently moved our horses to Plainview as they can be professionally trained and legally bred. This will be temporary as we have plans to build our own facility.
November 23, 2007
We went to LA once again so Matthew could get his minute of fame on stage. He looked sad this time since Jessica could not be with him on stage. Sara nearly ruined the entire event by doing the unbelievable in front of the stage. Ok, I've seen this crap at my own concerts in 10th grade and once at Purdue. Soul to Soul last year was disrupted by another artist who was trying to distract one of the bands, and this crap always goes on at warped with drunks running around. We will be laughed at by a lot of people since she went potty in front of everyone. Matthew had fun offstage though and we enjoyed the walk to the hotel (we cannot afford to stay at a Westin) and talking to a group of Chilean pilots. The service this time was much better. We had a quiet Thanksgiving with ourselves. I prepared the meal myself.
October 30, 2007
One of these crazy days yesterday as my office issued 17 warnings. I was on the midnight shift and was long gone before the outbreak. I did chase for around an hour and verified one warning west of Laton. A brief review of the chase can be found here.
October 24, 2007
Lots of action on the legal front. The case against me was dismissed on Monday so I am off the hook. Now Angela and I get get our lives back together again, but wait, Angela spent much of today in depositions for her lawsuit.
October 8, 2007
The horse show sucked. It only had 16 horses and the adjoining dog show was full of local clunkers. We then went south 15 miles and went to an unpublished show promoted by a group of Saudis which was much better. Angela and Matthew had food poisoning on the way home. The IHOP in Dixon is responsible. Ok health department. Shut the f---ers down.
September 26, 2007
Matthew's birthday party was another disaster. I will not elaborate on what happened, but everyone is fine. We are planning on attending a big horse show near Fairfield next month.
September 10, 2007
Sara had to go to the emergency room last week after she cut her mouth. If not for my quick action she might not be with us any more. She was home the next morning. I had another court appearance which was brief. I return for a pre-trial in six weeks.
August 27, 2007
The raisin growers were all over me today since we were hit by an overnight thunderstorm yesterday morning which was not predicted. Some of these these guys were acting so terroristic that they sounded like they came out of Usama Bin Laden's training centers. I always play nice with these guys and pass them all upstairs so they can scream at the bosses.
August 25, 2007
A crazy week. I went to Warped on Wednesday which featured New Found Glory, Coheed and Cambria and Flogging Molly this year. While Sum 41 was playing, a deranged "War on Terror" veteran went on a rampage and attacked fans at random until two wrestlers from Mexico (Juventud and Psychosis) took him out. I even spoke with Mr. Lyman about the tornado at the Cleveland concert (my co-workers there will be getting a visitor). I spotted several other members of big name groups at the mega show as well. The next day I had to take Sara into Childrens Hospital for a series of medical tests. At least my tires were not busted there (always happened to my parents in DC in the early 70s). Yesterday Angie and I went to see Reba play in a SOLD OUT Chukchansi Park and everyone there was still talking about Warped.
August 8, 2007
First me then Angie have run ins with the law. Angie was able to plea down. We got a lot of crap out of our house and it is much cleaner as a result. I have put Matthew's new bed together and am moving the kids to different rooms. We went to see Soul to Soul 3 with Faith Hill and Tim McGraw. This time it was a more contemporary casual show.
July 17, 2007
We celebrated Sara's first birthday today. Pictures are available here. Hopefully this will be the first of many birthdays we can put on for her since we will be fighting to keep her.
July 13, 2007
There is a lot going on. I was in court on Monday and the case was put off for two months. We have been getting our kids checked for abuse which may have happened while I was in the office or at concerts with Angie. I have also been attending counseling three time each week. All on top of my busy schedule at my depleted office.
June 23, 2007
We celebrated Angie's 37th. With the situation I am in I felt fortunate to put on the party for her and the kids.
June 19, 2007
I have a broken heart right now. Angie and I love each other to death and we are both going through a difficult time. Please pray for us so we can get on with our normal lives.
June 9, 2007
A lot has went on in the past two months and I have no clue where to begin. Angie is in a big lawsuit right now, and I have no idea where it is or where I am going. There are many possibilities of what may happen in the coming days, but martyrdom is what may await for me. I would never take anyone else out like the 19 gutless goons did on September 11, 2001, and make a huge mess. I love Angela to the very end. Just fight on for me and provide the kids with the best life possible, and get away from your crazy relatives. I don't want them to have any part of the lives of our children. I wanted to thank all of my family for bringing me up, and for being there for me; and Paul please help out Angela and the kids in whatever way possible. I would love to see Angela have her dream property and business. I would also like to thank the best co-workers in the world at HNX. You guys are the best. I always enjoyed being a part of the team, and I want my spirit to help you out and be "here to serve" when needed if I need to leave my position. Most of all I wish the best to my three children, Matthew, Sara and Jessica. Only you can bring me back. Matthew, please be responsible ok. You will be the one your siblings look up to. Stay out of trouble for me and keep your wonderful smile which makes me cheerful. I just wanted to leave with images of me with my son Matthew when we were watching the super bowl together, and pictures of my two daughters.
It is time to carry on, and see everything in a painless environment (called temporary housing). Please remember me in your prayers. I wish you the best. David
April 1, 2007
Already April. The winter went by with more grievances than storms. The kids are growing up quickly too. Matthew is about at the point where he can change himself and Sara is walking. Jessica can keep her eyes open and watch the world around her. Angie filed suit against the abusive dairy on 6th Avenue and 198. Hopefully we will have them shut down forever just like what happened to the previous dairy at 13th and Fargo. I caught two tours when they came to Fresno. The first was the Taste Of Chaos on February 20 featuring local bands From Ritual to Romance and Evaline followed by Aiden (awesome group, best band that night), Chiodos, Saosin, Senses Fail, 30 Seconds to Mars and The Used. The Black Parade then marched into town on March 14 featuring Rise Against and My Chemical Romance. This show has allowed me to see everything from a new perspective, and to see how important it is to help out those who are less fortunate. We are also acquiring some land to construct our business on after trying the tax auction route went nowhere because the delinquent owners are getting high interest loans to redeem then they sell. I actually met a family that was trying the same just before the Black Parade show where they took their kids and they have had the same frustrations that we have had. We just new a few more estimates before getting a loan to go forward.
January 9, 2007
The holiday season was a really busy time for us. We have three kids now for one. We also have a big lawsuit going on and my office has been understaffed. I did get a new mp3 player and two nice shirts for Christmas while the kiddies really hit the jackpot. They have not put their new toys down at all, and have tried to stay up all night playing with them. Sara loves her elephant while Matthew plays with his fire truck which goes along with his favorite toy "der fyre dog". I also have an interactive game for them so they will pick up French, Spanish and German and get a real head start. We are actively getting a financing package together to build our equestrian facility and begin our new business.
December 3, 2006
Our third child, Jessica Lynn, was born on Friday. It's a crowded house now. We celebrated with a pair of pizza parties.
November 28, 2006
I just wanted to let everyone know that I have not been in a good mood. We are suing a large dairy in the area and will do the same to other farmers if they wish to f--- with us. I also am warning two recently voted out senators (you know who you are), and a voted out sheriff jackass that you will be sued if you try any s--- before the year ends. The will of the people will prevail, not the will of farmers or private weather companies who should be out of business. Matthew and Sara have been happy though. Matthew had a wonderful time in LA at the Great American Talent Search and it was nice to see some of my former friends from my time in Pittsburgh in 1994. Matthew did not get signed right away, but that will give him more spare time with us before we adopt our third child.
November 13, 2006
The last month has been very busy as we have been training our horses for shows and may be adding another child into the family. Matthew is about to audition for the big screen after looking great in multiple preliminary video and photo shoot. Yesterday he delivered despite the fact that I could not get off work to support him. I am thrilled about the election results. A racist sheriff was thrown out, and we said no to a socialist governor; and tossed another radical out of the city council. The old congress needs to step down now because they are threatening my job with a shutdown for spite. The new congress cannot be any worse. Every shift is now a battle for funding with the budget on the line. We still have a lawsuit going on too, and are dealing with banks about funding our new business.
