SOMETHING I'VE BEEN WANTING TO DO FOR A LONG TIME

I've never really liked our porch light, and I got these really cool jelly jar lights from a remodel a couple of years ago...they're really old. So I got motivated yesterday and switched out the porch light. Hiding the boxes became a challenge, and this is what I came up with:



After incorporating the turtle shell of the dearly departed E1, I had a thought, I have other shells of dearly departed. So I did a little memorial for my turtles that have passed:



I'm pleased with the outcome.

THE UGLIEST TRANNY IN TOWN

At brunch this afternoon, I had the distinct displeasure of sitting across from the poorest specimen of trans-sexual I have ever seen.ever. There are assloads of trannys in this town, and by and large, most of them are passable (which is the point...right?). With the notable exception of Leslie (Is'nt he cute?)



The one I saw today was way scarier. It had giant tits and a gut to match (they had to be implants, no amount of female hormones could produce anything so monolithic), those dark black painted on eyebrows that look like nike swooshes, or your senile aunts. And blue mascara. Blue! It was hispanic, so naturally, albiet stereotypically, it had a hickey displayed prominently on it's neck. I felt sorry for what ever drunk dude gave it, right before he went to grope some poon and ended up with some estrogen deflicted cock instead.
A woman in the group was wearing a T shirt that proclaimed : Let's focus on ME.
Good choice, but sadly ineffective.

THE OLD MAN

I don't know how much time we have left together on this mortal coil...but god damn, I love this dog...



Peering over "his spot" looking for a handout.
Theo...

THE CHANGING OF THE KHARMA GUARD...

Our old "P-Diddy put yer hands in the air" traditional Bhudda...



is moving on to Ann's work desk.

New, more demure and Cambodian style Bhudda takes up center...



Feel the calm....:)

NEW COMICS

Electricians are funny...

CLICK HERE

Evolution...

CLICK HERE

More primates

CLICK HERE

AND HERE


Enjoy...

NEW SONG!

MSBK

metal studs and bloody knuckles
just tryin to make a livin out here
just tryin to suss it out-out here
just tryin to find my place out here
in a world of metal studs and bloody knuckles

metal studs and bloody knuckles
turn me around from a call draggin' off down to the hall
book one- book two- which one are you
just standing there with your life in a canvas bag
living in a world of metal studs and bloody knuckles

metal studs and bloody knuckles
just tryin to make a livin out here
just tryin to suss it out- out here
just tryin to find my place out here
in a world of metal studs and bloody knuckles

metal studs and bloody knuckles
and weed and pills and alchohol
and the sickly sweet smell of the chem can
that makes that hangover worse
living in a world of metal studs and bloody knuckles

metal studs and bloody knuckles
just tryin to make a livin out here
just tryin to suss it out- out here
just tryin to find my place out here
in a world of metal studs and bloody knuckles

just tryin' to get by.

copyright 2006...packmentality inc.

THIS NEW JOB HAS CUT MY SMOKING IN HALF

Today I only smoked 7 while at work. Others smoke while working, but it's a hassle for me,so I only smoke on breaks...outside. I figured it would be an issue, but so far, not so much.
The plumbers on this job are also the defacto D-jays, they have this power cube made by bosch which has a radio and a cd player and plugs for equipment...check it out:



It plays both kinds of music...country and western...most of the time it's tuned to KVET, a station that plays contemporary country that makes me want to shove self tapping screws into my ears. But they have the biggest box set of Johnny Cash I have ever seen ( I have never heard so many versions of Jackson in my life ) which is cool, and this CD of dirty country songs that is fucking high-larious! The plumber didn't know who it was ( somebody burned him the CD and all it had written on it was "redneck" ) but I did a google and it's none other than Larry Pierce.
Go check it out and hear samples of some funny shit.
It's especially ironic to me because one of the engineers is a woman, who is frequently walking the job site while this CD is playing. I wonder if she is offended. Maybe I'll bring one of my Uncle Tupelo CD's and request they play it...or maybe Steve Earle. Or the new Slayer...nah...I'm dreaming now!
I found some gloves this weekend. Mechanix brand were recommended, and that's what I bought...here they are:



Wearing gloves is weird...the jury is still out.

I got them at the walmart in San Marcos, where I met my son, his wife and my grandson to have pictures taken. I was a few minutes early and just for grins checked automotive and there they were. And 2 dollars cheaper than they were in Austin or online...but back to the picture. It's a generational shot of me, Kyle and Sean, kinda like the one of my dad, me and Kyle from 20 years ago. I was stoked that Kyle wanted to do this, and the picture looks good...we are all in black. The pics will be back on Oct. 12...you'll see it then.
Walmart ( which I generally avoid ) has this deal: $8.98 gets you 1 10x13, 2 8x10's, 2 5x7's, 4 3.5x5's, 16 wallets and 4 mini's. That's a hella deal. And that underlines my custom white trash belt.

Several years ago, my buddy Jeb told me about a movie called Spun...about speed freaks. I bought it yesterday, and oh my god...if you have any experience with crank, this movie will hit you like a ton of bricks. I also got Land of the dead...ok, but ehhhh...Romero has kinda run this zombie shit into the ground, and after 28 days later, everything pales in comparison...pales get it???
Ha!
Have a great week!

METAL STUDS AND BLOODY KNUCKLES

And fingers, and cuticles and, oh you get it. The metal studs used in construction are hella sharp, so sharp in fact that you can cut yourself and not even notice it till you see the blood. Yesterday I looked down to see four little pools of blood oozing from my hands without a notion of when or how they got there. It's kind of surreal in a clive barker sort of way.
Today it was only two, plus a wood splinter jammed under my fingernail...ouch.It's still sore. I used to have 3 pair of work gloves, but I can only find 1 right glove. I figured the left one was in Rusty's truck, he did have a stray one, a right one...so I need to buy some gloves.
I went shopping for some tonight w/o success...however, I got a nailbag for $1.29 and a tool belt for $15.00.
This is a world away from UT, but I'm enjoying myself and it seems that I do know what I'm doing after all. In fact, I was mistaken for the foreman today...HA!
Perhaps my missing glove is under the couch, if not, I have a weekend mission.
Until next time...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ANN!!!

We did the camp out- jam out bbq dealio that Ann requested, and I think I can speak for us all...it was great fun.
On to the pictures!




THE BIRTHDAY GIRL AND WOLFIE TAKE A BREAK





PLAYING COFFIN BLUES (A SECOND TIME)





LT PLAYING, WOLFIE PLAYING ALONG "BACKSTAGE"





NOT SURE WHAT'S HAPPENING HERE, BUT IT'S LOUD.





BADGER MANAGED TO PUNCH A HOLE IN HIS KICK DRUM WITH HIS PEDAL, ONE OF SEVERAL PROBLEMS WITH THE DRUM KIT THAT NIGHT





THE EVER RESOURCEFUL BADGER CAME UP WITH A PLAN, AND BEFORE YOU COULD SAY WOLVES AT THE DOOR...





HE WAS BACK IN BIDNESS, WITH SOME HELP FROM DUCT TAPE (THE MUSICIANS FRIEND)

The sheriff showed up around 2:30am and shut us down. There's lots of stories to tell, but I'll leave that to Ann.
One last shot:




WOLFIE SINGS "MIGHTY MOSES"...ABOUT A DOG THAT "HAD A LOUISVILLE SLUGGER SOME CALLED A TAIL".

Vacation!
Today was the start of my four days of vacation, however, vacation at this job does not mean four days of not working - it just means four days of not having to go into the office and the opportunity to say "Dude, I'm on vacation" when someone sends an IM or email or calls the cell phone and asks you to do something. There was plenty of work stuff that still needed to be taken care of today. I stayed up until 3:30 in the morning from yesterday trying to knock it all out so I didn't have to touch anything until Tuesday, but eventually realized it was a hopeless cause and went to bed. I slept until noon today - nice treat - and then got up and tackled the critical items. I decided to leave the rest of it to smolder for a few days which means that the next time I look at my work email, my inbox will be ON FIRE! Screw it - after all, "Dude, I'm on vacation."

"THE REAL WORLD"

So...I got the word on monday that I was to report to the home shop on tuesday, at 7am. I thought I was going to be working with one journeyman, but ended up with another. We are at a new construction job on south congress very close to our house, and aside from adjusting to the heat, I'm really enjoying myself! I've been turned loose to do my thing and so far so good, but, god damn! It's HOT.
I miss my crew at UT, but I've been talking to Clark almost everyday about how its going and I talked to Rusty today...his new apprentice, apparently, is 20 but looks 15. Someone even asked Rusty if he brought his son to work with him...HAHA! That's some funny shit.
We were at the shop this morning loading up another gang box to take to the site, and lo and behold, my old journeyman, Lee was there. He left UT about a year ago to work for another outfit, but he's coming back to work with us.
When I saw him he said "hey Rob...so you're finally out in the real world".
"Yeah'' I said "I'm really liking it".
It was nice to see him, not in that friend sort of way, but as a mentor who took the time to teach me the trade.
The real world...ok.

Avoiding work...sort of...
There was work stuff I needed to be doing tonight, but it was a hodgepodge of unpleasant tasks and I was distracted by thoughts of stress balls because the staff were all asking for them again this afternoon. I can certainly understand why since I used to bring in my own when I was working the phones and it was helpful to have something to smush, smash and occasionally destroy while attempting to sound friendly and helpful on the phone. I've thrown the suggestion out there to management, but no stress balls have been forthcoming so I decided to shop around on the internet and see if maybe I could find some cheap enough to be able to supply the staff on my personal budget. I found all kinds of cool things that smush or squish or stretch or otherwise occupy your hands and fingers, but I wasn't have much luck finding anything that fit my budget. Then I remembered that back when I worked in Human Resources we used a mail-order place to buy all manner of cheap and cheesy novelties to hand out to our staff on holidays or sometimes just for grins. Only the most jaded and bitter employee couldn't have at least a little fun with a rubber monster finger puppet. From fake plastic leis on "luau day" to bat pencil toppers on Halloween, the folks at Oriental Trading Company were always there with something affordable for a cash-strapped HR department. So I decided to look them up and it turns out they have stress balls at a price I can probably afford next payday. Woot!

