Interesting Trip

So I went to ID to drop off something that my squadron has and Mt Home didn't. Basically a free day off to go see my kid. Turned out to have some funny events.

So I drop off the package at Mt Home and I am heading back to the freeway to go to boise. I am on Airbase road which quickly reminds me of one of the reasons I hated Mt Home. The road is 10 miles to town and desolate with nothing but tumbleweeds. Well I thought I was doing about 72 mph. Still over the speed limit, but a reasonable 7 mph over. The state trooper corrected me and I was doing 79. 14 over. Not good. I was either looking at my spedometer wrong or I need a serious recalibration. So I am stopped on a sideroad where I was able to turn into so nobody was in danger while I awaited my ticket. Trooper walks up to my car and we talked about the 72 mph and 79 mph thing. He asked where I was from I told him I lived in Utah and was passing through for my business stuff and going to see my kid in Boise. He then asked for my drivers license and I handed it to him. Then he gave me the saving grace by asking me if I knew the area at all. I told him that I use to be Elmore County and flashed the badge. Before he asked he was about to walk away and run my license until he saw the badge. He handed back my license (without ever running it) and said my tint was too long in the front for Idaho and to be careful and have a good day. That ticket probably would have hurt just a bit. Glad I got out of it.

I went to see Lorelei and hung out with her for a while until she went to bed. we colored and watched a movie. It was fun and well worth the drive.

I was on my way home to UT and I was feeling rather tired at 1:30 AM so pulled over to a rest stop to shut my eyes for a few minutes. After my few minutes of eye shutting it was incredibally light outside. It was now 7 AM. Guess that few minutes lasted a few hours. I was laughing when I woke up because what else can you do in that situation. The shock of looking for a cat nap and sleeping about what you do every night at home, but in your car at a rest stop. Suprisingly I was not incredibally sore and headed back on my way to get home. I got home around 9 AM. 

So basically, it took me 10 hours to get home give or take a bit. Really funny when you realize it is a 4.5 hour drive.

Good times.

Eddie 

Howdy

Mungo, I thought you were not a fan of your future Mother in law? Will she be around when the baby is born? It would suck to have someone living with you when the baby shows up. When that baby gets there you are going to want to be your little family and get used to things without much distraction. I hope it all works out for you.

Eddie, although you don't like Mt Home you would be able to be near Lorelei and that should count for a lot. On the other hand, I am like you in that I really wouldn't want to live somewhere that I absolutely despised. You are in a pickle. How long until you have to choose where you go after the Big Kmart?

We have Aimee and Suzie visiting for the weekend. Ashlee had her very first sleep over last night at our friend's house (Robin and Aarron). Ash is good friends with their kids and we trust them so there you have it. We went to dinner and saw "You, Me and Dupree". The movie was pretty funny. Actually, it was hilarious in spots and Kate Hudson isn't hard to look at.

Nothing else really going on here. It's still hot with temps around 113 and 50% humidity. The humidity is what sucks since we are usually at 20% or less. I am truely working for the weekend (next weekend) when we are heading up to Richfield to ride some quads.

ST out

Houseguest

ZZ's mother will be living with us until the end of August. At that time, she will join her husband in Boise, Idaho where they have decided to live.

27th Birthday

It is the end of July. (Thank you for the happy birthday wishes.) ZZ and I finally had our first camping trip of the year 2006. It will likely be the only camping trip I take this year. While I'm not happy that my summer fun has been limited to about a dozen bike rides, three mountain climbs, five other hikes, and a lot of jogging, I am very happy with the changes in my life that are causing me to compromise. I am mourning the loss of my super active outdoor life, yes, but at the same time, I am praising God for the opportunity He has given me to be a father.

Yes, I just said 'God' and capitalized He. I know, but I mean it.

ZZ and I didn't know exactly where we were going to stay on our camping trip, but we knew we had three or four nights and we thought three or four different sites would make the trip a lot of work, but a lot of fun too. She left all the decision making up to me, she said, because it was my birthday, but that didn't sit well with me. There was no way I was going to make a decision to camp in a place where my Prego wasn't going to be comfortable. She's quite the trooper in the first place to even attempt a few nights of tent camping when she's 8 months pregnant. So this is how it worked: I gave her ideas, she said yes or no. That worked out for both of us.

