Life of Brian

2008

Something interesting has occurred.  Up until this year, two thousand and eight, I have had quite an easy time remembering events that took place from year to year.  But as I'm thinking back to the year 08, nothing in particular comes to mind.  Sure, there are things like birthdays, Christmas, and other holidays.  Other events of that year seem to be melded together with many core memories that happened over the next decade.  Sarah and I were still both working.  My parents still in their home two hours north.  My oldest sister also may have moved to Ojai.  I had to ask my other sister where she lived as I do not recall that info.  I left the shredding company somewhere between 08 and 2010.  The machine shop that I had gone back and forth to hired me once more.  It would be the last time I worked for them.  I would leave within two years to work for Challenge Dairy.  Challenge would be my last job before 'retiring' and taking care of the girl's full time.  I spent five years at Challenge.  The year 2016 would be my first year of being jobless.  Except, I wouldn't really be jobless for long.  A friend of mine told me about a job working for a private school near Ojai and I would be hired on for that position.  My current occupation, if you can call it that, is also a job working for another private school in the area.  Having done security for a good part of my life, I guess I kind of had the knack for it.  I'd stumble my way into a couple of 'Volunteer' jobs in Ojai.  One for a youth opera group and another for the Ojai Music Festival.  Let me tell you.  I have spent way too many hours walking around Libby Park.  This includes every hour imaginable in a 24-hour span.  I've had drunk people in my face telling me they are going to mess me up because I tried to politely inform them that urinating on the handrails in a public park might be frowned upon by the local Sheriffs Dept.  I've seen individuals boxing one another and actually hitting one another so hard that they knocked the other guy out cold.  I've had 5150's yelling in my face that they work for the government and they knew who my boss was, and they were going to get me fired for closing my car door too loudly.  I've also seen an individual who we suspected was 5150 purchase a ticket and then sit on the lawn and enjoy the classical music like every other patron at the event without causing a single problem.  I met many a nice person throughout these events and am very thankful for the opportunity.  I no longer work as a volunteer for these agencies.  

So, I guess I will wrap up this yearly journal of mine for now.  If you go back and read some of the costs of items between 1975 and now, it is pretty amazing what we have come to in the year 2025!  The world is heading down a troublesome path in so many ways.  I will end with this.  I am a firm believer that things happen for a reason for the most part.  I also believe that history absolutely repeats itself.  I can't help but feel that all the events of today, and the direction we are heading on a global level, have to be leading us towards another major population reducing event.  If WWIII were to happen, it will not look like any war we've seen in the past.  In my opinion. Hopefully, we can continue to live another ten decades with relative peace.  Thank you for coming along with me for this journey of the past.  It has been very enjoyable for me.  I'll leave you with one last quote.

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts."

- George S. Patton Jr.

    

   

   

 ONE-THIRTY-TWO

AND

BUSH

Steve sipped on his Pabst Blue Ribbon tall boy Special.  Man was it good.  With a little less alcohol than a Natty Daddy, the flavor was by far better.  Natty Daddy didn't even really taste like beer to him.  He only drank it to get buzzed all the more quickly.  His sips turned to gulps as the sun slowly sank below the horizon.  Three empty cans dotted the freshly mowed grass.  He'd pick those up whenever.  The fourth can was sweaty down at the very bottom.  It was almost time for a fifth.  Newport was extra soupy tonight.  Thunderstorms had passed through about an hour earlier and took with them all of the cool air.  The humidity had sunk right back in.  Steve was shirtless.  His camo shorts were soiled with sweat, along with his Hanes underwear that he had just stolen from Walmart the day before.  A Cocke County Sheriff unit passed by Steve's trailer with a whoosh and the sound of an engine that was guzzling gasoline.  Steve realized his eyes were squinted.  He hated cops.  They were nothing but condescending tattle tails.  He'd had plenty of run ins with them, none of them the pleasant kind.  The Sheriff's had a problem with citizens of Newport who took it upon themselves to push drugs on the streets.  Steve was a pusher alright.  One of the best and most lucrative Cocke County had seen in years.  Oh, the Sheriff's knew Steve alright.  He was on a first name basis with Newport's finest.  One deputy in particular had made Steve her target.  If he sneezed, she knew about it!  Steve didn't like this one bit.  It wouldn't be tolerated for much longer.  This deputy was putting a wrench in his sales, and Steve behind bars, far too often.  As the lightning bugs began their nightly dance, a swift flick of Steves wrist sent the fifth can of beer scratching down on the grass blades joining the four others, left to be crawled upon by whatever roamed the ground at night.  Steve's eyes were no longer angry.  In fact, they were open wide.  His brain was hashing over his plan, and it was time to go.

