Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth

And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;

Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth

of sun-split clouds, - and done a hundred things

You have not dreamed of-wheeled and soared and swung

High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,

I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung

My eager craft through footless halls of air....

Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue

I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace

Where never lark nor even eagle flew-

And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod

The high untrespassed sanctity of space,

Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

so, yesterday, as we're making our pooperdog walk rounds, I see Brian (almost neighbor/room mate) driving my truck (he's borrowing it 'til his car gets out of the garage...did I mention he has bad luck with vehicles?  prob'ly) with the tail gate down.  another dumb-ass move.  I hold my breath until we get back to the drive-way and make sure that 3/4 ton jack didn't slide out somewhere while he was driving.  that'd make a good crunch in the window of someone driving behind.  phew!  it's still there.  I ask him if he's trying to give me a heart attack?!  his predictable response; "....my bad".  I bungee the jack to the spare tire mount, so it can't go anywhere.  he then asks if I wanna help him a minute?  "no!"  I get roped into projects of his that take many more minutes than what he says.  he then tells me all he needs is to help move the couch and chair into the back of the truck, so he can drive them to a storage unit.  great, I store the shit for a good year, and get little compensation, but he's willing to pay someone else to do the very same thing.  nice! oh well, it does free up a lot of space in the house, and the shed (he moves a ton of boxes from the shed to the unit, as well), so let's do diss...  a 1/2 hour out of my vacation day wasn't too bad, and he gave me the rest of the rent that was due to me, so all is groovy!  Rosie and I take the top off the batmobile and go for a cruise down Allegan way (the county just south of here).  it's the most freeing thing ever, to have the open air around you.  it's like a motorcycle with four wheels.  it's fun!

shower, shave, honey bunches of sand burrs, tons of coffee and I'm ready to slack another vacation day away (these next four days are lookin' sunny and warmer).  I gotta get me some IPA's at my favorite beer store first, then I'm ready to slack!  I got some address stickers for my wood-panel submarine.  today would be a good day for that 2 minute project, I may install that light rope underneath the railing of my porch as well, if I get ambitious...

on a sad note, my friend from Mini-soda's cat (HooHah's Lucy) goes to little mammal heaven.   here's hopin' Squabber McCheese likes to take pooperdog walks when Rosie meets Lucy.  sorry for your loss bro, and rest in peace kitty!

...and, of course, I'm glad I took pictures of my car when it was clean (see entry below), 'cause it rained like a bowling ball emoticon last night.  it doesn't appear to be very good wax, since the dirt and rain now cling to the car better than it did before.  a sixer of Centennial IPA and a couple Sundogs make my day go smoother.  grilled some bar-b-que chicken last night with some mixed veggies on the side [mmmmmmmmmms!].  made me an omelet 'round 5am this morning using (drained) mixed veggies, a leftover brat, some bacon (and, of course) eggs, sharp cheddar and milk [mmmmmmmms!].  I guess I'm writing about these meals because it's lunch time right now. I'll have to scrounge the pantry and see what's up.  Brian (almost neighbor/room mate) gives me two jars of grape jelly.  maybe I'll PB&J it.  why not?

took me a huge nap after breakfast, then ran out to the pet store and bought some puppy pads (little washable pads that absorb pee if/when Rosie pees in the kitchen again).  they want $20 for the damn things.  seems everything's mondo expensive when bought at a pet store.  next, I zoom over to the local GM dealer to have a spare key made.  they wanted $35 for that.  what a scam! but it'd cost more to not have it, then go ahead and lock my keys in (...you understand the logic).  they say the key is more expensive because it's got a chip in it.  I'd like to bust one of these open and actually see.  the parts guy said he had to program it, but it looks like all he did was stare at the dash and turn the key.  again, I don't wanna risk the hassle of damaging something trying to break in, so I'll eat the cost, and call it good.

I bust out the lawn mower yesterday, only to find that Brian stood the damn thing up  sideways and leaned it against my shed.  I'd like to kick his ass for that dumb ass maneuver.  I check the oil, and of course, it all drained out, so I refill it, refill the now empty gas tank, and fire it up.  it blew blue smoke and oil out of the exhaust  for the good 10 minutes that I had it running. I let him have it when he got home.  you don't tip any kind of gas motor vehicle/tool sideways (just ask my truck).  just one more dingbat thing to make this whole room mate thing feel like a bad idea...I didn't rightly get me an apology. he sort of said "my bad" and changed the subject.  here's hopin' he doesn't pull that again, or I'll give him a hair cut with the damn thing

awesome day, weather wise, that is once the sun was fully cocked and loaded in da sky.  I take a moment to warsh me trailer trash Ferrari, then spend a good 4 hours waxing the damn thing.  it was in bad need of cleaning.  the interior was yesterday's work, today the exterior gets a make over.  after washing it, I put the top down so it wasn't in the way whilst waxing.  after waxing and a good 4 beerses later, I gotta figure out how to put the top back up.  it wasn't hard, but I made the mistake of trying to close the trunk by pushing hard on one of the seat humps, putting a mild dent in her (oh well, it's only a car. if that's the biggest dent I put in it in its lifetime, then I'm doin' good).  I take me some pics mitt me camera to show off its cleanliness.  it's called "once a year polish", so maybe next year around this time I'll take another pic. the chrome spray that I bought was a damn joke.  I guess I gotta bust out the Mother's (it's like a brillo pad that's soaked in chrome cleaner...I know that does the trick, 'cause I used it before.  why I didn't pick me some up this time is beyond me...).  anyway, pics:

I should have put Rosie in the driver's seat...next time

wow, ok!  I guess I ought to take Brian's (neighbor/almost room mate) mom stomping over with a vacuum saying to me (as I'm by the fridge next to the open front window) "tell him he can have his shit back and jam it up his ass" [paraphrased].  damn! if this guy can piss his own mom off, I'm sure he'll piss me off as well.  it starts with a note telling me that he'll pay me this months rent plus the cable bill (which I had installed Saturday) on the 1st of April...he then leaves an envelope with $100 cash by my laptop (while I was sleeping during the day, in order to work that night), saying he'll pay me more next week.  nice!  I store the guys shit for how many months for free, and he starts off shorting me by a lot on his first month when he decides to actually move in.  maybe I can see his mom's frustration before even asking. I diplomatically ask her (via facebook) anyway, in case there's something obvious that I should know...I can almost imagine her response before she sends it...I guess I'll have to get fuckin' evil on this dude if he did his mom wrong.  he won't treat me any better, so why not, right?! we'll see.  meanwhile [changing subjects], his new girlfriend, of whom he met at the gym, is smokin' playboy bunny hot!

I spend the day with the Kid (it's always good to catch up wid da Kid!).  first, I drive to his house with my bat-mobile and we hit IHOP in the Grand Rabbit's side of town, then we see a movie called "the Hunger Game" which was pretty cool, but during the movie, someone pulled the fire alarm (I'm assuming), prompting us to leave the movie and see what the hell was up.  they reassured us that everything was fine and sent us back into the theater.  maybe 5 minutes later, they decide to rewind the flick back to where it was before the fire drill (which was cool!).  even with that, they were more than cool about giving everyone free passes to the next movie they seen, and because the Kid mentions that he'll be seeing another movie  soon, I give him my freebee pass (why not, right?).  we then hit Dairy Queen for some Blizzard's and I zoom him home...on the way to my house, I pick up a sixer of Centennial IPA and witness what happened during the first paragraph...

before all that, I spent a good hour cleaning my bat-mobile with windex/ rain-ex/ deep leather cleaner/ armor all/ etc., and putting on the metal plate, removing the paper back window plate, so I can finally lower the top.  I'll  be topless by tomorrow...

ugh!  last day of the week...5-10 hour days is as bad (if not worse) than 4-12's, but the check will look good.  my raise will be on this Friday's check. I'm thinkin' I'm gettin' 40 cents more an hour (it all adds up).  [...written yesterday, then got sidetracked by a pooperdog walk]

last night ran smooth (compared to most).  we have a meeting afterward where the boss tells us we gotta work tonight and possibly on Saturday, but since I put in a vacation slip for next week off, that includes the weekend before, and the weekend after [shiggity shweet!].  online banking shows the 57 hours I put in last week, making it a whopper of a check.  I put $390 of it into savings, the rest into checking, which will go toward next months rent, and food, gas, beer, etc. for the week.  next weeks check will go for  April's bills, blah, blah

Brian (almost room mate/neighbor) says he'll stop by this Friday and give me his first rent check.  he wants to move in starting April 1st.  cool.  it'll be weird having a room mate again, but I'll adjust.  he's paying for cable TV (over and above his rent), so I can't complain too much.