If you want to look these places up, you should. They're pretty. We stayed first at Sheep Mountain. There was a lodge there and a guy at the counter told me, "We have a bunk house," and I said, "we want to camp in tents," he said, "a third of a mile back that way is Sheep Mountain Airport Road, you can camp under the wind sock and they don't care as long as you don't interfere; it's public land." So we headed back up that way, found the road, found the short gravel landing strip, and then found a really narrow bumpy road that my Saturn would never make it down. Luckily, we weren't driving the Saturn, we were driving our new Subaru Forester and that car made mince meat of the silly dirt road. It was a lot of fun to drive, too. We ened up camping on a sand bar from a dried up washout area beneath the volcano burnt mountain. We were beset on all sides with small trees and shrubs, and the ground, though not very soft, was at least perfectly flat. We had a fire, hot dogs, smores, and I drank rum. The next morning was beautiful. We ate eggs and bacon in the bright early morning sunlight and took pictures of the awesome view of mountains surrounding us on all sides.

The plan then was to drive further East and head south towards Valdez, but cut east again towards McCarthy and Kennicott in the Wrangell Saint Elias National Park area and camp there. But, from what little I had read and seen of the area (60 mile dirt road, no gas for 100 miles, $300 fee to cross some bridge, and no hospital services for nearly 200 miles) I thought better of putting ZZ and I into a potentally very bad situation. We drove to Valdez instead, intending on camping there. But half way down the Richardson Highway, the rain began to fall and our hopes of finding dry ground in Valdez was diminishing quickly. We stopped at Worthington Glacier 30 miles outside of Valdez where it was 48 degrees. We drove up through Thompson Pass (2,670 feet, measly, I'm sure to you 11,000 ft fools) and were shouded deeply by cloud cover and more rain. We visited the Bridal Veil and Horsetail Falls in Keystone Canyon and by the time we made it to the camp ground outside Valdez, the rain was falling harder than ever. ZZ decided that the rain was making her sleepy so she took a nap as I pointed us back north towards Glennallen. By the time I had driven through Keystone Canyon again, ZZ was asleep and I suddenly felt like I was about to pass out. I pulled over, turned off the car, and fell asleep in about 30 seconds. Two hours later we both woke up and drove all they way back past Sheep Mountain (where we started that morning) and thought we'd just wait to find a place where it wasn't raining.

We found that place near the Matenuska Glacier, 101 miles northeast of Anchorage. We set up camp, made hamburgers and I drank rum. ZZ and I studied and discussed our workbook called "Save Your Marriage Before it Begins" and went to bed on the elaborate series of camp pads, inflateables and blankets we had set up for ZZ's comfort. I won't complain, I felt pretty cozy too. The next morning we ate bacon and eggs in, surprisingly, the sunshine. A bird came into the camp and began to peck at the remaining scrambled eggs on the pan. I looked at the bird eating the egg remants and, very puzzled, said to ZZ, "I didn't think birds ate-"

We drove further east and stopped at King Mountain. We contemplated camping there, but in the end, I decided that ZZ was getting too sore, and though she didnt' want to admit it to me, I knew she really wanted to sleep in her bed with her Snooggle pillow and a toilet nearby. So we left the Rec Area after a barrage of pictures by the river and drove to Hatcher's Pass, just north of Palmer. I had never been up there before and I found it to be wonderfully beatiful. So did ZZ. We took some more pictures there. On the way back out of the pass, I stopped to itch my heel and pee at the trailhead for Gold Mint Trail. There were two hippie kids, a boy and a girl, both looking very attractive and hippie like. ZZ said to me, "I'll never look like her, Erik, so don't even think it," but what she doesn't know, is that as hot and sexy as I thought that hippie girl in her shorts and braided hair was, my ZZ was more special and has always been more beautiful to me than the hippie. ZZ's big belly, the extra pounds in other areas, none of it phases my perception of her beauty. The changes her body is going through are for a very good reason and I find that to be the most wonderful human body in the world. Sexy hippies with nice legs, big boobs, and rucksacks don't hold a candle to ZZ.

Then we drove home. ZZ napped again over the last hour, and then we got home, napped for 2 hours, went to Bear Tooth (the old Denali Theater, remember?) ate a lot of great pizza and had a good birthday dessert. Later, after coffee at Barnes and Noble, we watched Mission Impossible 3 at the Bear Tooth. It was the first time ZZ and I had gone to the theater to watch a stupid action movie. We had fun.

We had coffee at Leroy's with ZZ's mother to wrap up the night, and brought her mother back to our house to sleep on the couch (long story). (as if this wasn't long enough!) We put in "The Big Lebowski" and Double O came over for some rum. I also drank some rum.

I won't be drinking for a long while now. Three nights in a row! That pretty much matches all the drinks I've had all year up to this point.

So that was my birthday fun. We had a blast and I can't wait to see the pictures from our trip.

