True meaning of Chri$tma$

The holiday season is opon us, seemingly quicker than the year before. It starts sooner every year too. I remember back in my younger days (dating myself now) when the Christmas season was a set time of the year. It started the days AFTER Thanksgiving. You weren't bombarded with advertising, having Christmas sales and obscene jingles jammed in your head on the TV every living second. You planned your holiday around your family, not around what the local mall's biggest sale weekend was. Case in point- Walmart..yes, Walmart rears its ugly head on this site again. Don't get me wrong, I still love shopping at the place, but man, I think they seriously need to consider permanently changing a part of their store to an all year round xmas section. 10 years ago, Walmart had its Xmas stuff the week before Thanksgiving. Slowly but surely, they pushed it up, overtaking Veterans Day, then Halloween, and finally, the Labor Day weekend. I SHIT you not...there was the start of merchandise the last day of August in the one across the way from my house this year. There is just something wrong about that.

So, I ask you this question. What is the true meaning of Christmas? Is it the celebration of the birth of your savior who later on died for your sins? Not so much for me, even though I was force-raised Catholic. Not that I have anything against the Catholic church, but there are just too many things about that particular sect of Catholosism that do not appeal to me(that's a whole 'nother issue to be discussed).

Or is it a time of year to celebrate peace on earth, goodwill towards men, and giving thanks by spending time with the ones you love?

I think I fit more into that category. Corporate America and a lot of individual people do not. Do I get suckered into getting gifts for people because I think they would like me better for getting them something? No, I don't like to think so. I want to believe that by giving gifts, it is one way for me to say thanks for being in my life, respect for that person, and love and care for them. I know that a gift can't represent actual love and care, but if the gift has a specific meaning behind it, then its a start. For example, one of my gifts to my parents is a custom made calendar with photos of places we or I have been involving all of us. It instills memories and makes you remember good times with family. There is effort and time in gifts like that, that shows the level of care.

Just keep in mind this holiday that gifts to people and spending a google of cash doesn't make for a happy holiday season, its the time you spend with your peeps that will be the greatest gifts. I guess I was lucky to have a huge family gathering as a child, all at our Grandparents house, all 11 aunts and uncles on my dad's side and their kids (about 18 cousins). Sitting around in the living room talking, playing, singing carols, waiting for my uncle Frank to "call" Santa Claus on the phone ( the greatest scam ever devised for us kids- he called the neighbor and the neighbor called back in 10 mins saying he was Santa and was on his way). One of our uncles would dress up in what had to be the cheapest Santa suit ever, and come walking up the street clanging a huge cowbell. We'd all go nuts. "Santa" who looked a lot like my Uncle Urbano, would come in and with a heavy Portuguese accent start screaming out "Maari Chrishmash!" He'd stay for a few minutes and then had to be off on his way back to the north pole.

It's the family and friends that make the holidays special, not the new car, or the computer, or the newest and greatest toys (although getting Transformers and new Lego sets was the shit!) AS my generation got older, we would still all go out to Grandpa's house for Xmas eve (up until 5 years ago) and some of my greatest memories would be sitting back and watching the family interact. Seeing the next generation of kids going through the paces that I went through was nostalgic. Talking to my Godparents, my aunts and uncles, my parents. It was and still is one of the most comforting feelings ever, like a warm blanket on a chilly night.

I remember missing Xmas with my family one year. I was stuck out here in AZ, using the excuse that I needed to work to pay my bills. That was the last Christmas my Grandfather was alive, and the last year that Christmas Eve was spent there at his house. I still haven't forgiven myself for it. No amount of money can make it worth not going home.

So to you all racing to the malls and stores, think to yourselves, is this gift really what is going to make your holiday special? I hope the $20 sausage and cheese gift pack is worth it.

Mike Caracciolo

I'll give you guys a quick heads up on a guy you all should check out. Go to Big Mike's website, check the videos and see some cut to the chase opinions that are long overdue. Give them time to load, and keep trying if some of the video links are down.
You can approve or argue his opinions, but you have to appreciate his style of telling it like it is. No sugar coating, just plain in your face fucking shit.
You will be informed and entertained at the same time. And if you don't like the way he does his shit...you can kiss his ass.

