I'm working graveyard and my wife needs to be chauffeured this morning, so I have to stay awake until the rest of the world gets going.
I was able to read my regular blogs and catch up during my shift, so this morning I've just been cruising around hitting some of the not-so-regular sites.
I ran across these over at the Rott's Imperial Tech Wizard's (and Token Liberal)site. I'd heard 'em before, but they still crack me up.
A sample:
--------------
ATTORNEY: So the date of conception (of the baby) was August 8th?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: And what were you doing at that time?
WITNESS: Uh…
--------------
ATTORNEY: How was your first marriage terminated?
WITNESS: By death.
ATTORNEY: And by whose death was it terminated?
--------------
ATTORNEY: ALL your responses MUST be oral, OK? What school did you go to?
WITNESS: Oral.
--------------
There's more at Fueled by Coffee, go see.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Lazy Today
Work kept me constantly moving and thinking today, so I'm just gonna post a song.
I loved this song from the first time I heard it, I even did something I don't do when listening to an album for the first time, I went over, picked up the needle (anybody remember LP's?), turned what was probably an already too loud stereo up more and listened again.
The horn section in this song is amazing, I just wish the sound quality was better (I needed a little more bass to smooth it out). The live video wasn't as good as this, so once again just listen.
I give you "Sir Duke" by Stevie Wonder
Crank the Volume for best effect.
I loved this song from the first time I heard it, I even did something I don't do when listening to an album for the first time, I went over, picked up the needle (anybody remember LP's?), turned what was probably an already too loud stereo up more and listened again.
The horn section in this song is amazing, I just wish the sound quality was better (I needed a little more bass to smooth it out). The live video wasn't as good as this, so once again just listen.
I give you "Sir Duke" by Stevie Wonder
Crank the Volume for best effect.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Do You Know?
Do you know what his is? I'll be honest, I wouldn't have known until I read this story today: The Pennsylvanian Flag Could Get a Name Change. while cruising through the FOXNews site.
Pennsylvanians are having an identity crisis when it comes to their state flag: Hardly anyone in the state can identify it. Now state lawmakers are considering a proposal to remedy that by literally adding the word "Pennsylvania" to the flag.
The reason this caught my attention was at my old company we had a 65 foot flag pole flying the Stars and Stripes, but below that we flew this:
I can't tell you the number of people who would drive into our yard and start going absolutely nuts about "How dare we fly a commie flag!" After explaining that that the flag belonged to the commie state of Arizona, we'd get a five second blank look, followed by "Oh, well.... never mind."
To us there were two sides to flying that flag, One was both the owner's son and I attended Arizona State, so we had an affection for the place, the other was Arizona doesn't have an oil industry, so therefore, no regulations. We said we just decided to secede from Kalifornia.
To be honest about the whole thing, I went to a site with all the state flags and unless the name was on the flag, I only would have know Alaska, Texas, New Mexico and the territory of Puerto Rico.
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Thanksgiving
In spite of where my life has led me at this point, I am very thankful for so many things.
I am thankful, of course, for my wonderful son. He could (in Dad's opinion)be achieving so much more, but he is conscientious, polite, and caring. He's still trying to find his niche.
I am thankful for all the people that I have met over the net that I now consider friends: Blackiswhite, GuyK, Rightwingprof,Sig94 to name just a few.
I have to make a special point of Emperor Misha I, whose site allowed me to meet the people above.
To LC Mopes a special thanks to you for your random act of kindness, it meant more than you know.
My family is scattered all over the country now and for the first time in decades we are not getting together with at least some of them. May you all have a Happy Thanksgiving and know that I wish I could be with you.
To our troops overseas may you have a day of peace and return home to your love ones soonest. Bless you for your sacrifice so that we may celebrate this holiday.
To all....Happy Thanksgiving.
I am thankful, of course, for my wonderful son. He could (in Dad's opinion)be achieving so much more, but he is conscientious, polite, and caring. He's still trying to find his niche.