ORNATE WOOD TURTLES REACH SEXUAL MATURITY!

Let the fucking begin!
5 or so years ago, I got a pair of ornate wood turtles from central america...not actually frrom there , but from a reptile show in San Antonio. Tonight I witnessed some actual attempts at mating!
I am very happy about this...they are beautiful turtles, with very colorful skin and shells...to have some babies would absolutely rock.
I missed the actual coupling with the camera, but here's a romp shot in the bath tub...sniffin' that ham boy! Look at his big ass tail! that's my boy!!!

HEY DUBYA! ONLY MONKEYS POINT

You have got to see this to believe it. Matt Lauer one on one with the murder monkey. Matt presses him on the secret prisons and the torture. Amazing stuff. A character study in desperation.
I have seen many many people in my life completely full of shit, trying to justify their behavior in a psychiatric setting, and the murder monkey is fucking textbook sociopath.
Every gesticulation is a lie and justification for abhorrent behavior.
Plain as the nose on your face. How much more proof do we need?????
Enjoy the grilling, and thank you Matt, for trying to live up to your creed.

LYING PIECE OF SHIT

I kept hoping Matt would just deck his sorry ass, sadly, that didn't happen.
comments?

Generation gap
Tomorrow I work the Sunday day shift which is always an odd shift because it's done solo with no other managers or admins (the big bosses) to be found. I've been told by coworkers that they love this shift because they get to be "in charge" and call all the shots during the busy part of the day (late night shifts are also solo, but tend to be pretty quiet with very few employees on the floor.) I find this attitude rather puzzling because the only difference I notice on Sundays is that there's no one around to help if things get crazy. I feel just as much "in charge" on a Monday as I do on a Sunday. Sure, the admins are not there on Sunday telling me to do stuff, but they don't ever tell me to do anything on a Monday that I don't already know I ought to be doing in the first place. I'm not so sure it's the "in charge" part that appeals to my co-workers. I think it's more along the lines of "all that stuff is stupid so I can decide not to do it" which, I suppose, if you are 25 to 30 years old could translate into being "in charge". But I'm 15 to 20 years older and I've been around long enough to learn that breaking the rules doesn't put you in charge. The real power is when you can get the rules changed.

CREW...

Here they are...



click here for a larger view

L-R: Clark, Wolfie, Rusty

ALL THINGS MUST PASS

Well, I got my marching orders today. Tomorrrow may be my last day at the university, depending on when they can place the new apprentice. If i'm really lucky I might get another week, but i doubt it. The good news is I'm being transferred, not laid off, and I have worked with the journeyman before...and it's a site that's closer to home.
Like I said, I believe I can cut it anywhere, but it won't be the same. The crews I've been working with for these 2 1/2 plus years have a camraderie, I feel connected to them and also to the UT electricians and supervisors, as well as the other trades we've worked with.
I have seen plenty of electricians come and go (short calls) during this time...here today, gone tomorrow, that's the nature of union/contractor labor...no good byes, just gone on to the next job.
I guess there's just enough social worker left in me that I have to say good bye to a group of people that helped me reinvent myself, literally.
After I lost my job at the pool place I was a fish out of water, Rusty offered me a paycheck for 2 weeks and that turned into this.
I never dreamed in a million years that I would call myself an electrician, but that's what I am.
I'm sure I'll stay in touch with Rusty, after all, we've been friends for years, and I owe him a lawnmower (HA!). I'll try to stay in touch with Wolfie and Clark, the crew I've spent the most time with.
And tomorrow I'll take pictures of them all, for history and for remembering an important time in my life.
Then on to the next adventure!

Bad mood rising
I have to go into the office tomorrow on my day off because three of my staff can't be bothered to come to work on a regular basis and need to be put on probation. It's not a good thing when I have to go into work on a day that I am not scheduled to deal with people that can't bother to come in on a day when they are scheduled. Add to this the fact that my next day off isn't until the 15th so I'll be facing the start of seven work days in a row and you can see why sacrificing tomorrow off has put me in a particularly shitty mood.

OUT TO BID

Our contract was officially put out to bid last week. There were three other contractors at the initial meeting. We'll know something by the end of the month. Considering we have done an outstanding job shines a good light on us, but you never know whats going to happen. The low bid is sometimes the most attractive.
Regardless of what happens, myself and a couple of other IJ's will be moving on anyway. When we started out we were at 50% or less, but in the two and a half years that have past, we've gotten raises...to the point that our contractor has to move us on in order to continue making money.
FNG* IJ's = $$$. *Fucking new guy
I understand this, and six months ago I would have taken a lay off over going to work somewhere else, but you know what? Not anymore. I feel I can do well anywhere. And as much as I'd like to stay for the remainder of my training, it's unfair of me to deprive my union brothers of such a beautiful place to learn the basics of what it takes to be an electrician. I'm ok with that, at least that's what I keep telling myself :).
When they hand me my shovel I hope it has a kickstand. And, as an added bonus, it's not the dead of hot hot summer.

Not gonna create that resume just yet
It's amazing what a little blog venting and some dedicated slacking off with beer and loud music can do to improve one's attitude. It's not enough to get me to return to 60+ hour work weeks without an eye towards greener pastures, but I think I can at least pull off the next several days at work without making a rash decision to resign. And so tonight I was slacking off, drinking beer and listening to music when I decided to clean the tire changing gunk out from under my fingernails and discovered that I had fingernails that were a 1/2 inch long. This wouldn't be an odd thing for a lot of women, but for me it's pretty strange because I've always kept my fingernails cut short. Not because I can't grow them out since my fingernails are so tough I have to cut them with toenail clippers, but because they get in the way of playing an instrument - first the piano, then the guitar, then the bass. Yeah, you can have long fingernails if you play the piano, but that clicky-click sound always drove me crazy. Anyway, I've been chopping my fingernails off since age five when I starting playing piano so it was a bit of a wake up call to see them that long. I realized that I haven't been playing my bass much at all over the last few years because it just isn't much fun as a solo instrument. I love playing bass with a band, but by myself - not so much of a thrill. I suppose I could pick up a guitar again, but I've never been very keen on that instrument. Now if I had a piano, I'd be playing that most every day, but even if I had the money to buy it, there's no good place in this house for one. I've also played the flute and the piano accordian in the past, but I have no burning desire to return to either of those instruments. But there is one instrument that I've always wanted to play, ever since I was a little bitty kid, and that's the fiddle. Maybe it's because my grandpa was a fiddle player or maybe it's from all that time I spent in family-friendly Texas hill country dance halls as a kid, but it's something I've always wanted to try my hand at. So I poked around on the internet and found I could afford a fiddle. I even found someone nearby that would give lessons for an amount I could afford. But faced with the possibility, I find I have suddenly have cold feet. What, here's a chance to accomplish a childhood ambition and I'm balking? Me, whose knocked down barriers and taken on challenges all her life? What the fuck is wrong with me? I think I better get my ass down to the music store on my next day off and buy a fiddle. And I should probably buy Rob some earplugs while I'm at it because there are few things that sound worse than a fiddle played badly.

STEVE IRWIN'S HEART RIPPED OUT

By a sting ray. I always thought steve would be killed by a "salty". But no...he was killed by a sting ray, and not by the venom. Thank god. This sting ray jammed it's reverse serrated barb into Steve's heart and demolished it on the way out. So don't minimize his death, we all knew it was coming, but who knew?
I imagined him getting his head ripped off by an 18 foot croc, like us all.
In a way, he was ripped off.
He was a naturalist, an advocate for animals and a really nutty likable guy. He did alot for animal conservation and for Australia.
God bless that crazy bastid.

Today gave me a flat tire and the desire for a new job
I left work early today. It was pretty slow due to the holiday and I was very close to strangling an employee or two so I figured I better get the hell out of there. I backed out of my parking spot on the fifth floor of the garage and the moment I turned to go down the exit ramp to the fourth floor my left front tire blew out. Not a simple flat, but an actual "blow out" with shredded belts poking through a giant hole in the tread. I limped into an empty parking spot and gave Rob a call. No answer so I left a message that I'd be taking the bus home. Then I realized I was working nights tomorrow and I couldn't just have Rob drop me off in the morning so I went ahead and changed the flat in that hot, steamy parking garage. This did not do much to improve my mood. And of course, I don't have a real spare tire, but one of those stupid space savers so I need a new tire right away. Make that two tires - not a good idea to replace just one. Except that today is a holiday and my favorite tire place is closed. My next choice for tires was booked for the day and not taking any more customers. This pretty much left WalMart, but not even the impossible logistics of getting new tires when one works 55-80 hours a week could make me shop at WalMart. And that was when I decided that I was tired of not having the time to take care of basic necessities. Never mind the not having any fun - I don't have time to get my clothes washed, groceries bought, bills paid, toilet bowl cleaned or tires replaced. If I made the big bucks, I could pay someone to do that, but I can't afford that on a $30,000/year salary. So fuck this job. Time to find something else.

