Sierra Online - The Best Gaming Company *EVAH*

I often think back to Nathan and I playing Quest for Glory I and II. I fondly remember telling him how to spell brigand wrong, just so he'd get frustrated. ;o I remember learning how to type faster, and correctly, because of those games!! And how to look at EVERYTHING on the screen and try to figure out 12 different ways to die on each one.

I miss those games! And so I have made it my personal task to find QfG I and II, as well was Perils of Rosella, and Laura Bow:Colonel's Bequest (I know how to spell Colonel by heart now!), by Sierra On-Line!

If you see the games lying around a store, or you come across someone who has it, grab it and send it to me.

Rewards are being offered!!

Friiiiiiiiiiiiidayyyyyyyyyyyyy!

That's right! It's my Friday!

Not a whole lot going on really. Pat got me Civilization 2. It was made in 1996, and is an excellent game so far, although the learning curve is rather steep, and I'm impatient with stupid non-intuitive games!

I have a whole 2 days off to do housework, play EQ2, work on my EQ2 site (eq2.stratics.com), and all that good stuff.

Anyway, time for bed, I'm exhausted!

Have a good night everyone!

Ladies and Gentleman - We Have A Date!

On February 11th, 2006, at 2:30pm Pat and I will be wed, at the Shalimar Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Invitations will be going out shortly!!

On Thursday Feb. 9th we'll head to Stateline, and stay at Whiskey Pete's. We'll get our wedding license, and probably go to the comedy club to relax. Maybe some hot-tubbing, though it's always crowded with a ton of kids. Stupid kids!!

On Friday, we'll head over to the 4 Queens. YAY!

The 4 Queens is now offering rooms for Weekdays at $44 a night, and weekends at $77 a night. A good site to find info on downtown hotels is Cheapo Vegas or if you haven't been to vegas in a while, Vegas.com is a great resource.

We figured our families would get together on Friday the 10th, and have dinner, and introductions. Then on Saturday we get married at 2:30, giving me a chance to get all purdy'd up! Afterwards, we'll find a good place to take pictures of all the families together, and then we'll go to The Cheesecake Factory which is located inside Caesars Palace on the strip.

The hotel is located in the chapel district, which is near The Stratosphere.

uhmmm, Yeah!! I have a ton more to say, but I bought Cruise Ship Tycoon the other day, and I'm gonna go play now!

The Wedding Plans Actually Take Shape

Yesterday was my birthday, and Pat took me out of town for a WONDERFUL lunch at Olive Garden. We also got his eyes checked, with a new prescription for glasses and contacts. We also got his car looked at, including a full 25,000 mile something-or-other that ended up costing about 500 bucks. But it's worth it. The car runs well, and we go for long distance trips often, so we need to be sure that we keep up with stuff like that!!

We have to go back in a week for his contact checkup, his new pair of glasses, and the sun visor that the dealership had to order to fix the drivers side issue that our current visor has. So Pat will need to drag himself out of bed while I'm comfortably sleeping at 9am! It's allowed! I don't get home til 11:30!!

My friend Tawnia took me out to Denny's for breakfast, and then we wandered over to her house for a bit of computer issue stuff. I've since figured out the problem, but let me assure everyone....Having Pat around makes things SO much easier then if I was figuring things out on my own. I have gotten lazy over the years, between John and Pat. They figure everything out for me!

---

Well, it appears as if we've made progress in the wedding plans!

The 4 Queens is located downtown on Freemont Street. It's a really great area which has been greatly cleaned up in the last few years. There's a small map of the area right here.

So Pat and I are thinking February 11th, with a 4 day cruise leaving L.A. on the 13th!!

We're trying to get things budgeted out, and make sure that we get a good block of rooms at the hotel, with a discount! I like discounts!!

Anyway, everyone have a good night!

Happy late Fathers Day To Pat's dad John,, Weasel (also known as John!), Cody, and my very own father. Happy Tuesday to everyone else!

Tomorrow begins the weird new program at work (to be explained later), so wish me luck!

Happy Fathers Day

Today is Fathers day, and being in retail, of course we hype it early and often.

Seeing all those corny fathers day cards makes me think of the days growing up when we'd make our own cards for dad and watch with our hands behind our backs, rocking back and forth til we saw him smile, to make sure he liked it.

