Rest In Peace, Sierra

7/4/2002 - 1/31/2011

Sierra wasn't just my dog, she was my best friend. I loved her, and always will love her with all of my heart. She was an amazing best friend and I will never forget her. She can, and will never be replaced. She will be missed dearly by all who knew her. I am so thankful that I was able to be present during her time of death. Sierra was so calm and brave during the entire process. I am so proud of her, she is so strong. I love you princess.

Sierra was put to sleep January 31st at 12:10 AM. She had been extremely ill a few months prior to this awful day. My mother got a hold of me Friday afternoon saying that Sierra might have cancer. With me phone right next to me every second for updates, Kelsey and I went to sleep Friday night. Saturday morning, Kelsey decided to make a trip to see Sierra before she got any worse and possible be put down. I didn't want to go because I wanted to remember her when she was healthy and I didn't think I would be able to handle seeing her that sick. Kelsey eventually convinced me to go up north with her.

We arrived in San Jose Saturday evening and spent the night with Sierra. She was not doing well at all. She was extremely ill, skinny, and refusing to eat absolutely anything. We talked about putting her to sleep because we felt she was suffering, but some of the family wanted to wait just a little longer. Sunday, Kelsey and I packed up to leave for Southern California. Feeling sad and guilty, I decided to call my boss to ask for Monday off to spend just one more night with my dog. With ease, my boss did not care that I took off Monday, so we decided to stay with Sierra.

Sierra actually seemed to be doing better. She was somewhat eating, and she was fairly responsive. That was a good sign. Kelsey and I decided to get ready for bed around 9:00 PM so I got Sierra's leash to take her for a walk to go to the bathroom before bed time. She was excited to go outside, so everything seemed fine. She ended up going to the bathroom, and as she was walking, she stumbled a little and then caught her balance for a split second. After that, she collapsed. I immediately picked her up, held her and tried to get some kind of response from her. She looked at me dazed and confused, and then her head dropped. I thought she died right there in my arms. I ran with her in my arms, back to the house to explain what happened to my mom and Kelsey. In result, we concluded that she passed out, and had a stroke.

Sierra, by this time has gained her conscientious but was still very confused and weak. She just stood there looking at all of us so very confused. We sat down there in the entry way with her and held her. Kelsey called the rest of the family to get them to come over and soon after, we found our way heading to the veterinarian emergency room. After talking with the doctor for a little while, he gave us his opinion.

He said she indeed did have some kind of mass on or around her spleen and the chances of that to be cancerous are very high. We had an option of surgery that was thousands of dollars and with only a 5% chance that it does any help at all. The reality of this situation is that Sierra was too fragile for the surgery and since she was nine years old, that wasn't on our odds either. The doctor proceeded to say that we were not making the wrong decision to stop her suffering then and there.

After a hour or so of a very emotional goodbye, my best friend, Sierra was put to sleep with no more suffering at 12:10 AM of January 31st 2011. I am so very proud of her, she was extremely brave, and now she is at rest with no more pain or suffering. I love her so very much and I will never forget her. Rest in Peace, Sierra.

BLT 1/7 returns home to smiles, cheers

By Diane Durden , Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms
MARINE CORPS AIR GROUND COMBAT CENTER TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif., — The excitement of the crowd continued to build as someone shouted, “They’re at KFC on the highway.” Families and friends gathered at the Del Valle soccer field Jan. 6-8, 2011, to welcome home the Marines and sailors of Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 31st Marine Expeditionalry Unit.

During the last eight months, BLT 1/7 conducted training with allied nations, honed and utilized their amphibious assault skills and conducted humanitarian and disaster relief missions.

“We were able to train together as a battalion to be an amphibious battalion,” said battalion commander Lt. Col. Todd Simmons of the unit’s successful deployment. “The ability to do that really shows the strength and leadership of the NCOs.”

After the Philippines was devasted by Super Typhoon Juan, BLT 1/7 stepped in to provide humanitarian assistance.

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Addicting game of the week: Desert Rifle 2

QiGames comes out with Desert Rifle 2 and I honestly had me playing for a few hours at least. You have weapons, bullets, land mines and you have to stop your enemies in their tracks! As you progress and earn more money, you can upgrade your weapons, buy more ammo, and buy more land mines. The enemies get tougher as you go along your quest to dominate all combatants.

