Dump Cake

This is the easiest cake you can ever make, and surprisingly, it is really good. I used cherry pie filling, but im sure you can try it out with another type of filling too. The cake i used was french vanilla, but it did not call for that. It still worked tho. Play around with what you like. I also did not use the chopped nuts.

Ingredients

• 1 (20 oz) can crushed pineapple w/ juice. (undrained)
• 1 (21 oz) can cherry pie filling
• 1 pkg Ducan Hines Yellow Cake Mix
• 1 C chopped pecans or walnuts
• 1/2 cup (1 Stick) of butter cut into thin slices

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease 13X9 inch pan
2. Dump pineapple with juice into pan. Spread evenly. Dump in pie filling. Spread evenly. Sprinkle cake mix evenly over cherry layer. Sprinkle nuts over cake mix. Dot with butter. Bake 50 minutes or until top is lightly browned. Serve warm or at room temp

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cake

MmmmMmmMmmm. Peanut Butter and Chocolate. You cant go wrong with that.The cake is not completely chocolate, its more like chocolate chip, but if you wanted a more chocolatey taste go ahead and trade it for one. I used 2 8inch pans to bake the cake in. I had extra frosting as well. It turned out good. Now i just have to make sure my dog doesnt get into it, since he loves peanut butter. O and word of advice, make sure you use butter and regular peanut butter for the frosting otherwise it wont turn out and will be to greasy. Dont use the "natural" PB, stick with good ol' fashioned Jif

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 2 squares (1 ounce each) unsweetened chocolate, melted

    For Frosting

• 2 cups creamy peanut butter
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
  
  
• 2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 3 - 4 tablespoons milk
• 6 Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
• 1 package Reese's Peanut Butter Cups Miniatures
  
  Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.2. Grease and flour (or spray with cooking spray) two 8 or 9 inch round pans.3. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.4. Add shortening, milk, and vanilla; mix at a low speed for one minute then scrape the sides of the bowl.5. Add eggs and chocolate and mix at medium speed for two minutes.6. Pour into prepared pans and bake at 350°F for 30 - 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.7. Cool 10 minutes, then remove from pans; cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.8. To make the frosting, cream together the peanut butter and the butter.9. Gradually add the confectioners' sugar and beat well.10. Add salt and vanilla and continue to beat.11. Add milk and beat until frosting is at the desired consistency for spreading.12. Sprinkle chopped Reese's Peanut Butter Cups on top of cake and decorate as desired. (If you wish to cut the Reese's in half, I found they cut best when refrigerated, but not frozen.)

  
  

Pineapple Carrot Cake

I grew up loving carrot cake except for one thing. RAISINS!! I hate those things. They ruin every good dessert. Cookies, Cake or Pies. But this recipe doesnt have them!  I even got my wife try it and she loved it, (shes not a big carrot cake person), so give this one a shot. Really moist!!

Ingredients

• 3 cups shredded carrots
• 1 can (20 ounces) crushed pineapple, well-drained
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup canola oil
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• FROSTING:
• 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3-3/4 cups confectioners' sugar

Directions

• In a large bowl, beat the first five ingredients until well blended. In another bowl, mix the flour, baking soda and cinnamon; gradually beat into carrot mixture.
• Transfer to a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking pan. Bake at 350° for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack.
• For frosting, in a large bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla until blended. Gradually beat in confectioners' sugar until smooth. Spread over cake. Cover and refrigerate leftovers.

Buffalo Chicken Lasagna

This is AMAZING!!!!! Holy Smokes!!! Everyone needs to make this. I dont care for lasangna, but this is great! I did not add the blue cheese to mine, not a big fan of moldy cheese, but if you like it go right ahead. Taste like buffalo wings!!