Chandler had graduated from the Sheriff's academy a little more than a year ago.  At the age of twenty-four, she was one of the younger deputies out on the streets of Newport.  At six feet, two inches tall, she stood out from most of the other male deputies and all of the other female officers.  Being African American also made her instantly recognizable.  She was the only black female officer on the roster.  Her father was a marine who saw combat action in Vietnam.  Once he returned to the states, her father pursued a career as a Sheriff Deputy in a county about four hours east of Cocke County.  That county was not hiring when Chandler applied so she had to settle for the area of Newport to follow in her father's footsteps. Newport was known to be a little rough around the edges. The department hadn't had any officers killed in the line of duty, but they had seen their fair share of officer injuries.  The biggest problem they faced was the sale of narcotics.  Even young teenagers were using some of the harder drugs found in any big city in the U.S.  Chandler took it upon herself to mitigate this epidemic.  Most of Newport's citizens were good people.  She was sick and tired of seeing so many of the city's youth succumb to problems associated with drug use.  Steve Baller was high on her radar.  She had busted him with drugs on more than one occasion.  Unfortunately, the amounts never constituted sending Steve to jail for more than a month at a time.  But Chandler knew that she was getting under his skin.  She'd confiscate what product he had on him and also impound his vehicle.  She knew this slowed Steve down and cost him money.  Soon enough, she'd catch him with an amount large enough to put him in prison for a long time.  She was sure of it.  Chandler worked graveyards.  Starting at 6 p.m. and ending at 8 a.m.  This was prime time for the drug dealers, including Mr. Baller.  Steve Baller was a small man.  Standing at five feet six inches tall, Chandler towered above him.  Chandler was also in excellent shape.  She'd spent all four years of high school playing basketball and running track.  Steve wasn't in bad shape; his Pabst Blue Ribbon dinners kept him skinny.  He also partook in a little of his own product from time to time and he smoked like a chimney.  As Chandler radioed in that she was 10-8, a small shrug showed that she was not looking forward to tonight's shift.  The humidity was off the charts.  Any coolness had faded away with the passing thunderstorms earlier in the evening.  Soupy nights like tonight made for extra grumpy bad guys.  She was all too familiar with this effect and wore a scar on the bridge of her nose to show for it.  Not from someone's fist, but from a flying bottle of Mickeys outside the hilltop bar on Bush Street.  The little green grenade of beer was impossible to see in the low light of that particular night, and it struck Chandler right in the face.  No stitches were needed.  But she had an awkward bandage for a week or more and the scar would be with her forever.  Steve was proud of the toss that created that scar.  Chandler would never know it was he that threw it.  This made Steve a happy drug dealer.  Deputy C. Regosa would soon find out what Mr. Baller was really capable of.  No one messed with the Baller family!  Make no mistake, the drug market was here to stay.  Deputies that had their noses in Steve's business would be handled.  He'd send them a message not to get in the way.

Steve wasn't lacking in the category of brains.  He was actually quite intelligent.  He'd pissed on high school telling himself it was a waste of time.  He didn't need to learn all those stupid subjects.  His father made a living off of stealing from others as well as selling citizens with low self-esteem whatever drug it was that made them feel better.  So much to the point that these men and women would bite the hands that loved them just to score a fix.  Steve had seen it all.  he knew darn well that drug usage would not be curtailed by the police any time soon.  Therefore, it was prime time to capitalize and make himself filthy rich.   No officer, no matter how tall or badass they thought themselves to be, would throw a wrench in his plans.  Certainly not a female cop!  Being a drug dealer opens up avenues to meeting people who know all sorts of things.  This included how to make bombs.  Not just bombs that would go boom when lit by a fuse, but bombs with timers on them.  Bombs that could be placed in an area and detonated in various ways by a person who wasn't even in the vicinity!  Some with timers, some controlled by a cell phone.  Steve had met these tradesmen of evil.  Some were ex-military.  Some, former prisoners.  All of them, hooked on drugs.  There was no shortage of these little vestibules of knowledge.  They all needed their fix.  Steves middle name just so happened to be one in the same.  He was Mr. Fix on the streets.  If Mr. Fix wanted say, a pound of explosives, Mr. Fix got it!  Of course, this type of knowledge would be rewarded with a small discount.  Discounts in the eyes of humans hooked on drugs, were better than the gospel itself.  The extra soupy evening set the perfect stage for Steve's devious plan.  He'd send a message to every single Sheriff in the county.  As for the six-foot two female wonder cop, her remains wouldn't even fill a shoe box by the time the sun came up. 

It didn't cost him much to pay one of the bums on the corner to constantly watch a certain patrol car.  The information gained by this surveillance bum was crucial. Steve would simply tell this man to look for the tall black female officer and report everything he saw back to Mr. Fix.  As payment, the bum would receive gold in the form of crystal meth.  Sometimes it would be pure meth.  Others, it would only be half meth, and half salt crystals.  Didn't matter to the bum because it was ALL free!  Mr. Meth Bum was absolutely positive Deputy Chandler went inside the coffee shop for approximately half the time it took him to consume a 64 oz bottle of malt liquor.  Returning to trusty ol 342 with a tall latte at the beginning of every shift.  Steve figured that a half a can of malt liquor probably took Mr. Meth Bum around fifteen minutes to consume.  He was, by all means, a professional drinker.  Fifteen minutes is all he would have to place the bomb under the squad car, arm it, and get away without being seen. He also knew that Chandler had his personal vehicle memorized down to the scratch in his FJB bumper sticker.  He'd have to use a different car if he was going to get away with this.  Steve's sister was visiting from Boston.  Her Ford Bronco Sport would be perfect.  He'd tell her that he was going to go get her car washed for her after her long trip down from Massachusetts.  This would give him plenty of time to do what he needed to do.  After draining the contents of the five cans of suds from his bladder, he left his house in his sisters Sport.  A small black package rested on the seat next to him.  No more than six inches in length and three inches wide.  Inside the package was enough C-4 to remove an elephant from its trunk.  The C-4 inside the package was taped to an i-phone with its blue tooth turned on. A small solenoid was inserted into the C-4 .  All Steve had to do was send a text to the phone.  The phone would vibrate triggering the solenoid and kaboom!  Steve had no reason to believe this device would fail.  The ex- ordinance technician who'd dreamed it up was sure it would work.

