Not Another September 11th Movie

So, anyone else bummed about this 5th annaversiary thing. I'll end up spending it at the exact same place that I was when it happened, at the DLI. This fact has caused me to reflect often on many things: How we are progressing as a nation, from where we've come, to where we are presently, and where we are going. My best friend Josh is in the emergency management 'business', and I couldnt help but think earlier this week that I hope to God that he never has to use those skills. I know that natural disasters are unavoidable, but I think that I was just fearing for his safety a little too much.
I've been participating recently in the Yahoo! Answers, and let me tell you, that is addicting. I've managed to get the best answers to questions in, of all things, the math and sciences category. There are alot of distasteful political comments on there, from all spectrums; some bashing Bush, others bashing Bush-bashers, and so forth. Ten years ago it was Clinton, ten years from now, it could be Clinton again. It seems that every candidate is calling for unity. 'I'm a uniter, not a divider'.
Has there ever been a bigger oxymoron than 'the United States'? We tend to look back in history to periods such as the 1930s and 40s and think that people were united then; there was a common purpose. I dont think so. There were many Americans who supported the NAZI party, but you won't learn about that in school. The government was just really good at propaganda back then, and it was easy to find enemies like poverty and facism, especially after the discovery of the concentration camps. Our history books tended to sum up decades in paragraphs, due to the advantage of hindsight, I guess.
On top of all this, we still have troops in Germany, Japan, and Korea; What makes anyone believe that we'll ever pull out of Iraq. I believe that there will always be a U.S. Military presence over there.
My Scrubs download just finished. To Be Continued...

btw

Между прочем, есть намного лёгче писать по Русский, знаешь?

Shibby

اهلا و سهلا يا صديقي ملك، اريد بكَ سلام و سأراكَ قريباََ

المخلس،

ريان

Anderson Cooper's Playlist

Summer in Siam - The Pogues
Set the ray to Jerry - Smashing Pumpkins
New Year's Day - U2
Feeling Good - Nina Simone
What's the Frequency, Kenneth - REM
Move On Up - Curtis Mayfield
You've Just Got it All - Plus/Minus (+/-)
Pressure Drop - The Clash***
Tive Razao - Seu George
Coffee & TV - Blur
You can Have it All - Yo La Tengo
Summer Babe - Pavement
Speed Trials - Elliott Smith
Crystal - New Order
Ko Ko - Charlie Parker


*** I'm reminded by this of Grosse Pointe Blank, and I just imagined what it would be like to be one of Anderson Cooper's former classmates at the reunion. Geez, I'd hate that guy, He's the handsome devil who's done everything...Anderson's comments on the song: "Brilliant song, reminds me of my misspent youth."

It just keeps me hangin on

Yesterday was such a great day. from dawn til dusk, it was mostly pleasant. Kase and I started out with our weight loss contest, which I won this week. (we go week to week and see who has lost the most weight, body mass, etc... pictures for sale) Anyway, My prize for this week was either a starbucks $10 giftcard, or the new Tom Petty CD, I chose the latter. As well as having exact change for a triple venti raspberry skinny no-whip mocha, we also purchased $20 crappy target rollerblades. Of course, mine were too small, so we had to take them back.
After about an hour of yardwork, we broke for lunch at panda express. I had the default panda bowl, chow mein orange flavoured chicken. No MSG. The morning fog cleared to reveal the afternoon sun, mid to high 70s. Since we returned the crappy rollerblades, we went on a hunt for any other pair. Apparently, the 1990s are over, and not every sporting goods store carries rollerblades anymore. We found some at Big 5 Sports at Del Monte, nice Nikes on sale for $80 a pair. I didnt mind paying that much, because Kase and I have been searching for something new that we both can enjoy, and the only alternative to these blades was to drive even farther, probably only to find that $80/pair wasnt such a bad deal.
So we found out we can't exactly rollerblade. Not like we used to, anyway. Although neither of us ate pavement, Kase did stop herself by catching our front yard's tree with her face. Speaking of people getting hurt, earlier during one of our trips to Target, as we were walking in, this 8 year old-ish kid and his dad were walking out and the kid roundhouse kicks his dad in the crotch, the dad doubles over, and the kid commenses to melee his dad with punches to the back and the side. The dad is a bigger guy, so the punches arent really landing, but you could see his agony in the way that he was postured; stomach resting on knees, etc...
Back to the plot... We rollerbladed for about 30 minutes on our street/sidewalk, and then took the dogs for a long walk. We hit up some garage sales, because Kase is looking for an old wooden rocking chair to put in her library, but we couldnt find one. On our walk, Jon and Mary called and invited us to Sushi. I'm not by any means a sushi fan, so I respectfully declined. We arrived back home around 4:30 pm and called to invite them over later that night. They said that the sushi place didn't open until 5 pm and so we decided to join them. I had chicken and some shrimp, so everything was fine. We decided that we'd all head back to ours for some cards, cookies and drinks, so Kase and I hurried home and surface cleaned the living room and bathroom. They ended up not coming over, so Kase and I finished off the evening with some Miles Davis, Scotch for one, an R&J Reserva Real on the patio, and later, bellinis for 2. It was quite a night. Yeah, I know, I'm a tool.

