hound176

Here's What I Was Up To -- Burn Notice (TV)

2009-11-16T15:50:15Z

We had a nice visit from Jeffrey Donovan and Bruce Campbell tonight!!! They advertised this about one week ago and I was a bit in shock. A few of you I told this to, and now some of you are probably wanting to kill me! **l** Unfortunately I could only get one autograph. If I could've I would've got at least two more.

A little story on the picture taken of us. My camera (being 5 years old now) took a bit of time to do it's thing. The guy taking it said it must've been a record, which we all got a chuckle out of. At the end of the pic Bruce and Jeffrey both did a face plant on the table acting like it took a lot out of them! **lol**

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY YA STINKERS!!

2008-07-04T22:29:54Z

Hope you're all enjoying the holiday!! And hopefully some of you aren't getting shit faced and blowing up stuff at the same time. Never a good combo. **chuckle**

Another Otakon Wait!! -- Masquerade and stuff

2008-06-25T18:37:52Z

Okay, for those of you in the group for the skit this year I was able to submit our skit application at 2:30pm today EDT. I know the registration opened at noon today online, but medication I'm on put out for a couple of hours. I'll get into that in a bit. But the skit has been submitted, we're still at Journeyman level due one award won out of all of us (me back in 2001), we do need to schedule a weekend here soon to record our lines because this is going be a bit nuts on stage. I put everyone down for craftsmanship judging, but if you don't want to you can change your mind at the con when we check in. And I made sure Cascio's name would be pronounced right. :D **chuckle** I put a note in there. So if anyone has questions, call, e-mail, message, or respond to this post!

Hopefully we'll hear back in about a week if we're on the primary list. Usually there's a good chance if you register within the first 6 hours or so. :D

Onto the medication note. Apparently I reinjured my right knee again. Doctor noticed a little swelling when I try to bend it. It's not sprained, he thinks I hyper flexed it. Plus I found out I have rubber legs. My legs just below the knee can bend a bit to the sides. Not a good thing because that makes me more prone to sprains or having a blowout (thankfully not yet). Some people are born with this so it's not an over the time thing. I didn't do anything crazy for working out. Just light stuff to get started again and probably due to some repititious stuff with the legs and joints is what did it. So now I'm scheduled for a month of physical therapy to get my legs strengthened back up. Luckily there's no surgery involved and I don't need that, not now or ever if possible!

Street Fighter IV

2008-06-24T00:18:34Z

http://streetfighter.com

There's a lot of stuff showing here for the preview of the new Street Fighter IV game due out in early 2009! Yes, the original cast of SFII is in it with four new characters:

Abel - martial artist with a military background, but has amnesia
Crimson Viper - new chick, looks like an SNK person
El Fuerte - luchador wrestler
Rufus - looks like a popcorn munching, beer "gutted" something (no background info was release on him, just a pic)

And when I said the original cast of SFII was back that does include the bosses. Bison is back and was able to transfer himself into a new body. So Shadowloo is on the loose for the final time (this is a prequel to Street Fighter III). Not sure if more characters will be implemented into the game. A lot of us are hoping for Alpha characters to be included. Same thing for the Super Street Fighter characters of Fei Long, Deejay, Thunderhawk, Akuma and Cammy. But the game is long from being done and a lot of us are expecting more characters to show up. Hopefully I can play Guy in this, otherwise I'm itching to give El Fuerte a spin. :D

For the High Definition Remix coming out for download the screen shots look amazing and saw a video on youtube of the game play. Very smooth!!!   And considering Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD was also redone by Udon artists, yeah I'll actually buy that version to (got one for the old PS1 and my GBA). Particularly if it's updated. Speaking of Udon, read somewhere we can expect new comics to hopefully come out this summer. Well it's summer, and I'm itching for the new issues! Plus in the Zero Legends they showed a sketch of Guy for a possible Final Fight short series. :D

Oh, you can check out info on the upcoming movie Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li. I know, I know you're all thinking, not a repeat of the Jean Claude Van Damm trainwreck. Well reading the website, it's only going to feature a few characters. Chun Li of course, Bison, Charlie Nash, Balrog, Vega, and Gen. But from reading the cast list and the movie crew got in a Hong Kong martial arts team in this might turn out be actually decent. Considering we have Kristin Kreuk as Chunners, Neal McDonough as Bison, and get this, Michael Clarke Duncan is Balrog. Oh, for Gen, Robin Chou of Mortal Kombat fame will doing the roll.   I'm a bit leary on this film considering the last one, but it's looking quite promising. So we'll see what happens in a few months. :P

OTAKON SKIT NOTE: I'll be submitting the skit on Wed just after Noon eastern time. That's when the e-mail opens up on that stuff. Only thing I don't really have from all of you is age. With the exception of Maranda I know at least one of you is 22, and the other two I'm guessing are 21. Maranda I know you're 19. :P Dang kids. **l**   And yes, Casicio said yes to doing Ryu, which will add to the hilarity of what i plan on doing to Spiker's Ken. :D   We do need to schedule a weekend to get together and record our stuff on CD. Considering the skit premise this year, can't use a microphone. So we need to do that sometime in July or else we'll be scrambling and I don't want that!

