Eighteen Down, One to Go

I have now worked eighteen days in a row, but tomorrow is Friday, and I have the weekend off. I don't know what we are going to do. Mrs A wants to go someplace, but hasn't expressed any desired destination.
I'm kinda leaning towards Deception Pass. Far enough away to be "away" but close enough to not be a major expedition. Wonderful scenery, some nice trails to hike. There is a small seafood selling place along the way. Fresh caught shrimp, fresh clams, Dungeness Crab meat.
We will probably detour to Anactortes to the Rock Fish Cafe, which serves very good seafood, and also happens to be the public outlet for Anecortes Brewing who happen to make an excellent Porter. No hurries, no worries.
I had a rude awakening this morning. When I got up and peeked out the drapes, there was about 2" of fresh snow on the ground, and it was still coming down. Mrs A and V elected to stay home. I borrowed the HHR and went to work. The roads were terrible. It had rained, then frozen, and then snowed on top of it. Lots of tire spinning going on. I live four miles from work and saw a half a dozen cars either in accidents or off the road. The roads are clear now, but it is supposed to freeze tonight, and any water left over from today will be ice in the morning.
I hereby order Winter to be over. Executive decision.

Damn Truck

I am thoroughly convinced that mechanical things have a malevolent streak. For example the house knew I was sick, and tired from working many days on end, so that is why the plumbing chose to plug up right now.

The same goes for vehicles. Last night when I got off work, the truck would not turn over. A friendly co-worker gave me a jump, but when I turned the key, it would only click, not turn over. The guy had a tow strap, so we just hooked it up and at 5mph in second gear, popped the clutch and it started up. I was going to stop at my mom's on the way home, but didn't dare shut the engine off, not sure it would start up again.

There are several possible reasons for this. The battery could be down. The relay for the starter could be bad, or the starter could be going out. The battery could be down because the alternator is going out. The bearings have been making noises for several months, but it was still alternating, so I haven't done anything about it.

The result is that I am driving the Z for now, because I am just too damn tired to do anything about the truck. Not that I mind driving the Z. I love driving the Z, and have been wanting to drive it for some time, but was waiting for the weather to turn a little nicer. The Z is a lot of car. It wants to go fast and corner fast and zip around. I am surprised I have never gotten a ticket in it.

So I am in no hurry to fix the truck.

On another front, I called my cousin Kelly in Texas. We talked for an hour and a half, and barely scratched the surface. After all, we haven't talked in about ten years. It is great to hear that he is doing well. He manages some properties for his folks and plays music in his spare time with friends. I'll have to find out more about his musical connections next time I talk to him.

It will be soon.

Six more days until a day off.

Triple Hump Day

No, I am definitely not talking about sex.

The first hump day is because It is Wednesday, and it is downhill from here to the weekend. This is mostly symbolic, since I am working both days this weekend.

The second Hump Day is a little more relevant because it is day 10 of my 19 days without a day off. About now I can start looking forward to having next weekend off. Probably will be too tired to do much, but any time off right now is a good thing.

Third hump day is because I am over the hump with my cold. I feel well enough that I didn't take any NyQuil last night, and left the Robitussin at home. But then again, I have stomach cramps and diarrhea today, so I don't dare to cough.

Nasty SH#&

I can fix just about anything.

Wiring, no problem. Appliances, I can generally do just about anything, sometimes better than the supposed pros they send out.

Construction, love it.

Plumbing. Hate it. I can do it, but I would rather go to the dentist, and I hate the dentist.

The upstairs shower wasn't draining well. So I pulled off the drain cover and fished out some stuff, used the plunger to get out a bunch more. Mrs A poured some Drano in the drain. Result: It totally plugged the drain.

Damn I hate plumbing.

When I got home, I stopped and read the paper, and fortified myself with a beer. I knew this was going to be nasty. Went and got the ladder and set up under the drain for the upstairs bath. Pulled apart the drains and of course took a sower of nasty water. Pulled the trap and plumbing apart. There were shapeless hairy things hanging out of the drain pieces. Pulled it out, and manually (That is MANUALLY, as in using my fingers) pulled the stuff I could get to out. While supressing my gag reflex.

Cleaned out all the pieces of pipe, reassembled them and went upstairs to check it out. It worked, but leaked a little underneath. Had to tighten a couple of fittings, and everything works just fine.

