Happy Birthday Vorrence!

Hey mang, happy birthday, wherever you are! Be sure to get pissed tonight.

Trip to the Peach Bowl

Sheila and I will be spending New Year's in Atlanta, along with my good buddy George Hanna, his brother, and some of their friends. Of course, we'll be going to the Peach Bowl to watch the Gators beat the Hurricanes. Does anyone else want to go? As of yesterday afternoon, the box office still had tickets available for $65 each.

We're going to make a stop in Gainesville on the night of the 30th, so we'll be sure to visit with the Dog, Culkin, and company. We'll probably also spend the night on the 1st as well. See you guys then!

Juan what is you email address

Hey it's Cedric. I need your email address. I've got some questions about London. I'm moving there in about in 8 months and needed to know about some stuff... Road conditions, weather, websites with homes or apartments things like that.

Cedric

Photos of Colombia

Finally got the photos of the trip to Colombia put up. I'll have to add some captions later. I had to rebuild my machine, so I no longer have the captions for Juan's Farewell either. Wehn I find some time, I'll add captions to everything. I also want to organize the Colombia pictures a bit better. For now, I have them separated by camera (mine, Mark's, and Juan's). Enjoy the pics!

Back Home

As you may or may not know, we arrived back in Miami at 2AM on Monday morning. We had a blast in Colombia. I'm working on upgrading jsierra.net. As soon as the upgrade is complete, I'm going to try to put up pictures from the trip. Stay tuned...

Happy Anniversary

Dear Jorge and Shelia,

Just wanted to wish you a Happy 1 year anniversary!! We wish you many more happy years to come.

Love,
The Rios Family

Mr Zookster

Seeing Zook leave on his players' shoulders was a very nice thing to see.

What a game, what a game.

It's Great to be a Florida Gator living in Tallahassee

I live a few blocks from the stadium-they turned off the scoreboard in shame. The silence coming from Bobby Bowden field (aside from the light sobbing) at the end was quite hilarious. Earlier in the day while milling about, the were drunken bands of FSU rednecks were all worked up into a frenzy. Out front now there is a long line of their big-wheeled pickup trucks; they're retreating back into the woods. Tee-hee.

We´re Here!

Well, we all arrived without any problems. Mark´s plane was a little bit delayed, but he arrived just fine. I´m in Bogota posting this at an Internet cafe´. I´ll try to post more the next time I get a chance to connect to the ´Net. Well, we´re off to seek more adventures.

Trip to Colombia

Only a few more days and Sheila and I are on our way to Colombia. We're really looking forward to the big trip. On Thursday, we fly into Bogota and will be in the country for 11 days and 10 nights. We will also be joined by Sheila's brother Juan, her sister Carmen, and my good friend Mark. Everyone is really excited. We'll be sure to post pictures when we get back. I still have to put up pictures of the wedding one of these days.

Birthday/Homecoming Bash at Jose's

It's set! We're going to have a party on this Saturday (November 13) night at my place. The Florida game is at 7 PM and it's on ESPN so we're going to watch it on the tube. I have a couple of tickets for the people who really want to go to the game. I will be parking cars, but won't park many cars here to accomodate my guests. Both roomates Jay and Erin have invited friends so we're going to have a blast! I'm going to purchase a couple of kegs, otherwise bring your own liquor. I want to extend the invitation to all on the BLOGPOST. If you'd like to make the trip into town I can find a place for you to stay. I've got tons of friends with houses and apartments with extra rooms.

CCCP

Matius Calvosky!!! He who is from the motherland of Siberia! My comrade, how long has it been?

Actually, I can go further back on the memories. Remember playing Tecmo Bowl on the Nintendo at Mike Gomez's house? Seattle Seahawks vs. Tampa Bay Buccanners? Dave Krieg vs. Vinny Testaverde? Wow... now those are memories!

I think America just BLOGGED itself...

4 more years? As my boss says, "Oy vey".

The New Florida Amendments

Well, all the amendments regarding health care passed. It will be interesting to see what sort of affects they have on the cost of insurance premiums for medical malpractice and health care. I think that amendments 7 and 8 are good for consumer protection. Amendment 7 will allow people to review a doctor's record of adverse incidents. Amendment 8 imposes a "three strikes you're out" rule for doctors involved in malpractice. I believe that 8 in particular may actually help to lower malpractice insurance premiums for doctors since it could potentially reduce the number of claims that companies will have to pay.

