last night I do me some Kodiak Ridge Lights (I mistakenly omitted the 'Ridge' in the beers name in yesterdays entry. as if it matters. it's good cheap-ass brew!), rewatch 'Enemy at the Gates' (awesome war flick!!), and 'Dale and Tucker Vs Evil' (not as funny the second time around, but still has that smokin' hot blonde starring in it).  also, I play more PS3...'Call of Duty4', 'Need for Speed', etc..

pooperdog sneezes in my face 'round 6:30am this mornin'.  we do us a walk.  it's sweatshirt weather even this early (50 degrees and foggy). I thought Brian (almost room mate/neighbor) was gonna use my truck to go to work with. I still see it in my driveway.  maybe he switched to second shift? I texted him yesterday saying it's still available (he had asked last week). he texted back saying "cool!".  oh well.  anyway.  I burn some coffee and do my taxes (yep, it's that time o' year).  it's a damn good thing I spent $24.95 to prepare my state taxes, just to find out I get a $4 refund.  fed tax prep is free.  my fed return this year is $365.  I e-file both. the cabbage should be thrown in me checking account in a couple weeks (pending everything goes smoov-ly).  it was a million times easier this year. I didn't prepare them on that ancient desktop, where you had to wait for days for the 'next' page to appear.  this laptop rules! I'm thinkin' the desktop wouldn't even make a good boat anchor.  I should gut the damn thing and rebuild with a new mo-bo and such...nah, sounds like too much work. I'll prob'ly donate it (after reformatting it) to someone, some day.

in my search for last years tax info, I run across a US savings bond for $50 made out to the Kid!  I thought I gave him all that I had.  I'll have to send it his way. I haven't talked with him in a bit, but I see he visits this page almost daily, so I know he's still kickin' (...and he knows I'm still kickin'. what' up duder? how's SC treatin' ya? how's Mark doin'? got you one of them there jobs yet? here's hopin' everything's groovy and so on, etc..). 

franch toost unt bacon is in my near future *ready, GO!*

last night was a stalag nightmare.  the night begins with no rails (as is beginning to be the norm), so we were all farmed out to roll form and presort to sort for bad rail inserts.  we ended up hand sorting junk for a good 6 hours.  then, when we did have product to run on our line, the line itself was acting up.  maintenance spends most of the rest of the day trying to get 'er runnin'.  meanwhile, the place is spotlessly clean from having so much downtime that one couldn't even pretend to find busy work.  I think we ran maybe 200 parts all night (rate being 'round 1050).  the 12 hours dragged on for days.  I can't wait for 8's...

Chad comes into work late, with his head shaved bald.  something he said he'd do once his miserable marriage/divorce was final.  I asked why he wasn't taking the day off and celebrating? he says "I don't got no money!".  he won't "...got no money" for a long time.  he has 4 young chillin's that he has to pay support on...ugh!  today is Jess's last day before taking her 3 month pregnancy leave.  she was one of the biggest complainers of the night, wanting it to be all over (understandably so).  she's as big as a house at 7 something months along, yet she still flings these 30 lb chairs around like she's in the Olympics.  Lew bugs me (as he does every week) to go to amateur night at the strip club with him and George.  it's either that or they hang at the casino all night.  I usually tell 'em maybe, then forget to get back to him by the end of the shift.  Lew acts like he's not married. I wonder if that's what he wants?  I ask him if he ever does anything with his wife? he makes sort of scrunched face and changes the subject. Rolphy is still a butthead ('nuff sed), Dusty [aka 'Starsky'] pulls a no-show.  he's been missing a lot of time, as has Jess, Ross, Omar, and Chris.  seems a lot of peeps have been pissing away their vacation/bank time.  didn't they learn anything from last year, when most were holding their breath just to keep their job?  and I thought I had a short attention span...

windy as hell and 55 degrees!  I'm starting to see a lot of green grass again (not complaining, mind you.  just an observation). I gotta hit the shower and do my shopping thang, once the pooperdog and I take us a walk.  first she's gotta wake up from her all day snooze fest. I seriously think she's deaf (pronounced 'deef') as a stone.  she'll sneeze in my face when I'm asleep to try and let me know that she's gotta go potty.  if I don't respond, she'll walk her way onto the linoleum floor and pee (fair enough). today, she sneezes, I wake up but don't get up real quick, she starts to the kitchen linoleum area.  I follow her closely, talking rather loudly all the way, asking if she needs to go outside, etc., yet she acts completely startled when she turns around and sees me.  I know she's half blind, but I didn't know she couldn't hear too. poor ol' lil mammal.  her leg wound looks better.  that's a big plus!

anyway. gotta start my "weekend" with a shower and wash this metal grease out of my pores...

later:  shower, pooperdog walk, fill the gas tank on the shrimpy truck, do some grocery shopping, eat at Wendy's (W burger combo with a Dr Pepper...even though I asked for a pepsi.  all I wanted was a Pepsi, Just one Pepsi! and THEY WOULDN'T GIVE IT TO ME!! *cue Suicidal Tendencies "Institutionalized").  included in my grocery shopping is a 30 pack of Kodiak Light beer for 12 bucks.  it's gotta be good for that price.  anyway, time to relax and play some PS3.  I found a whole new level of fun playing 'Need for Speed' online against other knuckleheads.  it's 2 teams with 4 peeps each.  1 team the bad guys, running away from the cops, trying to reach the finish line first without getting busted, and the other team; cops with spike strips, helicopter assistance, EMP capability, and ram bars.  all cars being stock exotics.  it's a damn riot!!

*cracks first Kodiak*  oh yeah! that's good bad beer!

alright...the boss comes around individually and tells each of us what shift we're on come feptembruary 19st (first communique I've heard him give for months now).  I expected to be thrown onto 2nd (being one of the lowest on the seniority totem pole) leaving me to work with the same lame boss I got now, but to my surprise, he tells me I'm on third (10pm-6am).  awesome!  I got Sam for a boss!  he's a good guy and a good boss!  I ask him if it'll be a 5 day work week or 7?  he vaguely guessed that it may be 6 or 7 for awhile until they hire a weekend crew...ok, here's hopin' it's not forever. I'll roll with it for awhile and give it a try.  it won't hurt to make some extra cabbage for a spell to pay down me loans. I'm pretty ecstatic that they've even reconsidered 8's! this twelve hour swing shift is for the damn birds!

we got out of work 2 hours early last night due to running out of rails.  here's hopin' we can make tonight's stint a shorty too, so as I can start my mid-week "weekend" early.  I gotta grocery shop, and do whatever else that need be done on Tuesday, so Brian (almost room mate/neighbor) can borrow my truck on Wed. and Thurs.  seems his truck is in the shop getting the whole motor replaced.  one of his timing chains had gone bad (I Thought motors only had one timing chain...guess not?) , so instead of fixing that he's poppin' a new used rubber band motor in.  that's gotta be costin' him plenty.  I almost considered doing that with my little truck before I went and crashed it last year...

Brian (almost room mate/neighbor) borrows my snow blower the other day.  does his drive, his neighbors drive, and then mine (diggit!) while I slept (being I had to work the night shift that night).  we got dumped on pretty good Sunday, but now, of course, it's sunny and above freezing (high 30's), so a lot of it has melted away.

shave, shower, shite in order to get ready for another stint at the stalag (TGI"F")

so yesterday, I mentioned we (some of us) got out of the stalag at 4:30, after the announcement from our line support about only working a half day for Saturday was announced.  come to find out today, some peeps on the line were sent up to the conference room (for the same announcement to be made) and some were told on the line itself.  those peeps sent to the room sat there without a clue for a good 20 minutes.  no boss, no further instructions to go home, etc.  others, on the line were told to go home but weren't told to not come in 'til noon.  see!  typical bad/no communications from our absent leader.  yesterday, I pressed our boss hard to release the list of who goes where when 8 hour shifts start.  he said "you'll know for sure either today or tomorrow"...well, "today unt tomorrow" came and went and we still haven't a fockin' clue.  the frustration compounds. I'm not the only one with questions that should have already been answered.  it's become a damn joke!  the good part is that we only worked a 5 hour day today, but of course, there's no mention of when to come back?  hopefully we don't have another half day tomorrow that someone (this time) has forgotten to tell me [typical horse shit!]. on top of that, we have half the day off today (with no explanation why?), then they want us to bust ass for second half the day, so we can go home an hour early.  nothing makes sense...it's a 3 ring circus, and we're the bears riding the unicycles playing the ukulele

nope, it was worth it to visit the Vet after all. it was determined that she had some sort of cyst that burst while driving on the way there (blood all over my truck seat...again).  the doc prescribes some pain killers and some antibiotics with another visit due in two weeks.  her leg already looks tons better!

so, today, we get a treat at the stalag, first; by getting out at 4:30 (instead of 6), secondly; as we're all about to walk out the door, we're told we don't have to come in 'til noon tomorrow.  that's when they'll let us know what shift we're going to be on come February 19th.  yup. they're actually planning on doing the 8 hour day shift starting in a couple 3 weeks [awesome!].  the not-so-awesome part is, will it be 8 hour days for 7 days a week, or 5? I'm hoping that question will be answered tomorrow as well [news at 11].  anyway.  I can crack me open a Schlitz (or 6) and sleep in tomorrow (did I mention 'Awesome'!!)

first, something to eat...

as if I don't have enough games for my PS3 (it's closing in on 20, and I've only had the system for a month), I pick up 'Duke Nukem Forever' for cheap.  it's just as rude (if not more ruderer), full of big effin' guns, beer and boobs than the PS1 version!  sometimes the simple 1st person shooter with aliens and strippers is all one needs to entertain.  meanwhile, I get a bit further in 'Call of Duty 4'.  man!  that night time battle is awesome! and 'Dead Space' (now about 4 hours into it total) is still scary as Hell to play!  other games include 'Dante's inferno' and 'Uncharted 3' (I'm about 3 something hours into each of those as well). fun!

Rosie and I have to hit the Vet in about 45 minutes.  she's always had a wound on her leg (front, passenger side) that she likes to constantly chew/lick (when she's not sleeping, or pooping).  it was swollen double in size yesterday, so I crush some Ibuprofen in with a treat, and try to put some cortisone stuff on it, and lightly rap it with gauze.  it's not until I did that that she shows a visible limp.  it already looks better today, but we'll go in anyway and see what the doc can recommend.  hopefully it's not amputation.  she's older than shale rock to begin with, so I'm almost sure the $42 I'm gonna spend for the exam will simply be thrown away, as the doc will prob'ly say "we can't do anything for her....just keep giving her Ibuprofen".  I think I'm more worried about it than she is.  it's gotta hurt!  do they make doggy morphine?  I'll ask...

we the peeps watched us some state of the union tonight, and it was good!  he, btw, can sing him some awesome Al Green tunage....he had even mentioned the damn boat factory turned green energy plant (Tiara Yachts/Energetix) that I used to work for [AWESOME!], not to mention everything not "religious right Repugnant-can", steeling my resolve to vote for the man again come 2012's election...that is, if Ron Paul doesn't change my mind (bowling ball emoticon f0r no apparent reason at all).  I've always liked Obama...he's still the damn cheese! anyway.

while Alabama has unusual January tornadoes, we [still] see warmer than normal temps here in the MItten. I'm sure ma nature will have that evil grin one day while she dumps 15 feet of pure white snow upon us *cue Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds*. 

