All's Quiet on the Western Front

I talked to R. the other night just to see how things were going. She confesses that her biggest problem comes when she doesn't have enough to do. She has been using alcohol to fill the time when she doesn't have anything else to do. There are lots of cures for that. Like get off of your ass and go do something.

She was real excited when I talked to her. She wants real bad to go back to work, and "i" will be six months old soon, so she has hooked up with some agency that will help her get a job and day care. She misses having a car, misses having a job. Taking the bus everywhere is a giant pain in the ass, but if she hadn't gotten a DUI she would still be driving.

I am not going to bail her ass out and buy her a used car. She stiffed me for $5,000 last time I bailed her out (for the DUI). She promised me she would make payments. She made payment. As in one payment, and left me to pay off the loan. Last time I cosign anything for anyone.

Frankenhealey still defies me.

I will win in the end.

Brake brake's over, so back on your heads!

My two day excursion into the automotive world ended up so-so. I figure the score is al 2, car 1 right now.

I got the two calipers rebuilt and back on the car. The water pump is still on. The one bolt that I stripped the corners off of........well, I put my old beat up pair of locking pliers on the head, and proceeded to twist the head right off of the bolt. But I can't get the housing to come loose. I can move the housing back an forth a little, but only a fraction of an inch. But it won't move forward. It should but it won't. I ground down the housing and bolt a little to make sure there wasn't a lip left from the head of the bolt, but it still won't budge.

I sprayed some WD40 on the area and am letting it sit. Will probably spray it again tonight. I may stop and buy a propane torch tonight and heat the housing to see if I can free it up. I went to do that yesterday, and I can't find my torch. I think someone "borrowed" it.

On a different note, R. went out and got shitfaced on Saturday night. When she got home she just left "i" in his car seat in the living room. He awoke around midnight, and she didn't get up. Her cousin had to go wake her up, and it took about 15 minutes to arouse her enough to take care of the baby. All sorts of alarm bells are going off in my head. Let's hope it was an isolated thing. When her cousin went to talk to her, she got pissy and stomped off to her room. That has always been her defense when she screws up. Yell at whoever questions her, and storm off, even when she is clearly in the wrong.

Storm warnings ahead.

Brake Break

The first day of my two day brake break is coming to a close. All in all it was a success.

I have rebuilt and reinstalled the Calipers. As expected, it was a giant pain in the ass. The pistons were frozen in place. I had to break down the calipers and put them in the vise. With the pistons clamped in the vise, I hammered the body of the caliper back an forth a bazillionth of an inch back and forth. Add WD40, repeat for hours. The first one took over four hours to tear apart, clean up, hone the cylinder, reassemble, and reinstall.

Luckily, the second only took a couple of hours. So I have accomplished step one of the plan. Tomorrow I bleed the brakes, and see if I can do the water pump.

The only complication I see is that I am hurtin' tonight. A couple of muscles have staged a rebellion, and are threatening to revolt. A couple of beers ought to shut them the hell up, but I don't know how they will be in the morning.

It willl probably take me a while to limber up, but I do plan to get back at it.

Maybe you wonder why the hell I do this. First of all, machinery doesn't lie. It is straighforward, it does what it is designed for. It may be a challenge to understand what the heck it is supposed to do, but once you figure it out it is completely predictable. I love the figuring out part. To me, a project like Frankenhealey is a big three dimension puzzle. Before I got the car, I knew nothing about the car. I had seen a couple on the road, but knew nothing about the Marque. To me, it has been a lot of fun, figuring out what makes it tick, fixing some things, improving some. If I just paid someone else to do the work, it wouldn't be the same.

When I am done, there will be a sense of ownership and pride. The car will be uniquely mine. I will take it to shows, drive it on nice days, and have a great feeling of accomplishment.

And I'd like a big heap of Confusion with that Please!

Of course everything is confused up here in my little corner of Latteland. Especially at work.

Yesterday the boss came around with a list of what we were to do and not do during the strike. It left everyone wondering WTF?. I came in this morning without a clue as to what I would be doing. For the most part I work well with no structure. I look around and figure out what needs to be done, and I go do it. I don't require any supervision or structure.

