I'm Back in Texas!!

okay, sorry i know that i have been back since last weekend, and i have delayed on up dating yall, but it has been a busy week for me in san antone, but enough with the excuses, here i go.

cook, brandon and i left austin on sunday, and flew into cincinnati, we first found our gate, and realized that we had and hour before we had to board our plane, so we found a bar right next to the gate, and we stopped in to have a couple of drinks. so we were just sitting there enjoying our drinks, when our waitress asked what time our plane left... check!!! running... saw the plane being taxied out to the runway... oops!! we lucked out though and the airline put us up in a hotel for the night, and gave us a ride back to the airport fir the first flight out in the morning. so the first flight out was at 7:15 the next morning, or so we thought... a dozen and a half delays later, and four beers, we finally headed for hartford at 1 pm. oh yeah, and we had an engine go out on us!!! son of a bitch, that's why i hate flying!!!

so, there is really nothing to tell yall about work other then we did pull more footage in two days then i ever did in a week in san antone! so needless to say i got to get paid by the foot rather then my lousy minimum here in texas. money!!!!

so i did get to tour the yale campus, it was awesome seeing it, and going into buildings that were 300 years old, and to see the names of all the famous people that went there, and man it was just amazing. i also got to walk around downtown new haven and got to see the historical sites, and the new haven green. which if you didn't know that's were the amastad came into port and the slaves were sold in the first slave trades in america.

i also liked the company office (the bar) in new haven. the owner is a huge elvis fan, and if you know me, so am i. love it!! elvis stuff every where! oh yeah and the beer was cold too! and the whole kicker was that it was literally two doors down from our warehouse. if you had a good day the bar was right there so you could celebrate, if you had a bad day, it was right there so you could forget about it.

i also met a girl there, she was one of the bartenders at tcb. her name is jill, and yes, we did go on a date. although i was late picking her up, i got lost driving around west haven. but other then that i showed her why texas boys don't compare to anyone else out there. and she seemed to think so too!

so other then that, it was a good little work trip, we got alot done, and got the second crew going up there, which helps out everyone in the long run, i guess.

but to let you in on some new news, i will be moving out of san antone this weekend and will be moving to corpus christi, and looking to start working my magic there by the middle of september. oh yeah, and bayfest is in corpus the last weekend of the month, three days, music, beach, drinking, if you want to join me, please let me know and i will reserve you a ticket, and an airbed in the apt., or couch, or a corner of the floor, depending on how many people come down.

so i guess i'll be going for now, and i'll be talking to yall soon, have a great one!

~R~

Bon Voyage Texas!

well i just got the call today, the boss is done jumping through hoops here in san antone, and is sending me to connecticut... this sunday!

that's right! this sunday. not much time do really get things in line and do everything that i have to do. that and its an open ticket, only one way, so i really don't know when i am going to be back. that's the thing that bugs me the most. i could be there a week, or i could be there for a month or two. i really don't know, and i don't think that my boss knows either.

so what i do know is that i will be on a plane on sunday heading for new haven, and i guess i'll let yall know when i am going to be back.

~R

The Dark Knight

okay,

so i finally went to see the movie that i have been waiting to see for the past three years, one of my favorite comic books heros: batman, in the dark knight. and to sum up the movie as a whole and i quote " it was f-ing awesome!" and "well worth the wait!"

frank miller is a complete and utter genius! he took his re-tooling of the comic from the pages and put it on the screen. the story line, the characters, everything was great! now i am going to make a statement that may come as a shock to many of you, but i was in agreeing on the best sequel ever made: the godfather pt II, but now after seeing the dark night, it is now in my book the best sequel ever made! and i know that it is a little bias on my part cause i am a big fan but it was just an all around great movie regardless.

and i know that everyone made a big deal about heath ledger's performance, and it was all cause it was his last film, and that it was over hyped. i strongly disagree. he took the joker to a whole new level that jack nicholson could only dream about. he was dark, funny, sadistic, conniving psycho that you want in a antagonist. it was brilliantly done! and he should get the oscar for it.

if you have not seen the movie, i strongly suggest that you do. and if you have not seen the first one, go rent batman begins, and then go see the dark night. cause it now tops my list of favorite movies. until next time!

