No more biscuits and gravy

Gary went to the doctor yesterday and his blood pressure and triglycerides were sky high so I'm trying not to freak out over that. At least his EKG came back normal, but they are going to do a stress test on him next week. They have him on medication now which makes him feel like crud, but it's better than him kicking the bucket. We're both going to have to quit smoking no ifs ands or butts about it. That's the hardest thing, but I personally like living. I'm also trying to learn how to cook healthy but so far most of what I turned out is only marginally edible. Gary must madly deeply love me because he didn't run away screaming after the pitiful breakfast I attempted to make him this morning. It's only been a couple of days though, and at this point my cooking skills can only improve. I just wish that bacon, gravy and real butter didn't taste so good.

I've been on vacation this week and have been mostly cleaning and organizing the house. I've also been able to do a little bit of loafing so the entire week has not been wasted. I took Daniel to my work Monday for breakfast. He's been wanting to go to my work for ever but I haven't had the opportunity or excuse since He's started school so I had to make up one. We had a lot of fun and he got to see my cubicle and admire the view from the fifth floor. For once he didn't run around like a maniac and he even used all his utensils when he ate. The cafeteria manager likes him, probably because Daniel gave him a million complements on the breakfast but he was cute.
Lea Anna and I went to lunch yesterday and went browsed through Toys R Us. She announced to our waiter with an angelic smile on her face "I Farted!" All I could say was "Don't mind her, She has a six year old brother". She tried real hard to con me into a dolly at the toy store. I kept telling her no, and she'd say "can we get one tomorrow?" ... "No" ... "can we get one Tuesday?"... "No"... can we get one Thursday?" AGGGH!!

More From Jazz...............

I got my first paycheck this past Friday...yay! It was only for the first week I worked, so I got $158.20. Since it was my first check I spent it on nice stuff. I got a pair of shiny, new boots (literally...they're silver), one of those pretty, black glitter trees I coveted, a HIM DVD (a cheap, single, but whatever...), and pretty fabric. Also...

I got tickets to see HIM in concert at the Wiltern!!! Wooooo Hooooo! They are floor seats (the pit) and they're awesome!!!
I'm gonna have to fight off the ville valo fan girls though...they'll be trying to get at his crotch the whole time...NE-Wayz...
I'm taking my friend, Emerald, to the concert. I bought her a ticket as a birthday gift. I get my next paycheck the weekend before the concert, so I'm going to try to get a hotel room...that way well have a place to crash after the concert (which probably won't get out 'til 11pm and who wants to wait around for the Metro bus on a Friday night? .....NOT ME).
The following day, we'll hang out in Hollywood and/or Santa Monica...then we can go see Sins of the Flesh (Rocky Horror). Yay!
If I have enough money I'll drag Bridget with us to Sins...AND NOTHING HER BOYFRIEND SAYS WILL STOP ME!!! (Even if he feels left out... X-P) N-E-Wayz...........

I did start North High...I even got my school ID. My counselor is really cool too...he said that even though my grades in the 11th grade weren't so great, he believes I still have a chance to get into a 4 year college. Therefore I decided to buckle down and take 7 classes instead of 6 this year...North High has a 0-period that starts at 7am, before the standard 1-6 period classes at 8am. My 0-period is TV production and in about 3 weeks we'll be the ones in charge of doing the North High TV news (aired everyday during 4th period).

My favorite teachers are Ms. Benone (Theater Arts) and Mr. Stover (English). Ms. Benone is very perky and funny...I like her...she's nice. Mr. Stover is my all-time favorite thought because he's REALLy funny and has a twisted sense of humor. He even free-styles (no, he's not black....he's just weird) during class in the middle of teaching. We started Macbeth and he's even nice enough to translate Shakespeare into idiot-terms for the students who don't get it. NE-Wayz...

That's all for now....I must get ready for school in the morning!

--Jazzy

Happy Birthday David

Congratulations on making it to the Big 2-0. Since 21 has become something of a non-event now that you have a military ID, it puts the focus back on this birthday, in my opinion anyway.

You're not a teenager anymore. Yikes. I want to say "Thank God" and "Oh my God" (my baby's grown up) all at the same time. I'm disappointed I've missed your last two phone calls and that I still don't have your address to send you a special birthday package full of beef jerky or whatever. But if you check your e-mail today you'll find something from Amazon. Hopefully you will get yourself some decent reading material, at least with part of it.

