Where Did Hell Did I Go?

Twelve days since my last post. I knew five had gone by, but the other week is just a blur.

The first five were my long change and I had made plans with my boy to get a jump on cleaning out the storage shed that my garage had become. In 1996, when the new guys bought my old company and I was made manager, I ended up working 14 to 18 hours per day, seven days a week, During this time, when my wife wanted to move something out of the house, it got stuck just inside the garage door. As the front got blocked, the stuff got pushed back until there was just a path around the table saw and over to my completely cluttered work bench or past the table saw to the back down the right side.

Typically, the time I decided to do this project the temperature went from mid 80's the day before to 105 to 112. I figured getting going around 7 AM would be good to beat the heat, but have you ever tried to get a 19 YO at that time of day? We'd be going by about 8ish and by noon to 1, I'd call it quits.

He did work diligently and we made a major hole in the stuff. It was a lot of sorting and the pile of crap to keep or toss was growing faster than I could make decisions. I'm a pack rat. but know from experience that the thing that has been sitting around for 4 years taking up space with no idea of what the hell you're ever going to do with it so it gets tossed, is the exact thing you will need in two weeks to complete a project.

Returning to my regular job, the temps dropped back into the mid 80's. I had one regular day, followed by a non-relief day where I had a twelve hour shift. On this day, the Division of Oil and Gas (DOG), after a year, decided to change some of the requirements for operation of a couple of our injector wells (the two best of course), the foreman was busy with a guy trying to get our pipeline plan up to date, so I had to figure out which wells we could keep running and still get rid of the water using the formulas of which wells produce the most oil and least water, balanced by which wells that produce enough gas to keep the that system flowing so our LTS (Low Temperature System) didn't freeze up. Then just to make life interesting, the Gas Company got pissed at us about something and turned of the readout that tells us the readings on inerts in the gas.

In order to sell gas, we have a ranges set to keep their automated valves open. The are parameters for BTU's and inerts (must be monitored closely), and CO2 and H2S (not usually a problem).

Without the reading on inerts (Gas CO) and wells getting turned off (DOG), it's been this was a fun week where intuition and juju played a big part in keeping things going.

It's been a fun week.

When I go back on Thursday, the foreman is on vacation so I get to look forward to two weeks of 12 hour shifts, being one of the guys from our site has to go over to our 23rd St. site to do line integrity testing.

Some good news, Thursday (float) and Friday are HOLIDAYS....double time shifts with 4 hours OT each day. The two things that suck are 1) I'm working days, so no shift differential and 2) by the time taxes get figured in, I'd probably take home more with just two straight eights.

For anyone who comes by on a semi-regular basis, thanks for not giving up. I really lost track of the time.

Making Friends

A benefit of blogging is the new people you get in touch with while playing around. Over the last week or so I ran into two people with sites cool enough that I think you should drop by a visit.

For unapologetic pure no holds barred patriotic Americanism try TexasFreds.

The other blog is just a nice guy who blogs like I do. Day to day stuff with some politics thrown in Cary at The O Word

Now let's see if I can remember how to add people on my blogroll.

You'll Put Your Eye Out!!!

The tension involved in this story must have been phenomenal!

Woman Sues Victoria's Secret, Claims Injury From Defective Thong

Now it's been covered by many sites, so you can go there and see what they said:

Lawsuits Over Thong Malfunctions...
from Blackiswhite.

Well hell, the other locations were OT and just part of a thread looking for a venue, and I can't locate them now.

Onward!

Patterson's lawyer told The Smoking Gun that a "design problem" caused a decorative metallic piece on the underwear to fly up and hit Patterson in the eye while she was putting the underwear on.

Maybe a case of "I take a size 2, the hell if I'm 220 lbs., it look good on me".

I know L.A. Parking Enforcement. They swear there is no quota involved with the job.....BUT, the officers worked pretty close to the same hours that I did and I drove by their yard on my way home. By 1:00 PM, there would be two Parking Enforcement Officers parked a half block down the side street of our site with the officers snoring away, and this is just over half way through their shift.