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 1-1/2 pounds ground chicken
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 celery rib, finely chopped
• 1 large carrot, grated
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 can (14-1/2 ounces) diced tomatoes, drained
• 1 bottle (12 ounces) buffalo wing sauce
• 1/2 cup water
• 1-1/2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 9 lasagna noodles
• 1 carton (15 ounces) ricotta cheese
• 1-3/4 cups (7 ounces) crumbled blue cheese, divided
• 1/2 cup minced Italian flat leaf parsley
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 3 cups (12 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
• 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded white cheddar cheese

• Directions

  
  • In a Dutch oven, heat oil over medium heat. Add the chicken, onion, celery and carrot; cook and stir until meat is no longer pink and vegetables are tender. Add garlic; cook 2 minutes longer. Stir in the tomatoes, wing sauce, water, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 1 hour.
  • Meanwhile, cook noodles according to package directions; drain.
  • In a small bowl, mix the ricotta cheese, 3/4 cup blue cheese, parsley and egg.
  • Spread 1-1/2 cups sauce into a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish. Layer with three noodles, 1-1/2 cups sauce, 2/3 cup ricotta mixture, 1 cup mozzarella cheese, 2/3 cup cheddar cheese and 1/3 cup blue cheese. Repeat layers twice.
  • Bake, covered, at 350° for 20 minutes. Uncover; bake 20-25 minutes longer or until bubbly and cheese is melted. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Yes!! This has been my favorite recipe this football season! Now many of you might have had it or seen it in stores. (They sell it in the frozen aisle) But this recipe is soooooo easy and it has become a go to for the past several months.

Ingredients

• 2 8oz pkg Cream Cheese softened
• 8oz Sour Cream
• 1 1/2 C Shredded Cheese (I use fiesta mix)
• 1/2 C Franks RedHot Buffalo Sauce
• 3 Chicken Breast
• Montreal Seasoning
• Extra Sour Cream and Hot Sauce

Directions

1. Get your crockpot out of storage and turn it to HIGH. Throw in the first 4 ingredients and stir.
2. Heat up your grill. Season the chicken. Grill the chicken until no longer pink. 10-15 min. Set on plate
3. Shred the chicken using 2 forks. Place in CrockPot. Mix
4. In 30 to 45 min the dip will be warmed up. Mix occasionally.
1. The extra Sour Cream/Hot Sauce is to help with the spice of it. If you dont care for things that spicy you can add more sourcream or vice versa for the hot sauce.
5. Serve with Tostitos Chips or even put on rolls or pizza.

Lemon-Blueberry Bundt Cake

This was a really good cake. I had to bake mine a little longer than recomended time, but it turned out fine. Instead of flouring the pan i used Crisco and the cake came out perfect. Also i didnt trim any of the excess cake on top, just flip it and it will be fine. But you can trim if you want to try it without anyone else knowing. ;) 

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 egg white
• 1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups fresh or frozen unsweetened blueberries
• 3 cups all-purpose flour, divided
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (8 ounces) lemon yogurt
• GLAZE:
• 1-1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/4 cup lemon juice

Directions

• Grease and flour a 10-in. fluted tube pan. In a large bowl, cream the butter, cream cheese and sugar until blended. Add eggs and egg white, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in lemon peel and vanilla.
• Toss blueberries with 2 tablespoons flour. In another bowl, mix the remaining flour with baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture alternately with yogurt, beating after each addition just until combined. Fold in blueberry mixture.
• Transfer batter to prepared pan. Bake at 350° for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes before removing to wire rack; cool for 15 minutes.
• In a small bowl, mix confectioners' sugar and lemon juice until smooth. Gradually brush onto warm cake, about one-third at a time, allowing glaze to soak into cake before adding more. Cool completely.

Sweet Jiffy Corney Bread

I love Jiffy corn bread! Its already sweet as it is but i like to add some more sweetness and some corn to it.

2 packages of Jiffy Corn Bread Mix
1 Can of Corn
1/4 C of Sugar

Directions:

Make the cornbread according to the package. Dont forget to double it since you are using two boxes. Mix in the sugar and a half to whole can of the corn depending on how much corn you want. Make it in either muffin tins or a 9x9 pan and bake according to box directions. Enjoy!

Easy Chili (super easy!)

When i say easy, this is easy. You can throw this together in less than 20 minutes. You can make it as spicy as you want or mild. Im not a big fan of chunky chili, so this one is all smooth.

