A Little Cheezed

My laptop has been limping. I asked Santa for one for Xmas, but that's a pretty big order. It's the slowest machine in the house, but I use it the most. It's pretty reliable, but there's been one major problem that I thought would torpedo me. I've been having trouble with the power cord.

The cord is structured like this. It goes from the wall to a box, from the box to the laptop, about one inch away from the laptop there is a barrel and after that it plugs into the machine. Right at the little barrel, from bending so much, the wire is frayed and it hasn't been making contact very well. I've had to bend it and get it just so so the machine would power up and get it's battery charged.

Tonight it finally gave up the ghost. I figured I'd take 5 minutes and take the barrel off to see what kind of electronic gizmo was inside. Maybe I could get a replacement from "Le Shaque Du Radio". At worst, it would mean a new power converter from Dell. So I get my tools and plug and pry and dig.

Here's what I found.

1. A rubberized outer "barrel".
2. A hard plastic inner "barrel".
3. A small wrap of electrical tape.
4. The wire.

The only thing I could think of was that they put this thing on so the wire frays prematurely and you have to buy a power connector. I fixed it with about .1 cent of electrical tape. A new power supply, if I could get one, would probably run 30 or 40 bucks. If I couldn't find one, It would mean a new machine.

I understand things breaking, but I hate it when they design stuff to break on purpose. If you know someone that has that problem with a laptop, send 'em to this story.

BTW. 80,000 plus dead from the tsunami. They think it's gonna run over 100,000. Amazing.

Cya

Tourists to Fitzlandia

Got up and did a little personal grooming today, then Cat and her Daughter Katie came down from way up north. Since Santa has to pass Katie's place to get to mine, I don't know why he leaves some of her gifts here, but he does. Katie got a very cool ball and a computer game and a drawing set from Santa. We got her a Hello Kitty alarm clock, Hello Kitty nail polish and a Hello Kitty FM radio.

We sat and chewed the fat, drank coffee and watched Katie play ATV Off Road, Gran Tourismo 3 A-Spec and Karaoke Revolution. Katie is our local champ at Karaoke. I helped Cat get her new cell phone working. Deb worked at a funeral at the church and got home a little after noon. We had a lunch and hung out for a little more. I showed Cat all our Xmas presents, then they had to go.

I gave Cat an Alice Cooper poster I've had since high school. She's gonna hang it up in her classroom.

We headed out and I showed them the gym that I joined. They took a look and headed up the road, then I went in and kept getting back into the swing of working out. My right foot is sprained a little in the arch, other than that I feel pretty good.

Gonna hang and watch some tv and mess with the pooter.

Have good holidays.

Cya

The Big Easy and Tsunami Sunday

Big Easy Week that is. I have a few clients to see and a few gifts to wrap, but it's gonna be a nice relaxing week. Back to the gym tomorrow. We are cleaning out drawers and closets and trying to organize stuff a little better.

Big Tsunami in the Indian Ocean. So far the count is 23,000 plus dead. It came ashore in 6 countries, on the beach, at the height of tourist season. Just an incredible event. There is a 1000km gash in the middle of the ocean and one island was MOVED 100 ft. Some islands in the Seychelles are only 3ft above sea level. There is nothing on them now. Say a prayer, people.

We're hangin' out and playing games. Hope your having a great holiday.

Cya

The Halls Have Been Decked

What a fantastic day.

We went to church last night and Deb did the narration for the cantata. They did a great job. My complaint is that I'm used to my church when I was a kid. We sang a bunch of carols and you just don't get to sing that stuff like you did when you were in school. The congregation only sang two songs and one was "Peace on Earth", which I don't really consider a Christmas carol.

We came home and had some wine and cheese. Then the kids started wrapping and Deb and I cleaned. She did dishes and I tidied and vacumned. The kids hit the sack and I started wrapping and sent Deb to bed. I had about 2 hours worth to do with the Christmas carols going. It was nice cause I was in bed by 2:30, which is my normal time and some sort of record for Christmas eve.

We got up around 10 and the inlaws got here around 11. We started unwrapping, broke for lunch, unwrapped some more, broke for a phone call from Billy and Toby, kept unwrapping and finally finished around 4:30. Even then there were a few things we missed.

We went overboard, which is always fun to do. Just for highlights, Chrissy got a lot of "homesteading" stuff and a mp3 player. We got Mike "The Sims" and some other games. Deb got a mixer and a vacumn sealer. Bill got an air compressor and we got both of them a cell phone, which Betty hates. :) I got an Xbox with some accessories and a belt sander.

We took the compressor over to Bill's house, came back and straightened up the house and burned trash. The kids went to Chrissy's dad's. They came back and they're installing World of Warcraft on the upstairs machines. Deb is watching "White Christmas" and I'm typing to you.

I hope you all had a great Christmas. I have to work tomorrow and then I'm off for a week. I'll be doing a year end letter on here. I sent a lot of folks emails. I figure a brief "Merry Christmas" and a "Come to my website to read my boring family letter" is better than just spamming the letter to everyone who could care less.

cya

A Christmas Miracle

So, what is this miracle? Peace on Earth? A miraculous rescue? No, something even more amazing than that. Hershey's is finally making unwrapped Kisses for people who make the infamous Peanut Butter Blossom. Finally...proof that there is a god.

My holiday pic was at the end of this. This was only up for one day and one day only and, believe me, there are worse. If you want to see them, post a request in the response area with your email (if I don't know it) and I'll send it to you.

Cya

Good Tidings

After 2 days of sheer hell,we finally had the whole family here for eats today. Considering what a wreck the place was, it's a minor miracle that we got it done. We had about 25 people here. Everybody ate too much and some very cool gifts were exchanged.

Another reason it was a miracle we finished is that we went to Wally World last night to do the last minute shopping for today. Now this week we have to do the last minute shopping for Xmas day.

We're loading up at the Walmart and I see this Xmas tree. Completely decorated and all lit up. Slowly moving across the parking lot. Somebody has it on the back of their pickup truck.

I just finished chattin' with Billy. His brother is going down to see him on Xmas eve. He leaves for Iraq early January. Not looking forward to it, but I told him to keep his head down and the safety off.

We're heading down to Harrisburg tomorrow morning to kick off this week of shopping. I'll be talkin' to ya!

...Rigging up these Lights!!

We have a two day crush until ALL of Deb's family comes here. She has some sort of martyr complex I think. Her dad and mom and I installed a toilet upstairs today. We will be working here solidly for the next few days.

I will be able to wangle 3 days off of work, with holidays I only have to go in on the 26th.

I must go help fix the house. Listening to the Jethro Tull Xmas album.

Pray for me.

cya

They Always Come in 3's

The one you probably heard about...

"Dimebag" Darrell, guitarist for Pantera and Damageplan was gunned down by a crazed fan. Five people were killed at the show, several wounded. I got to see Pantera open for Black Sabbath. Instrumentally, they were very, very good.

The one you might have heard about...

David Brudnoy, talk show host at WBZ Boston died from AIDS related cancer. He was a 30 year veteran of the talk show format and a college professor. He gave his last show Wednesday from his death bed and died Thursday evening. It was very moving. I didn't listen to him alot, but garnered much information on him from the other hosts on the station. He had been fighting the disease for over 10 years. He was 64.

The one you probably didn't hear about...

Jillian Swartz, 13, died from an aggressive brain tumor earlier this week. I did not know her personally, but she danced for the Margaret McCann School of Dance, which I do production and graphics for. I know the amount of work the kids put in and how much fun they have. I know that she will be missed.

cya

Happy Hollandaise

Here's wishing you a Murry Chris Moose and a Hippo Ewe Deer.

I am FINALLY starting to feel better. Last thursday the Dr. took me off Zocor. By Saturday I was feeling significantly better. We did the dance recital over the weekend. I had enough energy to get thru it. I'm actually starting to think that I may get into Xmas this year after all.

So I start feeling better and Sunday I feel a cold coming on. Now I'm in the middle of it. I'm hitting it hard early so it will go away quick. I hope to get back exercising on Wednesday if I don't feel any worse today.

Lots happening. I'll try for an update in a few days.

cya

The Dead of Finter

All the leaves are off the trees, but it hasn't snowed yet. It's not Fall...It's not Winter...It's....FINTER!!!

Today was Thanksgiving. We went to Deb's Grandma's for lunch. Had a very nice time. Her uncle's mother was there. She isn't doing too well. Babbling and singing to herself...trouble remembering people. Tough to watch cause she's a nice lady.

We headed down to Newport and visited with my brother and nieces for awhile. Had another meal there too. I'm dinnered out for awhile.

Work is going ok. Chrissy got her memory yesterday and Mike helped her put it in. Looks to be running pretty good. I'd like to get a few sticks for my machine too.

We're watchin' Charlie Brown and I'm typin' to you.

cya

More Stuff

Went to the Dr. today. Took me off some meds, put me on some meds, took some blood, the usual. I got the wrong memory for Chrissy's computer and we have to send that back. They won't charge me restocking if we order the new stuff from them, so that's 25 bucks I don't have to spend.

Off to work.

cya

Stuff

Apparantly somebody saw my last post. Go here...I tried, but it's down.

Big assault in Iraq. Wonder why they didn't do it last week?

I've been sick the past few days. I go in for a carotid doppler tomorrow morning. Hopefully I'll feel good enough to go to work.

later

Apologies

I'd like to apologize to the rest of the planet for our incapability of electing the smarter guy president. We have a disproportionately high number of stupid people in our country and, unfortunately, we allow them to vote.

Is Arafat dead? Isn't he? How are you doing in your office pool? :)

I went to the local Dr. today. My Cardio Dr. took me off of two meds and today is the first day without. He started me on an anti-anxiety pill too. My neck still bothers me, but I feel a little better. Saturday will tell the tale though, when we go to the game.

Onward

We are sooooo Fucked.

Kerry has a chance. However, mathematically, it's an uphill fight. We are so screwed if George wins. Chrissy wants to get a place in Canada, sounds good to me.