I am thankful for all the people that I have met over the net that I now consider friends: Blackiswhite, GuyK, Rightwingprof,Sig94 to name just a few.
I have to make a special point of Emperor Misha I, whose site allowed me to meet the people above.
To LC Mopes a special thanks to you for your random act of kindness, it meant more than you know.
My family is scattered all over the country now and for the first time in decades we are not getting together with at least some of them. May you all have a Happy Thanksgiving and know that I wish I could be with you.
To our troops overseas may you have a day of peace and return home to your love ones soonest. Bless you for your sacrifice so that we may celebrate this holiday.
To all....Happy Thanksgiving.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Almost Like A Vacation Extention
It is a fluke in scheduling that I hadn't counted on.
When I got back from the trip to Portland, I resumed work on a Saturday, so I had the weekend to myself. Monday I had to deal with the Foreman and other people, but then I was off Tuesday and today (Wednesday).
Tomorrow, I go back on my most dreaded of shifts...Days (5:00 AM-1:00 PM), but I get the site to myself for four days straight. Thursday is Thanksgiving and Friday is a floating holiday, then the normal Saturday-Sunday.
I'll have to face a crowd disrupting my routine on Monday and Tuesday, though Monday will probably be slow with everyone still groggy from their four days off. I'll then get all of Wednesday and 3/4 of Thursday off when I go on graveyards for 6 days, followed by five days off.
In over a months time I'll only have to deal with disruptions for three days, not bad.
Karma will get me though. During the Christmas holidays we have a guy on vacation, so I'll have to help cover his shift. It should be about three full days overtime, and I can use the money, but those 12 hour shifts get old real quick.
When I got back from the trip to Portland, I resumed work on a Saturday, so I had the weekend to myself. Monday I had to deal with the Foreman and other people, but then I was off Tuesday and today (Wednesday).
Tomorrow, I go back on my most dreaded of shifts...Days (5:00 AM-1:00 PM), but I get the site to myself for four days straight. Thursday is Thanksgiving and Friday is a floating holiday, then the normal Saturday-Sunday.
I'll have to face a crowd disrupting my routine on Monday and Tuesday, though Monday will probably be slow with everyone still groggy from their four days off. I'll then get all of Wednesday and 3/4 of Thursday off when I go on graveyards for 6 days, followed by five days off.
In over a months time I'll only have to deal with disruptions for three days, not bad.
Karma will get me though. During the Christmas holidays we have a guy on vacation, so I'll have to help cover his shift. It should be about three full days overtime, and I can use the money, but those 12 hour shifts get old real quick.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Like Quiting Smoking In Reverse.
Once again I'm going to promise to start posting on a more regular basis. I've promised to quit cigarettes about a hundred time and have actually made a few valiant attempts, once for almost three months.
My good friend Blackiswhite has been posting regularly, so now I feel there is a contest between us. I'm going to go by his example and just post whatever is on sticking in my head at that particular time. There is always politics floating around there, but most of the time I'm just too pissed to make a coherent argument on the topic, so there may be a bit of music to fill in the gaps.
That was a lead-in to Peaches in Regalia. This song has been stuck in my head for the last week and I don't know why. As much as I love the song, maybe this will excise the demon. (The video is dumb, but the music is great....Filmore East, 1971, damn I wan't even outta HS then)
My good friend Blackiswhite has been posting regularly, so now I feel there is a contest between us. I'm going to go by his example and just post whatever is on sticking in my head at that particular time. There is always politics floating around there, but most of the time I'm just too pissed to make a coherent argument on the topic, so there may be a bit of music to fill in the gaps.
That was a lead-in to Peaches in Regalia. This song has been stuck in my head for the last week and I don't know why. As much as I love the song, maybe this will excise the demon. (The video is dumb, but the music is great....Filmore East, 1971, damn I wan't even outta HS then)
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Racist?
After a week without net access I've just been bouncing all over the place today. I came across this and just had to post it.
Well said.
Well said.
Road Trip Report
I know you’ve all been dying to hear the details of my trip. Overall it was good, there were some bumpy moments, but overall I’d give it a 7 out of 10.
