I keep this blog as a reminder of where I was.

I haven't been posting here in a while because I have been posting in my other journal. Granted, some of the posts are protected so that only those listed on my friends list there will be allowed to read them, the majority of them are not. This one will stay up for as long as I feel like letting it stay.

And that's that.

I know, I haven't updated here in over a week, but things being what they are and life too busy, suck it up. Things are progressing here, with work on the dining room (was office) and getting the home prepared for the onslaught of parental types.

Yay.

Had a great time at drinkies on Friday, even with all the bbqing baby talk. Afterwards, a stop at Naro Video and Total Wine.

Saturday was full of work in the office/dining room (don't ask) and general cleaning up before the game that evening. The game was fun, glad that Steven was back to join in, even if it will only be for maybe two more games. Our usual comments went straight to the gutter as always. And *someone* drank more than he remembers...right Viv?

Sunday was crappy bowling (except game one), did win a hand at cards (yay!), and a much needed nap afterwards. This, of course, was my undoing, since after the birthday dinner at Melting Pot (OMG, this is now my favorite restaurant), watched Legally Blonde 2, didn't get to bed until after midnight. I'll be paying for it today, I'm sure.

My in-laws will be arriving the evening of the 16th and departing the morning of the 21st.

My parents will be arriving sometime on the 14th and departing sometime on the 18th.

Only two whole days with all four of them?

YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!!!!!!!!

Reported today that the USS Harry S. Truman CVN-75 will be arriving home on Sunday.

One guess as to who has duty on Sunday?

I find it amusing, since being angry over it won't help.  Oh, the irony.

 
On behalf of those that think that the Navy lives a "TOP GUN" existence, those people that have watched one too many episodes of JAG, and think that Navy life is glamorous; here are a few suggestions on how to experience the real Navy life, right in the comfort of your own home!
 

Buy a dumpster, paint it gray and live in it for 6 months straight.
 

Run all of the piping and wires inside your house on the outside of the walls.
 

Pump 10 inches of nasty, crappy water into your basement, then pump it out, clean up, and paint the basement "deck gray"
 

Every couple of weeks, dress up in your best clothes and go the scummiest part of town, find the most run down, trashy bar you can, pay $10 per beer until you're hammered, then walk home in the freezing cold.
 

Perform a weekly disassembly and inspection of your lawnmower.
 

On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays turn your water temperature up to 200 degrees, then on Tuesday and Thursday turn it down to 10 degrees.
 

On Saturdays, and Sundays declare to your entire family that they used too much water during the week, so all showering is secured.
 

Raise your bed to within 6 inches of the ceiling.
 

Have your next door neighbor come over each day at 5am, and blow a whistle so loud that Helen Keller could hear it and shout "Reveille, Reveille, all hands heave out and trice up".
 

Have your mother-in-law write down everything she's going to do the following day, then have her make you stand in the back yard at 6am and read it to you.
 

Eat the raunchiest Mexican food you can find for three days straight, then lock the bathroom door for 12 hours, and hang a sign on it that reads "Secured - contact OA DIV at X-3053"
 

Submit a request form to your father-in-law, asking if it's ok for you to leave your house before 3pm.
 

Invite 200 of your not-so-closest friends to come over, then board up all the windows and doors to your house for 6 months. After the 6 months is up, take down the boards, and since you're on duty, wave at your friends and family through the front window of your home...you can't leave until the next day.
 

Shower with above-mentioned friends.
 

Make your family qualify to operate all the appliances in your home(i.e. Dishwasher operator, blender technician, etc.)
 

Walk around your car for 4 hours checking the tire pressure every 15 minutes.
 

Sit in your car and let it run for 4 hours before going anywhere. This is to ensure your engine is properly "lit off".
 

Empty all the garbage bins in your house, and sweep your driveway 3 times a day, whether they need it or not.
 

Repaint your entire house once a month.
 

Cook all of your food blindfolded, groping for any spice and seasoning you can get your hands on.
 

Have your neighbor collect all your mail for a month, randomly losing every 5th item.
 

Spend $20,000 on a satellite system for your TV, but only watch CNN and the Weather Channel.
 

Have your 5-year-old cousin give you a haircut with goat shears.
 

Sew back pockets to the front of your pants.
 

Spend 2 weeks in the red-light districts of Europe, and call it "world travel".
 

Attempt to spend 5 years working at McDonalds, and NOT get promoted.
 

Ensure that any promotions you do get are from stepping on the dead bodies of your co-workers.
 

Needle gun the aluminum siding on your house after your neighbors have gone to bed.
 

When your children are in bed, run into their room with a megaphone, and shout at the top of your lungs that your home is under attack, and order them to man their battle stations.
 

Post a menu on the refrigerator door informing your family that you are having steak for dinner. Then make them wait in line for at least an hour, when they finally get to the kitchen, tell them that you are out of steak, but you have dried ham or hot dogs. Repeat daily until they don't pay attention to the menu any more they just ask for hot dogs.
 

In the middle of January, place a podium at the end of your driveway. Have you family stand watches at the podium, rotating at 4-hour intervals.
 

