Hmmmm.... I never thought of that......

Last night I spent about 2 hours at the doctors office. This is a place I do not frequent, by any stretch of the imagination, but I had enough and was looking for some relief. (Don't ever get a cortisone shot in your heel. It brings a new meaning to pain.)

The minute I made it to the waiting room, I searched for some reading material. This brings us to my point. I was reading the July 18th 2005 addition of Newsweek. (as slow as the office is there, I pretty much read it from cover to cover) An article within it's pages caught my eye Bridging The Great Divide, by Christopher Dickey $ Michael Hirish . Taking away all the opinions of why we are, of if we should be in Iraq, this short paragraph has given me a new prospective on the situation. Something I had never thought about, even though it's plainly obvious. "The results of the Bush administration's efforts to deprive terrorists of safe havens and state support have been decidedly mixed. The invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 was a straightforward attack on the people who plotted 9/11 and the Taliban government that sheltered them. But the "pre-emptive" invasion of Iraq in 2003, far from depriving terrorists of a base, created a new training ground for jihadists intent on attacking European and American targets."

This never occurred to me. The fact that our being there, in Iraq, fighting this "war on terror" as it's called, may be giving the terrorist the upper hand by letting them "train" on us. They can learn our military's protocols, how we operate, how we react, what we do and say.... This list seems virtually endless.

This may seem hasty, but let's get our people out of there now! For me, this is the "straw that broke the camel's back". My opinion has not change, rather just moved a little more 'off center'

Time for breakfast

and we're off!

Dead!

AH YEA, WHO'S YOUR DADDY? UH-HA! YEA, BABY!

I never even shot THIS gun before. Dead deer coming!

When Santa Comes To Town

On Friday, for the second year in a row, my wife and I put a float (for lack of a better word) in our city's Christmas Parade. Last year was simple. We built a nativity scene on a piece of plywood, and put it on the back of my truck. My daughter and my wife went along with the float handing out flyers advertising the church's Christmas Cantata.

We wanted something better for this year. Our first plan was to borrow the truck and 30 foot trailer from work. We would have kids on the back in some sort of scene. This fell through at the last minute when my boss decided she didn't want to chance the liability if something went wrong. Ok, fair enough, but the timing was very bad!

We ended up with a few kids dressed up in old choir uniforms from when our church had a children's choir. We also went out and bought battery powered candles for them to hold. Our plan was for the 2 or 3 bigger kids to walk in front of the truck, and the little ones to walk with parents, behind the truck. Although this was a simple plan, it also seemed foolproof. How can anything go wrong with this.? (Famous last words...)

We all assembled in front of the Family Dollar Store. This was close to the center of plaza parking area. Last year the parade's leaders were all messed up, moving us from point to point three of four times. I was not going to chance having the same happen again with the kids. Once I signed in and found where we were to be without a doubt, we moved into position. It was very cold, so the kids took turns staying warm in my truck. This was kind of fun for me because I know how much my daughter hates to have her picture taken. "Look here hun....". I should have known that she was going to be the first one to drop her candle and break the bulb, cutting her fingers in the process.

Finally we started out, and only 15 minutes late this year. Well, we weren't even out of the parking lot until we found out the kids walking behind the truck was just not going to work out. So we stop and redesign quickly. Next thing I know, we now have 7 little choir kids, and 2 candy throwers in my little Toyota. Sometimes you just have to be happy with what works and not expect too much.

As we slowly make our way down Fourth Street going south, all seems good. Next, six year old Sylvia drops her candle. At least she didn't cut herself, but I can't say the same for my wife. She slashed her fingers picking up the glass. (freaking women...) I noticed that there is less people out for this parade than we seen last year. I assume this is due to the weather, cold as a witches blank. I find myself thinking back to a conversation I had with D's mom earlier in the day. She asked me if I felt ok taking my kids out when it was so cold. I thought to myslef "people have been doing this for generations." I can remember my mom and dad taking me to see this very parade when I was a kid. What would happen if all parents were as cautious she? Would there even be a parade for the kids to watch?

The idea for this parade, held so close to Thankgiving, is it's the day that Santa comes to his little
house down in the park. From the day after Thankgiving, until
Christmas eve, he can be found down there, listening to every childs
wish list for Christmas Day. If santa would not be delivered to his little
house, what would the kids think? Even the reindeer are down there,
or at least some of them. I'm sure the reindeer found at the park are
ones in training, while the most popular eight are still up at the north
pole, getting ready for the big night. I still believe in Santa, do you?