We never got dad ties, that I remember. I don't really remember what we got him to be honest.

But I do remember being woken up at the crack of dawn, loading our fishing gear into our wonderful blue van (I REALLY miss that van sometimes), and hitting the 7-11 for french vanilla coffee before hitting Seely’s Lake for a morning of fishing with dad.

I remember camping at Red Feathers, and wandering through the mountains. Swimming in freezing water with Beth and Nathan and our dog Nugget, who'd wander out of the water, towards mom and dad who were filming with our video camera, and shake cold water on them.

I remember being read Farmer Giles of Ham by Tolkien, with dad doing the different voices and making it a world that I still love. Long conversations about hobbits and wizards, tail-gating before Aztec football games, and listening to jazz at Gordon Biersch. Early mornings with a half cup of coffee mixed with half a cup of sugar! mmmmmm!! Reading scripture and praying together, those are the times I remember with my dad.

Now, dad is far away...HEY! 4 hours is far away!!!

Daddy, I love you.

I miss Aztec games, and lazy dinners listening to jazz. I miss National Letter of Intent Day, and being able to spend time with you whenever.

I hope you have a great fathers day. I emailed you a present! =)

Support Makes Me Tired!

Let me begin by saying, if I hear anything more about Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes getting married, I'll walk around the rest of my life with cotton in my ears.

Now, onto other news! Friday, Visa had a possible unauthorized access to 40 million of their accounts. That's right. A *possible* unauthorized access. How can you be Visa, and not know if your system was hacked? *sigh* The level of corporate responsibility is so amazingly small. Although the leak was through a company that handles the charging, and no social security numbers or birthdays were stored in the information, that doesn't really mean it was ok. Like when Wal-Mart triple charged people. It wasn't really Wal-Mart, it was the charge company we go through. But it WAS still Wal-Mart's responsibility to their customers, AND shareholders, to make sure that things like that don't happen. I didn't see Wal-Mart taking responsibility for it. We were told to direct all questions to the other company. Oh well, right? More info from CNN Money

Of the cards involved, 13.9 million were MasterCard-branded cards, which include Maestro and Cirrus, and 22 million were Visa cards, said Visa spokeswoman Rhonda Bentz.

The breach took place at the Tucson office of CardSystems Solutions, which processes transactions on behalf of financial institutions and merchants. CardSystems said in a statement that it identified the breach on May 22 and contacted the FBI the next day.

Mastercard learned the final details of the breach this week, according to spokeswoman Jessica Antle. "It looks like a hacker gained access to CardSystems' database and installed a script that acts like a virus, searching out certain types of card transaction data."

"We're working with the FBI. It's a criminal investigation," Visa's Bentz said, noting that CardSystems "was out of compliance" with Visa's security standards when the breach occurred and that Visa would review whether it would continue to work with CardSystems when the case is resolved.

Onto other news!
Condoleezza Rice has said that U.S. will only deal with the Israeli and the Palestinian governments, and not terrorists groups such as Hamas. This came after Hamas representatives stated they had contact with the European Union reps. Just thought this was interesting. =)

Anyway. I worked tonight as support manager. Let me just say, I'm tired.
I touched every department today, from lay-a-way, to Garden, freight, paperwork, customers...and I am beat. Support shifts give me between 7 and 10 miles walked. I have such a great crew. I am honored to work with a bunch of people who work their butts off, cover each other departments and help everyone they can with a minimum of moaning. But come on, we're entitled! We work *hard*!

I'm just tired now. I'm ready to lay down and not go to work for a long time. Unfortunatly, I have to be back at 1 tomorrow. But Monday Pat and I are going out of town. We may register at Bed, Bath, and Beyond tomorrow. It depends on how bored we get. We also plan to see Star Wars, while Pat's car is being looked at by the Mazda dealership.

His drivers side visor isn't staying all the way up, and being the giant that he is, it impairs his sight. Not that he's always looking anyway! ha ha!

Anyway, off to read a bit before bed!

From the Stratics private forums:"xxx's gettin' Hitched - Not in-game, but in real life! Yay! I'm getting married so send me some wedding gifts. Don't know me? Doesn't mean you don't have to send anything...cash'll do..........