I see the doc for the last time this morning.  he says I can remove the wrist brace and be a normal industrial meat puppet *cue the meat puppets?...nah*  today, I clean the shack again, starting from the kitchen back.  I don't get as far as the bathroom though.  maybe that'll happen tomorrow.

a box of Miller High Life starts off this "weekend" *belch!* 

*fart*

this is the second time this week that a pizza delivery vehicle circles back and forth in front of my house.  after painting the shack last summer, I haven't since put my address numbers back up, but they should be able to go by the neighbors address'.  stop circling and wondering this if is the place.  maybe I'll simply put up a sign in the window saying "nope, wrong place!".  there. that'd do 'er. ]

the stalag was a mess to come in to.  the line had several reject parts from the shift before.  we have us an "emergency quality meeting", then sit and wait in the room for no one  (boss or quality wise) to show up (typical "emergency" response for the stalag).  it seems we ran junk for about half the day (the tubes would split their seams after getting swaged (ummm...crimped, for lack of a better word).  we got to leave an hour early due to our horrible numbers.  our boss was a no-show (again).   ok, on top of all the scrap we created, here's something that happens everyday, that ticks me off.  the station I work on gets low on labels, and tubes. I make sure that I let my line support know way in advance, so I can remind her a good 3 more times before I run out.  it never fails. I run out (now adding unnecessary downtime to bad quality), the line stops, then panic makes her call for parts on the radio. it's so retarded.  I shouldn't have to remind her even once.  she should see what's needed and fill things without our reminders to begin with....now in order to solve this problem, they make someone else a "back-up line support" who follows the same lame lead.  let's start the place on fire twice to see if we can put out the first fire (wait, that firefighting technique actually works...for wild fires that is. bad metaphor).  one more thing, the original bad tubes (that split their seams) were never contained and put on hold, so others tried them later to see if they were good, creating more scrap.  finally, I witness that person, putting those tubes back without a reject sticker (or some sort of "do not use"). I take one second to wander to the end of the line and grab some reject stickers (why no one did this to begin with is beyond me?).  same old crap daily!

anyway. it was a lousy work day. now I gotta get ready for another...

TV is so completely bland!  why'd I even want it back?!  although one of the stations I get is 'MHZ World News' where you can find out the weather, say, in Kuala Lumpur, or watch the latest "no nukes" demonstrations in Japan on Al Jazeera news (kinda cool!), and another station, called 'This!', playing "Rodan" (which can prob'ly still be seen flying over Japan and Kuala Lumpur).  the cooking channel (PBS's Create) just makes me hungry (for wanting to nuke a rack of Rodan ribs).  otherwise bland, bland, blah...I sat down yesterday 'round 7pm, remembering '2 1/2 men' used to be on...instead, they broadcasted Gov. Rick Snider's State of the State address live (did I mention bland?)

I cool it yesterday, as far as drinkin' goes.  that Dragon's Milk threw me over the edge these past couple days (I best stick to Schlitz or less alcohol content microbrew /Imports).  I make another attempt at shopping for food, but instead find myself driving to my favorite Chinese buffet (mmmmmmmmmms!), stuffing myself into over bloat mode.  that one meal lasts me the entire day.  well, I did make do me a grilled cheese sammich 'round 9 pm, more out of boredom than anything else.  today, the kitty wakes me up 'round 5am. I burn some coffee, and wait patiently for a dusty poodle brained pooperdog to awake so we can take us our first walk.

otherwise, nothin' new

...more coffee!

later: we take us that first pooperdog walk...it's like what I'd imagine walking on Pluto would be.  it's only 32 degrees out, but with that 9000 mph wind, it feels like two hundred and fitty below!! my winter gear (taste tested for two hundred and fitty below) works well! that frigid wind prompts me to shove a pillow into the air conditioner intake vent, where a cold breeze can be felt roiling from under the couch. I best put a sign on the thermostat to remind me of this, come summertime when I'm ready to fire up said AC, so as I don't burn the unit up. 

I get my W2 from the stalag in the mail.  I made a cool 20 grand last year.  it feels good to be 20 times a thousandaire! I prob'ly made just over half of that in 2009 (back when ketchup sandwiches were popular).   anyway, I just gotta wait for my W2 from the temp service, and then I can do my tax refund thinger online, which, in turn, will be put toward the Kid loan, or my flat screen TV purchase, making me all the more rich (it's a damn good thing that money isn't everything!) *fart*

alright, yesterday I ragged on the stalag a bit hard.  there is some good news, but again, we didn't find out thru our boss. it's all rumor (until I could verify it on my check stub).  seems we all got a 25 cent raise (for some apparent reason that we'll never know...anyway, it's one drop of good news among a sea of bad).  you'd think a company would love to announce this, but no!   rumors abound (on the darker tip) that if we don't get our act together within 10 months, the doors will be welded shut...of course, there's always been rumors of either this plant or the one in Battle Creek closing its doors and moving to Mexico, but here we are a year later, and both plants are still kickin', so who knows?  we prob'ly won't get official notice until the day it happens.  nothing surprises me at the stalag anymore...

last night's beer of choice: Dragons Milk (10% alc! new Holland brewage), and some Schlitz.  playing some Tiger Woods golf, Need for Speed, Dante's Inferno, and others. today, I wake up 'round 6:30, we do us a pooperdog walk, burn some coffee, make some bacon unt eggs mitt English muffins (why they gotta be fork split?!), and commence to cleaning the wood-panel submarine. starting at the kitchen and working back...

later, I hit Kozak's for a gyro with feta cheese and a root beer, followed by wandering over to Best Buy to see what kind of indoor digital antennas they had (I was reminded that I didn't need a converter box in order to have an indoor antenna with my new flat screen).  I went for a mid priced one not knowing anything about antennas. before hooking it up, I told myself that if I can't get at least 2 channels, I'm returning it.  the auto-tune feature on the TV shows 13 channels found!!  of course, 3 of them are religious (delete!) and 3 different PBS's (keep!), but the others are your NBC and FOX type...I can dig that!  it's around quarter til five, I crack my first beer o' the day, and see what's on TV *fart*

damn@, I'm so sick of our dead beat do-nothing boss!  he's never there for any kind of support.  he's just a feeble symbol who sits behind a desk and cares nothing about what happens.  he's not asked me once about my arm injury since it happened.  he looked at the doctors injury report like he was trying to decipher an alien language. I decide to make a copy and turn it into HR myself just in case he doesn't turn it in, but that's not really the reason why I can't stand the guy.  it's more due to lack of inspiration or any kind of leadership.  one has to guess what he's thinking.  I still don't know if I'm required to come into work tonight. you have to go by rumors, and piece shit together as you go.  it's always been like this.  he doesn't get back to you with paperwork verifying that the vacation day you asked for was cleared (I'm still waiting to get paid for that half day off that I took on the last weekend of last year).  this weekend, we hear rumors of having Martin Luther King day off. so for 2 days, I'm diggin' the idea.   as we get closer to the end of the day yesterday, rumors (from everyone but the boss) change from "if we don't make rate today, we'll have to come in and work...".  we were 15 parts shy, and because he didn't take a minute and let us know, I guess I'll have to assume we have the day off.  it's bad! it reminds me of that sergeant (captain?  can't remember the rank) in 'Band of Brothers' who for days would just wander off, leaving his troops to  wonder where the hell he is during the heat of battle. I would have been fine with the boss confronting us at the beginning of the week, laying down what needs to be achieved by Sunday night in order to have Monday off, but his do-nothing 'let's keep you wondering' approach has me (and a lot of others) wanting to scream. if there's any blow back from this at all, I'm talking with HR.  I get upset because he's getting paid more to be that anchor for our team.  be that anchor damn it!  alright.  enough about work.  I got me 4 days off, and I'm gonna relax.

I visit the doc this morning directly after work. he concludes that it will be another good 3 weeks (give or take) before my wrist gets better.  he gives me a new cast, being I wore holes thru the old one within the 3 work days that I've had it...afterword, I come home, do the pooperdog walk thing, and sleep 'til about 3:30 this after noon.  burn some coffee, do some online banking, blah, blah, etc, and so on.  another pooperdog walk is closely approaching, along with a good shower and shave, then maybe hit the store for some foodage unt bierses along with some drunk driving via my PS3

well, well, well!  look who reared it's ugly head...old man WINTER! I finally get to wipe that tear off the snow blowers [...face?] and see what this baby can do.  it's almost too gadgety (word?).  which one of these levers does what? I'm used to that stone age sears POS that I once had.  the head light is a nice feature so you can see the snow being blown right back in your face.  honestly though, it works nice! I could bury my neighbors 3 trailers down the way this thing devours, while simultaneously projectile vomiting (what?). the only bad part is it's not hardly worth starting up being it only takes 10 minutes to do my tiny driveway, so I do my neighbors drive as well (why not?)...which is kinda cool, 'cause he did mine the next day, whilst I was sleepin' (bonus!).  it got up over freezing today, and is supposed to rain tomorrow, so it's been nice Mr. Winter.  I'll see you next year.

I couldn't get to sleep this morning, so I play me a little 'Need for Speed Hot Pursuit' (awesome PS3 game!). I continue the rampage I started during last night's beer drinking session. I don't encourage drinking and driving (for obvious reasons), but if you got the urge, drop the dime on this game. it's fun to get chased by the cops in virtual reality! so hide the keys to your real car (as I do every time I drink) and jump into, and start up that exotic NOS injected Bugatti and hit the streets!  even the feature called "free driving" where your not competing for speed, or getting chased by cops is cool.  it's pretty much a 'Sunday drive' at speeds of around 150 mph! watch out for cross town traffic *cue Jimmy Hendrix*

anyway, I'm a bit anxious at the beginning of the work week at what I can and can't do with this bulky cast on.  it didn't take long to fall right into lock step with the other inmates.  the cast has been of little or no hindrance at all.  in fact, it helps on some stations, adding more support while lifting a 40lb chair into a box once every 34 seconds.  I may use it after I no longer need to (it, being the velcro style removable type of cast, and all).