I gotta buy me some car care shtuff (car wax, chrome cleaner, that shiny tire stuff, window cleaner, armor all, etc), so I can enjoy the sun and clean the hell out of my new dune buggy.  I also ought to look into convertible top care.  is there a product that helps protect the cloth top from UV rays and dirt? I'll investigate online...otherwise, nothing much else planned for my time off, just being away from the stalag is "vacation" enough.  maybe I'll get my liver back into working shape again with some import/microbrew beerses *plan*.  also, I think the Kid is in town. I'll give him a call and see if and when he might wanna go out to eat and catch up, and what-not.

call me middle-age crazy, but I pulled the damn trigger on that shrimpy bat-mobile.   I guess "extra money" to throw around is now a thing of the past, for the next couple 3 years, but at least, this time, I have something to show for it (compared to the much huger debt I had while going thru credit counseling).  this can, and will be done even if I gotta eat Ramen noodles (again)  to make it work.  it's the coolest dune buggy I've ever owned. surprisingly, it gets better gas mileage than my little truck.  of course, the day I bought it, the outdoor temp drops to an average of around 40 degrees, so I haven't had the top off yet (other than at the dealership, when they were showing me how to take it down and put it up).   right away, I felt that awkward buyers remorse (as I do with every car purchase, for some reason), but after a couple good days of driving it, I fell in love with the little coffin on wheels.  it has a lot of cool features including XM radio and Onstar along with cruise control, power everything, and tilt wheel (...pictures to follow).  I've yet to go pick up my truck from the dealership.  maybe I'll grab Jay next week...

we just got done takin' us a barefoot pooperdog walk.  I gotta get a little nap in before going to the stalag.  g'nite.

alright,  I knew something would come of this one day...seems, almost everyday, while on our pooperdog walk, an overly aggressive chihuahua comes at Rosie full tilt, with back hair raised, thinkin' she, being about 1/4th Rosie's size, can take on a good 50 lb beagle mutt. it never has a collar, no leash, no restraints what-so-ever.  the owner is always apologetic, but never does anything about it. it's been going on for years.  I have to be on guard every time, and control the situation, tugging the leash, so that Rosie doesn't bite this little dogs head off.  they always clash hard (Rosie, normally being the non aggressive type), but again, it's mostly quelled by my leash tugs until the owner can grab her dog.  this time, the little dog came a runnin', I gave a good tug on the leash and Rosie's collar slipped right off.  she hesitates for maybe 2 seconds, then gives this dog her own what-for.  barking, running towards, and pinning down this little yapper with intent to show her who's boss.  I was a bit stunned at the whole scene, but then grabbed Rosie by the back and pulled her off the little dog.  turned out the chihuahua didn't get hurt, but I bet she'll think twice next time. meanwhile, the dingbat dog owner will probably continue to let this dog run free until something does bite it's head off...and unless she likes dogs with heads unattached, she (dingbat owner), at least, ought to buy a lead line.  what, does she think she owns this trailer park?!

it looks pretty grim during the first 4 hours last night...we only produce 150 some chairs.  the prospect of working the weekend looked eminent, but then a wrongly marked box of rails has us change to manuals once again (yep, manuals are the quickest and easiest to produce.  six way power being the toughest).  we ran them damn things for the rest of the night bypassing our goal of 1050 by about a good 100 parts.  we had a meeting after work, to where the boss actually gave us an "attaboy!" (that's a damn first).  he asks for peeps who wanna work the weekend, then sends everyone else home saying "have a good weekend!" [shweet!!].  directly after work, I help a work friend haul his motor scooter somewhere to get his flat tire repaired.  he buys me breakfast at McDonald's for my troubles. then, after a good pooperdog walk, I hit the store for some groceries.  it's been forever since I did some real shopping.  my total grocery bill comes to $144.  damn!  I guess I really was out of everything.  once home, I start in on that 12'er of Saint Pauli girl lager and make me some chicken asparagus whats-its with a side of wax beans and tator salad, then play me some Darksiders on the PS 3.  a good nap follows that, and now I'm sittin' on the porch with the ol' dog drinkin' some more beerses *bel7ch!*.  next door to the store happens to be Rosie's vet, so I pop in to quickly (as they were closing soon) purchase this years dog license.  I also have to hit petmeds.com for her summer time heart worm/flea stuff soon...

'low bat' symbol is blinking...I best go inside and plug 'er in, then refill my brew 

last night we ran manual car seats (the easiest and fastest to run) all night, so we easily hit our goal, even with an hour downtime due to running out of rails.  the boss makes good use out of that hour by  giving us info we'll need to know for our next ISO audit.  while in this meeting, a lot of problem solving questions about our line also came up, but he kept steering away from that, and refocusing on ISO training.  I thought it would have been a good time to address both issues.  we never have brain storming meetings, and the solutions we do give are usually shot down, or not implemented so I guess...never mind.  the place lacks any kind of organized team work skills, other than just come in, be that robot, and stay in the dark about everything.  those are pretty encouraging "skills", right?.   whatever.  it actually sounds like our boss is considering that we may have an entire weekend off (pending how good today's shift goes).  that'd be awesome!  it's been a long time since that last day off.  [news at 11]

last night our numbers hit the floor. our 1050 goal got cut in about half, so chances are pretty good that we have to work this weekend.  meanwhile, it's easy to forget what day it is when you work every damn day.  here's hopin' we put good enough numbers up tonight and tomorrow in order to get, at least, one weekend day off.  it truly feels like undue punishment, being it's been a lot of machine down time that we have no control over.  oh well.  one big paycheck closer to paying down debt and driving me a shrimpy bat-mobile.

gotta get ready for another 10 hours of stalag fun

alright, we get the hint, jeez! our boss has increased our work hours to 10 hour days, with the "threat" of working weekends (again!) if we don't reach our 1050 per shift (which we've almost acquired both on Sunday and Monday night)...it honestly feels like a prison camp [stalag] once again.  on top of that, he's asking peeps to work OT (above and beyond the 10 hours, to help 1st shift) every day.  peeps seem scared to say 'no'.  I politely say "no thank you, I'm looking to get more 'under-time'", which, at least, puts a smile on his face for 1 second.  if we work 10's all week, plus that double time "Sunday", I'll have a check as big as the one Ed McMahon used to hand to people when they won PCH.  I hope like HELL, we [at least] have one day off, so I can rehydrate my parched liver.  it's forgetting what a beer is.  I hope I can save it before it completely dries up and turns to dust. so far, I haven't worked an entire 7 day week since I've started the stalag.  the worst was 6-12's with the threat of the 7th, a couple times, but that was way back when...  seems I always find a day here or there to snake away (for sanity's sake). Lew took yesterday off for protest sake, because we had to work the weekend.  way to go Lew! I took my day of protest last week Tuesday for working the Saturday before.  blah, blah.  work bites!  the good news is, Sam (boss man) finally caved under the pressure of peeps wanting to rotate work stations every hour instead of every 3.  man, what a difference!  it forces everyone to do a little of everything, instead of their favorites, pushing others to work the crappy spots more often.  I think it's completely fair.  seems only the few that were hogging the good stations were in protest.  boohoo bitches.   now ya gotta do some real work. deal widdit

anyway, man it's way nice outside!  sunny, warm (70's-80's).  beautiful! maybe I'll break out the lawn chair for a spell and catch a ray or two...

no surprise here.  I look at the past 12 hours of production on the stalag's 'puter and notice no one came in on first shift.  there's 8 (plus) hours of production that wasn't made up.  looks like 3rd shift is taking on the burden alone.  then, to top it all off, no one shows up for first shift again when it's time for the morning shift change!?!  in other words 3rd had to come in both Saturday and Sunday (Friday night, and Saturday night), and first shift had the complete weekend off.  why do we gotta shoulder all the burden?! I don't bother asking my boss knowing his reasoning wouldn't satisfy a real answer.  I guess I simply gotta laminate a picture of a shrimpy bat-mobile, then every time I feel the angst (that work often produces), pull it out and look at it.  sort of trying to tame my own emotions with a set goal in mind, instead of always griping about things I can't change *plan*

currently, 'across the way Jay' plays frisbee with Adam out in the street, in front of my place, pretty much mocking the fact that they're both  enjoying time off from work (Jay has a good 6 week lay-off, and Adam is out due to his Schizophrenic episode), meanwhile, I gotta go back to sleep, once this dog is done peeing, so I can enjoy yet another annoying stint at the stalag *pulls an imaginary laminated picture of a shrimpy bat-mobile from my minds pocket*

so, just minutes after I type the above, I notice my silly ol' dog hadn't budged from the spot on the porch, indicating that she hadn't yet peed , so I try and coax her off the porch with some sharp cheddar pieces (she loves her sharp cheddar!), when someone pulls into the drive.  it's Jim, one of the guys I went fishing with in the U.P. a couple years ago (I'm sure I wrote about it...it was big fun!).  we quick catch up on what's goin' on with one another, then he explains his kid had just bought the trailer across the way for a dollar (they can't hardly give these metal boxes away, even though they're the cheapest living in town).  that's cool!  I know Jay picked his place up for free, but it needed a lot of work after sitting empty for years.  anywho.  back to sleep so I can be an alive night owl at the smoke factory.