To another Human?! Sweet! Welcome to the elite club of married men, the proud holders of the almighty Honey-Do list and the humble servants of "She who makes Supper".

Good night everyone!

Apple iPod and stuffs

In case ya'll live in a tree, I assume that you've heard of the iPod. Well I had my first run in with one today, and I must say, I'm in love.

I asked for a transfer to the electronics department, and it was approved! YAY! Wednesday began my career in my new department, and tonight, I sold someone a $99 iPod Shuffle.

The thing is the size of a thumb drive. (Also called flash drives.)

Now, it's not that I need this thing. I do my walking with the disc-man that I've had for about 3 years now. The thing still works, believe it or not! I burn new cd's whenever I get tired of the pace, or if I get tired of the repetition. But while looking at the iPod home page, Pat and I found this.

That's right ladies and gentleman. A $449.00 iPod that holds 15,000 songs, or 60 gigs. 60 *GIGS*

*passes out* Now, my main drive is 114 gigs, but only 77 are taken up. Our music drive is 115 gigs, and only 8.91 gigs are taken up. What would you do with all that space?!! An interesting thought....and while I don't *need* an iPod. I may have to keep an eye on this interesting monster of musical delight. I might just get myself one sometime soon!

On to another note! YAY!
My birthday is Monday! YAY! YAY! YAY!
Just thought I'd remind everyone! Presents are not accepted, but phone calls including good wishes and chocolates are always nice!
Much love la ^^
-B

4 Year Old Dies At Disney World

Anyone who's known me for any length of time will know I'm a Disney Nut. ºoº
I've dreamed since I was very young of going to Walt Disney World, and Pat made that dream come true, in an AMAZING way!

Yesterday, a story was released through CNN about a very, very sad happening.

Daudi Bamuwamye lost consciousness Monday aboard "Mission: Space," which spins riders in a giant centrifuge that subjects them to twice the normal force of gravity. The boy's mother carried him off the ride, and paramedics and a theme park worker tried to revive him, but he died at a hospital.

The boy was 4 years old. 4!! Oki, so he was over the 44 inch limit, so they let him on. What mother takes her child on a ride like that at 4 years old?!! I ask you!!

That ride scared the be-jeeb-ees out of me the first time I went on it! There are signs EVERYWHERE. You *will* get sick, you may experience heart pain, chest pain, dizziness, motion sickness...DO NOT GET ON THIS RIDE! There are even videos that show how the ride will rotate while you're on it. Pat had to DRAG me onto this ride, I was nearly in tears the whole wait time!!

I was rigid with terror, I could barely walk, and I did NOT enjoy the ride at all, the signs had scared me half to death! I got motion sick on the Buzz Lightyear ride that just spins you around, simliar to the Tea Cup ride!

The ride was AWESOME and I loved it, and Pat and I had to go again so I could actually enjoy it, since the first time I was so terrified I spent most of it with my eyes closed.

Now this morning Forbes posts the following:

An autopsy on a 4-year-old boy who died after passing out on a Walt Disney World spaceship ride found no trauma, and more tests will be conducted to determine a cause of death, officials said.

4 years old. What an idiot. Obviously the ride did not malfunction (it has since been re-opened), and though the child was ABLE to get on the ride, that doesn't mean he should have!

USA Today wrote about the various complaints that have occured.

Since Mission: Space opened in 2003, seven riders — all but one of them 55 or older — reported problems such as nausea and chest pain. Before boarding, riders are warned about the ride's intensity and told to back out if they suffer from motion sickness or other conditions.

7 riders, out of 8.6 million. woah. Better shut that baby down. Whatever. The mother should have had her child taken away due to negligence. He was *4*. Hope she doesn't have other kids. She may stick them on the 6 Flags Roller Coaster of Doom next!

Fan Faire Pics

My Fan Faire Gallery

Most of my pictures didn't turn out, and I didn't take my camera to the beach, because I left for dinner right after the last panel on Saturday, and from that dinner, we were already late for The Beach!!

Next year though!!

We've Narrowed Down The Wedding Plans, and The SOE Fan Faire

I'd like to invite everyone to read my articles, and offer critisism on my writing. I know not many of you game, and those that do, don't play EQ2, so it might not make much sense. But this weekend was a big deal for me, and I'd like to at least share that with you guys.

