here's hoping I'm misdiagnosing, but I think the pooperdog is within her last week or two on this planet, judging by her shallow breathing, and even bigger pauses between breaths, while sleeping, the slower she's gotten on our (then) 1 mph walks, with moments of stopping and staring at apparently nothing for long spells, and her belly-flops she sometimes takes while climbing the 3 porch stairs because of little or no power left in her hind legs.  I help her into the truck yesterday so we could take one of our 'Sunday drives'.  it's been good to spend the whole week with the ol' girl.  here's hopin' she bows out peacefully in her sleep, when the time comes... *sniffle*

on a lighter tip, I get some stuff that's supposed to rejuvenate rubber seals on cars. I buy it initially to help seal the deck lid (trunk) of the Pontiac Solstice, but since that's in the shop, I use it on the shrimpy truck this morning (after hitting McD's for breakfast).  good gawd there's a lot of rubber on a Ford Ranger!  the seal around the back window and windshield, the door rubber, the side window seals, etc.  dude, I may have to buy a new bottle of this stuff for my Pontiac.  it's 3/4's gone already.  speaking of the Pontiac, I drove it to the mechanic Friday.  they said they'd look at it tomorrow.  I hope like crazy it's something minor. I don't have a lot of credit card left after fixin' that truck.  oh well. [news at 11]. 

windows open in the wood-panel submarine to let in some of that cool fall air in, brings on that familiar noise that rolls 'round every time, this time of year, from my crazy neighbor. Ron (aka: Chas Manson) breaks out that goddamn leaf blower again.  if you've read any of my disgruntled posts in the past, you'll know he takes way too long with that jet engine sounding machine...I guess I'll have to pay him off again this year, or hand him a rake. Brian (almost neighbor/room mate) says he'd rather go over there and shove it up his ass.

anyway, I should hit the rack, so I can be awake for tonight's 'welcome back to hell at the stalag' stint.  ready, GO!

I pick up my shrimpy truck today.  the clutch feels a bit more responsive, and it rides a little better with the new shocks, but is it all worth 1300 clams?  YES!  and this is how I justify it...as long as it pulls me thru this winter (without something else expensive breaking down) it is indeed worth it. I know if I was to dump it in the condition that it was in, I'd have gotten next to nothing for it, plus I'd then have to hope that the winter snow wouldn't get too deep for that toboggan I call the shrimpy batmobile to get stuck (forgive me, I'm still mulling over the expensiveness in my head -again- because I'm severely Dutch....I'll get over it).  I drop the Pontiac off to the mechanic in exchange for the finished truck.  here's hopin' the batmobile won't be near as expensive [news at 11].

alright, he's a good week late on a portion of his rent, but he's now in good standing.  kind of.  he lost his wallet a couple weeks ago, and he was ready to go on a date.  I offered the only cash I had which was $24 (the remainder of the cash he gave me for rent after I went grocery shopping).  fast forward to yesterday, and he gives me $60 for the cable bill and $20 for the money I lent him.  I hesitate for a sec being he's $4 off. he breaks in, saying "what? you lent me $20, right?", "no dude, it was $24 but it's close enough".  he's always giggin' me on how "Dutch" I am (when I'm not accusing myself about it), and he can't seem to remember the exact amount I lent him?  ya try and be a nice guy and look what it gets ya? I know, it's only $4, right? but it's the principal (said as only a Dutch guy would). I'm not gonna borrow a book and then return it with the cover ripped off asking "what....?"  alright, you get the point.

now that I got my truck back, I'm able to throw a couple empty LP gas tanks (for da grill) in the back and drive 'em to the filler upper place.  whilst there, I pick up a gauge that hooks nicely to the LP bottles so one has a better idea as to when they're getting empty.  also, I hit Kozak's 2 for lunch (gyro everything plus Feta cheese and a root beer...mmmmms!). I hit Grainger's for a couple pair of safety glasses (with reader lenses), and my favorite beer store for a 12'er of Schlitz. once home, it's time to hide the car keys and relax.

it truly is becoming autumn.  the wind is picking up, blowing the leaves off from the trees (they haven't become fruit loop trees yet, but they're on their way). the shorter days, the cool rain.  it won't be long and I'll be busting out that rake...

anyway, the pooperdog and I just got back from a star lit pooperdog walk.  speaking of stars, the other night, I do believe I accidentally witnessed a star collapse (or whatever phenom ya wanna call it).  it got real big, then the light simply vanished after imploding into nothing. I keep staring, thinking the next thing to happen will be an outward explosion, but there was nothing.  maybe it was simply the over abundance of Schlitz back-firing in my foldy brain?  or it really was the death of a star...I may never know which.  speakin' of beers, I believe I have some left. it sounds kinda good right now, being the last time I can drink before heading back to the stalag.  good gawd, there I go again, talking about work.  I need another distraction:

yeah, that's better  *cracks a coldey and reflects upon the beauty that is Playboy's Dani Mathers*

last couple runs with my shrimpy batmobile didn't reveal that goofy choking and chugging...I can only hope it was a tank of bad gas

cleaned out the shed, putting the snow blower by the door for ease of access (if'n we don't replay last years weak winter).  gave  a 5 gallon pale of drywall mud (that I was storing in the closet for no reason) to a neighbor who's currently revamping his wood-panel submarine.  cleaned/washed my shrimpy batmobile, knowing it'll rain like hell today...it's supposed to be a wet weekend.  that's OK, my week away from the stalag was mostly nice weather anyway. I'll prob'ly have one more beer soaked  (hide the car key) day, then will have to be all sober like for next weeks worth of work.  oof!  I'm already thinkin' about work.  gotta find something to avert those thoughts...

oh yeah, that's better.  it's been forever since I posted a 3/4 naked 1/2 my age chick photo.  the baseball theme 1920x1080 desktop pic is for Brian (almost neighbor/room mate), of whom uses this 'puter every now and then. he says after last nights game and all the knee problems, he's hangin' up his softball mitt. I'm thinkin' this is the first of many Brett Favre style retirements...we'll see.

after a day of my shrimpy truck being in the shop, I answer a voice-mail as to what he thinks needs to be done.  first he claims that there is a broken [whats-it] on the master cylinder of which they have to pull the transmission to fix, so I'd be foolish not to change the clutch plate and throw out bearing while it's torn off, then he gives me a quote for a bad brake line that needs replacing, ending with the gas tank straps look like they're ready to rust completely off, and the back shocks are in bad shape.   he may have mentioned a couple other things (replacing all 4 wheel cylinders due to the old having broken brake bleeder whatUcallits, etc.), but I was in a state of Dutch shock when he gave me the estimated cost to fix of all this.  $1300! (didn't I just buy a newer car, so I could avoid throwing money away?).  now, I could have whittled a couple things off the list (well, maybe one...the shocks), but I told him to go ahead and fix it all.  meanwhile, I'm thinkin' I'd prob'ly only get about 13 for it if I turned around and sold the damn thing, but I do like the ol' bomb and if it gets me thru another winter (or two), it'll be a good investment.  one never knows putting that kind of dough (D'oh!) into a 15 year old wreck.  today, I make the gamble...

passed out during the Cowboys/Giants game last night, so I never did find out who won (I'll google it).  spent some time cleaning yesterday morning, sweeping/mopping the kitchen floor, cleaning out all the partial cans of paint I stored for years in the cupboard built into the kitchen island, as well as clean out the cupboards above the washer and dryer (good gawd! I store a lot of crap).  it feels good to clean.  maybe today, I'll get in that shed and straighten things out, so I can get the snow-blower out when needed (it's kind of buried at the moment). Brian grills up some pork, baked tators, and corn before the football game (mmmmmmmms!).  he sees his doctor about knee replacement yesterday. the doc tells him he's a good candidate for it, but doesn't wanna perform the surgery claiming he's too young...he wants it done in a bad way, so he'll see another doctor today.  meanwhile, in the same breath, he tells me he just signed up for a fall softball league, of which he's always icing something after every game.

using the shrimpy batmobile to hit my favorite beer store, pulls the same chokin' and pukin' thing.  it only occurs while the car is warming up, then it smooths out into its normal ride.  I gotta let my mechanic know (when he's finished with my truck, of course). it'll be good to have two solidly working vehicles. it'll take some time for my wallet to recover, but what the hell, right?

otherwise, just another slack filled day.  drink beers, plays some Crysis2, watch more episodes of TedTV, it was kind of a half a rainy day to do anything outside, but relaxing none-the-less...

pooperdog looks at me as if to say 'I'm ready for our barefoot pooperdog walk, dad'

awesome!  I download Crysis 2 [PS3], now that the price has fallen under $20.  it's so much cooler than Crysis (1)!  now that I have purchased it, it'll prob'ly be next months game offered for free (much like they did after I bought Infamous 2...).  I play a bunch of it last night whilst snarfing more of my favorite oatmeal stout ('The Poet' by New Holland Brew).  that makes about game number 30 on my hard drive, most of which I have barely started and abandoned. (I WILL get back to them as soon as I find time betwixt stints at the stalag, and as the weather gets wintery).

Brian (almost neighbor/room mate) just gets back from the doctor with news about not only having to have knee surgery, but surgery on both his hands.  he's kinda bummed because he's the type that is active in sports and muscle head shit.  we find out tomorrow whether I need to drop him off at the hospital Thursday.  meanwhile, he helps me bring my shrimpy truck into the shop (brake line leak and clutch). they're supposed to look at it tomorrow and give me the bad news as to how much it's gonna cost to bring it up to snuff. I get a new code on my diagnostic machine as I drive my batmobile to the beer store. [p0102] something to do with the air/fuel mixter dealy.  it pulled the same sputtering and choking thing  as it did before.  oh well. once my truck gets fixed, this one will be next (I can't wait to see the bill on these combined fixes).

Brian almost seemed mad that I beat him to mowing the lawn.  I borrowed Jays mower (yep, now that they blew mine up, they finally went and bought one) and cut and trim along the driveway unt sidewalk. I jump in the truck and buy me some autumn style fertilizer.  the grass currently looks like solid crabgrass, but it I can weed and feed it now, it'll look like a real lawn next spring.  I borrow the neighbors broadcast spreader and fertilize away.  otherwise, not a lot else gets done except drink beers and try and get a sun burn *belch!*

while most are taking a relaxing day off from work to celebrate Labor Day, more importantly, HAPPY CHARLEY SHEEN'S 47TH BIRTHDAY!  alright, took the shrimpy batmobile for a spin this morning, to see if I could get stranded somewhere with the engines choking and puking issues it had demonstrated earlier.  driving it for a good half an hour, I only run into roughness within the first 5 minutes...after that, all seems golden.  maybe I simply had water in the tank, or if it is something more, it sure didn't show up on the dummy lights.  it feels good to ride the silly dune buggy once again.  knowing now that it's something minor (so far), I can call in tomorrow and have my truck looked at [leaking brake line, and squishy clutch pedal/clutch plate replacement].  Brian (almost neighbor/room mate) says he'd help me drop it off (awesome!)

beer of choice for day 2 of my vacation was Moose Head Lager....

[...]

