I hate this town.

This town was built to exploit peoples weaknesses. I am afraid to go out of the hotel room. First I blown a whopping 4 washingtons on a slot machine and now I cant trust myself around a starbucks. I must have over did it tonight because I woke up on the floor with a round coffee stain around my mouth and cheeks. I dont remember too much before that. I remember paying for a venti white chocolate mocha with whipped cream and thats where I must have blacked out. I am just glad I made it to the room. I hope to be stronger tomorrow. Wish me luck...

While in Vegas......

Well I finally gave in. I must be the weakest man in the world....Not to mention a no good husband to my faithful wife of 13 years. It was too easy...I blame this cursed town with its glitz and glamour and bright lights. I got me one of THOSE card and in a matter of moments I was caressing, massaging, groping mind you, the seductive buttons of a loose...SLOT. I cant believe I lost it all.....I was like a mad man just shoving in one bill after another. I don't know what made me do it....I don't think I ever won anything, just kept hittin the buttons until it was all gone... all gone I tell ya! I feel terrible. After playing for what seemed like just a few minutes I walked away from that one armed temptress with an empty dreading feeling. Man...I thought to myself....Im gonna miss that 4 dollars. Im a weak weak man. And who ever put a Starbucks in this Casino, Imma gonna kick their A$$. Im addicted to the White Chocolate Mocha with whipped cream. Make mine a Venti... I hate this town.







View out my 20th floor window.














Picture from Star Trek: The Experience















View from the top of the Stratosphere.

Cache Slash Fest 2006

I dont have alot of time this morning but I just wanted to post a quik thanks to everyone who attended the Cache Slash Fest 2006. The attendees make the event. Hands down I think it was better than last years event. We sold 21 shirts last year as to 47 this year. I think I said we had around 75 last year which was probably more like 40 and this year on the attendence sheet we counted 88 cachers. That does not count the family and friends that stopped by that are not into caching YET. I think we got really close to 100. I know a few that posted they would attend that didnt make it and I hope they can make it next year. I hope to have a decent trailer for next years hayride. Plans are already under way to make next years event bigger and better. Hope that everyone had a good time and got enough to eat. I think the Cache Slash Crew each in their own way did a bang up job and added to the whole event. Thanks STP10 for the Alien Autopsy. I think this prop alone put us over the top. What an awesome prop. I am sorry to hear the head loper broke but I know the next prop will be bigger and better. Thanks Bucky and Half Pint for the bags. Those bags assured that NO ONE left empty handed. Thanks again.

RUDY

Los Wages

Yep I am here in Henderson Nevada. Just a stones throw from Las Vegas. I have been a really good boy and have not done anything wrong. I have resisted the draw of the gambling so far and the only thing I have done was pick up some of those cards they have stuck all over the street corners to show Brando when I get back home. I have class from 8 to 4:30 and then we plan on checking out the strip. I hope the get some really good pics tonight. We were on the Sahara part of the boulevard last night and it is a bit on the questionable end of the road due to the fact that we got hit up from money about 3 or 4 times. We just said we dont have any which isnt far from the truth and walked on. This place is amazing. Blog ya later

The Pumpkin Gutter

Here is a cool site of some really awesome punkins. Hope ya like'em.

www.PumpkinGutter.com

Click here to check out his 2006 slideshow

Enjoy.

Hope you like the picture.

Fretting The Trip

I was informed that I am going to Nevada for training. I axed when? They told me I could pick Oct 23 through the 27 or the week after Thanksgiving. I wanted to go in November but with an upcoming turnaround and also a visit to my parents it looks like Oct is the best of two evils. I hate missing out on being at home and enjoying the yard while it is all decorated. If the weather was nice I would probably camp out infront of one of the grave markers. I cant believe they want me to take a week out of October for this crappy training. The only bright spot of the trip is that I will get to go to STAR TREK : The Experience while I am out there but at $40 bucks a pop I am not sure I will even do that. Stinkin training! Why does it have to be this month. I guess it could be worse. It could be during Halloween.

Videos for the Season

Last night while Brando was off to her scrapbooking class the kids and I watched some ole time favorite videos for the season. I have alot of videos for Christmas but I am trying to collect some for Halloween to help get us all in the mood for this wonderful holiday. We watched Its The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, Grafields Halloween and Wallace and Gromits The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. I have watched a few others while the kids have been away or sleeping.


One of my favorites is Sleepy Hollow with Jonny Deep. I also watched a campy new present version called Hollow that was...well....campy. We have also seen The Nightmare Before Christmas. We will have to watch Corpse Bride soon. I like some of the slasher movies but they are hard to try and find time when the kids are not around to watch. One night Brando and I are going to watch Silver Bullet. It is one of my favorites also. Halloween is on its way and will be here before you know it so I hope everyone has their costumes ready.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Web site updated

Wolf Creek Cemetery
I have updated my web site if anyone wants to look at this years projects. Enjoy.

This is Halloween, This is Halloween, Halloween, Halloween, Hall-o-ween.

Here are some pics of the Halloween Projects I have been working on. Brando came up with the Mausoleum. I hope you like it.

Here is a Trash Can pop up that is triggered by a motion detector.

Here is the Flying Crank Ghost that I nick named Bones.

Here is SPASM!!!