...Doh!  I gotta get ready for tonight's stint.  and surprisingly, we don't have to work tomorrow night, it being a holiday and what-not (bonus!).  thank you MLK!

the Naproxen (unt bier) therapy is working well on my wrist.  it's a bit hard to type in this cast (I guess I need a 'typecast').  today, isn't as sunny and spring like as yesterday, although, I still see a lot of green grass for this time of year.  also, I think I saw a tear of sadness fall from my snow blower.  it's been a good year (so far) for "friends" at work to rib me about my snow blower, since I made a big deal out of getting ready for winter some months back.  I just smile, and punch them in the teef.  I'm starting to believe that maybe it's a magic snow blower.  as long as the pre-ignition codes are set, and it's readied  on stand-by waiting for the confirmation code launch keys to turn, it won't snow [...what? it's my story].

so, yesterday, the pooperdog and I went for a 'Sunday drive'.  it's come to the point where the old dog, no matter how hard she tries, can't jump into the truck anymore (too old, and too many snacks over the years), so I pick her up and place her on the seat.  for some reason, she likes to put her nose too close to the shifter. I beaned her face a couple times while shifting into second and fourth.  after apologizing, she backs her face off a bit.  anyway.  we hit the bank, go to the next little town over (the land of Zee!), and mail us a package that heads for Souf Carl'ina (the nice lady said it'll be there about Saturday), then zoom over to the beach (it feeling more like a day in early September, and all).  it was a nice day for a drive!  we fill the rest of the day with some more Carling's Black Label and movies via Netflix and Vudu...I try and play a little Crysis (PS3) but my cast isn't PS3 complaint.  it's an awesome game (judging by the small amount of play I got into it)!  it reminds me of Farcry 2 (but with cooler weapons and armor).

this morning, I sleep in 'til about 10:30 (due to staying up late watching "TV"), burn some coffee, do some online banking, contemplate some bacon unt franch toost, then maybe clean this kitchen again *ready go!*

pandora radio station set on "Southern Culture on the Skids" for that hillbilly rock fun!

wow, what?  it's not 'tendonitis' at all (according to the sheet the doc gave me). it's "tenosynovitis".  I had to look it up.  apparently it's not a damaged tendon, but inflammation to the sheath that wraps around the tendons.  I do a bit of research on how to help heal it along with carefully reading the Naproxen warning label only to not find anything about not drinking beer with it, so I got pirched on some Carling Black Labels, and watched me a couple of movies including the newest 'X-men' and a silly horror flick called 'Tucker and Dale vs. evil' [HILARIOUS!].  I also download a new (older) game for the PS3 called 'Crysis'.  it looks cool, and it was pretty cheap.  I'll play it when my hand gets better...

apparently I made some grilled turkey burgers last night, judging by the greasy mess I left the kitchen in (did I mention I got pirched?).

a box arrives for the Kid.  apparently he still had my house address in the "ship to" portion within Amazon.com's billing thinger.  no worries. I'll slap a new label on and re-ship it today.  I wonder if that postal annex here in town is still open?  it's a nice sunny spring like day (mid 40's) to take us (the pooperdog and I) a 'Sunday' drive and find out *plan*

last night was again brutal on my arm.  I had to harass my boss (for the third time) to get me that injury report that he should have taken care of on Friday.  he says " come see me after break and we'll write it up".  yet another stall tactic, I'm thinking, but as it was, he came and found me right after break, and we got it taken care of.  I wasn't about to leave without some kind of documentation saying I got hurt.  why it took him ' til the last minute is beyond me?  anyway.  I get home from work, do us a pooperdog walk, take a 5 hour nap, then call my HR and let them know what happened over the weekend.  she patches me thru to the medical dude there, and he let's me know what doc to see and when.  I jump in the shower, then head out.  after about 12 different drug and alcohol screenings, the doctor finally sees me.  the first thing he does is hold my wrist and make my hand go in an up and down motion, then places my hand on my wrist where his was and repeats the motions. "do you feel that? ...it feels like a rusty hinge, right?!  you got tendinitis bad!!  he fits me a cast that restricts wrist and thumb movement, throws a bottle of Naproxen at me, and tells me to cool it for a good week (I can still work, but use my own judgement as to what I can and can't do without deepening the injury).  he then gets down right mad at the increase in injury numbers from the stalag, simply because someone from higher up made the decision to rotate workers on the assembly line stations from 1 hour per station to 3 hours...I agreed. it's something I predicted would happen (as far as injuries going up), but I didn't know I'd be one of them. 

anyway, I'm glad to get that out of the way. I don't care so much going to the doctor, but in this case, it feels good knowing I wasn't just being a wuss.  the doctor said it would have been a lot faster treatment wise had I went to the med center directly after it happened.  bringing me back to my point earlier that it shouldn't have been my bosses call to simply ignore treatment, and put me on something easier to run...I should prob'ly bring this up to my HR.  it would suck to have someone seriously life threatening type  hurt, and have him make that "you'll be alright, I'll just put you on something easier" call.  I prob'ly already got my boss in trouble by letting HR know that it took 3 days to get an injury report out of him, but if he'd do his damn job right...ya know what I mean?!

alright, I mentioned a left shoulder pain a couple entries ago, which seemed to subside with a bit of stretching and exercise.  Friday, I started experiencing yet another pain in my left forearm.  it started getting worse and swollen as the day went on.  I let my boss know that I may have to inconvenience him for an accident report and told him what was going on.  the next day it worsens, so I let him know again.  it's an agonizing muscle type pain (that even now hurts as I type).  a goofy bulge appears on top of the arm between the wrist and elbow (closer to the wrist).  I think, whatever it is, I irritated it worse by working on station 10 (on the stalag's assembly line), which involves you using the palm of your hand as a hammer to smack stubborn tubes into place.  anyway, after letting my boss know, and (apparently) having him determine that it isn't anything serious (by not creating said accident report, or asking if I think I needed medical attention), he places me on a simple job for most of the rest of the day.   the pain by the end of Saturday was brutal.  I still don't know what this is?  I decided to take tonight off,  thinking another 12 hours of agonizing punishment ain't gonna help it a bit (determined an hour before I was supposed to go into the stalag).  I stop by the store and buy me some Iceyhot, and another Ice compress (to rotate in the freezer with the one I already had).  that along with Ibuprofen ought to help quell the ouch...it's already doing much better (after already starting Ibuprofen/compress regiment last night), but is still tender to certain wrist movements.  I guess I'll have to see a doc tomorrow and see what's goin' on.  simply gettin' old? maybe arthritis?  gout? carpel badmitten? I'll get a hold of the stalag's HR tomorrow as well, and see what's what (as far as missing time due to a work injury.  being that there's no HR rep during the weekend crew). [...news at 11]. 

meanwhile, I may have to become a right handed beer drinker...

Thursday, the last day of my mid-week "weekend" before heading back to the stalag (here comes that part where I do some bitchin' about work...).  it just gets better and better!  over the holiday break they installed alarms at every work station on the assembly line.  now each station has 34 seconds to complete that stations task, and hit the button making the next guy's timer begin. it's annoying as hell.  they're not gentle reminders by any means.  I understand the big push, but quality issues are gonna rise...and, our numbers haven't seen an increase.  we still build around 8-900 per shift (goal being 1100) due mostly to the testers (which also alarm a lot) not working properly. it's a damn mad house! I'm thinkin' it's not fair that we get alarms, yet the line support (production handlers) can take their damn time fixing the testers and not getting the product we need to keep the line running (screws, bushings, rails, etc).  our line support has such an uppity attitude, that most times she'll just blow off any request for parts you ask her about that you happen to be getting low on.  some peeps don't even bother to ask anymore, they'll simply run out of supplies then stand there until she storms around asking why the line isn't running?  she prob'ly has no idea why we don't cooperate.  you can only ask so many times before you say fock it.  I'll go get what I need myself.  it's frustrating.  she's always late too.  we're at our stations, trying to get rolling, while she wanders in when she wants (apparently), usually drinking a pop (a shop floor no-no), ignoring the tester alarms while she chit-chats with someone (prob'ly about something other than work).  we all get tired of it.  we have a "downtime sheet" at each station that I'll write something to the effect of "line support busy chatting while tester alarm goes off", then put the amount of downtime next to that.  she prob'ly doesn't like this, but I'm not there to be her best friend.  do yer damn job and I'll write something else.  I used to like to leave my station and help on the testers, but since she isn't doing her job at keeping us supplied, I'm not gonna help her with her alarms.  it isn't just me. you hear this across the board, yet she prob'ly thinks she's doing a awesome job...did I mention "madhouse!"    alright, I already stressed far too much about work on my day off.

I find a new website that sort of compliments Hulu.com, and Netflix.  it's called 'vudu.com'.  it's pretty much a streaming movie website (much like Netflix) but with a better choice of new releases.  they give you $5.99 credit for free to try 'em out. I use it on the latest "Planet of the Apes" (awesome flick!!) and "the girl with the dragon tattoo" (what? I wanted to see what the hype was all about?).  it's simply pay by the movie with no monthly fees, or contracts.  I like it (so far).  now that I've signed up I'll prob'ly run into something that pisses me off (like hulu and netflix did).  but for now, it looks like a winner!

my sis asks me a question about music creating. I don't know where to start.  it's a long steep learning curve (well, it was for me anyway). I guess there are a ton of ways to make music on the computer. I've never used a real mixer board before, so I can't help ya there.  I can throw you what I use and you can glean what you want from that.  also, it's been a good 6-8 years since I've even tinkered with music making, so I may not be much help.  anyway. I'll start with the software (good of place to start as any?).  I was using Acid Pro 4.0 (the newest versh is prob'ly in the double digits by now). it's an awesome chunk of software that you can record, mix, add loops, etc to.  there are many other brands by now, but Sony does a great job (IMHO) on the software end.  hardware (again, this is my set-up, there's many different ways to set-up) included an Aardvark sound card (which I've since replaced with an M-audio Fasttrack Pro USB).  it's an external device that one plugs into the 'puter via USB, that has 1/4" cable ports for guitar cords, and mics on the front.  and from the back of that device I have a left and right studio monitor (speakers) hook up.  that's about as simple as it gets.  it's a loop based (wav) software, so if you, for example need a drum track and you have no real drums, you find the right drum loop (you can hork loops off the internet, or go to Sony.com and buy 'em).  I used drum loops a lot, since I don't have a kit...I generally started with a simple drum loop track, more as a metronome while recording the other tracks one by one, then maybe went back and replaced the original drum loop with something a bit more intricate (wait, there's nothing intricate about my cheese riddled songs!).  other hardware includes a couple of Shure microphones, a couple 1/4" guitar cables, a guitar, a midi keyboard, a bass guitar, and a couple of pre-amps/effects boxes.  I don't know if any of this helps, but if you wanna barrow any of the above, you're welcome to it....hoohah, you can bust in anytime since you're the guru (hoohah is my friend from Mini soda who makes awesome computer music!).  feel free to leave a comment or two...

