They Call Me "Halcón"

SwagBucks, get you some...

2009-06-30T18:04:00.000-07:00

Just trying this thing out. Let's see if this actually works this time.

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Merry CHRISTmas!!!

2008-12-24T21:55:00.000-08:00

My little Christmas Eve rant. I hate the way the government and major corporations now kowtow to the minority. Hey city of San Diego; It's not a "Holiday Tree," it's a Christmas Tree! It's not "Balboa Park December Nights," it's Christmas on the Prado! I am sorry if the word Christmas offends you. But by trying to tell me I can't wish someone Merry Christmas, you offend and insult me deeply. My beliefs do you no harm. It takes nothing away from what you choose to believe (or not believe) in. Many vocal opponents however, are trying to strip us of our basic rights, our freedom of Religion; to worship who, how, and what they may. If hearing someone say "Merry Christmas" offends you, my suggestion, grow some thicker skin! I don't tell you, you can't be an atheist. Stop trying to tell me I can't celebrate the birth of my Redeemer and Savior.
I am tired of going to a store, and hearing the employees wish me "Happy Holidays." So today, while finishing some last minute shopping, I asked the cashier what the "Happy Holiday" was. I am not at all naive to the fact that the stores force their employees to say Holiday, as opposed to Christmas, for fear of "offending" someone. We spoke for a minute. The kind lady behind the counter echoed my sentiments, and wished me a hearty "Merry Christmas!" Which I gladly returned. I felt good inside. Stick it to 'em. Score one for the good guys.
For the rest of the day, I continued to say Merry Christmas! to everyone who wished me a Happy Holiday. I will continue to do so, and make no apologies for it!
I felt like getting that off my chest. Let it be known, that Jesus is the reason for the season. So to all of my friends out there, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!

Old Friends, Reunited...

2008-12-23T23:41:00.000-08:00

Earlier tonight I reunited with some old friends. Friends that in some cases I hadn't seen in almost 2 years. It was great getting back together with Ben and Aaron. Ben's sister and bro-in-law joined us as we jumped in the car and drove to Oceanside to have dinner & desserts at Ruby's Diner on the Pier. Mmmmm.... Gotta love that Aloha Burger with a frosty Root beer Float.
The last few times we've all been home for Christmas & New Year's, we've gone to Ruby's. Seems that's turning into our little tradition. Sadly, that was pretty much the end of the night. Ben & Aaron were still on East Coast time and didn't think they'd last much longer. We dropped Aaron off at his house and headed back to Ben's. Since he's been here a couple days longer than Aaron, he felt a little more adjusted and thought he could make it through a movie. Wrong! We popped in the Charles Dickens classic "Scrooge." A good Christmas movie to really get us in the spirit. Ben tried to be a trooper, but just couldn't make it. Haha, at least it was good to spend a few hours with some close friends, and catch up on things. We've all had lots of adventures the last year or so.
The posse was only missing one person. You were missed Josh! (You to Josie... wouldn't want to get smacked around for excluding you! LOL) If you get here by New Year's there's still hope!!! Hopefully sometime soon, we'll be able to get the whole gang back together.

There is still hope!!!

2008-12-21T16:21:00.000-08:00

What an unbelievable finish to today's football games. I'm so freaking excited right now. The Chargers entered the day fighting for their playoff lives, needing a win or their post-season dreams were done. Not only did we have to win, we needed a Denver Broncos loss to Buffalo. Well, the unimaginable just happened.
The Chargers dismantled Tampa Bay this morning 41-24 for their 3rd straight win and prayed for a miracle. Somehow, Buffalo outlasted Denver in a back-and-forth slug fest, prevailing 30-23, with a last second interception at their own 1 yard to seal the win.
That sets up a HUGE match up with Denver next week, in San Diego. Win and the Chargers take the AFC West title, and make the Playoffs, lose and their season is over and we watch the Donkeys advance. If there is any justice in the world, the football gods will smile down on San Diego next week, and make reparations for that travesty of a game during week 2 in Denver. I'm sure most of you won't have a clue what I'm talking about, but the Chargers lost that game against Denver, on one of the worst officiating calls in the history of the NFL.
So allow me a little background. With around 30 seconds remaining in the game, and the Chargers ahead by 7, Denver QB Jay Cutler fumbled the ball and the Chargers recovered. Game should have ended a play later and the Chargers walk out with a win. However, the Head Official inadvertently blew the play dead because he thought it was an incomplete pass, when it was a clear fumble. Because of the way NFL rules are written, he said it was not a reviewable play, so Denver maintained possession. A play later, with the Chargers suddenly going from the high of thinking they'd won, the wind was taken out of their sails as Denver scored a touchdown. Denver, now playing with house money, because they knew that they'd been handed a gift from the officials, went for a 2-point conversion and won 39-38.
The official, Ed Hochuli, apologized profusely to the Chargers and their fans, the league admitted he made a bad call, but there was nothing they could do to change the outcome. His mistake lead directly to a Charger loss. As for Hochuli, he was "graded down," in his permanent file. Which was nothing more than giving him a slap on the wrist. (It wouldn't be his last botched call of the season, either).
Why is this a big deal? Change the result of that game and the Chargers have already won the division and clinched a playoff spot, and next week's game is a moot point. They shouldn't have to play a do-or-die scenario next week.
So I repeat, if the football gods are watching, let the Chargers win this game handily.

Have you ever seen...?

2008-12-09T18:17:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning and walked down the hall into the kitchen. My mom was already standing there. I approached the fridge and noticed something on the floor. Not at all an unusual occurrence in our house. My mom rents a room to a friend of the family and this girl can't cook a friggen thing without getting it all over the kitchen. It doesn't matter what she makes, it seems like half of it ends up on the floor or all over the stove top or counter. Even when making a salad! How do you spill that much lettuce?!?! Take it out of the bag and put it in a bowl for crying out loud. It's not that hard. But I digress.

Thinking it was a stray piece of wilted lettuce or maybe a piece of chopped up mushroom, I bent down to pick it up. When I extended my hand out to grab it, something stopped me. It wasn't lettuce, or a mushroom, but a tiny, baby scorpion crawling across the floor. It couldn't have been more than an inch and a half (1.5 in) long. It was kind of a light brown, almost sand color. I am bare foot this entire time, so of course I start looking for more of the stinging, creepy crawly little buggers. I pointed it out to my mom, and before I could grab something to scoop it up with, down comes her shoe and squishes it all over the floor. LOL.

Later, while thinking about our pint-sized intruder, I realized that I had never seen a scorpion in the "wild" before. I wanted to catch it, take a look at it, maybe get a picture or two, and then release it outside. But obviously, mom was having none of that. A few nights before, we got some of my mom's Christmas decorations out of the barn so she could start making the house look festive. Those boxes and plastic totes were still sitting on the family room floor. I'm guessing our little visitor hitched a ride and when she started unpacking the boxes, he was awakened form his winter slumber.

I guess I'll be watching my step a little more closely for a while.

Does this sound like me???

2008-12-08T17:38:00.000-08:00

Introverted Sensing Thinking Judging...or ISTJ.
You are:
distinctively expressed introvert
slightly expressed sensing personality
slightly expressed thinking personality
moderately expressed judging personality

ISTJs are often called inspectors. They have a keen sense of right and wrong, especially in their area of interest and/or responsibility. They are noted for devotion to duty. Punctuality is a watchword of the ISTJ. The secretary, clerk, or business(wo)man by whom others set their clocks is likely to be an ISTJ.

As do other Introverted Thinkers, ISTJs often give the initial impression of being aloof and perhaps somewhat cold. Effusive expression of emotional warmth is not something that ISTJs do without considerable energy loss.

ISTJs are most at home with "just the facts, Ma'am." They seem to perform at highest efficiency when employing a step-by-step approach. Once a new procedure has proven itself (i.e., has been shown "to work,") the ISTJ can be depended upon to carry it through, even at the expense of their own health.

ISTJs are easily frustrated by the inconsistencies of others, especially when the second parties don't keep their commitments. But they usually keep their feelings to themselves unless they are asked. And when asked, they don't mince words. Truth wins out over tact. The grim determination of the ISTJ vindicates itself in the officiating of sports events, judiciary functions, or another situation which requires making tough calls and sticking to them.

His SJ orientation draws the ISTJ into the service of established institutions. Home, social clubs, government, schools, the military, churches -- these are the bastions of the SJ. "We've always done it this way" is often reason enough for many ISTJs. Threats to time-honored traditions or established organizations (e.g., a "run" on the bank) are the undoing of SJs, and are to be fought at all costs.

So what do you think? Does that sound like me? I thought it was almost spot on. I was especially impressed with the 4th paragraph. I hate it when people don't follow through, and I can't stand political correctness. It's hard for me to sugarcoat things so I tell it like it is and sometimes that hurts feelings. See my last post and you'll piece together another reason why my sisters aren't speaking to me at the moment.

Take the Jung Typology Test for yourself. The results may surprise you! Thanks to Kim & Jeff for the link.

More of the same...

2008-12-04T16:19:00.000-08:00

Still don't have the computer back. The comp repair guy took it a week before Thanksgiving, and was supposed to see if he could fix it for me, but I still haven't heard a word from him. He has my number, but I don't have his, so I can't get a hold of him. So now it's been about a month without my own computer. Sucks having to borrow a CP from family in order to check anything online.
As usaul we had the big, family holiday drama. Been a huge mess. My sisters act like they're back in middle school, playing little girl games. And since my mom and I disagree with both of them and refuse to take sides, neither of them are speaking to me. Real freaking mature. I'm not gonna bother with the deatials, because it's too long and convoluted a story, and I'd just get incredibly furious thinking about it. I'd rather focus on something positive.
And nothing takes my mind off of things more than fishing. For most of the summer, Lake Wohlford has only been open on the weekends. It's a fairly small lake and I hate fighting the crowds, so I haven't been up there in a couple of months. But after this weekend they'll open the lake full time for trout season. There are far fewer people up there on weekdays. It's about time to break out the imitation trout swimbaits and catch a monster bass or two this winter. Time to make sure the camera batteries are all charged up and my gear is packed and ready to go.
It's trophy hunting time!!!

Computer problems

2008-11-13T09:07:00.000-08:00

Just when I finally get back on here an decide to update my blog more often, boom, out go the lights. Out goes the screen actually. After using my laptop with no problems all day, I let it sit for a while and it went into hibernate mode like it always does. But when I got back it wouldn't "wake up." So I turned the power off and got it rebooted, but this time got a message that I was only partially able to read. It read something about a video driver not working properly, and the screen went out before I was able to read the complete message.

So, now I've been without my computer for over a week. I know it's not like the world is going to end or anything, but you just don't realize how much you depend on something until it's gone, or broken. We're still trying to get it figured out. My sisters's computer guy is comming down tomorrow and will take a look at it for me. Hopefully it's just a simlpe fix, like installing a new driver. What I really fear is a hard drive crash and I lose all the thousands of photos I had stored on there. Note to self* Save pics to a disk after uploading from camera. I guess it's a lesson learned.

Couple other quick notes. I haven't been fishing in far too long now and am really starting to devolope a tick. Going to have to remedy this soon.

I'm about fed up with the Padres right now as well. This trade of Jake Peavy makes me sick. Attention John Moores, hurry the #^!! up and get your divorce over with. Stop trading our best players and gutting the team, just so you don't have to pay your wife quite as much in the settlement. Sell the team to someone who cares and get the F*** out of town. I hope the door handle rips you a new one on your way out.

What a crappy couple of weeks. I feel a little better now. Thanks for letting me rant. At least my Chargers are...oh wait they're currently stinking up the place. Well, there's always my Predators...not so fast my friend. They all but gutted the team too and have their own ownership/relocation nightmares surrounding them.
So in the words that Chicago Cubs fans are all too familiar with, "There's always next year." Well, I guess in the Padres case it would be more realistic to say, "Well, there's always 5 years from now."

I'm Back San Diego...

2008-11-01T16:41:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the new site. After a very eventful, mostly fun, but ultimately unsuccessful 3+ year stay in Tennessee and Alabama, the prodigal son has returned. While it's good to be back home in SD, there are definitely things that I will miss down south. Let's recap a few of those things:
The unbelievable amount of lakes and rivers and fishable water. Walking out the front door and within minutes being able to wade the creek and catch numbers of smallmouth bass. Tournament and other competitive fishing events that led to direct contact to some of the best anglers on the planet. The autograph opportunities were plentiful.
I will miss working in minor league baseball. The daily interaction with players was amazing. Plus I got paid to sit and watch baseball!!! Talk about a dream come true, getting paid to watch a game. It was a hot, dirty job, but the perks more than compensated. The autograph opportunities were plentiful.
That experience led me to meet people involved with the NFL's Tennessee Titans. Through them I was able to work a few pre-season games and watch and interact with the players on the sidelines. They held charity softball games which I was able to work. Again the autograph opportunities were plentiful.
My season tickets to the NHL's Nashville Predators. I love my Preds, and it will be a sad day when they are eventually forced to leave Nashville. But I did my part while I was there. I'll miss the open practices, morning skates, stalking players in the hotel lobbies, and meeting 100's of players face to face and obtaining I don't know how many thousands of autographs.
In case you didn't catch the recurring theme, Nashville is an autograph hound's dream. The access to athletes, singers, and celebrities in general is unreal. Not to say that SD doesn't present it's opportunities, I've already collected a few in the short time I've been back, but it just isn't the same. Hopefully sometime soon I'll have the room and resources to properly display some of my collection. As I continue to unpack and find the room, I'll post some pictures.

Stay classy, San Diego. It's good to be back home. Here's to even more memories the 3rd time around.

What's in a name?

2008-11-01T15:30:00.000-07:00

Who is "Halcón" and where did he come from? Well, the name can be traced back to something as simple as a mispronunciation, or in this case, what couldn't be pronounced. Let's jump in the way back machine and travel to Castilleja de la Cuesta (Sevilla), Spain. Castilleja is where the legend began. Way back when at the very start of my mission, I met some people that would become close friends. For whatever reason, many church members had a terribly hard time pronouncing my last name, Hawkes. Not especially difficult I think, but it turned into quite the "trabalenguas" (tongue twister) for them. After about a month of hearing my name butchered, a resourceful young lady whom we had just baptized, came across a similar word during English lessons, "hawk." She made the connection, and told me that my last name was spelled wrong, stupid English.
I was told that the Spanish translation of hawk was "halcón" (pronounced like all-cone). Well, the entire class agreed that Halcón was much easier to pronounce, and declared that I should henceforth be known as "Elder Halcón."
Well it wasn't long before the entire ward caught on and the moniker stuck. With every transfer to a new area, the scenario would play out again, until I told them what my name meant. And so it went until my mission was over. As it turns out, I really liked the new nickname, and brought it home with me.
So there you have it. Your introduction to "Halcón." One of the myriad of nicknames I seem to have been tagged with...