Sarah Palin Follow Up - All I Can Say Is WOW!

It turns out that I love this woman. I was so impressed by her speech that I actually fell in love with her. I am almost embarrassed by my previous post now that I know a little more about her. I guess McCain is a little smarter than me after all.

If you haven’t seen Governor Palin’s speech at the Republican National Convention, here is a video. She made some great digs at Obama that actually made me laugh out loud. She’s gorgeous too!

Let’s update that photo too okay.

Sarah Palin

There we go. It’s still going to be a tough race for the presidency, but I think they will win.

Sarah Palin - Didn’t See That One Coming

Who saw that one coming? Not me that’s for sure. No sooner did I post about the Dems being freaks when the Republicans pull a stunt like this. The state of politics in this country is pathetic. Why in the hell would McCain select Sarah Palin as his VP? Hard to tell for sure, but my money is on this:

Sarah Palin Beauty Queen

Sarah Palin Beauty PageantPicture

At least it will be fun calling her “The Hunter” while all this is going on.

Back to School Today and Democrats are Freaks

Thanks for visiting ErikZavala.com. I haven’t been posting as much as I wanted to but I do like doing it. Hopefully I will get better at making regular posts. Anyway, my kids went back to school today so I guess summer is now officially over by our local school standards. I still don’t understand why they have them go back before Labor Day. Actually I do, bureaucratic laziness. (more…)

Can’t Get Enough of the Olympics

Between the women’s beach volleyball and Michael Phelps, the I just can;t stop watching these Olympics this year. That Michael Phelps is amazing. I am losing sleep because I’m staying up so late these days. Not much else going on that I feel like sharing right now because… I’m watching the Olympics. Later…

Hot, Muggy, Nasty Weather and Some Catch Up

The weather here has been really shitty lately. Hot and humid day and night for days now. I really hate it when its this muggy. Something about it really sucks the life out of me and I feel like veg-ing out all day long. I thought I would play some catch up here on the blog. I had a great week and made a few new contacts that will benefit me greatly in the near future.

One of the many things I dabble in is investment real estate. I like to buy a house here or there and do a little work to it and then either rent it out or resell it at a profit. Lately I have been staying away from that because of the real estate and financing markets. Property values are in decline and financing is harder to come by so I figured I would wait a while until things turned around a little. Well, I think it is almost time to get that ball rolling again. The finance companies are relaxing their terms a little more and getting a little more flexible in their offerings. The issue is still with the values though. If I were to buy a house now, what will it be worth in a few months? It is hard to say. And will I be able to find a buyer quickly enough to make a house flip profitable? I am not so sure. I am not quite comfortable enough to jump back in yet, but I think it will be soon.

Another thing I have been looking into is the stock market and Forex trading. In the past, I was much more aggressive with my investments and used to do some playing in the Forex markets as well. I did about average in forex trading despite being new at it. I haven’t done it in a while because I have been focusing on other things that keep me away from my desk more. I miss it and would like ot start doing more investing again soon too. Of course the market sucks right now too for the most part so I may just wait.

I am really going to try and keep this blog updated too, not that anyone reads it. I want to do it for me. I used to be very good at keeping a journal so maybe I will just put it right here online. What the hell, right? That’s all for today. Going to hit the treadmill and take a shower.

SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Confrontation

I’m not a kid any more but I still enjoy playing video games from time to time. Right now I’m still playing most everything on my Playstation 2 (PS2) as I didn’t see the value of upgrading to a new system yet. Of course, the next system I will be getting is the PS3 from Sony. I have kids too so a Wii is in the plans as well if they wants one. I was going to get them one for Christmas, but the didn’t want it. They are still kind of young, and they are girls so maybe video games are not as interesting to them. I don’t know.

Anyway, one of may all time favorite games is the Socom series. My brother and I have been playing together offline and online since the first version came out years ago. The latest version that I have is Socom Combined Assault. There are other versions too but I like this one for now. I play online when I have time or when I don’t have time but NEED to wind down for a little while.

Sony is working on the latest version of Socom for the PS3 which is scheduled for release in late October. Here is a screen shot of what the game will look like:

Socom Confrontation Screenshot

The graphics are incredible and the game play is going to be amazing compared to previous versions. The developers have a blog setup on the main Socom website (socom.com). The website will also integrate with the game serving live player and clan statistics and a bunch of other things. There will be additional map and weapons packs available too though I’m not sure how they plan to work that just yet.The maps that ome with the game have all been designed to stay on the smaller size. Some of the maps in Socom Combined Assault are H U G E and frankly, they suck, so I’m glad to see them make all the maps smaller.

I’ve read about the audio in the game, which has always been very cool, and it is just going to blow people away. Of course, I play in surround sound which makes everything sound better, but in Socom you can hear when noises come from in front of you and behind you. In the new version, you will hear things as they truly sound in real life. Things like shell casing will make sounds when they hit the ground around a corner and when you walk through them, they will move, making sounds as well. People will hear you coming much more.

If you can’t tell, I’m very excited about this game launch. Unfortunately, it’s going to cost me like $500 to play i because I will have to get the PS3 and the game. As far as games go, I have always felt that I got my money’s worth out of Socom. Some games you play through until the end, then they sit on a shelf. Not Socom. Every time you play online, it is a different experience. There are just too many new features to list here, so if you are interested in Socom, be sure to visit the website at socom.com and check it out.

Rained Like Crazy and We Got Hail

The other day we had a big thunderstorm roll through here and we actually got hail. It was about 1/2 inch or so but what a bizarre feeling. I love a good thunderstorm so I was at the window watching the lightning and listening to the thunder, when all of a sudden, the hail started coming down. It was nuts. The sound was unreal. I took some pictures but haven’t transferred them to the computer yet.

The hail only lasted a short time but there were all these little balls of ice everywhere. Bizarre to see that in July. It almost looked like it snowed. The wind was earily string that day too so I was a little converned about trees and branches falling.

When all was said and done, there was no damage from the hail nor was there any fallen tree limbs. I lived to see another day. Now I’m off to get ready for my Fourth of July Party. It is supposed to rain here again today which is a huge bummer. A cookout is just not the same indoors.

Getting Ready for the Fourth of July

We have a party to go to this weekend at a relative’s house here in town this weekend. It should be a good time. We have family in the military and he will be home from Iraq Thursday. The party will be a good time too as other family members are in town from Florida too.

Next month my mother’s side of the family is have a big barbecue get together. We will be firing up the smoker and making apple brined chicken, brisket and ribs. Lots of other stuff too. I love to cook (and eat) good food, especially comfort type foods and italian dishes.

My cat keeps crapping in my garden. Its not so bad in the winter, but in the summer time it stinks wicked bad. How do you keep cats out of the garden? He is an outside cat so there is no box. Can he be trained to go in a certain area? Or wait, maybe he is trained to go in one area. Damn.

Welcome to ErikZavala.com

This is my first blog post! WOOHOO! Now what…? Who cares, just go with the flow. I will be posting a lot of random stuff about my life here at ErikZavala.com. Look for more to come soon as I fin9sh getting things setup around here.