Finally, we made it to the park. We stop and watch as the people in the float in front disembark. This kids were not suposed to get off yet, but I guess our parents walking along with us didn't get the memo. Little did I know, all the kids were sitting on the back, except for my daughter. Way to hang in there Angel! Santa is now in his place.

Side note: As I go through the images from our trip, I realize that everyones child had a hat or cap, except my two. Now I feel like a real "great parent". OOPS. Sorry kids! :-(

Bad day to come.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving day. As most people enjoy a long weekend, I will be working tomorrow (friday) and saturday. I surely don't want to, but it's a side effect of taking off for deer season.

So as I do what I must do, this is what will be on my mind.

Vacation spots!!!

Just

Click here!!!

Is your cup half full or half empty?

Nice people still do exist

I pulled into the parking lot of a local convenient store the other day. I got out of the truck and started walking towards the door. Two men walked along the front of the building and had gotten to the door before I did. The first man (guy-1) was probably early fifties, a bit 'bellow average' looking if you will. The second man (guy-2) was probably early thirties, dressed in full camo (hunting, not military), clean looking, young business type. I assume he was just back from a full day of hunting, probably for some type of waterfowl considering the type of camo he was wearing.

We all basically got to the door at the same time. At this time, I was assuming guy-1 and guy-2 were together. I was soon to learn they were not. All three of us walk up to the counter and file into a line in the order we entered the building. Guy-1 asked for a pack of cigarettes, or some other item behind the counter. I am not totally sure what it was as I was kind of day dreaming at the time. Guy-1 pays for his item(s) and is busy placing his change back into his wallet. Guy-2 then gets his chance at the counter, after waiting patiently for guy-1 to finish. Guy-2 looks at the lady behind the counter. "Do you sell gas cans here", he asked. The lady behind the counter said "no, I'm sorry, but we don't". He simply said "ok, thanks" and began to walk in the direction of the door.

I was just about to ask him if he needed help when guy-1 said to him "are you out of gas". He stated to guy-1 that he ran out of gas on the other side of the Ford Showroom, about a block up. Guy-1 said to guy-2 "come with me, I have a gas can in the car." Both walked out together, and went out of sight.

This story seems a bit lame, but to me it speaks volumes about the average person today. How many other people out there would have even stopped the guy to ask if he needed help. If no one had spoken up, he would have walked town to the next store, or maybe back to his truck, or maybe called someone on his cell phone asking for help. I find myself so busy on some days that I don't even pay attention to what is around me. I know that's not the real me. Sometimes we are all so busy with politics, work, family, friends, home, whatever that we fail to see someone right in front of us that needs a little help.

Let's make a commitment to take the slower road tomorrow. National 'slow the freak down a little' day!!!! What do you say?

A Welcome is due, I guess

My wife has often asked my what my 'fascination' was with blogs and blogging. My answers have always been vague, mainly because I really couldn't define an answer. A few days ago she asked me how she can get a blog. After assisting her a little, she has created one.

Shortly after I started my blog, I asked for a 'welcoming committee', and many stepped up to the plate. In the interest of fairness, I ask you to do the same for her. Please check out her blog and drop her a line.

Thanks!

Something totally pointless

Ok, this is most likely the dumbest thing you will ever watch. Yet, it made me laugh. Pointless and funny, sounds like a good combination.

Don't click here!!!

Daddy, can we please......

This afternoon was spent at home for a change. Just my son and I, for most of it. I had a very long week, and was resting on the couch watching TV (or at least trying). Boo (nickname is a very long story) had other ideas. First it was "Daddy, can I play Nascar on the computer?" I said "sure buddy, just a second", thinking this would be my prime opportunity to catch a quick snooze. He knows how to restart the game, change cars and the like, so he needs little help. Well, that lasted about 15 minutes. I was kind of out of it, but listening to the other room. You know, that parent kind of can nap.

Next it was "daddy, please don't turn off Nascar, I have to poopy". (it's my blog, I can say poopy, can't I?) I said "I won't touch it, just go if you have to go." Sometimes he walks the entire house, looking to inform me of his intentions in the bathroom. Kids!!!

Well, the break from the game made him loose interest. "Daddy, can we take the D-O-G for a W-A-L-K?" "In about 15 minutes", I said. Executive Decision was on and it was the best part. After about 5 minutes of moaning and whining, I gave in. I was in no mood to send him to his room for almost throwing a fit, he gets punished enough now days for that. His major attitude and 'fireball-like' temper better be a phase. He gets both of them from his mother.