slept away another beautiful day so I can be that night owl at the smoke factory.  Rosie wakes me up a bunch more during the day, since it's nice outside, so I put her food and water outside, and just leave her on her lead for hours at a time.  she doesn't seem to mind lounging on (or underneath) the porch.  we just did us our second barefoot pooperdog walk for the year.  it takes a good week or so of barefoot walks to toughen my foots up enough to where it feels natural like, but until then, they're a bit tender...

we introduce a couple "new" peeps onto our line from the collapsed 2nd shift.  one of them is Ashley.  she was our C crew back-up line support, now in competition with our self appointed back-up; Jody.  both hard headed drama queens after each others throats, and in viscous competition to fill the spot.  it's almost guaranteed that a cat fight will break out one day betwixt the two.  it's funny. I'll be talking to Jody, then when she walks away, Ashley will come up to me and ask; "what'd that fucking bitch want?".  damn! I'm not gonna take sides, they both are control mongers hungry for blood.   who'll win? [news at 11]

I got more to ramble about, but I gotta get ready for work (yay! double time Sunday!)

ain't that some shit, they must want them parts out real bad, if they're willing to pay a good 11 or 12 of us $22 (plus)/hour to work tonight.  the good news (if any) is we only work 8 hours.  the boss says "keep your phones on, I may call to cancel...".  here's hopin'.  my liver's dryin' out.  I haven't had a beer in like 6 days (almost a new personal record).  most all of us protested, but he wouldn't budge.  i don't like it much, but an extra $180 (something) on top of the weeks work and Saturday's time and a half ought to help shave down my debt even faster.  I just gotta grin and bear it.  it can't last forever, even though I feel like we're (collectively) that guy that pushes that big rock up the mountain.  what was his name?  Syphilis?  no.  I can't remember.

seems I bought me a PS3 game online a month ago (prob'ly when I was half in the bag), and didn't download it.  I realized my mistake, downloaded it and played a little bit. it's Grand Theft Auto IV, and it's a damn hoot!  some of the characters and most of the story line is pretty silly. for example; in order to keep your energy level up, you walk into a burger joint and order yourself a burger...the lady behind the counter says "burger and a hand job; 1 dollar".  I laughed my ass off at the sleazy adult content.  pretty funny shite!

left work, feeling somewhat disappointed at not having tonight off.  did us a pooperdog walk.  maybe I'll snarf a bowl of honey bunches of sand burrs before hittin' the hay *plan*

like last week, our names and phone numbers were taken down again (can't they use the same list?) in case we're not needed for tonight's OT.  he says expect to come in at 10pm unless you're called.  I make sure my phone is plugged in right when I get home (otherwise, I usually ignore the damn thing).  we, of course, didn't reach our goal last night, so I half expect we'll  be in (unless today's day shift puts out some pretty big numbers, which I doubt).  anyway, back to sleep for a spell so I'm not burnt out by then.

the break down:

$4356 per fiscal yr (bills, including "extra" billpay payments) +

$3168 per yr (lot rent; $264*12) =

$7524 (bills, and rent total per year) / 12 (months) =

$627 per month / 4.2 (weeks) =

$149 per week / 7 (days) =

$21.32 per day

.88 per hour

.014 per minute...there you have it.  a penny and a half per minute of my existence (if my OCD math is right, which I have my doubts?!), goes toward living expenses (minus food, beer and gas, which I'll bore you with next time).

did some online banking and found an extra $100 to put toward the 'Kid loan'.  that makes a total (so far, this month, being only the 16th) of $350 over and above the $135 monthly payment.  if I keep pelting the damn thing like this, it'll be gone in no time flat.  strike hard while the irons hot, so they say (I don't know who "they" are, in this case...fock it, "they" prob'ly represents someone who's into blacksmither-y of some sort).  and because I'm a bit bored (prob'ly from doing my online banking), I break down my expenses by the month/ day/ minute, coming up with .014 cents per every 1440 minutes per day toward bills (see dorky computations above).  I make about 18 cents a minute income, but only work and average of 48 hours, so something doesn't add up, but then I realize my calculation's way off because I'm including these big "extra" payments within my bill amounts, but sort of lost ambition to fix the problem, and can see (thru your web camera) that you're bored by reading about my expenses too, so I'll stop.

currently 61 degrees, cooler, and overcast.  good sleepin' weather, did I mention I need another nap?. 

heheh.  the stalag has become laughable at best.  we get in a couple hours early, expecting to make 1050 parts, but after a good 700 (something) we run clean out of rails.   some of us volunteer to leave early.   tonight, we're supposed to come in at 9pm (instead of 10), so we can run out of rails again.  meanwhile Sgt. Dickweed (read last entry) can bite my shiny metal ass!  it's not the peeps on line not getting parts out, it's busted down half-assed machinery and running out of supplies... they'll prob'ly make us work thru the weekend (as promised if we don't make our quota).  oh well, I can enjoy a little bit of the summer like weather, by hittin' the lawn chair, exposing my winter white skin to the goddess of the sun. feels good!  I put the magic snow blower away in the shed (after having the neighbor open the lock on the shed for me, only to find my own keys on the floor of the shed...I LOCKED MY OWN KEYS IN THE SHED.  NICE!), and cleaned up the pooperdog landmines in my yard.  I would have done that earlier, but again, I couldn't get into the shed to get the pooper shovel out....anyway. it's supposed to rain and storm today, but still be in the 70's.  it's currently 68 degrees at 6 in the morning...

just got done with a good pooperdog walk, now to catch up on some Jon Stewart Daily Shows, and the Colbert Report's (via hulu.com plus) then hit the rack *plan*

rumor confirmed!  seems we gotta go in at 8pm (instead of our normal 10pm)tonight, and start working 10 hour days [shit!], after our little meeting, I ask Sam (sort of boss) how long it'll be before these 10 hour days go to 12's.  he says "it'll be 5-8 hour days soon, you got my word on that".  during break, Tim (line support) says he heard that by March 24th, the Mexico plant will be taking half our work, so maybe by then we'll be on 8's (why couldn't Sam have told us that?! jackass!).  anyway, as the shift ends, we have a bitch meeting with some big-wig ass-munch.  he wants 1050 parts per shift or we'll be working weekends (tell that to the busted machinery we gotta work with).  we could barely get 1050 out when we worked 12's.  I was in a good mood until dickweed started hollering.  oh well. I guess if I can ride it out for 10 more days, then see if things mellow out.  meanwhile, I see a second shift opening at Gentex starting at $11.45/hour on indeed.com...

seems once or twice a year they (the cleaning crew at the stalag) clean the huge amount of cups, tupperware, bottles, etc, that collect on the shelves in the break room kitchen, trying to quell the over-population of fruit flies that this kind of thing spawns.  anyway, I got my name on both my coffee cup and my water bottle, and store them in the same spot every time.  I see both are missing initially, but after looking around a bit, I was able to rescue my coffee cup, and as luck would have it, I left my water bottle on the bench out on the line.  I use the coffee cup all day, putting it back on the shelf, just to find it missing when I wanna grab it and bring it home, while punching out.  who stole my newly found coffee cup again?!  oh well, they make more...