The night you were born The A-Team was on in the Labor room. It's one of the few things I remember. I guess another significant memory is that you didn't take as long to arrive as your sister, something that still hasn't changed ;-) And then of course, there's the story you love to repeat, where the nurse handed you to your dad and he said, "Now THERE'S a good-looking kid."

Riding on the metro...

Today I had a few hours of free time so I took the bus down to hollywood. Despite being alone most of the time the trip was rather fun but the bus ride was the most.....intresting (to talk about anyways.) After I got on the bus and sat down some guy came up to me and asked how tall I was. I havent seen most people on the blog in a long time so I dont know how tall or short you are, but if you're about 6 feet and up you problably get asked this question alot to the point where it drives you crazy to hear those 4 cursed words. So anyways despite my annoyance I told him I was 6'5 hoping he'd go away satisfied but turns out this guy was on a mission, a mission to get me to play football. I've tried the football thing a couple years ago and because of that I dont like football. So when the guy asked me if I played football I told him no and that I dont like it but as I said earlier he was on a misson. The guy responded "Well why the hell not son?" that kind of surprised me because people usually just say Well you shoul or something of that ilk. So after that he went on to lecture me. I tried to ignore him but he just wouldn't leave me alone but luckily god threw me a heavenly bone when an even bigger guy came on the bus. The guy completley forgot about me and ran up to the front of the bus and began doing the exact same thing to the other guy. Other than that the bus ride there was pretty normal.

When I got to hollywood I went to hollywood toys and costumes to buy a model kit. I got a A-10 thunderbolt II which is a powerfull air force jet designed to kill anything that moves on the ground. once I got outside I intended to leave having got what I came for but I saw 2 of my freinds Julio and Nester and ended up hanging out with them. We went to Ripley's belive it or not meuseum. We did'nt go in but theyhave plenty of things in the lobby that you can look at. The most obvious is a life size wax model of the worlds fattest boy. Possibly the coolest thing they had was 'The brain'. The Brain is a machine like those old fortune telling macines where you'd put a dollar in and they would tell you something. Its the same thing except theres a freaky looking scientist inside that insults you and you're questions. After we ate I caught the bus home.

The bus was full so I sat on one of the seats that face each other. So after a few minuites someone got aboard the bus and sat right across from and began just staring. Suddenly he began to giggle but I didn't think anything of it until I noticed he was still staring at me still . He started rocking back and forth and laughing louder and the whole time he never took his eye off me. I tried ignoring him but I just couldn't so I moved to the back of the bus and after I sat down and was facing forward, the guy was bent over still staring, still rocking back and forth, and still laughing. He finally got off after about 15 minuites of staring and laughing. Another typical LA crazy came on later, it was a short fat black girl this time. She seemed normal so I didnt pay any attention to her until she started talking loudly. When I looked over I saw her arguing with an invisible man outside the window to her left. She was arguing with him (or her) when I got off the bus and problably until seh was wherever she was destined to go.

Happy Birthday Jonna!

Okay, I know I'm not the first cuz Amanda and Adrian (you A's always have to be first!) beat me to it with their comments on your last post, but nonetheless, I hope you have a great day today.

Luis should get you a beautiful cake and the children should not fight or otherwise cause injury or harm all day. You deserve it.

I remember the day you were born. Libby was scurrying around, putting Mom's suitcase in the living room and telling Dad "Don, she's ready! Hurry!"

Can We Be Any Stupider Here in GA?

Okay now the Governor has asked that schools cancel classes on Monday and Tuesday so that we can conserve gasoline supplies.

For those of you who didn't hear about the freakin' idiots here in Atlanta that panicked because some loser started an e-mail rumor about all gas stations in the state closing at 4 p.m. a couple of days after Katrina hit, it was bad. Dumb-asses everywhere dropped what they were doing to run out and drain gas stations of every last drop of gasoline. Some unscrupulous gas station owners got away with charging over $5 per gallon for gas, and - as could be expected with mass stupidity in effect - some gas stations ran out.

Here we go again.

