MEMORIAL DAY 2006

Ann had to work, so, left to my own devices for the day I planned a trip to the flea market with a friend. It was fun and cultural, and by cultural I mean it was full of "undocumented workers",
I have never seen more gawdy cowboy boots and matching belts in my life...or mexican camel toe for that matter.
Besides beer and a turkey leg I purchased a belt and had it embossed on the back. It reads "white trash"...haha! The belt dealer did'nt blink an eye. Then, we passed this booth.....



We drew quite a crowd.

FRIDAY FUNNIES

Enjoy...


more injuns


love blooms...sorta

AWESOME PICTURE

This is a picture of a friend of mine and her daughter. I nicked this from our local paper that did an article about local chefs.

THURSDAYS COMIC OFFERING

I just can't get enough of that injun on injun action

IT'S BEEN A LONG TWO WEEKS

When I started out as an apprentice electrician two years ago, it was on a short call ( two weeks of work) instigated by my friend and now journeyman. In that time I have joined the union gotten a license, and learned that I can do this job...in fact, enjoy doing this job.
Now, it's alot different from my previous seven years working at the pool company, and worlds away from the social work I did for twenty years. Two years in and I still have alot to learn, but what I've learned so far will be put to the test at the apprentice hall on June third.
It's a seven station hands on skill evaluation, they tell me it takes all day.
How the program i'm in works is like this...You get one SBC credit for every hour you work and report ( I have about 4000 of those ) as you reach SBC milestones you get raises and progress towards "turning out" or becoming a journeyman electrician. This seven station evaluation is worth 2400 sbc's and consists of the following:
1. Raceways...that's the stuff wire is in...conduit, wiremold, panduit, gutters, junction boxes etc.
No problem here.
2. Breaker panels...you have to assemble one.
No problem.
3. Branch circuits ( the plugs on the wall and how to get there)
No problem
4. Transformers.
No problem.
5. Safety / quick disconnects.
No problem.
6. Motor controls.
Not so confident on this one.
7. Lighting.
No problem here, except for switch legs, they confound me.
Color me nervous? You bet!
I was also told to bring my hand tools ( no doubt to see if I have the required tools besides needing them for the eval ) I guess it's time to finally buy a hacksaw...and some dykes.

I AM PROBABLY GOING TO HELL FOR THIS ONE

Enjoy (?)
Into the west


Chapter 2

TODAYS COMEDY CARTOON OFFERING

Language Barrier

BUSINESS

Business

The new Ministry ROCKS...The new Tool will grow on us.

Back to Blogging?
Instead of my usual three months of giving almost total focus to a new job I have stretched it out four months this time. I'm not at the point where I feel like I have my head above water, but enough is enough and it's time to have a bit of a personal life again. I took the plunge last weekend when the band got back together on Sunday for a jam and yesterday we gathered at Bill's for his son's graduation party. Tracy was off at the coast participating in a bowling tournament and The Wolves @ th' Door tried to play without him, but we barely pulled off one song and gave up after that. Still, a good time was had by all and I did my best to forget about all the work related stuff that needed to be done. Rob and I got home at 2 in the morning, something I don't think has happened in a very, very long time. Today we went out and spent some of that money I've been working so hard to get with a nice brunch at Polvo's and trip to Waterloo Records to buy the new Ministry and Tool CDs. There was also a magnet set that I couldn't resist as the newest addition to our magnet wall:
George Bush - Now I'm gonna save Your Soul!!!

Overall, I'd say it was a pretty good start to recovering a life outside work.

ANOTHER ONE

Man, this site is cool

The wild west wing


I can't help myself!

Soldier

Church and state V1

Church and state V2

close to the vest

god

MUSHROOM TEA

I found this cartoon generating website...enjoy:


MUSHROOM TEA

IRAQ...THE MOVIE

AMERICA WE STAND AS ONE...SERIOUSLY REO TARDWAGON...

You have to punish yourself through this video, trust me.

No wonder you hate us

Click on "watch video" after it loads and cringe...over and over again.

I MADE THE PAPERS!

ASK A STONED GUY WITH A SKINK ON HIS HEAD...THE NEW SEASON

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BECAUSE WE TAKE TURNS, THATS WHY

The dogs are hungry, Theo is on post in his chair and the beenz is either underfoot or under Ann's desk, where Ann is playing EVE, oblivious to the fact that it is HER TURN. To feed the dogs. I'm not keeping score or anything. But it has been Ann's turn for the last three times...not that I'm keeping score (I am...just in case i need the "ammo" later).
Every time I get up I am surrounded by dog, everytime Ann get's up she is surrounded by dog physically and aurally with Sully's feed me bark filling the air.
And then Ann gets up and feeds the dogs...my sails are windless in regard to the funny at this point.
See, me and Ann don't work like that. There's none of that "I don't want you to help with the dishes, I want you to want to help with the dishes" mentality at work here.
We both saw the latest Jennifer Aniston movie promo at the same time, and Ann looked at me and said " What kind of crazy bullshit thinking is THAT???. We shared a laugh about our exe's and then Ann shifted the conversation to our marriage and the "sock bin" ...the compromise that saved our marriage and Ann's back.
Marital stife? Get a sock bin...trust me.