*sneeze attack...hang on, I gotta blow by doze*

it all started when I noticed little chew marks on the corn cob holders within the silverware drawer. I take the silverware holder out to find mouse droppings and little chunks of plastic.  nice!  we got mice [again]...Squabber, you're supposed to keep them varmints out. oh well. I got a cat that isn't a mouser, and a dog who'd welcome any burglar with a waggy tail, then roll over on her back inviting said burglar to rub her belly. they're still the coolest little fuzzy mammals this side of the Chatahootchy.  anyway, I empty all the utensils into the dishwasher, dump the droppings and chewed plastic in the trash, then take the drawer outside on the porch and spray it/wipe it clean with bleach cleaner.  then air dry it.  later, Brian stumbles into the house with it, dropping it on the floor (like he did his pork chops a couple weeks back) and prob'ly loosening the cheap corner staples (holding the drawer together...yeah, you know where this is going).  that night, I put the drawer in, put the newly washed tray back in and all the silverware, simply to have the drawer disintegrate in front of me, and hit the floor again, leaving a flotsam and jetsam trail of once clean silverware back on the floor .  I throw all the silverware back into the dishwasher and throw the drawer outside, to be worked on the next day.  I busted out the countersink drill bit, the drill itself and some Elmer's glue and screwed and glued all the cheaply stapled drawers, then once again put in the now clean tray/silverware.  good gawd! what a calamity! I'll have to get some mouse traps and place them where Squab' can't reach...

you'd know the last work day before a vacation seems to drag on for an eternity, but once done, I feel free!  I've got 9 days off to slack hard!  come to find out, Brian has this week off too.  dammit! I think he had the week off during my last vacation (?!).  can't I get some time for myself?  not that he's always in the way, but when he is home, he's somewhat loud and rude.  I could go for less of that.  oh well. his mom just left for California, so he says he'll prob'ly stay there to take care of her cats (cool!).  he finds out this week if he needs a full knee replacement surgery.

watch a bunch of 'TED tv' episodes on Netflix.  the Kid told me about the show way back, but this is the first I've checked it out.  pretty awesome!  also, I start the Showtime series 'The Tudors', of which someone at work said was pretty cool.  it starts out with a bang, let's see where it goes from here

Brian (almost neighbor/room mate) and I hit the store yesterday for some T bone steaks, baked tators and corn on the cob to be grilled before the big Michigan/Alabama game.  the food was great, the game was a disaster! Michigan got steam rolled.  we turned it off at halftime when the score was 6 to 31 (or some such bad news).  the pooperdog and I take a walk, while Brian retreats into his room (popcorn in hand) to watch a movie (as he often does....).

otherwise, nothing new. barefoot pooperdog walks, sixers of oatmeal stout (after hiding the car keys from myself), and general slackedness ensue...

the absurdities are piling up.  I'm sure I've posted most of them in the past, I prob'ly forgotten some, like almost every machine in the break room, including pop machines, the ice/water machines, some of the coolerators, one punch-in clock, all have 'out of order' labels on them.  we're beginning to think 'out of order' is the company's new name.  they bring in another ice machine (the kind you see at stores that hold bags of ice) to keep people from overheating, simply to find out there's no one available with a key to unlock it, during the night shift. anyway, they installed some new transformers which messed up all the time clocks.  we make jokes that they'll prob'ly just put 'out of order' signs over every clock rather than fix the problem[].  it took a good couple days for them to fix.  another absurdity is the boss comes out with a memo from the front office stating if you forgot your punch-in card, you'll have to go home and get it.  now, I like this idea, primarily because, you should be on time with the items you'll need (safety glasses, gloves, sleeves, card, lunch, etc), and it'll weed out the chronic slackers who always show up late and claim they were here, and get paid for it.  the problem is, it's not until a day or so later that the boss let's you know that your punch didn't go thru.  Kent found this out today.  the boss asked him why he only punched out for yesterday.  he then explains (after Kent says he did indeed punch in) that he'll not only get docked for the whole 10 hours, he'll have to use one of his sick days to cover it...plus he worked the entire 10 hours (triple whammy!). he says he'll talk to HR, trouble is, there's no HR that covers anything but first shift, so he'll have to come back after 8 am...we decided (after hearing this story) that we should either punch in 7 to 10 times each time, or each of us bug the hell out of the boss to make sure our punches took.  both would be fun, and prob'ly would quickly make them change their policy (or make it work to both theirs AND our benefit).  Mark suggests they should have a boss taking roll call right at the beginning of each shift and make sure everyone who's there, on time, and ready to work, be accounted for on the attendance computer.  great idea!  then, those who don't show a punch would only be minutes late (at worst) instead of hours, etc.. that'd prob'ly make everyone happy. something's gotta give.  I'm not gonna wonder if I'm working for free everyday.

anyway, once again, our new boss lady (not the old one from the first paragraph, who now works the next line over, of whom still thinks he runs our line) let us go an hour and a half early (shweet!)

on the way to the stalag, my car was acting like the fuel filter is bad.  it was buckin' and chokin' like the tank was bone dry, yet I filled it up just yesterday. I was closer to home then work, so I turned it around and choked and bucked back home [no crazy dummy lights came on or nothing!]. I jumped in my shrimpy truck and made it to work on time. it's good to have a back-up vehicle, even though both need maintenance attention of one sort or another.  I got next week off, I'll try and see if I can get both in and up to snuff

the pooperdog and I just got back from a walk, then I made some english muffins with PB&J and a big glass of milk (mmmmms!).  now it's off to sleep so I'm a wide awake zombie tonight

I wake up last night to see the Lions are beating the Raiders, just to have the game go completely south in front of my eyes.  they got steam-rolled!  I should have slept thru it, they might've won....

catch up on a bunch of episodes of "That Mitchell and Webb Show" (via Netflix) whilst imbibing in some Sam Adams 'Oktoberfest' (mmmmmmmmmmms!). lawn chair sun surfing and vacuuming out the shrimpy batmobile are a few other relaxing events that occurred on my one day weekend.  otherwise, nothing new....barefoot pooperdog walks, power-naps, and the usual stuff.  I hit McDonald's this morning for breakfast, and now it's time to hit the rack so I can get my 8 in before heading back to the stalag.

HOLY CRAPPAGE!  that was a longgg ass week!  we did a 10 hour day on Monday, then 12'ers for the whole week.  we gotta work tonight yet, but it's only an 8 hour night.  we got a new boss and she's pretty cool (so far).  she doesn't seem lame like the past 3 or 4...

I buy me some custom arm rests for my dune buggy so as the plastic bathtub like interior has a bit more of a comfort factor to it.  it worked!  both my elbows have a padded leather cushion to squish into instead of hard plastic.  it was a bit expensive, but it adds a LOT to the ride!

alright, so yesterday morning, after work, I hit the store, 'cause I'm out of cereal.  they have a 4 for $10 sale on grape nuts (huge fan of the grape nutses!).  when I came home, I had me a big ol' bowl topped with  some honey (and of course milk).  I didn't get but half way thru the bowl when I realized that I had busted a tooth completely in half!  not a wisdom tooth, but the not so smart one in front of that, leaving a jagged ass sharpness where the break had happened.  there is no pain involved, but I gotta have it looked at soon, so it doesn't get that bad.  now I got 4 boxes of cereal that I don't dare to eat for fear that I might injure the broken toofus more, or worse yet, break another toof.  a fellow co-worker says it'll prob'ly cost me a good $800 deductible to cap the tooth...no it won't.  not if I just have them yank the damn thing, or better yet, maybe I'll use a figure skate and do it here at home (ala 'Cast away' style).  maybe (pending there's still no pain by then) I'll schedule an appointment during my week off, so I don't use another sick day *plan*

let's see...what else?  nothing.  work, work some more, pooperdog walk, sleep, pooperdog walk, work some more (lather, rinse, repeat). looks like a 1 day weekend, but I'm good with that being I have the first week of September off.

this morning, we get out of work an hour and a half early (shweet!!). did I mention I like our new boss?!  awesome!

[...] oh oh. seems I woke Brian (almost neighbor/room mate) up [unintentional pay back for when he comes home during his lunch break and slams doors, and what-not]. he claims he's sicker than a dog and is gonna blow today off.  I hope I don't catch that shit....I can't have a broken toofus, and a damn cold

good gawd! ya ever have one of those really long dreams where you can't find the bathroom, only to wake up having to pee real bad...?  yep, I just woke up from one. well, just before the barefoot pooperdog walk we just took, that is.  too cloudy to star gaze and just cool enough for that spring jacket.

I'll stay awake for a bit this morning, then maybe hit the rack again 'round 9, so I can get a solid 8 hours of sleep in before work tonight. I power-napped a lot this weekend (between beers), which, playing catch-up is good, due to that 12 hour work schedule being completely unconducive (word?) to getting the proper rest.  I also catch up on a couple of super hero movies that I missed along the way (via Netflix).  the first, being 'Thor', the second was 'Captain America'.  both entertaining, both having their smallish Stan Lee cameo. it's fun. I guess I was in a super hero movie mood.

otherwise, nothing new...barefoot pooperdog walks (she's still doing good, for an ol' dog), beer drinkin' and power-naps.  I can't wait for that week off [coming up the first of September], so I can do it all over again.

I wonder when I'm supposed to go back to work? I'll assume it'll be a 12 hour start (6pm)...maybe I'll give Mark (fellow stalag inmate) a call and find out.

alright, I think a good 54 hours is enough for one week, yet they wanna squeeze 12 more hours in this weekend.  I take one of my "sick days", due to the fact that I'm already exhausted....I got about 2 3/4's sick days left for the year, and we're already 1/2 way thru the 8th month, so I'm sittin' pretty good.

reformat and reinstall Windows 7 on my desktop so I can give it away.  Lew, at work, expressed interest in the old boat anchor for his son, so I'll bring it in for him.  I got a 27 inch CRT TV I gotta find a home for too.  it's a stone age TV just taking up space in an all ready cramped wood-panel submarine.  hopefully someone can get some use out of that boat anchor as well...

last night, I enjoyed my freedom away from the stalag by (what else?) drinking beer and washing my car.  this morning, I hit McDonald's for a steaky bagely thing (mmms!) then clean the windows and the interior (of the shrimpy bat mobile).  it's lookin' good [until the next rain gets it all spotty]!  I stop off to my favorite beer store and buy me a sixer of Poet (oatmeal stout) and am currently hangin' out on the porch with the ol' dog.  nice weather.  in the 70's and mostly sunny.  this morning's pooperdog walk was kind of brisk, it bein' in the 50's.  here comes autumn!  it won't be long 'til those fruit loop trees come back in bloom.  anyway, nothing on the agenda, but maybe a good power-nap on the lawn chair, and a cool beer buzz *belch!*.