Chandler wiped her brow.  Boy was it miserable this evening she thought.  Did she even want a latte.  These thoughts filled her brain.  She knew even though it was hot and muggy, she'd need the caffeine to keep her going on her long shift.  Passing a crumbled over man on the opposite corner of the coffee shop who was drinking something out of a paper bag, Chandler pulled her squad car onto the street curb facing the opposite direction of the dead-end street.  A white Ford Bronco Sport was parked four car lengths away from her on the opposite side of the street.  She noted that the car appeared to be empty, and the plates were in good order.  It did not raise any suspicion whatsoever.  Chandler walked into the coffee shop to get her latte.  This coffee shop only had one window in the front on the side of the street she'd parked on.  Mr. Meth Bum had given Steve very reliable intel.  This was perfect for him to plant the device.  As soon as the coffee shop door swung shut, Steve left from his sister's car with the black package in hand.  Two good sized magnets would attach it to the frame of the squad car.  He was smart enough not to run.  This would cause attention from anyone out and about.  He got close enough to the back of Chandlers unit and he could now stoop down to place the bomb on to the frame.  His arms worked feverishly as he kept his eyes glued to the coffee shop door.  For some reason, the magnets did not find a home and the bomb would not attach!  Steve almost stopped sweating, even in the humid early evening air.  What was the problem!  He knew he was running out of time.  The doors of the coffee shop swung open.  Steve felt a tiny bit of urine escape his body, finding a home in his stolen Hanes.  It was just a young woman who held her coffee and smiled awkwardly at Steve with most of her front teeth missing.  Steve didn't recognize her, but she surely recognized Mr. Fix!  Her smile turned to a look of confusion.  She began to approach Steve.  She knew very well that he was a major dealer.  She also knew very well that he wasn't tampering underneath a Chick-Fil-A delivery vehicle either!  Steve panicked.  Mr. Meth Bum across the street began to wave his good arm.  Almost at the same time, the coffee shop door opened once more.  This time, it was Chandler who emerged, regular coffee in hand.  A latte would have given Steve five more minutes!  He was screwed!  One last effort and the magnets held.  Toothless called out ... Yo Mr. Fix!  Steve looked at Chandler, Chandler looked at Steve.  Mr. Meth Bum yelled out something to the effect of Oh Shit!  Chandler began running towards Steve.  She knew in an instant that it was him fiddling around with her car.  Steve pushed himself out of the crouch that he was in, toothless was close enough for him to push her to the ground creating an obstacle for the extra-long legs of Deputy Regosa.  Steve bolted for the white bronco.  Chandler hurdled toothless who was extremely upset over her now spilled coffee.  Stop! Chandler yelled.  Steve!  You need to stop!  Steve did no such thing.  He made it to the car.  Flung himself into the driver's seat, cranked the ignition and punched it!  He looked at Chandler as he screeched past her squad car.  His cell pinged letting him know that the connection to the phone on the bomb had been successful.  All he needed to do was send the text and Mrs. Deputy long legs Regosa would be turned into pink mist.  Chandler hopped into her squad car.  She could not hesitate to look and see what Steve had been doing.  She had to get moving in pursuit of the white Bronco.  She slammed her car in drive and screeched the tires as she sped after Steve.  She radioed dispatch.  Station one, three Adam 17 is in pursuit of a known narcotics dealer who fled the area of fourth and Reem street.  Suspect Steve Baller is driving a white Ford Sport, unknown plates at this time heading west bound on Bush Street.  Station one the suspect appeared to have been tampering with my vehicle before fleeing.  Dispatch acknowledged the info and sent additional units.  Steve clinched his cell phone.  He could see car 342 behind him with lights and sirens blaring.  He pushed send and looked in his rear-view mirror waiting for the explosion.  Nothing happened!  Chandler gained ground and was now three car lengths behind Steve.  Steve couldn't believe it!  The bomb had failed.  He didn't realize he'd been looking in his rear-view mirror for way too long as his eyes moved back forward, he realized he was on a collision course head on with an armored truck.  He yanked the wheel to the left.  It was too late.  The Bronco made contact with the right-side bumper of the armored truck.  The Bronco veered to the left with heavy damage bringing the vehicle slowly to a stop on avenue 132.  Chandler slammed on her brakes, flung open her driver's side door, kneeled behind the door with her service revolver pointed towards Steves wrecked vehicle.  Chandler radioed to dispatch one last time.

Station one, I've got him at gunpoint, one-thirty-two and Bush.

Life of Brian

2007

Think back to being a young kid.  Days filled with going to school, doing homework in the afternoons, or late at night if you were a procrastinator.  Then the summers came along, and you'd have three months of freedom.   That freedom usually encompassed an area that you could walk to.  With most of our parents working, the only way to get around was either by bicycle or your legs.  The thing I find interesting, is the mindset I had when I was young.  I did have a bike, and I did use it to ride around from time to time, but for the most part, I'd entertain myself with just my brain.  I'd find things to do around my yard.  This included finding a stick in which I'd pretend that it was the handlebars of a motorcycle.  I'd run around making motorcycle noises like I was on a motorcross track, jumping over rocks and speeding up in straight aways.  It was a simple form of fun and required zero money, and zero electricity.  I actually remember doing this with my cousins out in New Mexico on one of our visits.  We were all outside having a blast.  Currently, I have quite a bit of time on my hands being somewhat retired.  With technology, humans now tend to spend much of their free time looking into a computer screen.  Even young kids.  I honestly think that the smart phone has drastically changed our society, and not for the better.  If I could go back in time, I'd keep my kids away from these devices until the age of 17 or 18.