I wake up a couple times yesterday to let pooperdog out to two different scenarios.  it was sunny and warm the first time,  heavy rain/sleet mix the next. the swamp out back is alive with tree frogs and sounds you'd normally hear in the summer.  it's supposed to be in the high 60's all week. the weatherman says 40's is norm for this time of year.  thank you global warming.

as work ended on Sunday, peeps from the day shift (who were taking over our stations) were saying their boss had just told them that this new shift set-up may include working mandatory 12's, depending on how the build schedule looks.  they then ask me what I've heard... "not a damn thing! you can't get my boss to divulge information if you set him on fire..."  so, it looks like our 8 hour day set-up lasted a good 3 weeks.  shit!  I don't wanna go back to 12's.  I pull a day off yesterday as a silent one man revolt.  I don't need this wondering what's happening next with a lame boss who doesn't keep us in the loop.   I know there are prob'ly things bosses shouldn't let their peeps know when the ship is going down, but act as if you care a little.  damn! even a good lie to settle the constant rumor mill would help.  anyway. it was a nice day off. many pooperdog walks ensued.  I had me a sixer of Black Dog Lager, and relaxed to a bunch of games of cut  throat, 8-ball and 9-ball (PS 3 online billiards).  speakin' of takin' a day off, I took one just before the collapse of the 12 hour day thinger last month, and it never registered as a "bank" day!  bonus!  I got a whole day off for free!  meanwhile, I have no idea why I'm not looking for a new job, instead of being constantly frustrated with this one.  dah!  maybe Indeed.com has something I can jump into *let's take a look!*

I gotta make me some hambooger helper for tonight's lunch, and clean up this kitchen before taking a good nap *plan*

so, last night was a full night of work (time and a half pay) without having to be farmed-out.  near the end of the shift, someone comes around and says we have a meeting with the boss in the break room directly after work.  I'm thinking "oh-oh...we hardly never have meetings. maybe we'll all be fired and put us out of all our miseries".  anyway. we're all sitting there waiting a good 10 minutes, when Sam came in, and says; "honestly, I completely forgot that I called this meeting" (no surprise there), then just asks who wants to pull more OT for Saturday.  a hand full of peeps raise there hands, then we leave. no other info is thrown our way.  a lot of peeps ask various quick questions, but either he doesn't know the answer, or he's not allowed to share what information they tell him (the latter being my own speculation).  long story short, we start this next week sans a second shift.  maybe we'll get farmed-out less often, and run out of rails less.  we'll see...

after work, I do about $90 in shopping, pick up some beerses and head home.  pooperdog walks, beerses, and a little TV/PS3 before hitting the rack.  Mark says he may stop in after Church this morning (he said that last week.  oh well).   he's curious about me renting out that back room. I gotta get with (almost room mate/neighbor) Brian to see what his next move is first.  I'm thinkin' if I had a real room mate again, it'd haul in a good $250/month as opposed to just being Brian's free warehouse. I'll talk to Brian when I see him next, to find out what his plans are.

mmmmms!  Founder's Brewery makes a good dark Porter.  even the chocky chip cookies go well with it.

online banking finally shows that double time day that I worked (not last Saturday, but the one before). it's a whopper of a check!  rent and bills already paid for with the last two checks, so $190 goes to zero out my credit card, and another $250 (on top of the $135 scheduled to be paid today) goes toward the Kid loan.  I figure if I make car payment sized payments to pay the loan down, I'll get closer to paying it off, and then reconsider making car payments (...dreams of a shrimpy bat-mobile not yet quashed. we'll see, when the Kid loan gets closer to zero, and as "real" news about work filters our way, blah, blah)

rumor mill central  tells us, first; that we'll have the weekend off if we put up good numbers.  we placed GREAT numbers, yet when I asked just before I punched out (because they won't volunteer ANY information), line support says we gotta come in.  I guess I don't mind the overtime considering the shakiness of our current work situation.  next (and this is where the "shakiness" part comes in); it appears they're dissolving 2nd shift by next week Monday, farming out peeps now on 2nd to other lines permanently, and increasing the other shifts (1st and 3rd) by an extra hour (9 hour days).  apparently (rumor has it), the line in Mexico is up and running, and we won't need such a huge production staff.  I can only speculate, but I'm wondering how long it will be (if and when) before they'll not need our line at all?  will it all eventually be made in Mexico, confirming the rumor I heard a year (plus) back when I started working here?  the fast paced way things are changing, it'll be long before June before layoffs occur [my own speculation]. keep in mind, none of this information came from my boss (or anyone of authority).  you'd think he'd wanna keep us in the loop.  whatever.   I really gotta get with my boss and ask respectfully if he'd please not leave us all in the dark about everything.  we have a damn right to know what the hell's going on, instead of relying on [some good/ some bad] rumors.  frustrating as all get-out...

[more news at 11]

last night was a total farm-out set-up.   our line ran out of rails (even though we're 20 miles behind schedule apparently), so everyone gets to work on other lines.  Mark and Chad got sent to 'Honda weld' (the nightmare area that I worked during my first 5 months).  I've told those guys many times how much I hated working that area, so when the supervisor asked if anyone had experience, they got a bang out of throwing me under the bus, and trying to volunteer me.  it turned out it was just for fun, they never came and got me. I dread getting behind one of those welders again.  meanwhile, they kept me on our own line (riveting studs on the tie bar).  I stayed there all night making about a thousand of 'em.  it was ok. I wish (once again) they'd let us use a MP3 player, but I got enough of a library of tunes in my head (when I'm not passing a brain stone).

slept all day today (turns out riveting tie bars for 8 hours is quite the work-out).  Tonight should be our last night of the week, but chances are pretty damn good that we'll work tomorrow (here's hopin' we get at least one day off). tomorrow morning (straight after work, and a good pooperdog walk) I'll have to check my online bank to make sure that Saturday (the 25th) is on it.

weeks ago, while looking at little bat-mobiles [for sale] online, I sent in an application for a loan thru a loan company that let's you compete with other loan companies.  within minutes, there were two companies that had sent me a  "you're approved" email, with steps on how to go about purchasing said car, and all the interest rate garbage, etc. anyway, yesterday, I hit the mail box and one of these companies had sent me a blank check, to be made out to the dealer that is selling said car, etc.  good gawd, they know how to push a guy over the edge!  can it be this easy?!  if this had arrived before the rumor about getting laid off, It prob'ly would have easily coaxed me into jumping in and driving it away, but no...I'll hang on. I don't need that extra burden (even though the car itself is way cool!).  meanwhile, my shrimpy truck must have overheard the news of its potential down-grade.  the muffler got about twice as loud on the trip home from work yesterday...

gotta get ready for work *fart*

just when I'm thinkin' things are gettin' better on our shift, personality clashes flare. I'd bore ya with details, but it's not worth it.  I kind of miss the old C crew clan (but I don't miss those 12 hour days).   everyday we're asked if we wanna work OT to cover other shifts. I always politely say "no thanks, I'm still trying to figure out how to get extra 'under-time'".  I ran into Carl (my old boss) and asked him how things are going on 2nd shift. he tells me that 3 of his 11 (or so) peeps are dangerously close to being fired for attendance. my boss was able to clear up the question that I had about not getting paid for the 25th of last month (which was our Saturday).  he essentially explains that our hours are established by the date that you punch out, not in (we clocked in at 10pm Saturday, but it reads as a 6am Sunday clock out), and since our schedule goes from Sunday to Saturday, it doesn't show up on the next check, but the one after that (or some such bullshit...I guess I'll understand better when and if it shows up on this Friday's check stub).  I leave work yesterday yackin' with a friend, and by the time I got to my truck, I didn't recall if I had punched out or not?  today I'll swipe my card on the vacation/bank hour/hours worked per week thingy, and make sure. if not, I'll have to fill out a form and throw it at my boss. I take a moment to write "punch in/out" in big letters (strictly as a reminder) on the lid of my man-purse lunch box, in green paint pen.

catch up on the latest Jon Stewart's Daily Show and Colbert Report, along with some new episodes of Futurama, and Archer recently added to Netflix...awesome!!

windy, springy, 65F, and overcast.  while letting the dog out, I notice the tarp that I bungee over my magical snow blower blew away.  I make a circle around my trailer and find it in the back yard.  I'm thinkin' it won't be long anyway for me to throw that rarely used machine in the shed to be stored until next snowfall.

walk the pooperdog, then back to sleep for a spell, so I'm alive for tonight's stint *ready, go!*

yet another vicious rumor (from rumor mill central) about work.  seems one of the guys from our line overheard that the company's bleeding money so badly, in order to keep the place afloat, they've gotta lay-off a good 200 of us, come June.  seriously though, I thought (and still think) the doors would be welded shut even before that...we'll see.  meanwhile it's too expensive for me to even dream about a new used car with those kind of rumors floating about. I'll have to put my finances on lock-down (like I did in the past).  no more PS3 games (as if I don't have enough already), less trips to McDonald's...wow!  the more I think about it, I don't have a lot of fat to trim (financially speaking).  maybe dump 'netflix' and 'hulu', and buy cheaper beer (is there beer cheaper than Schlitz?), if things get too tight.   I'd like to set up a format to try and pay my debts completely down while I still have an income, so I don't have to scrape so hard when I'm on unemployment (pending the rumor is true, and all...June ain't that far away).  time to "put my house in order" as they say.  I'm doing ok compared to most...[more news at 11]

anyway, enough bad news. how about some good news:  it's the Kid's birthday tomorrow!  happy birfdee Kid! 25 and conquering the world one donut at a time....inside joke, he works for Krispee kreme (sp?)

