Author Archives: David Tyson

Decisions

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Have you ever wondered might have been if you made a different decision in your life? I always look back and examine the decisions and choices I made in life. From minor ones like I should have turned left instead of right to major ones like quitting your job to pursue a dream. We all have made some decisions in our life that changed the course of our life. Everyone has regrets on decisions they have made. However looking back in my life I am happy with every decision I made. Even the bad decisions because they made me the person I am today. It has brought me to where I am today. I have been married for five and a half years to a wonderful wife. I have a great four year old son. I have an awesome family. I have a job that I actually enjoy and love. I am living where my wife and I has wanted to live since we were married. All of this because of the decisions I have made in my life both good and bad.  I am under the impression that everything happens for a reason and I can see that looking back at the decisions I have made in the past. It seems like every decision has lead me making another decision that lead me to where I am now. Let’s take a bird’s eye view of decisions that lead me to my current career. This is very top level stuff and not specific but it will illustrate what I mean about how decisions lead you to where you are. 

As you know I am currently a DBA (Database Administrator) for the company I work for which of course is in the computer field. Ever since I was a kid I enjoyed computers. My dad would always get computers and let me use them. Computers like the Commodore 64, Amiga 2000 to modern computers of today. I decided at a young age that computers were definitely the future. I mean after seeing the original Terminator there was something up with these crazy machines. I always kept up with the latest computer technology and even school officials at both middle school and high school would ask me questions about computers when there is something wrong with them.  My love of computers leads me to apply at UNR for a Computer Science degree. I decided to stay in the dorms for my first year of college. Now this leads me to meet a college friend of mine. By meeting him we decided to live off campus with other roommates the following year. He got a job at a store. I decided I needed a job and he got me a job at the store while he left the store to work somewhere else. I decided to work hard at the job and it got me promoted to a senior position. Later I decided I wanted a higher paying job so because of my experience at this store I got hired at a different retail store. I decided to work hard there and once again I was promoted to a senior position at the store.  

I graduated college after four years and with my degree I wanted a higher paying job (and some other reasons but that is story for another time) so I got my first Software Engineering track with a casino company in Reno. I continued up the software engineering rank getting promotions until I actually got upset with some things in the company. I even started looking for other jobs (which is how I met my wife from southern California which is also another story for another time, see how those decisions affect your life) in other places. Finally I decided to change departments in the company which was ok at first but found out was not a good decision because I could never move back up (However as you will find out it ended up being a good decision).  Finally I had enough of the company and the way they treated me that I decided to pursue another dream of mine which was to be an officer in the Navy. I was accepted and went to OCS for training. This also caused me to get debt free which is another story for another time. I had to get surgery while at OCS and eventually had to drop from the program. It was a hard decision but I had to do it for my health. I went back jobless and me being one that wants to work to support my family I searched for a job quickly in a market that was not good at the time. I even tried to go back to my old company but they decided against it. After three weeks of being out of work I found a database job in Las Vegas where I never saw myself ever living.  

I worked hard at the Vegas job but the company environment was not for me. I decided again to look for another job and I found it. It was with the casino company I am current working with right now. I got it because of my extensive database knowledge and because of my experience working in that second department for the first casino company. This job is great because I do stuff I know very well and I get to travel which is what I love. This also allowed me to live in Goldfield and make a lot of money and more opportunities.  This is just a small snippet of what lead me to where I am now with my career. You can see stuff from just meeting someone in college or getting mad at something at work can change your whole life. It is amazing when you go back and think about it. I will take all the good and bad decisions because they made me the person I am today. Do I wish I could change the mistakes I made in the past? I wish I could say that I do but I don’t. Who knows where I would be now if I did? Sometimes you have to fall hard and crash to bring yourself up. I have had bad times and made wrong decisions where I thought life would be bad. However sometimes you have to fall to come back stronger. 