Work, work and more work
I have not done much other than work for the last... well, since February. Things reached an all time high (or is that a low) last week when I was told to work 11 hours a day at the office. I usually put in 8 hours at the office, then another 4 to 6 hours at home and let me tell you, exchanging three hours of work at home for three hours in the office just about did me in. Although I'm pretty much doing the same work during those three hours, it's much easier at home. For one thing, at home I'm only physically interrupted by Rob, the dogs and the occasional person knocking at the door. The instant messages, emails and phone calls don't stop, but just taking out the presence of 40 or so other people around makes a big difference. Add to that the comfort factor of being able to wear my most comfortable clothes, no shoes, having food and beverages handy plus a private bathroom and I find that I'm much happier grinding away at things in my domicile. There's no way I could have done the 60+ hours a week I've been doing since February if I had to spend all that time at the office. In fact, I've been having a hard time doing the extra 20+ hours at home after such a prolonged stint of it. Seven months of 5 to 6 hours of sleep a night and 12 to 15 hours days takes it's toll and if I thought I was bone tired before last week, I found out just how much more tired I could be after these last six days of working 53 hours in the office and 28 hours at home. Yes folks, that's 81 hours in six days and I'm taking today (Sunday) off - I don't care if the place catches on fire. They can call me all they want, but I'm not answering the phone. Fortunately they've rescinded the 11 hour day mandate for next week, but I'm so friggin' tired that I'll be hard pressed to put in the normal required 42 hours in the office. I just hope that Monday, being a holiday for most of the US, turns out to be a quiet day so I can get a bit of a break from the usual chaos of floor managing. I've not really talked much about what I do here, but for 18 to 28 hours of my 40 to 60+ hour week I'm "floor managing" which means I'm responsible for the entire operation of the call center. On a normal day, it's a headache and on a bad day it's a nightmare, but every once and a while things are quiet and I can leave the shift without wishing someone would just shoot me so I didn't have to do it again. If nothing else, this job has definately prepared me for purgatory. So the hope is that the Monday morning shift (8am to 2pm) will be a cake-walk because my Tuesday night shift (2pm to 8pm) is definately going to be hell and that shift will probably last until 10pm or later. Wednesday I get to go in at 8am no matter how late I end up staying Tuesday night, but at least I don't have to floor manage that day. I'm supposedly off Thursday and Friday, but will most likely be working from home if I'm not called into the office. Saturday I floor manage from 8am to 4pm and it's anyone's guess how that will go, but I get to do it again on Sunday and that one will definately suck. Somewhere in between all of that I'll try to get the laundry done, the bills paid and all that other personal stuff one has to do, spend some time with Rob and give my parents a call so they know I'm still alive. Though the alive part is subject to debate at this point.

IT'S LIKE TAGGING

Only from my lap top.
Wikipedia is fun to mess with...check my additions to the page about Tamarins...My contribution is in bold.


The tamarins are any of the squirrel-sized New World monkeys from the family Cebidae, classified as the genus Saguinus. The closely related lion tamarins are in genus Leontopithecus.

Tamarin habitats range from southern Central America (Costa Rica) through middle South America (Amazon basin and north Bolivia, however not in the mountainous parts).

The various species of tamarins differ considerably according to their appearance, ranging from nearly all black through mixtures of black, brown and white. Many species typically have mustache-like facial hairs. Their body size ranges from 18 to 30 cm (plus a 25 to 44 cm long tail) and they weigh from 220 to 900 grams. Tamarins differ from marmosets primarily in the fact that the lower canine teeth are clearly longer than the incisors.

Tamarins are inhabitants of tropical rain forests and open forest areas. They are diurnal and arboreal, that run and jump quickly through the trees. Tamarins live together in groups of up to 40 members consisting of one or more families. More frequently, though, groups are composed of just three to nine members.

Tamarins are omnivores, eating fruits and other plant parts as well as spiders, insects, small vertebrates and bird eggs.

Gestation is typically 140 days, and births are normally twins. The father primarily cares for the young, bringing them to their mother to nurse. After approximately one month the young begin to eat solid food, although they aren't fully weaned for another two to three months. They reach full maturity in their second year.

In captivity, tamarins live to be 18 years old.

Tamarins are widely thought to be posessed by the devil, able to cast evil spells that kill, even from thier cells in zoos throughout thhe world.

Tamarin saliva, when dried out and smoked is said to produce effects not unlike using DMT.

When Tamarins mate, the baby jesus cries.


I added similar stuff about salamanders and chimps, but they were on to me, and I got this message from the webmaster:

User talk:Therev46
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

Please refrain from adding nonsense to Wikipedia, as you did to Salamander. It is considered vandalism. If you would like to experiment, use the sandbox. If you feel that the edit I reverted should not have been reverted, please contact me. -- Omicronpersei8 (talk) 01:58, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

Please stop. If you continue to vandalize pages, as you did to Chimpanzee, you will be blocked from editing Wikipedia. If you feel that the edit I reverted should not have been reverted, please contact me. -- Omicronpersei8 (talk) 02:27, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

FUN FUN FUN!

TREASURE TROVE

I have been digging around you tube recently and have seen some amazing videos from days gone by.
Judas Priest live in 1975...Halford has really long hair and looks seriously gay, as opposed to his burly leatherman persona of late. Early footage of Black Sabbath, plus a documentary about them I had not seen. Old Deep Purple, and a doc on them as well. The Clash, Uriah Heep...it just goes on and on.
So, if you're jonesing for a look at the musical past, I'll bet ya it's at you tube.

THE NEW PROJECT

We are in the basement of one of the science buildings building a rack that we will attach 2 starter/controllers to that will handle air conditioners on other floors. The room also houses the steam and plumbing stuff, so it's really hot.
When you get off the elevator and walk down the hall you pass through a line of fridge sized incubators, the first 8 hold turtle eggs, then there are geckos and whiptail lizards and that old familiar smell of crickets.
As you can imagine, I have died and gone to reptile heaven.
The turtle incubators are not labeled by species, so I asked some folks what they were.
Enjoy.
PERSON 1: "I'm sorry, I don't know...I just make the food for the fruit flies...you should ask those people down the hall." " I think they might be 'ripleys', but I don't know."
PERSON 2: "Sorry, I work with the fish."
PERSON 3: "No,sorry,I don't, but I've never seen one because they are, after all, inside incubators."
Guess which person is the smarmy, head up thier ass professor looking asshat.
So, I've been walking past these incubators dying to know what kind of turtles are gestating within.
More to come...

I'M ON THE FAST TRACK APPARENTLY

There are 8 stages to the union intermediate journeyman program. About a month ago I was promoted to level 4. This past saturday, there was a letter from NECA (the national electricians contractors association ) in the mail box. I figured it was another notice about that evaluation I keep putting off, but, it was a notification that I had been promoted to level 5. Only 3 levels to go.
If I do well on the evaluation I could conceivably take my test for state license as a journeyman electrician in 1 to 3 months. This means I will have completed a scheduled 7 year program in under 3 & 1/2 years.
And to that I say "YeeeeeHawwww!!!!!". I have been taught by the best ( in my opinion ) and I guess the electricity is within me...or something like that.
Or else someone, somewhere, has been casting spells...nahhhh. :)

WOW...

THE DAY OF THE DOG, IN THE YEAR OF THE DOG

That's what today was...for real, look it up if you want to. For me it was an interesting day...one that started when the worst heartburn I've had in a long long time woke me up around 4:30 in the morning. My Rolaids were nowhere to be found, so I took a zantac and sat down at this lap top and rode it out. Around 5:30 I tried to go back to bed, but Theo had licked a wet spot on my pillow and the head of my side of the bed...avoiding the wet spot, made by a DOG...how lame is that? Plus he insisted on snuggling with me, which amounts to sharing his fleas with me.
They were diving off his forehead onto my torso in a most disagreeable way, so i just got the fuck up and watched videos on POE tv and you tube. It was entertaining and irritating all at once...I did not know at 5:30 this morning that it was not only the day of the dog, but the year of the dog. A double whammy.
It was also my grandson's birthday...his first one.
We knew what we wanted to get for him,so I set out for the stores around 11am, only to discover thet the local stores I wanted to shop at didn't open till noon. So I got lunch to go and brought it home ...Baby cheeseburgers and fries and onion rings from Fran's. After sharing my meal with Theo and Irene, I set out to buy inappropiate shirts for babies...shhirts thhat had misfits logos and said things like " I'm proof my mommy like's to fuck"...every store I went to was out of stock. Next week they said...I did get a cool one...a black T with a ramones looking guitar player rocking out behind a stack that read "Back in Black". Ann picked out some cool toys and I hooked a cool clock plush toy out of one of those vending machines with the crane hook dealio in about 3 seconds.
Seriously, I said " I want that clock" and the guy playing on the machine next to me said " Them hooks is weak today for some reason...good luck". 3 seconds later I'm pulling the clock out of the prize bin and he's giving me the stink eye.
So far...so good. Hey, after all, it's the day of the dog in the year of the dog. What could go wrong?

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY SEAN!

mmmmm...cake!




mmmmm...lemonade!

PROOF THAT THE GOP HAS TWO FINGERS POKING OUT OF THE QUICKSAND

Please go look at this clip at crooks and liars

Now this is some realtime hardball...this idiot from texas got his ass handed to him by Chris Matthews. If you ever needed proof about how full of shit thhis administration is just listen to Van spout his horse shit. It's embarrassing that they have to start trotting out the retards, and by retard I mean this guy...Van, whatever his last name is...what is it? Oh yeah, McRetard. (R-Tx.)
Good god ya'll.
And 2 thumbs up solid for Chris...way to beat the retard down.
And 2 for Hackett as well...he's not even in a race and he beat the tard down without even trying.
The difference between talking points and the truth has never been so stark.
Enjoy.