Lock yourself and your family in your house for 6 weeks. Then tell them that at the end of the 6th week you're going to take them to Disneyland for "weekend liberty". When the end of the 6th week rolls around, inform them that Disneyland has been cancelled due to the fact that they need to get ready for E-cert, and that it will be another week before they can leave the house.
 

Buy half the number of single beds you need for your family and have them sleep in shifts (hot racking).
 

Put a three inch deep pan (same size as single bed) and tell faimily members that all their earthly possessions must fit in the pan.
 

Insist that family members wear summer clothes until two weeks after the first hard freeze and wear winter weigth clothing until the 1st of July.
 

Shut down the toilets 4 hours each day and vent the sewers into the house to simulate blowing sanitaries.
 
For the submariners:
 

Sleep on the shelf in your closet. Replace the closet door with a curtain. Two to three hours after you fall asleep, have your wife whip open the curtain, shine a flashlight in your eyes, and mumble "Sorry, wrong rack".
 

Repeat back everything anyone says to you.
 

Spend as much time as possible indoors and avoid sun light. Only view the world through the peep hole on your front door.
 

Renovate your bathroom. Build a wall across the middle of your bathtub and move the shower head down to chest level. Shower once a week. Use no more than 2 gallons of water per shower.
 

Buy a trash compactor and use it once a week. Store garbage in the other side of your bathtub.
 

Sit in your car for six hours a day with your hands on the wheel and the motor running, but don't go anywhere. Install 200 extra oil temperature gauges. Take logs on all gages and indicators every 30 minutes.
 

Put lube oil in your humidifier instead of water and set it to "High".
 

Watch only unknown movies with no major stars on TV and then, only at night. Have your family vote on which movie to watch, then watch a different one.
 

Don't do your wash at home. Pick the most crowded laundromat you can find.
 

(Optional for Nukes and A-Div) Leave lawnmower running in your living room six hours a day for proper noise level.
 

Have the paperboy give you a haircut.
 

Take hourly readings on your electric and water meters.
 

Invite guests, but don't have enough food for them.
 

Buy a broken exercise bicycle and strap it down to the floor in your kitchen.
 

Eat only food that you get out of a can or have to add water to.
 

Wake up every night at midnight and have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on stale bread. (Optional- cold beans and weenies, canned ravioli or soup).
 

Make up your family menu a week ahead of time without looking in your food cabinets or refrigerator.
 

Set your alarm clock to go off at random times during the night. When it goes off, jump out of bed and get dressed as fast as you can, then run to your kitchen with the garden hose while wearing a scuba mask.
 

Once a month take every major appliance completely apart and then put them back together. Ensure you have parts left over.
 

Turn all of the lights on in the house. Leave them on all of the time.
 

Take a kitchen pan and large spoon. Walk through all of the bedrooms a odd hours through the day while banging on the pan.
 

Turn the TV to the TVland channel. Watch nothing but 20 year old re-runs.
 

Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoon, put a pair of your wife's panty hose over your eyes and have a family member yell fire from another room. You must find them and carry them to safety.
 

Take the panty hose used above, fill it full of garbage from the garbage can. Load it with 25 pounds of scrap iron and flush it down the toilet. Don't worry, it will fit. If it doesn't, put it in the freezer until you surface in about 90 days. 

Well.  Friday drinkies was fun and we won't go into the whole 'don't go down on me' comment that Todd received.
 
Saturday, was awoken to the sound of the phone ringing at 5am.  That fucker.  But you know I'm only going to complain but so much, seeing as they were getting ready to take the phones down for the next few days or so.
 
Then saw the arrival of my lawn boys.  They took care of the mowing and edging, so the lawn looks good...for now.  Whilst they were busy outside, I was busy inside.  I got all the tape up on the drywall - inadvertantly realizing that I got the really good tape that does not require a bed of mud to rest on before putting it up, unlike the paper tape kind.  But then it was on to the mudding aspect, which was a pain in the ass.  Especially with three cats that thought it was fun to get in the way.  Gomez was trying to eat the shit, which does not bode well for the whole 'hopefully another SMART cat this time' thing. 
 
Once the mudding was completed, helped Joe pick up outside and then settled in for the night with Bob.  We ordered some pizza, after making a run to the evil Farm Fresh for bananas and chocolate ice cream.  Watched Secret Window with Johnny Depp and was pleasantly surprised that they did such a good job on another of Stephen King's novellas.  Was hoping to give Bob nightmares, since it is a good thriller, but found out Sunday it didn't work.
 
Sunday bowling went fine - hit my average the first two games anyway.  At least we took 5 instead of our usual 2 points.  After that, the SASSI meeting, then homeward bound.  More mudding, since one coat was not going to be enough anyway.  I should be able to start the sanding process on it tonight.  I'm hoping to get at least a primer on the walls and ceiling before the butthead comes home. 
 
This is going to be a busy week for me.  If I seem out of touch after work hours, it's because I'm shopping somewhere, cleaning something, or knee deep in sand paper and paint.