2lbs Ground Beef (80/20 works best for me)
1 packet of Hot chili seaoning (mild if you dont like the heat)
2 cans of LIGHT Red Kidney beans
2 cans of Chili-Ready Tomatoes (or diced tomatoes)
Peppers (I use 2 Habeneros, or 4 seranos, or 6 jalapenos, all depends on how how hot you want it)

Directions:

Brown the beef and drain
In blender, blend up tomatoes, chili mix and peppers of your choice. Blend until smooth.
There are two ways of heating it up. Put it all in a crockpot on low for all day so its ready when you come home or put it in a pot on med-high until it starts to simmer.

Serve with Sweet Jiffy Corney Bread, sour cream, cheese-itz and some shredded cheese

Spicy Chicken and Rice

This one is one of my latest favorites. Its a spicier dish but once completed you can leave it in the crockpot to keep warm.

Chicken:

3lbs of boneless skinless chicken thighs
1 package of McCormic marinade mix (A mexican or Lime flavor)

Rice:
Goya Yellow Rice Spanish Style, Family size (You can make your own yellow rice if you have a recipe)

Salsa Verde:

4-5 Medium sized tomatillos
1 half of a large onion
1 clove of garlic
3-4 Jalapenos (I also use Habeneros, depends on how hot you want)
4 T. Oil
3 Stems of Cilantro
1/2 T. of Salt
1 T. Lime Juice

Directions:

Marinate chicken in the mix for at least 4 hours or overnight. Once done marinating, cook on a grill.
Cook rice according to the package.
Once chicken is done, Shred/Chop the chicken into small pieces.
For the salsa Verde/ In a frying pan, cook the tomatillos and peppers in oil until the become soft, rotating them around. Throw into a blender with the rest of the ingredients and blend until smooth.
Combine the chicken,rice and salsa in a crock pot and keep on warm
Serve on tortillas with sour cream and shredded cheese

i just laugh

basic is over.
one month into tech school. (kinda)
officially in the air force.

as i approach some of the hottest months in the second largest state in america, i cant believe so much has changed over the past year. a year ago i was contemplating going to college, and then that dream halted when i realized i was broke. so the next step was lets get into the military. and now im here. basic (boot camp) flew by, and i give credit to my two year mission for helping me out with that. it was demanding but all of the stress that the majority of the people feel while there because of home sickness or never been alone before didnt really bother me. the hours were very strenuous and i hardly had any sleep (which is still the case now) but i finished and i never have to go back to that. im really glad for that.

now im in tech school, well ... let me rephrase that... now im waiting for tech school. just another part of life in the military that i should be used to by now. theres different things i have to go through and obtain before i actually start my classes based on my job, and i guess i havent fulfilled some of those requirement. but thats fine. at least im getting paid. right? ha

im in one of the smallest places in texas, well thats what i think. im not really sure why they say everything is bigger in texas, because if you drive 6 miles in any direction out of this town and its all dessert. maybe they were meaning the land is just bigger. im staying at a base that could honestly be one of the smallest bases in the US. it doesnt even have a active flight line. but im not really complaining, i chose to do this and im actually doin it. while i wait for classes to start im someone you call a "casual". this person is more or less a janitor. so for the next several weeks, or months if im really lucky, ill be prepared to take on any task that involves a mop or a broom.

besides all of that im pretty happy at the progress i have put into this. i set out for something that alot of people didnt think was a good idea and i followed through with it. no matter if i stay in this for four or go all the way to twenty years, i still made it through something and i feel really accomplished for it.

Deuces!

Well..... what more can i say?

see yall on the flip side!