hmm...shoulder pain is gone this morning.  must of just slept on it weirdly.   the ground is white today (small dusting of hail/snow).  London turns into Michigan once again (we'll see how long that lasts...I'm not putting away the rain blower just yet).  I could use some coffee, but I gotta go back to sleep in couple hours, so as I can get my 8 hours rest (on top of the 8 I just had) before going into the stalag.  it'll prob'ly feel back to "normal", throwing my body clock off, to accommodate my focked up work schedule again (or not?). dammit!  if only the stalag would follow thru on their promise to do 1st/2nd/3rd shift-straight 8's.  some day...if the doors there aren't already permanently welded shut yet. it was around the second-ish of January when they let us all go at Mcgraw Hill Publishing without any warning.  bam!  let's hope this place doesn't pull the same stunt. yet, that's the same awful feeling I get...[news at 11]

any attempt to roll over onto my left shoulder last night proved most painful.  I don't know what I did to it?!  it prob'ly didn't help that I had 10 days of zero exercise (it's been that long since my last day of work!), not counting pooperdog walks.  this morning, I do some gentle pushups on my knees, along with up dogs and down dogs (yogurt), to free up the muscle pain.  it makes a clicking noise with every effort (I think it's always done that, the more I think of it).  the stretching and exercise seems to help, but what caused it to begin with.  I haven't done anything strenuous since I last worked.  again, that could be the problem in itself, along with age, and other factors...oh well.  a couple 'Beyer back and body' tablets, and I'll forget it's even there.

it's a new year, and still the grass is green with temps in the mid 40's.  I'm not complainin', mind ya. in fact, had I known that this would be the outcome once I bought me a new snow blower, I'd have bought one years ago.  if there were such a thing as rain blowers, I'm sure the stores would completely be out of stock.  weird winter! but again, I don't mind.  let's do this all the way up 'til spring [please?]

tomorrow night, will be the first day (night) back to work, followed by three more days off (mid-week "weekend").  since the 20th of Dec until Jan 5th, I've only worked one day (plus a possible 12'er tomorrow).  that will make 2 days worked, within a 17 day period!  no wonder I'm getting soft...of course it'll prob'ly be bidness as usual once the new year starts rollin'.  that's when you'll hear me start complainin' again.

once again, the pooperdog and I beat the rainfall.  it starts hittin' heavy just as we hit home. seems we almost always just miss the heavy rain.

I have a sixer of oatmeal stout on ice for today, then I gotta get back into 'work' mode (where I virtually slow down to zero beers if I gotta work the next day...once in a great while I'll have me one if I'm feeling like a brew with my hambooger helper, or ham and eggs, depending on what meal follows whatever shift I just got done with, but otherwise zero).  fell asleep last night 'round 10pm (missing the whole ball drop thingy, as I do most every year), waking up this morning 'round 8. burn some coffee, honey bunches of sandburrs, pooperdog walk, blah, blah...

yesterdays netflix movies include more Cantonese Martial arts movies subtitled in English.  good stuff boyo!  otherwise.  nothing new under the sun (umm...gray clouds)

the weather is back to being mild (above freezing, zero wind, foggy, mild rain and gray). we finish our pooperdog walk just before it starts raining. when did I move to London?

"Irwin Allen" was yesterday's viewing theme.  Netflix has a ton of the old classic TV series; 'Lost in Space', 'The Time Tunnel', 'Land of the Giants', 'Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea', etc. it's cool revisiting the 70's on my new jumbotron.  then I remember why I got rid of my TV to begin with.  I was spending too many hours on the couch getting lazy and fat.  I guess an increase in pooperdog walks might balance things out more.... I subscribe (once again) to Hulu Plus ($8/month) so I can watch my favorite shows thru the PS3 onto my jumbotron.  seems certain shows (that I could get for free on the web), like 'ABC world news' are now tagged (now that I'm paying for the service) "web only"...dammit!  hulu and netflix both piss me off in certain annoying ways, but it's still cheaper than cable.  I'll catch up on my news using my laptop...

I use up the remainder of ham this morning (ugh!), making scrambled eggs, ham, unt English muffins (why they gotta be 'fork split'?!).  also, yesterday, I make me a gumbo (Zater-what?) with cubed ham chunks and leftover polish k'basa (mmmmmmmms!).  currently, burning another pot of coffee, and contemplating more 'Irwin Allen' classics...

I get my pick-up notice (via email) to pick up my TV pick-up order with my pick-up truck.  I almost need a bigger truck. the box is huge!  the guy at the store had no problems [gently] throwing it in, but I had no dolly (or the like) to help me wheel it into the house.  thank the gawds for nosey neighbors.  Ron (aka Chas Manson) stops by to see what all the commotion was about, he then offers to grab a side and help me in the house widdit.  I offer him a beer for his help, but he's quickly off (unusually fast. he's usually eager to hang around and tell me his life story).  once inside, I open the box. it's easy to assemble as well as hook up the PS3 to, etc.. the first thing I watch in HD is a bit of the movie 'Terminator' (via Netflix).    it's pretty awesome!  the reviews for the TV said it had bad sound quality, but I don't see it (ummm...hear it).  of course, I'm comparing the new with a tinny shallow audio of my 24" flat screen monitor that I used previously.  the difference is like night and day!  the picture quality is perfect (with many different preset modes; 'sports', 'cinema', etc.).  the remote is easy to use.  the TV stand has a swivel feature, so I can watch TV from the kitchen (bonus!). I have no complaints.  I spend some of the money that I saved on it towards a 4 year warranty (I know warranties are for shmucks, but this is a pretty expensive toy...).  the PS 3 experience (gaming wise) is pretty over the top too. I can enjoy my golf game a ton more, seeing the yard markers (and the ball) from the couch 12 feet away.  games like 'Dead Space' and 'Dante's inferno' just become more life like and scary (especially when played at night).  'Call of Duty MW3', 'Uncharted 3', 'Resistance 3' (and the like) are beyond awesome!! I'm happy about the set up!  did I mention 'awesome!'...the PS3 has that perfect complimentary fit for connecting my other 'puters (via wi-fi), watching movies (via netflix), watching TV (hulu.com),  and more with my jumbotron, without having to have a cable TV subscription (it's a bit limited as far as content -no football, for example- but pretty cool none-the-less!).

I wake up at 5am these past couple days with that weird feeling like I'm gonna be late for work (is there a syndrome named after this, 'cause I think I gots it).  also, it feels a bit more Arctic outside (both last night, and this morning's pooperdog walks), with it being in the 20's and windy (closer to feeling like winter than that day I raked leaves). I've been thinking lately about having a backup heater for this place in case the power goes out.  maybe kerosene or propane fueled.  something small to keep the frost out.  just in case. so the small mammals and I don't popsiculate (word?) if bad weather works up a black out.  even though we're more likely to have blackouts here during the summer (when the grid overworks due to everyone using their AC, I'd imagine?).  anyway, it would be good to have around, for peace of mind sake...maybe Amazon.com sells 'em?

[...]

I take a minute to burn some coffee, and notice there's no clean coffee cups to be found.  there's a couple waiting to be washed.  where's the rest of 'em?  prob'ly in my little truck.  I'll bring a coffee with me to work (or where ever) then set the empty to clink around with other empties on the passenger floor of my truck.  I really should clean that wreck out today *adds to to-do list* (and/or buy me some more cups).  oh, the coffee is especially delish this morning (wait, I say that every morning).  I limit myself to 6 beers last night (slow down, it is a long "weekend" after all) while watching more of the 'Jericho' series (via Netflix).  I also find another series that parallels 'Jericho', called 'Survivors' [BBC...also via Nf], 'cept instead of a nuke scenario, it's about a group of survivors who manage to escape the plague that wipes out 90% of the world's population. and even though there's huge stockpiles of food, clothes, and vehicles, peeps defend stores and warehouses like a drug dealer defends his turf. peeps get all weird when civilization as they know it ceases to exist. understandably so.  I like these post catastrophe kind of series. they tease out the 'how would I handle that situation?' within said scenarios.  prob'ly barricade myself inside my favorite beer store

I've got a hankerin' for breakfast.  maybe Denny's or IHOP.  I'll flip a coin...

later: I skip going out to eat being that I have plenty of leftover ham (ugh!) to do me some green eggs and ham mitt. then commence to cleanin' a grubbed out kitchen (where do all these empty beer bottles come from?  Squabber?...I got enough in returnables to buy that new car I wanted).  afterward, I check my email for that confirmation letter telling me to wander over and pick up that jumbotron.  nothing yet (it'll either be today, or tomorrow).  another good feature of hooking up a TV instead of the monitor that's hooked to it now, is I'll have a remote to turn the volume up and down, instead of guessing which buttons on the bottom of the monitor gets me to the volume page, then which is 'volume up' and 'volume down'.  good gawd! it's frustrating!  I can't even see the small symbols that are supposed to be there to help you know what's what...anywho.  I gotta take me a shower and do another pooperdog walk *plan*

yesterday was nice. sunny and warmish.  I hook the ol' dog on her 50' lead from the porch and bust out the rake (this has got to be the latest I've ever raked my yard!  the grass is still green).  while raking, Brian (almost room mate/neighbor) comes over in his gas station style overalls.  I automatically think he's ready to ask me to help him work on his truck (being that's the attire he wears whilst bustin' his knuckles on car repair), but instead, he's just stopping over to rearrange stuff in the shed.  as quick as he puts an old lamp by the curb, Ron (aka Chas Manson) is right there garbage pickin'.   he then leans a pair of crutches against the garbage can.  seconds later an old guy stops and asks about them.  you want something gone in a blink of an eye, set it out by the curb.  there's plenty of trailer trash scavengers about...

I'm getting better at the newest Tiger Woods game (PS3).  instead of say 17 over I'm getting closer to 3 over par.  I've got to get better at my putting.  it's a cool game, but I like the controls on '09 and '10 version better.  one of the coolest features of this new one, is you can have real time weather (what you see outside your window is what the conditions are in the game itself!), and you can create a profile avatar (person) with your actual face clipped from a pic that you upload, then play as yourself within the game (cool heh!).  all kinds of cool features, but I don't see 'one ball' within the games.  that's one of my faves from '10.

so, I'm drinkin' beerses, and watching a movie (via iNetflix) called 'stuck'.  it's a most painful movie to watch, but rather good (supposedly based on a true story).  it's about a guy gettin' whapped by a car, half his body stuck thru the windshield, and the young driver panics and leaves him to squirm in the garage while she goes about her business.   I don't wanna give away the rest, go see it.  it's warped!  so naturally, I liked it!

