Craig Gaines

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  • Day 4: Mount Vernon

    Apr 12, 12

    Today started like many of the other days. Getting up at 830am and heading out on a fairly short drive to get to our next destination. Only, this time our destination just happened to be the home of our very first President, George Washington. His home is known as Mount Vernon. As two of you may know, I am a huge fan of George Washington. Heck I’m a fan of the revolutionary war period of our history. It’s definitely my favorite period in history. If you have never studied that period I would hightly suggest doing so. If you want to ease your way in than I would start with something like the John Adams miniseries from HBO and read different books about Washington, Jefferson, and Adams. All very intelligent fellows and great men and leaders. I kind of got sidetracked. I could make this whole post about those guys, but I will refrain.
    We got to Mount Vernon around 11am this morning and noticed that we were going to be joined by a lot of school kids. We thought maybe it was a class field trip, but I later surmised that it was likely a whole school district. There must have been at least a thousand kids there. When I say kids I’m talking middle school up to high school. This made it a bit more tedious to do certain things, but nonetheless we did. The first thing we did when we arrived was watch a short 25 minute film about Washington, the intro was done by none other than Pat Sajack. If I spelled Pat’s name wrong I don’t really care. It was interesting and the acting was fairly wooden. We then headed out to Washington’s Estate. At his death Washington owned about 9 thousand acres of land around mount vernon. Now less than 1 thousand acres is owned by the group that keeps up the estate. We toured the grounds and there was a seperate building for almost everything. Mens and womens slave quarters were seperated. There was a blacksmith shop, a laundry house, a salt preserve room, and many more buildings.
    This may sound strange, but I quite enjoyed the sheep that they had on the property. The estate is still a partially working farm and they have several farm animals. My dad and I watched the sheep for probably 10 minutes of so, non consecutively of course. Between the two times that we watched the sheep we also went down to the tomb where George and Martha are buried. It was quite a majestic and somber place. His sarcophagus was quite subdued, but spectacular at the same time. That’s pretty much how he lived his life. He was an ordinary man and farmer, but he also was a wealthy man and statesman. He walked the line between the two worlds and you see it in many a place at his estate.
    135pm finally arrived and we were able to get in a very long line to go inside washington’s house. You are given a ticket when you pay to get in and it has a time on it of when you are allowed to get in line. It’s not a bad system. His house was a fantastic piece of history. The good majority of it is still original. You can tell in that some of the house looks as though it is starting to sag in places. His formal dining room was a room of awe. You aren’t allowed to take photos in the house, but I wish I could have. The fireplace was just amazing. It was given to him, but it was carved out of rock and depicts farmers and it is just amazing. I’m really terrible at describing all of this stuff. I’m kind of tired of typing at this point, but I will soldier on. It’s what washington possibly would have wanted. There’s no way to be sure. His house is made up of 21 rooms, but it actually started out with 6 rooms before he took it over from his older brother lawrence.
    He was a self made man in much the same way that Jefferson was. He knew what it took to get things done and he did them. After the house we headed down to the food court and got lunch. Who knew there would be a food court? It was a strange thing for sure. We then went to the museum. The have a ridiculous amount of artifacts and information about the man. After a while it was all a bit overwhelming. We did get to see his last set of dentures. They were made out of hippopotamus ivory and human teeth. The ivory was what held the teeth in place. He died with no teeth. They had spookily real reproductions of him at the ages of 19, 45, and 57 years old. They were fantastic. I have pictures of all of them and will probably post them in the future. I particularly like the last one in which he is depicted taking the oath of the President of the United States.
    One last little story. We were in the second museum, the one where they have the original items that washington owned and it’s wired for security like nobody’s business. There are signs everywhere telling you to not touch. Well we were in this room and all of a sudden you hear the alarm go off and this kid is freaking out. I’m in the room where the cops are and they rush in to the other room and this kid had apparently touched one of the chairs on exhibit. After the whole thing was over his parents were laughing and saying this is something they would never forget. The look on that kids face was priceless. It’s kind of the face you give when you did something wrong and you know your dad is going to whip you when he gets home. It’s the frightened face.
    That’s all I’m writing today. Goodnight.

  • Day 3: Willimsburg and Jamestown

    Apr 11, 12

    Today started a little differently than the previous two days in that I didn’t want to get up when the alarm went off. The alarm went off around 830am I turned it off and went back to sleep. My dad had time to get ready and go get his continental breakfast before I got out of bed. I didn’t get up until 930am. This put us a bit behind for the day, but I was ok with my choice. We then packed our stuff in the car and headed out to Williamsburg.
    Now Williamsburg is actually called Colonial Williamsburg and is this little town that the settlers from Jamestown went to after leaving Jamestown in I think the 1670’s. So it’s a recreation of the way that Williamsburg supposedly looked in the 1700’s. I was unaware that it was a recreation. I was under the assumption and impression that at least some of the buildings were original. That was my first disappointment. I was a little mift at the fact that the entrance fee was $40 as well. It definitely did not warrant that kind of price. It just seemed like a really poor man’s wanna be Disney World if there were no rides and everything was 1700’s based. It was overall just a disappointing place.
    The first attraction that we went to was the Governor’s mansion. This isn’t just any Governor’s mansion, this was the mansion of the royal governor assigned by the King of England. We thought it would be a quick tour through, but we were very wrong. First I think we waited for 30 minutes in line just to get in. Then the tour took about 1 hour to get through. I will give credit to the tour guide. She was very knowledgeable and entertaining, but the tour just went on too long. I wish I could upload pictures of the entrance to this home. It was filled with a ridiculous amount of guns and swords. That is probably the most guns and swords I have every seen in one place. I really was in awe of the sight and that is exactly the reason the Governor did such a thing. He was out to impress his guests and probably intimidate them a bit.
    We left the mansion and just walked around the rest of the place and looked at the different buildings. There really wasn’t much else to keep me entertained. We were also on the lookout for a place to eat at the same time. They only really had one place open in the historic district to eat and the wait was an hour long. So, we headed to the modern area to eat. The place we went was shear chaos. They had to be violating firecodes with the amount of people that were packed in there. It was essentially a sandwich shop and you order on one side and wait for them to bring it out and call your name. My dad was on the phone with my mom and I figured he wouldn’t hear them call our name so I waited in the congregation of people for our name to be called. I also had my camera an extra camera lens and my drink all in my hands. They called our name and I picked up the food that was one more thing in my hands. Well I gave the food to my dad so we could pay for our food and I had waited so long that I forgot that I had my camera lens more or less tucked between my arm and body. So when I went to set my drink down I dropped my lens. My first thought is that everything is okay. Once I picked it up I shook it and heard it rattle and that’s when I knew that it was broken. This was my 50mm 1.4 lens. My favorite lens that I own. I was so pissed off. My trip is only half over and I still have two national parks to go to and now I can’t use my favorite lens at either park. That’s my main reason for being upset. It is what it is and I’ll just have to use a different lens. We left shortly after that happened and I can say that I will never be back.
    We then headed on over to Jamestown and this was one place that I was excited to go to. I had been here with my dad back in 2002 when my sister Stephanie lived up in Virginia. Jamestown has changed dramatically since the last time I was there. I think only about 5 things are the same. They have excavated so much more material in archaeological digs in the ten years since I was there. The have uncovered around a hundred bodies in graves, they have found pots, locks, armor, and weapons in water wells and they have rebuilt most of the fort walls. It is still an active archaeological dig site and they just happened to be digging while we were there. They didn’t find anything, but it’s just exciting knowing that they could find something that could add to our understanding of the lives of those that lived in Jamestown. I love history and it was just cool to see history this up close and almost time machine like. The only downside to our trip to Jamestown was the fact that it was so damn cold. The wind would not stop blowing and it just cut right through you.
    That’s pretty much all I’m going to write about. I have some great pictures from today and hope to post them up on my google+ once I get back from vacation and get a chance to work on them. Well goodnight.

