Thursday, October 1, 2004 - I do say to thee, "¡Hijo de la Chingada Madre!" That's Spanish (roughly) for son-of-a-bitch! That's precisely what the past few weeks have been!

Let's see, where do we start? I guess it started with the news that my house, which I've not yet had for six months was eligible for a refinance. That was cool, but A LOT of paperwork!

So, I have no house payment for October, and my payments have gone down by about $15 a month. I know it doesn't seem like much, but over the course of thirty years it is quite a bit! My interest rate is 6.00%, not too shabby.

What else? I was in a drunken stupor a few weeks ago and offered to help my old roommate, Mike, clean up his yard and prepare his house for sale. After the amount of work that went into fulfilling my obligation, I had to seriously consider the cessation of drinking!

Alright, it wasn't that bad. On the first of two weekends, we got to his house at about 8 AM on Saturday and worked up until about noon, when we headed for the landfill with our bagged treasures. Saturday night we went bowling. I didn't do well.

On Sunday, we (six of us) spent about four hours cutting, clipping, bagging and tying. We gathered up about 75 lawn bags, a couple hundred pounds worth of warped and cracked lumber, and a broken electric lawnmower. It was time for me to leave.

I got home and did nothing. Then I survived another tough, short-handed week at work, and departed again Friday night for Phoenix. I met up with Mike and Cathy and we went to a local bar. That was cool. I "fell in love" again with another unavailable female. I'm good at that!

On Saturday, which started at 6:30 AM, we continued to bag and tie. Mike and I borrowed a truck from Huddleston Trucking Service, Inc., of Phoenix, loaded it, and again went to the dump. This time with an estimated four thousand pounds of miscellaneous debris.

I came home pretty early on Sunday with plans to go to Tombstone to see my friend Carey, who had a birthday on the 23rd. I stopped by the Dragoon Saloon and wasted no time getting that way. I was pounding Dave's Electric Beer like it was going out of style, which "God" willing, it never will!

While I was still coherent, I spent a good deal of time discussing my newest venture. This will (hopefully) be "the" unofficial website for Tombstone. It will have it's own shopping section, news, history, etc. It will be much like the section I already have on this website, but much better, and much more profitable!

I probably drank more than usual because I actually got to meet "Electric" Dave Harvan at the Dragoon. That was cool! When Carey got out of work, we went to the Legends of the West Saloon, which will be closing in mid-October. I put the finishing touches on a really bad hangover, and headed home.

That's about the time when things got very interesting. I had just passed Boothill Graveyard when, all of a sudden, there they were, the disco lights. Oh, shit! Actually, I remained remarkably calm. The officer approached, and I waited for the worst.

"Are you heading north to Phoenix?" he asked. I said no. Apparently they've had a lot of vans leaving Tombstone "fully loaded." I didn't know what the hell he was talking about. I thought maybe he was talking about me! But when he told me to have a good night, I figured I better leave, and I did, with no questions.

A few things occurred to me after that little incident. First, luckily the officer was Border Patrol and not Highway Patrol. Second, I shouldn't have been driving in the first place. Third, maybe I shouldn't drink so much! That was probably my final warning before the worst actually happens.

When I got home, I had several messages on my machine from my sister, who has been out of contact for quite some time. While not really in the best shape to start up a conversation, I decided that I better call her. I did, and we talked for about two hours and discussed the closure of the Bremerton Embassy.

During the call, I talked to my niece and nephew, as well. They're all doing OK. The Nassau West Department of State has not yet made a decision on reopening the Bremerton Embassy. Just a bit after 2 AM I went to bed, knowing that Monday was going to be a bitch at work. My extreme hangover didn't help things out one little bit!

This entire week has been a bitch, even without alcohol pulsating through my veins! It's been a long, hard week, and I am so ready for a weekend it's not even funny. This weekend, the Capitol will be closed for maintenance. No trips anywhere, no guests, foreign dignitaries, etc. This weekend's all mine!