Oh well, Pennsylvania did it's part. I was very proud of our state. A shame we couldn't get it together in one or 2 other states. I think they're gonna call Wisconsin. Ohio, Iowa and New Mexico won't finish till tomorrow.

I give em a few more minutes then I'm going to bed.

Night all

Nailbiter

It's gonna be pretty close. I hope you all voted...

CNN has a great thing where you can punch in your zip code and look at the results for your area. As of 10:38, it's 58 percent Kerry, 41 percent Bush with 57 percent of the polls reporting. As of 10:30, some polls in Pennsylvania were not closed yet. One poll reported 300 people waiting to vote. I am really thrilled with the turnout, especially since that favors the Democrats.

My cath was uneventful. Bill and Betty came down with Deb and I to hang out. I had to wait almost 5 hours for them to do it. They put little 15in TV's on swing arms in the recovery area. That was very cool. They were doing a countdown on CNN till the polls closed and the time coincided with when they would let me get up and walk. I didn't even have to check my watch. There were no blockages. I probably won't be back to work till Sunday. I go see the Dr. tomorrow. Hopefully we'll be able to figure out what the problem is.

We were coming home down 2nd street in Harrisburg and passed a construction site at the Dragonfly. There was a fold up barrier that decided to fall against the Pacifica just as I passed it. I guess god doesn't want me to have a nice vehicle. We exchanged information with the guy in charge and headed up the road. We stopped at The Glass Lounge to eat and headed home to watch the returns.

It's gonna be close. I think it will all boil down to Ohio. I'm praying for Kerry. Enjoy the returns.

cya

Vote

...for Kerry. And I promise, if you vote for him all of those commercials will go away.

I'll remember this election day on several levels. I have to be at the hospital for the cath at 12:30 tomorrow. If there's no problems, I'll be home early evening. If they have to stent or balloon, I will be there at least overnight. Just gimme a tv so I can watch the returns and I'll be happy.

I took pictures for the winter recital yesterday. I'll put up one or two when I get a chance.

I'll be lookin' for ya...

Problems Continued

I've been off work since Tuesday. I've had dizzyness and a heavy chest and numbness and neck pain and all sorts of problems. I finally browbeat the Cardio doctor into seeing me. It looks like that, while you're enjoying the election returns showing Kerry winning, I get to go to the hospital and have another Cardiac Cath.

Hopefully, if everything is clear, I can go back to work next Thursday. If they do a stint it will be a few weeks until I can go back.

The Red Sox won. Yippee. I don't believe in curses anyway. It's gonna be amazing. A Super Bowl champ, a World Series champ and a President from the same city in the same year.

I'll let you know stuff when I know stuff.

cya

Believe

Red Sox go to the World Series. Greatest come from behind in baseball history. All of that is sweet, but they did it against the Yankees, which makes it even sweeter. Right, Cat? :)

I'm off work again today...go into the Dr. on Saturday to try to get this straightened out. I will start up the exercise next week. One way or another. Weight has been pretty static since the hospital. I need to start losing some more to stay on the time table.

On Tuesday the electrician came to put in our new panels. The wiring looks 1000 percent better. He said that some of the wires were actually loose in the breakers. We could have had a fire at any time. Nice. I have some more insulation to remove and to move a few pieces and he will be back to start wiring some of the basement so we can move stuff.

Not much else to write. I'll be back atcha later.

2 days in a row

We had an interesting day. One drain in the sink was working and another wasn't. And, the dishwasher overflowed. I messed with it a little, but I'm no plumber, so we called my father-in-law. He came out and messed with it a little, but we finally decided to call Sears and have a tech come out. Turns out we've had the damn thing for 12 years. I didn't think it was that old.

We ripped out more ceiling slats downstairs and pulled out more insulation. Wrapped that up around 7 and headed up to Giant for some supplies. Deb and the kids are going up to the PA Grand Canyon tomorrow. I get to go to work.

The kids went up to Massachusetts to pick up a car that a friend bought. Turns out that it didn't have a radiator. They had to scramble and find one, then put it in and drive back. They're gonna be back later.

So I'm hangin' out watchin' The Screen Savers, and typin' to you.

cya

Update

Sorry I've haven't posted for awhile.

Last Wednesday at work I had some problems. It was pretty much all the symptoms of a heart attack. I managed to make it home and felt pretty weak. Got up the next morning and felt ok, but as soon as I started moving around I felt weak again.

I went to the Dr's office and they sent me to the emergency room. I stayed in the hospital overnite for observation and they gave me a stress test on Friday. It was a nuclear thing and they gave me a drug that artificially stressed me. I came home Friday, but they didn't let me go back to work till Tuesday. I had to go back in Monday for a resting test. The same radioisotope, but no treadmill or chemical.

We went to the PSU vs. Perdue game on Saturday. I had to walk nice and easy, but other than that I was fine. It was a pretty good game. 108,000 people were there, and they were very noisy.

There was some stupidity at work that I'm not gonna get into here. I don't think it was a factor, but it might have been. The doctor released me for the same type of work. I've been having trouble the last few days keeping up. I don't think I can keep doing it, but it may be something like a muscle pull or something. I go see the general practicioner on Monday.

We've been ripping out insulation today. We'll be doing that tomorrow too. The electrical guy will be here Tuesday to fix the meter and put in the new box.

I won't be posting as much as I had been, but I will pick it back up again at some point. I will try to do several a week tho, so keep checking in.

VP Debate

I thought it was pretty close. I think pretty close favors Edwards.

Two reasons. Edwards has been kind of hidden since accepting the VP role. This showed that he could hold his own. I heard the phrase "looks presidential" more than once too.

Also, and this may sound convoluted but I think it's valid, a strong performance by Cheney could hurt them. It gives creedence to the "Svengali theory". That Cheney really is the guy running the country. He actually blows Bush away when it comes to getting his point across.

It looks like we can use campaign paraphenalia at work. I saw a woman with a "Kerry/Edwards" T-shirt. The Bushies were extremely pissed. But they'll start wearing they're stuff too. And the game is on. :)

I had to sit on HPB and another person who will go nameless. Our section of the machine, when we set up, has the most stuff to do. The most containers to get, etc. HPB and the other have half of what we do and usually stand around and gab when we're finishing up our stuff. No problem with that, but.... They have one sack to get that's different.....they use maybe two a night. They come down and take the ones that we get for ourselves. Not today. I told both of them to go get they're own. I've been wanting to do it for awhile and didn't feel justified. Today, I went to get them, so I did. And I did.

First day at the gym. It went pretty good.

I gotta get some sleep people.

cya

Hey...

I've been really busy the past 5 days or so.

I've got about 80 percent of the basement ripped apart. Our furnace is in, the house is very comfy. We've got our fireplace, but they have to order some replacement logs. One of ours is cracked.

I went back to work today. I listened to the debates and thought that Kerry did everything he had to do. I didn't SEE them, but they're saying that George didn't come across well. This was supposed to be in his lap. I'm hearing that it wasn't.

I've got pics from everything and I'll try to post some at some point.

cya

Just my luck...

This will be very quick.

We worked in the basement all day. I managed to listen to Penn State lose while we were doing it. We were almost ready to stop and our power got weird. Long story short, we had an electrician and PP&L come out to get things back.

We're finally running and all getting showers...it's after 2.

I'll talk to you later.

Ivan...the Terrible (Pt 2)

Saturday we were up around 9. It was a long night and we had to get ready for the game. We had worked out with Toby last night that we’d pick him up where he works in Lewistown. We took a look at the damage, packed our stuff and headed out.

Less than a mile from the house they came across the radio saying that traffic was being let through the Lewistown narrows 20 cars at a time. This was due to partial flooding and mudslides. They also said that they were probably going to close the narrows later because of the rising waters. Deb and I decided that going to the game wasn’t the best thing to do.

We went into town and headed to the Weis store for some essentials. I managed, in a round about way, to contact Toby. When I explained the situation to him, he said “Christ, I better get my ass home!”

We headed back home by way of the inlaws place. They were still pumping out the basement with that coveted gas powered sump pump. We came back toward the house and made it about a mile from our place. There was a tree still across the road. Later on we found out that it split a pole in two and left the transformer on the ground. No wonder we didn’t have power.

We took the long way around, surveying the damage all over the place, and finally made it home. Mike was here, so we took to removing the two limbs from the oak tree. That took several hours. Chrissy was at a baby shower for her stepsister, she got home around 6 or so and her and Mike played on the tree. I took pictures.

We finished up toward dark and decided to wash up. Deb heated water on the grill and we mixed it with cold water in the bowl to take a bowl bath. I thought it would suck, but I felt pretty good afterward. It was very interesting rinsing off in the tub with a gallon jug of cold water. Lots of fun! Remember, yesterday was all the mucking around in the basement and I hadn’t cleaned up afterward.

We went into the local chinese restaurant and pigged out. We were all pretty goofy and it was after 9 when we sat down to eat. I called Cat and we tried to one up each other on the damage. They got hit pretty hard up her way too.

We came home and lit the candles and hung out for a bit listening to the radio, then everybody crashed. Pretty early too. We had a little sleepover in the living room, since the waterbeds were too cold (but not for the cat).

Tomorrow we clean.

I’ll continue this later. Heading out to the BOC/UFO show.

cya

Quick Update

Today was rehab. As soon as I walked in they told me that Louise called from Harrisburg. I'm not supposed to let my heart rate go over 100. I rode the bike yesterday and made a game out of NOT letting my heart rate drop below 100. So everything went back a notch today. I don't like it, but she'll explain it to me when she gets back from the conference.

This week has been relatively cool at work. EGCW is on light duty, so there is a lot less of his stress induction.

I go to see Blue Oyster Cult and UFO tomorrow near Phila. I'm going to be taking pics, so they will be going up after the Ivan pics do. During the day the furnace guys will be here. Probably won't post again till late Friday.

I'll get part 2 of the Ivan story up too.

cya

Ivan...the Terrible (Pt 1)

Friday was a rehab day for me. It was raining lightly. I was supposed to meet with the nutritionist after my workout. She was there and said to page her when I was done. They did, but they couldn’t locate her. Finally they found her and we rescheduled for Monday. I had managed to go down another pound.