I am uncertain what effects amendment 3 may have, but I do have my concerns. I foresee two possible effects:

1. On one hand, it almost provides an incentive for individuals to attempt pursuing malpractice suits since they would receive a larger payout. This would increase the number of malpractice suits and in turn could make the situation worse. If the number of malpractice claims rises, it would in turn raise malpractice insurance premiums for doctors.
2. Fewer lawyers will take malpractice suits due to their reduced profit margins. This would certainly make things difficult for individuals who have legitimate malpractice claims and require legal services to receive what they are entitled. This could potentially reduce insurance malpractice premiums, but many consumers would lose their day in court.

I do know that amendment 3 will not lower the demand for medical malpractice legal services. If anything it may actually stimulate demand. The fact remains that we have an aging population, and especially Florida where millions of people go to retire. I am concerned that this legislation has passed, as I think it may cause more problems than it solves. Perhaps the other legislation that has passed may help to reduce the adverse effects of amendment 3. Only time will tell what will happen...

I think I just BLOGGED in my shorts!

Wholly bloggings Batman! Was that Francisco Martinezzi I just read? Yes, it's Matius Calvosky (Throw-back names to the old SEGA hockey game for those who don't know). Where's Emre Emre? Ok, enough of the Sega stuff... well, maybe just one more for Jose: "YOOOOUUUUU were talked by MEEEEEEEEE!." And who can forget: "Neeeooonn.... sanders." Ah, the mamories... I mean memories. Wow. Glad Jorge FORCED me to get on this thing. Just kidding Yorgi. "Hey. It's HOR-HEY." Good times. Good times. Will be back with more soon, since I'm extremely busy at work right now. Ta-ta.

WHO WANTS TO GO CAMPING? and/or HOMECOMING HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JOSE, BASH?

Ok, boys and girls. It's set. I checked out the site and it's good to go. It's east of Lake City by about ten minutes, but I have some backroads from Gainesville that will get us there quicker. I plan on heading out Saturday morning/afternoon and setting up the site for use on Saturday evening/night.

The site is on Ocean Pond near the Olustee Battlefield in the Osceola National Forest. I need to know who's definitely going to come up for the camping trip. I have an eight man tent that we can use as the "communal tent." However, the campsite will support several tents on it so if you have one just bring that. I have a small Coleman double propane stove we'll take as well as a lantern and two extra sleeping bags. I have plenty of wood here at the house and we can lug that up so we don't have to chop anything up while there. I also have tons of coolers and a small portable grill if you want to use that instead of the fire. A bathroom is on the site, but it's only got a toilet. We are in the Osceola Forest so hot showers and sinks are on the other side of the lake and can be accessed by car if we need to go. I'm not taking a boat onto the lake at night to cross. I will be prepared to leave on Saturday morning. If some of the folks get up here on Friday night I don't mind taking the boat with me on Saturday morning so you can try fishing, but if we get a late start I don't want to take the boat.

So far the weather up here hasn't dipped below 55 degrees. As a matter of fact, it's only been below 60 a couple of times. This is perfect camping weather. The forest has tons of trails for hiking or bicycling so bring your bicycle if you like. (I'd love to have a go-kart to do this at night, but oh well... If you want to check out more information on the site check out the following... http://areas.wildernet.com/pages/area.cfm?areaID=080504&CU_ID=1 or do a search on Google for the Osceola National Forest or Hog Pen Landing (which is the specific area I plan to use for this trip.) Grownzi, if you want to go shooting at the range East of Lake City on Saturday morning we can do that before going out to the camp site. As a matter of fact if anyone wants to learn how to shoot a gun or rifle I have a couple of easy weapons you can try out Saturday morning at the rifle range. As far as Saturday morning/afternoon activities I'll do whatever the majority wants. I'm going to Lake City on Friday afternoon to prepare for whatever the majority has decided by Wednesday night. Please tell me if you have decided to come or not come by that night.

On another note, I have decided to throw myself a huge-ass birthday bash on the weekend of Homecoming and really hope everyone can make it up for that. The party will take place on Homecoming Saturday night. I'm taking a couple of my kids to the football game if it's in the afternoon (as of yet, the game is TBA). After I drop the kids off I'm heading to the bar, then going home to start the party around 11 PM. I am buying the first keg and am inviting tons of people from out of town and everyone I know here in town. I want to have a party similar to the one from last year where we got the dance floor out and danced even after the cops told us to quiet down. :) Tommy Seijo is coming down from Asheville if you know him you know we intend on having a blast!