So on we go for a walk with the dog. "Daddy, can I walk River?" "Not until we get into some alleys", I said. The dogs tends to be a little wild for the first part of his walks, mostly because he is not walked enough. But, overall he's pretty good. Our walk was about 15 blocks long and back. On the way back is when he landed me the big whammy. "Daddy, can I ride my 4-wheeler in the back yard when we get back?" I first said no, because the garage is still filled with my wife's crap from her Garage Sale 2 weeks ago. She has been threatening to move the item and boxes back down the the basement where they belong, but hasn't 'had time' as of yet. I told him "Dude, your 4-wheeler is completely buried with mommy's stuff and tables, we can't get it out". "Well, we can move the stuff down to the basement", he said. Now, considering he offered to help, there was no way I was going to pass this up. I can't get him to do anything remotely close to work any other time, unless it involves digging a hole or getting dirty.

So while his mother is off shopping, we move the stuff together. Not all of it got moved, probably about 3/4 got down there. It was enough to break down those tables and get out the 4-wheeler. Off we go, into the back yard to ride before the sun sets. I warned him not to throw any fits when I say it's time to stop, and he promised not to.
I must admit, for only being 6 years old, he is a very good rider. Of course, we have a lot of training and practice under our belt from good old dad. He can catch a little air on that one 'jump'. I tried to let me daughter ride this thing a few times, with near disastrous results. She damn near rolled it a few times. Of course this was after she ran into the close line post, the swing and a few other objects.

So now we are inside and today's daylight is gone. He is watching All Dogs Go To heaven- Part 2, for the 1000th time, and I am blogging. I'm kind of glad he got me up on my feet. It sure is nice to take a break and rest, but you can't beat having some fun either. Soon snow will be one the ground, too cold for these kids of activities. Oh, wait.... Snowball battle anyone????

Working on me

Well, I have surrounded myself with work. Work, work, and more work. So much so that I totally forgot a huge meeting I was supposed to "hold". Yea, my meeting that I was to lead. I really feel like crap for that! I guess volunteering will have to be put on hold, or at least on the back burner for awhile.

Our shop is filled to the rim. I have things on top of things. We are farming out (subcontracting) work to other local shops just to save floor space. I've seen it like this before in my 9 years (or 10, or 8, I forget, all I know is I get extra vacation now days), it's almost expected. My shop designs and builds for other, very large companies, witch in turn, sell the "entire package" to yet another, even larger company. Basically, a very large company (the same one as of late) builds a very large piece of machinery for a very 'refined' purpose. We build the supporting systems to go along with the package. Although these parts that WE design and make are dwarfed by the parent machine, Wide Load signs are still common to ship these lesser units. I guess one good side of this chain is that I get to "see and hear" the inside of all the crap going on now days in this country. The bad side is that I cannot tell anyone about it. Well, at least not in a public setting. It's starting to hit the news in pieces now days anyway.

Now the latest challenge. Although my position is more managerial than production, all vertical mounted reservoirs are designed and built my little old me. I'm not good, I am experienced.

When you buy a piece of 24", 36" or 48" pipe cut to length, a mistake is costly. Now add in the pipe being 316L Stainless Steel. With China overfeed the U.S. on Billion dollar shipments of.....OOPS.... (I forgot, I can't talk about it). But wait, it gets better. This sucker is 8 feet taller than our hoist can pick, 4 feet taller than the bridge our hoist rides on, and 3 feet taller than any rented crane (boom truck) can pick within our roof. Our production manager has taken on the job of designing a lifting apparatuses that may allow us to make the pipe erect within our limitations. I have not even looked at his plans, let along even tried to work out the details.

And this is the reason why I must finish this post. I must go back in tomorrow to work the math on this. Of course, his is not coming in. Thanks John!!!! All I know is this......




If the left does not equal the right, heads will roll. At least this time I have some company to roll with.

Oh wait. More irony. China's Stainless is specificly stated by most major U.S. companies as DFU. (Don't F**King Use)

If you look for change, look at yourself first

Hey look, I have time to blog today...

I have started to, what I choose to call, take myself apart and rebuild for the better. Including my blog... I look at what other people do in there blogs (I don't usually compare to others) and have come to realize that my blog is, and has always been, about me. I now wonder what other bloggers may think about me after reading this selfishness. That is odd for me as I can usually give 2 sh**s what others think. "If you don't like me, go a house further" was always my philosophy.