Peace and 27 Damn Years Old,
Mungo

PS, I love the Subaru.

Happy B-Day Bro

Since I forgot to post it earlier and did actually remember. It is also my Mom's anniversary.

The date went like this... ate, talked, went home. 

That is all.

Tonight

I have a sort of date tonight. One of the chicks I work with. She is making dinner for me. Gonna be unable on the Diablo action.

I will let y'all know how things go. I am expecting something like this... we ate, talked about nothing important, went home. 

ST just to let you know, I just got an e-mail from the devil chick too.

Mungo, How are things in your world of teeth?

Peace y'all

Eddie

Happy Birthday

Well, I called Mungo a week ago and left my number and he never called back. Today I called 3 times and couldn't get through.

Happy Birthday! There!

ST

Back on the Edge

I've come back to a place where things might be okay. More later...

Class 3 Rapids

If your molar is messed up won't the military fix it since you have bennies right now? That seems like it should be an easy fix or am I missing something?

It doesn't seem like AK has much to offer in the way of jobs. Where would you want to go if you did leave? You aren't going to go back to Osage? Are you? It doesn't seem like there would many jobs there either.

Vegas has tons of jobs! Come on down. You could grab a job doing whatever and ZZ could be a live out nanny for us starting the first of the year (or earlier)! Hey, $1000-$1300 a month for watching our 2 kids and she gets to bring her own to work with her! You could even stay with us for a month while you find a place. Hey, it's a thought.

ST out

Well Then

Sounds to me like a case of the Fuck family, Fuck Jobs, Fuck AK, and Fuck your teeth.

Other than that, well, I just don't know what to say.

I bought my tickets for Houston today. 10 year reunion here I come. I am excited for a couple reasons... 1. I get to see where people are at in life and if they have acomplished anything besides living off of mom and dads money and smoking pot. 2. It will be good to see some people that I actually do want to see. 3. I have a hottie going with me. 

Mungo, the girl is Grace, one of my friends on my myspace page. She has assured me that we will have a fun time. I don't really know exactly how yet, but I don't think it involves duct tape, bananas or a donkey. This chick is just cool as hell (or was and still seems to be) so we will see how everything rolls out. And no, I am not looking for a relationship or a one night stand. Got too much on the plate to do anything that would be anything near a commitment.

I will find out my follow-on assignment within 90 days. That is a long fucking time (for me) to wait at this point in time.

I am ready to go campin and quadin this weekend. Should be a blast. Looks like they are predicting isolated T-Storms again on weather.com. I would not mind a slight sprinkle to keep the dust down, but I am hoping we do not get dumped on.

Have Head, Will Smash

Have wheels, will travel. Lizz wants to leave the state if this job falls through again (FOR THE 5th TIME). She wants to leave.

I want to quit everything and start nothing.

Class 3 for Dental... again!

The job interview is for a SSgt position at the 176th ACS doing exactly what I'm doing now. The guard is strange that way. The interview is on Monday, but guess the fuck what, my peeps? Nasty molar #3 has made me class 3 again.

So guess what the fuck that means. I might not be eligable for the job I have completely and totally relied on. Everything gets in my fucking way. Nothing moves aside and lets me live my life. I can do absolultely nothing good for my family. What am I going to? We're 3K away from being totally broke. I'm at a complete and total loss.

IT NEVER ENDS!

Peace and Love,
Mungo

Bitter Much?

Mungo, you seem just a little bitter. I am assuming this goes deeper than just ZZ's Mom moving to ID before the baby is born.

Good luck on your job interview. What kind of work is it?

ST

ICT Eval

I passed my ICT Eval today and that will be my primary duty qualification. I also start my leave today. I don't go back to work until 04Aug and I'll be on straight days then. Other than a dental thing tomorrow, court on Friday, and a job interview on the 24th, I've got nothing planned but CAMPIN!

I am personally going to see to it that we skip out of town before ZZ's mother's birthday. I don't care what we do or where we go, I want her to know that we missed her birthday, we knew it, and didn't care.

I'm so pissed off at ZZ's mother that I'm going to make it a point to break ties with her.

I'm even going to take her off my friends list at myspace. Take that Cheerios!

Peace and Love,
Mungo

Idaho

ZZ's stupid fucking mother and her husband (I guess you could call him ZZ's stupid fucking step-father) currently live in Anchorage. But not for long.

One would think that as your first grandchild was growing very near to being born you would be thankful that you lived in the same town as your new family. You would be thankful that you might be close to them in a time when important changes are happening within that family. You would be thankful, wouldn't you guys?