Ouch!

wow its been a minute

(ok technically its been longer than a minute, but thats just the saying now-a-days i guess, but i dont get it)

so since my last update alot has changed, well change isnt the correct word, i guess i can something more along the lines of "growth"

first off, lets start with the fact that "the wait" is finally over! thats right! i have finally received my date for departure for basic training, march 1st, 2011.... ya i know, its less than 2 weeks away, but hey, at least im tellin you now, now the job that i booked for my "career" is being a network intelligence analyst, now instead of me explaining the whole thing ill have the experts do it and all you have to click is here, that should sum it up for you.

now also in the past months i have switched jobs. i was working as a valet attendant for sometime, but the place where i was switched some things around and i found myself looking for another job. it only took me a couple days,(i got wayyyyyy lucky) and i ended up finding a job at one of the new hotels off the strip called "la quinta inn & suites", im currently still working there, (for about 3 more days) as a shuttle driver and also working the front desk. i have been busy with this, also part of the reason i havent updated in sometime

i guess all the major holidays have come and gone, and now i find myself lookin back on how fast time flys by. it has almost been a year since ive been home from the mission and cant believe all the "growth" that has occurred over it. some good and some some harder times but to sum it all up im still loving life. its been a good year to think about who and what i want to become and im officially ready for this next journey in my life that im about to start. i am pretty sure forest gump had it right when he compared life to that box of chocolates, i guess its time for me to take my next piece.

things i cant stand

pet peeves, things that make me irritable, the stuff stupid people do (whether on purpose, or just cause they are stupid),

im gonna have to quote one of my favorite comedians on this one, bill engvall, he once stated

"stupid people should have to wear a sign around there neck, that way you wouldnt have to rely on them, it would be like 'excuse me, ooops, nevermind, i didnt see your sign'"

now not many things make me mad, im a pretty calm guy, im more of a people pleaser, even when people let me down, i still love to help them, but once in a while some things just get to me

the reason i am posting this because one of my beloved places to eat "robertos" messed up on my order. now robertos has been around for quite sometime, ive even recieved food poisoning from one of their dishes years ago, but yet, im still a loyal customer.

now a couple weeks ago i went to a robertos on my way to work to pick up the usual "breakfast burrito", now every robertos i have been to adds eggs cheese potatoes and bacon, and thats al, but when i went to this particular robertos they decided to go off the plan and add some Pico de gallo, now i dont mind that, just not on a breakfast burrito, so by the point i started eating it there was nothing i could do, i tried to get around it but the flavor already was saturated in the burrito.

so today i thought i would try it again, and remembering what happened the last time, i specifically told the lady, no pico de gallo, i even said it in spanish, (its already in spanish), so i took my order when it was finished and hurried to work, i always get a meal on tuesday (which are my fridays) and so i was excited, unwrapped my burrito and wa-la, pico de gallo mas in my burrito. what can i do at that point, nothing at all, just sit, try to scoop out the pico de gallo that some how appeared in my burrito after telling the lady not to add it, and that america, that is something i cannot stand!

24 hours

in todays society we wonder why there are so many people over weight, (no im not trying to do some "super size me" post about how i can go for 30 days eating mcdonalds) im mostly talking about myself. everything is so easy to get ahold of in this time of day. ive lived in vegas the majority of my life, and this is a city that never sleeps. if i wanted to go bowling at 3 am in the morning, what the heck! why not?, or hey, who wants to go get breakfast at 12am because its cheaper than actually waiting 7 more hours when normal people go out to eat. now when i lived in utah and georgia for a few years, stores actually close, they put up there signs that say "sorry we are closed, please come back when people are actually awake".... at first that was really hard getting used to. i couldnt go to wendys at 2:37 to grab that double cheeseburger that i was craven but decided not to go get it earlier becuase i was playing videos (thats just an example, i did alot more than just video games, umm myspace was on my top list too), but eventually i got used to it. i started eating at decent hours and not at crazy hours of the night. but now im back in vegas where that half pound hamburger special from midnight to 6 am is o so tempting because , 1. its cheaper, and 2. its a half pound hamburger for crying out loud!, if you dont finish it you could always just save it for your breakfast in a few hours.

now i can see myself in a few years regretting these decisions, but as for now, im only young once, why not make the best of it, my favorite place by far for a late night special is the bar called 4 kegs, they have this half price stramboli or pizza that is the best in Vegas, and the way they get you is you cant have it for take out, you have to dine-in, but thats ok, it helps me fall asleep

look how high i am...