I find myself listening to myself talk, even at work. I am watching every move "I" make, almost like I am seeing myself through another's eyes. My goal is unknown, but I find comfort in knowing that I will rebuild myself in a condition that was better than before. (God, that sounds like an episode of "The Six Million Dollar Man" (1974) [TV-Series 1974-1978])

You may see some changes here, hopefully for the good. Let's start with this...

---

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Define irony......

The blogger's 'post-create.g?' page (blogger home page where I create new posts) spell check script does not recognize the following 'words'...

Blog

Blogger

Bloggers

Blogs

Blogger's

Ok, this is odd

Tonight, for the first time in years, I was not home see my son off to bed. This has happened before, but only maybe 3 or 4 times in his little 6 years of life. Being involved in kids sports and other areas, I see many "disconnected parents", as I choose to call them. These are parents that CHOOSE not to be involved. A soldier away from home is not the same. A father spending his week on business is not "disconnected". A mother that needs to work 2nd shift and misses out, as my wife did for the first 5 years of my sons life, does not qualify. I am talking about parents that are in the home, living with his or her family, yet does little if nothing to impact a son or daughter's life for the better.

My reason for tonight's absence was work. I have decided to take on the responsibility of going back into work, after my wife gets home. Tonight was the first trial run. I got 2 calls on my cell phone from my son. "Daddy, when are you coming home"..... "Mommy and I are having fun, bye"..... By the time of my reentry into my home, he was fast asleep. I didn't see him at all today since he chose to go out to eat with Granny after school.

I plan to do this several days a week. I have made a deal with my employer (oh our 2nd shift is so misguided) and will get paid well for my actions, or at least before taxes. Only time will tell on that subject. I have math skills, but the whole tax thing is well beyond where I want to calculate. I figure if I don't know, than I will be less likely to blow up a government building later in life. Denial is a river in Africa....

I guess my point is this, of there is one at all. To all parents out there that cannot be with their kids tonight but have them in your thoughts, thank you! To the ones that are reading this while your kids are in a room by themselves, please close this window and go do something fun with them, they will love you for it.

God Speed to you Dean!

A Picture Says a Thousand Words

I would love to come up with some sort of story and opinion about this image, like snotsucker does (he's a master), but I don't have that talent. The picture says it all I hope. I seen the news today, odd for me. And what did I see, GWB's propaganda here in PA. This immediately triggered an image from many years ago. A time when I was over in the Middle East. I may not have been one of those soldiers pounding the sand, rather I was playing mind games with my fellow Shipmates onboard our ship. Yes, I spent some time in the sand, in a few countries over there. I was bounced a bit from here to there. But, I was never one of those guys, like Dorman, living the real thing.

Ok, I got a little off track. Reminiscing I guess. My point is this: Check out this cool photo I put together in about oh, 30 seconds.

A sign of the times..

YOU KNOW YOU ARE LIVING IN 2005 when...



1. You accidentally enter your password on the microwave.

2. You haven't played solitaire with real cards in years.

3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of 3.

4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you.

5. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that
they don't have e-mail addresses.

6. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if
anyone is home to help you carry in the groceries.

7. Every commercial on television has a web site at the bottom of the
screen.

8. Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn't have the
first 20 or 30 (or 60) years of your life, is now a cause for panic and
you turn around to go and get it.

10. You get up in the morning and! go on line before getting your
coffee.

11. You start tilting your head sideways to smile. : )

12. You're reading this and nodding and laughing.

13. Even worse, you know exactly to whom you are going to forward this
message.

14. You are too busy to notice there was no #9 on this list.

15. You actually scrolled back up to check that there wasn't a #9 on
this list.

AND NOW U R LAUGHING at yourself.

Go on, forward this to your friends ...you know you want to!

OK

Can parenting get any more stressful?

Lightning show!!!!

Hold on to your hat. Here comes the some awesome lightning. I love to watch the storms approach. This summer has been almost free of storms, only a few at best. Who thought we would get a summer like storm in November.

Dear friend,

I will seek and find you . . .

I shall take you to bed and have my way with you .

I will make you ache, shake and sweat until you moan and groan.

I will make you beg for mercy, beg for me to stop.

I will exhaust you to the point that you will be relieved when I'm finished with you.

And, when I am finished, you will be weak for days.

All my love,

The Flu

(Now, get your mind out of the gutter and go get your flu shot..)

