You may be wondering what the title means. Well, it says Sacramento New Beetle Get ToGether. The GTG was on Saturday (01/22/2005). Here's how it went:
I didn't know how long it took to get to Sacramento from the Monterey Bay area. So I figured might as well be safe than sorry. I woke up at 5:30 in the morning, took a shower and got ready. Called a friend who decided he should come with. He wasn't going to be joining me at the GTG. Too geeky. He was gonna visit his sister and watch his niece play indoor soccer. Anyway, I got to his house about ten til seven.
We arrived in Sacramento at roughly 9:30. Not to shabby. I was just haulin' ass down the road. The thing is, once you get to the outskirts of Sacramento, everyone else is haulin' ass as well. So I wasn't really to afraid of a speeding ticket. I better watch it though. I may have just jinxed myself.
I still had two and a half hours to kill so we went and had breakfast at Carrows near Sutters' Fort. My friends sister showed up there a few minutes after we arrived and they split after we finished having breakfast. One thing I would like to say just in case she's reading this: My friends sister paid for our breakfast as a thank you for bringing her brother along with me. That was pretty cool of her.
So I went over to Sutters Fort. That's where the GTG-meet-up was supposed to be. There was no free parking A-N-Y-W-H-E-R-E! So I went to Carrows again and picked up twenty bucks in quarters. The waitress asked if I was gonna go gamble. So off I went again in search of a good spot that everyone should easily find at the Fort. I loaded up my meter for an hour and waited.
About 5 til 12, nobody had showed up yet and my meter had run out. I got out and put in another quarter for 15 minutes. 12 o'clock on the dot two other NB's showed up. 03GLXLady (Laurie) showed up with her silver NB and a friend of hers we'll call Linda, because that's her name! Jillybug showed up in her white NB. Both NB's were GLX models. Nice leather interior, seat warmers and all the other trimmings. Made me jealous! I only have a GLS. Not cheap, but no leather seats. >:(
So we chatted a bit waiting to see if anyone else would show up. Nobody else did, so we decided to take a nice little jaunt arount the Fort to see if anyone else had maybe parked somewhere else on the block. During the walk, we discussed what we could do and I think Laurie suggested going to Old Town Sacramento. Sure! Lets! We got back to our NB's and I find a parking ticket on my windshield. I missed the meter maid by two minutes! Damn!!!!
We drive over to the general area of Old Town with me as the pack leader. Bad idea. I don't know Sacramento. I end up driving into and "Adult" motel. When I drove into the parking area, I had this little monologue going in my head as to why in God's name anyone would paint a motel a strange color of pink/violet. It wasn't until I got out (because I was lost) that I see Laurie and Linda laughing there collective asses off. Laurie asked what my intentions were. Was I going to try to have my way with them? That's when it clicked! I looked around and there were several people trying to figure us out. I almost blushed!
Laurie said she knew where to go and we took off again. Again, no free parking anywhere. No long term parking from the quick look I had around the place, either. We found some parking and maxed out the meter for an hour and a half. That totally sucked! We started our tour of Old Town Sac.
After our time was almost up with the meters, we figured it was time to eat and we went back to max out meters and found a place to eat. We had lunch and we talked a long time. It was really fun! When we left we figured we'd make it back in time. Guess what? We didn't. DAMN! I HATE Sacramento. We all got matching parking tickets! Here's the link to the pic:
http://forums.newbeetle.org/showthread.php?s=46feafd7745e5c24b3d2ff1a398ff118&threadid=47569
I don't think I ever want to visit Sacramento ever again!
Formerly of experiences of Ubuntu n00bism. Now random postings on learning barefoot form.
Thursday, January 27, 2005
Friday, January 21, 2005
The Onion Girl
Like I said before, this was gonna be some sort of weird blog where one day it could be a diary . . . or whatever.