I DODGED A BULLET

My phone service is not provided by those asshole companies that contracted with bushco to "mine data". Bunnypants will never know about the heated discussions I had with Austin Energy
about my utility bill that was so exhorbitant that it took me six months to catch up. He'll never know about the collection calls, the automated calls in spanish that were undoubtly pushing the immigrant agenda, or, alternately, latino fabreeze, which is just like american fabreeze only with more cilantro essence.
He'll never know that all those calls from the 217 area code ( how did they get my number anyway???) were dumped. He'll never know the status of my grandson Sean's testicular situation. he won't hear the conversation with my friend Joel extolling the virtues of those Grand Funk CD's I burned for him back in the day.
He'll never hear me berating those automated calls ( in spanish ) with timeless witticisms like "what the fuck do you want you fucking beaner????!!!Fuck you estoban!"
He missed out on a wealth of information about my activity because I subscribe to xxxxxxx...but you already know that. Do you think I'm that stupid? Everything up to this point has been super encrypted super secret in regard to my phone usage until I found the bug.
I FOUND THE BUG!!!! You can't hurt me now because I have reversed everything and re routed all my calls through AT&T so all you will hear is that seriously fucked up busy signal sound while I order that worst president ever T shirt from BartCop.
If you want to come to my house and fuck with me, bring it on...just like you said awhile back. And look what happened.
But this is all conjecture, since I got another phone service that didn't break the law...I've got a higher calling too, and it's higher than yours.

DID HE REALLY FUCKING SAY THAT???

No-nonono-nonono-no-=NO!!!!!!!!!!!
This is right up there with the mongoloid with a banjo from Deliverence running the country.
We need to watch this shit...seriously. Come on, think about it...."Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states, Jeb Bush...no fucking way.
That's like saying Katharine Harris has a chance....ooops....somebody...give me a double shot of jager.

THE "AMERICANIZATION" OF IRAQ...DEATH KNELL

I heard some commentary on Air America today that took me back to that "police action" in Vietnam so many years ago.
Here's a quote from the article being discussed:

Lieutenant General Peter Chiarelli, in a weekend training session with troops and in an interview afterward, said that he found a need to reemphasize to soldiers that they should use reasonable force and treat Iraqi culture with respect, in part because the insurgency has persisted and grown.

''We have to understand that the way we treat Iraqis has a direct effect on the number of insurgents that we are fighting," Chiarelli said after the seminar with about three dozen soldiers and Marines at Camp Taji, north of Baghdad. ''For every one that I kill, I create almost 10 more."

So...let me clarify, if, for nothing else but my own aching head. We have been in this country for three years, blowing the shit out of them and thier culture and now, by making nice and respecting thier culture the shit will cool down?
Please, Chiarelli, you, my friend, are fucking dreaming.
The damage is already done. The "insurgency" as you call it, isn't going away. No matter how nice we are to them after three years of being "not so nice".
Not to mention the civil war we have fostered...you might call it sectarian violence, in some degree that's accurate, but what's really going on are factions taking advantage of the chaos we have created to kill each other.

Here's a link to daily events in iraq:

Blow by blow

The French ( and the spanish before them ) failed in Vietnam, we failed as well. Why? They were first and foremost Vietnamese with a strong sense of nationalism.
We will not prevail in Iraq, sure, we might win, but at what cost to lives? And if we do win, it will be a hollow victory. And a dangerous one. Why? They are first and foremost Iraqi's with a strong sense of Islam, in a part of the world crawling with similar ideology...our cross to bear.

In short, we need to get the fuck out of there before 2400 plus casualties balloons to 58000 or more.
Especially if that idiot (which one?) in the white house nukes Iran.

YOU THINK IRAQ IS BAD????

Check this shit...

Viet nam

BASED LOOSELY ON THE NUREMBERG TRIALS

I watched this movie today...the movie on the nuremberg trials that my mother watched in real time on the TV. Spencer tracy, Richard Widmark...Black and white the whole 9 yards. and i was suddenly reminded of the Rove, Libby thing going on in the here and now. when you distill it down to it's essence, Bushco = nazis.
It's the same shit all over again. amazing coincidence.

A BIG STORM

It's currently pissing doom here....heavy rain, hail, 65 to 70 plus mph winds, thunder, lightning. The whole 9 yards. Travis county and Austin are under a severe thunderstorm watch until 11 pm.
34000 homes in austin are without power, powerlines are arcing as they touch each other in the high wind, shutting down power across the city. 13 switch gears have tripped ( that's like a giant circuit breaker).
But enough about the weather...the other storm brewing is a Left for Dead reunion.
Let me explain. In a family tree sort of way.

1985: me, Bill, Jon, Pat and albert form Left for Dead. 1986: Jon and Albert go overseas, Pat moves to the coast,Left for Dead is ummm...left for dead.
1986-1990: Me and Bill continue to play together...but just drums and guitar. We jam with other folks until 1992 or so, and then just stop playing for a variety of reasons.
1994- now...Me and Bill form Wolves@th'door with my better half Ann and her friend Tracy, so you got me...vocals and guitar, Bill...drums, Ann...Bass and Tracy...guitar.