so for the past several months my buddies and i have picked up the hobby of rock climbing. i started this a few years ago the summer before my freshman year but with me moving into a different state i couldnt really continue the hobby

a few months ago i decided i wanted to pick it up again, so my friend ryan and i started going back to the indoor gym i used to go, nevada climbing center, and man was it hard. honestly it was quite embarrassing, the walls the little 8 years olds were climbing with no problem, ryan and i were struggling to get up them, but once we got back into the swing of things we were back on track

after the first week we finished all of the walls that were in his gym, thats when we started climbing all the routes. now the routes have a grading scale. 5.1 is most basic, and i have never seen a climb like that, they usually start around 5.5 or 5.6 and go up from there. now one of the hardest climbs in the world is a 5.16b (once they start getting so high, they put letters after the numbers to do some kind of double rating). so we worked our way up the scale, and after a couple months we were doing 5.10's (which are the hardest in the gym doing a top-rope climb),(( ill explain top rope climb in a second))

so after we finished the routes we were getting bored, now there was another thing we could do and that was called lead climbing

now the difference between lead climbing and top-rope climbing is, top rope is when the rope is already in place, usually hanging from the top of the ceiling in a gym or on the highest rock for out door climbing and lead climbing entails you carrying the rope with you and hooking yourself in the clips as you make your way up the wall.

so today we did just that, learned exactly what we needed to do to lead climb and we started it out, and man was it hard. looking at it from the other end it seems the same as top-rope climbing, but it takes alot more energy to clip yourself in and to make it all the way to the the top, or wherever you eventually stop. our first day lead climbing felt like our first day top-rope climbing, it was definitely a different experience but alot more fun. eventually we will make it out to red rock (one of the best places to climb out here in nevada) and try to do it out there. we have already purchased our harnesses and chalk bags. in the coming days we are about to purchase some shoes and some more gear so we are ready to make it out in the real world. the videos below is one top-rope climb and one lead climb so you get the full experience (i used kids for the top rope cause youll understand how big the difference is between them)

TOP-ROPE CLIMB

LEAD CLIMB

The Standards...

so ive been slacking off lately with my work outs lately and need to get back in to it

theres a minnium standard for graduating basic traing in the airforce (boot camp) and they come down to 4 catagories......

mile and a half run

pushups

situps

pull-ups

now every wednesday i work out with the people that are in the DEP (delayed entry program) and we practice 3 of the 4 catagories to get ready for Basic

the push-ups, sit-ups and pull-ups are as many as you can do in 1 minute, the run has to meet a certain time limit

pushups are 45 in a minute

sit-ups are 50

pull-ups are 0 (ya thats a zero)

and the mile and a half has to be finished in 13:30 or less

my numbers as of today are

60 push-ups

65 situps

10 pull-ups

and my mile and half is at 11:30

yes those seem like good for now, but i really need to improve on them all if i want to keep up in basic, im trying to get my mile and and a half down to the 9 minute range and try to get my situps and pushups in the 70's, i think once i get to that point ill be happy with my self, my pull ups are fine, but ill still work on them also, i have all the time to work out just need to get back on schedule

my legs!!!

so i recently discoverd after long nights of intense dancing, this often leads to stress in your shins, which the medical term for this would be shin spLints. this has been the worst pain i have felt in some time. now i could either stop dancing and have my legs rest, or i can go every wednesday and thursday (and sometimes friday and saturday) dancing at the country clubs. now i think the smart thing to do would be to take a break and go again in a few weeks, but thats just not me. i mean come on, its V, im the guy who went down a hill in a shopping cart, if i really was smart i would at least wore a helmet doing that, but sadly i didnt. so my justification into goin dancing still is that ill wear those confy gel inserts for my boots along with 3 pairs of socks, and if that doesnt help, o well, i cant stop dancing, too much fun. and for all you haters out there who think country line dancing is a joke, listen to my video!

