I have always had this old hot tub in my back yard that I wanted to get rid of but it is too big to fit through the side of the house.  So I called in that morning and got through.  At first I thought they were kidding about the whole thing but when I talked to the producer Alex she said they were serious.  I told them I had a hot tub that I needed chainsawed into pieces.  I think the word chainsaw is what got their attention in order for them to take my call.

Well, we ended scheduling for them to come to my house the next morning at 8AM.  It was on Wednesday, so I had to take the day off from work.

So 8AM rolls around and they gave me a confirmation call and told me they were going to show up at 8AM.  They show and Dave and Lightning come to the door.  I showed them the hot tub and they briefed me on how they wanted to do the bit.  They brought various tools for the job.  Some were there for entertainment.  For example, it would be really hard to cut up a fiber glass hot tub with an axe.  In the middle of the video they setup an on-air call with Kevin and Bean.

Click the link to listen to the audio ——>

They did make a video of the whole thing and posted it at KROQ but I can’t find it.  I will try to get the link and update this post when I have it.

Well, I had my share of division officers but there was one in particular that really stood out.  He had just became our official division officer and not even a couple weeks into it he decided it would be a good idea to have a division party.  I am sure he thought it would be a good idea to take us out of our element and get to know us on a more personal level.

So on a Friday night, we decided to go to one of our favorite places at the time.  Hooters! lol  We loved to go there and get good deals on pitchers and bulk up on some of their “famous” wings.  Not to mention, the lovely ladies that worked there were always something to look forward to.

We get there and right off the bat we order some wings and many pitchers of their finest imported beer.  He had mentioned that it was on him and not to worry about the cost.  He had a credit card, and being the young punks we were, we took full advantage of that situation.

Pitcher after pitcher we began to get pretty hammered.  All night we had been egging the division officer on.   He was tossing plenty of em’ back as all good sailors do.  Unfortunately, it began to get late and the party was coming to an end.  Slowly different parties began to exit and go about their nightly routine or back to the ship to sleep it off.

Guess who the remaining people just happen to be…yep.  The division officer and I.  He was stumbling out of the bar and was trying to his car.  He gets to his car and starts fumbling with the keys, trying to get them in the lock of the driver side door.  All the while scratching the door of his Beemer.  Being the responsible drunk person I was I told him it wasn’t a good idea to drive.

I told him I would not let him drive and got in between him and the door.  He stopped, looked up at me and said, “Oh yeah, Moreno??? Well, why don’t you drive?“, as he handed me the keys to the car.

I said to him along with a smile and giggle under my breath, “I could probably drive better than you can.“  So again like the responsible drunk person I was I got in the car and started it up.

Keep in mind I was 18 at the time, did not have a license, and had only driven a car one other time.

So off we went!  The plan was to take him back to the ship, but then we got to talking and he said he wanted to go to the beach and find some chicks.  I ended up agreeing, so we turned around and set off into the unknown.  I was trying to be really careful because I was nervous about the fact that I obviously “bit off more than I can chew”.

At this time the officer decided he was going to start vomiting on the floor of the passenger side of his own car!  I got to thinking about it and the nervous feeling began to consume me until I snapped back into reality.  I realized the whole situation was a really bad idea so I decided I was going to turn around and go back to the ship.  That is when disaster struck.

As I began to make a left turn around an island I didn’t turn the steering wheel back fast enough to level out and BAM!  I hit the curb with the left front tire and drove up on the island for a split second until I straightened the wheel out and plopped back onto the rode.  The officer sensed something was wrong (maybe it was the loud slamming noise of the tire hitting the curb) and he asked me what happened.  I told him it was nothing and that we just hit a bump.

He didn’t believe me at first but I was able to convince him everything was ok.  I needed to get back to the ship and end this stupid situation.  Now, pretty much sober in my mind, with adrenaline pumping viciously I continued on back to the ship.  We were a few miles away.

Everything was going good until disaster struck again and the tire went flat.  By this time, the officer was passed out in the passenger seat.  I woke him up and told him that the tire was flat.  I also asked him if the car had a spare so I could change it.  So we pulled over at the nearest gas station. Wouldn’t you know it, the spare was locked in a compartment in the trunk and he didn’t have the keys!