I occasionally got to follow these asshats to their yard on my way home. I can only assume that they wrote their 25 citations and figured they were done for the day. Hell if they start writing 35 a day, someone might expect them to write 35 everyday (don't make waves and make others look bad...and there is no quota).

My assumption would be this was a lazy ass city employee who just took an opportunity to sue someone so she could claim disability, get a huge reward and deprive everyone else of the joys of Victoria's Secrets.

It's Sunday, So I'm Just Going To Kick Back

I read what little news there was last night, and nothing I saw is sticking with me at the moment, so I think I'll just post some music.

I'm going to pick something that's relatively recent just to show I can change a bit in spite of getting old. My boy is 19, so I get to hear new stuff as it comes out. A lot of the time it's as it comes out of my house when I get home from work at around 500 decibels. Hell, I use to do it to when I was his age, so if he turns it down when I whack in the back of the head it's OK.

I really like the whole album that these are from, so it was hard to pick which ones I wanted to showcase. I picked two that you don't often hear on the radio.

The first is "Smile Like You Mean It".



And for number two: "Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine".



Tomorrow is a busy day at work. I've got graveyard then I stay over to help clean out a sump and trough with a vacuum truck, so it'll be a double shift. Nights have been quiet lately so it shouldn't be too bad, but I doubt I'll get to post when I get home.

Joe For President!!

A big HT to LC FORGER - Imperial Blacksmith over at the Rott for this.

Some citizen sat down and thought about what's going on in the world and came up with an actual plan to help save this country, something the people running for President can't seem to come up with.

It's 9 minutes long, but worth it and you won't even notice because you'll be going yeah, of course that's what I had in the back of my mind.



Is it to late to get this guy on the ballot for November?

Unmitigated Gall

Here's another example of why the U.N. should be disbanded, the building torn down and the earth it stood on salted.



Britain should get rid of the monarchy, says UN

[all emphasis: mine]

A United Nations report says Britain should abolish its monarchy.
13 Jun 08: The UN has said that the UK must consider asking the public whether they would like to keep the Royal Family.

The UN Human Rights Council said the UK must "consider holding a referendum on the desirability or otherwise of a written constitution, preferably republican".

The council has 29 members including Saudi Arabia, Cuba and Sri Lanka.

It was the Sri Lankan envoy who raised concerns over the British monarchy.

Let's see here, the "Human Rights Council" that seats some of the biggest human right abusers (China, Saudi Arabia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cuba and pick any of the 13 African countries)are dictating to England that they should give up what's worked for them since 1707, and really much longer than that.

And you noticed who was the "enlightened" country that proposed ridding Britain of her monarchy? Sri Lanka, who even in Wikipedia is noted as:

was considered one of the "world's most politically unstable countries" by the World Bank and Asian Development Bank in 2004. The Economist labels Sri Lanka a "flawed democracy" in its 2006 rankings

.

People in glass houses...

The resulting report said Britain should have a referendum on the monarchy and the need for a written constitution with a bill of rights.

The monarchy costs each adult in Britain around 62p a year but even groups representing taxpayers said there was no case for getting rid of it.

$1.35 (US dollars) a year per adult to support the Queen and her brood.

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "With so many human rights abuses around the world the UN should be busy reporting on issues of starvation, execution and the denial of the vote to huge numbers of people around the world.

"Saudi Arabia and Cuba should pay a little more attention to their own human rights record."

No, it's just so much easier to point at countries were the people are free to live their lives without fear of being hauled away in the night by "special police" rather than have anyone take notice of what's going on in their own country. Besides, if Britain got to vote on a referendum we all know they would chose a system even more socialist that the one they have. You know "Workers Unite" and all that rot.

The UN report was also critical of the UK's treatment of immigrants from Sudan.

Syrian representatives accused the UK of discriminating against Muslims and Iran complained about the UK's record on tackling sexual discrimination.