  • Day 2: Appomattox Courthouse and Monticello

    Apr 10, 12

    This day started at a super awesome Super 8 motel in Appomattox. It was one of the sketchiest hotels I have ever stayed at. We luckily made it through the night. We once again woke up early. I’m talking about 730am Eastern Time. So you know that my body is still on Central Time and for you non time zone aficianados out there that means it’s like 630am Craig’s body time. That’s early. Like early early. Anyways.
    We headed out to Appomattox Courthouse, which is not an actual building as I had thought, it is actually a small town. The place that General Lee surrendered General Grant was the McLean House. So in the future, if I correct you about that little fact don’t get mad at me for correcting you, be grateful that I have endowed you with more knowledge that was unknown to you. You’re welcome. Like I said before Appomattox Courthouse is actually a town and a pretty small town at that. I think there were 6 home that were still standing. The town was actually built around a tavern. Seriously, they incorporated the town because it had a tavern. The tavern was the first thing that was in that area. We did go in 5 buildings. The ones we went inside were actually fairly well preserved(staged). I don’t really know what to say about Appomattox. It was a cool place and I got some great pictures. We were once again the first people to arrive. Before anyone else arrived it looked like the houses and buildings were still being lived in, but everyone had disappeared. Just a slightly eerrie feeling. I think we were done with Appomattox in about 2 hours and then we headed out on the road to Monticello.
    Monticello is unlike any place I’ve ever been, in many regards. It looks unlike any home I’ve ever been to, being able to walk in the same places that one of our greatest presidents walked in was incredible. Learning more about Jefferson and his wonderful ability to create things was one of my favorite things about this place. He was more than a great president. He was a great architect, he knew how to read, write, and speak 7 different languages; the only one he said beat him was German. He didn’t know the meaning of giving up. He failed so many times in his endeavours to garden and yet he took that and said it was just another chance to succeed. He had a thirst for knowledge that I wish I had. His backyard looks fantastic. There’s a great big lush area of grass surrounded by a walkway and that is surrounded by flowers of different kinds. He really loved tulips and it shows in the landscape. He left behind him 20,000 documents of record that he created. Everything from correspondance to others, to what he was planting in his garden, to what the weather was every day of his life no matter where he was, it was 76 degrees on July 4th, 1776 in Philadelphia. The man wanted to master everything that he was involved with. I could go on, but the point is that he was an awe inspiring individual. He’s the kind that you don’t see very often and one our country desperately needed.
    There are a lot of little things that I could write about his house, but unless you saw them, most of them would just be a bit boring. I would say that if you ever have a chance to go to Monticello that it is well worth your time. We were there for close to 6 hours and saw just about everything. It was one of the coolest places that I have visited. It was nice to go with someone else that shares the same appreciation for history that I have. My dad and I were able to just talk about the different things that he influenced and all the little things about him that may seem boring, but are so interesting to both of us. It was definitely a great father/son day.

  • Day 1: Mammoth Cave aka the day I saved the bats

    Apr 09, 12

    This day wouldn’t really be possible to recap without saying a little about yesterday. I won’t bore you with all the details, but just know that I woke up at 7 am and only got 5 hours of sleep on saturday night. We then left san antonio at 525pm and arrived in louisville, kentucky at around 1030pm. We then had to drive 2ish hours to get to cave city which is right outside mammoth cave national park, which was our destination for today.
    Last night we went to sleep at about 1am and got up at 730am. We went down to get our continental breakfast and once again I abstained from eating anything. Nothing was really calling my name to be eaten. This continental breakfast had an even worse selection than the Ramada that we staid at in Florida. We then promptly headed to mammoth cave so that we wouldn’t be late. Our tour was at 9am. So we made it to mammoth cave a few minutes after we left our hotel and we were the only people in the parking lot. We had beaten some park rangers to the cave. One ranger in particular got our of her car as we got our of our car to get our stuff to go inside. As we did she informed us that they didn’t open until 8pm. We were under the impression that it was about 840am when we got there. Little did we know that we had actually gone from eastern time back to central time on our way to mammoth cave. We had gotten up an hour earlier than we needed to and we both desperately needed the extra hour of sleep. Anyways we finally got to head into the visitor center and we both got our prerequisite souvenir.
    We then hear an announcement over the PA system telling us that if anyone has been to another cave than they need to go see a park ranger. Well we’ve both been to other caves. The next question that was asked of us once we told the rangers we had been to another cave was if we wore the same shoes and we both had. So they made us put our shoes in a lysol solution to help clean them off. You’re probably wondering why we had to do all of this. Well apparently there is this thing called white nose syndrome going around caves that kills bats. If you know anything about bats and I assume most of y’all are batologists, than you know that they help control the insect population. Without them we would be overrun. It would be bad. After we were finished cleaning our shoes we went outside to get ready for our cave tour.
    Our tour was of the New Entrance. I know that sounds exciting and if you thought that, than you would be right. The part of the cave that we saw was shaped like a river shapes a canyon. Only in our case the canyon has a lid on top. That lid is made up of limestone and shale. Once we made it through the tight winding passages it was mostly huge open spaces with flat ceilings. The ceilings almost looked fake. We did see all of the normal things you see in caves and I don’t really feel like listing them so do some research on caves and you’ll get the idea. I don’t know if it’s the best cave I’ve ever been in, but it definitely provided me with the best pictures I’ve ever taken in a cave. Unfortunately I’m not uploading any photos until after I get back from my trip.
    After the tour was over we headed out and started our 10 hour drive to Appomattox, Virginia so that we can see Appomattox courthouse tomorrow. Just for those that don’t know the signifigance of Appomattox I will explain. It is where Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant to end the civil war. It actually happened on my birthday April 9th.
    I would talk about our 10 hours drive, but I’m tired and tired of typing. I just want to go to sleep or at least relax. So that is it for me today. Happy Birthday to me.