snowy and blowy...

after doing some online banking, I realize I got jipped a day (that double time Saturday isn't on my check stub.  I write my hours down every day on the calender. my check doesn't jibe with me calendero). I don't care so much to work for free.  oh well. I can't do much to fix it on the weekend.  I'll bring the stub in on Monday and have them adjust it then.  also, I make 30 cents shift premium instead of my old 45 cents, that I made on C crew (son of a....).

we just finished a quick pooperdog walk, and I'm considering throwing some fresh Polish sausage brats on da grill *fart*

McDonald's for a #6 mit a black coffee (Mcgriddle sammich combo...mmmmms!), then on to get my hair cut (it's about damn time!!).  Supercuts is pretty crowded, so I hit the local Goodwill for some coffee cups first.  they had some cheap ones there, but they were all frilly looking flowery gramma style coffee cups [pass!].  I guess I'll have to go to Amazon.com and see what kind of man-cave style coffee cups I can dig up *fart*.  afterward, I hit the hair cut place again. this time it's way less empty. I use the $5 coupon that they gave me during my last visit, getting me that $7.99 haircut deal of the century.  after that, I head to Granger for a new pair of safety glasses with readers (mine are gettin' a bit beat up), but they're closed on Saturday (damn the luck!).  fill the tank in the shrimpy truck with $60 of premium and do about $55 in grocery shopping.  it's been a busy morning so far (completely the opposite of yesterday).  I'm currently gonna kick back, play some PS3 and have me a Founder's Centennial IPA (or 3)...*plan*

I find my long lost MP3 player hanging from my bedroom doorknob (when did I put that there?!).  it's good to hear Ben Fold's Five, Bad Religion, Cake, They Might Be Giants, Devo, Man or Astroman, and the like, once again...CRANK IT!!

I still can't find my set of keys that were lost weeks back.  they're prob'ly under the truck seat somewhere.  oh well.  they'll show up one day, and if not. fock it!

*bel7ch!*

oh yeah...there it is!  that old hang-over feeling that I haven't felt for some time now. a good 7 (or 9) stale pale ale's and I'm back in the game.  did I mention I have the weekend off?  damn, I don't know what to do with this much time off anymore.  I guess the first thing I should do is stop off at Goodwill and buy some coffee cups and maybe hit McDonald's along the way *plan*, but first, I need to take another nap to quell this hangove4r (the 4 is silent)...

later: I really should have considered that it's been a long time since I drank that heavily.  I should have known my tolerance has been lowered.  turns out I spent most of the day trying to sleep away a head banger.  maybe tomorrow I'll just have 3...

I guess just north of here is supposed to get nailed with a foot of snow, and below us are storm cells creating destructive tornadoes (Indiana/ohio).  I'll take rainy and windy over either of those...

the day before yesterday, I put in for a 1/2 of a vacation day for Thursday night. I should have heard whether it was approved or not yesterday. luck would have it, that while we were being split up as a team, to be farmed out to other lines that needed peeps (ours being down due to no rails...no surprise), I asked our boss if my half day was approved. he quickly said that I could take the whole night off, if I leave a revised 'vacation slip' on his desk.  before he changed his mind, I was gone. quickly filling out the new, and heading out the door...I don't have to show up again until Sunday night (YAY! I GOT A WEEKEND!!).  I stop off to my favorite beer store for a couple of IPA sixers, in order to become that recovering alcoholic from dry days gone by. this first beer is magically delicious (Sierra Nevada's Ruthless Rye 2012...mmmmmms!).  I'm typing via my laptop out on the porch with the old dog vying for my attention.  there's a calm springy feel to the air and it sounds like the cutey Asian girl next door is having yet another party (there's always a ton of cars parked along the road out front of her trailer).

[...]

dude!  the powerful smell of a skunk just wafted over us.  yet another sign of springiness...

after waking up, I go to let the dog out (did I tell this story?  it happened a couple days back), I spot a yellow envelope folded into the handle of my storm door. I don't have my glasses on, so I gotta fumble around and find my readers to see what this is all about. once my glasses are found, I see it reads "shut-off notice" on the outside of the envelope (great!  how'd this happen?!).  I open it up, grab my phone, and just as I'm ready to dial, I realize it's not even for this address. it's for cutey Asian neighbor.  I take it over and stick it in her door handle.  breathing a sigh of relief that it wasn't for me.  I guess I really should have put my address back up after repainting the place.  now I gotta wait 'til it's warm enough for the number stickers to stick (which won't be long, being March already!)

oh oh...spring must be on its way, those shrimpy bat mobiles are selling off pretty fast (autotrader.com). just last week there were 11 Pontiac Solstice's for sale (within a 75 mile radius from my house).  now there's only 8.   oh well. I can't "pull the trigger" just yet anyway. I'm too Dutch, and I gotta reduce that debt down some more.  there'll always be more bat mobiles available by then. 

make some chicken corden bleu (sp?) and tator salad for supper (and tonight's lunch).  an IV drip of strong coffee, and a shower before I go to work...

so, as I'm leaving work, I go up to my boss with a vacation form in hand, made out to take the second half of Thursday off, so I wouldn't have to work this weekend (if you take your last "scheduled" day of work off, the possible [normally mandatory] overtime weekend work that follows is recorded as an excused absence).  I get there just as Omar is handing him a slip for the same time off (dammit!).  chances are, he'll get the time off, and because I handed mine in second, I'll have to stay.  no worries. I'll just make sure and beat him to the punch for next weekend.

once again, these 8 hour work days are the shite!!  although, you'd think with an extra 4 hours of slack per day, I'd have this place cleaned up and my hair cut....nope.  maybe tomorrow.

ugh!  crappy windy rainy day!  looks like high percentage of rain/snow all day long on the hourly forecast (via my little weather widget on my desktop). we take our pooperdog walk (2 bagger) betwixt raindrops.  that wind is brutal.  any colder and this could all turn shiny.

volunteered to leave a couple hours early last night, due to us running out of rails [again!].  I spend a good 45 minutes shopping for food, then come home and do a quick pooperdog walk. I should crash out a bit, so I can wake up earlier and get my hair chopped.  it's gettin' too long...

I find a tricked out version of the shrimpy bat mobile that I like. it's awesome!  it's for sale down there in the Kid's neck of the woods.  dig the lambo doors! mid-life crisis 5 speed dorky bat mobile to the EXTREME!!

dang it! I'm already shy of coffee cups, I went and broke yet another one...this time while having it slip out of my mittened hands while trying let the dog in the house. I guess something's gotta give while juggling 4 cups and a dog (I grabbed the 4 cups from the truck on the way in, knowing I'll be making coffee, and not having anything to drink it from.  maybe I can still drink from the unbroken side.

I'm still trying to find a good balance between work and sleep.  the great news (as I've already stressed) is the fact that we only work 8's, and I don't have to do the swing shift (2 days, 2 nights) bullshit.  now if I can just figure out what's best? sleeping 8 hours directly after work (7am to 3pm) or staying awake, then sleeping until I gotta get up to go to work (from say noon 'til 8pm).  I've tried both, as well as sleeping the whole day away.  it seems the dog has the last say.  she wakes me up a good 3 times by sneezing in my face, so she can go potty.  it's gonna take a couple weeks to adjust to the new schedule.  by then, I wouldn't be surprised if the place suddenly, without explanation, goes back to 12'ers (that'd piss me off to no end!).

I guess I gotta hit Goodwill for some more coffee cups, on my next day off... *writes 'coffee cups' on shopping/to-do list*

so I get ready for work,  shower, shave, make some off brand "hamburger helper" for supper (and to bring for lunch), make sure I have my welding sleeves, gloves, and spanker's elbow band (tennis elbow self-deemed "spanker's elbow") .  getting all the way to my truck, just to find a note from another 3rd shifter (Mark, who lives clear across town) on my drivers seat, saying "did you get the phone message saying we don't have to work tonight?!" I know the note's authentic being the author has MS (squiggly writing), and the voice mail from work verifies what he writes. I quickly text him back, thanking him for saving me a trip in and back.  saying "i OWE YOU ONE!"   he calls me back, saying he'll be going to church tomorrow 'round 6am and wonders if I wanna do breakfast.  yep!  if he shows up, I'll be paying for breakfast where ever we g0....it was most awesome of him to wander this way to let me know what's goin' on....

I play some 'Dead Space', but for whatever reason I guess the last save I have is way before the save I should've saved during my last drunkening, so this time I go thru the same replay with a surgical strike, making sure I get every special feature that I may have missed the first time around, then turn around and make sure I save where I'm at, whenever I get the chance.  the game is awesome!!! I also buy me a cool game online called "prototype" just for fun....the demo was awesome, so why not?! *fart*

for some reason, I can't remember the ending to Adrian Brody's "wrecked" (via Netflix), so I watch it again, all the way thru....It's an awesome movie!!!