I went home and started on the basement. I got a lot more done. A lot of things went into containers, which was a very good thing as it turned out. We took a break for dinner and did some more. The rain was picking up a bit.

We kept checking the Weather Channel because of the game Saturday. It looked like Ivan was moving really fast and would blow out of here by kickoff. Amy wasn’t able to go, she was going to Trish’s (Chrissy’s Stepsister’s) baby shower. But Toby was looking for someone to fill in. He wouldn’t know for sure until later in the evening.

Back to work in the basement for awhile. I got nice and dusty moving stuff. We knocked off with a feeling that we were on track for the furnace guys to come in. I went up and figured I’d get a shower in a bit. Deb went to bed. Chrissy was playing Baldur’s Gate and I was on the computer. The rain was picking up. Very hard at times.

Around midnight the power went out for about 5 seconds. Whew…dodged a bullet that time. At about 12:15 the power dropped again. You know the vroom it makes when it comes back up, right. It was “Bam….vroom…Bam…vroom…Bam…vroom…Bam…vroom….Bam…vroom…BAM”

After the fourth drop, I said out loud “This is not good”. And it wasn’t. There we were, no power. So Chris went for some candles and I went in to shut down Deb’s machine and turn off her power supply. We did that and I told Chris to come down with me so I could cut my machines off.

I sat down at the machine and did my thing and moved my foot about two inches to the right. (Me) “Fuck….FUCK…” (Chrissy) “What’s wrong?” (Me) “The damn basement’s flooding.”

I immediately go into panic mode and figure that I have to get the sump pump running. So I go out and WADE into the garage. Probably about 2 inches of water there. I find the power inverter and go get the car. BTW, I forgot to mention that we couldn’t burn all of the trash that we generated during the day. So we stacked it up in the garage. So I had to maneuver around that while doing all this stuff too. I get the inverter hooked up to the van and plug the pump in and it runs.

We start moving boxes off the floor. We had a lot of plastic containers, so we were pretty good on some stuff. We had extra plastic boxes and stacked stuff on top of them.

The pump didn’t sound right, so I took a look at it. It turns out that the inverter is quite powerful enough to run the pump. So we were fucked. The second time I opened the garage door, one of the containers in the back of the garage blew over from the change in air pressure. It was really blowing outside.

So, at this point, I naturally decide that I’m going to Wal-Mart to get an inverter. The river had been rising up that way, but I didn’t think it was too bad.

I’m starting to shake at this point, so the diet goes out the window. I eat a bunch of snack bars and head up the road. This begins to unfold as a bad TV movie. I head down toward the highway, 3.2 miles away. There is a tree branch hanging from a tree just down the road from the house. Of course, I don’t get the omen thing.

I keep going and have to weave around a tree covering half the road. I keep going and trees are down everywhere. At one point I see a power line on the road. I go a little further and there is a tree completely across the road that has been cut to allow one lane of traffic thru. A little further down there is a huge tree down. Past that there is a tree down on a house. I finally get to the highway and there are emergency vehicles all over the place. I tell a guy flagging that I want to go to Lewistown. He says, you’re not going anywhere. They’re closing down 22/322 and not letting anyone on the highway.

So I turn around and head back home. I have a guy in front of me that’s going pretty slow and I know he doesn’t know where all the debris is, so I pass him. He’s got a Bush bumper sticker on, so I know he’s pissed when he sees my Kerry sticker. I get ahead of him and stop at the trees that are down till he catches up. So he can see what’s going on.

I get to the point where the tree was down on my way in, and there is a borough truck there. The guy gets out and puts up a “Road Closed” sign. He comes back and says I can’t get thru. I tell him I was just through there 5 minutes ago. I take a look and another tree has fallen, and this one does the job completely.

So we turn around and head back. There is a little dirt road that I thought I’d be cute and take. I get back it about 100 yards and there’s a dead tree across the road. I think I can pivot it and move it out of the way. Since it’s old and dead. Well, it is pivoted on the road in such a way that I can’t get any leverage. This is a very narrow road and I had a hell of a time turning around. Mr Bush was at the end of the road and I followed him back to the highway. We got on the road that was the detour until recently. All along that road there are trees down partially blocking the road.

We head up toward the rendering plant, so far so good. I get about a mile from my house and there’s another tree across the road. The road is completely covered, but there is a vehicle width between a fence and the tree. Mr. Bush goes for it and makes it. I think about it a second and think, screw it, and I go. I slid a little, but I did make it around. I finally made it home. Resigned to a wet basement.

The wind is whipping a lot. We’re sitting in the living room and Deb is spooked a few times by “cracks” outside. A little after two, she calls me out and says, “Does that sound like a freight train?” It did, but I didn’t want to panic anybody, so I said don’t worry about it.

We sat up and fretted a bit, then finally went to bed.

I’ll continue this later.

cya

Aaaand....we're back!

This will be brief, I'll go into detail in a day or so.

We got spanked by Ivan. Basement flooded and trees down. Power was out from 12:10 am Saturday till about 6:15 Monday. We're slowly getting back to normal.

I've been getting systems up and running here. We're still sleeping in the living room tonight because the waterbeds aren't warm enough yet.

I'll get ya all caught up by the weekend.

cya

Vote for Kerry

I can't say it enough.

Deb was home today. I got up and Deb walked with me for a little. Then I finished up and did the weights.

I headed down to the burg and picked up a memory card at Best Buy. I'm running really tight on time, and the guy says he'll help me and goes to the computer. Then the phone rings and he spends 4 minutes with the person on the phone. That is wrong. I was still ok on time, so I didn't push it, but that really pisses me off.

Then I go up to pay. I use the credit card. Now, Deb and I messed up when we got them and signed each other's card. So this girl at the register is the first one to call me on it. Perfectly within her rights, but just bad timing. So I have to run out to the car, get the drivers license and then show it to her. I made it to work on time, but just barely.

We were a person short, so they brought down TQOTPS. This is one of those guys that has a problem with everything, the whole worlds out to get him, and he's gonna fuck 'em before they fuck him.

During our 1st rotation, he stays down for almost 50 minutes. It's supposed to be 30 minutes, maybe 40 at the outside. The next rotation he tries it again. I didn't let it happen. At 30 minutes I gave him 5 more. Then I went down and started clearing the machine. He wouldn't go up. He stayed down for 10 minutes. I didn't really care. He went up and got all full of himself and told Paulette that "I'm not coming down till 10". Problem is, we go to break at 5 of.

She tells me this when we switch. TQOTPS is talking to HPB the whole time, instead of coding. Then, when Paulette and I are talking, she stands near us trying to hear what we're saying. So I moved so I was facing away from her. Lots of fun at the PO.

I finished up the evening and headed home. I had to stop and get gas, then I had to stop at the store for some stuff. I finally got home and started writing this.

cya

Ignorance Is...?

God, what day is it. I had rehab today. It actually showed me up one pound. Which I don't understand, but I'm sure it's just temporary.

I had to go out to Wally World and pick up some stuff. Then I headed down to work.

When I'm punching in, there is this mail handler talking to another mail handler. He's saying "Yeah....Kerry's guilty of treason. He should be in jail. But for some reason, they didn't want to put him in."

I think it's amazing that people take a work of fiction that's been completely debunked and use it as their primary argument. I wondered to a friend of mine if it's actually painful to be that ignorant, or if there is really something to the "bliss" theory.

The rest of the day was ok. At the end, Evelyn, who was in my rotation, asked me if we had any overweight mail on my side of the machine. I said no. Five minutes later EGCW asks me the same thing, he's not in my rotation. I ignored him. It felt...right. :)

Came home and rebooted my xp machine from blue screen of death. I looks like SP2 installed ok. So far, so good.

Came upstairs and turned on The Weather Channel. Ivan is raising hell with the gulf coast. It's gonna be very interesting what the morning brings. And Jeanne is projected to hit the Atlantic Coast of Florida. What a mess.

Cat sent me an email saying that the bass player for Blue Oyster Cult has bolted and left them high and dry. Buck seems to be ok with it, except for the fact of little notice. I tried to send Buck a message for permission to use my camera at Keswick, but his mailbox was full. I'll try to resend tomorrow.

We're looking at heavy rain for the game in Happy Valley on Saturday. That should be fun.

Gotta go to bed.

cya

Another Pleasant Valley Sunday (Tuesday Edition)

I wanted to get up early today and go to a clients place to work on her machine. It turns out my back pain delays two days until it kicks in. So I got up and got a pill and went back to bed.

I finally got up and did my walk and exercise. I went down and checked my machine and found out I could get XP service pack 2. So I put it in and started installing it, then I went to work.

Work was relatively ok today. We had some mail sent down from upstairs and it all decided to drop into 2 sacks in the area I was working in. It was very annoying and bothered my back a little, so I took a pain pill. BLFH tried to give me a little shit when I was getting my pill, but I ignored her. We didn't get done completely, so that's kinda cool too.

I headed home.

Mike was here. He bought some chinese food for us, so I had some chicken and rice. We discussed the day, then I came in and watched "Unscrewed". Then I started typing this.

talk to ya later

These are you Children, see what you have done...

Got up and went to rehab. Lost another pound too. They're so proud of me up there. Two more guys started today. One of 'em is around my age. Louise went over some of the exercises with me at the end of my workout.

Headed home, got some lunch and headed to work. Work has been pretty benign lately, so we know that some shit is right around the corner.

We had a meeting today. At the end of the meeting, one of the gun nut assholes says "I want to say that today is a historic day. We're getting rid of the oppression of the Clinton administration..." And that's where I turned off. But the Pointy Headed Boss engaged the guy. So we had a political discussion on the workfloor, which is a BIG no-no. Nice to know that the gun nut postal workers can all go out and buy assault weapons now, huh?

An uneventful day. Came home and did this. I have a client to see tomorrow, so I'm wrappin' up.

cya

Not a Pelican Brief

It was a speedy day. Slept late and went into work. We got split up onto 2 machines. The whiners were on the other machine and we had a nice peaceful start to work. A bunch of daylight people stayed and they're pretty pleasant too.