for dallin

weekly planning session for V
1. open with prayer (sike)
2. write down list of goals to acomplish

a. copy insanity disc
b. go to post office and mail insanity disc to skinben
c. play halo so i rank up to a captain on the scale
d. start reading the halo books
aa. the fall of reach is the first one, so read that first
e. finish watching all of the seasons of "its always sunny in philadelphia"
f. stop eating so much junk food
3. write down scheduled plans so i remember
a. atmosphere concert on friday at 5 pm
aa. cost is 36.85
b. college footbal game in saturday, unlv vs unr
aa. get tickets asap!
c. dancing on wednesday and thursday
aa. find a date!
4. at the end of your wekley planning session review your plans and discuss with yourself if there is anything else you need to do. if needed give ideas of improvement because you sucked the week before.
a. youre fat! and girls dont want to date you cause you are fat
b. stop being a lazy bum
5. conclude with prayer (sike x 2)

i hear ya knockin, but i aint answering the door

if yall didnt know, i have been consummed by the world, meaning that this will be controlling my life for the next several weeks. once i am done ill come back, but for now wait in line

Uff Da

thats what i feel like saying right now is uff da,(you say this when something is tuff and you are exauhsted) what a crazy month, well more or less just the past week or so, but i made it thru.

i first would like to say congratulations to my brother Taver and his new wife Katie, and also to my Cousin Daniel and hios significant other Becky. some good times that i got to share with all of them this past week. but ill talk about this more in a little bit

let me get back to the matter at hand. as of two weeks ago i was given the opportunity to go into MEPS or aka, get my physical, and i would leave the following tuesday and return the next night on wednesday. the only problem with that was i had alrweady made plans to leave for minnesota on wednesday at 1am, and already had my plane ticket and everything, but the next opportunity that i would be able to get my physical could have been in october or later, so i went through with the whole ordeal of changing my plane ticket, which by the way the airline industry is making bank off everyone, i mean i paid for my ticket a month or so in advance for my trip to minnesota, and that cost me 380 and i was bummed out about that but then they charge me another 260 on top of that just to change my plane ticket, ya, really, so it all came out to 640 bucks, ya, i was in shock too, but i gots to do what i gots to do. and now i was set, i was leaving for MEPS on tuesday, staying the night there (in salt lake city), process all day on wednesday, fly back to vegas that night, then leave again in just a couple of hours for minnesota. so that following tuesday i arrive up in salt lake, get shuttled to the hotel i would be staying at that night and hoping that i wouldnt be overweight for my physical the fowlowing day.

next morning came and we had to be up by 4oclock, busses left at 5 to the base. i was pretty tired since the nigvht before my flight got in at 9 and i didnt go to bed till about 12ish, but it was ok. the rest of the day was spent doing the most intese physical i have ever recieved. things as small as if i have headaches to making me walk around a room like a duck in my underwear, now that was pretty embarrising. after the medical part was done i had to talk with a recruiter to see what jobs i would be qualified for, based on my medical and test scores, since i am color blind i was disqualified from the majority of jobs, mainly of which require me to perform things out in the field, so i was fine with not doinig that, and the jobs that i was qualified to do were the ones that i would work 9 to 5 monday through friday and work on a computer of some sort. thats perfect, especially since i still want to go to school and get a degree, which i would use to become an officer in the air force. so i put down the the majority of jobs i was qualified for doing, number one being cyber security, which allows me to hack into the airforce to see if there are any loopholes for getting in, that sounded like a pretty cool job to me. so i signed my contracvt for 4 years, and now all i have to do is wait for any of the jobs i picked to open up for me, which could range from 5 to 8 months

so after being at this place for over 12 hours i finally got my plane ride back to vegas, then after getting off, ihad to turn right back around to leave up to minnesota. i arived at 6 in the morning (lost a couple hours of sleep) and then i picked up the car from my parents (they drove up there) and i was traveling back and forth between the cities and southern minnesota, i must have made the trip at least 4 or 5 times, about 2 hours a drive, it was way fun tho. iwas able to see family members i havent seen in years and have a really good time. i even got some pizza from my favorite place up there called rocky rococo's. afater the 5 days spent up there it was time to come back and rest up. it was alot of fun and a very eventfull 2 weeks. im glad the summer is almost over, the wedding season is ending here and now im back to playing the waiting game untill a job opens up.

the waiting game

this is probably the hardest part right now is waiting to know what will come next, since i really have no idea. over the past month i have been meeting with my recruiter (sergent honrado) and exploring different opportunities of what i would be capable of doing. so let me catch yall up.

joining the airforce (or any military branch for that matter) is not as easy as it used to be back in the day. you cant just go in and say you want to join, or say you somehow get in trouble with the law, they wont just let you join to have it erased off your record. luckily i wasnt in the latter, but i did just try to walk in and get my name on the list to get shipped off, but i guess theres alot more to it than that.

