I always liked to read “best of” posts like this on other blogs.  They are entertaining usually not to mention they are good for interlinking in your blog.  So like many things in life we must copy the masses and create the Best Of Ben Moreno dot net.  As far as my best posts I consider the ones that received the most traffic along with the most comments.  So on to the list.

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?

In the last post I mentioned a character I call “The Enemy”.  Well, I wanted to tell you guys the story of how it all happened.

The first few weeks on board the USS O Bannon I started doing the usual things people do when they meet new groups of people.  I start talking to each person and find out who they are and all that.  I had been getting to know many of the guys in my division and started to become kind of friends with this one guy (The Enemy).

It turned out he really liked a girl (The Enemy’s Girl) that was in our division.  We would talk about it and joke around as all guys do until one day I said something wrong.  It was one evening after work hours and we were all planning on what we were going to do that night.  Well, earlier in that day I had spoken to the enemy’s girl and she ended up inviting me out to a bar that her and some friends were going to.  For the record, I was not physically attracted to her much.  I thought she was a cool person but did not have intentions on trying to get with her.

Words Are Powerful

While I was getting ready, the enemy came up to me and asked me what I was going to do that night.  I said the following in a kind of chicken shit but joking manner.  “I am going to be going out with your girl!”  You know how sometimes you mean to say things as a joke, but it turns out to be NOT funny to the person at all?  Well this was one of those times.  I don’t know why I used those words but I did and it must have hurt the dude really bad.

He gave me a really sour look and I could tell that he was pissed.  It was that moment that I knew he really cared for this girl.  I tried to apologize but he would not accept it and from that moment forward he began to hate me.  He started talking trash and treating me like crap.  Since I was new he was able to get a lot of the other people against me also.

Not a great way to start off your tour on a Navy ship, let me tell you!  As time went by, I kept trying to apologize and be cool with this guy.  I figured since we have to work together it would be easier on the both of us if we got along.  He just would not budge.  He was really jealous and had this grudge against me.

Eventually he started dating the girl and they ended up becoming a couple.  I tried talking to her to make him understand that I felt bad and that he didn’t need to hate me for it.  She usually acted like she didn’t care and seemed to like the fact that we had drama because of her.  They eventually got married and he moved to another ship that was in the same battle group.

The Creation Of The Enemy

I used to hear threats from other people that knew him sometimes.  They would tell me that if he saw me he was going to kick my ass, etc.  This is where I began to dislike him.  I was tired of kissing this guys ass and if he was going to be making threats then I had a problem with that.  This is how he became, “the enemy”.

I am sure by now you might be thinking, “Why didn’t you just let it go?”  Well, all I can say is that when you are young, proud and in that type of competitive environment it is not easy to let things go.  I always felt like I had something to prove.  My friends are no help either because they were usually egging me on to fight him.

I occasionally saw him in local bars, clubs, etc.  We would exchange some words and make threats but both of us always waited for the other person to make a move first.  One time we did actually almost fight but he backed down.  There was even a time when he came to my apartment!

One night we had a party and one of my roommates invited the enemy’s lady over and she brought him along.  I was pretty drunk when they arrived and was blown away that he actually showed up to my apartment.  I stepped to him and called him outside to fight but he didn’t want to.  My roommates held me back and I kept talking trash.   It was probably a good thing that we didn’t fight because I was pretty drunk and he was sober.  Liquid courage can get your ass kicked sometimes.

So, eventually I calmed down and I sat down with him and talked things out.  I explained to him that it was really shitty for him to treat me so bad all that time and make threats and get others to dislike me.  I think we agreed to squash the drama but I got this feeling that he still didn’t care for me at all.  So be it.  I think that was the last time I saw him.  I can’t remember talking to him again after that day.

What I learned

I learned a lot from that experience.   I image what things would have been like if I never said those words.  Or what would have happened if we fought, or what if I pursued that girl in the beginning, lol.  It is crazy how life is like that.  One small thing can change the whole course of your life.  I learned to be more sensitive to others feelings be a little more careful about what I say.