Guitar Hero Question to You Experts

2008-06-12T21:43:28Z

Alright, I'm looking at getting GHIII for the PS3, but I'm concerned that the wireless controller won't work with the PS2 copy of GHII played on the PS3 and any prior GH titles to that. Main reason for this is, I can't use my GHII controller for the PS2 on the PS3 despite the controller adaptor. Apparently Activision and Redoctane have not put a patch push to the PS3 to allow that controller to be used on the PS3. So you see my dilema.

I do want to get GHIII, but I do want to play the older GH's on the PS3 and use that new controller.

Any guidance on this?

Alive and Kicking

2008-06-10T01:14:46Z

For those of you wondering, my knee is a whole lot better from Sunday. I think I strained in one spot from all the walking on Saturday. With the hills and me still breaking in a new pair of shoes, should've expected something. But no problems today, just a bit of residual soreness, but no stiffness.

Bob, if you're reading this I picked up vol 1 of Red Dwarf today. **l** And no thanks to you I'm now on a quest to get the rest fo the series. :P And was the ship captain the WY company guy in Aliens: Director's Cut??

WTH????

2008-06-09T20:49:58Z

I had a free day off today so I went up the Oxford Valley Mall (north of Philly and close to where I live in Jersey) and found out the Suncoast there went the way of the dodo about a month ago!!!

Great, only three or so left in the region and they're all a nice little drive away!

LEGO Indy and Ninja Gaiden II = Fun and Gore!!

2008-06-05T10:34:26Z

Picked up LEGO Indiana Jones for the PS3 and Ninja Gaiden II the day after for the 360 (thought this was coming out the same day next week as Metal Gear Solid 4, took me a bit off guard)!!

LEGO Indy is quite the compliment to LEGO Star Wars. Has the same style of humor in the game (with a few Star Wars jokes thrown in for the fun of it too!), game play focuses more on brawling and picking up weapons. Get a kick out of smacking things with the shovels. :D Just like LEGO Star Wars this one is a fun game to get into and addictive! I didn't go to bed until midnight the day I bought because I wanted to finish Raiders of the Lost Ark. Now that I've got a lot of character unlocked up through Temple of Doom I can go back to pick up stuff I've missed.

Ninja Gaiden II can be a pain in the butt!! And that's on the normal level! This one picks up about a year or two after the last game and once again we've got Fiends and the Black Spider Ninja Clan causing trouble. Main plot is revolving around the Archfiend this time around. And yes, there is a big boobed blonde in the game this time and she's CIA. **lol** In addition to the usual hack and slash attacks now you can maim various enemies and if they're limbless (can still attack and in some cases get pissed off), you can attack those guys with a finishing move. With the system upgrade to the 360 for this game, you actually get to see the trail of death left in your wake. Yep, dead bodies and limbs are left for your viewing enjoyment. **lol**

Happies After a Goofy Work Week!

2008-06-02T22:09:10Z

Air Force Week in Philly is over. Finally!! Things started off alright, then kinda went in the gutter a bit for a short time. Memorial Day a number of us were in Bridesburg, PA to march in a parade. Which turned out pretty good, I always enjoy venues like that. Reminds me of home with the big parade there and the base using all the Groups in different uniforms to march. Tues a number of us had a feeling we might get pulled here and there for stuff happening in Philly and boy did we. Unfortunately those of us who left around 9am didn't get back to the base until 10pm (I didn't get home until 1030). We were told last minute, you're coming back late. We attended three forums over most of the same information from a couple of generals and we were a rentacrowd mostly. **lol** Got to see a bit of Independance Hall and the Liberty Bell before being whisked away to U of Penn for a forum that didn't start for two hours. At least we got free Starbucks (for those of us who went into the store first).

Wed went a whole lot better, we were told to meet at a spot at 445pm and then headed into Philly to watch Fighting for Life. Very well done movie on what our medical personnel are doing in Iraq and what some of our injured go through after coming home. Compared to years past where the wounded would recuperate in field hospitals we can now get them stabilized and flown immediately to medical facilities in Europe or stateside. If any of you get the opportunity, I strongly urge you to watch this movie. We didn't get home until late that night too, but at least we didn't have to go anywhere until later. Got half the day off you could say.

