The Philosophy of Enevitability

I was reading in the news about the interest in an archaeological site in Peru, called Caral. It seems that the people there were building pyramids at about the same time as the Egyptians.

Pyramids are found all over the world. Asia, the Middle East, South and Central America. Some people use this as suppport of greater commerce between the continents. Others say it supports the idea of alien contacts. All sorts of theories abound.

Mine is the theory of enevitbility.

Given certain precursors, certain things are inevitable. Take the doorway. The proportions of a doorway are pretty much the same, a little over twice as high as it is wide. This proportion is extended to all sorts of architectural constructs. Why these particular proportions?

Of course they have to do with the size and proportions of the human body and the resonable size and proportions of an entryway. The system of measure and math used to define a pleasing hallway or entryway would be different of we were six times as tall as we are wide, or as big around as we are tall.

In any society complexity is a logical chain of development. One thing leads to the other in a realatively predictable sequence of events. Just as the standard hallway is an extension of the doorway, which is an extension of human parameters, the pyramid is a natural extension of things in nature.

The pyramid is an extension of the cone, the mountains and all manner of piled objects. It is a logical nature driven shape, and relatively easy to design. All you need is eight sticks of equal length and some string and you get this magically proportioned object that BEGS mystical implications.

When people reach a certain level of sophistification, they will come across this shape, and to me it seems inevitable that they use it for ceremonial buildings.

This same principle applies to all sorts of things.

Such as extra-terrestrial life.

Given the size of the universe and variety of conditions, given a finite series of building blocks (atoms) every possible ccombination of compounds must exist in many places in the universe.

The combination that results in life is inevitable.

Random Day

Things are going to get more and more busy at work, so I think I have to start getting used to the idea of blogging more from home. I just feel out of sync with reality (as if the blogosphere has anything to do with reality).

When I got a few moments at work today, I did a post and made a few comments, but everything was so Random.

Stop here and leave an incoherent or barely coherent comment, move on and do it again.......and again....no rhyme, no reason. a little flash of this, a little shake of that.

I live by my focus. I can follow a chain of logic. I can take a plate full of data and make into a sensible meal, edible by Management.

I take chaos and turn it into something resembling order.

But oh what fun to just submit to the randomness of the world and do things that do not in any way lay claim to logic.

On one hand today was a day that challenged the rules of order. I FORCED logic into chaos and triumphed.

My victory dance was into randomness.

DadumDadumDadum

Queue music from JAWS.

Thanksgiving looms on the horizon.

I have every expectation that it will be pleasant. However there are a few sharks circling that could turn it into a bloodbath.

Mrs A has done the growed-up thing and told the DIL it is time to let things go, and included a personal invitation to T-Day. I blogged about that the other day. DIL has never responded. I have let everyone know that Mrs A did this, so that there can be no confusion about where things are. If they come, fine, if they don't, they will miss out on some good food and conversation.

I have also asked Mrs A. to bury the hatchet with R. for the day, and much to my surprise, she agreed.

On one hand things are looking good. Everyone will be there, and it will be good to see them. On the other hand, it will make for a tense day with me doing my best to keep the combatants separated.

If they get into it, I am pretty sure Mrs A can kick both their asses.

And if she can't, I know I can.

Attaboy!

V. joined the debate team last year as a freshman. He did well as a rookie, got his first academic points and a couple of letters. But it was as a part of congress, which is a team event rather than an individual event.
Nonetheless, he ended up going to State, one of three from his high school. He got there more by persistencec than anything else.
This year he is a sophomore, and is entered in indivdual events. It's sort of like going from the JV to the Varsity.
This weekend he went to his first tournament.
And kicked ass.
He had six individual debates. At the end of the event he knew he had one four out of the first five, but the results were not in on the sixth. Since he and the coach didn't figure he would be in the finals, they left before the medal presentation. He called his coach this morning to find out how he did in the final event.
Much to his surprise she told him that he had won a medal in the event. I guess this is a school first for an individual. They will have an announcement over the PA at school and a medal presentation. I am so proud, I want to stop people in the street and tell them.
Way to go V!

Friday at Last.

Maybe it is because we turned the clocks back or something but I have been dragging ass all week. Every day it was a little harder to get out of bed.

Instead of lunch today, I am going to take a nap. This is one skill I acquired in the Army, which has stood me well over the years. I can curl up and fall asleep quickly under almost any conditions. It takes me about five minutes, and I am good for about a half an hour, then wake up. Most of the time when I wake up I am rested and alert.

This weekend will be dedicated to cleaning up the house and yard for Thanksgiving. I will be making a couple of trips to the dump, raking up leaves, trimming shrubs and other exciting stuff.

By the way, there is a new chapter of STAR: http://star-pat.blogspot.com/

Clarification

When I said yesterday that the turkeys are coming, I wasn't talking about my family. At least that wasn't the intent. It was a parody of Paul Revere, intending to convey a sense of impending doom.

I find that by the time I work a full day, I have little or no energy left when I get home. I get up with the best of intentions, but by the time I crawl in the front door after work, all I want is my chair, my paper, and my laptop.

There are a lot of things that need to be done in preparation for Turkey Day, and I just don't have the energy to do them.

I have off a bunch of time at Christmas, and I am SO looking forward to not getting up to the alarm clock.

I always line up some project to work on around the house. This year I need to put the molding in the kitchen. Something that will not be too difficult but requires some time and attention.

I just have to hang on unti Dec 21st.

The Turkeys are coming, The Turkeys are coming!

I had to look up something on the calendar this morning, and all the sudden my eyes drifted down a couple of lines and I realized Thanksgiving was TWO WEEKS FROM TOMORROW.

Holy crap! I have so much to do.

We are having my family over on turkey day. That means somewhere between twenty and thirty people. Mrs A. will obsess that the house is a mess.

I need to take a couple of trips to the dump, move things around so I can free up a couple of parking places. We haven't even discussed the menu yet.

Of course turkey is the centerpiece, but I think I will do a pork tenderloin roast in Cranberry Chutney. And riced potatoes. That's a start.

I need to call everyone to coordinate who brings what side dish.

And try to whup V. into cleaning up the front yard.

And pick out some wine and beer.

And dig Mrs A.s good dishes out of hiding.

And we need to make egg rolls.

and..........

Growin' Up

No, not me. I have found that there are no advantages to growing up.



I was so proud of V. last night.



Anyone who has come around here for a while knows there is an ongoing fued between Mrs A and DIL. They haven't talked in two and a half years. It is much too complicated to go into now, just suffice it to say that it makes things awkward for V.



He is living with us because I adopted him to keep him from being put out for adoption outside the family. But he has at times lived with his dad.



DIL can't handle him. She has no experience being a mom, and had no idea how to handle it when things didn't go smoothly. Anyone who has raised kids knows that is pretty much the norm, not the exception.



Every time things would get off kilter, she would send him back to us.



I finally put my foot down and said he was going to stay with us, that all the moving back and forth was not good for him.

DIL went all drama queen. Mrs A pointed out to her the fact that she was NOT V's mom either legally or biologically. Therein lies the seed of the feud.

I have told both of them that they are being childish and need to just get over it and move on. Poor V is always getting caught in the middle of it. So am I , and my son. It makes it hard during the Hollidays.

Mrs A had been talking with V. in the morning after I went to work, and the conversation got interrupted by the bus, so when V. got home she started up again.

V. explained to her how he had to take the brunt of their feud.

He very politely asked her if she would do something for him. He asked her to e-mail DIL and tell her that it was time to just let it go, and get on with life. He stressed "Please, do it for me."

What a grown-up way to put it.

Mrs A. has agreed, and has sent the e-mail and invited them over for Thanksgiving.

We shall see what we shall see.

Cross your fingers.

Hurtin' for Certain

Here, let me ease into my chair.


AAHHHH

Much better.

I'm walking around like Frankenstein this morning.

Saturday was another concert day with ML3. They played at Maple Lane in Centralia. We hit the road at 8:00 and got home at 1:15 AM.

They were a little short on crew, so the ones of us that did show up had to work a little extra hard. Plus with the new stage, it left some extra room in the truck, so John had to find something to fill the empty space.

The "something" turned out to be a six foot long, fout foot wide 5oo lb 64 channel sound mixer. It sure works nice. The sound was better than I have ever heard.

They also replaced all of the aluminum scaffolding uprights with steel. The downside is that they weigh a lot more. We are up to about 20,000 lbs of gear now.