Where I get into trouble is when people try to impose structure on me when the STRUCTURE IS STUPID. Mainly because I will tell them I think it is stupid and explain to them WHY it is stupid and what could be done to eliminate the STUPIDITY.

t 'any rate, I came in this morning without a clue as to what I would be doing today.

The first instruction I heard: "Ignore everything you heard yesterday, and continue on as if the conversation never took place". Kinda like being told "Don't think about elephants". Or one on my favorites "The Jury will disregard the previous testimony"
Like that is gonna happen.
Or is possible.

So bring me a big ol' heap of confusion with a side order of chaos, and throw a little give-a-shit on that, would you?

Hoarder

I admit it.
I have been hoarding work.
Since the IAM is on strike, productive work is hard to come by. Not so much for me, because I always have an extensive list of improvements that can be made. I have my own plan and schedule, which I don't really share except with the boss.
My plans are separated into three levels. Stuff that needs to be done short term, like the daily work load. Medium term, stuff to be done in the next couple of months. And Long term, stuff that I would like to get to in the next year or so.
Since the IAM is on strike, there is very little incoming work. No problem for me. I just shift gears and go to the next level. But since there is very little day-to-day work, management has asked what else we could be doin that would be PRODUCTIVE work. So I had to share my medium term project with the rest of the group.
I have to create work paackages for them, which will keep me busy for today and tomorrow, and I have kept the most complicated package for myself.
But my plan for the next two months has been blown all to hell.
Time to go to plan B.

There is no plan B

I Break for Brakes

The last of the parts came in for my brake rebuild for Frankenhealey.

So I am taking a brake break next week. I am taking off Monday and Tuesday to rebuild the calipers, and replace the water pump. If these two projects are accomplished, I will be able to drive the car, although it does not currently idle. I guess I should take care of that before I take it out for more than a test run.

That in no way implies that I am done. I still need to finish putting together the front sheet metal, clean up and install the headlight surrounds, finish installing the new convertible top and do some body cleanup to get it ready for paint.

But if you hear a nasty mechanical snarl in the distance and see women and small children running for their lives, you will know that

FRANKENHEALEY LIVES!!!

Motivation

I got none.

The Mechanics are on strike, so nothing is going on in the shop. It is eerie to walk through the shop. The assembly building is huge. It will hold seven 737s end to end with plenty of space in between them. If you go out there right now, you may see someone off in the distance, but where there is normally the sound and bustle of activity, there is nothing.

Since I work in Shipside support, dealing with emergent production problems, our inbound activity is nonexistent. We have a couple of things to do, and I have some long term projects to work on, but that will only last a short time.

As a close observer, it is interresting to view the two sides. According to the Union, they are the knight in shining armor saving the peasants in distress from the Evil Dragon. According to the Company, they are a benevolent parent, giving everything to an ungrateful spoiled bunch of peasants who obviously have no idea what is good for them.

It would be amusing if it wasn't for the fact that it puts thousands of people in distress. At this point I don't think either side truely gives a shit about the little guys. It is just a pissing contest between a couple of power hungry conglomerated entities. And the Union members They are the pee-ons.

TSO!!!

The dates are up and the pre-sale tickets went on sale for TSO's annual concert. They are in Seattle on Novemmber 8th.

I went on line and bought five tickets for the evening show. Last year I bought seven tickets, but I am cutting back a little.

The concert was amazing.

I took my 82 year old mother. She had never been to any kind of rock show before. She loved it. The have a fantastic multi-media extravaganza. Pyrotechnics! Light show! Fantastic music! Unbelievably tallented musicians!

Go here: http://trans-siberianexpress.com/

On Strike...No Wait a Minute

The IAM voted to turn down the Company's offer and sanctioned a strike. However, they also agreed to put off any strike for a couple of days to see if they can't come to an agreement. So the IAM has agreed to extend the current contract up until midnight on Friday. At midnight the srike will start if an new agreement can't be made.

I my career, I have been in Management, been a mechanic, an engineer, and an independent contributor. I can understand everyone's viewpoint. It would be fiscally irresponsible of the Company to give the workers any more than they have to. Likewise it would not be ethical of the Union to agree to work for less than they should. So it becomes a poker game. They both sit straight faced at the negotiating table and lie their asses off. You can never tell whether the other side is telling the truth ot not.

Is this truely the best and final offer? Will they really go on strike?