Anyway, for the last week or so I've been slowly getting through a fictional novel. It could be labeled a fantasy book. The Onion Girl by Charles De Lint. Now personally, I usually pick up a sci-fi book before anything else. I was an avid comic book collector for over 10 years before I just up and quit (Don't ask. Long story.) I've read all the Foundation series by Asimov. No serious sci-fi fan can be called a fan without reading Dune. I've read every single Dune series book. Even the ones written by his son.
Don't get me wrong. I've read fantasy books before. The Cheysuli Chronicles by Jennifer Roberson is a series that I highly recommend. Another fantasy series I've read is The Death Gate Chronicles. I think those were written by Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman.
Now, I love reading a good story. But I've always been disappointed by the way a book ends. They almost end abruptly for the most part. A very good example of that is Snow Crash by Neal Stephanson. When I was reading the book, I thought it was one of the most thought provoking books ever. It was a geeks dream come true. Considering when it was written, you could almost say Stephenson was an oracle. You read that book now and we're almost at that level of technology and government politics (Oops! Politics . . . I know. Sorry). That book had one of the best stories you could ever had read . . . until you got to the end. That was one of the most rushed endings ever. It left you so unsatisfied. Empty. Geez, I hate even thinking about it now.
Back to The Onion Girl. When I read the cover description, it intrigued me. It was a nice long story. I don't have the book with me know so I can't tell you how many pages it is. But suffice to say, get yourself a pot of tea set aside and settle down for one of the most satisfying reads ever.
I'm not gonna review the book for you. You could easily find reviews of it on the web from professionals. I'm just giving you what I took away from it. I'm a guy. I'm not into having warm fuzzy feelings and all that. But reading this book inspires the soul. Just reading that last line right now and, BOY, does that sound . . . feminine. I can't help it. I finally finished the book last night and I wanted more. Don't get me wrong. It had an excellent ending. There was closure. But like I said. I've never felt warmer. More at peace with myself.
I've always been comfortable with who I am. But this book just made it concrete. Read it.
GD
Anyway, for the last week or so I've been slowly getting through a fictional novel. It could be labeled a fantasy book. The Onion Girl by Charles De Lint. Now personally, I usually pick up a sci-fi book before anything else. I was an avid comic book collector for over 10 years before I just up and quit (Don't ask. Long story.) I've read all the Foundation series by Asimov. No serious sci-fi fan can be called a fan without reading Dune. I've read every single Dune series book. Even the ones written by his son.
Don't get me wrong. I've read fantasy books before. The Cheysuli Chronicles by Jennifer Roberson is a series that I highly recommend. Another fantasy series I've read is The Death Gate Chronicles. I think those were written by Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman.
Now, I love reading a good story. But I've always been disappointed by the way a book ends. They almost end abruptly for the most part. A very good example of that is Snow Crash by Neal Stephanson. When I was reading the book, I thought it was one of the most thought provoking books ever. It was a geeks dream come true. Considering when it was written, you could almost say Stephenson was an oracle. You read that book now and we're almost at that level of technology and government politics (Oops! Politics . . . I know. Sorry). That book had one of the best stories you could ever had read . . . until you got to the end. That was one of the most rushed endings ever. It left you so unsatisfied. Empty. Geez, I hate even thinking about it now.
Back to The Onion Girl. When I read the cover description, it intrigued me. It was a nice long story. I don't have the book with me know so I can't tell you how many pages it is. But suffice to say, get yourself a pot of tea set aside and settle down for one of the most satisfying reads ever.
I'm not gonna review the book for you. You could easily find reviews of it on the web from professionals. I'm just giving you what I took away from it. I'm a guy. I'm not into having warm fuzzy feelings and all that. But reading this book inspires the soul. Just reading that last line right now and, BOY, does that sound . . . feminine. I can't help it. I finally finished the book last night and I wanted more. Don't get me wrong. It had an excellent ending. There was closure. But like I said. I've never felt warmer. More at peace with myself.
I've always been comfortable with who I am. But this book just made it concrete. Read it.
GD
Thursday, January 20, 2005
The title makes it sound ominous, doesn't it? It's not really, but I've had to think some after a cooling down and getting my thoughts in order.