I got a smallish sore throat.  speakin' of which, I haven't wrote anything lately about my 'cracked throat'.  it seems to have maybe healed mostly.  it was bad there for a long time.  I thought it was gonna do me in, with the pain, the coughing fits, and that drowning feeling.  good gawd! I'm glad that's done with!  this current sore throat is more like your typical start of a cold sore throat.  I'll try and burn it off with some more coffee

"low batt".  gotta go re-plug.

we worked Friday, but only 'til 2:30pm (shaving off 3 1/2 hours of dull robot work), then we're told that we don't have to come back until the 2nd of next year (hurray!! here I thought we were a thousand miles behind schedule, and we'd at least have to work a couple days betwixt the holidays (that's the urgent impression that I was given).  nopes!  cool!!

Lion's win Saturday's game against the Chargers throwing them into wild card contention (once again prob'ly because I didn't watch it).  it's the first time since '99 that they even made it to the play-offs (has it really been that long that I've been a disgruntled fan...?  yep!).

walked over to the nice hippy neighbor lady's house 'round about 3pm yesterday.  she, Jay, Jay's girlfriend, Brian (almost room mate/son of nice hippy neighbor lady), and I had some yummy honey baked ham, steamed veggies (which were kinda still frozen, and Brian threw a hissy over), yams, regular smarshed tators, fruit salad, and some kinda desert thing with whipped cream.  top that off with a couple 3 schlitz' and some Mario Kart.  undefeated 8 games in a row, I decided to split saying; "I hate to eat, beat you at your own game, and run, but I gotta dog to walk"  [laughs...I AM an arss-hole].  it was a nice meal. I hung around for a good 4 hours (it felt like she had the thermostat at 85, but who's gonna complain when there's free food and games). she fixes me up with a plate of leftovers that will prob'ly last me for 3 meals!  afterward, I watch a show about the Dark ages (via Netflix), and play some 'LA Noire' (cool game!), whilst drinkin' a couple more Schlitz.

I get up this morning 'round 6, burn some coffee, take a long pooperdog walk (it being as mild temp wise and with zero wind), then head off to the grocery store for about $78 in groceries (eggs, milk, trash bags, shampoo, etc).  speaking of mild weather, I hear a story on NPR (on the way to the store) saying that this is the mildest Michigan winter (so far) since 1946! , still 30 of the state's 38 ski resorts are ready by working their snow machines full tilt.  damn, you think one good sunny 48F day would toast that freshly laid manufactured snow.  it's gotta cost a mint to keep these resorts open during a mild winter, but they also said this week between Christmas and New Year's is the busiest of skiing....anyway, it's been a good 30 years since I've even buckled ski boots on, so I actually could care less, making this whole paragraph about skiing moot.

today is way sunny.  boosting my normally greyish mood due to the absence of sunlight.  we'll prob'ly throw an extry pooperdog walk in today, just to take advantage of the worship toward the glowing orb.

alright, so a couple 3 things happened that changed my mind about changing my mind (see 'dreams of HD on hold...').  first off, I find my Best Buy credit card (3 years of interest free toward a purchase over $499), naturally, while I was looking for something else, then, my parents send me a nice Christmas  chunk of cabbage (ummm...money), then the TV I was looking at dropped the price another $200 during Christmas weekend, so I bought me that new flat screen that I can pick up from the store on the 29th. now, I'm not gonna rush into hookin' cable TV up to it right away, but it'll be cool to play the PS 3 on, plus it'll be nice to have my monitor (that I'm currently using for the PS3) back onto my desktop 'puter.  I know. the Dutch guy caved, but I couldn't resist.  and I'm helping out the economy (even though the TV itself is prob'ly made in Sri Lanka?  those Sri Lankan's gotta eat too, right?).

wow!  I didn't intend to write a novella, but I guess I did.  I best sign off now and go play in the snow that we don't yet have.

Merry Squankmas!

I take a minute (due mostly to boredom) to wander to Best Buy and look at the TV's.  the salesman was most helpful as far as explaining the differences betwixt LED, LCD, DLP, and Plasma TV's.  he reassured me that the stigma behind plasma TV's being a bad purchase has since been rectified.  they've come a long way since they've begun building them, and now they supposedly rank right up there with the LED's and LCD's.  I check this online as well, and a couple articles confirm this.  he also said, since I already have web browsing, etc., on my PS3, there's no need to buy a 'smart TV'.   with these two things in mind, I can pick up a whopper of a set (50" or bigger) for around $800, but I told you my Dutch side would prevail.  I've already decided to lay a smack down on this current loan first, THEN consider where I'm at from there.  it's the smart move in these crappy times...besides, I already bought me one big ticket item this year (snow blower).  wait, come to think of it I bought my guitars this year too (those are considered big ticket, right? sure).

gotta burn more coffee, and get ready for the stalag...

so, today (well, last night), I buy me a wireless controller for my PS3, thinking this controller with a 3 foot cord is rather restricting.  come to find out, it's the exact same controller that I have.  the wire is just to recharge.  what?  I figured it was like the PS2 where you got one corded controller with the system, and if you wanted wireless that was extra.  nope.  here I was playing these games, sometimes pulling the controller wire out of the system, when I could have been chillin' wirelessly on the couch (they don't call me dumbass for nuthin'). it's cool to have two wireless controllers, in case the 'Squatch ever wants to try and beat me in golf, but I wonder what else I'm doin' old skool that doesn't need to be done?  also, the new controller came with 'Resistance; fall of man' and 'Resistance 2' (bundled for just the price of the controller). I pick up a used 'Tiger woods '11' too.  it's completely different, control wise, than '10, and '09, so I'll have to adjust.  it's good to throw in some golf betwixt chasing the devil and shooting aliens.

so, I wrote my insurance company a while ago, about getting reimbursed for my towing (roadside package).  instead of sending me a check, they sent the mechanic a check and me a letter that says the check has been sent to your mechanic.  damn, I already payed for the towing. I call the mechanic but he hasn't seen any check yet, he'll let me know when it comes in (fine...). 

clean the kitchen, do the dishes, clean the bathroom, vacuum, etc..  pooperdog walks (between raindrops...man, it's been raining a lot lately!). just as I'm watching a 'Futurama' episode (via Netflix, on my PS3), the cool hippy neighbor lady stops by.  we have a beer, and discuss nothings. she then invites me to dinner for Christmas, and maybe watch some football.  (if I don't gotta work!). she then says she's making a big ham for supper.  (doh!  I've been hammed to death lately...oh well. it still sounds good!)  after she splits I make me a ham sammich and have me a Hamm's beer (all right, it was a Schlitz...Hamm's just seemed to fit the motif), then crash out.  I'm currently awake, temporarily, due to a silly dog that sneezed in my face while I was sleeping, indicating she has to go potty.  she's prob'ly done by now. I'll let her in, and do some more snoozin'.

last night's supper included chicken helper using cubed ham instead...(mmmms!).   I catch up on a weeks worth of ABC world news with Diane Sawyer.  then, for no apparent reason, I look at maybe buying that flat screen TV again (I've looked for years, patiently waiting for the price to go below a grand, now I see Vizio makes what they call a "smart TV",  that incorporates a web browsing feature. plus it'd be ultra cool to plug my PS3 into it.  and,  if I were to get something like this, I can replace the monitor back onto my desktop, that I'm currently using for the PS3, and maybe turn my cable TV back on before the Lions get to the Superbowl.  but quite honestly though, I'll prob'ly turn into my practical Dutch self, and look for another 2 years....case in point; look how long I've been talking about getting a replacement for my ol' truck

forgive me if I spelt something weird. I don't have my glasses on.  I'll sepll chock it loter...

rainy and 40's.  the weatherman says we're about 16 inches behind, so far, this season, when it comes to snowfall. maybe we'll get hit all at once, like last year...

I start my mid-week "weekend" awash in beer [be7ch], PS3  games, and more recipes with ham in it (I never bought a big ham before, I'll prob'ly never buy one again once I finish this one...that's a lot of damn ham!). Call of Duty 4 is the game of choice for the day.  beer of choice; flying dog brewery variety pack. 

while letting the pooperdog outside, I hang out on the porch (temp is around 50F), and don't notice anything unusual until I look toward the street light.  first of all, why is the street light even on mid day? and secondly, I see the finest of rain drops refracting from the light.  you can't even see it otherwise. you can just barely feel it.  it's the finest rain shower I've ever almost not seen.  it's so fine you can't hear it on the metal porch roof.  it was kinda unnaturally eery.  oh well.

alright, working my weird days and nights schedule, I'm always going to work in the dark, and always coming home in the dark (in the winter months anyway).  sometimes honestly I have to think real hard if whether it's morning or night while I'm driving home.  it's that focked up!  then add taking a half day off in the mix and I wonder what day it is...my mind tells me it's Tuesday morning (when I normally should leave), but it's still Monday night.  good gawd the tricks my brain plays with this maddening schedule.  it is Tuesday night right now, right? *looks at computer calender*  wait, this is 2011? (heh! j/k).

pooperdog is giving me my cue to get my shoes on and take her for a walk *ready, go!*

1/2 day at work (the other half vacation).  my fears of not being able to leave due to not enough peeps showing up was covered by a lot of peeps (from other shifts) working overtime, taking the place of our absentees. do a bit of grocery shopping. come home, do us a pooperdog walk, I play some 'Bullet storm', 'Resistance 3' (demo),  'Uncharted 3', 'Dante's Inferno', etc., as well as catch up on some Jon Stewart's Daily Show, then take me a nap from say 2am to 6am.  I then bust out the ham (that happened to be on sale).  cube it, throw it in a pan with some fire.  cut up some bell pepper to "brown" with the ham cubes, then throw in some whipped eggs unt a smidge of milk, with some pepper jack cheese slices to make an ultimately yummy omelet.  add some Valentina salsa picante and a couple Snake Dog IPA's (beerses), and you got a damn beggar's banquet!  I share a little of the feast (minus the picante, and picking out the peppers) with the dusty poodle brained pooperdog.  she digs it as much as I did!

so, I hear rumors that we may indeed work the holiday weekend.  I guess I'll know for sure come Friday...

I re-watch one of my Netflix faves "Ipman'.  a Donny Yen classic!!

