Mother

"Mother! Tell your children not to walk my way. Tell your children not to hear my words, What they mean, What they say . . ."
- Danzig

Yesterday as I was arriving home, I passed my mother. She waved frantically at me with a big smile, I waved weakly back. I guess that run-in had me thinking enough of her to have caused the following dream . . .

I find myself with her and her husband. She's driving to her business just outside of town (as far as I know she doesn't have a business) and drives up to a mail box where she punches in a code and she gets her mail. I know what you're thinking. You've never seen computerized mail box. Neither have I, which was weird but it's a pretty good idea!

Anyway, it appears her business is supplying convenience stores. We walk in to her warehouse and there are teens working inside. One of them drops something and I help him pick it up. The place is buzzing with activity. Everyone knows what to do. My mother still has that big smile on her face while she explains what's going on.

We go to another section of the warehouse that appears to have been converted to a shelter and chapel. My mother leaves me to prepare for her sermon. Her husband appears and begins telling me that they help the community by hiring the teens and help the homeless with shelter and counseling.

I wake up.

Now, as far as I know none of what happens in the dream is real. I don't believe she is involved with stores, warehouses, shelters, or chapels.

I don't talk to my mother. I don't know her.

GD

The Pixies

Well, last night I found a whole crapload of cd's I'd bought when I was in high school and a few years after graduating. I think I was the only one listening to The Pixies at my school. Everyone else was listening to KDON, a popular top 40 station. You know the kind, MC Hammer, Vanilla Ice, Boyz II Men . . .

Anyway, I just found some cd's I thought I'd lost or had stolen. I'm especiallly happy to have found all my Pixies cd's! I've just ripped them onto my pc. I'm ashamed to say that I also have some of those shameful top 40 albums (cough)hammer(cough)!

Since last night, I've probably listened to "Hey" about 20 times. That song just kicks ass! At work I just had my Rio Karma going all day with all the albums. Probably my favorite album is Death To The Pixies. It has some truly great live versions of their hits. The live versions of both "Hey" and "Where is my mind" are mind blowing. I get goosebumps every time!

I was also surprised to have found Nine Inch Nails' "Pretty Hate Machine". I gave a listen to it. It'd been a while. I finally listened to the lyrics after all these years. Pretty powerful stuff. That Trent sure had no luv for the guh'ment!

In the same genre, I also found Ministry's "Land of Rape and Honey". Boy, was I into some weird shit! I guess I was the typical angry youth. Of course, I was the quiet angry youth. My parents really had me in check then! I couldn't get away with almost anything.

Almost . . . >: P

GD

I luv my baby! <: (

For the last few months I've been putting off changing out my sparkplugs. I mean, to have it done at the stealership, it would'a run me almost $800!!!

At first, I didn't have the money. So I purchased everything I needed little by little. Then it was not knowing how to do it. So I went online and visited my New Beetle family on NewBeetle.org and searched the forums. Finally it was excuse after excuse: it was raining, it was too hot, it was too cold, I was too tired, I had to go to a party, I had to go to Penny Farthings (a pub) . . . excuse after excuse.

Well Tesla ,my New Beetle, finally said "ENOUGH!!!"

She put me in check. Literally! Her CEL came on. For those of you unfamiliar with automotive technical terminology, a CEL is a Check Engine Light.

When that happend, I nearly crapped my pants. I knew I was pushing it. That same day it was raining and cold, but I still changed out my sparkplugs. My fingers were raw and numb from the cold.

I know that once you've taken care of a problem, the CEL will clear and you can go about your merry way. My hadn't cleared. It took a whole week of driving and and reminding myself that it would eventually clear. It finally did.

But now I have an intermittent CEL. It's either my gas cap not tightend properly or the MAF sensor. The MAF is the Mass Air Flow sensor. It basically tells the computer how much air is available for the engine to use. Apparently the MAF is sometimes a problem in New Beetles.

I'm gonna wait until the CEL lights up again so I can take it to the stealership to read the code and figure out the problem.

Wish me luck!

GD

You're money, Baby!

Friday after work, I had dinner with mom. Later I was having a beer with a friend (Ernie) at Applebee's. A couple of hours after that I was on the road to Vegas . . . on a whim.

I got to Applebees a little after Ernie had arrived. I hadn't even finished my first beer when he gets a call from a friend of his asking if he wanted to go to Las Vegas. Ernie half-jokingly asked me if I wanted to go. We paid our tab, finished our beers and split!

We picked up some clothes and things, and left to pick up Ernies' friend, Raf.

When we got to Rafs' place, Raf and Mike were waiting. I've never met Mike, but he was coming along as well. We had room in Ernies' Vitara, so we all boogied.

We arrived in Vegas roughly at 3:30 in the morning. The Strip was kickin'! I mean the place was packed! People were cruisin' the Strip, music was blasting, people were drinkin' . . . and we had just arrived from an eight hour drive with no idea of where to start.