The Union felt it needed to call the Company's hand. The Company now knows that 80% of the mechanics have sanctioned a strike. Pretty telling numbers.

They have called in the Governor and the Federal Mediators to figure out who has the biggest balls. My bet's on the Union.

Jambalaya II

There are several ways to make Jambalaya. After all it was created as a basic comfort food by poor people who used whatever was available. A lot of the popular foods we now enjoy came from a basic need to feed a family for a small amount of money.

But the methods and spices are pretty much the same.

Stock:

I am going to describe Seafood and Sausage Jambalaya, so we start with a good seafood stock. Buy about three pounds of shrimp with the heads on.. Dehead the shrimp and retain the heads and shells. Do not clean the shells. Throw them in a stock pot with about three quarts of water.
Throw in a sweet onion, peeled and quartered, a couple of cloves of garlic and a couple of of sticks of celery. Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer. Simmer for at least four hours. Strain the results and refrigerate until ready to use. It should result in a beautiful golden liquid. You coulld add crab shells and other seafood scraps. I like to add some clam juice.

3 Bay leaves
2 Teaspoons of salt
2 Teapoons of ground red pepper
2 Teaspoons of Oregano
1 1/2 Teaspoons of white pepper
1 Teaspoon of balck pepper
1 Teaspoon of thyme
2 lb of chicken
1 Large sweet onion
2 diced sticks of celery
2 Lbs of Good sausage (andouille if you can get it, Polish sausage if yoou can't)
1 Large diced green pepper
2 Tablespoons of diced garlic
The shrimp you cleaned earlier
A dozen or so oysters (you can skip the oysters if you are squemish)
A couple of cups of white rice.
5 cups of stock

Put it all in a big pot and simmer until the rice is cooked, and let it sit.

It's a quite a bit of work, but well worth it.

Jambalaya

The lovely and creative doo dah asked for my recipe for jambalaya. I have more that one. There is the easy one, and the hard one.
The hard one involves making stock and roux and doing everything from scratch. The easy one is a lot, well, easier. I will post here the easy one. If you want the hard one, I will have to swear you to secrecy and sign blood oaths and make you learn the secrete handshake and promise not to just give it away to any unworthy.
I know it is cheating, but I don't care. Go buy a couple of boxes of Zatarain's boxed mix. it is cheap and easy, but only the starting point. They have gotten the spice mix just about right. The have the regular stuff and they have Jambalaya with cheese. My family likes the stuff with cheese, but I don't. The cheese is dried powdered orange stuff. I don't count that as cheese. I'm not sure what it is, but I know what it ISN'T, and it isn't cheese.
According to the directions, just add meat, and voila' you have Jambalaya.
Not so.
Instead of adding water like the directions say, use stock. If you are making chicken and sausage Jambalaya, use chicken stock. If you are making seafood Jambalaya, use clam juice..
I always make a double batch, because I love me some leftovers.
The box says add a pound of meat for a box of mix. Since when did you follow directions?
The more meat you add the better. For a double batch, about four pounds of meat is about right.
Add a big green pepper and a big sweet onion, diced in fairly large pieces. And don't forget the garlic. I like things in chunks so you can taste the individual elements.
I like it a little spicy, so I always add some of my special ground chili's to give it s little sweat, and a little white pepper to give it a little hot pucker power.
Throw it in a big pot, bring it to a boil, and then turn down to simmer.
Cook it until the rice turns soft.
I know purists are turning over in their grave if dead, turning and saying my name and spitting if they are alive, but it is an hour as opposed to one long day, or two shorter days the long way.
Although I like doing it the long way, I work, so it has to be a REAL special time to get me to drag out the stock pots.
The family doesn't seem to mind.
I guess they just don't know any better.
To me it is paint-by-the-numbers as opposed to the real thing.
But sometimes you gotta compromise.

What day is it anyway?

Looks like Monday. Feels like Monday. Smells like Monday. But it isn't.

Too much confusion for this early in the morning.

I made a big pot of Jumbalaya yesterday. Ate too much, drank too much beer, smoked too many cigarettes, stayed up too late. And I think I am coming down with a cold. The Jumbalaya and beer had certain digestive by-products which might have had me banished to the couch if Mrs A was not experiencing the same side effect. Lets just say that we slept with the windows open.