October 7, 2006
First of all Matthew is now a year old. We have pictures of his first birthday here. We have taken legal action against a large dairy as everyone around Hanford knows already, but that is not why we are looking at moving. There are members of METCHA near us (they were classified as a terrorist organization in a recent bill that congress passed). I don't want my children growing up around them. We have been talking to banks about a farm loan (since that is what it will take to keep my children safe as well as begin a new career in breeding horses). I like working for the NWS, but the rotating shifts are hurting my family; and I am going to move on and do something I have always wanted to do. I really want to get a precipitation monitoring page going for my office before I leave though. We went to a concert yesterday featuring Jack Ingram (who looks just like Kurt Cobain), and has a band that sounds like Nirvana with a steel guitar followed by Brooks and Dunn who played all of their hits. Kix has lost his voice (I hate to say this), but Ronnie is one of the best performers I have ever seen. Angie is recovering from her injuries and should have full use of her right arm in another month.
September 9, 2006
Angie broke her elbow and had her forehead split open because of a negligent dairy which appears to abuse their animals, and let them run loose on a major commerce route. We have decided "lawsuit, good" and will try to shut down the dairy on 198 and 6th Avenue. We don't care that the owners have bought off 8 members of congress and the entire county board of supervisors. We don't care if their ancestors have half the downtown streets named after their them. We don't care that your poster boy who is a silly excuse for a sheriff won't cite you so we will have his white @$$ beat in November.
August 15, 2006
We went to Soul to Soul last night and it was one of the better shows we attended this year. The stage (which looked like a two story propeller) was one of a kind. There was the good as Faith Hill and Tim McGraw played for three hours and 31 songs, and both bands looked sharp. This was the first time I got to see Audrey and Tim perform live since I met them in 1994 having no clue who they were at the time. There was the bad as F---nutt was on the floor with his girl friend who is less than half his age. I couldn't help but notice Audrey warning them while performing then one of her band mates giving the loser the stone cold salute. There was also the amazing as Mindy was the star of the show and had the loudest applause from the sold out audience. I am so happy for you Mindy, and thanks for the toy monkeys. Our kids love them. It's great that you got to join a big tour and become and instant star again. As for you F---nutt, I have made arrangements for my longtime pals in Los Poco Locos to pay you a visit during your show in Grants Pass tonight.
August 7, 2006
It is finally time to take paternity leave (Sara Ann was born early). Angie took her to her first horse show in Bakersfield and she came back with an autographed Save a Horse Ride a Cowboy. Thank you John and best of luck on your tour in the midwest. The Indiana State Fair has always been a favorite of mine. The food and the carnival there are excellent. Playing there is one of the highest honors for any group. Also, thank you Kelli for the goodies. We will see you in the Soul to Soul mosh pit.
July 29, 2006
I spent the past week working through an intense heat wave with highs over 110 almost every day. To make matters worse a small number of @$$holes in congress have been repeatedly trying to cut NWS funding. This will result in action at the polls in November. Meanwhile a big @$$hole in Silver Spring wants to shove this illegal and destructive "concept of operations" into action. My advice is to drop it now before I or one of my many friends will decide "lawsuit, good". Speaking of legal action I am considering one against a big dairy operation for repeated animal cruelty. This family "took over" the shut down dairy on 13th and are simply another example of Hanford fraternal club scum. The cows already look sick and should probably be euthanized. Matt and Sara don't need to be around this dairy, and I am considering moving my family because of it.
July 19, 2006
This has been a totally crazy month for us. We spent the fourth of July at the Palace which had an outstanding fireworks display and a live show from Eddie Money to start things. We then had a failed adoption as the child we were expecting was reclaimed shortly after birth. At least we didn't see the child first so it did not hurt us at all. On the 9th we hit a much bigger concert in Fresno when the Warped Tour came back for their annual visit. As a fan of 80's music I was sad to see NOFX pull out, but Helmet and Joan Jett both played; and it was much better watching them play in a F---nutt free environment as they were on the same card with the big creep the first time I caught each of them in Lubbock and Billings respectively. Speaking of F---nutt, I have a big surprise for him in Europe. I was impressed with Motion City Soundtrack (early 80's sound) and Underoath as they hit the main stage this year. Those were the two top groups on this show. I caught peeks of around 50 bands on small stages and tents, and not all were the punk kind that warped in known for. There were rappers, country groups, and even Native American. I then worked through a critical set of day shifts at the office before our biggest event of the year occurred. We then took a baby girl home earlier today as Sara Ann was born two days ago in Fresno. The intense heat has been the only drawback. I can't take 110 and would rather be in Montana in January. We also have our horses boarded near Visalia.
July 2, 2006
I had to work a long run of midnights while the first major heat wave of the year came in. We even went to San Diego afterward to buy three horses only to be around for their hottest day ever. The motel was not so great as the air conditioning didn't work so well in the intense heat. The highlight of the trip was encountering the hilarious waiter who thought that I was so cute nine years ago and having a wife and son. We expect to adopt another child very soon to go along with Matthew, Vinnie, Shadow and the horses.
June 17, 2006
I have not disappeared. I am about to return to work after being out with a norvovirus, and taking two weeks off to spend some family time in Ridgecrest then attend a horse show in Sacramento last weekend then returning home to sort out several boxes of toys that my parents sent to me to give to Matt. There are even some that my parents and grandparents had. I feel fully recovered and ready to work again. We are also preparing to adopt a second child in the near future. Angie and I both grew up in two child homes and feel that having two would be best for us. Matthew just had his first haircut and looks great. We took Matthew to his third concert last night. Mark Wills was playing (his brother is in Story of The Year I believe). I would like to thank John Rich and Kenny Alphin for buying ice cream for Angie and Matthew since we are like totally out of cash until Monday as we are waiting for approval for a line of credit. We plan to attend your next major concert in the area.
May 10, 2006
In 2001 I went rollerblading and went by a dairy (JMC's) at 13th and Fargo which was so disgusting that I threw up all the way home. Angie and I complained to the state SPCA about this eyesore and some of the cows were euthanized as a result. The cows were poorly treated and had obvious signs of physical abuse. They often had to stand in 3 feet of mud. Despite being sited, old habits never change with some. Noxious fumes from this same diary made Matthew sick several times earlier this year, and that led us to find friends to complain about them (the state was sick of my complaints so they stopped listening to me). The great news is that the state shut it down earlier today after numerous complaints, the owners were arrested and all of the cows were euthanized. Some of them had that "foot and mouth" disease which western Europe has recently experienced. Just shows that the anyone associated with the corrupt "Hanford fraternal club" can be taken down. If anyone in the Hanford fraternal club wants to f--- with me they can be shut down as well. I have a lot of connections. Now that the dairy was taken care of, and our air will be cleaner we went to a concert in Bakersfield last weekend with Josh Turner (who is terrific), Sara Evans and Brad Paisley (who we have now seen five times). Josh and his band were actually better than Story of the Year and Avenged Sevenfold who I caught earlier this year. We had a great time on Saturday and thanks for the poster Kelli. That made our day special. We still plan to see BSB and the Warped and Soul to Soul tours this summer.
April 28, 2006
It's been crazy here. Unusually cold and wet here for the past two months, and I took another "controversial" period off from the office so I could spend some time with my son. He goes to physical therapy on Friday and it is so cool. They have this thing called "circle time" and have a main event quality performer who leads a sing along in front of a standing room only crowd. "Blue horse blue horse what do I see? I see a green frog looking at me", classics like "Hermano Juan" and the purple dinosaur song ("te quiero usted me ama"). We spent some time in Cambria too which has become our favorite vacation place. We have plans to hit more concerts this summer too. We will be going to the BSB (I mean the guys who sing for them) show and to Soul to Soul and Warped as well. I better not see that no good phony again after encountering her one more time at Taste of Chaos in Fresno last month. I saw one of the Spice Girls there as well and they were more legit and had much more talent. As for you F---nutt my friends will be ready to disrupt any show of yours. Mark down July 22. I have several friends who will be around that one.
April 5, 2006
Another destructive storm hit the area, and this one was worse than the one in early January. Just wanted to say that everybody is ok.
March 16, 2006
Just wanted to let everyone know that Matt took his first steps today. He is skipping the crawling stage and going straight to walking.
March 12, 2006
We have been extremely busy recently since I have had to work long hours, and Matt has been under it with a cold airmass dominating the area. Snow fell here two days ago while I was in the office. I did take Angie to see the Bon Jovi concert on the first, but the opening act was so bad they were booted off the stage (I am being nice too).