We were just starting sound check when they asked us to stop because the kids were in the next room for dinner, and they needed to monitor the conversation. This threw us off by ak hour, so we were still doing sound check when they started bringing the kids in. But after that everything went just fine.

Sunday R. came over and got her stuff out of the basement. She had a couple of guys show up to help, but they sure took a lot of smoke breaks. From the look of their eyes, they had taken a "Smoke Break" before they got there.

Everything went smoothly. No arguments, name calling or confrontation. Mrs A. went grocery shopping. with L. just to make sure nothing happened. It took about an hour to get the truck loaded.

So I have all sorts of muscles telling me I should act my age. Ain't happening baby. I'm not about to retire to my rocking chair quite yet.

The Sky Is Falling!

It was widely reported this morning that the sky was falling.

A mysterious crystaline substance appeared on the roofs and hoods of parked cars. It was never seen to fall from the sky, but early indicators lead experts to believe it fell somehow from the sky.

Upon application of heat, this mysterious substance DISAPPEARS! Many believe this is the beginning of the end of civilization as we know it. Religious zealots claim it the first sign of the Apocalypse, comparing it to the "Mana" described in the Bible.

Global warming theorists claim that the mysterious substance is causing an imbalance in the Ozone and will lead to global warming. The mysterious substance seems to generate cold around it, causing people to turn to desparate means to keep warm. The particulates released by these alternate sources of heat are poisonous to humand and animals. If inhaled in relatively minor concentrations, they can cause unconsciousness, and even death.

This intrepid reporter, throwing caution to the winds, and at great personal risk, improvised a substance removal tool. If not removed from the viewing ports this substance is known to cause blindness, and in extreme cases, mortal injury.

Coming next: Fog. Will it really eat your face?

Happy Halloween!

I always loved Halloween as a kid.

Getting dressed up, although it was usually as a hobo or a ghost, running from house to house extorting candy from terrified grownups. Running loose on the streets.

Later it was driving around in some beater car, having egg wars and trying to pick up women.

Then it was adult parties with booze and other stimulants.

Then came taking my own kids out trick-or-treating.

Now, the youngest, my adopted grandson is 15. He is right on the cusp of being too old to put on a costume and go trick-or-treating. When I was growing up, I had little sisters, so I could always go along to keep an eye on them, thereby extending my trick-or-treating years. He did ask me this morning is we had any eggs.

My favorite Halloween story is when my son was seven. I don't remember where I got it, but I had gotten a face make-up kit somewhere. It was very high quality stick-on preosthetics with filler and color and everything. The packaging said "Hollywood Quality".

I didn't believe it for a moment.

But as I applied the cheekpieces and nose pieces, and faired them in with filler and colored them it, the results were amazing. It was hard to believe that my son lurked under that face. They eyes and mouth were familiar, but the rest was unrecognizable.

And kind of unsettling.

We set off. We had hit a couple of houses, and a man and his small child approached from the other direction. Other than the face makup, all N.'s costume consisted of a black robe.

The child, who was about four, took one look at N. and shrieked at the top of his lungs. He was shrieking "I want to go home! I want to go home.!!"

Of course V. found this very entertaining. A lot of people thought he looked.......disturbing. Because it wasn't a mask, and you couldn't tell where the prestheses left off and kid began.
Grownups would look at him and do a double take, and call inside "Come out here you HAVE to see this!"

And they always gave him a little extra candy.

There was enough face putty and double back tape to last two years, so we did the same thing the next year. And although I searched high and low I never could find the same or a similar product again.

If I could, I would get one and use it for myself.

And scare the little candy extorting would be monsters right out of their underoos.

BWAHAHAHAHAH (Evil Laugh)

The rest of the story

I can't tell just half of this, so I am in for the whole thing.

We decided to get married on April 9th. No big ceremony or celebration. We had both been married before, so it was just set the date and go see the judge.

On Sunday the 4th of April, we were visiting with L and her hubby. L was pregnant at the time, but she told us that she thought something was wrong. The baby had not moved that day. She was going to go in the next day and get checked out.

The news was not good. They could detect no signs of life. This was on Monday.

On Tuesday they ran tests, and came to the conclusion that the baby was dead.

They took the baby on Wednesday. I was there, as was her mother. She delivered a perfectly normal baby, except for the fact that it was dead. No abnormalities, no birth defects, nothing to indicate why it wasn't alive.

I held it in my arms and cried.

Mrs A and I went out into the hallway, and I held her in my arms as she cried "Why?" She railed against God and asked him why he would take this barely begun life.

This was on April the 8th. We were to be married the next day.

After things settled down, we talked. If a thing is the right thing to do, it is the right thing to do, regadless of the impediments.

We spent the night in the hospital room with L. Got up the next morning, went home and showered and went to meet the judge.

We got married despite all the other stuff. I think we did the right thing, and I would do it again. We faced a challenge to what we believed, and we persevered.

We had talked about adversity and said "You have a coice in life. You can take the easy route, or you can take a different route. We realize that things may get crazy, but if you ride the roller-coaster you will be OK as long as you hang on tight in the corners."

We are still hanging on, and there are lots of corners.

After five years, we are still together, and it is a testament to our love.

Engagement

When I was over visiting Sue's this morning, she was doing this meme all about her relationship with her "Hubs".

I was wondering if I had ever posted about how Mrs A and I got engaged. I thought I had, but couldn't find it , so I thought"What the heck, it's a good story." So if I have and you already know the story, forgive me and go about your way.

Mrs A and I had been dating about six months, and things were getting pretty serious. Early on in the relationship we had talked about what we each wanted out of the relationship. We both wanted a stable lifelong commitment.

We had been down at her place cleaning up, and had loaded her dresser in the back of my Blazer. We were unloading it, and when we got in the house, I glanced around.

Holy shit! I had been burglarized. The game system and all the games. My laptop. Anything that was small, light and hockable.

The week before, I had spent my entire week of free time shopping for an engagement ring. I had looked at every ring in the south end of Latteland, and found one that was perfect. It cost a little over $5,000.

It was gone.

Unless you have a special rider on your insurance, no single item of jewelry will be repaid for more than $1500. I was just screwed.

I called the cops, and they came. We were sitting there on the leather couch, listing the things that had been taken. At last I listed "An engagement ring, just purchased, worth $5,000.

Mrs A. had no idea I had gone and purchased the ring. Her eyes got real big and she said "You didn't?"

"Oh yes I did."

A couple of hours later my daughter R. called. She said she had come home, seen what had happened, so she grabbed the ring and left. What followed had several different versions, and I have never been sure exactly what went on. I suspect it was some of R's "Friends" that ripped me off.

Because of the evidence, we knew that whoever burgarized up was around long enough to play CD's on the CD player, drink all the liquor in the house, and smoke several cigarettes. I figure R had a party while we were gone, and things got out of hand.

At any rate I got the ring back. The police grilled her, and were sure she knew something, but she would never admit complicity.

Mrs A. was there when R got home, and delivered the ring.

I asked her if she wanted to see it. She said yes, so I showed it to her, then went and put it upstairs.

After the police left, she disappeared. My house is big enough that you can disappear. So I wandered around looking for her.

She was in the Master bedroom, and she was sitting there with the ring on her finger, crying her eyes out.

I told her that this was certainly not the way I wanted her to find out about the ring.

I told her "I think the safest place in the world for that ring right now is on your hand. I don't think anyone is going to be able to get it away from you without knocking you out first. Just keep it on for now."

We had already made plans to go to the Lake Quinault Lodge for Valentines Day. I had planned to ask her then, and I did. On one knee and everything. Room 110 in the main lodge.

And the rest is history.

Spider story

The Peanut Queen's post today was about spiders, which resuled in me thinking about this story:
Spidermobile

I have always done a little side work on cars. Buy one, fix it up, sell it buy one a little better, etc.

I was working in a printed circuit board assembly area. The area had about 30 women, and three men. It was my first time working with women otside the back seat of the car. It was different.

One of the cute younger ones was Jacki. She was a bit of a scatterbrain, very unfocused, but fun to work with.

She had this 1955 Pontiac 4dr with low original miles. It was in pretty good shape, but she hated it because it wasn't cool.

She came in to work one day, late, pale as a sheet and shaking. I asked her what was up and she told this tale of being run off of the road by a drunk, ending up in the median, and having to be towed out. Everyone was very sympathetic, asking her if she was OK and was her car OK. She said everything was ok, she was just shaken up.