We tried using that fix a flat stuff but it barely made difference.  He mentioned that the rims were supposed to be drivable rims.  His little nap had sobered him up enough that he started thinking straight.  He realized the situation and began to tell me I needed to leave.  He said that he was acting really irresponsible and that I needed to get back to the ship.  We both could get into a lot of trouble for what we were doing.

I agreed, took a cab back to the ship, and fell asleep.  The next day I woke up went to quarters, but he did not show up.  I figured he was probably really hung over and went on sick call or something.  That turned out to be not true and he didn’t show up on Sunday either.

I started to get worried.  I kept thinking to myself, he got hurt or was in jail.  Maybe he got in trouble and got kicked out of the Navy.  Finally Monday rolls around and he shows up.  That morning after quarters we had a little private chat regarding the situation.  The first thing he said to me was that he was really sorry about being irresponsible and that and he should of never allowed me to be in that situation.

Then he asked me what happened.  He said he did not remember a lot of what happened that night.  He said he only remembers driving until he got pulled over by the base police.  I couldn’t help but to laugh when he told me this next thing.  He said he got pulled over because he was speeding!  The cops said they noticed his tired was flat, but what concerned them was the fact that he was speeding while driving on the rim!

I came clean and told him that I had lied to him and it was my fault why the tire got flat.  He said, “I don’t care.  I am not mad at you at all!  I am just glad you didn’t get hurt or in trouble“.

In other words, he was trying to redeem himself in being a responsible officer.  I did not blame him.  It was the fault of both of us.  I should of never grabbed the keys and called a cab for both of us instead.

He never told me what consequences he faced due to the command finding out about the situation from the base police.  I am sure it wasn’t good.  I never heard anything else about it after that.  I figured he kept my name out of it all.  Anyway, it was no doubt a night I will remember for the rest of my life.

I always think about how much worse that situation could have been and that I was lucky to have made it out without injury or DUI, etc.  Imagine if I let him drive in his state and he crashed on the way home.  Getting really drunk and driving is a complete moron thing to do, especially when you don’t know how to drive and have no license.  No matter who you are or how well you THINK you can drive, it is not a good decision.

Keep this story in mind the next time you decide to drink.

I read all about this stuff.  A lot of it is very interesting so I wanted to show you what I found.  Below are some common beliefs associated with the whole 2012 the end of the world:

Calendar Beliefs

• Mesoamerican Long Count Calendar

• Tortuguero

• Chilam Balam

New Age Beliefs

• Galactic Alignment

• Timewave Zero and the I Ching

Doomsday Theories

• Geomagnetic Reversal

• Planet Nibiru

• Black Hole Alignment

• Web Bot project

I went ahead and read all of these theories and beliefs.  I watched a few videos on this as well.  It is all very interesting and entertaining information but not evidence that there is anything to worry about.  All you need to do is a little critical thinking.

So why build so much hype about all of this?

People usually fear what they do not understand.  People enjoy following the hype so they will start spreading rumors for fun or because they are gullible and ignorant.  They hear that the Maya Calendar is going to end so it must mean they knew the world is going to end.  Or they knew some significant event will happen.

There has also been people who have made money off of selling products, etc from this hype.  Sad how people do that, isn’t it?

Keep in mind that the planetary alignments and constellations are from the perspective of the Earth.  If it were viewed from another planet or star, it probably wouldn’t  look like anything at all.  It is NOT the end of the world as we know it.

To help you understand even more take a look at this video.

The Truth about 2012 from NASA Lunar Science Institute on Vimeo.

First off, if you are not familiar with what I am talking about then let me explain.  Carl Sagan is an American Astrophysicist and has worked with NASA for many years .  At one point he designed this plaque that was going to be attached to the Pioneer spacecraft in 1972.

The plaque was an attempt at communicating with extraterrestrial beings.  Carl Sagan, thought up the best possible way to communicate with other beings and the plaque was designed for that purpose.  The plaque had various drawings engraved in it.  One of which was the drawing of both the man and female bodies.