REMEMBERING DAD

He would of been 81 years old today, if he had made it past the line. But he didn't , so it's up to me. How would have my dad have been at 81?
Who the fuck knows...I remember him at 67...crusty,cynical and still getting tattoos. A reluctant grandfather...a reluctant old person. Young as you feel, he would say.
I miss you...happy birthday ya bastard...who fucking loves you?
Me.

REDISCOVERING MY INNER BUKOWSKI...AND YARD WORK.

Once upon a time a nightwatch staff I supervised loaned me a book of short stories. It was called " Erections,ejaculations exhibitions and tales of ordinary madness". By Charles Bukowski. Long out of print, but reprinted in two volumes by city lights. I got part one today..."The most beautiful woman in town"...short stories by a deranged man, my kind of reading.
That I'm interested in reading again is in and by itself amazing. I mean, sure, I read alot on the internet, but to curl up in bed with a disturbing collection on paper...wow. Culture seeps in to me after all these years.
I also cleaned up the driveway/front yard tonight, a little bit before and alot after Deadwood. Gardening at night as the old REM song goes. It's looking good so far, but there's more to do. And I've fired up the grill for dinner...cooked outside so's to not heat up the house...at 10pm it is still 89 degrees f.
As I grill the nathans hot dogs I will garden some more. And after dinner, a short story or two by my good friend Charles.
A corner has been turned.

LET'S SEE...WHERE WAS I?

To sum up...the lawn mower is still gone, as are the knuckleheads that probably stole it. I hope they are in jail being traded to large angry black men for packs of newports.
The meteor shower was lame, thanks in part to an almost full moon. We only got to see maybe 8 shooting across the sky, and while that was cool, we were expecting lots more. The company was small in size, but large on friendship as we lazed on a giant carpet scrap gazing at a night sky and strumming acoustic guitars.
Ann and I set up our condo tent (sleeps 9) and spent the night...the first (even close ) to camping we have done in years.
And then came sunday.....
We came back into town and cleaned up and went to brunch...several margs later, we went to Target to get office space for Ann and Jarhead for me (not planned...margs) and I : Freaked the cashier out by asking him if the aliens in his registers card reader could read my mind ( I thought it was hilarious...no one else did), then, on the way out of the store this SUV didn't yield for us in the cross walk I said" thanks for stopping" which got an unintelligable response from thhe driver, to which your drunken asshat of a writer replied "Fuck YOU". The SUV stopped for a very brief but intense moment and I realized I had no business being out in public. They moved on, we went home. Ann was very proud of me at that moment (NOT...let's just say it's a good thing this kind of behavior isn't an avocation for me :) ).
About a half mile from the house the Rodeo started pitching and heaving, and that's when I realized I hadn't bothered to buy gas when we left dripping springs and when I also realized that the last time this happened ( running out of gas) it cooked the fuel pump and cost 700 bucks to repair. We made it home, but the rodeo has been dead in the driveway since.
Until tonight.
I have been messing with it a bit every night since sunday...and tonight I fixed it! By messing with fuses and relays and putting enough gas in it to prime the pump.
I have also been on a self imposed sabbatical from bad habits, trying to sort out what made me act like such an asshat on sunday. I'm not sure what it was, exactly, but I have an idea.
And I feel like I've found my balance again...we're finally doing some real electrical work instead of the chasing of tails that's been the norm for over a month.
Ann's job consumes her, and takes her away from us. I'm not used to being left to my own devices so much. You know, after 12 years of almost every evening and weekend together, the sudden and prolonged abscence of that was wearing me ( and her ) down.
But it's much better now.

THERE GOES THE NEIGHBORHOOD

A couple of months ago I borrowed my friends lawn mower to mow my front yard. Being that he's been paying some guys to mow his since then, there was no big hurry to return it.
So...every day for the last couple of months, I get home, I unlock the burglar bars, open the patio door, let the dogs out and look at Rusty's lawn mower. I say to myself "Self...you really need to return that mower to Rusty."
Until today. The mower was gone...So today it was "Self...it looks like you gotta buy Rusty a new lawn mower...FUCK!!!"
I was all set to put the blame on these knuckleheaded brothers that have lived in this hood all thier lives. Between stints in jail for various knuckleheaded shit, they eek out a living doing yard work.
Most recently in my backyard. They are prime suspects. I'll be doing some recon at thier house tomorrow. You try to be nice...
When Ann got home, she told me that our neighborhood association news group had been posting recently about similar thefts, in fact, our neighbor across the street had his mower stolen in the past few months.
A home owner interrupted a theft, and the perps pretended they were delivering a pizza and got the wrong address and hauled ass. They were young and black. The knuckleheads referred to earlier are early 40's and hispanic/sorta.
So...I'm 75% sure it was the knuckleheads, 25% on some punks from the projects about a mile and a half away. I'll figure it out soon enough. But first I have to buy a lawn mower.
Did I mention the highest sin on my list is this kind of shit? Did I mention I have guns? And I'm not shy about discharging them in city limits?
Yeah...
I thought so.
If you gotta steal...for christs sake, do it in westlake fucking hills...those people won't fuck you up, they just call the bank.
How many times do I have to say Robin Hood?

THE WAR HITS CLOSE TO HOME

TOP STORIES
Friday August 4 2006



Marine from Austin dies in combat
8/4/2006 3:11 PM
By: Associated Press

A Marine from Austin has been killed in combat in Iraq.

The Defense Department on Friday announced the death of 23-year-old Sergeant George M. Ulloa Junior.

He died Thursday from wounds suffered during combat operations in Al Anbar province.

Ulloa was assigned to the Second Tank Battalion, Second
Marine Division, Two Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

We work with his father at UT...George sr., The family are active members in the San Jose Catholic church right down the road ( the parking lot is a short cut to the liquor store ). I see him and his big ass truck and BBQ pit there all the time. Our condolences go out to George and his family, and George jr's wife and kids.
What they don't report is he was 30 days short of coming home from his second tour in that godforsaken place.
Semper Fi George, god speed.

A REALLY BAD JOKE

This guy is at a hotel bar during a plumbing supply convention when this beautiful woman sits down next to him. He buys her several drinks and is hitting on her big time. He keeps trying to get her to come to his room, and put off by his advances, the following exchange occurs:
Him: Are you sure you don't want to come up? We could have champaign and chocolate covered strawberries and make sweet love.
She: I'm sorry but as good as that sounds I need to tell you...I'm a lesbian.
After an awkward moment he lifts his glass and responds: So...How are things in Beirut???
Badda-boom!

Sen. Max Baucus nephew dies in Iraq...And EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW

Lets have a moment of silence for Phillip................................................................................................................................................................................
................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
O.K...while it's a tragedy for any loss of life in this illegal war, why is this one all over the fucking national news? Sure, we all see local reports of the slaughter as it effects our individual communities. But this just smacks of...Oh I don't know...How about a cry of "See??!! It's not just the poor kids that are getting killed over there in our attempt to bring freedom and democracy to a bunch of people who don't want it, so get over it already you Cindy Sheehan types!!!" generated by those assholes in DC.
So lets see...Out of the 2580 americans killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, we got that football player, Tilman...who, it turned out was killed by friendly fire and this nephew of a Montana senator.
So that leaves 2577 relegated to local coverage ( Cindy's kid doesn't count in this case because of her relentless persuit of the truth...You go Cindy ).
Phillips tragic demise and the resultant coverage is propaganda, plain and simple. Bushco attempting to capitalize on the death of someone "important", no, even worse, the death of someone related to someone important to manipulate the hearts and minds of people who might or might not vote them out in November.
I'm not impressed that a senators nephew was killed in combat, nor would I be impressed if it was a child or a relative of the key players in the Bush Crime Family. These casualties are tragic regardless of station. But the capitalizing on Phillips death in the mainstream press is unconsionable and further illustrates how low these assholes are willing to sink.
I am reminded of a pivotal scene in the film "Hamburger Hill", where Doc ( a black medic ) is having basically his last words with the sargeant ( a white guy ) , and Doc says through a morphine haze, " It's OK bro...We're...All...Niggers up on that hill".
And my point in regard to that quote is, there's a world of difference between the "people" perpetrating this war and the people who are fighting it. Godspeed to you Phillip, and the 2579 that proceeded you in a senseless death in a scarey place far away from home.

I HATE THE SMELL OF APPLE SPICE

Unfortunately, the gross of candles we bought years ago, in the event of a power outage, are fucking apple spice. Guess what? One of those old ass transformers over on Locke Ln. popped right around 10 pm...And the shitty of austin just got the power back up a few minutes ago. FUCK!!!!! I hate it when this happens, especially when we pay the high rates for power that we do. When it goes out, and it should never...the city of austin should dispatch motherfuckers to follow me around my dark ass stone age house with maglites until it comes back on, that's when I know I'm getting my monies worth from the city. We should also get a rebate for the time our shit is down, but we don't.
I've said it before and I'll say it again...don't move here assholes, yer fucking it up for us that have been here before you...stay the fuck in Cali...please. Fuck up your own power grid and leave us alone.
And as the house heats up...yeah, it may be after 10 and the sun is down, but it's still fucking hot...that global warming shit not withstanding, the house heats up real fast.
I don't like to sweat...it reminds me of Bush and that issue of global warming that he likes to pretend does'nt exist, like all the other shit he ignores that is plain obvious to the simpleist of us all.
Yeah, it's hot...but you'd think the powers that be would have the technology to keep the grid up...but wait!
Perry's got Bushco up his ass
Where's my rebate?

LADDER, FLASHLIGHT, SHOTGUN

There's something rootin' around in our attic that is bigger than a squirrel. Ann says I just like shooting holes in things, and while that might be correct, I have some invading mammal to kill. Thhat's the funny thing about coons and possums...they don't have a concept of crazy human with a shotgun until it's too late.

