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Old Man Turns 60

2009-09-13T17:16:00.000-07:00

My dad had his 60th birthday party in our backyard this weekend. We ate lots of good stuff and he jammed with his friends on stage. It was fun. View all of the photos.

Another Wild Trip to West Virginia

2009-08-11T21:55:00.000-07:00

Jessica and I spent some more time in West Virginia and Kentucky with her mom. While I was there, I watched a mud bog, a drag race, a demolition derby, went into a coal mine, watched a civil war reenactment,went into a cave, county fair, ate junk food and a bunch of other stuff. Go here to view a whole bunch of photos.

Herb Garden

2009-07-12T14:02:00.000-07:00

We made a little 4' x 4' herb garden in our yard and filled it with all kinds of good stuff. Basils, sage, onion, rosemary and an assortment of hot peppers.

Fullerton Red Light Cameras Trashed, Legal Blunders Swept Under the Rug

2009-06-30T08:02:00.000-07:00

Fullerton has terminated a dubious partnership with failing red light camera vendor Nestor Traffic Systems after the contract for operation of the cameras was declared to be illegal by an appeals court last year. It's a long story, but stick with us as we tell this tale of inept vendor selection and blatant disregard for the law in Fullerton...

Read the rest of Fullerton Red Light Cameras Trashed

Home Depot Frequent Flyer

2009-06-21T17:10:00.000-07:00

It's been a while... here is a pic of me trying to build a raised box for Jessica's herb garden. All appendages are accounted for.

Fullerton's $100,000 Pension Club

2009-05-13T07:53:00.000-07:00

Another one for Fullerton:

Fullerton taxpayers are looking down the barrel of a major increase in pension payments next year. The CalPERS agency has lost as much as 37% of its assets in the stock market crash and taxpayers are contractually obligated to make up the difference.

Our Friends at the California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility just released a report called the CalPERS $100,000 Pension Club. In their handy database, we located the annual pensions of 26 City of Fullerton employees who are bringing home over $100,000 a year post-retirement at our expense. We believe in an open government where the residents of Fullerton know what they are paying for -- Click here to see the list

Departing Police Chief Brings Home The Bacon

2009-04-23T10:18:00.000-07:00

My latest post on FFFF:

Just in time for his retirement, our beloved police chief Pat McKinley brought home a $100,000 federal earmark for his new body armor which he designed in a partnership with seasoned police contractor Safariland, a subsidiary of Europe's largest military contractor. Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez congratulated herself for rooting up the money for the high-priced vests as part of the Omnibus Appropriations Act.

What could be wrong with this earmark? It's nothing but free money for the City of Fullerton - an unconditional gift from the federal government, right?

But the earmark qualifies as official government pork according to government watchdogs.

Read the rest of "Departing Police Chief Brings Home The Bacon"

Dirt Road

2009-04-21T18:01:00.000-07:00

I have been lobbying city hall for years to have our street reverted to its historical dirt form. I finally won! Power to the people!

Visiting the Hills of West Virginia

2009-04-11T18:01:00.000-07:00

We went to visit Jessica's mom in the hills of West Virginia for a week. We had a great time and the people there are so nice. We saw a lot of curious sights and met some people who were very different. Good times! Here are the photos.

Blogging activities

2009-03-26T12:13:00.001-07:00

Recently I've been writing editorials for a popular local blog. If you want to know what really aggravates me, just read them:

Fast Talking Techno-Pitch Man Tries to Sell Council Sack of Magic Cyber-Beans
Fullerton's Fiber Field of Dreams could be a nightmare.
SWAT Raid On Fullerton Students and Taxpayers
What in the world?
The All-Seeing Eyes of Fullerton
Cameras everywhere

MelAndrew Baby Party

2009-03-22T13:20:00.000-07:00

Melanie and Andrew had a co-ed baby party (shower?) at our house. We had fun. No babies were harmed. Here are some funny pics.

New toy

2009-03-14T11:14:00.000-07:00

I was having some trouble digging up some sprinkler lines, so I decided to get serious.

Camping in Wheeler Gorge

2009-02-01T22:02:00.000-08:00

Jessica and I took an RV trip up to the Wheeler Gorge campground near Ojai, California. We were the only ones in the campground and the weather was perfect. We spend the weekend goofing off and exploring. Click here to view the photos.

Fullerton Youth Rugby

2009-01-17T16:47:00.000-08:00

There was a huge youth rugby tournament at the school across the street today. We went over to take a look. These kids really beat up on each other - no helmets!. It's awesome.