February 12, 2006
We took our time deciding where to spend the weekend since I had three straight days off (for the first time in ages). We went to Ridgecrest, but the big surprise was coming home to all of the pollution. The air in the valley is just nasty right now.
February 3, 2006
We just got home from Fresno where we caught Miranda Lambert, Tracy Lawrence and George Strait at the Save Mart Center. I actually thought that I was at a rap concert after encountering that no good phony L--- M----- and chasing her out of the venue. At least I didn't have F---nutt to contend with since he's in some litigation. I ran into Garth Brooks again (which is becoming routine for me).
January 3, 2006
A destructive storm hit the area yesterday and I took some pictures of the thunderstorms and flooding that accompanied it. My residence picked up 3 1/2 inches of rain. I had a scheduled day off and was on standby that day.
December 24, 2005
Thanks to my good friend the Whistle Blower Protection Act, we are having a fun holiday season. I just completed a critical week on midnights when our funding for 2006 was being debated. I consider what I was able to accomplish a huge success. Back at home, our neighborhood looks wonderful all lit up. Matt will be enjoying his first Christmas and can't wait to enjoy his gifts. We are so proud of him.
December 15, 2005
My time has been totally eaten up. Not by having a child to take care of, but because of a critical staffing shortage at my office. We are two people down, and as a result I am not getting the family time I should be getting. At least there hasn't been as much active weather this fall so we are fortunate in one way.
November 15, 2005
A Call For Action: There has been a dishonest individual near DC who has been continuously lying to some of my personal and professional friends. You know who you are, and I am calling on you to RESIGN FROM YOUR POSITION NOW. At home, Matthew is doing fine and we will have pictures of him up shortly.
September 28, 2005
Over the past two months we had a failed adoption and a miscarriage. Last Friday that all changed as we adopted Matthew. The drive there took time as one of our refinance documents was bungled, and we first had to head to Selma to have it corrected. Then we drove to Ridgecrest for the birth only to notice that a has been diva named L--- M----- was tailgating us. It was great to see her run out of fuel near Pixley, and we continued to drive on without the pest around us anymore. Matthew was born just hours before we arrived, and we spent the first night with him. He spent the weekend with us in a motel then we took him home on Tuesday just in time for me to return to the office.
September 8, 2005
Another crazy week for us. Angie miscarried triplets. We wanted more than one child and were hoping, but carrying multiples is difficult for Angie with her health issues. We also had another failed adoption (this time because of extra expenses that were too far out of line) then were matched with another set of birth parents much closer to where we live so that turned out for the better. The Hanford Heat Wave are back for a sixth season, and we can't wait to kick some butt this season.
August 29, 2005
I would like to take this time to thank my dedicated co-workers in Slidell who spent countless hours of overtime preparing extra grids and text products because of Hurricane Katrina until mother nature won out over AWIPS and the 88D knocking the office offline earlier today. I hope every one of you who worked yesterday or today gets a DOC gold medal because you set a good example for all of my co-workers. We had our own near disasters on April 28 when large hail hit the San Joaquin Valley, and on August 15 when large hail and strong winds hit the area around Edwards AFB. I go into every one of my shifts now preparing for events such as what happened in Louisiana this morning often going home saying "we were lucky today".
After the botched adoption three weeks ago, it looked like we would have to start all over again, but we have already paid up for adoption services and will eventually have a child. We just need to be matched with the right birth parents for us and not be matched with messed up meth users. Also the unbelievable has occurred. Angie is pregnant! We might be having our own child to join our family as well. We still want to adopt since we want to have more than one child.
August 14, 2005
I have not been in a good mood recently. First I just want to make one thing clear. Don't ever call for Angie again F---nutt or I will disrupt your upcoming hick town shows. I am making arrangements for my friends to greet you in Caruthersville, Delcambre and any other place you might play at soon. Your (and your band mates) encounters over the past six years with popular acts such as Blink 182, Vendetta Red, Motley Crue and the legendary Steve Perry have only made a total fool of yourself. Skipping your own concerts is not cool at all either. Just remember that my father in law got your mommy canned. Now that I have one loser out of my mouth there is another. We went to San Bernardino to adopt a baby only to have the birth mother try to illegally sell the child to an agency in another area. We nearly took legal action, and will not deal with this individual again. For those of you who have had to deal with me while on duty (mainly those of you in neighboring offices) you can see why I have not been so nice.
July 30, 2005
Once again I took Angie to see Reba live in Paso Robles, but we also caught other major bands both before and after. This was her last scheduled show until December and I am working on securing tickets for that one. We also noticed some stars who were not playing, but were there (since we always bump into them). We noticed Fred Durst and Garth Brooks in a five minute span inside the commercial exhibits area. We ran into both on separate days during our honeymoon. It was my most successful fair of all time winning prizes as I won several. In the competition games I usually win if they play country and lose if they play rap or fabricated pop. Also I plan to have an all star assortment of our local gang members hanging out in Bakersfield on August 3 and in Madera on August 13. This isn't for drag racing or cruising either. There is one individual who needs to take note and it is time for him to pay up.
July 25, 2005
I launched a new page at myspace.com to try and reach out to more potential birth parents that might match us. I like the forums on it as well as the interactive video game servers on it since I have fun beating the crap out of 14 year old opponents.
July 13, 2005
Angie is ok after spending much of last weekend in the hospital with food poisoning. It was a scare and kept me out of the office. There were others in the hospital who had the same and we were able to track the source to a small number of vendors at the Kings County Fair. We will let our insurance take care of the litigation against the Kings County Fairgrounds, and the roach coaches they allowed to be on the premises that are not sanitary. With Angie in bed for much of the last several days she has taken up an interest in drawing pictures. Now there is some professional coming over to look at them.
July 8, 2005
I had a blast on the 4th at Fresno State University where the Vans Warped Tour returned. I am in the Offspring fan club and always hit their shows. Other major acts included Dropkicks Murphys, Transplants, Avenged Sevenfold (A7X), MXPX and All American Rejects. The best band there though was Underoath who played on a small stage the same way Good Charlotte did four years ago. I met several bands and yes many believed that Mark F---nutt has crossed the line by sitting out shows with a broken nose and having an imposter fill in for him. I had a bad sunburn and also spaced out a set of midnights in the office although I said enough on 12 planet to make anyone in other offices believe that I was at 100%. Angie wants to have a kid in the house in the worst way. I would love to see our family grow as well.
June 28, 2005
We had a blast on our trip. Details on what we did and who we ran into can be found here. After we came back we have been trying to sell one of our cars, but have not found a buyer. I went to a concert recently with four bands (Firehouse, Quiet Riot, Ratt and Cinderella), but also noticed that Metallica was in the audience; and they were actually quite cool and not the jerks that camp chaos claims they are. Hopefully there will be another summer sanitarium tour next year. On the other hand Angie had a recent scuffle with family adversary Mark F---nutt who was actually supposed to be performing a live concert in Cumming, GA with his band at that time. I can only conclude that his band was using a lip synching imposter for that show since he was in no shape to perform with a broken nose courtesy of another scuffle, and the wheel in the sky kept on turning ha ha ha.
June 2, 2005
We have family over to take care of our place and the dogs while we take another vacation. Our plans include a visit to headquarters (be afraid of us please), and a stopover in New Orleans. Hopefully we can catch some severe weather and take a carriage ride. We will post the pictures by the end of June.
May 7, 2005
We finally have had some good severe weather outbreaks this year. I was called in for a six warning event on February 21 (which ended a long absence for me as a bacterial infection kept me out of the office for a long time). Another event hit Kern County on March 4 then a destructive hailstorm hit close to home on April 28. I took several pictures of this storm and have them posted here. Meanwhile we just keep waiting for our first child. We signed up with a facilitator in addition to a lawyer after conducting a "Nevada Test Site" type reference check. Hopefully this can speed things up. We have everything ready (crib, clothes, stroller, car seat) for our child and need one in our home. If you do know somebody who wishes to place their child up for adoption please e-mail me at txkid@yahoo.com.