And last but not least ....Uncle Mort. We have trouble keeping him in the box.

Hope you liked the pictures.

Halloween Projects

Well it seems that the harder I work on my projects the farther behind I get. I did get one project mostly done this weekend. My wonderful wife Brando decided that our yard haunt needed a mausoleum. So we got the supply's and voila it is up and ready for its new inhabitant, Mort. He will move in sometime this week and hopefully everything will work correctly. I am still working on a flying crank ghost and another top secret project that I am not sure will pan out. The new popup is basically done and ready for placement in the yard. Then we have a million totes to pick up and move back to the garage. The thunder and lightening will be rolling tonight with a new Angry Skies soundtrack from Rusty Knife at Gore Galore. I am still not happy with the lighting but I am not sure what I need to do. I guess I will have to spring for some good flood lights. Hope to have picture soon of the completed projects and a How To on my website. Check you later.

Back Home and the First Day of Work

As you all may know we got back on Saturday around 3:30 pm and dog tired. We all also seem to be suffering from a sinus bug. Yin has the sniffles and a runny nose, Yuri has an ear ache, Brando has a congested head and ear ache and I have sinus drainage and congestion. The worst part of the trip was the airplane ride home. Yin did pretty good on the way home sleeping most of the way and then watching the We Wes (Wiggles) on the second leg from Baltimore. (We couldnt get a direct flight home.)

To everyone who wanted me to take lots of pictures I hope I did not disapoint. I clicked through a 512Mb card the first couple of days and loaded a fresh 1 Gb card for the following days. I was doing well until the return trips to the parks where I got the ,Oh I have already seen it and probably photographed it already, mind set. The total picture count on the digital camera was 720 photos. Yuri took a disposable camera and clicked off another 24 exposures of who knows what. So I hope to have some good pics for everyone to check out soon. I plan to post some in the upcomming days. Hope everyone had a nice weekend and a good first day back to work.

Animal Kingdom

A few days ago we all went to the Animal Kingdom. Although it is probably the most beautiful of the parks it is also the most crowded because of the small paths they funnel people into and also the most hot. The vegetation and narrow paths add to zero air movement. We went to Dinoland and Yuri and I rode a kiddy coaster. Then he started making fun of Brando for not being able to ride the coasters so we went on a little further to Expedition Everest. He wanted to ride it so I said sure. We got on and he was hoppin and a skippin and saying how much fun this was going to be. We got up to the ride and they loaded us in and strapped us down. I looked over at him and said, "This is a big boy coaster not a kiddy coaster." He looked at me a little puzzled. We took off and road about half way throughout the ride. I looked over and Yuri had a look on his face that was between half sick and scared to death. I smiled at him and let him know that everything was ok. We got off the ride and Yuri said, "My stomach hurts." I laughed a little and said, "Are you going to make fun of mommy now?" and he shook his head. The Yeti was pretty cool and I highly recommend this ride for the entertainment and also to close the mouths of smarty pants little boys who think they can ride just any ride.

From MGM to Magic Kingdom and back

Today we had a fun packed day at MGM Studios in the morning and then we rested at the hotel for a bit then back to MGM for a bit to eat at the Sci Fi theater and then watch the Indiana Jones Stunt Show. After that we hoped a bus that took us to the Monorail station to get to the Magic Kingdom. We rode Snow White and then Its A Small World then we took turns riding the Haunted Mansion. The rides are almost empty and you and basically walk right up to them and get on. I didnt have any problems with any characters and didnt have to get my toon dippin gloves on. But I may have to have electroshock therapy to get this damn small world tune outta my head.

Incident at Hollywood and Vine

We have gone to not 1 but 4 character meals since we have been here at Disney. In a last ditch effort to get the most bang for the buck Brando reserved another meal at Hollywood and Vine with some more characters. We got there and after a short wait walked into see Jo Jo and the Little Einsteins where there. Yin loves Jo Jo so all through eating lunch we heard Jo Jo, Jo Jo over and over and over... Now Jo Jo is moving from table to table and just went we think we are next then she would move to another table. Little Yins little patients (about 5 seconds long) was wearing thin and seeing her with her heart set on seeing and hugging Jo Jo the tension was mounting with every tick of the clock. Finally she was at the next table and we had our cameras and autograph books at the ready. The people at the next table must have taken 15 pictures and Jo Jo had to sign a couple of dozen books. Finally she was moving on to us but NO she turns and walks the other way. Maybe she forgot or didn't see or something like that. I walked up to the person that assists the characters as they move through the crowd and told them that we have been waiting along time and was ready to leave and that we were missed when Jo Jo went through the crowd. She said that they would eventually get back around to us. My head must have split open at that point. I was nearly about to choke out the helper and Jo Jo herself. Yin has see plenty of characters but for her every time is like the first time in her little mind. We walked up to space Mickey and Goofy at EPCOT and of course after unbuckeling Yin out of the stroller and packing her to the line the lady said, "We just closed the line." Try telling this to a 2 year old to make them understand. The scene wasn't pretty. After a bit my nerves calmed down and my need to rip the heads from all the characters subsided and I was able to enjoy the rest of the day. Hopefully all the character meals are over and I will not end up in a Florida jail for dunking toons in the turpentine.