Thurs and Fri were setup for the airshow and a few other things. Saturday the airshow got rained out, but Sunday's weather made up for that.

But to cap off a busy week, I got a few things I've been waiting for! Two CD soundtracks from Play-Asia.com (ran across this site online) finally came in. Got Rumble Roses XX and Ridge Racer 7. One of the members of The Colonial Fleet (Battlestar Galactica fan group a number of us are a part of) sent me a ton of extra screws to put on the next two cranial helmets I'm about to start on for more costumes. :D He still won't tell me his source! **lol** A bonus from him was a buckle for the tool belts used by the deckhands in the show! I can now take that side release off and sew this one on finally. Then the yellow shells for the first of the last two helmets I'm about to start on came in today. :D No need to paint these ones, they're for the yellow coveralls this time around. The final helmet will be another orange one, might use it as a spare or do a give away at Dragon Con with it. You may never know!!! **l**

Good excuse to mess with the "rat's nest."

2008-05-17T22:11:32Z

Stimulus check finally showed up the other day (still think these were a dumb idea, despite getting money from the IRS) and I finally broke down after a two year hiatus on my first reservation that I had to cancel, I bought an XBox 360 Elite with most of the trimmings. **chuckle** Also ordered a number of items needed for costumes this summer.

Had to get another 50ft network cable (yes, I don't have a wireless lan setup yet, maybe next year so I get my money's worth out of the current box), two standard audio cables (one for the system, the othe for the TV) to hook into the DVD/receiver/stereo, one extra controller with power pack, small recharge station, and HDMI splitter (didn't have to buy the box, too expensive).

So I finally go around to reorganizing the cables aka the "rat's nest" on the enterainment center a whole lot better than the first time around. Then connected the new system and had at it. Before anyone asks, NO I DID NOT BUY HALO AND WILL NOT GET IT. There are way better FPS' out there and even though Halo has a great storyline, IMO it's not the schniznit no matter what some emo fanboy/fangirl will say. Republic Commando is where it's at. :P **l** I did get Ace Combat 6, Gears of War (limited edition), Dead Rising, and Rumble Roses XX. All used of course, but I'm putting in for Ninja Gaiden II here soon same with Metal Gear Solid 4 for the PS3. :D I even ordered up the strategy guides if they were still available online. I like having some good visual elements, FAQs are good, but can lack in certain areas. I plan on tearing up Ace Combat here soon and scare some kids online. **snicker**

Can't believe the arcade titles on XBox Live!! I knew of the TMNT Arcade game (hoping they get Turtles in Time and the old X-Men arcade game from Konami, but seeing some on there took me by surprise, they even had Streets of Rage 2! Yep, I'll be doing a few downloads when the time comes.

So any of you yahoos that come out this way, now you have another item to mess with when it comes to inhouse entertainment. **chuckle**

BUSY, BUSY, BUSY!!

2008-05-12T02:06:47Z

Well, last week was something else after I got back from Washington State. Due to the Office 2007 upgrades my e-mail went haywire and cut me off from the H:\ drive where my stuff is stored. Couldn't send out some stuff without have to dig deep for address. And my computer is still on the fritz due to the upgrade, need to get this fixed ASAP!!

This week is going to be unpredictable due to our new Group Commander wanting to see some stuff most of our people in my office have never done before. Fine by me, because I feel like I've been dumbed down since I arrived here because of the "way the base" does things. I'm used to a more picky temp and attitude when it comes to our job and I get here and it's a ho hum kind of setup throughout the group. I hope our new commander kick starts some stuff because I'm itching to implement some items that will help the group in better decisions and make our supervision in the maintenance units look at the crap more closely and put more responsibility in their laps. Friggin retards.

Then there's the process I have to get started from that trip. But that can take some time since we have to do test runs to get the bugs out of the system. On top of that I still have two special studies that have been on hold since Jan/Feb because of all the knee-jerk reflex crap coming our way and the shortmanning we've suffered. I'm putting my foot down this week on any requests and deferring them down the chain because I have too much right now and I don't need higher blood pressure.

At least I got my phone calls out of the way for AF in Philly Week. Contacted several local leaders touching bases about their invites and reminding them of the upcoming Air Show. Next week is going to be a bit hectic in last minute stuff and planning because once Memorial Day hits, it's game on! Not sure what I'll be assigned to do and where I'll be going during the week, but at least it gets me away from regular work and the base. I'll be in Philly doing who knows what, but promoting the AF. The Air Show, I'm now slated to work Sunday in the food booth for our squadron. That means I have a really, really good chance to not work Saturday and head into Philly for Wizard World!!