Something about the way she opened her eyes extra wide while telling this tale told me that she was not being truthful.

I cornered her later in the day in a quiet corner, and asked her what had happened.

She admitted the story was a fabrication. What had really happened was she was driving down the freeway and noticed a blur in front of her eyes. When she focused her eyes on it, it turned out to be a spider.

Of course she covered her face with both hands, and the car ended up in the median. I promised not to tell. The statute of limitations ran out some time ago.

I soon after the spider incident I bought the car from her for $75.

One fall day I was in the car driving to work. I was wearing a leather hi-country coat with a sheepskin lining. It was the first time I had worn the coat in six months. It felt like something was inside the arm of the coat.

The "something" turned out to be a spider the size of a quarter, who crawled out of the sleeve and across the back of my left hand. Although it startled me, all I did was let go of the wheel with my right hand and reach out and with as much force as I could generate, flicked him with my middle finger. He hit the winshield with a satifying splat.

Unfortunately he fell down the defroster vent, so I couldn't tell if he was dead or not. I drove the rest of tha way to work with one eye on the road and one eye watching for movement.

I never found the spider, and for a couple of weeks drove around prepared for the worst. I mean he could be out recruiting a bunch of his little spider buddies with his tale of woe. They might even be plotting revenge.

I fixed a couple of things and sold the car.

It had nothing to do with the spider situation.

Honest.

Nothing going on

The only thing going on is that I let L. use my truck today because she had an appointment.

I didn't work on her car last night because it started raining right about the time I got home, and you don't want to get water on the repair until it has time to cure. It is mixed clouds & sun today, so maybe I'll hit it right today.

I haven't slept particularly well the last couple of nights. The arthritis in my neck is acting up. I don't know why. I haven't done anything particularly stupid lately. Except fot loading and unloading a ton of stove pellets, but that was a week ago.

I forget that I can't do all of the things I used to. Or I can, but I have to be willing to pay the price.

L. and her boyfriend are looking at apartments, so I hope they will be moving out soon. I love her, and I think he is a great guy, but they need to be movin' on.

Before Mrs A gets pissed off and throws them out.

More car stuff

I guess I will have to get out and try to fix L's car. The last ditch radiator repair try. I will get a fiberglass repair kit and try to reinstall and fortify the radiator spud with fiberglass and resin tonight.

I don't place a lot of faith in this repair method working for any length of time. But it is the last ditch effort before getting a new radiator. Or getting a used one from the wrecking yard. The one from the wrecking yard would carry no warrantee of any kind, so I am leery of going in that direction.

Other than that, there's not a lot going on.

A guy could get used to no crisis.

Movin' Man

I got an e-mail from R. yesterday, and she is moving in to a duplex. She said she would get her stuff after the first. I have offered her the use of my truck, but I think she will probably turn it down.

She is still pissed at me, and it's OK. I will not wither and die.

But it is cutting off your nose to spite your face when you turn down the use of a truck so you can wait a couple weeks and rent one. SHe is so damned stubborn.

Wonder where she got that?

Had too be her mom, and you will NEVER convince me otherwise.

CAR WARS

I am a motorhead of sorts. That is to say, I have spent more hours under a car than watching TV. My retirement dream is to buy a classic sports car that I can disassemble, restore every nut, bold and washer, and put back together.

Right now I wouls settle on a garage and shop so I don't have to work in the rain and cold.

Yesterday we spent a couple of hours doing a brake job for Ls 95 little Chev. Not a difficult job, since I have done this many times and have the necessary tools. I supervised and the boyfriend did the work. I knew several shortcuts and stuff. In the end we got it done.

The radiator was leaking some, so the boyfriend attampted to fix it with some JB WELD. There was a crack on the seam by the upper spud, so he puttied it up and let it sit for several hours. When he went to reattach the top hose, the spud broke off.

She had a court appointment in Court today over some unpaid traffic tickets. She is petitioning the court to be allowed too work off the tickets by Public Service instead of paying fines, since she has no money.

So I handed her the keys to the truck I just bought.

I Only cringed a little.

No big Whoopee

There are places where the big windstorm has cut off power, downed trees and phone lines. But here at La Casa De Al it has been a big disappointment.

I love me a good storm. Once during a typhoon, I tied myself to a basketball pole so I could be out in the wind. Y'know the scene with Lt. Dan if Forest Gump when he ties himself to the mast of the Shrimpin' Boat and yells "Is that all you got?"

Thats me.

One of my ideal jobs would be Storm Chaser.

So far this is nothing.

But I am ready...............

Exhastipated

Exhausted + constipated = exhaustipated Def: Too tired to give a shit.

After a busy day at work, with a major storm headed our way, I went and got a ton of pellets for the pellet stove. My little S10 is kinda small for that amount of weight.

When I went to get the pellets, I told the clerk I wanted to pick up a half a ton, take them home, and come back for the rest. They told me they would only sell them as a ton, or by the bag. If you bought the ton, you needed to take them all at once. The bag price is higer, so I did the math.

The truck is rated at 6000 lbs. Weight of the vihicle, say 3500 lbs, plus 2000 lbs of pellets plus almost 200 lbs for me is 5700 lbs. Heck I could throw in a fat man and still be under weight.

So we loaded the pellets. The back bumper was about six inches from the ground, and the hood poined a little in the air.As I drove home the truck tended to wander a little, there being not enough weight on the front end.

I took back roads all the way home, and didn't have any problems.

Luckily L's boyfriend was there, so he helped me unload and stack the pellets. Or rather, I helped him, since he did more work than I did.

But now I am sitting here with a fire going in the pellet stove, watching "The Goonies" with Mrs A, knowing I am prepared for the windstorm that is supposed to hit tomorrow.

If the power goes out I have a generator that will run the pellet stove and a light and the TV. The Motor Home is gassed up and ready to go, and has a gas stove and generator. It will be cool enough outside to keep the beer cold.

What more could a guy ask for?

KIDS!

I had really not envisioned myself as being the parent of a teenager at this point in my life. I had things all planned out. I knew when my kids would be getting out of school, when the house would be paid off, when Social security would kick in. All planned.

Throw in a divorce, and adopt my grandson, and The Plan is no longer valid. According to the original plan, I would be retiring next January. With the new and improved plan, I can't retire for another ten years.

I really don't mind working. I like my job, and I work for a good boss, and work with people I like. The work is challenging and I have to use my brains, remain calm under pressure, be creative, and technically skilled.

But I would like to have the option of coming in tomrrow and tell them it's my last day.

Yesterday V. didn't go to school. He got up, but went back too bed after I left for work. He had been complaining of a major headache the night before, so that in itself is not surprising.

But when I got home yesterday, he wasn't at home. He had gone to the Mall.

The rule has always been "If you are too sick to go to school, you are too sick to go out and play." He knows this. He called from the Mall at 8:00 to say he was on his way home. Didn't walk in the door until almost 10:00.

"Who did you ask if you could stay home from school?"

"No one."

Who did you ask if you could go to the Mall?"

"No one."

This conversation went on for some time. Finally he announced he was going to watch a movie and then go to bed.

"Oh no you're not. You are going to go out in the kitchen and wash dishes, no movie, and then to bed."

"Can't I wait until later to do the dishes?"

"Look you selfish little snot, it may come as a surprise to you, but other people besides you live in this house. Those other people are trying to sleep. It is not your right to disrupt everyone elses life because you are so self involved that you don't even consider them!"

The dishes got done, along with some grumbling.

Some times I wish they hadn't changed the laws so you can't physically discipline your kids, 'cause I sure would liked to haul off and belt him one in the chops.

Anyone want a slightly used, untrained teenager?

A Lot More Nothing

There are no pictures of ML3 in performance, because I gave up my spare camera batteries for the cause.

The AA batteries in April's mic were dead and they didn't have any spares.

Other people took lots of shots of the performance, so they should show up eventually.

On Friday I bought myself a truck.

No big deal. It is a Chev S-10 Pickup with 120,000 miles. The color is turquoise, and I have yet to find anything wrong with it. It is a little temperamental when you first try to start it. Don't touch the gas, or it will flood. Something I discovered after work today. But start it did.

Eventually

After work I went to transfer the title, but didn't have enough money to relicense it. The tabs aren't due until Dec. 31st, so I have time. But first I had to get it emissions tested for them to transfer the title.

This pisses me off. Even if the vehicle is currently licensed and everything, if you live in certain zip codes, you have to get it tested. Well, what if it wasn't running? I had this logical argument with the clerk, but logic was not a system that applies.