They mean the mooselimbs that riot at every perceived slight, threaten to behead anyone who won't bow down to islam, blow up train stations and airports. And sexual discrimination...this from Syria...no sexual discrimination there, if anyone brought up that they were discriminated against sexually, why they'd cane that bitch...or hang the queer.

A royal source said: "People here certainly haven't detected any appetite for a referendum. The Queen is a focus for national unity, identity and pride."

Can't have that now, can we?

Terrorists Are U.S. Citizens Now

Supreme Court opens up Gitmo lawsuit floodgates; Scalia: “The Nation will live to regret what the Court has done today. I dissent.”

Unbelievable.

We now give constitutional rights to illegal combatants.

I'd been thinking about this since the ruling came down and trying to think of how this would pan out in the future. My thoughts went to the "unofficial" ROE are going to change. If the bastard we just rounded up from a location that we were receiving fire from most likely is one of the terrorists that was shooting at my squad and even though he is an illegal combatant, he now has U.S. constitutional rights if I arrest him and take him into custody, now gets to go through a U.S. federal court to make sure his "rights" weren't violated. What's next, reading Miranda rights to every terrorist we pick up?

As I was driving home this morning I came to the conclusion that there will be a lot less terrorists taken prisoner. The Geneva Conventions state that a combatant with no uniform can be summarily shot. No breaking of the rules here. All "civilized" nations have signed this agreement and have vowed to abide by the rules.

Right after my thoughts, on the radio, a Viet Nam vet was calling into Bill Bennett's show and brought up that back in that war, with no consistent ROE and no uniform for the enemy, the attitude was "better safe that sorry". If you thought they were the enemy better shoot them now rather than let them go and have to fight them again tomorrow.

War sucks! It always comes down to killing more of the guys on the other side than they kill on yours. The Geneva Conventions were drawn up to reduce the civilian deaths by establishing who was fighting for who by stating that uniforms must be worn. If you chose to ignore the rules, then any civilian deaths that occur due to your actions fall back on you.

Gun Rights

Bouncing around and ran into this: Packing in public: Gun owners tired of hiding their weapons embrace 'open carry' from of all places...The L.A. Times

A response.

24. If you are trying to promote America as a friendly country with friendly people. A nice place to visit. Then having a civilian population that thinks it's living in "Westworld" is hardly the right image to project. To those of us in the rest of the world it just confirms our worst fears that America is a dangerous place full of intimidating overbearing gun nuts who appear to have no concern about how they look to the rest of the world.
Submitted by: Frank
12:44 PM PDT, June 10, 2008

What about promoting an America where it's citizens are mature enough that they can be trusted with firearms, will not use their gun to settle petty disputes, and will come to your aid if someone threatens your unarmed person.

Of course you just have to ignore the facts to come up with that conclusion.

Friday!!!

Well, it's my Friday.

Off for a day and 3/4 then 7 on graveyard shift (then 5 1/2 off).

Haven't posted in a bit because they've been making me work (the bastards), so by the time I get done reading all my other sites when I get home, there isn't the time or the energy to post all the things I have marked.

Today I just want to hit a few of the things I meant to do the last few days.

GuyK demanded that I go over here and read this: "McCain's Better Half" at Tall Cool Drink of Water

Conservatives see a problem and figure out how they're fix it. Libs whine about the gov't not throwing money at the the problem.
___________________

A bunch of stuff from Hot Air:

McCain: Obama’s running for Carter’s second term

Just "Oh God, Noooo...!!!!" I lived through Jimmy Peanut's "change" which sounds an awful lot like Barack's "change". Now I know why so many of his supporters are young, they didn't have to go through gas lines and incredible inflation and "malaise". They probably think we're old farts and are exaggerating the ordeal through senility.

I know I'll come back to this subject in more detail, but wanted to get this story in: So when will Congress act on gas prices?

We expect the rest of the world to rape their ecosystem, but ours is somehow sacrosanct and shouldn't be impacted, nay...even touched. The ultimate in elitist thinking, but the world shouldn't hate us for that.

