I’m in El Paso with family now.
Zach and I went to the canyon so he could see some cactus. He’s in a cactus phase at the moment. He can even identify like 5 or 6 types.
I’m definitely post-symptomatic… i have the stupid bumps on my elbows and knees. Probably a good indicator that my med level has to get changed again, since i didnt actually crash, and i’ve been mostly remembering to take it… i think.
I’ve got an overwhelming update to grab a burger and a drink and head out to the desert, duno if i’ll ask anyone to come or not.
Got a site survey tomorrow AM in Cruces for Care Media, then going to Starbucks with Julia and her girlfriend, then headed back to Albuquerque.
Going to be a quick trip home only. Have some paperwork to do, got to pick up a crapload of police reports from the last few years for my (and my parents) lawyer to go thru. Also need to check up on someone, but thats for a later entry.
Coming back to El Paso wed night.
Family is driving to Odessa on Thursday.
My sister is playing in Odessa saturday, so we’re meeting her up there and coming back Sat night.
I’ll probably end up driving both ways, because nobody else can seem to handle long distance driving, and if my dad isnt driving, he’ll sleep thru it, and generally not be himself.
Plus i LIKE long distance driving.
Plus I can pick where we stop.
Like every small town DQ between here and there for a chili dog. (and ice cream for Zachy)
And, thats about it for now.

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Search and Rescue

4. October 2009 by [JP].

Went on a Search and Rescue yesterday. It was originally planned for the entire weekend, but that got changed.
Originally, it was supposed to be informal, by the family of the missing subject, but none of them showed up. However, since the state police decided to try one more day with the professionals, we went up anyway. I ended up sticking around the command center and getting to observe their ICS most of the day.. First thing they had me do was drive the jeep about 2 miles up the road to the peak with the radio tower, and see which cell phone service I could make a functional call on. Turns out my nextel worked the best, and my t-mobile was functional, none of the verizon phones the state had worked well at all… came back to base, and my nextel was still good, so it was used as required.

No luck at all, and the state officially suspended the search. Now its purely a criminal investigation. The guy has been missing for over 3 weeks now. There was a MAJOR storm 3 days after he went missing, and theres almost no chance he survived the storm.
We had a K9 team from Colorado assisting our in-state people. We had about 4 scent dogs on scene, and they were alerting in the same area that they were alerting before, however, no precise fix.
The main theory is, that in the storm, he tried to find shelter under something, and probably died of exposure, but his body is probably well hidden, and very likely been scavanged by animals, so we’re just not finding anything. The secondary theory was that he died in the open, and the animals quickly stripped his body, and theres nothing left for the dogs to fix on.
Of course, theres always the possibility that he’s not out there at all, that he left on his own… theres information to back that up, and the state police are considering it an option.

Its my understanding that the family has hope still that he’s out there, but they’re clinging onto nothingness. They’re asking the goverment to send a heat sensing helicopter, but thats worthless. Theres no heat to detect, if he’s out there. Theres no possibility at all that he’s still alive, if the storm didnt get him, then someone with no survival experiance could not possibly survive this long out in those extreme conditions.
They thought last week that since the dogs were picking up scent, theres a possibility… i dont think that they understand that the dogs being used are cadaver dogs, and any scent they’re alerting on is coming from a dead, decaying body.

Most of my afternoon was spent playing fetch with one of the dogs. He LOVES fetch… when his team was coming in, he trotted into command with a stick in his mouth… 15 minutes before his team got there. He would just drop it in front of anyone around and give puppy dog eyes until you threw it.

My neck was sunburned, and so was my scalp… i guess i didnt realize how short my hair was. good thing I was wearing a hat during the afternoon. I had put sunblock on my arms and hands, but forgot my neck.
Dispite the fact that i was over 11,000 feet, i was in a t-shirt during most of it. It was about 70 degrees in the sun, and about 40 in the shade.

I’m pretty impressed overall by how well NM does SAR. Unlike what i’m used to back home, its coordinated at the state level up here. Dispite the fact that I know the family criticized the handling of this case, i saw nothing but complete professionalism and dedication from the volunteers, some of them being up on this mission for the 3rd or 4th time.
I’m very satisfied that all was done to locate this particular subject.

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Uh oh, T-Mo

23. September 2009 by [JP].

Background information.

I’ve been a customer on and off since 1998, when I used Voicestream prepaid.
My current personal account was opened may of 2008, and out of contract since april of 2009. I’ve averaged $95.00 per month in services throught this contract.

I’m a second class citizen (Flex pay customer) not because of any past due wireless bills (EVER) but because of medical bills that i’m slowly paying.