  • Mar 08, 12

    Even tux is getting into the scramble with friends craze.

  • Mar 08, 12

    I Hate Facebook (by LifeAccordingToJimmy)

  • Day Six: Hollywood Studios

    Mar 07, 12

                    Day 6 was our shortest day by far. We woke up and caught a bus in enough time to get to the park as it was opening. Melissa did have to sit through a ridiculously long line to get her bag checked. Luckily it didn’t take that long to get through and then we were off to the park. The first thing we did was go right in the park. This leads you to my favorite rides in all of Disney. The first thing we did was stop and take some pictures of The Hollywood Tower of Terror. Once we got to the Tower of Terror we picked up two fast passes and straight for The Aerosmith rollercoaster. This was to be Melissa’s first time on an adult rollercoaster. There was no line what so ever. We walked all the way into the “recording studio” to see Aerosmith do their entrance video inviting us to go backstage with them. After that we walked right onto the ride and sat in the back. I kept preparing Melissa for the launch the whole time. If you don’t know, this rollercoaster takes you from 0 to 60mph in about 2 seconds. So if you don’t have your head against the headrest you are going to probably get hurt. Well it finally launched and we were going. Melissa was screaming like I had told her to and everything seemed great. After we got off the ride, we went straight to look at our picture and it’s pretty great. Then when we left the building Melissa said something about her neck was hurting. Oh, I forgot to mention that Melissa is 3 and 0 in the crying on a rollercoaster category.

                    The next thing we did was head straight for the Tower of Terror. This is probably my favorite ride at Disney. You get negative G’s going and are floating at different points during the ride when it goes up and back down. It’s just awesome. So almost as soon as we get in line for this ride Melissa tells me that she’s not going to go on the ride. She starts to tear up and we can tick another ride off that has made Melissa cry. I was okay with her decision if not a bit disappointed. I’m sitting there thinking that she is missing the best ride at Disney. She did go through the whole line with me and got to experience everything else about the Tower of Terror. This is the first time I’ve ridden the ride by myself and it’s just not the same. You don’t have that other person or persons to share the experience with.

                    After I was done with the Tower of Terror we headed to the Pixar: Toy Story ride. This was all Melissa’s idea and was definitely the longest wait of the day. It might have been a longer wait then the combined waiting time of all of the other rides including the food place. While you wait you get to see all of these toys that you grew up with, well at least I grew up with them. There are giant Lincoln logs, and spiragraphs and a giant performing Mr. Potato Head. He was pretty amusing and we both took our picture in front of him. Once we got on the ride I realized it was a 3D video game in which you are sitting in a moving vehicle. It was Melissa versus me and I knew I was going to wipe the floor with her. Every time we would go through a section of the ride you would see our score differential widening. By the end of the ride Melissa had somewhere in the 70,000 point range and I had finished with 140,000 something points. It was not even close.

                    We then headed over to Star Tours. I hadn’t been on Star Tours since they had redone it and it was so much better this time around. First of all everything was in 3D and second you were getting to kind of go through bits of the movies. They say there are over 50 different variations and ours consisted of Darth Vader stopping us from leaving a hanger, we also went through the Death Star, we flew through Hoth and past some AT-AT’s, and we also ran into Jango Fett in a Meteor Belt. Overall it was pretty cool. Going back to the part I was talking about yesterday in which they use your face for different things on the rides now, well my face was used for the Star Tours ride. I was the Rebel spy that Darth Vader was trying to capture and we were trying to get safely back the Rebels. It was once again pretty awesome. When they use your picture on a ride it makes it just that much more unforgettable.

                    After Star Tours we took a lunch break and ate some food. It was okay. If you’ve been reading this blog you’ll know how I feel about the food.

                    The only logical place to go after Star Tours is the Indiana Jones Spectacular show. It was as awesome as ever and I finally have great pictures of the show. I’ve always taken pictures at the show and they always have turned out dark and full of noise. This time I had my DSLR and everything turned out nice and sharp. I’m pretty stoked.  After Indiana Jones we decided that we were done and headed back to the hotel. That was the last we saw of a Disney theme park on our trip. I am currently typing this from our hotel room in Coronado Springs on the Disney Property right before we check out. It has been a great trip and we have made some great memories with each other that will last us a lifetime. I’m glad I could be the person that Melissa experienced most of these parks for the first time with. I think I’m all out of stories for this trip and I hope to write more on our next one. 

  • Day Five: Magic Kingdom and a pinch of EPCOT

    Mar 06, 12

                    This day started at an undisclosed time. It’s mainly disclosed, because I don’t exactly remember the time that we woke up. It was somewhere between the hours of 8 and 9 am. We went straight to the bus stop that takes us to the parks and waited for 3 buses to pass by us before getting frustrated and just driving to the Magic Kingdom. The day was not off to a good start. On the other hand this allowed us to take two other forms of transportation at Disney that we wouldn’t have otherwise taken.  So once you arrive at Magic Kingdom there is still a huge parking lot and a lake between you and the park. The first form of transportation was a parking lot tram system that takes you from the middle of the parking lot to the Monorail station. The second for of transportation is the Monorail. While I have ridden on both of these awesome forms of transportation it has been a while.  We eventually made it to the park and Melissa was so excited. It was like a having a little kid of my own at Disney.

                    The first thing we did was, of course, take our picture in front of the train station and flowers shaped like Mickey. Once we got inside of the park we headed straight to Haunted Mansion. I have no explanation why this was our first attraction, but it was and it was pretty fun. It had been changed since the last time I was there and the new additions were pretty awesome. At the end of the ride they put you in front of a mirror while you’re moving and these ghosts rearrange your heads or take your head off and blow it up like a balloon. It was a great affect. I think the new Disney motto is making you memories. A lot of rides actually take your face and incorporate it into the ride somehow. This was one of the first times that I noticed it, but definitely not the last. It’s a pretty cool affect.

                    Oh, then we headed to the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Little did we know that it was under repairs and closed. Disappointing. I was really looking forward to riding it. So, we headed to the other side of the Magic Kingdom to ride Space Mountain. The wait for this ride was almost spot-on to the time posted. We waited for 35 minutes to ride this. It was faster than I remember. Melissa was a little afraid when she realized that she was going to have to ride behind me instead of next to me. Space Mountain, for those that don’t know is a single rider affair. This freaked Melissa out. It was the first time that she was going to have to ride a rollercoaster all by herself.  Melissa is 2 and 0 when it comes to crying on rollercoasters. She told me that she enjoyed it though.       