1. i had to take a test called the ASVAB, o man, i was so worried about this test, because this test determines your placement, and what exactly you will be qualified for once you get in. the test is composed of 9 sections, 4 of witch determine your core score. so for about a week i studied and studied for this test, i went to the library and even got books for the test. now let me tell you, i havent been to the library in so long, i didnt even have a library card, thats kinda sad, but now i do!, so after studying for this test, the day finally came where i actually had to take it, its pretty much a dumbed down SAT or ACT, but since i havent actually takin a test for a matter of years, i was scared, but much to my surprise after finishing the test i walked away with a 68, now im not exactly sure how the grade it, i know its not a ABC grade but my score opened the doors to the majority of the jobs that they offer in the airforce, so that was the first of my adventures i had to embark on

next....

2. for some odd reason the airforce considered me overweight, actually to the standards of BMI or also known as the body mass index, (witch if i knew who came up with this stupid index i would punch them) i am considered grade 1 obese...really?..whatever tho, so at this time i weighed in around 205 pounds, i have been around that weight for the past 5 years, and now they are telling me i need to be at least 180 to be processed, so i thought there would be no way, losing 20 pounds would take forever, but i was on a journey, i was determined to give it a try, so that is what i did, i started working out really intense, and changed my eating habits, now im not saying i did it the right way, but it worked, and after 2 and 1/2 weeks i lost about 27 pounds, weighing in just the other day at 179,..ya, i was pretty shocked myself, so once i had that settled, they mentioned to me that i actually needed to be 5 pounds less than that, how ridiculous!, i was already dying from the weight i already lost, so i was ready (i guess) to lose some more weight but my recruiter also mentioned that we can go for the body percentage and if i was under a certain percent (18) i wouldnt have to worry about my weight an i could be processed with my body fat. what a genius idea, the BMI scale is definitely wack! and i know i am not obese! so we go for that. they take me down to the nellis airofrce base to get measured and to see what i am....and (drum roll in the background) i was a amazing 14%..so i pretty much was killing myself for no reason, but it still was good, i got in some good shape, and i can keep working out and not die as kill myself..

and....

3. so as of now,im just waiting, there are no jobs in the airforce right now, witch means im not able to go take my physical and sign up for a job until there are some, but my recruiter is saying that hopefully by the end of this month we will be seeing some openings and ill be able to sign, so thats that for now! just waiting for something to open up, and i hope it does soon

mind changes

so the past few days i have been thinking again and again about what i want out of this..yes i know i said i was determined to be a chef and to have my own restaurant and ya ya ya, but now trying to set this all up and to get ready to pursue this course i realized i have 0 dollars to my name, well i knew this before, but it didnt really hit me until i was actually trying to balance my checkbook so to say.

now on my mission i served by a numerous amount of places near military bases, actually 4 to be exact. the first one was moody air force base. this one was in valdosta Georgia, pretty close to the border of Florida. i was serving in Nashville (not Nashville Tennessee, i wish :p ) which was about 20 miles away from valdosta. so in my small town of about 1000, (thats what it seemed like) majority of witch were retired military. this didn't spark my interest in the military at all, even when they talked about it, but at times we would run into a enlisted solider and he would talk it up about how cool it was. one of the coolest jobs someone mentioned when i was in Nashville was something called a PJ jumper, its a job where you jump out of airplanes into water, and then swim to the designated area, dang that seemed so cool

then i was transferred up into an area called warner robins and the base that was here was another air force base. i met so many interesting people in this town, and the majority of them were enlisted in the air force. at this point i had no desire of joining the airforce, or military for that matter. so after serving in this area for six months i left to ridgeland south carolina. now the closest base was about 30 miles away and it was a marine base, witch i really had no interest in. crazy people who get yelled at 24/7, no thank you, so i kinda laid low with talking to people about there military lifestyle and what not