I'm thinkin' another pooperdog walk is in order *ready, go!*

both our shift, and the previous, only make 'round 800 parts per (of the 1100 we're supposed to), so chances are real good that we'll have to work thru some of our holiday break, and of course, we won't know until minutes before.  rumor has it (depending on who you talk too) that we may even have to work Christmas eve/new years eve , but again, that's not straight from the horses mouth.  we'll see...

now the company has a "bank" system.  you get 65 hours of "bank" time to use for sick days per year, for whatever you want to use them for, but if you use all 65 within that year, you're out the door (I currently have 20 left). Rolphy was down to five  when his girlfriend suddenly was hospitalized (I don't know the details, all I know is she has epilepsy), so he tried calling in to use 1/2 day vacation and a 1/2 day "bank", but the vacation part was denied, due to him not giving notice 24 hours earlier).  today may be his last day (depending on if HR has mercy or not?).  Chad is also down to 5 "bank" hours.  we only got a couple work days left this year. will he be the next to go?  we're already a skeleton crew.  Ashley's out because she hurt her shoulder, Lew has been gone because his mom died, Chris was gone yesterday (for whatever reason), etc., etc..  we have to pull peeps from other lines to help us out on the easy stations, leaving us to do all the hard assembly line work.  it bites!  maybe we'll be better staffed next year?  to make matters worse, they're putting timers on each station, so if you don't beat the cycle time an annoying alarm lets you know.  negative motivation at it's best!  when I worked the Honda line, they had screw guns that told you "good job!" when you made rate.  we get a focking alarm clocks sans the 'snooze' button. it just keeps getting better and better *snarcasm*.  our crew is so demoralized from shit goin' down (and a boss who seemingly doesn't give a good goddamn) that a lot of them threaten to take today off as a "bank" day, making it all the more hard for me to leave for my legitimate 1/2 day vacation that I put in for.  (I only gotta work from 6pm to 11 tonight, but if we're hugely understaffed they could easily keep me there.  maybe I'll [kindly] demand a lunch out of the deal, since I'm not bringing one with, otherwise fock it. I'm leaving anyway...I'm not pulling a 12'er without lunch!)

pooperdog wakes me up today before the alarm (clock).  I go to shut the alarm off, just to notice I never armed it to begin with...oops!  good dog Rosie!  perfect timing!

once home from the stalag last night, the pooperdog and I take a walk, I heat some leftover Chicken and asparagus, then try  (unsuccessfully) to watch another episode of "Sleeper Cell".  I then hit the bed for a good 8 hours of sleep, waking up this morning an hour before the alarm goes off. first thoughts are; let the dog outside, burn some coffee, then type some nothings into my xanga thinger.  next I'll shower, shave, then hit the stalag for another 12 hours of pure fun

huge drive at the stalag to pump out 1100 parts per shift, with threats that we may have to work during our holiday break if unattained (nice!). an A crew girl (working our shift as over-overtime) says "we got boned yesterday, they told us we can go home when we reached 1100.  once that was achieved, the new number was bumped up to 1150, then 1200.  after busting ass to get 1200, we finally got to go home 20 minutes early".  good gawd! just another "caring" moment from the gawd forsaken prison camp (work will set you free). we only assemble about 850 parts (being most peeps are now so demoralized, and we're running a skeleton crew). this place is hell on Earth...now having said that, I guess it's still work, in an economy where one can't pick and choose from the best.  and honestly, the boat factory, even though they're hiring, would prob'ly be the first to close it's doors [again] when and if the economy goes under [again].  so I may as well go down with this ship, with an eyeball open for work that may be a bit more "stable"...damn, my economic outlook looks more and more pessimistically bleak, the more I type.  maybe I'll simply stop typing...

today, I hit my 'to-do' list hard (being the last day of my "weekend").  first I hit McD's for a breakfast burrito combo (not on my list, but mmmmmms none-the-less!), then I stop off at the hardware store to buy a child gate (accordion style gate that'll keep the dog away from the laundry area...before this I was using a box which just plain looked trailer trashy). I drop off some goodwill stuff (clothes that don't fit, books that I've already read, etc.) while on my way to Wally mart to get my glasses fixed.  on the way home I stop off at the music store to pick up a small bottle of valve oil for my trumpet, and find out if they do horn repair.  turns out they do.  I'll bring the horn with me next trip.  then it was on to get me an oil change.  while there, they changed the transmission fluid as well as the rear differential fluid (this prob'ly hadn't been done since the truck was new, some 15 years ago.  they show me a sample of the old, and it looks like mud, along with the magnetic plug chalked with metal shavings. it's prob'ly the same sample and plug they show everyone.  anyway, it's good to have it done).  he made the comment that the transmission fluid was low, and it smelt burnt when he took the plug off. I often smelled a burning smell while pushing the RPM's.  I guess that's where that came from (there's no tranny dip-stick on a manual, so how was I to know?).  I punch it on the way home and don't get that same smell....good! 140,000 miles worth of wear and tear, fixed.  let's see, what else.  oh yeah, fill the truck's gas tank with premium, then went shopping for food.  once home, I let the pooperdog outside, while I call around to different shops to see how much it would run to get front and rear shocks replaced.  the cheapest was $280, the highest was $380.  I'm guessin' I can wait at these steep prices.  it ain't bouncing all over yet... I accomplish 7 of the 10 things to be done.  that makes for a good morning.  maybe I'll tackle the rest next week.  for now, maybe I'll drink a beer out on the porch with the ol' dog, it being nearly 55F degrees out (it feels most spring like outside).

rain and 46F

slept 'till 'round 4pm today, after mass gaming and beering all night (what? I can be an 'Omar' on my weekends, right?). the game called 'Infamous' is outstanding! it gives you the Karmic opportunity to play good, or evil. It reminds me a bit of that PlayStation 1 game called "one", with the cool cartoony drawings like 'twisted metal' had.  'Dead Space is eery as hell (awesome!), and by the time I got to 'call of duty', I was pretty hammered.  they make you run timed shooting drills.  I'd get a "too slow" after every one.  it's hard closing one eye and seeing two targets.  I'll try it again tonight while being unhammered, along with gettin' farther into 'Uncharted 3' (also awesome!)...first I need to cook me something to munch on.  I'm famished.

we have an "emergency meeting" the last 15 minutes of the day at the stalag (Monday night/Tuesday morning).  it's about the fact that this plant is losing 4 million dollars a month (with the premise that if we don't shape up we may lose this plant).   did I not mention earlier that this place is pretty much the RMS Lusitania?  I'm thinking this is a last ditch effort to keep these doors open....or it's a masked "abandoned ship".  we'll see soon enough.   I sleep a good 7 hours after Monday night's shift.  pooperdog walks, clean the shack, play some playstation THREE, etc..  I purchase a couple 3 games after I prevue them ('call of duty Modern war', 'borderlands', 'Dead space', 'Infamous', etc.).   awesome games!! it hasn't been since the first incarnation of PlayStation, that I've gotten so excited about gaming.  this system is awesome!!  anyway...BEER ME!!

day 3 (well, night 3) of the four day/night work week done. nothing exciting.  we ran some what of a skeleton crew due to some calling in sick.  once home, we take a quick pooperdog walk, and for what ever reason, I feel like having a Shiner Bock (what? just one, I gotta go back to work in about 10 hours, so one won't hurt).  I may spend a quick hour checking out one of my PS3 downloads (as long as I'm to bed by 8-ish, I still get my 8 hours of beauty rest (don't say it).

ugh!  although the Bock beer tastes delicious, I really should be filling my stomach with sandburrs (honey bunches of 'em).  maybe next time I'll use beer in my cereal instead of milk.  have my cake and drink it too (what?).  anywho...*warms up the PS3*

I have a mild recollection of putting things in an empty kitty litter bucket (bad idea), then storing it in the shed.  I bet that's where my lap-top back-up CD's went. in the bucket. but where is this bucket?  and what else did I store in there?!  I have a feeling I may have thrown out the bucket, thinking it was empty, whilst cleaning out the shed.  wow!  I hope nothing [else] important went with it.  I guess I'll never know (until I look for said item).  how often do I inadvertantly throw something out that's half important...? damn!

also, speaking of lost items, it still bothers me that my 2006 journal page (on a Microsoft website) got deleted.  what happened that year.  I guess I'll never recall. the world won't care so much, but it was a whole year of my exciting life.  poof! up in smoke.  I don't remember asking them to delete it.  oh well. one day this site will vanish too and the world will keep spinnin'...

Friday night, I get a good hour or two of 'Uncharted 3' in, and Saturday I'm playing demos like a fiend...

we got this guy at the stalag(mid 30's, single, prob'ly lives with his mom), who's always lookin' beyond zombie tired.  no, he's not a party monster, but one of those hard core gamers, who, because of lack of sleep and has visited too many virtual realms blurs fantasy and reality often.  now, I'm not gonna be that guy.  first of all, I'm not young anymore.  I needs me my sleep!  and secondly, I'm already a zombie at work with those long-ass mundane robotic hours, you add real tiredness to it, and it's pure hell.  so I regulate my gaming (you prob'ly thought you'd never see another journal entry again, after I proclaimed that I had a PS3),  and for some reason, I have leftovers from 3 different sixers of beer (beer leftovers?! unheard of...).  I was going thru a pretty good funk there after they told us about staying on 12 hour days at the stalag.  this gaming machine gift was perfectly timed to shatter that funk (gaming is a great anti-depressant).  it's a cool machine!  right away I sign up ($49/year) for Playstation Plus, giving me access to "free" 60 minute game trials of many of the latest, plus "free" whole game downloads.  the first one I try is the latest of many that I used to have for the PS1. Tomb Raider (Underworld?).  the pixels have been kind to Lara Croft over the years, and the game play is pretty awesome!  it's a pretty intense puzzle solving game.  excellent game!  next, I download "borderland" (first person shooter), "the Masters (golf), and a couple others (I think 'deep space 2' and 'infamous'.  both games have yet to be played).  Borderland is a damn hoot! you gotta learn how to run backwards and shoot at skags (wicked looking wild dogs that are out to eat ya).  it's an awesome game.  I see it on Amazon.com (for as cheap as $9). I'll prob'ly get that one.   anyway, a couple 3 hours of gaming with a couple 3 beers and I'm crashin' out by midnight...