If you can only make it up for one of the weekends I'd prefer you come up for the birthday bash, but I'd love to see you all up both weekends. Now that I'm not in the red I plan on making a trip to Miami in December. I'll probably take a day off work since I want to visit with my abuela. After that I want to PAR-TAY. I'm not going down there to sit around and relax this time since I do have money now. Please tell me when is a good weekend for me to come down. I might be taking a friend or two (I can only fit three people total in my truck for a trip like that).

Ok, that's enough said by me. I'm not going to try to convince anyone to do a damn thing. If you want to have fun with me get off your ass and get up with me. You only live once.

-SHIDOG
(still enjoying life, while trying to find Mrs. Right) haha

Football Seasonal Fruits

Seeing as how both Florida and Florida State are hobbing serious knob this season, I can't possibly make any "Gay-tor" jokes (something that usually ends up with me receiving a piledriver from Jose). What's going down tomorrow along the lines of the "I'm not going to the FL/GA game so let's get trashed and pretend like the cops will never realize I had a few too many" parties? If something is going down, I'll gladly make a guest appearance so I can show off my German girlfriend. She was supposed to pose nude on Walroosbrüste.com, but the site was shut down because the bitter Walrustitties people didn't want to have the affiliation simply due to the literal translation (and the fact that the German site was much better).

This One's for Juan and Ed

A movie quote that has been quoted many a time by those two. Enjoy fellas.

My Parting Gift to Juan

I got some big six-shooters

Packed up on my steed

And don't take 'em off

Unless I got some flesh to feed

Intimidation to the max

Is what'll do it to me

I'll rip it right and rip it left

Just to make your heart bleed

Layin' down in the dirt

A big bottle of wine

Rather listen to some blues

Or love a woman 'til she's blind

Got a lot of time to waste

On shining my big guns

When I ride into your town

You and your sister want some fun

I'm looking for a Juliet to take my cowboy blues away

The ten blue broken hearts behind me they're not mine

I'm a gunfighter looking for love

Gunfighter for love

Gunfighter for love

Gunfighter for love

I'm a six foot all-American kid

My serial number's one nine seven six

Born down south where barbed wire plays

Where my parents met is in the U.S. of A.

Legendary, gunfighter

Buckshot, point-blank

Fast aim, six-shooter

Trail blazer, gunslinger

Pistol packin', rough rider

Wanted man, coach robber

Shot drinkin' cowboy

Gunfighter for love

I got some big six-shooters

Packed upon my steed

And I only take 'em off

Unless I got some flesh to feed

Intimidation to the max

Is what'll do it to me

I'll rip it right, rip it left

Just to make your heart bleed

Lyrics to "Gunfighter for Love" by Jason McMaster of Dangerous Toys

Fully Operational Battlestation

"You've got to line 'em up; Then you knock them down; Take a look boy..."
-- Jason McMaster of Dangerous Toys

Well, well. I have been M.I.A. for a few years. Actually, I have been a P.O.W. My tale is one full of wickedness and deceit -- but none of it was done by me. It all started one fateful day when my twin brothers Tomax and Xamot came to me with a... okay, that one was for Jose. My tale actually starts in a UF classroom during a Thermodynamics lecture when I should have continued to write down notes and ignored the girl that was sitting next to me. Such a fool am I. But I will tell this tale another day. For now, I believe answering Mark's questions will provide a sufficient update.

I am single and "living the life of an angry young fool" (E-Z-O). That one was for Juan. I have no children. I do have a dog. A miniature schnauzer. Great breed. I am employed by UCF as a research administrator. I am the director of the Office of Funding Resources and work out of the Office of Research. My favorite color is midnight blue. Finally, I prefer Starcrunch to either Ho-Hos or Twinkies (see Mark's questions).

I lived in New Orleans for a few years attending Tulane University where I was finishing my Ph.D. Great place to visit but not a good place to live. I came to Orlando to do some research at the beginning of the Millenium and ended up staying when I got my current gig.

I play soccer in a five-on-five, indoor league. We were league champions last season! The pace is incredible. You net a go-ahead goal one minute and find yourself down two goals the next minute. We play twenty-minute halves in a well-run, very professional facility. Lots of English, Scottish, Brazilian, and Spanish players. We have referees, scoreboards, kits (a.k.a. uniforms for those of you that do not speak soccer), etc. It is not too expensive either. Only about $40 per season depending on how many players you have on your team.