Two thousand and seven could have been the year I left Armored Transport.  I honestly do not remember the exact year I left.  I know that when I told the company I was leaving, my former boss who'd transferred to the Las Vegas branch, was a little perturbed.  He was the one who'd recommended me for the position, and now I was leaving.  He didn't understand the dynamics however, and I did not feel bad for leaving.  As I mentioned last post, the Ventura branch was a dead end.  Not being able to move to another branch, I was destined to be assistant manager forever.  That was not intriguing to me.  I would have stayed on the day trucks if I had known that.  A couple of the day route guys had left to a shredding company months prior to me quitting.  Right around the time I was going to quit, they returned to Armored Transport.  They mentioned that the pay was better than Armored, but they ended up not liking the job.  Knowing that there must be two openings, now that they had quit, I applied.  RSI shredding was run and owned by a woman named Susan.  She was a wealthy businesswoman who'd run this shredding and recycling business for quite a few years already.  She had a fairly large customer base built up that covered an enormous range.  We'd drive all over southern Ca.  From Lancaster all the way down to Corona, into San Bernadino and all the way south to just about Moreno Valley.  We worked in two- and three-man crews.  We'd drive a thirty-foot box truck to a variety of customers and shred their paper on-site. The trucks had a big grinder built in towards the front of the truck.  This grinder was run by hydraulics.  Once you turned on the PTO's, the truck engine would speed up in rpm's and give power to the hydraulics running this big grinder with massive teeth.  Think of your home shredder on steroids.  These grinders were big enough, and beefy enough to grind up metal toys.  We'd dump trash cans, like the kind you set out for your weekly garbage, full of paper into these grinders.  The teeth would slowly grab the paper and shred it up.  While two of the crew would go into the customers location and retrieve the paper to be shredded, the third employee would operate the shredding machine.  There was a camera that you could watch the process happening and sometimes you'd have to reverse the teeth to clear a blockage.  Once a year, three of us would drive down to Rancho Cucamonga and spend all day shredding expired scratch-offs for the Ca State Lottery.  They would have nine pallets or so of out-of-date scratchers that they needed to be destroyed.  This usually occurred in the summer months, and it was generally very warm in that part of Southern Ca.  These scratcher packets were fairly thick so two of us would climb up into the truck and hang out watching the hopper while the third employee hoisted trashcans full of the things into the grinder.  We'd actually have to stand on top of the pile of cards sometimes to get the teeth to grab them and begin the shredding process.  Not OSHA compliant by any means.  Those grinders would easily have shredded an entire human body if given the chance.  It would have been a very painful and very slow death!  But the job had to be done.  We'd make sure that our shoelaces were tucked away so that nothing could be grabbed by this massive eating machine.  The bonus of participating in this particular job was that we'd take what we had shredded and recycle it.  Our boss in the beginning was allowing us to keep the money we'd get from the recycling company for these scratchers.  When she figured out we were getting over three hundred dollars recycling them, she quickly changed her mind!  Before that occurred, we were pocketing a hundred dollars each!  We understood why she changed her mind; she was a good boss, and she was very good to us.  She would on occasion take everyone out to an early dinner and pay for everything.  She also threw some very nice Christmas parties.  Even though this was a highly physically demanding job, I actually enjoyed it very much.  I went from being stuck in a building with one window and a ton of responsibilities, to driving a truck all over Southern Ca and having fun working with my friends who'd also left the armored car business. I also didn't mind no longer wearing a bullet proof vest everyday as well as a gun belt.  My new uniform consisted of cacky pants and a comfortable button up Dickies shirt.  On some days, our truck alone would shred well over a ton of paper.  Sometimes, this was from just one customer!  

Shockingly, in 2007, home prices in Ca actually went down!  Prices dropped from around $554,000 to $488,000.00.  As I had mentioned the housing market bubble had burst in 06.  Jumbo loans were no longer being distributed.  If you lived near the coast however, you would not have seen as big of a decrease in pricing.  The average amount paid for rent in Southern Ca was around $1439.00 a month.  I believe we were paying around $1200 a month for our two-bedroom duplex.  Today, in 2025, renters are paying $2000.00 a month for a one-bedroom duplex.  That's probably on the lower end as well and hard to find.  Average cost of a new car was in the $30,000.00 range.  This also had decreased from 06 when new car prices hovered around $32,000.00.  Gasoline cost you $2.60 a gallon in Jan of 07.  By Dec of 07 that cost rose to 3.53 per gallon.  

Top five movies of 07 were:  Spider-Man 3, Shrek the Third, Transformers, Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End, and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.  Top T.V. shows included Chuck, Mad Men, Californication, and Criminal Minds.  Top songs of 07 included "Irreplaceable", by Beyonce, "Umbrella", by Rihanna.  Fergie had two songs in the top twenty, "Big Girls Don't Cry", and "Glamorous".  The Plain White T's had the most successful song by any band with "Hey There Delilah".

Two thousand seven was a good year.  I had a new job that was very physically demanding but fun.  Sarah was working hard for NHH in Santa Barbara.  We had three healthy little girls.  Sarah and I really liked living in our duplex.  We got along with our neighbors.  These were good times for sure.  I was glad to have left the Armored trucks.  Funny thing about that, years later, the Ventura branch would actually close and the operations were moved down to the Sylmar area. If I had still been Asst. Mgr.  this would have been the nail in the coffin anyways.  Working out of Sylmar would not have been an option for me. 