I turn in my vacation slip for the first week in September and get an approved signed copy back.  shweet!  taking a whole week off means you have the weekend before and the weekend after free from any and all mandatory overtime, which is awesome in itself.  that's two weekends that I don't have to wonder at the last minute whether I gotta work 'em or not.  we get the bad news yesterday that we're going back on 12 hour shifts.  dammit!  oh well, a little extra OT won't hurt. it'll help pay off this new 'puter faster.  we'll find out tomorrow (or by phone) whether we gotta work this weekend or not?  here's hopin' I can get 2 good days of beer drinkin' in.

otherwise, a good pooperdog walk after work, along with a bowl of honey bunches of sand burrs, a quick shower, then off to slumber-land for 8 quick hours (right after I hit the 'save entry' button). a barefoot pooperdog walk before work will follow, then 12 hours of fun at the stalag.

it feels good to divorce the car from its incompetent dealership.  now if the car doesn't drop a tranny or crack the block within the next 3 years, I'll feel even better.  I'm not worried about it.  cars have come and gone with repairs that didn't put me in the poor house that were under no warranty as well, so all is good. now I gotta make the call to my mechanic and see if he can fix it...I know, the normal person would scream bloody murder until they got the problem fixed, but in this case, being the dealer is so far away, and wasn't willing to fix what they "owed" me to begin with...bye bye. I'm sure they're not crushed by my decision either.  they prob'ly get their share of grumpy-ass car owners.  I'll let them take over. I don't need the stress.

we've had lower production numbers, these past couple days, at the stalag. seems the machinery did a 180 from last week and is breaking down a lot.  we have ourselves a meeting last night.  1st; we hear we're losing our boss, and (2nd) we're officially changing our hours from 8pm to 4am (instead of 10pm to 6am) which doesn't even matter, due to the fact that we're working every day now from 8pm to 6am anyway. which prompts me to think 'how does the company benefit from that change?' (because you know they didn't change it for our sake). anyway...

I gotta call the cable guy tomorrow and get me one of those DVR's.  it be almost football season, and it would be good to be able to tape the game *puts DVR on to-do list*

...gotta get ready for the stalag

after a good week in the shop, and a hundred clams later, I pick up my car yesterday, just to find out it has the same god damn engine light trouble, with the exact same diagnostic code.   WTF?!?!  DID THEY EVEN OPEN THE HOOD? good gawd! I can't do a damn thing at this point, being I picked it up after hours and they won't reopen 'til Monday morning.

[...] pause for a midnight barefoot pooperdog walk.  the stars are out in full blaze tonight.  awesome!

[continuing on...] I'm thinkin' I'll simply let them know my disappointment and tell them to jam their fancy warranty, then bring it to my own  mechanic here in town it's a good 40 mile round trip to bring it back to the dealer, and I'm thinkin' if they can't fix it right the first time, I'm not gonna tear my hair out on a nightmarish merry-go-round dealing with incompetent bullshit wannabe's (I've been thru that scenario in the past. this time I'll cut my loss and move on, but yes, I will let them know of my disappointment on Monday).  it is good to have the dune buggy back.  I missed driving the little toy. 

anyway. this weekend was filled with sixers of craft brew, catching up on missed shows (the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, etc) power-naps, pooperdog walks, and playing some online billiards (via PS3) as well as watching the Lions lose, diggin' on Olympic events and what not.  it's good to unwind knowing the stalag will prob'ly throw us another 50-60 hour work week come Sunday night.

little bit of house cleanin' and then on to my favorite Gyro drive-thru (kozaks II) to get me that Gyro with everything plus Feta cheese with a root beer (mmmmmmmmmmmmms!).

anywayzzzzzzzz, you'll prob'ly notice that my last couple of entries are in the wee hours of the morning.  my new laptop has a lighted keyboard that allows me to type in the dark.  it's pretty awesome!

we've been doing big numbers on such a skeleton crew at the stalag, being Lewis is in Los Vegas for 2 weeks, Jodie just got back from her vacation, and Kent started his a couple days ago.  so it was a surprise when we're told that we had to work Friday (normally working Sunday thru Thursday).  initially the schedule that they posted on the board said we have that day off, but a new schedule shows both Friday and Saturday work.  the 5-10 hour days are grueling enough, we gotta do more?!  of course, we're told if we do at least 1100 parts we'll have the weekend off, just to have the boss say come on in, unless you're called and told otherwise, even though we exceeded that number.  I looked at my phone in hopes that that call came in...nope. no sign of a 'missed call' or a 'voice mail'.  the one thing I didn't check (until it was just me and Nathan sitting in the break room wondering where everyone else was) was my text messages.  I'll be damned!  there it is! he texted me.  dammit!! I could have already had me some Lager.  fock that stupid set-up of theirs.  why the hell can't they simply tell us before we leave Friday morning (Thursday night)?!?!  it's amazing the shit they pull...first we have to work overtime, then we don't, then come in unless you get that call that tells you otherwise.  JESUS!! it's fockin' nuts!! we prob'ly ought to get some type of 'on call' pay, I'm thinkin'.

I miss my dune buggy.  they were able to fix it at the dealership, but insisted I paid the $395, telling me I had waited too long to get it fixed under their "we owe" agreement, so I asked if it was covered by that expensive warranty that I had bought?  she calls me back with a 'yes' answer, but I'll have to pay a $100 deductible.  nice.  anyway, it's been in the shop for a good week.  they gave me a call on Thursday saying it was done, but I won't be able to grab it 'til tomorrow being I had no one to drive up there with me (it, being a half an hour drive north of here) until this weekend. Brian (almost neighbor/room mate) volunteered to help tomorrow at 3pm (shweet!).  meanwhile, I've been driving my shrimpy truck to work and back, and wouldn't ya know it, the damn brake lights came on [it's always something, right?].  I check the brake fluid and it's way down.  I'm thinkin' I got a leak somewhere, but as long as I keep a bottle of brake fluid handy, I can top it off before driving it until I make an appointment to get that fixed.

it turns out the Kid was just using word play when he claimed he broke his leg on facebook.  I gotta stop taking everything so literal, I guess....

I bought me a replacement 'puter for that stone age desktop via the introweb.  it's a pretty awesome laptop.  tomorrow I'll dispose of the old boat anchor desktop and make way on my 'puter desk for the new model.

I do some online banking today and find a good $375 to put toward debt [after my 60 hour check was electronically deposited], plus make an extra payment (of $135) toward the Kid loan. it's good to have that money thing go in the right direction

tonight, I do me some New Holland brew [the Poet] and watch the D'troit Lions lose to the Browns.  I also catch up on some 'Breaking Bad', 'that MITCHEL and WEBB look' (via netflix), and do us a midnight pooperdog walk as well.  I'm tripping over my lower jaw (whilst yawning), so I guess it's a good time to crash.

already we're told that we gotta work this Friday night, but the line that makes rails for us is falling behind, so, like last week, we'll prob'ly get that call saying don't come in *crosses fingers*

being that both my cars (the shrimpy bat mobile and the shrimpy truck) have had engine lights come and go, I buy me one of those diagnosticators that plug into your cars computer (OBD II).  the truck has some sort of compression problem with the plug misfiring in cylinder 3 (prob'ly 'cause it's old and tired). I clear the engine light, and it's good to go for a couple months until it gives me the same reading.  the shrimpy batmobile, on the other hand, has the engine light come on every time you start it.  I bought the car with the light on.  the dealer assured me that it was prob'ly a loose gas cap. I had autozone check it initially and they said it was prob'ly due to dirty oil.  fast forward to my first oil change, and the guy tells me (without me telling him about the engine light) that who ever changed the oil last (which was the auto dealer) had left the old oil filter in, and mentions that if I had driven it any further that it could've caused damage to the engine.  I call the auto dealer and tell them what I've learned and of course, they deny any filterless oil change, but will be happy to look at the problem this coming Monday.  Brian said he'd help me drive it to the dealer on Sunday where I'll drop the key in the slot and let them do there thing.  I think I got my ass covered because I was able to get them to sign an 'I owe' sheet stating that if the engine light is STILL on after 2 weeks of ownership, they'd take care of it, and if that doesn't fly the repair should be covered by that platinum warranty that came with it.  the car otherwise seems fine and is a blast to drive! one other small annoyance is the trunk seems to leak bad when I bring it thru a car wash.  I wet vac and let it dry in the sun while I sleep. the easy solution is never bring it to a car wash.  I get no trouble when I wash it by hand.  I'm thinkin' the design that has the trunk lid close against the convertible top isn't made to take pressure washes.  anywho, once this car is up to snuff (engine light wise), I gotta make an appointment for the clutch job on that truck before winter befalls us...

anyway.  gotta get ready for another stint at the stalag.

everyone rotates from station to station, on the hour.  your job is to do what needs to be done on the assembly line plus (and it's a big 'plus') do secondary work between cycles to assure the next guy is set up for parts.  clean up and make sure there's small parts and labels stocked.  most times your following the same person, and if that person does the bare minimum (which, about three of 'em out of the 12 of us do), it makes it twice as hard for you to do all the above for the guy behind you.  this is the case with our back-up line support (of whom I follow).  instead of doing secondary work when the line is down, she'll sit there and 'facebook' on her smartphone (which is a huge no-no to have a phone at work to begin with). I make subtle comments, but she's not phased, and of course, when I jump into her spot, it's a damn mess. it's frustrating!...now, her being back-up line support, will get after you if you don't do what she ultimately doesn't do, and that's what's so irritating. the hypocrisy flows like a BP oil spill on a sandy beach  [what kind of metaphor is that?!].  anyway. it's one of many absurdities of the stalag, and it gets old.  I could tell my mostly absent boss, but I'd prob'ly get the typical 'don't worry about it' response [...and they wonder why morale is so damn low?].  there are some (like Lewis) who refuse to follow these types. maybe I should do the same.

currently, I'm letting Rosie outside, so I thought I'd empty my head of said pet peeve, then go back to bed...

ok, a whole week goes by.  nothing spectacular to report.  work [stalag] still bites pretty hard,  still sleeping away these beautiful summer days so I can be a graveyard shift zombie, still taking as many barefoot pooperdog walks as the old dog can handle, the only couple of things of note might be we finally got rain after a long-ass dry spell.  the grass is still brown, but the edges that hug the curb and driveway are starting to show life again, and the other (thing to note) is Brian (almost neighbor/room mate) grills the most yummy pork chops ever, this past weekend.  he drops his plate of food on the door sill as he's walking into the house, but after I offer him half of mine, he simply says "God made dirt, so it'll be all right".  I'm thinkin' God prob'ly made E coli too, but I wasn't gonna say it out loud.  I was most surprised to see him play the 5 second rule deal, especially knowing how much of a clean freak the guy is...anywho, it was delicious!  I had enough to bring for work lunch last night.  mmmmmms!  the man can cook!