But, man do I feel icky all over. I will have to take an extra long shower tonight to get right of the nasty feeling.

Damn I hate plumbing.

Facebook

First of all, I don't really care for social networking computer systems. They all seem to me to be, well kinda sophomoric. But that may just be my anti-social curmidgeonly side speaking.

Carol and I are road crew for a Christian rock band, Morning Light. They mostly do shows at detention facilities. The message, while consistently Christian, is more oriented towards "Hey, we can have a whole lot of fun without drugs and alcohol". Since the band and crew are mostly recovered drug users and alcoholics, they know what they are talking about.

John McBride is the leader of the group, although his wife, April is the heart and soul. They recently created a Facebook account, and sent us an e-mail asking us to check it out. So Wednesday night I went to check it out, and as those things go, you have to have an account to view an account. So I did.

When I created the account, there was a thing to add friends, which was gleaned from our e-mail contacts list. I noticed one of Mrs As friends, so I added her. I also saw my Uncle in Mexico, so I added him.

On another side vein, I have a cousin that I grew up with that I lost contact with about ten years ago, and I have been trying to find him for a couple of years.

On an impulse, I searched for him, and lo and behold, got a hit. Not sure that it was the same person, I sent a message asking if this was my cousin. The reply was that indeed, it was.

I sent him my e-mail address, and he replied and sent me his.

I will be giving him a call soon, and look forward to a long conversation getting caught up. So much has happened.

I'll probably have to set aside a couple of hours for THAT phone call.

I think the time difference is a couple of hours, so I'll have to take that into account.

So maybe Facebook isn't a total waste of electrons.

Hangin' Tough

I have the crud, but it has been manageable.

Nyquill by night. Robitussin by day.

Keeps the critters away.

I have managed to make it to work and get through the day. I have been busy enough to keep myself occupied, and take a slug of junk every four hours. By the time I get home, I don't have a whole lot of energy left. Go to bed early and with the help of a generous slug of Nyquill, get a decent night's sleep.

I get a little better every day.

I will make it through.

And that's Final

Like usual, I got things wrong. Working seven days a week gets me so out of touch with things I sometimes don't know if I'm afoot or horseback.

The debate tournament at Stanford was not Regionals, as I had thought, but a National level tournament. Nationals isn't until the end of the year.

So V. brought home a sparkely. It says "2009 STANFORD NATIONAL INVITATIONAL EXCELLENT CONGRESSIONAL SPEAKER".

He does not know exactly where he placed in finals, just "Somewhere between sixth and thirtieth". In other words he didn't win a medal, but that's not all that important to me. More important is that he put in the time and effort and concentration to achieve a goal. It took a lot of focus and dedication to get up at zero dark thirty on Saturdays, stay out late, travel all over, not let himself get down when he didn't do as well as he thought he should.

So congratulations to V.

It Just Ain't Fair

I woke up Saturday with a sore throat and stuffed up head.

I finally get a couple of days off and I feel like crap. I spent the whole day on the couch yesterday. Will probably do the same today.

I also haven't been sleeping well. Wake up choking from all the nasty stuff in my throat. Maybe it is time to break out the Nyquill.

V. called from San Jose this morning to say he did well in the first part of the debate Tournament. Good enough to come back for the second part today. He was really jazzed when he called. We congratulated him and told him we were very proud of him, wished him best of luck in the finals. I guess all the time and effort we have invested are proving worth the investment. Up until now, it has just been local braggin' rights, but West Coast Regionals is a different thing. Maybe I will have to start thinking about Nationals.

So he will be in the back of my mind all day today. Sure hope everything goes well.

Fly Away!

V is in San Jose for a regional Debate thing this weekend.

This is the first time he has travelled by himself. We took him to the airport and watched while he checked himself in, and walked with him to the security check-in. Told him to call us when he got in.

This is a big thing for him. First time getting himself through the stupidity of the airport and security, meeting people in the boarding area, traveling without family.

I have this weekend off. Two whole days! Nineteen days without a day off. The first thing I plan to do is sleep in tomorrow. But I also know that when your body gets used to getting up at zero dark thirty, I am going to wake up tomorrow at zero dark thirty. I hope I will be able to heave a sigh of relief, turn over, and go back to sleep.