Al Arabia

Does that make me CRAZY?

I can't get this song out of my head. In fact, I'm listening to it right now. I love it, I think it's brilliant. Its got that 1970s 'across 110th street' soul. If anyone can find a copy of it being performed on the VMAs (I think it was) when the orchestra was all in Star Wars getup, please let me know. Gnarls Barkley, you are a genius.
Other than that, these darn kids think its funny setting off fireworks at all hours of the night. It sounds like a warzone around here. I just watched the sun set over the ocean, and a thousand twinkling lights dart the hill of the Monterey Peninsula across the bay. I'd take a picture, but I dont think it'll turn out.
Check it out if you have time. Don't pretend that you don't.

This Week in Pictures

So Brenda, my mother-in-law, came out for a few days this past week(end). We had alot of fun.
She really knows how to have a good time, whether on the go or sitting around. (check her out on match.com).


Ocean-view dining at Bubba Gump Shrimp, Monterey, CA. I believe we had 'Bubba's bucket of boat-trash'. Seriously.

Picnicing in Big Sur. These trees are shrubs compared to redwoods.








Ah, the mother-daughter-husband trip to Hearst Castle...











Antique tapestries? Priceless Persian rugs? Exquisitely detailed architecture? no pics of those on this trip, used the whole card on the girls posing with naked statues.







This needs some explination: The tour consists of a guide in front and one in back to watch for stragglers. Lets just say that Brenda preferred the one in the back, so they spent the whole tour basically distracting him. Kase snapped this as he was closing the door, making it seem like he had his arm around her. The only thing we got out of him is that Hearst never commented on his portrayal in Citizen Kane.




Beautiful sunset, Monday evening.









Brenda, having tripped and fallen on her back, after taking a picture of the beautiful sunset.

Close-up of the California sunset, Sand City, CA.

Dumb Russian (or, how we learned to stop fighting and blah blah blah).

Just to show you how lame I've become, I was browsing earlier on the BBC website, trying to brush up on my Russian, when I saw an article stating (the obvious) USA Still unprepared for disasters. Anyway, at the bottom they mention states with effective disaster preparedness and recovery plans, many along the southeastern coast. Bottom line, I think they got Southern California mixed up with South Carolina, so I sent them an email in order to correct it, if necessary. I hope that when I have kids, they never read this staleness and realize that their pop is a lame-o.
Anyway, you know you've arrived when you can impress a Navy SEAL. My class leader is a SEAL officer, and approached me as we broke for lunch. He had overheard me talking to my squad (yes, I was selected to be a squad section leader, in charge of providing a positive learning environment, free of distractions for 9 servicemen) and saying that I've been here before. I told him that yes, I'd gone through the Russian course, and he was like, woah, thats cool. That just made me feel awesome.
Save The Clowns!