**NOTE for you BSG FANS reading this** KATE SACKOFF IS SCHEDULED TO APPEAR!!! This is why I want to go!! Plus scare people in the deckhand costume I have. **lol** But I won't know fully what happens for the Air Show until the week of at the meeting. They can use everyone for the entire weekend because we'll be overloaded on manning. Normally you split the work crews up for those during two day events. But we'll see and I'm crossing my fingers!!

Finally, I need to get my place spruced up for a June 13th Season 4 BSG party!! Yes, you heard right. A number of us have been doing this for the past few weeks and I volunteered for the 13th. So for those of you reading this and are in the region and would like to attend, speak up now or forever play with your peas. **chuckle** I just need to get a head count so I know what to get and how much floor space I'm going to lose for the drunkards crashing here. **lol**

Nice!!

2008-05-08T22:50:00Z

Recently I got my replacement DVD of volume 12 of Gundam Seed Destiny. The volume I bought back at Katsucon was bad due to some digital recording problems with that particularly line of DVDs and a few other titles from Bandai were also in the mix. Just my luck the final episode was the one that was corrupted. So luckily on Bandai's website they said send them the discs and they'll replace them. Almost two months later, they did and thensome! Got a few extra pencil boards, some chibi little stuffed thingy (I have no clue as to what character), and two clear static decals from Escaflowne and Cowboy Bebop (has Ein on it, and IT'S MINE!!!). So have to give credit to Bandai for taking care of their customers! And I finally watched that final episode. :D

On the side I got the two JVC headsets I needed to make two more cranial helmets from Battlestar Galactica. Yes, I'm making two more. :P One yellow for the signaler costume (the yellow coveralls used on the flightdeck -- we got the job title from an extra on the show!) and another orange one for the helluva it. Not going to say what I'm going to do with it, but it'll be a surprise later on.

Speaking of BSG costume related stuff, the airsoft revolver I ordered for the season 1 blaster kit came through, but FedEx Ground screwed the pooch on the directions I gave them for delivery since I was going to be gone shortly after I got the tag on my door. The idiots sent the package back!! And I was told by the customer service person on the phone that my directions were right there in the computer and no way in hell you could've messed that up. But someone did. Luckily I contacted the company I bought the gun from and told them what had happened. They said they'll send it right back to me and no doubt they'll chew FedEx a new one over that foulup.

Last weekend I picked up the material for the M. Bison costume. Hopefully I can start on that soon once I knock out this vest for someone's Resident Evil costume. Just have to pick up a few other items when payday hits like a hat and belt. Then it's onto the calvary boots for Bison. Hopefully I can find a pair that will fit my calves. I got big legs no thanks to my dad and all the walking and running I've done over the years. **l**

Whirlwind of a trip

2008-05-04T15:24:01Z

Well I made it back in one piece from Washington on Friday and from the Battlestar Galactica Season 4 party that same day I flew in. **chuckle** Got home last night after spending the night in Laurel, MD (in between DC and Baltimore). Overall the week went pretty well. The half of our crew (just two of us from our squadron, the other two didn't get in until later) got in early afternoon into SeaTac International so that gave us a good time cushion to rest up and do whatever that evening. For the car rental we were supposed to get a compact for cost efficiencies and ended up getting upgraded to a Toyota Highlander for the same price! Made it easy to haul our luggage. :D

Not much that Monday night other than hitting a Taco Time close to the hotel for dinner (love this regional place better than Taco Bell!!!) and rested up. Tues and Wed we worked half days getting the information we wanted which was all we needed. No need to sit on our butts watching people do their work at a different base for a whole day. Be a waste of their time. So Tuesday we get done, hit the gym, and I hand off the keys to the other sergeant because a college buddy of mine was coming down. Orignally we were supposed to catch a Mariners game, but he messed up and thought I was coming at the end of May! **lol** So no game that night, instead we went to the Seattle Center hoping to get into the Science Fiction Museum. Missed the closing time which was 5pm. So we milled around the Space Needle (didn't go to the top again due to a party taking place), hit a coffee shop, went to a Game Stop that he frequents, and then Applebee's for dinner and catching up. We also traded some burned CD's of techno and dance music. When we find something the other might like, we burn a copy and trade out. **l**

Wed was about the same routine, but my family came over from the other side of the state to drop of the gift boxes going overseas to my family in the Philippines. I met them at the BX after I was done at the gym and had them take me back to the hotel to change real quick before lunch. The other sergeant has a friend in the area also so they did they're own thing of course during the week. I handed off a bunch of old uniforms and t-shirts so they can be sent in the next set of boxes and some Italian cookies to my folks. After lunch I helped out with some shopping at an asian grocery store in The Great Wall mall in Kent. If I could've brought booze back, there would've been two large bottles of sake with me!! **l** And they're cheaper there too!

