Defiantone.com

I’m mere hours away from a respite away from work and away from responsibility. I don’t mind work, in fact, I actually like what I do but I really enjoy my time away from the office. Weekends and leave fantastic because they are generally unstructured. We always have something happening but there is so much free time I don’t know how someone wouldn’t like it. Leanne’s birthday is this weekend - I think she is turning the big three-o so we’re going to spend some time in the “Roy” area on Saturday and we’ve got a little cleaning to do but aside from that it’s all free time. I can smell the weekend and it puts a smile on my face.

I took a trip yesterday to San Francisco and took a few photos while there. I had the opportunity to ride on the trams and have a “Full House” moment. The weather was freakin’ great so it was a very good day to go out there and see the sites. I’ve only uploaded the pictures you see below due to my extremely slow internet connection. While down on the wharf I had the chance to get some chowder in a sourdough bowl. All in all it was a fairly cool trip and I got to see some cool stuff. I’ll upload the rest of the pictures when I get back.

I’m working on uploading the rest of the photos, you can look here for them. It may be a few days/weeks before they all get uploaded but know that I’m working on it.

this is old but funny

I’ve heard the epic tales of the great In-n-out burger but I’ve never had the opportunity to take in the wonder that is a burger produced by this California based chain. Many have been unable to accurately describe the taste, the experience, and the delight of eating said burger. So, since I’m in California for another two weeks and Google graciously lists the locations of almost any business of note I quickly found that there was one right down the road. Well, it was 30 minutes down the road but I really didn’t care - 30 minutes down the road means the trip from my house to work or vice versa on a bad traffic day. Thirty minutes is a mere drop in the hat - pittance to pay for the opportunity to eat at the great In-n-out.

We easily found the eatery off of Hwy 65 in central California. It decor was reminiscent of a fifty eras diner and had relatively little extra accoutrements scattered about the establishment. In other words, it didn’t look like a garage sale vomited throughout the interior of the restaurant.

The menu was simple - so simple anyone could make a decision - there were almost too many choices

1. Double double - two hamburger patties and two slices of cheese
2. Cheeseburger - one hamburger patty and one slice of cheese
3. Hamburger - duh!

So how was it? The lettuce tasted crisp and fresh, the tomatoes were ripe and tasted like they were vine ripened. The meat was not overly cooked nor overly greasy - the balance was perfect. The best part was that I decided to eat a double double - two patties… mmmm…. burger….

Was it the greatest burger ever? probably not

Was the value for price off the chart? absolutely

Would I make this my first choice in my burger consumption needs should it be an option? absolutely

and now to the crappy part

My dad had a colectomy today - from what my sister said all went well. My sister and mother had a difficult day but that was to be expected. If I would have been there I would have had a difficult day. I’m sure I’ll have a hard time dealing with reality the first time I see him again. It doesn’t feel real unless its right in front of me.

Since I knew John was leaving for 3 whole weeks and he wouldn’t be here for Halloween, I got him to celebrate a little bit early with me. We didn’t have much time so we couldn’t go to a REAL pumpkin patch and get pumpkins, we had to go to a produce store instead. But, we picked some big ones anyway. Mine weighed in at 28.75lbs. and John’s was a 30 pounder. We took them to the apartment and John decided to draw a freestyle Charlie Chaplin and I went for the same ol’ pirate skull that I always go for and start before I realize that I’ve done it before.

So we cut them up and emptied them out. Then we carved them into amazing jack o’ lanterns. I had a good time, however I do not think John was as impressed as I’d hoped he’d be. It was, after all, his first time. He actually did very well and I am pleased with our happy little punkins!

And for your viewing pleasure, here they are!

I got to Beale AFB a few hours ago after a long drive. Its roughly an 11 hour trip but I broke it into two parts. On the way back I may try to do it all on one stretch. I did drive through some of the coolest scenery I’ve seen in a while but I didn’t have a whole lot of time to take it in as driving on curvy mountain highways while not paying attention can be hazardous to your health. The base is out in the middle of nowhere - and I mean the middle of nowhere. I understand why they said that you should make sure you have everything with you before you get here because its a trip to the base. From the front gate to the room where I’ll be staying its almost 10 miles.

