11/28/2005
I hope everyone had a good Turkey Day. I haven't posted in a while, for multiple reasons.

Reason Number 1.
We went on vacation, right after building the new PC when my in-laws from Czech came to visit. We visited the Southwestern US. We put 4500 miles in a Ford Freestar mini-van that we rented for the trip. We drove from Little Rock to Amarillo Texas, ate at the Big Texan (Breakfast for me was Steak and Eggs of course!), and then continued on to Holbrook where we visited the Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert (BEAUTIFUL) and spent the night at the Wigwam Hotel on old Route 66 (It was very clean, very kitsche, and alot of fun to sleep in a Teepee).

Then we went on to Meteor Crate, Native American Ruins (Homolovi) and the Native American Ruins at Walnut Creek Canyon (VERY COOL, I highly recommend you check out Walnut Creek Canyon.). We spent a week at a resort in Sedona, Arizona taking day trips out to places like Montezuma's Well (ended up there by accident, so did most of the people there.. and it was very beautiful), Montezuma's Castle (pretty nifty) and a bunch of other Native American ruins. We swam at Slide Rock, and Red Rock park... Keep in mind the water was COLD. Used the Jacuzzi every night at the resort.

Marie and my in-laws had planned to hike down into the Grand Canyon and I had planned to rent a Harley in Sedona while they were there but the rain ruined that for me, and an hour after I dropped them off and they were into their climb down it started raining. They made it all the way down, I spent the day being lazy in Sedona and then went and picked them up the next day. I anticipated their arrival time pretty well and was there about the time they made it out. It took them 3 1/2 hours to hike down to the base and 5 1/2 hours to hike out. Then we took a Helicopter Flight the next day over the Canyon and viewed it from the rim. After the hike down and up they were pretty sick of it.

We visited the Waupatki National Monument, and Sunset Crater Volcano which were very cool. We then left the resort and went to Vegas and spent two days there at the Stratosphere. We saw the remains of Route 66 where the govt. had bulldozed it off to the side as we were heading to Vegas.. and drove over Hoover Dam. In Vegas we went to a show at the hotel, went up in the tower, played some slots, and ate at the buffet. I wasn't feeling too well the first day and didn't make it down the strip. The next day we went to Death Valley, which was very cool... well, it was very very warm... I can't imagine it in summer and understand why it shuts down then. We drove home in a marathon drive from Vegas all the way to Little Rock. It took 24 hours, with some breaks for food, and with us rotating drivers. I cannot understand how Iron Butt riders can ride so far on a bike in the times they do because I was so tired I felt ill.

We never got lost, thanks to our GPS. It's Lowrance iWay 100. The voice directions were great, the ability to find all kinds of places along the way (Find the nearest gas station, Find me a pizza place - Which I recommend if you are EVER in Flagstaff you need to eat at Roma Pizza... Simply awesome little college Pizza Place... It was either that or Pizza Hut and when in Roma.. :-). I can highly recommend this GPS. Pricewise, it is a steal. The software is easy to use, and with a 512 meg card our maps for the trip were a little over 300 megs... and that included detailed restaurants, etc.. along the way. I programmed in the basic waypoints and downloaded them to the PC.. The rerouting features of this inexpensive GPS cannot be beat by any GPS in it's price range. It's simply an amazing little GPS.. and the Ram Mount for the windshield.. Genius.. It was awesome.

Check out some photos at Marie's website from our vacation, and ignore the one of me giving two birds to the camera: http://parrothut.mrbun.com/canyon.htm

Reason Number 2.
I've been busy, rebuilding the PC. About a week after we got back I had to reinstall all of my software, and start fresh. This took some time. Especially to get things configured again.

Reason Number 3.
Stuff... We got new cellphones, Motorola v710's and have been playing with them. They're great!

Reason Number 4.
Motorcycle Maintenance.. and Car Maintenance. I changed the oil in the car before my in-laws got here, we had to clean the house up really good for them as well.. and recently I had to change the oil in the truck. Somehow I missed the catch pan and had to clean up an oil spill in my driveway (NASTY!). The Buell (Blast) needs a new back tire, I'm riding it about once a week but waiting on the tire my wife ordered to come in so she can take it and have it installed. It gets cantankerous when it comes to starting if it isn't run regularly. The Vulcan hasn't been run in a week because we had freakishly cold weather and the radiator shrank (thanks to the cold and the steel radiator versus the aluminum engine) so on COLD days (below freezing) I get fluid dripping during warm up.. I've got the cover off and am waiting for a cold day (they all went away) so I can pinpoint the issue. I got an engine guard for the bike, and it was poorly made so I had to send it back. The bars were deformed before chroming on the bottom, and the mounts were drilled off center so from measuring there was no way it would have fit. I'm waiting to see if Accessories International can get me a replacement or if I will end up with a refund (not what I want, I want highway bars).