Mrs A is going to meet her sis for lunch, so I will have the middle of the day to myself. If the weather is halfway decent, I plan on working on Frankenhealey. I'd like to get the waterpump on, hoses connected, radiator, fan and belts back on so that I can start it up, and maybe even get the idle set on the Dellorto's. But maybe not.

When she gets back, It would be nice to take a shower together and.......well never mind.

Naps will be taken, regardless.

Mrs A has been really bummed lately. Her daughter and partner borrowed a couple of hundred bucks from us because they had fallen behind on the rent. They promised to repay when they got their income tax return. They got the income tax return, and of course there were a lot of reasons they could not pay us back. She takes this as a very serious breach of conduct. I don't expect a lot from my fellow human beings, so it is no better or worse than what I expect. Never loan money you cannot afford to write off. She acts like it is a personal failure on her part.

Plus whenever the daughter blows us off she trys to make her mom feel like it is her fault. Mrs A trys to pay me for the money that I got stiffed for, but of course I won't let her, because it isn't her fault. But it severely bums her out. She obsesses about how it must be her fault and everything. She looses sleep over it.

I stopped off and bought her flowers on the way home last night because I know how upset she is, and I love her and hate to see her so bummed, and want to show her how much I love her.

It helped some. Maybe having a little time to spend together this weekend will help.

Got a lot of stuff to try and cram into two days.

At last

The chairs I ordered six weeks ago came in today. They are very nice and comfortable. They could be a little taller, but that's OK since they have adjustable arms, adjustable back support, adjustable foot support ring. AND WHEELS! Oh, and they spin like a bar stool.
My back and neck will be grateful.
The second at last is I made the final payment on the motor home today. That frees up an extra couple of hundred bucks a month that can be used for other things, like gas for the motor home. We need to sit down and try to sketch out some preliminary plans for going camping. I am still thinking about adding a tow bar to the front of the S10 so we can tow it along and use it when we get where we are going.
And the last is not an at last, just the last thing on my mind for this morning. One of the guys I have worked with for the last year got his layoff notice today. So far the Company is playing by the rules in the contract. That is, Contractors go first. This Engineer is a Contractor, so he is one of the first to go. I hate to see him go, but them's the rules and the chances you take when you become a contractor.

Booked

I went on line and booked V's flight to and from San Jose' last night.

$275 round trip. A fair amount of money that was not budgeted, but well within my means. I hope he has a great experience. I was never given the opportunities he has been given. I hope he appreciates what he has been give.

I'm still working every day, without a day off. Hopefully I will get at least one day off this coming weekend. It becomes a little more of a struggle every day to get out of bed.

R came by today with "i". He is growing so fast. He has a couple of teeth, and more on the way. He wore out my legs playing "horsey". I love little kids. Most of them. There are a few that set my teeth on edge. But to see a happy baby with all that curiosity and sense of adventure reminds me that our perceptions become jaded as we grow older. What a wonder to see the world through the eyes of a child.

Another Pleasant Valley Sunday

Not.

Up at zero dark thirty to go down to work. I needed to get in to do my usual weekly statistical stuff. How many of what and how long it took. Can't do statistical trends without statistics.

After five hours, I had enough and skipped out. Six days until a day off.

Some of the people in the regular group have complained that the P8-A guys are hogging all of the overtime. So we are throwing next weekend open to whoever wants it. I might actually get two days off if we have any takers. But they have to be willing to sit in my chair and do my job. The fact that none of them have ever done it or know what it entails might discourage most of them. There are a couple of them that I would very much like to see try, because their idea of a good day at work is one in which they don't have to do anything or answer any questions.

So I am home early, having a couple of beers and getting ready to watch the Stupor Bowl.

I don't really care who wins, as long as it isn't the guys in the stripes. Or whoever paid them the most.

If I can just stay awake.

Just a Nice Day

So far this has been a hunker down kind of winter.
About the time I took off for Christmas, the weather turned to crap. Unusually cold temperatures, snow that came and stayed, torrential rains and flooding. Hell, Latteland was cut off by road from the rest of the world for like a week.
Just stay home and take care of the house and family. Very little chance to enjoy anything. Just hunker down and take care of stuff.
Today was just a nice day.
No temperatures in the sixties or anything, but sunshine and temps in the 50's. But good enough that I could get out and change the oil in the truck.
This might be a nasty chore to some, but to me it is a positive affirmation. I could go out and do something I don't mind doing. No freezing fingers, no rain in the face, just a chance to do something that needed to be done. I just loved the chance to lay under a car on a piece of cardboard, working on a car.
A feeling of accomplishment that helped a lot to get rid of the "hunker down" mentality.
Now if it would just hang around long enough that I could accomplish something on Frankenhealey, I would be, if not happy exactly, satisfied in a simple elemental way.