I do me a sixer of Centennial IPA just to catch up on my recovering alcoholism...it's good to recover from that loss of beer that I went through when we had to work full time...*belch!*.  it's funny, Mark (dude that left me the work note) visits God (church) on his day off, I revisit the Elixir of the Gawds (beer) on mine. priorities are funny...

what? my camera's stored on the kitchen counter, why not photo document this morning's breakfast (half those scrambly eggs unt 2 strips of bacon were donated to an already overweight beagle mutt). I mean, if it's not 3/4 naked girls, I may as well upload pics of the next best thing.  FOOD!  franch toost fried in bacon grease is heart attack delicious!!

just got back from a smallish pooperdog walk (2 bagger), now, as if directly on cue, it starts snowing pretty hard again.  this would have been a significant snow fall had the ground been it's normal permafrost self, as it normally is this time of year, but most of it's done and melted away. I can't wait for spring anyway.  it's been a wimpy winter, but I'm ready for some sun. 

now for that little nap before heading off to work (...OT!  time and a half day.  $16.73/hr x 8=$133.84.  $178.40 for tomorrow's double time day. my check should be in the $750 range -before taxes and bullshit and pending we work a full day today and tomorrow- yessir, I like that!)

day five of our 8's, and things are calming down a bit (differences between how shifts were run are beginning to get ironed out). last night, we were farmed out to other lines for 1/2 the shift, then ran our own line the second half.  I wonder if we gotta work this weekend. I already know the answer from all the rumors, but I'd sure like to hear it from (yet another) vacant boss.  this one is my C crew's boss all over again.  can't we get the courtesy of KNOWING what the hell's goin' on from a real boss, instead of hearing second hand maybe's...it's retarded! now, I could take the day off in retaliation, but tomorrow (umm...tonight) will be 'time and a half', and if we gotta work Saturday (which is a gimme according, again, to second hand rumors) that'll be considered 'double time', so I'll simply retaliate by letting my boss know that we don't want to be left in the dark (blah, blah), and go ahead and collect this weekends easy money.  I  worked the XM line (farmed out to that line for a spell), and found out they're working 7-12's, so I guess I should just bite my tongue and be happy that were not on that schedule.

quick do some online banking to make sure my check had been deposited, then transfer next months lot rent into savings (to be re-transferred the first of next month, to write a check against, so it doesn't get spent in the mean time).  next weeks paycheck will cover next months bills, plus what ever's leftover (minus money for food and gas) will be dumped toward debt pay-down *fart*

snow!!  it snowed pretty good overnight. the radio says we could expect another 6 to 8 inches by tonight.  wow! the ground isn't frozen after so many warmish days, so I suspect it'll disappear without the use of my magic snow blower [...].  anyway.  bacon, unt some fraanch toost are in order (ready, go!)

"this place has honestly moved from prison camp status to being a real good job, since the decision to go to 8 hour days...thank you very much!" or a similar facsimile there-of will be placed on the head of HR's desk anonymously, just to show that someone cares that they made the right decision (for once).  the extra 4 hours of free time (per day) means that that second pooperdog walk isn't rushed (or missed all together).  yesterday, was a calamity. first, we're told (rumor from 2nd shifts 'line support') that we'll be shutting down Chrysler's line by Thursday, if we don't get X amount of parts out per shift built (X=an impossibly high number to reach...I forget the exact number she quotes), then, the rails that were delivered to us for tonight's run were all bad, so instead of assembling parts every 34 seconds, it took a good [say] minute 20 for the tester to cycle thru each bad part, meaning many many less finished parts by the end of the night then what was expected to be built.  by second break, I'm thinkin' if this were a true calamity, they'd have all the big wigs hovering around trying to figure out how to fix this.  and almost, as if they read my mind, they were out there scurrying about, once the line started back up...between track marriage not supplying us with what we need to run, and then running bad parts to boot,  are numbers are looking bad. what this means in the near future. I can only speculate [news at 11]. 

I've had me a couple bad pork dreams lately.  That latest crock pot batch of ribs were left in the cooker a bit too long, making them tougher and a bit harder to digest, creating completely twisted dreams. I take a break from my almost all pork diet and get a subway sub.  dreams are much more tame after that.  Subway, dream fresh!.

I gotta good 5 hours to go before heading to work (what?! what happened to the title "stalag"...?). the wood-panel submarine needs some cleanin' up, and maybe I'll catch up on my John Stewart/ Steven Colbert shows *plan*

wow! perfect springy day! it's only 43 degrees, but there's zero wind and the sun is big. pooperdog and I take our full 1 mile walk.  again, it feels weird to adjust to not having to go to the stalag at 6pm.  I got 4 hours to kill, maybe I'll crack me a (1)beer, do some front porch sittin' and maybe clean this place up a bit *plan* I had me one beer after work this morning, to wind down and type my last angst riddled entry. if nothing else, it's therapeutic to type what's on my mind, then I can drop it, and get some good rest.  I guess this new schedule will force me to drink in moderation. I'll go back to being that weekend alky, if I ever get a weekend again?.

I do some online banking, throwing an extra $70 toward my TV (Best Buy card) since my shrimpy truck is full of gas and I got enough food (mostly pork) to last the week, and smurf autotrader.com (almost daily) for that perfect bat-mobile.  Pandora radio on "nature sounds" to relax to.  oh yeah, and now for that beer...

[3/4 naked chick, 1/2 my age, with pretty eyes to counter balance the boring blatherings of a disgruntled hermit]

alright, it was a bit of a fiasco at the beginning of the shift.  first I had to deal with working along side someone (from B crew) who's condescending and teaches me the right way to do the job at hand, as if I'd only been at the stalag for a week (the B crew way is the only and obvious way, according to his highness, even though it's harder and more of a pain in the ass).  I let him be the boss because that's what he is in his mind, but decide if he belittles me too much, or acts too high and mighty I'm gonna let him know.   it's when he fixed a rather easy problem then proclaims how genius he is, not once but three times, for fixing said problem, I tell him "don't break your damn arm while patting yourself on the back", he said "what?!". I didn't repeat it.  luckily I didn't have to work with him for too long before moving to station 19, across from Jody (who came from 'A' crew).  her and I got off on a bad footing with our new boss while trying to defend the hourly rotation that we used to have (that 1st and second shift currently have, yet we get stuck with rotating at every break.  about 3 hours doing the same job, increasing the chance of getting hurt).  she's recently been on restriction for a shoulder injury incurred while her shift was on the 3 hour rotation.  I recently had that tendon thinger with my left wrist due to the same lame rotation, yet our new boss insists that rotating every hour won't help. we insist that it has and will.  I even tell him what the company doctor told me about the huge increases in injuries since the break to break rotation started, and the HR peoples hands being tide by decisions the higher ups made, that they seemingly can't change. he makes threats that we'll get moved to track marriage if we don't comply and he's never had anyone hurt on his shift...blah, blah, blah.  I point at Jody and say "HER SHOULDER'S HURTING RIGHT NOW!! that's why she (and I) bring it up to begin with.  he comes back with the lamest garbage.  if he isn't gonna listen to his people, I'll simply choose to not listen and respect what he has to say either.  I thought he was gonna be better than my last vacant boss, turns out he's pretty hard headed. I'm not sure what's worse, having a completely vacant boss (zero communication), or one that's not open to real concerns and suggestions ('my way or work somewhere else' communication)?  after first break, things went a bit smoother. no confrontations, or problems (over and above the normal crappola).  then, at the end of the shift, we're told we have to stay an extra 10 minutes...why?!  I thought they explained this was a straight 8 shift.  I can dig hangin' around for an extra 3 maybe for the next shift's person to take over your station, but 10? good gawd, it can't be for cleaning up, we do that when we run out of rails (as we often do). they're trying to squeeze every penny out of us.  I'm sure those extra 10 minutes a day won't be paid for either...anyway. I don't mean to make it all sound bad, I haven't met every one, but the peeps I have met (other than his ass-holiness, and the boss, which were both minor bullshit confrontations) seem pretty cool.  thing's should relax as time goes on...workin' 4 hours less per shift is pretty awesome (so far)! I know I'll miss my midweek "week-end" but one has to adapt or find work elsewhere, only to find a new set of disgruntled complaints, etc.  such is the life of a factory rat

sleeping with the light on, on the couch with the TV going gave me some wicked restless dreams.  I get up, turn everything off, take pooperdog for a walk, and get some real sleep from about 7am to 3pm.  the pooperdog and I just took us another walk tonight. it feels weird, it being around 5pm, knowing I should be off to the stalag for my normal 6pm clock-in, but going for a walk instead (now not having to be there 'til 10pm). on our walk, we run into a couple of ladies walking one of those invisible dogs (you remember those silly hard curved leashes with a collar at the end, right?  they were popular a good 20 years ago). I tell her "cute dog! why don't you have a leash on the other one?" then to my horror, I hope she didn't think I meant the lady next to her, so I point at the spot at the ground where I see the other invisible dog. she says "that one just likes to run free" (phew! saved from almost having my foot in my mouth, I would've had a hard time explaining my black eye to my friends at work).