Disney 2006 More Pics

Here is a few more pictures of the our vacation.

Disney 2006

All we heard was Me Mouse Me Mouse Me Mouse. Well the first evening we did not see him at all and Yin had her heart set on seeing him. Well I was still wondering if she would have anything to do with him at all. Well take a look at the pictures below and make the decision for yourself....



Lets just say that Me Mouse has little Yin for his biggest fan now. The only words out of her mouth now is Me Mouse, Dance, Hug , Funny..over and over and over. Lets just say she really likes Mickey now. The weather is a little warm but the parks is practically empty and we are having a blast. Hope everyone had a nice weekend. We are purchasing the internet every couple of days to keep everyone posted. Well gotta run.

YAHOO Internet

We are staying in the Hilton Garden Inn in the Big City and we are on the 14th floor. The veiw is breath taking of the city at night. I will make sure and snap a photo and post it at a later day. I hope everyone is having a nice weekend. We went to Circle Center Mall to the Disney store. Yin and Yuri posed for the camera with Pooh and Tigger. Before we left the mall Yin had to give Me Mouse (Mickey) one last hug and blow him a kiss. Cant wait to see what tomorrow brings.

The Big Day

MY BRANDO

Above picture is pixelated to perserve the identity of the individual.

Today is the big day in which we will head to the Big City to fly to Disney. I must admit the I am about as excited as the kiddies are. Thanks to the tireless planning and organizing efforts of my dear wife Brando, she made this whole trip possible. She has the whole week scoped out and has planned and read all the info available to get the most fun out of this trip. She has checked and rechecked everything and spent countless hours reading and chatting with people who go to Disney alot to find out the best things to do so we dont waste our time on stuff that is not as entertaining for us. I hope that everything goes smooth and if we do run into a hiccup, it wont be due to the lack of effort or planning on my dear sweet Brandos part. She is the bomb. Thanks Brando for organizing this whole trip. Thank you again for taking care of the vacation plans. I know it will be great.

Disney Pics

Here are some true unedited photos of me enjoying my vacation. These are real unedited pictures....Honest and for true....


Heres me at The Magic Kingdom




Heres me at Epcot




Heres me at The Animal Kingdom



Sure does look like I will have lots of fun....Mmm...Errr... I mean I had lots of fun. Yeah....Thats right.

Headed for the BIG D and I dont mean Dallas

Tomorrow after work we will be heading up to the really big city to go shopping and stay the night in a hotel before we hop a plane and head for DISNEY. I am really excited and cant wait to see the look of the kids faces when we get to The Magic Kingdom. I am hoping that Yin is not scared of the characters and I know Yuri will have a good time.

Today at work I think that they are trying to see just how much I can do in a day. I was called in to work last night at 9:30 and got home at midnight from an emergency work order and today when I got to work their were 2 emergency work orders waiting for me. I also had 2 other jobs lined up to finish when I got the 2 E's (emergencys) done. It looks like I might make it out of here on time but you never know with this job. I was informed that the job I have been working on was going to get checked out on Friday night at 10:00 pm and they wanted me here to help with the check out. I told them that at that time I would be in the really big city relaxing in my hotel room. They will have to find someone else. $ is nice but time is golden. I cant wait for vacaction to get here and in a flash it will be gone. Hurry up Friday!!!

Day of remembrance

WE SHALL NEVER FORGET!!!

I am setting about 30 feet away from where I had heard the horrible news 5 years ago today. I cant tell you what I did that day before receiving the news but I can tell you everything I did after with crystal clarity. I remember the pictures of horror on the news and the empty sinking feelings that came the days, month's and years after. We have not forgotten. I still harbor hatred for the people who have done this. I believe in the old testament: An eye for an eye. I hope and pray that we speed there delivery where they too will get theirs. The memory's are burned into my brain and hope that age does not dull them. I want to remember and will never forget.

Holy Cow!!!

Tonight was the first night of the city Fall Festival. The past years have been a really enjoyable evening of baby contests, concessions stands and funnel cakes. I remember playing hide and seek all over town and having a blast. Now that my kids are a little older I was hoping that they could go up to the center of town and experience the same joy that I did.....HOLY COW!!! I think the Fall Festival, getting dark early and the full moon, its this combination that makes the freaks come out from hiding. I am sorry to be so judgmental but when you are up there with your family and every Goth dressed, foul mouthed, get a hotel room teenager is up there it looks pretty scary. Also it looks like about 20% of the cities population is burned out on meth. I swear that it sounded like we was in a popcorn popper, from all the people around uses teeth blowing apart in there heads. The town looked like a groping, tweaking group of the walking dead. It is a real shame. I thought that since we were going out of town this weekend that we would miss the parade but I think we saw it tonight. Scary!!!

Southbound on Ole 41

Tomorrow morning we will get up and head South. We will visit Mom and Dad for a bit and then it is off the my cousin Bridgets new house. I am glad that this trip is in the wake of, not good news but the best news it can be considering the situation, news. It should be enjoyable and this will be the last time the kids will see Mom before she starts Chemotherapy. I hope she doesnt have any really bad side effects and the only thing we have to explain to the kids is why NeNe is wearing a hat. This is a while down the road though so I shouldnt obsess on that now. The only thing I should have to worry about this weekend is Mom wrestling the kids. Maybe she will behave herself and we wont have to put her in time out. Wish us luck.