~R~

The Book of Richard 2:1 Total Randomness

so, i finally got my paper work from at&t on thursday, so for the first time since the 27th of june i have work to do that does not involve me driving all over san antone looking for parts to our old machine. and unlike back on the 27th it is more then two days worht of work! so now that i have all my paper work in, i only have about 2-3 weeks of work left here in san antone. and we are going to have a stretch of down time here in texas before we head on down to corpus christi. so i will be going to connecticut, for a month or so now, before we go to corpus. yea! not really, i don't know anyone up there, at least here i know a couple of people in town and i am not that far from austin. oh well i'll keep yall up to date on that.

its been three long years of anticipation, and an even longer year and a half since they released the making of it, but now its finally here! the dark knight comes out on friday!! and you better believe that i will be the first one in line waiting for the theatre to open on firday. i would go and see it at midnight on thursday but do to the above paragraph, and working nights still i cannot... but non-the-less, i am super stoked about it!! and as many of yall know, i love comics, and even more so, dc comics! batman and superman that's all i wanted to be when i was growing up. so if you want to come with, let me know and i'll pick up the tickets!

i really need to wash sara (my truck). she is dirty as hell!

i hate doing expense reports for work. its a pain in my ass, especially now that it comes out of my account and then i am reimbursed later on that week. it sucks!

all-star game tonight!! go nl!

olympics start in 24 days! whoo hoo!

~R~

a whole mind full...

sorry, i know it has been a long time since the last time i posted anything, and finally everything as really caught up with me, and i have had a lot of things on my mind. so if you will indulge me i will get started.

you know it is funny how the human mind and for that matter heart works. no matter what happens in the day to day living of a single persons life i guess you will always remember times, dates, and incidences that have effected your life whether it be good, or bad. i have always been that type of person who can chronically date things that have happened in my life. and while the most have been great, good, and life defining moments, others have weighted heavy on my heart and mind, and in a certain way now that i look back at it, have also defined my life as the goods ones have. i guess there are really two dates that i remember that stick out that were great dates that define myself, and also two others that have changed the course of my life as well. and while one would beg the question on way i would hang on to these other two? and i really cannot answer that. while i know that what happened on those two separate days were no way good to me personally, i cannot help but remember those. it has been two years for one of them, and eight years on the other, but i can still remember them both like they were yesterday. weird. but i guess that is life for you. i guess that if life was predicable, and you only had the good times in life, life itself would be rather boring, right?

now for the other thing that has recently been on my mind.

i was born with what i would consider a handicap in my family. while i have had two loving grandmothers, my sisters and i were cut short by never knowing our grandfathers, and them not knowing us also. but the one true beacon that we have in our lives has been our great uncle cal. he without being asked to has filled in the role as our grandfather. he is one of the most kind selfless persons i know. he has fought and survived the great odds three times already, and now for the forth time in the last 15 years he has been diagnosed with cancer. please if you could join with me and my family in praying for his health and well being, and for strength, of his family. i am so grateful that i have him in my life and in the lives of my family and the people that know him. we as a family and him, have fought this battle with him before, we have prevailed, and we will once more.


~R~

Baseball...

last thursday my good friend ben wrote in his blog about the un-uniformity of america's baseball fields. stating the facts that while football fields do not change dimensions, from week to week, and basketball courts do not move the height of the goal. so why do baseball fields come in different dimensions, field shapes? it is a good observations. while making his point he suggested that all baseball fields be made uniformed in shape, size, and dimensions. and to keep to the statistical part of the game stats will be filed as: T.E.A.M. (the era ahead of modern) and M.E.(modern era).

all good points and well thought out, but he did not take into consideration the most important part of the game, the sentiment, traditions, and americanism that is baseball.