In addition to my personal account, i’m also responsible for a business account that has 6 blackberries and 2 windows mobile smartphones, which averages about $900 monthly, all lines are out of contract.

And i’m pulling ALL of them from t-mobile, because i’m officially pissed off.

Friday, I ordered a Mytouch. Dispite giving them the promo code for Kickoff24, I still was unable to get it for the 99.99 pricepoint. I ended up paying $200 for the phone, and renewed for 2 years.

Monday night I recieved the phone. Charged it overnight and was using it since this AM.

Problem #1. Despite the fact that this (El Paso, TX) is a major metropolitan area, as well as in the top 100 largest wireless markets, 3G is still not fully rolled out here. In fact, El Paso is listed as fully covered by t-mobile, HOWEVER, less then 30% of the city (Geographically) is actually served by t-mobile 3G equipment.
Again, T-MOBILE LISTS THIS CITY AS HAVING 3G COVERAGE, HOWEVER LESS THEN HALF OF THE CITY IS COVERED BY PHYSICAL 3G EQUIPMENT.
… At my parents house, which is near the center of the city, in an older, upper middle class neighbohood (understand, we’re not in the middle of nowhere, or at the edge of a fast growing city) there is no 3G coverage. Heck, at their westside store, there is no 3G coverage.

Problem #2. My phone, when it was taken to a 3G area today rebooted 6 times. One of those reboots caused it to hang on the green spash screen. A battery pull reset the phone to normal, and i disabled 3G because of it. During troubleshooting, they determined the software version was up to date, and the phone was likely bad. They advised me to do a factory reset, which resulted in a lockup at the splash screen again. They said to take it to the store for a possible swapout. No problem, took it to a store. They agreed that the phone itself was defective, however, since it was ordered thru telesales, they couldnt swap it. They made the phone call to care for me, handed me the phone.

Problem #3. The rude agent at care informed me that in order to get a replacement, i would have to:
-Ship the phone back at my expense.
-Wait until its recieved and processed.
-Be billed for a new phone to ship to me ($22 if i wanted express).
It was unacceptable to me that i’d have to PAY for a replacement for a failed device AND be without a device for at least 2 weeks

Problem #4. I called to cancel this contract and return the phone. I was told that they can replace it, and offered me a $50 credit for the inconvenience. However, when she tried to process the replacement, she was told that because i’m in the 14 day buyer’s remorse period, that theres no way to replace it, i’d have to send it back. Again, at my expense, and i’d be without a device for 2 weeks or longer. Oh, and it might take up to 60 days to refund my credit card for the price of the phone, and longer for them to issue a check for any positive balance on the account.

Fine. I’m packing and shipping this piece of crap back tomorrow. I’m calling VISA and filing a chargeback for the purchase price (Defective equipment/not as described) and letting them deal with t-mobile for me.

I’m also posting this thread on a few forums to get the information out there. Its a sad day that a formerly good, customer-oriented company like t-mobile has policies that made it that hard on the customer.

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Had an AWESOME road trip.

16. September 2009 by [JP].

And now that i’m back…

…At least back in El Paso.
Might as well sum up my trip.