                    We headed back to the other side of the park to ride Pirates of the Caribbean. This was our longest wait to this point. I must say that a lot of these floating rides do not hold up. I know that they have updated the ride with Johnny Depp, but it still isn’t that great. Our ride was only made worse by this old guy, who I’m assuming had a hearing problem, kept taking pictures with a flash even though they kept saying during the ride not to take pictures with a flash. It was a bit of an annoyance. Dude wouldn’t even listen to his wife who told him to stop. Some people are just dumb. I’ve held off saying things about people up to this point, but the gloves are off for Magic Kingdom.

                    After the Pirates ride we decided to eat some lunch. It was another good attempt by Disney to provide something pretending to be food at an unreasonable price. Luckily we had a dining plan so it didn’t hit our pocket book as hard. We ate at an American restaurant where everyone was dressed as if they were from 18^th century America. 18^th century America is one of my favorite times in history so any chance to see this kind of stuff is a good time for me.

                    When lunch was in our bellies we headed next door to the Hall of Presidents and watched a little film about America and it’s humble beginnings under George Washington all the way up to the present with Barack Obama. Then we got to hear from the animatronic presidents and each one of them was introduced to us so that we could see what they looked like. There was a time in our presidential history where about 6 presidents were obsessed with some crazy facial hair. While I had noticed this previously in history books, it was just pretty funny to see in real life. It went from 2 presidents having ZZ Top type beards to one president having the craziest, thickest handlebar mustache I have ever seen. Just think of Paul Teutel from American Chopper and like triple the thickness of his stache.

                    Then it was time for a little bit of a break. We headed toward the train that encompasses the park and hitched a ride. It was a good time. We got to kind of see some of the expanded Fantasyland that they are working on and is supposed to be opened later this month. We mainly got to see it through the black mesh they had surrounding the area. Once we got off the train at the main station we left the park and headed back to our car, only this time we didn’t take the monorail, which was closed from 1130am to 6pm for God knows what, we took the boat. Once we got across the water we then took the tram to our car and headed back to the hotel for a bit of a midday nap.    

                    After our midday nap was over we headed to EPCOT for a bit of world showcase looking around and then lunch in America land. I don’t think it’s called American land, but it could be. I think we both just like America. Once we finished dinner we left the park and took the Monorail back to Magic Kingdom.

                    The main reason we went back to Magic Kingdom was to the watch the night parade and the fireworks show. A guy proposed to his girlfriend during the fireworks show. Everyone cheered and by everyone, I mean like 8 people that were around them. The fireworks show was pretty spectacular. It has to be the best fireworks show that I have ever seen. They do a great job of telling a story through the fireworks. Just amazing stuff.

                    We did not stick around for the night parade, but instead headed to Haunted Mansion again. It was a lot better the second time around. Melissa and I both noticed that things were a lot easier to see. I don’t know if it was that our eyes were adjusted to the darkness since it was dark outside or because that they turned the lights up a little. I’m going with those both being correct.

                    Then we went on one of Melissa’s favorite rides as a kid, It’s a Small World. It was not as long as I remember and not as bad as I guess I’ve made it in my mind over the years. It’s a Small World holds a special sentiment for Melissa. It was a ride that she rode over and over with her dad when she was a little girl. Her poor father must have really loved her to ride that ride so many times.

                    As we did many times, we headed back to the other side of the park and rode Space Mountain again. Melissa said it was more fun the second time around. She wasn’t as prepared for just anything to happen and instead just went with the ride. It’s always more fun if you just let the ride happen.

                    Melissa really wanted to see Mickey’s PhilharMagic and so we went to and saw that. I must say that it was more entertaining than I thought it was going to be. It was Donald Duck going through these different Disney musical numbers. Like scenes from the Little Mermaid and the Lion King. It was fun.  That my friends was the last thing we did at the Magic Kingdom. It was a good day. It got better after the fireworks display was over. That is the point that most of the kids were taken home and the slightly older crowd got to have fun without the kids clogging up the space. 

  • Day Four: Animal Kingdom and Epcot

    Mar 05, 12

                    We started our day at around 830am. Well that’s the point that I was woken up, so anything that happened before that was before my day and thus unimportant to this post. We headed to animal kingdom around 9am and it wasn’t that crowded. It was pretty cold. The temperature was in the 40’s. We started our day off by heading to the Safari in Africa. If you have been to Disney than you will know that they do the best job at theming their rides. The Safari is no different. You start in this extended jeep that is made to look like a safari jeep. They also have the driver tell you that you will be going on a 2 week safari and then the story is that you are looking out for poachers. You get to see quite a few animals that would normally be impossible to see in their natural habitat. It’s a lofty goal that is just okay for me. The first time I went on this ride I thought we would really get to see these animals in a fairly large complex and it would be more like a safari. In all actuality it’s more like a zoo with no cages. The spaces aren’t large.  Like I said, though, you get to see a bunch of animals you wouldn’t normally see so it’s cool from that perspective.

                    We then went on the Pangani Exploration Trail. Once again it’s pretty much just a zoo in which you can see the animals frolicking about. You are literally just walking from place to place looking at different animals. You get to see Lions, Gorilla’s, and Bats. These bats weren’t nocturnal so we got to see them eating and walking upside down along this rope the park had set food on. It was cool to get to see all of these different animals.

                    After we walked on a trail we then walked to the next exhibit and we walked through the next exhibit which just so happened to be a jungle trek. I believe I got the Pangani Exploration trail mixed up with this trek. I think we saw all of the animals I was describing for that trail on this trek. So, yeah. I have too many of these to type so I will not be correcting myself. Suffice it to say that nothing really stood out to me on the Pangani Exploration Trail. On this trek though we talked with this very knowledgeable lady who was telling us about these animal that I cannot remember the name of, but it was just so cool to see them playing around and having fun. The young animals were jumping pretty high off the ground just because they were having fun. We saw a young male try to mount a young female and the dominant male stepped in and stopped the whole thing. The lady we were talking to told us that the female was still too young to mate.