The Flight Up
Chris’ girlfriend got us to the airport in plenty of time. The only thing that pissed me off was that security made me throw out new bottles of shampoo, conditioner and my aerosol deodorant (nothing over 3.6 oz.). The flight was only half full, left only 15 minutes late, but arrived on time.
Our arrival was another of those little bumps. There were no signs in the terminal saying drop offs this level pick up that level, so we went out the front doors on the top and waited for my brother, who was circling the lower level. My brother doesn’t have a cell phone, so it was just luck that after about 40 minutes he decided to check the top.
Wonderful Beaverton
Good news here, my Mom was home, so even though she’s pretty much bedridden now, still sharp as a tack, just no energy, so we got to visit without the hassles of visiting hours and travel to and from the hospital. It kept the stay up there relaxed.
Grandma and Unca Doug got to see Chris for the first time in over 8 years (10 to 19 is a huge chunk to miss). They were impressed with how well he’s turning out and amazed that I had managed to teach him so well in the ways of the Dark Side knowing what a lib his Mother is.
Being a major reason for the trip was to get Grandma’s car for Chris, he was constantly chomping at the bit to go somewhere, anywhere so he could drive his new toy. It’s a ’99 Buick Century Limited, blue-gray, with only 27K on the dial. Leather seats and electric everything. Damn, my kids got a better car than I do.
Drive Home (Pt. I)
Beaverton Or. To Oakland Ca.
Out of bed at 5:30 AM and on the road by 7:45 AM, real close to the schedule I had in my head. I drove the first hour, then I gave up control to the boy. I’ve been the primary driver for so long now that I was amazed at how nice it can be to just sit and watch the scenery flow by and it is beautiful country up there.
It was smooth sailing till we got past Medford and the highway turned inland and started into the mountains and we hit rain. Not a hard rain just a constant drizzle that no matter what speed you set the wipers at, it was to fast or to slow.
Coming down out the mountains past Mt. Shasta, I was doing a crossword and started hearing Bott’s dots on the passenger side and the emergency corrugation strip on the driver’s side. Without looking up I just told Chris “Let’s try to stay between the lines for a bit.” He said he was getting tired (5 ½ hours behind the wheel) and there was rest stop a mile ahead and he wanted to change anyway. When we stopped and I got out of the car, I got blasted by about 50 MPH winds,. He had kept it steady enough that I hadn’t noticed, so I felt like an ass. I drove the next 5 hours to the Bay Area, mostly straight highway with no view due the clouds.
Bay Area
This will be my last trip there!!! Traffic sucks! We got into the area just after dark, it was foggy and really raining. We could see the freeway well enough, but nothing beyond it so I lost all sense of direction.
After a “brief” meandering tour of the hills of Berkley (I have no idea how we got there), we finally found Oakland. I should mention that I was so disoriented, that I actually stopped and asked for directions at one point, which at least got us headed in the right direction.
Due to a bunch of circumstances, I hadn’t reserved a motel. I paid dearly for this. There really isn’t a hell of a lot of motels in the area, and they’re spread all over the place. We hit six that were booked up, one that had one room at $109.00/night (HA!). We were getting farther and farther away from the stadium and I was just hanging onto my sanity due to fatigue and the stress.
I was really starting to wonder how comfortable the seats in the car were for sleeping when we spotted a Motel 6. Three rooms left and $114 for two nights. SOLD!!!
The place was crazy with Raider fans, but maybe because it was raining, it was quiet and we got a good nights rest.
Game Day
Woke up to the sun shining, something good to offset the karma from yesterday.
We arrived with plenty of time to spare, turns out the motel was only about 15 miles down the freeway , but good thing I have a mania about leaving time to deal with the unexpected, cause it came in handy. There is little signage directing you anywhere around the stadium and half of what they have is cryptic to the point of making no sense. There were plenty of cops around, but rather than direct traffic, they just sit on the pretty Harley Davidson motorcycles in groups of four and look cool while chaos flows around them.