Self Centered

I have realized something since the current family crisis. I DONT DEAL WELL WITH STRESS. I must be the worst person on the planet when it comes to dealing with stress. At first news of the crisis, I was away and stessed about getting home to be with family. Upon arriving home I enjoyed very breifly the reunion of our family at the airport. Back to bleek thinking. I have taken every last bit of stress out on my wonderful wife and kids. In some way I think that I have been trying to keep as busy as possible to try to keep my mind off the problem so to relieve the situation but as soon as I have a slow moment then BAM. I now know that I am no good in stressful situations and at a loss at how others do it. Some people thrive in turmoil and confussion. I wilt like a flower. I hope that this crisis and self awareness of the terrible person that I become during these situations will help me get better. Now that the family crisis has subsided a bit I have just now let myself feel the sorrow about the Erwin family. Its like my mind said NOPE you are at your limit before you have a meltdown so we will block this feeling for now. I am not sure what it is....Self preservation or Self centered. I do feel terrible and also feel lucky to have such a wonderful family. Family is...... Family is the people who make up for your own short commings. I hope there are no more stressful situations but if there are I hope to do better in the future.

A Good comic video found some where on Net

A Good comic video found some where on Net Check it out if you need a little laugh.

Pics to Link to

This is the Geocoin that Pilot designed for the Cash Slash Fest 2006. Looks AWESOME doesnt it? The hand, moon and eyes in the tree glow in the dark.

Generic banner to Pilots site.

Banner to my website.

I AM

Your results:
You are Geordi LaForge

Geordi LaForge 90% An Expendable Character (Redshirt) 85% James T. Kirk (Captain) 70% Beverly Crusher 70% Chekov 65% Worf 65% Mr. Scott 60% Spock 55% Uhura 55% Jean-Luc Picard 50% Will Riker 50% Deanna Troi 45% Data 42% Leonard McCoy (Bones) 40% Mr. Sulu 25%

You work well with others and often fix problems quickly. Your romantic relationships are often bungled.

Click here to take the Star Trek Personality Quiz

Good Spirits

I am glad that someone out there has the courage and strength to harbor and sew good spirits in the rest of us that are not as strong or couragous. Thank the Lord for strong willed selfless people that in the face of adversity know that for the rest of us around them need them to show a happy face so that we ourselves can get through a difficult situation. I dont know how she does it. All I DO know is that , if it is possible, I love her more for it. Love you Mom.

Back from the South

I arrived home today after a record setting trip South. Everything went about as good as can be expected but we really wont know anything until Monday evening. By then all parties will likely be home and recoperating. I hope the report comes back rosey. Keep us in your prayers and I am also keeping my fingers crossed for luck. Thank you everyone for your well wishes.

Headed South Tomorrow

Tomorrow I will be heading South. I really do wish that my family can come with me but due to Yuri in school and Yin not having a baby sitter I will make the trip solo. Pilot will be staying until Sunday but I will be coming home Friday night. I dont want to hang around and cause a bunch of work for everyone and I was gone all last week and plan on making up for lost time with the kiddos.

Denial

Not sure exactly how to deal with it. I know I am in it and others are also. When does it seem real? I find myself wanting to stay busy. I haven't slept very well and not sure if I will for a while. I find myself setting around starring off into space and I have that aching feeling in the pit of my gut just like when I first saw the World Trade Center Towers fall. It took about 6 months for it to leave that time and I hope the ache is over soon for the sake of the others involved. Pray, pray and pray some more. That is the only way through this trying time. Please everyone keep our family in your hearts and minds and pray for us all to make it through.

Finally Home

I finally got home yesterday. The trip was pretty good and I feel like I learned alot but as soon as I got the news I couldnt get out of there fast enough.

I am glad a I dont have to make another trip until next year. I really miss the Brando, Yuri and Yin when I am gone.

I have not decided on what my next book is going to be. Maybe Little House on the Prairie but I kind of doubt it. I do believe it is a good read but I like the mystery militart scary supernatural scifi type books. Maybe if Laura Engals was a super secret military astronaught from the future with special ESP and Psychokenetic powers I would be more interested. Thanks for the recommendations.

Chinos to eat

Today at lunch I ate at a place called Chino Bandidos. It is part Mexican, part Chiniese, part Jamacain place. You can order refried beans and pork fried rice with your Jade Red Chicken which is number 7 on there menu. You can make your Jade Red Chicken into a quesadilla or a burrito. They have several different things to choose from. You and have Jerk Chicken and you always get the dessert with your meal. The tried and true nice and big snickerdoodle cookie. Im not sure what culture the cookie comes from but its all good. Check it out. The mascot is halarious.

Ill Be Home Soon

This week has moved along ok. I have done nothing except goto school, sleep, eat & read. As you may have read on my wifes blog I am reading The Da Vinci Code. It is pretty entertaining. I must say it is a good page turner and I hope this leads to anew hobby but I aint holding my breath. The last book I read was Black Hawk Down. It was really good also if you like that sort of thing. What will the next book be????? War and Peace? Who knows! If anyone has a really good page turner please point me in that direction. I Might check it out. Please post your favorite books in you comments....I need all the help I can get.