Not much to report after that. I came home and watched a very good "Six Feet Under". Lots of story movement tonight.

Here's a website for y'all. Did you ever wonder what the condemned man's last meal was? Take a look here.

And I started typing this to all you good people.

Maybe I'll have more of a life later...till then...

cya

A Day of Rememberance

I didn’t get up till almost noon today. Chrissy went down to New Bloomfield for a memorial for her friend who died the other week. Deb and I started in on the basement.

We got a good chunk done. I can actually walk in my office now. We got most of the stuff in the middle area cleaned. Deb ripped out about half of the ceiling.

It’s a lot of fun to go over the old stuff. Found a couple of old pics that I wanna scan and put up.

I did my walk. Then I came in and started weights. We had a pizza delivered, so I took a break and ate. Then I did the rest of my exercises during the first half of the Penn State / Boston College game.

Penn State managed to lose 21 to 7. It’s still early in the season, so I’m not too worried. They seemed to have more gas left at the end of the game, but they just couldn’t get it done. I hope that they don’t let it affect them, We’re taking Toby and Amy up to the UCF game next week.

Chrissy told me that the thing she went to today was covered in the Harrisburg paper. Because they had a party instead of a funeral. You can try this link, if not, go to Pennlive.com and search “wilt”.

I’m watching a CNN thing on 911 and typing this to all you special people

cya

Runaround

Got up this morning and went into Two Sisters to do some photography for their website. I maintain their website as well. When I feel up to it, I'll add it to the link section. Paula and Betsy are a lot of fun. We always have a great time. I shot for about an hour and headed up to rehab. I got to do my full routine.

Then I headed back home. I was having trouble with some, well, a lot of the pics coming out too dark. So I adjusted what I had and burned them off and headed back into the shop. I figured out what the problem was reshot most of what we did, but it was worth it. I'll let you know when I post them.

I went into the store and got some salad and dressing, then I came home. My butt was really draggin', so I tried to take a little nap. Deb came home, then the 3 of us headed into Stop 35 for dinner. Picked up a lottery ticket and headed home.

I helped Deb fill out her food diary and then went online. Chrissy and I watched a movie called "Boondock Saints". It was pretty cool, a real shoot em up with religous overtones. I got to have a long chat with Cat while I was watching it. Even though she said it would be a short one.

Then I surfed for awhile and started this.

Talk to you later.

The Completion Backwards Principle

So....the two posts below are backwards. Sorry about that. That's what happens when you try to do stuff quick. Am I right people??

I went in and fixed a clients computer today. I got everything working except the damn Outlook Express. It works ok on their one machine, so I installed Eudora on the other machine. Go get Eudora. I've used it since the BBS days and never had ANY problems with it.

Came home and wanted to walk, but it was raining. I took a look out, and precisely at 12:30 the rain quit. Well, slowed down to a manageable trickle. I went out hoping to get an hour in. At 45 minutes, when I was in front of my house, the rain picked up again. I took it as a sign.

I went in and started my resistance training. I've decided to do everything on one day, 3 days a week. It went pretty good.

I threw the bike in the car and headed down to the Burg. I went in and picked some stuff out and picked out a seat and some tires. It should be done next week.

I went into work. Work was ok. Nothing major to report.

Headed home and got on my downstairs machine. Looks like the restore worked, but I'm having driver issues again. I guess I'm gonna have to do a wipe of the drive and start from scratch. I'm gonna procrastinate as much as possible tho.

Client to see tomorrow too. So I gotta go.

cya

Get it Up...

Got up and did an hour walking. I'm a little concerned that I can't get my heart rate up over 90. Ill be taking the bike down to get fixed tomorrow, maybe I can get the heart rate up over 90.

I went to work. Work was pretty benign, but I managed to make it through. I found out that there was a blow up between two guys on friday, but I didn't get the full skinny on it. I have some more in a day or 2.

I've been listening to DBF tapes from May 99. Sound pretty clunky, but pretty good in spots.

I got a client to see tomorrow, so that's about it.

You kids have fun.

cya

I posted yesterday, I promise.

The system shows that there were problems. I'm trying to get it to go up now, but it doesn't want to.

(For Paulette) fuck all you fuckin fukers.....i'm tired, i'm goin to bed.

Work wasn't too bad. My client cancelled on me today, so i gotta go see em tomorrow. Another early night.

Louise gave me some good strokes today. Very proud of my progress. Make me blush. :)

Gotta fix this and hit the rack. More later.

Cya

Two Days in One

Ok....another twofer.

I got up yesterday and went over to the inlaws. I had to do my walk before we ate. It was cool to have some different visual input. I had a few hills to go up, which worked out ok. I want to do a week of 1 hour walks before I start doing hills. Of course, if they don't approve it, I won't be doing it.

I got back to Bill and Betty's house and a bunch of the family was there. I was a little surprised because I thought it was just gonna be us. We had a nice picnic meal and gave Chrissy and Betty some gifts. It's kinda convenient. Chrissy's birthday was Friday, Betty's birthday is Tuesday and Deb's is Thursday.

I headed to work. I got an idea on the way down. I told you a while back that one day my back was so bad I couldn't get out of bed. I was trying to think of a way to give me some relief and I got an idea. We have things called Vertalifts. They are a hand pushed forklift that will lift one of our smaller containers. It raises the container on an arc up to 90 degrees. I got dirty looks from some of the evil ones as well as a few of the mailhandlers, but I went ahead and did it anyway.

Bonnie and Kathy (another one of the good ones) were in my rotation. They both loved it. It involves an extra step, but it doesn't seem to take more time. Both of the girls are short and have to lift high to get the sack into the aircraft container. This way, it goes into the lower container, then on the Vertalift, then you can stand upright and transfer the sack.

I couldn't have done this with the regular supervisor there, but there is a fill in guy who was working who is easy to get along with. He came up later and said I should put in a suggestion request to get permission to use it. I told Bonnie about the plan earlier in the night and said "It's easier to beg forgiveness than to ask permission", that's why I went ahead and did it.

We went on break and came back and, guess what?? The lift was gone. I don't know if EGCW or LBFH were responsible, or one of the mailhandlers. I didn't push it because I proved what I needed to prove and I had support from other workers. LBFH said something to Kathy at one point while she was walking away, it ended in "It's part of the job". I yelled back "It wasn't part of the job to do this for 6 fucking hours when we started". At a lower volume I said to Kathy next to me "...You stupid bitch".

So we had lots of nice tension all night. I let it roll off me. When I know I'm right, I can deal with a lot of stuff. We're also going to write a letter to the safety office. I'm gonna get a bunch of people to sign it.

I came home. The kids we're in the den so I actually got the living room for awhile. I've been really damn tired lately, so I went to bed early.

Woke up today around 9, but I didn't get up till Deb rousted me at 10:30. We straightened up the place for awhile and then put the meat on the grill. Chrissy was watching it but I had to put some hot dogs on. When I did, I closed the lid. She had the heat up too high and some of the stuff got burned, but I thought the sausages, which were burnt the worst, tasted pretty good.

We went down and worked on the basement for awhile and Billy showed up. So we hung out and talked for awhile. He mentioned that he was gonna get a digital camera and Deb suggested that we give him my old Nikon. So I did. He didn't want to take it, but I convinced him that I got more than enough use out of it and he should try it. If it dies, it's no big loss. I also got him set up with a blog. It's here, I'll put it in my links when he's got some posts on it.

The kids went down to Harrisburg to get some baby shower gifts at Babies 'R Us. Deb and I walked and then watched some tv.

The kids came home and showed us what they got. We're watching "Real Time with Bill Maher" and I'm doing this.

Now we're all caught up.

cya

WE ARE.....(pt 1)

PENN STATE.....dammit. :)

Game day. Season opener. Signal of fall and the start of all that is right with the world. Of course, I'm talking about football. But not your gay, european soccer kind of football. Not your overpriced, whiny american professional kind of football. No sir, I'm talking about your college football. Specifically your Penn State football.

I slept in today, thank god. I really needed it. I got up and did my walk. Came in and changed and we headed up the road. Chrissy, Mike and JoAnn weren't too hungover after they're party, so they had gone into Stop 35 (a local trucker diner) for breakfast/lunch. When they got back they said that traffic on the highway was backed up from the narrows almost all the way to Mifflintown exit. I wasn't too worried. We got on the highway a little before 2 and had a clear shot the whole way up to Happy Valley.

We parked in a different area than normal and we really like it. No major hills to deal with, just a gradual incline up to the stadium. We got up to the ticket window, which is right up by our gate and I held the tickets up in the air. Within 3 minutes we had them both sold. I didn't get much, but it was better than having 2 pieces of paper. Here's the deal though. We never saw either of the guys we sold them to. Weird, huh?

We headed up and watched PSU thoroughly trounce Akron 48 to 10. It was 48 to 3 up until about 6 minutes to go. They ran 4 different quarterbacks and had 2nd and 3rd string players in. All of the squads seem to be a cut above last years team.

Here's my notes. 2 tailbacks ran for over 100 yards. The second play from scrimmage was a 77 yard touchdown run by Tony Hunt, and they didn't look back. The first time for that since 93. Zack Mills threw a touchdown, ran for a touchdown, and caught a touchdown pass. That is very cool.

Again, you don't wanna throw a whole season of hopes on one game. But there was a palpable difference in this team from last year. They are more physical. The first half of football was about as perfect as you could ask for. At one point, for 7 posessions, there were 7 touchdowns. There was one point where Akron was threatening and I thought "Oh well, I guess they're gonna get 7." Last year, they would have. This year, they sucked it up and stopped them. They have energy. They have emotion. The defense was able to pick off a Heisman candidate and keep his longest pass completion to 15 yards. The offensive line dominated. It feels very nice to say that. The PSU recievers are trying something new this year called "catching the ball". It seems to go over well with the crowd.

The officials missed a few calls (It's a Penn State game, after all) :) But when your up by 40+ points, it doesn't bother you nearly as much.

I took a lot of pics, I'll put some on the photoblog tonight.