I wake up, as I often do, about 2 hours before my alarm clock, so I have time to run down to my favorite beer store and pick up a sixer of Schlitz (I may want me a brew when I get home tomorrow).  right next door is the car wash, so I run the shrimpy bat mobile thru it.  oh yeah, Saturday, I wanted to dork my car up a bit, so I bought some caliper paint and painted 'em up red.  I'm on the fence as to whether it looks better, or simply trailer trashed the car up a bit...?  it was a nice day, and I had plenty o' beerage, so I figured "what the hell?".  I spent a good portion of my weekend off watching the Olympics as well.  nice and relaxing!  here's hopin' I get this coming weekend off, so I can repeat said relaxification.  SLACK!~

I visit the Kid's facebook page and see a photo of someones leg in a cast.  DOH! you fall out of your tree house? I facebook message him, but he hasn't gotten back to me yet [news at 11]

currently making some hambooger helper (mit ground turkey) and chillin' to Amon Tobin [whilst typing nothings in me Xanga bloggy] before getting ready for the stalag

I could of taken a better pic when it was sunny out, but you can see the red paint job on the brake calipers...what do ya think? does it accent the car well, or trailer trash it? I like it so far.  if I change my opinion, it's just a matter of buying grey caliper paint and painting over the red, but for now, I think I'll keep it...

yep, just as I suspected, bad news from the vet.  seems Rosie has heart worm.  it's transmitted by mosquito, of which we've had almost zero of, due to the current drought situation.  the vet suspects she got it over the mild winter (oddly enough).  he recommends not giving her the cure, being that she's over the hill, and it alone might do her in (he likens it to Chemotherapy), plus, it's very expensive and pretty hard to come by, so we agree on the next best thing. prescription antibiotics for a month. he says "it won't kill them all off, but it will lessen the load".  I feel bad for the old girl, but she still seems to enjoy a good walk, getting petted, and everything else old dogs like, so we'll see what's next...and as a bonus, she has had been more regular since she started the pill regimen.  she was doing the chronic diarrhea thing before hand.  not pleasant (for her or for the guy that's gotta pick it up).

creative online banking (due to not getting paid last week, and only getting 20 hours pay this coming Friday) scrapes together enough money (along with Brian's rent) to pay this months lot rent, making that the last thing this month that needed to get paid.  I look at my calender and realize I've only worked a total of 68 hours this month (that's normally what I might pull off in a week, and this being the beginning of the 4th week).  not to worry, I've been doing creative banking for the past 35 years. this is a cake walk compared to other binds I've been in.

the past weekend included drinkin' some craft ale, some barefoot pooperdog walks, a "Sunday drive" or two, and watching the British Open.  just plain good old relaxation.  back to the stalag for an 8 hour shift last night, and just like clockwork, we didn't make our impossible rate (due mostly to our shitty assembly line machinery), so we gotta pull a 10 hour day tonight.  and like most every other "normal" week, I'd say we'll pull 10's and 12's for the remainder of the week and work Saturday, yet they insist that we're working toward running 8 hour days with weekends off.  dude, whatever. I'm still not gonna hold my damn breath. I've heard the rhetoric before, yet I keep going back, because apparently I like misery.   blah, blah, blah.  

nothing new otherwise...

I shoulda framed the damn thing, or at least took a picture of it.  I received a pretty ornate certificate in the mail thanking me for my service, and including me, by special congressional order, to become a member of the American legion [paraphrased]. it was worded so eloquently, as if I had survived my tour of duty and had won the medal of honor (or some such bologna). I don't even like guns and war (unless it's a good wartime movie that I'm watching).  the package came complete with address stickers with bald Eagle pictures on them, and a fancy membership card.  I didn't sign up for any of this...is this what they send everyone in order to make them feel as if they already joined some special club?  silly shit.

online banking definitely shows the funds running low (being that I didn't opt to use my vacation pay, or unemployment to cover my week unt a half off), so I deposit the money I've been collecting from da room mate, from my fire proof safe into my checking.  that ought to be enough until my next paycheck...

yesterday, I got a bit fed up with having internet service that popped on and off randomly.  seems forever now, I'm always resetting the modem a bunch of times a week. I call my provider, and he suggests that I need to go to the local providers "store" and trade in my old modem for a new one.  Rosie and I take us a drive in the dune buggy to grab us one.  couple hours after installing, I get the same drop-out [].  I call again, and get someone who said the first person I talked to was wrong in his analysis.  she steers me instead to try the modem on the TV cable (a cable installed by the cable guy himself).  once done, she says that it's got a lot stronger signal on her end, so I unhook basically everything from the desktop 'puter in my bedroom and relocate behind the living-room TV.  so far, so good!  I can't go online with my desktop anymore, but I got my wi-fi back.  I'll prob'ly glean whatever's important from the desktop, wipe it clean with a fresh install of windows, and give it away.  it's gettin' old.  better, at this point, to be used as a boat anchor than anything else

my stay-cation has only a day left, and being that I work third shift, I gotta get back into the routine of sleeping during the daytime.  damn, and I was just starting to enjoy the sun again.  it bites being a graveyard shift vampire.  some day a better job will come along, that is if the economy ever gets any better, and this drought we're stuck in doesn't turn things for the worse.  it seems like forever since we've seen anything that'd turn the brown and dusty yard back to green.  meanwhile, it looks like the Kid's area of the country and Texas are getting too much water.  I can only imagine these drought conditions are gonna boost the price of corn (and everything made of corn, which is everything) way up soon...I buy some corn on the cob (which, a month ago, was only 12 cents an ear, and is now 33 cents...soon to be $170 a piece) for Sundays grillin'.  Brian (almost neighbor/room mate) grills up some brats and corn.  delicious!  this may be my last beer drinkin' day as well. I've been doing many sixers of craft beer/imports over the past week and a half, now I gotta prepare for going back to the stalag, which includes buying some new shoes. I threw my grubby kickers away the first day of the vacation.  I best hit the shoe store today, or go to work bare-footed (store, it is then).

anyway...food!

later:  oh oh. I get a post card from my vet (Rosie's vet) simply saying "please call us for last weeks test results".  good gawd! I don't do well with bad news (jumping to conclusions, as always).  what are they gonna tell me, she's got an incurable disease?  she's already lived 18.44% longer than your average Beagle life expectancy (statistic pulled completely out of my ass for the sake of making a point).  they open at 9. I'll give 'em a call.  if they expect an expensive fix (to whatever she may have), all I gotta tell them is "you can't cure old". she'll live out her days on the porch with me, drinkin' beers.  but again, I'm jumping to conclusions, maybe the test results show that she's immortal [news at 11].

alright, a little house cleanin' to start off the day. replace kitty litter, sweep the kitchen floor, go thru the fridge and dump what's turning green in tupperware. do the dishes, clean the fridge itself, then discover just how much cat hair is packed in the vent beneath the coolerator doors....damn! here it wasn't that long ago that I said I gotta pay attention to filters.  I take the vent off and discover the radiator coils (for lack of a better word) are also chalked with fuzz. I'm surprised the fridge worked at all.  I get the extension from the vacuum out and clean like a fiend.  maybe now my electric bills will go down some more?  it never dawns on the average man-cave owner to look under the fridge. wait, that's kind of a blanket statement...I've never surveyed the average man-cave owner to back up said allegation, so I'll just speak for myself.  I wonder what other appliance needs to be cleaned for better efficiency?   there's prob'ly a gigantic dust bunny behind the dryer.  maybe I'll hit that next [news at 11]

[added at 12:30 pm] hair cut, an oil change, and a visit to my favorite beer store for a sixer of a variety of craft beerses.  so, it all makes sense now. I've been driving the dune buggy with an engine light that wants to randomly come on, then turn off just as randomly (having gas treatment quell the problem for a spell).  I went to Autozone a month (or so) ago, and had them throw there computer on it to see why the engine light was on? the car company where I had bought it from, simply told me it was because the gas cap wasn't tight.  Autozone had said something about a dual-overhead cam actuator error (or some such bullshit).  the autozone employee was cool enough to call a local mechanic as to what my next move should be with this type of error. from that, I was told that the dual-overhead cam actuator rarely ever needed to be replaced or repaired, but instead it had something to do with maybe dirty oil.  this didn't make sense at the time, knowing that the dealer that I had just bought the dune buggy from had just did an oil change.  the weird part was that they had put an oil change sticker on the windshield saying it needed replacement again after only a thousand miles. here comes 2000 miles later, and I finally get it into my local oil change place. the mechanic there then tells me that whoever did the last oil change didn't change the filter.  he shows me the paper filter (yeah, I know. it's not your common metal filter.  it looks more like an air filter), and tells me that if I had waited any longer the paper would have totally disintegrated and caused some major damage to the system.  nice!  the place that sells me the car does a half-assed job at changing the oil while I wait, and expects me to utilize their services to take care of my car. nope! it ain't happenin'.   it costs a bit more to have it done here, but I know it's getting done right!  anyway, I'm drinkin' me some beers and thought I'd write this while the clouds dissipate,  so as I can go out and get a sunburn via the lawn chair.  it is, after all, my vacation, right? riiiiiight!

I'm having one Hell of a time figuring out how to apply for that week and a half of unenjoyment. I went to 'Michigan Works!' and they point my nose toward applying online or by phone.  neither of which has been at all helpful.  oh well. I do have a back-up plan, and a lot of time to actually figure it out, so all is good.

those shoes (mentioned below) never did get boughten (word?).  I did however manage to spend a good $140 on catching the Pooperdog up on her shots, heartworm meds, etc.. I ask the vet when is a dog too old to even benefit from shots, when is it a complete waste of time, or worse, may become more dangerous than beneficial?  giving the example of prepping a 107 year old man, for say, heart surgery. the assistant said "great question!", but the vet sort of kept on going thru the routine as if he hadn't heard...maybe he didn't have an answer? I'm guessin' this will be the last of her booster shots since I can't imagine she'll be around this time next year (although, she's already about 2 years beyond what I actually expected, so who knows).  she does show signs of being an old lady.  it takes several attempts to slowly squat to do her thing.  she'll stumble up the porch steps, or take forever attempting to climb 'em. I let the vet know this. he seems to have an answer for that (being he won't lose any money answering it).  he recommends first a product that they sell which he says is essentially aspirin cut with Maalox, but then he gives me the Dutch answer by telling me I can simply crush an aspirin twice a day and mix it in her moist food. I put the aspirin in the kitchen by her treats as a reminder. meanwhile, it's good to be able to spend some time away from the stalag and give the army tank of a dog a bit more attention before the inevitable happens.  and as if she seems to know that I'm typing about her (or the old desktop keyboard is louder than I thought), she gets off her big pillow and starts beggin' to be petted. it's not too early for that barefoot pooperdog walk.  oh, and speaking of that, we run into a gigantic Opossum on a couple of our treks...ok, not so much face to face like that encounter that we had a year or two back...glowing eyes stare back as there appeared to be a Mexican stand-off, but a close enough encounter that makes me feel uncomfortable.  those be some ugly critters, especially when they appear in XXL size.  I see it crawl under a missing skirting on the trailer behind Chas Manson's place.  I assume that's where it resides, even though there's acres of woods and swampland one street over.  anyway. she's giving me that pooperdog walk look. let's do diss!

I don't get a lot done from my list today. seems, due to my SS # I gotta call the unenjoyment hotline tomorrow, and the vet only has an opening starting tomorrow. no worries, I do get a couple things done. I buy some deck cleaner and water sealer for when I do get motivated enough. also I buy a sixer of Schlitz and slack real hard (that's three of the items on my to-do list).  some TV, a good power-nap (due to not yet being used to being awake during the daytime), a couple good barefoot pooperdog walks and some leftover bar-b-que ribs fill up the rest of the day.  it's an awesome Monday off.  tomorrow I'll try and get a couple more things done including maybe buying those shoes that I need...

my to-do list for the week (and a half) is longer than my arm. it's not often I have this much time off (without burning a vacation). the list includes heading down to the unemployment office and see what kind of compensation I can get for my time off. it's not necessary, being I had saved enough for just such an emergency (wait, time off from work is the opposite of an emergency...I'll think of the right word). another, from same list, is getting some new shoes. I threw away the half rotten ones as a gesture of celebration (and they were 1/2 rotten). I need a pair for work, and a pair to bum around in. I gotta break down and maybe get some name brand shoes. those cheapo's that I had had zero support...other items on the list include buying and building a backdoor staircase (something I should have done years ago), water sealing my front porch (again), getting Rosie into the vet for her shots, getting the oil changed on my dune buggy, and figuring out where to bring my shrimpy truck in to have the clutch looked at. if I can get most of these things done, I'll be smilin'

I got 3/4's of the windows in the wood-panel submarine slung wide open for last night's cool down (61 degrees). man, it's been a full time job just for the AC to get the place into the 80's when those outdoor temps broke a 100 mark. it's supposed to be a bunch more pleasant this week. still no rain, but the temps are supposed to be 80's by day and 60's at night.