                    Then we went on Melissa’s first rollercoaster in Disney. She was terrified the whole time we were waiting in line. I could see the anticipation build up in side of her. I kept reassuring her that everything was going to be okay. We finally got on the ride and we got to a point in the ride where it goes backwards for a bit and she about freaked out. I once again reassured her that everything was okay. Usually when you ride a rollercoaster you might let out a scream to deal with the feeling you get in your stomach. Well, Melissa was so terrified that all she could get out was this little scream whimper. It was kind of sad and cute at the same time. By the time the ride was over she was crying. Overall, it was fantastic, not the ride, just watching Melissa. She survived and we went to go buy our picture from the ride and they wouldn’t let us buy it, because someone was doing something in the picture that was deemed inappropriate. I was a little pissed. It was our first rollercoaster together and her eyes were completely shut and looked down right terrified. I on the other hand was just smiling and looking pretty calm. That was our experience on Expedition Everest.

                    Our next ride was a little tamer, but still considered a rollercoaster. It was Primeval Whirl, kind of a thrill a minute for kids. Melissa performed much better on this ride. The ride went from side to side slowly going down and had maybe a 20 foot drop. It did spin a couple times toward the end and Melissa didn’t particularly like that. She was showing some progress.

                    We then went on Dinosaur, a trip back to the time of the dinosaur’s right before a meteor wiped them out so that we could retrieve a dinosaur and bring it back with us to the present. It was okay, nothing to write home about. Wait, all of these rides are worth writing home about, right? Or else, what am I doing? Just boring you? I’m not here to decide that for you. That is for you to decide.

                    We headed right into lunch after that in the same place that my dad and I had lunch the last time we came to Disney back in 2008. This was our first experience with our dining plan. All went well and we had to hamburgers. Exciting stuff. The dining plan has been awesome for the simple fact that I don’t have to have a ton of cash with me at all times. I think we saved some money because of it as well, but that was mainly because Melissa has a friend who is a part time cast member who got us a discount.

                    After that I think we went to “It’s tough to be a bug.” That’s about it for Animal Kingdom. The bug experience is pretty cool. They use 3D and smells and feelings in your chair and fans to create this experience in which you are hanging out with bugs.

                    We were so tired that we headed back to our hotel and took a 2 hour nap. I was not happy to be getting back up after that. I was so tired. You have to remember that I probably was awake for 21 hours the day before. That’s a long time when you are outside most of the day and traveling in a car for the rest of the time. Shortly after waking up from our naps we headed to Epcot.

                    I haven’t been to Epcot in years and I remember why. There really isn’t a lot to do there and the stuff that you want to do turns out to not be so great. We went on spaceship earth first. That is the big geodesic dome that everyone knows is associated with Disney. It used to be about what they thought the future was supposed to be like, but now that the future is the present it’s about our past and how we got to the present. It was pretty boring. Everything seemed targeted at learning in Epcot.

                    Our next ride was the test track, which I had never been on, but have wanted to go on since it was opened. It was a bit of a letdown. It must be just like being a tester for cars, but at slower speeds and you have no control over the car you are testing. So it was not that exciting for me. At the end of the ride you do get to go about 60 miles an hour around the track, but let’s be honest here, I go 80mph on the highway on a regular basis. The thrill is gone.

                    The next ride we went on was Mission: Space with Gary Sinise. The funny thing about Disney is that all of their rides are usually started accompanied by a short video before you get on the ride and half of them have famous actors in them. We went on the green mission, which for those not in the know is for the wimps. I don’t know if the orange would have been any better, but the green was not that thrilling. I was the captain, though. I would say that you could blame me for the ride not being exciting except for the fact that I wasn’t doing anything to control the ship.

                    Soarin’ was the ride we wanted to experience next and Melissa and I came away quite disappointed in it. Your chair gets lifted up in front of an IMAX sized screen and you glide through different parts of California. Occasionally when you go through a place that has trees they also spray a tree smell into the air. It definitely wasn’t worth the long wait that we had to sit through. 

                    We then headed to dinner and got to sit down for an extended period of time which was nice. Once we were done eating we headed on down to the world showcase and explored around a bit. We mainly went into the different shops and looked around. Germany was my favorite place to visit and is also where I bought my souvenir for the trip. Deutschland Uber alles. We stayed to watch the fireworks show, which was spectacular and then we headed back to our hotel. Overall it was a good day and both Melissa and I had fun.  

  • Day Three: The Dry Tortugas

    Mar 03, 12

    Today started at 3am for Melissa. My day started at 330am. Apparently I slept through her alarm going off twice and her whispering for me to wake up. She had to shake me violently to get me to wake up. Suffice it to say that I didn’t wake up all cheerful and ready to go. I don’t wake up that way anyways, but it took me about 2 minutes to just get out of bed. I was in a daze when I was awoken. We both scurried to get ready and then Melissa called the front desk to tell them we were checking out. She has this thing about the front desk knowing exactly what we’re doing at all times. Okay, it’s just the checking in and out thing, but still, it’s not something I ever do. I just leave and that’s how I check out. Her system may be an improvement on mine, but it’s far too early in our marriage to say for sure.  We got on the road around 4am. As I’m sure you read from my post about yesterday you can tell what I was doing during most our drive.  It took me about an hour to type that.

                    It took us less time to get down to Key West than we had anticipated or Google lied to us to make it seem like we were making good time. I’ll never know for sure. We made it to Key West at about 630am. We had plenty of time to stop and get my favorite vacation breakfast, a McDonald’s sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit. Those of you who don’t like McDonald’s will question why I was willing to eat that and not the continental breakfast. If you were any sane American you wouldn’t question my taste buds. We arrived at the Yankee Freedom ferry place and found a place to park that we needed to pay a machine to park in. Well we went to the machine to pay for our 8 hours or so of parking and found out that the max you could park in those spots was only 2 hours. We didn’t realize that until after we had paid our $3 to park. That was a $3 lesson in reading before spending money. We then found another parking lot that we had to pay to park in and this one had a max of about a week, I think. We paid to park there for 24 hours because it was cheaper than paying to park for 8 hours. Go figure. I guess they just want guaranteed money. When we came back later in the day to pick up our car I told Melissa that we should open a paid parking lot. It’s autonomous money making. Nobody man’s the lot and you just rake in the cash. I’m not sure that’s how it works, but you get my logic, right?

    
                    We got on the bout around 745am and departed at 800am and got to Dry Tortugas at 1030am. I don’t normally get sea sick and I didn’t this time, but the boat was rocking so much that my stomach started to feel a little sick. It was quite amusing to see people trying to walk. It was like watching a ship full of drunken people and yet no one had any alcohol. Just the way I like it, all the amusement and none of the drunken brawls.  Melissa of course was able to sleep through most of it. I on the other hand couldn’t sleep at all on the way there. I did get a bit further in my book, though.  Once we arrived we got off the ferry and walked around Fort Jefferson, which is the fort that occupies the island that we were on in the Dry Tortugas. There was some amazing structural work in this fort. Everything was an arch. The ceiling, doorways, and windows were all in arches. It makes sense to make everything in an arch. Good structural integrity. The guns that they had on top of this fort were 20 tons. I believe they said the guns had about a mile range, but weren’t very accurate. I could be mistaken on the range, but it was definitely some ridiculous number. I didn’t realize they had guns with that kind of range back in the mid to late 1800’s. I believe the fort was also built during the Civil War. I could be giving y’all complete disinformation. I only do this, because I don’t know if you are fighting for the North or South. Quick Civil War fact that I do know is that the official surrender of the South from the Civil War happened at Appomattox Court House on April 9^th. I only know that date, because it just happens to be my birthday. That’s right; one of the worst times in American history came to a close on my birthday.