We went to Sam's afterward and found a backway to the parking lot we were in. We're gonna try to park there more often. Then we headed down and met the kids at Angelo's for some good eats. We then went back up to Giant on the other side of town and did our grocery shopping. We came home and put stuff away. Then I headed down here to do this.

BTW. I'm doing this on the XP machine downstairs. It seems to be behaving, but it didn't like my reboot a few days ago. So things are not 100% yet.

cya

Bentley's!...Ass!...Cut!

A very long, strange day.

I got up at 7:30 and went over to the car dealer. The replaced the dash, gave the car a wash and, to my surprise, we're able to inspect it. The inspection was set up in a weird way. I had to get it inspected twice in a year.

I headed over to Walmart to get a few things, then back to rehab.

Rehab was weird. Louise went over weights with me and I got to do the full workout, that part was ok. But... The gay guy I told you about a few weeks back? The guy that brought cake? He came in with a briefcase. Well...he sings for the girls that are there. He's got a fairly nice soprano voice. Then it comes out that he was a drag queen, and still is. Funny, funny stuff. I'm just shakin' my head. Besides, I know that, in a few months, I'll look a lot better in a dress than he does. :)

I came down here and picked up a prescription and got gas, then headed home. About 10 minutes after I got here, Mike got here. He worked on the van a bit while I worked on the basement. Then we got the chipper shredder out and couldn't get it started. I realized after a while that I was pretty tired, so I came up and laid down.

I got a few phone calls, one was Billy, the other was Toby. Billy said he'd stop out later in the evening. Toby did too, but he never showed. I heard Mike finally get the chipper started when I was talking to Billy. We ran some wood for a half hour or so and then came up and got showers.

Chrissy got home and was going crazy to get stuff ready for her friends. Then Deb finally got home. The kids have 5 tents set up in the backyard and a ton of alcohol. Billy showed up and we got to talk for a good hour or so. He left, but said he'd be back Monday. Things slowly degenerated outside and Deb and I came in a little after 11.

The funniest exchange I heard this evening...

"Hey man, check this out, you're really gonna love this CD."

"Why? Is it full of porn?"
So now I'm watching "Dinner For Five" and typing this. A tip of the hat to Faizon Love for tonight's title.

cya

Get Up, Stand Up...

I woke up around 9 to go lift the weights and walk. It was all I could do to get out of bed. My back was killin’ me. I took a pain pill and went back to bed.

I got back up around 11 and headed down to Newport to have lunch with Margaret. We had a great lunch and talked about some stuff for the show at Christmastime.

Bill Magill’s mom came in and she was with Vivian Drum. Mrs. Drum was married to the first minister I remember at the Presbyterian church in Newport. It was great to see them.

I had a large cappuccino. Here’s a bit of advice. If you haven’t had caffine for a few months, Don’t get a large cappuccino. I was vibrating all night. Hell, I still have a little buzz from it. This coffee cup is the size of a nice soup bowl. Incredible.

I got to work and saw that someone put another Bush sticker up on their locker. So I went to the supervisor and told him. I said “There’s a campaign sticker up in the locker room, can you get it taken down?” He says, “Who’s it for?” I said, “Who do you think?” He laughed. It appears that he’s a Kerry man, so I guess he’s not all bad. :)

Evidentally the guy works on tour 1 (overnight). I guess he came in and Sid talked to him. He got pretty pissed.

The RNC

Let’s sum up the whole think, ok? 911, 911, war on terror, 911, connected, war on terror.

I cannot wait for the debates, I think that Kerry has a chance to take this by double digits.

It turns out that Kerry got the last word in this news cycle and from what I understand he took the gloves off.

It’s about time.

They say he’s a strong closer. I hope so, for all our sakes.

Let me wrap this up with a few things. Both men have negatives. If you took Kerry’s and put them together you’d probably have a baseball, or maybe a softball. If you take Bush’s and put them together, you’d have a planet.

And I will never, NEVER, vote for anyone who wants to write biased language into the constitution. Nor would I vote for someone who wants to take women’s rights away with language in the constitution.

He’s goin’ down.

cya

I Told Ya...

Had to go into a client's office early today. They were having problems connecting to the net. I went to his machine (there are 3) and turned it on. I got on the net right away and connected to his email right away. I told him he just needs to hire me to be in the office. Just to be around the machines so they work. His secretary's machine has a little more complicated problem, so I have to go back next week and take care of that.

I stopped in to talk to Margaret, she's right next door. She had a headache and she gets doozy's. I hung out for a few minutes and we talked about basements and stuff like that. We're gonna hook up for lunch tomorrow, so I have to get some sleep here at some point. :)

I went up to rehab. It's the first time since last Wednesday that I did my whole machine routine. Dessa said that my heartrate was elevated. She was a little concerned, but I said I was pushing it a little too. So I guess I'll survive.

I came home, fixed lunch and started to watch tv when I heard "heloooo??" It was Mike. Since the kids are having a party on Friday, he came up to mow the lawn and fix the van. The van still has some problems, but he'll get it straightened out, I'm sure. I hooked him up with a walkman and headed to work.

At first break I saw the general clerk and asked her if she got my buck slip (english=note) to put me on the ODL (english=overtime desired list). She said yes, but she can't call me because the union took my name off. It turns out that if you don't sign up within 3 days after you return, you can't be on the list. This is that oncoming bullshit I told you about.

I was really cheezed and asked the supervisor for a steward. He starts with the 20 questions and says "Can I ask you what it's about?" My response was "It's about I NEED A UNION STEWARD". Never give the enemy any information, only the bare minimum.

I went up and talked with the steward. She explained that it was true and they were enforcing the contract. I understand that, but I said...How am I supposed to know about this?? Shouldn't my supervisor have asked me about the ODL as soon as I came back? They are the ones that pass the sheet around quarterly. It's their responsibility 4 times a year, I think it should be their responsibility in this situation. She agreed and said she'd talk to the head steward and get back to me tonight.

She didn't.

It's starting to not be funny. This is the third time that she's forgotten about me. I mean, tell me "I'll see you in 3 or 4 days." Just stick to your word. I think I have to make an impression on her.

I should, in all fairness, say that the supervisor came and apologized to me later. I graciously accepted.

The rest of the night went pretty well. At the end, this supervisor let us go early, but EGCW was setting up a manual ring and slamming skids on the floor. Passive aggressively trying to get our attention. It didn't work.

I came home and the kids were watching tv. I hung out a bit and remembered I tivoed "Father of the Pride". The paper sort of panned it, but I thought it was pretty funny. I thought it might be a little too risque for NBC, but good for them for putting in on.

Then I came downstairs to do this.

Now I gotta go

cya

A Twofer

Two days in one.

Yesterday I did the rehab thing. I was the only one there, it was kinda cool. They showed me some more stuff with the weights.

I came home and headed out to work. Work was ok. It's like waiting for the other shoe to drop, there will be some bullshit soon, it's just a matter of time.

I've been after people since last Thursday to take down a Bush sticker in the locker room. We're not allowed to have anything like that in the building. Well, after bugging and bugging, it finally came down.

After work I had to head over to Walmart to pick up some dumbbells (let the jokes begin!). So that took an hour out, then headed home.

I got home and had to hurry up and go to bed, I hate that. I had to get up early today to do my walking thing.

So I did the weights and the walk. I think I need a few more pounds on the barbell. I got 10's and I think 12's would be just about right.

I headed to work. Made a bunch of phone calls on the way. I'm having trouble reaching the furnace guy. Chrissy told me later that he called and said that he could be down here on Saturday. As long as it's in the morning, it'll be cool.

Work was quiet....too quiet.

I headed home and checked the tv. Looks like we lost the local channels. I guess we'll have to get them and lose the NY/LA channels. I hate that. I'd like to have all of them.

The RNC...sponsored by Republispew. (announcer) Try Republispew. The official spew of the Repubilcan Party. With 1/3 more bullshit than the average spew.

If somebody just stepped on the planet, they'd think that these people had a clue. They'd be wrong.

Yesterday, Dennis Hastert compared Bunnypants to Lincoln and Reagan TOO many times. Let me put it this way. If Lincoln was around today, he'd get so far from these Repubs it's not even funny. I don't think Lincoln would want to be associated with a group that wants to write bias into the constitution and take rights away from women.

Also. Too much 911. But then again, 911 and Afghanistan is all that Monkey Boy has.

I have no respect for John Mcain anymore. Bush bitch slapped him silly in the primaries 4 years ago and now he's his shill. I know there's party politics, but this is ridiculous.

Giuliani got some good ones off against Kerry. I think you have to sort of ignore the rhetoric. Here's the deal. Both candidates have they're negatives. But I think that George's outweigh Kerry's 15 or 20 to one. And that's not an exaggeration.

And their show of "diversity" is just a big lie. This is the party of the rich. They only care about the rich and gaining more wealth. Don't let them suck you in with statements of "morality".

Tonight I didn't get to hear a whole lot. I did hear Santorum interviewed though. When asked about the constitutional marriage amendment, he said that they're not "against" people. They're for marriage between a man and a woman. Give me a break.

I have a client to go see tomorrow. So I gotta wrap this.

cya

Short and Sweet

Got up, went out and walked. Did about 2.5 miles. Got everything together and went to work. Worked. Came home. You get the idea.

Bonnee said a nice thing to me tonight. We were talking and out of the blue she says “When are you going on the radio?”. I was a little stunned. She said that I have all of the elements to make a good talk show host. I was very flattered. It is something that I’d like to do, but it’s very hard to break into.

Mike and Chrissy were up when I got home. We chatted a bit and Mike headed out. I was looking at some funny tshirts online. I want to get some when I lose a few more pounds. I think the funniest one was “Every time you download music on the internet. God kills a kitten.”

I’m gonna hit it, so this is a short one tonight. I spoil you people, I really do.