my shopping/to-do list includes getting a haircut, and doing a smallish amount of shopping (milk, beer, pooperdog and Squabber treats, etc).  I got an extra four hours free time per work day to actually stop off and complete these things. normally I'd run right home due to it being hard on an old dog to not poop for 13 hours.  I think she'll like my new schedule too.  weirdly enough. the company decided to go this 8 hour route to cut down on all the overtime.  sure it shaved a good 4 hours off from 'A' and 'B' crew's schedule, but it added 8 hours OT to 'C' crews schedule (assuming we have to work 7 days, that is).  and being from 'C' crew, I'm that guy that really just wants 40 and out...maybe one day.  anyway, this is the part where I'd normally say I best be on my way to the stalag, but instead will shoot off to the store and pick away at my t0-do thingey...

later:  it hasn't been much of winter, but today seems particularly springy.  warmer and sunnier than normal (the part I was awake for anyway), and the birds are louder.  also, at the store, it's good to see the Christmas aisle return into it's normal "lawn and garden" section at the store, and look!  snow shovels are in the clearance rack...awesome! another month and a half and the pooperdog walks will be coat and mittens free, the days will be longer and I'll be bitchin' about how hot it's getting.  I can't wait!.

after the store, I hit wendy's for a fish sammich combo, then take another smallish nap before heading to the stalag. while driving to and fro da store, I hear a cool story by "Zoe Webster" (that I was gonna leave a link to, but couldn't find)on NPR about finances that I thought was right on the damn money (pun intended). I'll do some more searching and throw up the link later, but for now, I gotta get ready for another fun-filled 8 hour stint at the stalag!

the second batch of pork (4 lbs of ribs) hit the crock pot along with some leftover stock from the first, plus some Caijun seasoning, brown sugar, unt bar-b-que sauce to be stewed over night (mmmmms!).  meanwhile I make me some 80 cent Hamburger Helper wannabe.  I know now why these meals were half as cheap as your real HH.  even the dog took another look at it before she woofed it.  it wasn't bad, it just had that 'Ramen noodle' flavor package taste.  I'm glad I bought a ton of 'em. but food is food, and it didn't have any pork in it.

today, was our last 12'er at the stalag.  there wasn't any goodbyes and/or thanks from our vacant boss.  it just seemed like a "normal" day, 'cept for the fact that I got farmed out to work with track marriage, which normally I'd really bitch about, but it gave me something steady to do all day, while the rest of the crew cleaned what was already cleaned for hours on end, waiting for rails that never showed... I played the part of a robot that happened to be out getting repaired. marking parts that had been riveted and placing them on conveyor belt pallets.  pretty simple and boring, but better than cleaning.  I assume I start tomorrow at 10pm for the first day of my 3rd shift.  we get zero info from our boss (as per his normal vacant self), we can only go by what's been posted on a sheet in the hall. some peeps names appear on more than one shift. typical vague stalag info that gives you more questions than answers. I truly look forward to 8's.  even lunch gets paid for now! it's like a "real" job (as opposed to prison camp hours). I'm sure I'll have my bitches about it soon enough [stay tuned...news at 11]. I also like the fact that, even though I've only been working 32 to 36 hours a week for these past 3 or 4  weeks, I still have cabbage to throw toward my debt pay-down. and on that note, here's hopin' we have us at least a one day weekend (rumors abound that we'll prob'ly work 7-8's.  that'd suck!).

I only have 3 beers tonight. I thought I had more in the coolerator, or I'd have stopped off for another 6'er on the way home. some TV, a little PS3, then I conked out on the couch. I move to the bed to crash some more, but I gotta be careful now with the new schedule that I time my sleep right for the new night shift.  we got an extra 4 hours per day to figure out a real sleep pattern (that doesn't involve switching from days to nights)...maybe my body clock can be readjusted to become that true 3rd shifter. I never really have problems with sleep (like I did back when my throat crack used to bother the shit outta me). it'll be a bit weird to readjust, then again, knowing the stalag, they'll prob'ly scrap the whole idea and go back to the original 12's within a week. It wouldn't surprise me a bit...wow. my tired bland ramblings go on and on about nothing. maybe I'll go back to sleep and figure out my sleep schedule thinger tomorrow *plan*

being that Dutch guy, I look at Best Buy's website to see if the TV that I bought (just before Christmas) went down in price, since I purchased mine. surprisingly, it went up $50.  I guess I caught a good Christmas sale after all.  oh well. give it a year and they'll be selling something twice as big, three times cooler for half the price.  but for now, I'm feeling pretty good about my cool TV purchase! next big ticket item will be a rockin' car/truck (whatever), but I gotta pay down a loan (or two) first...meanwhile, I've been lookin' (via autotrader.com) at all the coolest bat-mobiles (Pontiac Solstice is the latest used car on my want list...of course, with this kind of roadster, I'd need to keep my shrimpy truck for winter driving) within a 75 mile radius.  I write a brief message to dealers of various cars stating how cool these cars are, and I get dealers bending over backwards (thru reply emails and voice messages) wanting me to buy from them.  they sound like they're willing to deliver the damn thing right to my house...I don't reply to their replies, since I'm still just looking.  I don't even dare to schedule a test drive for fear I'd fall in love with it, and wanna buy it.   I guess I should set a trigger point.  maybe when I only have a grand in debt left (or my truck completely breaks down) should I consider talking to these blood thirsty dealers.  in the mean time, it's free to dream, right?

...now, onto some bacon, franch toost, unt more coffee

...and dinner breakfast is served (my camera just happened to be on the counter)! melt in your mouth pork with glazed onions, 'shrooms, and green peppers along with some smarshed 'tators and a big glass of milk (mmmmms!).  it was worth the wait!  now begins the journey of eating leftover pork until I'm entirely sick of it (ala that big ham that I "suffered" thru during my last big meat purchase).  now, with Pandora radio set on 'Amon Tobin', I gotta clean this kitchen...

...and speaking of work, I played hooky last night. I was going to take a legit vacation day next Saturday, but felt as though I needed a day off sooner (for sanity's sake).  so instead of getting metal slivers and grease up to my elbows, I relax with a sixer of Centennial IPA and watch me a couple moobies (via Netflix and Vudu) including "the Human Centipede", "wrecked" and "right at your door".  all warped, all good! I like warped moobies!  warped=good!

I gotta do me some food shopping this "weekend". the coolerator is looking mighty bare.  maybe I'll let this mini hangover subside first...

later: I go to the store hungry [again!].  lucky for me, there were a lot of things on sale; 8 lbs of pork ribs for 10 bucks (bargain!...) 4 lbs of it is currently stewing in the crock pot along with some onion, green pepper, mushrooms, chipotle sauce, floor sweepings, etc. I know, I'm hungry now, so I make something that'll take 12 hours to cook.  smart!.  maybe I'll make me a sammich for tonight and eat a good supper for breakfast tomorrow *plan*   cans of soup and off-name "hamburger helper" were also on sale for dirt cheap, so I bought a million of each.   the total only came to around $60. I got a lot o' grub for the coin (I should shop every day that ends up on Valentine's day!). anyway...it's time for yet another pooperdog walk.

rumors are often wrong.  Omar (the guy within my last entry who, rumor had it, was fired for sleeping on the job) was back in full force, being his weird self.  either the guy talks non-stop about random nothings or he's completely silent and uses goofy sign language.  this time he's completely silent with a permanent scowl on his face. both Harv and I try and break that scowl by being nice to him, but he just stares unblinking death bullets our way [it's more than a bit weird], unwittingly drawing more negative attention to himself.  he'll be that disgruntled postal worker one day, sporting a Glock 17.  Harv and I will undoubtedly be his first target.  I'll have to find out what his last name is in case forensics wants to know who's bullets are in my back (you'll notice I'm not using any goofy emoticons...this guy is the real deal nut-job).  oh well, he'll be on another shift, once 8's start....and, once again, speaking of 'rumors'.  there's one afloat about our dept not going to 8's.  this time it's only Lew (Lou?) spewing the rumor, so I have huger doubts than normal (is "huger" a word. k, now it is).

finally, someone (our "tear down" guy) gave me a somewhat valid reason why we have so many (what I considered extra) parts sitting in a warehouse.  he says "all of our parts go there first, to be shipped to our customer from there,  because there's no room here to store even a days worth of product" (which makes sense.  they are big seats, we do make a ton of 'em, and we truly don't have any room in this huge -almost claustrophobic- building...jammed with metal stamp machines, welders, and assembly lines).  rumors, from the day I started working here, said that one day they'd take out the north wall and expand, but that was quickly followed by "if the place doesn't move to Mexico first". good gawd, I just noticed how much I cling to rumors about this place.  it's been a long time since I've heard any "real" news, being that we haven't had our monthly plant update since last year November(-ish). I haven't seen our new plant manager (we had 4 different plant managers last year) since.  rumor has it he may have been waxed by a Glock 17 toting disgruntled mad-man (alright, so why not start my own rumors...?)