Five Hour Energy

I have tried several of the energy drinks. Red Bull, Sobe No Fear, Amp. First of all, being diabetic, there aren't a lot of choices. Most of them have massive amounts of sugar which rules them out.
I don't care for them because they are also based on a lot of caffeine, and I don't particularly like the wired feeling. Yeah, they will keep you awake, but I don't like the jumpy way they make you feel. Or the crash afterwards.
So far Five Hour Energy seems to work pretty well. But I only use a half of the little bottle at a time. It picks me up without making me feel wired. But I don't care what they say about no crash, there is always a debt to be payed. It is not a drool-in-the-keyboard crash, more a slower let down.
I find that if I take a half a bottle at lunch, it gets me through the afternoon,, but when I get home, I can still take a nap.
Naps.......good.

First Place!

A Regional Debate Tournament was held at The Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma last weekend.
V. took first place.
I am so proud of him! It only goes to show what he can do if he puts his mind to it.
Now if we could just get him to transfer some of that focus to the rest of his studies.
He is due to go to Stanford for a tournament in two weeks. All the details are mighty sparse, except the part where I pay for airfare and food. We have to book the flight. There are a couple of impediments. First of all, his ability to participate hinges on his Final in one of his subjects. The teacher just got married and is on his honeymoon, so we won't know if he is eligible until later this week. Then the whole trip is still under budgetary review, and we won't know for sure that the funds have been approved until the 29th.
All of this translates into our not being able to book a flight until the last minute. Which, of course, translates into more expense.
It's not the money. It just should have all been thought out and planned well in advance.
I guess it shows that I am not a real impulsive person.
I love a well thought out plan.
I just very seldom see one.

On Sunday?!?!?

Yep.
I am down here at work on Sunday.
And will probably be here seven days a week for a quite a while. like until April. While it sucks to be working on the weekend, it does have it's positive side.
Time and a half Saturday, double time Sunday.
I'm not in it just for the money, however. I genuinely love what I do. The weekends are good, because there aren't a lot of managers around, so there is less feeling of someone looking over your shoulder. And there are a couple of managers that get off on doing things like timing people's potty breaks. Fortunately I don't work for any of them. I can kinda tell them to go stuff it if they get in my face. And have.
Once this week, one of them snuck up behind me when I was at lunch and made a remark that if I was going to play solitaire, they could just send me back to the office. After looking him in the eye, I pointed to the time on the computer screen. See the time? It is 11:35. I have a 40 minute lunch break, which begins at 11:00..
Hey, I was just giving you shit!
And I'm giving it right back! And by the way, I get an extra three minutes on my lunch break, since you disturbed me during lunch.
It was all done in humor, but does remind me that they have their eye on me.
So today I am here, wearing about a half a dozen different hats, weaving back and forth between jobs, and pretty much enjoying myself.
And earning a little money towards a vacation when the current bird leaves the factory.
I stopped and bought myself some 5 Hour Energy last night. I'm OK at the moment, but if I hit the wall this afternoon, I'll try it out. It is mainly Vitamin B12. Maybe I should go on line and see what massive doses of B12 will do for (or t0) you.
Time to get back at it.

Internet at last

The Cable guy came out today, and I think we finally have things fixed.

For once, the system actually went down while the tech was here. After checking every connection from the drop to the TVs and modem, he went outside and replaced the cable from the phone pole to the house, and Viola! everything works just fine.

They never suspected it might be the cable, but then it never screwed up when they were here before.