"I really am not the kind of guy that sits here and says, 'Oh gosh, I'm worried about my legacy.'"

- George W. Bush 

43rd President  

Life of Brian

2006

I seem to recall 2006 was an exceptionally rainy year.  This may have been brought on by our third daughter.  In 06 while sitting on our living room floor in our duplex, Mckenna, our soon to be third child, decided to kick Sarah's water bag, breaking it open.  This third child was also breach, so maybe she punched the water bag?  Despite a couple of procedures to get her to turn around, she just would not budge.  Because of this, we knew that a C section was in order rather than a regular birth.  So off to the hospital we went to have our beautiful third child extracted.  After thoroughly washing my hands and putting on the appropriate covers over my clothing and shoes, I was able to be in the operating room to witness the C section.  The incision was made and one of the nurses kept a close eye on me.  Supposedly, many fathers who witness this procedure tend to pass out.  I assured them that the sight of blood did not make me lightheaded.  Heck, I'd seen dead bodies already, and not all of them were in one piece.  The sight of blood never bothered me much anyways; however, it was different when the blood being viewed was from the woman I had vowed to spend my entire life with.  As I mentioned before, I was not the type of person to think about the "What If's" should something go wrong during the procedure.  The Dr. doing the operation had set some gauze near the incision to catch much of the blood.  One of these pieces fell off of Sarah and made a nice splat sound on the hospital floor.  When this happened, even the Dr. looked at me.  I guess it wasn't common for this to occur, they must have thought I was going to dive headfirst into the tile floor from the shock.  After deducing that I was staying coherent, the procedure continued.  I saw little Mckenna pulled out of the womb, her big hazel green eyes taking in her new world. Another healthy baby.  She was not nearly as large as Brianna.  She too was very calm and didn't scream as much as many of the newborns I got to see throughout the births of our three kids.  She seemed to be very alert almost from minute one of her life.  Sarah and I had gone through some very scary moments after Brianna's birth.  Not all of the placenta was removed after that birth and Sarah almost bled to death weeks after giving birth.  I am so thankful to one particular E.R. nurse at the hospital who came out into the waiting room, probably on her way to taking her break, who stopped and noticed how ghostly white Sarah was.  This was due to her blood loss.  We were told by the E.R. receptionist to sit and wait after checking in.  Thanks to this nurse, they took Sarah in right away and gave her a blood transfusion.  After Mckenna's birth, everything was fine.  She would be the last little human Sarah and I would bring into this world.

Somewhere around this year, I was promoted once more to Assistant Manager of the Ventura branch.  I really enjoyed my job and the thought of actually managing my own branch soon entered my head.  Two different branches were soon to be looking for a new branch manager.  One was in Red Bluff Ca. and the other was in Flagstaff Arizona.  The Flagstaff office was fairly small with only six trucks.  That's the one I wanted.  A nice small branch up in the pine trees of Flagstaff, where it snowed every winter and overall was quite a beautiful area.  I made my interest in the position known to my boss, I knew that it was a long shot due to the fact that I had not been assistant manager for very long.  Little did I know that there was a much larger obstacle in place, that in the long run, would make me quit Armored Transport altogether and start another occupation.  When it started looking like managing the Flagstaff office could have become reality, my wife informed me that we would not be moving.  Not only did she not want to move, but her mother also did not want us to move.  Sarah was very happy working at NHH, and although she could have transferred and gotten a really good job in Flagstaff as an accountant, she would have had to retest for the new state.  She was already making way more money than I was, and even if I'd been promoted to manager, my yearly salary wouldn't have been anywhere close to hers.  The Ventura branch had just gotten a new manager, so I knew there was no chance of me taking over that branch any time soon.  This made me decide to leave Armored Transport.  There was no point in staying if I knew I was never going to be able to promote.  Also, managing the Ventura office would have been weird.  I had come off the trucks at this branch and was friends with many of the guys still working them.  That scenario would not have been the best.  Your boss can never be your friend I had learned.  Even though I knew some of the policies were ridiculous for the guys on the trucks, having seen both sides of the fence, I still had to enforce the companies' rules.  In addition, the little mishap at K-Mart I'm sure, probably had the truck crews wondering what the heck they had promoted me into management for!  No, the best scenario would have been to manage a completely different branch.  When it was certain that I was stuck as assistant manager, it was time to move on.  

Some happenings in our world the year of 2006 included the execution of Saddam Hussein.  He was strung up by a noose and hung. Violence in Iraq was at an all-time high around this time with U.S. forces sustaining their highest monthly death toll in two years.  Pluto, yes, the planet, was demoted to a dwarf planet. North Korea would conduct their first nuclear test.  Iran announced that they had successfully enriched uranium defying the U.N. Security Council.  The Human Genome Project was completed.  Twitter was launched, and Google purchased YouTube.  The U.S. housing bubble burst in 06.  A total of 1,259,118.00 foreclosures were filed this year.  That amount was up 42 percent since 05.  Sydney Australia would experience its hottest New Years Day in history with the temp rising to 45 degrees Celsius.  This sparked brush fires and power outages.  Jan 16th, Liberia elected Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf as the first female head of state.  Nasa launched the New Horizons Probe to explore the newly demoted dwarf planet of Pluto.  In February Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot Harry Whittington in the face while hunting quail, no, not Dan, the actual bird.  February 12th, a powerful winter storm dumped 1 to 2 feet of snow from Washington D.C. all the way up to Boston Massachusetts.  Liquid water was discovered on Enceladus, the sixth largest moon of Saturn.  March 20th, a cyclone would destroy most of Australia's banana crop.  March 26th, Scotland bans smoking in nearly all enclosed public places.  April 2nd, over 60 tornados break out mainly in the state of Tennesse killing 29 people.  June 30th, Cirque du Soleil's acrobatic musical "Love" opens at the Mirage in Las Vegas.  I've seen this twice, it was very entertaining.  August 10th, Scottland Yard disrupts major terrorist plot to destroy aircraft flying from the United Kingdom to the United States.  All toiletries are banned from commercial aircraft.  