I haven't heard from the Kid in awhile. I usually know he's still kickin' by seeing that he had come to visit this site. I'll have to leave a message on his Facebook page. I see Hooey's still kickin' (hiya Hoo!).

Rosie and I get stopped upon one of our barefoot pooperdog walks, to come have a beer or two with the neighbors on Saturday. it was nice. there were about 5 couples just chillin' on the porch. I don't quite remember leaving the party, but I guess I wasn't too much of a pest, being I ran into someone from said party, who invited me to one of his parties the next day. I must have drank a good 12 beers (of various varieties) thru-out the day, before I partook, so you know the hangover on Sunday was a whopper! why not start a week and a half off with a doozy of a drunkening?. [yep, I played 'hide the car keys from myself', so all is well...don't drink and drive kids, unless you like jail]

Brian (room mate/almost neighbor) goes back to work today. he had all last week off. he was stressing about going back (to his version of the stalag that I always complain about). he works at the local battery plant here in town. it sounds a bunch more of a pleasant place than mine, which reminds me of another item on the to-do list; update my resume and look for a real job...

dammit! right as I'm about to hit 'save', I notice that I don't have an internet connection. this focker has had to be reset a billion times. I add it to my list to get another router. meanwhile, I guess I can save this as some sort of 'Word' file on my 'puter until I reset. wish me luck that I don't lose the whole content while transitioning....

dude! I almost forgot how to type, it's been that long...

again, nothing new under the sun;  work, sleep, barefoot pooperdog walks.  that tar is getting blisteringly hot under the tootsies, and the grass is completely brown and prickly but that's summertime for ya.  the stalag is an unbearable sauna, but believe it (or don't), we just get news that we (our line) get a week and a half off (in about a week), plus we get the 4th of July off (as long as we can make up for that by working next weekend).  this news comes to us just after our boss holds a bitch meeting about the fact that we're not working fast enough *cue 'its never enough' by the Cure*.  he threatens us with 12 hour days/ 7 days a week (bowling ball emoticon for just such a flip-flop). meanwhile our boss himself has missed the last 3 weekends that we've had to work. it's all so squirrelly.  the boss above ours reinstates the "hit 1050 and you can go home" policy (which never worked in the past).  last night we hit our 1050th part 'round 4am.  I ask if we can go home and get laughs.  WTF?!  what hoops do we gotta jump thru to make '1050 and out' a reality and not a running joke?!  it's that golden carrot scenario, over and over again. I can't wait for some time off.  maybe I'll actually update my resume and hit the pavement for a new job.  I don't know why I keep going back to this dump...?

smallish tensions between my room mate and my drinking. he knew all along that I enjoy my beer (whenever I have that rare 'day off'), even before he even moved in.  turns out he can be a buzz killington.  I'm simply trying to relax and enjoy a sixer of stout, and he gets in my face and makes me feel uncomfortable in my own house. just because his mind set (created by his AA group session mentality, which, btw, meet several times a week) equates alcohol as the villain. it's mild but it's there. he leaves his Jesus jewelry in the bathroom everyday, and gets a little judgey at times.  oh well, I've had worse room mates in years past. when he starts weirding out I simply head over to 'across the way Jay's' and drink in front of their mini bonfire.

gotta get ready for the stalag.  seems they're having a potluck tonight (first of any type of celebration since I've been there, sans Christmas dinner). I gotta hit the store for something to pass before going to work, but first, shower, shave, etc.. *ready, GO!*

huh?  I posted a long winded nothingness on Sunday...where'd it go?!  internet dead letter office? oh well.  same ol' thang. bitchin' about the stalag, relaxin' with some beers, grocery shoppin', barefoot pooperdog walks, etc.. 

93 degrees and sunny outside, a cool 76 degrees indoors. my AC is doing what it should. I wanted to wait for a hot day to test the damn thing since it's been cleaned.  yup! it works nicely!

I bought me my first digital albums yesterday [an MP3 download of an album costs a bunch less] of The Blue Hawaiians 'Savage Night' LP (awesome surfy/torchy/swingy/bluesy stuff that I dig!), unt Amon Tobin's 'Splinter Cell 3D soundtrack remix' (dark and tortured soundtracky drum n bass).  and while I was being reminded of the whole digital thing, I bought me a new MP3 player (via Amazon.com), since my old one only plays out of one side of the speakers.  my car's CD player can hold up to 6 CD's, but this baby will hold up to 8 gig worth of muzak (nice!). I also buy me some new work pants from USCav.com. a couple 3 pair of light weight ripstop army style pants that have been proven to be the coolest thing to wear (temp wise, not so much style) in any sweat shop smoke factory stalag.  between those and Gold Bond medicated body powder, I can work all day in a million degrees in relative comfort.

last night we worked an 8 hour shift.  the line support lets us know that it'll be a 10 hour shift tonight, 5 minutes after our shift had ended [way to give us some sort of notice...I'm getting used to being 'on call', but it's got to be tough for those who have to make adjustments with kids and family and rides to work at the last minute].  if tonight goes south (which last night did), we'll prob'ly be told to come in for 12'ers the rest of the week.  there are rumors that we have some sort of June/July shutdown for a week (good gawd!  that'd be awesome!), but you know how rumors are...usually just that.

gotta find me something to eat, then head to the stalag (wait! I don't have to go in 'til 8pm...awesome, maybe another power-nap is in order)

ok, let's see if this post sticks after hitting 'save' *fart*

I bet it's been a good 7-8 weeks [ed correction: let's make that 4-5 months] since we ran the line the way the line was supposed to be run [...fast!].  they finally got smart and re-calibrated station 22 (the station that gave us the biggest headaches).  now we actually can pump parts thru (and not pass bad parts as 'good'),  yet amazingly I get my head bitten off by line support for helping her do her damn job.  she's supposed to keep the boxes of parts on the tipper and we're supposed to stay focused on assembling them, but when I didn't see her anywhere in sight, I quick threw a box on (maybe taking an extra 20 seconds of build time).  she came at me like I had just committed murder, then she comes at me again with more rage, then a 3rd time.  this time I get angry enough at her attacks that I start hollerin' back. is that what she wants is a pissy fit war over nothing?  there have been a lot of times that I've helped her where she seemed appreciative...what crawled up her ass and died today?!  anyway, it felt good to go at a pace where you actually feel muscle pains and get a good work out, so sleep afterward comes easy.  here's hopin' we get and stay caught up, so we can go back on 8 hour days (I know, that's a lot of big hopin', but if today's any indicator, we're finally heading in the right direction).

this morning I hit the grocery store for a long list of items.  it's one of the biggest grocery bills I've spent, but it's been forever since I last did some serious shopping.  currently, I wake up to a good pooperdog barefoot walk,  burn some coffee, and will soon jump in the shower for another shouting session with my line support

yet more absurdities from the stalag...I got the message yesterday about not having to work Saturday night, but a good 4 peeps and the supervisor (the week day guy) never got the call, coming into work, then being told they didn't have to. one of them being Lew who is a constant complainer (understandably so, we all do our share of bitchin', 'cause the place bites hard!), simply adding more fuel to his already long list of complaints (Lew would have been the first one I called, knowing he's a hair-trigger post office style disgruntled employee).  he insists that he gets paid 4 hours of double time simply for coming in on his day off (good luck with that!) . he says he left his kid's birthday party to come in (DOH!). I guess things might be a bit more fair, had we had some sort of HR representation on the off shifts, but we don't so, the absurdities and complaints never get heard by the peeps that should hear about them.  such is the life on the graveyard shift at the stalag...I've tried emailing the head of HR about certain complaints, but always got a 'delivery failure' message.  nice.  anyway,  being that we had no Supervisor or line support last night, none of us know exactly when to come in tonight (6pm for a 12'er? 8pm for a 10 hour shift? or 10pm for an 8?), so most of us decide since we worked a 10 last night, we'll be in at 8pm for another.  the place is making my hair turn grey (...faster than normal, that is).

it was a nice day (that I slept thru).  86 and sunny! the wood-panel submarine's AC is keeping up with the heat, so that $100 to clean it was well worth it!  a couple of pooperdog walks, some good sleep and making some black beans and rice (with turkey hamburger) are the highlights of this relaxing day.  now I gots to get ready for another fun one at the smoke factory/stalag...

Thursday, Friday, Saturday 12, 12, 12's, then we have a meeting after work, to determine whether we have to be in on Sunday (Sat pm to Sun am)?  once again, we all sit in the break room waiting for Sam (our old boss/weekend boss).  he's more than a half an hour late (again!), so we all put our names and numbers on a paper plate and left.   I see a text from him (after a good barefoot pooperdog walk and a good 7 hours sleep) saying we won't have to come in!  awesome! I throw the pooperdog in the car, tear the top off and we go for a "Sunday drive", taking the long way to the beer store, where I buy me a sixer of Centennial IPA [damn fine brewage!].  then home again to wash the dune buggy (gotta keep it showroom shape, in case the bank wants it back).   after the car wash I hit the PS3 for some Infamous 2 (awesome game!!), then crash for the night.  this morning brings another barefoot pooperdog walk along with some re-nuked coffee, then I sit down at the old desktop and type about nothingness...

somewhere in betwixt pooperdog walks and PS 3 I pull the living room sectional couch apart and vacuum underneath.  yikes!  that was a big pet hair mess. I gotta do that more often.  while flipping the chair sections upside down, I notice the feet on most of 'em were loose. I bust out the ratchet wrench and tighten everything. I always wondered why the damn thing felt so unstable, I always blamed the beer.  also, I clean the little closet behind the front door, while Brian (room mate/almost neighbor) grilled some pork and corn unt der cob on the porch (mmmmmmmmms!)

bought and received a package set (from 'Kappasphere.com' via FedEx) including a storage thinger (that attaches between the ribs in the soft top) and a couple "kangaroo pouches" (that hook in front of each seat) for my dune buggy.  something to put sunglasses, MP3 player, phone and CD's in, because otherwise there's zero room in that car for small items. these are a hugely welcomed addition. a bit pricey, but now I no longer have to use the passenger seat as a storage dump...

"kangaroo pouch""kappaATTIC"

anyway, I need to get me some more sleep in before tonight's stalag stint.

I'm rudely awakened to Ron (aka: Chas Manson) hollering thru the screen door as to whether I'm awake or not.  dammit!  he knows I'm a third shifter! by the time I get up, he's gone. I assumed he had more leftovers for Rosie, but I see no plate (like he left yesterday. some old pulled pork and tator salad left to bake in the sun on the porch railing.  I threw it out so Rosie wouldn't get Botulism).  I'm up now, and the Pooperdog is ready for a barefoot walk, so we do our thing.  Ronald stops me while we walk and being the nosy neighbor that he is tells me that 'across the way, Jay' girlfriend had borrowed my lawn mower last night and couldn't get it working (blah, blah, blah...he can never  give me a Reader's Digest version), I told him that I gave her permission, and if the old mower finally blew, it was free to me and lasted a lot longer than it should have. he (being that mower repair guy) then starts giving me shit about how dirty the oil is, etc.  me, being a bit pissed that he woke me up, and now getting lectured about how I take care of my stuff, take a minute to explain that I'm on a 12 hour/everyday shift and don't need his crap [paraphrased].