imagine this, you are on a road trip, or a business trip, you fly out of new york to chicago, and while you are landing you glance out the window to the same view that you had when you took off. houston, looks like l.a., and denver, and miami to boston. that's what it would be like if you made all the baseball fields uniform. the fact that they are all different is half the excitement of the game! take into example the following stadiums...

wrigley field, home of the chicago cubs. first notable thing you recognized coming into the stadium is the green ivy that covers the out field walls, the image of multiple all-stars, and countless other players crashing into the wall catching a deep fly ball. the white nautical flag that flies when the cubs win, or the bullpen that is in playable foul territory. or when the cubs win, the stadium speakers blast harry carey saying "cubs win! cubs win!"

yankee stadium, new york yankees. could you imagine it being referred as "the house that palmer, scott, and witmore built just like the others"?? no! it's "the house that ruth built" the only thing you see when you get off the subway. the right field that never got extended out to fit the center and left field walls. where else would they put the bullpen? where would the bleacher creatures sit?? or what about the 82 foot backstop? one of the defining characteristics of yankee stadium. and hearing 'ol blue eyes singing "new york, new york" right after the yankees win! nothing else like it.

finally... my favorite

fenway park, home of the boston red sox. coming off the red line, and walking down historic yawkey way, and entering the park, there you see it, you hear about it, see it in pictures, but nothing does it justice like seeing it in person... the green monster! the defining characteristic of fenway park! it's absolutely amazing, i could not, and do not want to think what fenway would be without it. next, the right field, the whole section! first its only 302 feet to pesky's pole, the shortest in all the majors, and most college fields. "williamsburg", the given name for the bullpen in right as well, 23 feet closer to home plate. not to take into consideration that the whole damn park is unfriendly to left handed pitchers. and lets not forget section 42 row 37 seat 21, also known as ted williams' red seat, for the longest home run in a regulation ball game 502 feet. and the signing of neil diamond's "sweet caroline" during the seventh inning stretch. fenway in one word "timeless"!!!

baseball is something that is america, we all have it in our blood. now i played football for the better part of ten years of my life, but honestly i cannot remember my first football game, whether it was the cowboys or the oilers, i cannot recall. but i do remember my first baseball game. i was 5 years old houston astros vs. the philadelphia phillies. houston won 5-2 and nolan ryan pitched a complete game.

now i do realize that the sport here recently has been tainted by allegations, and actual use of steroids. we as fans of the game need to let the players, managers, and commissioner know what we truly think about it. its taking the sport out of it. and is setting the wrong message to the future kids of the sport. and hopefully it will pass like the scandals of the past.

so making baseball so uniform would be taking the exact element that is baseball out of baseball. whether it be your dad showing you how to snap your glove close, the smell of the fresh cut grass, seeing your favorite player for the first time, and enjoying the parks home hot dog. it all goes away once you uniform everything that is the sport.

i leave you with a great quote from a great movie... enjoy!

"The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again."--- Field of Dreams


~R~

Pet Peeves!!

my biggest pet peeve besides people dressing up their pets like people, is just straight stupidity!! wow! some people i guess got skipped over when god was handing out brains. i'll give you a couple of examples...

a couple of weeks back a man was not convicted in the "accidental" shooting death of his wife. while trying to install a satellite dish to his house, the man did not have a hand drill to correctly install the dish mounting screws. so he whipped out his smith&wesson .40 cal. and shot 4 bullets into the house, unknown to his wife two of the bullets went astray striking her and killing her on the spot.

yesterday a man was pulled over for speeding, when the police officer noticed that the drivers 6 year old son was not properly buckled in. instead he had a case of beer buckled into the seat while his son sat on the floor board of the truck.

really people? wow!! and it makes me wonder why and how these people are allowed to procreate! people like this should be shot into space so they can wonder aimlessly, or deserted on an island.

until next time, i think i'm going to have to up myself to 2 chapters a day of the good 'ol zen book instead of 1.

deuces!

~R~