Station Exchange Panel Write Up

It was really hard being around so many people who are based out of San Diego. Made me miss San Diego very, very, much. But such is life, and it was wonderful to get a chance to hang out at The Beach on Saturday night. We had an open bar, and VIP access to the SOE areas. Everyone was REALLY nice, and dancing felt great after not doing it for at least a year and a half! Pat would not have enjoyed it, but I had a blast. As well as 3 hours sleep before my flight left on Sunday.

The incredible part was seeing so many people within the community who are really just like me. Average players who just want to have fun and play a great game that isn't as easy as WoW. I met a lot of fan site people, had a lot of alcohol, though not nearly as much as I would have had if Pat was there.

I got to meet a ton of developers, a ton of the PR and Marketing team from SOE, and DANCE! I love to dance!!!

Pat is back from his trip as well, and we don't have another trip planned until late August, when we go camping at Onion Valley near Independence, California.

---

On a different note, wedding plans have stalled. I really feel badly about Pat's family not coming, and I really feel like I'm leaving them out of such a huge part of our life that they should be included in!

The bankruptcy hasn't been filed yet, but right now, we're looking at Feb. 11th. The only way this would be pushed back is if the BK doesn't get filed until August, in which case, I'll be very, very upset.

It's probably going to be this chapel with the #1 option, and though we'll most likely stay at Whiskey Pete's for a night or two, we'll probably also stay downtown at The Four Queens.

Everyone will be happy to know that we've ruled out a wedding in Ridgecrest, after I spent hours talking to everyone I know about what they think we should do!

After the wedding, we'll stay a few days in Vegas and then head out to Knoxeville! I'm SOOOO excited!

I guess I should go play EQ2! *dances*

I'm back!

Oh wow!

I got in today at noon, and Pat picked me up at the airport. What a weekend!!

SOE does a good party!

Open bars, and great food! The only real problem was the lack of wi-fi in the area. Which is amazing when you think that of the thousand people there, 987 were going through withdrawls. The other 13 were just to drunk to realize they didn't have access!I'm posting news as I get to it on EQ2.stratics.com as well as to the forums. But it's slow going! Hope everyone had fun this weekend!

I'll update with pictures and all very soon!

I leave tomorrow

Not much time to update today! All packed for my trip, and the house is mostly clean so when Pat comes home it'll be pretty for him!

Puppy has done nothing but sleep under Pat's computer and whimper whenever a car passes the house. Stupid dog adores Pat! *sighs*

Anyway, everyone have a great week. When I come back, I'll update with pics and stuff! :)

Enjoy!

Tawnia's Floppy Duck Fiasco

Today is my first day of vacation! The bathrooms are clean, and my car has been cleaned out! Friends of mine who recently had their car totaled by an idiot driver will be using it while I'm in vegas. So tonight I'll head to Albertsons and get a few microwaveable burritos to last me til mid-Wednesday.

I spent the evening chatting with my friend Tawnia, who's just got her internet hooked up! She's now known as the freak with the floppy duck neck, and she threatened to quack at me when she sees me at work. Considering everyone now calls me lumpy because of her, I'm plotting something grand for retribution!

Pat and I watched Hell's Kitchen while on the phone with each other. Yes, I realize we're both sad, sorry people. But it feels so nice to connect with him somehow while he's away. A week without him just feels so lonely and wrong. Hopefully he's enjoying the traffic and yummy food!

I don't know that I'll have time to update while I'm in vegas, but I'll do my best, and I'll come home with pictures, and lots of interesting thoughts!

Btw, I'd like to apologize to Pat's parents for his lack of calling on their anniversary. What can I say...He doesn't have the best rememberer!

The Trips

Pat left today for his class in El Segundo, near LAX, about 3 hours away. He'll be back on Friday night. I however, will not be here!

A Fan Faire is being held in Las Vegas June 9th through the 12th, and I've been invited to attend! The Stratics gaming site, that I volunteer for, EverQuest 2, will allow me to attend and party with the developers! The schedule includes the upcoming expansion and adventure pack, a Gameplay, Features and Content forum and a tradeskill forum with the developers. There's also going to be a Spells and Arts forum, but that's mostly the numbers guys throwing out formula's at each other! As Pat can attest to, I'm not a numbers person!

