Oh what a day

Oh what a day,

Which was a monday by the way!!

Monday I got up put my stuff in the car and I was off to Arizona. As soon as I got out of fresno the fog set in, visibility of around 200 feet id say. But that doesnt stop cars from slowing down. never has probrably never will.
It was a nice drive believe it or not to Arizona. It went by faster than I had expected, much due to the fact that I had an awesome intense suspenseful audio book to keep me company. It was London Bridges by James Patterson. (great book, listen to it every time I make this trip.) these books are what makes road trips bearable.

Anyways I stopped in Barstow and ate at In&Out burger. Really wasnt hungry but there wasnt much for many miles so deicided you know its past lunch and you only have had a bagel today, so i decided to eat. Later that evening after the sun had gone down I stopped at a small town called seligman stuck out in the middle of nowhere. Well being the smart person that I am after going on the round about trying to find my way back to the highway, got on going the wrong way. I didnt realize this till I saw the Los angeles in x amount of miles. So I thought to myself "this is not right" (you know in that mind thinking deep sounding voice in the back of your head)

Then I thought shoot when can I get back going on the other way. It wasnt for another 20 miles that before I had the oppurtunity to turn around. So I got to pass seligman twice yesterday.

As I passed through Flagstaff and up through Lake Mary Rd. I was able to be the only car traveling on it. The stars were so bright and illuminated the night sky with brilliance. I wanted to get out and look at the stars but I was in shorts and it was a woppin 28 degrees outside and I really wanted to get to my parents house, so onward I pressed. As I arrived the junction of Lake Mary Rd and Highway 87 there was a lovely Elk in the Middle of the rd. Just decided to stand there for another 30 seconds or so as i waited for him to move. Never saw one in person. They are quite big. Wish I could have got to my camera faster!

After about a twelve hour drive I safely rolled into my parents driveway. It felt great to get out of that seat.

When I woke up this morning I was greeted with breakfast which consisted of toast and boiled eggs. Then the next activity was my dad and I checking out the christmas lights. So we set those up which took a bit and two trips to Home Depot. It was a good day with the parents.
I just wonder what tomorrow will have in store for us!!
One thing is for sure must make pies for thanksgiving and play horse shoes with my padre!!

A long journey ahead

Well here it is Sunday and I am getting ready to depart to Arizona to what hopefully will be a great Thanksgiving with my family. It better be great cause a 12 hour drive alone is no fun. There is one good thing that I have in my arsenal to keep me going and that is my two most favorite books on tape. It has made these trips to Arizona bearable. Those are "Prey" by michael crichton (who just died on November 4th i believe it was. He was battling cancer. Also "London Bridges" by James Patterson. Those two books have kept me entertained for many many hours on these road trips, so much so that the radio only stays on from when I leave till i get onto the 99 and out of Fresno!!

There are a few new developments with My business plans. We now have 4 students willing to pay cash for all there training up front, thats 37,000$ per student, which makes my partner and I very happy. We have been working closely with the dealership of a light sport aircraft that has more technology in its cockpit than any flight school in the area, if not california. He has been very helpful with our planning of the flight school. We also have been working on a newer development of creating either a skypark, where people can land and taxi there aircraft to there own personal hanger attached to there houses, or a fly-in bed and breakfast. We know the owner of the area we wish to build on which already has a runway which is old but wouldnt take to much to get it to look new. The runway is there so all we would have to do is to resurface.

Things are always the Darkest Before they go completly black.

Life is going alright right now. I have many ideas swarming in my brain, wish I could A. Draw, so many of my ideas are things that are drawn not written.
B. Wish I had a place to build these things that I wish i could draw. All in time I guess right!

A weekend at the Millers

About two weeks ago I was able to go up to the Millers house (my adopted family) and spend a little bit of time with them. It was a peaceful afternoon. Here is a few pictures detailing a normal weekend at the Millers! Its a little slice of heaven that I can call my home away from home. A place where I almost always feel peace in my heart when I can't anywhere else.

Well as we drive up the driveway we must be sure to watch out for the Train that might be crossing (I love there silly signs)

Ahh yes the parking lot, be sure not to park on the very right spot, the farthest from the door, its a handicap parking only spot :)

Finally to the front of the house, This in itself it so nice to see. Even though its only an hour away, it takes you away from the world from the city life. to where all you hear is the wind as it flows through the tree.

As we see Summer is now gone, The leaves are changing, the water is now cold, and the air is quite brisk. Wake up in the morning and get bundled up and ready for the day, bring out the hot chocolate and wait for the first Snow to hit the Mile High Floor

As the day progresses on we make our way to the Climbing wall and try the different routes (they are really hard and challenging) atleast to me they are, Chase and Sam just scurry right up like it was nothing.