For the future I plan to work harder on my writing which I have been and it is starting to pick up. Also I still have those plans for the Goldfield area so stayed tuned for that. See more decisions I am making. Let’s see where they bring me.    I want everyone to think about some aspect of their life and think of the decisions that lead you to where you are. It could be a career, your love life or where you are right now. Do you see major decisions that lead you to where you are even the bad ones? Do you wish you could change your decisions or are you like me and am happy for the decisions I made whether good or bad? Comment below and tell me some things you decided that lead you to where you are. I want to hear from you. Thanks for reading and hopefully next week I will have the Stephen King Carrie movie reviews up. My copy of Carrie broke because of the great care the airlines take when handling your bags. Stay tuned for those and any other blog posts.

Long week but will write a bit next week

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Sorry everyone I know I said I was back but sometimes in my job I have to travel accross the country and work some long hours on a project. This week was the case so that I why I didn’t get to write as much as I wanted to. I will get going again next week as I will be in Nevada working regular hours. Probably get a personal blog up and maybe reviews of the three Carrie movies I have coming. Until then enjoy the Memorial Day weekend and always remember what the day stands for and not just as a long weekend to have out of work.

Stephen King Book Review- Carrie

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Here I begin my journey of reviewing every Stephen King book and movie (and sequels) that I can find. I will be reviewing every book in the order that it was published. I will review every movie that is based on that book and any sequel or remake of the movie I can get. Also keep in mind some of the reviews will have some spoilers and I will let you know when a spoiler is approaching. The first book I will review is Carrie.

 

Note: I read this book back in February when I was starting this project so forgive me if it is not in depth as I would like it. Future ones will be better.

 

 

What grand opening scene do I get when starting my review on every book of the master of horror Stephen King? Is it some horrendous monster that preys on the fears of everyone? Is it a psychotic killer on the loose? No the opening of my journey through the writings of Stephen King begin in a high school girls shower room where a girl named Carrie White gets her first period and the other girls start making fun of her and throwing tampons and pads at her.

Yes my friends this is my introduction to the world of Stephen King. As different of an opening this is, it is actually a strong opening. Carrie is a book about a high school girl who is unattractive, always gets bullied and made fun of, and has an overly religious mother. Oh and Carrie happens to possess telekinetic powers. The opening is strong because we get a feel of Carrie. We feel the pain she has of being bullied and made fun of. We get a glimpse of her background by the fact she did not know what a period was and how her over religious mother never told her. We also get signs of her telekinetic powers.

This strange but powerful opening keeps the readers engaged into the story to see what happens to this girl. The book is written in a way that would be unfamiliar to many seasoned Stephen King fans. It switches between writings from newspapers, books and interviews about the incident that takes place in the book to the actual story. To some readers this can cause annoyance or confusion. While I did not have issues with the writing format employed here by Stephen King, I did not particularly care for it. However, the story did engage me to read further so that was good.

The story details the events from the shower incident until the night of the school prom exploring the new found telekinetic ability Carrie has developed and plans to humiliate Carrie at the prom. It details how a classmate (Sue Snell) that was mean to Carrie regrets what she did and has her boyfriend (Tommy Ross) take her to prom. While one of Carrie’s biggest bullies (Chris Hargensen) who was the instigator of the shower incident hatches a plan with her boyfriend (Billy Nolan) to dump pig’s blood onto Carrie. This leads to fiery and destructive climatic ending that you will have to read where Carrie goes on a rampage from all the abuse she received from her classmates and her mother.

This book I find to be an excellent read and is just as relevant today as it was in 1974 when it was published. The main themes that I took from the book are abuse and being bullied. The mother abused Carrie so much in an over religious manner. She would lock Carrie under the stairs with religious items as punishment. This could go on for days. Stephen King received some flak for the mother character as they thought he was making fun of religion. I don’t think he was but even if he was it is true there are some people like that in the real world that I have known personally.

Bullying is a major driving point to the book. Today bullying is in the media a lot and there are major programs out there to help stop bullying. Almost every week I hear something on the news or some show about bullying. People are bullying at school and even on social media. I hear of deaths or suicides from bullying. I know that bullying has been around forever, I mean I ran into a few bullies in my life, but has it become worse?  Has kids just become more hateful and mean? Has social media and the internet increased bullying? Maybe I will write a blog post on bullying in the future. That is why Carrie is just as relevant today as it was when it was first published. Not only is it a good story but it mirrors many themes that are hot news items today and makes you think.