Republican convention this week. Tens of thousands of demonstrators in New York. The march stretched for 2 miles. It makes me feel good. Maybe they’ll wake some people up. I’ll let you know what’s going on this week.

cya

Cleanin' Up

Got up today and got myself around. I wanted to head down and work on the basement, but Deb wanted me to call AT&T Wireless about the cell phone bill. I was waiting for a rep for ONE HOUR. They said it would be more than 20 minutes before I got a rep. They were half right. It took one hour and I still didn't get one. After 30 minutes I didn't want to hang up. "It'll be any minute" I said to myself. Anyway, I will try them again in a few days.

We came down here and busted ass. Took 3 trashcans full of crap to burn. It still needs about 2 hours of work tho, then I get to start ripping out walls. I'm putting everything in plastic containers and sitting them against the one wall. I broke down my keyboards and realized that I can't find 2 keyboard cases. So all the stuff we packed up today is kinda scattered near where it belongs. I think the cases out in the garage, buried under even more shit. I will find them....oh yes.....I will.

The kids went down to eat in Newport and got back around 4. They had a party night last night, so they wanted to crash out. Deb and I kept plugging away. We wrapped everything up. Got showers. Got the kids around and went to Lewistown.

We had to go to an auto parts store to get the brake hose for the van. It'll be in tomorrow. I also found some mudflaps for the Pacifica. The dealer wanted 80 bucks for 4 mudflaps. I don't know how much it would be to install them. We found 2 pair for 20 bucks. A significant savings.

We went to the Riverfront to eat. I'd never been there before, but Deb has said good things about it in the past. It took a long time to get stuff. Deb got a Pina Colada that wasn't right. Mike had Apple Martini's, his last one we had to send back. My steak was supposed to be medium well. Well, one side was, the further I went, the more medium rare it got. Still not bad tho. The food was good, it just took a while to get.

Yes I cheated again. And no, I didn't exercise. I'm going to make today my day off and do it tomorrow. I have to go get some barbells too. Chrissy's are too light.

We saw the Covert's (great name, huh?). They go to the same place in 1000 islands that we go to. He's a drummer. I keep wanting to talk to him about playing, but it never presents itself properly. I must try harder the next time.

We came home and watched some Olympics. Deb and Chrissy zonked out. Mike and I watched a few Family Guy's and the latest Dead Like Me. I want to hold off on the episode I want to try writing for that show till they go on hiatus. They're changing things around with the characters too much. But I shall do it. Too many good ideas.

Great scene tonight with Rube in the Post Office.

A woman comes in and cuts in line ahead of him to talk to a friend. He's waiting forever. He walks up to her and makes some small talk and then says....

Rube...Excuse me, but does everyone in this line look like assholes?

Woman...I beg your pardon?

Rube...All these people behind you, do they look like assholes?

Woman...No

Rube...Oh, so it must be you then.

Then he completely, quietly, rips her a new one. I love Rube. I wish I would have seen this before the little episode at the grocery store with the Faux Biker.

After the show, Mike crapped out. Then and I headed downstairs to type this.

BTW, if you see Mike, call him Marvin and tell him to get the pickles out of his ears.

Lookin' Good

I got up late today. I wanted to get up a little early and start on the damn basement. But I wasn’t able to fall asleep till after 4 am. I headed up to the rehab thing. I forgot to tell you this yesterday…I turned up the detour to head to the doctors, and out of the corner of my eye I DIDN’T see a detour sign. I headed down the right way and saw them taking down the signs, so I was one of the first citizens to go over the new bridge.

It was pretty cool at rehab today. Louise started me on resistance training. I did a bit of that, then part of what I usually do. She made me feel good. She said that I’m on maintenance right now. Basically all they can do for me. They’ll probably refer me to a gym. She said she felt good about it because I have the discipline to make a go of this. That was cool.

I left my resistance booklet up there though. Sorta sucks. I can’t find Chrissy’s heavier weights either, so I’ll probably have to go pick up a set.

I came home, made a few calls and started on the basement. I put a pretty good dent in it too. Finally made it to my guitars. They are ok. My bass has yellowed from age, it’s kinda cool in a way. One case had a small cobweb in it, the other had a strap that was moldy. But the instruments look good. I’ll tell you how good my main axe is. The high E was a little flat, but the rest of the damn thing was in tune. That was another cool thing.

Mike showed up and told me that he’s ok with the points thing. So he won’t be needing an attorney. Deb came home and said she had a problem with the head of accounting. She was pretty pissed. Chrissy came home and hurried up and got ready. She and Mike we’re going to a friend of Mike’s for awhile and then over to the Coyote Hardware Bar.

Deb and I headed out for Sam’s. We got a bunch of stuff, then went over to the Olive Garden. I had an incredible meal that went way off my diet. I am not ashamed. :)

We got home and unloaded and I sat down and surfed a little.

I found the Death Clock on my surf of blogs. My personal day of death is Sunday, April 26, 2037. You can find yours by clicking on the link in my link list. I think I may be able to extend mine, the more weight that I lose. We’ll see.

My friend Jean told me last night that the protests in NYC are crankin’ up. Two guys scaled the Plaza Hotel and put a huge banner up with two arrows pointing left and right. The right one says “Bush”, the left one says “Truth”. Also a bunch of people got naked on 5th avenue. Ya gotta love naked protesters protesting practically anything. There is another huge banner at the Democratic rebuttal site that says “Mission NOT Accomplished”. And another group put a clock up that adds the cost of the war every second. I think that’s an excellent idea too. It’s gonna be interesting this week. Check the convention out, I will and let you know what’s up.

That’s all…I gotta move the tractor before it rains.

Cya

BTW…no answer to yesterday’s little trivia question until SOMEONE takes a stab at it. Except for Mike, I gave him the answer this afternoon.

You Won't Understand a Word That's In It...

Let's try a little game. The line above is from a song. Actually, it was the last vocal I heard at work tonight. You tell me "The Next Line" (it's copyrighted, don't even try it), Artist and song title. And if you actually knew it or cheated and looked it up on the net. I'll give you the thanks of a grateful nation.

Today was really messed up. I was going to walk, go up to the doctors to get my FMLA papers, then go to lunch with Margaret. Well, the lack of sleep caught up to me and I blew off going to the doctor. I got up finally and walked. When I got back in I called Margaret and she said she couldn't make it.

So I got a shower and sat here on the machine a little. Then I thought, I should head up to the doctor today instead of waiting till tomorrow. So I did. Then over to the store. And since I got some frozen stuff I had to head back home. And then back down to work. It was tight, but I made it. Thank god there were no problems.

The republican idiots were at it again around the time clock. I could go on about this, you know. I know that most of the country has decided already. But it’s very frustrating to hear these guys arguments. It’s like they have no idea what the actual issues are.

Things went pretty well till lunch. We’re sitting there and I look out the window and everyone is facing to the left. Very weird. Then the news starts to trickle in. There was a fight in the parking lot. Later we find out it’s two women. Evidentally this started in the lobby and worked it’s way into the parking lot. Hey…let the postal workers handle the violence people. :)

So we’re back at work and I’m coding some mail and I pick up a package and …HOLY SHIT. Freaked completely out for a second, then started laughing my ass off. The box was vibrating. It was from skin care company (yeah, right). Derma something or other.

We finished up the day and I headed home. I came home and fixed some chicken corn soup and started doing the blog thing.

Talk to ya.

I Can't Drive (65)

Today was really busy, and tomorrow will be worse, so I'm gonna make this quick.

I had rehab today. They are going to start easing me into resistance training. So I'll be pumpin' the iron here pretty soon. We also talked about the reduction surgery if I'm too "flappy" from the weight loss. Louise said that there are ways to get insurance to pay for it. That made me feel really good that it may not be an out of pocket expense. I wasn't able to get my FMLA stuff from the doctor, so I'll probably have to go up tomorrow morning, after my walk, before my lunch with Margaret.

I came home, packed a lunch and threw some clothes in the wash. Then I headed on down to the grind.

I got a paper in the cafeteria and one of the girls said "Give me your blog address". I asked her why and she said, laughing, "I hear that you VENT on there, I wanna see it." I said, "Yes I do, and it save me hundreds of dollars in small weapons purchases a year."

I headed in and Jean was asking me all about the blog thing. I was telling her how easy it is to start and how nice it is to have a record of stuff. I don't think I convinced her to start one, but she said she had some friends that would love it.

We did our little work dance then. Paulette and Jean were in my rotation, so I knew that my local stress level would be minimal. EGCW cut in line in front of me at the time clock. I let it go...I always let it go...

I had a long conversation with Willa about rehab and losing weight and the like. She says that my complexion looks better. I said it's because I have to go out in the sun to walk. Large glowing ball in the sky is evil.

I had a message from Chrissy at lunch. It appears that Mike was going a little too fast at the wrong place and Officer Friendly gave him a love note. He wanted my attorney's number. I was a little upset with my family. They were at J.P. Edwards getting dinner. They all had nice stuff. I had a salad. :) (Bastards) I told Paulette after lunch where they were and we were trying to figure out if they would get some takeout and bring it down to us. She says "How far away is it?" Like it's a viable option for me to just run up there quick and grab a salad or something and bring it back.

The rest of the night was pretty painless. We got done 30 minutes early and they didn't make us schlepp over to the other machine for a change. I was told that Sid has been pretty magnanamous lately, that's cool.

Ran into union steward S. Graybill before I left. He got me some docs on 5 minute leeway rule and we talked about computers a bit.

I headed home. Mike was still here and we talked about his ticket a little. I made some Chicken Corn soup and a few BBQ sandwiches. I was starvin'. I got on Deb's machine to scan something for Cat. Pulling up Yahoo Messenger, Cat left me a note that said the drummer (Bobby Rondinelli) for Blue Oyster Cult is leaving the band. Hate to see you go Bobby, good luck with The Lizards.

Chrissy came in and hung out a few minutes, then went to bed. I'm gonna wrap this up and do the same.

Cya

Hey Hey…

I forgot to mention yesterday that I had a conversation with my niece Darlene. She said that her and her boyfriend were up riding around the Millersburg area. They were trying to find where they make Middleswarth potato chips. Anyway, they stopped in the local watering hole and sat at the bar. She said there was a guy sitting behind them talking to a woman in an odd accent, but they paid no attention to him.