Maracas are Evil

I received a package from Adrian yesterday that Jazzy and Him have been putting together with a cool Xmas CD that Adrian shot last year and a power point of Jazzy's portfolio. They also sent some toys for Daniel and Lea Anna and they are all loud, except for the light sabers. We had a battle last night against the dark empire, but Lea Anna hits to hard so I had to bow out of that one. I never knew maracas could make so much noise. All I can say is wait till Jazzmin and Adrian have kids. Payback!

North High Here I Come!!!

I JUST got off the phone with the counselor, Irene at North High and she said I can start class after I re-fill out the enrollment papers! She said that since I'm 18 and living with my grandparents I have to sign the papers in MY NAME and not granpas... Therefor I am going to get the paperwork in about 30mins. and turn it in tomorrow! Then I'll be able to start attending North High School! YAAAAAYYYY!

Aren't you all just THRILLED!

Hello everybody

School is going well. I got an "A" on my Spanish exam. P.E. is going well.also. I am taking a walking class, where we walk 3 miles outdoors. I am getting pretty burned because I keep forgetting my sunblock. N E Way- it is so nice going to school with my husband. It gives me couple time. He helps me with my spanish and I help him with his english. plus I get a ride for free. What else is going on- I am thinking about taking some cooking classes. I just want to see if I like it. LA Trade tech has some really good programs but they have classes either at 6:45 in the morning or 2:00pm. I still would have to take classes at El camino in order to qualify for assistance with school. Maybe I could take a few classes at an adult school in cooking , I dont know. But whatever I do I dont want to get side tracked again. I have three classes after this semestre before I graduate with a general diploma. I am going for the general diploma first, to give me a since of accomplishmentand also because I dont know yet what I am supposed to do with my life-career wise. This Friday I will be thirty-three. I am going to spend the day at the beach reading a book, then I will go out to lunch and have family over in the evening. How did everyone spend their Birthdays? Well, I have to go because Marisela is begging for Mommytime.

Jonna

Counting the Days

It has been crazy at work. Last Thursday our vendor's website changed thier security certificate with out telling us!!! It caused major issues and it took until yesterday evening for everything to be fully resolved, so we spent three days going batshit crazy doing almost nothing and today trying to cram in 3 day backlog. Thank god I'll be on vacation next week, but it is making this week crawl by. I plan on doing almost nothing of any value (which is much funner at home - it's only fun in theory at work but in reality it totally sucks), not even taking a peek at an iron, pantyhose, or high heels and sleeping in as much as humanly possible. I firmly believe high heels are the root of all evil and were probably invented by some man to keep his wife three steps behind him. After all, it's hard to conquer the world when your feet hurt (and you guys thought it was hormones that makes us so bitchy).

I made a really good pot pie for dinner tonight. Daniel kept bumming my potatoes off of me and Lea Anna kept stealing my carrots. I don't really like cooked carrots all that much anyway, but between those two little imps half my dinner was gone. Oh well, I can always get a peanut butter sandwich later. It wouldn't hurt me to skip a meal or two anyway.

This is Halloween...Halloween, Halloween!

This year I have decided to invest a small portion of my check to Halloween decor...especially when it goes on sale. That way, when I get my own living space I'll have killer decorations...like the 6ft. tall black, cardboard coffin at the Halloween Illusions store...AWESOME! This list also includes the following desired items:

2 Glittery, black decorative trees
1 package (10 x 50ft) of Wall Gore-it's wall paper, but with cool print on it...I want the one that makes your room look like a dungeon.
3 packs of Floor Gore-clear secorative stickers you put on your floor. One looks like a skelleton climbing out of a sewer and I want a couple spider ones...
4 Glowing Skull lamps-they have them at Ralphs...I want 2 white ones and 2 green ones.
1 Black Skull Strobe Light

And a small variety of other items (like pretty fabrics for decorating and drapes)...but don't worry...I'll still leave room for a bed n stuff...