Overall Carrie is a good book and an interesting read. While the style Stephen King chooses to write the story in is not the best choice I feel like it is a great read. The characters are engaging, the story incites an emotional response and of course you do have the detailed descriptive writing Stephen King is known for. While the fear factor of the story is minimal (except the fear of what society can do to people and produce) it still has elements of the super natural and violence. The novel is also very short for a quick read. I give this opening book by Stephen King three stars out of five and recommend it to anyone interested in Stephen King’s early work or like emotion grabbing books.

Moral: Don’t bully or abuse people. Not only is it wrong but the person might telekinetic and your prom might be the last event of your life if you do.

That is my first review of Stephen King books. I have three movies to watch and review about Carrie that will be posted to the blog. It is a movie, a sequel to the movie and a remake. Also at the end of the blog I will have a tracker of the final ratings of each book or movie I reviewed to see what books I liked or didn’t like. Thanks for reading and please leave some feedback or comments. Did you read the book? If so what are your thoughts on it? What are your thoughts on the themes I expressed above? I want to hear from you so let me know and comment below.

You can buy the book and read up on information about it here.

 

Books Reviewed:

Carrie ***

I have been gone and I hope I am back

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I have not written in this in awhile. I have been so busy adjusting to my new life and finding out how to go about everything. Believe me I wanted to come back and write a lot in this but things have been so busy and some personal things have been happening. Now I feel I can return to my writing. Not only just writing in this blog but writing my books and other items. I feel now is the time to get going and really push for my dreams. I mean I will be 30 in December. It is time to make my millions I wanted and live out my dreams and I will do it. I have it in me just like any person and if I try and work very hard on going for my dream it will come true. Come and join me in this blog as I journey towards completing my dream. It will be a fun ride.

I should have my first Stephen King review up either tonight or this weekend so check back on that. I also have some other porjects going so stay tuned. Yes this is short but wanted to let everyone know I am back.

Top Five Vegas Shows I Went To

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Warning: This blog post is rated PG-13 by the International Super Secret Blog Ratings Board of America West of the Mississippi.

Sorry for the little warning but we are talking about Vegas shows and this will include video clips of the shows. Since the blog this week has been kind of a downer with bad news I decided to leave the week on a more positive note and that is a list of my top five Las Vegas shows I went to. Now to be fair I haven’t been to many shows but if I had to choose my top five these would be it. Please enjoy and let me know what your favorite shows you have seen.

5. Tournament of Kings

This show is actually pretty fun to go to. I mean you get to have a meal and watch a knight show right in front of you. You are split into sections where you cheer for the knight of the color section you are in and it is actually pretty entertaining. I went to this show a few times but actually went to it first when I was in the 8th grade on my 8th grade trip (that was a fun trip). Do any of my friends remember that week? Anyway it was a fun show and will always have a sense of nostalgia for me. Yes I did pull The Cable Guy routine on the waitress. If you don’t know what that is well you don’t get utensils while you eat (because they did not exist in medieval times) but then the waitress asks if you want Pepsi and then you mock her by saying, “So they had Pepsi in medieval times?” Regardless to say she was not amused by my comment and probably heard it a million times after the movie came out. Anyway here is a short clip I found of the show.

4. Amazing Johnathan

This is a comedy show with a little magic thrown into there. If you seen the his Comedy Central special you seen the show. However, it was fun being there live in person with my wife seeing it. It is humorous. I would recommend getting there early because he has a little entertaining feature that makes fun of people in the audience and it was pretty funny. Here is a little clip promoting the show.

3. Lance Burton Magic Show

This show is no longer going but it was a great show to see with my wife. He does magic on a grand stage and he is actually pretty funny while he does it. The kid in me loved the magic show and it was smooth and relaxing way to just release the stresses of life and enjoy myself. His tricks were pretty amazing and I don’t have no clue on how he did some of them. Here is an older magic segment he did long ago.