The weekend, after the blowup by the boss, I was scheduled for a nice relaxing day of fragging and disembowling my friends at a LAN party. In between matches, we discuss how things are going in our respective lives:
One of my friends is looking forward to his marriage. I mean the guy already has it made. His wife is hot (of which I've made it abundantly clear), he's finishing up on remodeling his recently purchased home AND he's tuning a project car he bought from a moron that sold it to him for $500. The guy didn't know he just had to do a tune-up on the car to get it running. My friend has it running and now he's tuning it for some street racing!
Another friend just let me know that there is a possibility of computer related work at DLI in Monterey. He's already let me know what I've gotta freshen up on. He sent me some A+ certifictation study manuals and some Windows info that I'm gonna need to know about in the interview. I think I'll be ready for anything in about a month. That'll keep me in the timeline that I need turn in my application. I think I'm golden.
I know blogs should be more interesting but aren't blogs supposed to be almost like diaries? Every once in a while I'll post something that I think people HAVE to know if they don't want to be stuck in a rut. It can be work related or just something that needs to be said. I'll try to keep the political topics off of here because, even though I'm fairly well informed, it's not something that should be posted unless that's your thing.
So, here's my thought provoking "thought of the day" . . . it's work related.
If you are ever offered a promotion and you don't know if you should take it because you don't think you're capable, you're a moron. You have reason enough with being offered the job. Somebody has noticed what you've been doing. The PTB's don't just decide one day to promote or hire somebody. They have to make an informed decision like everyone else. Trust me when I say this: We are always watching!
GD
The weekend, after the blowup by the boss, I was scheduled for a nice relaxing day of fragging and disembowling my friends at a LAN party. In between matches, we discuss how things are going in our respective lives:
One of my friends is looking forward to his marriage. I mean the guy already has it made. His wife is hot (of which I've made it abundantly clear), he's finishing up on remodeling his recently purchased home AND he's tuning a project car he bought from a moron that sold it to him for $500. The guy didn't know he just had to do a tune-up on the car to get it running. My friend has it running and now he's tuning it for some street racing!
Another friend just let me know that there is a possibility of computer related work at DLI in Monterey. He's already let me know what I've gotta freshen up on. He sent me some A+ certifictation study manuals and some Windows info that I'm gonna need to know about in the interview. I think I'll be ready for anything in about a month. That'll keep me in the timeline that I need turn in my application. I think I'm golden.
I know blogs should be more interesting but aren't blogs supposed to be almost like diaries? Every once in a while I'll post something that I think people HAVE to know if they don't want to be stuck in a rut. It can be work related or just something that needs to be said. I'll try to keep the political topics off of here because, even though I'm fairly well informed, it's not something that should be posted unless that's your thing.
So, here's my thought provoking "thought of the day" . . . it's work related.
If you are ever offered a promotion and you don't know if you should take it because you don't think you're capable, you're a moron. You have reason enough with being offered the job. Somebody has noticed what you've been doing. The PTB's don't just decide one day to promote or hire somebody. They have to make an informed decision like everyone else. Trust me when I say this: We are always watching!
GD
Friday, January 14, 2005
Whew!
This week has been one of those weeks in which people seem to understand when working in a similar situation. No matter where you work. Let me explain . . .
I'm a supervisor for an Analytical lab that works primarily with compost from several mushroom farms. I have a manager who oversees my lab, a general lab (strain developement) and a growing lab. For the most part, he's been a pretty cool guy . . . until the last couple of months. I've been getting along fine with him and we usually walk during lunch for about an hour.
Let me say this as well. He is younger than I am. I have no problem with that. The problem I have is that he still acts like he's a kid at times. I'm 31 years old, he's 25. Not much of a descrepancy until you see him have a temper tantrum. It's like watching a 16 year old get pissed because he doesn't get his way.
This Monday, I had an employee let me know that she will have to take some sick time because of tendonitis. Not work related. She was in so much pain she wouldn't be able to work. She was in tears and she was tearing herself apart because of the problems that would cause us in the lab. Leaving us in a lurch and all. I told her to leave and take care of her problem. We would be able to handle it. I let my manager know the situation. I guess that sort of set the tone for what happened later.