My Lil' Ol' Town

And in the news - radical possums staged a sit in at the steps of Goodlettsville City Hall, claiming inequality and marsupial bias and demanding that their human oppressors leave the lids off their trash cans as their poor little paws have been getting strained lifting the heavy lids. They also demanded a truckload of Little Debbies nutty bars. Ok, so the possum story is a fabrication but lack of sleep is making me weird.
Daniel is once again getting in trouble in school. He keeps making various odd noises in class. Wednesday it was whistling and topped off with a loud belch. I forget what it was the rest of the week. Thursday was the only day he did good. I've tried every form of discipline I can think of but the boy can't be quiet to save his life. It's going to be a long, long school year.
Daniel and Lea Anna helped me make cookies yesterday. Lea Anna kept trying to eat the brown sugar and it was a major struggle to actually get the chocolate chips into the cookie dough, but we had fun. She wouldn't eat the cookies though. Last week I made them peanut butter cookies and they came out good too, but she wouldn't eat those either. I guess she just likes store bought. You can never really figure toddlers out. They are beautiful, inspirational, joyous, and quite strange little bitty things.
Jazzmin is having a little trouble registering at NHS. Technically your parent is supposed to register you, but she is 18. Apparently the school didn't know how to deal with that so they are going to check on it and get back with her. Bureaucracy at it's finest. She has her bus pass so she's mobile, and likes her job at JoAnns.
Here's something funny that happened at one of the Nashville area motor vehicles dept. - This guy had just finished his drivers test when the instructor told him to pull in the parking area and apparently got his gas and brake mixed up, and you guessed it - He drove through the brick wall and into the testing station. LMAO! Obviously he did not pass.

86 Jump School -- Sub Permanent Duty Station

My drill sergeant dropped the ball on my airborne school paperwork, so I won't be going to Ft. Benning as I had hoped. Instead, I am now on my way to good old Ft. Hood, Texas. I was supposed to get on a bus to the airport at 1100 this morning, but apparently paperwork isn't one of the Army's strong points. The sergeant that handles all processing for my unit at Ft. Leonard Wood screwed up something major. In the orders he did up for me, he left room for 12 days of leave before I had to report to Ft. Hood. However, since I did not submit a leave request, he baically sentenced me to another 12 days at Ft. LostInTheWoods, at the end of which I would have to pay my own way to my duty station.
After waiting around most of the day, they finally got me on a Greyhound to the St. Louis airport, where I will be spending the night. I'm in the USO lounge here, and the nice military mommies filled my belly with a hot meal and sleeping pills. I gotta get on a plane at 0600 tomorrow, so I'm gonna hit the easy chair. I'll let y'all know how Ft. Hood is. BOYAKASHA...safe...westside!

Life in Americas armpit (aka Los Angeles)

The main thing happening out here involves the terminator. He's made it official that he plans to run for governor of california a second time which comes as a surprise since about 99.9% of california HATES him. The reason is he constantly attempted to cut school budgets, medicare, police & firefighter budgets and death benifits for the ones killed in action, Hes also accepted private intrest money.

The other news involves Reggie the alligator that has been evading the croc catchers for 2 months now. Anyways Reggie (Which happens to be the worst name for an alligator in existence)has become an Urban legend round these parts and has become a symbol for those who are trying to evade "The Man," and a popular blog name , as well as a merchandising symbol. Earlier this week a colorado man announced that he had caught him. At that announcement people began to cry into their Reggie the alligator shirts, "The Man" caught and arrested the demoralized evaders, people on Reggie blogs wrote messages which included no's with up to 50 O's, and the men selling reggie keychains hats and posters cleared off their tables, put them in their vans and drove off. Yes many people were dissapointed at this announcement myself included, but no. He was not captured as we all thought. The colorado man made the announcment for publicity and is currently facing charges for illegal impersinaton (or something like that.) At that announcment people wiped tears away en masse, The remoralized evader kicked "The Man"in his groin and ran off before being put in the patrol car, Reggie blogs members were once agian active, and the man with the van came back with tables filled with Reggie slippers, jeans and handbags.

Due to a storm system somewhere out in the pacific californias beaches are having HUGE swells which is attracting surfers from all around the country coming to try to hang ten. Because of the excess of surfers splashing around I'm excpecting to turn the news on anyday now and see limbs and surfboard peices flying out the water with people screaming shark.

This Day in History ......

1858 - The first transcontinental mail service to San Francisco begins by the new Overland Mail Company sending out its first two stages, inaugurating government mail service between the eastern and western regions of the nation.

1862 - The Confederate General "Stonewall" Jackson captures Harpers Ferry, Virginia, and 12,000 Union soldiers as General Robert E. Lee's army moves north into Maryland.

