It's Halloween today!  No, I didn't dress up and go trick or treating.  It is waaaay too cold for that.  I did buy some candy if any kids can by.  No one else is home so I get to be the person handing out the candy.  Seems like I bought too much, however.  I bought three packs of candy and I gave out maybe half of it.  There weren't too many kids out tonight.  Probably the cold.  Also, some of these kids are brats!  Many didn't say anything but hold out their bags for candy.  Some of them didn't even bother to have any sort of costume at all.  I mean, c'mon, how hard is it to throw a sheet over yourself and be a ghost??  Anyway, most of them didn't say thank you either.  Is this what Halloween has become?  Just another consumer oriented holiday to placate the candy industry and childhood masses?  Oh well, it is a capitalist country.  I'd rather suffer through money draining holidays than not have any freedoms at all.

October 30th, 2002

I had to wake up super early today to do some Marine stuff.  It was ok though, because I got to sleep right after I got back around noon or so.  I sent thank you cards to the people I met at the job interview.  I don't know if it will make a difference or not, but that is what all the job sites recommend you to do.  Not much else really going on.  I really should try to get some more pictures to put on here.  I haven't really been gone to many picturesque places lately though.  It's been pretty cold, dark, and dreary recently.  I'll try to this weekend however.  The Marine Corps Birthday Ball is this weekend and Valerie is coming to visit.  We are probably going to go check out Adams Morgan and Georgetown.  Tomorrow is Halloween and it looks like I'm going to be the only guy here when the treat-or-treaters come.  I am conflicted.  I want to participate in the festivities, but I don't want to spend the money to buy candy.  I have  had bad experiences with trick-or-treaters back in Arcadia.  These brats would kick our pumpkins and silly string our door even if we gave them candy.  No worries though, I probably made that kid pee in his pants afterwards... hehe... ;-)

October 29th, 2002

I went to get a haircut and I brought my dress blues to a cleaners place to have my 4 year service stripes sewn on and have them dry cleaned.  I also had my interview today with the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.  I didn't do as well as I hoped, which is unfortunate because  I think the job would be a great opportunity for me and it sounds like it would be interesting and fun.  Oh well, they said they'd tell me on Friday.

October 26th-28th, 2002

An uneventful weekend as usual.  I did go to Costco and stocked up on more food.  I also bought Spaceballs, which is a hilarious Mel Brooks spoof on sci-fi movies.  If you like spoofs, then you'll love this movie.  I got a first aid kit to go with my fire extinguisher in the car.  I just needs some flares/traffic reflectors and some MRE's and my emergency set will be complete.  I went to the shooting range on Friday.  I'm a little rusty, but I managed ok.  

Angels won the World Series on Sunday!  What an amazing series it was.  Two wild card teams - both from California!  Although I am primarily a Dodgers fan, I really happy for the Angels.  Of course, no one really cared about the World Series over here since it was an All California series, but I don't care.  It was fun to watch. 

October 25th, 2002

If  there's any good coming out of my living on my own in DC, it's that I've had a lot of time to cook.  I cook dinner almost everyday.  Unfortunately since I am only cooking for myself, I often have huge portions which I must eat over time.  Today I cooked some chicken and rice pilaf.  

October 23rd-24th, 2002

No worries everybody, the sniper has been caught and I can freely get gas anytime I want now.  

It's been really cold lately.  I've been wearing a long sleeve shirt, pants, my leather jacket, gloves, and a beanie and I still get cold.  I think I'm the most bundled up of everybody.  Oh well, I guess it's just the California in me showing.

October 18th-22nd-2002

Sorry about the lack of updates recently.  I've been working feverishly on the my paper.  I finally turned it in yesterday so I'm free for a couple more weeks before I have to start on it all over again.  I have a 12-15 page and a 10 page paper I have to write before the end of the semester.  Also, I got an interview with the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority for next Tuesday, so wish me luck!

October 17th, 2002

I have a 8-12 page paper on Smallpox due on Tuesday and I haven't started writing it yet.  All this free time and no progress on it.  I guess since I DO have so much free time, I know I'll have plenty of chances to finish it.  I'm not really worried, I've been doing a lot of research on it and pretty much know what I want to write about.

October 16th, 2002

I went grocery shopping today and spent over $60.  That was the highlight of my day.  I was thinking about getting gas, but I didn't.  Running of fumes almost now.

October 15th, 2002

Not much going on today... went to class and ate some Gummy Bears...

October 14th, 2002

Bad news, there's been a shooting at a Home Depot in Falls Church, VA which is about 6 miles away.  I could hear sirens and helicopters outside my window.  Pretty weird having national "breaking" news just a few miles away.  Anyway, I haven't gotten gas yet - I'm down to 1/8 of a tank.

October 11th-13th, 2002

This was my weekend at home.  It was very fun and relaxing.  I almost didn't make it though.  A fuel tanker crashed on the beltway and spilled gas all over the highway.  So they closed the beltway down in the direction of the airport.  I got stuck in it, but fortunately there was a break in the median and I made a U-turn and took a detour.  Although I left three hours early, I made it 10 minutes before the plane left the gate.