Read this disturbing passage from Wikipedia:

“There was an issue with the drawing of the female genitalia however.   If you look at the plaque you can see that the woman’s genitals are not really depicted; only the mons veneris is shown. It has been claimed that Sagan, having little time to complete the plaque, suspected that NASA would have rejected a more intricate drawing and therefore made a compromise just to be safe.  However, according to Mark Wolverton’s more detailed account, the original design included a “short line indicating the woman’s vulva.”  It was erased as condition for approval by John Naugle, former head of NASA’s Office of Space Science and the agency’s former chief scientist.”

Stupid right?!

Why would an alien species give a good god damn about how another beings genitals are depicted?!  I seriously doubt another intelligent being would share the same biased opinions as NASA’s approval department.  I hope that someday this plaque is discovered by another species and once we get in contact with them we can have NASA’s team explain to them how they make decisions such as this.

How embarrassingly unintelligent our species would seem to them.  They would probably look at us as another pathetic un-evolved species in the universe.  They would probably think to themselves, “How has this species survived this long so far?”

Now….I know some of you might think I am making too big of a deal about this, but where do we draw the line? No pun intended

They had said they were going to be broadcasting the State of The Union Speech live over the air.  I was eager to listen to the inspiring words from our President.  I knew that he would deliver a very inspirational speech as he has in the past.

Well, thanks to the assistance from my diligent managers the issue got resolved right at 6:00pm and I rushed downstairs to get to my car.  I immediately changed the station to 89.9FM and hurried out of the underground garage so my antenna can grab the radio signal.

As I made my way out, the station became clear and I could hear many people talking in the background.  The radio station reporter was describing what he was seeing.  He mentioned that the president was at the door and was about to make his way in.

After  a few moments he was announced and the President took the podium.

The people applauded for a really long time.  It seemed to last forever.  Finally after awhile and after Obama said “Thank you.”  like 500 times the people calmed down.

The State of The Union Is ALWAYS Strong

He started off with the usual notions of how great America is, etc.  I noticed that previous Presidents would say, “The state of the union is strong!”  Obama was no different in saying the union was strong, but he said that it was strong in spite of the hardships we are facing today.

I don’t think I have ever heard a president say, “The state of the union is weak “  I wonder what would happen if one would say that.  Or say, “The state of the union is pretty shabby at this point and could use a little reinforcement around the edges.”  I wonder how people would react if the President talked like that.

Then he went on to talking about the actions of the Democrats in the last year.  He spoke about the Stimulus package and the Bank Bailout.  He made a joke about how everyone really did not like the Bailout but it was necessary for the financial sector to survive because many of the “expert” analysts said it was necessary.

Clean Energy Is The “In” Thing Now

He mentioned that the stimulus bill created new jobs in the clean energy department.  He mentioned it a few times and has a couple of plans to create many more clean energy jobs.  What about other jobs?  All the time the Democrats applauded and screamed in his favor.  It pretty much sounded like a high school rally.

I have always thought about that and it has always bothered me.  It seems wrong that the government consists of two parties that compete with each other like the classes at a high school rally.

Anyway, he went on to talking more about clean energy and how we should be the #1 country in the development and implementation of it.  More competition.  I guess, this is the way we have always done it right?  America needs to be #1 in all facets of life.  I am sure all those countries are telling their people the same thing.  This means that war is going no where.

Tax Cuts and Financial Reform

Continuing…Obama went into tax cuts for the middle class.  He also mentioned that even after all the spending they did they never raised income taxes.  Interesting point.  He mentioned that he was not interested in punishing the banks for what they did.  I liked the fact that he talked down at the fact that some banks give huge bonuses to CEO’s, etc.

There was talk about financial reform but no details.  There are people working on it.  Obviously we need this so the financial sector won’t collapse again.  He wants to use the 33 Billion the banks have paid back so far to make it possible for banks to lend to smaller business and people again.

Keep in mind he is talking with an inspirational tone, and with all the people egging him on makes you feel really good inside.  I literally had to fight against the feeling to avoid getting all jazzed up and crying tears of joy.  These politicians are so good at that!

Veterans, Student Loan Forgiveness, and Gays in the Military

I liked the fact that his wife was doing some good things for the veterans.  I also liked his plan for forgiving people of student loans after a certain amount of time.  He said, “Why should people who decide to go to college be broke?”  This was a great point and made me feel really good inside as well.