February 19, 2005
There have been many rumors floating around online that I am leaving my current job to become a TV weather caster in a big market. These rumors are absolutely false. I have no plans to vacate my position at NWS San Joaquin Valley in the near future. I have been absent from the office because of a bacterial infection which kept me in bed for several days in which Angie has taken great care of me. We have even signed up with a facilitation service to speed up our adoption. I plan to return to my job very soon (in two to three days) so for those of you who have enjoyed my absence (I know who you are), the party is over.
December 20, 2004
Once again my office has been hit by a prolonged critical staffing shortage so I have been putting in some long hours, but at least headquarters is doing something about it this time; and not short changing anyone as was the case in 2002. The greatest snow on earth continues to put on it's three ring act too. You won't believe the crap they have pulled off recently such as deleting config files or sending us defective parts. No much has changed with them in five years. At home we have been closer to having our first child. We made a business card for potential birth mothers and have had some close matches. We did have one girl try to scam us last summer, but that is why we hired a lawyer so we would not fall for this. With the holidays fast approaching we would like to wish all of our family a happy holiday season.
November 4, 2004
Staffing shortages in my office have kept me occupied for the past three months. I did finally have time to take a short vacation and used the time to rest up for the holidays (when I will be on duty of course). Angela now has a part time work at home job which she is happy with. You should see who won the local elections in this area. Makes me want to throw up even more so then move away.
August 1, 2004
The last 16 days were exciting as we did quite a bit in preparation for our new arrival (hopefully soon). I was recently recognized for being a top forecaster (verification wise) in my office between April and June, but active weather has been lacking and I am not feeling rewarded because of this. I would prefer having more thunderstorms in the area. I haven't even issued a short fused warning in almost 17 months. With the family, we went to two concerts and a horse show in the past four days and have taken advantage of what is around in our area. We are also looking forward to our new Target and Michael's stores opening soon as they will will improve homeland security by keeping local shoppers closer to home.
July 15, 2004
We just returned from a vacation and spent time in Costa Mesa to see Reba perform at the Orange County fair then visit the Discovery Science Museum in Santa Ana and the famous San Diego Zoo. The best part of the trip was when we were in the pool in Costa Mesa a loud car alarm went off in a truck that had been stolen in Fresno earlier in the day, and was to be transported to Mexico that night. The Costa Mesa Police ended up with the truck as they towed it away. We watched mine sweeping exercises off Camp Pendleton and observed a fire near Tehachapi on the way home.
June 23, 2004
The online store has not gone well. We may try and blow out all of our items as nobody is buying. I noticed from a local flea market that many of these items are stolen on transit and then dumped to the public for a small fraction of the normal cost. We have recently hired a lawyer to help us expand our family and hope to adopt before the year ends. Last night we went to see a concert in Fresno featuring Emerson Drive and Shania Twain. It was my first time to see both live in person. I almost caught a Shania show live in a run down bar during my chasing days in 1992, but the show was called off. Only half of the seats were filled when Emerson Drive took the stage. They played for 40 minutes and were actually booed for playing a Metallica cover, but they also covered U2 and Bon Jovi. After a 20 minute intermission, Shania came out of the audience and led a 90 minute performance with her band. The Save Mart Center is an improvement to Fresno. The security was much better than for the warped 2000 show which turned into a riot, or for two other shows that I went to in Fresno in which there were murders in the crowd. Only problem is the upper deck is too steep. I prefer Selland arena for seating, but there is a safety risk outside from being in a bad area. I gave Angie a big gift today (her 34th). We are going to see Reba at the Orange County fair.
April 25, 2004
We are thrilled to announce that Angela will be opening up an online store for holiday gifts (with an emphasis on elementary aged school children). We should open up the store in about two weeks.
February 9, 2004
I gave my first live presentation since October, 2000 in Reno on January 29. The trip was interesting. On the way over the hills (on I-80) a speeding SUV (going over 70 in snow and ice) spun out of control, hit a truck then flew over the guard rail in front of me and fell over 1000 feet. I heard later that the driver had just returned from Iraq. I had to buy chains for a G-car after that and needed them for the way back when I was driving through heavy snow. I only lost $12 at various casinos although some of my co-workers lost much more. The refinancing is close to being a done deal. It will cut my loan by 7 1/2 years.
December 25, 2003
Merry Christmas everybody. This has been the most enjoyable holiday season for us in many years (not travelling has some benefit). The recent rains have not ruined our spirits at all. We hope that 2004 can be our best year ever. Our New Years resolutions include a good refinancing deal and a new addition to our family.
December 22, 2003
A powerful earthquake just damaged our house. One of our neighbors houses which is under construction came down. We are fine and are preparing for the holidays.
October 20, 2003
I don't ever remember hot afternoons this late in the year. I am getting tired of sunny with highs near 90. I am ready for snow. Even our fantasy football and hockey teams seem to be out of season right now. Our neighborhood is almost complete now now. Construction on two nearby neighborhoods is now underway.
September 1, 2003
Been a while since I've updated. Unusually active weather for spring and summer along with family activities have kept me from updating. My 2003 annual football preview is ready. I recently published a paper in the office. It is available here.
March 23, 2003
I've been going through another period of having little spare time because my office has been critically understaffed for over two months. Our holidays went well for the most part. A blown forecast (and I mean it too) by a neighboring office made me look bad in front of my inlaws. Our lawn looks much nicer than it did last year although we still have not been getting much rain here. We have spent the past four days following the war and the hoops tourney. Several of my neighbors are currently in Iraq or on ships near hostile countries. Angie and I wish all of our neighbors the best as they try to take out the evil Saddam.
December 2, 2002
Been almost three months since I have been able to post anything. We were finally allowed to take a vacation (now that my office has full staffing) during the first half of October. We played in the snow in the Cascades then drove down the coast. We also spent a weekend in Concord filling out forms so we can adopt. After going through two miscarriages this year I can't bear to go through another. Thanksgiving should have been better. I was on a long run of midnight shifts, and we were not allowed to grill because of a smog problem in the area. We went holiday shopping yesterday, and bought most of our gifts. One note of caution. Don't ever eat at the Red Robin in Clovis. The service there is HORRIBLE and I couldn't help but notice mouse droppings on the premises. We will NEVER EVER go there again. We are currently decorating our house for the holidays. Several of our neighbors have and we feel that we can do better.
September 5, 2002
Angela had several x-rays taken after she aggravated a nerve while doing yard work. Keeping her in bed is a huge challenge. Angela has continued to keep me away from the office when she can, which has actually forced the office to go to full staffing again by next week. There have actually been some unfilled shifts over the summer. The joys of federal whistle blower protection that I enjoy along with several of my co-workers. An awful heat wave just ended. The past two months have been scorching. I noticed one of the Cincinnati Bungles players moving into my neighborhood just before training camp opened. This means it's time for my annual football preview.
August 4, 2002
We are still unpacking since I have had little time off with my office critically understaffed. Angie has encouraged me to have more of an attitude in the office because of this. It seems to be working too. There have been several recent house and auto thefts in the neighborhood by two hispanic males who have a white truck, and are pretending to be selling frozen meat. They have not been seen in the neighborhood after they tested us last week and met our dogs. I love them so much and treat them as my children.
July 28, 2002
Getting time off to get anything done has been a big struggle for me recently since my office is critically understaffed. I have finished the house construction page, but was lucky to find time for that. I have escaped the office to see some concerts I've seen the following recently.
Neal McCoy (Hanford) - This show was hilarious. Lots of talk about bath houses, lubricant and such. Better than the January 1998 one that I was at. Now if only Vertical Horizon, Red Hot Chilli Peppers and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones would play here soon.
Statler Brothers (Fresno) - Their last tour ever. I watched them on TV as a kid several times. They did the counting flowers on the wall song back in the early 70s.
Aaron Tippin (Hanford) - He rearranged some of his songs from last year and the working man's PhD bicycle was missing the seat. Always need something funny to turn on the audience.
Kentucky Thunder (Hanford) - I've seen this group several times when Bill Monroe was the the front man. 1990 in Indy alongside GNfnR was the best, but Monroe passed away and Ricky Skaggs was hired on to replace him. Skaggs is good, but he can't yodle like Monroe, John Duffy or Mearle Haggard. Two girls who were high on coke to the right of us acted up several times and almost got tossed.