We were told, oh about 7 years ago that if we produced ANWAR, it wouldn't do any good for 7 years. Some of that oil trickling in about now probably would have been a good thing.

Congress isn't going to do anything about the price of oil now or after the elections. Gov't (Fed, state, local) get 24% of every dollar spent on gas, with no investment, while the oil company get 8.5% with trillions in investment. You tell me who's getting "Windfall Profits"?

On the Dhimitude of the free world: Anglicans: British gov’t pays more attention to Islam than to us; British gov’t: Of course we do

Because the ragheads are going to riot and burn if their fweelings are hurt, we better make sure they are front of the line for gov't attention. Won't matter if giving in to them dilutes or removes the rights of a majority of the population, can't have cars burning on the evening news like in Fwance.

Listen to a MP Ms Blears:

It is “common sense” for Christianity to be sidelined at the expense of Islam, a Government minister claimed on Sunday…

She said it was right that more money and effort was spent on Islam than Christianity because of the threat from extremism and home-grown terrorism.

It gets better.

She added: “We live in a secular democracy. That’s a precious thing. We don’t live in a theocracy, but we’ve always accepted that hundreds of thousands of people are motivated by faith. We live in a secular democracy but we want to recognise the role of faith.”

Secular democracy? England? Even I know about Henry VIII, but I'll let the Rt Rev Stephen Lowe, Bishop for Urban Life and Faith of The Church of England rebut.

“She said we live in a secular democracy. That comes as news to me – we have an established Church, but the Government can’t deal with Christianity.”

great britain, shave your heads, lock your women away and get ready to pray at the appointed hours, or pay your dhimi tax, you are done.
_____________

That's all the Hot Air stuff. I saved the best for last. Got this through Sig94 who sent me to Transsylvania Phoenix to read this post: The British called, they want their guns back


I'll post the You Tube here just to peak your interest.


So maybe I shouldn't write the Brit's off to fast. I just hope we can look at what a crock and failure this was and not make the same mistake.

Credit Where Credits Is Due?

I use to be a big basketball fan. Then it became thug ball and I left.

I've watched a few games over the last few years, but just couldn't generate any team spirit or enthusiasm with most of the players shooting 38% from the free throw line.

Having gotten by the Shaq/Kobe years, the Laker's are back in the play offs, so I watched a few of the games and have kinda enjoyed B-ball again.

(As usual the above isn't the reason for my post.)

At half time, they did a "up close and personal" story of Leon Powe of the Celtics.

The man has a lot to speak for his character. He was the oldest of seven children growing up in the hellhole of Oakland, Ca. He talked about his mother giving up food so that her children could have something to eat and that he gave up food so that his mother and siblings could eat. He got good grades and according to his teachers, chased them down to find out how to do better. He had a natural ability to play basketball, but worked as hard as that as he did at academics.

His Mom died at (I think they said 42, just as he graduated HS)and his dad left when he was two. The house they lived in burned down when he was seven and they were homeless.

His Mom got arrested for shoplifting, which I can understand her motivation, not condoning it, but...if I'd needed to feed my kids. All the kids ended up in foster care.

Powe worked to keep the family together. This is a man.

The thing that was not mentioned in the story is where is his dad? There was one kid, and I guess probably another on the way, so did he just decided to cut out?

Now Mom had one, maybe two, kids by daddy one, where the hell did the other five come from? I know a few people from many ethnic groups, but I can't think of another that has SEVEN fucking children with no father around.

I'll say Powe is 100 times the man his father was...but what is it in our society that overlooks the lack of a father in the life of children and celebrates the fact that in this one case there was a gifted child that was able to pull his family out of that death spiral of welfare?

If dad had still been there, Powe would have had his innate talent and would have gone to great things anyway. I'm just sorry he had to fight his way up to the elite of American sports.

Only in America!