Pat's up at the Ramada Plaza LAX where he has two bedrooms, a gigantic bathroom, free dinner and drinks, and everything! Lousy government employees!

I'll be staying at the Las Vegas Hilton though, and I'll have a casino! *dances* WOO!

I'd like to wish Pat's parents, John and MariLu a very Happy Anniversary! Thank you guys for all your support, love and your kindness in welcoming me into your family. *hugs*

The Wedding

Pat and I became officially engaged on December 9th. We were unoficially engaged a few days earlier when we were laying in bed talking about something mundane and Pat said "Marry me this summer". I thought he was kidding. It wasn't exactly romantic. :o

So we went and picked out my ring, and he got down on one knee and proposed...and I cried. It was great!!

Our original plan was to get married in Clinton, Tennessee, at Pat's parents house. It's a BEAUTIFUL house, and we thought it would be really neat in the early fall. However, it's a long way away, and plane tickets have not been what one would call affordable. So we decided on not doing it. One may note that we didn't decide at that time what to do. Just what not to do.

We decided about 8 different things. Vegas, Ridgecrest, Vegas again, San Diego, Ontario, Anaheim (honeymoon at Disneyland! WOO). But nothing was really seeming to work out, and my stupid lawyer STILL hasn't filed my paperwork. So right now....we're looking at Vegas. You can check out some of the dresses I'm looking at. The problem again, is that we're an hour and a half away from the store, and Pat and I don't have the same days off. Joy.

We think we've picked this chapel mostly because they give the film to you, and with today's copyright laws, that's hard to attain. So we retain the rights to our own film and can make as many copies as we want! As well as allowing video and cameras from our guests, which seems to be rare in vegas. The plan is to make my own bouquet with some of the girls at work, and take that with us when we go. Many people at work are irritated we're not doing something down here so they can celebrate with us. But to be honest, I'm not close to most people at work.

There's only a few people I would invite (*waves at Tawnia*), and most people out here consider celebrating to mean "drinking til you pass out" which is not my idea of fun!

We are of course, inviting John and Lisa to the wedding. My friends for over 7 years, John and Lisa have been true to me through all of the hardest times of my life. My immediate family will be invited, as will Pat's....but we're heading out to Tennessee a few days after the wedding, to celebrate with them at their home.

Our third anniversary will be February 11th, though we've known each other for far longer. We thought it would be extra special to celebrate the day we first committed to a relationship. That and Pat would only have to remember 1 anniversary. And let's be honest, he won't remember. But that's ok. I'll remind him!! :)

Anyway. That's it for the current plans!! :)

Enjoy your day everyone!
B

The Kids

The kids....WOO!

I love this picture! It's the only one I have of all of us together. Beth is on the right, Nath and Jenelle on the left. Pat and I, of course...in the middle!

Yes I'm squinting, but oh well. I hate taking pictures! :)

Just thought I'd stick this up here, not sure why.

Off to read my star wars x-wing rogue squadron book again!

:)

Gaming, Google, and Vegas

Blogger.com is owned by Google. Google and Yahoo are doing battle for something. Though I haven't figured out what yet! Blogger.com says:

A blog is a personal diary. A daily pulpit. A collaborative space. A political soapbox. A breaking-news outlet. A collection of links. Your own private thoughts. Memos to the world.

Your blog is whatever you want it to be. There are millions of them, in all shapes and sizes, and there are no real rules.

In simple terms, a blog is a web site, where you write stuff on an ongoing basis. New stuff shows up at the top, so your visitors can read what's new. Then they comment on it or link to it or email you. Or not.

This blog is planned to be about the wedding stuff, since we've changed plans 12 times ,(Sorry Pat's Parents!,) and will probably change at least 8 more times!

But in order to be about the wedding, it has to be about me! And my honey. And my life, work, dog, games, etc, etc.

:)

EQ2 and WoW

I began playing games many years ago. My parents got the kids a computer that they threw a sheet over, told us not to look under, and once a day made us go into the basement (they'd lock the door!!) and whisper under their breath they were going to feed the fish.