We make our way after climbing the wall and go sit by the fire pit, but since there has been no rain we just let it sit there with no fire lit, but come middle of winter its fire time.

Once rested from our climbing we will make our way into the shop and work on anything from Welding and Metal work to Wood work. And lets not forget the working on bikes or jeeps. They are a must!
Such fond memorys of installing all this equipment. Ive been able to learn so much along the way. Helped install the benches the lighting, and the crane which will be in a later picture, and much much more!

Once done with a long day of work and play there is nothing like coming up to the loft above the shop, where we will put a movie up on the projector, sit back, and relax for the remainder of the night, with drinks and popcorn ready for us.

That is a weekend at the Millers.
Its a weekend of fun, excitement, relaxation, and a joy of being up in the middle of the forest, with picture perfect mountains that can be seen from the living room window.
Stars that are bright and clear in the night sky.

Its been awhile

Well I figured since I haven't written here for awhile I thought I would throw a few things up here. Gene (my boss) and I went fishing up at Shaver Lake last week. We decided we wanted to go, so we packed up the boat with the rods and reels gassed it up and we were off.

It was a pretty successful day if you ask me. Started off a little slow but we were catching them pretty good by around 10:00 AM. We almost caught the limit for the two of us but we were shy just a few fish. Before this I had not been fishing in nearly 12 years! It was a lot of fun, in fact we are already planning the next trip.

AIR COMBAT USA

Talk about something that I would love to do here in the Fresno Area!

Air Combat USA is as close as you are going to get to being in a dog fight without joining the Military. These aircraft are equipped kind of like a lazer tag system. If you shoot and you tag the aircraft smoke actually starts billowing out of it like you actually hit it. I must say these guys are genious for thinking of this idea.
These planes are fully Aerobatic and you do lots of aerobatics during your "Mission" which is basically to blow the other guy up. Its sort of a real life Top Gun game. I would love to do it one of these days but I figure since I cant afford to do a mission maybe I should start one up and that way I can get paid to do this instead of pay to do it. I like that philosophy.

Take a look at there site www.aircombat.com

Yet another Sleepless night

Well its Sunday morning and currently 2:52 AM I have been laying in my bed for over 2 1/2 hours just trying everything I know to go to sleep and to yet to no avail no sleep. At one point I was on the verge of falling into the deep sleep that right now I long for, but was brought out to a loud pounding noise. Since then I have not been able to get back to that state of mind. I am so tired and yet cannot sleep at all.

It is amazing you can count sheep, dogs, cats (even though I am allergic to them), and even tried just sitting and doing nothing, not moving a muscle. I feel like I am waiting for Santa Clause to come and drop off his gifts. Waiting for any sound on top of the roof, so that I can hurry quickly to the window and wait for a possible glimpse at either he or his reindeer. But just like tonight I am not able to fall asleep, I never saw Santa, or his reindeer (talk about a big bummer).

There is one nice thing I feel right now and that is the cool air pouring into my room and feeling that cool gentle breeze across my one foot that I have uncovered from the blanket, while the rest of my body hides underneath the covers.

I am not sure why I am that way but I always seem to have one foot or one leg out of the covers, and that limb of my body may switch half way through the night. Well i am going to sign off as i attempt to listen to a audio book. Maybe that will put me to sleep.

The Reef Tank

The adventures of a reef tank.

Well for the last 15 years or so I have been interested in getting a saltwater tank, since my mission for than 5 years ago I have been planning my Saltwater Reef Tank. Researching how to set one up, what I need to have, lighting, salt content, fish available for it, corals, rock, fish, sand. Lets not forget the massive amount of needed equipment to make your reef the best it can be.

As I researched over and over, and changed my plans a little here and a little there I discovered that it was not an inexpensive hobby to get into. So I have been waiting.

Just two weeks ago I found someone selling there $3000 system for 300$ Since this type of system rarely can be bought used for less than 1500$ I decided to buy it. Now am I over my head, yes I dare say that I am. Am I happy I bought it, I say unto yay, am I scared out of my head, again I say unto you yay I am. Will this actually work out, I sure hope so. I am going to give it a shot for a few months. If worse comes to worse I can sell it off for maybe a little more. It has been an adventure the last 2 weeks trying to get everything setup for the tank. Just puting everything back together after I bought it has taught me a lot about the tank.
My problem is that I really had no idea how to up keep a tank that has already been going for many years. Not only that but has been neglected for the last 2 years. So now I am trying to bring it back to life, and fully restore this encaged ecosystem. My own personal ocean reef.



I guess it is now up to me to keep this ecosystem living.
I guess I am Motel six for these fish and like they say we'll leave the light on for ya.