You'll find me under my desk with a do not disturb sign.

I guess we'll see...

The IAM Union has recommended to it's members that they reject the contract offer. I think It's pretty stupid. The numbers look pretty good to me, and there aren't any big takeaways.

The Company really can't afford a prolonged labor problem, but I think they made a reasonable attempt to avoid a strike. Of course, the Union can vote down the contract without going on strike, a lesson in how to be ineffectual. They need a 2/3 majority to strike.

Next Wednesday they vote on the contract and strike authorization, and I won't make a call. I don't think it is a matter of numbers any more. It is a contest to see who has the biggest balls. If things go as usual, the members will get liquored up and whipped into a frenzy, and they'll vote for anything they are told to do. Mindless sheep.

On a lighter note, last night Mrs A. and I went to Jazz Alley to see Lee Ritenore & friends. It was a fun evening of food and funky jazz. I love it when a group of accomplished musicians get together and jam. They were obviously having a great time, jamming off each other's riffs. Mrs A especially enjoyed the keyboard player, Patrice Russian. She has a long, varied and successful career. She so obviously enjoyed herself and the music, it was contagious. It's been a while since we have been to Jazz Alley, but we always have a good time.

And last but not least, V. is being a typical tennage asshole. I swear, it it wasn't against the law, I would beat the crap out of him. Friday night he didn't do the dishes or take out the garbage, so Mrs A told him to do them before he left for Crosscountry practice. He told her that was bullshit. Told her she was being unreasonable. This woke me out of a sound sleep. I don't wake up all nice and smiley. So I got out of bed and yelled at him and told him to shut the hell up and do as he was told. Every time he opened him mouth I jumped right down his throat. Eventually we made peace and I gave him a ride to practice.

This morning when we got up, he had not done the dishes or taken out the garbage. When I started in on him his reply started with "I didn't think.." I stopped hin and said "Yeah, you got that right, you didn't think. Well don't bother to ask us for anything. No rides, no money, no friends over, no nothing."

Strike stuff

The Machinist will get the Company's "Best and final Offer" today. The Company has made a lot of concessions from their original offer, and I believe the offer is fair.
However, I am not a Machinist, so I have no say.
The people in my work area are irrational, as are most of the people in the Union. They have some of the highest paying jobs in the world, with a benefits package that is pretty damn good. The retirement is proposed to go up to $78 a month for every year of service, which is up $8 a month per year of service. Is it the best retirement package. No. Is it pretty good. Yes, when you add in Social Security, it's good enough to live on.
Every hour on the hour, the Union puppets bang on things and whistle. What a bunch of morons. Who do they think they are trying to impress. Not a single person who hears their juvenile demonstrations has anything to do with the contract offer or could do anything about it if they cared.
Marching at lunch time is a little more appropriate, since it gets media attention and is a pretty good gauge of how things are going. Oh well, I will defend their right to act like a bunch of 12 year old juvenile delinquents, even if I disagree with them.
I certainly don't intend to go around banging on a cow bell when our negotiations go on in December.

Pokin' and Prodin'

I had my annual physical today. Mrs A. has been nagging at me lately, so I went ahead and submitted today.

Everything is OK. I needed a tetanus booster, but everything else looks good. I still need to go have them take blood, but it has to be eight hour fasting, so I won't go do that until Saturday.

Tomorrow I see the eye doctor. My perscription hasn't changed much in the last five years, but I noticed on Sunday that I was having a little trouble reading street signs, so I figure it will be about time for a new set of specs.

I told my boss that since I was getting a full dilation of my eyes, I wasn't sure if I could see coming to work afterwards.

Weekend? What weekend?

When the alarm went of this morning, it took some convincing to make me accept it was Monday already.This weekend seemed to be over before it got good and started.

I went and got a ton of stove pellets, and they are now currently stacked and racked in the basement, the stove has been thoroughly cleaned. Said ton of pellets should last throu the rest of the year.

I got the leaky window stripped and recaulked. Just in time, too. Sunday it poured rain like a cow peeing on a flat rock. Since the window did not leak, I can put that whole thing in the done file and can forget it.. The bedroom wall got touched up.