Its Been Too Long

Today was my first day of Arabic Class. After a brief introduction from our teaching team leader, I asked her where she was from. She said 'Ah, a very good question. Who has heard of the country of Palestine? That is where I'm from.' ...awkward pause. When she left the room, I told the rest of my class, under my breath...'dont mention Israel! Dont mention Israel!'
Eh, ya had to be there.
Brenda, my mother-in-law, came in last week for a visit, and left yesterday. I was sad to see her go. It's so odd, because of the mother/son-in-law cliche, I actually enjoy her company. She is so funny. I took Kasey and her all over California's central coast, from our place in monterey to hearst castle to the south, and even across the golden gate bridge, to the observation area that I discovered 5 years ago when Josh and his mom came out for a visit. it was such a beautiful day, a beautiful weekend. Now it is nose to the grindstone.
I found out today that I am a class section leader. I will be in charge of ensuring that 9 soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines make it through a yearlong Arabic course. That is such a serious responsibility, considering the government spends anywhere from 70k-100k for a qualified linguist, depending on the difficulty of the language. Arabic is a 3 way tie for the most difficult. I am excited, motivated, and ready to lead by example, and I expect nothing less than to march all 9 of my guys across the graduation stage in fall, 2007.

Memorial Day Weekend

Not much has happened since my last post. I ordered Josh a cool birthday present and had it delivered to Rhode Island, but I forgot that he's home in DFW this week. Well, he'll enjoy it whenever he gets it. We didnt do too much over the holiday. We saw Poseidon and X-3, which was really good. I might have a buyer for my washer dryer combo, but e-c0mmerce still frightens me. Ollie has grown, I didnt know how much so until the neighbor kids got a new puppy, and we let ollie and her play. their pup is a chihuahua mutt, so it'll stay small. Ollie is about 2 times her size. for a good laugh, check out http://starbucksgossip.typepad.com/_/2005/03/inquiry_for_bar.html. Plenty of funny tricks for people attempting to scam starbucks, and even funnier responses from the baristas.
Here's a pic of Rumsfeld, eh, you know.

Friends

For Josh, Chris and Mike

Random Pics and hub-bub

Our Wedding, St. John, USVI



Hanging out on the Big Sur coastline, March 2004


Hands down, the best pic of Gary, April 2005


Josh and I in Corpus Christi, TX, March 2005


George and I, Halloween 2005
He wasnt happy with my costume choice

So I've been on hold with the LVPD for about 30 minutes (on my cell) and can probably repeat the whole schpiel by now. Customer Service has to be the best oxymoron I've ever encountered. They have yet to release a police report case number, and it's been about 4 weeks since the incident. All that stands in the way of the release of my funds from the insurance company is this number.
Well, I finally got ahold of a human being only to be told 'Yep, doesnt look like your name is in the system yet. call the detective and see if he has an event number.' So now, I have to get an event number to get a case number. Do you have any, like, leads, man?

Random Pics

Just some snapshots I found whilst clearing my camera's memory. Enjoy!
















Playing guitar in the old apartment, San Antonio. Note the OK Computer and Lebowski posters, which are currently rolled up in the garage . Sorry bout the mess :(















Me after a (not-so) close shave















My oldest brother Ramon and I, after my brother Ron's funeral, Brownsville, Tx, Oct 05