That's it... Now for the most recent news.
My neighbor's house was broken into the day before Thanksgiving. We noticed on Thanksgiving that her handy man was over fixing something and hauling out some plywood and thought that was a bit odd. On Saturday after coming back from the shooting range, she came over and told us that someone had broken into her home on Wednesday afternoon before she got home. She wanted to know if we'd seen anything. I had gotten off work at 2:00 pm that day, and went shopping for some new workpants and got home at 3:00. I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, and there wasn't a car in her driveway. We didn't hear or see anything. It was terrible, they cut her back screen door and bashed in the wooden panel door with a brick. They made a hole big enough to crawl through and then tossed her entire house. She showed it to me later in the evening. They had gone through every drawer in the house, under the beds, you name it. They stole things like old Tennis Shoes from the 80's (collectible?), jewelry, electronics, other than the shoes what thieves normally take that can be pawned right?

Well, at 3:30 am this morning I heard a car with it's stereo booming. Now I had woken up, and thought it was odd because the car came to a stop and was just sitting there. The last time I heard anything like this was at our old apartment, when someone broke into my car and they used the sound to mask the crime... and when my car alarm went off I saw them and it caused them to leave. Well, I got up and went into the back room and looked out the blinds and one of our security gates was on the ground, laying on it's side.. with someone standing in the alley. I ran back to the bedroom and called 911 and then when they told me the police were on their way I went and flipped on all the outside lights and the car left. I wish I had gone to the kitchen, and gotten a look at it as it left. When the police got here, there was a car going through the neighborhood with it's stereo loud.. but it turned out that car was the paper boy who was delivering papers.. and who had just gotten the route and the police warned him to keep it down.

I righted the gate, and filed a report, and then spent half my day working on the gate this morning so that it can't be lifted off it's rails when it slides back and reinforcing and fortifying some things around the house a bit better. Today was nerve wracking though once I got to work. I was so mad, so angry, but also so nervous and jittery. We don't have alot, we're not fabulously wealthy or rich... Anyway.. Well, the police thought maybe the gate might have been brought down by the wind since we had heavy heavy winds last night. I suppose that's a possibility. The gate wasn't damaged like a car did it.. and wasn't exactly easy to lift it off it's track from the outside or anything since it has privacy slats, privacy fabric, and reed fence on it (so it is as opaque as possible)... but is is heavy. I donno. It's possible, they thought whoever it was might have seen it down and decided to "investigate", which means if they could find anything they could easily snatch and grab outside... somehow I don't see them loading my $20.00 grill from Wal-Mart up.. or the Wire Spool tables.. but you never know. They said it was possible someone might have lifted it off the tracks. I donno, I suppose if I could lift it off the tracks then the wind might be able to.. I'm not He-Man or anything.

Oh well, all of the events did spur an outreach to my neighbors. My neighbor who was robbed exchanged numbers with us, cell and home.. and so did my other neighbors to the side of me.. and my good neighbor across the street who I always talk gardening with and I exchanged numbers after almost six years. Each one of them said they'd keep an eye on our house and call us if they see anything weird... and I let them all know I am watching for anything strange and will give them a call, and if I can't reach them than the police will be called. We've formed a small neighborhood watch.. and I plan to go out and talk to more of my neighbors, and to get to know them better.

One of the prayers I say every day is that we will be safe, our birds will be safe, and our home will be safe and secure. It is sad to me how I have felt so comfortable all these years, and today when coming home I was on edge... worried, afraid, on the defensive. Tonight I watched my neighbor's house, checking it out the window every 30 minutes or so, or making sure I checked it as I walked past the windows that face her house until she came home tonight. I hope and pray now that we will be given deliverance, that the thieves will stop what they are doing or be caught. I know the world is not completely perfect... but I can hope eh?

One last thing...
I started taking Martial Arts classes on Sunday. A friend of mine is an instructor at a Ninjutsu Dojo which meets here in town. I went through the basic Katas (gotta practice them every night), and starting learning to do rolls, and we did some sensing execises. I feel energized, but tired after the class.. It was a real workout, and everyone was super friendly.. it's a very relaxed and friendly environment. The day seemed perfect because it was a mix of clouds and blue sky, and it had rained the day before. With the doors to the dance studio where the Dojo meets open, it seemed very zenlike as it was very warm that day. Today though, I felt like the world's oldest man. Maybe the loss of sleep.. combined with the exercises wore me out. Every muscle in my legs aches, my shoulders and arms ache.. It feels worse than anytime I have done too much weightlifting or exercise. Tonight I rode my exercise bike, which helped my legs a bit, and I went through the Kata's.. I need to go through all of the information my friend Rob sent me... but also shouldn't rush.. I should take my time. Class ended with meditation.. I'd done this before when I was a teenager and studying Japanese culture (specifically about the Samurai).. I really enjoyed the class.. Anyway, I have to get a uniform I guess at some point. For now I'm just in socks and sweats...

That's it, I'm going to bed.