I also play flag football in a seven-on-seven city league. We are sponsored by Adidas (local outlet store) so our uniforms are free. We were not very good our first season (4-12) but improved drastically our second season (10-6 with a playoff berth). I have implemented my Red Raider motion offense and the 4-1-2 defense. I also played in the Air-It-Out tournament. We did not place but it was fun nonetheless. If any of you are interested in playing with me let me know and I can make arrangements. Maybe we can put UPT back together!!! It is held semi-annually for one weekend. Your team is placed in a four-team division. The Saturday of the weekend, you play against your division which means you are guaranteed at least three games. The team with the best record from each division returns on Sunday for a single elimination tournament.

However, as far as my tale is concerned, this is only half of the story -- the good half.

To be continued...

Welcome New Members!

In an effort to stimulate a bit more traffic on the site, I would like to welcome two new distinguished members to the blog, Frank and Ed. I also wanted to add a new post so that the "yo quiero vomitar" photo will scroll of the main page a bit quicker. I'm getting tired of reaching for my air sickness bag each time I see it, as I'm sure the rest of you are as well.

How Do You Spell Relief?

S P U R R I E R

Vote NO on Amendment 3

Well, this is something I would normally refrain from doing. However, this issue is too important to me to just let it go. There is a proposed amendment on the Florida ballot during these elections. It is Amendment 3. This amendment is aimed at capping the attorney's fee in a medical malpractice case. It is being presented to people as an amendment that will give more money to people and less money to "greedy lawyers." That is a total misrepresentation of what this amendment will do. Here are a couple of reasons why you should vote NO on Amendment 3:

1. There is something inherently wrong with limiting the amount of money a person is allowed to earn for doing their job. If we start here, where are we going to end?

2. If Amendment 3 passes, it will not be profitable for attorneys to take these cases since they are very expensive and time-consuming to litigate.

3. If Amendment 3 passes, it will be harder for injured victims to find legal representation because attorneys will not want to become involved in costly litigation since it will not be profitable.

4. If Amendment 3 passes, victims of medical negligence will be left with little or no choice when trying to receive compensation for their injuries.

Please vote NO on Amendment 3. As for the Walrustitties issue, I haven't made up my mind yet.

Thanks.

Walrus Titties Protest

Unfortunately, due to strong protest from nowalrustitties.com, the picture has been removed from the Stu Crew site.

Added New Post Notification

Per Shidog's request, I added some extra code to indicate when new posts have been added. Under the recent posts section, whenever a new post has been added since your last visit, you'll see a little sign that says "New!" The next time you visit the site, the "New!" indicators should disappear. Enjoy!

Rock the Vote

Hey guys, go to this website: http://www.jibjab.com/
No matter which way you intend to vote, you need to see the videos here.

Vorrence Connects to the Conversation Superhighway!

Wow, you would never guess that I would have sufficient competence to successfully do this, but, with the help of my sweet lady, I have connected a mobile phone here in England!

So here is my number, should this arise...

+44 (0) 78 9191 9372

44 is the country code for the UK (or at least England). 0 is only for domestic dialing. If you are dialing from the U.S., dial 011 44 78 9191 9372, omitting the 0.

Right now, I'm sitting in a McDonald's with an internet cafe. I find that dressing up as if one is going to work helps to take things seriously -- sort of like the way an actor wears a costume to get into character. "I'm a lawyer...I'm a lawyer, not street rif-raf sitting in an internet cafe all day!" It's starting to work!

People, people everywhere! I knew there were other people in this world. There they are! Walking! On the street! Imagine, other people actually passing within 10 feet of each other. How can they stand it?

I took a cab ride yesterday morning that would have seemed like a demolition derby. Many of the streets are so narrow that only one car can pass at a time. So one car will wait behind some parallel-parked cars while the other passes by. Then the waiting car will leap into the space as soon as it's open! They seem to pass within inches of each other, doing an automotive version of the escalator ballet where people on an Underground escalator -- half the width of a U.S. escalator -- move over to the right while a stream of people shuffle through on the left. Amazing!

I wish I could embody how much excitement I feel. Each time I feel demoralized, I just look out the window of this McDonald's and gaze over the vivid red double-decker buses squatting on the bus stop beneath and then barreling down Baker Street, at the 10-foot second floor of Her Majesty's Post Office building across the street, and feel a profound motivation, mixed with just a twist of intimidation.

Too bad this McDonald's is bursting with piss-poor hip-hop-pop sounds that make the Black-Eyed Peas' "Let's Get It Started" sound good. Oh well, you can't always get what you want; but if you try sometimes...well, you know what I mean.

My thoughts go out to the homies and to Moms and Pops who are scouting the Amalfi coast!