Thurs was pretty much a dead day so the two of us went up to downtown Seattle to the aquarium and Pike Street marketplace. Picked up a few souvenirs and in my case some inside joke items with some friends of mine in Texas. **snicker** For lunch we hit Ivar's Seafood Bar/Restaurant on the pier where we parked. THE BEST CLAM CHOWDER EVER!!! We took New England style and vastly improved on the recipe!! Since I've been here in Jersey I have not found a place to beat the taste. Came across some good ones, but not like Ivar's! We ate in the formal restaurant since it was warmer in there. **l** If we ate at the fast food part outside I could've gotten the sourdough bread bowl instead, but either way my appetite was sated. Until I go back home in Dec. **lol**

At the time we were leaving we nearly got blocked off on leaving by a labor demonstration starting there. Lot's of police all over the place. Luckily we were able to get out and back onto the main interstate.

After I got home friday I immediately got unpacked, showered, loaded the car, and headed down south for an overnight party and Iron Man the next day. Oh yeah, had to the love the movie and how BSG is going!!

Oh, just for you Bob we found out the yellow deckhands offical job. SIGNALER. We got the information from an extra who's now a part of TCF. He's a deckhand extra too boot. **chuckle** Won't give us spoilers, which is good. We just want costume information!! Plus the plotting I was doing on thursday night with "Starbuck" and "Athena" from TCF was absolutely hilarious!! Met up with them the night before I left. Very wrong things are planned for DragonCon. **l**

Gone for the week

2008-04-27T19:37:14Z

I'll flying out back to Washington State tomorrow early in the morning. Not going home exactly, I'm going to the Puget Sound region to do some information gathering at McChord AFB which is south of Tacoma and Seattle, but smack dab in the middle of suburb hell. **chuckle** Won't be back until later on Friday and then it's unpack, grab a few things, get some gas, and head on down to a Colonial Fleet member's season 4 party that night and then I think we're still on for our Ironman movie group and cookout.

Good thing about this week trip is, we probably will be working half a day because you don't need a whole day to sit on your butt watching people do some stuff. We're splitting this all up so when thursday rolls around we'll touch bases with our counterparts there at the base and then spend the rest of the day sightseeing. I haven't been back to that region of Washington in just over 2 1/2 years since I moved to Jersey. Tuesday I'm going to a Mariners game (they play the Red Sox) with a college buddy of mine and Wednesday my family's making a trip over (4 hour drive from Eastern WA, and that's a short drive by our standards) to deliver some boxes that are going overseas to my family so this is a good excuse to see me and my grandmother for what could be the last time. My folks are taking her back to the Philippines to be cared for by our relatives there. Being well over 80 she's gotten quite ornery (yes I said ornery). **chuckle**

Since my dad's now retired my going over there gave them a good excuse to make a small road trip. If Wednesday goes alright I'll be able to hit a couple of anime stores in Kent and grab dinner with the family. Plus I'll be able to terrorize our hairball of a toy poodle who's 16 years old and still going strong. He's slowed down now. Yes, we have a toy poodle, but he's small to pack around (he likes that go figure), looks like a black bear cub when we let his hair grow out, and is absolutely spoiled rotten.

Yes, looking forward to this trip. :D Of course once I get back to work then I have to start implementing a paperless process to make things easier on a our inspection dock guys, which is the purpose of this info gathering trip. And a good excuse to get away for awhile. **big evil grin**

Deathcom!

2008-04-19T22:47:46Z

Deathcom.net got all their stuff up from Tekkoshocon 2008!

http://www.deathcom.net

For the cosplay video link they would have to put the shot of me on the floor grabbing my junk with Anna about kick me in the butt. **l** Better than having that groin stomp pic!!

Yep, now I have more motivation to lose the gut big time after seeing those pics. **cringe**

OH THE HORROR!!!

2008-04-16T02:16:42Z

As if the Rick Rollin' wasn't bad enough at Tekkoshocon 2008, guess what I found on YouTube?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=mkbQDhuEZ1c

If this isn't more motivation for me to drop this spare tire, I keep going like this I'll end up like Ganryu!! **l**

One crucial costume item out of the way!

2008-04-02T01:48:56Z

Got the deck helmet done for my deckhand costume from Battlestar Galactica finished! I just need to put some screw heads on for the final bit of detail, but due to some issues of trying to get the screw heads separated I'll either wait for access to a pair of bolt cutters or try an alternative method tomorrow where I'll have to visit Lowe's for what I'm after. I tried using a metal cutter wheel on my Dremel (it's a craftsman but in the same league) but stopped since the screw were pretty tough and I was sparking everywhere. Didn't want to set the balcony on fire. **l**

I did the liner from scratch using a Navy liner that was sent to me. I took that thing apart and used it for fabric patterns. Dyeing the actual item would've been a pain, and it smelled used of course. At least now I can make another liner and I know what to look out for in ways of sewing issues. Everything else was acquired through people's information and what was seen in screenshots from the show.