ANNIVERSARY

In honor of 11 years oooopps...12 years...neither one of us can keep up with the time...we did the following:
Went to a nice dinner, bought a new window unit A/C for the bedroom, some electrician tools, some flowers and some new music.
12 years...that's a long time if you think about it.
We don't. maybe that's our secret. Ann...happy number 12.
So much for the 5 year plan...eh? :)

I don't wanna grow up

I keep trying to play this version :

Tom's version

But it keeps turning into this version:

Ramone's version

Which version do you prefer?
This is a poll I guess.
So tell me bitches...what should I do?

PERSIUS RISING

At the close of Billy Boy's party we discussed an acoustic event coinciding with a meteor shower cause where Billy lives it's not polluted by artificial light and you can still see the night sky. Everybody ( The band and maybe a couple of guests ) loved the idea. I'm down with it for sure. So much so, in fact, that I'm learning a new song to do solo by Tom Waits. Traditionally , we have not done covers as a band since way back when we were called Left for Dead in the 80's ( Jeez were old...but not as old as the Rolling Stones who have confirmed a show in Zilker Park in October...let me riff on this...)
The Rolling Stones are going to play Zilker Park. In my life I have seen more local bands play there than I can remember, I saw the Moody Blues play there for FREE. And while I have yet to and never will attend an ACL event in Zilker, The Stones playing Zilker fucking cracks me up...they need to listen to Neil Young's "Tonights the night" record and get the important parts.
Back to Persius rising.
There's a good window for a meteor shower show coming from persius on August 12th and 13th...a friday and a saturday. I like the 13th.
I haven't pitched this to anyone else yet, but it gives us time to put it together so I think it will fly.
Expect performances by :
Th' rev
Acoustic wolves
Cousin rodney
And whoever else we can wrangle into playing alone without the benefit of wah-wah pedals and distortion...
Which could be any number of Austin players.
Plus...serious BBQ and libations.
And that Tom Waits song? " I don't wanna grow up"...here's the words...


When I'm lyin' in my bed at night
I don't wanna grow up
Nothin' ever seems to turn out right
I don't wanna grow up
How do you move in a world of fog
That's always changing things
Makes me wish that I could be a dog
When I see the price that you pay
I don't wanna grow up
I don't ever wanna be that way
I don't wanna grow up
*
Seems like folks turn into things
That they'd never want
The only thing to live for
Is today
I'm gonna put a hole in my TV set
I don't wanna grow up
Open up the medicine chest
And I don't wanna grow up
I don't wanna have to shout it out
I don't want my hair to fall out
I don't wanna be filled with doubt
I don't wanna be a good boy scout
I don't wanna have to learn to count
I don't wanna have the biggest amount
I don't wanna grow up

Well when I see my parents fight
I don't wanna grow up
They all go out and drinking all night
And I don't wanna grow up
I'd rather stay here in my room
Nothin' out there but sad and gloom
I don't wanna live in a big old Tomb
On Grand Street

When I see the 5 o'clock news
I don't wanna grow up
Comb their hair and shine their shoes
I don't wanna grow up
Stay around in my old hometown
I don't wanna put no money down
I don't wanna get me a big old loan
Work them fingers to the bone
I don't wanna float a broom
Fall in and get married then boom
How the hell did I get here so soon
I don't wanna grow up

* My favorite line :P

WELL...LOOKIE WHAT I FOUND

About 2 weeks ago, Hezbollah crept into Israel and kidnapped 2 IDF soldiers...since then, the fighting has been intense and deadly. Not only between hezbollah and the IDF, but with the media and the US government in simultaneously taking the focus off of the travesty of death and quagmire happening in iraq...and, oh yeah, afghanistan ( the red headed step child in all this bullshit ).
Wanting to learn more about Hezbollah and remember what I knew long ago about them I did an interweb search and found this little nugget:

Hezbollah abducted three Israel Defense Forces soldiers during an October 2000 attack in Shebaa Farms, and sought to obtain the release of 14 Lebanese prisoners, some of whom had been held since 1978. On January 25, 2004, Hezbollah successfully negotiated an exchange of prisoners with Israel, through German mediators. The prisoner swap was carried out on January 29: 30 Lebanese and Arab prisoners, the remains of 60 Lebanese militants and civilians, 420 Palestinian prisoners, and maps showing Israeli mines in South Lebanon were exchanged for an Israeli businessman and army reserve colonel Elchanan Tenenbaum kidnapped in 2001 and the remains of the three Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers mentioned above, who were killed either during the Hezbollah operation, or in its immediate aftermath. For the entire period between the abduction (October 2000) and the end of the negotiations (January 2004), Hezbollah did not provide information about the death of the 3 kidnapped soldiers (Adi Avitan, Beni Avraham and Umar Suad) even though Israel intelligence has suspected them to be already dead. ( Emphasis mine ).

Further adventures reminded me that they operate out of Lebanon, but are supported primarily by Iran and Syria ( Knew that already ) , but further investigation showed me that the geography of the war grounds then and now are in dispute...are they fighting over syrian land? Israeli ? Lebanese? They can't even agree on where the fucking property lines are. (This too, is kind of old news, but takes on new life in the current situation).
Do a google search on the history of the Hezbollah and be reminded, amazed and confused. It's really worth the time.
Especially if you have insomnia :)
A post script note to my tattooist friend calling himself the hez...maybe it's time to think about changing your name, at least for a while, or expanding it to it's proper hezakiah.

INSOMNIA

Or is it like Rollins says " I get so wound up...I feel so let down" ? I don't know. Tonight is Rescue me night from 9 to 10. My plan was to recline on the bed with the doggies and watch, and by now be blissfully asleep, to be bright eyed and bushhy-tailed for tomorrow. ( You may notice some extra letters in certain words in recent posts, or perhhaps missing letters...see that fucking extra h ? My keyboard is full of ashes, scratch ticket flotsam and dog hair jetsam, yet I can't be bothered to clean it. And I'm sick of fucking back spacing to correct so- deal with it. )
I've got alot on my mind.
Like this evaluation I keep putting off. Why am I doing that? I know my job pretty well, yet I am averse to this latest union development. Also, I am averse to tests...period.
The other day ( fridaay ) See? Theree is is again and again...fuck you michheal Delll.
Anyway I got this letter on friday and thought it was my invite for a random drug screen...anothher in latesst union developments to test my mettle.
It wasn't...it was a letter informing me I haave been advanced to IJ level 4...half way there in less than half the time. Wow...nice bump in pay, nice bump in self esteem/ confidence. This is a direct result of my time in the field.
So my Rescue me night gets interuppted by a call from my son ( that one's a mis spell )...of course I'm gonna talk to him, no question about it. I can catch what I miss later, no biggie. Then it's the dogs...barky as hell and flea ridden ( it's summer in Texas ) so between the scratching and the chewing and the whining it's hard to follow the scratching and whining and chewing of probably the best drama on television...ever.
So I figure I'll catch what I missed on the rebroadcast coming right uup next. But my stressed out, over worked wife comes to bed, and after telling me the TV won't keep her awake, it does...not to mention the renewed scratching and chewing and whining and jockying for position on thhe bedd of the dogs. After a symphony of sighs and some nice conversation about something other than work, I finally kill the TV and come out here, to my nasty ass keyboard to bore you with this shit. Actually, I came out here to let Ann go to sleep since I wasn't having any of it right now.
And thhe house is quiet...the soft whir of thhe ceiling fan the only other sound, except for the cycling of the AC and my fingers on this shitty keyboard. And the victor electronic rat trap that came in the mail last week.
It does buzz when it fries a fucking rat...and some hhow that's soothing to me. I've been throwing them in the neighbor's yard tonight, the house is vacant but the yard is not.
Buut not soothing enough for sleep.
And then there's the poison ivy.
Fuck Insomnia.

SOME MORE

We came - we saw- we conquered...photos by Jon....
As far as birthdays go, this one was right up there. Good food, good friends, good times. I'll write more about it after it sinks in, in the meantime...

I give you tigger...hand sized dog





LT...





Band shot...




It's the wolf at your door...

DOES HE HAVE TO BE SO FUCKING EARNEST ALL THE TIME?

Yes...apparently. ;) more to come later....

BILLY BOY IS FIFTY

The big party is tonight at his place out in the country. Bands, BBQ, and debauchery. I'm up early to go find an appropriate gift and deliver maps to some of my friends. One who has never seen the wolves perform live...an electrician friend who is very excited to see us. But anyway...Billy boy is fucking 50, but when I look at him he's still 18.
Go figure.

WORLD WAR?

