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OUR DOGS ARE FUNNY LIKE THAT

Ann went to bed around 9:30 tonight,and Theo made a b-line to the bed ahead of her.And for the next 30 minutes or so kept coming out in the hall staring at me expectantly,only to turn around and go get back on the bed.I think he has to have us both in the bed to go to sleep,and I was totally jamming him up.Irene in the meantime was contentedly curled up just behind my chair waiting patiently for the moon to loosen it's grip on me and allow me to go to bed.
It was too hot for Irene to have a ride tonight,almost too hot for porch time,but she got a short one.It was miserably hot,even after 8pm.
Work was pretty cool today,Clark and I got to work together all day,and that's a good thing.We did these home run conduits in that impossibly crowded ceiling,requiring lots of creative bending,what started out as a total rat job actually turned out to look pretty good.We've come a long way since our time together with Rusty,and it shows.
I think I got my pipe bending mojo back today.
You would be amazed at how fucked up these ceilings are,This building is old and has been re-piped and re-wired several times...in fact,I'll take some pictures tomorrow to show you what kind of challenges we are dealing with.And the cool thing is,we are making it work.
I'm not particularly enjoying this job,but overall I still love my job and the challenges presented.
Theo just popped out into the hall again and gave me that look and a little "boof",so I guess I should go to bed.Ha!:)

The Deathchair 2000

So named for it's propensity to try and kill you. Notoriously unstable, all manner of interesting things can happen when you first sit down in it, or when you are successfully sitting and shift your position a bit, or when you attempt to get up. Large quantities of adult beverages increase your hazards, though they make up for it in the long run by causing you to become amused rather than irritated by the damn chair (and they also help ease the pain of being dumped on your ass by the thing.) Just make sure your drinking buddy has one as well so you can laugh at him too and not just at yourself.

It was so hot today

How hot was it? Hot enough for me to stop at Wal-Mart on the way home just to cool off between work and home. My car has no air-conditioning, the driver's side window doesn't roll down and it sat in the direct sun from 8 am to 3 pm so it was pretty toasty inside. I left the other windows down several inches since there was no rain in the forecast and nothing in the car that anyone would want to steal, but that didn't seem to help much. Anyway, I normally won't set foot in Wal-Mart unless there's something specific I need that I can't get it anywhere else for less than twice the price. But today stop wasn't really a shopping trip, just a chance to cool down a bit. I checked prices on things like birdseed (not cheaper) and bird feeders (not cheaper) and BBQ grills (not cheaper) and plus size clothing (nothing I wanted to wear, but definitely cheaper) and I was going to even grab a few things for dinner but once again they were not cheaper. I did leave with one item, one of those folding lounge chairs that we call the "Deathchair 2000". I've been looking for one of these for for a couple of years now, never finding one for the $9.99 I was willing to spend. It was $10.43, but I was willing to pay a bit more due to today's higher fuel prices. They also had the model we call the "Deathchair 5000" which is a little better and $5 more. I was seriously considering that one (has a cloth seat instead of vinyl) but they were boxed up and sitting high up on a shelf and they wouldn't get them down and sell me one. Oh well, the cheaper model happens to be a bright green (my favorite color), so I guess it was meant to be. Once the temp drops a bit this evening, I plan to try it out on the front porch. I'll get Rob to take a picture later so you know what I'm talking about; for now it's just too hot to bother getting it out of the trunk.

P.S. It's gotten hotter since I took that picture. The themometer at 4:30 pm reads just a tad over 100 degrees!

FUCKING MOON

It's 100% full,so that means I'm officially 100% crazy for at least 24 hours And I miss my mom too.Funny how she comes up whenever theres a full moon...ha!I wish I could talk to her and tell her about my life,I suppose I could,but it would be like talking to the ceiling And god dammit...sleep escapes me.
I hate the fucking full moon

POCKET STUFF AGAIN

Overalls have many deep pockets,lots of room for lots of stuff...

We have 3 different sizes of wire nuts,some knock out seals,assorted screws,2 different allen wrenches,some change,a receipt,and my beloved gypsy.A gravity knife I've had for 25 years.That came out of the shorts pocket I wore to the park(s) this weekend.It's not a work knife,it's a "just in case" knife,if you know what I mean.

I've never had occasion to use it in 25 years...knock on wood.

I watched a very disturbing movie called Frontier(s) tonight,it's a French film with sub titles and very,very violent.It puts Hostel to shame,comparatively,Hostel is light comedy.Now,that's an over statement to be sure,but Frontier(s) is some brutal shit,plus,it's in French...the language of love.Ewww.It's enough to give me nightmares I'm afraid.And those are the only kind of dreams I have.Business as usual,right?
Speaking of business...some electrician on another job got crushed to death the other day when he hit a wall on a snorkel lift and the wall fell in on him,overturning his lift.Brick sandwich.One of the guys on our crew knew him.Bummer...

SNORKEL LIFT,IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING...

I know when I leave the house every morning that I might not come home in one piece,or at all for that matter.You can only be careful and have your tool buddies back and hope he has yours.