Movies in 06 included Poseidon, Over the Hedge, and Children of Men.  The Hills Have Eyes was also released, a foolishly good movie.  Top songs of the year were "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley, "SexyBack" by Justin Timberlake, and "To Little Too Late" by JoJo.  Popular T.V. shows included Dexter, The Street, Brotherhood and Sally Lockhart Mysteries.  Never watched any of those and had never heard of them.  

Gasoline in 06 averaged 2.33 a gallon.  Loaf of white bread a dollar and eight cents.  One year tuition at Harvard, $30,275.00.  Gallon of milk $3.08.  Movie ticket, $6.00.  In California, the median home price rose to $536,000.00.  Compared to the national median price of $185,000.00.  The federal minimum wage was at $5.15 per hour.  California's minimum wage was at $6.75 per hour.  The average price of a new car in 06 was $23,634.00.  The average sales tax in Ca was at 7.25%.  Districts, and other local government entities collected additional taxes above the 7.25%.

"I actually was not planning on being here tonight, but then MTV explained to me that Justin Timberlake is bringing sexy back, so here I am."

-Al Gore 2006 MTV Music Video Awards

Did Al Gore think he was sexy!?  That's funny right there.

Life of Brian

2005

Twenty years ago.  One more kid to go.  So much more to know.  Two thousand and five.  Was this a good year for you?  Anything extra ordinary happen?  Did any of you win the super lotto!  The most I've ever won picking numbers is ten bucks.  I don't even play the lotto anymore.  Sure, when it gets up to seventy quadbillion, I'll spend a buck or two, literally.  Buying scratch off's is so much more fun.  I've purchased my fair share, in fact, my parents and I would drive to a local store that sold these scratchers, buy one for each of us and if we won anything, we'd drive to the next location and buy some more with our winnings.  This was actually quite fun.  We'd never win more than twenty or thirty bucks, so basically, we got most of the enjoyment out of driving around and spending time together.  Every once in a gas tank we'd win something sizable and be able to put some cash back in our pockets.  Most outings we'd end up going to three sometimes four different stores after winning enough to buy another round of tickets.  But winning anything substantial, was rare.  It's a scam I tell you.  I do have friends who've won thousands off of scratchers.  My mom has won $500 on a single ticket.  But how much have those people spent before winning big?  Probably twice the amount of their winnings.  The Lottery knows what they are doing.  Yet, driving around our little town spending about ten bucks each was actually quite fun.  If we'd lose right off the bat, well, that was the end of that.

Sarah and I were in the thick of working.  Making car payments, paying rent, buying toys, diapers, formula, food, and sometimes we'd go out to eat.  We lived in a nice duplex.  I called it an apartment in my last post, but it was actually a duplex.  We had our first garage at this place which was super nice.  It allowed us to store even more junk.  Early in the year I had saved enough to purchase my first quad.  I think the MSRP was $5500.00.  I absolutely love riding.  My cousin Mike had quads, and he would let me ride them from time to time.  Pismo Beach had sand dunes, and you could ride out there.  One trip was all it took, and I was hooked.  The dunes were my drug.  I still ride to this day and any place with sand dunes is hands down my favorite type of riding.  I'd spend hours in that little garage of ours cleaning and shining up my quad.  I'll let you in on a little secret.  Pledge on plastic keeps it shiny for years to come.  Maybe you already knew this.  I still have this quad, and it still runs very well.  Our two little girls were happy and healthy.  With both of us working, Sarah and I were tremendously lucky to have her mother Linda and her Aunt Sharon watch over our kids while we were at work.  My mom also helped out when she could, but living two hours north made that a bit hard.  Sarah and I never had to hire a babysitter for any of our children!  For that, I am eternally thankful.  Ironically, our landlords last name was the same as mine.  He and I got along very well.  I'd help him do repairs around the duplex and we'd even actually go out to lunch a few times.  He loved to fly model airplanes and had four or five of them that he showed me at his home.  John Turner was a nice man, and a great landlord.  After the tragic event in the unit next to us, our old neighbor moved out and we got new neighbors.  A young couple close in age to Sarah and I moved in.  We'd become good friends with these neighbors, and they would live there beyond when we moved out and purchased our first home.  They too would raise little ones in that duplex, and we have pictures of our kids playing in a kiddy pool in the driveway.  The following ten years were very rewarding.  Looking back at these years It's hard to believe they went by so incredibly fast!  The age of 25 to 35 is a complete blur.  So much was going on, our lives were so busy, that the years literally flew by!