                    Once we had our fill of the fort we headed back to the ferry and I finally finished my book. It had a crazy twist at the end. The guy who this amnesiac woman thought was her husband was in fact the very man that caused her to have amnesia in the first place. I will now be finishing “Shoeless Joe” on the rest of the trip. I’m about halfway through and I think I’ve gotten the second wind that I needed to finish the book.  Once we were on our way back to Key West, Melissa and I got some much needed rest. I believe I slept for most of the trip back. We arrived back to Key West at about 530pm. We are now headed to Orlando, Florida so that the Disney part of our vacation can begin tomorrow. Our arrival to Coronado Resort on the Disney Property will be very late. Google is anticipating our arrival to be around 12am. Melissa said that she can get us their faster. I have my doubts, but I guess we’ll see. I would love to get there at least an hour earlier. Here’s to more safe travel and a good rest of the trip for my lovely wife and me. 

  • Day Two: Biscayne

    Mar 03, 12

    Today was a pretty restful day, which means that this is going to be a short entry. The sad thing is that even though I had all the time in the world to write this entry on Friday, I chose to write this at 440am on the drive down to Key West to go to Dry Tortugas. This will definitely be the longest day of the trip. I’m now writing about the wrong day, back to Friday.

                    So on Friday we woke up at around 9 or 10am after going to sleep at 8 and 10pm respectively. Melissa likes sleep so I bet you can guess when she went to sleep. I on the other hand can’t fall asleep that early. I was up reading a book that Melissa and I started reading a while back. She, the avid reader finished the book after about a week. I think I’m on week 3 or 4. It’s a good book if not a bit annoying. I’m not turning this into a book review though. I apparently don’t want to write about Friday and instead am choosing to write about everything else. So after reading the book for the night I turned in. I woke up at 9ish and knew that we didn’t really need to be anywhere until 1245pm. Once Melissa woke up we headed down for the continental breakfast. It was not good. I feel that a hotel shouldn’t offer a free breakfast unless it’s going to be worth my while. I know that free means I should have no expectations on quality, but I always have expectations on quality no matter how much or how little I’m paying for something. Because something is free should not be a pass to put no effort into how it turns out for your customer. I always feel that if I’m paying for say, the hotel room, that all of the things you are offering me as free are actually included in the price that I’m paying for the room. I take all of this into consideration when I go to select a hotel in the future. I will not be reconsidering the Ramada in the future unless it’s the only place to stay in a particular city. Ok back to the story about our day.

                    After breakfast, in which I didn’t eat anything, we headed back to the hotel room and watched a Natgeo show about the motorcycle club, the Banditos. The fact that it filled an hour is the best compliment I can give the show. After the Banditos, we started getting ready to go snorkeling.

                    The location of the snorkeling place posted on their website was dubious at best. The coordinates they gave got us going in the general direction, but it kind of just stopped in the middle of nowhere.  We called the snorkeling place and asked if they were located in Biscayne National Park and they said they were. Melissa then proceeded to tell them that they need to fix the directions on their website. I think if they were to just say that they are located in the park right next to the visitor center that they would have more helpful directions. We finally got to Biscayne and headed straight to the snorkeling aquatics center. Okay the name doesn’t really include the aquatic center part, but it could, if they wanted, I’m willing to give that to them. I’m losing steam as I write this now. I think the fact that I’m awake at 517am is finally getting to my brain and it doesn’t particularly like the idea. I’m trying to coerce my brain to be okay with the concept. It’s taking some time. Brain is winning. Will not strong. Must soldier on for reading public.

                    We got on the boat to go out to the island that is inside of Biscayne National Park. This park consists of 95% water. What better way to experience it than to go snorkeling and see the reefs that it has to offer. The ride out to the island is about 45 minutes, I think, I wasn’t really paying attention, but that sounds good enough. We dropped off the island explorers there and then headed to the other side of the island and then went a little further. I forgot to mention that from the time we left the dock until we got to where we were snorkeling that the deepest the water got was 14 feet. We finally got to our snorkeling location and they threw out two buoys that had ropes tide back to the boat. We got all of our gear on and headed into the Bay. I went in first and the water was pretty cold. Melissa followed shortly after and the snorkeling guide suggested that Melissa hold onto the rope until she got more comfortable being out in the water. I must also say that the water was not still. There was quite a bit of movement and the waves were a bit bigger than anticipated. I told Melissa that she just needed to put her head in the water and breathe more calmly. Once she did that she was fine. I was impressed at how well she did in the water. She did way better this time compared to when we went snorkeling on our honeymoon. We saw quite a bit of reef and some of the plants we saw down there were pretty amazing. There was this blue coral that was pretty cool. We saw small schools of fish and brain coral the size of Melissa. Once we had our fill of the water we headed back in the boat and waited until everyone else was done. The boat got underway shortly after and we just enjoyed the ride back as we got sprayed with water. There was this baby girl on our boat ride and she was not happy about getting sprayed with water. She was crying quite a bit, but she was very considerate and for the most part kept the cries to herself. She really was very kind.

    On the way back Melissa was getting hungry and said that she wanted McDonald’s and so on the way back to the hotel I tried to find a McDonald’s. I told my phone to locate a McDonald’s and navigate us to its location. Well the only problem with this, is that it found the one that was located inside of a Wal-Mart. This was located on the ghetto side of town which isn’t that far from the main strip which looks pretty family friendly. Melissa went inside while I kept the car running outside. It kind of felt like we were robbing Wal-Mart. I wouldn’t be completely opposed to that, because I feel like they are robbing our society. That’s a different post. Long story short we made it back to the hotel and ate food. The END.

  • Day One: The Everglades

    Mar 01, 12

    Today started at around 300am. Melissa’s alarm sounded at 300am and I wanted to go back to sleep, but since we had gone to bed at around 900pm the night before I was pretty wide awake. Melissa’s dad picked us up around 345am to take us to the airport. On the way, he decided that a red light was unimportant at that time of day and almost turned left while the light was red. Melissa said, “what are you doing” and her Dad said, “Nobody’s coming.” That was our first brush with make believe death today.