Later that morning after I had a chance to get to my office, I find that my manager sent an e-mail to the Lab Manager and myself to send out reports. I didn't see anything wrong with that. If questioned why I hadn't sent out reports, I would have let him know that I was missing data that I would have by the afternoon and I would send all the reports I could. Unfortunately, he was in immature mode. He put a 2 foot by 3 foot sign on my whiteboard saying "SEND REPORTS". That pissed ME off.
I didn't say anything . . . at least not right away. I don't like talking to anybody when I'm pissed. Things just don't come out right and the situation can get really ugly. But later after lunch, I found him talking (I didn't know he was in lecture mode) to another lab tech. I told him the e-mail or the sign would have been sufficient on their own to get his message across that he was concerned about the reports. I jokingly stated that was a tad immature. Obviously that was the wrong thing to say. He said, "It's bullshit that you don't do what was asked of you! Total bullshit!", as he was walking away.
Suffice to say that I was stunned at how he just snapped. He didn't even give me a chance to explain myself. The other lab tech was completely taken by surprise by his reaction to me. She told me that was so wrong of him to do that.
The boy has had other instances of this occuring. He's pissed of the Lab Manager several times with his attitude. Some of us are still surprised that he hasn't been written up.
One thing I've decided though. I'm just going to have a professional relationship with him. No more buddy talks and of being in the upper echelons of the lab any more. I'm just gonna take care of business from now on and stay on top of everything. Maybe that's just what I needed. A wake up call to get my act together and start looking towards the future. After that incident, I was considering a farm managers offer of working for him. But I think I may be going back to school to get my BS or BA degree. My AAS degree in computer tech went nowhere. I need to get out of this lab. It's not fun any more.
GD
I'm a supervisor for an Analytical lab that works primarily with compost from several mushroom farms. I have a manager who oversees my lab, a general lab (strain developement) and a growing lab. For the most part, he's been a pretty cool guy . . . until the last couple of months. I've been getting along fine with him and we usually walk during lunch for about an hour.
Let me say this as well. He is younger than I am. I have no problem with that. The problem I have is that he still acts like he's a kid at times. I'm 31 years old, he's 25. Not much of a descrepancy until you see him have a temper tantrum. It's like watching a 16 year old get pissed because he doesn't get his way.
This Monday, I had an employee let me know that she will have to take some sick time because of tendonitis. Not work related. She was in so much pain she wouldn't be able to work. She was in tears and she was tearing herself apart because of the problems that would cause us in the lab. Leaving us in a lurch and all. I told her to leave and take care of her problem. We would be able to handle it. I let my manager know the situation. I guess that sort of set the tone for what happened later.
Later that morning after I had a chance to get to my office, I find that my manager sent an e-mail to the Lab Manager and myself to send out reports. I didn't see anything wrong with that. If questioned why I hadn't sent out reports, I would have let him know that I was missing data that I would have by the afternoon and I would send all the reports I could. Unfortunately, he was in immature mode. He put a 2 foot by 3 foot sign on my whiteboard saying "SEND REPORTS". That pissed ME off.
I didn't say anything . . . at least not right away. I don't like talking to anybody when I'm pissed. Things just don't come out right and the situation can get really ugly. But later after lunch, I found him talking (I didn't know he was in lecture mode) to another lab tech. I told him the e-mail or the sign would have been sufficient on their own to get his message across that he was concerned about the reports. I jokingly stated that was a tad immature. Obviously that was the wrong thing to say. He said, "It's bullshit that you don't do what was asked of you! Total bullshit!", as he was walking away.
Suffice to say that I was stunned at how he just snapped. He didn't even give me a chance to explain myself. The other lab tech was completely taken by surprise by his reaction to me. She told me that was so wrong of him to do that.
The boy has had other instances of this occuring. He's pissed of the Lab Manager several times with his attitude. Some of us are still surprised that he hasn't been written up.