Newt Gingrich is calling this WW III...some other asshole called it WW IV. Did I miss III ? Or is that suddenly and coveniently the new name for Nam, or the first gulf war, or Bosnia? They were all wars, make no mistake. And they happened in the world...is that the new criteria for world war? Please. For starters, who really gives a fuck what newt has to say? He's like the shit that got stuck in your shoe. Please.
What's going on with Israel and Lebanon is just a continuation of what the UN set in motion way back in 1947 when Palestine was partitioned and 700,000 plus arabs were displaced to make room for the jews that were displaced by WW II...oh yeah, and 6 million or so were exterminated by the germans, or specifically, the nazis.
We all agree ( well, except for those crazy white power assholes) that that was a bad thing.
So, after the jews got their homeland given to them by the UN in 47, before they even broke in the dish towels they found themselves in a civil war with the very same countries that are fucking with them now...Arabs and Jews.
Over the years...shit, the centuries probably, religion has been attached to this conflict. And while it has legitimate roots at it's beginning ( religion and religious belief were the ancient precursor to the bullshit world of politics we currently find ourselves deployed in).
Anyone who doubts the connection of church and state today is an idiot...an idiot who buys into the notion that they are separate. They are not...they are convoluted.
The current "administration" makes no bones about it's connection to religion...this road we're on is an old one, travelled many times. Look where it's gotten the jews and arabs.
But I digress.
I talk alot of shit on this blog about different races...and while it is funny (sometimes) it is not a true reflection of how I operate. That's not to say I have some issues where race is concerned, as we all do. Admit it or not.
But what this really boils down to is showing your ass...being an asshole, being so totally invested in being right about your asshole opinion of yourself that you will :
Tunnel into a neighboring country and kidnap some of their soldiers and shoot up a check point...that's them golldamned a-rabs doing that shit.
Fire rockets into civilian populated areas...Yep...arabs again, but come on...they have been shat upon since 1947.
Launch an assault on major highways...the airport...the airport again...Major cities and suspected and known Hezbollah strongholds and in the process killing lots of civilians...Jews doing this shit. And don't forget that the IDF and the military wing of the Israeli govt. is hardcore...they put up with no shit, and have proven their propensity for violence and revenge over and over again.
Without regard to the consequences.
They are acting like assholes...and so are the arabs.
And the sooner both parties admit it the better. They don't want us getting involved. Militarily or diplomatically...we lost our moral compass as a country about 6 years ago.
Because currently, we are the biggest assholes on the planet. And under the mistaken premise that "God's on our side".
If he's got any sense he's not.

JAM

MAN...WHAT A SATURDAY

So...Toody called me and set up a brunch for Saturday at 11:30. It was just going to be me, Toody and LeAnn. They couldn't find Diane. Well...I found her in about 10 minutes using my Ann given internet skills and invited her as well, then I called Mike and invited him.
It ended up being Mike, Leann and myself brunching with Toody. It was awesome. She is aged, yet ageless. Still whipsmart quick and on the ball. She said her husband was shocked that she wanted to spend time with some kids she had in school 30 years ago and opined that she still thought she was 40 and we were 18. And for that moment in time we were. I have always been in awe of Toody and I finally figured out why ( sort of ). She has the common sense in abundance, the ability to look at things for what they are and call it like she sees it. And it occurred to me that my prime years fighting the good fight in the treatment centers had as much to do with her as an influence as anything else. Plus the fact that if she loves you there's no doubt that she does.
And she loves us...not just us, but the thousands of kids she's had an impact on over the years. Sure, she's aged...white hair, gnarled hands...she had all the indicators of a long life. But that spark was in her eyes...bright and quick and on the mark.
We said we had to do it again, and we will. In August. And hopefully the attendees will grow ( if I've got anything to do with it :) )

Next we went to Billy-Boys place to work up a set list for this weekends celebration of our esteemed drummers 50th birthday. LT called and asked me to bring the monitor and thhe board and the DAT recorder...we had a full set up for the first time in a long time. I was under the impression that it was just going to be us, but there was a fucking gang of people there. We did our thing anyway...it's a rehearsal after all. I think we are gonna kick some solid ass at the party this saturday based on how the practice went. It felt good, and I look forward to the shit show this saturday. We took pictures, but I can't edit them on this laptop...I'll edit and post tomorrow on Ann's. I drank and smoked more than I should of, not to the point of making an ass of myself, just to the point of being seriously pissed which caused a nap in the car and we got home around 6:30 am sunday...When I woke up at 11:30 I was reminded of my age, and the cure was quevos ran cheros with a pork chop and 4 margs at La Feria...and that creeping realization that I am too old for shit like that.
After I left La Feria, I went and got the movies "The Boondock Saints" (excellent) and "the Hills have Eye's ( disturbing ) and spent my sunday in front of the TV watching people kill each other in very disturbing ways.
It was awesome.
Then I went to home depot and bought some screwdrivers and a speed square...cause I'm an electrician after all...right?
I wish I was a Boondock Saint...BOOM!

I GOT YER REALITY TV RIGHT HERE

I used to think about ways to make my experiences working in psych hospitals into a screen play for a tv show "dramadie-com". But it was always too depressing to be effective as a drama, and too twisted to be funny to anyone but the souls who have lived it...Beside that, it's been done...over and over again, in film and TV and cable TV, and while it's been fun to watch, they just don't get it.
So why not a show about an electrician and his journeyman? The possibilties are endless. First, we have to have a premise...a basic storyline. Oh...let's see, a crew of contractors at a large state run university. Check. Next, the differences between the feral-like contractors and the state employees...eerily similar, yet fundamentally disparate...Check.
Mayhem insues, and along the way we learn to love each other...has'nt happened yet.
Now the cast...in pairs. A journeyman and his apprentice, a crew. Times 6...12 people on a journey to provide power to an institution of higher learning, a place with a 3 second rule, full of men who can't count to 3 when "ham" is involved.
Cast shots tomorrow...

IS IT JUST ME, OR HAS GOOOOOOOOGLE ADS LOST IT'S MIND?

The last post on this here blog was about nightmares, a bloody dying dog, knife weilding action and quasi talk show histrionics perpetrated by eletricians. And what is the lead ad?
1-800- Balloons & Flowers. Are they trying to cheer me up? Are they trying to cheer you up?
Who cares...
On to the big news...
On saturday I bought some scratch tickets at a store that I don't normally buy them...19 dollars worth, counting the 10 dollar trade in winner I already had. So...9 dollars out of pocket. One was a 5 dollar ticket called "Three of a kind". You have ten chances to get 3 matching cards and you win that prize. I had 5 wins. 2 of them were 6-6-6...(cool...if you were into sabbath in the 70's :P).
Now, normally on a 5 dollar ticket, 5 wins means 5 $2.00 winners and you double your money.
Imagine my surprise when I scratched the prize box on the first win and saw 100 dollars! On the third 100 dollars! I called Ann over to verify that I wasn't losing my mind. I wasn't. I had won 500 dollars!!! On a 5 dollar ticket!!!!
I got on the phone and called some of my friends to gloat, I mean celebrate.Never mind how many dollars it took me to win 500....it's 500 dollars dammit! And I was proud of those thousands of dollars that gave selflessly over the years to bring me to this place...this pinnacle of lottery achievement.
Being the big gambler that I am, I cashed in my winnings and went on a rampage. I bought a nice dinner for me and Ann, I bought some work clothes, And I hired some guys to clear out my back yard, which, over the last year and a half has taken on the patina of Cambodia or Laos...oh, fuck it...both countries entire jungle canopy was crammed into my backyard in the form of hackberries,mulberries and poison ivy / oak. And I still have money left over.
I am the current heavyweight champion scratch head in our circle...beating the previous record holder by 250 dollars....
Wanna see my lucky dime?
Maybe I'll have another belt made at the flea market this weekend..."Scratch Champ", and buy a buckle with the card suits or lucky dice on it, and we can pass it around like the WWE or something.
Nahhhh...

A RHETORICAL QUESTION ABOUT NIGHTMARES

I 've got a pretty good idea about what this all means, with that said,feel free to throw in your 2 cents.
I went to bed last night at 9ish...I had consumed no mind altering substances. I did'nt fall asleep until close to 2am. I had these dreams that woke me up one after the other every hour, on the hour.
They were increasingly disturbing. Let me add that before I fell asleep I watched TBS late night..."saved" , "Without a Trace" , and "Alias"...and oh yeah, "Las Vegas"...Human suffering, mans inhumanity to man, Jennifer Garner getting the ghost treatment, and excess ( with porn convention ) averise and corruption. Quality TV, eh?
Dream 1...
Rusty and I are interviewing black UT employees of the physical plant at UT. About racial relations. The guys we interview are friends of ours, there is no predisposition to racism. They look at us like we are crazy. It's like a never ending segment of the view...or Dr. Phil...only me and Rusty are the hosts. I wake and scratch my head...disturbing, yet amusing
Dream 2...
Theo and I are at some kind of community hospice that is definitely not dog friendly...the residents continually hit Theo and subject him to all manner of abuse despite my prostestations, which by the way, escalate to my pulling a knife and cutting one of the people in the dream...only after he drives theo's face through a chain link fence, cutting him badly. To make matters worse, theo repeatedly swallows a long length of tape that cuts off his air supply, only he doesn't suffocate, he fills up like a balloon and his skin starts to crack open...= more blood on my dog.Until I pull the tape out and he deflates and the wounds close but continue to ooze. I wake up from this one mid swing at the guys face with my knife, theo under my other arm, limp and bleeding.
This one got me up for a smoke in the dark of the living room with theo.
Dream 3...
Theo part 2...we are trying to get out of this building, but suddenly we are up high and theo is dancing precariously around the edge of the building while I try to calm him down and find the stairwell...where is that fucking stairwell??? Theo finally falls and I pull him back up by his collar and I carry him to the opposite side of the roof and find the stairwell. We are met by a guy with a cut up face screaming at me to get the dog the fuck out.It's that guy from dream 2.Only now he's showing me a giant scar on his chest and screaming that we don't scare him. I kick him down the first flight and theo and I exit the building. Stepping over him on the way down, he's grabbing at me. I kick him in the face HARD. We step out of the stairwell into the street.
I woke up again.
Then the fucking alarm started going off. So I got up and got ready and went to work.
And where the hell was Jennifer Garner through all of this??? Good question. Maybe tonight.