I'll be wearing this little ensemble at Tekkoshocon next week! Look for the bright orange coveralls!

Oh yeah, forgot about the pics. :P

DID IT FINALLY!

2008-03-08T14:39:46Z

After two injuries that kept me from doing my PT test 100% and due to the limitations at those times which results in two failures and a referral tag on my last evaluation performance report in Jan, I finally passed the test this week doing all that was required and no injuries! Funny thing was the waist measurement they had me at earlier in the week would've screwed me over with just half an inch over where I needed to be. So after the test on thursday they told me to get on a cardio machine and see if I can sweat that off. 25 min on a stationary bike and 15 min in the sauna later I got rid of a full inch which easily put me over the score needed to pass.

Now, the consequences of not passing the third time around would've kept me from re-enlisting in June. Plus I'd be heading home looking for a full time job (probably with the Postal Service since I wouldn't lose my government time) and finish up the bachelor's on the side. If some of you didn't catch on real quick that would've meant any vacation plans I had with a lot of you for this summer would've been cancelled on my end. To some this would like I don't have my priorities straight. Yes I do, I'm not letting 10 years of a career go down the toilet due to minor injuries and stupid higher ups trying to make us look like tooth picks so we can run faster (that's the biggest complaint right now amongst us on people who can pass the PT test with very little effort and they're not in the best of shape in a lot of cases). Would I have been mad if I had to get out and miss out on plans that were a year in advanced? Hell yes!! I hate it when I miss out on stuff due to some idiotic crap. Happened once to me and when a bunch of us looked back on it we all agreed I was screwed over. Not happening again.

Last year was a different story of me missing out on a couple of cons. I had to go overseas, no getting around that. I can deal with things like that. The big plus of deployments is the extra pay and stuff we can come back with. :D Just hope nothing bad happens to where I have to start shooting at things.

I just have one obstacle to get over before the re-enlistment in June. Get a new eval written on me to negate the one in Jan. I have to be on my supervisor's ass so we can turn in one mid-April to our squadron command staff to be looked over and make corrections so we can make the mid-May deadline. This will give us 30 day cushions on any delays or hiccups. Plus we can put a high priority on this since my career's technically on the line. My 1st sergeant will definitely help make this happen since he was there with me getting all the facts after I did the PT test. :D This won't be difficult, just got to deal with time being short. Not to mention you have to have 120 days from the last report being submitted to making a new one. We barely missed the mark!

So once this is all done I can finish up getting all my new uniform stuff I'm short on around July/August (boots, green socks, three more uniform sets, and all weather jacket), collect my final yearly bonus when I last re-enlisted, and KEEP MY CHUNKY BUTT IN SHAPE SO I WON'T GO THROUGH THIS CRAP EVER AGAIN!! **l**

About friggin time

2008-03-03T23:58:40Z

They say hard work pays off. And after nearly 10 years in the AF I finally get some sort of recognition award in the form of a First Sergeants coin for "above excellence" due to an ongoing battle with a program that was in shambles when I first got to New Jersey two years ago. Hopefully this type of coin won't be the last. Me and another sergeant have been beating data integrity into the skulls of our maintenance supervision to where they finally realized if they don't get their stuff straight in the system, we can't do our job right which in turn makes life miserable for the supervision over those guys. We got the error rate at it's lowest in over 2 years(just a bit over 5% on all jobs looked at in the system) and the fun part now begins. Keeping it low indefinitely. Yeah, I've gotten praise for stuff in the past and hopefully this can actually lead to an award that can count toward promotion. I got gipped by a Chief at my last base and that absolutely pissed me off considering how much stuff I did for him particularly special requests.

I find achievement medals and higher to be a sore spot with me due to my first base where you had to shove your head so far up someone's ass just to get a quarterly award and then the thing with that Chief at my last base. I just let my work speak for itself and go from there. From experience anyone can be put in for an award and get it. You can pass gas in public and piss off foreign nationals in the process and you can be put in for a medal. It gets ridiculous sometimes. It's funny, in basic we were told by our training instructor that you could have a huge rack of ribbons and not one count towards promotion (some awards are worth points, whereas the majority don't count other than showing your service and where). Unfortunately I fell into that pitfall and not by choice. **chuckle** Let the glory hounds and award mongers do all the schmoozing, me I prefer to sit in the shadows do what is required of me (and thensome) so things work smoothly for others.