Last Day In Tuscon AZ

Well on my last day in the wonderful town of Tuscon Arizona I had the opportunity to go to the Biosphere 2 complex. Now that was a very fascinating place to go to. It is there where they built a ninety foot tall sealed self contained ecosystem which covered 3 acres of land. It supported 3 men and 3 women for 2 years, all for the name of Science.

Built in 1991 they put the scientist in and sealed them off from the rest of the world for a period of two years. As the next few photos will show, Biosphere 2 had many different climates ranging from a rain forest
to the severe desert climate.
As I was able to tour inside the Bio-sphere I was able to feel the change in enviroment as I walked from area to area.

They even had an artificial ocean which is the largest ocean in the world that is above sea level. 750,000 gallons, how cool is that. I beleive they said that the depth ranges from 24 feet at the deepest end and of course goes back to a beach looking area, but in between there in the middle it ends up like a reef kind of and comes to the surface and then back to a depth of 12 feet and back to the surface at the beach. I would love to have one of these in my back yard. Talk about a bunch of maintance though. That is a lot of water, and get this it was even made out of homade sea water out of Insant ocean salt for salt water aquariums.



Although I realize I will likely never have my own aquarium salt water tank this big, I will have one that is a bit smaller. I am looking forward to it very much actually. Oh and it will be a saltwater reef tank :)

One of the things that they stressed about Biosphere 2 was that it was made so that they could 1 see if they could survive in a self contained basically container, and 2 it was an area where they could control the enviroment in its entireity. Ranging from how much rain the plants got to the temperature of the air. I was able to learn so much about the earth, and what actually makes the earth a biosphere and just how fragile it is, and what we can do to help the earth sustain us. Isnt learning the great!! I am so happy my brother told me to go, just wish he was able to go with me!
It was a great trip and I had a lot of fun.

Tuscon Arizona

Greetings from Tuscon Arizona, I am here with my brother while he is at a conference for work. It has been about a year and a half. So needless to say it is really great to be able to spend some time with him. Here is where the Conference is being held at.

http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/tussp-jw-marriott-starr-pass-resort-and-spa/

I guess I should start on my first day, the day I was traveling to get here. It all started Sunday afternoon. I must say that I hate UNITED AIRLINES. My flight from Fresno To LAX was delayed. Why I dont really know. Wait yes I do because its United. Once in LA I had a 2 hour lay over where I waited patiently for my flight to come and whisk me away to Arizona. 20 minutes before we are supposed to leave they let us know that our plane wont be here for another 1 1/2 hours. And now I wont be able to get in until about 12:30 AM at Tuscon. I thought no big deal if I call enterprise I will be able to just have them stay a little bit longer. But no that does not happen they close at 12 sharp no exceptions. What a drag. I did everything possible. I even got me on a plane that left a little bit before. That plane did not leave on time. I was 5 mins late 12:05 they were already shutdown for the day. I HATE UNNITED AIRLINES. I HOPE SOUTHWEST TAKES THEM ALL OUT. I had to take a taxi to the hotel, and back the next day for a grand total of $54. Also not getting to my hotel until about 1:30 AM when I was supposed to be inside asleep by midnight.


Monday was much better day for me. I woke up at about nine O'Clock. A miricle latley for me (I usually get up by about 6:30 or 7 AM).
Anyways it was a non eventful morning for sure. Basically just did work stuff in the morning and then went out to get my rental car. It was a nice upgrade from an economy car (they had none available) I got a ford fusion for the price of a economy.

My bro making a call in the car before dinner!

After getting my car I stopped by Quizznos for Lunch and got Some sandwhiches for my bro and I. The rest of the afternoon I walked around for a bit, and then I did some more Business work. At about 5 PM my bro and I decided just to chill out tonight and so we went into the Lazy river. This hotel is grea for that river alone. Just float around. It was great.

Picture of Lazy river at night

Before dinner we wanted to just relax for a few so here is Steve Checking E-mail

We went to a pretty good mexican restaurant. I mean you cant come out to Tuscon without getting some good mexican food. After dinner we went grocery shopping. Who needs to pay 15$ for breakfast per person per day when you can have what you need for 11$ for the rest of the trip. Oh and only grocery store Ive ever been to where I didnt understand the cashier and mexican music was playing in the background.

After we got back to the Hotel we decided to stay out of our room and enjoy the night life of the hotel. So here are a few pictures of what we experienced, It was a gorgous night.



Day one complete, and now time for bed.


Day two has begun, not only that but it has been fun thus far. The time is now 3:45 PM. I have just got done with my walk, relaxing on the patio, worked out, did my photo shooting for the blog and memorys. In about an hour I will go swimming with my bro. So here are a few a few of the photos of the Marriot Resort Starr Pass Resort

From the Street as you drive up you can see it come forth as you approach, and then you see the entrance sign.