1954 - The famous scene in of Marilyn Monroe, laughing as her skirt is blown up by the blast from a subway vent, is shot on this day during the filming of The Seven Year Itch. The scene infuriated her husband, Joe DiMaggio. The couple divorced shortly after.

1963 and 1964 - On September 15th, 1963 A cute little baby girl named Teresa was born, ready to rule the roost and take on the world. Alas, her sole reign would be cut short as exactly one year later on September 15th 1964 an equally darling little girl thought she'd been hanging around inside her Momma a bit too long to suit her tastes. Besides, she smelled a cake baking in the oven. So regardless of her due date, little Suzanne decided the time too come out was RIGHT NOW! Thus was the beginnings of the large and somewhat prolific Rosche clan. The eldest two of six girls - who occasionally tortured their younger siblings but also taught them cool things to help them get by in a cruel world, such as how to sneak the dog under the dinner table to quickly dispose of the liver on these poor child's plates, and how holding your nose while you swallow makes cod liver oil makes it slightly less disgusting.

For this and much more, you both have brightened my life. Happy Birthday Teresa & Suzanne!

Just Say No...to the IRS

A point of interest for all of us old enough to vote: I'm an am radio junkie, and my favorite talk show host, Neal Boortz, has co-authored a book with congressman John Linder called The FairTax Book. This is a great idea for tax reform, and if you don't want to shell out the $25 for the book, you can read all about it on fairtax.org for free. Basically, it would abolish the IRS, remove all of the embedded taxes in all new goods (currently between 20% - 30%) and apply a flat tax of about 23% on all new goods and services at the point of purchase only. If you think this will increase prices, think again- prices will pretty much stay the same. No tax on used goods. No headache every April 15th, or even better, no feeling grateful to the government for sending you a check that is simply money you earned the previous year but lent them interest-free. Prebate check every month keeping even with the poverty line for all taxes you would pay on the necessities of life. The more you spend, the more taxes you pay. People who avoid paying income tax (those who receive 'under the table' pay, drug dealers, and very rich people with very good accountants and lawyers) would begin really contributing to our economy, recapturing billions of untaxed dollars currently lost to criminal and offshore businesses. You choose when and how much tax you would pay every time you choose to spend your hard-earned money. The governement would not get a chance to get their hands on your paycheck before you even get to see it- you take home every dime you work for, since the income tax, social security tax, and medicare taxes among others, are no longer automatically taken from you. This won't change the fact that you pay taxes, it won't drastically change how much you pay, it will affect how you pay taxes, replacing over sixty thousand pages of IRS rules and regulations with a tax reform bill that is 133 pages long and much easier to read and understand. I think this is a brilliant idea, long overdue, and with enough support it can go from being an idea to reality. Take a look and see if you don't agree.
-Amanda

Moved Out...

Hey family,

I moved out of dad's house...yay...of course he had A LOT to say about it, but he hasn't changed my mind. He says I'm abandoning the family because I think a job is more important...but, hopefully he'll come to understand that leaving was just something I had to do.

I've decided to go to North High after all. I'll only take the mandatory classes (English, History, and a foreign language) and take all my electives at LACC...the best part about that is that I'd only have class at LACC once a week in the evening. This also gives me time to work. I'm also going to get my HS diploma through Century High School's Test program...even though I'll get it before the end of the school year, I'm going to continue going to North High. (I would like a REAL graduation ceremony...you know, caps, gowns, nostalgia, etc.) And If my schedule becomes too hectic I can always check out of North High anyway becausem hey........I'll already have a diploma!

So, that's the update on my life...

Love you all!

-Jazzy

More Exiting Stuff from Lisa's Crew

It has been a non eventful week around here. Daniel has a cough and has been hacking his little lungs out this past week. It sounds like a strangulated seal bark. Gary took him to the doctor yesterday and He is not as sick as He sounds, thank goodness. It's just typical upper respiratory gunk.

We haven't lost any employees in the Katrina aftermath, but several of our employees and our dealer employees have lost their homes. Our work has been doing a lot of things for hurricane relief. We are matching employee contributions to the Salvation Army and the Red Cross. We are also donating 60 power modules that are each capable of powering 200 - 300 homes, and some other heavy equipment. It was cool seeing a Cat machine helping repair one of the levees in New Orleans, after seeing our tractors a while back on CNN plowing down West Bank settlements. I'm just bummed that I still haven't got a chance to operate one yet.