After cruisin' the Strip ourselves, we decided to head off to the Luxor (the black pyramid w/the Sphinx). We wandered a bit, hit a card table, lost some money, won some money and we separated into two groups. Ernie and I were done for the morning and we went to the car to nap. Raf and Mike were just getting started and kept on.

We woke up a couple of hours later and hit up a breakfast buffet next door to the Luxor, some castle looking casino that I can't remember the name of right now (great scrambled eggs). We hadn't seen Raf or Mike in a while and got back to the car for another nap. Raf and Mike arrive and woke us up and figured we should find a place to stay. We drove around some and found a ratty place for cheap.

Mike stayed to crash, Raf wanted to be dropped off somewhere and Ernie and I had slept enough to keep us going for the day.

After dropping off Raf at some chicks place he knew of (long story), Ernie and I took off to check out Fremont street. Now Fremont street is that one place you see in some movies/shows/commercials that has the ceiling that's a giant big screen. During the day, it's used as an awning. Nighttime is when the shows begin. As fortune would have it, we had arrived there at ten in the morning. No big screen shows for us.

We did the tourist thing and checked out the various shops and the clones of those shops and the clones of those shops. It was fun! We played cards at the Horseshoe just to say we did and lost some more money there. About three o'clock we called it quits and took off to the hotel to sleep some.

After a few hours of sleep, we took care of the three S's and had breakfast at Denny's. It was dark now and we figured we should be able to check out the Fremont street show now.

When we got there, the place was packed! All the kiosks were open now and selling their wares. There was this kick-ass artist there that would make awesome, detailed paintings with spray-paint. There were a couple of bands playing that were quite impressive. And the best part of all, some casino was selling monster cans of Fosters for a BUCK!!! Boy, did we take advantage of that! Whooo!

Well to make this long story short, we got back to the hotel about 1am, got some sleep, woke up about five, were on the road by 5:30 and arrived home at 1pm.

There's some more to this story but, I wanna have more material for later.

So much for the Histories!

GD

The Histories

I purchased a book about a year ago. It's probably something someone would read in Lit class. It's a book by Herodotus called The Histories. I like the era, I've read other books from about that time. I've picked it up several times since I bought it and I never get passed page 5.

Now, I've read the Oddysey say, ohhhh about fifty times since I discovered it in elementary school. I've read about ten different versions of it. I've read it with the protagonist called Oddyseus and Ullyses.

I've read the Illiad when I was in Junior high (not as good as the Oddysey). I've read Dantes' Inferno (GREAT read).

Julian (Gore Vidal) is one of my more recent re-reads. I've read that one about 5 time in the last two years. You pick up little details you missed the first (2nd, 3rd) time through.

What I'm trying to get at here is that I like that broad time period. So, why can't I get further than page FIVE in The Histories!

I am going to make the attempt this weekend to finish it. No, not an attempt. I AM going to FINISH IT!!!

GD

Hmm!

This is almost a perfect description of me . . .

You Are 55% Normal (Somewhat Normal)

While some of your behavior is quite normal... Other things you do are downright strange You've got a little of your freak going on But you mostly keep your weirdness to yourself

How Normal Are You?

Who would'a thunk?!

GD

Boy! I'm feeling productive today!

I usually only post once in a great while. This, I believe, is the first time that I'll be posting two in the same day!

The reason for the second posting today is that there are a couple of blogs that I read during work breaks. One of those blogs led me to a personal friend of the bloggers blog that I read regularly. The blogger had posted about a Zellers commercial (according to that blogger 'awesom oh', Zellers is a cheap Target rip-off). The commercial had a diddy in it that called to 'awesom oh'. 'awesom oh' had to find out who sang it and what song it was. The song is by The Be Good Tanyas. I myself never heard of them, but the blogger posted a link to the original video for the song (not the commercial). I must say, the blogger was right. It's very fun and addicting.

Now this brings me to another obscure band. Trailer Bride (Bloodshot Records).

Trailer Bride plays what I call Alternative Country. Please, don't get me wrong. I'm not a big fan of country music. But Trailer Bride is VERY different. My favorite album is Smelling Salts. My favorite song in the album is Graveyard.

You may recall a show on Fox called Freaky Links. One episode dealt with the ghost of a girl that would possess a pregnant woman who would play at her piano at some superhuman speed. At first everybody thought it was an original song. But the shows star (lets call him Dave) took a recording of what the pregnant lady was playing to an audio expert. Turns out after the expert analyzed the recording, that the tune wasn't one song. It was a medley of several classical songs from Mozart, Bach, Vivaldi . . .

After some investigating, Dave found out there was a high school girl who happened to be a piano prodigy who would play that same medley as a finale of her recitals. She had been expected to go to Julliard, but had disappeared from the face of the planet.