...and speakin' of work, I take a 'bank day' (excused unpaid time off) on Monday, and because I put in 4-12'ers in a row on top of 3-10's, I was beyond exhausted, the first couple beers were fine while I washed my car, but once I laid down and turned the TV on I slept for forever.  it's good to catch up on most needed sleep. the place is killin' me with these crappy hours.  I know we gotta work these next 2 days, but haven't a clue yet as to if we gotta work thru another weekend (again!).  I turn in a vacation form for the weekend, but was denied (nice!).   and leaving off from my last entry about quality issues, we continued to crank out bad parts and pass them as good (me, and others, using my line supports quality check ID number), just to have it all come to a screeching halt by the QA dept (finally, someone with authority puts on the brakes).  a pretty good amount of parts were recalled and reworked and the unload set-up revised to assure bad parts are hand tested before being shipped (that's better). I'm starting to put my own number on the boxes again.  meanwhile, a QA person walks around and asks everyone's name (prob'ly to add all of our names collectively on some sort of write-up for the situation that I wanted nothing to do with from the beginning...wouldn't that be awesome?!). 

Brian (room mate/almost neighbor) is back to work and repays the $210 (rent/cable TV payment for June) that he borrowed back (while taking a 2 week unemployment stint).  it's kinda nice having the place completely quiet during the day again...

otherwise, nothing new.  nice weather! my dune buggy runs better (engine light is now always off) now that I threw a bottle of 'STP complete engine cleaner' shit in the gas tank. it's about due for another oil change soon. also I get a few quotes for the badly needed clutch job for my shrimpy truck.  seems $600 (seems like a lot for an old truck, but it needs to be done) is about the cheapest I can find (at the moment). I'll do some more shopping, but first, as per normal, I gotta get ready for the stalag...

yup, just like I said, see how fast I can get into trouble by not putting my ID number on the %100 certified (QA) stickers on each box (see entry below).  the line support confronted me on this, but I reminded him that I, in good conscience, couldn't 'OK' these parts (one has no idea what kind of crap gets sent when you pull parts off the reject line, and ship 'em). I then told him that he can write me up if he'd like for my actions against said protest.  he pauses and stares for about a minute, then quickly says "just write my number on every sticker" and walks away.  damn!  I was waiting for him to ding me for not ok'ing something that is so against company policy to begin with. anyway, I tell others that if they're not comfortable with what's going on to use the line supports number...won't he be surprised when a good shipment of bad parts gets returned, all marked with his number "11"?!  and speaking of the stalag, we get a new boss on Thursday.  the first thing we're told before even knowing the guys name is that we're going back on twelves, and that we gotta work both Saturday and Sunday (did I write about this?  prob'ly).  seems even working twelves, there's an enormous amount of downtime due to either the machine or bad rails (produced on the line next to us).  we're getting paid a huge amount of money to clean and wait.  it's pretty sad!  this week I put in a 44 hour week (not counting the 8 hour holiday that we had off on Monday), along with yesterdays 12 which is considered time and a half, and tonight's 12 being double time, so next weeks check will be bigger than enormous.  gives me more ammo to dump onto debt.  online banking last Friday places $225 toward the Kid loan, $225 toward my MC, and a good $50 into savings. my goal of zero'ing out these two accounts [by the end of the year] is way ahead of schedule and falling off quickly!  once these two are zero'd, then I'll snowball the extra money into the dune buggy account (I prob'ly already bored you with this too....sorry). 

the central air conditioner has been going on the blink (constantly running, not blowing cool air for shit), so I gave the local HVAC place a call and scheduled to have someone come out and look at it last Thursday.  seems it just needed a good cleaning.  I didn't have a filter in place to catch all the pet hair, so the units 'radiator' (for lack of a better word) was matted with a thick hair blanket, making the unit freeze completely stopping the air flow.  it cost $100 to have him clean it, but I'll prob'ly gain most of that back in energy savings alone (now that it runs a bunch more efficient).  I was surprised at how much more quiet the unit ran....  with this in mind, I check my furnace filters and I'm completely floored at how much of a pet blanket of hair is on those too (I just put those in before last winter).  I guess I gotta pay closer attention to the little things...like filters.  a couple dollars in filters per month coulda maybe saved me $100.  live and learn.

it's been cool, cloudy, and rainy (spring weather) these past couple days.  highs in the 50's (low 40's at night).  today is prob'ly the best it's been all week.  partly sunny, windy, and in the low 70's.

I awake this morning (my "morning"...a normal persons "mid-day") to the sound of someone hammering.  it comes from the trailer next door.  I can't rightly wander over there and complain because it's 3pm on a Saturday (a first shifter could legitimately complain if it were going on at 3am, but that's neither here nor there). at least she didn't start hammering, at say, noon (my "midnight").   I burn some leftover coffee, sit down and type this bullshit, and contemplate a good barefoot pooperdog walk, after said coffee is resting in the bottom of me belly...

[...]

alright, time for that walk

"put the damn camera down, and let's roll!"

I walk by Benny's house (read entry below) during our barefoot pooperdog walks. normally where you see a slew of kids playing in the yard and a wife, you now just see Benny sitting by himself in a lawn chair, prob'ly reviewing his latest conviction(s) and wondering where his next beer will come from?  I hope it wasn't the case of beer that I bought for him, that got him into so much trouble...wait, I'm taking responsibility because he asked me to buy beer?  I didn't hold a gun to his head and tell him to drink.  never mind.  we all make our own beds.  I'm assuming a lot. first, I have no idea whether he was drunk or not when caught driving without a license or insurance, so I'll just end this pity story right here.

again, the stalag pulls another boner.  seems now we gotta work twelvers again, but this time it looks like everyday (until we can get "caught up").  they give us about a half an hour notice (as usual) as per the change.  I'm thinkin' when I'm ready to give my two weeks notice (and it's getting close, once I find me another job), I'm gonna make it a half an hour 'two weeks notice'...also, we can't seem to get parts out to our customer quick enough, so someone (without a QA person in site) gave the OK to by-pass the effort test that kept failing, so now we simply pull reject parts off the line and send 'em.  I tell my line support that my conscience isn't feeling right playing this backward game (and it WILL bite us in the ass soon!).  he gave me some half lame whatever, that almost sounded threatening (but I missed half of it due to his extreme broken spanglish), so I simply fill the boxes without putting my ID number on the "quality" sticker.  let's see how fast I can get in trouble for that... the place is going down fast, and I don't wanna play.  I may have to get another temp job and tighten my belt.  Brian (room mate) says he can help me get into the battery plant.  maybe I'll update my resume and see what's what.  meanwhile I'll slog it out at the smoke factory

potpies in the nuker, I gotta eat then get ready for the stalag...

wow!  Benny [the neighbor guy that borrows me, to buy himself a case of Bud Light...of whom I haven't seen any activity at his house since I lent him the money] drives up today, and apologizes profusely; 1st, about waking this 3rd shifter up, and 2ndly, about not paying me back last Wednesday for the beer, as he promised he would.  turns out he has no license or insurance and got popped by the po-po, and has been spending time behind bars.  I wouldn't be surprised if he was drunk at the time too.  anyway, he didn't come wake me up to pay me back, he came over to borrow another $40 so he can pay me the full $60 on June 6th.   dude!  ballsy move!  I told him that the first $20 was tight for me, and that I couldn't help him.  he didn't get all insistent, like I thought he would.  I wouldn't have caved, had he been. he reminded me of the Dutchman (a guy named Steve, of whom I wrote about in the past, that used to play that 'borrow/make up excuses as to why he can't pay me back' game...I was a bit more gullible back then).  Steve taught me the warning signs, and this guy's a huge red flag! I tell Benny to pay me back when he can. no hurries. I'm sure I'll never see the money, I pretty much wrote it off as a donation to begin with, and he's got a lot of shit to take care of after getting arrested...sucks to be him right about now.

us third shifters have to put in an extra shift. this is the second time that third has to do another 10 hours , and the day shift gets to have a three day holiday weekend. it's not fair...yet one more of many absurdities from a place that treats its workers as inmates

nice weekend, weather wise. it's currently partly sunny and 91 degrees.  my central air is workin' full time, never really catching up to its setting, but still keepin' the wood-panel submarine cool enough.  Brian (almost neighbor/room mate) and I do some lemon garlic pork fillet, and brats along with corn on the cob, 'tator salad for a quick grillin' session yesterday.  it was yummy!  I, of course, got me some beer drinkin' in (Brian has none, being that AA guy, and all).  it was good day!  Rosie and I take our 'Sunday drive' with the top down.  we likes us them road trips (that happened before I started drinkin', of course). otherwise, power-naps, barefoot pooperdog walks, relaxing in da lawn chair, etc make for a groove-chicken weekend (the two day holiday weekend that I got, that is...it really should have been a 3 dayer, but oh well).  back to working at the stalag tonight, first I gotta take me a shower, and grub out on yesterday's leftovers *ready, GO!*

nice, I guess the schedule for this week has been posted as to whether or not we work this holiday weekend.  according to Ashley, we gotta work both Friday and Saturday, making it a good 60 hour work week.  good gawd!  didn't we have to work last Saturday so we wouldn't have to this weekend?!  that's how the boss put it.  I don't dare take Ashley's word on it, nor do I wanna check the board just yet, so we'll see what happens...meanwhile, this IS a first, if indeed they gave us this much notice for weekend work. it's usually not decided until we leave Friday morning at the last minute.  here's hopin' (if indeed it IS posted early) that they do that more often, so I don't dare to look at it early, at my own choice.

I get stopped by my (next street over) neighbor, who asked if he can borrow some money for a beer run.  I don't carry cash (hardly ever), but I told him if he wants to drive me to my favorite liquor store, I could buy it for him. he says he can pay me tomorrow (which turns out to be today), but I figured right off the bat, that it would prob'ly turn into a donation, being that we took his POS car, that had every engine light on, and wouldn't drive over 40MPH without violently shaking, only to have him tell me that he's an auto mechanic.  my suspicions (so far) are right.  the pooperdog and I walk past his house tonight and don't get stopped.  I'll just keep walking past his house until he decides whether he wants to pay me or not.  if not, fine.  I don't give at church, so why not enable someone's addiction every now and then, right?.  on the way to the store, he volunteers every DUI story and felony he's ever been convicted of even before catching his name.  sob stories about how he lost his house and his auto mechanic bidness during the crash, etc. I'm not feeling too sorry for the guy being that he's half loaded and borrowing my time and money to reload...anyway, he seems like a nice enough guy.  I hope he doesn't become a regular 'money borrower/drive me to the beer store' guy, 'cause I'll put a stymy to it.