Or would you decide to move to Boise, Idaho? (Only three weeks before the baby is due!)

You're moving not because you have a job lined up there or anything. (Oh, you DID have a job lined up there at one point, but then you found out you'd have to shave your beard before you were hired... and FUCK THAT!) And not because you have any friends or family that live there either. Nor have you ever even been there before.

No, you're leaving AlAskA because, "Oh, ya, see, we'll, we've just heard SO much about it!"

Stupid- Fucking- Good for nothing- Ungrateful- GrandParents.

Peace and Love,
Mungo

Hot Sun Beating Down

Yes, yes... thank you Phil Collins...

Anyway, I did get my book from you Mungo and I did tell you that. I told you a while ago and you have been going through some stress so I forgive you for not remembering.

The forecast is clearing up so this weekend could be OUTSTANDING!!!

The temp here has been hitting 100 for the past couple days. Power has gone out numerous times. Needless to say, SLC is not use to 100 degree heat. Thank God that there is not the humidity added with it like in Houston (where I will be in a month for my 10 year reunion.)

Mungo, I want to get up to see you, but I just have no idea of when I can. You need to move back to the real US.

Later Bros.

Highway 9 Progress Report

I am finished hand-writing my second book, Highway 9. I have begun the long process of typing it out now. So far I have have 17,000 typed words and no telling how many I have left. I'm less than half way through the first notebook. The first of many. Many.

Did you guys ever get your copies of Solid Mud? And if you did, did you ever tell me?

ST, Eddie. Sounds like you guys had a lot of fun over the weekend. I'm jealous that you guys get to see each other regularly. At least for now. I hit a bird once. A ptarmagin. What a mess!

Peace and Love,
Mungo

Paiute Trail

I can't begin to say how much fun was had on Saturday while we all rode the Paiute. Beck, Ashlee, Eddie, John and Keivn were all there and having a great time. Photos can be seen at wachel.net.

There are two movies there as well of John (Ghetto) jumping his quad into a creek crossing.

Only two animals were hurt during this weekend. The first was a 3 foot rattle snake that I ran over as I was coming around a turn at the end of the ride (it tried to avoid it). He managed to slither off in to the bushes. The second was a bird that flew in to the front of my car while I was going 80mph. It hit the front edge of the hood (pretty sharp edge) and I heard a loud thump but never saw anything in my rear view on the road. About 100 miles later when we stopped at Burger King I walked around the front of the car....yep, it was still there. It was a little bird about the size of my fist. The bird had almost gotten cut in half and the lower half was hanging in front of the grill and the top was stuck to the hood. I had to get a stick and scrape it off! I still have to go and wash the blood off.

Besides that...no other animal injuries (although I almost hit a deer on my quad).

Next weekend Eddie, John and I are going to load up the quads for a day of riding and a night of camping and riding. Marathon style.

ST out

Plate

Plans on my plate (or "I didn't order this! Take it away!")

Tonight: Go to Bitoz with Robbie, ZZ's step brother, and watch The Riot play awesome live music.

Sat-Sun: Ride bike on Porcupine Trail out of Hope, AK.

Monday: Test MQF, follow up with MBNA and Capital One about letters clearing me of obligation. (I WON THE CASE WITH CAPTIAL ONE. Yesterday!)

Tuesday: July 18th: My ICT Eval.

July 19th - Aug 3rd: Leave (I have to take it now, or I lose/sell it. Who wants to sell 12 days of leave?)

July 24th: Interview for the permanent AGR job. Also Geno's Birthday

July 25th: ZZ's mother's birthday.

July 26th: My birthday.

July 28th: ZZ's friend Stephanie's wedding. (Trying to get out of it)

Aug 4th - 11th: Catch up on 'Drill Weekends"

Aug 12th & 13th: Childbirth Weekend Intensive Course

Aug 14 - Aug 31st: Work Monday through Friday, straight days, for Base Pay ONLY.

Hopefully my AGR orders will be cut before the end of August. If they are, we will have plenty of money to be getting by with. I am looking forward to taking some leave. Perhaps ZZ and I will finally get to go camping. I doubt it though. We've got a lot to do in those weeks.

I'm just really happy that I will be working and getting SOME pay and I'm super excited that Capital One has released me from my responsibilities. I WON! Winner winner, chicken diner.

Peace and Love,
Mungo

PS, Speaking of chicken diner, Tonight, before we go to Bitoz to see my friend's band play, she's making Chicken Popperkosh. I don't know what a popperkosh is, but it sounds fancy on my plate.

Touorary

Depending on the amount of money you will make....apply for WIC. That will help you a ton with baby stuff and food. Please don't tell me you are too proud or I will not feel bad for you.