after 5 months there i made my way back up to warner robins and this was the time where i thought something was up. i mean really, i was just there 5 months ago, i didn't think i would ever be back and bam, i was there again. and this time i knew everyone, piratically, and so it was alot easier to ask more questions about how what and why they got started in this career choice, it was very interesting and it enlightened my mind alot to the many career opportunities that the military held, so i started to pursue it and kept asking questions, most of the time to people who weren't interested at first to talk to the missionaries, they would at least answer a question or 2 about their career choice. so after being in warner robins for another 6 months, i ended up in Augusta Georgia where there was one of the biggest military bases in my mission (i honestly didnt think this was a coincidence, me being surrounded by military bases my whole mission) and it was an army base, but combined with all of the branches of military, it was in this area where we would knock on every single door and 9 times out of 10 they would be in the military, and 7 times out of 10 they were a linguist for the military, and man, i thought this was the coolest career ever. i looked alot more into it and asked alot more questions, and i was set, there was no doubt in my mind that i was joining the air force and going into the intelligence field as a linguist.

and then i got home and kinda put that under the rug, and was going to pursue my degree in cooking, because i really do love that, but now I'm determined to start looking more into joining the armed forces and becoming a linguist in the united states air force... wish me luck!

the big bang

funny things happen when palying with fireworks, this video doesnt give it justice to the fact of this but it was still an awesome expierence
at the time i was serving in ridgeland south carolina and it was perfect weather outside, we ended up this night at the home of the sheffields (very well known people in this city) and we (david fowers and i) had a great time celebrating our last 4th of july in the mission...and FYI fireworks wernt exactly on the approved list if you can tell in my final comment i give in the video :p

Hmmmm

Really...???

Summers here already and it feels the year has just started. Knowing that i am one of the ones that can never be content with the weather that is present at the time makes me feel that this is going to be one long summer. But no worries, the weather is never the same in Vegas, you just have to wait 5 minutes.

As y'all know, i recently returned from a fantastic voyage across the southern plains, also known as the bible belt, for a two year mission in my church. Now what better way to learn about something than to indulge yourself in the culture/teachings of it, and that's what i did. Now having those experiences will better prepare me for something i want to be in the future.

While on my mission i had time to really think of who and what i wanted to become in this stage of my life. Before i left i had a deep interest in the how the mind functioned and the knowledge it is capable of obtaining, so i traveled down the road of psychology as every other freshman who doesn't know what he or she is going to do, they pick the most interesting subject and tell themselves they are gonna make a career out of it without actually looking deeper into the matter i.e. salary, lifestyle. Now dont get me wrong here, psychology is definitely an interesting subject, and yes, there is a need for it out in the world today, and yes, people can pick a subject from the syllabus and be totally capable of making that into a career, but i personally didn't have that burning desire anymore, that flame had extinguished and i was left again not knowing what path to choose.

I had always had this passion to cook growing up and to make combinations that often times wouldn't turn out as expected, but i really enjoyed it. And for the past two years i have been cooking for either my companions or other events in my mission witch made me realize (don't know why it took me so long to realize) that my interest is in cooking and having a career in that. So i started preparing the way of how what and where i was going to do this. I narrowed it down to three choices. The first one being, join the navy or coast guard and take classes from them, serve for a matter of 4 years or so and then be on my way. This choice didnt make my parents so pleased, especially my mom. The other 2 choices were either go to UNLV or CSN and get a degree and then apply it in the world. I looked into it and come to find out that the culinary students at UNLV are required to take the classes at csn due to the fact that they dont offer the classes, witch i think is weird, but I'm ok with that since CSN is definitely a good school and it also fits better with my budget for now.

So that's the plan! Enrolled in CSN for the fall and planning on achieving my AA in culinary arts. Then from there on we will see what happens, but i am happy to choose this path in my life at this time and i know it is something i want and that it has always been a hobby.

As of now i am working as a valet/bell boy attendant at the Turnberry Towers. Schedule is filling up but i still have time to be me. The summer will come and go and life will carry on, you just have to keep your mind focused on the goal at hand..