strykerpaul's Blog - 2old2play

Talk about a crappy weekend

It started on friday, when a telcon scheduled for the morning got moved to late afternoon. This meant that it would after 5. At first I was going to bail out at 5 and head to Zach's soccer game, but as we got onto the telcon, I realized that I really needed to stay. After getting things straight with the wife, I pressed on. After leaving work on the way to the second of Z's games fo rthe night, I got into a bunch of slow and go traffic. It soon got much worse. I ended up parking on I-95 for over an hour and a half. Didn't get home until after 10.

Fast forward to Sunday. After watching the Dolphins lose in the last minute of the game, I turned in despondancy to my xbox to vent some frustration on the enemies of the Force. (ST:TFU) As I booted up, the game froze going into the opening sequence. I thought 'that was strange' and rebooted. Froze at the xbox 360 logo. Uh-oh. Rebooted a third time and got the dreaded red ring of death. After trying to troubleshoot and realizing that it was not coming back from the dead, I tried to contact MS for a repair. After numerous tries, hte only thing I got was - We're sorry. We cannot process your request at this time. Grrrrrrrrr.

Finally got the request out today, but I am going to have to live without my 360 for some time. I'm trying to work on the wife to get a new unit but no sucess yet. Hopefully I'll still remember how to play when I finally get it bacl. lol.

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A proud daddy moment

So I had started playing StarWars:FTU the other day and during the opening scenario you play as Darth Vader. We had just finished dinner and by chance, my oldest had a Darth Vader sipy that I had gotten him a while ago. He ran back to the dining room and got his cup, came out and told me that I was playing the same guy as was on his cup. I told him that DV was part of a movie and did he want to watch it? He has been after me all week to watch StarWars. So today Zach and I watched Star Wars. Has to be one of my better moments to have my son request to see the great classic StarWars.

It got even better. my youngest got up from his nap, came out and started watching as well. Was totally enthralled with the movie. The next generation has begun!

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A serious case of the Blahs

Ever had a good case of the blahs? You know, the feeling that yu are just dragging through the day, meandering from one point to the next. Looking for something, anything to make throught the day. Those times when you do as little as possible at work, trying find something that validates your existence. Goofing off as much as possible, when you know you have a full plate of things the really should be done. Driving home (to a loving family), nowing that there is more grief to come. Mind numbing screams from the kids, animals that are getting into every last little thing. The usual honeydos that you have done soo many times, but just seem to be an irritation. Looking for any time to have a few quality moments with the wife, only to have it interrupted by some crisis or another. I look back on the weekend and say it was good (Dolpfins, Jags and Bucs all won) but still don't feel refreshed. Or enthused about anything.

Maybe its a bug I'm catching. Maybe its the change in season (Fall starts today). Maybe I just need a vacation. A break from reality. The limited amount of time I seem to be able to beg, borrow or steal to get a little gaming in, just doesn't seem to do it. The mind is still so fired up and going so many different directions trying to make sense of it all, that the gaming just becomes frustrating as you fail at some task again and again (I was able to kill this guy last time, but can't do it now). What's the deal. Putting this down on "paper" may be therapeutic. Who knows. Meander though another week and see how things go? Find a solution? How to find a solution, when you don't know the problem. Interesting dilema.

Not exactly a feel good post, but sometimes I guess you just have to say WTF!

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Since this is my first one...

I thought that I should probably give a little more background info, since I'm sure there won't be too many readers here. LOL

I Guess things from my profile could use a little expansion: I am indeed a flight instructor, but it may not be what many people think. I started my career giving instuction in smaller aircraft. I work at one of the largest aviation training companies that will remain nameless. Several years ago, I had an opportunity to transfer to our facility in Orlando which I did. (worked out well, at the time, my wife was pregnant with Zach (our first) and had been placed on bedrest for the remaining 4 months of the pregnancy. I would have meant that we would have lost most of her teacher's salary for 7 months (ouch!) and this new position for me would cover the deficit.) The site that I'm at now deals with training pilots in business jets. Over the past four years, I somehow managed to show someone that I was a goos fit for managment and now run one of the largest departments in our building. I have close to 20 people on my staff and two sims to manage. The headaches associated with this are sometimes extreme. It pays the bills and for the most part is never really boring. I get to meet all kinds of different people from all over the world and train them for the different types of operations that they do.

The wife (Cat) and have been married for 7 years and have known each for 12. We had what most would conside and obscenely long engagment (4 years) sothat she could finish school on her parents tab before we got married. We have two sons (Zach and Josh - 4 yrs and 19 months rescpectively) a dog, 3 cats, 3 hamsters and more fish than you can shake a stick at. Cath is a school teacher (1st grade).

I live about 90 min (110 miles) from and make the commute daily. One of my recent posts, I commented that Cat has not ever really seen me drunk before. There lies part of hte reason. I drive 3 hrs round trip each day on top of the 8 to 5 routine. It would be much more difficult to do that hung over. The other part is that I made a personal rule for my self in college. I drank quite a bit then (didn't we all) and made the mistake of doing one of my cross country flights hung over. If any one knows a pilot, then they would know we are typically control freaks by nature. Needless to say, I did not really enjoy the feeling of being hung over while trying to navigate all over the state. I vowed never again and have stuck to my rule that if I fly the next day, I don't drink. Because of this, I have become quite the lightweight when it comes to drinking.

I have always been quite and avid gamer. Never said that I was real good, but do enjoy the rush. I have multiple gaming systems (xbox, xbox 360, had a ps1, have a ps 2,3 and PSP. There is also the computer) Unfortunately, never seem to have the time to complete a lot of the games I play before the new thrill comes out or daily duties interfere to the point that I practically need to start over to remember what's going on.

Then came HALO. The first game that I think I finish all the way through. Had to have HALO 2 and got the 360 when heard that H3 was coming out and would only be for the 360 (its sickness, sue me). First time I ever played any multiplayer was during the H3 public Beta. Had a blast. Met up with a couple of gamers that semmed close to my age and were more interested in having fun than putting down others that were playing for lack of skill. While waiting for the H3 release, I tried doing a little H2 multiplayer, bit quickly lost the taste for when when I was verbally bashed for not having hte skills that others did (what did they expect - I'd only been playing MP for a very short time. Didn't know the maps, spawns, etc.) H3 was great at first, but with the seemingly limited time that I had, my rank never got that high. Next thing I knew, I was being bashed by teenieboppers who have all day to play. Sure, I would get my licks in now and again, but it got old fast.

After the profile of 2o2p on the Bungie site, I visited the site and soon started looking a clan to join. The rest as they say is history. It is nice to be involved in a group that is more interested in playing and having a good time than really putting down those they are playing with. Sure there are lots of verbal jousting going on, but none of it is really hateful. My wife calls it 'my old farts club' but that's ok too. She also seems to understand that I need the temporary break from reality ( and sanity) just keep from goign too far off the deep end.

Look forward to hours of game play, watching others spout off and occasionally get stomped (the 'issues' with Kid vs. others is quite amusing), and adding my own sarcastic remarks to the forum from time to time.

Holy Crap this seems to be a really long one. Like many other, I'm sure some of these will be long, others short. It's like being around a lot of old friends. Some times the conversation is short in passing or take all night with a 6pack to just mull over life's events.

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