So I ran over to the emissions place had it tested, and ran back. It passed and I walked in at the license place with 30 secconds to spare. I hit every light and crossing sign, but I got it done.

Whew!

Echo Glen

This is how it all starts out. A big empy room and a lot of equipment

Hanging lights

The lights are all in place and the sound system is being checked out

One of the vertical supports developed a little problem, like breaking in two with all the lights on it. The whole truss setup threatened to come down.

Raw muscle to the rescue. They held the trusses up until we could figure a way to support it. We borrowed one of the monitor stands to support the trusses.

This is what it all looked like when we were through.

The band was in outstanding form. It had been a year since they performed, and the drummer and lead guitar player were new. The new drummer is an animal on the drums (in a good way).

New show, new band members and equipment challenges, it was a great show, and a good time.

Next gig Nov. 3rd.

Mo Betta

It appears I am going to live. Not only that, it is a good thing.

My head still hurts, but it's not soo bad.

This weekend we are crewing for ML3, a Christian Rock band. We have been doing this for several years. They mainly play at places of incarceration (Yeah, that means jail). It's a lot of hard work, but a lot of fun, too. They have around 13,000 pounds of gear. Full light show and sound system.

It ususally takes about six hours to set up the equipment, but they have a new and improved super duper one size fits all some assembly required stage setup, so I figure that should add a couple of hours.

They are not a hard core come down and be saved organization. They are more you can have a whole lot of fun without drugs and alcohol kinda bunch. But the songs are all inspirational and have a religious theme.

Go here :http://www.newmorninglight.com/blog.htm and go over to their MySpace page and hear what they sound like.

If I can remember the camera, I'll post some pictures.

Back in the saddle

I made it to work today, but more because I was on Automatic Pilot than any intent on my part.

John asked how I was feeling, so I replied "If my head explodes I hope I don't get any brains on you."

He said "I hate when that happens."

Linda pipes in "Yeah, it's so hard to get out of your clothes."

Feel the love.

Blech

My sinuses are acting up again, so I stayed home again. Ths is agravated by the fact that I have awakened at 3:00 the last two mornings and couldn't get back to sleep.

Mrs A is pushing for me to go to the doctor, but I don't know that it would do any good.

I am sitting here today in an empty house, and that may be the best medicine all by itself. After calling in to work, I went back to bed and finally fell back to sleep, and didn't get up until 11:00. and I'm the kind of persson that never sleeps in beyond 8:00 even if I can.

Things have settled down around here, but nothing is solved.

I think I'll eat something and go back to bed.

Too Much Drama

L. is coming off of a tough relationship, which she jumped into after a failed marriage. Her current boyfriend was waiting in the wings for her to get free, and slipped in the minute there was an opening.

Mind you, I really like this guy. I believe he genuinely loves her and her kids. He does well with the kids, and he is easy to be around and work with.

Last night L. told him to back off. He has been actively pursuing her to move in with him. She moved in with us to make up her mind about what she wants to do. And what she wants to do is finish her schooling as a Pharmacy Assistant, have her own place and take care of herself.

He did not take the news well. We could hear him sobbin from downstairs in the living room. He finally came downstairs and told us goodbye. It was real difficult, because I really like the guy, and seeing this six four 220lb man standing there blubbering like a 10 year old who just had his bike stolen was not easy.

I really felt for the guy, because I have been in his shoes more than once, but as L.'s stepdad I have to support what is right for HER.

I believe it is best for her to go back to school and finish her training, and I know it is not an easy decision for her.

Both Mrs A and I spent quite a bit of time single before we met, and I think it is good to have some time on your own, to be comfortable living by yourself. After you have learned to stand alone, you make a much better partner.

If he truely loves her, he will wait until she is ready to commit.

But it was a little more drama than I was wanting, and it was hard to not get involved.

No Cigar

I am flinging darts this morning. I can't hit a thing.

My rapier-like wit has turned to a dull stick.

The finely tuned engine that is my mind is only hitting on about three cylinders, and may be in the process of throwing a rod.

My input shaft and output shaft are not speaking to each other.

Plenty of horsepower under the hood, it's just not getting to the street.

I have arthritis in my neck, and when it flares up, I start getting spasms in my right arm and hand. It feels like it is on fire. But I have an excellent anti-convulsive muscle relaxer that makes it go away.

Unfortunately it causes my clutch to slip, so I can't get any traction.

It may look like I am sitting here doing very little, but the truth is, I am stitting here doing nothing.

TSO!!!

Trans Siberian Orchestra is coming to town!

And I just bought eight tickets on a Pre-sale!

Cant Wait!!!!

If you don't know who they are go here:

http://www.trans-siberian.com/index-main.php

Go to the video clips and play Christmas in Serejevo.

On the Other Hand

I posted a couple of pictures from our trip to Oregon the other day.

The sunset picture was good enough that I submitted it to KING 5 News Weather PIX, and it was published. Pretty cool.

A couple of people around me at work downloaded it and set it as their wallpaper.

I feel honored.

Seesaw

I called up R. yesterday, something I have been puting off. I got the cell phone bill and she had gone over her minutes.

By $100.00.

I have been paying her cell phone bill because I wanted to leave a communication channel open.

SHe didn't answer the phone, so I left her a message, and a warning. Basically, I said "Why would I pay a hundred bucks a month for your cell phone so you can call up and leave me obscene voice mails?"

She called back and cussed me up one side and down the other. It seems I ma responsible for every bad thing she has ever done, have never treated her fairly, am the major cause of world hunger and a walking disease vector. Then hung up.

Even I have my stopping point. I have finally had it. If your right hand is infected and no longer is any good to you and only spreads poison in your body, you aputate it.

When Mrs A and I were going to counseling, the counselor said something that stuck in my brain: "You need to examine your relationships. How much am I investing in them, and what am I getting back?"

Not hard to total the accounts here.

So I called up the cell phone company and had her phone shut off.

I will no longer accept the abuse she heaps on me. I have been poised at the edge awaiting any sign she is changing, and all I get is another face full of spit. She says she is exiting , and I am now ready to let her go.

But it still hurts.

On the other hand I got home and told L. about what had happened, and that I wanted to sit in the corner with my laptop and kill stuff. SHe and her boyfriend disappeared. They came back with an Oberto hard dry Salami, and sai "This is for you, but you have to share."

They also bought a jigsaw puzzle, which they know I love to do. We all sat down and worked on the puzzle together. It was great. I went fromsimmering rage and pain to comfortable and knowing that some of the work I have done has born fruit.

When I was at a low point, and everything looked black, the Lord showed me the other side of the coin. My own little miniature version of "It's a Wonderful Life".

This'n That

There was this old Black & Decker add that went; "On the weekends it was me against the house, and the house being bigger, it usually won."

Know that feeling well.

I went home last night and it had stopped raining, so I ran upstairs to look, and yes it was dry enough to seal the seam by the flashing. I went downstairs and got some plumbers putty and went up and sealed the seam

10:00 last night I hear "Drip, drip, drip." Get up to look, and sure enough it is dripping on the inside of the window. Too late to do anything, so I put a drip pan in place, and went back to bed.

When I got up this mornning, there wasn't very much water, so I have it 90% comtained. I'll have to get out and figure out where it is getting in. This still doesn't SOLVE the problem, just treats the symptom.

Lest y'all thinnk that my vacation was all sunlight and flowers, I thought I'd set the record straight.

On Monday R. called and confirmed the rumor that she is expecting. We talked for a while, and everything was pretty much OK. She went on to say that she wanted to make peace with Mrs A. I told her that if she really wanted to make peace, she needed to do what I have been asking her to do for the last six months: Write a sincere letter of apollogy to Mrs A for threatening to kill her, to start things off. This if course did not go over well.

I told her that the reason was to force her to look at her own behavior and deal with it, instead of just blowing it off and saying "Oh, I was just mad." like that would justify anything she had done.

I will not budge on this issue. She needs to be held accountable for her behavior, and as long as I allow her to continue with it, things will never change. I love her, but some times I don't like her.

I got up the next morning and there was a voice mail on my cell phone.

"You and your crazy B***ch wife stay the hell out of my business. I am moving in to my own place on Nov. 1st, and you will never see your grandkid. F### you and goodbye."

I am storing her stuff in my basement, and I pay her cell phone bill. I am SSOOOOO tempted to call her up and tell her I am shutting off her cell phone and she has 24 hours to come get her stuff or I will put it out on the street with a big "FREE" sign on it.