Some events that stand out in the world in the year 2005.  Hurricane Katrina would hit the southern United states, killing 1,836 people.  I remember watching news footage of the devastating flooding and all those poor people who were living in football stadiums sleeping on cots.   The first video to ever be uploaded to YouTube was called "Me at the zoo".  Saddam Hussein sat in front of an Iraqi judge to face punishment.  The United States Military found him in a hole in the ground.  The Gulf War lasted from 2003 to 2011.  A coalition force was established with several other countries sending troops.  The U.S. had between 192,000 and 466,000 personnel committed to this operation.  Four thousand five hundred and eight American soldiers gave their lives during the gulf war.  Over thirty-two thousand were wounded.  Up to forty-five thousand Iraqi's were killed.  A serial killer in the state of Kansas who was known as the BTK killer, would be arrested.  This man had been killing people since 1974.  He was finally caught after sending a floppy disk to investigators in which investigators were able to track back to his church computer.  This man was a boy scout leader, as well as a compliance officer in his local town.  Most knew him as an ordinary man, yet he had killed over ten people.  The state of Kansas did not have the death penalty during these years and so this man was sentenced to life in prison.

Condoleezza Rice was sworn in as the first Black female Secretary of State in Jan of 2005.  If she were to run for president of the United States, she'd absolutely have my vote.  She attended Stanford where she honed her reputation as an expert in Soviet affairs.  She would replace Colin Powell.  Martha Stewart was released from prison in March of 05.  She had lied about some stock investments.  The Olympic Park Bomber plead guilty to avoid the death penalty.  Prince Charles would finally wed his mistress, Camilla Parker Bowles.  This occurring eight years after Princess Dianna's fatal car crash.  In Atlanta Georgia, a man wanted for murder was finally arrested after spending three days perched atop a crane.  Danica Patrick would become the first woman to lead the Indy 500.  In May, former FBI assistant director W. Mark Felt would be officially named as "Deep Throat", the secret source who helped unravel the Watergate scandal.  Ford would produce the last Thunderbird ever made In July of 05.  

Average home prices in the U.S. in 2005 were $297,000.00.  The national average price of gasoline was $2.30 a gallon.  Car prices in 05 ranged as follows.  A Lincoln LX V6 cost $26,590.00.  On the lower end models, a Hyundai Accent cost $10,544.00.  I was driving a 1998 Toyota Tacoma 4x4.  I still see this truck roaming around Ojai.  I cannot imagine the number of miles it must have. 

Movies in 05 included Cinderella Man, Pride and Prejudice, and Lord of War.  Top songs in the charts included Kelly Clarkson's "Breakaway" and Green Day's "American Idiot".   T.V. shows that were popular included Greys Anatomy, Criminal Minds, Prison Break and BONES.  

Two thousand and five would fly by.  I had the night supervisor job down.  Sarah was excelling at NHH, things were looking up and I must have won at least forty dollars on scratchers.  We'd add one more little human next year.  The last of our little family.  

"I do read, but it suits my image to appear dumb.  It's what the public likes."

-Paris Hilton

 Life of Brian

2004

Everyone has a moment in their lives they will never forget.  A moment they cannot forget.  For some, these moments are happy moments.  For others maybe these memories are filled with excitement.  Unfortunately for others, these moments are traumatic.  These memories I'm referring to etch scars into your brain, and your heart.  Scars never leave you, even the hidden ones can bring it all back as if it's happening in the present.  Two thousand and four was filled with two kinds of these moments.  

Sarah and I had a little girl soon to be three years old.  She was happy and healthy as could be.  We both loved her with all of our hearts, and she brought us unknown happiness every single day.  In November of 04, our first daughter would get a sister.  Brianna was born on a quiet afternoon.  She was a large baby.  I remember her weight was over the eight-pound mark.  When the nurses brought her out of the delivery room and placed her in the plastic bed tub so that she could be weighed and monitored, her chunky sumo wrestler leg actually hung out over the side of this unit.  All the other babies in those plastic bed tubs easily fit inside them.  Not Brianna.  She was calm as could be.  Amongst the crying from all the other newborns, Brianna was silent, as if she knew she could take any one of those other kids if the situation required.  Maybe her calmness simply runs in our family veins.  Kaylie was the same way.  Unlike Kaylie's stunning blue eyes, Brianna had big beautiful brown eyes.  Luckily, she was also healthy as could be.  Sarah and I were now the proud parents to two baby girls.  We could not have been more blessed.  

Not long into that year, after we had celebrated bringing a life into this world, sadly, our neighbor would have to say goodbye to the life she had just recently introduced to the world.  The day of this occurrence is one I will never forget.  Early one morning, Sarah and I were startled awake by the sound of screaming.  This screaming was like no other I had ever heard in my entire life.  I quickly got dressed.  When I ran outside, our neighbor was in the middle of the street.  She was filled with so much panic and fear that she looked as if she wasn't even in her own body.  Across the street kneeled a man over a little infant child.  It was our neighbor's child.  This man was carrying out CPR.  I walked over to the mother, gave her a hug, told her that she needed to take deep breaths and attempted to get her out of the middle of the street.  I had already gone up to the man doing CPR and touched the baby's foot.  It felt warm to the touch and the baby appeared to be simply sleeping.  I tried consoling our neighbor, telling her that everything that could be done for her child, was being done.  I did not want to tell her everything was going to be alright because honestly, I did not know this.  The fire department showed up, then the ambulance.  One of the firefighters was a female.  She had a hard time dealing with the scene being a mother herself.  There was no consoling my neighbor, I think in her heart she already knew.  They both loaded into the back of the ambulance and disappeared down the street, in route to the hospital.  The man giving CPR was shaking.  He was some form of a Dr. if I recall and he too, knew what the outcome was.  Her little child was gone, off to heaven after only six weeks on this planet.  Returning to my apartment, I could not really believe what I had just experienced.  We did not know for sure at that time that her child had passed.  Later we would discover that her little child had died from SIDS.  I remember thinking how lucky we were, staring at our two little girls.  Also, how quickly life can turn into misery.  I hear people say all the time to cherish every moment.  This day stamped that mantra into my brain like no other day yet lived.  I think about this day from time to time.  The sights and sounds still vivid, as if they are occurring in real time.  My eyes begin to water, just short of tears.  Life goes on, it has to.  Our neighbor has since given birth to her second child and although we do not have contact with her, every time I see a picture of her little girl on Facebook, it brings a smile to my face.  If by some chance our neighbor ever reads this, I 'd like her to know that Sarah and I will keep her in our hearts until we no longer breath the air on this planet.