Day of Travel

Well todays the day. I leave for Phoenix tonight and I am dreading it. I wish I didnt have to go alone. I will miss everyone and also I dont like to drive in bigger cities however this city really isnt that bad. I still dont like to drive. I will probably just pick up food on the way back to the hotel and eat in my room. As Cynical puts it I will become a total lump. Maybe if I close my eyes really tight and make a wish it will all be over. (eyes closed tightly and wishing) Ah Crap.....

Relaxing at Home

Right now I am just relaxing on the recliner and Brando is going to help her mom get a car and bring it back home. My movie options are wide open and I dont know what I will watch. Hummmmm What to watch? Not sure but I am sure it will be good.

Pre trip gitters

I am leaving for Arizona Sunday and I and getting a bit nervous. I have never traveles alone and I am not as nervous as I would be since I have been there before but still I am getting nervous. Now since the terror thing that happened in GB I hope that everything goes smooth and there is no really long lines to make me miss my connections. I leave about 5:30 pm and will get to my hotel in Phoenix about midnight. Hope everything goes smooth.

Surprise @ Home

Today I came home and there was a surprise waiting for me on the table. My wonderful wife Brando called my Mom and got the recipe for homemade tomato ketchup and spent hours over a hot stove canning it for me. When I came in the door I thought she just made another batch of homemade salsa, which is delicious, but to my surprise it was the one and only tomato ketchup. I love to put this stuff on soup beans and eat it with fried bread. It is really really good. Unfortunately after eating said meal I tend to cause a little discomfort in the vicinity around me for some reason. It is worth the discomfort to me. Love ya Brando.

THE EVENT is Posted

Just wanted everyone out there in blogger land to know that THE geocache event of the year is now posted on www.geocaching.com. Here is a link to THE CACHE SLASH FEST 2006.

Geo Mega Event

Tonight we are having a meeting about what we are going to do for the October 21st event. I have postponed posting the event until I know a few more details. I was afraid the Geoevent on October 21st at some time and somewhere check back later would probably not go over well at this time. Hopefully tonight we will nail down the details and go over the lessons learned from the last party. We had a really good turn out this time and hopefully with all the donations from all the different companies that help geocaching we will have enough for everyone to leave with a little something more than a full belly. This is my preconceptions of what the party will be like. The event will start at or around 1 o'clock pm so that we will have ample morning time to get everything ready. We will start with a meet and greet until about 2pm where we will post coordinantes for the 7 or 8 contest caches. That's where everyone will leave and go caching in the near area. In the contest caches will be a container with poker chips with numbers indicating which cache they came from it them. The cacher will pick up a chip at all caches to trade them in on a playing card when they get back to the event. The best poker hand will win the grand prize and then we will have the best Texas holdem hand for a second place winner. This will all happen while we stuff ourselves with eats. We will probably provide tea and hotdogs for everyone and ask that everyone that attends bring a covered dish or desert. After the drawing we will converse around the bonfire and when it gets dark we will have a haunted hay ride that will take us to a local cemetery, where if people are interested, we are going to have a real Ghost Hunter from the Crawford County Illinois Ghost Hunters Society to show us how to do and investigation and how to use some of the equipment. After that we will return to the event and that will wrap things up for the night. Also all through the event we will have drawings for door prizes. I think this will make for a nice event. This is just preliminary and will probably change about a half a dozen times before it is settled. We will also be offering shirts with the event logo on them and also be offering the event geocoin that Pilot designed. The only people who will be able to get a coin will be people who attend the event. I am a little partial but it is an awesome coin. Hope to see everyone there. Keep a lookout for The Cache Slash Event 2006 in Southern Illinois. Happy Caching!

Communication

Have you ever done something that you wish you didn't do, but in the state of mind you was in you had decided in your brain that it was the correct thing to do at the time even though a small part of you knew it was petty and mean?....... Me too.

I am glad that everyone I know is very understanding of me and my faults. Thank God I am Human and that everyone that is close to me knows it. Chalk it up to immaturity. Thank you everyone....

Pictures of Paranormality

I promised pictures from our recent investigations. Well here they are. I am not really jazzed up about the orb thing but here are some of the pics anyway. You decide ORB or Dust.







Heres an orb in the closet.










Heres an orb near a window.













Heres an orb near a gravemarker.

A Paranormal Graduation

Last night was graduation night for all the Certified Paranormal Investigators that took the class. We went over the other spectrum of paranormal that J looks into but don't really focus on. These subject dealing with U.F.Os and Cryptozoology (Bigfoot). He also talked about phantom ships and houses that disappear (dimentional shifts). Like he said, "We take the calls and do investigate but we don't focus on that subject much." After a quick review of all the subject matter we have went over for the course we received out Certificates (suitable for framing) and went to a known active graveyard to put our degrees to good use. We arrived about 40 minute later and I set up a nightshot camera to blanket the yard while we went investigating. I walked through the graveyard taking pictures for a bit and then we met and attempted to capture a few EVPs. I still need to listen to the recordings to see if we captured something but I do think we caught a couple of orbs in the pictures. I will try and post some when I get home. I also need to review the nightshot footage to see if we picked up anything. After the second attempt at a recording it started to sprinkle. J said, "All picture from this point on cannot be used as evidence due to the rain so we can put our cameras away." I quickly walked back to the Pilots Jeep and put away the video camera and started walking back to were everyone was gathered. Pilot mentioned, "Listen to the wind. Sounds like it is really blowing over in that area." I said, "I hope that is wind and not rain." Seconds later the sky opened up to a deluge. We ran back to the Jeep and the night was basically over. I highly recommend this class and would encourage anyone who is interested to take it. I think they are going to offer and Advanced class in October. I am not sure if I will be able to make it. Things around here get way too busy in October.