They struck up a conversation with the the barmaid and asked about the chip factory. She indicated where it was and they made some small talk. My niece mentioned something about hearing that Davy Jones from The Monkees lived in the area. The barmaid said “Yeah, in fact, he’s sitting right behind you”.

Anyway…today was a walking day. For fun, I weighed myself sans clothes before I went out and after I took a shower. It showed that I lost 3 pounds. I was pretty amazed. It also showed 288. That just blows my mind. My regular weights will be higher because of having to wear clothes at the hospital. But the fact that it’s starting to drop again is just really, really cool.

Work was drudgery. I feel like I’m waiting for another shoe to drop. I don’t think we’ll make it through an entire week without any bullshit, but stranger things have happened.

Came home and chatted with Cat a little. Made a nice big sandwich (within my diet, of course). And started to type this little missive.

My horrorscope says that people will enjoy my writing, which I thought was really bizzare. But I hope you do.

cya

Fat Broad and the Faux Biker

Today was rehab. It looks like they're gonna keep me at 50 minutes of exercise. I thought it would keep increasing, but I guess not for at least a few weeks.

I came home and got ready for work. Chrissy didn't go in today. She was playing Baldur's Gate when I got home.

Work was once again relatively painless. We all know what that means, don't we kids? Another shoe shall fall soon.

I had to stop at the grocery store on the way home for a few items. There is an old guy, an old woman and a pseudo biker guy in line.

It looks like the old guys got a shitload of stuff, the woman has 3 things, and the faux biker is just standing there.

Then he leaves.

And when I say leaves, I mean leaves the store.

I move up.

The fake biker comes back. I'm standing there and this asshole actually says "Would you PLEASE excuse me?" and moves in front of me.

I don't know what it was...the wind?...something in my eye? But the fucker got by me. I wanted to say "No, you left, you wait". If I would have been thinking clearly I would have said it too.

It turns out the old man and old woman were together and Mr. Biker (Masterbiker? Masterbator?) belonged to the 3 things on the belt.

I hate rude, ignorant people most of all.

A woman from work came in. I call her Fat Broad. The reason is, if you look at the B.C. comic in the paper? She looks just like the one they call Fat Broad. Only, the Fat Broad in the paper is much better looking than this woman. She gets into line behind me. "Great", I think, "surrounded by assholes".

I headed up the road and stopped at Sheetz for gas and some food. I came home and saw that Mike was here. Him and Chrissy are crapped out in the living room. So, I get to write this on my downstairs machine with the maladjusted desk. I can't wait to get my office built.

That's all for now kids.

Pussy Vietnam

I must have missed something. I thought there was only one Vietnam that all the kids went to. It turns out that there must have been two Vietnam's. There must have been a "pussy" Vietnam and a "tough guy" Vietnam. That way, if you got wounded in "tough guy" Vietnam you were a real hero, but....wounded in "pussy" Vietnam wasn't a big deal.

You mean there wasn't a "pussy" Vietnam? I didn't think so.

All of the assholes were absent today at work, so it was pretty relaxed. They'll be back in full force tomorrow though.

Talk to you tomorrow.

Gimme Dat 'Ol Time...

I’d like to thank God. I don’t do that too often, I’m not a really religious person. But this has been a fantastic summer for me. I know that sounds weird. I’m a guy that likes rain and snow. It’s rained a lot this year. When it hasn’t rained the weather has been very reasonable, very cool. So thanks buddy.

I got up and ran into town today for Deb. I had to pick up her contacts and get some cat food. We are experimenting with different foods for the cat. I got the regular food and a weight loss food. Then there was a 3rd that I HAD to get. It’s has a drawing of a dead ringer for our cat on the box. The cat actually went for it at first. I haven’t checked to see which one is preferred. We really spoil this animal.

I got back and Mike was down in the garage checking the van. He wasn’t able to complete it, but he’s got it narrowed down to one of two things. I’m very glad that it’s not something major and I still have something to move my gear with.

We got into a good conversation about politics which we continued up in the house with Chrissy and Deb. He’s not really committed yet, so I’m hoping to bring him into the light. He wants to do research and ask questions. That’s all I ask of anyone. If you think rationally before going into this, you couldn’t possibly vote for Bunnypants.

Deb left for the festival. Chrissy finished up some pies and then she and Mike came in and we watched a few episodes of Unscrewed. The coolest segment was fun things you can do with Super Soakers. They hooked a stun gun up to one. Another was rigged with pepper spray. The third was converted to a flamethrower. Fun!

I went over to the festival and ate and completely blew my diet. BBQ sandwich, Hot Dog, Ham Bean Soup, Ice Cream and Pie. I came home and walked for 40 minutes. So that made up for it a little.

I had Chrissy rolling on the floor at one point. They had a track act singing christian songs and doing their little preaching thing between songs. I said to Chris. “Ya know, A lot of these people aren’t really paying attention…I bet you could get away with saying almost anything…And verily I say unto thee, Fords are Better than Chevy’s. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be. World without end. Mopar’s kick both their asses. Amen."

And… ”As is written in the Bible….Find a penny….Keep a penny….Have a penny….Share a penny….in his holy name….Amen” Just a joke folks. :)

I got a shower and started typing this while watching The Capital Gang.

Talk you ya

Friday On My Mind

I was out the door by 7:30. I had to take the car up to the dealer for an oil change, tire rotate, warranty check and wash. All that stuff and all I had to pay for was the rotation. Sweet.

I hung out in the waiting area and played Scrabble on the palm.

Then I headed to rehab. I had some time, so I ran my errand to Radio Shack to get some new work audio gear. I have to recommend the Shack for their extended warranty. 15 bucks for 3 years. You can take the device and smash it into the ground every day and they will gladly give you a new one. I usually go through 4 devices in 3 years. You do the math.

I went to rehab and did my thing. An obviously gay guy brought cake in for everybody. I thought that that was extremely rude. A lot of people in there are dealing with weight loss issues and waving cake in front of them is just wrong. I was nice and accepted the offer, but he left before I was done so I didn’t have to worry about it.

I headed home. There was a traffic backup at the construction. I didn’t think it would be too long. I was wrong. I sat there for more than an hour. Some folks turned around. I was going to , but I decided against it. I plugged in my Fountains of Wayne “Welcome Interstate Managers” and enjoyed the time I was stuck.

I got home and ate. I was so wiped out that I took a nap. My legs have been bothering me and it helped to take a little nap.

I got back up and installed Mozilla Firefox on my system. It has some very cool extensions and so far, it’s not too bad. Although it did crash on me when I tried to write this the first time.

I chatted with Cat for a little. Her husband’s uncle came home from the hospital. She was having trouble downloading the Staples commercial featuring Alice Cooper. I downloaded it for her here (about one minute) and sent it to her (about 15 minutes). Broadband people, it’s the wave of the future. Deb came home late. Chrissy went into her dad’s. They were getting together to deal with John’s death.

Then I sat here and watched Stargate (Atlantis and SG-1). I’m really looking forward to the Farscape miniseries in October too. I got to delete a lot of stuff off of the Tivo.

I’m going to drop Netflix. This is no reflection on Netflix, they have been wonderful. I just have so much stuff on the Tivo and I can get most stuff when I want that I just don’t have the time to watch the Netflix stuff. But if you go to Blockbuster, you’re wasting your money. Go Netflix.

On the political front. The Kerry camp has filed suit against the “Swift Boat” people due to their extensive connections to the Bush camp. It sounds like they may have a case. It will be interesting to see what happens on this front.

The “Swift Boats for Bush” people have another ad coming out. CNN did a piece on it. They have a quote from Kerry saying (approximate) “they raped people, cut of ears, cut off heads”. What the “Swift Liars for Bush” fail to do is add the beginning of the sentence. Kerry is quoting testimony from soldiers and the full clip clearly shows that.

Don’t believe the hate.

Vote Kerry, Save America

I’m gonna try to post this in Mozilla. Let’s see what happens.

cya

A Quickie

I have an early appointment tomorrow, so I'm gonna make this quick.

I walked today. Then I went to work. Sid wasn't there, so it was relatively peaceful.

There was one thing in the news about "The Swift Boats for Bush" people. One person in particular has been insistent that Kerry is lying about being shot at while rescuing his crew mate. In Kerry's report, I believe the actual words are "under heavy fire". This shill says that there was no fire. The New York Times has pulled this guys report of the incident and in his report it says "under heavy fire". It just shows you how desperate the Reps are.

3 guys were talking at work about it. This one guy says "I wanna know the TRUTH". No he doesn't. He wants to know the spin. He wants to hear bad stuff about Kerry so he can go "See?...See?" I really wanted to engage these guys, but I'm holding off until October. I can't change their minds, but maybe some of the undecideds will be ready to listen by then. Besides, the media and candidates are doing plenty of slugging. I want to summarize it all and wrap it up for people.

The difference between the candidates is that the Reps have to make up shit about Kerry. All the bad stuff I need about Bush he's managed to do in public. And there's plenty more if you dig a little.

Vote for Kerry. Save America.

CYA

5 Minutes More...

I had a doctor's appointment with my GP today. Primarily, I went for a blood letting to get new cholesterol and sugar numbers. After that, I headed up to rehab. It went quite well. I went back home to get ready for work.

Chrissy was home when I got home. She came out of the den and I asked her "What's up?". She said, "John's dead, he committed suicide...He hung himself..." And she broke down crying. John was a cousin by marriage. They met playing D&D and dated for a little. He was having problems back then as well. He had attempted suicide while dating her (during the breakup phase) by trying to drink washer fluid.

I did my best to console and make sure that she wasn't blaming herself for this. We have no control over other's actions and I'm pretty sure she understands that. She's a lot better now. Mike and Joann are talking to her in the den as I type this.

Anyway. I was fixing my lunch and the phone rang. It was Cat. She had a colonoscopy today. She was dreading it yesterday. I told her that it's not the most comfortable thing to do. But it's not too bad either. And if they offer, take the drugs.

I had to head back into the doctors office and pharmacy before I went to work. So I did that.

I got to work and punched in RIGHT ON TIME. Of course, Sid played hooky today. So I didn't have that satisfaction. But other things happened that made up for it.