"We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope."

-Martin Luther King Jr.

Life of Brian

2003

Two thousand and three.  Some of these years are hard to write about because one really melds into the other.  Our first born would turn two this year.  I was still working nights.  Sarah must have graduated somewhere around this time.  I don't think she was still attending college while she was pregnant with our second child.  I gained my birthday buddy in 03.  My oldest sister was due at some point after my birthday in July of this year.  Her second child Grace decided to enter this world a little early and she was actually born on my birthday.  I believe my sister and her husband and their first born were driving to my birthday party when they had to divert to the hospital.  Because of this event, I remember that we still lived in our apartment off of Grand Ave.  Sarah and I were doing well.  My parents were loving their relatively newly purchased home up in the mountains.  We'd take Kaylie up there and enjoy the trees and sometimes the snow.  I think our rent was somewhere between $600 and $800 a month for our two-bedroom apartment.  Our focus at this time in our lives was to hunker down, work as much as we could and start saving some money.  Sarah would soon be hired by the company she still works for to this day.

I do not remember this particular year being bad in terms of wildfire.  I don't believe we had any major fires in our county.  San Diego, however, would have the largest and most destructive wildfire on record until the Thomas fire of 2017.  Researching on-line I discovered that the Cedar Fire which started east of Ramona, burned 270,000 acres, killed 14 people including one fire fighter.  Two thousand residential structures were destroyed as well.  This fire was started by a "lost hiker who fired off a rescue flair".  Simi valley also had a major fire during this time.  Both of these fires were in the month of October and were fanned by the infamous Santa Anna winds.  The 'Simi' fire burned 100,000 acres before being contained.  I read about an earlier fire, back in 1991, that I also had never heard about.  The 'East Bay Hills Fire, also started in the month of October, 91.  This fire was also fanned by Santa Anna winds and burned 740,000 acres, killed twenty-five people and injured one hundred and fifty others.  Three thousand residential structures and 36 commercial buildings were destroyed.    Keep in mind that these fires occurred well before "Climate Change" became a popular topic, and in which most fires are now blamed.  Southern Ca goes through drought periods every six to eight years.  It is nothing new.  The Santa Anna winds we get in the early winter months have been happening probably since before weather data started being recorded. 

Here are some worldwide events that I found at ducksters.com.  In January the Department of Homeland Security officially began operations.  October, Gov. Gray Davis was recalled and replaced by Arnold Schwarzenegger.  February, the Space Shuttle Columbia crashed upon re-entry killing all on board.  March 19, the invasion of Iraq began.  April 28, Apple iTunes opens on-line, selling one million songs in its first week.  August of 03, Mars would make its closest approach to earth in sixty thousand years.  September, a twelve-year-old girl by the name of Brianna LaHara was sued for sharing music illegally.  

Some very famous movies came out in 2003.  Lord of the Rings, the Return of the Kings was released.  Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was published.  Other notable movies included Monster, Gods Generals, and Master and Commander.  In looking at popular T.V. shows of 03, I don't recognize any of them.  Most of the T.V. I watched was probably kids shows and cartoons for Kaylie. I recall watching Baby Einstein and The Wiggles, as well as Rolly Pollie Ollie and Bear in the Big Blue House. 

On the radio hit songs included, "In da Club" 50 Cent, "Crazy in Love", Beyonce, "When I'm Gone", 3 Doors down, "Unwell", Matchbox Twenty, and "Bring Me to Life", by Evanescence.  I seem to recall phasing out my liking for Country Music around this time in my life.  

Cost of items in 2003.  A new Honda Accord cost you $18,665.00.  A 5000 BTU AC window unit cost around $85.00.  Median, single-family homes were selling for $180,000.  Twenty years later this price would more than triple to $616,450.00!  Gasoline was $1.60 a gallon.  According to the internet, rental prices for a two-bedroom home in the U.S. ran you $2822.00 a month.  That seems quite high.  Another chart shows average rental prices hovering around $719.00 a month in 03.  That seems more like it.  London Broil ran about $1.99 a pound.  Coffee was $3.99 for a 30oz can of Chock Full O Nuts.  Ketchup, .99 cents for a 24 oz bottle.  Mason jars, quart size were .88 cents each.  A nine cubic foot Microwave cost about $349.00.  A 20.5 cubic foot refrigerator ran you just under $500.00.  A Compaq Presario 7000 desktop cost $389.00. 

To re-cap, 2003 was a year of trudging through the trenches.  Sarah would begin her career at NHH.  I was plugging away at my night supervisor job.  We were able to provide for our two-year-old little girl.  We both drove nice cars and had a nice apartment we called home.  Next year we'd add one more to our little family.   

"I think music is like anchovies."  "Some people love it; some people get nauseous."   

- Barry Manilow