Territoriality

I read a book back in the 70's called "The Territorial Imperative" I believe it was by Robert Aubrery, but am not sure the name is exactly right. The point of the book is that territorial behavior is an instinctive drive that powers a lot of behavior in the animal kingdom. We all have heard of and understand a lot of this drive. If you have ever owned a pet, you know how they are driven to define their territory by marking it's boundary.
The book goes on to suggest that a lot of human behavior is driven from this very basic instinctual drive.
I remember an incident on the farm in Idaho. A developer had bought up a piece of property to the north of us, and was planning to subdivide it into five acre "ranchettes". One day we noticed someone in our pasture setting a line of stakes. We went out to inquire what they were doing. They said that they had surveyed the property, and the fenceline was some twenty feet too far to the north, and they were reclaiming the property.
The fenceline had been in place and was the accepted boundary between the two pieces of property for over fifty years. We pointed out to them that the laws of adverse possession stated that if the boundary had been accepted and observed for a certain period of time it was legally the boundary between the two pieces of property.
We also let them know that we would defend the boundary be all legal means. They were trespassing on our property and needed to leave. We also let the know that we would defend the boundary by means of our negotiators, misters Smith and Wesson, and if necessary, Remington and Winchester. They left and the matter was settled.
I had a similar dispute with one of my neighbors, settled the same way.
How much of this was driven by a basic instinctual need, and how much by rationality?
Last night at work, one of the shop people (a known asshat) told my second shift counterpart that the chair he was sitting on belonged to the shop, and was reserved for their use ONLY. Rather than cause a fight, he gave up the chair and went back to the office. He sent me an e-mail, so I needed to act on it this morning. Admitted, we had borrowed the chair, but there were six chairs in the area, and very seldom were all six in use. I forwarded the e-mail to the factory manager along with the comment that we need to work together.
He in turn sent out an e-mail to all of his managers that they needed to do their best to accommodate us.
This is a new situation for the shop and us. We have never had a presence on the factory floor, so everyone needs to learn how all the new relationships work, why we are there, and what we can offer. One of the first possible reactions is to just shut us out. I am doing a fairly good job on first shift, because I have a lot of connections with the shop. They still don't understand why I am there and what I am doing, but because they see me accepted by people they respect, they accept my presence.
Unfortunately, my second shift counterpart does not have the history with the shop that I do. So the shop people are defending their territory.
First we need to establish our right to be there, then we need to work with them to show our worth, and show the that we are trustworthy, and then develop relationships.
Admittedly a long process, but first we have to establish our right to be there.
When I first went out to connect up our equipment, someone had spread drawings and equipment over our area. I asked them to move so that I could hook up equipment. I pointed out the signs that said it was my area. They were less than pleased an remarked that they just might disconnect my equipment. I suggested that it might not be a good move, moved them out and hook up my equipment. The next day, they had occupied part of the area, and I moved them over to the unoccupied area, and actually helped them solve their problem. I haven't had a problem since. I have actually had a couple of shop people come by and thank me for helping them with their problems.
Like I said, it is a process of establishing out right to be there, and our right to the territory.
And did I mention that this is something I believe in and love to do?
A long term plan of mine is coming to fruition, but still needs lots of work.
It's what I do.

F$%^ing Internet

I have been fighting with my Internet connection for months.
Literally months.
Multiple calls to Comcast. A couple of service calls.
I called and bitched yesterday, and told them that if the couldn't fix their problem, I would go find another service provider. They credited me with a month's service, and the Tech came out today. He replaced every splice and connection between where the cable comes to my house and the modem, as well as all the terminations for the TV.
Twenty minutes after he left, we lost service. The tech said if we had another problem, it had to be at the pole, which has to be accessed from the next street over.
Not my problem.
As soon as the service went out, I called Comcast and let them know. They will be sending out a service tech again on Wednesday.
As soon as I got off the phone, service came back.
Everything will probably be fine when the service tech shows up on Wednesday.
Ah, the wonders of modern technology.

Sending Monkeys to Stanford

V. is a Debate Team rising star. He is expected to go to Nationals, But he flirts with Academic suspension. He could have gone to State last year, except that his grades kept him out of participation. He would have been the first from his High School to ever go to State.
Now he has been asked to go to Stanford for a regional event.
No one doubts his qualifications, except once again he is flirting with Academic Suspension. Because of the tough economic times, we are expected to come up with the airfare and food money, which will probably run between two and three hundred bucks. It's not like I can't afford it, it's just his slacker attitude that gets to me. He will stay up until three in the morning playing WOW, but he can't seem to spare an hour to do homework.
His teachers all say the same things, he is super bright, has sooo much ability. One even went as far as saying that you only meet a student with a mind of his quality once maybe every fifteen years. I countered with "You can have a car with a thousand horsepower, but if you can't get it to the street, it is use less."
At any rate, they are going to send the monkey to Stanford.
I just have to shell out the bananas.