2. Bite

There were topless vampire chicks dancing to some nice classical rock. Do I even need to say more? Ok it also has a pretty good storyline that is told through the rock music with little to no dialogue. It is about a male vampire trying to find love even though he has many wives already. Well I will take this story over Bella and Edward anyway. The show has great visuals; they interact with the crowd and have some circus acts. It is very entertaining. Oh and did I mention it has topless vampire chicks dancing, just joking but it is a good show. Here is the PG-13 clip of a promo for the show.

1. The Phantom of the Opera

Yes my number one show I saw was this. The set was amazing, the actors did great, the music is good and it was entertaining. No there was no Gerald Butler but it was still good. What places this at number 1 is it has special meaning to me. I took my wife here on our 1 year anniversary. We did the whole limo, dinner, gondola, and show experience that night and we had a great time. It was a special time and that is what puts this show as number 1 on my list. It ends in September in Las Vegas so go see it before it goes. Here is a promo clip from the show. 

  
 

Well there you have it. I hoped you enjoyed reading my top five shows I went to in Las Vegas. I will randomly put some top lists in my blog ever so often. Have a happy Friday and a great weekend. 

An Upsetting Day

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An upsetting day today but it is for the best. As some of you know we had issues getting our home loan approved due to the fact that I worked in Las Vegas and they didn’t want to approve a loan because they did not believe I would actually live there and they never heard someone living in Goldfield and working in Las Vegas. 

We decided to go ahead and rent the house to have proof I am living in the house and also working in Las Vegas. So that is going great and we love the house. So why do you ask it is an upsetting day but it will be for the best?  We discovered a great loan program with Nevada State Bank for the house that has a very low interest rate, low payments and will able to pay off the house in ten years instead of the usual twenty or thirty. Now that is something great and would love to do. However, this deal requires a large down payment. This is the part that is upsetting not because I have to save some money for the next few months but because I will have to delay my current projects I have for Goldfield and the projects my wife and I have. It will probably be delayed a year. The reason a lot of these will be delayed is because I would be investing my own money to see the good things to the community would happen and the projects my wife and I had. 

It is for the best though in the long run because once I save enough money I will be able to have that permanent feeling of living in Goldfield. I apologize about this as I was very excited for the near future. However, have no fear I will still be working on the projects in the background but just can’t implement them yet. I will of course continue to write in this blog and also of course pursue my goal of writing my books and stories and getting an agent. I will also still support Goldfield in any way I can at this time.  

Even though it is upsetting it is for the best and everything will come together. It will give me more time to plan the surprises and great things I have planned for Goldfield and Tonopah area. I apologize about this small bump but as people have bumps in their lives they have bumps in their plans.  

Do Not Live at The Pines Apartments in Henderson, NV

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This may sound like a bitter rant and I apologize for it but I have to warn anyone about my previous apartment complex I lived in which is The Pines in Henderson, NV. This complex has to be the worst apartment complex I have ever lived in and I have lived in pretty bad places. This rant does not have to do with the community as it appeared to be safe and quiet. However, after analyzing the whole picture this place was actually a not so great place to live. Here are some points about the place that I will warn you about if you decide to move to Henderson: 

–They have the strictest rules that if you don’t follow you will be harassed. If you have a visitor you better make sure they know the rules or they will be really harassed also. Now my family and I never had a problem with the rules and followed them. You can never back up to your parking spot, you can’t have anything on your balcony that isn’t approved by the managers, and you can’t have any pets. My family and I witnessed someone who parked a little over the line where there was no other cars around and in the visitor’s parking and they were harassed by the managers. My three year old son at the time was present and they were cussing and threating police action just for being parked a little over the line. The managers always drive around the complex at night checking to make sure no one is breaking the rules. 

–Now it is one thing to have strict rules but it is different when they choose who to enforce the rules to. There was a no pet policy at this apartment complex yet some had cats and even dogs. People who talk to them regularly in the office got away with breaking the rules whether it is their car or pets. They have a no soliciting rule with signs even posted and yet they allow fellow residents to put flyers on my door soliciting. It they want to have these strict rules then they need to enforce it for everyone. 