Online Hijinx

2008-02-25T01:41:39Z

Well I finally got to purchasing the Online upgrade to Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection. Total cost for the game runs around $40 with the upgrade compared to the original home release of T5. It appears that it is global when it comes to finding battle rooms despite the thing saying you're limited to your region. Unless people are just choosing flags for different countries in my area. **chuckle** Like the "ghost" battle where you do your ranking based on win/loss record you start over against human opponents. Don't let some ranks fool you, some people can be new to T5: DR Online but are butt kickers in their own right. Drawback is a split second lag at times so that can mean the difference on a win when you're trying to get an attack off quickly.

I'm hoping there's an online component to Soul Calibur IV when it comes out particularly since you will be able to play Darth Vader and Yoda (depending on what system copy you bought, 360 vs PS3) in this. Yes, you heard right. Namco's going to have fun with this. Plus you'll be able to download the other character you don't have when it's available.

For the old schoolers out there, I also got the arcade classics of Joust and Q*bert! Yep, putting the PS3 through it's paces with these two games and they only ran like $5 a pop. **l**

Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination

2008-02-21T03:04:24Z

This was advertised recently at the Franklin Institute in Philly:

http://www2.fi.edu/exhibits/traveling/starwars/overview.php

Looks pretty interesting and was wondering if anyone out there would be up for a weekend to check this out? Considering it goes until May 4th there's plenty of time for planning. I'm up for spending a Saturday down there since I haven't been to the FI yet since being here in 2006. If anyone's interested, let's see what day would be best for people, my place is open for anyone who wants to spend the weekend at my place for crash space if you're a ways away from here. And if need be I can cash in some CTO time to get a free Friday off just to make sure the place is up to par. Space is kinda limited of course, so people would have to fight for the futon in the living room and then it's floor space. Plus I have only one bathroom so no blowing that up or I'll make you eat the plunger. :P

Two New Games Coming Soon!!

2008-02-20T22:27:23Z

Aliens: Colonial Marines is coming out sometime in 2009 and is a squad based first person shooter from Sega and Gearbox. This game is based entirely on Aliens and takes place with a squad going on board the now deserted Sulaco to find out what happened. Reading the article in Game Informer has me giddy with excitement! Just read it or look up online for more info. They even got Syd Mead to help out with new areas of the ship to look like they would've if they were in the movie. :D

Soul Calibur IV, a lot of us are anticipating this new title and hoping they made refinements since III. Well, two more characters are in this. I'm not joking when I say Darth Vader and Yoda. You heard me right. Vader is poised for PS3 copies and Yoda for 360. Are we going the route of II with Link, Heihachi, and Spawn??? Probably, but the guys at Namco are having fun with this and are working on weaving how two Force users get tossed into the Soul Calibur chaos. This will include Force Powers and how regular weapons are able to handle up to light sabers. They will also have these two fight in conjunction with the Star Wars universe so hopefully no Teras Kasi BS will pop up. And they have mentioned that whatever version of the game you buy the other character will probably be available for download in the system. The game is slated for a summer release.

Doing this can get you "killed."

2008-01-31T01:29:24Z

Today I had to do my yearly qualification/refresher for "chem warfare" training. Mainly it's just going over the types of nasty stuff we could encounter in hostile environments, inspecting our "real world" gas masks for problems, and go through a few scenarios. Well during the exercise portion where we were simulating attacks, on the final "attack" one of the sergeants in our little group decided to have some fun and joke a bit. He poked an unexploded "bomb" with a stick. **lol** Well, in real life we wouldn't do that and since this was training we needed a laugh. Got even better when the low ranking Airman in charge of the class got a chuckle and then said the sergeant and his partner were dead and we needed the second check team to come out and take their place. **rotfl** Saved me and the other guy the trouble of having to identify and call in the type of explosive found since it went kablooie. Then we had to simulate what we would have to do when his partner went into convulsions even though he was in his gear and partially wounded. No, we didn't do what Nicholas Cage did in The Rock. :P In that scenario we pumped him up with his three antidote kits and left them in a position to identify that he was tended to. The sergeant with the poker, was dead of course. **l**

Lesson learned? Don't be poking stuff!! If you're gonna do it, get someone to hold your beer first. :P