Blake Shelton (Fresno) - Used a ton of profanity, and drank on stage. He has Eminem beat and can give DMX a run for it. He also has no talent at all. I see why half the audience was junior high school kids. Angie had food poisoning from the concessions there and it pulled me out of the office to take care of her.
Van's Warped Tour (Tulare) - The crowd from the Blake Shelton show was there and many of them got sick from the crappy junk food at that show as well. The food at this show was better and this location is much better than Fresno State. Drinks were for a reasonable price and I got several CD's for $2 or less. The Mighty Mighty Bosstones put on their Neal McCoy act early on. Best groups there were Flogging Molly (they hit this one well and kicked butt), Anti Flag (I was a big fan of theirs in 1994), MXPX, Good Charlotte and the main act NOFX. This was not as good as the last two music wise, but the concessions and giveaways were much better than before.
Steve Holy (Hanford) - I had the opportunity to watch him in 1993 opening for Offspring and Pennywise. I passed up on the show to take a three day vacation instead. Now all three acts are big and Holy even went country.
June 22, 2002
One of my former IRC buddies from the early 90s died last night. We knew him as DKile, DKiller and DK57. He's from Orange County originally, but he's lived all over. We had many overnight talks from when he lived in Houston, but was usually travelling. He had the unique distinction of playing baseball for the Astros where he was the team's top pitcher. He was ruined in 1998 when he took big bucks to move to Denver. He then quickly disappeared from the IRC scene. After two disastrous years in Denver, he moved on to Saint Louis to get his life going again until last night. We will all miss you.
June 1, 2002
The page has not been updated recently because I just have not had enough time. My office has been in a critical staff shortage situation since the move around three months ago, and time off has been at a premium. I finally got some cherished days off for some family values time. The house page is now updated to the time of the move.
December 31, 2001
We finally have had some time to put up some more photos of the house construction. It has gone slower than expected because first the cabinets and now one of the showers arrived late.
October 8, 2001
The wedding ceremony was wonderful thanks to all of our friends, co-workers and relatives who attended. We had about 65 or so in attendance. We were aiming for closer to 90. Next is our vacation. We will post picture of the ceremony when we return. Our house construction page is up and going here.
September 20, 2001
Shifting focus to what has been going on with me. I tried to overhaul the office page only to notice that the handicapped friendly required alt tags hammer up loading the page. Away form the office it's been crazy. I am having a house built and it was not centered properly, and measurement concluded that the wrong model was diagramed. I filed a major complaint. The subcontractors need to be called deportee, and join their airport worker friends. Immigration needs to be stopped.
September 11, 2001
If you had an advance copy of the latest Coup album you would have seen what came this morning. The World Trade Center is gone. My grandparents took me up to the top of the towers in August 1979 on an extremely windy day. Many friends and relatives of mine will miss the good food establishments in the complex. Another plane slammed into the west side of the Pentagon, and another blew up near Somerset. I mentioned on December 6, 1999 that there are airport baggage handlers who are aliens from Afghanistan. How in the hell do these creeps get in the country much less work in airports. My experience with them is not good. Almost all of them that I have dealt with have been rude to me and to my relatives. It's time for INS to call all of them deportee to stop them.
September 7, 2001
Angela had food poisoning on Wednesday, and it kept me out of the office. I am happy to say that she has made a full recovery, and I wish to thank my co-workers who covered for me. My 2001 NFL preview is here.
September 2, 2001
Have had little time to update the page over the past month. Between wedding preparations, a staff shortage at the office and car problems I have been occupied. First with the car. I had to take the it over twenty miles on two occasions to Visalia to have repairs done which were the fault of a group of con artists in Hanford. I have filed two complains against Jerry's Chevron at the corner of Grangeville and 11th. My goal is to put them out of business forever. If any illegal Hanford fraternal club member tries to pull off the same then I will do the same to them and file complaints either through the state or in court. The bottom line is I am not someone to mess around with. Now for the office. We are finally at full staffing. Well now two of our observers are being sent to Central Region offices. Workload issues are important with the front line unit. We have had only one day of rain since April 20. Other offices need the staff to cover for thunderstorms. My previous office in Billings issued over 200 short fused warnings in July. My office has issued five since April 20. Now for the wedding. It is scheduled for 4:30 PM on October 6 in Dinuba. For those of you who wish to send us gifts, more information can be found here.
July 26, 2001
On July 24, 2001, Angela's father died of heart complications. I was extremely upset when I found out just 45 minutes after he died. The next day we went to a concert in Paso Robles and saw five different acts including Reba McEntire, Martina McBride, Sara Evans, Jamie O'Neill and Carolyn Dawn Johnson. The best part of that night was not the show, but on the way home we had to take a detour since there was an accident on 41. We stopped at a truck stop on the Lost Hills exchange on I 5 and 46, and we noticed that all five entertainers were there getting food at the Wendy's. We arrived home at 3:30 am this morning.
July 20, 2001
Been too busy to update the page. Have lots of additions coming soon. This is what has gone on with me. I took Angela to Tahoe to her cousin's wedding. Record heat caused Angela to have heat exhaustion which ruined the vacation. The car crapped out on the way back. Is there anyone in this area who can fix a domestic car? We watched the fireworks in Hanford this year. It's actually a good display. Rained here on the seventh. First rain since April 20. The MCI access-T box in the office took a hard crap last weekend. This has happened at three offices, and yes I noticed that the part is imported. On Wednesday I finally went to a decent concert (other than warped). All three acts were excellent. They were Millencolin, True Sounds Of Liberty, and Offspring. The show was all live, and yes an amplifier blew up on stage while Offspring was playing "Have you ever". They stopped the show for ten minutes because of this. I bought a house last week since my next door neighbor was robbed by an LA gang. The complex is being sued by several former tenants because of lack of security. I can't wait for the house to be completed.
June 24, 2001
I hit the 2001 warped tour in Fresno. Not as good as last year, but I did catch over 30 bands. Pennywise was easily the best act. The crowd behaved much better than last year even though the average age was about half.
June 23, 2001
Happy #31 Angela!
June 16, 2001
Created an internal page at the office while the roaches there were the first to try it out.
June 14, 2001
My car was in the shop for two days for an expensive repair. They actually sat on it since they didn't want to make a dedicated trip to Fresno to get a new hot air hose for the car. Next time I rent a car and bill it to them.
June 7, 2001
Took Angie to a concert at Woodward Park north of Fresno. Well it was a lip synching display. Was not worth $10 plus fuel.
May 30, 2001
I am looking to buy a house in the near future since the complex that I am living in can't provide security and keep the gates open most of the time. I have seen both LA and Fresno gangs in the complex at night. Only problem is that the city offices can't seem to get their act together. The amount of time spent on this as well as with wedding plans has kept me busy. Some of my co-workers were hit with food poisoning last week at Regina's. Don't ever go there. This is the hottest May of all time. I don't want to see my next electric bill.
May 7, 2001
There have been too many distractions for me recently. It didn't help that April was unusually cold and wet and yes snow fell just 20 miles north of me. Now we are paying for it with near record heat. I really wish people would lay off Angela. I am not so nice to those who are not nice to her. Recently, Angela was accused of crimes she never committed by the Seal Beach police department. Threatened litigation ended this, but it is leading to some purge outs there. What really needs an enema is the post office in Hanford. I complained earlier today about their machines not working and one of their staff repeatedly used profanity at me with several small children around. I filed a complaint about her behavior since I feel that as a government employee myself we should talk in a professional manner and refrain from using profanity in front of the general public while on duty. Unfortunately I remember numerous such incidents while I was in other offices. The "snow level" conference call of December 7, 1996 sticks out. As for this individual I see why some people who "go postal". Back to Angela, I can already hear CUBS WIN! CUBS WIN! during our honeymoon.
Mar. 19, 2001
I have finally found some time to make a page for my wife to be Angela. I have also added some more photos to the page. I have recently made the decision to go ahead and purchase a house since interest rates are low, and since many of my assets are losing value. I hope that it will be ready before Angela and I get married on October 6. I plan to create a page to follow the construction in order to speed up the building.
Mar. 4, 2001
It's been cold and rainy for the past month, and I've spent most of my spare time filling out tax forms. I am still about to take off on a six month project that will make the office homepage be hyper interactive like the page of my brother's company. Last week was really fun when on one shift both AWIPS and the radar died. I spent four hours with NCF trying to begin the repair.