I spent the first day at UCLA.  I got to eat sushi and Mr. Noodle with Valerie and we also watched Sweet Home Alabama.  We went out Saturday night for my mom's birthday.  We made some juice from a JuiceMan Jr. we got for her.  It's pretty messy, but it works well.  I had a layover in San Francisco so Katsu was kind enough to drive to the airport and we went to an Italian restaurant for dinner.  The flight back was pretty uneventful - I did have an entire row of seats to myself so I got to lie down and sleep for a bit.  Unfortunately I had a cappuccino at dinner and I think the caffeine woke me up and I couldn't fall back asleep.

October 10th, 2002

Well, there was another shooting last night.  This time it was in Manassas, Virginia.  It's about 10-12 miles away from where I live.  The Mapquest shortest route is 14.39 miles.  The victim was pumping gas like two other instances.  I have a half tank of gas right now and I'm driving to Baltimore-Washington International airport tomorrow to go home for a weekend.  I'll be driving right through where the killer shot the first 5 victims.  Anyway, enough about this morbid stuff. 

It rained a little bit today so I drove to the Metro station.  I got lost coming back home though - I made a wrong turn because it was dark and rainy.  It's ok though.  I got two quizzes back with good marks and I'm coming home this weekend!  It'll be a nice break for me.   

October 9th, 2002

A Marine was killed in Kuwait today.  They were undergoing some exercises when they were ambushed.  Unfortunately they weren't using live ammo so they couldn't even defend themselves.  Please everyone remember that we are able to sleep safe in our beds every night because of the sailors, soldiers, airmen, and Marines who are out there defending our freedom everyday.  Fair winds and following seas and semper fi, LCpl. Tony Sledd.

October 8th, 2002

So I was thinking about what it means to be an Emergency Manager today in my terrorism class.  The more I think about it, the more I realize that it's about [cue dramatic music] saving the world!  Ok, so that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but there is some credence to it.  It's about preparing for the worst case scenario and the decisions you make may have significant consequences.  Supposedly the movie Deep Impact depicts a FEMA emergency manager as the hero.  Although I saw the movie, I don't really remember that part about it - probably because of how terrible the movie was.  Anyway, there you have it.  My job is to save the world.  Talk about delusions of grandeur!  ;-)

October 7th, 2002

I saw my first Secret Service convoy today on Pennsylvania Avenue as I was walking to class.  It was pretty interesting to see them work.  I don't know who was in it, and I barely was able to take this picture, but you can see the two armored limos and some police units leading the way.  

October 4th-6th, 2002

I had a very interesting drill weekend.  It was a completely different experience from what I am used to.  There are four detachments and I am assigned to 4-2 (4th CAG - Det 2) and we were tasked with assessing a route that refugees may be coming down and established a Civilian Collection Point.  I also learned some personnel and vehicle searches.  I got to see Quantico which is pretty much woods with some swamps around.  Also, the "field" included sleeping in Quonset huts with actual racks (beds) and heads (bathrooms).  Pretty amazing since I'm used to sleeping out in the middle of nowhere with artillery blasts going off nearby.  Luxury accommodations!

The Angels won the series and are going to the ALCS!!  Since the Dodgers choked again I'm rooting for the Angels now.  They'll be playing the Twins.  The SF Giants are going to the NLCS too.  Wouldn't it be great if both teams in the World Series were California teams?  It would have been better if the Dodgers had won the wild card so it could be the Dodgers and Angels.  Oh well.  The Dodgers always let me down.

Oh yeah, on Friday as I was driving home from drill, I drove up to an accident a couple blocks from my place.  I think I got there right as it happened so I called 911 and got the cavalry to come.  Yay, I saved the day!  Ok, maybe not.  There were a few injuries, but nothing major.   I think I scared the operator though because I was like "There's been a multi-vehicle accident with injuries at Nutley & Lee Hwy..."  Been a CSO for too long I guess.

October 3rd, 2002

I'm sure everyone has heard about the Montgomery County shootings in Maryland.  Just for perspective, the shootings occurred about 20 miles from where I live.  Pretty scary and it doesn't seem that the police have much of any evidence or leads either.  Anyway, seems like a lot of stuff has been happening in the news lately.  Or maybe it's just that news agencies are quick to hop on any "breaking news" that may be out there.  Have you noticed that they call everything "breaking news."  Oh well, I'm such a news junkie sometimes.  I have CNN.com as my starting page in my browser.   What a geek am I...

October 2nd, 2002

Hurricane Lili is approaching Louisiana and it's a category 4 hurricane now with 140 mph winds.  That's really bad news since Louisiana has the low-lying delta of the Mississippi, which with storm surges of up to 20 feet could cause some major flooding.  I really hope people are evacuating because it is not going to be good situation.  Luckily weather forecasts are good enough these days to warn people and get mandatory evacuation orders.  It will be interesting to see how FEMA deals with the response and recovery to Lili. 

October 1st, 2002

Wow, it's already been a month and a half since I've been here.  And I still have no job.  Oh well, I went to the financial aid office and they said it should be a couple more weeks before my loan comes in.  With no probable job offers in sight, I may have to get a loan for next semester too.  All you people at state schools are lucky especially at the undergraduate level.  Although financial aid for grad school is guaranteed - it is only through the distribution of loans.  No need-based grants.  Usually, this is ok since there are teaching/research assistants very often.  Unfortunately for me, that doesn't exist for my program since it is not a "traditional" major.  Guess I will just have keep my fingers crossed that a I will get a job soon.  I may have to rescind my pledge not to work food service again.  Waiters make good tips right?  Geez, I don't know even know if I can get a waiting job...