But luckily one of us is an adult.

Back to Reality

The steam train at Garibaldi.









This boat was incredible.









The "Depot" at Garibaldi








The sunsets were incredible

Mrs A working hard at ccontemplation.

Vacation was beautiful. We did everything we wanted to do, and then some.

The weather couldn't have been better, for the end of September. During the days it was in the 70's, and at night in the high 50's. Perfect weather for walking the beach, visiting the sights.

Of course, reality came around to bite us in the butt when we got home.

I woke up this morning to the sound of water dripping. Unfortunately it was dripping in our bedroom. Water was comming down on the frae of the window, following it around and under and dripping on the INSIDE of the window. I have lived in this house for 20 years, and this has never happened before.

We tried various schemes to block the water, but at the bottom line, it had to stop raining before we can seal or caulk to get it fixed. For now I put in a piece of flashing that diverts most of the water, but it is still dripping inside, so I put something in place to catch the water until I can caulk.

Welcome home!

Gettin' Out of Dodge

Time to hit the road again.

Mrs A and I and her sister are leaving tomorrow for the Oregon Coast. We have a week at the Condo at Rockaway Beach. That's about 15 miles North of Tillamook, 20 miles south of Cannon Beach.

We love it there, and with the kiddies all in school, it should be quiet.

We really don't have any plans once we get there. We will probably go down to Tillamook and hit the cheese factory, and stop at Tillamook County Smokehouse and get a bunch of their Honey Glazed Jerky. Go up to Cannon Beach one day and hit the shops and go get the worlds best chowder for lunch. Probably take the hike out to the end of the Tillamook Spit and back (8 miles) Walk on the beach, read, listen to music, consume adult beverages, watch some movies and read a good book.

Maybe or maybe not.

Y'all stop by.

I hope they have a Wi-FI connection soo I can send you some pictures and maybe post something. We'll see.

Emancipation II

It was as much fun as I had anticipated.

V went to a fund raiser for the debate team on Sunday. It was at Emerald Downs, a local horse racing track.

First question:

"Does this in any way involve betting on the ponies, because no matter what good tips you have, it isn't a sure thing."

"Grampa, we are just handing out bruchures and stuff.

"Well, OK. By the way, I don't want to hear any more of this "Emancipation" shit. You have no idea what the hell you are talking about."

""I do to. I hate the idea that I have no rights!"

"Do you really understand what that means?"

"Of course. I have done my research."

"Well, where are you going to live?"

""With you of course."

"Sorry, kid, but I have no obligation to provide you with housing. $400 bucks a month for the room. And by the way, unless you pay for part of the electrical bill, no electricity to your room. I have a circuit breaker, and I'm not afraid to use it."

"But that's not fair!"

"Oh yes it is. If you are an emancipated adult, you are responsible for your own expenses."

At this point his eyes started getting a little large.

"And by the way, the bed you are sleeping in does not belong to you. That includes all the furniture and everything."

"You're kidding, right?"

"Nope. If you want a soda, you can buy your own. All that food that you like. Pay to play. Plus we have minimum cleanliness requiremment. If you want to stay here, you have to meet them or get out."

He started turning a little green around the gills.

"A judge has to grant you emancipation. Why would he do that? My parents make me do dishes? Don't think so"

I don't think I'll be hearing about emancipation any time soon.

Mrs A's New Toy

Here's our new acquisition. It is a 2007 Chev HHR. Yes BRAND STINKING NEW! I think at the moment it has 38 miles on it from us driving it around.

It has all the bells and whistles. Air conditioing, stereo system (with MP3 port) automatic. power heated seats. power windows, high performance 4 cyl engine, sun roof, roof rack. Remote start. Anti-skid brakes. It drives real nice and is responsive enough to get the job done.

I traded in the Pathfinder. I kinda hated to see it go. It has been a good car and we have had some good times in it. But it had outlived it's purpose.

We bought it to go camping. Lots of room for gear. Four wheel drive. When I bought the Airstream, it became redundant. So I thought "Why the hell am I driving around a car that gets 12 miles to the gallon?"

I still wanted something that could haul a nice load of stuff, but get good gas mileage. Style is important to me, and I like the way the HHR looks. Plus the fact that it gets 30 miles to the gallon on the road.

We are going on vacation to the Oregon coast next week, and it will be a good chance to break it in.

The car payment will be almost exactly the same as it was for the Pathfinder, so for the same amount of money we will be driving a brand new car.

Emancipation

V. is SSOOOO 15 years old.

His room has crime scene tape on the door. It should be toxic dump tape. There ARE places where you can see the floor, but not many. Empty soda cans abound on every flat surface. Clothes are strewn around. It looks like a twister has gone through and hefted and randomly deposited it's contents. He would play World of Warcraft 24/7 if we would let him.

His main chore is to wash the dishes. Originally we set the time to wash dishes at 7:00, but in conceession to his logical and well thought out reasoning, we removed the time constraints. As long as he has them done when we get up in the morning, it's OK.

If he doesnt, we will get him up when we get up (5:00) and make him do them then. Today was a late start, so he was looking forward to sleeping in. Nope. Rousted him out of his lair and made him do them at 5:00. Much grumbling.

Last night he declared that when he turns 16 he is going to be Emancipated, because he thinks all of the laws meant to protect him are BS. He can't work full time while in school, technically any wages he earns are still legally mine. (Since when did he get a job and earn any money?) He has to answer to me.

I give him as much freedom as I think is apropriate, which is a lot. But it is never enough.

I need to sit him down and explain a few things to him.

Yes, it is his computer, but until he starts paying part of the bill, the electricity is mine. I won't take away his computer, because that is his, but I WILL unplug it.

All that food he consumes? No longer free. The bedroom, the bed, the furniture? All mine until he pays for them.

BWA-HA-HA-HA (evil laugh) This is going to be fun.

Feeling fuelish

One summer, over on the farm, we were all busily working on various projects.

I forget whose chore it was to mow the lawn, but they had run out of gas about halfway through the job. This was no big deal, because we had a 55 gallon drum of agricultural gas down in the garage.

Whoever it was had gotten an old mason jar full of gas and filled up the lawn mower. There was a quite a bit of gas left, which they left sitting out until the chore was over.

Enter my little sister Susie, who thought it looked tasty, and started drinking it.

We never did figure out how much gas she consumed, but suddenly she was tearing around the yard like crazy. Some adult (I believe it was my mom) went to check on her and detected the smell of gasoline on her breath.

It was a panicky trip to the doctors office. The doctor looked her over and figured she had not ingested enough gas to do her any harm.

We asked how long we could expect her to be running around like crazy.

The Doc said "Oh, she should run out of gas pretty soon."

Grandkids

I like being a grandpa. In fact I liked it so much that I adopted my first grandkid. Now there are times I wish I could give him back. Just for a couple of years until he turns 18. He is 15 now.

Oh to be fifteen again and know everything. The older I get the more I realize how little I know.

I am still all twisted around the idea of my daughter being pregnant. I love kids. It is so great watching them on their journey of discovery. Everything is fresh and new. As we age we lose that joy of discovery. The attitude becomes more "Been there, Done that" than "What exciting new thing will I discover today?" Having kids around reminds me how joyous it is to look at things with fresh eyes.

R. is going on 23, so she is old enough for kids. Maybe it will settle her down when she realizes that this wonderful new life she has helped create has needs that are more pressing than hers.

Time will tell.

Gone Visitin'

I am guest hosting over at Rick Leonard's "Diary of a Middle aged White Guy" today, so wander on over and see what's going on.

See the little line over there on the right side?

The one that says "Rick Leonard"?

Click it a couple of times.

UP/DOWN

I got a call yesterday that kinda set me back on my heels. I really don't know what to say, or how to feel.

One of R's lifelong friends called me to tell me that R. is expecting.

My first impression is that this is about the stupidest thing I have ever heard. She hasn't worked in two years, hasn't had a permanent address, has been on and off of drugs. She hasn't had a lasting relationship with a man.

I have always told myself "Well, at least she doesn't have kids." So much for that.

On the other hand, this may provide the impetus for her to settle down and take life seriously. She can't drink or take drugs while she is pregnant. She will be responsible for another human being's needs, needs to provide a stable environment. She has a lot of potential if she can get herself off high-center.

The guy that beat her up last week is the father of the kid, I hear.

Me and my baseball bat are going to have to have a little "talk" with him.

If this is all true. She hasn't called me and told me anything.