Brian (almost neighbor/room mate) pays cash for next months rent and bills. I figure out my check amount to be deposited this Friday (it's a whopper...55 hours worth), plus I'll deposit said $210 cash ($150 rent/$60 cable bill) into checking and determine that I have enough for next months lot rent, plus an extra payment ($135) to put toward the Kid loan, plus a good $250 to drop onto my MC bringing debt down hugely, still leaving $150 in checking for food, gas, beer, for the week! I gotta keep throwing "extra money" toward debt knowing these long work weeks won't last forever.  my goal, of course, is to eradicate the Kid loan, and zero out my MC as soon as possible, leaving me with only my car payment, lot rent, and bills [period]. from that point, I'll throw whatever's "extra" toward my dune buggy.  anywho,  at this rate, things will drop off the radar quick!  that's good!  I'm not leaving much for the savings account, but the money I "save" in interest that should be paid on loans that I blast away is gigantic.  it feels good to head toward zero again (while times are good...).  meanwhile, the "extra payments" I've been making toward the Kid loan, has not only reduced the principle/interest  greatly, it also pushes the due date up another month with every payment, so if I get in a pickle, I can have that buffer time (my next payment due date is currently pushed ahead to September.   awesome!  oh the huge benefits of paying things off early just keep stacking up).   it's not a matter of 'if' but 'when' times will be bad again.  make hay while the sun shines (or how ever that silly saying goes?).

ooof!  gotta get ready for the stalag *fart*

alright, well, we had to do a half a day on Saturday, so Friday morning after work I do some grocery shopping, put a good beer buzz on and wash me dune buggy, simply to pass out in the lawn chair and get a sun burn ('twas a good day). I was able to sober up by 2am  the next day (it was the second half of our shift that we had to go in on...2am 'til 7am). I bought some [better] car wax and some detailing products, so as I can spend my Saturday doing what I did yesterday (working on the car with a good drunkening).  I also purchase an antenna topper that looks like an angry chicken head being trailed by flames smoking a cigar, and a good cleaner/water repellent for the ragtop. it looks like a brand new car with all the work done. nice weather for it!  I drive to work with the top down again.  the stars are incredibly bright at 1am on country roads without street lamps, I almost forget to look where I'm driving it's that cool!  otherwise, nothing new...barefoot pooperdog walks, power-naps, etc.

it's been a bad couple of weeks for the neighborhood's pets.  Jamie (who lives across the street and to the left a couple) had lost his cat 'Squeekers' to liver cancer, and 'across the way Jay' had a cute little mutt named Mickey who also passed from cancer, but his was of the throat.  I always wondered about that dogs unusual bark. now I know.  it's sad when little mammals have to move on. it'll be a sad day indeed when it's Rosie's turn.  oh, and speakin' of Rosie, her old owner/mom [Mittens] had stopped by to visit (along with her boyfriend, her daughter, and her boyfriend's son).  they pull up in a newly repainted '02 Mustang GT.  sharp car!  they in turn check out my dune buggy.  it was a nice visit...

anyway.  time for another power-nap, after I let the dog back inside...

little (or no) food left in the wood-panel submarine, with little (or no) ambition to grocery shop, being that I need all the rest I can get betwixt those long 10 hour work days. I'd rather do my shopping on the weekend, but once again, it looks as if we'll work this Saturday (and maybe Sunday), having the line poop out on us for a good 5 1/2 hours last night.  cleaning and getting farmed out to another line has everyone wondering why they just don't let us go home? (we work a good 50 hour + week, do we gotta hang around even when our line has mechanical issues?).  we have a meeting with the boss before the shift starts.  it's a good 18 minute long speech about wasting time (ironic, right?).  he likes to blame us (in his broken Romanian accent) for the lack of numbers, when it's almost all mechanical issues. his 'rah rah' speeches include nothing uplifting, it's all threats that we may work the whole weekend if we don't get our shit together.  there's no such thing as 'encouragement' in this place.  oh, and good thing it's 'ergonomics month' (as the posters on the wall portray). just knowing that may make my shoulder not hurt so much while working on those most un-ergonomic screw guns.  just one more bullshit annoyance to gripe about...and speaking of the stalag, I gotta get ready for another fun filled evening *ready, go!*

dude!   it's Saturday once again...the work thang has been frustrating as always (10 hour days/5 days a week), 'cept this time we're told that we gotta work Friday (ummm...from Friday at 10pm 'til Saturday; 6am), but then we done run our selves out of rails at around 4:30am, so they took volunteers to hang out and do secondary bullshit, and let the rest of us go home.  I take the top off me dune buggy and enjoy the moonlit trip home.  it's even more awesome driving that thing at night mit da top down! once home, we [the pooperdog and I] do us a moonlit pooperdog walk. I'm currently quietly drinking a sixer of Centennial IPA, so as not to wake up the room mate.  meanwhile, I search the webbage for a hard top for my car, so as I can maybe drop the ragtop in the wintertime and have me a removable hardtop in its place.  I find one {www.smoothline.com} for about $1400.   I don't want to purchase one now, but it may be the add-on I need (along with maybe some snow tires) to get me thru the winter (or, I may buy a cover...$170, and rent the neighbors carport, who'll be in Arizona for the winter anyway...we'll see).  my shrimpy truck will simply be back up to any decision I make.  it's good to have two vehicles, just 'cause.  it still sits in the neighbors driveway, just in case my sister wants to borrow it for the summer.  I gotta bust me open another IPA and relax for a spell on the porch *fart*

also, I noticed I'm falling into the same old routine of 'the more money you make, the more you spend', so I quickly lay down a plan to eradicate that notion.  I take my whole weeks check (minus $150 for gas, food, beer, etc for the week), plus the $430 cash, that my room mate had given me for rent and cable TV, and laid down a plan to zero out some cards, and put them into my safe, so I can't use them anymore.  a good $811 went into paying down debt.  next week, I'll be making a car payment, but since we worked a long week, I'll prob'ly have enough to throw at some more debt, making it easier to eventually pay off this dune buggy.  the quicker I'm headin' toward zero [again], the better. I don't want those old bad habits to creep up on me again.

anyway....BEER ME!!

a whole week without xanga-ing! nothing new or exciting happened within the past week, other than that damn cold wanting to hang on seemingly forever.  yesterday, I coughed myself to sleep (as I had been doing for the past couple weeks), then I finally got pissed and called a doctors referral service.  they recommend that I head over to the nearest urgent care facility, but then the very next day (today) I feel 90% better.  maybe because last night I had me a couple three beers (after the longest beer drought in recent history), and this cold is finally on its way out? here's hopin'.  if it gets bad again, it'll be open all day tomorrow (...it's open everyday from 10am to 10pm).  for now, I'll have me some more barley and hops elixir, and enjoy the weekend off.  this morning, I did some food shopping, got my haircut, and did a couple of breakfast burritos at McD's.  I'm currently doing some front porch sittin' with the ol' dog, drinkin' some Centennial IPA's (founders brewery).

I get my guitar hangers in the mail (ordered from Musiciansfriend.com.  I may as well hang 'em on the wall, instead of leaning them in the corner) and another package that's labeled for the Kid, which I peeled the old label off and resent it to his address (I took the cheapest postage, so it may take a good week...sorry).

Brian (almost neighbor/room mate) has yet to pay for the monster cable TV bill that he's supposed to pay (he has 'til the 11th before I shut it off). I'll have to remind him [again].  $150 rent and the TV isn't too much to ask, yet you'd think I was ripping him off by the way he acts, making him even more Dutch than I am (is that even possible?!). he's tried dickering with me so I'll pay for some of the TV, but I'm not budging.  he'll try and make me feel guilty by throwing in the fact that he mows the lawn and watches Rosie when I'm gone, but that's when I remind him that all that's included within the cheapness of the rent...I win.  sorry for ya. ya don't like it, try and find another place to live for as cheap, ya Dutch-ass bastard.  overall, he's a good "tenant", and he has made rent for the past two months, so I can't complain (too much, but I do anyway).  I guess I simply gotta get used to having a room mate again...he pays me in cash which I lock in my safe for a forced savings fund.

cloudy with sprinkles of rain here and there. it's currently 58 degrees, making it nice and cool beer drinkin' weather

yep, I mention that crappy cold being one of the crappiest and quickest. I was right about the crappiest part, but the quickness part went down into my lungs to hide for a good week.  I'm still hackin' crud from the depths. it's getting better, but far from being done.  the cops show up at work a couple times last week.  the first was over two dudes having a fist fight (instead of working), and the other was due to someone outside of work using a hammer against someones head during a bout of road rage.  I didn't witness either scuffle, but it adds to the days excitement when the cops show up...

pretty atypical work week. the first two days were bidness as usual, but a couple of those days were spent being farmed out, due to the lack of peeps (of whom, I prob'ly made sick) to run our own line.  I thought sure having our line down for that long would have cemented our weekend work, but the boss tells us we're good to go [shweet!].  last night, I only have three beers (still sick in the chest, and all),  maybe I'll have some more tonight...we'll see.  did some grocery shopping with the convertible roof down yesterday.  looks like rain today...

otherwise, pooperdog walks, work, sleep, being grumpy over stupid stuff the room mate pulls, etc..

alright, Sunday night's rolled around, and if you asked me yesterday if I'd be ready for work, I'd have laughed.  it was one of the crappiest colds, yet one of the quickest to shake.  I'm guessin' since I pounded it with the purple liquid and slept 90% of the weekend away, and not compounding the misery by adding beerses, I was able smack it down in a hurry.

some online banking shows my paycheck was deposited Friday (normally I'd check on Friday, but as I said, I was sleepin' like foo).  leave enough in the account for next months lot rent, pay a bit toward my MC and I'm good to go 'til next paycheck. 

I'm quickly being driven nuts by my room mate.  he changes things around to his liking without asking (changed the shower head, shower curtain, replaced the floor in the bathroom to cheap ass carpet tiles, etc.), plus he likes to over ride my requests, such as; "if you find a load of laundry in the dryer, simply throw it on my bed".  he folds them all neat before doing so.  I've since told him twice he doesn't have to fold anything. just throw it on a pile on my bed.  what's he do next?  fold the next batch.  good gawd! I'm a bit tweaked by anyone folding my undies.  he's on a mission to turn this place into a hotel that meets his needs alone.  I do appreciate that he'll mow the lawn, but he'll do the neighbors two and three down on my gas. it's gettin' kind of old.  and we'll just see how prompt he is this month on rent.  otherwise, he's alright.  pretty quiet mostly. I just like pickin' apart all the tweaky stuff...

food!  I haven't eaten much during my sicky coma *fart*

ugh!!  rotten cold! I take Friday off after suffering thru Thursday night.  it's gotten worse since...maybe I'll be better by Monday *crosses fingers*.  meanwhile, I could go for a nice fishwich.  why do I crave fishwiches? I think I'll step out for a minute and get me one.  maybe I'll stop off at the store for some more dog nums and Kleenex's too...

so, since I bought this dune buggy, I've been simply listening to NPR, not even knowing if the CD player worked.  tonight, on the way to work, I found a new level of zen while jammin' to an old Agent Orange CD.  AWESOME!  now, if it could only get warm enough to where I can rip the top off from her. 

a pet peeeeve that I prob'ly haven't mentioned yet (or have I?) about the stalag, that's reoccurred time and time again, is when we get 'non-comforming' boxes to put our product in, having to scan each seats label first before putting them in upside down, slowing the process down and adding extra work.  to add insult to injury, we have a crappy hi-lo driver who thinks she's the shit, and no one can tell her how to do her job (blah, blah).  because she's slower than dirt, we often don't get our line cleaned of all the full boxes, and run completely out of empties, having to start piling seats on the floor.  after minutes of hollering for a hi-lo, she finally finds her way over.  she'll lay out some empties and pile up the full ones, then leave.  it's usually this point where line support shows up, jumping to wrong conclusions as to why we're behind, and start hollering at us [when, in fact, it should be the hi-lo chick that gets hollered at].  it's around now that I say "for shit's sake!  what a joke!  go away!"  he can't treat us like dirt because we've fallen behind due to that pokey chick.  here we have alarms at every work station letting you know you're taking too long to build, and the hi-lo chick gets away with murder.  it happens a lot.  I guess I gotta confront Sam about it (he's always on the other line...he runs many lines).  anyway, I had to put that one down in writing, so I don't review it in my head while I try and sleep...

poopredog walk, honey bunches of sand burs, and sleep!!