We ended up in an “Overflow” parking lot (mud flat) about ½ mile from the stadium. It wasn’t a bad walk and once inside the parking for the stadium, we had time to cruise around a check out the tailgaters. Man, there were some parties going on. We entered on the wrong side (of course) and proceeded to the top of the arena to be told “You’re on the other side, go down two levels and around.”
The seats weren’t bad, tween the 20 and 30 , sun behind us and nice people in our section, even if some were Bears fans. I was a little disappointed, all these years, I’ve heard the stories of the “mean, nasty Oakland fans.” There was only one fight during the game. I’ve seen more violence at a Dodger game. It may be that a lot of the fight has gone out of both Raider and Bears fans (My sucky team doesn’t suck as much as your sucky team).
It was an action packed thriller with the score 3-3 into the 4th . As one Bears fan put it “two of the most inept offenses to ever bump heads on a football field.” With 4:04 remaining we kicked a 52 yard field goal to jump ahead. Followed by the Bears throwing 59 yards for a TD, followed by McCown getting sacked and fumbling on our own three, which the Bears ran in for another TD. Final 17-6.
Back to Oakland Base
We could have if we had really wanted, driven home right after the game, but I’m getting older and the idea of a long drive on top of a busy day just isn’t that easy anymore. We went back to the motel and watched the Sunday nite game where the Chargers, up 23-0 into the second quarter, did everything possible to lose to the Colts. The Chargers only won because the Colts missed a 29 yard FG in the closing minute. Final 23-21.
Drive Home (Pt. II)
Oakland to L.A.
Slept in a bit, didn’t want to rush out into “rush hour” traffic, so we left about 10:00 Am for the 6 hour sprint home. Traffic was moderately light, so traveling down I-5 was just a long boring cruise. Chris drove the whole way. (Gotta show the new toy to his girlfriend). Home around 4:30.
It’s nice to be home, and it was good to see my Mom again. I’m still a little travel weary, but I don’t go back to work until Saturday afternoon, so I think I’ll just take it easy.
The Flight Up
Chris’ girlfriend got us to the airport in plenty of time. The only thing that pissed me off was that security made me throw out new bottles of shampoo, conditioner and my aerosol deodorant (nothing over 3.6 oz.). The flight was only half full, left only 15 minutes late, but arrived on time.
Our arrival was another of those little bumps. There were no signs in the terminal saying drop offs this level pick up that level, so we went out the front doors on the top and waited for my brother, who was circling the lower level. My brother doesn’t have a cell phone, so it was just luck that after about 40 minutes he decided to check the top.
Wonderful Beaverton
Good news here, my Mom was home, so even though she’s pretty much bedridden now, still sharp as a tack, just no energy, so we got to visit without the hassles of visiting hours and travel to and from the hospital. It kept the stay up there relaxed.
Grandma and Unca Doug got to see Chris for the first time in over 8 years (10 to 19 is a huge chunk to miss). They were impressed with how well he’s turning out and amazed that I had managed to teach him so well in the ways of the Dark Side knowing what a lib his Mother is.
Being a major reason for the trip was to get Grandma’s car for Chris, he was constantly chomping at the bit to go somewhere, anywhere so he could drive his new toy. It’s a ’99 Buick Century Limited, blue-gray, with only 27K on the dial. Leather seats and electric everything. Damn, my kids got a better car than I do.
Drive Home (Pt. I)
Beaverton Or. To Oakland Ca.
Out of bed at 5:30 AM and on the road by 7:45 AM, real close to the schedule I had in my head. I drove the first hour, then I gave up control to the boy. I’ve been the primary driver for so long now that I was amazed at how nice it can be to just sit and watch the scenery flow by and it is beautiful country up there.
It was smooth sailing till we got past Medford and the highway turned inland and started into the mountains and we hit rain. Not a hard rain just a constant drizzle that no matter what speed you set the wipers at, it was to fast or to slow.