Feb. 3, 2001
Well I am back from Salt Lake City. The people there are friendly and courteous. I toured the tabernacle (mostly outside with sub zero wind chills) and the state capitol. I love the cold climate there. That's something that I really miss in California. Now for the rest of the story. I met several of my co-workers from other offices and heard the various stories. I also met the "corporate board" which is a group of mostly lead forecasters who work alongside management to set standards. I really believe the union should have more of a say in these matters. Speaking of union matters I am disgusted to see that Pirelli Tire has illegally laid off 1650 mostly union employees in Hanford to replace them with cheap South American labor. I suggest a boycott of all Pirelli products because of this.
Jan. 28, 2001
A lot went on in the past six weeks. I took Angela to see my family on the easy coast for the holidays. The flight from Fresno to LA was awful. The flight was like being in the mosh pit at a KoRn show. The flight was 90 minutes late which meant that we had to wait five hours in LA for the next flight to Sterling. We took the redeye (I woke up over Louisville) and landed at 545 am. From there we took on the subzero wind chills and wined and dined at the best places. Yes my co-workers there issued a first period winter storm warning on December 30 for 6 to 12 inches and I did not see a flake. I hope that never happens here. We have 100 pictures from our museum tours which we would love to put on the page, but time is limited for us. Our flights back were easy going. On the last flight from Dallas to Fresno I pointed out everything in Lubbock to Angie. Since returning I have worked numerous public shifts and am still happy not to get burned on a winter storm warning since moving here. The Ravens won the big dance today, and I picked them to be in it. I will be stopping by in Salt Lake City this week so if you see me there please say hello to me.
Dec. 14, 2000
I've added a page with my pictures of the 2000 display of the Kaweah Avenue Christmas light festival.
Dec. 5, 2000
I spent my turkey day this year with my in laws to be. I have been extremely busy in the office getting a new radar page ready for January 1 when the contract vendors go away forever. Whatever spare time I have had is being dedicated for holiday preparations and with my sweetheart. Read my lips. No new president.
Nov. 1, 2000
OK, I have had it with bad food establishments. Angela had food poisoning from bad meat at the Spike and Rail near Selma. NEVER EVER GO THERE. I am either going to litigate against them, file complaints with the health department; or do both. I am also ticked at AOL for revoking Angela's account. I gave up on them over five years ago since they gave me crappy service. We did see Pearl Jam in Fresno except that the concert was ruined by the ten thousand or so who were using illegal drugs at the show. The Yankees won again as I predicted in April.
Oct. 5, 2000
There have been plenty of recent developments which have involved myself. First I engaged my girlfriend Angela last weekend, and we are planning to marry next summer. This page will become a family page and my time outside of the office will be known as "family values time". Now every four years or so the word "values" pops up over and over again. After election day it goes away. Now the words "fuzzy numbers" are also becoming popular.
Sep. 26, 2000
This month has been better for the most part. I've totally gutted the office homepage and made a new one. I only had to keep the required features. I took my girlfriend, Angela, to the KFRR birthday bash. We danced while everyone else was in a huge mosh pit. I loved sum41 and zebrahead. I even made a 24 foot water jump. That's down then back in the air. Since I blade I've learned how to make good jumps. The football season has been typical. The Rams look good once again. The Bengals are after the top pick since they resemble a high school team. The well coached Jets win close games and the poorly coached Redskins need an offensive line. Now to slam my landlord again for evicting minorities, and for having landscapers who are gang members and drug dealers. Fargo Avenue is still a mess. 12th street is worse. The presidential race between Beavis junior and Slick Willy junior will be close. No matter what happens there will be a lot of unhappy people.
Aug. 29, 2000
My work schedule has been brutal all month. I've had mostly those E (400 am) shifts which I have hated for almost two years. Two of my co-workers have been at fires in other states, and this has put a strain on the office. My days off have become family values time for me. I did hide from the office one weekend to go to Bakersfield and catch a convention at the mall (where a gang of four guys were arrested for cocaine possession) then see Papa Roach, Powerman 5000 and KoRn the next day. I was in the mosh pit, and this time did not get knocked down. The overflow crowd seemed have a great time except for walking over the trains which crossed the parking lot after the show. Bakersfield has friendly people, and some good facilities. Fargo Avenue is all torn up again. I have discovered that Kroger is the responsible party since they are trying to put up a new store near where I live. They pulled off the same crap near where my grandmother was around 15 years ago.
Aug. 1, 2000
I took three weeks off from work to take a vacation with my family. We went to Yosemite National Park and I took several pictures of our journey. They are available here. The trip was wonderful except for an encounter with some Australian tourists who were high on pot, and should have been deported from this country upon entrance. The U.S. is NOT a place for foreigners (or anyone) to use illegal drugs. We should boycott the Olympics and send them the message. Also the service at some of the hotels we stayed at was not so great. NEVER, EVER stay at the Best Western in Bridgeport. The pathetic losers who run that place charged me twice so I had to file several complaints against them. I also don't appreciate sharing a bed with cockroaches. Then again I grew up staying in Sheratons, Ritz Carletons and Hyatts most of the time. I expect decent service. California is not known for that. I also made a trip to Kings Canyon yesterday and took several photos there. The drive was not worth it; however, since the roads were all messed up. After being out of the office for a while, I am looking forward to returning and laying the smackdown on some more warnings. I had a blast last year in August. Oh yeah, that was in Billings where we routinely had severe weather.
Jul. 6, 2000
A lot of action has gone on in the past month so I have not had enough time to make updates. I was thrilled to see Fargo Avenue paved up. What made it better was that prison labor was used on a 105 degree day. One of the residences in the area blasted "that's the sound of the men working on the chain gang" while they were paving. Prison labor was also used to fix the railroad tracks on the eastern part of the city. It's nice to see them put to work on the railroads again. Now for the school construction. Most of the slowdown has taken place in Visalia. I find it amusing that some of their administrators have luxury yachts, and other silly high priced items (which I won't mention) while most of the schools there rank in the bottom tenth of the state. I found this info on another person's page. I went to opening date of the warped tour in Fresno and really enjoyed it. I must have seen around 25 groups play. Green Day was the main act. The crowd turned unruly at the end when the Fresno State police went on a parking ticket giveaway. There were many families there that actually received tickets. I paid my $1.50 so I had no concerns. Just wait till I see KoRn at their homecoming show in Bakersfield next month. As for the office there hasn't been much in the way of severe weather to talk about. A thunderstorm did produce large hail in Yosemite Park last week. I missed the action though as I had the day off. I really enjoyed the fourth. Two years ago I helped ruin a celebration for over 50000 people by setting off the sirens for a tornado warning. Last year I was among the crowd as everyone froze, and still remembering the tire slashing that took place at the office two nights before. This year the show my office put on was better than the show just four miles away in Lemoore. Yesterday my former office put out four tornado warnings. Now that would have been fun. Last year, I made fun of the fourth in 1998 with the unveiling of "for the benefit of those with flash photography, I call this the fourth of July" and simulated the dissemination of a tornado warning. I also had the eastern Montana supercell version which took off on the car vandalism. These were funny at first, but now that a rasslin promotion has ripped it off they are getting old. Speaking about a circus. I would have to say the best three ring act is still NCF, AOMC and the NRC. Another circus has been at my complex where in the past three weeks I have seen more than half of my neighbors move out. If anyone can identify the object near the top of the second of the four Coleman ads in the May National Geographic please e-mail me.
Jun. 6, 2000
I have not been spending much time on this page since I have been overhauling the office page. I have added a page covering my trip to Sequoia National Park last week. I would like to give praise to my former co-workers in Billings for their open house last month, and for the overtime spent covering an overnight convective event last week. I was planning to be a part of the open house then I was moved here. I wonder if I am missed at all on the 100 am thunderstorm coverage. It happened several times in Eastern Montana last year, but It has not happened here since I arrived, and after looking over old records I noticed that it just does not happen here that often.