New Years 2009 at Big Bear

2009-01-04T15:02:00.000-08:00

Phil and Sarah invited us up to Big Bear for the weekend. We did some sledding and mountain stuff. It was fun. Here are a bunch of pics.

Work Stuff

2008-12-10T08:12:00.001-08:00

Today at work we found out that we are in the top 5 workplaces in Orange County as named by the Orange County Register.

I thought that was pretty cool, but then Jessica pointed out that it's actually kind of depressing. Hah!

In this economy, I'm thankful for just having a decent job.

Christmas Stuff

2008-12-07T22:10:00.001-08:00

Jessica and I finished putting up our Christmas lights and tree. Pretty weak on the house, but we'll work on that next year.

Fullerton Squirrels

2008-12-06T12:37:00.000-08:00

Fullerton is being overrun by squirrels. There is a pair of them living in our oak tree. Every morning they like to taunt the dog and bury acorns all over our lawn. Here are some photos that I took today.

Thanksgiving at San Mateo Campground

2008-11-28T08:42:00.000-08:00

We spent the Thanksgiving holiday with family and friends at San Mateo campground. We had a blast and ate an amazing feast. Here are some photos - mostly of my new nephew, Slater.

Fir-ony

2008-11-15T14:22:00.000-08:00

So I'm trimming a big tree in my front yard today and a huge cloud of smoke from the Yorba Linda/Brea fire darkens the sky. My neighbor comes over and kindly warns me about the dangers of working outdoors in the smoke. That was really nice of her, but as she was telling me about smoke inhalation, she was puffing on a cigarette!

I just thought that was kind of funny.

Dark sky at 2:00 PM

Another Day at the Office

2008-11-04T17:43:00.001-08:00

I always have a hard time explaining to my friends what I do at work... so I made you a video:

Rockin Out

2008-11-04T06:55:00.000-08:00

Ever wonder what my Dad does in his spare time? Here his is with Dave at a local coffee shop.

Travsite.com California Voter Guide

2008-10-26T21:33:00.000-07:00

I try very hard to vote "principle over pragmatism and partisanship". Some of you may find these recommendations hard to digest, and I would suggest that you go back and read the Constitution to discover the principles of freedom that this country was founded upon.

Barack Obama - NO - Enemy of our Constitution - Violates the 2nd Amendment, supports FISA act, Patriot Act and the subversive advancement of Socialism upon the United States.
John McCain - NO - Enemy of our Constitution - Supports the elimination of political free speech, warrantless wiretapping, suspension of habeas corpus, FISA act, Patriot act, and the general unconstitutional expansion of federal power, especially the Executive Branch.

We must not let the Republican party continue to stray from the ideals of a limited government, personal responsibility and individual freedom. If you continue to vote for Republicans while they crush our rights and expand government power, you will have wasted your vote and done your share to bring about the demise of freedom in this country.

There are other choices - Bob Barr (Libertarian). You can also write in Ron Paul or Chuck Baldwin (Constitution Party). Both are registered as write-in candidates in California, which means your vote will be counted.

Prop 8 to Define Marriage - NO - By asking the government to define marriage, Prop 8 supporters are adding to the never-ending deluge of state intrusion into our personal lives. That is the exact opposite of the "small government" that conservatives claim as a principle. We should not give the government the power to define marriage.

Government should also not have the power to force our children to learn about homosexual lifestyles at a young age in school, but that is a completely separate problem that needs to be fought on its own - do not confuse the issues.

Props 1A, 3, 5, 6, 7, 10, 12 - NO - These are all proposals to borrow more money. If you haven't noticed, the State of California is in such dire financial straights that it is having problems borrowing money to make its payroll. Borrowing and adding more debt at this point in time is ludicrous.

Prop 4 - Parental Notification for Abortion - YES - I believe that every abortion results in the death of an innocent child, and Prop 4 is a constitutional way to help prevent some abortions.

Feel free to leave your inflamed comments below.

Tree Hugger

2008-10-26T13:57:00.000-07:00

Two of my friends helped me haul away a ton (literally) of trees, shrubs and weeds to the dump on Saturday after I got a warning from the city about excessive growth on the street behind us. I wasn't going to post this but one of them specifically asked me NOT to. Thanks guys!

Fraudulated

2008-10-19T14:46:00.000-07:00

I've been buying stuff online with the same Visa card since 2001, using it at hundreds of random small web stores all across the world. I've never had any fraudulent charges until today, about 2 months after I stopped using the card.

It looks like the Apple Store and Napster got ripped off for $1.