New wardrobe, minus malfunctions :P

2008-01-23T02:18:58Z

After months of frustration I finally acquired three full sets of our new Airman Battle Uniforms (ABUs). Yahoo!! Some of you are wondering what makes these suckers so special. **chuckle** And some of you have heard me bitch about what goes into keeping our Battle Dress Uniforms (BDUs) at certain standards. :P Well this new uniform that the Air Force is converting is easier to maintain and less worry when deployed to the Middle East. Like the Army's Army Combat Uniform (ACUs) we won't have to wear the old desert uniforms (DCUs, and I think you know this acronym!) and saves money on issuing new clothes to people for every deployment we go on. No longer will we have to press these new ABUs to have a crease down the middle of the sleeves and pants legs. Nor will we have to polish our boots. The higher ups finally got wind that people were still having to look "presentable" in combat zones and decided that was a complete load of crap. I went through this debate on my first deployment for Operation Southern Watch when I brought it up "do we have to have the DCUs pressed and creased??" Yep! We had to look presentable. Yeah, for who? The crazy terrorists out there? **l** Because people work 12+ hour shifts over in the deployed locations who has time to press your stuff? Some bases have free "dry cleaning" and in one place I was at you had no choice but to drop off laundry to be taken and cleaned due to waste water treatment at the base wasn't 100%. We were still running off of septic tanks and "dookie" trucks were coming and going all the time. At least we didn't waste our day off doing laundry.

But with the new uniforms, there are permanent creases already in the shirts and pants. Unfortunately these will only last for so long after multiple washings. It's against regs to even dry clean and starch the ABUs. I've heard of people getting chewed out for doing so. **lol** The new boots are a green suede, same material as our desert boots. No need for polish, just need to clean them off from time to time. For those of us who can't get the new boots just yet, we're allowed to wear desert boots if we have them until we make our purchases. Clothing allowances this year are supposed to be boosted for us to make the initial new purchases, but the politicians down south haven't approved it yet. Retards. New stuff's available and they're worried about crap not in our country and not taking care of us immediately. Yeesh. But we're going to get the raise this year and that will compensate me for the purchases.

I'll have to post up a pic or two of the new digs so you can see what the uniform looks like. To the untrained eye the ABUs and ACUs look identical from a distance. But if you get close you'll notice ours are cut almost like the older BDU's with the addition of lower leg pockets and a pen pocket on the left sleeve. Plus our camo pattern is digitized, but tiger striped whereas the ACU is a regular camo pattern but also digitized. Plus we have a bit more light, light blue in our color. We do have GORE-TEX jackets and pants available but those are expensive as heck right now. And if we can't purchase them yet or they're unavailable at this time (which is what's going on) we can mix and match our woodland camo GORE-TEX wear for now. I had someone comment on that and I told them of the new policy and they were really??? I need to tell my guys so they know they can wear the old jackets for the time being. Problem was, the AF didn't make enough of the jackets and forgot about the cold weather period at basic training and didn't make new field jackets for the trainees coming in. So now they're scrambling for cold weather gear in the new format.

Now I just need to get three more sets of uniforms in the next couple of months, try to get new cold weather gear, and my boots and I'm 100% converted. I'll probably wait until the tax return, re-enlistment bonus, or my uniform allownance upgrade (comes in at end of July for me) to get the rest of the stuff. Shoot, the boots I need cost over $100 a pair. And that's steel toed too.

Oh, I'm not giving away the old stuff either. :P Only my old uniforms are going to a cousin who can use them in the Philippines. He's planning on going in the military and my stuff's can hold up better despite the age. **lol** We send hand me downs to the family overseas to help them out from time to time. But I'm keeping my boots, and other gear. :P

So yay for new clothes!

Worth it!

2008-01-03T02:22:38Z

Today I picked up NeoGeo Coliseum (still haven't played it yet though) and LEGO Star Wars The Complete Saga with part of a dividend check I got from my insurance company (seems like I get money back every since I've been in Jersey, go figure). The new LEGO Star Wars is definite worth getting if you haven't played the original two releases! This one combines them both, but with new additions, secrets, and there's a trailer for the new LEGO Indiana Jones game coming out in Summer 2008. :D **does the Happosian Pee Pee Dance of Joy**

The preview for the Indy game had me cracking up. It showed scenes from Raiders of the Lost Ark and the part where he has to give up the Champoylan Idol (yes, I knew what this was thanks to an old issue from Marvel I had as a kid) to Belloq was classic. It has to be seen. I knew they were coming out with some toy sets, but I didn't know about the game coming out. It will only cover the first three movies, unfortunately nothing about The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. We can only hope they might toss that in at the last minute.

But back to the new LEGO Star Wars, you can use a TON of characters in this one (Original Trilogy allowed you to transfer over the ones you had unlocked from the previous LEGO Star Wars) and you can buy Indy. **lol** I can't wait to use him for Free Play (used to unlock the rest of the hidden stuff). :D All the original material is in this plus extras. I've only played through about half of Episode I today, the PT run pooped me out (been awhile since I've run on pavement, yep I'm sore).

Not too bad on the price for a new release, it's roughly $50 for 360 and PS3, and around $40 for the PS2. Oh, just reading the intro in the instructions is a good chuckle too. :D