Coming down out the mountains past Mt. Shasta, I was doing a crossword and started hearing Bott’s dots on the passenger side and the emergency corrugation strip on the driver’s side. Without looking up I just told Chris “Let’s try to stay between the lines for a bit.” He said he was getting tired (5 ½ hours behind the wheel) and there was rest stop a mile ahead and he wanted to change anyway. When we stopped and I got out of the car, I got blasted by about 50 MPH winds,. He had kept it steady enough that I hadn’t noticed, so I felt like an ass. I drove the next 5 hours to the Bay Area, mostly straight highway with no view due the clouds.
Bay Area
This will be my last trip there!!! Traffic sucks! We got into the area just after dark, it was foggy and really raining. We could see the freeway well enough, but nothing beyond it so I lost all sense of direction.
After a “brief” meandering tour of the hills of Berkley (I have no idea how we got there), we finally found Oakland. I should mention that I was so disoriented, that I actually stopped and asked for directions at one point, which at least got us headed in the right direction.
Due to a bunch of circumstances, I hadn’t reserved a motel. I paid dearly for this. There really isn’t a hell of a lot of motels in the area, and they’re spread all over the place. We hit six that were booked up, one that had one room at $109.00/night (HA!). We were getting farther and farther away from the stadium and I was just hanging onto my sanity due to fatigue and the stress.
I was really starting to wonder how comfortable the seats in the car were for sleeping when we spotted a Motel 6. Three rooms left and $114 for two nights. SOLD!!!
The place was crazy with Raider fans, but maybe because it was raining, it was quiet and we got a good nights rest.
Game Day
Woke up to the sun shining, something good to offset the karma from yesterday.
We arrived with plenty of time to spare, turns out the motel was only about 15 miles down the freeway , but good thing I have a mania about leaving time to deal with the unexpected, cause it came in handy. There is little signage directing you anywhere around the stadium and half of what they have is cryptic to the point of making no sense. There were plenty of cops around, but rather than direct traffic, they just sit on the pretty Harley Davidson motorcycles in groups of four and look cool while chaos flows around them.
We ended up in an “Overflow” parking lot (mud flat) about ½ mile from the stadium. It wasn’t a bad walk and once inside the parking for the stadium, we had time to cruise around a check out the tailgaters. Man, there were some parties going on. We entered on the wrong side (of course) and proceeded to the top of the arena to be told “You’re on the other side, go down two levels and around.”
The seats weren’t bad, tween the 20 and 30 , sun behind us and nice people in our section, even if some were Bears fans. I was a little disappointed, all these years, I’ve heard the stories of the “mean, nasty Oakland fans.” There was only one fight during the game. I’ve seen more violence at a Dodger game. It may be that a lot of the fight has gone out of both Raider and Bears fans (My sucky team doesn’t suck as much as your sucky team).
It was an action packed thriller with the score 3-3 into the 4th . As one Bears fan put it “two of the most inept offenses to ever bump heads on a football field.” With 4:04 remaining we kicked a 52 yard field goal to jump ahead. Followed by the Bears throwing 59 yards for a TD, followed by McCown getting sacked and fumbling on our own three, which the Bears ran in for another TD. Final 17-6.
Back to Oakland Base
We could have if we had really wanted, driven home right after the game, but I’m getting older and the idea of a long drive on top of a busy day just isn’t that easy anymore. We went back to the motel and watched the Sunday nite game where the Chargers, up 23-0 into the second quarter, did everything possible to lose to the Colts. The Chargers only won because the Colts missed a 29 yard FG in the closing minute. Final 23-21.
Drive Home (Pt. II)
Oakland to L.A.
Slept in a bit, didn’t want to rush out into “rush hour” traffic, so we left about 10:00 Am for the 6 hour sprint home. Traffic was moderately light, so traveling down I-5 was just a long boring cruise. Chris drove the whole way. (Gotta show the new toy to his girlfriend). Home around 4:30.