Paranormal Class V (The Spook House)

Back story: This house has been known to levetate plaster falling from the ceiling, countless EVPs, moving objects (crutches) and has been known to push people to the floor. It is rated at VERY ACTIVE.

Yes! It has finally arrived. We got to go on a tried and true bonified investigation, complete with motion detectors, EMF meters and wireless IR cameras. We surveyed the house with digital cameras a blazing. After covering the house from top to bottom I got out the Nightshot camera and started a sweep. After consulting with J he let me use a IR broadcaster to help with the small IR emitter I have on the camera. It really helped with the focus. Then after J had it all set up we decided to do try and capture some EVPs. The first couple of attempts I didn't get anything. We then moved to another room and BINGO. Four of us with recorders picked up something that sounded like a voice. It sounds like, "Come Here." But it could be "Im Here." It was in a mans voice. I picked up something really faint in the ground floor living room but it is so faint I will amp it up on the laptop and see what G and Pilot think. One of the weird things about this place is there is a pair of crutches that tend to move around the house. When we went to the basement there they were leaning across the stairway path. I stepped around them and then one of our group moved them out of the way. I set them back the way they were in hopes that they would move while we were there. They did not budge and inch. Other than a few orbs (dust) and a couple of EVPs, the night was pretty uneventful, but I think we all had a good time.

Lessons learned:

1. It his hard to do a real investigation with 30 people in the house.
2. You can not get 30 people to be quite all at the same time.
3. You can not get 30 people to turn off there cell phones during and investigation.
4. By the end of the investigation you will want to strangle all 30 people involved for being bone headed.

Paranormal Class III & IV

Tuesdays class was informative but unfortunately there are some older women in the class that are hard of hearing and dont know how to stay with the group went doing EVP recordings and also like to wear perfume but dont want to tell anyone about it. Needless to say our investigations was all for not. Maybe next time.

Thursdays class was pretty dry at first. We went over basic investigation skills and how to keep track of and document information about the site of the investigation. J showed us copies of the paper work he has the owners sight for permission and history of the site. We then walked to a near by site where a young lady was killed in a car accident. There was a cross beside the road and a tree that had the bark messed up on it so we all placed our recorders at the site and J started questioning. I dont think anyone elso got anything but for some reason it seems that every time J has a recording he gets something. I am not sure what is happening. Is it the model of recorder? Is it that he is better at picking them out of the back ground noise and once it is played a couple of times we start to hear it? Maybe it is that he has been investigating this kind of stuff for a while and ghosts talk and know that he is sincere about his work and are more willing to use his equipment. Depending on what you believe in you can choose the best answer to suit your needs. It is weird and strange and interesting and kind of creepy and the bad thing is that no one can really tell you anything certain about it. It is always changing and No One is an expert at it. I really dont know what to think about it. When our group gets that first Class A EVP I will probably SH-T. Heres to wishful thinking.

Network DOWN

This sleepy little towns wireless network was completely down all day Wednesday. It was weird. I felt very isolated not being able to get on line to blog or surf or email people. I think our email is working but we still cannot surf the web. Hopefully we will be back up later today.

Also..
Last night about 8:30 my friends and I went to a local cemetery that has a old church there and tried to do some homework for the upcomming class. We spend about an hour walking around in the dark. We gave the grounds the full court press with the equipment we have and came up snake eyes. I was hoping we would get something because this place is supposed to be active but it was all for not. It may be because of the crickets and other bugs in the background drones out any EVPs that may be there. The night shot and digital camera showed nothing. We will try again maybe when it is a bit quiter and not so hot out.

Waisted Effort

Im a little upset right now. My brother-in-law saw fit to bring up two s-it eating dogs and drop them at my Mother and Father-in-laws house to take care of while they s-it up and dig up the yard. Yesterday I just about when ballistic. I came home and cleaned out our dogs pin and gave him feed and fresh water. I was walking in the house and was wondering why my fountain in the super secret project pond was not spraying. Upon closer inspection the whole pond was tore to shambles. The rocks were disturbed, the fountain was tipped into the water sturring up all the sediment some the pond looked a muddy mess, the plants was all out of there pots and chewed up and floating on the water. I my first thought was one of them s-it eating dogs got loose. I walked over to the pin where the pains in the a$$ are kept and low in behold one is missing. Steaming, and not from the outdoor heat, I walked over and started straightening up the mess. The plants are a complete lose but it looks like all the fish made it from what I could tell from the muddy water. I finally got the fountain working and the waterfall placed back like it was and called a few people to vent my frustrations. The first victim was my beloved Brando. Since she is down South with my Mom she said upon the news she nearly got sick. I tried to keep my tone at a civil level and help her from becoming ill but let her know the facts. I then called my Mother-in-law and told her. She said she would be home soon. Next I called my Father-in-law. He is kind of a no nonesense kind of guy. He asked me, "Well did you shootem?" I told him that it was not the dumb dogs fault that my pain in the a$$ Bro-in-law is the problem for dragging these flea ridden things up here. The plants can be replaced but a torn liner in the pond will take alot of work to replace. My Bro-in-law is still on vacation and is supposed to come back today or tomorrow. I am not sure how this one is gonna play out. Wish me luck with the patience I need to keep from killing someone.