After receiving some clues from that girls ghost(lets call her Ann), they found out where the accident occured. They also found out Ann had been pregnant. Initially Dave thought the boyfriend had done it. But when they found him, he was so emotionally drained that they figured that he couldn't have done it. He had been despairing all this time over the loss of his soul-mate, Ann. Dave visits the mother a couple of times during the show. That's how Dave found out she was supposed to go to Julliard. The mother was very proud of her daughter and her abilities.

Well to get to the short of it, Dave finds out the mother did it. The girl hadn't wanted to go to Julliard. She had found her soul-mate and wanted to live the rest of her life with him and her baby. The mother was so upset at Ann being pregnant and what her daughter was giving up that she picked up the nearest thing at hand and smashed it up against her daughters head (the object she picked up happened to be a trophy the daughter had won in an International piano competition). The mother then took Anns body to an old gas station that was being rebuilt and dumped her daughter in an old empty oil tank and closed the lid.

The mother had thought Ann was dead. But Ann had woke up in a dark container. She was so horribly injured and had lost so much blood that she didn't have the strength to get up, let alone get out of the tank. And the worst part about it was that people were working right next to the tank, but Ann couldn't be heard because she was IN a tank. It took her days to finally die.

When they told the mother what they found out had happened, the mother was completely devastated. She had killed her daughter in a state of rage. But she didn't know that it had taken so long for her daughter to die.

In steps in Trailer Brides' Graveyard. OH! MY! GOD!!!

With that song and what had occurred, I got totally and thoroughly choked up. I almost started blubbering. That song made the episode. It finished it. I became a HUGE fan of that show after that episode and I was upset when they cancelled it. Duh! I should've realized that was gonna happen. It's Fox!

Trailer Bride. GET IT!!!

GD

New Book . . .

Last week I started reading Jack of Kinrowan. It just happens to be another Charles De Lint book with two books combined. Jack the Giant Killer and To Drink Down the Moon (I think). I read the first half of it (book one) in two days.

So far excellent read.

I began the last half (book two) last night. The character I thought was gonna be the main character was . . . well, let's just say she didn't make it past the second half very far. Totally and completely took me by surprise!

I got a feeling I'm gonna be hating tomorrow morning after only getting 3 hours of sleep.

GD

My Quirks

As usual, I've taken my time updating this thing called "The Try". Try as I might, circumstances get in the way of things and I can't keep up with what needs to be done. Well, "need" is not really the word in this case. More like "want".

I want to keep up this blog just so I can look back on it and see where my temperment and thoughts happen to lie at that particular time. I find it hard at times to write because I'm always thinking ahead and sometimes my typing can't keep up with what's on my mind at the time. If I just typed what was in my skull, the words wouldn't make sense. It'd be gibberish. And having a tad of OCD, I'd have to correct it before I could go along and lose my train of thought . . . or just get completely derailed and continue on a completely different track.

I try to think of ways to go a little quirky on these posts, but it never works out. I always get a chuckle from reading some other peoples blogs. Why can't I write like that? In person, I'd probably be one of the quirkiest people in your general vicinity. I'll try to be a little more quirky here!

GD

Rain, Rain . . . Go Away?!

It's a beautiful day in North Monterey County. The skies are cloudy and it's drizzling. Yesterday, there were downpours. There were flood warnings all over the radio. We even got an Emergency Broadcast warning about floods.

Usually there is a sandbar at the road I usually take to get home from where I work. Everytime I see it, I think I'm gonna get stuck. Tesla is short! All NB's are short! I'm always afraid I'm gonna get stuck on top of the damn sandbar. Thankfully, the sandbar hadn't built up enough to cause a problem.

Now, the reason I'm writing about the weather is because I actually look forward to rain. I've always been fascinated by it. I almost got fired from a job once because of it. It was years ago and I was working at Target and every time I would get to the front of the store, I would just stand there and watch the rain. Weird, huh?

So, back to the loving of the rain thing . . .
I've known people that get depressed because of inclement weather. It's been written about in journals and it's been on Oprah. So I'm pretty sure you know somebody like that (Hell, it might even be you!). Well, lately (last couple of days) I've been feeling down. I'm wondering if it's because of the weather? I haven't been as fascinated by the rain as usual. I miss the awesome feeling I get when watching the rain. It's peaceful and relaxing . . . and comforting.

You know, just writing that previous paragraph made me realize it's not the weather. I'm just getting sick! I'm thinking about it now and . . . I'm getting sick! It's such a subtle cold!

I'm taking tomorrow off and I'm gonna watch the rain!

GD

It could'a been a good day . . .

I know I said I'd get more in detail about my past and some of the crappy things that have occurred. But it is too beautiful a day to ruin thinking about sad and unhappy events.