If the Guard is the one stopping employment then can't you get un-employment? That should be good for about 6 months.

I am sure that you will find a way to make ends meet. Let us hope that it's legal!

ST out

Air National Guard 101, Final Exam

Dear Eddie and Mikey,

I sent an e-mail to silver_dragon. Haven't heard anything back just yet, we'll see. It was a nice, harmless, personable e-mail not addressed to anyone in particular. We'll see if anyone responds. So far, I think that's my best lead.

The National Guard is a confusing place. For the last 152 days my job has been coming along just fine. In that time I have attained CMR status in one qualification and very near CMR in a 2nd. I get paid decently good money and life has been relatively smooth, compared to what life was like before the Temporary Tour began.

And therein lies the problem. Those two words: Temporary.Tour. 179 day orders. My orders expire August 3rd and at that time I return to DSG status. One weekend a month. Pay goes away. Benefits go away. Security in the time of drastic family changes... goes away. I'm left now, only with the hope that my chief and superintendent are able to work out a way where I can work "man-days" (not mayonnaise) Monday-Friday, 8-4. Normal, boring day shift. Sounds like full time work though, doesn't it? Not exactly. Still no benefits. No BAH. No BAS. This will be a drastic cut in pay, but not as bad as if I am denied the Man-Days... which is a distinctive possibility this close to the end of the fiscal year.

Luckily, ZZ and I were denied buying the car and we still have the down payment. It's just too bad that now that money may have to be spent on day to day living expenses. We'll have to start all over on this saving for the down payment thing again, but that guarantees that by the time we'll actually be able to afford the car, the baby will have already been with us for three months. I am going to be FORCED TO DRIVE AN UNSAFE CAR WITH A BABY ON BOARD. This does not make me happy, and I know when ZZ hears about this, she's going to be furious. I am not looking forward to telling her this when she wakes up. I might have to talk to my First Sergeant again about getting some sort of loan or grant from the Guard. Otherwise, we might go broke with a baby on the way.

Additionally, I have to take all 12 of the days of leave I have accrued so far on the tour, and I have to take them before the tour ends. So, last week and a half of July (over my birthday) I will be off work. At first this sounds great, but then you get to thinking about when that baby comes. I'll have no leave left, and I'll have to go in the hole. FUCKIT, maybe I'll still be unemployed and I won't have to worry about it.

How are your lives?

Peace and Love,
Sarcastic and Disenfranchised

Reply to "Joe"

FUCK HIM UP!!! I will be in Houston in a month in a half. I might have to get in contact with my "not so law abiding" friends if you want. 

This brings up a funny story... One of my old friends in high school and I are sitting in class. I was really small in HS and this one guy kept picking on me. Well, my friend looks over at me (my friend was basically a Mexican thug that just liked to fight) and says with a straight face "Do you want me to kick his ass right now?" At first I thought he was joking. He wasn't. He was about to jump right over the lab table and take the guy out right there. This was in a biology class, thus the lab tables. The friends first name was Mike. Can't remember his last name right now. The other guy just kept on trying to get to me and Mike was just about getting pissed off at this point. I told him to just let it go and just blow it off. At the end of the school day I was walking out to the parking lot and saw a crowd of people. Yup, Mike kicked his ass as soon as school let out. The dude left me alone from then on.

Wajee may need to meet this guy.

Joe

Did a lot of snooping around today and covered quite a lot of ground. I found out a lot of information about the fraudulent credit card account. I don't want to spend two hours going into all the details, but know this: I have filed a police report and included therein the following pieces of personal information about the perpetrator:

e-mail address : silver_dragon_68
'psudonym : Joe Rivers
hometown : Houston, Texas

I believe the person who has violated me was a person who was close to me, someone who had access to my dorm room. Someone from Houston, Texas. Someone who likes dragons. Someone who we used to call Joe. Someone who's real name is Wajee Raheed Qutob.

I have more than this.

Peace and Love,
Mungo

Punch A Dealer

You know what? Our dealer was nice. It was the finance guy that told us we had been rejected despite his "hardest efforts with my friend" at the bank, that's the guy I wanted to punch.

My credit score is 572 right now. It's not the worst it could be, but it sure makes it hard to do anything.

I want to punch the asshole at Capital One. I want to punch Subaru's finanace guy. I want to punch everyone on the street driving a car with a bumper. I want to punch a hole in the air, climb through it into another dimension, drag my ZZ in behind me, and swim away into a world where I get what I want.