    We made it to the airport alive and checked in at the Continental desk and proceeded to go through security at Terminal A. I got to go through one of those new body scanners where they make you hold your hands above your head in the shape of a diamond for about 7 seconds. All was well. Then we checked our tickets to see which Terminal our plane was leaving from and we found out it was in Terminal B. Neither one of us knew there was a Terminal B. So we had to go all the way back across the airport to Terminal B and go through security again. This time Melissa was randomly selected to go through the body scanner. Suffice it to say we had a fun time at the airport and made it to Florida with no more problems. 

    From the airport we headed straight for Everglades National Park. This is Melissa and Mine’s second national park trip together since being married. We got to Everglades and we went on the Anhinga Trail and saw a lot of alligators and turkey vultures and some other birds with long necks and long legs. We didn’t really pay much attention to the names of the birds. This is definitely a bird watchers paradise. There were photographers there that had lenses so long that I have only seen them on Paparazzi’s Cameras. I’m talking about a foot to a foot and a half long. We did see one instance where a bird and an alligator were in a standoff. The bird started squawking and the alligator was going up and down in the water. Not a great description of the alligator, but I really don’t know a lot about them. I’m winging it. Anyways, the standoff quickly turned into a mexican standoff when another bird joined the fray and stood on the other side of the alligator. We were really hoping something would happen, but alas nothing did and we moved on. Later on down the trail we saw eight turkey vultures all together in the middle of about six alligators. It was the strangest thing. We also got to see an alligator open it’s mouth as wide as it could. It was the biggest yawn I’ve ever seen. 

    We went on two other trails and didn’t see much of anything. One trail had a water logged prairie and the other trail was a forest of some kind. The hurricanes had hit that area so hard that trees had been uprooted and just tipped over. The whole root system was intact with the tree and just looked like a root wall. I have no better way to describe it. It kind of looked like something from Harry Potter. My wife may disagree with that description, but oh well. 

    We then headed on down to Flamingo Bay. We mainly drove down there to get ice cream. Little did we know that all it was, was prepackaged ice cream. It was a little disappointing.

    We headed to the hotel and then decided to go out to a nice dinner. So we chose Applebee’s. I know, you’re jealous and you should be. It was the most mediocre dinner I’ve had in quite some time. So now I sit on the bed in the hotel room watching TV beside my beautiful wife. 

  • Feb 19, 12

    Just confirmed that *69 doesn’t work with cell phones. You’re welcome.

  • Feb 09, 12

    27, retired and loving it.

  • A Few Common Misconceptions About Introverts (Like Me)

    Jan 26, 12

    Myth #1 – Introverts don’t like to talk.

    This is not true. Introverts just don’t talk unless they have something to say. They hate small talk. Get an introvert talking about something they are interested in, and they won’t shut up for days.

    Myth #2 – Introverts are shy.

    Shyness has nothing to do with being an Introvert. Introverts are not necessarily afraid of people. What they need is a reason to interact. They don’t interact for the sake of interacting. If you want to talk to an Introvert, just start talking. Don’t worry about being polite.

    Myth #3 – Introverts are rude.

    Introverts often don’t see a reason for beating around the bush with social pleasantries. They want everyone to just be real and honest. Unfortunately, this is not acceptable in most settings, so Introverts can feel a lot of pressure to fit in, which they find exhausting.

    Myth #4 – Introverts don’t like people.

    On the contrary, Introverts intensely value the few friends they have. They can count their close friends on one hand. If you are lucky enough for an introvert to consider you a friend, you probably have a loyal ally for life. Once you have earned their respect as being a person of substance, you’re in.

    Myth #5 – Introverts don’t like to go out in public.

    Nonsense. Introverts just don’t like to go out in public FOR AS LONG. They also like to avoid the complications that are involved in public activities. They take in data and experiences very quickly, and as a result, don’t need to be there for long to “get it.” They’re ready to go home, recharge, and process it all. In fact, recharging is absolutely crucial for Introverts.

    Myth #6 – Introverts always want to be alone.

    Introverts are perfectly comfortable with their own thoughts. They think a lot. They daydream. They like to have problems to work on, puzzles to solve. But they can also get incredibly lonely if they don’t have anyone to share their discoveries with. They crave an authentic and sincere connection with ONE PERSON at a time.

    Myth #7 – Introverts are weird.

    Introverts are often individualists. They don’t follow the crowd. They’d prefer to be valued for their novel ways of living. They think for themselves and because of that, they often challenge the norm. They don’t make most decisions based on what is popular or trendy.

    Myth #8 – Introverts are aloof nerds.

    Introverts are people who primarily look inward, paying close attention to their thoughts and emotions. It’s not that they are incapable of paying attention to what is going on around them, it’s just that their inner world is much more stimulating and rewarding to them.

    Myth #9 – Introverts don’t know how to relax and have fun.

    Introverts typically relax at home or in nature, not in busy public places. Introverts are not thrill seekers and adrenaline junkies. If there is too much talking and noise going on, they shut down. Their brains are too sensitive to the neurotransmitter called Dopamine. Introverts and Extroverts have different dominant neuro-pathways. Just look it up.

    Myth #10 – Introverts can fix themselves and become Extroverts.

    A world without Introverts would be a world with few scientists, musicians, artists, poets, filmmakers, doctors, mathematicians, writers, and philosophers. That being said, there are still plenty of techniques an Extrovert can learn in order to interact with Introverts. (Yes, I reversed these two terms on purpose to show you how biased our society is.) Introverts cannot “fix themselves” and deserve respect for their natural temperament and contributions to the human race. In fact, one study (Silverman, 1986) showed that the percentage of Introverts increases with IQ.

    It can be terribly destructive for an Introvert to deny themselves in order to get along in an Extrovert-Dominant World. Like other minorities, Introverts can end up hating themselves and others because of the differences. If you think you are an Introvert, I recommend you research the topic and seek out other Introverts to compare notes. The burden is not entirely on Introverts to try and become “normal.” Extroverts need to recognize and respect us, and we also need to respect ourselves.

  • Apple’s record profits built on grinding employees into dust – then blowing them up | ExtremeTech

    Jan 26, 12
  • Jan 25, 12

    Too Funny

  • Jan 19, 12

    Hanging out at the ParamountTheatre just waiting for the civil wars to play.

  • Jan 14, 12

    he’s done a great job up til now. Paws crossed that he can finish.

  • Jan 06, 12

    Fun night watching Deadwood and doing a puzzle. We do everything as if we are in a film noir.