Didnt want to take i-40 because of construction. I figured that i’d either take the old highway, or come down to El Paso and see Zach for a bit, then head out. Apparently there was some really bad weather on highway 60, so I totally said no to that idea, i dont want to be in bad weather on a mostly deserted highway.
Ended up hitting Las Cruces with rain nipping at my heels. Filled up the fuel tank completely, and went across to the starbucks to look at weather and radar maps. Julia came to meet me briefly, and we plotted Nessa’s birthday gift (evil look).
Rain came down HARD and knocked out power to parts of Cruces, and it was getting worse, so at a light spot, i headed out. I cancelled the El Paso idea, because they were getting hit hard with a thunderstorm as well, and was going to cross THRU las cruces to get to i-10 and head west… but because of the power outage, the main road thru town was a parking lot, so I managed to u-turn over a median (and watched an ambulance behind me do the same thing, but less gracefully) and get back on the interstate headed north to albuquerque. I exited at Hatch, and took the old highway to Deming, then got on the east/west interstate and kept on going.
Grabbed a soda and 15 bucks worth of gas in South Tucson so I could get to Phoenix, because Sam’s in Tucson would be closed by the time i got there. Made it to Ashley’s and slept with kittens attacking my feet.
The next day, when I woke up, she had left keys for the apartment and the outside gate by my phone, so I went off to aquire food, fuel, and wash the bird crap off the jeep (because i parked under a tree)
Got a cheeseburger and a big ass soda for breakfast, washed the car, and got about half a tank. Then I managed to find a record store selling advance tickets for the show, and went and got a pair. Of tickets. Ashley and I went to lunch at the small burger joint by the building she works at, then I wandered when she was at work.
When she got off, we went to Starbucks for coffee (and a blueberry strudel muffin) to relax for a bit, then went to a Sportsman’s store so she could see and handle the pistol that she wants to get.
Later on that night, went to Josh’s house, then went to In and Out Burger.
Saturday ~~morning~~ afternoon, we got up, showered and got dressed, filled up the Element (15.9 gallon tank!) and headed to Flagstaff. Got hit with heavy rain on the way up there, stopped at a Starbucks in the middle of nowhere to pee, and get assorted caffinated drinks, then kept on going. More heavy rain, more lightning. When the rain cleared, I saw smoke in the distance in the mountains in the general area of where there had been some lightning activity, so I called AZ DPS to report it. Apparently, they had a previous report of a lightning strike in that general area, but i was able to narrow it down to a much smaller area to check, and they were going to send crews.
Got to Flagstaff, located the park, parked, and enjoyed a few of the early bands. I pretty much just lay down in the grass and enjoyed it, she wandered a bit, and we both got up and got closer to watch Thriving Ivory.
Had dinner in Flagstaff at Mia’s recommendation, then headed back to town. She went to sleep, i went to wander around Phoenix for a while.
Sunday was pretty much a lazy day. We drove to that part of Scottsdale so she could buy a phone to replace hers, and grabbed a cheeseburger while we waited.
Monday, I set off to Apache Junction to nose thru court files and records for a bit, then came back to Phoenix, had a late lunch with Josh and hung around there for a while before heading back to Ashley’s.
Tuesday, ate lunch with Ashley at the pizza joint next to the burger joint, then I went to get gas, then got lost headed out of town. Eventually got to Tucson, topped off my tank, and headed towards Cruces. Stopped at Julia’s house to steal back my jacket that she borrowed on thursday, got a cheeseburger, and headed home to El Paso.

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Cute gas station chicks cause moral dilemmas.

21. August 2009 by [JP].

Theres a chick.

At the gas station.

Named gas station chick.

Well, i’m sure shes not actually named gas station chick.

However, gas station chick is what she is referred to in conversation.
Mostly conversation between me, julia, and occasionally julia’s girlfriend, whom gives better advice then julia’s “dude, ask her to meet you in the cooler”

Shes rather cute. In a rather abnormal way. Which I find rather attractive. In a rather really attractive sorta way.

Herein lies the issue.
She works at a gas station.
No, thats not a bad thing.
However, it does mean she works with the public.
And the public, as a whole, is stupid.
Idiotic, obnoxious, self-absorbed morons.
Most of which she deals with every day, for 30 seconds at a time.
Which means, i’m sure shes heard every stupid pickup line out there.
Face it. Shes an attractive female type.
Thus, im sure every penis-controlled jackass has probably made some attempt at her at every possible moment.

So crap. What should I say?
I dont think “Hi, i’m not a penis-controlled jackass, but i’m still making an attempt” would be a good line at all.

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Medics down…

4. July 2009 by [JP].

Just heard over the radio that an ambulance from the company I worked for briefly (the one i didnt like) rolled over while responding to a call. Both crew members were unrestrained (stupid) and were being rushed to the trauma center as level 2 trauma patients.It doesnt surprise me.
They have the worst employees… generally they get whats left after the other two private companies, the city, and the hospitals attract the better employees.
They have piss-poor equiment, all their rigs are hand-me-down used ambulances, most pushing well over half a million miles on the chassis.
Its poorly maintained equipment, their “garage” was the worst i’ve ever seen.
Their training practices are downright scary. The ONLY driver’s training that I had to do was go to defensive driving, so their insurance rates would be lower. No EVOC, no on the job training. Good thing I came from a good company who gave me all the training I needed.

With the way that company is run, i’m surprised they havent killed any employees yet.

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Mmmm…. Bob’s.

3. May 2009 by [JP].

Ever since the second episode of In Plain Sight this season, i’ve had a craving for Bob’s Burgers back home in Albuquerque.

They filmed a segment of it at one of the locations, however with fake logos, menu boards, etc.

Today, I was in that part of town, so I got some shots of what the place really looks like.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Blogroll

A priest walks into a garden. He steps on a hoe.

Then you a dumb ho.

NoMoJo is a Ho.

A few quick updates.

Search and Rescue

Uh oh, T-Mo

Had an AWESOME road trip.

Cute gas station chicks cause moral dilemmas.

Medics down…

Mmmm…. Bob’s.