The days this past week have been warm. Almost hot, but with a comfortable breeze. My lunchtime walks have been ok because of the breeze. I'm what people used to call fat people big-boned. But truth be told, I'm 200 pounds of muscle with 5o pounds of padding. It doesn't look right, which is why I surprise people when I can move with a quickness not typically reserved for big-boned people. I know how to move my frame around. I'm 5 foot six and I can intimidate, if there is a call for it. Otherwise, I'm the cuddly teddy bear who wouldn't hurt a fly.

In my thirty-one years, I've had to learn what make people tick. Give me an hour with you and I'll know what kind of person you are and can be. All my life I've been the spectator and I can read plays better than the players making them. I know when to back down, I also know how far I can push something or somebody. Like in Fight Club, I'm always sizing things up. I know my limits and how far to push them without breaking.

I know I make it sound like I'm all cock'n'balls, but I'm not. I truly enjoy making people happy. But in my opinion, you've always gotta be ready. Even with friends.

GD

Changes

Well, as you can see, I've changed the look of my blog. Not that many people will notice because I think I'm the only one that actually looks at this blog. But, as I've said before, this is not a useless cause. For me this blog is a practice into getting into my own feelings and emotions and learning to express them.

HA!! Sorry that was a little funny. Some people already question my sexuality. Even my family at times.

If you were to look at me now and interact with me, you would see a normal heterosexual male. I'm not disrespectful to women and I'm not a dog. Like everyone else, I have a select group of friends. I get along great with everyone. But if you get to know me, you can understand why some of my friends/family questioning my choices. I for instance have had ONE past relationship with a female. It went on for about a year. But we never went very far physically. Just kissing, hugging and a little touchy-touchy. You know, under the sweater over the bra sort of thing. Another thing, this relationship occurred over ten years ago.

As I was growing up, my life was a little skewed. I know this is going to sound like an Oprah/Springer show, but I had a mother who decided to hand me off to my fathers' wife. My mother must have been about 19. I was born when she was 15. My father was a year older. My parents didn't stay together very long after. But my father was a responsible father. He took care of his business. He later married when he was 20. Not long after my mother gave me to him and his wife. My fathers's wife has since become my real mother. I've had very little interaction with my birth mother.

There is still much to this bio that I'm not feeling very up to typing up at this moment. But, you will be seeing more about it. You will understand why some people think certain things about me and still not understand.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not wanting people to think I'm a sob case. Far from it. Because of the life I've lead and the things I've seen, I know my life has been excellent. Just as in movies they say there is always someone stronger, the opposite is true as well. There is always someone worse off than you.

GD

Whoo! It's been a while since last I posted. Maybe this whole diary slash whatever isn't working out as well as I'd hoped. Anyway . . .

There are a few blogs I read that are interesting. On one blog (http://baabblublog.blogspot.com/), Baablu had a weird thing on her post (well, not weird) that I thought was pretty cool. Below is what I chose to do. Baabblu chose to use The Dave Matthews Band. Me, I chose Tool. I found it a little difficult to do, but it works . . .

Describe yourself using one band and song titles from that band
Created by naw5689 and taken 17636 times on bzoink!
Choose a band/artist and answer only in song TITLES by that band:	Tool
Are you male or female:	Jimmy
Describe yourself:	The Patient
How do some people feel about you:	Useful Idiot
How do you feel about yourself:	Third Eye
Describe your ex girlfriend/boyfriend:	Eon Blue Apocalypse
Describe your current girlfriend/boyfriend:	Blank
Describe where you want to be:	Merkaba
Describe what you want to be:	No Quarter
Describe how you live:	Sober
Describe how you love:	Opiate
Share a few words of wisdom	Die Eier Von Satan
Create a Survey | Search Surveys | Go to bzoink!

GD

Sac NB GTG

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!

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

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

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

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

Time for New Years Resolutions

Last time I tried posting was about a year ago. Well I think I should try to keep a more regular update of this blog. I didn't think the blog would still be available to me. Guess what? It still is. Now that I have a better understanding how this thing works, I should be a little more comfortable with the blog.

You may be reading rants here every once in a while. I mean, who doesn't rant on a blog. That's what people like reading. Right?!
You may be reading a joke every once in a while that I find particularly funny. I have joke that always gets people laughing whenever I tell it. That'll be for another time though. Suffice it to say that it involves a toy craze from a few years ago.

If you've read the profile (or seen the photo), you may guess that I like New Beetles. I may post something involving my baby and me. That's what Tesla is to me. My Baby. If you're interested in New Beetles and the NB community, check out the New Beetle Forum (www.newbeetle.org). That's where I got the idea for the hubcaps on Tesla.

Now the only resolution I have for this year is to attempt to keep a regular account of my misadventures if possible. If anybody reads this blog and feels a need to voice an opinion, has an idea, just wants to be heard . . . email me. I should be available.

That's it for now. Luv ya' and take care!

GD