[other free one hour game downloads, yet to be tried: 'assasins creed', 'bulletstorm',  'warhawk', 'mass effect2', and others...]

woke up this morning 'round 6.  we done us our usual pooperdog walk.  it's pretty coldish (high 20'sF), and clear with an excellent full moon making the new snowfall glow (we only got a couple inches, but it's kinda pretty at this point...give me another couple weeks and I'll all ready be sick of winter.  by then I'll be hunkering down with a new Tiger Woods golf game (and what-not).  it's gonna be a great winter

a couple more tweaks to my laptop, including adding 93 important Microsoft updates (see last entry), and she's about as good as new again (after downloading the latest Adobe what's-its, java applets,  and the like).  I still can't figure out quite yet how to activate my wi-fi card (currently plugged in to the router via an Ethernet cord). that'll be a task for another day.  for now, it's just good to have the ol' lappy top back

a bowl of honey bunches of sand burrs before I crash out again for a good 6-8 hours for tonight's stint at the stalag...

g'night

whoa!  what?!  I guess I visited the wrong website (again!).  my laptop cornputer starts givin' me all kinda pop-ups explaining that my security has been compromised with some kind o keylogger.gen trojan, then I see my firewall catches it stating: "...no other action is needed". but then, I guess, the worm even shuts my security down, so I go off line and try and stop the bleeding.  soon, nothing works, everything is replaced with the same pop-up message. I've seen this before, but this time my anti-virus webpage doesn't have a "fix" for this one.  nice!  I guess it's time for a clean install, but can't find my back-up CD's to save my life (where the hell did I put 'em?!).  I try and use my Windows 7 upgrade CD, but some system files (that were on the back-up) aren't recognized,  rendering my laptop more worthless than a cheese grater on the moon.  I guess it's just a matter of time to find/buy the proper back-up CD's, meanwhile, I'll use my clunky slow-ass desktop [news at 11]

minutes after writing this: I hear the UPS guy pull up to the house.  Rosie's on her lead attached to the porch, so I run out and explain that she's older than dust and won't bite (laffs). it's a package from the Kid, bigger than a coconut, or that hat that I hinted about.  IT'S A PS3/UNCHARTED 3 BUNDLE!! shiggity shweet! my laptop can now remain retarded, I gots me a PS3! ...I gotta follow the installation process, and shoot shit up ('uncharted' being a shooter game, and all).  THANKS KID!! you rock the mostest!

a couple other thoughts that came from last weeks plant update...the main one, of course, is the 8 hour day fell thru (as explained in an earlier entry).  this new plant manager mentions that we currently have about 1800 employed at our plant; he says we only need about 1/2 that, to run what we have (providing the machines are working good, which they aren't).  are they going to let half of us go eventually?!  that ISO QS 9000 (or whatever quality audit they use) went awful.  he said normally a company gets 3 major discrepancies,  we got twelve (and a whole bunch of minors)!  he then tells us that we have 60 days to "repair and report" back, or risk losing certain automotive accounts (not good!).  also, he mentions that we've spent a good $6 million in expediting product to our customer (we seem to always be on the edge of shutting someone's line down.  not good!) also, I'm not sure what ever became of the results that these past snap teams, who they employed, just to stand around and observe the process for months, and try and fix "issues", but it appears like that whole thing was a good failure.  and on top of all this, we run out of packaging for days on end, having to temporarily pack things in wrong boxes, label them "non-conforming packaging", then have someone repackage these hundreds of boxes into correct boxes, when the correct ones arrive,  just to run out of the correct boxes again. it's a damn mess!  I have no idea why this place hasn't shut it's doors long ago?  just a couple of thoughts about the stalag, while I let the pooperdog out to do her thing.

my cold weather mitts came in today (via UPS...still waiting on that coconut that the Kid sent).  they work good!  the pooperdog and I take our full mile walk in comfort with my new boots and mitts (well, I was comfortable anyway.  maybe I should find her a sweater).  of course, it's only 35F outside, I guess the real test will be when it's below zero and blustery.  I check amazon.com for one of those trapper hats.  those dorky hats with the faux fur ear flaps.  those are relatively cheap.  I think I'll get me one of those.  they got 'em in plaid, so I can look like Elmer Fudd on our pooperdog walks.  anyway, the dog wants back in from her potty break, and I gotta go back to sleep...

all right, these boots don't feel so Frankenstein stiff anymore. I wear them on today's pooperdog walk, as well as to go get my haircut, buy some stamps, and pick up a sixer of import/microbrew.  they're a ton comfier already!  I'd continue my to-do list/grocery stint, but the Kid texts me and says I may have to be home to sign for that coconut he sent me UPS.  that's cool!  I'm gettin' my mitts today via UPS as well, so I may as well stick around.  it's nice and sunny. maybe I'll drink a beer or twelve out on the porch (currently 34F and huge amounts of sunshine...it's been gray for awhile already.  it's good to see the sun goddess' in full blaze).   mild depression over the stalag's decision to stay on 12's.  maybe I'll look into another job come January...the boat factory's hiring.  that's a good place to start. thanks Sis, for the vote of confidence.

stayed up last night to watch a good 4 more episodes of 'Sleeper Cell', only to crash out on the couch and have weird dreams about living in a rickety tree house way up in the air, having constant 'fear of heights' feelings. can't I have just a normal dream...one time please?.  anyway, I wake up this morning 'round 9, burn some coffee, shave, shower, hit McD's for a #6 combo, get my haircut, buy some stamps, hit my favorite beer store for a ...wait, I just wrote about this in the first paragraph.  next thing ya know, I'll re-tell you how nice it is to see the sun

nice sunshiny day today maybe I'll drink a beer out on the porch

sunshine and 34F....BEER ME (it's 5 o'clock somewhere)!!

did I mention that it's sunshiny out?

oh yeah!  Pearl Harbor day, also means I woulda been married to that crazy lady for like 26 years to the day now (if I was still married...thank the gods that I'm not).  it's fun to look back and proclaim both the Japanese attack and my wedding day as "...a day of infamy"

sons of all bitches!!  stupid work!  we got a new plant manager (this makes about the fourth within the year *plus* since I've worked there).  the old plant manager had promised us 5-8 hour days starting Jan 2th, the new said this change would spell disaster, so we pretty much can shit can the idea for who knows how long.  dammit!!! I was so looking forward to real job hours, shedding this grueling prison camp schedule.  fock!  just one more disappointment on top of many others.  stupid place!

after work, the pooperdog and I take us a walk, then we make some bacon unt shcrampled  chicken embryos mit black coffee unt toast mit butter (mmmmmmmms!).  I do the dishes promptly after, then send my towing receipt (via snail mail) to my insurance company for reimbursement.  I realize then, that I'm out of stamps, so I write that down on my shopping list.  I include a couple other items such as milk, eggs, bacon, etc..  I'll shop later today, first I must power-nap.  after shopping maybe I'll get my haircut, since I got lazy and didn't do it on Saturday.  I prob'ly ought to get my oil changed as well (speaking of things I said I'd do when the weather was nice, but waited too long).  I'll start a to-do list, because the more I type, the more I remind myself what else needs to be done...

my boots come UPS today.  I can't wait to see how they fit [news at 11]

later:  my boots arrive (they want $115 on this website, I got mine from amazon.com for $80...bargain!).  they're cool lookin', but at this point they're as stiff as ski boots.  I wear 'em on our pooperdog walks to break 'em in.  I'm contemplating returning these and getting a half size bigger.  it's not that they're too tight, but there's zero room for wool sox (if I wanted).  I got 30 days to decide, maybe I'll keep 'em, and simply break 'em in a bit more.  I see (upon looking at the UPS tracking) that my mitts are prob'ly to arrive tomorrow (instead of the 12th, as projected).  with these two items, the $300 winter coat that Brian (neighbor/almost room mate) gave me, and my snow blower, I'll be completely ready for tackling the worst of the winter to come.

the to-do list/ grocery list (mentioned above) gets ever longer.  maybe I'll crash early in order to wake early tomorrow and get on it *plan*.   and once again, I sit on my bifocals (dammit!  wallmart is gonna get mad at me having to fix 'em every other damn week)

I look at the UPS tracking and see that my new cold weather boots should arrive today, while the mitts I ordered on the same day will arrive next Monday (on account of the mitts were purchased at a store in Utah, and the boots are much closer, from Indiana), then the Kid texts me (via facebook) and tells me to watch for a package in the mail as a Christmas/thank you gift.  awesome!  here's hopin' he sends me a coconut...

quick online banking to make sure all my holiday overtime is on this past weeks check.  Yep!  I put a good chunk into savings, after allocating what was needed for this months bills (blah, blah). 

3/4's of this work week done and gone! we just got back from this morning's pooperdog walk.  no wind, 37F.  I brush my teef, and now I'm ready to hit the rack.  4:30pm comes around way too quickly...

typical work, sleep, pooperdog walk (lather, rinse, repeat).  I forget to make me some work lunches on Thursday, so I brought the old style 'soup in a cup' on Friday (I lived off these as a temp), then Friday night I make a big lasagna, that ought to leave leftovers for the rest of the week (mmmmmmmmms....lasagna!).  last night's 24 hour layover betwixt swing shift (days/nights), I drink me a couple 6 beers, do a couple more episodes of 'Sleeper Cell' (awesome terrorist/FBI series), and crash for a bit.  I got to go back to sleep this morning so I can get a good solid 7 hours of power-nappage in.  I talk to quite a few peeps lately (at the stalag) who say they don't get much sleep during these last two night shift stints.  dude!  I sleep like a rock (with a few pooperdog interruptions, so she can do her thang outside)!   sometimes I'll get plenty of sleep and still be a zombie during the last 4 hours of the 12 hour work day, but I attribute that mostly to the mind numbingly tedious robot work, more than being lack of sleep style tired.  you mix the two and the day seems to drag for months...

just got done with this morning's pooperdog walk (cloudy, wind from the south west at 48F), threw in a batch of laundry, and now ready to powernap (once again, to get ready for tonight's exciting stint at the stalag)

huge power-nap yesterday (making up for the "weekend" bender I had, the night before)! I bust out of here 'round 4pm to get to Jerry Ford international.  it's maybe a good 15 minutes after she said the plane would arrive when I see her coming down the aisle.  on the way home, she suggests food.  a place called "Ramona's Macaroni Grill".  ok.  I got the mushroom ravioli (mmmmmmmmms!!).  once home, I jumped in my truck and headed for my favorite beer store to pick up a box of Schlitz, then commenced to watching a couple episodes of 'Weeds', and passing out after the sixth beer (waking up with a horizontal beer bottle and a beer soaked lap). I had some wicked dreams of being in the army (?!).  that uneasy feeling of trying to sleep, knowing the enemy could kill me in my sleep (at least it wasn't as claustrophobic as most). it may have been because I didn't have my white noise fan on...and while typing about this dream, I'm suddenly remembering a graphic dream I had the other night.  for whatever reason it involved a Tsunami inside a school building.  I remember (me and a bunch of others) running from the oncoming huge wave of water, simply stepping outside just before the water flooded the corridor, then watching a huge amount of lifeless bodies floating past the windows.  it was most disturbing! why the Tsunami was only present inside the school, I'll never know.  most of my dreams I'm usually forever searching for the exit.  why did I find it so easily in this dream?! weird shit. I got a warped cerebellum...

gettin' ready to take us an early mornin' pooperdog walk.  currently 28F.  I best bust out my winter coat first...*ready, GO!*

later:  I've always been hugely ill prepared for winter weather, wearing my tennis shoes in the snow, and dressing as if it's 50 degrees when in fact it's much colder. I vowed months ago, that I'd make this winter more comfortable (starting by throwing out my snow shovel and getting a snow blower).  anyway, I add to the comfort today, by hitting Amazon.com and ordering some cold weather mitts, and a good pair of boots.  I guess, all I need now is a good cold weather hat.  then I should be set...

 coffee...I need coffee!

first half of the work day (Tuesday), I was fightin' a rare crappy mood.  not so much  about one particular thing, just one of those weird moods that I couldn't shake off.  by the second half, it seemed to dissolve...I help bring Mark's (a co-worker) car to Tuffy muffler directly after work, then give him a ride back to it that evening.  seems they wanted over a thousand bucks to fix his brakes,  change the wheel bearings (and whatever else it needed)! that's a lot of cabbage!