Oh, he also mentioned that he wants gays to be able to join the military and be open about it.  He wants to remove the “Don’t ask.  Don’t tell” law.  I bet that really pissed off a lot of homophobes.

Toward the end he went into The Deficit and spoke about how the mess was there when he took office by the previous people in office and his plans to try and fix it.  He is assigning a council of people to come up with details of how we are going to get out of this massive deficit by a certain date.  Interesting idea, I am curious to see what they come up with.

Finally he went into the fact that his party has seen some setbacks recently but they are going to stay strong and want us all to as well.  Then he ended with the same old, “God bless America!”.  Yay!!!  He could of left that part out in my book.  We have heard it enough and it doesn’t really mean anything anyway.

So the speech lasted a good hour and it made my drive home in traffic much easier.  If only I could hear stuff like that everyday.

Over all I must say that I was really inspired by the whole thing.  Boy, that Obama can deliver a good speech.  He is much better at it than our former president.

What did you think of the speech?

So look at this post as the beginning of a debate.

My take on legalizing Marijuana:

Just from thinking about it, and not even looking at any numbers or polls I can say this.  Marijuana became illegal for stupid reasons in the first place.  The fact that we could make it legal now and tax it for billions of dollars is great!  We obviously need the money here in the state of California.

Here is what I think would happen once it became legal.  Obviously the rules for it’s use would be very similar to alcohol use.  First off, tons of new business would open up.  Many already existing businesses would incorporate it as another product to sell, which would increase tax revenue.  All of the people who are in jail for marijuana related crimes could be let out and save even more tax dollars.

So many people already smoke it anyway so I doubt there would be that big of an influx of people suddenly becoming pot heads.  People who are not pot heads would not suddenly become pot heads just because it became legal.  Again, this is where parenting and common sense comes into play.

On a more humorous related note.  Some people who would never touch it because it was illegal might try it out.  This might be a good thing for some of these uptight people.

What are your thoughts on this issue?

I was bored one day.

Up until recently, I used to go out every weekend and party with my friends.  We would drink, play games, go out to bars or whatever.  Over time I noticed it started to change me.  It was probably changing me all along but I finally noticed what was happening.  It was slowly killing my dreams.  It was holding me back.

Don’t get me wrong, I had a lot of fun, but my thoughts have begin to changed now.  I now spend more time learning about life, and living.  There are so many things in this world that I have forgotten all about.  I have had a revelation.  I remember when I was younger and I used to have so much fun doing the simplest things.  I was living.  I was learning.  I had dreams. I had ideas.  I had inhibitions to go and do them.

Somewhere along the line I lost focus.  Things became distorted and other elements shifted my life in a different direction.  The direction, while enjoyable was not the direction I wanted to go.  I was pushed in that direction by others.  I think about this all the time and the more I think about it the more I am starting to do something about it.  I realized that I have been spending the last 20+ years living my life by someone else’s standards.  I will no longer allow this.  I am breaking free.  It is time for me to start learning thinking and living.  Call it what you want, a quarter life crisis maybe.

When I say learning thinking, I mean learning how to think.  Yes, you can learn how to think differently.  All you need to do is teach yourself.  Start questioning everything.  Step out of your normal circle of events. Realize that most little things are not even worth the energy to worry about.  Instead of worrying, start living.  These are the thoughts I have now, and so far I feel much better.

If you feel the same way I did I recommend you start thinking about your life and what YOU want to do with it.  I know it is scary to think that way and may seem impossible, but it’s not.  You just have to find the way to do it.  Try to realize that you used to be different, but you let some thing or someone else tell you how to live your life.  I know it is scary but you got to find the courage.  Remember, courage is when you are the only one that knows you are scared.

Critical Thinking is the mental process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating information to reach an answer or conclusion.

What???

You might be thinking, “Ok….what does THAT mean?”  This is the dictionary.com definition so it is a little dry.  Let’s try to break this down by looking at the definition of each term.

The first term is “mental process”.  It simply means “thinking“.

Next we have “actively and skillfully conceptualizing”.  Conceptualizing basically means coming up with a concept.

Actively means constantly and skillfully means using what you have learned from past experiences.