Sweltering Monday

Its Hot! So hot and humid you have to almost swallow the air. I hate it when it is this hot. You cant do anything outside except bake. With the wife and kids venturing down South I was hoping to get some small things done outside like straighten the garage and spray so weeds but if it is this hot I dont think it will get done. I need to start on some Halloween projects but I think it will have to wait. I am thinking on improving on my acid spitter design and build a new better one but I dont know if it will make it. My only hope is that July will get all this hot weather out of the way to make for a pleasant August. Heres to wishful thinking.

Tomorrow is Paranormal Class III. I am planning of taking the laptop to get set up to analyze EVPs. I already downloaded a free ware version of Ghost Hunter and my wonder wife saw fit to buy me my very own copy of An Idiots Guide to Ghosts and Hauntings. She is such a peach. It does have some interesting information in it. I guess I will read it instead of using it to club her over the head with it. (Love You Brando ;) ) Well I better get back to work. C U L8R

Too Hot

Today was just plain HOT. This weekend we have just stayed in the house and tryed to keep cool. The short amount of time I was outside I came back in with my shirt drenched. I would like to try and straighten up the garage this week but it looks like it will be more of the same. I hope everyone stayed inside this weekend but if you have to venture outside please drink plenty of liquids and stay in the shade.

Paranormal Class II

Last night we started checking out ghost hunting equipment. We went over IR tempreture checkers and IR detector devices. We looked at a Sony Night Shot camera and Trifield Natural EMF meter. They even showed us low tech investigation equipment like baby powder or flour to mark a piece of furniture that is being moved. We got to do a hands on investigation at the arena where there has been a stabbing to see if we could catch anything on the digital cameras or on the voice recorder. We all gathered around and he told us he was going to make a recording and try to be very quite but if you need to make a noise, make it loud and clear to be able to filter it from the faint noises of an EVP. (Electronic Voice Phenomenon) He started the recorder and everyone was very quite for about 30 seconds and then some people started to shift there feet and move a bit but nothing major to hamper the recording. J said, "Is there anyone here that would like to talk? If so speak into the red light and we will hear you." There is a red LED just above the microphone on J's recorder. Then we hear a distant owl and traffic noises. After about 3 minutes he stopped the recording and started listening to it with the speaker on the recorder turned up. At first there was something very quick and faint. J's said it sounded like a HELP ME! but it wasn't very good. Then you heard him ask the question about if anyone would like to talk and then about 20 seconds later you can here a normal speed sound that sounds like HELP ME. The second one was very easy to pick out and hear. I couldnt believe that it actually did pick up something in such a short time frame. He told us that he gets more EVPs in a five to ten minute recording than a long 3 to 5 hour one. He also said that it is pretty common to pick up EVPs where snap shots of orbs are somewhat rare. Most are dust or bugs. I asked if he has ever place two recorders side by side and got the same EVP and he said yes. He has also placed them that way and gotten two seperate EVPs. It is very strange. I am not sure what to make of it but it is interesting. He asked if any one of us are wanting to join his group or start there own and he would help them out in any way he can. After a brief talk about this work I can see that he is not in it for the money because he does not charge but if it is far off he askes if they can help with a hotel room. The more people out doing this work the more information that can be gathered. Like he said in the first class, "You need to be sceptical but open minded." I believe that he is. He does not go over board the first time someone brings up a photo of a bug or dust. Hope to find out more in the next class where we will cover EVPs in detail. See ya later.

Paranormal Class

Paranormal class was pretty good last night. Since this was the very first class you could tell he was a little nervous. We started at 8 pm and it ended at 10. He handed out about 40 papers with information. It was a little dry but for someone who does not watch Ghost Hunters and knows the terminology might find that part engauging. He told about there groups stand on how they try to investigate using scientific approaches instead of phychics and ouija boards. They are after physical evidence that can be reproduced for anyone to see. We then went over theory and concepts and some of the theory was pretty neat. You can tell he has put alot of thought into his work. He mentioned that this part is pretty dry and he was correct but this is what you have to go through to get everyone on the same playing field. Thursdays class is equipment. It will be neat to try out some of the equipment and learn how to use it. I will keep you posted on the classes as they happen and also any evidence or experiences we may encounter. Wish me luck.

So Far So Good

So far we have went a week without a lose in the super secret project pond. I hope the wave of death is over. Since then I have manage to slam my truck into a close line pole that is located pretty close to the driveway. I have pretty well obsessed over this action for the past week. It seems to be a big distraction for me and my mind is having a hard time focusing on anything else. I need to get it to the shop and see how much the damage is going to cost me so I can get beyond this incident. I think until it is fixed it will plague me like a splinter in my mind.