Jerking the chain

No, No, No.

That's not anything like spanking the monkey or choking the chicken.

It's more like putting the dog on a chain and then throwing a ball. I've never done this personally. I've just seen it in cartoons.

I set up an appointment to have the oil changed in the Pathfinder, so I e-mailed Mrs A to let her know which day I was having it done.

I mentioned that since I was taking the car in she would have to drive one of the other cars.

Since the Blazer will be gone by then, that leaves two choices.

One: The Z. She hates driving the Z. She hates being so low to the ground. No power steering or windows or anything. You have too DRIVE it not point it. It is very responsive, and fast. she is also afraid what would happen if she damaged my "baby".

Two: The Airstream. 20 feet long nine and a half feet high, wieghs about 8,000 lbs. SHe would feel intimidated by it. I think the biggest thing she ever drove is the Pathfinder.

So I floated my e-mail out there like a fisherman floating a dry fly, waiting too see if I could get a rise.

She replied that she laughed out loud at my suggestions.



I must be getting to be too predictable.

Beware of Garbage Trucks

How often do you let other people's nonsense change your mood?
Do you let a bad driver, rude waiter, curt boss, or an insensitive employee ruin your day?
Unless you're the Terminator, for an instant you're probably set back on your heels. However, the mark of a successful person is how quickly he/she can get back their focus on what's important.
Sixteen years ago I learned this lesson.I learned it in the back of a New York City taxi cab.
Here's what happened.
I hopped in a taxi, and we took off for Grand Central Station.We were driving in the right lane when, all of a sudden, a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us.My taxi driver slammed on his breaks, skidded, and missed the other car's back end by just inches!
The driver of the other car, the guy who almost caused a big accident,whipped his head around and he started yelling bad words at us.My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy.And I mean, he was friendly.
So, I said, "Why did you just do that?This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!"
And this is when my taxi driver told me what I now call, "The Law of theGarbage Truck."Many people are like garbage trucks.They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment.As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it.And if you let them, they'll dump it on you.When someone wants to dump on you, don't take it personally.You just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on.You'll be happy you did.
So this was it: The "Law of the Garbage Truck."
I started thinking, how often do I let Garbage Trucks run right over me?And how often do I take their garbage and spread it to other people:at work, at home, on the streets?It was that day I said, "I'm not going to do it anymore."
I began to see garbage trucks.Like in the movie "The Sixth Sense," the little boy said, "I see DeadPeople."Well, now "I see Garbage Trucks."
I see the load they're carrying.I see them coming to drop it off.And like my Taxi Driver, I don't make it a personal thing; I just smile,wave, wish them well, and I move on.
One of my favorite football players of all time, Walter Payton, did this every day on the football field.He would jump up as quickly as he hit the ground after being tackled.He never dwelled on a hit.Payton was ready to make the next play his best.
Good leaders know they have to be ready for their next meeting.
Good parents know that they have to welcome their children home fromschool with hugs and kisses.
Leaders and parents know that they have to be fully present, and at their best for the people they care about.The bottom line is that successful people do not let Garbage Trucks takeover their day.
What about you?
What would happen in your life, starting today, if you let more garbagetrucks pass you by?Here's my bet.
You'll be happier.Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so..Love the people who treat you right.Forget about the ones who don't.Believe that everything happens for a reason.
If you get a chance , TAKE IT!
If it changes your life , LET IT!
Nobody said it would be easy...They just promised it would be worth it!
We cannot all do great things but we can do small things with greatlove.Mother Theresa
Forgiveness doesn't make the other person right, it makes you free.Stormie Omartian
Some of us need structure and Jesus. Stay safe and blessed for the restof your life.Al Haskins Jr.

The incomparable Mrs A sent me this today. It was just the thing I needed to hear right now.

Tough Love

The phone rang a little after midnight. It was my daughter R. calling from the hospital. She has spent the summer being a live-in babysitter for a long time friend. He went off on her and messed her up.

She babbled along semi-coherently for about five minutes, and then hung up on me. I called back and tried to calm her down but she hung up on me again.

I couldn't just go get her, because she is not allwed at home until she apollogizes to Mrs A. for threatening to kill her. She refuses to apollogize. I have told her repeatedly what she needs to do to set things back on track. She ignores me.

I know the right thing to do is let her roast in her own juices, to stay the course until she comes around.

So why do I feel like shit?

Labor Day

It was appropriately titled. I spent most of the day removing repairing and reinstalling the radiator on L's 93 Chevy Corsica. I really don't like working on modern cars all that much, they just have too much crap crowded into too small a space.

The radiator had a major leak, and we had tried various stopleak kinds of stuff, none of which did any good, so I had to remove the radiator to get to the area too repair it. JB weld, while not man's best friend (that would be duct tape), is probably second for guys that work on beaters.

Choice: $200 for a new radiator, or $4 for some JB weld Now if you are talking a newer car, go for the radiator. But with a beater that will maybe last another year, Go with the JB weld.

We went to see Keiko Matsui at Jazz Alley on Saturday Night. She is so passionate about her music, and a very dynamic performer. The members of her band are also inspired, but the percussionist is a show all by himself. We bought her latest CD "Moyo" which means hear or soul in Swahili. She played a lot of the songs during her performance, but I haven't had time to sit down and listen to the whole thing yet.

I had to come back to work to rest up from the Holliday.

Ritual

When I leave in the morning, there is the ritual of leave-taking. We go through the checklist, because I am not at my best in the morning, so I am likely to go off without some important item.

Cell phones (2) Check

Wallet....check

Watch......check

Badge.....check

Bug....check

Keys.....check

A nice embrace, a kiss, Love you, have a nice day, out the door.

This morning, as we were moving out of the embrace "Ouch".

"What's the matter dear?"

"I caught my hair in your zipper."

Hope the neighbors weren't evesdropping. They might get the wrong idea.

Elephant Story

In 1986, Mikele Mebembe was on holiday in Kenya after graduating from Northwestern University. On a hike through the bush, he came across a young bull elephant standing with one leg raised in the air. The elephant seemed distressed, so Mikele approached it very carefully. He got down on one knee and inspected the elephant's foot and found a large piece of wood deeply embedded in it. As carefully and as gently as he could, Mikele worked the wood out with his hunting knife, after which the elephant gingerly put down its foot. The elephant turned to face the man, and with a rather curious look on its face, stared at him for several tense moments Mikele stood frozen, thinking of nothing else but being trampled Eventually the elephant trumpeted loudly, turned, and walked away.

Mikele never forgot that elephant or the events of that day. Twenty years later, Mikele was walking through the Chicago Zoo with his teenaged son.

As they approached the elephant enclosure, one of the creatures turned and walked over to near where Mikele and his son Tapu were standing.

The large bull elephant stared at Mikele, lifted its front foot off the ground, then put it down. The elephant did that several times then trumpeted loudly, all the while staring at the man. Remembering the encounter in 1986, Mikele couldn't help wondering if this was the same elephant.

Mikele summoned up his courage, climbed over the railing and made his way into the enclosure. He walked right up to the elephant and stared back in wonder.

The elephant trumpeted again, wrapped its trunk around one of Mikele's legs and slammed him against the railing, killing him instantly.


Probably wasn't the same elephant.


..and you thought this was going to be a feel good story..

Oh, is the weekend over?

Here it is Wednesday, and I haven't posted much of anything this week.

The family get together last weekend was a lot of fun. It was good to see my sister and her kids. I sure wish they lived closer. I didn't get much of a chance to talk to her, I just got involved in too many other conversations, and she was always somewhere else, then the next thing you knew, everyone was puting on their coats and heading out the door.

One of the family jokes is that my mom gets the leftover egg rolls. Of course, she never has gotten any, because there are never any left over. One of these days I will have to bring her down some just for herself.

I got to tell some stories, and heard some. Played a joke on my nephew. S. is 14, and has shot up about a foot since I last saw him. There was this yellow jacket flying around bugging people and he was acting all girly about it. I was sitting behind him, so behind his back I waved a small leaf to catch everyones attention, then tickled him behind the ear. He about freaked, jumped up and squealed. It was priceless.

He now tells me that he WILL get even. Bring it on, little dude. I can take it.

Good thing he lives in St. Paul.

A Tale of Two.......mice

My brother B. tells tall tales, which nobody takes very seriously, because they are quite frequently obvious inventions.

I on the other hand tell true life stories that have perhaps been embelished, but are basically true.