Buffalo Farts

Haven't been around for the last few days. I had my "weekend" which was half relaxing and half busy. The ultimate insult, was that over they last two days at work, those bastards actually wanted me to do some physical labor. Worse than that I had to design, get the tools together, the supplies necessary and put the whole mess together.

Two of the best days I've had in a long time, and there is a project for tomorrow.

I got hurt today. I slipped in some oil and while catching myself I wrenched my left elbow pretty good. Didn't know it for an hour or so after work, but bad enough that I tried some "ICY Hot" that smelled nice, but did nothing. A half hour with a heating pad, and I fell good enough to type.

I don't take meds!!! I haven't taken an aspirin, or anything else in over three years, but this time it hurt. I still haven't taken any pharmaceuticals. The heat and slowly working it out (I think it was a strained tendon) but I've got about 98% movement back without pain.

We'll see tomorrow whe I wake up.

What the hell does this have to do with buffalo farts, nothing I just dropped by the Rott and found this post: A ClueClubbing™ Of Astronomical Proportions

I haven't even had a chance to read the comments, but just reading the blockquote made me want to post:

I would like to point out that before the introduction of cattle, millions upon millions of buffalo dominated the Great Plains of America. They were so thick you could not see where the herd started and where it ended. I can only assume that the anti-meat, manmade global warming crowd must believe that buffalo farts have more socially redeeming value than the same flatulence emitted by cattle. Yes, this is absurd, but the deeper one looks into this global warming juggernaut, the weirder this movement becomes and the more denial is evident. (Emphasis mine—B.)

This made my arm feel better also.

What Have I Been Saying?

There hasn't been an offshore-oil-well blowout since 1969. The onslaught of Gulf hurricanes in 2004 and 2005 ripped apart drilling rigs and pipelines, but not one drop of oil made landfall.

So why do we block energy companies from exploring many of our offshore waters for oil, including Florida's Gulf Coast?

Going green means having green to spend

Read it!

Uncaring America

I've heard this so many times from inside and outside the U.S. that I was starting to wonder if it were true.

Then I read: "Americans lead world in generosity" by Star Parker.

[all emphasis: mine]

Americans are hearing so much these days about how bad we are that we're starting to believe it. "We are such a rich nation and care little for the poor, we should give more."

In a recent Gallup poll, 68 percent said they are "dissatisfied with the position of the United States in the world today," and 55 percent said they think that the rest of the world views us unfavorably.

See I wasn't the only one.

However, as I page through a publication called the Index of Global Philanthropy, which is produced annually by the Center for Global Prosperity at the Hudson Institute in Washington, it becomes obvious that these American feelings of self-deprecation are misguided.

This is the just-released third annual edition of this index. It produces a unique snapshot portraying the full extent of American generosity to developing countries, by amount and by source.

Usually when the question of aid to the developing world arises, we think of government funds. But this index shows that, whereas it may be the rule in the rest of the industrialized world that most aid is government aid, in our country this isn't the case. Most of the contributions that Americans make abroad are private and voluntary. And they are large.

And how large?

In 2006, the latest year for which data are available, the index reports that Americans contributed privately and voluntarily $34.8 billion to individuals and organizations in developing countries.

Philanthropy is distinct from government aid in that it originates with private citizens and is voluntary, but also the recipients are private individuals and organizations, as opposed to governments. Private to private versus government to government.

The $34.8 billion in philanthropy from private Americans exceeded the $23.5 billion in official U.S. government aid abroad by $11.3 billion, or 48 percent.

Damn near 50% more that the U.S. gov't gives, and remember, we taxpayers gave that $23.5 billion also.

This private philanthropy is flowing from foundations, corporations, private and voluntary organizations, universities and colleges, and religious organizations.

Of particular interest in this year's index is the $8.8 billion reported from religious organizations. According to Carol Adelman, who directs this work, the data were produced by commissioning "the first national survey of congregational giving to the developing world" ever done.

The average contribution of congregations was $10,700.

Only $10,700? when you add it all together that is 25% of the total being given, voluntarily by these congregations.