I'll blather on some more about work, but first, the pooperdog is tugging at my shirtsleeve to go for a walk...

earlier, I mistakenly thought this was our last 'C crew' weekend. oops.  that's next week. I may ask for Saturday off, so as I don't have to do a 12'er on Friday and Saturday then start our 8's on Sunday.   a little break in betwixt would be nice. seems peeps on our crew are burning thru their vacations and "bank hours". I wonder how many will be around when the 8 hour shift starts?  we lost Omar yesterday (rumor has it).  he was caught sleeping again...oops!

once again, typical waiting for parts to run for an hour while we  clean and replenish usually already replenished sub stations (parts needing assembly "off line" before use on the assembly line), then the big push to get what we just get in, so we can get out of work an hour and a half early. getting any help from 'line support' (other than more pushing), and the daily  break down of machinery doesn't at all help.  meanwhile, those hundreds and hundreds of 'ready to ship' parts still stacked up in that warehouse don't seem to be included in with the ones we're running to go on that next shipment so we don't shut our customers down. nothing makes sense?! it's pissin' most off. I [now] think it's kinda funny. just another focked up day at the stalag.  one day the bottom will fall out *cue Bob Marley*

I got more nothings to write, but I gotta get ready for another fun-filled night at the smoke factory...

hit the rack somewhat early last night (well, early for a weekend night...say 2am-ish). I lay off the beerses and PS3 and substitute them with some episodes of 'peep show' (aka; 'that Mitchell and Webb look').  English comedians doing what they do best. it's pretty damn funny, and I can get a good 43 episodes off from Netflix (I watch the first 4). I must have needed to catch up on my sleep because I slept 'till noon, bringing Rosie into the vet for her follow-up visit for her arm wound at 1 o'clock.  we do us a "Sunday drive" directly after, stopping at the pet shop for some moist chewy treats to form around her next two weeks worth of antibiotics, then stop off to my favorite beer store to pick up a moist chewy sixer of 'Sundog amber ale' (new holland brew).  

other lame activities for the day include a couple good pooperdog walks (not so lame), online banking (pretty lame), calling my cable provider to re-up my 2 year internet connection (ultra-lame).  man, I wish I could drop Charter all together.  it'd be cool to one day do the smartphone/3G thing for internet connectivity, but it's not in the cards at the moment.  not until I pay my TV and Kid loan off significantly (they're both moving in the right direction, so all is good!).  but by the time these are paid off, I'll need to seriously look at buying a new used car (like I've been half-assed doing forever now).

I seemed to have lost my keys within the past week.  I have a spare pair, for the truck, house, and mailbox, but the spare doesn't have a key to the shed.  oh well. Brian (almost room mate/neighbor) has a key if I really need to get into the shed, meanwhile, I'm sure I'll find the original set while looking for something else (it never fails).  maybe I accidentally warshed 'em and they'll be discovered when I fold the clothes?  if they're forever lost, I can simply make copies of my spare pair...ummm, to make a spare spare pair

a tired looking green pepper, and an onion that needs to be used soon becomes ingredients (chopped/sauteed in butter), along with some cooked and chopped bacon to make a five egg omelet with cheese (mmmmmmmms!!) yesterday morning.  I eat half, and save the other half for breakfast today. Boston market 1/4 dark chicken with creamed spinach and sweet potatoes for supper.  I'll prob'ly do me some turkey burgers on the grill tonight.  I must be hungry now, being I'm talking about grub, and all.

SUNDOG ME!!

again, we get to split from the stalag early. our line was down most of the night, so all (but one) of us got farmed out to the off site warehouse, that oddly enough stores hundreds and hundreds of boxes of our lines parts. we all start wondering why the big push with stories of air lifting parts to our customer, "...costing us millions", when we got tons of parts parked here in storage (?!)  anyway, we do some quality inspecting on parts that the line next to us had run the day before. it was gravy time killing work.  total hours for last night: 6 3/4 hours.  short week indeed, but I don't mind. rent and bills are taken care of, so it's all golden.  we'll prob'ly have a short week next week as well in order to transition into an 8 hour day (cool!).  after that it's up in the air...will we work 5, 6, or 7-8's?  who knows?  I don't know how anyone with babysitters can figure out this new schedule out without knowing? 

I stop off to the gas station for a sixer of Centennial IPA (founder's), then split for home to play some PS3. I'm totally stuck at a certain spot without ammo within the game called 'bullet storm', so I completely start over and realize, I was going nowhere on the first try due to not upgrading my weaponry along the way.  this game is awesome! I must have played from 1:30am to 9am blowing away monster bosses, and finding creative ways to kill baddies (yep, you get upgrade points for creative deaths including drop kicking a baddy into a cactus, "leashing" a baddy into an electric fence, or shooting 'em in the crotch).  big fun with big guns!!  the graphics on this game are amazing! at one point you have this ginormous "death wheel" spinning out of control toward you as you ride away from it on the rails.  you got to shoot the helicopters that fling mines your way, and blow up machine gun equipped dune buggies to escape.  big fun! another part, you get to control a gigantic mechanical "Godzilla" like monster.  you also have control of where the monster looks to aim his laser beam shooting eyes killing baddies left and right (did I mention "big fun?!").  about 7 (+/-) hours and six beers later, I turn the now smoking PS3 off, and take us a pooperdog walk, then sleep....now I gotta put the laptop down and clean this dump (ready, GO!)

we got to leave early from the Stalag. an hour and a half off on Saturday, and 6 1/2 hours off on Sunday (!!).  I  guess I'm the only one who truly enjoys leaving early from that gawd forsaken prison camp.  every day, I bug whoever I can by asking; "clean up...go home?!".  that's sort of become my personal catch phrase.  it gets a laugh a lot. prob'ly due to it being so annoying to those that have to work overtime in order to stay afloat (which is seemingly everyone but me).  I got one more day (tonight) to go before the midweek "weekend" begins.  here's hopin' we get out early again.

last night, because we leave work before midnight, I'm invited to watch a DVR'd version of the superbowl at Mark's house.  cool! once there, he's anxious to fast forward thru the entire first 3 quarters, as well as all the ads (which is fine, I guess he wanted to know the outcome of the game within 15 minutes...it's his DVR). it was a good game (well, the fourth quarter was good)! I hit the road soon after, and do us (the pooperdog and I) a midnight pooperdog walk.  I had time to kill (from around 1am to 6am), so I got a bit farther in 'Dante's inferno', and 'LA Noire' (PS3 games), while drinking the beer and a half that I had leftover in the coolerator,  then hit the rack for the day, so I can be alive for tonight's stint (TGI"F").  next week (weekend) should be our last, before they switch over to 8 hour shifts (unless they change their minds again...here's hopin' they don't! I want so badly to work 8's!!). then I can say "goodbye C crew, hello 3rd shift"  anywayz, I best find me something to grub on, take a shower and get ready.  I can't wait to find out if we can leave early tonight...

tonight we get out an hour and a half early (from the stalag)...that's always a good thing!  and then, rumor has it, that we have Sunday off (I'm not sure where this rumor started?).  when confronting our boss about this, he says 'nope'. rumor denied (damn!), meanwhile, we got a new temp on our line that asks "...am I the only one that wants to work more hours?". I tell him about my similar temp experience just a year ago, when the department I worked in shut down for a week during Christmas. of course, the full timers got Holiday pay, but I didn't....I asked the same question.  I let him know he'll want more time off once he's hired in.  funny how that works. you try your damnedest to get hired in, then once in, you work  your hardest to get out

'Steel Pulse' on Pandora radio (awesome!)

sixer of Sundogs (New Holland brew) along with some internet "TV" (hulu.com/netflix).  hambooger helper (with ground turkey) made at 1:30am to soak up the alkamaholage.