Some time back, B had a 1959 Triumph TR-3. It was a nice little sports car, and I had helped him with several projects on it. It was a fun little car. The two of us used to take it out and go for a drive on a pleasant summer evening every once in a while.

On one occasion, we had gone to visit one of his friends in North Seattle. This friend's wife absolutely LOVED the Triumph. Any time he came over, she HAD to get a ride. His friend was sorta jealous, and suspicious of B's motives.

It was just getting dark, so B took his friend's wife for a spin to Golden Gardens, a public park that wasn't too far away.

They were gone a long time. His friend was getting impatient, was wondering what the heck was keeping them. He was pretty purturbed by the time they got back.

He demanded to know where the HELL they had been and what they had been doing.

B. explained that as they entered the park and headed North, there was this weird light that blinked on moved right went to the left, blinked off. Over and over as they approached.

He stopped the car and got out. There on the ground was a mouse. The light was the reflection from his eyeballs. The mouse was running in a frantic circle. Round and round and round. They stood there and watched for some time. Occasionally the mouse would stop and roll over, then get up and resume running.

B. put his foot out and stopped the mouse. He stopped, but when B. pulled his foot back, he continued to run frantically in a circle.

How long this continued, B was not sure. The whole thing was rather hypnotic.

Eventually after B. put his foot out, when he removed his foot, the mouse kinda shook itself, and ran off into the bushes.

His buddy wasn't buying any of it. It got kind of nasty, and B was asked to not come around any more. I had no stake in whether the story was true or not. It didn't really matter that much to me whether the story was true or not, but underneath I always thought "What a crock."

Several years passed.

I was working at Boeing, and coming in when it was still dark. Ahead of me on the path between the Hazel Nut trees, I saw a small light. It went to the right, went to the left, turned off, and repeated over and over.

It was a mouse.

Stuffed

The egg rolls turned out really good. I took pretty much all day to do the shopping, prepare the stuff and roll the egg rolls.

I just finished about a half a dozen. It is an outstanding batch. Every time I do something a little different, just to see how it tastes. A little mmore of this a little less of that. This time I added a little extra garlic, and a different dipping sauce.

Mrs A noticed she had worn a small hole in her light summer robe, so as long as I was at the Asian mall I got her a very nice silk robe. She loves it.

I bought her flowers last night. It was the fifth anniversary of our first date. I know how to score the brownie points. I figure I'll probably need them one of these days.

I also better watch out or she will begin to expect this kind of behavior from me.

Friday Night

It's quiet here tonight, thank God.

It has been a busy but productive and fun week here in Alville. But also challenging and rewarding. I wouldn't want a week that didn't have it's challenges.

L. moved in with us. This situation has so many negative possibilities, I hate to think of them all. L. and her mom should never live under the same roof. Mrs A has expectations, but will never say exactly what they are, so L does what she thinks her mom will want, but of course it is never right.

For now things are fine, but I really don't expect it to remain that way. At some point they will get all pissy with each other. I can predict the conversation L: "I have been trying real hard to do what I thought you wanted" Mrs A: "Well why didn't you xxxxxxxxx. If I had been living in someone elses house I would have xxxxxxxxx" I think maybe I ought to suggest to Mrs A that she should write her expectations down, so that L. at least knows the rules. As adults they should work it out themselves, but communication is not one of their better abilities.

V is over at his dads again this weekend. He needs to spend time with his dad. Dad's second wife really doesn't want him around, but always manages to make out like she LOVES him. As long as he comes back over here when the visit is over.

The Blazer is back in good working order ($2800 later). I'm glad to have it back in good shape, but I don't need it. I want a midsized pickup. So I guess it will be gone soon. My grandaughter has agreed to buy it for $3500.00. I am giving her about $1000.00 off of it's value as a boost to help her get her life together.

Tomorrow I need to get up and go to the Asian Market to buy my ingredients for egg rolls. My recipe makes 100 egg rolls, and takes a couple of hours to do. But I make killer egg rolls. I bring them to every potluck or family get together, and I have never brought one home.

So Sunday is a family thing because my Sis is in from one of those mid-country States for a week. I wish I had some time to spend with her, but this has been such a crazy week that by the time I get home at night I am beat.

Oh, did I mention that my car was in a car show, so I had to spend the evening detailing it to get it ready?

Some day I am going to sit down and take a deep breath and know that I can just sit back and relax.

Nah, I would be bored.

Good Day

This has been a real good day so far. I brought my 1977 Datsun 280Z for the Boeing employees car and motorcycle show.

I spent the first half of my day out in the parking lot showing off my car. It has this emerald green to cobalt blue color shifting paint that is really extraordinary. People will walk by and glance at it, then glance at it again, then stop in their tracks and look at it first one way, then the other.

Then they usually want to know "How's it do that?" (After all we are talking Engineers here).

Then I get to talk about micro crystaline flecks, light difraction vs color absorption/reflection, sunlight vs shade.

I got the Blazer out of the shop yesterday, with the door rehung. The estimate was for $300.00, and the bill was $299.69. No big surprise. It wasn't until I got halfway home that I realized that they had charged me for my own parts, I almost went back, but the difference was under $20.00, so I just let it slide.

We had a rah-rah meeting yesterday. I went because there was fried chicken and potato salad. I ended up winning a door prize. It's nothing special, but it was the very last thing given away. It is a little camp stool that has a insulated compartment underneath the seat that will hold a six-pack of beverage and a side pocket for a pack of smokes. I have been attending these rah-rah meetings for almost 28 years, and it is the first time I have ever won anything. Some people win the lottery, I win a camping stool.

My sis from St. Paul is in town. I have been too busy to hook up with her. Maybe tonight after I get off of work.

We are all getting together at my brother Bills Sunday. This means I will be making egg rolls on Saturday.

Hectic

This morning I took my Blazer into the shop. The driver side door needs to be rehung. The only way you can get it closed is to lift up and pull in at the same time. You have to have the window open and push up with your keft hand while pulling in with your right.

I am selling the car to my grandaughter when it gets out of the shop. It is a 1997 two-door with 65,000 original miles. Off road suspension, four wheel drive, shift on the fly, cd player, electric seats, power windows, air. I just put a replacement transmission in it, along with a new clutch, pressure place, throwout bearing.

I am letting her have it for $3,500.00, which is well below blue book. She needs a good dependable car, and it should have a lot of good miles left in it She is trying real hard to get her life together, and it won't hurt me to give her a little boost.

Tomorrow is the annual Car show here at the Lazy B. I will be cleaning up my 1977 Datsun 280 Z with the color changing paint job. I never win anything, but it is a lot of fun to participate. I hope the sun shows up.

Our two houseguests are firmly ensconced in the spare bedroom. Hopefully not for too long. I care about them both, and really hope things work out. Time will tell.

Today is Hawaiian Shirt Day, but it somehow looses its glamor when you have to wear a fleece vest over your shirt to stay warm.

The Other Shoe

As I said, the Show was only part of what is going on.

First off, on Saturday morning R. called. She said she was doing better than she has in a year and a half. I don't know if that is the truth or just her saying what she thinks I want to hear. Hope it's true.

Then L called to see if she could stay the weekend and bring Quana. Quana is a really great kid, and we haven't seen her in a couple of months. She came and spent the night. Mrs A loves that kid, and it was good for her to be able to see Quana.

L. is leaving her significant other, and needs someplace to land on a temporary basis. Our house will be that someplace. She has been with this guy for four years, and during that time he has never supported her and the kid. In fact he has been dragging her down. They have had to live in unpleasant circumstances most of the time.

She is trying to get her life together, and having him dragging her down is like trying to swim with lead weights on your ankles.

Her breaking up with him is a good thing for her, but he is not handling it well. He swallowed a handful of pills and ended up in the emergency room. He tells her he will kill himself if she dumps him. I told her to wait until he quits breathing before calling 911. Trying to control her by threatening suicide is an ultimate form of cowardice.

I took yesterday off to get things ready for her to move in.

I'm not exactly thrilled to have her and the rug rat move in, but if it helps get her started on the right road, and it is temporary, I'll do it.

Wish me luck.

Young Frankenstein

What a hoot!

I have always been a fan of the movie. Is is a real classic, and has lost nothing with time. The musical follows the movie pretty faithfully. It is not an exact clone, but an excellent derivation.

The coreography is well done, the singing is excellent, and the sets are superb. The music is spot on, and the chatacters are faithful to the original.

The audience was appreciative, and the cast got a very long standing ovation.