One thing I've decided though. I'm just going to have a professional relationship with him. No more buddy talks and of being in the upper echelons of the lab any more. I'm just gonna take care of business from now on and stay on top of everything. Maybe that's just what I needed. A wake up call to get my act together and start looking towards the future. After that incident, I was considering a farm managers offer of working for him. But I think I may be going back to school to get my BS or BA degree. My AAS degree in computer tech went nowhere. I need to get out of this lab. It's not fun any more.
GD
Tuesday, January 04, 2005
Eventful Times
Well, my new year celebration was extremely eventful.
To start off, Thursday night I decided to spend some time with my uncle and cousins and decided to visit Mountain Mikes (it's a pizza joint). Along with pizza, we had hot wings, potato wedges and a couple of pitchers of Fosters. I basically had a pitcher to myself. I was feelin' good, though. When we got to their apartment, though, I decided to keep on going.
I must've had another six-pack while I was there. Hey, I knew I wasn't working the next day. Adrianna, says she has a bottle of JD (Jack Daniels) Black. Me in my beer ridden stupor grab the bottle from her and take a massive swig, which almost as quickly came back out. But I toughed it out and swallowed it. BAD idea.
A few minutes later, near the end of watching "Heathers", I really started feeling the booze. I got in my car and drove home before I got any worse. I know, don't drink and drive! I know I shouldn't have an excuse, but I only live about five minutes away. Also, there's a certain point where you KNOW you could something. I was almost at the point of not being able to do anything in about twenty minutes time.
I got home, took a whiz, and just like that . . . BAM the alcohol hit. I got into bed and woke up the next day feeling extremely tired. I was supposed to go to Santa Cruz and go bar hopping. I just didn't feel up to it at that time. A couple of my friends and I were supposed to meet there and party. Blah!
Six o'clock came around and Frankie shows up to go. He didn't look as bad as me but he was showing signs. We ended up going to Penny Farthings' British Pub. A nice warm place we usually hang out at and it's in town. After a tankard, we decided that we should go to SC. After all, all the college girls were gonna be there!
We get there and my other friends ended up in Capitola bouncing back and forth between Zeldas' and Margaritaville. Frankie and I stuck around in Santa Cruz having a blast. There are weird people there, but what better way to live life if not by your own rules, right. God! I love Santa Cruz!
GD
To start off, Thursday night I decided to spend some time with my uncle and cousins and decided to visit Mountain Mikes (it's a pizza joint). Along with pizza, we had hot wings, potato wedges and a couple of pitchers of Fosters. I basically had a pitcher to myself. I was feelin' good, though. When we got to their apartment, though, I decided to keep on going.
I must've had another six-pack while I was there. Hey, I knew I wasn't working the next day. Adrianna, says she has a bottle of JD (Jack Daniels) Black. Me in my beer ridden stupor grab the bottle from her and take a massive swig, which almost as quickly came back out. But I toughed it out and swallowed it. BAD idea.
A few minutes later, near the end of watching "Heathers", I really started feeling the booze. I got in my car and drove home before I got any worse. I know, don't drink and drive! I know I shouldn't have an excuse, but I only live about five minutes away. Also, there's a certain point where you KNOW you could something. I was almost at the point of not being able to do anything in about twenty minutes time.
I got home, took a whiz, and just like that . . . BAM the alcohol hit. I got into bed and woke up the next day feeling extremely tired. I was supposed to go to Santa Cruz and go bar hopping. I just didn't feel up to it at that time. A couple of my friends and I were supposed to meet there and party. Blah!
Six o'clock came around and Frankie shows up to go. He didn't look as bad as me but he was showing signs. We ended up going to Penny Farthings' British Pub. A nice warm place we usually hang out at and it's in town. After a tankard, we decided that we should go to SC. After all, all the college girls were gonna be there!
We get there and my other friends ended up in Capitola bouncing back and forth between Zeldas' and Margaritaville. Frankie and I stuck around in Santa Cruz having a blast. There are weird people there, but what better way to live life if not by your own rules, right. God! I love Santa Cruz!
GD
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