This morning I was able to capture a photo of the Lazy river during the day

This evening my brother and I really wanted to go to a local steak house. Rated #1 in Tucson. We were excited, we planned before hand to stop by and visit somone that he used to go to school with while going to Purdue University. They were from Russia. Still have thick accent and all. It was pretty cool. We had no Idea that they were going to feed us though. We had some meat, really good, mashed potatoes just normal. Collaflower that was to die for. I hate colliflower but I loved this stuff, not sure what they did but they did it right. So no steak tonight. After we left there house we decided that we needed to stop by the grocery store and pick up some more stuff to munch on. I will tell you what, we decided to be cool like everyone else tonight on the patio and we got Jones soda in the bottle. Cream soda was the soda of choice tonight. We got a four pack so one tonight and one tomorrow night. It was a great night. Perfect weather to just sit out and enjoy the music and the lights of tucson. The stars were kinda out which was also nice. Just me and my bro chillin.
This hotel is very relaxing to me, most hotels are okay this is very relaxing though, i love it here.

End of day 2

Why do I LIke the Mountains?

Natural Hot Springs, well atleast the water is from a natrual hot spring, we are in a man made tub where the water is piped in from a little distance away. So cool, so fun

If I had a million dollars (i'd be rich) but not rich enough for this house, still over my budget




Got to love Yosemite, so beautiful, I wish I could stay there longer than I have been able too.

Bridal Vail Falls

El Capitan

Tioga Summit near sunset

Well what a summer I have had thus far. And it has just begun. Well we are really through about 3/4's of it. Man Summer is just too short. I want summer to be about 3 months longer. Also need the money to be about 3 times as much as I am making now. with three times less the amount of work, Wow wouldnt that be nice.

Anyways Last weekend was amazing. I had so much fun, Im pretty sure that Laura did too. Yes Laura came, and it was amazing up there. It was just what we needed.

I guess I should start out with the drive up. We started out the drive on Saturday afternoon. Laura got off of work and I picked her up at home and went to the wonderful place of Jack in the Box for there Orange Sunrise Smoothie which I have come to fall in love with. That drink on a hot summer day just hits the spot. From there we drove through YOSEMITE. That is just one awesome place. Each time I drive through there I just am at awe about what Nature has in store for us.

Every year I go to Yosemite for a day, and every time I go I find it facinating that everything changes. The trails dont change but the amount of water flowing does, wild life changes, some years they are plentiful and others you are searching to find them. Lets not forget the change in scenery . Yes the mountains dont move but the view does, may be clearer on some days rather than on others, maybe more plant growth in an area. One thing I wish there was less of was mosquitos. I hate those little buggers. They can go drink someone elses blood just not mine.

We stopped by to look at the aw and wonder of El Capitan, maybe in a future life I will climb the face of EL CAP. I hear its quite a crazy climb
After Yosemite we headed up through Tioga Pass. This road is my kind of road, mountainous with nobody there, its great. The last time i made that trip was in the middle of the night with my buddy Chase Miller whom we went to go see. So far both trips were a blast. Had so much fun. We shall see how the next few trips go. Hopefully soon I will be able to just pop over the ridge in an airplane for a total flight of 40 mins vs 4 1/2 hours. How nice that day will be. Anyways once arriving at Chases Studio Apt. (really cool one with two bunk beds and a regualar bed) It was something that I could live in if I lived on my own. Its my type of place. You know I wouldnt mind if I Was able to live up there, affording it would be nearly impossible but it would be nice to b able too. We saw a normal house for over 500,000$

We were able to do a lot while there, able to rock climb, play frisbee golf, go hike, and climb glass mountain, able to go to church! Tons of fun, only a handful of us there period. It was neat. Church had a total of probrably 12 people there. Smallest Id ever been in.

Rock Climbing in Mammoth Lakes is incredible. It is so much fun.

This I laura Climbing the face of one of the rocks in Mammoth.

Here is Laura Belaying Chase as he climbs

And here is who she is belayin


Isnt that a great night shot!!


Here I am climbing up a different Slab of Rock
Mountains are wonderful, It is in the mountains where I feel at peace. In the city I feel stressed and crowded, always on the go. Never a moment to rest. It is in the mountains where I feel relaxed, where I feel that the ways of the world are so far away. That as the day goes on the rest of the world pauses. I look forward to the day where I will be able to live in such a wonderland. I think that is why I like to fly so much. When I am in the air I dont feel the world on my shoulders. I feel it quite a bit below me (no pun intended). The sky is my office. I always have a window office :)