Official

My dear friends and family,
It's officially opon all you special people now. The 8th annual holiday festivus of debauchery has been planned, the menu is ready and is starting to be prepped.
The party is officially going to be on Friday, December 2nd
starting at 7pm. Dinner is served around 730, cocktails and debauchery from 7pm til whenever.
Most of you will be getting an actual physical invitation within the next week as I see you all in person, but for the rest of you that can't get a hold of one, that stuff above is the basic info. Call me for the rest of the stuff. You know where to reach me.
Invite only please, space, food, and liquor is limited. If you didn't get a physical invite, or have this forwarded to you, then there is a reason behind my madness, try again next year.
Use a designated driver, or plan on crashing on the couches, lounge chairs, futons, hammock, air mattress or the fucking floor (sorry, the beds have all been pre-booked as in I have family coming in from out of state and the other half of my bed is filled)...you will not drive away wasted!
So to you invited ones, grab a date or a good friend, and get ready for the festivus!

Shining Spoof

Most of you peeps out there have seen the thriller classic The Shining. Hell, it scared the poop out of me the first time I saw it when I was young, it was some creepy shit. Now, follow this link and see what this guy did to make it look like a Disney Film. Simply amazing editing, and its astonishing what a happy soundtrack can do to a movie. IT may take a minute to load, its a couple meg file page. Enjoy www.kiddlive.com/SHININGFINAL.mov

Trashed

Alright, I think I may have a legitimate bone to pick. Here's the scenario. I was at the Phoenix Zoo this weekend, along with like...a few thousand other people (most were kids...oh joy). So, it was busy, and crowded. Now, this aint the Phoenix Zoo's problem...they did everything right. Its the fact that people are inexplicably fucking lazy. There are trash cans about every 20 to 60 feet, depending on where you are in the park. But did you see everyone using them? No. There were people there throwing their crap on the ground, 20 feet from a trash can. I mean, come on peeps. Are you that lazy? You're walking in that direction anyways, so what made you suddenly decide that you don't want to carry that half full bottle of water to the can? Naw...the bench in front of the African Onyx display looked like a more fitting space.
Damn peeps! Now, I'm not Mr. Anal Recycler, or the captain of a Greenpeace ship, in fact I am flawed too. I used to flick my smoke butts if I couldn't find an ashtray or can when I used to smoke, but man...I was never THAT lazy to walk 20 feet to a can.
I know some people may make the argument that there are people that get paid to clean up the park, or that maybe they were sitting there and just forgot to grab it before they got up. Whatever dude. When your empty can of sprite is off the walking path and laying next to a bush of tree, something tells me that it was put there on purpose. It wasn't like..."well gee, I couldn't make it to the bathroom, so I walked off the path, put my can of soda down, popped a squat, got up and 10 minutes later remembered I left my can there"...sure you did, right next to your big old pile of steaming bullshit.
Have some decency peeps. Sometimes it seems that we are ones on display for the animal's amusement. Humanus-Americanus-Litterbugus, a pretty dirty creature, not as amusing as Humanus-tappingonglass-holleringatthemokeys-lookinglikeanidioticus.
So folks hold onto your can for a few feet and put it in the garbage. The view will be nicer, the custodian will thank you, and it will be where it belongs.
That's my rant, and I'm sticking to it.