Now I need to slam some people; however, since they deserve it. First, whoever is responsible for tearing up Fargo Avenue between 10th and Douty should be sent to San Quintan (a maximum security prison which is home to the worst offenders). These people have done a terrible job on this project, and they need to be punished for disrupting the everyday life for thousands of people because another major east-west road is being shut down in order to expand the airport here. Next on my hit list are the LA gang members who have been causing trouble in my neighborhood by breaking in and stealing belongings from some of my neighbors. They should not get paroled since they always go back to what they did before serving a small fraction of their time. They are hanging out in the neighborhood south of mine since the security gates there are broken. Next on the hit list is my landlord for killing hundreds of innocent ducks. That is plain old disgusting. Lets see now, how about the unbelievably slow progress on five new schools in the area. They are supposed to open in August; and four of them have not even began construction. Guess nobody cares about education here since the majority of the people in the area don't speak English. I got into the slam mood after Corel treated me like crap last month. Oh yeah I will not forgive them at all.
May 2, 2000
I've been on IRC since 1992 and have also been on some java chat networks. Yesterday I was on yahoo chat in an interactive session focusing on the ongoing lawsuit between Metallica and Napster. Lars actually answered my question about the bootleg tapings that goes on at many of their shows. I did not mention the fact that at their show in Lubbock in January, 1992 I witnessed several of my students using heroin at the concert. They slammed Limp Bizkit several times which is a big no no. The Limp fans called Metallica a metal version of the Backstreet Boys. The filthy language filled session lasted around 45 minutes, and ended with a nuke attack against the moderator. The last time I read or heard more obscenities was during a conference call in December, 1996 and a big argument broke out over expected snow levels. There was also the day in 1974 (I was in Kindergarten then) when I heard two guys argue over a drug deal, and then watched one shoot and kill the other. It was the best night I have ever had in any chat room. My prediction is that Napster will win the suit because their lawyers are extremely good, but it will tie up the courts for years. Meanwhile in the office I have about had it with Corel and the crappy service they gave me yesterday. They put me on hold then chop me off. Oh well I'll just play "Blame Canada" by the South Park parents again and again.
Apr. 18, 2000
That was an awesome storm that hit California yesterday. Heavy rains for a good portion of the day. I really missed the ice storm that hit Billings last week, NOT. It has taken me plenty of time to convert everything over. I have been constantly occupied on my days off. Looks like the NHL playoff have been full blast this year although I picked the Thrashers since Billionaire Ted has a huge payroll, and they ended up as the worst team in the league. I'll make another world series prediction. Yankees and Diamondbacks. I almost always pick the Yankees. I did the last two years. I have really been bothered by the large number of people making methamphetamine in this area so it is time for them to pay up. Therefore I now have a just say no page.
Apr. 2, 2000
Finally I have settled in my new home in north Hanford. I have decided to rent for the time being. My move was a whole book in itself and I have made a page just dedicated to the move. Just click here to see it. It includes packing in the snow and loading in ice. My journey featured being mobbed by teenage girls in Burley and having my trademark ski hat ripped off from me. A Russian prostitute made an advance toward me in Elko. In Reno I got to see something that I have seen too many of before. A drive by shooting. On Sunday March 12, I arrived in Hanford and was in temporary housing for eleven days. Now I am in my new home trying to convert everything over. I have some pictures of the area available here. This area has its share of negatives. First of all the water in this area is terrible. It is better south of San Ysidro. Another is those darn north-south trains which split the city in half for hours at a time. I can just see one delaying my co-workers from coming in during a severe weather event. One disgusting fact I noticed is the amount of nearby land that is owned by Diamond of Sacramento (I learned about their sleazy labor practices in high school), and Cenex of Minneapolis (they own the Land O' Lakes feedlots in this area as well as that awful oil refinery near Billings which made me throw up several times). My opinion is that the executives from both of those companies deserve to have their candy @$$es put to work on the railroads and relocate the tracks in this area. Now that I am in the rotation (similar to one that I worked for over a year in Billings), I have the responsibility of updating the office homepage. By the way, happy birthday mom.
Mar. 2, 2000
I have been spending most of my time packing up. I leave Billings for good next week. All for a new life which will feature plenty of KoRn, blowing dust and fog. Hanford is the home of KRZR which is the king of extreme. I missed the tornadoes in the area last weekend. Looks like they get the active weather too except that they get it during the winter.
Feb. 6, 2000
I was extremely ill for much of the past week. I spent last Tuesday morning in the hospital. I had to take crappy medications which made me feel worse. Don't worry folks. I am back and plan to return to duty on February 9. Oh yeah now I also have to pay my taxes and prepare for a long move.
Jan. 30, 2000
Just when I thought everything was becoming clear for me. I had a crazy week. First of all I have another publication online here. This is about using regression equations for temperature forecasting and is a must read for forecasters in the military and the private weather companies. I am almost done with another publication on the climatology of Miles City. That will probably be my last publication with the Billings office since I just accepted a general forecaster position with the San Joaquin Valley office last Tuesday. I will be moving in March, and plan on posting online updates for those of you who would like to follow my long move which will take me through Pocatello, Elko, Reno and Sacramento. OK so I posted links to the offices that I will drive by during the long trip. Leaving Billings will be difficult for me, but I have quite a future ahead.
Jan. 22, 2000
I haven't had much time to work on the page recently although I have updated several links. Only event I found time for last week was the Deadlights and Megadeth show. It was totally out of control and full of fights. I really needed to see something like this to lift me up. I sure haven't seen much precipitation recently, but last weekend in the office the ceiling collapsed on the RPG thanks to the faulty HVAC system. That was the worst damage that I have ever seen to any equipment in the office. At least it was all fixed just three days later.
Dec. 30, 1999
I have enough movies now to give Carmike some competition here. Bottom line is that they are a monopoly so they need some competition. I joined a health club last week. I just can't blade everyday in the cold climate here. I am hoping that I can find a better place for that. Hail to the Redskins! Congratulations NFC East champions. As for the Ravens better luck next year when the NFC East is on the schedule. Seems strange that with all the panic going on all the shelves are still stocked up. I can remember the shelves being cleared out in the DC area before an expected snowstorm in January, 1986, which of course, never happened. That was the last time I've ever seen that happen. Now I wouldn't pull that off in the office. Issue a blizzard warning for a large area and nobody gets more that some flurries or it all comes down as rain. I am confident that I will be in one piece in three days. In the meantime I need someone to share the hot tubs and my movies with. If you are interested please e-mail me at txkid@yahoo.com. Women only please.
Dec. 6, 1999
I just returned from a three week vacation. Well the purpose of it was to help my brother move. Except for his new home the trip wasn't too nice though. I will remember it most for the consistently crappy service that I had around DC. Almost every food order I placed was messed up. The service desk and the US Air baggage people at Dulles Airport were the worst of all. Not only were they nasty to my relatives. They couldn't even speak English. I tried Spanish too and no comprende. They were from Afghanistan of all places. Makes me appreciate Billings since I usually get much better service here. The one joint that was good was the El Sabor Latino in Herndon. I can't mention all of the bad places, but the Memphis BBQ in Reston sticks out. The food was as bad as Jack In The Box, and the service was worse. I was so happy to be back home in the desert. One of my co-workers just mentioned in a discussion that Amarillo (where many of my friends are) has had more snow than Billings, Burlington and Buffalo combined. In my spare time I made some changes to the music page.
Nov. 11, 1999
Where can you rollerblade by hotel casinos while Christmas shopping in mid November? Most people would say Las Vegas, but that is incorrect. You can in Billings though. Hard to believe, but Billings has been more like Phoenix in the past week. Record highs almost every day. The Fort Peck pictures are finally online here. I have also taken some pictures of Billings which show how beautiful the magic city really is. They are available by clicking here.
Nov. 2, 1999
Halloween was actually what is was supposed to be like this year. Record heat and winds up to 80 mph turned Southern Montana into an inferno. Power went out in much of Billings and large fires broke out all over the place forcing evacuations of some nearby towns. Forget about Darth Maul and The Rock. Wearing a shirt with NOAA or the electric company logos on it would have been perfect for the trick or treaters here this year. As for myself I learned more about HTML thanks to my co-workers. This allowed me to make the page a bit sharper.