We went camping this weekend and young Yuri put at least 35 miles on his bike in two days. He is getting so big and he loves to ride his bike. Truth be known he probably has more like 40 miles since some of the time we were not with him with our odometer to track. Hope everyone had a nice weekend.

A Family, Stricken

Its happened again.... Death has stricken the super secret project pond. Twice in two days the small inhabitants have met a untimely demise. There were the best of the best among their kind. I give these fish a twenty one bubble salute. Blub Blub Blub Blub Blub Blub Blub Blub Blub Blub Blub Blub Blub Blub Blub Blub Blub Blub Blub Blub......Oh yeah....Bloooey. So long poor fishies. I will miss you Stinky and Nemo. Goodbye. (Sniff...sniff)

Too Pooped to Post

Since the weekend, I have found myself too pooped to post. Hopefully my energy will return. Today I had to set in a meeting all day and it seems that when that happens, I cant seem to get the engery to do anything for the rest of the day. Hope to post more at a later day.

New Domain is UP!

The new site is up and the domain link works. You can now get there with : www.wolfcreekcemetery.com

Thanks

Goodbye Little Fishy

Yep. It happened. One of our own has passed. He was a good fish. Swimming, eating, pooping. He (as if I know how to sex fish) was a nice fishy, never back talking and always willing to lend an extra fin to aid in my relaxation. Yesterday I walked up to the super secret project pond and was shocked by the horror of seeing little Nemo floating. (sniff sniff) I am still greiveing. Please excuse the tear stains on the screen. Poor little Nemo. Here is a little ditty I wrote for my friend.

Poor little Nemo,
Swimmin in the Pond,
Of that little guy,
I did grow fond.

He was a good fish,
He didnt need a boat,
Usta could swim,
But now hes gotta float.

Too my little pal,
Never did he bitch,
Too lazy to flush him,
So I threw him in the ditch.

Yeah Nemo!

Amen

New Site Soon To Be Up

Here is the banner to my new website. The link will not work if you click on the banner yet because the domain isnt up yet but the link provided below will take you to my new bare bones site for now.

Link : http://www.geocities.com/wolfcreekcemetery/main.html

Hope you like it.

My Fathers Day Gift

My wonderful wife Brando bought me a new grill. She had been saying she wanted to for a while but now we have it. Shes a beaut. My other one was about 10 years old or so and still works but it was time for it to move along.

Have a nice weekend everyone.

New additions

Our family has grown by 6 today. We are the proud owners of 6 Goldfish. We bought them today and placed them in the super top secret project garden pond and let them aclimate to the water tempreture for about an hour and then set them free. They cautiosly explored their new home and environment before settling in. After about another hour I dropped in some food because there is no vegetion in the water and there is probably little to no algae in the new pond. I will try to get some photos of the new editions sometime this week. Hope everyone had a productive weekend.

The Top Secret Project

Here it is. What you have all been waiting for... The Top Secret Project with the patio project.

BEFORE

And After!!!

The Top Secret Project

The Top Secret Project at Night

Hope the wait was worth it and you liked the pictures.

Cant Sleep

I am all keyed up on this patio project. I spent the night before the pour going over everything in my brain to keep from botching it. I have slept pretty well since then until now. I have tossed and turned and decided it was not happening at around 3 a.m. I have surfed Lowes web site and googled this super secret side project to make sure that I dont mess it up but with no sleep I think it may be doomed. (Brando will probably spill the beans in her next post.) This remindes me of Halloween time when I dont sleep for thinking of projects and getting in from the garage at midnight. Hopefully I will get this side project done soon so I can get some shut eye. This one may be the death of me... Wish me luck.

IQ

Congratulations, Brent!
Your IQ score is 128

This number is based on a scientific formula that compares how many questions you answered correctly on the Classic IQ Test relative to others.

Your Intellectual Type is Visual Mathematician. This means you are gifted at spotting patterns — both in pictures and in numbers. These talents combined with your overall high intelligence make you good at understanding the big picture, which is why people trust your instincts and turn to you for direction — especially in the workplace. And that's just some of what we know about you from your test results

Week of Vacation

This week I spent with my family both near and far. We went to Kentucky and visited with my folks. We visited with everyone and while chatting with my cousin, I discovered that he is opening a Halloween store for August through October. Needless to say I was very excited and wanted to help him out as much as possible. As soon as I find out what he needs I think I will try to make him a sign and send down one of my Halloween props to set out infront of his shop.

My boy has turned 7 years old. I know it is hard to believe. It seems like yesterday that I was changing his diapers. Brando, Yuri and I went to Mammoth Cave to spend the day going through a 2 hour 2 mile hike that took us 360 feet below the surface. We all had a good time crawling through Fat Mans Misery. We got to look down the bottomless pit and climb an underground fire tower. It was a very neat and educational tour. Yuri had a really good time.

We then came back to my grandmothers house to have a surprise birthday party and rides around the yard in a ballon covered golf cart. Yuri made out like a bandit with money and wants to save it for Disney this fall.

Today we ventured back home only stopping to try to get a cache we struck out on on the way down. Yin slept the whole way home. She is such and angel when she is sleeping.

Tomorrow we plan on doing some landscaping around the new patio and cleaning out the garage. It looks like a bomb has gone off inside it. Well enough for now. Hope everyone had a nice week.