The best advice that can be given is whenever you reload, drag your mouse down so your guy will take cover and you cannot be shot until the enemy is extremely close. Use land mines as much as possible, especially for the tanks. Aim for the head ands you will kill the enemy a lot faster, but that is a given for any shooter game. The game is really easy once you get some of the better weapons. If you like games like this, it is extremely addicting, so make sure you have an hour or so to spare!

You can play Desert Rifle 2 at Addicting games Here
Check out last weeks addicting game, Highway Pursuit 2 Here

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Hot Video: Marine Stuns Crowd at Tea Party

This guy is a true patriot, besides having been a Marine. Everyone should listen carefully to the little known words of the remaining verse of the Star Spangled Banner, our national anthem. Semper Fi.

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Movie Review: Inception (2010)

Brandon's Review

"What is the most resilient parasite? An Idea!" Yes, Christopher Nolan has created something with his unbelievably, incredibly and out-of-the-box thinking mind which has blown the minds of the audience away.

Inception (2010) is an excellent and breathtaking movie that lives up to its hype. It is a nearly perfect and highly original film that holds your attention until the credits roll. The less you know about this movie going in, the more you will be entranced by seeing it.

One of the pros of this movie is it's theme. Dream is a fascinating topic to say the least. There are a lot of unknowns in dreamworld. Another pro is it's plot; There are several good twists and unpredictable turns during the movie. It also had a very edgy drive; Although you know what's coming next, still you feel jumpy about it when it happens. One of the best pros are it's rapid storyline. The story moves fast from one scene to another, making the viewers feel like on a roller coaster ride. Personally, I understood it entirely the first time. However, people say they had to watch it more than once to understand the movie. If that is true, than Nolan did his job, extraordinarily well. The movie also had great sophistication, there is a lot of information to remember and digest.

Although the acting was convincing enough, there was not enough of character development. How many people really felt connected to the main character(s) after watching the movie? Yes, the movie talks about emotional struggles but it was more of an action film than anything else. The movie also had more characters than necessary. They may play certain roles in the plot but they seemed more of distractions than anything else.

There is very little room for improvement; However, I absolutely loved the movie and would recommend it to anyone.

9/10

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Kelsey's Review

I have yet to hear a negative review on Inception, except that it took a few people several times of watching the movie to understand what is going on. Although at times a little confusing... I thought it explained itself pretty well the first time. The whole time the I was watching I kept thinking to myself, the person who wrote this script is a genius.That genius being Christopher Nolan, Then I thought the director of this film is ALSO a genius! The genius being again Christopher Nolan.

The whole concept of a a dream within a dream and how you get there, how you get out of there and what happens when you don't get out in time; was mind blowing. Then to cast Leonoardo DiCaprio, Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Michael Caine, Ellen Page and Tom Hardy work so well together! Yet, I am sure no one questioned there acting abilities. 

The internal battle between Leo's character and his wife is key. It adds an extra layer to the movie that already has so many layers. The visual graphics of the movie are top notch, my favorite scene would have to be when in Stage one the van rolls over and it affects Joseph Gordon-Levitt's fight scene by having the buildings walls roll around. So, that scene was probably one of the most legit ones in the movie. Then the way the movie ended made you question everything you just watched. Yup Its one of those movies, almost like the ending to Shutter Island (2010). 

I won't say what the ending is like, due to the fact that I don't want to spoil it for anyone, who may have read this to see if the movie is worth watching. However, if you have seen the movie and are curious to know my opinion on the ending, then feel free to leave a comment asking.

9/10

Addicting game of the week: Highway Pursuit 2

Gonzo Games, yet again has created another amazing game that is rather addicting to play. Highway Pursuit 2 is a shooting game where you have to protect your stolen armored car from the entire police force. The more police you keep from busting you, the more money you get to buy a wide range of upgrades. There are fourteen different weapons, you can upgrade your armored car for more defense, you can add more bad guys in the car with you to help shoot off the enemies, four grenades to buy each round each round, and you can buy repairs to your car.

This game is unique because it takes the idea of a defense game and puts a twist on it. There are thirty levels you have to complete before launching off a ramp to the escape boat. The enemies, or police in this case, get tougher each round and of course the quantity goes up as well. Gonzo Games also added in a trophy feature, so you are not just killing the enemies and upgrading your weapons, you are also trying to win all thirty-one trophies.

