March madness has reared its ugly head again. This is my bad luck time, my period, my PMS. Nothing good every happens in march for me. But hey, I’m still alive, got 5 days left..and havent had to go to the hospital yet…whoo hoo. Anyways….The tax thing didn’t work out, the documentation procedures have changed. So all my friends that went to the place this had a rude awakening. So I just filed 1040EZ to be done with it. Then March Madness Creeps in, My projector went out. I ordered a new bulb ($300) and that didnt work, returned it and got another (From Miami,$400) didnt work either. Tested all the boards and it seem the Ballast board has gone out. Bestec estimates about $600 total. The technology was old and i was questioning thowing another $1000 bucks at it. So I went online to see its worth, about $1000…damn. I have $1000 in the bank that was going to my Credit Cards. But still wasnt sure..the new HDTV projector i wanted, but was gonna wait till i got a house, was still $4200. SO thank you march.

Lou Dini (brother’s father in law)Died….thank you march

Projector Died…thank you march

WDC moved in and kicked me out of my office…thank you march

My Cousin loses his Job after 12 years..thank you march

An “under the table” client sent in a 1099 in 2000, now the feds want $1300..thank you march

XFL gone..thank you NBC (and march, and WWF shareholders)

The 21st century and the 16th century are about to war…thank you march

My biggest client is sold to a New York Company ….thank y..wait thats not that bad.

But I am used to this by now…hell i have been going though it for over 30 years.

P.S. i dont blame march..I blame myself..but it all kinda happens in march.

On a lighter note..saw some flix:

Resident evil (3.5 of 5) Followed the game perfect (all the way to the end) I still love anderson’s work

Sorority Boys (2.8 of 5) Bad knock-of (a-la Animal House) a few cute perfomances

We Were Soldiers (4 of 5) not quite Black Hawk but a great story of one battle gone wrong.

Blade II (4.5 of 5) Best So far this year..all the violence..all the gore..a true comic book

Showtime (2 of 5) a waste of alot of talent. (at least it was in focus)

Whoa..what a couple of weeks. The rams won on the 20th..so the trip to St. Louis on the 27th was a go! Tony handled all the arrangements, and forwarded all the money.
Pics from the game are in the Gallery section.
We flew in on a half empty plane and got good seats. Upon arriving a few eagles fans proceeded to arrive in the airport, and spit on the floor (and these were the women). Everything i heard was true..they really are scumbags. Our seats were part of a block purchased by the rampagers group that tony is friends with. We picked our tickets at the same bar as 2 years ago “The Drury”. The “Main Guy” in the group was running late. and we found out later that he fell in front of his hotel, and not only was he not coming tonight…he wouldn’t even make the game. One of the group members was selling these lite up earing that her husband makes…I bought a pair for Deb. We all decided to eat dinner at a steak place down the street in Old St Louis (like the whole city isn’t old). Food was good, met some new, fun people from Sacramento, He owns a bar and has a “Ram Room” upstairs. One of his patrons was there (they call him “Big B”) and man can he down the stuff. Not sure if i saw him sober the whole trip.
GAMEDAY we arrived early and headed in. Went to the first stand and got my “SHIRT FROM THE TRIP” and we went inside. The game nerve racking…just like every other game this year. But we won and New Orleans was next.

The week went by fast, as deb and I prepared for a superbowl party. She ordered all kinds of Blue and gold, we had all the flags out and were ready for the game. We play the second annual Suberbowl of Half-Life at work til 12 and headed home for the game. Everybody knows what happened..so i dont need to tell you. Seemed fitting, with September 11th and all, that a team called the Patriots would win. I didnt feel to bad…Becaused i realized…we would be back…the pats wouldn’t. We have most of our players under contract..and the ones that arn’t want another shot..and should sign.
Oh Yes…We will return. Thats all for now.. This weekend i have an first appointment with a tax guy. He has done alot for my friends and i want in on the action. If it goes well the last of my bills will be paid off and saving for a house comes next……Whoo Hoo!!

Howdy All,
The first week of 2002 has flown by with a few suprises and a STL Ram team that looks perfect. Of the all the playoff teams I only fear Tampa Bay, and they have been palying bad all year…except against us. But all the games will be at home, so i feel good about that. Deb and I went to San Diego over the weekend to hang with mom and see some flix. Saw Kate and Leopold (2 of 5) really uneventful ending. then snuck over to Joe Somebody (4 of 5) a fun disney-like movie with a great ending. So the day wasnt a total loss. The next day we went over to Mike and Dia’s , then all of us went shopping at Fry’s and Best Buy, before heading over to Dave And Busters. There is a new game that just tore me up. It’s called 911…it like time crisis but instead of a duck pedal..it uses motion detectors to sense your body position. When you croutch down..you duck. When you lean..you move to that side. I was sweating after 2 games. I have hit the treadmill a few times to get ready for Mammoth on the 11th-14th. But this kicked my ass in 10 min. I am not ready for Mammoth (looks like a one pass this trip.) Heading Off tonight to see Lord of the Rings again..this time in westwood. Hopefully it will be better than that piss poor showing in PV. Ta Ta for now..I’ll write again when i get back from mammoth.

Dave and Timmerie came over for new years eve. We BBQ’d Lobsters and steaks and watch Moulan Rouge. Deb fell asleep during ‘Come What May’ but both of us had seen it before.
Did some site changes today: Added Magic Mountain to the gallery page. Combined all the laughlin pics and added eddie to the ferret section. Add 2 new top 10′s (2000 movies and 2001 Movies).