George on Couch
















Kase on the last Harry Potter Day

Day O' Fun

So today was interesting; I had to be on post at 0745 in order to do what is called 'joint service inprocessing', which can only be described as 8 hours of boredom. I left the house at 10 past 7 and made a coffee stop, arrived at the building 5 minutes early and, shortly after, the monotony commenced. The highlight of my day was my lunch break, in which I spent a good hour up at the alteration shop. It turns out the Chinese lady at the shop somehow gave me a uniform that is 3 sizes too small, so I've been feeling like some Chris Farley character for about a week. The lady couldn't understand what I was telling her or asking for, so I had to wait in line to get a manager to mediate the conversation. I ended up buying another shirt, that actually fit, and watching her sew on all of the patches, etc.
After that fiasco, I had lunch and showed up a few minutes late to the afternoon briefs, so I take a seat in the back. The army sergeant conducting the brief called me out and made me take a seat in the front. He takes a look at my name tape and asks where I'm from. I told him I was from Texas. He said that Texas was a big state, and then asked if I walked from Texas, and if that was why I was late. I assured him that I did not walk from Texas, and that was the end of it. I could have told him about the shirt fiasco, or the fact that our tap water has been coming out brown, and I was on the phone with the landlady for a bit,but he was the kind of guy who liked to talk a lot, and I didn't want to give him any excuse to take even longer. In the end, it was my choice to eat and take care of my shirt. I chose to show up late, so I didn't mind getting called out. It's worth it to have clothes that fit. Now if I can only find the receipt from my first shirt purchase, so I can get reimbursed for this one.

Speed 3

Not the vaccum cleaner guy.


GTA San Andreas nailed it.


Kase and I at the Shark Reef exhibit, Mandalay Bay.


The best I could do, still sucks.


Kase and a baby shark.


Self Explanitory.


Cool pic from our hooter balcony.


NYNY.


MGM.


Going to California.

Catch up to Speed, part 2

Ollie gets cozy in between us in the truck.


End of the first day, Comfort Inn, Albuquerque, facing northeast.


Start of 2nd day, mid morning headed west out of Albuquerque.


Stopping for rest just across the Arizona border.


Snowcapped mountains east of Flagstaff.


George & Co enjoying the view from the top, Grand Canyon, AZ.


The gang and Tim (I think).


What we drove 100 miles out of the way, and spent 20 bucks, to see.

Catch up to Speed, part 1

The McCarutham family photo (Clockwise from top left: me, Kase, Drew, Kyle, Maelie, Emily)

Ollie in full puppy pounce mode.










Kasey's going away cake from Clark High School, San Antonio, Tx, where she worked as a librarian for a year.












Kase and I in our Easter get-up (which no longer exists, thanks to some associate of the Hooter's Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, who felt it necessary to lighten our truck load for us).
















Maelie in an Easter basket, with some animals and a little garnish.






Our niece, Maelie McKillip, was born on April 11th, just a few short days before we packed up and left Tejas. We Got on the road from Fort Worth on the 22nd of April, took 287 up to the 40 in Amarillo, and rode that to Albuquerque the first day. The next morning we woke up around 6 AM Mountain time and crossed Arizona. We made a few detours by the Lowell Observatory (accidentally) in Flagstaff, the Grand Canyon, and the Hoover Dam. We spent our 2nd and 3rd nights in Las Vegas. On the morning of the 25th, we awoke to the surprise of having a few things stolen out of our truck, which was parked in the valet lot in the Hooters Hotel and Casino. With our tail between our legs, we hobbled down the 15 to Barstow, caught the 58 thru the rest of the Mojave thru Bakersfield and eventually caught the 5. Took that up to the 46, around the James Dean Memorial Curve in Lost Hills, and caught the 101 in Paso Robles. 100 miles up to Salinas (Spreckels exit, actually) and the 68 down to Monterey. It took us a few days to find a place to live, but luckily I have some good friends, John and Mary, and Kyle in Fresno, who put us up a few days until the lease was signed. Thanks to our Renter's Insurance policy, most if not all of the stolen goods will be replaced at no cost to us.

A Few Good Pics of the New Place

Our new place in CA
Down by the fire
Ollie doing what she does best
George and I relaxing after a hard day's unpacking.

Genesis

0920 Pacific Time, Monterey, CA.
I created this blog in order to post some dumb comment about my neice's umbilical cord falling out on my sister-in-law's blog. In order to accomplish this, I had to create a blog. Stupid red tape! I was planning on starting one anyway; its relatively cheap and something to do. It will be a big step if I post with any frequency