I mention a couple dumb-ass maneuvers in the last entry, here's one more.  I have to crawl under the trailer to replace a broken rubber boot connector betwixt the sink drain pipe and the main.  after taking the old one off, I get doused with more bleachy goodness left over from the liquid plum'r, leaving the redness of a good chemical burn on my arm and back.  nice!  I take a shower right away, and add some first aid burn cream to quell the fire.  it's pretty minor.  it heals quickly.  I was wearing safety glasses this time...I hit the rental store for a drain snake, looking for a powered one, but they only have a small hand crank version. I reluctantly go for that one, but it did the trick after-all.  later, I crash for a spell, then try and drink some beers, getting a headache after about 3 of 'em.  the next night, however, the brew was flowing better (prob'ly because I got some real sleep this time).

I get some time to find out more info on my car.  first, I call the dealership that I bought if from and ask what the minimum is, that needs to be done on my part, to keep the "platinum warranty" in good standing.  simple oil change every 3000 and that's about it.  it doesn't even have to be done by them, as long as I keep receipts and records.   then, I ask about a jack, a tire iron, what happens when I get a flat?  seems the platinum service also provides flat bed towing (since it can't be towed on a hook).  the car itself doesn't come equipped with a spare, a jack, or a tire iron (only a tire pump powered by the cigarette lighter outlet).  I just need to keep my phone handy in case I get a flat.  I then ask about run-flat tires at my local discount tire (by phone).  first, I see if the tires I have are run-flat (the dealer thinks they are, but weren't sure)?  nope. then, I get a price for a set of 4 run-flats....$1100!  youch!   I instead, buy me a $9 patch kit and some fix-a-flat (as suggested as a 'plan B' by the tire center guy), and put a flash light in the glove box.  there.  if I can't fix it, I'll call for a tow.  it's been awhile since I've had a flat *crosses fingers*.  I then hit the forums that go over all the problems the car has had (in general).  it seems many peeps have had rear differential problems right off the bat. (who knows if this one has?  but it's covered for a good 36 months/36,000 miles if it wants to poop out under my watch).  also, I find out that the cars max weight capacity is 353 lbs.  you get a couple peeps in that thing that weigh 200 lbs a piece, you're already 47 lbs over capacity.  also, the hump between the driver and passenger seat is actually the gas tank.  the car is awesome, and a lot of fun to drive.  I'm learning as I go, and it's a pretty cool little dune buggy!

as far as the stalag goes, our boss talks about a good chance that we'll have this coming weekend off, pending something major doesn't happen (mechanically).  I'm not gonna hold my breath.  he then says we'll prob'ly switch to 8 hour days soon, but first we gotta hit bigger numbers on 10's (again, I'm not holding my breath...).  even though it's a loud place to work, you could still hear the thunder last night.  Squabber and Rosie must have had a field day with me not being at home during such a storm.  they seemed to have survived it, so all is good!

sleep, I need sleep....

ok, a couple dumb-ass maneuvers that I don't wanna recommend...I think I mentioned one in the entry below. DON'T plunge the drain with standing liquid plum'r whilst wearing nice clothes.  those bleach spots look less pretty than tie die, and second, which I just found out, DON'T plunge the drain with standing liquid plum'r whilst not wearing safety glasses.  damn!  that stuff burns the eyeballs.  I guess I'm askin' for a 'Darwin award', or 'worlds most dumbest (what have you)'.  after a minute or two of diluting my eyeball in bath water, I can once again see without the blinding pain of bleachy goodness.   anyway, I fill the dishwasher up again, and turn it on, watching closely to make sure the sink doesn't over-fill (I mean, I gotta have clean dishes, right?).   [...] it's already getting close to the top as I type, so I stop, grab the plunger again (this time with work clothes and reading glasses), and unsuccessfully unclog the bitch.  I once again, gotta stop the dishwasher in mid cycle, and wait...here's hopin' I have one day off this weekend to fix this fockin' thing.

the other day, I bring soy sauce to work (it naturally being in a glass bottle), to put in my rice hambooger helper, then, of course, I don't zip the lunch box all the way closed and try and multitask, while throwing some garbage away in the trash can in the driveway.  needless to say, somehow my man-purse (lunch box) gets upended, the soy sauce bottle hits the damn pavement, and crash!  the shit looks like blood!  I quickly get Rosie back in the house, grab a broom and sweep up all the glass, I then throw my now soy flavored work shoes in the warsher...it's been a weird week for dumb shit to happen.  anyway, I gotta get ready for another stint at the stalag *fart*

alright, two big jugs of liquid plum'r and boiling water, along with plunging the hell out of it (wrecking a good shirt from bleachy over-splashage), and the damn kitchen sink is still plogged like a raccoon that's eaten an entire wheel of sharp cheddar.  I can only prey (if I were that of a praying mantis) that we have at least one day off this weekend, so I can rent me that snake, and roto-root away.  it's a 1/2 day chore that I'd rather not do when I'm supposed to be sleeping, so as I'm not overly-zombified at the stalag.

my new shrimpy bat-mobile is running a bit tighter.  the engine light is off, which is a relief...I bought it with the engine light on, with the explanation that one of the guys from the dealership had filled it with regular unleaded instead of premium, and that it would go off by the next fill.  yup.  it did!  plus, I was a bit anxious about the lack of physical gauges this car had, but since have found out how to access info on everything from radiator temp to oil pressure.  turns out, most of this stuff is digital. I'm so used to dial gauges, and all...it's a cool ass car!  rawk on bat-mobile!  I'm thinking of washing it again today, but the short term forecast shows rain for the next 4 days, so never mind.

hmmmm, nothin' new. work still sucks, pooperdog walks still rock, eat, sleep, work, blah, blah.  currently, pooperdog is done goin' potty, so back to that powernap, so I can be alive for tonight's stint...

guessin' it's time to rent me a rooter again.  damn kitchen sink is draining way too slow. I'm thinkin' the extra coffee grounds that Brian has to wash out his reusable coffee filter is helping cement all the other gook together, 'cause when I [unsuccessfully] use the plunger that's all I get is coffee grounds and gook. here I just had a week off, why couldn't it have gotten blocked up when I had time?! oh well, such is life. I'll deal widdit when I get time tomorrow, right now, I gotta get ready for the stalag...I'm currently making some hambooger helper rice stuff for supper, saving the leftover hamburger helper noodle stuff for lunch tonight, so as I don't get all burned out eating the same hambooger helper item. 

another beautiful day [slept away]. sunny, high fitty's.  nothing else really to write about.  oh 'cept this time o' year I'm always talking about having the windows open and the heater on (because it's nice and warm during the day, but still pretty frosty at night).  seems after my good drunkening the other night at the neighbors house, I came home and turned on the heater before hittin' the rack.  well, because a lot of windows were open in the main part of the wood-panel submarine, the heater wanted to go constantly, about turning Brian's bedroom into a sauna (being he had his door closed and the thermostat was in the cold part of the shack).  he bitched me out the next day, and I gave him one of his styles of apologies..."my bad", then add; "that's what you get for cheap rent".  I do close the joint up now, and it won't be long before the AC is on full tilt anyway, so all is good.  

....oh yeah, the stalag.  I gotta get ready!~

another "Sundee drive" with the top down and the pooperdog for company, and it's not (for those who wonder) "look at me in my cool convertible" for vanity's sake, it's more of a zen thing.  the sun is my goddess.  to be able to drive and get a sun burn from her warm embrace is beyond religious.  anyway, the seats are smaller than the bench seat in the Ranger, but Rosie makes due, and enjoys the drive as much as I do.   later on, I get invited to the neighbors for a beer...I honestly can't remember the walk home (it's 3 trailers down).  I must've got pretty squammer'd!  I hope I didn't dance naked in their driveway.  I'm sure I'll hear the story, if in fact I did.

this morning, my truck is gone, the 'fast orange' that I normally have in the corner of the shower is in the kitchen, there's duct tape and a black marker on the porch railing, etc, etc.  I guess I'm supposed to piece together all the clues to find out where he's taking my truck...wait, I don't care.  here's hopin' he gets less Dutch than me (for once), and puts a dollar in the gas tank...yeah whatever.

cool!  online banking now includes my car loan, so it'll be easier to pay it down by simply transferring moneys from one account to the other with the click of the mouse...I see my paycheck cleared, so I put a half a car payment towards, what else, my car loan (even though the full amount isn't due for another 3 weeks.  gotta stay on top of this), then $80 toward paying down my MC, since I just wracked up a good couple hundred on it for this years supply of flea dip (for the dog and cat), and heart worm stuff (for Rosie).  cheapest place for a highly competitive priced pet supplies seems to go to 1-800-PetMeds (so far as my research showed).  I could have gotten $15 off at my vet's, but their prices are jacked, so the $15 "savings" still makes it more expensive. 

anyway, nice day out, still a bit cool, but sunny non-the-less.  Brian (almost neighbor/room mate) continually reminds me that my vacation is almost over.  dude!  shut yer pie hole, and let me relax.  he then asks what kind of plans I have for the weekend. I quickly quash any idea of helping him by pretending to run out the door hollering "oh no, he's gonna put me to work again on my vacation!".  it worked.  he didn't ask for that favor.  his girlfriend can help him. I've done enough runnin' around for his benefit...and do ya think he'd refill my full tank of gas after using my shrimpy truck for a week.  hell no! god! this guy's more Dutch than I am...I really gotta be less of a nice guy. it's costin' me too much

pooperdog walks have revealed some strange bird calls lately and that occasional wild turkey from the swampy wooded lot behind the wood-panel submarine.  my head does a lot of drifting upward during our nighttime walks occasionally making me stumble over a speed bump.  sometimes I get a moving star (prob'ly the international space station).  the other night, I glimpse 3 quick blips in the north western part of the sky.  what the hell was that?!  some sort of unidentified UFO object that flies.  it was kind of odd, but then again, I may have been under heavy sedation mit me hoppy brew. it was prob'ly one of my brain folds flipping against an optic nerve (it happens).

food unt more coffee to start my day....ready, go!

ok, well today's weather didn't cooperate as well as yesterday's (sunny, but high of only 50) but I got a lot of little things done.  clean and make room for Brian's stuff in the kitchen pantry, the bathroom shelves and the fridge, dishes, laundry, moved my truck in the back yard, so he has a spot in the driveway, cleaned out my half of the shed (wait, I did the shed thing yesterday), went shopping for food, and finally bought me one of crank handles for the bathroom window (yarp, the one I wanted to replace a half a year back, but forgot all about, until I find the old busted handle in the trucks glove box),  the cable guy came over to fix Brian's room DVD/TV set-up, power-napped, called work to see if I have Easter off?, then called my bank to set up car payments online, mowed the lawn and finally installed those stickers displaying my address on the front of the wood-panel submarine (wait, lawn & stickers were yesterday too...did I write about yesterday? sorry for the re-run).  baking some lemon garlic pork fillet with pork stuffing and green beans (mmmmmmms!).  I kinda skipped lunch, so I'm pretty starvin'. cracked my first beer o' the day, and plan on relaxin' on the porch with the old dog...