As I said previously, we had front row center seats, and we were positioned perfectly.

One recommendation. You can pre-order drinks for intermission. If you want to have a drink at intermission, order it before the show starts, because the lines are long and the intermission is short. They put the pre-ordered drinks on a special table with your receipt so all you have to do is pick them up.

The show lasted just short of three hours, and it never lagged. The songs were clever an a bit bawdy. Suggestive rather than dirty.

I don't know which would be better, to come in without knowing anything about it, or being a fan and able to anticipate the bad jokes. Both would be fun. I almost wished I hadn't known the movie so well, to better appreciate the timing and puns.

Lots of things happening on the home front. I'll get to that tomorrow.

Goin' Down Slow

Which is of course an old blues song written by Willie Dixon, who wrote a whole lot of really good blues songs back in the 50's. A lot of them were updates of originals from the 30's, adapted to the electric guitar.

Most of them were performed byHowlin' Wolf. I like his version of it better than any one of the several other versions I have heard.

This week is slowly wearing me down. Every day it gets a little harder to get out of bed. Just one more getup.

I have a meeting in the morning, and after that I think the day is open. It is a virtual meeting, so nobody will be able to tell if my eyes are open, just as long as I don't snore.

I have a couple of long term research things to do, so I won't be bored. But I like it best when I have about three projects going at the same time and barely enough time to get them all done.

Then next thing you know it will be Friday night and time to howl.

Saturday we are going to see Mel Brooks' latest, the remake of "Young Frankenstein" as a musical. We have front row center seats.

He is using Seattle to fine tune it before it hits Broadway. It ought to be a hoot, but I will have a little trouble without Cloris Leachman and Marty Feldman, and Gene Wilder and Madeline Kahn, Terry Garr and the rest of the original cast.

Twin Harbors

Ths is the internal staircase in the Westport lighthouse. it is freestanding, meaning that it is not attached to the walls of the structure, just supporting itself.

The lighthouse was constructed in 1897 and has a class c fresnel lense. They wouldn't let us take the camera up inside the lighthouse because someone bumped their camera against the lense, damaging it.

We found lots of reasons to stop at the landings to catch our breaths.



The lighthouse is the tallest in the state of Washington. When built it was right on the edge of the dunes, 30 yards or so from the surf. It is now about a quarter mile from the beach, sand being deposited over the years to build up the beach.














One of the fishing fleet making it's way down the coast.












Our camping spot. It was real peaceful after everyone else went home on Sunday night.

Home again

Naps were taken, books were read, walks were taken, DVDz were watched. Bratwurst was burned, marshmallows evaporated. Long and intimate conversations were had. Historic places were visited. Good food was eaten. strangers became acquaintences. Mrs A and I became more reacquainted.

What can I say.

We need to each take the time to get back a little closer to the world and nature. At one point I thought I had made an enourmously important philosophical connection, but like most dreams, it faded with the rising sun.

Or maybe it was the drunken surfer dudes next door.

Or maybe the weird little hunchbacked man who moved in late and moved back out before the rising sun. ( I SWEAR he was real.)

The lines between reality and otherness fade and blur.

But I'm glad to be back home.

Inevitable

Michael Vick dog chews.

I'm just sayin'...............

On the Road Again

This is Friday for me.

Mrs A. amd I are heading out in the Airstream tomorrow for the coast to spend a couple of days lolling around at the beach. The weather isn't supposed to be so great, but I don't even care.

If it's cold and rainy, we'll just turn up the heat and put on another DVD. Naps will be taken. Books will be read. Long walks on the beach eill be take, and somewhere in there, hot dogs and marshmallows will be burned over a campfire. Sand will appear in every crevice.

Hopefully the sun will occasionally appear and I can sport a tan when we get back.

Tonight I'll have to figure out what we are going to take. Eventually I want to have the Airstream all fitted out with all the "Stuff" we need to just take off, but we are just breaking it in now.

I'll be taking my laptop, but I doubt if there will be a wi-fi hotspot anywhere near.

So if Y'all are near Twin Harbors State Park near Westport, stop on by and we'll let you in out of the drizzle.

Oh Crap!

I got an e-mail from R's former boyfriend. I really liked him and hoped they would work out, but it wasn't to be.

She is hanging out with her old crowd again. There is this one dude they call "Lumpy". He is a complete creep. When she was running around with him before, he threatened to kill R. Mrs A and I, L. and her whole family including the baby.

I passed the word for him to go ahead and try if he thought he was man enough. I really wanted him to show up so I could kick the shit out of him. After all, he had threatened my family so I was legally justified in doing just about anything I wanted.

It seem Lumpy has threatened Rs former boyfriend. He told me he wasn't going to screw around, so it might be a good idea if I warned R not to hang with Lumpy because she might get hurt by a stray bullet.

I told him that although it would be fine with me if Lumpy disappeared, he really shouldn't do anything that would get him in trouble.

Although the whole thing has nothing to do with me personally, it sure takes away my sense of contentment.

Wish that stupid girl would grow up.

Seafair

Latteland goes throught this annual insanity known as Seafair. It's a whole weekend of parades, fireworks, airshow and unlimited hyrdpoplane racing.

The Blue Angels are in town and put on fantastic show, a quite a bit of which I can watch from my deck. During one maneuver they come around in a diamond with the two trailer planes catching up and joining the other four.

The do this right over my house. they are close enough that you can read the numbers on the planes. If it doesn't make your hair stand on end, you better check your pulse, 'cause you just might be dead.

Beer is comsumed, and much partying goes on.

Around the perimeter of the race course there is a log boom, and people anchor off the log boom in their boats. Everything from rowboats to yachts.

Monday morning there will be a lot of hangovers and sunburns, and memories.

I was one of those kids who made little hydroplanes out of wood and had races in the streets dragging them on rope behind his bike. Back when they were powered by Allison or Rolls V-12 aircraft engines. They were truely "Thunderboats". A boat could be put together by a few fanatics and go out there and join in the fun.

Today it is all about turbine power and multi-million dollar budgets. I still love it. but it seems a little more disconnected.

There is always controversy. Who jumped the gun, or cut someone else off. It's good theater, and once in a while the underdog wins.

Today I am rooting for the Oh Boy Oberto! because it is Art Oberto's 80th birthday, and he has been a long supporter of the Unlimiteds. Usually it was one of the also-rans, but he won a few heats here and there. They have a brand new boat that they have been dialing in all year, getting a little bit faster every race.

Go Oberto!

PS:

Art Oberto's boat won the race! what a nice 80th birthday present for a really nice guy.

I dated one of his daughters a long, long time ago when I was in college. We got along, but just didn't click.

Nerd Nirvana

V. is a bit of a computer geek. He plays World of Warcraft all the time. He has been having lag problems for quite some time. I bought him a gig of RAM for Christmas and it helped some. Bought him a new Graphics card, and that helped some.

It just kept getting worse. We were using a wireless router for internet, and he figured the delay was caused because of the wireless router, so we hardwired his computer to the cable.

He used his allowance to go down and get a WOW card, came home and loaded it, and no improvement. We went on-line to the Tech center and followed every possible fix, still zip.

He was frustrated and pissed off because he had just blown his entire allowance on a subscription card, and couldn't use it.

His sis came to take him to Wild Waves for the day on Teusday. He was bitching about his computer, so she said if he would bring it down to their place, she was sure her Fiance' could fix it, because he is MR. Computer Geek extrordinaire.

They took his computer down to Tacoma, and he brought back a basically brand new computer in an old case. Custom built as a gaming platform. He is in Geek Heaven. Or Nerdvana

And it didn't cost me a dime.

It seems the hard drive was corrupted.

Now he will be hitting me up for an X-BOX 360.

Different Reality

Having this new beroom is really weird. It's like it is not connected to the rest of the house.

I walk through the door and close it, and I am somewhere else. OH, I know that over time it will become so comfortable I won't even notice the decor any more, but for now it is sort of magical. There is this feeling of refuge. It is Mrs A.s refuge, literally. I am allowed in.

It is so fancy that I feel like I ought to get dressed up to get undressed.

Saturday we have front row center seats to see Mel Brooks' musical version of "Young Frankenstien". I always loved the original movie and it will be a hoot to see what they have done with it.

Next weekend we hit the road for four days. We are taking the Airstream and heading to the Ocean for four days. We are going to Twin Harbors State Park right outside Westport, Wa. We have been there several times, and it is one of our favorite places.

I can't wait to get out of Dodge.