End of Days

Ended my 28th year of life in style on Sunday. It was a banner day on October 30th at the Thunderbird Air Classic at Glendale Airport. It was the last day of the air show, and it was full off good times.
I've never been to an airshow before, and after this one, I'll try to go to every airshow out here from here on out.
Two things that were a big factor. One, I am a huge history buff when it comes to WWII.
Secondly, I am a big supporter or our military. For you political dissidents out there...I need to make it clear...I am a supporter of the military itself, not necessarily all the policies and politics. So save the comments and personal jabs.
I went with my good friend Amber, and we showed up at 9 am for a start time of about 9:30
We got a good seat right on the flight line (basically the runway...or about 50 yrds from it), situated ourselves and then went to roaming around to explore. I got a lot of good static pics of planes parked before they got taxied out to the runways, touched a few vintage warbirds and ran around like a kid in a candy store.
The show started with the takeoff of the restored WWII B-17 bomber "Sentimental Journey"
That fucker is big, bad, loud and proud. Sent shivers down your spine seeing and feeling that thing take off in front of you. We got to take a $10 tour of it later to see inside. That was totally fucking cool. They must have built them dudes a little smaller back then. I don't think they would have liked having a 6 ft 250 lb crewmember flying around up there with them. Talk about cramped! Try shoving 3 lbs of shit into a 2 lb bag.
Next, the Arizona Skyhawk jump team parachuting down the runway in front of us. They were followed by a squad of Czech L-39 jet fighters doing flybys of the fligtline at full speed.
They flew around for about 20 minutes as the Warbirds warmed up. The Warbirds are a collection of vintage WWII and Korean fighters and bombers.
We saw WWII planes like a Japanese Zero, a Hellcat, an Avenger torpedo bomber, a Spitfire, T-6, a T-28, and a couple others. The zero and the hellcat flew a mock dogfight.
After they all touched down, the jets started to go up. We had a US super sabre and a MIG 17 go up and do a dogfight. That was kick ass to see them maneuver, loop, bank.
The halftime show gave us a break, and then the stunt planes came out. Two different stunt planes went up and gave us a thrill ride. Some of the things they were doing was mind boggling. They defied the laws of physics so many times, it was disturbing, and nearly made you crap your pants while they did it too.
The Warbirds did another quick show, and we left before the F-16's did their show. I had to leave early to drive the 40 minutes home and then go to work.
All in all, it was a kick ass freggin day. I got to see a lot of history, see a awesome show, get some cool gifts and get a wicked sunburn.
Here's the link in case you wanna check it out
www.thunderbirdballoonandairclassic.com/

Thinking about nothing.

Don't ask why I am thinking the way I do, I just am. I was thinking recently about why people come and go into your lives. What purpose they serve, and how one doesn't know why they arrived in your life til after they are gone. A person may enter your life for 60 seconds, or be involved with you for years. You may think you know everything about that person and they still find a way to show or tell you something new.
With that in regards, I offer you a tid bit more of not necessarily a reason, but an example of such a scenario. Its a cheesy one at that, but as someone coined earlier that I read, they came into my life for a 60 second snapshot. This person was my high school physics teacher, a Mr Guillermo Ulloa. Now, I sucked at physics, as a matter of fact, I think I got a C in his class.
But of all the shit like kinetic and potential energy and other crap that you figure I would retain, the one thing that stuck with me and always will, was a simple life lesson. I forgot the context of why he told us this, but he did anyways.
He said that people are inherently dumb. Not necessarily stupid, but dumb (stupid people are unsavable, but dumb people just haven't been taught something). You're dumb, she's dumb, he's dumb, I'm dumb...We're all dumb. You're all dumb because I know things that you all don't know, and I'm dumb because you all know things that I don't. The reason that we are all here together is so that we can LEARN from eachother to make things better and to get along, otherwise we're destined to remain dumb, and eventually become stupid.
It takes a minute for it to sink in, but after it does, it makes perfect sense. We need to learn from eachother, in all aspects of life. Life, love, happiness...our jobs, our families...complete strangers...Everyone's included. By that rational then, we are all equal and on the same page. We're not separated by our jobs, our classes, our races or sexes or ages. I hope to put something in a bit of a perspective for someone out there. There's nobody "better" than you out there, and at the same time, you aren't "better" than anyone else. For somewhere at any given time, there is someone out there that can show you up on something..just as equally as you teaching another a thing or two.

Time to honor

The holiday season is approaching, and once again, soldiers will be separated from their homes, jobs, family and loved ones.
Despite our political differences, hopefully there is one paramount that will join us all, and that is undying support for our troops.
They deserve our attention for their sacrifice, no matter how seemingly unfair or pointless the cause is. If you think this way, then you differ from me, but we should both agree that our boys and girls overseas deserve our gratitude, prayers, support and praise. They do not need to come home after fighting for 15 or more months to show up to boos, ridicule, chastising, condemnation or disrespect. They are overseas doing a job that most of us wouldn't have the skill or bravery to accomplish. They are deserving of our accolades and thanks. If you see a soldier anywhere..In your family, on the street, in the airport, in a restaurant..Where ever....Stop and say hello and thank you. It will make their presence here with us feel wanted and worthwhile.
While you are here, please take the time to view this tearjerker Flash animation at
http://home.insightbb.com/~armedforcestribute/ . You will need to have sound for this link.
And if you have spare time and money, please visit the USO website at www.uso.com
to give our troops a chance at a brief escape back to homeland reality and a small piece of mind.
Thank you all, for our men and women over there!