Hope you are all well! As soon as I get a yobby-yob, the City of Westminster will be open for some serious business by the fools from Lake City!

Juan

P.S. I'm sending a copy of this message to stucrew.com...

Happy Halloween

Hey, all. Check out this website. http://s90253586.onlinehome.us/classic_auto_1.mpeg It's got a neat commercial. Make sure you turn the volume up so the soothing music plays. It adds to the experience. Love you all. -SHIDOG

Michael Jackson's Dog

I had totally forgotten about this. I happen to come across it and had to share it with everyone. Still made me laugh.

Make a New Post Link Added

Per Grownzup's request, I added a link on the page to create a new post. Now all you have to do is just click the link instead of doing it from the Blogger dashboard. Enjoy!

Camping Trip?

I've gotten wind that there's a camping trip on the horizon. Where shall it be? Who shall be there? When will it take place? I know not. Dost thou knowest?

Comment Notification Added

Okay, I've written some custom code to notify you when there are new comments. Pretty cool stuff. I think I'm actually going to submit the code to Blogger as a Blogger Hack. If you click on all of the links to expand the comments, then the next time you load the page, it will not give the new comments message. The next time you visit the page and comments have been added, the page will let you know. Neato! I'm such a geek.

Happy Colon Day

Howdy y'all. How bout we sing & shout for our favorite day of all? Colon day. Colon day. Makes me tingle all the way. Even though I'm workin', I can't help but feel that this country was a steal. If it wasn't for Mr. Colon, would we even know the meaning of "stolen?" Well, my creative juices just stopped flowin', so I better get goin'. I hope y'all have a wonderful Cristobal Colon day, and viva Le Stu Crew!!

Some news from Vorrence

The UK is totally motherbitchin', and I am enjoying the hell out of it. Here's a little update.

First of all, it's frickin' freezing in here, Mr. Bigglesworth. The English summer has waned, and the autumn is beginning to rest its cold hands on my cheeks. There is still some sun, which is nice, and should be just enough to hold me over until June 2005, when I next see it. Still, I must admit that there's something kind of cozy about wearing a coat all the time.

Regarding culture shock, a fortuitous event has actually facilitated a smooth transition into the English lifestyle. Last night, the motion picture "Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey" was broadcast on television. Excellent! . Man, I guess I forget just how fantastic those films were. Moreover, I had only seen the first one.

London is as bustling as ever, and I'm enjoying the hell out of wandering about. Here is a little Q and A with MYSELF to fill you in:

Question: Have I been to the pub yet?
Answer: Yes, about four different ones so far.

Question: What is the most beatiful sight you have seen so far?
Answer: The Underground, mang. Who cares if there are no trash can's in the entire system because of IRA bombings past, that's just pure excitement every single time. The idea that you can walk down a flight of stairs in the middle of town and come back up anywhere on the map has far too much appeal for anyone of the video game generation to resist.

Question: Have you seen people that are weird or perhaps nuts?
Answer: Not really. There was this one really old Irish dude in a pub called "Bradley's Spanish Pub" (marvelous in and of itself) that started dancing to a jukebox recording of some motown song in the middle of the really crowded room with a catatonic smile affixed to his face. Okay, it now occurs to me that that was awesome!

Question: Weekend highlight?
Answer: Went to see the Santa Barbara band Sugarcult. It was the all-ages show, so the place was crowded with teenagers. Sound creepy? Well, it certainly was not, because I fit right in! I wasn't the only guy who was thirteen years old. And to top it off, I have not been asked for "ID" yet!

Well, I'd better get on with it. Best regards to all the homies in the U.S. of A. England and I await you all.

Juan"Wrinse"

How to propogate to the stucrew plus new members

Hey, dudes and dudettes on stucrew.com. How do we make sure everyone in the "stucrew plus new" gets invites? We've got lots of other folks on the list like the Vargas Bros., the Gloria and Patty plus the Pauls. Howzabout the David Cortes and the Johns? Hmmm. How do we get involvement from the people? That's a question I find myself asking ... myself all the time. Hmmmm.

stucrew.com Domain Purchased

I bought stucrew.com from GoDaddy for a mere $8.95! It seems like it may be propagating quickly, because I've already been able to connect to the domain. In a few days it should be accessible across the globe.

The Stu Crew Website is Born!

Well, Juan is leaving for the U.K. this evening. I decided to create this blog so he can keep us informed on what is going on in his life. It will also be a good way for the rest of us to keep in touch too.