–The deposit you pay when you move in is not a security deposit, it is a cleaning deposit. This means before you move in as it was explained by the office that you pay them to clean the apartment for you before you move in. This is not a security deposit so if you have issues with the apartment you will pay full price for anything that may go wrong. If three rooms of carpet are messed up they will charge you carpet for the whole apartment. This comes to around $1400 you will have to pay. I am all for paying for the carpet that is messed up but not for rooms that did not have an issue. I even have proof of the rooms that were not touched but I truly do not have the time and patience to fight it. 

–The facilities are outdated and old. They even require you to change the filter of your heating and cooler system and if you don’t and it breaks it is all on you. That is how old their system is. There were even some infestations of roaches a few times while living there and that is never good. If you could afford it I would pay for a newer apartment complex. Going along with that if you have an injured bird that defecates everywhere and you ask them to handle it and clean it they will refuse to do so. Not only is this unsanitary but it also can cause sickness and disease. 

–The managers always came off and unfriendly and rude. That of course is just a personal opinion and may not reflect their true character but that was what I felt talking with them. My wife especially did not feel comfortable talking with them. They also were hardly ever in the office. This should have been a sign to me when my wife and I were first looking for apartments and their stated hours were 8am-5pm and they were not in until 9:30am.  

 –The thing scares me the most about the management is they do not give receipts for rent payments. Their philosophy is that when you write the check that the bank statement will be your receipt. I have never had an apartment complex that did not deal with receipts. What if they got really mad at you one month and decided to not cash your check and then blame you for not paying rent? I can see that happening and I read a review on the internet stating that did happen to someone. To me that is unsafe and unprofessional.  

I can go on and on about this place but I don’t want to turn this into a thesis paper. I touched on some major points and hope you make the right decision and not move to the complex. I would recommend spending your money on a newer more professional facility that has a better management staff. That is my opinion of the complex and you can take it for what it is worth. Thanks for reading my rant. 

Yeah it is Friday

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Don’t you just love Fridays? I sure do. Especially this Friday where I get to have a three day weekend. Anyway this will be a short blog post as I have a lot to do. There probably won’t be a post on Monday as I will be spending time with my family but check back anyway just in case I do.

For some updates I will be adding a new feature to my blog. I am going to read every Stephen King novel ever published and write a little review on it. Not only that, if there is a movie about the story I read I will also review that and post that up on the blog. That includes any official or unofficial sequels (wow I will be watching and reviewing a million Children of the Corn movies) and any remakes or made for TV movies. This will be a long feature on this blog and I will some good humor in my reviews and they will be exciting. I hope everyone will like them and you never read a Stephen King book maybe you will find a review you like and read the book or at least watch the movie. I will be starting with Carrie.

Thanks for the positive feedback on my last post. I would like some people to share their stories but maybe in the future you will. I plan on writing more posts like that in the future.

This week I will start getting some of my projects organized and long term plans scheduled. From my wife’s and I project, Goldfield project to my writing project it will be mapped out as much as I can. Things are really looking up and I can’t do it with you. I appreciate you reading my blog.

Anyway I will be heading home again. Have a safe weekend everyone and enjoy any time you have off.

*Sorry if there are any typos I am writing this in a hurry.

Cheating

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Yes this post is about cheaters and I am not talking about the ones that cheat at poker or on their taxes. I am talking about those who cheat on their spouses, boyfriend/girlfriend and any other close relationship. Why does someone choose to cheat on their significant other? It has had me wondering for years. As some of you know I have had been in a couple major relationships that the person decided to cheat on me. To this day I always wondered why as I never had a reason or closure to it.  Was it something I did or did not do? Is it because of my looks or lack of looks? Is it because the other person was intoxicated that they just did the deed? Did it only happen once that I knew about or did it happen multiple times? These are the questions that plague someone who was cheated on and sometimes you get the answers you seek but a lot of times you don’t. 