Time for a change

I have been doing this blog thing for a while now. I guess I started it back in the summer. It's kind of cool. One thing I like about having a blog, other than reading others, is to use it as a vent. To write my feeling in a blog kind of feels like using a stress ball.

Here's the problem. My life is so "up and down", my blog looks like a virtual roller coaster. That simply is just not the right thing to do. So I have started a new blog. Just like my reality, there is a happy side and a sad side. I live my life with a smile on the outside, for everyone to see. Mainly because people don't like to be around ones that are not happy. The new blog will be my inner thoughts. Maybe this will spawn change in my life as well.

One can only hope....

Funny Stuff

For many years I have been accused of having a strange, sometimes twisted sence of humor. Things that I find funny, most 'normal' people see as something else. Well, damn it, this IS funny! I had to watch it 5 times.



Come on, it's funny!
You'll have to right click and save as. Sorry, but nothing is free anymore.

Out of Control... Come on people!!!!

This crap in France is way out of control. 7 days of riots! Brings back memories...

Do you remember the LA. Riots back in the early 90's? I was living in Long Beach at the time. A friend and I got stuck in downtown LA. during the worst of it. I didn't know they were going to lock our base down. We had to drive from San Pedro, through LA. to another friend's house, in Northern LA. Every block we went trough had a building on fire, most without even a fire truck on the scene. We set at a red light and watched a few Mexicans break into a check cashing store, take what they wanted, and set the place ablaze. The most interesting moment was when we seen the guy walk down the street with a sectional couch on his head. How did he get that up there?

Civil unrest is bad. It's costs money and lives. It makes a lot of enemies. It makes regular people hate the police, and vise-versa. Most of the time, the original point or meaning behind the riot gets lost and just turns into people wanting to smash shit, steal shit and blow shit up. The case of the riots in LA., for example was started by the Rodney King beating. A black guy getting messed up by white cops. Yet, over 90% of the offenders in the riot were Mexican, not black! They seen an opportunity to create havoc and took advantage of it. Rodney King was asked to go live on local TV and give a speech of peace. "Can't we all just get along", he said. But, the fires, break-ins, beating and rioting was not because of him at all anymore. The point was lost.

And while I am rating on aimlessly about stupid stuff, what about what we had in New Orleans? Residents that were shooting at the very people who were there to help them. Looting stores, not for food, but for electronic equipment. People were getting raped inside the Convention Center. Others were killed. Why? People are dying from floods while other people are killing there own. I don't get it...

Ok, that's it. Blog on!

I hurt in places that I didn't know I had!

Ok, I think it's Official. I am too old to keep up with 20 year olds, I have a new reason to keep up the non-smoking thing and I need to see a doctor about my spur in my left heal.

We have been throwing the old pigskin out in the parking lot at work for a few weeks. Although my job includes many designing, consulting, delegating and management details; and all the perks that go with it (yea, right), I am still a part of the 'fabrication shop'. A working foreman, if you will. When choo-choo drivers (oops, sorry..Official Engineers) needs a little help with reality, they come to me. I so wanted to be an Engineer after leaving the Navy, but I ran out of money for college and dropped out with my Associates.

Anyway, my throwing arm has been damaged over the last few weeks and I am sure I would be better just cutting it off. That outside muscle on my left shoulder is about to tear off. Ok, who had the bright idea of actually playing school yard football at lunch+? This was to be a stress reliever, not a sport! Ah, what the heck, I'm in!

I was not much of an athlete in school, but I played 'many oh games' of football over at the Goodwills Playground. 'Prison Roles!' Mike, Wayne, Scott, Shawn..... We played hard. I got my ass kicked many of times, mostly because I was always the smaller, lesser one. But, I could always catch a ball and hit very, very hard. That kid is gone, only to be replaced by a 35ish year old, 18 year smoker, hard life living, kid loving, people hating, baseball coaching, (average) parent hating, unhappy and misguided dad.

This started with 2 on 2. Well, Jeremy has absolutely no knows of football roles, but has an arm, big time. Go figure, he is almost my age and smokes even more that I used to. OK, 2 on 2 with an unbiased QB for both sides. Works great, other than I am running in boots on 4" of asphalt.

I hurt soooo bad! I can't even walk without a noticeable limp, but don't tell the kids! All will be better tomorrow, I hope! (It has been so far, gulp...) I need to look into that heal. Been unable to work without pads for over a year. FUCK IT HURTS! Sorry.....