“Applying” means to put into action.  “Analyzing” simply means to look at.

Synthesizing means combine and evaluating means to judge or determine the significance.

By combining and applying all of these things when making a decision you are practicing critical thinking.  So now we that you understand what each term means, you may be able to mentally grasp the concept.  Read the definition slowly to yourself and try to understand the concept of it.

Using this type of logical thinking in everyday life will help you in many ways.  The most significant way it can help you will be from making much more informed decisions in your life.  By applying critical thinking whenever you are presented with information or ideas you begin to learn how to ask the right questions.  You will be less likely to be manipulated or get taken advantage of, like believing in something that does not actually exist..

Very often we see suggestions on what products or services to buy, what to think, who to believe, who to trust or what we should be doing with ours lives.  By constantly asking the right questions, you will be able to see right through the information presented, and see it for what it really is.  Very often you will find that the information is propaganda and you will find the hidden agendas that exist.

After a long time of critical thinking you will see the world much differently.  You will start to notice things that you usually over looked before.  Don’t be afraid to use your thinking skills whenever presented information from entities such as governments, political figures, News media, and commercials.  These entities have a lot of influence on your life, so it is important that you be skeptical and think critically whenever possible.  Remember that critical thinking is a skill and does not come naturally.  It is imperative that we all develop this skill and use it in our everyday lives.

“Critical thinking is self-guided, self-disciplined thinking which attempts to reason at the highest level of quality in a fair-minded way.  People who think critically consistently attempt to live rationally, reasonably, empathically.   They are keenly aware of the inherently flawed nature of human thinking when left unchecked.  They strive to diminish the power of their egocentric and sociocentric tendencies.” – Dr. Lina Elder

Debunking The Zeitgeist Movement – This post spawned a nice discussion back then.  A challenged my friend to discuss the possibilities of the Zeitgeist Movement being a scam or cult of some kind.  He basically thinks they have other agendas then what they claim.  It attracted others to comment as well.  It no doubt could be possible.  We will see.

IT Degrees VS IT Certifications- This little post sparked a wealth of comments from linkedin connections and others.  It turns out the consensus is that regardless where you get  your education, experience wins.

Mature PC Games – This post about my favorite Mature PC games grabs a steady amount of search engine traffic.  (Disclaimer – helps sponsor this blog though amazon affiliate links)

Navy Stories 5: Fast Forward Boot Camp Is Boring – Back in 2008 I decided to start writing about my experiences in the U.S. Navy.  I didn’t steadily start writing about it until this year.  This post seems to grab a lot of search traffic from people interested in boot camp.

How To Get Rid Of Total Security Protection Center Malware Infection – Posts that actually solve problems always tend to do well.  This one I decided to write about because this virus was giving me a lot of trouble at work.  Once I got to the bottom of how to destroy it I thought it would be a good idea to post the instructions.  It seems to have helped people

2010 New Years Resolutions

For the longest time I always steered away from pretending to try to change things in my life in the next year.   Studies have shown that most people fail their resolutions.  Well this year, regardless of the fact that I will probably fail, I am going to make some resolutions.

Exercise More – This is one of the biggest resolutions people fail each year.  They start off great in Jan, but by March are back to where they were.  I really want to get back into doing something physical.  I have been sitting on my ass for the last year, embedded into my computer monitor.  I am usually an active physical person but the negative events that happened in my life have put a big damper on my physical ability.  I need to get out of the house and play some ball, or hit up the gym or MMA training.

Write More Blog Posts – Of course I need to post more on this blog.  I noticed that in 2009 in June I had 1 post!  That is ridiculous.  I need to get at least 15-20 posts a month in or people will simply forget about you.  Not to mention staying active in Facebook and Twitter.  Who knows, I might even end up on Google Wave or something new.

Be More Positive And Focus More On Success – This year I have been a total “Negative Nancy”.  Of course the fact that this year totally sucked had plenty to do with it.  Not to mention I am a critical thinking person, so American bullshit along with critical thinking tends to be a bad combo.  I need to just stop caring about so many things that I can’t do a god damn thing about.  Especially when my own life needs heavy improvement.

So that is it for 2009.  Let’s shed this year off and push forward to 2010.   What are your resolutions?