Some of the weapons are really just there for looks because they don't really help you out as it gets harder. All of the weapons were designed as the same ones from Call of Duty, so most of you will recognize them and know which ones are useful. The best advice that can be given, is to always have four grenades (max) and to buy and equip the MG36 rifle as well as the M249 Para so you can switch back and fourth between the two by pressing Q. Those two weapons offer the longest amount of shooting time and they are the most powerful. The grenades are there to help you when you become too over powered, which does happen sometimes when you have to reload. Also, don't forget to buy your defenders, they help a lot!

Highway Pursuit 2 was released just on Friday, January 7th and it has been played 327,372 times and received the rating of 81% from Addicting Games. This is a highly recommended game for this week!

You can play Desert Rifle 2 at Addicting games Here

Hired at Examiner

A few days ago, I applied for an on-the-side job for www.examiner.com. This morning, I received an acceptance email with my first article being approved. I will still be writing and updating United We Stand as often as I already do, if not more. So keep coming here! As well, to help me out, please follow the provided link and add it to your favorites and keep reading my articles on Burbank PC Games! I appreciate all of you who help out and continue to help out!

My page for Examiner: http://www.examiner.com/pc-games-in-los-angeles/brandon-gregorio

I also updated our links over to the left side of the site so you can't forget it! ;)

My Resident Evil: Afterlife review

Today I took a few hours out of my day to watch Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010). Before I get started, I will admit that I absolutely love zombie related movies that have a well thought-out and good storyline. The Resident Evil storyline is flawless. Paul W.S. Anderson did an impeccable job with the story.

Afterlife was amazing in a few factors in my eyes. One being that it was an action packed zombie movie and I am extremely happy that Ali Larter's character, Claire Redfield, was brought back into the scene. Paul Anderson never seizes to amaze me with the Resident Evil movies, he always executes them better than he promises. However, Afterlife seemed to steer away from the actual storyline a little bit. Yes, Alice, Milla Jovovich, is still out to take down Umbrella Corporation.. but I think Paul got a little out of control with the newly created zombies and he didn't seem to explain a lot of what was happening in Afterlife like he does with the other three movies. I also loved the graphics and slow motion techniques that were used. There were a few scenes that didn't need the slow motion, but it is still fun to see action packed scenes in slow motion.

If I had to pick one of the four movies that I liked the best; I would, without a doubt, pick Resident Evil: Extinction (2007). That is a must see movie of the series. Of course, if you don't want to be confused, you will have to watch Resident Evil (2002) and Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004) before Extinction, but if you had to choose one, I would say choose that one. I have a feeling Paul Anderson will keep the series going as long as he can, but I think one more should wrap up and justify the entire series. In my opinion, he needs to complete the storyline and still find a way to keep the action packed scenes in the movie without creating anymore crazy out of this world zombies.

Overall, I would give Resident Evil: Afterlife 6 stars out of 10. The graphics were amazing, the characters are incredible, and the action scenes are awesome. The only huge downfall for my rating was lack of explanations and steering away from the storyline a little more than needed. However, I am excited for another Resident Evil movie to come though!

6/10

My old workout schedule from the Corps

What you need:

Pull-up Bar

Curl Bar (optional)

Bench Press (optional)

140 lbs of weights (optional)

One Day

Pyramid Pull-ups (Highest – 1)

100 Crunches

Pyramid Pull-ups (1 – Highest)

100 Crunches

Another Day

Lift Weights

-Curl Bar

-Bench Press

Another Day

Pyramid Push-ups (Highest – 1)

75 Crunches

Pyramid Push-ups (1 – Highest)

75 Crunches

Etc..etc..etc.. That is 3 of 6 days (rest for 1 day). Mix it up, don’t do too much of any one thing. If you want to gain healthy weight, eat healthy food, a lot of it. Make sure you add some running in there. At least 3 miles a week. No matter what, push yourself. Don’t look for the reason not to workout.. but look for the many reasons to workout.

Don’t work your body too much. Too much of anything is bad. Give a day of rest, don’t “kill” your muscles each workout.. You should only really kill your muscles once or twice a week.

Pros: Cheap, good if you're short on time, don't need a gym membership, can do it at home

Cons: It's a self-motivator.. Just make sure you push yourself or have someone to workout with who will push you

*I have used this schedule in the past and it works for me. It may not work for every individual. If you like the idea of my layout, tweak it and make it yours.