I was maybe 8? Of course I believed we were getting a fish tank!! We were all very disappointed on Christmas morning when they tore back the sheet and there were no fish! There was however, a very shiny Apple 2 GS, which began my love of computers.

That same Christmas, there was a Nintendo! You remember the 3 pack games with the little power pad and the gun for duck hunt, where the dog would laugh at you when you missed?

We played Mario, and the Learning Rabbit games til our eyes bled. Nathan and I really were addicted to computers, and I can not thank my parents enough for seeing the future and giving us the opportunity early, to take advantage of it. Everything I do at work is based on computers, and really, there aren't many people I work with that have a better grasp of it then me. (Yes I'm being egotistical, it's MY blog, I can do that!)

After years of single player games, multi-user dungeons or MUD's were the introduction of massively multi-player games. The first MUD was hosted on Compuserve many years ago (1978), but AOL gave us our first taste.

Nathan played Gemstone 3 on AOL which went live in 1995, when it was still hourly and we spent $300 a month on internet bills with our 14.4 modem. I played everything!

In 1997 Diablo was launched from what would become the biggest and best game company in the world after Final Fantasy's Sqaure-Enix, BLIZZARD!

Blizzard now makes a massively multi-player game, where a TON of people "play" their characters together at the same time, in the same world. Pat plays World of Warcraft on the Midevah server, horde side.

On the less fantastic side, I play EverQuest 2 from Sony Online Entertainment. Sony Online, twice a year, hosts a Fan Faire where a bunch of geeks get together and talk gaming.

Now I realize I'm a geek. But I never thought of myself as a loser! I volunteer for EQ2 Stratics, I surf the web for the future of gaming (Come on Nintendo Revolution!!), I talk gaming with Pat!! We discuss the difference in worlds, the way Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPG's) are going...the works!!

But I cancelled my EQ2 account a few weeks after SOE announced their Station Exchange program, a way to legally sell your items through SOE instead of through ebay, which has always been against the gaming rules....with the game company getting a cut! PURE EVIL!

Then I got Yahoo messenger notice from the head of my Stratics site asking if I wanted to go cover the fan faire, free of charge. And it was in vegas! And I had already taken the time off to go with Pat on some schooling the Department of Defense (DoD) was sending him to!

Who turns down a free trip to vegas, to talk about games?! NOT I! So of course, I re-activated my account. It was really twisting my arm! Really!!!

So Wednesday I take off for Vegas from our tiny little nothing airport for 4 nights of free food, free entrance into The Beach, free hotel, and drinks! Poor Pat will be in classes. I hope he has fun.

I will miss him though. In between Amaretto sours, nickel video poker, and death penalty discussions!

About Ridgecrest

Here are a few sites that are about Ridgecrest that I wanted to share with everyone!The Inyokern Airport is served by Skywest (United) 2 times a day, with flights directly to LAX. And by flights, I mean prop jobs! There's also a panoramic view that shows what's all around us! Desert!

The Daily Independent is our newspaper. It's never stocked in any of the stands around town, and when it is, it's two or three days old.

The News Review is another paper. It's free and gets automatically delivered right onto our freshly watered grass, leaving nice little yellow indents! YAY!

Of course, the be all end all of town is the China Lake Navy Base. Which has a great museum!

This site has a great history of the navy base.

The Naval Air Weapons Station (NAWS), China Lake, encompases 1.1 million acres of land in California's upper Mojave Desert, accounting for approximately one-third of the Navy's total land holdings. The land, ranging in altitude from 2,100 to 8,900 feet, varies from flat dry lake beds to rugged piñon pine covered mountains. The majority of the land is undeveloped and provides habitat for more than 340 species of wildlife and 650 plant types. The area was once also home to Native Americans, whose presence here is marked by thousands of archaeological sites, and to early miners and settlers whose cabins and mining structures are still found scattered throughout the Station.

You can kinda tell by this map how far we are from everything. It's an hour and a half from Ridgecrest to Lancaster/Palmdale area on the 14. It's just over 3 hours to State Line where we go all the time! We often stay at Whiskey Pete's because they have an awesome pool with a super cool slide! Pat loves it.