Xmas went well, lots of Rams stuff, and a few item off my WANT LIST Deb and I had a great weekend. Went to Menifee to have christmas with my brothers family..everybody was there and we had a blast. Had to work on the 26th so we came back.
Went too Magic Mountain for debs birthday on the 30th. Was raining and the most of the waits on the rides were under 30 min. Jeff and sandy came along as well as my brother jeff and laurie and the kids. I have pics and should post them in the next week or two. After Jeff and Sandy left (round 5pm) we headed to the new ride DEJA VU. The wait was going to be 3 hours..but if we got tickets we were secured a spot before closing. The ride seemed simple..but the shear mass and size made it one of the fastest most enjoyable rides ever (I still love batman the best).
Rams spanked the Colts and now look unstoppable…GO RAMS

Got the new Ferret Condo installed in the office. The girls and eddie have taken to it well. Might try to get a ferretCAM setup in the near future so you call all watch them sleep…ohhh big fun. Xmas lists are up in the WANT LIST If you want to add your xmas list to the mix..send it to me.
Added new Rams Pics
Added New Deb Pics
Added New Pics of Me

Let’s see….the good news: Visited dad this weekend, Deb and I and Dad and Lynne saw Oceans 11 (4 of 5) Stricly a fun time for actors…and it works. A joy to watch all those beautful people that can act. Story not as good as THE STING but still a fun ride. I have always been a visually guy when rating movies so Steven Soderberg has dropped to the middle of the pack since giving up on his signature visual style and moved into the “i just wanna keep working mode” It has garnered 2 academy awards nomminations, but i still like style AND substance. not 40′s style and 00′s substance.

Ok..don’t read the rest. This is a Venting-Rant to keep me sane -WARNING- skip the next section.

In advance I apologise to deb and dad. I offend people, thats what i do, originaly (pre 1988) it was to get peoples goat, make life more fun for me. Since that day in Nebraska i turned deliberatly pissing people off to just telling the truth. I spout the truth like there is no tomorrow. And the women in my life have suffered horribly from it. Early in my relationship with deb, I found out the truth needs to be stiffled if i want to hold a relationship with her. So stiffled, is what i have done. Sometimes my silence has done more damage than good. So while i can maintain my armour though all these bombardments of the last couple months, this weekend a few chinks in the armour are starting to show though. My dad gave me a letter to read while I drove home, in it he stated how he was diagnosed with lukemia in 1985 and the treatments have worked well from that time on. But that those treatments have caused Thrombocytopenia, and that requires a spleenectomy. I’m not to worried, but i would think by now he knows that he could come to us with this sort of things. So there is a little stress there. Deb still maintain her feelings about how unconfortable she is around my family members. Something I’m not sure how to handle . My family is judgmental to everyone ,but all members seem to be right down the middle in all other ways: loyalty,income, love and lifestyle. I feel uncomfortable around her family, but it’s because they are different. I dont hate them, but i do make jokes about there lifestyles. Deb asks all the time if she is a bad person, I try to tell her she is not, and all this is in her head. But for some reason it doesn’t sink in. Perhaps it’s the fact that none of my friends come over anymore. And that my family members seem to want to talk to me instead of her. But the fact that I’m still around and our relationship with two of our other friends is stronger than ever doesnt seem to count. Now i’m forcing her to spend the next 2 weeks with my family coupled with arrival of aunt flo. My stress will be high even if nothing happens. So throw that in with everything else (including a 4 thousand dollar server that just wont back up regularly) and the my ‘nothing bothers me’ persona is starting to get cracks. maybe i need to drink more, smoke more weed, run naked into the night screaming..i dont know. I’m sure i will be fine, and my relationship with deb will be too, but right now the xmas season is looking more like a bummer than a joy. See …i told you all not to read this.
Happy Holidays – Go Rams

Woke Up (7am)
Took Shower
Got to Work – Hooked up new XM Radio in Bill’s Office
Signed up online – Very Cool
Winrep still not updating on the Cytrix Server.
Figured out is was updating to C: when it need to update to D:
Message on phone: Accounting Backup still failing.
At 4:45 updated Norton AV and DLT drive drivers – Reboot
Tested system twice – All OK
Left work at 5 – Off to Altivo Timepeices (Firewall Problems)
Listened to XM – Laugh XL (good R-rated stuff)
Arivved at Altivo at 6:00 fix took 5 mins (he paid me for an hour- drive and all)
Left for casenotes, jimmy wasnt available till 8:30 so i sat and listened to XM for an hour and a half.
Jimmy picked me up and we went to the Presidents house (company ..not U.S.) to work on his ailing computer. 20 bad blocks on the drive..suggested new drive. He said OK.
On a side note: the prez’s girlfriend was walking around the house in pajamas unbuttoned to the navel. She kept asking questions while bending over picking up around the house…nothing was restrained with a few good full views….whoa..got sidetracked there.
Ok..back to work..headed off to Staples for a new drive and Optical Mouse (9pm)
Arrived at casenotes, tore computer down, inserted new drive, started WIn98 install…
Off to HOOTERS for Dinner (10pm)
Back to Casenotes (11:20pm) install done…now Office 97 and try to get some documents from the old drive. Then ran scandisk..and headed home (12:15am)
Deb was snoozing when i got home…laid my head down at 12:45am…Goodnight.

FRIDAY - Saw BEHIND ENEMY LINES on Friday. (3.9 of 5) There were alot of great touches ,slow-mo explosions and such. But war buffs and JANES readers will have to suspend belief a little to get the real enjoyment out of it.

SATURDAY - Went to the funeral for deb’s uncle in gardena. Nice service and nice after party.

SUNDAY - RAMS WIN! not such a big deal against the falcons, but a good way to get out of the rut our turnovers have caused the last 4 weeks. If we play like that the rest of the way…..bring on the Rams/Raiders superbowl!!!. I was up late the night before so everything after the game was a blank. I do remember the Simpson’s though!