When you work in the deck division on a ship you will probably end up having multiple division officers before your time is up.  They rotate them to different jobs on board the ship to ensure proper cross training.  You know, in case someone gets killed, another officer can jump right in and do their job.

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 am writing this post as a historical and sociological experiment.  You see, the Internet is a vast ocean of gold in my opinion.  It is one of the most valuable communication tools ever created in our recorded history.  Although flawed and vulnerable, it still is of enormous value to humanity.  The phenomenon of almost real time knowledge sharing is what makes the Internet so valuable.

This article is simply an attempt to collaborate individuals with the same name.  I am reaching out to all those who have the same name as I have, Benjamin Moreno.  Or Ben Moreno for short.

The reason being is that I am curious to know the true history of our name.  Based on my research, I know that “Benjamin” supposedly means “The Lamb” and “Moreno” means “dark”.  This is great but I want to know how these things came to be.  With your help we can find the answer.

So this is a shout out to all those with my same name.  I would like to connect with you so we can learn from each other.  I know it may seem weird, but hey, I am just want to know.

I would imagine that most of the people with our same name live in Mexico and the US.  I know there is a famous Mexican singer named Benjamin Moreno.  If you have any history and information regarding our name, please share the knowledge.  Most people don’t really care about this sort of thing but I am interested, so let’s try it!  thanks

For the longest time I wanted to have my name come up as the first listing of Google.  That day is finally here.  I am excited.  I always thought that with my computer knowledge and skills, why not?!

 In a previous post I said I was going to beat everyone who had my name online to the top of the search engines.  As of now if you type the term “ben moreno” in Google, MSN, Yahoo and Ask I come up on the first page if not the top listing. 

There is one guy that beats me on the #1 listing and that is a guy who has a lot of connections on Linkedin.  I should be able to beat him eventually.  It is very fun and exciting to me.  Basically it is saying that for the name Ben Moreno.  My site is the most relevant to the term.  I like that.  It should always be.  It is simply a matter of pride in oneself.

This little task is also good for learning about SEO.  SEO is “search engine optimization”.  I have read a lot about SEO for awhile now.  Search engine optimization is hard work and virtually never ends throughout the life of a website or blog.

My next task is to get this blog to the top with my full name keyword “benjamin”.  Wish me luck!

Ben Moreno dot net is finally live.  I really don’t know where to start.  I have so much to say and so little time, so I figure I will keep it simple. I will start by writing a post a day on a few different subjects that come to mind, just to establish some categories.  At the same time I will be working to get my custom header and logo created and get all the code perfect with this theme.

I plan to write this blog forever, but I am not sure how long I actually will until I am just tired of writing.  This brings up an interesting point.  I wonder what some of the oldest blogs are out there and how many have been actively updated the longest.  I will save the actual answer to this question for another post.

In the meantime let me talk about why this blog exists.  People have been telling me that I should get into various things throughout my life that have to do with self promotion.  People have told me I should be a standup comedian, a radio disk jockey, a stuntman and more.  I have given serious thought to becoming a standup comdian but I am not sure if I could handle the life style.

Instead of writing up an hour’s worth of material and then reciting it all in front of a small crowd, I can just write little bits of it here and let the whole world read it without having to go anywhere.  Of course I don’t get to see the reactions of people, I just get to read them.  That is good enough for me.

I have many interests such as, PC games, movies, MMA, comedy, science, technology, relationships, children, and so much more.  This is where I get to talk about those things.  I look forward to interacting with all of my readers and hear what they have to say.

I am a true MMA fan. I started watching the UFC since the very beginning, UFC #1. I remember distinctly when Gerard Gordeau knocked a tooth out of Teila Tuli’s mouth with a kick. It was fascinating to watch. It was REAL fighting on television. I was hooked instantly. I remember the Royce Gracie craze that started back in 1993, when Royce introduced Brazilian Jujitsu to the world by winning 11 matches by submission and was the tournament winner of UFC 1, UFC 2, UFC 4, and fought to a draw with Ken Shamrock in the superfight at UFC 5 (Thanks Wikipedia). I watched throughout the years as fighters like Tank Abbot, Vitor Belfort, Dan Severn, Randy Couture, Tito Ortiz, and many more became dominant champions in their own styles.