The skunks are taking over here. There is still a skunk prancing around the neighborhood like Pepe Le Pew. I drove past three dead ones this morning. Pee yew! After living here for years and not seeing a single one, suddenly they are everywhere splattered across the roads. There is no major construction close to home so I don't know where they are all coming from, but this spring must have been one hell of a breeding season.

Lea Anna just got dressed up and she is handing me my shoes telling me to put them on. Her dress is on bass ackward but everything matches. A definite 10 on the cuteness scale. I know what's coming next though. Last night she tried to convince me last night to take her to Kroger to get chocolate milk and doughnuts. I told her we'd go tomorrow. Well, my day of reckoning is here. Time to whip out that check card. Ta Ta!

Moving slow

We had a Gospel Singing at the Governors Palace (it's a big theater in Sevierville) for my church's 100 year anniversary. I worked the concession stand, I stayed with the food. We had alot left over so I packed the soda back up until my arm almost feel off. Then I made the mistake of asking what else needed to be done, I got stuck with the glass doors 3 double and side windows. The only help I got was some short kids, I couldn't even reach the top. Timothy got on Brians shoulders to reach and I just jumped. I didn't get home til after midnight which is way past my bedtime, I woke up at 5:00am. It was really good, some of the people in our church sang ,they were as good or better than the professional singers we got. It makes a difference from singing in a small church to a big theater.
Anyway, Caitlin was just joking (she gets it from me) and didn't mean any insults. It would be good for her to write stuff so if you send her an invite between her and I we might keep up (not that we have much going on).

Everyone Unite for Splog Assassination Day!

Saturday, September 10th has been proclaimed "Splog Assassination Day" by Matt Haughey. Y'all may remember a week or so ago our blog got attacked by spammers. If you clicked on those spammer's Blogger user names you'd find that they linked to blogs that were nothing but SPAM! They commit these vile deeds - spam our blogs and set up their own spam blogs, or "splogs" - in an effort to boost their Google rankings. There are a variety of reasons why they want to rank higher in Google search results and none of them are honest.

I got mad when I saw the spam. Amanda did too, and so did Lisa. But what can we little people do to counter the multitude of evil spammers? Well, just like an army of ants, we can bring them to their deaths by attacking them with a gajillion tiny, stinging bites! Visit Blogger Buzz now to find out how you can root out the spamming cockroaches that have infiltrated our happy blogosphere. Even 10 minutes spent flagging spam blogs will help, so let's go!

Bushes Fish While Nawlins Floats

Alrighty now - before you get your knickers in a twist know that this is just a joke!

Crenshaw: The school!

school has just started here in california earlier this week. Jazzmin and myself were enrolled but Jazzmins been shooting around santa monica all week leaving me to brave the graffiti covered halls of crenshaw highschool. As everyones been informed crenshaw was having accredidation problems so alot of changes have been made under the new principal. First off theres alot more security monitoring the halls. Alot of the school councelors have been replaced and the 12th grade councelor Mr. Anapol (The only really good one) finally got a long deserved promotion officilly becoming one of the 'Big Wigs' on campus. Half of the original security force has been fired and replaced which is good because most of the security did'nt do their jobs properly. example- Whenever a fights about to break out hundreds of students gather around like someones handing out million dollar bills (do they even exist?) so its obvious and theirs a lot of time to intervene because the contestants spend a while trash talking I guess. Anyway rarely the old security would use that time to stop it but would let them fight it out before intervening but earlier this week 2 fights nearly broke out despite the earliness of the year and the security stopped them both. Both of the fights involved 9th graders so if those 2 scuffles are examples of things to come from the new kids decent secrity members would be usefull. The best thing that has been changed was the changes made to the student store. It now sells pens, paper, folders,etc. in addition to the junkfood that they usually sell. Despite the changes to the school its still pretty crappy but I do like the fact that the new principal finds things such as selling school supplies and better teachers more importiant than the electric toilets unlike the previous principal. Anyways I got my classes and their not that bad this year (possibly the new principals doin, though likely a coincidence.) First period I have composition which is the worst class because of the students. All but about 3 or so of the kids act like stereotypical black people loud, rude, act ignorant. 2nd perod I have U.S. History and 3rd period I have govt followed by computer basics for 4th. 5th is African American history and 6th period is teen living. This is my senior year so most of my freinds have graduated and I only have 3 really close freinds Kenyun, Julio, and charles.