In town we have a baskin-robbins, taco bell, jack in the box, del taco, *2* blimpies, a denny's, a sizzler which is worse then any I've ever been too, 8 million chinese buffets of which only one is yummy, a few mexican places of which none are chains, arby's, carls jr., pizza hut, little caesars, dominos, 2 donut shops, and 2 little mom and pop cafe's both which suck. There's also a little chain called Texas Cattle Company, which is rather unappetizing.

The Ridgecrest Library is part of the San Joaquin Valley system. We never have any books cause Bakersfield gets them all!! arghhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Anyway, that's all I can find on Ridgecrest at the moment. Just thought it would be interesting to share with you all! I will post wedding details, I promise!! :)

About Us

Well, I finally signed up for a blogging network thatI plan on using. Hopefully we'll get everything setup with pictures and all. I've been planning ongetting a website up for Pat and I, but I'm lazy, andnot that HTML inclined.

I thought we'd start with a bit of history!

I was born and mostly raised in San Diego CA, with a bit of time in Colorado mixed in, and a dash of T.J. for good measure. I like using exclamation points in my writing, so get used to it!

I'm now 26 years old, engaged to the most wonderful man ever, and I have a dog named Puppita.

Pat is 24, and graduated from the
University Of Idaho That's right, he's a Vandal.

Pat once lived in Vermont. Which has lead to his despise of all things New England, including the Patriots. I can't blame him for that one!

He's also lived in Tuscon Arizona, and a short time in Boise Idaho. His family lives in Knoxville Tennessee. His father works for the Department of Energy, and is as much a white board geek as Pat is. Pat's family are all very nice! His sister, JoEllen married Mike, whom she met while going to school. His mom and dad are easy going and very very nice. It's easy to see where he gets his laid back attitude.

My sister Beth, brother Nathan and his wife Jenelle, and my mom and dad all live in San Diego, about a 4 hour drive from where Pat and I are. I don't talk to my family much. After moving away I've tried to concentrate on what's important for me, and for Pat. Being close to lots of people tends to distort my priorities. I can't say no to people, and I feel the undeniable urge to help everyone who may need it. Regardless of what position it may put me in financially, emotionally, or physically. Pat has truly helped me overcome my stressing out over work, and my need to fix everyone and everything around me. Well, maybe he hasn't fixed it, but he's definitely curbed it.

Pat and I enjoy watching football. I like college (GO AZTECS), and Pat enjoys Pro (GO BRONCOS!). Though we'll both watch a good game anyday! I watch Nascar whenever I can (#29 Kevin Harvick). My lack of weekends off tends to cause problems though, as the races start right as I walk out the door for work, and end long before I get home.

I enjoy reading a great deal. I'll read anything from Larry King, to Dilbert. Fiction and Fantasy, biography's and how-to's. There's rarely a book I won't at least try to read. I've only stopped reading 2 books halfway through. Sword of Shannara was the worst book I've *ever* read. Although Wheel of Time was pretty darn close!

Ridgecrest is a strange town. 28 thousand people. 90% of the jobs are here because of the base. There are 3 types of people here. People like Pat. Educated, and needing a job that isn't going to be outsourced to Europe or Asia anytime soon. People like me. Dragged here by people like Pat. :p And people who were moved to Ridgecrest by the City of L.A. because cost of living is cheaper out here, and the welfare they were being paid didn't have to be increased.

We have one run down movie theatre. Pat assures me it's a fine movie place. But I'm used to San Diego. If there isn't a 20 megaplex, it must suck. Unless it's near Horton Plaza, then it's just old. There isn't much of a social life going on here. The bowling alley opens at 4pm, and is the hotspot for many of the base employees. The teenagers head out to one of the donut shops on Friday nights, to play their music and yell at passing cars. Wal-Mart is the social center of town, where people go to talk and meet each other. Sad but true. It's a shock our K-Mart hasn't gone out of business. But I guess we need a place for the people who get caught shoplifting at Wally World to go!

Pat and I plan to get married in February, on our third anniversary. We're only waiting for my bankruptcy to be completed. Hopefully it will be filed sometime this week!!Anyway, that's the start of it. Hopefully I'll remember to update!

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My Blog!

I would like to welcome everyone to my most wonderful blog. After setting up 3 or 4 of these things, I'm hoping this one works out the best! :)

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