Mrs A, kicked be out of the upstairs bathroom, and broke out the painting stuff. She became frustrated when one coat wouldn't do, so I retired to the basement, where I did a bunch of much needed cleaning and rearranging. I had a quite a few "Oh, I wondered where that had gone" moments.. It looks a lot better, but could still use more work.

With going to church, the drive back and forth to Tacoma, Sunday was donefor, except that R and "i" come back with us and are spending the night. It always makes my house seem complete to have a rugrat ecsonced.

I am really draggin today.

Time for a Sobe No Fear Super Energy drink.

Sugar free, of course.

So just slow down, already

I am still attemping to catch up with the honeydo list from all the stuff that didn't get done when I was working seven days a week.
This weekend I need to recaulk the window in our bedroom, get up on the roof and work on the gutters, I need to go get a ton of pellets for the pellet stove, Do s0me touch up painting in the bedroom. Prime the batroom for paint. Install a new ceiling fan in the bathroom after I paint it.
And that's just Saturday.
Sunday Mrs A is supposed to meet a couple of friends at a new church. Then my grand daughter is having a baby shower.
So when do I get a chance to work on Frankenhealey?

WHEW!

After running V. to the hospital, getting an ultrasound, getting him to the doctors, fighting freeway traffic, having gotten about five hours sleep, I at at home and things are not looking too bad.

The problem turns out to be a hernia. He will still need surgery to have it corrected, but there is no big immediate crisis. He is cleared to play non contanct sports, and as long as it doesn't get worse, he will be fine. The doc said he could wait as long as five years before getting it taken care of.

Big relief for everyone.

Mrs A is on a big tear. She is in one of her "I have had it up to here" moods. So any little thing will set her off. I had the temerity to disagree with her. V. didn't do the dishes last night. His excuse is a pretty good one, if a bit weak. When he had his physical yesterday, they couldn't find any shot record for him, so they loaded him up with vaccines. He had several shots, and he HATES needles. He claims his arm is real sore, and he doesn't feel well, probably from a mild reaction to one of the shots.

Mrs A. was all fired up to go drag him out of bed and make him do them right now. I told her to give the kid a break, he'd had a couple of pretty traumatic days. She sees this as a betrayal, and got real pissy about it. I told her to just calm down. When will I ever learn not to say that. It is like throwing gas on a fire. You think that I would learn, but some times I can be pretty dense. She says that telling her to calm down is the equivalent of telling her to sit down and shut up. In a way I suppose it is. If I wasn't dead broke, I would run to the florist and buy her some flowers, but tomorrow is payday and I have about five bucks in cash.

I guess I'll be stopping on the way home tomorrow.

I caulked the seams around the window as soon as it stopped pouring, but there wasn't enough time for the caulking to cure before the next thunderstorm hit, so I will be stripping it out and doing it over again as soon as a window in the weather presents itself. It is just barely leaking now, and Saturday is supposed to be sunny, so I guess I know what number one chore will be.

I'd go score some good rum and go on a toot if it wasn't for the fact that I am broke.

I now have three estimates for putting in a new heat pump, They run from a little over siix grand to over eight.

I think I will wait until after the labor negotiations are over before I commit.

Another Craptastic Day

I am not going to work today, because I have to run V. to the hospital today.

He went in yesterday for his annual sports physical. They found a mass. So today we are going to first radiollogy to get an ultrasound, then to the urologist for an interpretation and diagnosis.

No matter whether the mass is cancerous or not, they are talking surgery. Poor kid has had a hard enough life without the threat of testicular cancer at age 16. They say he may have to sit out some of the sports season.

Did I mention that it is pouring rain?

And the window in our bedroom is leaking again, despite the fact that I caulked all around it on Sunday.

And I have two contractors coming to give estimates on the heat pump this afternoon.

After the day is over, I may be due for a visit to the Booze Emporium.

Maybe, maybe not

The first contractor that came out to look at the house didn't call me yesterday like he said he would. I was pretty much ready to sign on the dotted line if the figures weren't too out of line.

But instead, since he didn't call, I am bringing in three more contractors. The first guy will have to go a hell of a long way to get my business. If you tell me you are going to call on Tuesday, you sure as hell better call on Tuesday even if it is to tell me you need another day.

So I have one more coming tonight, and two more tomorrow.

Hell. I don't NEED to do this now. I may just put it off until after the labor negotiations.

We'll just see how eager they are to get my business.