We have been inactive for over a year, but in that decade between 94 and 04, Jon came back to Austin, and while we've played together a few times recently, it's been acoustic and just for fun. No set lists, no parties, no clubs, no practice. In fact, Bill, joined another band because of the lack of activity with Wolves@th'Door.
And that lack of activity rests on my shoulders...I have had a long lasting case of the "I don't wanna's" in regard to playing. I just can't be assed to do it, but my friends have been gently pushing me to play again.

So...Bill's son is graduating from high school and they are having a party for him on the 20th. He wants the wolves to play. I initially balked at this and said no, but I thought about it and relented...this is important. Well, it turns out Tracy is at a bowling tournament at the coast on the 20th. But Jon is here and up for it. So we basically have a 21year reunion of Left for Dead with Ann from wolves playing bass.
Cool, huh? Albert's back too, I wonder if he still has his harps? :)

NEED A GOOD CRY?

Watch this...BROKEN PROMISES
Gotta love Tracy Chapman...she's got that Maya voice thing goin' on.

IT'S FUNNY HOW THIS IMMIGRATION THING HAS AFFECTED PEOPLE

And people in this case refers to me and my boss driving from job to job conversating about yesterdays day without wetbacks while Air America radio blathered on about it too.
Boss: ( In response to some comment Franken made ) " I wonder when we can have a day without niggers.You know, we could make it a week and call it the 'american dream week'. (chuckles at his own funny )
Me: "Yeah, man...follow that up with a day without chinks" ( guffaws with intermittent variations: chuck...zipperhead...nathanel victor )
boss:"Then a day without muslims" ( This would kill, because 2 out of 3 convenience stores were closed nationwide)
Me:"Then a day without jews...oh wait, they already got the shit back in the day..."
How about a day without germans? Ann and I would have no choice but to bail on work. Or limeys...Wow! I get two extra days off!!! alright prejudice and intolerance!
Or the frogs...and the list go's on and on.
We are all here.No one here will prevail in the end. If you think you will, you are seriously deluded.
It's a melting pot. if we follow the chain above everyone gets some extra days off and I say go for it.
Lets try to relax a bit before we kill each other.
Really.

OBSERVATIONS ON " A DAY WITHOUT IMMIGRANTS" THE AUSTIN VERSION

I noticed there were no mexicans at the plethora of bus stops I pass on my way to work, which are usually teeming with them.
There were no shitty late 70's early 80's conversion vans packed full of mexicans, with ladders tied dangerously on top trying to kill me on my way to work, in fact, I shared the road with late model sedans packed full of one yuppy each.
Los Altos was CLOSED...so no breakfast and no Juanita for us all to lech after. Ann pointed out that the mexican establishments and contractors that were closed were probably not working because this, May 1, is (maybe not so coincidentally) MEXICAN LABOR DAY. HMMMMMMM.??? Have they sandbagged us?
The mexicans we work with all showed up...to our delight, as we asked incredulously..."What are you doing here"? Trust me, it was funny.
We saw mexican students...going to class....I swear.
We saw mexicans buying things...gas,cigarettes, and to my amusement, tamales...from a Paki quick stop...how's that for irony???
Construction sites were largely quiet today, but it was reported on NPR that contractors gave folks the day off here because they knew they were'nt going to show up anyway.
So the city didn't come to a screeching halt, and I think I know why.
While this immigration thing might play big in LA or Denver, it's just not as big of a deal here in Austin...crawling with immigrants, legal and otherwise, but integrated into the community, and contributing to it's pulse.
The population of the US of A is estimated at 298,444,215. At 11,000,000...(estimated) illegal immigrants are a drop in the bucket. Even if you divided the population by three, that's still 99,481,405 lawns that need attention.
Much ado about nothing.

PEACE TAKES COURAGE

And how. And she's got it in spades.

"Ava Lowery is a fifteen-year-old who lives in Alabama. She calls herself a peace activist, and for the past year, she's been producing her own short animations on her website, peacetakescourage.com. "I was just so mad about it," she explains. "And the media are not showing the real images of the war, so I did a lot research and started my own website." - Nicked from Crooksandliars

Good stuff here. Simple, and to the point. A very sharp point right into the eye of this "administration" and the war.
Nice job Ava! 32% is my favorite so far.
But it could be just another ruse by that Huffington woman...not a 15 year old alabaman (think about that for a minute), cause she's not above a ruse.
Akkkkk! Stop being a cynic. it's real ( clicks heels together ).

Speaking of courage...Stephen Colbert, late of the Daily show and ringmaster at the Colbert Report, ripped Bushco and the press a new one at the white house press corp association dinner.
Largely ignored (or shot down) by the press in it's aftermath. "It wasn't funny because nobody was laughing"...No No NO! It was especially funny because nobody was laughing. He dropped the stinking turd of Bush's legacy in the lap of the man hisself, not to mention ripping the media. It's awesome. You can see it at the crooks link above.