Credit

Mungo, Trust me I feal your pain. Granted that was primarily because I was married to the worst person with money in the world and luckily she has in theory gotten better.

So that was a couple years ago. It took quite a while to recover from that. My credit score is now at 725. Pretty impressive for me since just a few years ago I was struggling to keep above the 600 mark.

I wish I could give you some words of encouragement that would get you a vehicle, but I can't. You are just going to have to suck up shitty bank offers with even shittier interest rates for a while. The hole will eventually be dug out of and you will get back on track as long as you stay on top of it and don't just say "Fuck It!"

Not too much else going on here other than I am going bowling tomorrow instead of an OG CC call.

Have fun and punch a car dealer for me.

Things that cost more than money

We didn't get the car. Denali Bank was going to finance me for $13,000 which would have been enough for a nice used car. We have $3,000 to put down. I think that's pretty good. Apparently though, Denali needed just a few letters from a few company's explaining the marks against me on my credit report. Credit reports! Bah! I've taken the black marks on my credit report down from 8 to 4. Indulge me a moment while I explain the 4 things.

#1. Gulf Power. Didn't turn off my electrickity when I left Florida. Oops, my bad. $150, paid no problem. Oh! But I didn't happen to save a reciept and now it's still on my credit report and nobody at CSI Gulf Power can locate records of payment... or any account information at all.

#2. MBNA. The Air Force didn't take care of my travel vouchers properly and, back in 2003/2004, sent my MBNA travel card into 6 month + deliquency. I spent a lot of time in between my RA's office, the MPF at Tyndall, and my Commander's office. Finally, ever so finally, my commander called me and told me that it had been taken care of and there was nothing further I had to worry about. What I didn't know until TODAY! is that MBNA, in fact, DID charge off the account when no payments were ever recieved. I was told in 2004 and told again two weeks ago that the account had been paid in full and that nothing outstanding remained. Representatives from MBNA themselves have told me this. $560.

#3. GMAC. I hate this finance company. I will never use them again, not if I can help it. From day one they had my information and the information of my cosigner (my father) turned around. How's a 19 year old first time car buyer going to co-sign for a 45 year old home owner and multi-time car buyer with outstanding credit? Anyway, they've still got my Saturn listed as charged off, but it's been paid and I have the title.

#4. CAPITAL ONE. This one's the bastard of the bunch. You guys knew me when I lived in the dorms, right? Kinda seems to me we all spent a lot of time together, didn't we? Think so. Do any of you EVER remember me using a credit card? I had a VISA Check Card, but no credit card. I have never held a credit card (that wasn't issued to me) and I have never applied for one, not once, not ever. But there is one in my name and it comes with a $1,100 charge off.

Two months ago ZZ and I went to Consumer Credit Counceling Services (CCCS) here in town; a government agency providing a free service to people who need help with their credit reports. They were all very helpful, and I walked away with a neatly organized folder containing a list of things I needed to do to get back on my feet. I have spent some time since then going over these things and many of them, I thought, had been taken care of. Not good enough.

I'm not good enough. That's what the banks are telling me. That's what everyone tells us. We're not good enough to have a safe family car with a front bumper on it. I'm a piece of shit in between the hooves of a diseased cow. Gettin' crusty.

So after all afternoon yesterday, and a good portion of today, ZZ and I found ourselves going from the high of being promised the car to the low of the final rejection and the hurt of slapped faces. Not to be defeted so damn easily, after all, the bank only requires a few letters, I went to working the phone for over an hour.

#1. Gulf Power. Sat on 'soundless' hold for 10 minutes, hung up, tried a different number and got connected to another 15 minutes of dead air.

#2. MBNA. Here I got my bad news. Charged off, not paid off. I suck again! But nobody was available to answer my questions in greater detail.

#3. GMAC. Closed for the day, shouldn't have any trouble with them tomorrow....