~Adrian

LAUSD Bites

I found out a little more about Crenshaw High Schools loss of accreditation, but nothing specific on their plans for improvements. Their accreditation is temporarily re-instated until a hearing in February 2006. They have fired the principle and four of the five assistant principles. The head honcho at LA Unified School District is just saying that they will make improvements (what improvments is what I'd like to know) and are confident it will be reinstated. This is just one more reason why I'm glad Torrance is not part of LAUSD.

David Held Over in MO

David called me yesterday to say that they were keeping him at Ft. Leonard Wood a while longer. I was thinking they might be intending to use the Army personnel there to help with hurricane relief, but he says that is not the case. I have an address for him now, which I will be e-mailing to those who have asked me for it. If you want it and didn't receive it, please e-mail me and I will send it to you.

If you want to send him a letter or package, the next couple of weeks would be a good time. We know he'll be there long enough to receive it. Just don't wait too long or you'll get stuck not knowing his address for however long it takes him to get to Ft. Benning, be assigned to a battalion and contact us with his address.

As far as I know there aren't as many restrictions as he's had at basic and AIT on what you can send, but I don't have the specifics. Hopefully David will post a comment about them here if there are some things we shouldn't send.

my day off

this isn't the first time I have tried to post, but maybe this one will go through. My work is collecting food and clothes for the 280 victims of Hurricane Katrina who are at Kennestone Hospital. They have nothing. So I decided when I went shopping today I would pick up a few things to put in the box at work. On my way out the door I grabbed a fortune cookie from the big bucket I bought yesterday. My first fortune out of that bucket said "if you continually give, you will continually have." When I went shopping I bought several of the items on the donation list and was worried that I was spending more than I could afford, but I wanted to get some of everything. On the way home I turned off Thornton Rd by Turners BBQ (is that Six Flags Drive?) and as I was coming over a small hill by a wooled area I remembered that that was where I thought I saw a fox disappear into the woods more than a year ago. I always slow down when I come to that spot to see if I can see any wildlife. Well guess what? Three raccoons were running across the road right in front of me. That is the first time I have ever seen a raccoon in the daylight, let alone more than one. I didn't even know they could run because I have only seen them ambling across the road on their tippy-toes! They were beautiful.

When I got home I looked up racoon in my Native American medicine card book. The Indians believe that every living creature has some special message for us, so I wanted to see what I could learn from the raccoon. The Raccoon is the generous protector, he teaches us about generousity and caring for others. When a troup of raccoons are scouting for food they always leave a lookout behind and when they find food they honor his vigilance by bringing him the best tidbits before they eat. This uncommon lack of greed is rare in the animal world. Raccoon teaches the universal law of giving back to the source of your strength, guidance and protection. we are also reminded that benevolence and generosity come around full circle to reward the giver. Raccoon is telling me the same thing that my fortune cookie says!

Be All That You Can Be

I stumbled into the hotel room last night just in time to see one of those high-speed "Go Army" commercials. It reaked of equal opportunity and affirmative action-- an inner city kid that got a great new engineering job with free training and great benefits. He said it was time he became a man. Whatever. The training is technically free, but they take plenty out of your paycheck for other things. And the benefits aren't all that great either. I'm still pulling pieces of my wisdom teeth out of the gaping holes left in my mouth some two months ago. And when I die, they're gonna tax the hell out of the $250k before paying out. Don't get me wrong-- I love my great new job... it's just that I thought scoring a 98 on the ASVAB (and having a GT score of 145) would get me a little more than a position as a gas-pumper/fuel-transporter. I can breathe fumes all day long and still compete mentally with my peers. Oh yeah--when you join the Army, you're not a man-- you're a private. And nobody likes a dirty nasty private.

I've come to realize that a big part of being a soldier is making the most out of the shit we are given. Everybody here's got something to bitch about, and that's what makes my world go 'round. Forget what the commercials say. We don't do it for the health benefits, the education opportunities, or even the money. That's just a way to trick people into enlisting. Everybody has a different reason for sticking around, and mine is walking down civilian streets and looking at all the weak little bodies that have no idea how hard we all work to keep them free. That's the kind of cheesy shit they need to put on TV.