I know some people might ask why I even cared so much about it, well I can’t help it.  It is just how I am.  I feel as though I can get along with anyone and if I feel their hatred towards me is unjust then I always try to fix things.  It is such history now that if I ever saw him again I would probably just laugh and not say anything.

In the next episode I will introduce you to my best friend who I call E.

Life experiences usually have a lot to do with the people involved.  A crappy job can be alright if you work with great people.  This is why I feel it is important to talk about some of the people I experienced Navy life with.

I will introduce you to some of the distinct characters that really made a difference in my life.  There is no doubt that each and every person on my ship and over seas were unique but I will only talk about the ones that made the most significant impact for now.  You know?  The ones I can never forget.

Like I stated before I did essentially two different tours in the Navy.  The first part was on board a ship and the second was spent in Kuwait.  They are two different stories all together.  I will first talk about the characters on the ship and introduce the characters from Kuwait in a later episode.

For their protection I will not use their real names.  I will just use fictional names that may or may not mean anything at all.

The Characters

Shultz – A white guy from Michigan.  This guy was one of the most unique people I have ever met.  He was not the brightest star in the sky but had tremendous heart and passion.  I first met him in Jacksonville.  He was part of the group of us who were all waiting for the ship to come back off of that cruise so we could check in.  Shultz’s antics made for some of the most amazing and interesting stories on the O Bannon.

E – A Sicilian dude from Florida.  This guy was a real class act.  We became friends right off the bat and ended up being like brothers for the next 3 years.  We had many great times together.  We were both heavy drinkers so we were constantly getting ourselves into trouble.

Kay – A a black girl from Philly.  This girl was one tough cookie.  She had a real hard core attitude.  She was intimidating and wild.  Still, under neath all that harden exterior was a beautiful, compassionate and REAL person.

Beamer – A mixed race guy.  Don’t remember where he was from.  This guy at one point was in charge of our division.  He was your average officer but there was a unique incident that happened involving me and him that I will reveal later on.

ED – A black guy from Mississippi.  He was a real tough boatswains mate which we regularly got into scuffles with.  We always had this tradition in deck division where the the Seamen (Rank E1- E3) fight against the Petty Officers (Rank E4-6).  When we got into these wrestling/play fighting matches, whoever faced Ed usually lost.

Web – A black guy from Mississippi.  Web was also a boatswains mate who I got along with really well.  We had a unique relationship. We used to find great entertainment in talking about what it would be like to have sex with the different women on the ship.  We used to talk about the things we would want to do with them, and about what they would be like in bed.  As if we actually knew how every type of women was in the sack.  I am quite sure we were wrong but it was hilarious to us.

Wilz – A white guy from Indiana.  Kind of arrogant and snobby at times but overall a pretty cool guy.

JJ – A black girl from New York.  She had a crush on me for some reason.  She was very open about it too.

Alpha – A pretty cool guy from New York who cut everyone’s hair on the ship.  He didn’t like me at first because JJ had a crush on me and he was jealous.  I can tell that he liked her and they may have had relations in the past.

The Enemy – A white guy, don’t remember where he was from.  This is another guy who didn’t like me because of a girl.  This guy became my sworn enemy throughout the 3 years and we almost fought a few times.

The Enemy’s Girl – A Latino girl from Texas.  She is the girl mentioned above.

The Girlfriend – A half breed like me from Texas.  She was my girl friend for about a month.  I learned a very good lesson from her why you shouldn’t date people you work with.  Especially in a military environment.

That is enough for now.

Again, these are a few of the most memorable people that made a significant impact on my life.  I learned a lot from them and had some really great times and even shed tears with them.  I hope I made some positive impact in their lives as well.  You will hear more about these characters as this Navy life story progresses.

I am just focusing on the people that were stationed with me on the O’ Bannon for now.  There were people from other ships, civilians, friends of shipmates and many others who I remember which I am sure to will mention later on.

One thing I noticed is that I don’t keep in touch with any of these people.  Mainly because they all live in different states.  I am sure I may come across one or more of them later on in life.  This has become more and more likely with the new age of social media we live in.  I have spoken to some of them in the past but on a very basic level.

There will be many posts to come just talking about the few people mentioned here.  In the next episode I will tell you about how the enemy came to be.

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!