#4. CAPITAL ONE. This is the bastard of the bunch. First number I tried (off junk mail in the house) didn't work at all. The second number I tried (from their website) connected me to a message saying, "For secret fun long into the the night, call 900-999-TALK. Nine hundred girls are waiting to T - A - L - K to you. Call now. Justnintyninecentsperminute." And then I got disconnected. When I tried the third number (again, from the internet) I followed the menus to the "Report Fraud" department, just as I had done months ago to report the account as fraudulent. I spoke to a friendly guy who said, "Thank you, Mr. Kershner, for verifiying all your information. It looks like your account is now being handled by another department, will you hold shortly while I transfer you?" I said, "Yes." I was on hold for 5 seconds. An asshole picked up and after I re-verified all of my information he said, "Why'd you call me, let me transfer you to the Fraud department." And w/o giving me a chance to speak, I was clicked off to the most irritating music I have ever heard. After 2 or 3 minutes of music, the asshole came back on and said, "I need your phone number so I can send them an e-mail." "What?" I asked. "They are experiancing a high volume of calls at this time (this is the fraud department, remember) so I will send them an e-mail and have someone contact you later." I said, "First off, before you put me back on hold I didn't get a chance to tell you this, The Fraud Department Transfered Me To YOU." He said, very plainly, "No they didn't." I said, very plainly, "Yes they did. The guy pulled up my account, said your department was handling my case and he transered me to you." He said, angrily, "That's stupid. He wouldn't have done that. You're wrong." I said, yelling now, "Don't tell me I'm wrong. Don't tell me I'm stupid! If you're not willing to help me, find somebody who is." I ended up leaving my phone number. That was 5 hours ago, nobody's called.

I'm sorry for the length of this post, but I have to get this all off my chest. These things are so idiotic that I simply cannot understand why they are getting in the way of my family and a USED 2003 Subaru Outback. I guess what I need is for somebody to say, "Erik, our bank recognizes that you and your ZZ are good hard working honost people, good Americans too, and we appriciate the things you have done for our country, and we appricate that you've done so much already to make repairs to your credit, and we can understand that the few remaining blemishes are contraveral and are probably just as trite as you say they are. We'd like to give you the first loan you asked for, here's $23,000 for a new 2006 Outback! Congratulations on being a good person."

But no! Nobody ever says, "I'd like to help you because you're a good person." No! They say, "Fuck you, Kitty, you're gonna spend the night outside. You've made mistakes before and I don't give a shit how hard you've worked to fix them. Let me transfer you to someone who will talk to you long into the night. She's beautiful, I promise, and she says the hottest things."

Peace and Love,
Mungo

Things that cost money

I think I still want the lappy. I'd like to have something to take along with me when I go to places where typing can happen. Like on long drives when I get tired of watching the road. As to the iMac, why would I want to run XP on a Mac? Wouldn't that confuse everything? Can you still use all the iLife software?

Speaking of things that cost money. ZZ and I are trying to buy a car. Please wish us the best of luck. I'll let you know more tomorrow night if all goes well.

Peace and Love,
"mungo"

Mungo iMac

Rock on with your bad self and get an iMac. You will love it. Also, on the new iMacs you can install and run windows XP if you choose. When you restart your computer you can just pick which operating system you want.

Speaking of operating systems....I still can't find a copy of windows XP home edition for the laptop. If you can get a copy of it then I will be able to hook you up. You will have to buy it or get it from someone. I have the key for it so you will be legal. Or...if you don't want it since you are getting an Apple then I will make use of it....maybe.

ST

The 5th of July Celebrations

Sorry to hear about Tahoe. That was a great dog.

Watched the fireworks with ZZ and her mother, Kathi. They shoot them off at the Sullivan Arena and since we live so close, we don't have to fight traffic or parking... just as short walk through the woods. They suck here though, I'm sure you guys remember. The sun barely sets by midnight and by the time they start shooting them off at 0015 hrs, it's not dark... nor is it the 4th any longer.

After fireworks we three played Trivial Pursuit while listening to Tom Petty and the Beatles. I drank a glass of Johnny Walker Red Label and won the game.

I have the next two days off and tomorrow I have a doc's appointment so they do something about a disturbing fungus.

Peace and Love,
Mungo

4 Wheelers, Family and Dog Bites.

What have I been up to? Well, we took off for Richfield on Friday and just got home about an hour ago.

We were some quad riding fools. 13 people on five quads. Yeah baby, red neck nation. We had a blast.

The weekend didn't go off without a hitch, though. On Saturday night my dog, Tahoe, bit one of the kids on the face. Off to the emergency room for 5 stiches under his eye and 2 on his lip. Tahoe is now gone. We turned him over to the city by our choice. I can't trust him now and we are going to have a new baby this Oct. I am sad since I know he didn't mean to hurt anyone. Walker (the one that got bit) followed him around all the time poking at him and messing with him. Tahoe was just trying to tell him to back off but his teeth got too close.

I am sad even though the weekend was great over all. I have to go and throw all of his old stuff away now...

ST out.

4th Weekend

The weekend was awesome!! Got my kid a helllmettt and got her on the quad. She absolutely loved it! I was worried because I didn't know if she would like it or not. Here is the funny part about it, the more bumps we went over and the more water we went through the better time she had.

ST had a lot of the family there this weekend. The kids played well together and there was minimal whining. The cheese could have been busted out a couple times, but nothing too huge.