  • This is my new musical obsession. I seem to be finding music in the most random of places lately. I heard this song on a fake trailer for a fake God of War movie based on the video game. Such a strange place to find music, but nonetheless it’s good music. Just listen and enjoy. The Song is Home by Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros from the album of the same name.

    28 plays
  • I really just love this song. Every time I hear it, I fall in love with it again. It’s such a basic song. It starts with a drum beat, then adds Xavier’s voice, and then it adds the deep bass voices. Once they provide the foundation for the song the lyrics start. Short and sweet.

    16 plays
  • He tied a feather to the hook for to get you to look And by the time you know what took you, you already took He’s got a line in the water, he’s a fisher of men He put the thorns on the rose for to get you to bleed And by the time you know what stuck you, the pain’s in deep He’s got a line in the water, he’s a fisher of men He’s got a lot on the line, he’s a fisher of men He’s a fisher of men and he’s wise as a prize fighter He’s like a soul miner mining souls on down the great divide He put his name in my verses and his name in the hook Before I knew what I was cooking, it was already cooked He’s got a line in the water, he’s a fisher of men And he put his name in my chorus like the dark before the dawn So that in my hour of weakness, I’d remember it’s his song He’s got a line in the water, he’s a fisher of men

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  • The Black Keys - Tighten Up Photo by CC Chapman

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  Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist

  His Excellency: George Washington

  Brothers in Battle, Best of Friends: Two WWII Paratroopers from the Original Band of Brothers Tell Their Story (Thorndike Press Large Print Nonfiction Series)

  Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters

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  Biggest Brother: The Life Of Major Dick Winters, The Man Who Led The Band of Brothers

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  Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest

  Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man's Soul
  Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist

  His Excellency: George Washington

  Brothers in Battle, Best of Friends: Two WWII Paratroopers from the Original Band of Brothers Tell Their Story

  Beyond Band of Brothers: The war memoirs of Major Dick Winters

  American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation

  Heartbreak & Triumph: The Shawn Michaels Story

  Biggest Brother: The Life of Major Dick Winters, the Man Who Led the Band of Brothers

  Fight Club

  Ric Flair: To Be the Man

  Beyond Glory: Medal of Honor Heroes in Their Own Words

  Rebel: The Life and Legend of James Dean

  The Stone Cold Truth

  The Last Commissioner: A Baseball Valentine

  Hollywood Hulk Hogan

  Lucky Man: A Memoir

  And Then There Were None

  It's True! It's True!

  An Hour Before Daylight: Memoirs of a Rural Boyhood

  Bombers: An Oral History of the New York Yankees

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  Have A Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks

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  • Sweetheart (feat. Zooey Deschanel) by M. Ward

    May 23, 12
  • Me and My Shadow (feat. Zooey Deschanel) by M. Ward

    May 23, 12
  • Primitive Girl by M. Ward

    May 23, 12
  • Clean Slate by M. Ward

    May 23, 12
  • Beards by The Dodos

    May 22, 12
  • Horny Hippies by The Dodos

    May 22, 12
  • Men by The Dodos

    May 22, 12
  • Neighbors by The Dodos

    May 22, 12
  • Trades And Tariffs by The Dodos

    May 22, 12
  • Lily by The Dodos

    May 22, 12
  The Black Keys

  The Dodos

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  Death Cab For Cutie

  José González

  Snow Patrol

  Everclear

  Fleet Foxes

  Ben Taylor

  Dan Auerbach

  Matchbox Twenty

  M. Ward

  The Kooks

  The Raconteurs

  Hacienda

  She & Him

  Jakob Dylan

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  The Rosewood Thieves

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  Xavier Rudd

  The Avett Brothers

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  The Tallest Man On Earth

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  Of Monsters and Men

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  • Strange Times by The Black Keys

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  • I Got Mine by The Black Keys

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  • Fables by The Dodos

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  • Craig Gaines

    Help Desk Support

    Religious Institutions | San Antonio, Texas Area, US

    Summary

    Objective: Find a challenging entry level IT position.

    Specialties: a + certified, active directory, adobe photoshop, computer hardware, customer relations, data entry, database administration, help desk support, microsoft excel, microsoft exchange, microsoft office, microsoft powerpoint, microsoft publisher, microsoft windows xp, microsoft windows 98, microsoft word, multimedia presentations, networking, norton antivirus, operating systems, pc hardware, printers, routers, scanners, spreadsheets, tcp/ip, troubleshooting, visio, vista,

    Experience

    • Jun 2009 - Present
      Help Desk Support / Community Bible Church
      Troubleshoot and repair users' computers. Remove viruses, repair Mac and Windows operating system problems, and diagnose and replace hardware when necessary. Manage users in Active Directory. Create policies in Group Policy to manage computers. Create and manage mail boxes for users in MS Exchange. Use PowerShell in MS Exchange to create dynamic distribution lists. Perform Exchange maintenance on a weekly basis. Manage Help Desk software, Spiceworks. Create and dispatch tickets based on the skills of other Technical Support personnel. Created a four year plan to replace all computers in the organization and put them on a four year life cycle. Created reports on how to refresh all versions of Microsoft Office to Office 2010. Manage the maintenance and deployment of all printers in the organization. Liaison to printer company to manage our inventory and the needs of our users. Create and manage Hyper-V based virtual servers.
    • Sept 2008 - Mar 2010
      Counter Intelligence Agent / Best Buy/Geek Squad
      Repair and troubleshoot client's computers. Remove viruses, repair operating system problems, and diagnose and replace hardware when necessary. Explain to clients what is wrong with their computer in terms they understand and what was required to fix the computer once the repair was completed. Provide expert analysis for clients on computer hardware/software to help them purchase the right product(s) for their needs. Train fellow agents on procedures that Geek Squad uses.
    • Mar 2008 - Jun 2008
      Intern / Community Bible Church
      Worked with the Fellowship One database daily; responsibilities included data entry and database enhancement. Contributed ideas on how to improve the database. Created a report to help fill a need in my department. Helped troubleshoot a database error. Added and removed people from the database on a daily basis. Coordinated with other departments. Created spreadsheets in Excel and other documents in Publisher
    • May 2004 - Mar 2008
      Owner and Computer Technician / Crog Productions
      Research and purchase components to build custom designed computers for clients. Average savings over standard offerings from computer stores was $150. Repair and troubleshoot computers. Was able to improve computer performance to better than when they purchased the computer. Install LAN's, both wired and wireless, including setting up the TCP/IP addressing scheme and utilizing DHCP and DNS. Create multi-media presentations using a variety of software.

    Education

    • 2003 - 2007
      The University of Texas at San Antonio
      Bachelor of Business Administration Degree in General Business
    • The University of Texas at San Antonio
      Bachelor of Business Administration Degree in General Business

    Additional Information

    • Websites: