Jan 6th - Happy 15 years

January 7, 2026
Greetings foolish mortal!!!  Welcome to the 15th anniversary of the BBP.   It's been a very wild and crazy ride with lots of ups and downs in between the date I started this site while back in Afghanistan and all around the world.

When this site became active, as mentioned, I was in Afghanistan and about 7 months later, moved to Iraq.  Was there for a year and came back to the states where I once again took up residence in St. Petersburg, FL.  I was there for about a year and a half before I got the chance of a lifetime and took a position in Stuttgart, Germany for about a year.  Just before my projects were completed in Germany, I interviewed and was hired for a position out in Stanton, CA where I lived for nearly 6 years.  After seeing the writing on the wall, I left CA to move back to Florida, Orlando more precisely where I have been for almost 5 years.

In my travels, I have made it to many of my favorite activities, theme parks.  I have gone to Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom.  Also went to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure.  Went to Sea World, Busch Gardens and Six Flags over Georgia.  Also hit Disneyland Paris, Disney Studios in Paris and Europa Park along with a couple of festivals, Oktoberfest in Munich and SpringFest and Volkfest in Stuttgart.  On my travels out west, I visited Universal Studios Hollywood, Magic Mountain, Knott's Berry Farm, Disneyland and California Adventure.  Throw in the San Diego County Fair in Del Mar and the Orange County Fair in Costa Mesa.

Saw many countries during this time too.  Afghanistan, UAE, Ireland, England, Iraq, Kuwait, Germany, Switzerland, France, Czech Republic, France, Austria, Luxomburg, Belgium, Netherlands.  

Saw so many cities and towns that there are so many I can't even remember all their names.  Here are some of the ones I can remember.  London, Dublin, Istanbul, Baghdad, Kabul, Dubai, Stuttgart, Berlin, Nuremburg, Frankfurt, Baden-Baden, Strausburg, Colmar, Milan, Lake Como, Venice, Garmisch-PartenKirchen, Hintertux, Prague, Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, Munich and Zurich.

Saw so many castles and castle ruins.  One of the top of the list was Neuschwanstein and also Lichtenstein and Frankenstein Castle.  I have them all under the Castle Explorations tab.  Saw many places I had only imagined seeing and visiting.  Brandenburg Gate, The Berlin Wall, Eiffel Tower and the canals of Amsterdam and Venice.  Visited The Alamo on my drive west along with Tombstone.  Visited the Grand Canyon and San Francisco.

So in the past 15 years, I have to look back and say wow!!!  What a ride it's been.  And there's so much more to do because to live, really live, is the greatest adventure.

Until next time...

BBP out!!!
 

Jan 2nd - Welcoming 2026

January 3, 2026
Welcome foolish mortals...to 2026.  Hopefully this year has started out better for you than it has for me.  Already been a rough patch but we will endure and overcome.

This new year will see the BBP work feverishly on a few things.  Health, profession and this site.  Going to really put some effort into it this year and clean it up, make it a bit easier to navigate and add some more things.  This is, Afterall, the 15th year for the site.

Hope all are well and here's to a prosperous new year.

Unt...
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Dec 31st - Goodbye 2025

December 31, 2025
Welcome foolish mortals to the end of 2025.  This will be the final blog for the year and hope that the new year is better and good to us all.

I have to say, it's been rough this year, with all the changes that have happened but we managed to survive.  

We saw chaos brought into the country with the delusional person elected who instantly brought the country down...but this isn't about politics so let's get off them.

The BBP bought a house in the middle of the year and has been enjoying the bene...
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Dec 1st - Here we go!!!

December 2, 2025
Welcome foolish mortals...to December.  I hope everyone had an enjoyable Thanksgiving and Black Friday too.  

Here we are now, into the last month of the year and it's all fun and holidays.  I'm in my house for my first Christmas and looking forward to doing some decorating, if the dog and cat will allow me to.  We shall see.  I've already caught one of them in the tree.

Gonna be a busy month for us.  Have lots of things going on with work and life in general and also the holidays.  Gotta hit t...
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November 1st - Welcome to November

November 2, 2025
Greetings, foolish mortals. Well Halloween is over and we are now in the throes of the holiday season. While I’m sad that the Halloween season is over I’m excited for the Christmas season. October went by way too fast and I realized I only made one update, so hopefully I’ll be able to do a few more this month. 

Got a lot of things to do lots of things to plan and lots of things to accomplish before the end of the year. Looking forward to spending the holidays in my new house and enjoying...
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Oct 1st - Welcome to October and Happy Birthday!!!

October 1, 2025
Welcome foolish mortals...to October.  We are officially in the haunting month of the year.  Believe it or not, I have yet to hit one haunt this season.  Just been a rough portion of the year with costs and everything else adding up.  Looking to try to visit a few soon.  Maybe not the big ones as I'm not a fan of those crowds but there are plenty of smaller ones.

Today is also the 54th birthday of Walt Disney World.  I have visited it probably well over 1000 times.  I've been an annual pass ho...
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September 30th - A day for rememberence

October 1, 2025
35 long years ago yet the memories are like yesterday. It’s been a year since I posted this and I swear it never gets easier. I’ve dreamt about Bill many times and in one he told me to release myself from my feelings of loss, guilt and many other emotions.
So what I’m going to do is mention a few funny and maybe not so funny memories I have. Maybe this is what my therapists meant. 

I remember we were having an AW picnic over near the carrier pier and Bill went in the port-a-let and a few...

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Sep 2nd - One door closes but the world opens

September 10, 2025
Greetings foolish mortals.  Another momentous day in the world of the BBP was September 2nd, 2010.  This was the day where my technologically challenged boss decided the bank I was the IT Manager at, would be better off without my department as he was outsourcing us.  Needless to say, we were walked out of the operations center with no fanfare or any thanks.  We went and had a few drinks and the next day found out we were getting a pathetic severance package and that was it.  This was in the ...
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Sep 8th - A Special day

September 10, 2025
Greetings foolish mortals.  I know it's a day late but I was super busy yesterday so I am updating the site tonight.

September 8th is a special day for the BBP.  It saw us join the United States Navy as a young, naive 18 year old kid who was leaving home for the first time.  Getting at the recruiter at 0500 on Monday morning and going to the Tampa MEPs station where we were sworn in as a member of the Navy to uphold and protect the constitution of the United States of America.  It is an oath I...
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Sep 1st - Welcome to September

September 2, 2025
Greetings foolish mortals and welcome to September.  Well, the birthday month is over and we are back home after nearly a week in SoCal.

August was a great month, as always, and now we're looking at the best time of year.  The Halloween events have started here at Universal Orlando.  Also starting at Epcot, is the Food and Wine Festival.  While I missed the opening days and nights of these events, I will be visiting both.

Just a quick update so until next time...

BBP out!!!
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