I’ve got my camera with me… somewhere… so I’ll take pictures as I deem them necessary to take.

The previous post wasn’t me writing in the third person but was from Jessica accidentally posting on my blog using my name. So, rather than delete the post, I added her to the list of authors so she can post here. You’ll have to pay attention to the author but she has free reign to post what she wants. As always, almost anything posted here is free game so you are warned.

There has not been much going one these days. Saturday John and I went to a very nice dinner. We ate at Salty’s on Alki and it was the best place I’ve ever been to. The food was amazing, and the chocolate cake, to die for. I got my wish of a window seat and it was an amazing view of the Seattle skyline at sundown. I had a great time.

I’ve been feeling sick this week.l I guess it’s that time of year for the cold bug to make it’s way around to everyone. This has resulted in me not wanting to do much. So John and I get to spend time doing what all Americans love to do, watch T.V. On Mondays we watch Chuck, Heros, and Journeyman while recording 2.5 Men, How I met your Mom and Big Bang Theory. Then Tuesdays we watch Beauty and the Geek, House and Eureka. Wednesday I have Gossip Girl, Pushing Daises, Bionic Woman, and ‘Till Death. Then we have Thursdays we have Smallville, CSI and Survivor China. And to finish it off on Friday, we have Friday Night Lights.

So as you can see we devote most of our time to T.V. Thank God for DVR.

Lately its been a whole lot of stress with seemingly little relief. I’ve been inundated with work (while at work obviously) that I haven’t had to deal with before. Almost everyone else that is my rank is on their way out so I’ve become to go-to-guy for most of the stuff. I’ve tried to dole out as much work as I possibly can but some of the work requires knowledge and the people below me have little of that. I know that I should try to educate them as much as possible but I don’t have the time to do that - I only have the time to do the work myself - and I’ll get it done as long was I stop getting more and more work piled on top.

It rained for quite a while today so I got soaked. You know its bad when the rain soaks all the way through your coat. Its supposed to rain more tomorrow - what a thrill that will be.

I wish I had something great to write about but its all been crap lately - steaming piles of donkey dung.

Ok, so a few weeks ago nukes were transported from Minot AFB to Barksdale AFB - nuclear surety was trampled as “nobody knew it happened.” Some believe it was a plot to steal a weapon so that we can bomb ourselves so that we can blame it on Iran and bomb them back… Several air force members (who happened to be assigned to Minot/Barksdale) have recently died from a series of accidents. Normally I don’t buy into conspiracy theories but I know how much security we give to stuff that I get to move around. I’ve heard stories of how much security special weapons get. I don’t know how this could have happened. The theories are extremely interesting and well thought out - they might be better thought out than the theory that there was no plane that crashed into the pentagon but it was done deliberately by the US govt.

All of the links are interesting reads - I’m guessing its really nothing but if the information keeps on piling up I might join the conspiracy boat.

2:04 in the AM and I’ve been browsing the internet to kill some time. Lets face it, I don’t have that much work to do at this time of the night and I’m essentially keeping a seat warm until they call me to do some work… if they call me to do some work.

So…

First off, I found this cool website called the The Consumerist. Its got a bunch of cool info and interesting stories. I spent half an hour just reading the front page and found it all extremely interesting. Good stuff maynard.

I also found an interesting link to a Super Hero supply store in NYC. In reality its a nonprofit program to help kids to homework. Check out the pics, its quite cool.

I also found a page listing 10 photos that were “taken at the right time.” Check it out if you’ve got the free time like i do.

Burning salt water? Say it can’t be so… well, according to this article its been done and now they are researching whether they can create a net energy gain.

Something I’ve known for years is that Subway is an evil corporation that should be destroyed… and one franchise is up to no good. Not all franchises would do this but I would imagine that they do much worse things like grind up rats and turn them into “lunch meat” for the cold cut combo or something equally devious.

And one last link… a very somber link at that recounts the tales of people that were at Disney Land on 9-11. I still remember to this day exactly what happened and I know that I was working a relatively normal job at that time. Its just nuts to think what would happen at some other jobs.