I am finally done with the TDY's for a while (I hope.) My next time out of town is going to be in Houston and then Syracuse for a friends wedding. After that, the condo will probably go on the market and it will be off to the Big K in Feb.

I bring back Lorelei tomorrow and then back to the grid iron on Wednesday. It will probably be busy and my shop seems like it is in some state of turmoil. I guess I will find out more when I get back.

My boss invited my shop over for the UFC fight with Ortiz and Shamrock. I am hoping Shamrock gets the shit kicked out of him.

On a side note, my old boss is trying to set me up with his girlfriend's sister. Apparently she is supposed to be a knockout. However, she is 20 and I don't know how well that will work. Oh, and still going to Korea to add to that. We will see how this all goes.

Peace Bros and happy 4th. Remember what Independence means.

Getting Dark in my Apartment

I have been sitting on my computer for a while now, typing out e-mails and dillying on people's Myspace web-based pages. Here's mine. I've been sitting here for a while now, over an hour, and the time is now past ten p.m. By no means is it dark outside, oh no, but the sun has set and there is no longer bright rays of light bouncing off of things and reflecting into my face, or onto my walls or any of the items inside my apartment. It's getting dark in my apartment. This happens once a day.

Where are you guys? No, for serious, where are you guys? I don't know what you guys are doing. I've become very confussed. Eddie's a TV star now and is moving to Hollywood, BK. ST is no longer federated, but somehow manages to disappear. I don't know what you guys are doing and it makes me a little bit sad.

I was having problems with my internet and finally someone came and replaced all the lines around the building and now it never goes out anymore. Good feelings come now to us, uninterupted, by cable modem. I will be (and have been) blogging more regularly now.

Ketsup: I went to Seward with ZZ and her mother, Katherine. Her mother is a psycho. Just look at her myspace. She's nuts. Other than that, ZZ and I have been homebodies pretty much. We're really close to having the nursery finished, just have to put up the temporary tatooish wall paper mini things. ZZ's out playing BINGO with her pretendCousin, Roxann. Last week she was playing Bingo and the was one square away. Just one! The next ball was pulled and: THE POWER WENT OUT! No $1,000 for ZZ. This summer has pretty much sucked a lot. Very cloudy but not a whole lot of rain. Two weeks ago we had snow on the mountains. The Anchorage Daily News ran a picture of it on the front page with the headline: "Termination Dust in June?" It has only reached 70 a few times here. Today started off okay, but ....

Who gives a damn about the weather?

So I'm on my three day break right? I'm supposed to have one of these every two weeks. But the last one was all screwed up because of the Amalgum Mute/ORI/CIRI exercises so this three day break was the first one in a month. I was all jazzed up and planned on hiking Crow Pass, but then the weather looked bad, nobody would come with me on the 24 mile hike and I came down with a fever. What a bastard of a weekend. I'm just now feeling good again, Sunday night, 10:16 p.m. and I have to work the day shift tomorrow. What a total bastard.

Saw Ice Age 2: The Meltdown today. Funny movie. "Food, wonderful food!"

Have you guys seen anything about that new film Al Gore has put together, "An Inconvient Truth?" Looks pretty scary to me. I don't like Al Gore and I've never had much cause to listen to a word he says, and Global Warming isn't exactly NEWS to me, but I'm happy such a large scale release is being bolstered out onto the American People. So many Americans don't care about how much waste they produce. As long as everything is hidden behind a fence and they can go home, close the door to their homes, and turn on pictures of pretty things on the FAT BOX, they don't have to spend too much time being concerned about things. What do you guys think?

And seriously, tell a brother what you've been up to.

Peace and Love,
Mungo

Sweat the Fever Out

I have a fever. Not a bad fever, but enough to make me hurt. 100.4 degrees fahrenheit makes me miserable. I had origionally planned on hiking Crow Pass on my 3 day break, but instead, I've been stuck inside with thick blankets and watching Turner Classic Movies and American Movie Channel. Since yesterday I have seen: "North by Northwest," "36 Hours," "Lake Placid," "Ivan the Terrible, Part 2," and "Jurrasic Park."

I made speghetti and meatballs for diner last night and I just now finished the leftovers. So anyway, I haven't done anything now on my break except fool around on the tv and computer. It's after 1 a.m. now I and I think I'll try to go to bed. Hopefully my raunchy gas doesn't keep me awake.

ZZ's at work. I'm listening to my friend KidKenny's CD. He's in a band called "The Riot" and the CD is called "Carry Us Away To The Sea." It's really good.

Peace and Love,
Mungo