To put this in some kind of perspective, the $8.8 billion in giving from American religious institutions to developing countries was $1.5 billion more than the total giving from all private sources in 30 of the world's major industrialized democratic countries combined.

You got that? You add up the total from next 30 democratic nations and we've still given $1.5 BILLION more!

When consolidating all assistance funds flowing from the United States to developing countries, the total is $129.8 billion. This is the total of government aid, philanthropy and remittances – funds sent directly by private individuals to other private parties in developing countries, often family members. A far second in total giving behind the United States is the United Kingdom at $20.7 billion.

The next most generous country in line, Great Britain, gives 16% of what we do.

There are a couple of important messages here.

First, of course, is the incredible compassion and generosity of Americans. American largesse does not need to be pried or forced by the government. It flows organically from free, civic minded and often religiously motivated citizens. And it comes from citizens of every income strata. The religious giving data show that whereas the average congregation gives $10,700, the median number is $2,500, indicating that there are many smaller, less wealthy congregations engaged.

The other headline is the central importance of the private sector in both generating prosperity, but also in sharing it.

We know how good we have it here, and we want to help those in need or who have been hit by disaster and we are willing to sacrifice some of our blessings to the rest of the world..."the median number is $2,500, indicating that there are many smaller, less wealthy congregations engaged." Help when you can, as much as you can.

Bookshelves now strain with studies showing the failures of government-to-government aid.

Always seems to end up buying munitions to further suppress the people it was suppose to help, or they just build another palace.

It is individuals who create wealth. Compassion and personal responsibility reside in the breasts of those same individuals. Neither can be said of government bureaucracies.

Amen!

Barack Obama spoke at the commencement ceremony at Wesleyan University the other day. He talked about national service and, recalling John F. Kennedy, committed to doubling the size of the Peace Corps if elected president.

From what I see and what the data show, Americans don't need government to make them care, contribute and volunteer. If anything, they need less government so they'll retain and keep control of more of what they produce and subsequently share with those in need.

Like I said at the beginning, I was starting to believe the BS that maybe we don't give enough. They can take that a shove it sideways.

Other countries may have their own motivations for what causes them to view Americans the way they do, but the data are clear. Americans are unmatched in creating prosperity and sharing it.

It's time to pay closer attention to what Americans do rather than what others say.

I don't know about you, but my family also give to charities that operate strictly within the U.S., so the numbers there are not figured into the grand total.

Gotta Pee?

If you're modest and live in Colorado, you better go before you leave the house.

Guv strikes state's gender-specific restrooms

With today's signature on SB200, Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter, a Democrat, has eliminated gender-specific restrooms and locker rooms statewide, giving woman and girls reason to fear being confronted by predators, cross-dressers "or even a homosexual or heterosexual male," according to a critic.

The state's new "transgender nondiscrimination" bill makes it illegal to deny a person access to public accommodations, including restrooms and locker rooms, based on gender identity or the "perception" of gender identity.

If you were afraid to let your kids go into a public restroom before, imagine what it's going to be like now.

"Henceforth, every woman and little girl will have to fear that a predator, bisexual, cross-dresser or even a homosexual or heterosexual male might walk in and relieve himself in their presence," Dobson said. "The legislation lists every conceivable type of organization to which this law applies, including restaurants, bathhouses, massage parlors, mortuaries, theaters and 'public facilities of any kind.' Those who would attempt to protect females from this intrusion are subject to a fine of up to $5,000 and up to one year behind bars.

I've been to events, concerts, ballgames, where the line going into the ladies facility is about 5 miles long and had women sneak in the guys bathroom and it never bothers anyone, but the idea of some of the guys I know going into the ladies room while my wife or daughter (if I had a daughter) is in there, I guess I'd be looking at a $5,000 fine.

"And by the way, because of the way this bill is written, it is not subject to the initiative process. There is no recourse,” Dobson said.

(James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, the Christian publishing and broadcast ministry in Colorado Springs.)

The hell with whatever the people feel is proper, the gov't knows best.