SO I'M NOT FROM CONNECTICUT

But I watched the debate between Ned and Joe on C-Span because I've been following the race at Crooks and Liars ( I like this on line magazine because it speaks to my politics in general and is genuinely entertaining and informative ) That's your plug from us.
On to the debate. Let me be clear...I don't like Joe, I never have. In addition to being a traitor to the democratic party on a number of levels, he has the smarmy visage of oh, I don't know, a catholic priest...draw your own conclusions to that one. But it was clear to me that Joe was full of shit throughout. Ned, on the other hand, was full of feel good rhetoric. Is Ned for real? If so, sign him up. It sounds good and lots of people are lining up behind him with thier support. Based on the commercial they showed during the break, they are all young latinos. Now this is only ONE ad. He may not be pandering to this demographic, but this choice was questionable for a sample ad, and could make it appear that he's just a different, more or less sinister version of Joe.
Joe on the other hand spent most of his time touting his questionable 18 year record and feebly attempting to attack Ned on a variety of vague levels. "Who is Ned Lamont?" works maybe once Joe...not over and over on almost every question. He changed his colors....ok, what about this independant candidacy nonsense you been spouting? And why didn't Ned hit you with that?
Positive Ned: Lot's of good forward thinking ideas for his state and the country.
Not so positive Ned: Dodged a question about making his tax records public.
Favorite Ned line: (paraphrased )...Let me finish...this isn't FOX news. You go Ned.
Positive Joe: Make up artists hid slime from viewers.
Not so positive Joe: You still knew it was there.
Favorite Joe line : His compliance with silence to the fox news comment.
Ned's got my vote and I'm not from Connecticut, nor am I latino...if that's even an issue.

LONG IN THE TOOTH

This was a great 4th...yesterday we spent the evening with our friends Jon and Sandy...I even put new strings on my washburn for the occaision, but I got the most out of my G&L ASAT.
Plus, there were lots of dogs around, football dogs mostly and one spazz named stinky. And there was even a cat.
Tonight...the actual 4th... we spent with our friends Cris and Suzanne who have a shitload of dogs...all rescued dogs. A greyhound, a ridgeback and the rest are foxhounds. The patriarch is Muddy.
Muddy is an old man...ravaged by age, the most obvious being his cataracts. When I petted him tonight, I could feel his age telegraphing through my hands...I remembered when they first got him and where did the time go?
He's had a good life since they took him in...but he's coming round to the end. And it made me sad. Sad that Muddy's life is almost over, and sad for the loss Cris and Suzanne see on the horizon.
And I thought about our own dogs. Theo is no spring chicken, and he's not been the healthiest dog. And he's 9. And he's probably near the end as well.
When I was a kid I had dogs. As an adult, I've buried dogs...Buddy, Skeeter, diamond...and we can't forget about cypress.
Loss is what I'm getting at here.
Muddy's not mine, but looking at him tonight, he might as well have been.
I'm not sure what I'm trying to say about dogs exactly...but I think I've said it.

IF THERE WAS EVER ANY QUESTION

Check this local headline...:

It's OK to drink alcohol in a Travis County park just as long as it doesn't look like that's what you're doing.Travis county shows it's ass

I grew up here...I have consumed alcoholic beverages in Travis county parks for as long as I can remember. Never once has the sight of a beer can enamored me to the point of commiting a crime, but I have engaged in some onerous malfeasance much to my glee after consuming the contents of said cans.

Now I have to pour my beer in a cup when I go to a county park...somehow that will fight crime.
Idiots.

HEY BABY...IT'S THE 4TH OF JULYYYYYY!

Ann's job affords us precious little time together, and most of that is spent resting up for the next day or the new week. I'm off the 3rd and the 4th, giving me a 4 day weekend. In her team meeting today, Ann managed to wrangle those days off as well!!! I'm looking forward to that time together with no interruptions.
There's one small detail...my evaluation at the hall is scheduled for saturday the first...oops. I am rescheduling that tomorrow, it's been a long time since we had that much time off together and I'm not gonna miss any of it.
Other than that, work is work, the dogs are a pain in the ass as usual, but we would'nt change that for anything (having dogs, not the pain in the ass...we endure that).
We got spend the afternoon on sunday with the kids and the grandkid. Sean is awesome...and almost a year old. Kyle cooked lunch for us at the restaurant he works at. It was very good, he may have found his calling.
I am almost overwhelmed by the GOP shit show...it just gets deeper and deeper, but I'll save that for another time.

FRIDAY'S FUNNY

Enjoy....
Ever divulge more than you should to coworker's?

AND THE WORLD IS FLAT

As the war rages on and the mid term elections approach, the GOP trots out the following:
An amendment to ban flag burning. This is the water spraying lapel flower of issues, tired and true, I remember this being an issue from my teens. I would never burn our flag, but if you need to burn it to make a point, go for it. It's yours...you paid for it.
People tend to confuse current events with history. Remember WWII? We did that one right. And how about Korea? Ike got us out of that one with not so much egg on our face. Then we got the Vietnam...and we all know about the nam...peace wiith honor. OK. Then there was the all important invasion of Grenada(???)
Then there was Kosovo...but that was more of a support intervention.
Somalia...there's something to be proud of.
Desert storm = Dry hump.
The GOP has gradually eroded our honor in war to war for power and money.
And here we are..."operation iraqi freedom".
Is Iraq free yet? No.
The GOP is pushing flag burning, gay marriage and any number of hot point bullshit iissues to mobiliize the base...a base of like minded idiots who can't see past the dollar signs and the heartless icon that has (sadly) come to represent america.
And to you I say...
WTF!!! Have we become a nation of tards???
Aparrently we have.
And the world is fucking flat.
How much sense does that make?

A little slice of heaven
It was supposed to be my day off, but I had to go into the office at 8 AM to take care of a few things that I couldn't finish up last night on my shift. I had thought I'd get out of there after just an hour or two, but circumstances caused me to have to wait an extra hour for something to get done before I could finish up my end of the tasks. I had plenty of other work-related things to do but since it was supposed to be my day off I decided instead to wander down to the nail place and inquire about a pedicure. I've never had one and I was reluctant since my feet are a mess with heavy callouses from 45 years of going barefoot every chance I get, not to mention the broken, misshapen toenails. But she didn't bat an eye when I embarrassingly showed her my feet. And I gotta tell ya, the massage chair and whirlpool foot bath would have been heaven enough, but throw in the foot and leg massage plus the miracle of walking out of there with pretty painted toenails (a first for me) and I'm hooked. Pedicures are most definitely getting added to the monthly budget.

JUST LIKE THEY SAID

We took out zar-cow-eee. Al Queda said just you wait and see. And look what's happened. They snatched 2 of our own off the streets and did terrible things to them.In my memory, thiis is the first time something like this has happened. If you believe BartCop, they were beheaded...everythiing I've read just says they were "desecrated" and tortured in that sanctioned islamic jihad sort of way.
Great.
This is going just like we planned it. Right?
I watched the footage of Berg getting his head removed from his body in front of god and everybody, it was all over the place on the web and the blog-o-sphere...you had to see it. right?Portal of Evil TV? You Tube? Did you see it?Did it bring a tear to your eye? There's just something so viseral in watching some rag head son of a bitch cut off the head of a fellow american in realtime that wakes up the heart in me.
It makes me want to kill.
These two soldiers were "desecrated" according to islamic law.
Wow....
Motherfuckers.

I liked my coffee black
I've been an avid coffee drinker for about 25 years with a daily consumption that used to be around 12 cups before I cut it down to 8 cups a day. I haven't had any coffee since Wednesday and I've had one hell of a headache in addition to being grumpy and foggy-headed. I know this is going to pass and I'll feel better than ever down the road, but in the meantime it's pretty rough going. I remember reading somewhere that caffeine withdrawal lasts about three days, but I suspect it's going to be a long time before I stop jonesing for coffee. I spent my workday across the hall from a coffee shop that makes wonderful coffee and I swear I could smell the aroma wafting in all day long. I held firm and drank my sparkling water instead, but will I make it a week, a month, a year? Is there a coffee addicts anonymous?

DECAY...IT'S ALL AROUND US

Todays comic offering:

ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIND???

I cannot believe this shit...seriously. Amnesty for asshat's that have been puttin' the hurt on us to the tune of 2500 dead and 20,000 wounded??? Not to mention the civilian casualties and beheadings! I like this plan...announce an amnesty, and those stupid enough to show up...mow them down with 50 cal. machine guns. that's amnesty. Jeez...The GOP using the war to suck the ass of the already inflamed right. It won't solve any of the problems over there, but it will undoubtedly mobilize the neo con zombie voting public.
On a lighter note...the supreme court ruled today that police no longer have to knock first before serving a warrant, Alito being the tie breaker...big surprise there, right? They can just knock down your door and come on in. How big does the red flag have to get before people do something ???
My response to this ruling is as follows:
If you kick down my front door and come into my home, you better be wearing a badge as big as Flava-Flav's fucking clock or I'm gonna shoot you where you stand. If you want to violate my civil rights, at least be polite about it...Knock, I'll answer. Show me the warrant, let me read it...if it's legit, come on in. If it's not, you're gonna need some back up.

CAN YOU HOOK A BROTHA UP?

EASTER V.3

enjoy....

IT'S A BYRD BYRD BYRD- A TOODY BYRD!!!!

OOM-PAPPA-MAO-MAO-MAO-A-MAO-MAO-MAO!!!

I ditched my email a week or so ago because I made the mistake of registering at newgrounds and opened myself up to a veritable shitload of spam that even Gmail can't stop. Fuck you very much newgrounds. Anyway...I checked my email today and I had one from a special projects manager at an alternative school program here in Texas (and beyond?) who read my entry about Toody and passed it on to her, along with an invite to speak at a conference. Toody wanted to hear from me and Layla passed on her number.
Readers of this blog will know that Toody was my counselor in jr. high and high school and she is referenced frequently here at depthmarker.
I spent about an hour on the phone with her tonight, she's busy with speaking engagements in june, but plans are in the works for a reunion of our group from high school in July. We caught up some...basic stuff, shit, we got almost 30 years to account for!
I could blather on and on about this, but let me just say this...The restorative powers of a chat with Toody are amazing! My smile is hurting my face.