I went to the union office and got copies of the documentation that specify the leeway part of yesterdays blog discussion. I also got documentation to back up the “clocking out 5 minutes early” part as well. I am loaded for the bear. Let the bear approach.

The rest of the evening was ok. I think I may be allergic to something on the machine. My stomach pains were back tonight. I’m going to switch the type of glove I wear. I’m also going to ask the gastro doctor if I may be allergic to rubber or something.

As promised yesterday, the cast of characters on the machine I work on.

The Forces of Good

Bonnee. A good friend. Very well read and what I would call an amateur librarian. We have wonderful conversations about a wide range of topics.

Jean. I always discuss politics and technology with her. We get along very well. Very easy to work with.

Paulette. (I should say something nasty ‘cause I know she reads this) A lot of fun. Another easy person to work with who happens to have a great personality as well.

The Forces of Evil

HPB. Caused trouble in the unit before she even got here. And incredibly annoying as well.

EGCW. The most evil of all. Could either meltdown and kill himself, or take a few of us out with him. Completely untrustworthy. Was a 204b (babyboss) for a short time and now belives that he can order anyone around with impunity. He’s wrong.

The rest fall into the grey area. Good sometimes, Evil sometimes. I’ll fill you in on them as they rear their somewhat ugly heads.

Mike is staying here tonight, so I have to vacate the couch.

Talk to you…

Remember When?

Remember when I said this?

Remember when I said it’s been too quiet at work? Remember when I said it’s been creepin’ me out? Remember when I said it’s only a matter of time before there’s some bullshit directed my way? Remember when I said it’s been like waiting for the other shoe to drop?

Today was my last day in the mail cases. Tomorrow I go back to the sack lifting and keying. I’m not looking forward to it. Coming tomorrow I’ll give you a synopsis of the players. First names only, abbreviations for the truly evil ones. If I can 100 percent verify who you are in person, and I trust you implicitly, I’ll tell you what the abbreviations mean.

I have been reporting to that work area ever since I’ve been back, then they send me upstairs. Today we had a meeting. Our supervisor, Sid, handed out these strips of paper with our clock rings printed on it. Every year they do this thing where they try to take away one of the few rights we have, and every year they screw up and drop it after a few weeks.

You see, we have something called an LMOU (Local Memorandum of Understanding). It delineates finer points that the national contract doesn’t cover. One of these is a 5 minute leeway when you clock in or out before they charge you as late. Management screwed up when they signed off on the wording of this. The way it’s worded, we can punch in 5 minutes before or after the designated clock in time. Management always tries to contend that it means “after only”. They always lose.

We have our little meeting and go back to be assigned to machines. I don’t quite know how it started, but I mentioned that the LMOU says “leeway” nothing about before or after. Of course, this sets Sid off, (Sid is very easy to set off) and he proceeds to tell me how I’m wrong and he’s right.

If I’m wrong and I know it, I’ll back down. If I’m pretty sure, but not positive, I’m right, I’ll back down until I have all of my facts. But if I’m right, I’ll hold my ground as long as it takes.

We go back and forth and it comes to this…

Sid (very riled)…Well, if you think that you can do that you just go ahead and see what happens….now…that’s not a threat…..

Me….It sure sounds like one to me.

Sid….No, that’s not a threat, that’s a Promise!

I turn to my friend Bonnie and go “Oh great…semantics”.

He then used a line something to the effect of “I’ve been here 33 years, don’t tell me what is and what isn’t” Well, it’s like this Sid. If you were here 333 years, wrong would still be wrong. And besides, 33 years is about 13 too many. Give a young guy a chance that needs the money to start a family. Don’t stay in a job because you want a new Caddy every other year and need money to blow at the casinos. And don’t stay in it because you have no life outside of work. Get one.

Just my opinion.

I go upstairs and do my thing in the cases. I see one of the stewards go by (who shall remain nameless in this telling) and lay out my case. He says “Just keep doing what you’re doing, we’ll let them make a move and then we’ll stick it up their ass!” Good times….good times.

At the end of the night I run into a friend who, I found out the other day, has been a steward for a year. I tell him the tale and we talk. Then he says, “Ya know, if you punch in on time and keep your lunch right at 50 units, you can punch out 8 units early and they have to pay you for the full eight hours.”

Huge fucking grin on my part.

So, all this time I’ve been struggling with keeping exactly 8 hours and I don’t have to. This will placate the boss and make me even happier cause I’m getting 25 minutes free a week. See, I’m there early all the time. I don’t give a shit when I punch in, I just don’t want any problems. Well, now it’s time for Bobby to get a lil’ sompinsompin. :)

Another thing that bothered me during the meeting is new “security” measures. I could go very deeply into this, but I’m getting conflicting reports. There is a turnstile system going in at our main entrance. But the Big Brother aspect of it is worse. They will know whether you’re in or out of the building at all times. Also, I hear that entering the building activates your time badge, and leaving deactivates it. So what happens if I need something from my car? Lots of questions.

But the BIG thing that bothers me about this “security” stuff is that two exit doors have new labels on them. They are going to be for emergencies only, but if you need to use them in an emergency, they’ll take 15 seconds to open.

15 seconds can be a very long time.

My scenario is like a movie. They find the bomb, it’s right inside the door, they open it up and the clock says 10. I can cover a lot of ground in 10 seconds, but instead, I’m gonna be 5 seconds dead before the door opens. In the movie, I can see the dust settling and then a CLICK and the door swings open….with my arm dangling from the handle.

Music at work…Jellyfish’s “Bellybutton” / Smithereen’s “Especially for You”

Dead Like Me update….I’ve come up with a story arc involving 3 or possibly 4 characters to start. I’ve come up with lines and a few scenarios for other characters as well. I thought it would be a little more difficult to get the first ideas, but it came to me pretty quick. I may start putting stuff on paper this weekend. I have nowhere near enough stuff to do the whole thing, but I have a lot more than I thought I would just a day or two into it. Lots of notes on the Palm. I think, hell, I know that it’s a lot easier to come up with stuff for established characters than to create those characters yourself. Who knows, maybe some sort of fiction thing down the road.

cya

Interesting....

The toolbar at the top of the page searches this blog. So if you want to see your name, or a specific topic, just type it in the search engine.

Not so much Better Late...

Rehab today, almost at 50 minutes of exercise. Only gained one pound from the weekend when I weighed in, and I was only up .5 pounds when I checked at the end of the session.

Came home and got ready for work. The detour is still up, I hope they get that fixed this week. It's getting very old.

Tomorrow is my last day in the letter cases. Then it's back to my regular job. So I figured today would be relatively painless.

Wrong.

We have a PTF as a 204b today. Thats postalese for a relatively new employee being a temporary supervisor. These people are easily manipulated. Do you remember last week when I told you about the black woman that was sticking her nose into stuff. Well, she's been going thru my case when I go to break. Isn't that special. She's got somebody now that she can tell what to do and she runs and does it. So this woman gives me a 5 minute training speech on where this mail goes. I let her babble, then I said, "This is really great, thank you, this will come in real handy for the rest of the day and tomorrow.....and after that I'm back to my regular job, real handy, thanks a lot". These people really annoy me.

Tomorrow I'm going to sort stuff the way it is supposed to be. Then, when I go to break, I'm gonna stuff the mail back into the other slot. Just so she has something to bitch about. I like to please people, ya know. :)

Then later on, somebody had to point out something about another type of mail. And little miss important had to give me another 3 minute talk. What a mess that place is.

So I head home, make a salad and blog, blog, blog.

Music at work...Velvet Revolver's "Contraband" / The Living End's "Roll On"

I've figured out a way to tell the weather at work when I look out the window.

If people are smoking, it's sunny.
If people are smoking and wearing a coat, it's cold.
If people are smoking and wet, it's raining.
If people can't get their cigarette lit, it's windy.
If I can't see anyone smoking, it's dark.

:)

cya

Don't Fear the Reapers

No exercising today. I just got up and went to work. It was really light.

I left late and realized that I didn't have time to get gas, so I risked it. Made it to work, came back and pulled into the gas station with "2 miles left" showing on the computer.

I'm making a tape for the nutritionist, a copy of the video I made last week.

My XP machine downstairs seems to be behaving.

I had to do a quick proposal for Deb's boss to hook up a streaming netcam.

And I'm going to try to write an episode of Dead Like Me. I have an ending that will be perfect if they can get the music rights. And I came up with a basic story tonight. Hell, the least they can do is say "get lost".

cya

Bacchus and Neptune

Got up and walked for 30 minutes. While I was walking Mike pulled in. My inlaws got here and we went down and looked at the old van. It’s been slipping out of gear. Now, we had it looked at recently. We told them specifically that there was a transmission problem. So I thought that everything was cool in the fluid area. Mike pulled the tranny fluid dipstick and it was bone dry. We put one quart in and it ran fine. So the kids headed up the road to get some fluid and we started throwing stuff out in the garage.

We did it for a long time. Roughly 5 hours. Burning trash and moving stuff around.

We wrapped it up around 7. Everybody wanted pizza so we called into the local shop. It turns out that they won’t deliver here because of the construction on the bridge. So, since the geniuses that drive for them can’t follow two orange signs, we had to drive in and pick it up.

Yes, I blew my diet again. But I’m back on it tomorrow. I told everybody tonight that I only want 1 night of “naughtyness”. So I’m saving up for next Saturday. That’s the church festival.

Well, after we ate we hung out and watched some movies. Most notably “Under the Tuscan Sun”.

I've been catching up on some tv lately. One of my favorites is "Dead Like Me". Two characters are having an exchange in a waffle house. One, Rube, is probably hundreds of years older than the other, very literate, in charge, and doesn't suffer fools kindly. The other, Mason, is younger, British, an alcoholic, and as he was called in a recent episode "A fuck up".


Rube..."Well you know, They say that Bacchus has killed more men than Neptune."

Mason..."Uhh...Ahh...Bacchus???"

Rube..."Well, Bacchus is the Greek god of readafuckinbook."


And then I started this, and now I’ve finished it.