It’s nice to be home, and it was good to see my Mom again. I’m still a little travel weary, but I don’t go back to work until Saturday afternoon, so I think I’ll just take it easy.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Monday, November 05, 2007
A Hiatus From My Hiatus
Well no, I'm going to be posting, not even sporadically for the the next week. I'm going to be out of town. My son and I are flying up to Portland. This was a planned trip, but the timing is extra lucky.
The original plan was to get Grandma's car for my son and drive it home. Just a road trip for us guys. Now my Mom isn't doing well and is incarcerated in the hospital again, so it's probably a last chance for my son to see his Grandma.
Even though I'm beyond broke right now, the plane was cheap (using credit card miles) and the Raider's game we're going to on the way back home was paid for months ago. This will be his first Pro football game, as the Raiders left L.A. the year he was born. It's our Raiders (2-6) v. Da Bears (3-5), so it has a chance of being a good game. Of course with the tickets I could afford we're in another time zone from the field, but we are on the home team side and usually those are some of the most entertaining fans to be with. We're planing on wearing a lot of Silver and Black.
To fund this little adventure we loaded up the F-150 with aluminum cans that I'd kept stashed in a back section of my garage. It was like a vault that I'd draw on to have extra cash for Vegas and such. The lady at the recycling center seemed to take a liking to me and due to the amount of cans we brought in bumped the price from the base of $1.15/lb., up to $1.75/lb., then decided that I was so damn nice and incredibly handsome (HA!), she raised it up to $1.80/lb. With two trips there, I got just under $500, and there's still some left in the vault.
We'll probably drive Portland to Oakland on Saturday, 11 hours, but two drivers and being my kid just got his license about a month ago, will be hard to get him out from behind the wheel. It'll mean we can't do the Eureka/Fortuna stopover that I wanted so he could see my Dad's family's home base, but it will allow more time in Portland with my Mom and brother.
I'll be back Monday and still won't have work until Saturday. I'm using all my vacation time being vacations are forbidden between Thanksgiving and New Years, except for the guy we just rehired who already had a British Isles Christmas vacation set up, so I could be looking at some good overtime before the end of the year.
I'll have no internet access until I'm back in L.A., so if you drop by BisW, post a couple of snarky comments on the Rott for me til then.
The original plan was to get Grandma's car for my son and drive it home. Just a road trip for us guys. Now my Mom isn't doing well and is incarcerated in the hospital again, so it's probably a last chance for my son to see his Grandma.
Even though I'm beyond broke right now, the plane was cheap (using credit card miles) and the Raider's game we're going to on the way back home was paid for months ago. This will be his first Pro football game, as the Raiders left L.A. the year he was born. It's our Raiders (2-6) v. Da Bears (3-5), so it has a chance of being a good game. Of course with the tickets I could afford we're in another time zone from the field, but we are on the home team side and usually those are some of the most entertaining fans to be with. We're planing on wearing a lot of Silver and Black.
To fund this little adventure we loaded up the F-150 with aluminum cans that I'd kept stashed in a back section of my garage. It was like a vault that I'd draw on to have extra cash for Vegas and such. The lady at the recycling center seemed to take a liking to me and due to the amount of cans we brought in bumped the price from the base of $1.15/lb., up to $1.75/lb., then decided that I was so damn nice and incredibly handsome (HA!), she raised it up to $1.80/lb. With two trips there, I got just under $500, and there's still some left in the vault.
We'll probably drive Portland to Oakland on Saturday, 11 hours, but two drivers and being my kid just got his license about a month ago, will be hard to get him out from behind the wheel. It'll mean we can't do the Eureka/Fortuna stopover that I wanted so he could see my Dad's family's home base, but it will allow more time in Portland with my Mom and brother.
I'll be back Monday and still won't have work until Saturday. I'm using all my vacation time being vacations are forbidden between Thanksgiving and New Years, except for the guy we just rehired who already had a British Isles Christmas vacation set up, so I could be looking at some good overtime before the end of the year.
I'll have no internet access until I'm back in L.A., so if you drop by BisW, post a couple of snarky comments on the Rott for me til then.
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