THAT SEEMS A BIT LOW

Nicked from BW...

You Are 68% Cynical

You're a full blown cynic... and probably even skeptical of these results. You have your optimistic moments, but most likely you keep them to yourself.

How Cynical Are You?

SO I NOTICED THIS STICKY STUFF ON MY CHANNEL LOCKS TODAY

I was running some conduit for some switches in the ceiling of this media lab today...it's a spline ceiling, the simple explaination is spline ceilings suck. There's flex conduit running every which way for the lighting and fire alarm conduit and sprinkler pipes and power pipes running everywhere. It's a mess. But I figure out a path...I'm doing this on my own in practice for my evaluation...this is a three way switching scenario...part of the evaluation coming up on July first.
Anyway...my hand goes sticky on my channel locks, I look in the semi darkness of being up in a ceiling and it looks like blood. I look at my left hand and yep...it's covered in blood but there is no injury.
I get down off the ladder and head to the bathroom when I notice my right index finger is bleeding...how the fuck did this happen? Two new cuts on my finger...dammit! And I'm transported back to a time when a journeyman told me he collected scars in response to my tattoos. I think I'm in his school now.
I'm slow, I'm shakey, I may be bloody sometimes, but I know what I'm doing.
I leave you with this...I had to stop and shoot it...awesome...





Nice...huh?

RACE RELATIONS

ISSAC (FROM THE LOVE BOAT)

POLITICS

JOMENTUM

I WISH I HAD ME SOME O' THEM "CONSTITUTIONAL POWERS"

Rep. William Jefferson has so far refused to step down in regard to him being the focus of a federal bribery investigation. Well...bully for him. Let's review the facts for a moment. The FBI has a video tape of him accepting a bribe of 100,000 dollars. Oh, wait...I forgot to say alledgedly...there, I said it. When they searched his house they found 90,000 dollars hidden in his freezer wrapped in foil...why? maybe the man likes cold hard cash...I don't know. Two people (one employee) have been convicted and sentenced on charges of bribery. Coincidence? Maybe.
Nobody in (white) Washington DC was saying anything that barely registered on the radar until they searched ( characterized as a raid) his congressional office...then all of a sudden it's a shit storm of politicians screaming out of bounds. How dare they search my office??? The supreme leader Bunnypants felt compelled to freeze the evidence seized until the issue was sorted out.Here's an excerpt from the article...
FBI agents carried out a weekend search of Jefferson's congressional office last month, triggering an outpouring of criticism from congressional leaders claiming they had encroached on Congress' constitutional powers.
I wish I had me some o' them constitutional powers.
Further complicating this issue is the fact that Jefferson is a democrat. He's fodder for the GOP to use in the mid terms to mitigate the soulless corruption that defines the GOP and everything they've perpetrated on us since the giggling murder monkey was placed in power so long ago.
This case is a lead pipe cinch in my opinion and the dude needs to step the fuck down, not because he's fodder to undermine the dems in the midterms, but because it appears he's a fucking criminal just like the GOP from the top down. We need to scrub the entire thing by the way...if you think Jefferson is the only dem who is corrupt you are either blind, retarded or both. The entire system is corrupt as are the alternatives currently offered...I don't care if you're green, independent or a sock puppet, if you have dealings in american politics you have done something shady...it's a given, and don't try to pretend you haven't because you have. You all suck.
So...let's get back to this search of his office for a minute. It's OK for a variety of gov't. agencies to tap my phone, track my internet and search my house when I'm at work without my knowledge but a congressmen's office is somehow sacred ground? Somebody said once that a fish rots from the head down, and history tells us that some of the crookedest motherfuckers in history ever were people in power.
It's simple math.

Here is the GOP plan equation style:

War on terror+Iraq x Afghanistan (- Afghanistan) +corruption- accountability/oversight + Fema- death toll < Gay marriage + Flag burning / the death tax = FOCUS ON THE FAGS AND THE FLAG & $$$. = Energizing the sheep to get out and vote against a godless fag loving flag burning death tax avoiding bunch of infidels.
(It shames me to admit that this kind of shit works on people that live on the same continent as I do)

The dems equation is equally flawed and weak...the only difference I see is there are more GOP sheep that will resonate with the propaganda and actually get off thier lazy asses and vote against the tax evading, flag burning, homosexual agenda than there are dems who will get off thier lazy asses to buy a latte. The dem equation looks something like this:

2 + 2 = 5...right? it's 5 right? Well, if it's not 5 what is it then?
Like I said.

IT'S HUMP DAY....SPEAKING OF HUMPS

ANN COULTER
Enjoy...

Weekend laziness & dress code thoughts
I snagged a weekend off and I have a long list of projects to do as well as the necessary housework stuff, but I've spent the day sitting at the computer in my pajamas instead. I spent about 6 hours on work-related stuff, but it was things I wanted to do (as opposed to things I need to do) so that doesn't really count as work. The stress from the job comes and goes, but I suspect 80% of it is just because I'm new at this particular job description and have unrealistic expectations of what I ought to be able to do right off the bat. An interesting twist in the workplace (and one I can talk about) is the changes to the dress code. No jeans has always been the rule, but it's been extended to no "jeans-like" pants and now shirts must be tucked-in. That's all fine and good if you are skinny, but I'm fat and tucking in a shirt is something I refuse to do until I lose about 80 more pounds. So the first day I'm at the office following the new dress code, I'm in a casual skirt set with sensible pumps and damned if I don't I get asked if I was off at a job interview before I came in. I had to laugh because what I was wearing was far too casual for a job interview. Truth be told, I don't mind wearing skirts except that they usually have no pockets and it's a bit awkward when I have to crawl under a desk to plug in my laptop. Oh, and the fact that my chair tends to roll over them. No, it's mostly the shoes that drive me nuts since there's always a "no sandals" rule and this place is no exception. My toes like to have lots of room and woman's closed toe dress shoes always seem intent on cramming the toes together as much as possible. I'm sure I'll come up with an acceptable wardrobe that's also comfortable, but that requires shopping which I absolutely hate to do. That said, some of the guys have had it a lot harder than me since there's also new "no hat" rule. Since Rob's a hat wearer, I've seen the distress that occurs when a suitable hat cannot be found so I can well imagine the effect of being forbidden to wear a hat at all. After all, this is Austin, Texas and a gimmie hat is almost required wearing for guys around here. Ah well, it's not like tech support can't be outsourced overseas for 1/10 the price and if keeping the business here requires a bit more "professional" attire, I suppose that's a small price to pay.

AN INTERESTING COUPLE OF DAYS

Me and my friend were on our way to his court ordered drunky class yesterday, it was friend and / or family night, a kind of show and tell. I went with because he's mah friend and all that.
I felt like I was in a staff development class back when I worked at the Oaks treatment center, but really..back in the day...that day, back in 1986. The instructor even showed a video from 86 about addiction and codependence. Flash-fucking-back. It was amusing to see the same propaganda employed after all these years.
As I posted earlier, I have this electricians evaluation looming on the horizon. As with any organization, there are many versions of the truth about shit like this, so when I went and paid my dues I met with the person in charge of the program I'm in and got the union version of this evaluation. I say union version vs. union member version because, like any business versions vary.
Anyhoo...out of the seven catagories, there are three that I could usesome practice time on...stuff I've only done a few times in two years and stuff I haven't the slightest clue about. This being a one time skills assessment, I want to do well. So I rescheduled for the first saturday in July to do it. If I do well, I could get a substantial raise. That's a double edged sword because that raise could get me reassigned. I could end up drivin' a shovel in a ditch at some other job site. The quality of training I've gotten comfortable with at my current job would be over...I could end up surrounded by typical texas redneck electricians who believe in a different kind of training. One that involves humiliation and abuse. That would never work for me, I would kick thier asses.
Horns of a dilemma...more money vs. quality of training...meh...we need the money.
But enough about work.
Except to say that Ann had a rough day at her work today, I could hear it in her voice when she called me after her shift. I suggested dinner out and we ended up at a tex mex place we go to sometimes (La Feria) ...they have a mariachi band on Thursday nights that go from table to table playing songs. Which is why we don't go there on Thursdays as a rule, but the memorial day holiday on monday threw my schedule off and there we were listening to mariachi music.
At first it was annoying...we couldn't have a conversation, but after a few songs the musicians in us realized how tight they were. They were good. When they got around to our table I asked if they knew any Black Flag? No...How about some Zeppelin? No...Any blues? No...They could play something slow if we wanted. Then the horn player suggested some Cash.
OK.I'll quit fuckin' with you if you play some Cash. We were then treated to a most amazing version of Ring of Fire.It was awesome! We went from the mexican hat dance to crass americana. It was cool.
After dinner we went to waterloo and I got a CD by locals The Black Angels and Ann got the new James McMurtry ( also a local ). The original mission was to get a dvd called winter soldier...a 1970's documentary about atrocities in vietnam as recounted by the soldiers that perpetrated them. Ann found itonline when we got home and it was ordered along with another one called The year of the pig...also about the VN war. So I will be watching the mailbox for awhile...Cause you know I love that VN documentary stuff. C'mon Amazon...hurry.
I think by the time we got home Ann's spirits were lifted some. The Black Angels CD is very good and James proves once again that he is an amazing lyricist.
Everyone's at least grinning. There's more but I'll save it for another day.