I cleaned the shack like a fiend yesterday.  swept and mopped the kitchen, did the dishes, and laundry, cleaned the bathroom, etc., then went shopping for a good $104 worth of groceries, filled the shrimpy truck's gas tank with $54 premium (the truck seems to not sputter at all while drinkin' premium).  stopped by my favorite beer store for a sixer of microbrew/imports.  Lion stout (Lion brewing co. PLC, Sri Lanka), Blue Star wheat beer (north coast brewing co. Fort Bragg, CA), Winter Solstice seasonal ale (Anderson valley brewing co., Boonville, CA), 422 pale wheat ale (southern tier brewing co., lakewood, NY), Turbodog (abita brewing co., abita springs, LA), and Kronenbourg 1664 (Brasseries Kronenbourg, Strasbourg, France).  the chocolaty Lion beer was a favorite, yet it's hard to pick favorites due to them all bein' yummy, not to mention (but I will anyway), after about 3 beers, I stop caring about taste.  a lot of these microbrew/imports have high alcohol content.  by the time I'm on the last one, I'm circumnavigating Neptune.

well, it's been a good week since the Kid wandered Souf.  I hope he's hangin' in there.  it's a huge adjustment!  I'm sure he'll be fine. he's pretty level headed and strong willed.  he's prob'ly already developed a South Carl'ina accent.  I remember when I left the nest.  new house, new bride, new baby, new job, new everything.  it's a wonder I didn't have a melt down.  big adjustments always take time...he's prob'ly a little home sick (or not?), but that'll pass. rock on duder!  rock on!

wake up this morning 'round 9, burn some coffee, take a long pooperdog walk to get the mail.  she slips her collar while we were almost home and runs a couple trailers down  (I leave her collar real loose for her comfort).  I had to use the bathroom real good, so I let her free roam for a spell.  I bring the leash and collar along with a treat with me to see if I can catch her (not a hard feat, she's old and dusty).  when I caught up with her, she was on someones deck staring down at something(?).  as I got closer I could see what she was inspecting.  it was a deers head.  I'm not even gonna ask why someone has a deer head on there porch, but ok.  I collar her back up then head home. who knows what that dusty poodle brain of hers was thinkin' while staring into the cold eyes of a dead deers head?  she was prob'ly contemplating the savageness of the human race, or just wanted to know what a deer hypothalamus  tastes like...who knows?

nothing on the agenda today, I did it all yesterday.  I may go and get my haircut, but otherwise, maybe a power-nap and some slackage is in order.  having said that, I do have to remember to pick up the cool hippy neighbor lady from Grand Rabbits airport 'round 6 tonight.

ugh...more coffee!

our boss was gone all week, so everyone decides to go back to rotating stations every hour, instead of at every break.  we shut the line down at 5 to have a quality meeting that lasts 45 minutes, then went home (shweet!).  they tell us that we have a huge ISO 9000 (or some such audit) coming thru the plant, but it seems our shift will be completely skipped over (I guess they weren't aware that we have a weekend crew.  good.  those kinda suck anyway).  here comes the last day of work before the 'mid-week "weekend"'.  starting tonight, we start our shift a half an hour earlier (for over crowded parking purposes). it'll be weird getting used to, but again, it's only for a month, then the whole 8 hour restructuring begins....blah, blah.

Rosie seems to be doing better (see blaffery entry below).  she now wants nothing to do with her treats that I buy her for being a good dog.  I guess she associates her vlormitting with them. I don't blame her, when I was a kid, I never wanted to see another bowl of Cap'n Crunch again, after I had the stomach flu directly after a huge bowl of it. we'll get her some new treats (maybe give these away to Jay, for his pooch).

Squabber's doin' good.  I hardly ever talk about the cat anymore, being he's pretty much on remote control (as all cat's are).

I missed the garbage man today.  damn!  oh well.  if that's the worst that happens, I'm doin' good...

now, to get ready for the stalag.  first I gotta burn some coffee, then hit the shower, etc..  *ready, GO!*

I got a minute before I get ready for the stalag, I'll write (both of you) a few paradoxical conundrums (including the one I wrote in the last entry...let's start with that).  there are many times when I've tried to gently release the locked jowls of the pooperdog's  alligator grip on an ancient steak bone, or carcass of a 1/2 rotten mouse, half the time ingesting what ever kind of garbage she finds (without getting sick) while we're on one of our pooperdog walks, then I feed her some mild sausage from some fresh pizza, and she's all barfy.  what is that?  she's a true garbage hound, who rarely gets sick!  oh well.  maybe sausage (and yogurt) is more "toxic" to K-9's than the rest (like they say chocolate is)?  another thing that is odd, is she'll go a good 13 hours without peeing inside the house, then I'll promptly take her for a walk, she'll do her thing (sometimes a couple 3 times), then pee in front of the fridge 20 minutes later.  it's sort of like "oh good!  dad's home! now it's ok to pee on the floor".  another:  she enjoys walking in the rain (all puppy dog child like, in fact).  I don't mind it so much either. it's completely enjoyable, especially in the summer, it's a bit tougher as the rain gets colder, but still bearable, yet she acts as if it's acid rain when I tie her to her lead on the front porch.  above and beyond her quirks, she still the coolest old pooch a guy could want (and maybe half of this is due to the fact that she's older than dirt...who knows?) she's just so full of silly (ummmm...loss of word.  doesn't matter, gotta take me a shower, than hit the stalag for a fun filled graveyard shift. 

I buy ground turkey instead of beef during my last grocery visit.  no, not because of Thanksgiving, it's because I'm on the upper level of my weight scale (I bounce back and forth from 170 to 185-ish).  it's delicious!  it's a bit expensive, but it makes creamy vegetable chicken helper taste, weirdly enough, like dimsum (little noodly rice with meat dumplings they serve in steamer baskets at my favorite Chinese rest'ront).  I use the other half of the 3 pound ground turkey package, browned and mixed in with hot chili beans and tomato sauce (mmmms!).  good for dippin' nachos in (...I must be hungry, I'm talkin' about food again).  last night's supper was a 12 supreme pizza delivered from the best pizza joint, the land of Z can offer (Vitale's),  a sixer of 'the Poet', and many o' episode of past series that I've been catching up on (Breaking Bad, Sleeper Cell, and Jericho. via Netflix), trying to stay awake most of the night, so as I can get better rest during the day on Sunday (that weird swing shift change over betwixt day and night...we only got a month to go before straight 8's kick in.  goddammit!  did I mention how cool 5-8's sound with weekends off?!  don't get me started).  anyway, long story; longer, I should know better as to when to stop feeding pooperdog people food.  I've had a good couple disasters (back when I first got her) where I fed her, say, too much yogurt, just to have her complain, then throw it all back up on the carpet...I guess I gave her one too many sausages from the pizza last night.  she blarffed a bfig glarppage (careful to use not tooo graphic of words)  on the carpet.  she didn't seem to complain first (like the other times). it was without warning.  once that was cleaned up, then Squabber decides to hairball it not too far away (dammit! silly mamals).  this afternoon, while letting pooperdog out again, I notice another sausage blerffenstien on the linoleum (yay! a linoleum hit!  easy clean-up on aisle 5).  I guess I should stop feedin' the ol' girl people food all together, but she sure does like it (initially).

back to sleep.  4:30pm comes around way too quickly, and the pooperdog looks like she did her thing...

oh what?!  so, I get a voice mail last night from (my neighbor almost room mate) Brian, asking when would be a good time during the weekend (when I'm busy putting in 48 hours at the stalag) for me to help him tear out the shower enclosure that I was supposed to help him with today.  no apology and explanation as to why he aborted or nothin'.  I gave up a chance to do lunch and watch the Lions win with the 'Squatch...dammit!!! I shouldn't be surprised. he's pulled this before.  I'll give up a good days worth of slack (and drinking beer) to help him (do whatever) just to have him cancel at the last minute without rhyme or reason.  I think I'll leave him a text this time and let him know my disappointment.  just because.  let's see.  plan B, I guess, includes hambooger helper for today's feast...

*fart*

I get a bit frustrated that A and B crew (Stalag) get so much time off for Thanksgiving, while we have to work Friday (scheduled day off), but then again, they pull mandatory 60 hour weeks every week, so (ummm) never mind. not to mention (but I will anyway), this time last year I wasn't getting any holiday pay, so I should just...

[...] *pooperdog growls at me as I sneeze my fool head off*

dude!  sneeze attack!! 

how many times have I lost my train of thought (whilst writing about nothing to begin with) due to sudden sneeze-ures?  I could never write a novel without changing the plot every time I have an attack...

where was I?  oh yeah, work. I don't wanna talk about work...it's my day off (see, train derailed).  anyway.  the thermometer says it's 33F outside, but with the radiant heat from the little fire ball in space, and no wind, it feels a bunch warmer.  the pooperdog and I take an extended walk around the park (it's been awhile since we did the whole mile thang).    last nights beer soaked netflix movie included an early Donnie Yen movie called 'Tiger Cage' (much better than 'Tiger Cage 2'), and another martial arts movie (this one completely cheese encrusted) called 'the Heroic Trio'.  it was most campy, and while I just looked up the title, I see there's a part 2, called 'The Executioners'.  maybe I'll see just how bad that one is next time.  I also check out a couple episodes of a series called 'sleeper cell'.  awesome!  it's about a guy who works under cover for the FBI, with a group of jehadists bent on bringing amerika down.  I liked how the story starts out by distinguishing the difference between Islam as a peaceful religion, and these radical sects.  this looks like a good story to follow!  I see there's 2 seasons worth of episodes...

I'm supposed to help Brian (neighbor/almost room mate) rip out a shower enclosure at his mom's house tomorrow.  sounds like a Thanksgiving thing to do.  why not?

more coffee!  [...and maybe some bacon mit franch toost *plan*]

later: ate supper at Culver's (some franch dippy thang unt fries), then out of boredom, I hit Best Buy (since it's right around the corner from Culver's).  as I'm pulling into their parking lot, I see a row of tents by the door.  cool!  Best Buy must be getting into selling camping gear.  I ask the lady at the door about them, she says it's people already waiting in line for "BLACK FRIDAY"...you got to be kiddin' me?!  these peeps gonna skip Thanksgiving to wait in line for a stupid sale, when you can prob'ly get the same deals online, completely skipping the whole huge crowd hype?! she follows that with an understanding "I know, right?"  wow!! 

I stop by my favorite beer store, knowing there'll be no beer sales tomorrow.  I believe it's time for another episode of 'sleeper cell'....