Oct. 11, 1999
Quite a bit has been going on with me in the past month. I have not had enough time to work on this page. I just came back from a trip to Fort Peck where I took some pictures for an upcoming addition. I also took a side trip to Williston to buy some video game that I couldn't find here. I stopped by the offices in those areas as well. It is nice to actually meet the people I coordinate with every shift and see what they have to work with. On September 28 and 29 I was a three time three time three time presenter at the Great Divide Workshop in front of some of the biggest names in the U.S. and Canada. I have also spent time on applications since I am still trying to move up. It would be difficult to see myself outside of Billings for more than three weeks though. Looks like the Yankees and Mets might actually pull it off. The Rams look unbeatable this year. The NHL has looked more like ECW this season. The Thrashers will win the southeast division and be the first expansion team to make the playoffs since 1968. If you see me on IRC it just might be my mp3 bots.
Sep. 7, 1999
I took some time off to visit Waterton and Glacier Parks with my folks. The best part was a boat cruise on Waterton Lake when I had a thrill. When they got sick it made the cruise twice as fun. I also drove through Western Montana and visited relatives in Helena. Thanks to the vacation I sat out the worst tornado outbreak in Montana history although I did radio in some updates when a tornado warning was issued for Billings on August 15. Well there was no tornado. I had the perfect views of the storm. If had had pictures of it they would have been posted here by now. Pictures of the trip can be seen here and here. Meanwhile it's been crazy for me since returning. There is this big conference in Billings at the end of September and I have three presentations to make.
Aug. 8, 1999
I have added some more links to the page and changed some other links. I've been spending most of my time at concerts and rollerblading when I have not been in the office. Hard to believe that it is football season again. This year I am picking teams from the south land. The Jaguars and Falcons. There is little parity in dixie this year. The teams are either among the best or among the worst.
Jul. 29, 1999
I have finally had some time to finish the San Francisco trip page. I have been constantly busy at work with severe weather, keeping the radar operational and media training. Dealing with NCF, AOMC and the NRC has been like watching a three ring circus. In my opinion they represent the greatest snow on earth. I am still applying elsewhere too. I have also taken up rollerblading in my spare time since Billings has been in a heat wave. Oh yeah I bought a new PC and am trying to sell the old one.
Jun. 29, 1999
I just returned from a long vacation in the Bay Area which consists of several cities which are all larger than Billings. I had a terrible flight over there. Once again there were people throwing up all over the cabin. A drunk guy next to me stood up and said (in Russian) "You wimps have never flown Aeroflot". I stayed at the Sheraton Palace Hotel on Market and New Montgomery with my folks. The hotel is home to the infamous Pied Piper Bar. I watched portions of two Spurs games there. The funny part were these New York lawyers who kept on yelling "Calm down guys, wuh watching the Knicks". I went to a reception in the aquarium, and attended a ceremonial ball in the hotel (which was ruined by bad musicians). I was also invited to two parties, but skipped them since I was ill. I went on three tours as well, and spent a good deal of time at several stores. I was hit on at the airport and in bars. I was even offered cocaine on the BART. I have no respect at all for drug dealers. There is no place like home though, and I was more than delighted to return to southwest Billings where there is much less of all of that nonsense. More highlights of the trip are available by clicking here.
May 5, 1999
It's Independence Day for me. The fifth of May has always been an important day for my family. I celebrated the cinco de Mayo by adding a music page (which I spent plenty of time working on). I also want to let everyone who was affected by the recent tornado outbreak in Oklahoma, Kansas; and of course Texas that my deepest sympathies are with you. I want to congratulate my co-workers in the offices in those states who put in long hours during this event, and did a wonderful job at putting out timely warnings.
Apr. 26, 1999
The unbelievable happened last week. AWIPS actually arrived in Billings last Thursday when a large truck pulled in. That was just the conclusion of a wild 50 hour work week for me. Aside from that I applied for 20 jobs which are better than the position that I have now (hey they pay better, get it). Outside of my world the action picked up too. The war in Southern Europe expanded into full time combat, and an experimental duke nukem level was tragically transported into the real world. Some people just don't get it.
Apr. 18, 1999
I took a short vacation to Western North Dakota to see Roosevelt National Park. I did not let the snow and the stiff north winds ruin my trip either. While I was there I also caught the Dickinson Dinos and went inside a fascinating church in Richardton. I could not believe something like that is in the USA. I stopped by Baker and Miles City on the way back. The road between Baker and Plevna is extremely hazardous and should be avoided at all costs. I also found two of the best food establishments that I have ever been to. One is the Rattlesnake Creek Brewery and Grill in Dickinson. I was filled up there in 20 minutes. The other is the Loft in Baker which has the best steaks anywhere I've been. One thing I have noticed. That co-worker of mine (Arnold) works at other NWS offices besides the one here. Seems to me that he is on all of the NWR broadcasts these days. I'll pick the Yankees and Mets to face each other in the world series this year. Sounds obnoxious, but payroll says something these days.
Apr. 8, 1999
Most people spent Easter with their families. I spent mine in the office. I hope people remember that there are some individuals who still need to work during major holidays and celebrations in order to provide public safety. March ended up being a special month for me. I now have my own publication online now. It is available by clicking here. Lets see baseball season has begun. My world series prediction is Mets vs. Yankees. I pick them every year, but this year they will pull it off. Another point. We have no business fighting Serbia.
Mar. 16, 1999
After I left Lubbock on November 12, 1993, I said to myself "I won't miss these dust storms at all. I probably won't see them too often again." Well I have seen more dust storms in Billings in the past three months than in all of the 27 months that I was in Lubbock. I was caught outside in the one today and was actually choking in it. What else? A paper that I worked on with two of my co-workers has published. You can read it by clicking here. I have two more publications in the works, and both should publish soon. I am still applying for better positions in the agency, but I have had no luck at all.
Mar. 1, 1999
February was a busy month for me. I worked more overtime last month than I had in the past two years, and all of it since several of my co-workers were too sick to work. I received a nice new toy for my 31st. A new camera which will allow me to take still photos then post them right on this page. Hopefully there will be some good storms this summer so I can put some chase pages up. Those of you in the Billings area have been hearing a new voice on the 70 cm and occasionally the 2 m band over the past week. That is because I have a new transmitter. KD7BXX is on the air. Holler if you hear me.
Jan. 30, 1999
I have decided to split up my page in order to make is easier to load on slower PCs. I have split off my weather page as well as the information about my previous updates to this page. I have just not had much time to work on this page recently since I have been involved in many major projects in the office, and have been filling out applications like a mad dog.
Dec. 28, 1998
I had my best Christmas in years, and I since I was not able to spend it with my family (I have not for several years), I spent the day with my best friend. I received a new radio which picks up stations from LA like they are local here in Billings. I did not have much time to play around with it though since I have along set of midnight shifts in the office this week. The only good news about this is that it will be my last set of midnight shifts for a long time as work schedules are changing around in January.
Dec. 20, 1998
The service I went too this morning reminded me of 1979 (I was in sixth grade) when I brought in a whole bag of childrens clothes to donate to the needy. There were many disadvantaged families in the D.C. area, and at that time unemployment was extremely high. I can even remember the local news showing several families living in homeless shelters. We used the same idea today although today it's more single parent families who just can't make ends meet. The past week was special for me since I spent much of it upgrading the Billings WSR-88D. It's been my greatest accomplishment for sure. I spent most of my free time filling out applications for better positions. Hopefully I will be selected for one. There are not too many people out there who can do what I have already accomplished.
Dec. 13, 1998
Ugh driving on 24th street was a mess yesterday. Bumper to bumper from King to Grand. Makes US 19 North of Pittsburgh and VA 123 in Northern Virginia look like expressways. Well I can't wait for the big Senate trial. This will be more watched than any super bowl. Speaking of the super bowl it looks like my preseason picks are looking good. I picked the Jets and the Falcons back in July and both look to be in good shape. This coming week I get to upgrade the radar in the office. Oh what fun.
Dec. 5, 1998
It's nice to be back in Billings after spending some time on the East Coast with my family. Yes it was much warmer there, but I didn't take long to get homesick. The trip had its low points. The Cracker Barrel in Billings is excellent, but the one in Winston-Salem is terrible. I can't see how it takes an hour for everyone to get seated when less than half of the tables are full. The food was barely edible there too. The flight home was an even worse experience. There were people throwing up all over the cabin on the flight between Sterling and that airport northeast of Denver. Well I did enjoy the Thanksgiving Eve Boilermaker party in hostile territory even though the bad guys won.
And back to The TxKid Homepage