There's this other guy on the crew who is kind of odd,but in a good way.Obviously very intelligent,in fact,I'm kind of surprised he's an electrician.(But hey,I am too,so go figure).He asks some off the wall questions.He's about Kyles age and I don't think he knows quite what to make of me.I'm old enough to be his father,but,while I am all long haired and tattooed,His Dad (who also works for the company)is a typical 40 something redneck electrician (not that there's anything wrong with that...I like him just fine,after all,I'm just a redneck too,I just don't like barbers and I like skin illustrations). So he throws this out to me,out of the blue,this morning...paraphrased...because I can't remember exactly how he said it...
"Hey Rob,let me ask you a question...if it was the end of the world and you were to survive and you had your choice of one book what would that book be?"Meaning that the book I chose would be my guidepost to the future.
I was stumped.And I told him I needed to think about that one and I'd get back with him.
I'm thinking Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter Thompson,or,the king James version of the bible...just kidding,it would totally be Jonathan livingston seagull.No...A Prayer for Owen Meany...
Oh alright,MAD magazine.
:)

Man, Kini would have a field day in the woods.We really need to introduce our dogs:P
bsd | 05.18.08 - 12:19 pm | #

And we did...Beenz was delighted to go for 2 walks in one day,and I wasn't going to pass up the chance to hang out with my son.The dogs got on famously and a good time was had by all at searight park,we even got some stoners to take our picture,man...gotta love those pot heads.

DOG,SON,DOG (L TO R)

WATER DOGS...

WATER DOGS x 2...

HAPPY TRAILS...

THANKS STONERS!REALLY...

PEBBLES...CAN YOU SEE IT?

THE GOOD GRANDSON,SEAN...MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

WEST BOULDIN CREEK

Just a few blocks from the house,never been there...

Just a trail along bouldin creek and the tracks that run behind our house.

Irene had a good time...

Graffiti in the woods...odd,but there are railroad tracks nearby...

Spider webs in the morning are cool...

Train...train!Take me on out of this town...

Creepy hollow.
A nice Sunday morning walk I think...

GUS FRUH ACCESS IS THE SHIT

Irene was off leash the whole time...early bird percs...we ran into other dogs but it was all good.

Gus Fruh is a jungle...

These chains have been here for years...something to hang onto,Buddy hated this spot,but Irene rolled right through.

What a wonderful place...

Another one within 2 miles of the house,I spent many years on this greenbelt...it's my favorite place.

One day left
One more workday tomorrow and I'll be done with this week which has not been the best of times. Today was a bit better thanks to my boss who gave me the easiest of duties and diverted all supervisor calls to other staff. My beef with work yesterday wasn't actually with my employer, but one of the companies we contract with and well, let's just say the email exchanges between me and them were less than pleasant. The vice-president of my company ended up getting involved before all was said and done and to say it sucked would be an understatement.

The fallout from yesterday resulted in an interesting dream last night where I dreamed that I went to work drunk. And for a moment this morning I actually considered doing that. Me, who won't ever drive after just two beers, was actually thinking about downing a bunch of vodka before heading off to work (common sense prevailed and I had a cup of coffee and a shower instead.) Now I do love beer, but I'm not much on the getting drunk part except once and a while, preferably at home. And I have never, ever, gone to work drunk or stoned or otherwise impaired other than the occasional sinus medication, not even in my teens or twenties. The fact that I was even thinking about doing that was a little freaky. I hope it was nothing more than a case of dream hangover.

But just in case my psyche was in need of a good drunk, I started drinking beer when I got home from work. As I told Rob, I thought it might help wash off the taint of ISP X. Well, I didn't drink fast enough to achieve drunkenness before bedtime, but all the same, I think it worked. I feel clean of that mess and ready to get embroiled in the next one tomorrow. Yeah, there will be a next one, there's always a next one...

I'VE ALWAYS WANTED ONE OF THESE

Care to guess what it is?

BIG STORM AND JACKHAMMERS

A big storm with high winds and heavy rain and large hail blew through last night,knocking branches off of trees and in some cases,taking out large chunks of trees.

THIS IS THE CUL-DE-SAC ACROSS THE STREET FROM OUR HOUSE

I slept through it all.There were a couple of medium size branches blocking our driveway this morning,but nothing major.Violent storms like this are fairly common,and they usually come,like a ghost,in the middle of the night.I'm kind of surprised that tree is still in the road though...it's been there all day.The city is usually more on the ball.This tells me there was worse damage elsewhere in the city.

Today at work there were jackhammers running most of the day,wrecking out a concrete stairwell in close proximity to where I was working.I had eye,ear and breath protection on for most of that time.We are rerouting power and fire alarm conduit to accommodate a giant new duct system being installed.Ladder and ceiling work.By the end of the day I was quite rattled by the noise.We all were.
Irene might get some porch time tonight,but no trip to another park,I'm pooped!(And she is quite distressed that we haven't left already)Spoiled brat :)

Dead End?
There's a saying that once you start working in tech support at a call center then you are stuck working in call centers forever. I'm starting to think that might be true. Work pissed me off again today so I did my usual thing when I got home and applied for as many jobs as I could that were in a reasonable driving distance and paid above minimum wage. The difference this time was that I applied for call center jobs, something I tend to avoid because they all require shift and weekend work, the pay is always lousy and I've yet to hear from someone that works in a call center environment who is a happy camper. Now I can see no good reason why working in a call centers *has* to suck so I have to think there's just something very wrong with the industry. And while I'm loathe to exchange one version of hell for another, I've decided a new set of problems/complaints would be preferable to enduring the same old shit day after day. And who knows, I might get lucky.

GARRISON PARK

This south Austin park is really sort of boring,unless you like lots of trees or happen to be a male dog.I spent a fair amount of time here in the 80's with Buddy,who made it his goal to mark each and every tree with great fervor.The spirit was willing,but the bladder was empty,and each trip would end with him shooting blanks on the way out.