It is hard to be cheated on as you put so much faith into someone and love and care and they just take it all away in one fail swoop when the truth is known. Some people take it hard and never recover and have issues the rest of their life never trusting someone or giving their heart to anyone again. Others just shrug it off and move on with their lives. Then there are those that can forgive the person and take them back into their lives which could lead to them cheating on them again or they might actually have changed. Whatever the category you fall into above if you have been cheated on it will feel horrible. I don’t care how strong a person is it is the most horrible feeling in the world. As sad as this is cheating is everywhere. It could be your neighbor down the street, it is all over the tv whether it be a tv show or the new stating another celebrity or politician has cheated on their spouse, to yourself. Sometimes it is even glamorized which I personally find sad. However, that is the world we live in. It has been probably been like that throughout time but it is only more known now with the mass communications system we have now whether it be a social network, a blog, the twenty-four news channels or whatever it may be. 

How does one get over cheating? It is different for everyone and some never get over it. One of the ways I got over someone cheating on me was write a whole book. I always loved writing and always wanted to write a book but when I was so hurt I regressed and wrote a book. You can see that as a theme in my book and hear my pain. However, the hero of my book overcame everything and ended up happy. You can check out this book if you are interested by clicking here.   I actually gave a book to a friend of mine who was cheated on. She read it and saw the theme of the book that there is always hope and always a bright light and the end of the dark tunnel of your life. I believed that while writing the book that I wrote it through my eyes in my life. I was in such a dark place when I was cheated on but had hoped and knew that there was light at the end of the tunnel. It turned out there was a light and I haven’t been happier. That light was my wife who showed me happiness and love. Right now my life is great and will only get greater. There will always be rough patches in your life but you will find a way and find your path. You will find your light at the end of the tunnel. Being cheated on is not the end but it is a new beginning. You will see a new day in your life has come. Please leave some comments and feedback. Share some stories if you have been cheated on and if things ended up good in your life or worse after. I would love to hear from my readers. Just remember a new day will come even if you feel stuck in darkness. I know this may be girly of me but see the song below to illustrate a new day will come. Hope to hear from everyone and thanks for reading.

What the Future Holds

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It has been over a week since I started writing in this blog again. I have noticed a few readers coming to the blog and I hope people enjoy it. I know this blog seems disjointed but as the title says it covers everything political, social and things in everyday life from my mind. There will be a lot of cool things coming so don’t you worry. 

As I mentioned I have a few projects on the works. You always know about my book projects which are still in the process. Don’t worry my Fifth Age fans there will be more books and I will finish the series. In fact I am in talks with agents to see if I can go that route. Please check the news section of my book website by clicking here. There you can see information on my book and future books. 

I am also writing a bunch of short stories with the setting of all over Nevada (especially Goldfield). These short stories are horror stories that integrate things in my life, urban legends and other things you see every day. They can be disturbing and others can be satirical as a dark comedy. There is also a lot of twist endings. They are pretty exciting and I might share a couple on this blog.  I also have a surprise about these stories that I will reveal in the future when the time is right. 

I have not forgotten about Goldfield. Like I alluded to earlier in my blog I am planning on some major changes in the town. It will help everyone in town, produce growth and jobs and back to the glory days. It will be glorious and fun at the same time. I hope to get the community to also get involved.  My wife and I have a project we will be starting soon and it will be great. I can’t give the details about it just yet because it will have a great unveiling and something the world can see and participate. We are very excited about it. Stay tuned for that. 

As a follow up to the Resort Fee posting I have found a link that lists the hotels with Resort Fees and how much they are. It is very interesting if you are going to stay at a hotel in Las Vegas to know that on top of paying for the room for your stay you will be charged the extra fees at checkout no matter what. Check out the website by clicking here. 

I started working out hard again to get back into shape like I used to be. It has been a hard week getting back into the flow of things but I have stuck with it and I am already feeling much better. I will update you periodically on this blog on my progress. I will also show you what I have been doing to get back into shape. 

Well that is a little idea of the future. I know it is a little vague but that is half the fun which is the anticipation. This will be an interesting year and hope everyone is ready for it. That is if the world doesn’t end in December but that is another story for a different time. Be prepared for some exciting stuff both locally and across the world as this year will be very exciting. Stay tuned