I'm gonna go see a movie now--probably "Wedding Crashers." It's like $3 on post, which ain't bad for being surrounded by a bunch of dirty stinkin' privates for a couple hours. The best part about going to the movies on post is that the privates know how to behave in public places, and if they decide to act up, all I have to do is talk to their Drill Sergeant. Hehehe... I love this shit.

Verification Now Required to Post a Comment

When I checked the blog this a.m. I found four comments posted by spammers trying to get people to go to their Web site and/or to boost their Google rankings by putting links to their site from ours. So I changed the settings and now everyone will have to be logged in, and complete word verification, to comment. Initially I set it so that you just had to be a Blogger user to comment. But five minutes after I made that change yet another stupid spammer – this one a registered user – left us more comment spam. Sigh...

Sorry if this is a hassle for anyone - I just don't want to give bad people the opportunity to a) clutter up our blog and b) profit from their evil ways! You've probably seen word verification before - it's where there are some letters in a box and you have to type the same letters so that the system knows you're a human and not some evil spammer's spam-bot.

This is Caitlin...she wasn't invited

Bunch of old farts.i would like be invited my e-mail is koolkat90918@yahoo.com . I also am turning 15 on the 18.muh haha.
I might try to get my permit on my b-day if I have my manuel read by then.
I also am a freshman at Jefferson County High School (JCHS).I am part of
the JCHS Step-Dance Team!!!Jazzmine e-mail me sometime.I am bored LOL.
Step Team is hip-hop dancing & like clapping & stomping.Maybe i can show
you all when i see u next time.We had a sort of big tree fall beside our house when we got the after affects from hurricane katrina.I can't wait til high school
is over it suckes butt.I tow around like a 25lbs. bag,cause lockers are to complicated.my school has at least 2,600 students & it takes forever to get down steps are to the otherside of the hall.My teachers are cool.I don't have much homework.When i have break(20min. freetime between 1st period & 2nd )i get to the cafteria & walk around 5minutes i have to turn & go to 2nd period(wow what a break,my booty).My class are 1.Algebra A/B(college path),
2a.Physical Science/2b.World Geography,3.Teen Leadership,& 4.English(INTER.)!!! I guess i should go,cause i don't know what else to say.

Finally Posting

When something happens by the time I finally got around to posting it's old news. I emailed some but the latest news is I got robbed!! I thought it was kids because of what they took led me to believe they were on foot. They took my playstation2 and games we had to it and my jewelry box. I had a few nice pawnable things but mostly Avon jewelry. They actually caught some of the people, it was a big ring. A woman drove a van and scoped places out and dropped a couple of guys off. She parked in a field or off somewhere. They would get the stuff and hike to wear she was. There are alot of woods around here and they got someone a street over and took their guns (left the shot guns) and I think took their dog. I heard the police talking about it but wasn't sure if it was them. I went downtown today and looked at some stolen stuff but it wasn't mine. They did recover the playstation and one game but it's at the local sheriffs. Sorry Ryan that heavy silver chain of yours was in my jewelry box. They are still getting stuff back from pawn shops so I still might get stuff back.

I'm in the 310 area code now!

If you have broadband Internet you can get phone service with a lot of features for way less than you are paying for a land line. It's called VOIP and it works with regular phones so you don't have to have a bunch of weird equipment. SunRocket is one provider, and I just signed up for service with them. Everything is included (yes, it works with E911) for $24.95/mo - they don't add taxes or surcharges to that amount - and you can call anywhere in the U.S. and Canada without paying extra. If you sign up for a year it's even cheaper but you have to pay up front.

One cool feature is that you can get an extra phone number for free, and it doesn't have to be in your area code. So in addition to a Douglasville number, I now have a Redondo Beach number and y'all out there on my beloved "Left Coast" can call for free! I just signed up and don't even have the phones yet (they're giving them away free when you sign up, BTW), but will let y'all know when I do.

I'll let you know when we're all hooked up how it is. But if you're brave (and cheap!) like me and don't want to wait to try it (they do have a 30-day money back guarantee, BTW), use the link below. You'll get the free phone deal and they'll give me some reward points for referring you. Enough of those and I can get a $5 Amazon gift certificate. Woo-hoo!

http://tinyurl.com/7oeve